ã€ŠAgnisotra: Origin Tailsã€‹


 Introduction

    Hello dear reader, you might be wondering what kind of book you just picked up and I will tell you! It may not look like it but this is a diary. I''m not a dairy writer nor a wordsmith so if the format looks off it is because of those reasons. To know why I would write a lengthy and oddly structured diary I would have to tell you something about myself and my circumstances.

    My name is Agnis Hourai. Not much of an introduction, but before I delve deeper into this, I will tell you about my circumstances and why I am addressing readers who are obviously not me. As you may or might not know we live in a world of magic and a wide variety of races. The reason I am starting with something simple is that I got involved in an event that more or less destroyed the world and put it back into an age where a lot of knowledge and techniques of my time are lost. I don''t know if the time period you live in now went back to the age before magic or technology, so I will have to set a baseline for the world that this story is going to take place in. I''m assuming that the idea of magic is foreign since if you do know what magic is this will feel familiar or might find a difference in understanding.

    Magic is the phenomenon where certain effects get put into place by using the energy that''s found freely and abundantly in this world which is called mana. This mana gets manipulated by words, motions or drawings, and illustrations to give it the instructions to perform a certain action. An incantation can be made to create a fireball but so can a magic circle, the possibilities are almost limitless but to use magic either magic runes need to be chanted or drawn in magic circles. To create new magic is to have the knowledge and ability to manipulate the magic runes. Sadly, this knowledge and ability are scarce so the majority of the magic was inherited, relearned by others, or variations of other similar forms of magic that sort of mutated into something else. So. In a world where no new magic was created, it was important to keep one''s magic skill set as confidential as possible. Now there is a wide variety of magic so it was very uncommon to find 2 people with the same skill set but there was still an emphasis to not show your hand if not needed to.

    There are various types of magic but they are mostly categorized by which element they represent; within this element they could be loosely related to its actual element but since users with a high affinity for this element seem to use these predominantly it is assigned to this element. An example is healing for the water element and augmenting others'' abilities by an increase of magic power, defense, attack, etc. for light element, these can be found outside their respective elements but those exhibiting these skills mostly fall within water proficiency for healing and light element for buffing. The widely acknowledged elements are Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, spatiotemporal (or spatial and temporal magic separately), Light, Dark, and element less which is called unaspected magic or household magic.

    Some elements that seem extremely rare or extinct are Ice (frost), Chaos, Harmony, Black magic, Abyss magic, Creation magic, and Spirit magic. The magic I want to talk about is unaspected magic which contains curses, seals, and everyday life magic. This very diary is imbued with this very magic. It has magic on it that makes it likely to be found when lost, a tendency to find its way to the owner, indestructibility, auto-translation, memory recall, ability recall, magic recall, special skill recall, and more. The fact you made it this far into this introduction means that the auto-translation works pretty well. The reason for all this magic in a diary is because the event which made me write this diary would have a high likelihood of me having to put a rebirth into motion which might wipe my memories, magic abilities, and basically, everything that makes me, well me. This diary is written so that when it arrives in my vicinity, I can regain myself since it will unlock the things I''ve lost. How and why this all happened is something that you will find contained within these pages.

    Now I''ve said some outrageous things like the world more or less getting destroyed and me setting myself through a rebirth and you''d be wondering who I might be. Well, I am Agnis Hourai, a nine-tailed spirit fox. Even in my time, this is a rare and mythical race so I wouldn''t be surprised if there is confusion here. So, a short introduction about my race. The nine-tailed fox race is responsible for the well-being of the dimension and its inhabitants in a certain sense you could say we¡¯re the immune system of our dimension.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Long before I was born, they were seen as harbingers of disaster since they were often seen when disaster struck, of course, this is because they had to make their appearance if things become so dire that they couldn''t do this from the shadows. My race is intelligent, cunning, doesn''t like to stand in the spotlight, and has a high affinity for magic, so they were only ever seen when disaster struck and never outside that so my race was driven close to extinction because of this, at least that''s how the story goes. Now my race is strong but we aren''t big fans of conflict. I would say sometimes we¡¯re a bit too pacifistic so they allowed most of their kin to get slaughtered with much retaliation. Don''t ask me why, I don''t know either but that''s how history went so my race is a bit thin in numbers. So are most of the other tailed races, yes there are more, there are 9 types of what we called tailed races going from a single tail up to 9. I¡¯m not gonna name all of them but there are some important individuals out of this series of mythical beings that have close ties to me because this story is not just about me but about me and my close friends.

    My best friend Raishin Torai, who is a six-tailed lightning tiger, his race is responsible for generating energy to keep the dimension and world running, they specialize in well... Lightning magic and energy generation. My other best friend is Gregory Sheru a three-tailed Shadow cat, his race is responsible for storing energy in shadows and/or retrieving these to return to the world, this is an important function since the lightning tigers are quite passionate about their energy generation responsibility so it is hard to stop them so it is of importance to store this energy and retrieve it when they get tired.

    Three-tailed shadow cats specialize in dark magic and earth magic. A trait of all tailed beasts is that they can make how many tails appear as they want up to their maximum limit, so I can run around with 4 tails if I want but Gregory cant since his upper limit is 3, our tails also can double as our limbs or brain since they can be moved at will and have a lot of magical processing power so our tails could solve magical or logic problems while we are sleeping or occupied with something else, which makes it that the more tails one has the more one can accomplish. It is a fact that nine tails are stronger than three tails but it is more nuanced than that since the fewer tails the more efficient they are in the end quantity still wins out albeit not by a big margin. Anyways I''m going on a tangent.

    The last of my best friends aren''t from the tailed mythical races, he is from a quite simple and common race which is Ted Barrington from the Brown War bear race, they were a race commissioned as bodyguards but also since they were on good terms with the tailed races. His specialty is defence and martial arts and they have an insane amount of vitality, you could chop his arm off and it would instantly regrow, that is if you could get through his defences. Our races are relatively immortal since we only die when we are killed, we don''t die from old age and even when we get killed, we have some tricks up our sleeves like having multiple lives or reviving or rebirth.

    This story follows us from start to end, which might be an interesting read but it''s also to give the magic a hand in being complete in restoring what was lost. I have to stress I am not a writer nor a wordsmith and things might sound weird and that could be because of my writing skills but also because the stuff that happened to me is sometimes quite weird.

    I will color code my lines with Blue, Raishin¡¯s lines with Yellow, Gregory¡¯s lines with purple, and Ted¡¯s lines with Red. Another note is that I can swap from first person to third person perspective because of a special trait I have. Some perspectives might get added too which is the result of me telling their story after talking to them about it or due to another technique that I won''t spoil for now.

 Chapter 0: How it all began

    Agnis felt a small tremor. It was strange because the river water didn¡¯t seem to be affected. He got nauseous and opened the dimensional filter.

    He saw a tear in the sky that became larger and larger.

    Holy shit that¡¯s not good! He said as he jumped on the dimensional fabric and started to fix it.

    But the tear kept getting bigger and bigger. He realized that he knew how to fix this but not how to stop these tears from becoming bigger. Agnis blasted the tear with foxfire and other types of fire he had learned over the years but nothing worked. It got bigger and bigger. Agnis stared into the void. It looked as if something big was approaching.

    What in Hourai¡¯s name is that?

    Agnis shot foxfires at it but it wasn¡¯t slowing down. Is it a monster? What is this? It got closer and Agnis recognized what it was.

    What does this mean¡­ is another dimension crashing into ours? This can¡¯t be good.

    Agnis went into his nine-tailed spirit fox mode and tried to reverse time on it but it wasn¡¯t receptive. Does this go beyond time? Nothing spatial-related worked either

    Why is my race¡¯s role so stupidly difficult?!

    Agnis realized that throwing a tantrum would not help his situation. He managed to nudge the impending dimension to the side. If a collision is inevitable then the impact can be lessened this way.

    And then it happened. As if something crashed into the planet. Everything was subjected to this violent shockwave. Agnis had prepared himself and his tails were holding on to a chain of a skill named Dimensional Anchor. The planet, no, the dimension shook violently for 23 minutes.

    It caused earthquakes, the sea went wild, and freak winds started to blow everywhere. Everything got rattled. The sound of glass shattering and crumbling could be heard constantly, similar to how it sounds when illusion layers break.

    Did that dimension merge with ours?

    Agnis inspected his surroundings. He noticed some species that he had never seen before, settlements that had never been there before

    The more Agnis got aware of his surroundings the more he realized that Kaledon, the continent he had been living on for many years had drastically changed in a blink of an eye.

    He realized that his problems had multiplied by an unknown factor.

    How could this have happened? Where did I go wrong?

    Agnis thought back on how it all begun. It began in Hourai, his hometown.

    <hr>

    It was the year 2507 on the Hourai calendar and a beautiful, normal day in Nadila, the capital city of the Hourai empire, the phoenixes were singing, the no-winged dragons were drifting peacefully next to the clouds, the sylphs were dancing and a stampede of cows was running through the market.

    Okay, maybe the day wasn''t so normal after all. Three brats had been spotted, riding on these cows. Agnis, a kid with silver hair and a fox tail, Raishin a kid with blond spiky hair and a tiger tail, and Gregory, a kid with black hair in a braid and a cat tail. They were riding the cows and seem to be having fun. That couldn''t be said of the people on the market, but the market wasn''t the destination of these troublemakers, the stampede rushed through and left for the city gate. On the way out some of the brats grabbed some fruit and spices from some stalls. Three figures were running behind the stampede trying to catch up. A kid of about 9 years old with brown hair and bear ears, another one was a beautiful woman with red hair in a gold-orange feathery dress and the other woman was clothed in a casual shirt with a palm tree print with short pants, sunshades, and slippers on, this woman had blonde spiky hair and she had a tiger tail.

    The kids were followed by their friend Ted Barrington, who was supposed to keep an eye on them, Raishin¡¯s sister Tallys Torai, and Agnis¡¯ sister Yuna Hourai. They were talking about how the three of them always stirred up trouble. The biggest troublemaker was Agnis Hourai, the son of the empress Edea Hourai. Edea Hourai is a rare hybrid and so is Agnis. Agnis¡¯ 2 elder sisters don¡¯t share their trait. Half-phoenix and a half nine-tailed spirit foxes are quite rare even here in Hourai where the mythical and legendary creatures gather.

    Gregory Sheru is a member of the three-tailed shadowcats and his mother, Nadila Sheru is Edea¡¯s righthand. Raishin Torai is a six-tailed lightning tiger and his mother Felicia Torai is Edea¡¯s good friend. They were chasing the troublemakers while discussing Agnis¡¯ strange ice element. It didn¡¯t adhere to how water magic normally behaves.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Where are they?¡± Yuna looked around as she had lost the troublemakers. Their chase had brought them outside the capital city.

    ¡°Is it your brother¡¯s illusions?¡± Tallys asked as she looked around.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± Yuna was angry but also worried. Her little brother always did this; getting himself into trouble.

    Meanwhile the troublemakers ended up in a strange underwater cave, which somehow made them unable to use mana without getting nauseous. Agnis discovered a strange yet new type of energy in this cave and managed to manipulate this to get out. The troublemakers appeared 20 minutes later, riding a waterspout from deep under the ground. Yuna scolded them. The troublemakers tried to escape but their mothers came to retrieve them. Yuna, Ted and Tally¡¯s were relieved as the troublemakers got transported to the palace. They would get their scolding and punishment there.

    Agnis, Raishin and Greg got reprimanded but not severely. Edea, the empress, is a big fan of adventures. She was interested in knowing what interesting events they have been through. Edea is the empress but not by choice. How she would want to go on adventures too but she had duties to attend to. Her advisors had other plans, however. She gave her son the punishment to peel 2000 potatoes. Her son shares her hate for peeling potatoes. This was actually her task since her head advisor, who was her uncle, had punished her for slacking off. She had already peeled 8000 potatoes herself but she was running out of time because an important investigation came up. Agnis didn¡¯t like this but he had no choice.

    Peeling potatoes wasn¡¯t uncommon for Agnis. He had mastered short swords and knives and used his agility to peel them. All to make it more efficient. Edea was proud of him but sincerely wished to ban potatoes from Hourai but her uncle thought that was a stupid reason to ban potatoes.

    She made sure that the troublemakers would unlock their Soul container before they would have to sit out their punishment. Blue ghost truffles and red sky mangoes would fill Agnis¡¯ soul container. It would allow for them to get multiple lives. For Gregory these were liquid shadow potatoes and for Raishin these were dynamo beans.

    Agnis got sent to peel potatoes after unlocking the soul container.

    <hr>

    I hate potatoes¡­

    He put his tails to use and successfully peeled the potatoes in record time. He was just a brat and had only unlocked 4 of the 9 tails. These would come with age. Rest was something he needed after this severe punishment but he would soon learn that things don¡¯t go well for long around him. His Elgards eyes, which could see the flow of energy, mana, and multiple other things, picked up something concerning. The capital was under attack!

    His sisters picked him up for an evacuation. It was unusual for the city to be under attack it had a strong barrier and was inside a separate dimensional space. Enemies shouldn¡¯t be able to reach here. Moreover, Agnis¡¯ mother and her 2 best friends are currently not in the city. Was this all planned?

    Agnis'' eldest sister, Xelia Hourai, went to help defend the city while Yuna would help in evacuating Agnis, Raishin, Gregory, and Ted.

    ¡°Come on brats! It¡¯s time to go to the shelter!¡± Yuna led the evacuation but something was off. It was as if they were also the target.

    ¡°Ted! I will keep these enemies busy! Bring Agnis, Raishin and Greg to the shelter!¡±

    Ok!

    Ted nodded his head as he was about to take Gregory, Agnis and Raishin with him.

    Wait I see enemies approaching! There are 3 of them! Agnis looked northwest

    What? An ambush? Raishin looked around.

    Yuna looked at where Agnis was pointing.

    ¡°Silly brother, those are Giana, Noelle and Yvonne. They¡¯re with us. Take them with you too.¡± Yuna put an illusion on Agnis to turn his silver hair, black.

    She flew up and showed her foes why she was called ¡®Boiling Point Yuna¡¯ She was a phoenix specializing in fire and water magic. She would create explosions. She might have also called that because of her short temper.

    Come on! Lead the way, Ted!

    It didn¡¯t take long before more enemies appeared.

    ¡°Whoa look here! These kids will earn quite a lot of money on the slave market!¡±

    Ugh slave traders. Just our luck. Ted furrowed his brow and got ready for a fight.

    ¡°We just need the kids of the ¡®Calamity Trio¡¯ and we will sell the rest. These chicks will sell for quite a bit.¡±

    A fight broke out. A fight these kids couldn¡¯t win. The three girls managed to escape. There was no way they could win so they went for damage mitigation.

    Agnis, Greg and Ted had decided that the chicks would have a worse fate than they would have if they got caught by the slave traders. Agnis made sure that the slave traders couldn''t get to them by locking the girls into a cave with his ice that is nearly impossible to break. He tried to make the best of the solution with his illusions but that was all he could do. None of them stood a chance since they all were just 7 years old with Ted being the oldest at 9 years old.

    Reality was brutal and they got knocked out and brought to the ¡®Human World¡¯ the part of the dimension that hosts the majority of the races, of which humans are the most common. That wasn''t the worst part. Their home, Hourai disappeared into nothingness after they got brought to the ¡®Human World''.

    They were just brats. They had led a carefree life until now but suddenly everything was gone. Their family, their friends, and their home. The only thing they picked up from all this was a strange monkey with 8 tails that had attacked their home. It didn''t take long for the 4 to get sold off as slaves. They were lucky. The 4 people who bought them originated from the same town, Boshi Town. Was this coincidence or fate at work? Agnis wondered what would happen to them. He wanted to go home.

    Agnis had been sold off to a blacksmith. Raishin to a hunter, Greg to an alchemist and Ted to a martial artist. Is there any way they can spin this around?

    They approached Boshi Town, a town surrounded by a strange pink barrier. This would be their home until they would escape. They have to escape. They know nothing about the ¡®Human World¡¯ and they don¡¯t belong here. They decided to hide their identity and pose as humans. They would be categorized as ¡®Beast kin¡¯ down here but every beast kin can hide their ears and tails and so could they. Beast kin don''t always get treated nicely in the ''Human World'', which was one of the few things they did know.

    This would be their life for now they were planning to escape but they were aware that they were weak and ignorant. While living this new lifestyle and still making plans to escape, five years passed.

 Chapter 1: Boshi Town

    Year 2512 on the Hourai calendar or year 573 on the New Kaledonian calendar, and 4 boars were running around in the town square.

    Now I know that I''m normally a troublemaker but it wasn''t me this time! Raishin was supposed to hunt 4 boars and sell them on the market. I''m wondering if he was supposed to hunt them or why are they running around. It seems he assumed someone would want it as a pet so he captured them alive and of course, they escaped when he arrived at the town square. The stalls displayed different products produced from all over the town and the mountain.

    As I was sitting in my stall with various knives, tools, and short swords on display, I watched boars run people over and Raishin trying to catch them. A bit further I saw Gregory with his alchemical potions on display in transparent foam. It seems he foresaw something like this.

    Nobody seems to have visited his stall, I''m in the same boat. As I decided to help Raishin since nobody was buying anything from me anyways, an old man appeared out of nowhere.

    ¡°Oho, this knife looks like it has very high quality!¡±

    It is one of the first and best knives I made after I graduated from my apprenticeship!  I lied.

    No offense to this old man but the first thing I made after I more or less mastered blacksmithing was making an upgraded version of my potato peeler and I also made various other knives and short swords for myself. I''ve been trying to make a katana but that shit is hard yo!

    Anyway, anything I was kind of dissatisfied with, I''m selling here alongside items Philip made. I inspected them before bringing them here, they are of good quality, just not of the quality I need them to be for advanced potato peeling or just dagger and sword mastery in general. They are more than adequate for household use.

    I explained to the old man how to maintain the knife as his eyes fall on a short sword I made.

    ¡°Did you make this young lad?¡±

    Yes, old man Paul.

    ¡°I see, you''re at that age where you''d be interested in swords, can you use them?¡±

    Uhh, yeah, I think I''m decent at using a sword.

    ¡°Ohoho how modest, why don''t you give this old man a demonstration? And maybe I''ll buy this for my grandson.¡±

    The possibility of selling my first sword motivated me. I picked up the sword and lightly swung it around to familiarize myself with its weight. As I was about to start the demonstration, a boar appeared from behind a stall and bee-lined for the old man.

    Since these boars were supposed to be sold to the butchers they will probably not mind.

    The old man looked at me puzzled. I shot towards the boar and flicked a coin at high speed at its forehead. The boar flinched and I took this chance to launch the boar in the air with a magic augmented kick while the boar was airborne, I skinned it, cut it into pieces, and filleted some parts of it before it hit the ground. A little bit of magic was used to make all of the boar''s blood gather around the blade so that I didn''t make a mess. I froze the blood in a ball and tossed it at Raishin who was chasing the boar down.

    Whoa, thank you, Agnis.

    No problem, do I need to freeze this meat for you too? I pointed at the chunks of boar meat.

    Yes please, but use normal ice, the last time you froze stuff for me I couldn''t thaw it.

    Haha, my bad, they''re done, and try to make less of a ruckus on the market next time.

    Hehe, sorry, Rufus told me to hunt 4 boars and sell them on the market, I thought they needed to be alive. Raishin said confidently.

    It seems he got the wrong idea as usual.

    I''m not surprised.

    ¡°Ohoho young lad that was quite the flashy demonstration.¡±

    Oh right, the demonstration.

    ¡°I will buy it!¡±

    Ohh nice! Do you mind if I clean it and deliver it to your home tonight? I did kinda cut up a boar with it, I''ll even sharpen it for you!

    ¡°That is fine, you know where I live right? Next to the bakery, the 3rd house on the hill with the green fire lanterns.¡±

    Ooh, you sold something

    Don''t you need to take care of your boar problem? I said as I pointed at the other boars that were still making the market unsafe.

    Ah right, the boars! Raishin jumped up and looked around for boars. He didn''t need to look for long though as a boar crashed into Gregory¡¯s stall.

    Aaagh!

    Oh no.

    Oh, Greg, you caught a boar for me! Raishin said happily as he ran over to Gregory¡¯s stall. I finished the payment details with old man Paul and confirmed his address. Afterward, I went towards Gregory¡¯s stall.

    Why can¡¯t you do anything right?! Gregory was trying to salvage whatever was left of his smashed stall.

    What do you mean?! I didn''t bust your stall!

    Who was responsible for these boars hmm? Gregory asked. He looked quite upset.

    Oh no.

    Haha, boars belong to nature, so whatever goddess of nature or nature spirits? Hmm, maybe the forest goddess of spirits? Raishin proudly put his hands on his hips, thinking that was an adequate excuse.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    You are trolling, right? Gregory seemed like he was close to flipping his lid.

    His whole stall was a mess and only 2 potions seemed to have survived the boar rampage. The two started arguing and I wanted to step in and break it up but I saw someone approach my stall.

    Don''t try to kill each other and behave yourselves guys, I have a customer gotta run!

    They didn''t seem to have heard me but that was fine. I could chuck daggers at them from my stall to break them up if I needed to.

    ¡°Oh, I thought this was Philip¡¯s stand, did you take it over?¡± A woman with red-brown hair said as she saw me approaching.

    I recently graduated from an apprenticeship so I can take this over from him.

    ¡°Oh, how lovely, his health is deteriorating lately isn''t it?¡±

    Yah, so he is home and can relax while I take care of this stall.

    I was standing quite uncomfortably waiting for this woman to finish her business and leave. It sounds rude but those are my genuine feelings. It is because I know this woman. She is convinced that her daughter is a perfect match for me and does whatever she can to make it happen. This has been going on for almost one and a half years and I will have to say that it pushed my escaping skills to new levels since I have yet to be caught or meet her daughter. Her coming here seems to be no coincidence. I¡¯m wondering what goes through this woman''s head, wanting a random guy to hook up with her daughter. Shouldn''t she try to keep away from her?!

    The woman who is named Charlize casually looked around. The reason that I''m stressed is that I can''t escape this time around. ¡°Say Agnis, do you have the evening free? I think something is amiss at my house and I need a blacksmith''s opinion.¡±

    Hmm, I think Jimmy the plumber is free tonight!

    ¡°It is not a plumbing issue.¡±

    If you have knives, hammers, pliers, or whatever tools you need to get fixed just deliver them to the workshop, and we will fix them and deliver it back to you within 4 working days!

    ¡°Gregory is also coming to check.¡± She said as she picked up a combat knife.

    Wait whud? Gregory? Wait, does that mean Cecilia is visiting you?

    ¡°Oooh, how sharp, I knew I wasn''t wrong about you!¡±

    I facepalmed. Cecilia was one of Charlize¡¯s best friends and she was convinced that Gregory was perfect for her daughter. But unlike me, Gregory is oblivious and has no idea he¡¯s walking into a trap.

    ¡°We also made some purple velvet potato cake.¡±

    Uhm that''s nice, but I already have something in the evening, I need to clean and deliver a short sword so I¡¯m really sorry but I can''t come!

    ¡°You are avoiding me, aren''t you?¡± She asked me with a sad look.

    I''ve learned that this woman uses everything in her arsenal to get what she wants. That is how she bought a complete 121-piece cutlery set from Philip for only 2 silver. I was surprised when he came back with 2 silver instead of 10 silver. A total scam!

    O... of course not! I remember that Philip asked me to finish up a halberd! I need to go.

    I tried to pack up all my stuff and close the stall when Charlize slammed her hand on the item I wanted to pick up. I looked at her and she displayed a complicated expression that included an intimidating and irritated smile.

    I broke out in cold sweat, I knew that she was shifting to hunting mode. Charlize was quite the adventurer in her days and since everyone here lives in the mountains it is quite hard to find someone who doesn''t know how to move about and use magic effectively.

    Hey Greg! Look! It''s starting! Raishin pointed at me

    What? Gregory turned around and looked at where Raishin was pointing.

    Agnis¡¯ vanishing act!

    Sadly, a lot of the townspeople were used to this happening. I noticed Charlize casting magic which is well known to be used for capturing targets. I decided to put my speed to use and escape. I interrupted her cast and grabbed all my stuff.

    Normally I wouldn''t do this in public but I had no choice now, I put everything in my dimensional pocket and made myself scarce. With this I mean I entered stealth. I am really grateful to Viridian and whatever I can remember from him and his daughter teaching me how to get by unnoticed. I can now escape. But not easily, I don''t know what it is but this woman''s intuition is sharp. There is no way she would see through my stealth or illusions but somehow, she still has a feeling of my rough location.

    So, as I said before, it was time to make use of my speed and I got out of that area as fast as possible. From previous situations like this, it takes about 27 seconds before her intuition kicks in and she manages to find my rough location. 27 seconds that I used to set up some non-lethal traps and preparing for evasive maneuvers. Barring me, Ted, Raishin, and Greg she is probably the second or third strongest person in this town. But since we are keeping it a secret that we are tailed beasts it will drop our firepower a lot which means that Charlize is way stronger than any of us in our current state.

    I guess it¡¯s a blessing and a curse that Charlize was focused on me because Raishin might be the only one who would be able to deal with this woman. But by the mention of her daughter, he would probably wag his tail and go horny mode. I don''t know who her daughter is but if the mother is a monster, then so is she.

    I dodged a Charlize coming at me at high speed and broke my stealth. There is no point in me keeping it up since it won''t help much.

    ¡°Just give up Agnis! Kanna and I will treat you well!¡±

    I don''t need to be treated well! I¡¯m doing fine as is! I said as I dodged something that looked like wind magic carrying sedative compounds.

    More of it came at me. I took a bottle of liquid shadow vodka I confiscated from Gregory, got a mouthful and sprayed it at the approaching drugged wind, and lit it on fire creating a huge fireball that sucked in the near air but also destroyed whatever she laced that wind magic with.

    I discovered that this method was effective on any type of technique that relies on smell or has to be breathed into work. Anything that needs to be smelled has to be volatile, or else it won''t be able to turn into gas and mix with the air. So, adding a lot of heat will just destroy it... I could just use fire magic but this method is more effective and mana efficient. I still get nauseous from using magic but it''s way less than 5 years ago.

    I still didn''t find the cause but I''ve found ways to get around with the minimal use of magic. Although I could still use ice and water magic with no problems. Fire is a big issue since it is an element that chugs mana but that''s not the complete reason why I don''t use it. My fire magic is a bit... Too effective. I burnt down half the Hourai wing in the palace back at home when I was 5. Which is crazy since it is supposed to be highly fire-resistant. Only my uncle and mom could set fire to it and I guess well me. I do have decent control over it but I don''t always want to be flashy. And fire magic is flashy, at least the fire magic of the Hourai family is. I say that as someone who uses ice a lot but I don''t have many options! At least ice doesn''t destroy half a palace!

    Whoops, I''m getting distracted. Charlize almost managed to grab me but I dodged at the last moment.

    ¡°I don''t understand, I¡¯ve been an adventurer for 12 years and I''ve never seen someone as fast as you.¡±

    Must''ve been defeated by you before they could show any of it.

    ¡°Hmm, I don''t think so,¡± Charlize said while dropping the air pressure around me.

    I assume she intends to make the air thin and make me pass out from hypoxia but it also reduces drag from the air so I just sped up and escaped from her sight. ¡°Why does nothing work on you?¡± I heard a frustrated Charlize exclaim. I went back in stealth and placed some frost traps that would trigger when certain conditions were met such as when the air pressure changes a lot or when the wind direction changes stuff like that. When she would use wind in any way it will set off one or more of some traps I''ve laid out. As I wondered why nobody around me is normal, a frost trap went off.

    I confirmed the location of the trap, threw up an illusion, and slid into an alleyway.

    I lifted a manhole and escaped into the sewers. I don''t know why but whenever I escape into the sewers Charlize is never able to find me, maybe because she doesn''t know I use the sewers to navigate through the city when escaping or she doesn''t want to get down here. Because I''m not gonna lie but it stinks down here. Or maybe her intuition doesn''t work on targets underground. If I could use earth magic to burrow, I probably would have an easier time escaping. Sadly, I would be more likely to bury myself than to escape.

    I noticed this a while ago but that strange energy I saw for the first time in that underwater cave 5 years ago seems to be everywhere. It is the best seen and felt by me here in the sewers. There are places where it is thin, almost non-existent, and in others, it''s on a high concentration. Back then I just thought it was a regular energy flow. But now I''m more used to it. I know it''s more complicated than that. The energy moves about in almost every direction in the area it

 Chapter 2: The Delivery

    This was harder than I thought. I needed to make sure the weight balance was correct. For a year I tried to do blacksmithing without relying on my Elgards eyes. It helps out a lot like making me spot the exact temperature, place to hit, weak spots, impurities in the metal, etc. But I feel more satisfaction when I manage to do this without my Elgards eyes.

    I graduated without using them so I could say I''m a decent blacksmith. I only use my Elgards eyes now if I want to make really good swords and daggers. We are still planning to escape from here one day. We don''t know exactly what is out there in the world but being prepared and armed sounds like a good idea.

    We will be fine in the magic department but when magic can¡¯t be used, we might get into trouble, so I''m crafting various weapons.

    I made some metal knuckles for Ted, a spear for Raishin, and various daggers and swords for Gregory and me.

    Gregory can''t really use swords but he can use daggers. He asked me a couple of times to make a bigass hammer for him but¡­ A bigass hammer needs a lot of material, way more than all those other weapons and I''m uh... kinda making these in secret.

    It is easy to make some high-quality weapons between some regular ones but bigass hammers are quite uncommon. Ok, that is wrong, bigass hammers don''t get commissioned.

    I''m offsetting the price of the extra materials I use by making high-quality stuff which gets sold for a lot more than normal so either Philip hasn''t noticed or is fine with it as long as it does not cause us to run at a loss.

    I also alleviated the material issue by bringing Gregory into the mountains and him digging with me for ores. I don''t do well with digging so I''m just there for help. He can also get some stuff that acts like catalysts for his concoctions so it''s not like there''s nothing in it for him.

    As I am about to put the head of the halberd in the forge I got called for dinner. I contemplated whether to finish this part fast or do it after dinner. I left it be and cleaned up and headed toward the living room.

    ¡°Did you manage to sell a lot today?¡± Philip asked me.

    I only sold the short sword and the dagger that I made, but the short sword got dirty in a demonstration so I will be cleaning it and delivering it to old man Paul a bit later in the evening.

    ¡°Hmm, at least we sold something. That short sword you made is worth almost as much as the rest so I guess it''s fine. For how much did you sell it?¡±

    Hmm, I wanted to sell it for 2 gold but the old man insisted on paying 5 gold because he liked my demonstration.

    Philip choked, coughed, and spat out his noodles in surprise.

    ¡°5 gold?! What kind of godly performance did you pull off to make him want to pay that much?¡±

    ¡°Honey, clean up your mess?¡± his wife, Hera, said to him while gesturing to me to continue my story.

    Uh well, Raishin brought living boars to the market who were rampaging around.

    Philip choked, coughed, and spat his noodles out in surprise again.

    ¡°There were rampaging boars on the market? That kid Raishin sure is a handful!¡±

    ¡°Are you gonna eat any of the noodles I made for you Philip? Or are you gonna spit all of it out?¡± Hera said annoyed while gesturing again to me to continue my story.

    ¡°So, what was that performance that made Paul pay more than double the price for the sword?¡± Philip asked while he cleaned up his mess and resumed eating.

    Hmm, I''ll wait till you finish that.

    ¡°No need, go on ahead¡±, Philip said with a look of curiosity on his face and noodles in his mouth.

    Well, a boar dashed at old man Paul and I launched it and skinned it, chopped it, and filled it since Raishin was supposed to sell it to the butchers anyway. Might''ve earned him some extra coin at it.

    I picked up my empty bowl and used it to shield myself because Philip choked, coughed, and spat out his noodles again, which hit my plate shield.

    ¡°Wait, you did all that on a launched boar?! I knew you were adept with swords but this is next level! Honey! We should send him with Harold and Ted to participate in tournaments! He might bring back some good prizes!¡±

    ¡°Maybe we should send you to the slums to appreciate good food!¡± Hera said, pissed off.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry!¡± Philip said apologetically, he wanted to take another bite but his bowl was empty by now. ¡°Honey, I''m hungry.¡±

    ¡°Make food yourself!¡± Hera said as she continued eating in silence.

    Philip looked at me but I was still hiding behind my empty bowl.

    ¡°How did you finish those noodles so fast while talking?¡±

    I swallow my food.

    Hera choked, coughed and spat out her noodles, and started laughing.

    You two are perfect for each other. I said as I got up.

    I''m gonna finish up the halberd and then clean and deliver the sword.

    ¡°Wait, what about my food?¡± Philip panicked.

    I''m sorry I''m a blacksmith, I''m not a cook nor your wife, you should talk it out with Hera. I said as I escaped to the workshop.

    They looked at each other before I went around the corner. and entered the workshop.

    I put the halberd head in the forge and heated it until it was white hot. I went at it with the hammer and tried to get the weight balance right. Since I have a high fire resistance, I could just pick it up, feel if I made a mistake, or inspect it and continue hammering until it cooled off and I needed to reheat it.

    After fixing the edges I hardened the metal and quenched the piece of metal. Some grinding and sharpening were needed. afterward, I started the gruelling process of tempering I waited till the metal was straw-colored and put it to cool off.

    About 2 hours passed and I went to clean the sword Paul bought and cleaned it. There was probably a traditional way to do this but I just used water magic that was rotating at a high speed to clean the blade. I did this because I could also instantly sharpen the blade by making the water act as a whetstone.

    I wrapped the sword up in cloth after putting it back in its scabbard and headed out. I told Philip and Hera that I would be out for a bit and left.

    <hr>

    The moon was out and it was cool and dark outside. A soft breeze was blowing and it was quiet outside. The crescent moon was in its waxing phase. It reminded me of Viridian, Hisui, and their family. Their last name meant something like a crescent moon and they always worked in the shadow of our family. Suited for a family of spies and assassins.

    I passed the bakery up to the hill and approached the house with the green lanterns.

    "Oh, I assume you¡¯re delivering the sword." Old Lady Paula said after opening the door.

    I wondered if they got together on purpose since they are a Paul and Paula couple. I handed over the sword and declined any snacks while apologizing for being late.

    ¡°That is fine young man, you never stated a time and we old people have a lot of time on our hands. Are you sure you don''t want to come in?¡±

    I¡¯m fine, I need to check on my buddies.

    "Be careful young lad, the animals have been restless lately." I waved goodbye to old lady Paula and thought about the words that she said.

    I recalled the green sewer rats fleeing from something. Is this related? I wanted to investigate when something scared the shit out of me.

    ¡°Found you!¡± Because I was deep in thought I was slow to react and wind magic lifted me and I got hit by magic which was known for its ability to capture animals and people.

    Charlize, in a good mood now that she captured me, carried me by levitating me toward her house. Never have I been as afraid as I am now.

    <hr>

    We arrived at Charlize''s house and she dropped me off in the living room after which she went to the kitchen.

    Yoo Greg. I said to the tied-up Gregory who seemingly also got captured.

    Shit, they managed to capture you too? I was about to send you a telepathic message requesting an intervention for you to save me. Gregory seemed as if he had been here for a while as he looked relatively comfortable despite being bound.

    Yeah, I let my guard down, sorry.

    I can''t believe they stooped so low to lure me in with food.

    Wait what?

    Yeah, because I couldn''t sell anything, and even worse because I broke everything and had to go without dinner. Gregory said with a downcast expression.

    They offered me sweet potato cake.

    You sure do love your potatoes¡­

    Potatoes are the best!

    Let''s agree to disagree. So, you got trapped because of food?

    I hate to admit it but yeah.

    Charlize and Cecilia came out of the kitchen.

    ¡°Aah, I see you two caught up¡±, Cecilia said while she put a purple cake on the table.

    Cecilia was a member of Charlize''s former adventure group. She wasn''t as strong as Charlize but she was a troublesome opponent.

    ¡°Our daughters will arrive soon so make yourselves comfortable.¡±

    I would if you would release these restraints.

    Yeah, these ropes are uncomfortable.

    ¡°Hmm, I can release Gregory because he isn''t super-fast but Agnis should be kept restrained.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure Charlize? What will our daughters think when they find out we restrained them?¡±

    ¡°They will find out, either way, I finally caught Agnis, I''m not gonna ruin this rare chance.¡±

    Yoo, how did she manage to catch you? Were you fast asleep or something?

    Hmm kinda, I was distracted. Something seemed amiss and I was deep in thought when she sneak-attacked me.

    Hmm, I see. Gregory tried to take a pensive stance but was unable to due to his restraints.

    I''m still surprised someone as smart as you got caught in a simple food trap.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    Shut up! I was hungry, ok? And back at you! Charlize found you because of some vague ability like intuition? Such nonsense! She probably was looking for disturbances in airflow and currents. Going into stealth or using illusions doesn''t erase your physical body, it just hides it!

    That! I haven''t thought of that¡­

    For someone as smart as you, you got caught by a simple detection skill. Gregory shook his head, it did look like he was mocking me though.

    Fine, I guess we''re even. So, what is the plan Mr. Smartass?

    ¡°Charlize, they are doing it again, they are completely ignoring us.¡±

    ¡°That is fine, they won''t be able to escape anyway.¡±

    I assume going tailed beast mode on them is not an option? Can''t you just freeze them into an ice cube or something?

    Are you crazy? You want me to kill them?

    Nono, I mean with normal ice, not ice ice and you need to call it something else it''s hard to distinguish what ice you mean.

    How about I call ice element, frost element, and regular ice stays ice, so if I talk about ice, it''s just normal ice, and when I mention frost you know it is serious?

    Works for me, just use ice.

    Aight, here we go...

    I tried to activate my magic circle but it got blocked

    Oh, my magic is blocked¡­

    Hmm, that actually makes a lot of sense.

    Yah, I could use this weird energy though.

    You don''t need magic to move it?

    Not really, it doesn''t interact with magic, more so it can be used to break through magic-based stuff as if anything magic-related is made out of paper.

    But the problem is?... still that voice and it is hard to control.

    Yes, I also need to be able to move to use it, which I can''t do at the moment. But I can use some simple movements and try to break these restraints. I won''t be able to control it well though its power will range from breaking the restraints without anyone noticing to blowing up this house.

    Uhh, maybe we should make another plan

    ¡°Hmm Agnis what is wrong? You¡¯re moving around a lot. Oh, look! Our daughters are home.¡±

    I was struggling, at least it looked like that, to get in the right movements to move the energy to go through my magic restraints and break them.

    Charlize¡¯s and Cecilia¡¯s daughters entered the living room and what they saw were 2 guys tied up trying to break free from their restraints.

    Oh great, you girls, can you help us out? Your moms kidnapped us for some obscure reasons!

    Yah, we will just go to not disturb your get-together!

    ¡°Ooh, you finally caught him, mom!¡± One of the daughters said.

    Whud?

    Oh no.

    A girl of about 14 years old approached me and inspected me. She looked¡­ for the lack of better words, plain. I know it is rude to say but she looked like a background character #17. Which was weird because her mother was anything but plain. The same was true for Cecilia¡¯s daughter.

    Psst, Greg, this is worse than I thought, these girls seem as crazy as their moms.

    I didn''t expect this either, but don''t you think this is odd? This town has like 6000 inhabitants and we''ve been living here for about 5 years. How have we never encountered these people?

    Gregory seemed as puzzled as I was.

    Hmm, I think we might have but since they look like background characters #17 and #18, We might have passed them by but never noticed them.

    ¡°You know, we can hear you guys right?¡± Said the pissed-off background characters #17 and #18.

    For some reason, their mothers seemed to be quite angry too. ¡°But that''s fiiine because now we will have enough time to get to know each other!¡±

    So how about that idea to blow up the house?

    Do it.

    I managed to move the energy a bit. But I missed my restraints and hit background character #17.

    ¡°Ouch, what was that?¡±

    ¡°What''s wrong?¡± Charlize asked her daughter.

    ¡°I don''t know if something just hit me!¡±

    But what happened scared the living shit out of me. A crack seemed to appear on her face and they started to spread over her face.

    ¡°Kanna! Your makeup! It''s cracking!¡±

    Wait what the fuck? Her makeup is cracking? How much is she weari¡­

    At that moment the cracked makeup fell off like porcelain and revealed the most hideous face I¡¯ve ever seen.

    It''s a troll!

    Fear overwhelmed me as I didn''t expect a monster to appear so suddenly.

    Holy shit! It''s a monster!

    Gregory and I started to freak out, we did not expect to encounter a mountain troll this abruptly.

    ¡°How rude! I¡¯m not a troll or a monster, I''m a normal human being!¡± The troll said, but Gregory and I weren''t listening, we were panicking.

    I felt bloodlust as I noticed Charlize giving off killing intent. I was really confused, Charlize was a quite beautiful woman for her age, and I couldn''t understand how she could produce such hideous offspring.

    Is her husband a troll?

    I don''t know! But maybe we should not mention any of this, Charlize¡¯s killing intent just spiked.

    Woops.

    At that moment something, or more someone, crashed through the window.

    Who has come to save the day!

    Oh great.

    Why do I have the feeling it is only going to get worse now?

    ¡°Ooh Raishin, thank you for being a kind boy and telling me that Gregory needed something to eat for dinner and that Agnis was outside all alone in the cold.¡±

    Oh haha, no problem! Raishin patted himself on the chest.

    Wait! So, the reason I got bribed with food and Agnis got captured was because of you?!

    Of course, these kind ladies offered to help you guys so as a good friend I wanted to make sure you guys would be all right.

    Why am I not surprised?

    But I noticed you guys were in distress so I will sacrifice myself and hang out with these ladies instead of you guys! Whoa, a troll! You guys need help exterminating this creature?

    Raishin got ready for battle.

    Aight screw this, no more being careful

    I said as I moved the energy by turning my whole body.

    Just like the first time when I used this energy it somehow turned all into water and the whole house exploded because of the sheer amount of water that appeared in it. At least it broke my chains.

    Ugh more water, please... No more! Gregory said while coughing.

    You surely made those ladies wet! Raishin made an annoying face as he moved his eyebrows up and down while spewing that bullshit.

    No puns please, Ted isn''t here. And let''s run!

    What about the troll and the ladies?!

    Be my guest, I''m running with Agnis! By the way, do you think they will still bake those delicious cakes for us after all this?

    Not a chance.

    I thought as much.

    As Gregory and I ran away, a small tornado appeared around the approximate location where Charlize would have been blown away too. It also started to rain but the sky was clear.

    I think we properly pissed them off.

    Don''t think just run! I said as I laid some ice traps.

    Gregory followed suit and laid some earth traps.

    Where is Raishin?

    Beats me but we don''t have the luxury to deal with him now! Here they come!

    A strong gale swept us off our feet and launched us into the air. I looked around to see where the threat was coming from.

    I grabbed Gregory and dodged the incoming waterspout. The rain started to pour and it was sapping our magic and slowing us down. This is a technique I could steal and use later but not now. I landed and ran toward a small indoor mall.

    You run and I handle defense?

    Good plan.

    I dashed while evading small tornadoes, hail the size of tennis balls, and debris flying around from the strong wind while dragging Gregory around.

    Gregory used earth magic to create footholds for me and to block incoming hazards. He used his magic sparingly because he wasn''t able to suppress his nausea as well as I could.

    We arrived at the small indoor mall. I put some water in the lock and froze it to make a key that could open the lock without destroying it.

    Why did this mall use a traditional lock and not a magic lock? Good question! There was no need for security because almost everyone knows almost everyone. So, this normally is just to indicate that the place is closed.

    Anyone trying to get in would get in. I thought of locking up the place behind me but decided that it would be a waste of time since as I said, anyone who wants to get in could get in. Now that we were free from the rain, we were confined in a limited space, however.

    We need to properly shake them off for a while so we can escape to the sewers.

    Is there an escape route that doesn''t have any water?

    None that I know of, sorry.

    Meh.

    This small indoor mall only had about 6 stores so there wasn''t a lot of space to hide, it was just a small street with a roof, but we liked to call it an indoor mall. But a roof is all we needed to get away from the rain.

    How are we going to do this? We¡¯re not exactly adept at preserving our environment when we fight.

    Gregory said as he killed the remaining lights with his shadow magic.

    I¡®m going to test a sword I finished crafting last week.

    I made sure to scan out the area and look for possible escape routes.

    Do you think you stand a chance?

    Nope, that is why you are going to keep Cecilia busy.

    Hmm, and how do you suggest I do that without bringing this whole place down? Unless I do something like that my offensive power is non-existent. Gregory gestured that this area seems to have no unpleasant surprises. I gestured back that I didn''t find anything suspicious either.

    You know how I fight right?

    Of course!

    How about you try to stay in the poorly lit side over there and harass her with shadows? As long as it''s dark enough she won''t really know what is going on. If I lose, just use Shadow Meld and escape.

    Are you sure? Who knows what they will do to you!

    It is fine, they won''t kill me, probably.

    Probably?

    Let''s go with that plan! Here they come.

    A pressure wave busted the glass doors that barred entry to the small mall.

    ¡°So, you chose a small enclosed space? I can''t say that is a wise decision. You can''t use your speed here, can you?¡±

    ¡°Charlize! Gregory is running away!¡±

    ¡°You deal with him Cecilia, I¡¯ll discipline Agnis here.¡±

    I''m just curious, why are you so fixated on us? Why not other guys or Raishin?

    ¡°Hmm, regrettably Raishin isn''t the sharpest tool in the shed but he''s way better than all those guys your age who just idle around are disrespectful to anyone and everyone, and even seem to still be weaker than you guys who seem to be busy at all times. There is just no contest.¡±

    How about moving to a city with more options?

    ¡°You might not know this since you guys arrived here quite recently but the barrier around this city only allows for the inhabitants to leave and enter in the spring and summer and on top of that only once every 10 years. I can''t ruin my daughter''s youth by waiting 3 more years!¡±

    Wait what? Ted leaves the barrier all the time.

    ¡°That is because they intend to return. Leaving the barrier with the intent of never coming back can only be done once every 10 years and since the area around this town is so dangerous most inhabitants don''t even bother attempting to leave since moving through these mountains with a lot of stuff will just end up getting you killed. You would have to go light.¡±

    So why would you move here if that is the case?

    ¡°I fell in love!¡±

    I see.

    I totally didn''t understand what she meant by that but I decided to keep the conversation on track.

    Charlize started chucking wind blades at me while I was dodging them. I had my sword out but I didn''t see any need to use it yet since I still wanted more information on this barrier. Leaving this town could become a royal pain because of that barrier if what she said was true.

    Isn''t that barrier a big inconvenience then?

    ¡°Not really, people take cargo off the hands of merchants on the foot of the mountain so that is not an issue, and most of the people here don''t want to leave or don''t think it''s worth it. Besides, the barrier protects us from giant bears, flying wolves, and mountain trolls.¡±

    But there is one inside the barrier right now!

    A huge wind blade got shot toward me and I barely dodged it.

    ¡°You really know how to push someone''s buttons, you know?¡±

    Thank you.

    Charlize dashed towards me augmented with wind and made wind-based claws appear on her right arm.

    ¡°That wasn''t a compliment!¡±

    I easily parried the claw dash and jumped back. The amount of power behind that blow was no joke! I should parry only when I have no choice. At this moment she wasn''t fast enough that I couldn''t react with evasive maneuvers.

    So, what about if I wanted to leave and set up a blacksmith shop in a big city like Jubra?

    ¡°Haha, I''ll never allow you to leave! But you couldn''t leave even if you wanted to! You guys will still be stuck here for 5 years and that is enough time for Kanna to seduce you!¡±

    I don''t think any amount of time is enough for her to seduce me.

    The air pressure increased and I started to feel bloodlust again. Woops maybe I should stop talking.

    Charlize lunged at me again and I dodged. She picked up speed and even though we were indoors there was a strong wind. I looked back at where Gregory is supposed to be fighting Cecilia and it seems he was successfully trolling her and avoiding a direct fight.

    Guess I should stop messing around. I wonder if I could get away without injuring Charlize but since she is so strong, I should go all out.

    I focused and activated my Elgards eyes. I made sure my eye color wouldn''t change with a mild illusion. Charlize, who was rushing at me again, noticed that my attitude towards the fight changed and she broke off her rush to stay at a distance.

    This didn''t make any difference to me; I circulated nature energy towards my feet since I wanted to minimize the usage of magic and slashed her wind claws.

    Charlize, who did not see what happened exclaimed in surprise. No breaks for her! More wind slashes got sent toward her. I didn''t use any wind magic, just the swing of my sword created a pressure wave. She met that attack with a wind blade of herself and we proceeded to throw wind blades at each other.

 Chapter 3: Charlizes point of view

    What the heck is going on?! This can''t be real! A 12-year-old boy is matching me in a fight?! How is this possible?

    I glanced over at Cecilia, but she''s struggling against Gregory too. No matter what I do, Agnis effortlessly dodges and seizes every opening I leave. Is this the same kid I wanted to marry my daughter off to?! And why is he so fast? I can barely keep up with him with my eyes!

    Thank goodness he''s not attacking, but I don''t understand why he''s just calmly observing my every move. It''s like he can see every move I make before I even make it. No counters, and no follow-up attacks. Is he just buying time? For what?!

    Gregory seems to be doing the same thing. I have no idea what''s going on, but it looks like Cecilia is fighting a ghost. Her attacks are hitting empty space! I can''t believe I have no idea what these two boys are capable of. They''re just supposed to be a blacksmith boy and an alchemist boy!

    I tried to make Agnis pass out by dropping the air pressure, but it only sped him up. He tried to slash me, but he slowed down mid-slash, allowing me to dodge it.

    This happened over and over again. I''m convinced he doesn''t want to hurt me. I triedto counter, but failed every time. I don''t want to damage the surrounding area, but I''ve already done so.

    Is this his plan? To make me destroy this place and pin the blame on me? That would be rightfully so, but I don''t think that''s his plan.

    ¡°Aaargh! I''ve had enough!¡± Just then, I hear Cecilia shout.

    A lot of water droplets formed in the air, and before I could even stop her, numerous water lances shot toward where I assume Gregory was. The impact made a lot of water splash around, flooding the mall.

    I realizedvthat I made a grave mistake when I took my eyes off someone as fast as Agnis. I felt a strong impact on the back of my head, causing my vision to blur, but I managed to retain consciousness.

    Shit, the blow wasn''t heavy enough. The games and tv make it seem so easy... Agnis said as he looked at his hand.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    I was determined to protect myself and create some space. I planned to create an air barrier around me, but I almost lost my balance.

    My feet were frozen to the ground and I had a strong, unsettling feeling that everything was going according to their plan. I was unable to break free from the ice shackles, so I channeled my mana to my feet in an attempt to melt the ice. But as I did so, an elementless magic blast flew at me.

    I quickly retrieved the magic I had sent to my feet and used it to block the attack with a wind barrier. The weak elementless attack was merely a delay tactic to keep me from breaking free from the ice. I was not one to be easily fooled!

    I converted my wind barrier into a vacuum, determined to pull Agnis in and hit him point-blank with my Aero Blast. However, he cleverly used the pulling force to gain speed and attempted to hit me with the pommel of his sword. I refused to hurt him, so I expelled air from my lungs and blew him away.

    This time, I did not waste any time and immediately sent magic to my feet to break free. I was met with a massive tidal wave, but I was prepared and created another wind barrier to brace for impact. I waited and waited, but the impact never came. Had I imagined the tidal wave? I searched for Agnis, but he was nowhere to be found.

    "Charlize! I''m so sorry! I lost track of Gregory! And my new shoes are soaked!" Cecilia cried.

    "You did that to yourself though," I replied sharply.

    "But he was so annoying to fight! I couldn''t land a hit on him! Why are these kids so strong?!"

    "I don''t know," I answered.

    The exits were frozen shut, trapping us in. As a wind user, and Cecilia being a water user, we were stuck until the ice melted. Cecilia tried to forcefully melt the ice, but it was a slow process.

    "Say, Cecilia? How high would you rank Agnis'' water affinity?" I asked.

    "Hmm, let''s see," Cecilia thought for a moment. "I think it''s hard to say because he is still young and inexperienced in battle, but judging by the strength of this ice, I would say A tier isn''t too far-fetched."

    "Wow, that is quite high. So, a blacksmith with high water affinity. I wonder if he''s being taught the wrong profession. So, what happened with your battle against Gregory? It seemed like you were fighting against nothing." I asked.

    "Charlize, listen," Cecilia replied tearfully. "Whenever I tried to attack him, it looked like something was creeping up on me from behind. I kept seeing shadows in my eye corner, so I responded by attacking it! But there was nothing! But whenever I ignored it, I kept getting hit by stuff! Gregory didn''t move a lot, so I don''t know if it was his doing or not! So, I got annoyed and blasted the whole area!"

    "Well, that ended up with me getting my feet frozen and my moves restricted!"

    "I''m sorry!"

    "It''s fine, thank you for cancelling the big tidal wave."

    "What? I thought you cancelled the tidal wave with your wind wall," she replied in confusion.

    "Huh?" Cecilia and I looked at each other in confusion.

    When I returned home after three hours, I noticed I had a deep, yet thin cut on my left arm.

 Chapter 4: Sewer Investigation

    That was a nice illusion at the end you had me fooled too. I freaked out like crazy. Gregory said as he was panting.

    Well getting you to freak out adds to its authenticity. I said as I gave a thumbs up.

    So, we escaped one water hell to escape through another one. I can''t say I''m very happy with how today has been going. And besides that¡­ What is this smell?!

    Well, it''s a sewer after all.

    My nose! Sometimes it sucks to have a good sense of smell, in cases like this and when Raishin forgets to shower! Gregory pinched his nose.

    I''m in the same boat but there is nothing we can do about it now. We kept running through the sewers until we got to a sewer crossroad where Gregory and I had to split up.

    Greg, you go to the right here and you go up at the third manhole. It will put you 1 block away from your place but you can never be too careful.

    You really know the whole sewer system by memory, don''t you? I don''t know if I should be impressed or sad for you. How did your sword test go by the way? Gregory covered his nose with the sleeve of his coat

    Hmm, it went well, maybe it went a bit too well. I almost cut off Charlize¡¯s arm.

    Well, your ¡°failed¡± projects can skin and chop up a boar mid-air so I''m not surprised.

    Well, the thing is my blade didn''t touch her, the little bit of air around the blade when I swung it did.

    How is that even possible? Anyway there is an easy solution for that!

    What is it?

    Start sucking! You make us all look bad!

    Well, not my fault your focus lies on non-offensive techniques!

    You''ll see one day it will save your ass and you will be thankful!

    I''m sure about that, I will be counting on you for that!

    I''ll do my best not to get captured, you should do the same! Gregory waved and ran towards his right turn. He slipped and fell, cursed, and continued running. I thought back to the fight I had with Charlize. There were numerous instances where I could have defeated her but this would end up in her getting gravely injured. Fighting opponents that I don''t want to hurt shouldn''t be done with swords. I didn''t even touch her yet almost managed to cut off her arm. I got more options for life-or-death battles but otherwise, I didn''t have more to work with. I walked towards the manhole I needed to exit. It was about an hour till midnight, prime time for green sewer rats but I didn''t see any. It reminded me of earlier today when a lot of sewer rats rushed by and ignored me. The direction they came from earlier today drew my attention and I checked the area out. Nothing stood out.

    The weakness of my Elgards eyes is that I have filters for various things. If I don''t know what I''m looking for I can easily miss it since I don''t have the correct filter for it. I have some standard ones that I use to check out. The most recent filter I added was one that could see this strange energy that seemed to be everywhere but also in everything. I looked at my hands and saw them faintly coursing inside me.

    Filters showing myself in the third person perspective got added, I also added an eagle eye perspective which lets me know where I would be if I was on the surface, another one which allows me to view myself from way behind and way in front. I don''t know what is going on but I don''t want to get surprised by whatever is going on.

    I equipped my sword which I called Wind Cutter. I know I suck at naming swords but I have the feeling I won''t keep this one for long because I''m working toward a more permanent sword. But I will work on my naming sense for swords in the future! With sword in hand, I followed the sewer towards the area the sewer rats fled from. It was a long walk and I was getting close to leaving the town. There were no turns or splits in the sewer, just one single sewer line, so I couldn''t have mistakenly gotten on the wrong trail but so far, I didn''t find anything that could pose a threat to sewer rats. I also haven''t seen any sewer rats since earlier today. I looked around for heat signals but the only ones were on the surface and myself here in the sewer.

    The first sewer rat heat signature I saw was 5 km toward the town, close to the town center. I wondered how far this sewer line was going. This was certainly not normal. There were no houses above me so why is there a sewer line here? Is there a facility that deals with sewer water this way? Not that I know of. I started to become nervous because everything was a bit unsettling. It was midnight by now. I''ve been walking for an hour. As I was about to decide to go back, I spotted something. About 400m in front of me the sewer line changed. My bird''s eye view told me I was getting close to the Umbra Mountain range.

    Our town was in the mountains on a plateau so I want to say it would be the base of this mountain range but since we''re already elevated by about 3500m I don''t think that is correct. But from my perspective, it is the foot of the mountain. I approached the area where I saw that the sewer line changed and as I got closer, I saw a barrier on the line where the sewer line transitioned into some ancient-looking waterway. I wondered why I didn''t see the barrier earlier but I remembered for some reason it only became visible when someone passed it for a short period or if you got close to it.

    Gregory and I have left the barrier multiple times to gather ore so I did know this, I just forgot it since I wasn''t expecting the barrier to reach this far. I looked back and determined that I was about 7 km outside the town. Did the barrier scale dynamically in size trying to keep people inside it until a certain distance was reached from its centre? What even was the centre of the barrier? I realized that I actually didn''t know much about this barrier. Hmm? I should investigate this barrier after I finish this investigation. I remember the magical signature of the barrier before I pass through it. The moment I pass through the barrier, various magical signatures start to appear in my sight.

    Hmm I see, this barrier can hide magical signatures. I wasn''t talking to anyone specifically but sometimes I just talk to myself. The waterway continued on. Who built this? Something resembling an exit neared. What I saw shocked me. The waterway exited in a large room. It wasn''t a room since I was under a mountain now so it was a cave. It was easily as big as Boshi town. So, this room was really big and the waterway exited inside this room creating a small waterfall.

    Around the perimeter of the room, I saw multiple of such waterways exit into this room. I was relatively high up. I looked down and I saw something that looked like a big temple and... Well, color me surprised, next to the temple I could spot a no winged dragon. It seems to be sleeping. If no winged dragons were not common where I come from, I would probably be excited or terrified. But I got more curious. It looked like an earth dragon so at least it made sense for it to be underground but as far as I knew they would make their own lairs and more closely to magma. I scanned for heat signatures but the hottest thing in this room was me.

    I cooled myself off with ice in case anything else could sense heat. My body temperature changed to about the same temperature as the ambient temperature to at least be invisible to heat sensing. I applied stealth and illusions on myself and jumped down. A split second after I jumped down, I realized that this was quite a dumb move. It was about a 100m drop... I should''ve tried to climb down. At least this was faster, is what I thought, but I seemed to be falling quite slowly. I made a splash in the water. The dragon woke up and looked up but I stayed underwater. It is a good thing I didn''t bring Gregory; he probably would''ve been completely done with anything water-related by now.

    The dragon seemed to still look around. Something about its behaviour gave me a reason to think that he was agitated by something. That something was probably me but in general, dragons don''t need to be afraid of anything. They are really powerful. I swam behind the dragon and surfaced. The water should have gotten rid of my scent and my stealth and illusion should have prevented me from being detected. Unless it used wind magic to detect entities then I''m screwed. I should find a way to deal with that in the future. I went through various filters and checked out what I could learn from this dragon. Yup yup, it would completely destroy me in a battle but hey it seems some form of crystallized energy is lodged in its side. It happened to be that same energy I seem to see everywhere. I really should give it a name someday. This crystallized energy mass seems to really fuck up the dragon''s energy balance as a whole since it doesn''t like to interact with mana, so the dragon''s mana is getting vaporized.

    An interesting interaction, less so for the dragon. I didn''t have much experience interacting with dragons. I did know they spoke a different language than the standard Kaledonian which seemed to be the main language spoken on this continent. A bunch of countries decided on a language that would make communicating with other countries smoother. In Hourai we speak Hourai well but it is a heavy dialect of Kaledonian. I say heavy dialect but it''s more based on ancient Kaledonian since my mother is over 3000 years old. She made our empire in a dimension similar to ours about 2500 years ago and spoke Kaledonian just like everyone down here. It is just that what we speak hasn''t change much from how it was spoken 2500 years ago and over here it did change. I''m getting side-tracked, what I was trying to say is that dragons spoke their own language. Since I decided to speak to the dragon with sincerity, I dropped my stealth and illusions and showed my tails and ears. I started talking to him in Hourai.

    Hello Mr. Dragon, I am Agnis Hourai, I see you have a problem with some crystallized energy in your side, maybe I can help you.

    ¡°???¡±

    Hmm as I thought I couldn''t understand a word It said. At least it knew I was an ally. I knew I should''ve picked up draconian back then when we were still home.

    ¡°??¡± Hmm, it seems you can understand me but sadly I can''t understand you. The dragon sat motionless for a bit and then moved. It startled me because this dragon was huge. It moved until its front claws appeared next to me. I didn''t sense any bloodlust or malice so I just looked on as a claw approached me and touched my forehead. Some strange energy entered me.

    ¡°Hallo hallo? Test 123, can you understand me?¡± These were not the words I expected to hear from a dragon. Yes, I can understand you loud and clear, what did you do?

    ¡°I imparted some of my wisdom onto you, at least related to languages. I¡¯m surprised you''re still conscious, I messed up and instead of just draconian I imparted about 20 extra languages.¡± Oh, I''m kinda used to headaches so maybe I got resistant?

    ¡°Hmm a plausible option, so what are you doing so far from home young nine-tailed spirit fox? Your aura and smell seem familiar, reminds me of some hot phoenix chick I met 3000 years ago. I think her name was Edea. Wait a second, I think I have a picture of her¡±

    Yeah that would be my mother, Edea Hourai. Why do you have a picture of my mother by the way?

    ¡°Oh, so she has a kid now. Well in remembrance of how hot she was, I will help you out!¡± Ignored eh, and you sound like someone I know, do you by any chance know any six-tailed tigers?

    ¡°Can''t say that I do, now what can I do for you young lad?¡± Well, I don''t know, I wanted to help you with that crystalized energy in your side.

    ¡°Oh, so you''ve noticed, this crystallized energy is a thorn in my side, I can feel that it''s there but I can''t do anything about it, I can''t grab it nor does it get affected by magic. And from time to time it pulses, which hurts like hell.¡± Hmm is that why the sewer rats ran away?

    ¡°Sewer rats? Not sure what you''re talking about but every creature would run from a dragon''s roar.¡± I think I can help you.

    ¡°What do you want in return for this young one?¡± Hmm, what can you tell me about this energy? You don''t seem to be able to interact with it but you seem to know what it is.

    ¡°You sure that is all you want? I can''t just send someone with such a hot mom off with just that." Uhm how about becoming my friend?

    ¡°Friend? What is this weak shit! Ask for something more challenging!¡± It sounds weak to you but you see, I get into trouble a lot and I could use a certain earth dragon friend to help me out in need.

    ¡°Hmm on a scale of human lifestyle to challenging the gods, scale, how deep is the shit you get yourself into?¡± Hmm well, our homeland got destroyed and we got sold into slavery, how would that fit on your scale?

    ¡°What?! Hourai is gone? Your mom is gone?!! Unacceptable! You have my word young one whenever you need help just call for me! Maybe I can score brownie points for your mother.¡± I am not sure I should be content with that motivation but I guess we have a deal; I didn''t catch your name though.

    ¡°I am Terovatyr, first brood of Kaledon.¡± Wait you''re the son of the dragon that brought lots of civilizations together and unified them under one language?

    ¡°Yup.¡± Then why the hell don''t you speak that language?!

    ¡°Hey listen kiddo there are some things dragons can and can''t do, we¡¯re not all-powerful! Quite close but not quite there yet.¡± Even though your father made that language?

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°Anyways about this energy¡­¡± Fine, but save the talking for after I got this energy out.

    ¡°They are leyline energy or as it was called in the past: dragon vein.¡± Dragonvein?

    ¡°Hmm yes under the dragons there is a myth that this planet was a colossal dragon who got defeated in a war against the gods. Over time his body began to petrify and became a planet. But its blood which was still running became a form of energy that supported life but more from the shadows. While magic and their energies made the planet flourish, dragon veins kept all these energies in check and influenced phenomena which those energies needed help with.¡± So why can''t dragons use it then?

    ¡°It''s a lost art.¡± Isn''t that a bit too convenient of an excuse? Didn''t the dragons just forget or didn''t bother to learn it just like you didn''t learn Kaledonian? I might''ve been mistaken but Terovatyr showed something that resembled a nervous tick.

    Looks like I hit the mark, unlucky for you I''m not all too unfamiliar with dragons and this just seems like their thing. I walked towards Tero¡¯s side and inspected the crystallized chunk of leyline energy. How did this even crystallize and get in your side anyway?

    ¡°Ok, this is a funny story, So I was just tunnelling through the mountain looking for a snack. I''ve eaten enough mana, ores and rocks so I was looking for something new. And about 20 km away from here I saw something that looked like pink broccoli. I wanted to take a bite but it shot these weird spears at me. And one of those spears is what you see here on my side.¡± So, you, a dragon got defeated by a pink tree?

    ¡°When you¡¯re as old as me you will realize that phrasing is very important! I didn''t get defeated; I made a tactical retreat.¡± Right¡­ and this tree was underground? I asked while attuning to the leyline crystal. I was bracing for the incoming headache but instead, I was met with the words:

    ¡°Help me, this world is on the verge of collapse!¡± Hmm, of those languages you imparted to me by accident would there be any that could be related to leyline energy or Dragonvein?

    ¡°Hmm yes, I think. Ancient draconian is only spoken by me, my siblings, and my father, all other dragons didn''t bother with it. It is vastly different from the current draconian we use as it is starting to become an extinct language. It was said that the colossal dragon who became this planet was from the time of ancient draconian. Even my sire, who is old as fuck isn''t old enough to have lived when this language was widely used. Why did you need it for something?¡± Well, whenever I managed to attune to leyline energy a loud voice in a foreign language would yell in my head, but now it is a soft female voice that says: help me, this world is on the verge of collapse. Quite the clich¨¦ line.

    ¡°Wait, really? Hmm, this is dire, but also amazing. As far as I know, nobody ever has been able to manipulate this energy and certainly never heard the will of this planet.¡± Will of the planet?

    ¡°Yes, as I said there is a myth that this planet came from a colossal dragon so that only makes sense!¡± What are the other 19 random languages you imparted to me?

    ¡°Some languages which were very common when I was a young dragon.¡± So, they are all useless extinct languages?

    ¡°Phrasing young lad!¡± Anyways since you don''t seem to be sure about all of this, I''ll just take this with a grain of salt, thank you for the story time though.

    ¡°Kids these days are so merciless!¡±

    I got distracted by the conversation but now I started to focus. The voice didn''t keep repeating, probably because it knew I understood her. I tried to gently move the crystal out of Tero¡¯s side but my execution was still a bit rough.

    ¡°Yowch! I appreciate you taking this out for me but can''t you be gentler?¡± You might want to dodge that.

    ¡°Dodge what?¡± As usual, when I move a lot of leyline energy it turns into water for some reason, and since this was crystallized energy a stupid amount of water got created and blasted Tero. ¡°Very Impressive! You are very strong.¡± I didn''t do that; well, I did do that but that is just what happens when I move large volumes of this energy.

    ¡°Haha, I did not sense any malice so it''s fine, I needed a shower anyway, thanks for the help.¡± Tero was about to leave when I stopped him. Wait! I have two questions! firstly how do I call for you when I need help, secondly what is this temple here?

    ¡°Oh, to call me you just have to send a message to me with earth magic and this temple is a dungeon.¡± So. you¡¯re into that kind of stuff, eh? Also, I can''t use earth magic well.

    ¡°Nono is not that kind of dungeon! It is like an ancient ruin made by civilizations from before the Great Eraser. These dungeons are filled with treasures, knowledge, and ways to learn forgotten and lost magic. if you send a leyline message I will also be able to find you, probably¡­¡± I had so many questions but I just decided to let it be because it would end up with me getting more questions than answers.

    Aight got it, now shoo, and don''t come near any pink broccoli!

    ¡°Such disrespect! But I will let it slide, for now, I will use this as an excuse to have a lengthy conversation with your mom about your behaviour.¡± You are doing everything to meet my mom, aren''t you? I said as I saw the earth dragon leave. There was no answer but I''m sure that any answer Tero would give would just make my headache worse. Whenever I see Raishin I will ask him if there is a possibility there is a dragon in his ancestry.

    I had two choices now: Investigate the temple or find the pink broccoli. I wanted to do both but I didn''t know if I had the time or energy to do both at this point. Judging from old lady Paula¡¯s warning and the tone Tero talked in it seemed like the pink broccoli was an issue. But treasure, knowledge, and new magic sounds exciting too! Oh, I wish I could do both! Wait I can, can''t I? I remember that Viridian always had clones which allowed him to do multiple things at the same time. There were some downsides to it but I forgot what they were. I also didn''t get taught how to use this so I thought of what I could do and if I could replicate it. Making an illusion of myself wouldn''t work because it wouldn''t be able to perform actions that fall outside my expectations. If I could use 4 layers, I might be able to do that effectively but that wasn''t something that would be similar to the cloning technique.

    I had learned some shadow techniques from Gregory and if I remember correctly Viridian and Hisui also used shadow techniques. It seems that the assassin techniques the Mikazuki family uses were developed by Nadila¡¯s grandfather who was an assassin. So, the assassin techniques I''m familiar with have roots in how the three-tailed shadow cats use their shadows. I switched gears and instead of thinking like a ninetails, I started thinking like three tails. Gregory could make all forms from shadows and technically imbue them with his essence. If I did that, I could probably make a shadow clone, I could then drop some illusion layers on it and give it a nine-tail twist to it.

    I tried it a couple of times and succeeded. Well in theory. It was fully functional but well uhm it didn''t look like me. It was quite malformed. Luckily, I could fix it with an illusion, and voila a perfect? Shadow clone. I''m sure Viridian would give me 4/100 points for this but it''s not bad for something I''ve never learned right? Since I was more interested in seeing the treasure and ancient dungeon with my own eyes, I sent the shadow clone toward the pink broccoli. It was limping a bit but it would be fine! Probably. My specialty is speed so the limping would hinder it a bit but it still should be relatively fast! I think. Anyway enough about the clone, time to raid this dungeon!

    Is what I wanted to do but there is a problem. The temple is locked. It has ancient symbols on it and because of Tero''s mistake, I recognize most of them. But the words and their order of them don''t make any sense. Did Tero double mess up and attach the wrong definition and meaning to these words? Or did the ancient civilization mess up? Am I messing up by misinterpreting them? All these possibilities of mistakes made my head hurt. I decided to believe in Tero for once and assumed what I know of this language is correct, the ancient civilization probably wouldn''t mess up their own language so the problem is me. Are there double meanings of these words? I went through everything I knew about this language in my head. As far as I can tell there are quite some words that have double meanings or more and I know these too, so it isn''t an oversight. There was only one word that had a double meaning, I read it as "past" but it could also mean "reverse". I thought about it and tried an idea that I had. Maybe nothing makes sense here not because I am messing up but because this is intentional and it is a puzzle to test the so-called invaders'' skill in their language.

    The words I read were: past, new, forgotten, heaven, written, and dwarf. These words made no sense but if this was a puzzle then the word "past" which has another less frequent meaning as "reverse" could be the clue. I reversed the symbols making the words and I only got gibberish. I reversed the order of the words; yeah this isn''t going to make it make more sense. I was thinking that the requirement for entry was quite high, not only did you need to know a dead language you also had to do word puzzles with it so a basic understanding of this dead language wouldn''t even help you. I tried flipping the meaning of these words, the reverse was, in my opinion, the key to solving this puzzle so I will leave this out: old, remembered, earth, spoken, and giant. Hmm, this doesn''t make any sense. But these words reminded me of a story from home. It was an ancient story and it was called: Remember the words of the old earth giant. I got excited because this might be the answer! Since I couldn''t move the symbols, I said this sentence. Nothing happened. I said the same sentence in Hourai. Nothing happened. How could I be so stupid as I slapped my forehead, of course, I have to say that in the ancient language! I butchered the pronunciation a couple of times before I got it right. In this language, it combines a lot of tones that get followed up by other weird tones to pronounce. Not exactly a tongue twister but it comes close to one. Nothing happened again. Hmm, I was sure this was correct, did I still mess up the pronunciation?

    I thought back to the title of the story, maybe it had an alternative title that used the same words but a bit differently, like ¡®Don''t forget the words of the ancient earth giant¡¯ or ¡®Remember the sayings of the old earth giant.¡¯ I tried all versions I could come up with, of course butchering the pronunciation of them multiple times before I got it right. But nothing happened. I started to get frustrated. I was hoping I could wrap all this up swiftly but I''ve been trying to solve this puzzle for about 2 hours now. I checked on my clone but oddly enough I couldn''t find it. Did it go back inside the barrier? The barrier was a pain in the ass because it seems to block many functions of my Elgards eyes. I could try to force them to look through it but it will be very draining and I don''t know what is in this dungeon. I decided to let the clone be and focused on the puzzle in front of me. Maybe the clue wasn''t this story. Then it dawned on me! Maybe the title of the story is a question asking for an answer. I try to remember the story. But it has been so long. There was a life lesson in the story. I racked my brain but I couldn''t remember the important details of the story. I decided to telepathically contact Gregory. Gregory has a great memory, sometimes it looks like I have a good memory too but that''s because I store energy in a mental archive, I created with one of my fox tails. If I don''t know if I saved any information in the archive, I can''t retrieve it and remember it. I didn''t seem to have anything related to this story in there so I asked Gregory.

    Yoo Greg, remember that story that''s called: remember the words of the old earth giant? Ooh, that''s an old one, the official name is ¡®Don''t forget the words spoken by the ancient earth colossus.''

    Do you remember the life lesson in it? Are you cooking up a weird strategy that needs this story? Hmm not really, I just remembered this story.

    Hmm well, the life lesson goes as follows: Fire begets destruction, water begets decay, wind begets asphyxiation, lightning begets disintegration, and earth begets bloodshed but nature will act as a balance and keep the elements in check. It is a lesson to help you control your magic if it gets too strong or goes berserk. Not everyone has an affinity for nature energy but every living creature can learn it and gain proficiency at it will automatically calm down whatever element spirals out of control. Did you remember this because you want to apply this to your fire magic? Hmm not really but that is a great idea, thanks, Greg. Did you arrive safely?

    You know that was almost 5 hours ago, right? You don''t mess up time like this unless¡­ are you doing something dangerous again? Uhh, I have no idea but it can''t be more dangerous than Charlize so I will be fine.

    Hmm sure, I''ll just make some healing potions and concoctions to cure various status ailments when I have time. Wow, no faith in me, eh?

    You are wrong, I have complete faith in you getting into trouble and returning with some exotic status ailment, I have known you for too long to be wrong in this. Have you heard from Raishin yet?

    Hmm, not really after his so-called rescue he seemingly just disappeared. I am just warning you in front, I have found 2 instances that indicate that something big might happen soon, firstly according to old lady Paula, the animals around and in the town are restless, secondly, I found a no-winged dragon under the Umbra mountain range who got wounded b that strange energy I kept seeing, according to the dragon it¡¯s called leyline energy or dragon vein. A pink tree shot a spear at it. It must be a big deal because anything that can wound an earth dragon like that is no joke.

    Pink tree? According to Pietro, the tree creating the barrier is pink. Wait, you know about the source of the barrier?

    Yeah, he got called to inspect it half a year ago, something seems to be amiss with it at least back then. Pietro came back and told me a bit about what he did but he didn''t disclose if whatever was wrong was fixed. Hmm well judging from the fact that it almost one-shot an earth dragon I think it didn''t get fixed or maybe even got worse. Also, on top of this, whenever something big and bad is about to happen Raishin always acts odd and randomly disappears.

    Yeah it is like he feels it coming way before any signs appear. Hmm well, I did see weird fluctuations in leyline energy but since I''m not that attuned to it, I have no idea what it means, over the last year it has become denser but it also feels like it was charged with a certain. Feeling. But now I can sense it more easily. The energy is charged with the feeling of despair.

    Hmm, that''s not good. I will start storing energy then since it seems we will get into deep shit sooner or later. I doubt you will see Raishin but if you see him tell him to start preparing for the worst, Ted comes back tomorrow, right?

    He comes back today at around dinner time. Ok let''s discuss it together tomorrow morning then, I will also tell you guys what I''m about to do here.

    You better not die on me! I''m quite attached to living so I will do all in my power to stay alive. Good, there is something I want to talk to you about since I''m also investigating something but that can wait till tomorrow, cya in the morning.

    After closing the telepathy link, I looked at the temple door again. The life lesson Gregory told me about could mean two things, Either I had to recite what Gregory told me. There would be no mistake in this because Gregory rarely forgets or misremembers stuff. Or had to hit the 6 words with the corresponding element. ¡°Heaven¡± should be hit by earth magic that one was clear. Since the word ¡°past¡± was the clue to the puzzle and probably connected them all these needed to be hit by nature energy. So, all that was left were the words new, written, forgotten, and dwarf. I recited the answer, this time by only butchering the pronunciation twice. No reaction, so all that was left was hitting the words with the correct element. If this didn''t work then I was out of ideas. Since I was partly a phoenix, I associated fire with rebirth so I would assign ¡°new¡± to fire. I wanted to assign ¡°written¡± to air since its reverse was ¡°spoken¡± and words are basically air but I wasn''t sure if that was the correct way to go about it.

    Only the words ''forgotten/remembered'' and ''dwarf/giant'' were left for water and lightning. I remembered a prank I did in Hourai in which I zapped some bully and it caused him to forget parts of his day and the day before so I felt forgotten when lightning leaves water with dwarf/giant. I didn''t have any weird justification for this one since there was only 1 left. Did I make a mistake somewhere? I could swap earth to giant and dwarf but then Heaven/Earth was open. Would that one be air then? I decided to just go with what I had for now. If I made a mistake in these elements I could hopefully try again. I was considering that there might be a mechanism that would attack me if I got it wrong. I hit the words with the elements and made a frost shell around me in case something would attack me. The words lit up in colors associated with the elements I shot at them and the whole place started to rumble. I looked around with my Elgards eyes to spot where the threat was coming from. The rumbling continued a bit before it stopped. Hmm maybe the mechanism is broken, this place is ancient after all. I turned around and saw that the door to the temple was open.

    Whoa. I can''t believe I got it correct, even though I picked some elements randomly. Maybe the ancient civilization had a thought process just like mine. Haha, that''s impossible, I thought as I entered the temple.

 Chapter 5: Temple of the crumbling corundum

    I walked in and the whole interior was covered in ruby and sapphire crystals. There were also colorless and brown-colored crystals but the rubies and various colored sapphires were the majority. I spotted some Padparadscha sapphires. The amount of gold I could earn by selling all this would be insane. The door closed behind me and I didn''t know if this was a good or bad thing. I wasn''t great at earth magic or knew much about rocks but all I knew was those crystals growing like this was not normal. Some earth magic must''ve been at work here. I carefully inspected the area first. This place seemed bigger on the inside than on the outside.

    I didn''t notice any living life forms but I did spot some magical lifeforms. Like golems made out of rubies or sapphires. Or easier said Corundum which describes the type of rock ruby and sapphire are. I was wondering if this place seemed to be too easy. I could see every magical life form on this floor, there seemed to be multiple floors. I could only see 4 floors down without extra effort. I also spotted various traps and possible secret passages and doors to treasure rooms. Is this way too easy or am I just perfect for this stuff? I would admit my Elgards eyes are quite overpowered and since at no point in history it was very common, I assume there was never a thought to counter it. I thought a bit longer if I wasn''t making some newbie or obvious mistake but I couldn''t come up with anything.

    I did hit a problem though. The lifeforms on the 4th floor seemed tough. They probably wouldn''t be able to land a finger or well I guess rock on me but defeating them seemed like it would be a challenge. I thought of my skill set that could deal with it. I could melt them with fire magic, I wouldn''t need to hold back down here. But besides that, nothing else would probably deal well with a crystal-based magic life form. Well, earth magic would be perfect here but I sucked at that.

    Can my new sword deal with them? I was a bit concerned because corundum is one of the hardest minerals out there just below diamond. It was the second or third hardest mineral but I only remembered that there isn''t much stuff harder than corundum. It would be a better place to test my skills and sword out than against a living being with kids. A golem wandered towards me. It didn''t seem to have noticed me yet.

    My first test was to check if they would be hostile toward me. It seemed to have spotted me but it just continued its patrol. Am I not perceived as a threat or intruder to it? I waved at it, tried to block its path, and draw on it. But it didn''t pay attention to me. This was a little bit disappointing; I was expecting some exciting dungeon experience but if they didn''t even see me as a threat then I could easily waltz into every room, clear out this place, and leave without a scratch. I wanted to fire some bloodlust at it to see if it reacted but I stopped myself. I should first gather some shiny sapphires and rubies before I possibly get locked into battle! I fetched a pickaxe from my dimensional pocket, which I still had from when I went gathering ore with Gregory.

    Two swings was all it took for the metal to shatter on the crystals. Right hardest mineral besides diamond, I forgot. This is quite the corund-rum. I bet Ted would love this pun. To mine diamonds, they use diamond-tipped tools if I''m correct, so if I can make this golem smash into these crystals they should break. This brings me back to my first problem.

    Why don''t these golems attack me?! The golem looked at me and continues its patrol. I refused to leave this place without at least a couple of tonnes of rubies and sapphires. I walk over to the golem and tried to lift it and throw it at the crystals. Obviously, that failed because the golem was heavy as fuck. I tried to push it, but it just continued walking while pushing me easily.

    Ha, truly a worthy opponent! I said that but I was already exhausted. Maybe this was their strategy! They tire me out by doing nothing! The ancient civilization was on a completely different level! I tried provoking the golem and making ¡°your momma¡± jokes.

    Yo momma is so fat, when she fell, she shattered a sapphire! Hmm, still no reaction. Maybe my ¡°Yo momma¡± jokes are terrible. I rested a bit while studying the golems patrol pattern. It seemed to have a certain route it did not deviate from. I was also checking out other golems in this dungeon and most seemed to also follow a fixed path. These seemed to be marked with small rubies embedded in the floor. I was wondering if stealing rubies will allow the golems to follow you since their path seemed to be dictated by rubies alone. This might be important information. Rubies seem to be worth more than sapphires so a regular adventurer would want to prioritize these over the sapphires.

    Although I don''t know what the state was on padparadscha? Paradpasha? paparasha sapphires but those seemed to be also quite valuable. I decided to prioritize the paparazzi stones and leave the rubies be. One or two golems might be easy to fight off but if all the golems in the dungeon got pathed towards me that would be quite a nasty development. Which yet again brought me back to my first problem. How do I get this golem to react to me?! Oh! I tried talking to it in the ancient language belonging to the civilization that built this place. There was no name attached to them so I called them the Corunds. I spoke Corund to the golem but it didn''t really react. I tried giving an order.

    Golem! Smash! The golem showed some resistance but it smashed the floor.

    Hehe, this is so easy. I said but I already wasted almost 2 hours to get this golem to do anything. It did seem to put up some resistance toward the order though. I can just assume that the stronger golems won''t be so easy.

    Golem! About face! Dash! Smash! The golem turned around; it didn''t dash because it was slow as a snail. I waited 10 minutes before it decided to smash. My excitement was short-lived because it missed the crystals, I wanted it to smash. It missed by quite a lot actually.

    Golem! Burn 270 degrees! Smash! I butchered my pronunciation and ordered the golem to burn instead of turn. I was about to correct myself when the golem burst out in flames. Noo my mining buddy! I doused the flames with water magic. As I did that the golem went on alert and some golems on this floor stopped their patrol and seemed to face my direction. My trusted mining buddy started attacking me.

    What? Mining buddy why?! It started casting earth magic and shooting corundum crystals at me. I dodged the machine gun-like barrage of corundum. I saw that it hit the sapphire crystals behind me. I guess this is a more efficient way of mining. 2 more golems appeared and started shooting rocks at me. I easily dodged it and started collecting sapphires and stashing them in my dimensional pocket. I formulated a hypothesis for this sudden attack. The moment I used magic the golems started to attack. It would be a dumb security system if it would only kick in when someone used magic. So, my conclusion was that it did not detect me.

    Since I got nauseous from using magic 5 years ago, I made my internal environment almost devoid of magic. The magic was all stored in my tails which are hidden so I don''t give any magical signature off. Whatever magic I use mostly comes from me pulling in ambient magic with energy manipulation or with frost element. So, since I have no magic signature it was as if there wasn''t anything in front of the golem. I dodged more flying rocks and crystals and cut the 2 new golems in half. I made sure to hit their core so they wouldn''t get back up. I was reluctant to cut down my mining buddy because we had a bond. Even though it was mostly me trying to get it to mine sapphires for me and it mostly ignored me.

    I let my mining buddy mine everything in this room before I realized something. Will these golems even notice the rubies if they are stashed in my dimensional pocket? I threw a ruby to the side and my mining buddy dashed at it and smashed it. Oh, so now you can dash, eh?

    Golem! Burn 500 degrees! The golem started to burst out in flames again. Hmm, can I melt these golems without using magic? What temperature does corundum melt at anyway? Mining Buddy seemed relatively fine, it kinda looked a bit cool, and the fire looked a bit like it had hair. I wanted to bring it along with me but that would be quite hard if it kept attacking me. I kept dodging its attacks while thinking.

    Golem! Stop! Follow me! The golem stopped attacking and stood still. It presented a ruby to me. Hmm, you can only follow me if I carry this? Alright. I took the ruby and walked around; the golem neatly followed me. I checked the area but no golems seemed to react to this ruby...I picked up a random ruby and walked around with it and even though it was subtle, all the golems on the floor seemed to either follow it a bit or their movements seemed to be linked to the ruby I picked up. I put the ruby in my dimensional pocket and the fixation the golems had on it seemed to disappear. Now before I really could start my exploration, I should make sure that I don''t get an army of golems listening to my orders. I only need 1 mining buddy and I''m not a fan of crowds.

    Golem! Name Change! New name: Eric! I hoped that this would work.

    Eric! Smash! Nothing happened. I wanted to give my mining buddy a name. Maybe Eric wasn''t a Corund name.

    Golem! Name Change! New name: Bunai! The golem didn''t seem to react.

    Bunai! Smash! Mining buddy smashed the ground.

    Hahaha, I''m a genius! Let''s go Bunai!

    As I walked toward the next chamber. But Bunai stood still.

    Ah right, Bunai! Follow! And Bunai followed. The next room wasn''t really special; it had more golems, a more complex but still simple path to progress, and a lot of rubies and sapphires. I could easily dispatch these golems but I drew inspiration from a series I watched as a kid. It was about some guy who caught creatures in small balls and held battles with them. I also felt like a summoner fighting with my summoned creature. Maybe a tamer was more accurate because technically I tamed Bunai.

    Bunai! Dash 30 degrees, right? Turn around! Smash! Another golem was destroyed by Bunai.

    Bunai 3 Golems 0! We were the perfect team; I was the brains and Bunai was the brawns. He also looked super cool with his flaming hair. I cleared the first floor like that. I got various weird booking objects and treasures from this floor. No secret passage was safe! I''m going to completely clear out this place hahaha! There was also a magic scroll between it but judging from its magic it was earth element magic.

    Heroic grade Golemancy? Meh, useless, I''ll give this to Greg. The second floor was noticeably harder. There seemed to be crystals mixed between the corundum that obviously wasn''t corundum. I let Bunai smash them but they turned into monsters that attacked us. They were quite small and fast so Bunai was too slow to deal with them. They were like crystal mimics. Nasty creatures. These things got one shot by me so they were a non-issue, I just wanted to know what would happen.

    Bunai! Turn 40 degrees right! Dash! About face! Dash! Smash! The golems started to get more complicated attack patterns so my list of orders became longer and more numerous.

    Bunai! Block! Counter! Smash! Turn 50 degrees right! Backstep! Block! Smash! If it wasn''t for my Elgards eyes it would be hard to anticipate all the golem attacks and plan ahead. Bunai seemed to be struggling because the golems on the second floor had way higher specs than him.

    Golem! Stop! The golems stopped for like 2 seconds before moving. But that was enough for Bunai to execute my orders and smash the two golems we were fighting. It didn''t finish them off.

    Golem! Burn 1000 degrees! The golems burst into flames but didn''t melt. I knew hard materials had a high melting temperature but I didn''t want to melt all the precious sapphires and rubies lying around here So I carefully ramped up the heat. Since the golems already took some damage from Bunai the heat made a lot of cracks appear on the golems and their corundum exterior shattered. I cut the cores so that they wouldn''t reform.

    Bunai! Burn 100 degrees! I lowered the temperature of Bunai¡¯s hair because I saw what the heat did to the golems. Bunai took quite the beating. He was clearly the underdog here about to rise to the top! Jokes aside I doubt that he will be of any use on the third floor. This was quite the problem. I couldn''t just abandon my mining buddy. Reinforcing him with frost magic would just drain its magic till he would collapse, and reinforcing him with ice might damage him more due to cold shock. I couldn''t use the obvious option of earth magic. Fire would just make him crack unless I would use a specific color of fire. Deep orange flames had the property of reinforcements but they were also quite hot.

    Maybe that isn''t a good idea. Wind and water would probably do fuck-all. Hmm, but is that true? I could use water to soften the blows, Give Bunai a water mantle to protect him from other golem smashes, and make some water rotate around him to add power to his movements. That is what I''m gonna do! I made a water mantle for Bunai and all the golems in the vicinity started going crazy and beelined towards us because I used magic.

    Perfect! Bunai! Hydro Pump! Bunai reacted but just used his regular smash. Hmm, that was to be expected.

    Bunai! Laser Beam! Bunai stopped and started charging.

    Wait seriously?! I dodged for cover because Bunai was half-facing me and I didn''t know how powerful the laser beam would be. Boom! I heard lots of falling and crumbling rock sounds. I looked up and saw a scorched path going from Bunai toward the wall. In its path, there were two golems with their upper half melted off. The wall behind them was glowing yellow-orange from the heat and a lot of molten rock was dripping down.

    Nooo! My sapphires! But seriously how cool! You can shoot lasers! Bunai seemed to be unresponsive. Its magical signature dropped in intensity by quite a large margin.

    Hmm, that''s to be expected that it would take up a lot of mana. There was only one golem left. I got out my sword and went to the golem. I forgot how slow they were because all the time I was being tuned into Bunai''s speed. I tried to cut off the arm of the golem but it was quite hard, literally and figuratively. I jumped back and inspected the edge of my blade. It wasn''t chipped yet but it probably would if I kept this up. Time to apply more speed to my swings. I let the golem walk up to me. I dodged sidewards to avoid its punch and I aimed for the shoulder joint of the golem. It got cleanly cut off but I felt my sword chip. I looked at my blade, it looked quite bad but I could still use it. Since the golem was already damaged by Bunai I covered the golem in water and froze it. The expanding ice made the cracks worse and the golem shattered. I got the core and looked at my sword again.

    Note to self don''t try to cut corundum with regular steel. I stashed my chipped sword and walked over to Bunai. It seemed he was still offline. His magic signature started to become stronger but he was still resting. I walked over to what normally would be a secret door but to my eyes, it was just a regular door. I dodged a clich¨¦ spike trap and hopped into a treasure room. There was just boring gold and silver stuff in here which I stashed away. But on the floor, I saw some text in Corund. Under it, there was a text in a language I didn''t know. This didn''t surprise me because I just got lucky that I could understand Corund so it could be that the next dungeon was in a language I couldn''t understand. But even though I''ve never seen these symbols before, they seemed familiar to me. They also emanate power. The energy they give off is special, it is not leyline energy or magical energy it feels more¡­ primal. It is the first time I feel this energy but I can''t shake off the feeling that it is familiar. I make a mental note of these symbols. There was nothing really interesting in this room. I found another text in another language in the room. It was from another ancient language I knew because of Tero.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    The Corund text on the floor said ¡°Harvest¡± and the newcomer ancient language said ¡°Rock¡±. How strange. Even though it seems nonsensical to me I made mental notes of them because if there''s anything I learned from the entrance puzzle it is that the ancients love puzzles. This text that gives off this primal energy could become a problem though. I came out of the treasure room, almost fell into the spike trap I dodged earlier, and walked over toward Bunai. It seemed he was finished charging and was patrolling this area. His pathing was a bit glitchy though because a part of his pathing needed to go through the part his laser beam melted and the rubies in the floor were messed up in that spot. I inspected Bunai and he was quite battered. I decided to shatter him so he could reform without the big cracks. I did it carefully. I waited for 5 minutes and he reformed. I inspected him again and he didn''t seem as good as new but it seemed good enough.

    There was one more room left before the third floor and I needed a plan to tackle this. The next room had a boss and the golems on the next floor were way stronger than Bunai. I looked down and saw up to the 5th floor. I didn''t know how deep this would go. The first two floors took quite a while because I was robbing the floors clean. Almost any sapphire or ruby crystals were collected by me. I would be rich beyond measure! That didn''t excite me though because we needed funds for after our escape at least for the coming 500 years we wouldn''t have to worry about money. I could see Raishin finding a way to blow through it all in a record time though. As I reach the entrance to the floor boss room, I realize I didn''t think of any plan on how to deal with this boss.

    I wonder if Bunai can one-shot the boss with a laser beam. I looked at Bunai. He seemed fearless. Or just apathetic, I couldn''t tell. If the laser couldn''t one-shot the boss Bunai would probably get destroyed.

    <hr>

    I opened the sapphire gate and gazed inside the boss room. An enormous golem with a ruby chest was standing there. It was easily 10 times taller than me. I couldn''t imagine this thing being fast though. But it was a floor boss! I should assume this thing is as fast as me. As usual, nothing reacted till I used magic. Which was good because this gate was really pretty. It was a nice dark blue but you could still see a bit through it. I took out my chipped blade.

    I''m sorry buddy, but I got to sacrifice you for the greater good. I took some distance and dashed as fast as I could without using any augmentation. I tried to gain enough speed to help me bust down the hinges of this gate. I probably could only take 1 door but that was fine. I slashed at the hinges with all my might. They did break. Do you know what also broke? My sword. It shattered into a million pieces. Well, I didn''t count them but you know what I mean. The door started to fall but I started to see a problem.

    Bunai! About face! Dash! Stop! Bunai managed to dash away just in time to dodge a massive sapphire door falling on him.

    Oof, I almost assassinated my mining buddy. Now I need to get this door in my pocket dimension. I opened it big enough for it to fit the gate.

    Bunai! Push! Bunai started pushing but it went slow. I helped him out but I don''t think I made it go any faster.

    Ok, screw this, Bunai! About face! Laser Beam! I made Bunai face the boss and shoot his laser beam. At that moment I used water magic to lift the gate into my pocket dimension. I also made a big lens made of clear ice in front of Bunai. My goal was to focus the laser beam with the lens and hit the boss'' core. Bunai shot his laser, which got focused on the boss'' core, and¡­ it went right through it. The laser beam was ruby red and it looked quite cool.

    Hmm, this is surprisingly easy. The boss collapsed and crumbled. I made a mental note that focused lasers are overpowered. Bunai was offline again, but it seemed it had less magical energy than the last time. Hmm seems his next laser will deplete his mana. This is bad. if Raishin was here he could feed it mana. I''m only on the second floor but it seems my firepower has already dropped by a lot. It took Bunai 20 minutes to recharge. I was looking around but didn''t see any treasure.

    What is with this shitty system?! What boss does not drop any loot? I feel scammed! Imagine if I was tryharding this boss, had an epic battle, defeated it and it didn''t drop anything. Unacceptable! I need to calm down, this isn''t the last boss. I looked at the pile of molten rock that was the boss a while ago.

    Meh, the boss turned into unusable junk, at least I have more than enough rubies and sapphire by now. I did see a canister hidden in the molten rock. I easily pulled it out and opened it. It seemed to have blueprints of some kind of contraption, it also had instructions on how to make a relic magic hammer and relic magic shield.

    Whoa, this stuff is legit valuable! Magic weapons could compete with magic users these days. A regular person who can''t use magic well but is adept at using a weapon could stand toe to toe or even beat a magic user with a magic weapon. It is called a magic weapon but its magic seems to be different from regular magic, it isn''t super special but they still seem to work when magic is sealed. So, from the stories I heard from Ted, in big cities when entering big public buildings, everyone gets scanned for magic weapons and unless you have a license or some special circumstances you will be barred entry, or your weapon will be temporarily confiscated. Getting a magic weapon is hard because they are expensive and there aren''t many blacksmiths that can craft them and those that can try to drive up the price as much as possible. But now I have access to this craft too! I looked quickly over the material list and my excitement died. It needed a crapload of exotic or rarer materials. However! This wasn''t so bad; some alternatives needed stuff from rare or mythical beasts. This would be relatively doable for me since I stashed whatever I could find in my dimensional pocket. I don''t know what kinds of junk I chucked in there from my early days though.

    I continued looking over the materials and it seemed some key ingredients that were needed were some I found here in this dungeon. Is it possible that farming dungeons would be perfect to get materials for crafting relic magic weapons? Oh, right I forgot the relic part of the weapons. Well, this just means that they are hella strong and closely based on the original version which is, as you can guess, invented by the ancients. You would think over time that technology would improve them but it seems we only went backward. Some events in the past wiped records and almost all traces of history and historians call it the Great Eraser. Quite lacking in inspiration. It seems these dungeons are one of the few things that could let one gaze back toward those times. Since my sword shattered earlier on, I was very interested in creating a sword that wouldn¡¯t shatter at the first random golem I meet.

    Suddenly it felt like there was a lot of stuff I needed to do, get more familiar with leyline energy, work on these ancient languages, and raid dungeons to craft cool weapons. At least I won''t be bored for a very long time. Some materials needed some specific processing but luckily, I know an alchemist so that won''t be an issue. Besides that, we needed to escape this town and find out what happened to our homeland. I found out not too long ago how to break this slave seal but it seems this barrier around the town also needs to be addressed I will only break it when we are ready to escape for safety. Our masters seem pretty nice but who knows what they will do when we escape? I found some stuff Gregory could use and stashed it in my dimensional pocket. Bunai seemed to have finished recharging and started to patrol the area. Yet again with glitchy pathing because, we melted a part of the floor. I looked down at the third floor. All the golems down there seemed to be a great deal stronger than the second floor.

    I looked at Bunai who was still patrolling the boss''s room. Should I make Bunai the new floor boss and head down alone? He won''t stand much of a chance versus those golems. I should also worry about myself since I will have to put in more effort to get out here. It is one of the issues I avoided thinking about and addressing. If I hit the lowest floor, how do I get out? Do I have to walk back to the entrance? I surely hope not! We kinda made a mess out of the second floor so it might be hard to go back through it. I decided to take Bunai with me and see how things go.

    Bunai! Follow! Bunai stopped his patrol and followed me.

    <hr>

    We went down the crystal stairs to the third floor. Arriving on the third floor I noticed that there wasn''t any floor below the 6th floor.

    Six floors hmm, A notable thing about this floor was that there weren''t any secret rooms. There was a secret passage that seemed to bypass a huge spike pit with pointy crystals at the bottom. It had a lot of floating platforms that went back and forth. I assume the intention is to navigate with those over the huge spike pit. There seemed to be various primitive and cliche traps along the wall and on some platforms.

    They want to kill whoever gets in here¡­  So now I have a problem. I wanted to try this attraction park Uhm this deadly trap out for Ummu science. Yes, let''s go with that one. But Bunai won''t be able to follow me through all this. I don''t think I can make him go through the secret passage alone, there were only 2 golems in this secret passage but they would own Bunai without breaking a sweat. Well, golems don''t sweat but it would be an easy win for them. But going through the secret passage with Bunai would be dull for me. There were various assassin skills I saw Viridian perform in the past that could help in this situation but I didn''t know any of them.

    Carelessly trying these out could get me killed. That made me wonder how my shadow clone was doing. I tried to connect to it but it seemed I couldn''t look outside the temple or connect to anything outside it. Telepathy seemed to be blocked. This isn''t surprising to me though. Since I couldn''t body swap with Bunai or trap him in my shadow and release him when I arrived, I decided to leave him here, do the parkour eh I mean go through the trap carefully, and then retrieve Bunai via the secret passage. There were 2 golems on this side, about 4 on platforms in the trap, and 2 on the other side.

    Bunai! Turn 60 degrees right! Dash! Smash! Back step! Uhh, Counter?! Smash! Bunai dashed at the nearest golem as I covered him in water magic to enhance his power and not get one-shot by these golems. I made sure that I used just enough magic to only put the two closest golems on alert. Bunai landed his smash but the enemy golem seemed to not care since Bunai didn''t even scratch the golem.

    Oh shit! The golem smashed at Bunai but the back step command saved him there. Bunai prepared a counter but it failed since there was nothing to counter. He smashed again but he missed because there was some distance between him and the enemy golem. The second golem was approaching so things were about to get spicy. The second golem suddenly started dashing at Bunai.

    Bunai! Turn 90 degrees right! Dash! About face! Dash! Smash! Bunai Dashed out of the golem''s path with milliseconds to spare. The second golem crashed into the first golem, this seemed to damage both of the golems. Bunai turned around and smashed into golem 2 and broke his arm.

    Shit, this isn''t working, Bunai! Retreat! One armed Bunai retreated while I froze the golems together. Hmm, I wonder if this will work.

    Golem! laser beam! The golems were frozen together facing each other so if they would use a laser beam, they would take each other out. They started to charge their lasers but canceled them when it was about to fire. Too bad but the heat melted them together. The ice also melted but I didn''t need the ice anymore to stick them together. I am sure Ted would''ve been able to come up with a good pun in this situation but I couldn''t come up with anything. As I suspected Bunai is kind of useless on this floor, I could try melting the golems together but I had the feeling I wouldn''t get as lucky as I just did.

    Golem! Burn 2000 degrees! The golems glowed red first before instantly igniting like the golems on the first and second floor; afterward, they ignited and started melting. I made a frost blade and cut the cores. I might have to switch to using fire magic soon if this keeps up. I had more than enough rubies and sapphires so, in theory, I could let loose. But since I haven''t been in a combat situation for forever, I wanted to gauge how well I do in an environment where I can''t just go ham with fire magic. So far, I was quite disappointed in myself, Bunai was carrying me quite hard in this dungeon. And now that he can''t compete with the threats here all my options are severely limited, I underestimated this dungeon after all. I don''t like having my options limited so I will use this dungeon as a learning moment. Now before I go and have fun, I mean investigate this trap I want to see how the other golems on the other side would react if I temporarily spiked in magical energy. Since I entered this dungeon, I was in my human disguise but since there was nothing in here besides golems I didn''t need to stay in my disguise, I made all my 7 tails appear which were paired with a magic spike.

    Feels good to have them out after a long time! In the past 5 years, I went from mastering 4 tails to mastering 7. Only need to unlock my last two tails and master them. I could do a lot of nasty stuff with this increase in firepower. Sadly, using too much magic would still make me nauseous and this was why Leyline energy was so interesting to me. I haven''t used it a lot but while using it, it feels like it has a lot of potential and can form to my will almost as easily as magic, on top of that it overpowers magic so I could get really powerful If I master it. So, about the golems'' reactions to the magic spike¡­ I''m at a loss for words. Two of the 4 golems that were on the floating platforms are flying at me. Yes flying, they have some jetpack features. Isn''t this cheating? After dealing with them I will check if Bunai has this function. I take a ruby out of my dimensional pocket and throw it to distract the golems. After the golems get temporarily distracted, I form ice spears and throw them at the golems. My aim wasn¡¯t to destroy them but to freeze their jetpack function. I don''t miss with these eyes so the jetpacks got successfully frozen and the golems fell into the pit. I looked over the edge and saw the golems running into the wall trying to fire their jetpacks and trying to get up here. I refroze their jetpacks with frost magic because melting the regular ice and coming at me when I was occupied would be quite unfortunate.

    Bunai! Use uhh what is the Corund word for jetpack? Hmm, Bunai! Fly! Bunai reacted but nothing happened.

    Bunai! Take to the sky! Bunai! Levitate! Bunai! Fall upwards! Nothing I tried made Bunai fly. What was this golem racism? Giving floor 3 golems jetpacks but not the floor 1 golems! The ancients were jerks. Anyway I spiked yet again in magic and the other two golems that were patrolling the floating platforms flew at me. I disabled them the same way that I disabled the other 2 down below in the pit. They can have a wall-running party down there. Now that there won''t be any F3 (floor 3) golems bothering me I can start exploring.

    Bunai! Standby! Bunai seemed to fold itself up and looked like a pile of corundum now. It seemed to slowly recover magic in this state. I hop on the first floating platform that floats by and start to map the most dangerous ehum most interesting route over these platforms. I wouldn''t take any unnecessary risks but I wanted to make sure I know what this dungeon has in store for me going forward. After planning the perfect route, I started hopping from platform to platform. I turned off the filter in my eyes that detected the traps to make the experience as authentic as possible.

    It is important that I can also react without the correct filter on! This is important for the future! I''m not seeking a thrill here or anything. I dodged a spike trap that appeared on a platform I wanted to hop to by grabbing the edge of the platform with one of my tails. At the same time, some rocks got shot at me which I deflected with one of my other tails. I swung from platform to platform like a monkey with the help of my tails. I''m sure the ancients didn''t plan for someone swinging below the platforms since there were no traps on the bottom of these platforms! I grabbed another platform and it flipped around making me lose grip.

    Ok, maybe I jinxed it! I blasted a lot of water downwards cancelling my downwards velocity and redirecting my trajectory sideways and up towards the next platform. I climbed on the platform.

    Yikes, that gave me a scare! I looked back and I seemed to be about one-third in, Bunai was still on stand by and the 4 golems seemed to try to follow me while in the pit but got hindered by all the spikes, which gave me an idea, I can just create frost pillars to block the path of the golems, they don''t seem to be able to deal well with obstructions that don''t give off magical energy. I got up from my short rest. I wanted to try something but it would be quite risky. It was inspired by when we were swimming in the underwater cave 5 years ago. I could try using my tails as propellers and fly! But if this didn''t work then the fall would be quite nasty.

    I looked down and shuddered at the idea of me laying there impaled in the near future. I didn''t have much space to pick up speed but that was not a big problem for me. I jumped and spun my tails as fast as I could physically manage. Using magic would be way more efficient but I didn''t want to trigger the golems on the other side while I had a big possibility of crashing down. I seemed to do well until I messed up and my tails got tangled.

    Oh shit! I created a big bubble on which I landed.

    Phew, ok doing this with seven tails makes it quite easy to get them tangled. I manually detangled my tails and tried again with 4 tails. I used the other 3 tails to balance and steer in the air. I had a grand total of 10 seconds of being airborne before I landed on a platform. This shit is exhausting yo! And not worth it. Now that I knew this was an option it was time to test something else. I took some sandwiches and food out of my dimensional pocket.

    The great thing about being an ice/frost user is that you can even keep your food refrigerated in the dimensional pocket! Although time flows differently there, I don''t know how and what. I''ve been using it since forever but since I''m not sure about the rate at which time flows there I just refrigerate food that can spoil easily. Nobody wants to get stuck in a dungeon with mouldy food. I saw all the shadow liquid vodka I confiscated from Gregory in my early years and got a little homesick. Gregory was the only one who had access to anything that could fill his soul container and gain multiple lives. This vodka was way less effective than the actual potato but it was better than nothing. I cheered myself up and got ready to try out the next thing on my mind.

 Chapter 6: Sewer Investigation II

    That was a nice illusion at the end you had me fooled too. I freaked out like crazy. Well getting you to freak out adds to its authenticity.

    So, we escaped one water hell to escape through another one. I can''t say I''m very happy with how today has been going. And besides that, ¡­ What is this smell?! Well, it''s a sewer after all.

    My nose! Sometimes it sucks to have a good sense of smell, in cases like this and when Raishin forgets to shower! I''m in the same boat but there is nothing we can do about it now. We kept running through the sewers until we got to a sewer crossroad where Gregory and I had to split up.

    Greg, you go to the right here and you go up at the third manhole. It will put you 1 block away from your place but you can never be too careful. You really know the whole sewer system by memory, don''t you? I don''t know if I should be impressed or sad for you. How did your sword test go by the way?

    Hmm, it went well, maybe it went a bit too well. I almost cut off Charlize¡¯s arm. Well, your ¡°failed¡± projects can skin and chop up a boar mid-air so I''m not surprised.

    Well, the thing is my blade didn''t touch her, the little bit of air around the blade when I swung it did. How is that even possible? Anyway there is an easy solution for that!

    What is it? Start sucking! You make us all look bad!

    Well, not my fault your focus lies on non-offensive techniques! You''ll see one day it will save your ass and you will be thankful! I''m sure about that, I will be counting on you for that! I''ll do my best not to get captured, you should do the same!

    I waved and ran towards my right turn. I thought I saw something and got distracted and I misstepped causing me to slip and fall.

    Shit. I stood up and continued my escape through the sewer system. Agnis had informed me that my destination was the third manhole. As I approached my designated stop, I became aware of an unsettling disturbance in the shadows. I had heard of the numerous hostile sewer rats that roamed the area, but the energy flow I was sensing was not of any rat. I reached out with tendrils of shadows to determine the source of the abnormal magic flow. Regrettably, I had not detected this earlier, and Agnis was unable to see anything visually amiss. Nevertheless, I could feel that something was not right. It appeared that Agnis had gone beyond his designated stop.

    Hmm, he might''ve found out something and is going to investigate. I chose to take a moment to reflect and plan my next steps before discussing the strange energy flow with Agnis. My intuition told me that this bizarre energy source could be connected to what Agnis had been observing. I made my way up to the surface, carefully using my shadows to scan the area and ensure that no danger was present. After confirming that the surroundings were safe, I emerged from the manhole, brushing off any dirt or debris that had accumulated on my clothing.

    Pietro is going to ask so many questions¡­ I walked the block toward my residence and was shocked. An individual was waiting in front of my door. I was still in a dark area of the street so I melded with the shadow and moved from shadow to shadow till I got close. The person seemed to be a client picking up a potion. I moved from shadow to shadow and entered the house from below the door. Pietro was inside reading a week-old newspaper. Our town is so remote that the newspapers that arrive here are quite outdated. They are required to know what goes on in the world though. I moved towards my small personal lab. I had a habit of locking it. I moved inside and left the shadows. I moved my equipment around to give the impression I was working here. I don''t have a viable excuse to explain that I got kidnapped by Cecilia so I''m just gonna pretend I was too absorbed in a project to notice the time. Normally I would ruffle my hair and ensure that my appearance looks dishevelled but since I already look like a mess that wasn''t needed. I left my lab and approached the kitchen.

    ¡°Oh, you were inside your lab? I called for you but you seemed to be occupied but man you stink; it smells like an animal died. go take a bath!¡± Please no more water¡­

    ¡°Vera! Gregory doesn''t want to take a bath again!¡± Oh shit! I tried to run but unfortunately, I''m quite slow so Vera, Pietro''s wife caught me easily and dragged me to the washing room.

    Let me go! I can wash myself!

    ¡°You can yes but on some days you just don''t. I don''t know what it is with you and water.¡± I''ve had enough water for today! I will take a bath tomorrow!

    ¡°Bullshit! You''ve been in your lab the whole day!¡± Ugh. I got dragged to the washing room against my will. Will this water torture ever stop? I can''t say my bath was bath-like. It appeared like Vera was trying to drown me and I was desperately clinging on to life. I''m sure it seems like that but that was my truth.

    ¡°Oh Gregory, Pietro, and I will go to the mountains early tomorrow for research, we won''t be home for a long time¡± Oh, again? Have fun!

    ¡°You are thinking that you don''t have to deal with baths if we¡¯re gone, eh?¡± Vera became more forceful in scrubbing the stink out of me. After surviving more water today than any person should have, I retreated to my room. I was exhausted. We always comment on how Raishin seems to have infinite energy but how does Agnis still have the energy to investigate after all the events that occurred today? It would be a mistake to assume that I didn''t do anything, but Agnis had quite a rough day too with him getting chased all over and then dealing with those crazy mothers while dragging me around. He probably is more tired than I am but doesn''t show it. During combat but also outside combat he acts like our glue. He keeps us together but he also makes sure everything works out.

    While Ted is the frontline tank, Raishin is the vanguard damage dealer, and I am half tank but more backline defensive support. Agnis fills the flexible role of being an offensive support and damage dealer on top of controlling the battle flow so that opponents are unable to overpower us by numbers or attacks. He fights either on the frontline or backline whatever the situation dictates. He exerts a lot of energy to make sure we can do our roles properly and he executes various types of battle styles to be as flexible as possible. His choice to use his sword against Charlize was a good example. Both Agnis and I are limited in the amount of magic we can use before nausea sets in, so he has been looking for non-magic forms of combat for when we inevitably get locked in some high-difficulty fights. I decided that I should make a potion to replenish energy and stamina instantly. In the past, he could rely on his mother and sisters with their light golden flames but that option is not viable anymore.

    I started to get a bit homesick when thinking about them. My brother and mother came to mind. We all tried to play it cool but we all missed home. As the team''s anchor, I shouldn''t waver. Agnis recently found out how to break the slave marks so our escape was nearing. We just had to wait for Ted to come back from his martial arts tournament and we had to pick a date. I recovered from my homesickness and got a sewer water sample I got earlier. The disturbance in the magic seemed to be felt strongly in the sewers while up here on the surface it is hardly noticeable. Even though I hated it, it was a good thing Agnis brought me there. Because I would have never picked on this otherwise.

    <hr>

    I purified the water from all kinds of waste without affecting the magic that was dissolved in it. Afterward, I extracted the mana, manipulated and moved it into a vial. During the manipulation, I could feel a sensation that was similar to the one I detected in the sewers. This confirms my accuracy. I manipulated the magic and split it into the most common elements to determine which element was causing an imbalance. I set the fraction aside that couldn''t be split into the 5 most common elements. Out of my sample, 29% was unusable. Of the 71%, there was 32% earth, 23% fire, 4% water, 9% wind, and 3% lightning.

    Hmm, there is a big imbalance here. Whatever was causing this was shifting the balance towards earth and fire. Correcting this balance is going to be a real pain. It would be paramount to get to the root of this problem before it gets worse. I snatched magic out of the air and used the same process as I did before. 25% of the magic was unusable and of the 75%, there was 20% earth, 18% fire, 12% water, 15% wind, and 10% lightning. The ambient magic seems slightly out of balance but in a relatively acceptable range. What concerns me is the addition of more unusable magic in the sample. Generally, this does not increase. The percentage varies slightly from location to location but within the location, it shouldn''t change. Hmm is it possible that the sewers are connected to a completely different area? I hated the idea but it appears that I should return to the sewers¡­

    I took some catalysts and equipment and put them in my backpack. I wished I could store things other than energy in shadows or have Agnis'' dimensional pocket. I put on some boots and a water-repellent coat. I also put a canister of odor-canceling spray in my backpack. I sighed at the thought of going back down there. I mentally prepared myself and told Pietro that I would go out for a bit.

    ¡°You¡¯re going out this late?¡± There is something I need to investigate; I won''t be out for long.

    ¡°Be careful Cecilia came by earlier to look for you, I don''t know why she is so fixated on you but I don''t think it''s healthy for a grown woman to be so fixated on a 12-year-old.¡± I got cold shivers when I heard that Cecilia stopped by.

    I will be careful, Cya! I closed the door behind me and looked around and spread out my shadows when I didn''t sense a presence. Nobody is allowed to tail me. The coast was clear. I went to the nearest manhole, mentally prepared myself again, and descended to the sewers. This time I could clearly sense the difference between the magical flow down here and the surface. I attuned to the magic flow here and caught the flow of the magic. Now the big question is: do I go downstream or upstream of the flow? I spread my shadow deep inside the sewers both upstream and downstream. My shadows pulled some magic out of the surroundings at set intervals in either direction.

    I retrieved them, labelled them, and tested their composition. Upstream seemed to have the most disturbing composition while downstream it seems like the magic slowly is correcting its composition. I drew the hasty conclusion that whatever is causing this is emanating or excreting energy that causes these phenomena instead of pulling in magic and disturbing it. The direction of this flow would bring me to is north of the village. I vaguely sensed Agnis'' energy trail. It was very faint. Anything that wasn''t a three-tailed shadow cat or a nine-tail with Elgards eyes specialized like Agnis would probably have a hard time sensing him. Something was bizarre with this trail; it went north-westward but cut off at a certain point. It seems Agnis got himself into some situation again. I won''t say I''m surprised because I''m probably going to do the same. I guess when both our investigations are done, we will hear the details from each other. Maybe whatever we¡¯re investigating is related. He will do what he can and I''ll do what I can. Now knowing that Agnis was also probably in a sticky or unfavorable situation my determination grew. I went upstream to the energy flow. After walking for 20 minutes, I decided to meld with the shadows and travel within these, it would go a little bit faster and I wouldn''t have to deal with all the water here.

    <hr>

    At around midnight, I noticed that the sewer pipes slowly transitioned into a cave. What was the deal with this? Was it normal for a sewer to just run into a cave? Who planned this town? As far as I know, this town is about 800 years old. Whoever was in charge of building this town must have known about this cave. What was its purpose? It certainly was to keep something hidden. The sewers are maintained by magic with the help of electronium. Electronium is a metal that when hit by lightning magic or electric fields generates magic. This magic gets used to power appliances and magic systems. Its raw version will convert the tiniest shocks into a violent magical explosion so it needs to be processed and made into alloys to keep its properties but do this in a more controlled manner. With an atomic number of 119, it is really heavy but also highly unstable. It gets mined and instantly trapped by some kind of magic or oil so that it doesn''t decay, nor react, and then gets processed into alloys to make it usable.

    I had mined some with Agnis quite a while ago and that metal is a pain to work with. Agnis and I almost got ourselves killed because we were careless and it exploded. Anyways the whole society is dependent on this metal because it makes life so easy. It is just mining it and processing it is quite dangerous but after that, it is really useful and harmless. I hope Agnis doesn''t blow himself up whenever he needs to use eelectronium in his blacksmithing. Now the electronium gets going by using batteries or small lightning spirits. I don''t know much about spirits but I know they can be everywhere but hard to notice. From my experience, their energy feels¡­ transparent. They only seem detectable when you''re close but that''s because this is the range where they can be seen and interacted with, well kind of. Spirits don''t like to interact with corporeal beings. The lesser small spirits sometimes don''t have any choice because they get captured, this does require mages specialized in spirit magic.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    I think Agnis could fill in the gaps in my knowledge of spirits more since he is kind of a spirit himself. The nine-tailed spirit fox race is a bizarre exception in almost anything, they are bizarre for tailed beasts, they are bizarre for just beast kin type in general but they''re also bizarre in being spirits. Maybe I shouldn''t be so surprised when Agnis does something bizarre because nothing about him is normal! And that is not even considering his personality. Anyways the reason why nobody gets down here is because it stinks down here like it seriously stinks here and there''s a lot of water and second there is no need because the electronium system seems to be working fine. If something would be amiss with it someone might get down here but they would only fix it and not go investigating the edges of the sewer system, because really, who cares?

    The cave corridor seems to get wider and the disturbed magic is becoming thicker. The magic feels like I''m wading through water, I hate it. I''m not sure if this feeling is because I''m well attuned to the flow and density of energy or if the magic is just that thick here. It almost feels suffocating. I activated my shadow mantle to protect me from the high concentration of energy. I already started to get nauseous and uncomfortable because some of the magic was entering my system. I expelled the magic from my system to make sure I wouldn''t empty my stomach and continued. A soft pink glow started to illuminate the dark cave corridors which became brighter. I exited the cave corridor and was in a big cave room. It seemed to be natural. What didn''t seem natural was the bigass pink tree in the middle of the cave. Big roots were extending almost everywhere. The tree looked a bit funny though, it reminded me of broccoli. It did look like something took a bite out of it. Also, it seemed like there was a battle here.

    Something big seemed to have slammed into the cavern walls in multiple places. Also, a lot of deep pink energy spears were sticking out of the walls and also on a part of the ceiling. The energy these spears gave off was unlike anything I had felt before. I instinctively know what energy belongs to what whenever I feel a new type of energy but I really can''t place this one. The tree gave off similar energy but not as strong as these spears. I did wonder however what cold produce spears this big and dense in energy. I looked around but it was hard to see the whole cave because this place was enormous. The tree was easily 100m tall and probably 20 m wide. And this cave was big enough to have a town around the tree. There were 3 entrances to this cave from what I could see but there might be some that were blocked by my view because of the jungle of green and dark pink roots covering half the cave and the big tree itself obscuring the vision. One thing was clear though. This tree was responsible for the corruption of magic towards earth and fire element but it also seems to corrupt another type of energy.

    Maybe this is the energy that Agnis kept seeing since that is the only energy type so far, I''ve never been able to feel. But with it concentrated so heavily here I have no choice but to feel it. I''m lucky I put up my shadow cloak earlier because my magical signature could become warped because of this high impure concentration and turn me into some abomination or it could cause magic poisoning, either way, both of those situations would be nasty. I hope Agnis stays far away from this place since I am probably the only living creature here that could survive and tolerate this circumstance. Unless there are some extremely hardy creatures close by. Whatever fought here might have been belonging to those kinds of creatures. I don''t know if the creature that created those spears is still around so I melded with the shadows and moved around while observing the place. It was kind of hard to move about because the whole tree was giving off pink light and so did its roots. So, there were very few places that had shadows I could use to move about. This limited me to the perimeter of the cavern which the roots rarely reached and was relatively dark. Only 6 large roots seemed to leave the cavern while the rest stayed within them. There was also no creature to be seen and if it was still here it did a great job hiding. With the energy density and magical density so extremely high here it was impossible for me to feel out energy signatures from other creatures. After about an hour of investigating I went into a corridor to rest for a bit. I felt a slight soft ringing in my head. It was a telepathic message from Agnis.

    Yoo Greg, remember that story that''s called: remember the words of the old earth giant? Ooh, that''s an old one, the official name is ¡®Don''t forget the words spoken by the ancient earth colossus.''

    Do you remember the life lesson in it? Are you cooking up a weird strategy that needs this story?

    Hmm not really, I just remembered this story. Hmm well, the life lesson goes as follows: Fire begets destruction, water begets decay, wind begets asphyxiation, lightning begets disintegration, and earth begets bloodshed but nature will act as a balance and keep the elements in check. It is a lesson to help you control your magic if it gets too strong or goes berserk. Not everyone has an affinity for nature energy but every living creature can learn it and gain proficiency at it will automatically calm down whatever element spirals out of control. Did you remember this because you want to apply this to your fire magic?

    Hmm not really but that is a great idea, thanks, Greg. Did you arrive safely? You know that was almost 5 hours ago, right? You don''t mess up time like this unless¡­ are you doing something dangerous again?

    Uhh, I have no idea but it can''t be more dangerous than Charlize so I will be fine. Hmm sure, I''ll just make some healing potions and concoctions to cure various status ailments when I have time.

    Wow, no faith in me, eh? You are wrong, I have complete faith in you getting into trouble and returning with some exotic status ailment, I have known you for too long to be wrong in this.

    Have you heard from Raishin yet? Hmm, not really after his so-called rescue he seemingly just disappeared. I am just warning you in front.

    I have found 2 instances that indicate that something big might happen soon, firstly according to old lady Paula, the animals around and in the town are restless, secondly, I found a no-winged dragon under the Umbra mountain range who got wounded by that strange energy I kept seeing, according to the dragon it¡¯s called leyline energy or dragon vein. A pink tree shot a spear at it. It must be a big deal because anything that can wound an earth dragon like that is no joke. Pink tree? I look at the huge pink tree in front of me. Now that I have this conversation, I remember Pietro telling me something about a pink tree. It was creating the barrier, is what I''ve heard. I''ve stumbled on something very important!

    According to Pietro, the tree creating the barrier is pink. Wait, you know about the source of the barrier?

    Yeah, he got called to inspect it half a year ago, something seems to be amiss with it at least back then. Pietro came back and told me a bit about what he did but he didn''t disclose if whatever was wrong was fixed. Hmm well judging from the fact that it almost one-shot an earth dragon I think it didn''t get fixed or maybe even got worse. Also, on top of this, whenever something big and bad is about to happen Raishin always acts odd and randomly disappears. An earth dragon? That could probably be what was fighting here.

    Yeah it is like he feels it coming way before any signs appear. Hmm well, I did see weird fluctuations in leyline energy but since I''m not that attuned to it, I have no idea what it means, over the last year it has become denser but it also feels like it was charged with a certain. Feeling. But now I can sense it more easily. The energy is charged with the feeling of despair.

    Hmm, that''s not good. I will start storing energy then since it seems we will get into deep shit sooner or later. I doubt you will see Raishin but if you see him tell him to start preparing for the worst, Ted comes back tomorrow, right?

    He comes back today at around dinner time. Ok let''s discuss it together tomorrow morning then, I will also tell you guys what I''m about to do here.

    You better not die on me! I''m quite attached to living so I will do all in my power to stay alive.

    Good, there is something I want to talk to you about since I''m also investigating something but that can wait till tomorrow, cya in the morning.

    After closing the telepathic link with Agnis I thought of what he told me. So, an earth dragon was fighting this tree and almost got one shot. This is no laughing matter. Whatever Pietro was tasked with doesn''t seem to have worked at all. What kind of life form can almost one-shot an earth dragon? One of the toughest beings out there. This is ridiculous. I look at the pink tree and am suddenly filled with dread. This tree could make quick work of me if I''m not careful. I''m confident in my defensive abilities but I don''t think I can out-tank an earth dragon. Also, Agnis seemed to have found something outrageous just as I would expect from him. I''m just calling it here but this is probably a prelude to a series of events where we will be doing quite a lot. If this tree is creating the barrier, we need to take it down but judging from the energy it gives off that won''t be an easy task.

    From my investigation, the only thing that I noticed as a matter of importance was that this cave has 16 exits of which one seems to go directly towards Boshi town. That was the path I came from. The other 15 seem to stretch into the mountains. Maybe 1 of these goes towards the lair of that earth dragon. Besides the exits, there are 6 big roots almost as big as the trunk is wide, that leave the cave. They don''t leave the cave at any of the exits you could walk through. They exited through the wall to who knows where. Looking up 4 branches seem to do the same but the rest of the tree seems to be inside this cave. I''m assuming some body of water must be somewhere below because most of the roots don''t extend past an invisible border. I want to investigate it but I''m afraid that might kick in the trees'' self-defence system and I''m too young to turn into a cat skewer.

    I thought back on the story Agnis remembered. Maybe nature''s energy was the key to solving this problem. But out of all of us, Agnis was the most proficient at it and I say proficient but he''s not that great at it. He only can use it internally to expel magic from his system, to do physical enhancements that normally use magic and some minor stuff. Dealing with this bigass tree is probably going to be too much for him or any of us if it comes down to nature energy. Anyway I went around and took enough magic samples so that I could go back to test these. I don''t think that there is much I can do without risking my life. I already had a shitty day so I''d rather not. As I was looking for the passage that goes back towards Boshi town I saw a silhouette limping in one of the other corridors. I got put on alert because I honestly had no idea what I could expect down here. To my surprise, I saw that it was Agnis! We spoke about 20 minutes ago but I didn''t know that he was this close by! He looked beat up and his skin started to show signs of magic poisoning. I rushed towards him to try and apply a magic cloak on him to protect him from the high concentration of energy here when he somehow triggered the tree''s defence system.

    Shit! Agnis, can you fight?!! pulled him aside by extending my shadow. Something seemed off with Agnis and his limping is a bad sign. He can''t use his speed when his leg is that badly hurt. He seems to try and say something but I guess the magic corruption got to his throat and made it hard for him to form words. I managed to cover him with a shadow cloak. This could keep him safe from the high concentration of energy here but we now had a difficult problem. The tree was shooting pink energy spears at us and I''m slow as fuck and Agnis has his speed nerfed because of his leg. Agnis limps away and barely dodges an energy spear. I deflect a spear by making a big shadow claw and swatting it aside. It only moved slightly from its trajectory, tearing through my shadow claw and barely missing me. This was bad. Neither of us could deal with this at the moment. Agnis tried to use water magic but since the high concentration ambient magic desperately needed water to try and restore balance it just got absorbed by the surroundings. Well, that sucked.

    If you use a fire element it should get boosted by the magic imbalance! Just don''t incinerate me in the process! Honestly, I didn''t know if this was a good idea. Agnis'' fire magic was truly terrifying, it would also get boosted here since the magic balance was shifting hard towards fire and earth. If Agnis would use fire magic here could just turn everything into ash. I used earth magic to protect myself. Agnis used fire magic after I shielded myself but honestly, it didn''t do as much as I was expecting. Agnis what''s wrong... At that moment I briefly let my guard down and an energy spear was heading for me. Options flashed through my mind of how to not get one shot but nothing I could think of would be fast enough or strong enough. At that moment I felt something push me away and all I saw was Agnis before he got impaled by the pear.

    Nooo! You can''t die! We have so much we need to still do together. This was bad! I started panicking, the spear went right through him and got lodged into the floor. He couldn''t move because the spear that went through his torso kept him suspended half a meter from the ground. Is this how it ends? I couldn''t even protect my friend. And here I was being proud of my defensive capabilities! What a joke. Tears started to fill my eyes as Agnis melted and turned into a blob of shadows. Wait. This didn''t just happen. I thought back to the moment that he appeared till this point. I can''t say I didn''t notice anything was strange but since it is always hard to sense him and he seemed injured and suffering from magic poisoning I didn''t pay attention to it. But this is a shadow clone, isn''t it? Embarrassed that I got fooled into a sentimental state, I decided to kick Agnis¡¯ ass for scaring me like that when I see him again.

    He seemed to have poured a lot of shadow into this clone which I used to make a big shadow clone of myself, drawing inspiration from Agnis. It got impaled by a spear shortly after but I used the energy of the spear hitting the shadow clone to put up a strong shadow wall and started running to the corridor going towards Boshi town. The movement I could meld with the shadows at the perimeter of the cave I would successfully escape. Nothing can damage me after I''ve shadow melded. There were exceptions but it wasn''t anything I should worry about now since the tree is just spamming spears. The shadow wall got pierced but again I used the energy the shadow wall absorbed to make a stronger shadow wall. This is one of the reasons that shadow cats are strong in prolonged fights. The longer the fight goes on the more energy we can absorb and store. In this case, the length of the battle doesn''t matter since these spears carry a massive amount of energy. This wall got pierced too but that was fine I reached the corridor I needed and melded with the shadow. A spear pierced the wall where I stood a second ago but that didn''t matter. I headed back home through the shadows.

 Chapter 7: Temple of the crumbling corundum II

    I had two ideas; one was to use daggers and wires and another one was to become a bit more serious with using ice and water to move around. I made a lot of daggers but wires were something I also wanted to make. Hera was a weaver so I had some knowledge of how to deal with textiles and I used those skills to make thin yet strong ropes. They were thin enough to be categorized as wires. I applied this technique on some metals and finally got some wires made that were strong and conductive to magic but could also be used to cut through stuff. Quite versatile, which is exactly what I was looking for. There was one problem, they were heavy as fuck.

    I tried carrying some on me in person but the amount I need to be effective in combat made the wires weigh about 30 kg. Yes, nobody wants to deal with that. It''s stored in my dimensional pocket but I''m not adept enough to make them appear out of it and close it fast enough to emulate the usage I''d get out of it if I wore them on me. So, this is the moment to practice! What practice in a place where I won''t fall into a spike pit if I mess up? That makes too much sense! I will be pushed harder if there is some risk involved.

    Since I never really used my dimensional space in any offensive ways, I never bothered to optimize the process of taking things out of it swiftly. Normally it takes me about 3 seconds to open it and 2 seconds to completely close it. I also can only open one instance at a time and I will have to make this faster and make it so that I can open multiple instances of it at once. I retrieved some daggers with rings on the end of the handles on which they could either ride on the wires or the wires can be attached to. I tried to open 2 instances of my pocket dimension to make the wires shoot out of and attach to the daggers. Only one opened and it took its sweet time.

    Hmm as expected it''s not gonna work just because I thought of it. After an hour of attempting this, I finally seem to have sped up the process. Still, only one pocket dimension opened but now it was somewhat fast enough to make me not fall to my death. I shot out a wire to attach to a dagger and threw it at a nearby wall. The idea was that the moment the dagger lodged into the wall I would run or slide over the wire or maybe swing with it like Tarzan. It would depend on the angle and situation, I guess. The moment the dagger was about to hit the wall I started to run and jump on the line. Now here was the mistake I made. The walls are made out of corundum. Remember me saying it was about the hardest mineral out there below diamond? Yeah, the dagger bounced off the wall and I started falling.

    Shit, why does this place keep ruining all my cool ideas by making everything so damn hard! I shot a wire into another dagger and threw it at a platform, this time I made it bounce off from another platform so it would approach my targeted platform at an angle and hopefully pull tension on the wire so I could swing towards it. The dagger connected and I felt tension on the wire. I sent frost magic towards the wire which it conducted beautifully towards the dagger and turned the dagger into a budget grappling hook with frost magic. I swung towards the platform and at the highest point of my swing, repeated this action to swing from platform to platform. I tried to reclaim some height to land on a platform. There were 5 layers of floating platforms. The layer I was on was the lowest but there were 4 more layers of platforms above me. I originally started on the third but I fell down to the first one.

    My goal was to get up toward the fifth layer. I looked up but it was up so high that I could hardly see it with normal vision. I estimated it was about 400 meters up. This third floor seemed to be the biggest floor volume-wise. Maybe the ancients thought they could cut corners by making one floor 3 times more voluminous than the other floors and cutting down on floor numbers like that. I thought it was time to see how far I could shoot these wires. All these times I tried to open 2 simultaneously but only one kept opening. The speed at which this could be done kept increasing but the rate at which it got faster started to slow down. I selected a platform on the third layer to grapple to and shot a dagger with a wire attached to it, mid-flight I turned the dagger into a grappling hook with frost magic, and the moment it connected I melted the wire on my end off and froze that end onto my current platform. The wire had a lot of tension on it and since both platforms were moving, I had to be fast because the wire might snap. I used lightning magic for the first time in a very long time and dashed over the wire to the third floor. I want the lightning magic to carry me upward since the speed of lightning is way faster than I can dash but for now, this is fast enough. I safely arrived on the third layer and looked up to see some platforms from the fifth layer. I heard a grinding sound and then heard something snap.

    Seems I had more than enough time since I was on this platform a good 10 seconds before the wire snapped. Now I could repeat this same action but that would be boring. I shot out another wire and this time a second opening from my pocket dimension opened! The wire that came out just drooped out of it though. Baby Steps! I will just have to keep firing these until the second one is satisfactory. The speed at the second one seemed to open and close was identical to the first one but it didn''t seem to do exactly what I wanted it to do. After shooting and snapping about 500 meters worth of wire the second pocket dimension instance seemed to be doing what I wanted it to. I was physically exhausted and realized that I was spending way too much time testing stuff out here. What if this dungeon had a time limit? I didn''t consider this but maybe I will get kicked out and it will reset after a certain number of hours or start an instant kill event to clear out the intruders.

    I decided that I didn''t know enough about this place to take my time. It was also nearing morning outside. It was about 5 hours since I split up with Gregory and started investigating. If I didn''t get home on time Philip and Hera might get worried. Although it might be already too late for that, my delivery shouldn''t have taken all too long but I got captured and had that battle with Cecilia and Charlize and then I went to investigate. I''ve been away for about 8 hours, woops. I will apologize properly to them later. I was really tired but complaining and resting wouldn''t get me out of this dungeon. I still needed to clear 3 floors after this.

    I decided to speedrun this dungeon since I started feeling the limit of how much stamina I could recover by resting. I needed some proper sleep. And only one way to do this is by burning up more stamina and energy! That doesn''t make any sense. How naive the energy I will spend on this will be far less than if I continue taking my time and some dumb event happens because I''m in this place for too long. I want to deal with any problematic events now. I still have the energy to do so, which means I need to get to the end boss as soon as possible. My training got put on hold and it was time for a dungeon rush.

    Well kind of, I still wanted to try out moving around with ice and water and see what''s on the fifth layer. So, I retrieved any wires and daggers I had out and started freezing the place up, creating ice slides and using water to push me up steep slopes. At first, I was being a bit sloppy since I''m only used to doing this in two dimensions but now, I was navigating with this in three dimensions. I slowly got used to planning out routes while I was moving around at high speeds.

    Normally I plan my routes out before I start but the platforms changing, and traps going off it made me have to constantly reroute and update it. I picked up more speed and saw some F3 golems react and jetpack toward me. I just froze them to become some scaffolding for my ramps. I was now comfortably zipping around and going upwards. I unfroze the golems so that they could chase me and I could get some action while climbing towards the fifth layer. That is what I wanted but those golems were so slow they didn''t even come close to me when I reached the fifth layer. Nothing outstanding was to be seen from the fifth layer except when looking down it seemed like the platforms of every layer moved in such a manner that while looking from above it seemed like they made 3 Corund symbols that read: hmm what does it translate to. It reads pink orange rock. That''s oddly specific, or is it? I remember some paparazzi stones I saw earlier. Well, that wasn''t the correct name, I should try to put in more effort to remember names, Paparadsha? Padarasha? Padparadscha? I''m sure that was its name, paparazzi stones sound cooler though.

    Anyway I encountered 3 languages in this dungeon of which there is one language I didn''t know. The Corund words were ¡°harvest¡± and I guess Padparadscha and another language read ¡°rock¡±. I was glad I went all the way up here since it provided a clue I might need later on. Maybe this was why there was no treasure room. I picked up a small paparazzi stone which was small but still the largest one I''d yet encountered. I stashed it and was about to head down towards the third layer where the entrance to the fourth floor was but also the secret passage. I can''t forget Bunai! As I was about to head down the F3 golems arrived. I lost interest in them so I froze them solid and sent them crashing down. I made an ice slide and slid down and opened the secret passage and confirmed that nothing of importance was in it before sending a heatwave through it and melting the golems within. I crushed the cores as I passed them by and opened the secret passage on the side where Bunai was recharging.

    Bunai! Uhh, activate! Follow! Bunai reformed to look back like a golem and followed me. He did look weird without his flaming hair but that was an easy fix. Bunai! Burn 150 degrees! Bunai burst into flames and regained his haircut. Way better! I let Bunai through the half-molten secret passage towards the entrance to the fourth floor.

    <hr>

    The moment I reached the fourth floor my jaw dropped. The floor wasn''t big but something else was big. There was an enormous paparazzi stone in the middle. Guarded by 50 F4 golems. I want that stone. Now I could melt these golems but I would destroy the paparazzi stone in the process. There also seem to be symbols engraved in it. The edges of the floor were filled with treasures and stuff. It seemed the ancients got lazy here, the previous floor was three times the size of a regular floor and this floor was relatively simple. Could it even be called a floor? It was just a big and fancy treasure room. I looked around to see if there were other clues I needed to watch out for. It didn''t seem like there was anything. Since I decided to speedrun this dungeon I needed to dispatch these golems fast and efficiently without destroying Bunai and the enormous paparazzi stone. I temporarily froze the paparazzi stone and Bunai with frost magic, slid around with my ice and water magic and collected all the treasures, and torched the room. 37 golems instantly melted but 13 seemed to stand strong, they were melting but didn''t melt completely.

    Hoho, we got some badasses under the golems I see. The fire I used wasn''t really hot by my standards but it was well over 2500 ¡ãC. I decided to honor the golems and dropped the fire. I created a fire sword and went at the golems. It wasn''t a real sword, just concentrated fire in the form of a sword. I cut off the arm of a golem that wanted to smash me and jumped out of the way of another golem that decided that randomly shooting a laser beam would hit me. The laser beam took down 3 of its already half-molten allies making it a 10v1. Even though I was vastly outnumbered, I had confidence that I wouldn''t lose. These golems were incomparably fast compared to Bunai but to me, they were still really slow. I went to another golem but the fire sword didn''t cut all the way through the golem''s arm. I blasted the golem away with a heatwave to not get hit by its counter.

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    The heatwave melted the front of the golem exposing its core. I shot a fireball at the core turning the fight into a 9v1. I provoked the golems but realized that they are golems they don''t react to provocations as Bunai demonstrated at the start of the dungeon. A bit embarrassed I dodged another laser beam and drove the flame sword through the torso of another golem vaporizing its core. 8v1 and my fire sword started running out of juice. I cut a golem in half through its core when the sword became too cold to deal any damage to these golems. The golems still seemed to be quite hot from the early torching I did earlier so I rapidly dropped the temperature on the floor and 3 golems cracked and crumbled from the thermal shock. 4v1 was it just me or did these golems start to become reluctant to attack me after seeing me slaughter their allies? I didn''t touch these 4 golems but they seemed quite damaged from the torching and thermal shock they got hit with. I wonder if they were brittle enough that I could shatter them with a punch. I strengthened my body with nature energy and punched a golem.

    Yowch! That hurts! I inspected my hand, nothing seemed to be broken.

    Holy shit that was dumb! I dodged another smash and just decided to finish them off. Even though I said I would speed-run the dungeon I was still messing around a bit. I torched the golems and destroyed their cores after they melted. I gave the piles of molten corundum a polite bow and returned the room temperature to normal. I needed to take a break because all that action made me nauseous. I unfroze Bunai and the big paparazzi stone and inspected the paparazzi stone and it seemed full sentences were engraved on it. It had 7 lines of text on it but every line seemed to be in another language. I could read 4 of these languages. 1 of them was close to Hourai, maybe a bit older so I guess it is the original Kaledonian. Of course, there was Corund, another language that I could read and which said rock in the treasure room on the second floor. And another language that I knew from Tero. The last three languages I couldn''t read. One of these languages seems to be the language I couldn''t read on the second floor and gave off primal energy. It seemed this line used the same word that was in that treasure room. After looking at this paparazzi stone for a while I noticed something. Of the four languages I could read, they all said the same thing.

    Is it possible that it just says the same thing 7 times but in another language? This is big! I could decipher the other 3 languages with the help of the first four languages I knew. It turned this paparazzi stone from extremely valuable to priceless. I was planning to sell it but now I can''t. The sentences were quite long and seemed to describe a historic event. I doubt that it is a clue to solving this dungeon. I focused on the word in that primal language that I saw in that treasure room.

    If the grammar is similar to half the languages, I know it means calamity, if the grammar is similar to the other ones, it would mean nightmare. Can''t say any of these translations are reassuring. I tried to lift the paparazzi stone into my dimensional pocket with water magic but this thing was extremely heavy. I imagined that in a situation like this Raishin would make an inappropriate ¡°yo momma¡± joke. I thought about how to tackle this issue. I used ice to create a fulcrum and a lever and used water magic to try and lift and push it into my dimensional pocket. It seemed like there was some movement until the ice shattered.

    Shit! I remade the lever and fulcrum but this time I used frost magic to ensure that it wouldn''t shatter. The stone moved but not enough. This was one of my weaknesses. I don''t have a lot of raw power. Fire is the only thing that has raw power but I can''t exactly use it to move a heavy rock. Hmm but is that true that I don''t have a lot of raw power, speed can be converted into power. I imagine myself speeding at the paparazzi stone while still keeping the lever active and turning into a red splat on the stone.

    Hmm, that doesn''t seem like a great idea. I hope that I''ve learned my lesson at trying to cut corundum, trying to lodge daggers into corundum, and trying to punch corundum. None of those seemed to work and crashing into a big hard rock seems like the worst idea out of all of them. I tried to alter the idea a bit. The new idea is that I will cover myself in various layers of water and frost. The combined layers will absorb and dissipate the impact of hitting the rock on which I could redirect that energy back towards the rock and push it. I would add some body enhancement to myself using nature energy just in case because even with those it could hurt like hell. I made ice ramps coil up towards the ceiling and then have them make a graceful loop aiming at the stone. I needed to build up a lot of speed for it to matter so I needed to create as long of a path as I can make on this small floor which doesn''t cause me to lose too much speed. I reused the technique I last used to peel potatoes at home.

    I had more tails this time so I could muster more lightning element to speed myself up. I spun myself crazy replicating a dynamo effect. The lightning shifted to dark purple. I coated myself in 4 layers of water and 4 layers of frost alternating each other. I made an outlet behind me to expel the excess energy in case it would cause me to launch the rock or the impact is greater than I can convert into energy. I should thank Gregory because without his tutelage I would have never been able to pull this off. The lightning seemed to want to shift to a higher color but I wouldn''t let it, I wasn''t confident in successfully controlling a higher color of lightning yet. I sapped some of its energy with frost magic to keep it deep purple and used all the magic to electrify myself and give myself a massive speed boost. I suppressed the emerging nausea. The whole ice traject I laid out was about 1100m long. I covered that whole distance in 1 second and crashed into the paparazzi stone. The ice and water layers seemed to hold up well and do their job. The paparazzi stone moved and rolled into the dimensional pocket.

    Ugh, I should find a better way to move heavy things in and out of my dimensional pocket. I wasn''t as tired as I expected to be but I was fighting to suppress my nausea. After trying to calm my body down by circulating nature energy I managed to get rid of it after about 20 minutes. I realized that I might not be as good at speed running as I thought. I looked over at Bunai, it was trying to patrol but the floor got uneven and bumpy because I melted the whole place.

    Bunai! Follow! I made Bunai follow me through the parts I deemed to be least bumpy and went down towards the fifth floor. After arriving on the fifth floor, I noticed that the scenery completely changed. This looked like a golem production facility. There were a lot of golems patrolling and machinery made out of corundum seemed to take cores and assemble golem parts around it and then zap them with some special magic to animate them and make the parts stay in place. I wonder if the ancients just gave up on continuing to make dungeon floors and just put their golem production plant here. I got curious though because I might be able to upgrade Bunai here for the end boss on floor six. The only thing that seemed to be on the sixth floor is a big circular room with a strong magical signature and behind that room was a smaller room with seemingly no traps and magical lifeforms but I was picking up a magical signal.

    I looked around to see if I could find where the F3 or F4 golems. Bunai must have the jetpack functionality! I didn''t know what the F4 golems could do because I made short work of them. I looked for the magical signature strength of the p4 golems and found the area where they were produced. I observed the assembly process and I identified the part that would probably be the jetpack part. I borrowed one of those and melted it on Bunai.

    Bunai! Fly! The jetpack went off but I did a shitty job attaching it to Bunai so he took off at an angle and crashed into the machinery responsible for making the F4 golems.

    Woops. I looked at the machinery but it was busted.

    Hmm, that is unfortunate, I guess they don''t make these as they used to. I was obviously talking out of my ass but I needed something to distract myself from my fuckup.

    Bunai! Uhh, Get out of this mess! I heard Bunai sounds but nothing happened.

    Oh no please tell me you¡¯re not stuck! I moved the rubble aside while stashing rubies and sapphires in my dimensional pocket. There he was under a pile of rubble bleeding. Wait bleeding? Golems don''t bleed. I inspected the red liquid. It seemed unlike anything else I''d ever seen. It wasn''t magical based but it seemed to have a lot of special properties. I don''t know enough about the Corund technology to know what kind of special stuff they had. The only thing I know about them is their language and that they seem to love corundum else why would they call themselves after it? Ok actually it was me who gave them that name since nowhere did I find the text of them referring to themselves.

    I tried to lift Bunai out of the pile of rubble and cleaned him with water magic. I expected some golems to react to this but seemingly nothing happened. Maybe the instructions on how to behave happen on another part of this floor. I went to the F3 assembly line and studied it again. It seems that the part where normally the jetpacks are is just a rock in the F1 golems, so I need to remove that and replace it with the jetpack rock. I tried to mimic the magic that was used to assemble the golems and reversed it, I applied it to the useless rock and it fell off. I borrowed another jetpack stone and attached it with similar magic as this assembly line did.

    Bunai! Fly! This time Bunai seemed to properly fly with its jetpack. I tried looking for the part that was responsible for the laser beam but it seemed that I would have to replace the core if I wanted to get all his laser uses in. This was quite disappointing. Replacing its core is like taking someone''s heart out and replacing it with another heart! I can''t do that to my mining buddy! Granted he was quite useless lately but I could use his company. I proceeded to upgrade him with F3 parts, at least those I could replace. He was now a golem that had F1 and F3 parts. I could use F4 rocks but then I had to look through the pile of rubble and I didn''t feel like doing that. I reinforced his arms as a bonus because the last boss is probably going to be a super tough golem. Even still I doubt that Bunai can be useful to the boss. At this point, I''m upgrading him so he won''t get one shot since I don''t think I can cheese this boss with another laser. I looked at Bunai and his cool flaming hair. He has come so far. He is like a protagonist from a series. He leads a dull life until he does something outside his daily routine and gets stronger after some adventures and now, he is here ready to defeat the last boss!

    The Chronicles of Bunai! Hmm doesn''t sound bad. I looked around to see if I could upgrade him more but there didn''t seem much more. I saw the room where the golems got magically programmed but I didn''t want to come near that. They would probably attack us the moment we set foot in there. I rested my eyes on the entrance to the boss''s room. Was this enough to defeat the last boss? I don''t want to go back and grind more experience points to stand a chance after my defeat! Wait this isn''t a game I could die if I messed up!

 Chapter 8: Bunai Chronicles

    Ok, Bunai! This is the plan. I''m the damage dealer and you are the tank. I will try to make sure you don''t get one shot, which you will if you get hit, but your focus should be to keep the boss aggroed toward you. I will do my best to carefully melt him or make it succumb to thermal shock without hitting you. Any questions? Bunai listened quietly. At least I assume. It was pointless because I was speaking in Hourai and golems don''t react to anything besides Corund. I repeated myself in Corund and this time Bunai listened! Or perhaps not, it is hard to get a reaction out of golems. He just stood there battle-ready with his flaming hair.

    Anyways make sure you don''t get one-shot! It would be a shame if the protagonist of the story would get one shot by the end boss after going through all that character development and hard journey, where you didn''t really do much in the latter half but I''m sure the readers will understand! At this point, I was talking nonsense but I tried to motivate Bunai. It sure is hard to motivate golems. I also tried to mentally prepare myself because next to making sure I don''t get one shot and bringing the boss down I also have to make sure Bunai, the protagonist of the story, won''t die pathetically. I would probably have to abuse his fresh new jetpack. I hoped it didn''t have a time limit or other restrictions on flight else we might be in for a nasty surprise. I would also have to monitor Bunai¡¯s magic levels to make sure he doesn''t run out of steam and turns into a pile of rocks. We haven''t started yet but it already sounds like this boss is over tuned it sounds like the ancients went ham on the difficulty setting here.

    Bunai! Follow! We walked down the stairs but with style. We needed to make an epic entrance to the boss room.

    Bunai! Flying smash! Bunai smashed open the door and it created a dust cloud. As the dust cloud settled all that the boss could see was Bunai with its flaming hair and me who was striking a cool pose.

    You have terrorized Bunai''s hometown for too long, villain! But we will put an end to your tyranny right here! I exclaimed as I pointed at the boss. The room was silent. At that moment I realized how big this boss was. It was easily 150m tall. It wasn''t even a golem. It was almost fully made out of metal and had some parts here and there made out of rubies and sapphires but this was one giant mecha robot.

    So cool! I inspected the mecha robot and concluded that we yet again have a problem. Unlike rocks, metals are quite conductive to heat and this mecha seems to have quite an effective heatsink. I guess golems don''t have the problems of overheating while robots can but I gotta hand it to the ancients. This robot here is more advanced than what this era can produce. I''m thinking of ways a blacksmith can make something like this. It is probably impossible; I''d need a magical engineer for this. And even then, I would need blueprints! Is it possible that I will get these mecha robots'' blueprints if we beat it? Suddenly I got motivated despite my fatigue. I should wrap this up. I''m sure Philip and Hera are awake by now. I made a fire sword and made a plan. Actually, it wasn''t a plan, it was just to melt this robot.

    Bunai! Fly! Bunai took off.

    Bunai! Advance! Flying smash! Barrel roll! Nosedive! Smash! While Bunai followed orders I slid towards the back of the robot and hit its back with a flame blast. My goal was to disable its jetpack function as soon as possible. It wouldn''t be funny if this robot started flying. I tried the magic that could detach rocks from golems but it was ineffective. I continued heat-blasting the jetpack part till it melted. The robot was busy trying to hit Bunai, but now that Bunai had flight it became hard for the robot to hit him.

    Bunai! Ascend! Backflip! Turn 40 degrees left! Descend at a 25-degree angle! Advance! Smash! Smash! I made Bunai target the robot''s ankles. For two reasons. Reason number 1: Make sure your opponent has to put in a lot of effort to do basic movements or skills! And reason 2! The bigger they are, the harder they fall! There was also another reason which is that it''s hard for the robot to hit Bunai if he''s flying around its ankles but that is not why I targeted its ankles. Reason number one is a big part of my fighting style, if your opponent can¡¯t easily do basic movements or skills, they will have less energy left to deal with you offensively or defensively. I froze the joint of the robot''s right shoulder when I saw that it was about to hit Bunai. It didn''t stop the smash but gave Bunai enough time to complete its set of orders. I wonder if there was an autopilot mode since I would mess up an order sooner or later. On a basic level, Bunai seemed to attack the robot but they were simple attacks that would be comparable to Smash! Smash! Smash! Not a lot of variety in that pattern, also it is quite ineffective against something that is way outside your weight class.

    Anyways, Bunai! Turn right 105 degrees! Advance! Advance! About face! Ascend! Ascend! Advance! Advance! Smash! Smash! Descend right at 45 degrees! Retreat! The orders started to become longer and more complex and I was hitting the limit of how much I could predict. The robot only needed 2 simple big motions and Bunai needed a whole paragraph of orders to not get one shot. I froze the ground under the robot to try and make it slip but it seemed that the surface area under its feet was large enough for it to not matter much. I needed to force it to move. I had an idea but this depended on how good Bunai''s new upgrades were. I wanted to do the same thing as I did to the paparazzi stone but this time Bunai would be the projectile. I would put him on an ice slide so I could easily push and accelerate him. Of course, I will protect him with frost and water layers. Now while Bunai will be exerting a lot of force on the robot''s ankles I will gather a lot of water magic and pull on the torso.

    The plan was to make it slip and fall over. We needed enough force to upset its center of gravity which luckily seemed to be quite high up. I guess the ancients did not expect someone to try and topple this big robot! The plan seemed solid and normally there would be no issue executing this however this time it was different. I was pretty exhausted. At this point, I''ve been at it for about 11 hours and even longer without proper rest with the last time being dinner with Philip and Hera. I left the house at about 8 pm and it''s nearing 7 am. I took some fruits out of my dimensional pocket for a little bit of energy and put the plan into motion. I kept spawning huge ice pillars laced with some magic to distract the robot. It seemed to be occupied punching them down in which I could make the ice traject I would shoot Bunai through.

    Bunai! Here! I made him land on the frozen ground and I stopped him from slipping.

    You are not supposed to slip! I made ice skates under his feet and activated my tail dynamo again. I was hoping those fruits I ate wouldn''t come back up again. I accelerated and pushed Bunai towards the ice traject. This traject was way longer than the one I made to push the paparazzi stone since I needed some time to gather enough water magic to pull the big robot with. This traject was about 5 times longer.

    Bunai! Advance 5x! This should add some speed to him. Now I had about 6 seconds to make sure I could pull this robot down. I fought off the fatigue and nausea. Luckily it was quite humid in this dungeon so I managed to create large volumes of water and ice and pulled at the robot''s head. It tried to grab the water noose I made for him but since it was water his hands went into it. I also made some ice blocks smash into his feet to slightly help him move. Bunai collided with the Robot¡¯s ankles. I could hear the sound of metal denting and the robot moved a bit. This was enough since the slippery floor would amplify this movement. The robot''s center of balance shifted and more and more movement came into the robot. His feet were moving in the direction which was parallel to the direction Bunai crashed into him and the head of the robot started moving towards me. These movements accelerated and I had to get out of there because else I would turn into an Agnis pancake.

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    Bunai! Here! I called Bunai over to make sure there wouldn''t also be a Bunai pancake on the menu. The robot crashed down with a deafening sound. It shattered the ice I used to freeze the floor. But that was fine. I refroze the floor but this time I made frost climb up the knee, hip, and elbow joints of the robot. Any movement the robot tried to make would get absorbed by the frost and turned into energy which I could later use to melt this jerk. I was too tired to muster up energy by myself so I just let the big robot do it for me. I patted Bunai on the back.

    Good job Bunai! Bunai looked at the robot. Or well I''m not sure it is hard to know what a golem is doing when it stands still. I sat down and retrieved more food out of my dimensional pocket. I offered some to Bunai but it didn''t seem to be interested in the food. That was to be expected, golems are only interested in rocks as food! Ok maybe that is inaccurate too but a protagonist that doesn''t eat is quite boring. I should do something about that after we defeat this boss. I tried my best to not fall asleep. I don''t know if it was a blessing or curse but the robot started to make a lot of noise which woke me up. It started to expel a lot of steam and it lifted itself off the ground. Its joints were still frozen to the ground but he just lifted it with so much force that the ground got lifted with it. Unlike the rest of the dungeon which had corundum floors, this floor was made out of regular dirt and rock. Flabbergasted, I looked at the display of power this robot showed. Its eyes glowed red.

    Ugh, of course, bosses always have a phase 2. As I got up to prepare for round 2, I noticed something. These red glowing eyes were charging their laser! My failure to notice this in time caused quite the corund-rum. I could easily dodge this but the protagonist of this story, Bunai would get hit by it. So, there was only one option. I pushed Bunai away over the frozen floor and covered myself with as many water and frost layers as I could gather in a short amount of time.

    This is going to hurt! I managed to make 7 layers each of frost and water before the laser hit my bubble. A lot of energy got absorbed also a lot of energy ended up sending me flying into a corundum wall regrettably some energy still made it through messing me up quite badly. I did survive it at least. I coughed up blood and there was blood coming out of my nose. The wall where I crashed into was melting. I inspected myself. 4 broken ribs, a slight concussion, and my left arm had a small fracture. Also, some vessels in my lungs burst because of the pressure wave the energy blast created. I sent some nature energy to my lungs to fix that. Besides that, I seem to have gotten quite lucky. I was resistant to heat so I was relatively fine. The water layers evaporated but since they were trapped between frost layers the energy they created while expanding got absorbed. If I weren''t heat resistant, I would have probably died on the spot there. I only have 7 lives in total but I think it would''ve been enough to kill me multiple times over. I tried to get up but my body didn''t seem to want to listen. My vision started to get bloody since blood flowing from my forehead ran into my right eye. It stung. But I prioritized getting up because I couldn''t see it but I could feel the robot charging up another laser.

    This time Bunai and I were quite far apart so I could dodge this laser beam. In theory, that is. I tried to move but my body was like: Nah man time to rest. Which didn''t help because I was about to get hit by a laser beam. I remembered my training on the third floor and shot 2 wires out which were attached to the robot''s legs and I pulled myself towards it dodging the laser beam. It was sloppy but I was still alive. For how long was the question because right now I was right under the robot. At least it was focusing on me now which means the protagonist was safe. I looked at Bunai and he was spamming smash at the other robot¡¯s foot. I didn''t have the energy to spare to predict orders for him so he was at a good spot over there. I shot out more wires that attached to the robot and I swung myself around sloppily. I guess messing around on the third floor paid off. I finally managed to wipe the blood out of my eye and wash it with water magic.

    I had a lot of energy ready for use but not the stamina to use it. That doesn''t make any sense? See it as you have a hose and the energy that comes out of it can one-shot the boss and the only thing you have to do is press the on button and direct the energy. Pressing the on switch, which I have the energy for but directing it I don''t really, I will probably end up melting Bunai and possibly not control it well so the heat doesn''t concentrate on the boss. Basically, I could fire it off but the result might not improve the situation at this point. A smash this time towards my direction and again I sloppily evade it with wires. I was hoping I would recover some stamina to finish this boss off but it seemed I have reached my limit. At this point, I was wondering if I should go for an all-or-nothing situation. The only magic I could use at this point was frost magic since it has a negative mana cost as using it will give me mana. Even still I could do small things because it was hard to focus through the pain and fatigue. But hey at least I wasn''t nauseous on top of it! I slid to the side dodging another smash and the boss started to charge another laser.

    Oh shit! At that point, Bunai, who was continually punching the robot''s foot, had made a dent big enough that it caused the robot to go through its ankle. This caused the robot to shift more toward its left which caused his laser to miss me by about 10 meters.

    Good job Bunai! Bunai was doing some protagonist work here, saving his ally in need. I finally managed to get up. My legs were a bit shaky but I was standing. The robot prepared to smash and I shot more wires and dodged toward its arm that wasn''t smashing. But the robot wasn''t aiming for me.

    Bunai! About face! Dash! Bunai turned around and started dashing. But it was too late. As I landed on a protrusion on the robot''s hip, I saw a golem with flaming hair disappear under the robot''s fist.

    Bunai! The fist moved and, in the crater, a pile of crushed rocks could be seen. A tear rolled down my cheek and some inexplicable feeling welled up from inside me. I jumped down toward where Bunai got hit. I looked at the smashed rubies and sapphires and saw the ruby that made out the centre of his torso shattered. His core was also shattered. The robot smashed at me but the only thing I felt was that everything should just burn.

    This was the first time I channelled my phoenix side in a long time since an obvious effect would take place when I do. It will boost my fire magic. But at this point, I didn''t care. My tails disappeared, freeing up all the energy I stored from absorbing lasers and impacts with frost magic and I ignited it all. The intensity went up so high that after a brief moment of being fire red, it turned into a mix of light and dark blue flames. I was still mildly controlling them but when I saw it was going for another punch, I dialled the fire up to 11. I don''t remember much afterward, just that I woke up inside of an enormous crater the dungeon seemed to have disappeared although it was hard to tell since this huge crater seemed to be way bigger than the area in which I found the temple it was so big that it seemed it blew away the whole mountain. The first thing I saw when I woke up was the sky, which was weird since I should be somewhere deep under the ground. After waking up I couldn''t move. My body was completely exhausted, I was floating on a pool of magma but it didn''t do anything to me since I had high fire resistance at the moment, I also was in phoenix mode but since I couldn''t move, I rested some more.

 Chapter 9: Gregorys morning

    I awoke early to discuss my findings with Agnis. After discussing this with him we probably had to go look to see what Raishin was up to. I went to the blacksmith workshop but it seemed Philip and Hera were panicking. The first thing they asked me was if they knew where Agnis was.

    I don''t know, I haven''t seen him since the market. I lied. I didn''t feel like explaining our bizarre and exhausting day.

    ¡°He hasn''t come home since he left to deliver a sword to old man Paul! We asked them but it seems he delivered the sword on time. Where is he?¡± Hera started losing it and Philip calmed her down.

    I will look for him. I''m sure he is fine; I can''t imagine anything being able to catch him. I tried to believe the lie I just told because I got reminded of how we got captured by Charlize and Cecilia and that half-assed shadow clone he made. After calming the two down I headed towards the hunting hut at the edge of the town to look for Raishin. Nobody home. Either he returned and went hunting or he didn''t return at all. I melded with the shadow and slipped under the door and reformed inside the hut. It seemed like someone was here recently so I''m assuming Raishin went hunting.

    Where is everyone? I decided to look for Agnis first since disappearing without a message was unlike him. I didn''t want to go back toward the sewers so I followed the manholes on the surface. Only 3 manholes existed beyond where Agnis probably would have appeared to get back home. Unless the sewer pipes would make a turn, it''s heading for the Umbra mountain range. That''s bizarre, nothing of importance should be there. I got the sensation that unless I went through the sewers, I won¡¯t be able to encounter any clues about Agnis'' whereabouts. I sighed and was about to head back toward the nearest manhole when I felt the ground rumbling.

    What the! And then I saw it, an enormous pillar of blue fire shooting up in the sky. It seemed to originate from deep within the Umbra mountain range.

    This is Agnis magic! It seems I''ve found him easily but using this quantity of fire would probably come with various problems on itself. At least I didn''t have to go through the sewers. I could feel the heat of that fire pillar from here, there is no doubt that whatever was there was vaporized into atoms so all I needed to do was look for a big hole. I headed back home to prepare for a trip to the mountains. Also, to possibly drag Agnis back. I grabbed some concoctions that could recover mana and stamina and headed off toward the Umbra mountains. I was really curious about what he discovered that took so long.

    Nothing interesting happened until I got close to where I estimated the hole would be. What I noticed was that as I approached the hole the purity of the magic seemed to increase. It came as far as going to 5% unusable magic and then an even split between all the elements. I''ve never seen the unusable magic percentage drop below 12% and 12% was considered quite pure magic. I reached the hole and what I saw was just impressive. A massive hole was melted on the spot where the third tallest mountain of the Umbra Mountain Range once stood. The hole seemed to be about 1 km in diameter. It was still quite hot around here but nothing I couldn''t bear. It was about 2 hours ago that I saw the fire pillar. I spread out shadows to ascertain if there were other people close by but oddly enough nobody seemed to be investigating what caused this.

    Hmm, that is bizarre. Anyway, it''s convenient for me that nobody is approaching this place. I shifted my gaze downwards. There was nothing to see, I saw magma glowing at the bottom but this hole was deep enough that even a 1 km-wide hole didn''t help me identify what was on the bottom. The majority of the hole was in shadows or just simply dark. I could easily meld with it and descend toward the bottom. I covered myself in my shadow cloak because I assumed that Agnis was at the bottom and it would be hot down there. Using a quantity of magic like that was bound to immobilize him for a prolonged period.

    Luckily his fire resistance is insane but that doesn''t mean that I should let him float on a magma pool indefinitely. As I descended into the shadows I passed by various cave-like structures but whatever these caves led up to got vaporized. As I descended deeper and deeper it started to get hotter and hotter. I stopped at a height where my shadow cloak would still be able to bear the heat. There was still quite some distance before I would hit the bottom. I made a foothold with earth magic to rest on. I tried to make it as simple and efficient as possible to reduce the amount of nausea. But after creating it there wasn''t even a trace of me getting nauseous.

    Hmm, that''s interesting. I tested the magic quality here and I was astonished. 0% unusable magic, and 20% of every element, perfectly balanced as every magic profile should be. I''ve never felt magic this pure before. This isn''t normal. Was this the cause of Agnis'' fire or was the magic in this mountain range always this pure? No, if that was the case it would''ve been discovered ages ago. I''ve never seen Agnis use fire of this intensity, quantity, and color ever. So, it would be the most probable cause of this purified magic.

    A purifying flame, eh? I thought about the applications of this purified magic but as far as my knowledge of magic went a three-tailed Shadow cat it would allow for more efficient use of magic because the ambient magic won''t obstruct it in any way or form and it would even be more beneficial for those who pull magic out of their surroundings like Agnis. Besides that, it could make technology running on magic more efficient.

    Hmm is it possible that our nausea is linked to how the magic isn''t pure? It seems to be widely accepted that magic always has a fraction of magic in it that is unusable but why is that? As far as I know, only certain phenomena on a grand scale can influence a magic composition like this. Or just big natural systems. Like in the mountains, earth would be slightly dominant, and near rivers, water would be slightly dominant but only by about 3-5% maximum. But nothing ever seems to be correlated to the percentage of unusable magic in the composition. Also, nothing to date seemed to be able to get rid of it. The only problem is¡­ As I look around. There is a high likelihood he can''t control it because vaporizing a mountain isn''t his style. Ok maybe that is false, he would do that but only for a good reason. But he would never cause himself to become useless afterward so this must''ve been an accident. I looked down but I still couldn''t see him. I could sense him though.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    Despite there being a big mass of magma below him it still gave off pure magic but I did sense a life form that had an elevated level of fire that was slowly equalizing. And as always, his earth level is really low. This could be none other than Agnis. My shadow extended and tried to retrieve Agnis. I formed a fishing line out of shadows and threw the line out. I could use bait but it would just get burnt by the magma. After waiting for 30 minutes, it seemed like something bit. I was hoping that it would be Agnis and not some random magma monster. I reeled in the line and to my relief fished up a passed-out Agnis. I moved the magma off him and made him cool off. It didn''t seem he would wake up anytime soon so I decided to carry him. This was a very easy task because for some reason Agnis was very light. I don''t think this is magic or anything, I''ve noticed in the past that his mother and his sisters seem to also be very light. He only weighs as much as 3 bags of potatoes which is about 15 kg. He is gonna hate that I compared his weight to bags of potatoes but he is unconscious right now so that doesn''t matter. It was nearing noon and I was wondering how I would carry him into the town like this.

    Someone teleported next to me. Sup! Where have you been?

    Hunting, why? I mean yesterday evening after you broke into Charlize¡¯s house to so-called ¡°save¡± us.

    Oh, then haha that tornado after that water explosion totally knocked me out. Someone found me passed out and brought me to my hut where I woke up this morning. And since I didn''t eat anything, I went hunting when I woke up. Want some? Raishin offered me a fried chicken leg.

    Chicken again?

    Nope! It''s a pheasant! Isn''t that just a chicken but with extra steps?

    I don''t know, it tastes the same to me so you might be right. What''s up with Agnis? Raishin asked while he poked Agnis with his left hand and ate some fried pheasant leg with his right hand.

    You didn''t see that big pillar of fire? That was him. Oh, I thought that was a volcanic eruption.

    What volcano creates a blue fire pillar? Anyway, Agnis was the cause of that, which is why he probably passed out. So, you could say he¡¯s burnt out? Hehe. I smacked Raishin as we arrived at Raishin¡¯s hunting hut.

    How about we chill here until he wakes up? Fine by me but wasn''t Ted supposed to arrive today?

    At around dinner time yes so, we have about 7 hours till he arrives. Oh ok. I have an idea though! Raishin jumped up and down quite excitedly.

    Oh no, I found a horde of pheasants, what if we release those into the town when we escape?

    A group of pheasants is called a bevy and that is a terrible idea, we have another problem. There is a high possibility that the barrier outside this city won''t let us out.

    Whud? Why? And don''t we leave the barrier all the time? I don''t know the exact details, I slightly overheard Charlize talk about it to Agnis so I''m sure he knows the specifics.

    Isn''t that an easy fix then? How so?

    Quite easily we just bust down the barrier and escape! Haha, I''m a genius. I mean the solution is easy, yes but executing it is quite the problem, I found the source of the barrier, and well Ummm it could easily one-shot me.

    Wait, can it one-shot you? What overtuned boss are we talking about? It is not a boss, it''s a tree.

    So, you¡¯re saying a tree can one-shot you? I don''t understand. Are you messing with me? This interaction that I had with Raishin made me realize how ridiculous our situation was. We need to escape this town but to do that we need to break a barrier that is held up by an enormous pink tree that looks like broccoli which is several hundreds of meters under the ground and corrupting leyline energy and magic alike. The pink tree can one-shot me and almost defeat a dragon and for some reason, my unconscious buddy here vaporized a whole mountain. Thinking about it, anyone who would buy into this should get his head checked. I rubbed my hand on my head.

    Listen I know it sounds crazy but that is the truth there is some pink tree underground that is preventing us from leaving. Hmm well, we''ve done and seen enough crazy shit together so I guess somewhere this makes sense. So, I assume we wait till Ted comes back to form a plan?

    Yes, that would be wise, I also have something to share and I''m sure Agnis does too but we will do that when we¡¯re all together. I like the people here but there isn''t much to do here and the chicks here are plain.

    There is plenty to do here; you just didn''t want to sound like skirt chasing is the only reason you want to leave. Meh, am I that transparent? Yah. Ugh so hungry. Oh, Agnis is awake! Here, a fried pheasant leg! Raishin shoved a fried pheasant leg in Agnis'' mouth as he was waking up. Hmmph???

 Chapter 10: Trouble on the town square

    As I woke up, I got a rude greeting getting a fried chicken leg shoved in my mouth. Hmmph??? I bit down on the piece of chicken, ripped it out of the hand of my rude awakener, and got ready to kick his ass only to find myself in Raishin¡¯s hut with Raishin smiling and Gregory staring at me.

    What is going on? You burnt out! Gregory smacked him.

    You passed out after vaporizing a mountain. Nothing these guys said made any sense to me. I finished the chicken leg but was still hungry. Gregory handed me some of his smelly potions. I hated the taste but their effects were real. I drank them and felt myself regain some mana and stamina. I then accepted more of the fried chicken Raishin offered me. Gregory briefly explained to me that he found me in a huge crater and that Philip and Hera were worried about me. Gregory also seemed to be curious about my injuries but decided that it was better to wait for an explanation whenever Ted was back in town. I tried to get up but winced at the pain.

    Here take this healing potion, it won''t fix your broken ribs but it will fix any non-fractures. Ugh I know you can''t do anything about their taste but can you at least make them less smelly? I complained as I downed the healing potion, I felt warm inside and I felt most of the pain go away.

    I will try my best to fix the smell in the future. So, what are we gonna do until Ted comes back, you guys don''t really have a set schedule now that you finished your apprenticeships right? Yah we can do whatever we want now but I think I should go home and apologize to Philip and Hera. Yah maybe you should do that. I think I will lock myself into my lab and make more concoctions. Ugh, guess I''ll go and hunt some variety of meat to dump into Agnis'' dimensional pocket. I don''t know why but meat stored in there always comes back out tastier.

    Fine by me, after I apologize, I think imma sleep till the evening. I guess we''ll meet up at the city gate after dinner. Cya till then. Gregory and I left Raishin¡¯s hut and headed toward the town.

    What was Raishin doing all the time yesterday by the way? Seems he got knocked out by the tornado Charlize created after your wave destroyed her house and someone brought him to his hut. Gregory shook his head indicating that he couldn''t believe that Raishin got knocked out like that.

    That sounds so like him. We split up and went towards our houses. I apologized to Philip and Hera for worrying them while hiding that I had broken ribs. I felt guilty but not only did I make them worry I was also planning to leave them behind by escaping soon. I was wondering if I should tell them, on one side I saw them accepting it but on the other side, they could be extremely against it. I was their slave but they also saw me as a son. I didn''t know how to approach this but if I told them and they said no they could enforce the power of the slave crest and would make it impossible for me to try to escape. I told them I was tired and went up to my room. I locked the door and collapsed onto my bed which was a dub thing to do because I had broken ribs.

    I used nature energy to push them into the correct spot and tried to use regenerative fire on them. I was still in phoenix mode all this time so I might as well try this out. As a nine-tail fox, I also had great regenerative abilities but it would probably heal me while I was asleep. The problem is, it¡¯s so darn hard to fall asleep with this pain. So, I would try to heal myself with some phoenix fire and then shift toward my preferred nine-tail mode. Which meant that I''m expressing traits of that race, it''s not like I transformed or anything.

    Some traits that I have will be expressed regardless of what mode I am, for example, my original silver hair is a trait from me being a silver-haired nine-tailed spirit fox but it seems it''s still silver in phoenix mode, you can''t see it though coz I''m still making it for the most part black with my basic disguise illusion. Other traits only appear in a certain mode. I do know now that I''m way faster in phoenix mode. I''ve only been in it twice, of which one is right now, but my Elgards eye evaluation of myself at the moment puts me about 15% faster than I normally am in nine-tail mode. Anyway no use in staying in a mode I''m not too familiar with so nine tails it is for now. I managed to ignite regenerative fires and tried to apply them to my ribs. I ended up setting myself completely ablaze but that was fine. These flames burned at body temperature so nothing flammable was at risk. After healing myself I shifted to nine-tail fox mode and fell asleep.

    <hr>

    I woke up with the realization that I had forgotten something. It was a bit before dinner time so I still had time to do stuff before dinner. I activated Elgards eyes and checked out the hole I vaporized into the Umbra mountain range. As I thought there was no trace of there ever being a dungeon there, nor the cave room I found the dungeon in, it was all hole, rock, and magma now.

    Noo my treasure. I said softly. It seems that I vaporized the boss, the treasure room, and the dungeon with the rest of the mountain. I will now never know what those clues will lead to. They could be used to open the treasure room after the boss is defeated or they could point to another dungeon or it could make an exit. Having vaporized the treasure and losing Bunai bothered me the most. I wanted to bury Bunai but cremation is also a valid option. I wanted to believe he was in a better place now but I didn''t know where golems would go after death or if there even was such a place. I got a little bit depressed.

    It might have been silly to make a golem tag along and put so much effort in trying to keep him safe, while this dungeon would 100% be easier if I just abandoned him but there are 2 reasons for this. First and foremost, I got quite attached to it, the second reason is that if I can''t even carry a golem through a dungeon how am I supposed to make sure my buddies don''t get killed off like Bunai did? I believe I did all I could to keep Bunai safe yet still failed. I am depressed now because if it was Raishin, Ted, or Gregory in Bunai''s place I would never forgive myself for being so useless. I tried to cheer myself up by telling myself that my buddies were not reliant on my orders to get stuff done but that didn''t help. I thought of Bunai''s cool flaming hair and his graceful smashes and got even more depressed. The mood during dinner was¡­ complicated. Philip and Hera wanted to know what happened while I was away but I was too depressed to go into much in detail. I just said that stuff took way longer than planned, something went wrong and I messed up. The food improved my mood a bit but it became worse after Hera gave me a big hug and told me I could talk to her when I felt I wanted to. This was because it reminded me of the last hug I got from my mother before our home disappeared. I did my best to not show that my mood worsened and went out to the town gate to meet up with my buddies and wait for Ted to arrive. On my way to the town gate, I saw a zombie.

    What the! I got ready to incinerate the zombie when I realized after a careful look that it was Gregory.

    What happened to you? So... tired. Gregory looked like he didn''t sleep for days and looked all beat up and tired.

    Cecilia spotted me when I went out to buy a snack.

    Oof, at least you escaped. I used the sewers you are so fond of¡­ so much water, so many rats, so tired¡­ I guess Gregory also isn''t in a great mood.

    Sup Agnis, whoa a zombie!

    That''s not a zombie, it''s Greg. Whoa, what happened to you? He got chased, wet, and attacked by rats. We arrived at the town gate and waited for Ted to arrive.

    Sup guys, long time no see. Ted waved at us and we walked up to him.

    Yooo how have you been?

    Great, we took second place. What''s up with those two? Raishin explained briefly what happened in the last two days.

    So Agnis got burnt out and Greg is still wet behind his ears. I''m not in the mood for tasteless puns, were your opponents strong?

    Yeah, nothing we couldn''t handle though, sadly I made a small mistake that cost us the win. How was the journey back?

    Pretty good, no incidents, I could sleep most of the way here. At least one of us had a great day at least.

    What happened? We will tell you but not here, let''s go to Raishin''s hut. We arrived at Raishin¡¯s hut and started catching up. I told them about the kidnapping Charlize and Cecilia did, the battle Gregory and I had with them, how the sewer system was really suspicious, the big cave with the earth dragon in it, what the earth dragon told me, and how I helped him also about him imparting his wisdom on me which caused me to be able to understand ancient languages. I then continued about the dungeon, how I opened it, and what I found inside. I told them about the adventures I had with Bunai and his death and how I went ham and burnt the place down.

    Whoa, you sure did not sit still the last two days. Gregory then confirmed that the sewers were suspicious and that he found out that the magic composition on the surface varies greatly from inside the sewers. How he followed the trail of unbalanced magic and that he found a similar cave but this one had an enormous pink tree and traces of a battle. He looked at me and mentioned the conversation we had and that this place must be linked to the place I found. He told us about his investigation of the place and how he encountered my clone, he told us about the short battle they had and how he escaped.

    Oh, I completely forgot about my clone... Yeah, I was ready to kick your ass for giving me a scare like that but I gave up on it when I saw the state you were in. He continued about how he went looking for us the next morning and saw an enormous blue fire pillar shoot up to the sky. How he climbed up the mountain and fished me out of a pool of magma. Raishin started with how at the market he got approached by Cecilia and how he told them that Gregory would probably be hungry and that how! would have a late-night delivery. How he lost sight of time because he got chewed out of causing trouble and had to help clean up the market. How he went out to play but couldn''t find us and eventually arrived near Charlize¡¯s house and sensed that we were in distress to eventually get knocked out by the enormous volume of water I bought for. And then how he woke up in the morning in his hut and went to the hut because he was hungry. He found a very cool enormous pheasant-like boar but it got scared off by a volcanic eruption which later seemed to be me who was vaporizing the mountain.

    A pheasant boar? Such an animal shouldn''t exist, are you sure? Yeah I was surprised too but I like fried pheasant and fried boar so I''m sure a pheasant boar would be even tastier!

    You sound like Agnis now. Hey! I''m not mistaken there was really a pheasant boar about the size of a bear! That wave really did a number on your head, didn''t it?

    Hmm, weird things have been happening later, I will scan the area later to locate it. It might hold a clue or be dangerous, best-case scenario, we¡¯ll have a tasty meal. You got interested in what a pheasant boar tastes like, don''t you?

    A bit. I said while wiping some drool from the corners of my mouth. I caught Raishin also wiping some drool from the corner of his mouth. Gregory got up and sighed.

    Well now we caught up we need to formulate a plan, Agnis if you mind? I got up and projected Boshi town and the area around it with my Elgards eyes.

    Agnis probably already did some calculations about the approximate distance but here is the map of the area. Suddenly I felt a ringing in my head. It hurt quite a bit so I held my head. When I looked up, I saw Ted, Gregory, and Raishin had the same happen to them.

    Ouch, what was that? I don''t know, I''m running diagnostics, I''ll check with you guys too. I whipped out 3 tails and started checking various filters on my Elgards eyes to check if something changed or was wrong.

    Hmm, I can''t say nothing happened since something is slightly off but I can''t tell what it is exactly. Can you try to explain what it might be?

    Hmm not really, the filter that showed something indicates that something was messing either with the dimensional fabric or with the fabric of time and space. I can''t tell the specifics, where, or when that happened. What do you mean? We know when it happened it happened just now! I think that''s the problem Raishin if something messed with time that is completely relative.

    Whud? Did it affect us negatively? I can''t say that anything changed for us but we could either expect a dimensional invasion, like what happened before we got kidnapped from home, or whatever we did or going to do will be different than how it normally would go, either time-wise or location-wise. In short; I have no fucking clue what just happened, it might be that there is nothing but this filter which indicates temporal and spatial consistency got a glitch. Maybe it''s just because I''m tired.

    Hmm, let''s hope it is nothing then... Can you show the underground map of the area? Ah right. I showed the map of the area in a 3D hologram format. I showed the route I took and drew the route Gregory took. Gregory also described what his spreading shadow found out from some corridors while I added whatever I noticed with my eyes while going towards the cave I ended up in. It showed the chamber I found the dungeon in but it got replaced with a big hole since I vaporized the whole place. It showed another chamber on the north side of the town with a pink broccoli in it.

    As you guys know this town has a barrier but according to Charlize it is an obstacle for those who want to leave this town period. Quite the asshole this creator but nothing we can do about this. Now as you guys heard from Agnis and me this tree is no pushover, it managed to severely wound an earth dragon, one of the sturdiest creatures you can find around. Also, the lesser spears it threw at me had quite an easy time tearing through my defenses. So, taking down this tree is going to be a real pain. Raishin raised his hand.

    This isn''t school, you don''t need to raise your hand¡­ Can''t Agnis just vaporize the tree as he did with the mountain? I''m not sure if I could reproduce this but I could try to torch it, it would mean that you guys would have to watch out for friendly fire though. Nice one!

    I didn''t mean it as a pun¡­ Let''s keep that as a last resort, it might be hard to imagine what it would turn out like but I saw the crater and even from Raishin¡¯s hut, I could feel the heat of that blast. We don''t want to be remotely near that when Agnis sets something similar off. I don''t even think I could shield you from that since as you can tell it vaporized a mountain. Maybe it is wise to indeed leave that as a last resort, you also said it scared off a dragon. I''m sorry but if this tree didn''t lose to a dragon that is intelligent and can move around, I doubt that nuking the tree would be a viable option.

    Hmm, I have my doubts about that dragon being intelligent. By the way, Raishin, do you know if there are dragons in your ancestry tree? Hmm, not that I know of, why?

    It''s nothing, Greg, continue. Yah, so we need to investigate this tree more closely before we attempt our escape since the area is thick in magical and leyline energy we can''t just send 1 person, Agnis and I are required. We can do it with us 2 while you 2 investigate more of the branching cave and sewer systems or we can go there with all of us. It might be necessary for someone to draw the tree''s attention while the other three would take the chance to investigate the tree a bit closer. The decoy would probably be you Agnis since you are probably the only one who has a chance to not just get outright one-shot by the first spear that gets shot. T

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    hat is fine and my vote goes toward investigating the tree with all 4 of us. I share that opinion, what do you two think? Since I''m not familiar with all this I think it is best if we all go together. I''ll just go along with you guys.

    Okay, then we will do that. Since Agnis and I had a rough couple of days and Ted just returned I propose that we will do the investigation the day after tomorrow and depending on the results devise a plan to escape. My plan is to escape within 6 days if the circumstances allow for it. Any objections? I will have to check what I will have to chuck in my dimensional pocket and you guys probably would also have to do the same but no real objections from me. Can¡¯t we leave this place any sooner? Rushing this might actually get us killed or trapped inside the barrier so no objections here.

    Meh fine, no objections here. Okay then, some small tasks for us in the 5 days that we will be preparing this escape. For the rest of today and tomorrow, we rest, I will make various concoctions and potions that would be useful in escaping this place after we escaped. Raishin, you will try to hunt and gather as much food as you can because we will always need food, and don''t just get meat! Also, gather herbs! Agnis, could you craft some weapons for us? If you need more ore, I will join you in gathering some. I know 5 days is not a lot but you can do it, right? Hmm, I have an idea, you told me my shadow clone was bad right?

    Bad is an understatement, you covered it perfectly with illusions, I will give you full points for that but underneath the illusions it was one big mess it wasn''t just bad it was abysmal. I assume you want to ask me to teach you how to make better shadow clones so you can increase the rate at which you can craft weapons right? Because I would rate your shadow clone 4/100. Yah.

    I haven''t used any shadow clones ever myself but I guess I would be better at it than you. It could also serve as some training for me so I''ll do that then. What about me?

    Let''s use the fact that you''ve been out of the town a lot lately and let you go around and ask around how everyone is, what you''ve missed, and try to learn more about this barrier or town history. As Agnis and my story suggested some weird things must have happened in the construction of this town, maybe some people living here might know anything. You look puzzled Raishin, what''s up? So, when are we going to hunt down that pheasant boar? Raishin and! looked at Gregory. Gregory sighed.

    Alright, let''s hunt that thing down tomorrow so you guys can shut up about it. Yes! Yeah! Raishin and I high-fived each other and we all went home to rest. Tomorrow will be a great day!

    <hr>

    Tomorrow came and I was thinking of how to prepare the pheasant boar. I met Raishin in the town square. He probably had the same idea as me to get some seasoning for the pheasant boar. We were about to walk towards a grocery store when we bumped into some chunky guy.

    ¡°Hey, watch out twerps!¡± I''m sorry, we must''ve been blind to not be able to see you coming.

    ¡°Wha! Hey, Dunkey I think that kid called you fat!¡± One of his 3 friends said to the chunky guy. Your name is Donkey? I said as I tried to hold in my laugh.

    ¡°It is Dunkey! D-U-N-K-E-I!¡± You might mean Y and not I at the end there. Hehe, chunky donkey.

    ¡°Are you guys mocking me?¡± I don''t know, are we Raishin? Can you even spell mocking?

    ¡°Ha of course I''m the smartest kid in town!¡± Hard doubt about that, you can''t even spell your own name! This chunky kid who seemed to be about two to three years older than us started to get red like a tomato.

    ¡°I am Dunkey Hurado, a descendant of the great hero Hurado. My name is ancient Kaledonian for Brilliant Hurado.¡± Raishin and I looked at each other knowing this was utter bullshit. Hey didn''t Dunkey mean forgotten in old Kaledonian? It does at least in Hourai. Yeah, you''re correct but we can''t possibly tell him that his name means ¡°forgotten¡±. I mean it does fit him though since I''m sure that we would completely forget about him in about an hour.

    ¡°Hey, assholes! I can hear you; you know! And what do you noobs even know about ancient Kaledonian?¡± Raishin and I started talking to him in Hourai which was basically ancient Kaledonian, maybe with a slight accent.

    ¡°Wha? What are these guys saying? Have they gone mad?¡± Another friend of Dunkey said.

    ¡°Ha! They couldn''t bear witness to my brilliance and started to talk gibberish.¡± The only one talking gibberish here is you. But Donkey didn''t understand me since I was still speaking Hourai.

    Oops. So, what does the great forgotten donkey want with us? Raishin said while trying to hold in his laugh. ¡°Ok, assholes! I had enough of you two! It is time we kick your ass!¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± His goons said. So, the great Donkey is so great that he and his 3 friends are going to beat up 2 ignorant guys who are 2 years younger than them?

    ¡°Exactly! Wait, that didn''t come out right!¡± You can still run away you know?

    ¡°These guys don''t take you seriously Dunkey! Show them that blue lightning you showed us the other day.¡±

    ¡°Haha, good idea! Listen up noobs! I mastered blue lightning a week ago. I must be the youngest person around who can use blue lightning. I must be a genius! I might be the next Beatrice Manarune!¡± Isn''t Beatrice a woman¡¯s name? I''m sorry but I didn''t know you were a girl¡­

    ¡°I''m not a girl ugh you guys piss me off!¡± There is nothing wrong with being a girl, don''t let others tell you otherwise!

    ¡°Wait listen I told you guys I''m not a girl.¡± She¡¯s in denial I see. Not because you¡¯re ugly means that you shouldn¡¯t feel feminine.

    ¡°Ugly? Hey, you guys are going too far it''s time for you guys to get fried!¡± I think you¡¯re being too harsh Agnis compared to that troll daughter of Charlize of yesterday. This donkey is quite beautiful. At that moment Charlize and her daughter Kanna passed by.

    ¡°Excuse me? Me, a troll?¡± Charlize''s daughter reacted and Charlize seems to get pissed off again.

    Oh shit. Dunkey who didn''t see Charlize and Kanna got cocky and laughed since we started to become terrified, not because of him but because of Charlize who started shooting bloodlust at us, and Kanna whose makeup cracked from the bloodlust wave her mother sent out.

    ¡°Haha, eat this!¡± Dunkey roared as he shot a blue lightning bolt at us. Well, I assume he was aiming at us but he missed us and hit Kanna. Ooh, Dunkey you were right! You could weaken trolls by hitting them with lightning!

    ¡°Huh, what? I never said anything like that!¡± Kanna looked at him angrily and Dunkey got cold sweat when he saw her troll-like features.

    ¡°Ahh, it''s really a troll!¡± Dunkey and his gang started running and Kanna chased them.

    Good riddance! Uh, Agnis I think you forgot something! Raishin said as he pushed me down a wind blade rushed over my head.

    Oh shit! Charlize was here too?

    ¡°I''m honestly astonished at how good you guys are at pissing others off.¡± Hehe yeah, we seem to be good at that.

    ¡°That was not a compliment!¡± I will still wear it as a badge of honor! Charlize dashed at Raishin with her wind claw. I pulled Raishin to the side by grabbing him by the back of his shirt, formed an ice blade, and deflected her claw upwards followed by freezing the ground and throwing Raishin over the slippery floor so he slid past Charlize and ended up behind her. Charlize shifted her focus on me but got zapped from behind by Raishin. She was really angry so I estimated that her decision-making would be compromised so when she tried to turn towards Raishin I shot some icicles at her which she blew away but got zapped again by Raishin from behind.

    ¡°Ugh, you guys are so annoying but still 100x better than all the kids here in this town.¡± Some civilians were gathering and watching the spectacle. Charlize losing her temper on us or just chasing us was a regular occurrence here in Boshi town. So, whoever was around stopped to watch and speculate how strong we were and if or when Charlize would actually catch us. Nobody thought we were stronger than Charlize and without using special magic or skills we weren''t but we were strong enough to annoy her and then escape. We hoped that would''ve dissuaded her from obsessing with us but it only seemed to make it worse. ¡°For today I have something special for those who destroyed our house.¡±

    We would never do something like that! Uh, actually I kinda did.

    We would totally do that! Take that! Will teach you to not mess with us! Charlize shot wind blades in every direction forcing Raishin and me to evade as she dashed towards me. I pretended to take something from inside my coat but was just taking something out of my dimensional pocket. I threw a ruby at Charlize.

    Here, to fix your house. She caught the ruby and looked surprised but I took this moment to form an ice blade and rush at her. She blocked it with the ruby and my ice blade shattered.

    Dammit, this corundum again. Charlize looked puzzled at my comment and put the ruby in her purse.

    ¡°How sweet, besides being annoying you still keep raising my opinion of you.¡± Will you lower it if I ask for you to return the ruby?

    ¡°Hmm, not really.¡± Shit! I dodged a mass of wind rushing at me but I didn''t fully evade it since it was so wide. I got blown away since I''m not very heavy.

    Uh oh, Agnis got swept off his feet. Please don''t phrase it like that! I said as I recovered and froze myself to the floor to resist the follow-up gales. Raishin made fireballs that fed on Charlize''s wind magic and grew in intensity. Charlize rushed at me while dodging the growing fireballs. I covered myself in frost and water layers and took the impact. Charlize, who didn''t expect me to not dodge, crashed into me.

    ¡°Ouch!¡± She held her head, she tried to dodge an incoming fireball but slipped and fell. I took this chance to freeze a cage around her.

    This ice cage will melt in an hour! Take the time to cool off! I said as Raishin and I ran away.

    ¡°Ugh, why are these kids so strong?¡± That was the last thing I heard Charlize say. As we ran away, we saw Donkey and his crew getting owned by a troll. It seemed Donkey could indeed use blue lightning. It didn''t do much for him though since his aim was terrible.

    It seems blue lightning is something special to be able to use at this age. Raishin and I shrugged and talked about how it might''ve been a good thing that he stuck to yellow lightning in public. We were halfway going back home when we remembered why we had gone to the town square in the first place.

    Ugh not sure going back is a good idea since if Charlize breaks out earlier, we¡¯re in deep shit although she might''ve cooled down by now. Hmm, the pheasant boar won''t be the same without miss Uraya¡¯s seasonings though.

    Alright, I''ll weave an illusion on us and we''ll go back. I disguised us as random villager # 54 and random villager #55. I didn''t use my regular illusion this time though. I was broadening my horizons and trying something new. I was bending light with the moisture in the air making us appear different than we really are. I calibrated it till Raishin confirmed that it looked ok. The reason I did this was that if for some reason we got found out it would still make sense for my skill set or at least what the townspeople know of me. Also, I didn''t feel like weaving a double or triple-layered illusion to trick 1 person and a single layer might get seen through by Charlize. So, I would try this new method of disguise.

    Tailed beasts are really good at performing complicated magic which would normally need lots of calculations. It would be many times easier if I could use one of my tails to deal with this but I can''t for now so I just had to do some mental exercises. Since I am used to using my Elgards eyes and I have to do something like this regularly It wasn''t all too bad it''s just that if I suddenly had to focus on something I could potentially drop this disguise. Raishin and Gregory could also do the same thing with relative ease though at least if they were used to doing stuff like this, which they aren''t. That is fine, we each have our strengths and weaknesses. We arrived back at the town square. It seems nothing much was left from the aftermath of our battle. The cage was still there with Charlize in there but it seemed to be almost at a point at which she could break out of it.

    Hmm, an hour might have been a bit over-ambitious, it seems it would hold her for 15 minutes tops. At that moment I realized a careless oversight. Our voices were unchanged.

    Raishin, can you change our voices with your wind magic? Uhm I can try, I''ve never tried anything like this before.

    Yah sorry I got careless and forgot about our voices, can you take care of it? I''ll hum a song so you can tune it based on that. I''ll try but don''t expect too much, I''m not as great at magic control as you and Gregory. I started to hum a song and at that moment Charlize broke free. We tried to nonchalantly ignore her while still keeping an eye on her while we went towards Uraya¡¯s grocery store.

    ¡°Hey, you two boys over there!¡± We flinched but I kept humming and Raishin tried to stay calm while trying to tune our voices with wind magic. ¡°Have you two seen two boys of about your age? They should have escaped... I mean they must have run off in the direction you two came from.¡± I kept humming and both me and Raishin started to walk faster. ¡°I''m talking to you two guys!¡± She said as she walked to us and stood before us with her hands on her hips. I was still humming but I pointed at myself with a surprised look. I sensed that Raishin was getting nervous. I sent him a telepathic message. Yoo, you need to keep your act together if we get discovered here, we will have to deal with round 2! I know! But it''s not that! I need to pee!

    Oh great. How is the tuning going? Well, I kind of stopped.

    Why?! I don''t know, my instinct says that if I use wind magic so close to her, we''ll get found out. All things considered, Raishin was kind of an idiot but his instincts were always spot on. I stopped humming since it lost its function.

    ¡°What''s wrong? Cat got your tongue? You boys must be enchanted by my beauty!¡± She said as she did like a supermodel pose. We were trying so hard to keep a straight face. My water illusion follows our expressions at the moment since I''m not experienced enough with this yet to make it mismatched with our current expression. I''d like to think I did a good job but Raishin¡¯s face showed a weird and interesting expression.

    Oy! Raishin keep it together! I told him telepathically.

    I''m doing my best but this totally doesn''t fit with how we know her! And I really need to pee!

    ¡°So, are you guys gonna answer me?¡± At this point, we had to do something, or else we would start to become suspicious. Raishin started to make gestures. ¡°What is it, boy? You can''t talk?¡± Raishin started flailing but out of it, I could make out that he was trying to convey that we didn''t see them. But the next part shocked me. He tried to gesture that he had to pee but he made a gesture of holding his private part and enacting how men pee. I facepalmed and almost dropped the illusion since it almost broke my concentration. I tried to hold in my laugh and keep a straight face but I failed at keeping a straight face. Both me and Raishin were making strange faces and on top of that Raishin was acting like a maniac. ¡°You two are weird.¡± Charlize said as she took a step back. ¡°Anyways thanks for the information, I guess? I guess you need to pee, at least I think that''s what you mean, I surely hope it''s not the other thing boys do with their private parts. I just have one last question for you two.¡±

    Raishin stopped flailing. ¡°You guys don''t look familiar; I know every person in this town by face but I haven''t seen you two around. Are you guys new here?¡± She said as she slowly approached. Raishin started flailing again trying to gesture that we were new and were performers in a circus. I''m not too sure of my interpretation because his gestures were a mess.

    It''s no use Raishin! She is onto us! I dropped the illusion and created dense fog while grabbing Raishin and used my frost ramps and slides to get to Uraya¡¯s grocery store. Of course, I made sure that they would turn into water vapor after I used them so it wasn''t obvious where we fled to. ¡°I knew it was you two! Where are you!¡± Luckily, she couldn''t find us in this fog. We entered the store and I put an actual real illusion on the store so that Charlize wouldn''t find us hopefully. Hello Granny Uraya, we''d love to chat but we kind of need your special seasoning blend!

    Do you also by any chance have an escape route or a back door?

    ¡°One canister of my special seasoning coming up. Are you two getting chased by Charlize and Cecilia again?¡± You could tell? It''s only Charlize this time.

    ¡°Of course, I know, the townspeople even have made bets on when they will catch you. My bet was on yesterday but it seems I was wrong.¡± Hmm, you weren''t wrong though, I did get caught temporarily yesterday but luckily Gregory and I managed to escape. Just curious, for how much do these bets go?

    Raishin, I swear if you sell us out again imma kick your ass! Nono! I wasn''t planning anything like that. Raishin shook his head and gestured with his hands to indicate that that wasn''t his plan.

    Then why are you looking so suspicious? Oh, come on, give me a break! I need some silver or even better, gold, this chick from the edge of town stood me up because I''m a poor hunter.

    Well, if you stopped making a mess of the market or did not eat your catch before you could sell it, you might''ve had some gold on you!

    ¡°The bets range from 5 silver to 20 silver.¡± What?! Oof, so how much did you lose granny Uraya? I said as I was pretending to grab something out of my coat but I took a sapphire from my pocket dimension.

    ¡°Only 10 silvers but that is fine.¡± She gave us the canister of seasoning and pointed at the backdoor. Here take this as payment, compensation, and a thank you for helping us. As I put a small sapphire on her counter.

    ¡°What a kind young lad¡±, I heard her say as we exited through the backdoor. We exited in a narrow alley. I looked at the manhole in front of us. Ohh we gonna have some cool adventures down there? I''m afraid not, we''re gonna use it to escape, go home, shower, and prepare to hunt that pheasant boar. At those words, Raishin and I started to drool a bit at the thought of friend Pheasant Boar and wiped it off before hopping into the sewer. Raishin didn''t miss a chance and took a leak in the sewers.

 Chapter 11: Pheasant boar

    We got greeted by a horde of green sewer rats and we dispatched them swiftly. I looked at the flow of energy both magical and leyline and it seemed more intense than the day I did my investigation. This time also learning from Gregory¡¯s investigation I checked the balance of magic. The percentage of useless magic seemed to be increasing.

    Is it me or does it feel suffocating here? Yeah, let''s not stay here too long when Greg isn''t around. There are ways to deal with high energy density but it is not anything we are familiar with or skilled enough to deal with at this moment. I just added: ¡°find out how to not get screwed over by high energy concentration¡± to my long list of stuff I needed to work on. For now, we just rushed home to shower. Raishin didn''t have a manhole close to his hut so he just stopped by my house. I told Philip and Hera I would go out hunting with Raishin and that I will bring some meat back with me but that that probably will be after dinnertime so they didn''t have to cook or wait for me. We went back to Raishin¡¯s hut and met up with Ted and Gregory.

    Ok, guys! I have a fun idea to make this pheasant boar hunting interesting! Because if we just go about, it normally our dinner ehh I mean the poor thing would keel over in seconds, so I thought of something to spice things up! This idea of you doesn''t include any more tasteless puns, does it?

    No, it won''t! I just thought of this plan since we¡¯re all well-seasoned fighters in our element of expertise so I want us to bake in some new fighting techniques. So, what is your idea then?

    I''m glad that you asked! My idea is that we use one of our high-affinity magic we don''t frequently use. Agnis has an affinity for lightning but I hardly see him use it, as well as Greg with his water affinity. Ugh, water¡­

    And for you, Raishin its wind. What about you? You just punch stuff, what are you going to do differently?

    Nothing really, I''ve already reached my full potential. Ted says proudly.

    I mean, he has a point about us not using magic we have a good affinity with but I seriously doubt you reached your full potential, Ted. Yeah, didn''t you lose that tournament? Hey! I got second ok!

    Anyway sounds good to me, how about you Greg? Ugh fine, as much as I hate the idea, I should get more proficient with water sooner rather than later. So Agnis on lightning magic, Raishin on wind magic, and me on water magic. This is going to get messy. At least the pheasant boar won''t get vaporized seconds after we engage it. Raishin looked at me.

    What? I wasn''t planning on vaporizing our dinner! Raishin how far away from the town did you see the PB? PB?

    Pheasant boar, it''s too long to keep saying out full. Are you cutting corners again? Hmm, I saw it about 4 km that way! Raishin pointed northeast.

    Northeast, we go! I got out my tails and used my tail dynamo. I grabbed Ted, Gregory, and Raishin with the three tails I didn''t use for the tail dynamo.

    I have a bad feeling about this. Is this what I think it is? Oh haha, nice! You managed to copy our flash steps! The lightning generated shifted towards purple and I imbued myself with the generated energy and dashed off. That might''ve been an understatement because the speed I went at made it look more like I teleported away. With my Elgards eyes, it''s a piece of cake to evade obstacles at this speed. It did seem that I created a sonic boom though.

    Holy shit! This is way faster than I''ve ever gone with this. Aaand we''re here! This is about 4 km. Did you just cover 4 km in 15 seconds?

    Hmm pretty much. You''ve been hiding some cool stuff there. Ted said as he was standing at a tree emptying his stomach.

    How did you even get vertigo? I''m not a vehicle! I don''t have problems with vertigo normally but... Bleegh. This was a bit too wild for me. Hmm even though it was a bit rough on execution it was a pretty pleasant ride.

    I''ve been able to do this for a while I just never really got the chance to improve on it. It''s a little bit tiring stamina-wise wise but I''ve at least ironed out the kinks in the last 5 years just by running simulations. I should be fine using it continuously unless the fight drags out for 30 minutes or longer. Hmm, I''ve been running simulations on water magic but I never thought any was worth casting since I hate water. We looked at Raishin.

    I ehh did simulations on, eh. It sounds like you didn''t run any. That¡¯s fine, he can practice wind magic now.

    So where is this PB? Gimme a second I will track it down. Raishin was about to use lightning magic to sense out the area when Gregory stopped him.

    Only wind magic, remember? Ugh, how am I supposed to find it then? You''ve fought multiple times against Charlize, right? It seems she uses wind magic to find us, can''t you use something like that? I could probably use something similar to your technique but maybe it is better if you do this.

    Ah right, the I-can-sense-you-displace-air and enhanced smell magic. Wait, you knew how she tracked us down?

    Of course! It''s quite obvious. I thought you did too. Ugh, whatever, go for it. Raishin concentrated and started sniffing.

    I think I found it! You think?

    Well, I don''t really know what boar and Pheasant smell like unless it''s fried. How is that possible? Aren¡¯t those the 2 main animals next to deer that you hunt? How come you don''t know how they smell after 5 years?

    Well, I don''t sniff animals after I hunt them duh! But... you know what never mind, lead the way. You okay Ted? Yeah, I feel better now, just saying this in front, I''ll just walk back home, no need to carry me with that supersonic dash of yours Agnis. Uh sure. We stood in front of a cave that was going into a different part of the Umbra mountain range.

    Lots of caves lately. I think that will continue for a while. Since Greg is banned from using earth magic this fight, we might want to lure it out. I''m on it! Greg made a huge amount of water and sent it into the cave after which he started emptying his stomach.

    I''m starting to see a trend here. Ugh, how come you didn''t get nauseous from your supersonic dash?

    It was too short and I''m using nature magic to keep it suppressed. Hey, isn''t that cheating? Can you teach me that? I could take the Agnis Express back if I could suppress my nausea.

    Agnis express, interesting naming sense you got there Ted. A lot of bats escaped out of the cave after Gregory blasted it with water and a huge silhouette could be seen dashing towards us.

    Say Raishin. Sup

    Didn''t you forget an important detail when describing this uhm animal? Hmm? Not really why? As the silhouette started to become bigger and the sound of footsteps started to become louder Ted and Gregory slowly started to realize what I was getting at.

    How about mentioning that this thing is like 5 meters tall?! Good job Raishin, how could you miss such an obvious detail? We can''t possibly eat all of this! Out of the cave, a monster so hideous appeared. For a lack of better words, it did look like a combination of a pheasant and a boar. It looked like a big pheasant but it had a boar face and instead of pheasant legs, it had two thick boar legs.

    What the actual fuck is this thing! It''s huge and ugly! Ugh, I can''t imagine this huge ugly thing tasting good. The PB charged at Gregory. Gregory copied me and froze the floor and made the PB slip. He followed up by making an ice wall and made the PB crash into it. Raishin shot a wind blade at the PB but its hide was too tough to take any damage from it.

    What the! What is this thing made out of? I assume it''s made out of PB meat.

    Thanks for the useful input, Captain Obvious! Ted and Raishin rushed to the PB. Ted used a fire-infused punch and Raishin formed wind claws on his hands and swiped at the PB¡¯s butt. The PB squealed as it finally took damage. It tried to turn around but Gregory formed a mass of water around the PB¡¯s head, slowly drowning it. I took the chance and fired a blue lightning bolt at the water Gregory created. So, in our first round of attacks, the PB was bleeding out of its butt and had an electrified body of water around its head which was slowly drowning and electrocuting it.

    Hmm not bad for some random attacks. The PB started rampaging. Gregory formed water blades and shot them at the PB, Raishin did the same with wind blades, and Ted punched at the PB I tried to also use waves but well lightning doesn''t have waves. So, I tried to come up with something cool and new. At this rate, it was just a matter of time before the PB would be defeated. I took a sword that I deemed a failure out of my dimensional pocket. I fired up my tail dynamo again but this time imbued the blade with the lightning I created, inspected it and saw that the blade couldn''t take this technique for too long. Since imbuing myself with lightning makes me faster and stronger, I wondered what would happen if I applied this to my sword fighting. I supersonic dashed at the PB and slashed at it. I heard the sound of metal shattering. I was too focused on making sure the blade wouldn''t shatter while I was dashing so I wasn''t paying much attention to the PB. I managed to miss the boar but a huge cut was seen into the floor and the rock wall behind the pheasant boar.

    Oh, I missed it. Maybe that''s a good thing! Are you trying to find out how to vaporize stuff without fire?! Ok if you¡¯re going ham, I will go ham too! A strong wind started to blow and wind started to gather around Raishin. He held his hands in front of him with his fingers spread as if he were holding an invisible ball and made all the wind compress in that area.

    Is he doing what I think he''s doing? Hmm doing something like that costs either a lot of concentration or a lot of energy of one he has none but of the other one he has an infinite amount. This might turn out to become a quite powerful technique. Hmm Indeed, focusing and pressurizing the air and releasing it could attack with a lot of destructive power.

    Stop calmly analysing the situation while Raishin is making a bomb! Hmm it''s not a big problem though, is it?

    Whud? Well, Agnis can easily dodge this, I could tank this and you can just regenerate the damage.

    It is gonna hurt a lot though?! I think that is YOUR problem. Okay, let''s see what you got Raishin! I gave Raishin a thumbs up.

    Nooo! Aaaand! Boom!

    I sonic dashed away to dodge the shockwave. I saw Gregory create a water barrier and Ted started digging for his life. The dust settled. A huge crater could be seen from the tree top I escaped to. I could see a water barrier with an unscathed Gregory inside and about the hole Ted dug. It seemed he barely got deep enough to escape the blast. But what about the PB? I looked around. I saw that the PB got blasted into a rock wall. It was still alive but it was severely wounded. I don''t blame it, it practically got hit by a small nuke.

    Good! It didn''t get vaporized! I was afraid it might get turned into atoms so I held back! Wait that was you holding back? Ted said while brushing dirt off his clothes.

    Hmm, if you could make this attack more focused on a smaller area and up its power a bit you might get a more efficient attack. The PB got blown away before your attack hit it. You missed it. But that''s good! I don''t want to vaporize it! You guys are crazy! Don''t tell me you also have some environment-destroying technique, Greg!

    Hmm, not really my attack attributes aren''t as high as those two. But didn''t your mother one-shot a tanky guy once? I also heard that she also one-shot a God and that''s why she''s called the Goddess of Death.

    Well in the first case, she did an attribute swap making that person''s attack and defense swap. He had very high magical and physical defense but a really low attack and magic attack so after swapping them she could easily one-shot him. I don''t have a good grasp on how she did that but I should be able to do something like that too. I will just have to run a lot of simulations to even get close to knowing how to use it. In the second instance, she used abyss magic which is a form of lost magic. It is very close to dark magic it is really powerful and costs an insane amount of energy. If six-tailed tigers could use it they would probably be the most overpowered-tailed beasts in existence but they can''t. A three-tail would need to have stored an insane amount of energy to use that. But if they do whatever gets hit by it takes a lot of damage. You know reviving, rebirth and reincarnation are a thing, right? Well, abyss magic blocks that. Get killed by Abyss magic and it''s game over. According to mom Gods either revive or reincarnate as long as there are sentient beings that believe or worship them. Abyss magic doesn''t care if you manage to kill a god with it, he never comes back. And it is because of abyss magic that she is called the Goddess of Death. If she wants to kill you, you''re not coming back. So technically we could do a lot of damage but in normal circumstances not really. Hmm, I did not know that. So as long as you don''t want to delete something out of existence you do shitty damage?

    Gregory reacted to ''shitty damage'' but nodded as he realized that it was quite accurate. Pretty much, we can store energy in shadows so our damage output depends on how much energy we have stored. In general, I will do more damage than a skilled human mage but on the scale of mythical beings and stuff, we do shitty damage. Ok, so I just have to watch out for those two glass cannons then. So Agnis is overpowered because he has the speed of a phoenix and combined firepower of a phoenix and nine tail with the technical skills nine tails have, you are overpowered because you are quite tanky and can flip attributes and one-shot things whenever you banked enough energy and make them stay dead and Raishin because of ehh infinite energy? Sounds like he got the short end of the stick. Hmm, infinite energy is overpowered though their specialty might look like it''s lightning magic but it''s electromagnetic interactions in general. They could easily put forth fusion and fission reactions mainly because they can create a near-infinite amount of energy, Raishin could make a small sun and vaporize a city probably way easier than I could.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Ugh, I feel outclassed here. But you can regenerate almost anything in a matter of seconds! We can''t do that! If my arm gets chopped off I gotta wait like 3 hours before it grows back you only have to wait like 3 seconds!

    It is not that fast but yeah, I guess. So, what are we gonna do with the PB It got launched up quite high and it seems it''s lodged into the rock wall. I can get it. I sonic dashed and jumped at the PB and tried to pull it out of the rock wall.

    Ugh, it''s stuck! I''m not sure what I was expecting, there is no way I could pull a 5m tall PB out of a rock wall.

    It seems it''s my turn. Agnis, can you get me up there but slowly? I jumped back down and transported Ted to the wall next to the PB.

    Is there anyone observing us? If there was, I wouldn''t be dashing around with my tails out, don''t worry if anyone gets within a 2 km radius, I will warn you guys. We all had our tails out so anyone walking in on us might be really confused and would notice that we¡¯re not human. We could go around as if were regular beast kin but those generally don''t have multiple tails so that wouldn''t work either.

    Ok, time to show off! Ted transformed into his big bear mode in which he grew to about 4m tall. He grabbed the PB and easily pulled it out and threw it at the ground. So cool! For how long can you use that?

    The duration is 3 minutes, it will greatly boost my strength, vitality, and regeneration and for now, I can only use it 2 times per day. My brother could use it for 10 minutes and 5 times a day 5 years ago so there''s a lot of room for improvement. Ted said as he returned to normal.

    I guess that concludes our PB hunt. We were supposed to practice but it still ended up in the PB getting completely destroyed. Hmm.

    What''s up Agnis?

    I looked at the PB who was wounded and seemed to be knocked out. Do you guys consider this as a boss-type monster? Hmm? It was pretty big so I guess?

    Ok guys back off! I said as I took another failed sword out of my dimensional pocket.

    Huh, why?

    Bosses always have a phase 2! Whud? What? Oh, that¡¯s right! At that moment the PB moved and started to glow dark purple.

    I knew it! The PB got up and doubled in size before releasing an ear-deafening shriek.

    My ears! We all were suffering because our ears were really good. The PB started to grow big wings and started to flap them.

    It is trying to escape! I''m on it! I imbued my blade with lightning again and cut off both wings of the PB. The wind created by the wing flapping made it challenging but nothing my eyes couldn''t handle. The PB which got its wings clipped started to get angry.

    Oh no, he¡¯s enraging! Oh shit! Wait what does that mean?

    It is when you take too long to defeat a boss! It will start throwing around really powerful skills or instantly kill you. Uhm, I feel a lot of energy gathering towards its core, does the boss exploding also fall under enraging? Yup... Oh crap.

    This can''t be happening. Take cover! Gregory ignored the ban on using non-water magic and erected an earth and shadow wall and covered us in his shadow cloak and layered the walls around us. I created frost walls on the inside of Gregory¡¯s barrier while Raishin fed Gregory energy. An ear-deafening explosion. The blast hit our barriers for 47 seconds before it started to subside. During the explosion, I was checking what kinds of energy got released. It was mainly magical but there was also a big portion of ley line energy.

    It is a good thing you used a shadow cloak on us and I used my frost barrier. I said as we lowered the walls. Because I mentioned the shadow cloak Gregory didn''t cancel that.

    Check the magic composition of the magic around us now. Gregory used his technique to separate the magic into its elemental components.

    What? 57% unusable magic?

    Yeah, the explosion even reached 76%. If it wasn''t for our shadow wall and frost magic, we would''ve been in deep shit even though we protected ourselves from the blast. Yeah, we might''ve gotten corrupted or gotten a severe case of magic poisoning. Such a high concentration might''ve killed us a couple of times over almost instantly. How about we make it baseline that big suspicious blasts or explosions always have your frost wall and shadow cloak next to the appropriate mitigation to prevent something like this from killing us one day?

    That sounds like a good idea. Our dinner¡­ Oh shit, what are we going to do about dinner now?

    We debated the possible things we could do while standing inside a crater about a 500m radius.

    Someone is approaching! We disguised ourselves as humans and found a hiding spot to observe the people who would probably come and check out what happened over here. Two men appeared 10 minutes later and were inspecting the area. I can''t say that I remember who these men were.

    Hey Greg, do you know who those two guys are? Hmm, I don''t know them by name but I do know that they like to keep order in the town. If they like to keep order how come they never seem to be able to keep order when you and Agnis make a mess out of the town whenever you get chased by Charlize and Cecilia?

    That is a very good question to which I don''t know the answer to. Cecilia and Charlize don''t always take every opportunity to harass us, maybe it''s related to these two guys. The two guys seemed to take their time investigating the place, looking around, collecting samples and stuff. After 40 minutes they finally left.

    I''m hungry¡­ We need to get some food, sadly this PB was quite disappointing.

    Let''s go hunt some boars and pheasants! Sounds good to me. Go for it! Greg, can I borrow you for a bit? What''s up?

    The cave the PB came out of¡­ Hmm, yeah might be a good idea to check it out. Whud I wanna check it out too! You don''t know anything about magic and energy flow! Let''s just catch dinner while they check that out. Gregory and I entered the cave but I didn''t know what I expected because most of it was flooded.

    Right, I forgot about that.

    I moved the water aside effectively creating an air bubble that allowed us to go through the water without getting wet.

    Your bubble looks a bit unstable. Yeah, I think a combination of wind and water magic would make this more effective. Wind magic would also refresh the air in here. Let''s hope we don''t have to be underwater for too long. After walking underwater a bit, the cave started to go upward and we were getting close to surfacing. Gregory made stairs on the rock floor so we wouldn''t slip and slide back down. Moments before we surfaced, Gregory applied a shadow cloak on us.

    Do I need to keep frost magic on standby? Yes please, the energy density and magic imbalance here are highly unsettling. I could see that the percentage of unusable magic was reaching almost 50%.

    This isn''t natural, what could cause this? I don''t know but it can''t be good. We continued and the cave ended up in a large room, which seemed to be the trend with these cave systems here. I stopped Gregory.

    What do you see? A big purple root seems to come out of a wall and exits into the room in there. There seem to be various magic traps and there is something that looks like an altar next to the root. There seem to be various seals on it. Besides that, there are a lot of flying corrupted creatures in there. I assume they were once bats that got their magic warped and corrupted. Judging by their magic saturation each of the bats could give us a run for our money if we¡¯re not careful.

    Do you think it''s a root of the big pink broccoli? Possibly, but the energy density, magic imbalance, traps, seals, and the over 200 bats in there make me think that going in there will be suicide. We might want to go back.

    You are well versed in figuring seals out with your eyes by now, right? Well, I''ve only really messed with our slave crest of ours but I''m quite familiar with how they work in general yah.

    Can you check them out? I feel a particular energy but I''m unfamiliar with it so I can''t suggest what filter to use. Is it coming from the seals?

    I don''t know, can you link my vision up with yours? Sure. I linked Gregory¡¯s vision with mine so he could see what I could see.

    Ok, it feels that the energy comes from either that altar or the seals on it. Can you retrieve some of it with your shadow and look into it later in your lab? I also want to see what happens when your shadows go inside if it triggers something. I will start preparing a teleport in case shit hits the fan.

    That is fine, it reminds me that we should practice making shadow clones. Teleports are more a technique that originates from chaos magic which is lost magic, any version of teleports used nowadays are cheap copies or imitations of it. My long-range teleports use spatial magic. So far, I managed to be able to teleport only myself. I haven''t succeeded in teleporting more than myself. It is taxing on my eyes because this is more like a racial skill than actually using magic meaning I don''t necessarily need mana to do this, it surely makes it hurt less and easier on the execution if I did though. It seems I can feed it any type of energy; it showed signs of going off when I fed it nature energy, but since I''m not great at nature energy, it wasn''t enough to make the teleport go off. That is not the teleport type I''m going to use I''m going to use a lightning-type teleport. Lightning has 2 or 3 types of teleports but I''m going for transmission feedback teleport or lightning short-range teleport as most people would call it.

    How this works is, I send some lightning magic pulses riding on photons. It will check the area I specified and the magic will shoot back at me at half lightspeed and make me teleport to the location it stopped at and shot back at me. The reason why it is a short-range teleport is that the lightning magic riding the photon decreases in strength proportional to the distance it travels. Too far and it will fizzle out either making the teleport fail or teleporting you to a random spot between the location where it fizzled out and where you are. It could also teleport stuff to you If the magic fizzles out in a wall it could teleport a piece of the wall into you. So, the distance is limited by how much energy you can put into the signal and if there is a way for light to get there, which is basically almost anywhere. It also works if the user has been there before, which can be useful when trying to teleport to or from dark places. To transport Gregory with me I just have to give him a light zap to attune him to the same lightning signal I sent out. Don''t worry it is so weak that he won''t feel it. Gregory extended shadows inside the room. The corrupted bats didn''t seem to notice. Something else did though. I and by extension, Gregory, also saw one of the seals react, give off a strong energy, and activate. Gregory who was still linked to my eyes tried to decrease the density of his shadows to trick the seal into disrupting its activation.

    I don''t think lowering the concentration will help! Just get the samples! I think we need to get out of here! On it! The seal activated and an enormous magic circle covering the whole room appeared and started to glow.

    Ow shit! Uh oh, this looks like a summoning circle.

    What is it summoning though? Do we want to stick around and find out?

    Not really, I got the samples is the teleport ready? Gregory said while he looked at the summoning circle through my vision. He could probably see as well that the summoning was almost complete and that whatever would get summoned wouldn''t be funny to deal with.

    Ok, let¡¯s go! Just a disclaimer this is the first time I''ve done a lightning-based short teleport so it might be a bit sloppy. Hoo boi. I located Ted and Raishin with my eyes and sent for a teleport request to port next to them which obviously went through since I could see them. What? my eyes are special so that''s not a good argument? Well, the short-range teleport disagrees! The teleport went off as something appeared out of the summoning circle and we appeared next to Ted and Raishin who just finished catching a boar.

    Whoa! Sup. I perked my fox ears toward the cave we teleported out of and faintly heard a roar. We were quite some distance from the cave so hearing it from here might''ve indicated that was one load roar.

    Did you hear that? Hear what? A roar, that was probably whatever got summoned to the cave.

    I didn''t hear anything. That''s fine, let''s hunt it! Yeah, let''s not do that. There seems to be a room in that cave with a lot of bad news. Waltzing in there is a suicide, it is still blocked by the water Gregory shot into the cave so there shouldn''t be any issues. Can you go back and freeze that water with frost magic? If that thing escapes, we and the town will be in deep shit.

    Aight, I¡¯ll be carrying you guys with me though because I think we should head back home. Wait! I grabbed Ted, Gregory, and Raishin with a tail and fired up my tail dynamo with my other 4 tails.

    Say if I feed you energy can you go faster? Please let''s not go faster! Well theoretically yes but you gotta feed it into my frost magic because nothing you produce is usable by us unless Greg manipulates it or you dump it in my frost magic, besides that I''m holding back on speed because I don''t want to overdo it.

    You''re holding back!? We arrived and I froze the water in the cave. Unless that summoned thing could use lost magic, it wasn''t getting out. I tried to check it out but my vision of it was unclear. It seemed the large mass of my frost magic was interfering with my Elgards eyes. Interesting, I never experienced anything like this before, probably because I never created a large volume of frost magic and then tried looking through it. I will have to remember this since it is an important interaction that could screw me over if I''m not careful.

    What is that creature doing? I can''t tell, it seems my frost magic interferes with my Elgards eyes.

    Oh, so it does have a weakness, well not like anyone could probably exploit that. At least that thing won''t be bothering us. Are you done barfing Ted? It''s time to go back. Wait, please! I''ll walk. We will all walk; I can''t dash you guys back to the town we might be seen and the nausea is starting to catch up to me. Aww.

    We got our dinner so let''s go back to Raishin¡¯s hut and eat. So, what did you guys encounter there? Ted asked while we walked back.

    There was a big room with a root of the pink tree, it was protected by an altar with various seals and magic traps, there were also a lot of corrupted bats in there, on top of the energy density and magic composition which would set a foot there a living nightmare. When I tried to take some samples of the energy there a seal activated. I''m not sure what activated it but it created a room-wide summoning circle that summoned a thing. We didn''t get a look at it because we got out as soon as I got enough samples. I will analyze them later. Ugh, just a question Gregory, can you make anything to counter nausea? Gregory stopped.

    What''s up? Why didn''t I think of this, ugh I would like to think that I''m smart but I feel so dumb sometimes.

    Hehe, welcome to the club! We all look at Raishin.

    Whud? Never mind. Forget it. It¡¯s nothing. So, what can you make for me?

    I''m sorry I can''t make anything that makes you smarter. Wow. Ok, guys stop fighting let''s focus on getting dinner and then rest till tomorrow so that we can set our plan into motion. Say Raishin, did you lock your hut?

    Hmm? Why would I do that? Nobody ever comes here besides you guys. Well about that¡­ The two men who were inspecting our battle aftermath are in your hut now.

    What?! My fried pheasant stash is in danger! Raishin imbued himself with lightning and dashed off.

    I don''t think they''re there for his fried pheasant but we should hurry up too.

 Chapter 11.1: Pheasant boar part 2

    We arrived and saw Raishin arguing with the two men.

    ¡°Raishin Torai, you''re under arrest for causing trouble on multiple occasions, we also have reason to believe you were responsible for vaporizing the area on the northwest side of the village near the Umbra mountain range.¡± And how would you guys know that? It is not like you guys were there!

    ¡°So, you admit to this act!¡± It wasn''t me! It was a PB!

    ¡°You''re not making any sense young man.¡± The second man said. ¡°What is a PB anyways?¡± Ha! I''ll educate you guys, you see when a boar mommy and a pheasant daddy really love each other¡­ Ok, this isn''t going anywhere, gentlemen can I help you?

    ¡°You¡¯re Agnis Hourai, the blacksmith kid, right?¡± I would prefer it if you didn''t call me a kid but that is correct.

    ¡°You¡¯re not under arrest but we want to question you for a moment, it seemed you were the last person who interacted with Charlize Jubo before she got mortally wounded.¡± Whud, that monster got wounded?

    ¡°You¡¯re not under suspicion, Agnis because you can only use water magic and her injuries were inflicted by earth magic more importantly the poison branch of earth magic.¡± He looked at Gregory, ¡°You¡¯re not under suspicion either Gregory but we would like to hear what you know about this since you''re one of the few knowledgeable earth users here in the town.¡± Wait why are they not suspected but I am!

    ¡°Well in the one and a half years these two got harassed eh I mean contacted by Charlize they never hurt her, not even a scratch. I''m sure that they can and if they wanted to, they would''ve done so already so we trust that they would be innocent. You however never fail to make life tougher for your fellow villagers.¡± Hmm, we can go with you but Raishin is innocent.

    ¡°I''m sorry, Agnis but we can''t take your word for it we need a proper investigation.¡± I activated my Elgards eyes and cast a powerful illusion. It falls in the same branch but it''s more of a powerful suggestion forcing a reality or idea onto my target. I said he is innocent.

    ¡°Oh ok. We will continue our investigation elsewhere then.¡± The men were about to leave. ¡°Can you two meet up at the town hall in about an hour? Are you ok Agnis?¡± I was clutching my eye because these types of techniques were really overpowered and thus put a real strain on my eyes.

    I''m ok, we will meet you guys in an hour. The men left and Raishin checked if his fried pheasant stash was intact.

    Nobody is interested in your food stash Raishin. Are you alright? Your eye is bleeding. Yoo, thank you for saving me, Agnis.

    It''s nothing, is it ok if I rest while you guys make dinner? I''ll make an extra big portion for you! As I rested and Gregory and Raishin started to prepare dinner, Ted came and sat next to me.

    I know you mean well but maybe you should go easy on using your eyes so much. If I remember correctly practice and experience will make those things go smoother in the future but we need them the most when we''re in rough battles. We can''t have you drain your stamina or temporarily disable your eyes due to trivial things.

    I know, we just can''t use a lot of unexpected incidents in these 5 days when we will prepare and finalize our escape. If he gets locked up who knows for how long or what we would need to do to get him out. I just want you to not exhaust yourself and also rely on us a bit more. Each of us has things that were good at but that doesn''t mean we should carry those burdens alone.

    Look at you not using puns and acting like a big brother, are you ill? I said as I smacked him on the back.

    Ha, eye did not see that one coming, if you can joke, I assume your eyes feel better now. Don''t lose sight of our goal. And you were doing so well without going without the puns¡­

    I mean it though, don''t try to do too much by yourself. I will take it to heart. Ted got up and started helping with making dinner. He scolded Raishin for using only fried pheasant for dinner.

    I''m telling you we need other things to eat besides fried pheasant! Like greens and potatoes! Oh no! I think I would prefer fried pheasant stand-alone! Join us at the potato side!

    Nooo! Dinner was delicious and lively. I successfully shirked my potatoes to Gregory when Ted wasn''t looking. We had a secret pact. I would funnel all the potato resources to Gregory. I would pretend to not want them and Gregory pretended to do his best to get me to eat potatoes. In exchange, I slowly returned the insane amount of shadow liquid vodka I confiscated from Gregory in our early years. I''m not exaggerating it probably ranges in the quadruple digits of litres. He had a serious addiction to liquid shadow vodka when he was young. He always found a way to get a huge amount of vodka from his brother in some way or another. Don''t ask me where they all get it from, and to be honest, I''m not really interested. The vodka tastes alright, I can drink it even though I know I shouldn''t. I mainly use it to deal with smell-based attacks and lighting them on fire. I could also make bombs with it. Hmm, I guess I will put that on the long list of things I can and maybe should do. I put some food aside to bring home and we cleaned up. I wanted to head home first but I was supposed to be at the town hall in 10 minutes.

    Hmm, we might be a bit late. It should be fine, were not suspected of anything. We walk towards the town hall and it was not crowded but some people were standing in front of the town hall. I saw the troll with her makeup on, she was crying and it looked like the makeup was melting but it held on. There was Cecilia and her daughter, old man Paul was there too and about 20 more townspeople.

    ¡°Ah, there you guys are!¡± One of the men, that we met earlier, said. We¡¯re sorry we¡¯re late.

    ¡°We want to as you some questions is that fine?¡± With all these people here?

    ¡°If that''s a problem we can also go inside.¡± Said the other man. I''m just going to call them wannabe cops 1 and 2.

    Nah, it''s fine. Wannabe cop 2 stepped forward and started asking us some questions.

    ¡°About what time did you two last see Charlize Jubo?¡± Hmm, the last time I saw her was about 22:53 the day before yesterday when she captured us and we escaped. That was the time I last saw her before we eventually escaped. The townspeople started to talk.

    ¡°Wait you guys got caught? Who bet on them getting caught on the day before yesterday?!¡± The townspeople were starting to make a lot of noise and trying to figure out who would''ve won the bet.

    ¡°Did you see any signs of poisoning or Charlize acting weird at that point?¡± Acting weird? Are you kidding me?!

    ¡°Ok maybe that wasn''t the correct question¡±, the wannabe cop 2 said while scratching his face. ¡°Did you notice any lesions signs of poisoning or behavior that you guys wouldn''t associate with her uhm regular obsessed behavior?¡± Gregory looked at me. I shook my head. Not that I could tell.

    ¡°Did you see Charlize today right Agnis?¡± Wannabe cop 1 asked me. Yes, Raishin and I had a run-in with her earlier today at around noon.

    ¡°None of you two have an affinity for earth magic, correct?¡± Correct.

    ¡°Did you observe anyone close by that could have poisoned her or did you see any signs of her being poisoned or acting differently than you are used to?¡± She didn''t seem any different than she normally acts.

    ¡°Do you know what happened to her after you escaped?¡± I don''t, I created some fog and dashed out there.

    ¡°Oh, so that weird fog on the town square was your doing.¡± Sorry if it was an inconvenience.

    ¡°Oh, don''t be! It seems your fog saved her life!¡± What?

    ¡°We don''t know the specifics but after the fog lifted, we saw her in a heavily poisoned state the moisture of your fog seemed to have pulled quite the amount of poison magic out of her she was found about 2 hours after your described encounter and that is when the fog lifted.¡± Did you by any chance create the fog using frost magic? Gregory asked me telepathically.

    Hmm yeah, I forgot to use regular ice, I hoped the fog wouldn''t stick around forever but seems it didn''t.

    ¡°Hmm, so we have a mystery here. Something attacked her in the fog and badly poisoned her.¡± May I ask where you found her? I can''t imagine someone as strong as her going down without a fight.

    ¡°Sure¡±, wannabe cop 2 replied and started to walk towards the centre of the town square.

    ¡°She was found near that manhole over there¡± as wannabe cop 1 pointed at the manhole. The area was taped off and some townspeople were looking around the about 20 m2 that was taped off. There were some remains from our battle-like places where wind blades cut into the pavement and stuff. ¡°You see there were no traces of earth magic found anywhere.¡±

    Hey, do you think? Yeah. A townsperson tried to lift the manhole but I froze it.

    ¡°What the?¡± The surprised towns person said. Most of you guys might not know this but I''m quite sensitive to magical energy. Recently Agnis and I discovered that something seems to be amiss in the sewers.

    ¡°We need to investigate this then! Is it the electronium system? Is it faulty? Did anyone have toilets running over?¡± Nono, it''s nothing like that. The magical density seems to have a high concentration It could easily negatively affect anyone unaware of it.

    Gregory rummaged in his bag and took out some of his alchemical devices. Look this is a test I did 2 days ago; it shows that the magic energy down there is heavily shifting towards earth and fire. There is a high possibility that the heightened earth in the magic caused the poisoning in Charlize. I will have to get a blood sample and tap some of her magical energy to confirm though.

    ¡°Ugh, I feel useless,¡± wannabe cop 2 said while throwing his hat on the ground. ¡°We''ve been investigating this for half a day and these brats find the cause immediately.¡±

    ¡°I''m just curious. ¡°Wannabe cop 1 asked: ¡°How did you guys find out about this?¡± Well, that is simple, we periodically use the sewer system to escape from Cecilia and Charlize. Everyone looked shocked and then looked at us in pity. Cecilia also looked shocked and seemed to be quite embarrassed.

    ¡°You guys go through a lot I see.¡± Wannabe cop 1 said to us with a look of sympathizing with us.

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Wait then how come you guys don''t have this poisoning if you escape through the sewers?¡± Troll asked. Well, that is simple, it is because we are overpowered!

    ¡°I beg your pardon?¡± Don''t listen to him. I made sure to have something that can prevent us from getting affected too much by the state down there, but I never thought it would get this bad.

    ¡°I see¡±, the wannabe cop said with a pensive look. ¡°Do you guys have any idea what is causing it?¡± Nope! Not a clue. We lied.

    ¡°Look Randy we can continue our investigation and be useful!¡± Wannabe cop 1 said towards wannabe cop 2 whose name is apparently Randy.

    ¡°Ooh, let''s get to it then!¡± Randy said invigorated. ¡°Wait didn''t you promise your wife you would fix her wardrobe?¡±

    ¡°Oh shit! Ok, let''s investigate first things tomorrow! Can you share some of those potions that protect you from the magic in there?¡± I looked at Gregory because I knew he worded it so vague. After all, he was talking about his shadow cloak. Also, we tailed beasts have a natural resistance to elevated magic density. It is nothing special but it''s better than humans and races that are native to the main dimension, for lack of better words.

    He didn''t mean a potion it is a skill where he has to ferry out any earth imbalance that the high magic density introduces to us. It''s not something he can just give to you. I felt bad for lying to the townspeople but we couldn''t let them down there, they would get badly poisoned or even worse corrupted, it would not exactly be like zombies but it would have a similar chain of events as a zombie attack if multiple people got corrupted. When they scratch or bit you, they pour corrupted mana inside you which as you can guess corrupts your mana and becomes one of them. It is reversible as far as I know and the effect of corruption can vary depending on which element is dominant in the corruption but that''s not important now.

    It is important that anyone stays away from the sewers, I will try to find a way to solve it and if I or Pietro can''t solve it, we will need to contact specialists from Jubra city. So, bear with it for a bit. The sewer functions seem to be intact so nobody needs to go down there.

    ¡°Hmm if our second-best alchemist in town says that I suppose we just have to wait.¡± Wannabe cop 2 said dejectedly. ¡°Is an alchemist even supposed to do all this stuff? You''re like also kind of our doctor as well¡± I only know what I''ve learned from Pietro, if his methods deviate from the norm that means mine will too.

    ¡°That makes sense. Anyways thanks for helping us out. We will spread the word to stay away from the sewers.¡± Gregory and I went to my house for me to drop off food.

    I''m going to stay the night at Gregory¡¯s place.

    ¡°Thanks for the food Agnis!¡± Philip said happily.

    ¡°If you spit this food out, I¡¯ll have you apologize to Agnis!¡±

    ¡°It is fine! There is no way I will manage to not eat my food for 3 days straight!¡± Philip and Hera started to argue about food again so I say goodbye and walked with Gregory to his house. We were going to practice some shadow clone techniques and also talk a bit more about what we encountered in the cave. Gregory managed to get the hang of shadow clones after about half an hour. The technique originated from the three-tailed beasts anyways and shadow manipulation is their forte so that wasn''t surprising. After getting coached by Gregory for about 2 hours I got the basics down. It wasn''t as great as Gregory¡¯s shadow clones but at least they didn''t have any defects. Gregory rated them 44/100 which was enough for me. For now. I also translated the golemancy magic I found in the dungeon and gave it to Gregory.

    <hr>

    We woke up early. There were a lot of things to do today. Gregory retreated to his lab to make a lot of potions. Yesterday he more or less mastered the shadow clone technique. He could make 2 convincing shadow clones while I could only make 1 which wasn''t convincing for people that knew me well. I''m sure these clones wouldn''t work on Charlize. I wonder if she is recovering well from the magic poisoning. Anyways while Gregory is putting his shadow clones to use to make potions for our investigations today, I look through some alchemy books that Pietro owns. I''m a bit interested in it because the instructions I found to make relic magic weapons had some materials that needed alchemy. I probably won''t be able to master it but some knowledge might be useful so I don''t have to harass Gregory for every small thing. I found an interesting book talking about a red tincture or philosopher stone. There were a lot of names for them but since I''m not great at names those two were the only ones that stuck to my memory.

    It seemed to be either a red liquid or a stone. This book didn''t seem to be able to make up its mind. I guess it depends on the name that''s used for it. The manufacturing of it has been lost in time and a lot of alchemists tried to recreate it. It seems that when used in the crafting of magic weapons they can get a will of their own. It also seemed to have been used in ancient times to make golems and automata besides the regular function of granting eternal life or stabilizing it. Hmm, interesting. It reminded me of the golem manufacturing floor in the Corund temple. I don''t remember seeing a red stone or red liquid there besides rubies. Was it not ancient enough? Then I remember seeing a red liquid. Could it be? Nah, that would''ve been too convenient, or maybe not since I vaporized it. It talked about the Magnum Opus of how to create it. It had four steps: Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinitas and Rubedo. There were a lot of details that I didn''t understand. I was looking through the process of Nigredo to see if I could understand any of it when Gregory called for me.

    I''m almost done but I need southern gale flower extract, do you have any in your dimensional pocket? I went through the catalogue I held in my mental archive. You would think I would forget what I put in there! But I well¡­ I do but that is why whenever I dump something in it or take it out, I mentally edit this. Well, most of the time one of my tails does that but since I can''t use them a lot lately, I have to do it myself. I found the item Gregory needed. How many do you need?

    I need 5 flowers. Gregory held up his hand spreading out 5 fingers to indicate ''5''.

    I took them out and handed them to Gregory. Anything else you need?

    Don''t think so. What is the state of the herb and catalyst inventory you have stored? Do we need to make another trip to restock? It seems fine for now most of it is halfway used. Gregory and I occasionally went out to gather herbs and different ingredients for anything Gregory might ever need for his alchemic concoctions. I also took the chance to just take anything that looks useful for blacksmithing or in general in it. It has been quite useful but it was also important to keep track of when it was time to restock. I let Gregory continue and I inspected the weapons I had. I only had failed swords left and a lot of daggers and wires. Also had potato peeler 2.0 and my 2 old daggers. I would only use potato peeler 2.0 when it was really necessary. I will try to make do with the 3 failed swords I have left and the dagger and wires. I needed to improve Raishin and Ted¡¯s weapons but I would start on those after our investigation or tomorrow. I also need to find out how I''m going to make a hammer for Gregory in such a short amount of time.

    I started to try and come up with ideas of how to deal with the pink tree and how I can improve on using leyline energy. I decided to just jam a stick into a block of sapphire and call it a day, the hammer will be hard pretty, heavy, and expensive, pretty much all a hammer needs right? I got up to head off to the workshop before I forgot this genius idea. If Gregory didn''t like the shape of it, he could just change it with earth magic. I told Gregory that I was heading off but he was too absorbed in making his concoctions and probably didn''t hear me. After I got to the front door, I wanted to scan the area. Charlize was injured but you could never be too cautious. That was my plan but the moment I opened the door and wanted to scan the area I saw Cecilia in front of the door.

    Oh no! I tried to slam the door but Cecilia stopped the door from closing.

    ¡°Wait! I''m not here to kidnap you guys! Please hear me out!¡± Gregory isn''t home and neither am I!

    ¡°Well, if you''re here, you''re not home indeed.¡± Cecilia said still preventing me from closing the door. Shit, I didn''t think this one through.

    Watcha want? I said while glaring through the small door gap.

    ¡°I came to apologize for Charlize and my actions.¡± What actions? I have no idea what you''re talking about! I said as I tried to close the door again.

    ¡°I mean from chasing you guys down and all. We didn''t realize that we were putting you guys through something as bad as hiding in the sewers. Well maybe that is not entirely true but we believed what we were doing was the best for you and our daughters. But after seeing how badly the energy in the sewers hurt Charlize and hearing how you guys must keep escaping through the sewers, I realized we were in the wrong.¡±

    What''s going on? Oh, shit its Cecilia! Agnis close the door! I tried but I think she is here to apologize to us.

    Oh.

    ¡°As I just told Agnis, I came to apologize for Charlize and me chasing you two around and having to force you to escape through the sewers. After hearing your story and judging by how badly Charlize was hurt from the magic poisoning, I felt that what we did was wrong and I came to apologize.¡± Hmm, will you give up trying to marry us off on your daughters?

    ¡°Hmm, we will not, sorry, but we will stop using forceful methods, I will talk to Charlize about this when she wakes up.¡± I guess if we won''t get chased around that''s good enough for me, right Greg? Sounds good enough, apology accepted.

    ¡°If there is anything you guys need just ask me, I might not look like it but I was a high-ranked adventurer in my days, and I''m quite capable and have good connections.¡±

    We¡¯ll try to avoid you as much as possible but if we really need something we will hold you to it.

    ¡°I guess that response was to be expected, I hope we can gradually grow to become friends.¡± Charlize left. I guess we don''t have to worry about that anymore. I guess I''m heading off to the workshop since I got a great idea for your hammer.

    Oh, is it finally going to happen? I will get my hammer? Yup look forward to it! I said as I ran off to the blacksmith workshop.

    <hr>

    ¡°Oh, look who we have here!¡± I looked at where the voice came from and I saw a chunky guy with 6 people walking behind him.¡± And who are you?

    ¡°You''re kidding, right? We met yesterday I¡¯m Dunkey!¡± Who?

    ¡°Ha, I see my appearance was so shocking that you drew a blank.¡± Said the chunky guy while making a ridiculous pose while discharging some blue sparks.

    ¡°I see your friend isn''t around today.¡± Yeah, he''s hunting pheasants.

    ¡°What a savage!¡± One of his friends said.

    ¡°He sounds poor to have to hunt for food!¡± Another of his friends said. They all started to laugh mockingly.

    ¡°So Agnis here is the thing.¡± Another friend of the chunky guy said while walking next to me and putting his arm over me. ¡°You kind of embarrassed us yesterday¡±. I did? Oh, I''m so sorry! Ok bye, I''m busy! I said while I got rid of the guy''s arm which was leaning on me and walked away in the opposite direction. A light blue thunderbolt struck the wall next to me.

    ¡°Yah, about that we¡¯re not letting you off easily, you got lucky last time by summoning a troll but I don''t see it now.¡± They started surrounding me. So, you''re going to bully me 1 vs. 3? I don''t see how that makes any sense.

    ¡°Ha is he blind?¡± another friend of Chunky said while laughing.

    ¡°Where do you see 3 people? We¡¯re with 7 here, 8 including you!¡± Chunky said with a confident smile. Oh, so you can count! I vaguely remembered someone who looked like you who couldn''t spell his name so I wanted to make sure, but you''re definitely a different person, not the one I encountered earlier this week. Donkey looked like he got upset. Donkey? Where have I heard that name before?

    ¡°Okay, I''m sure he''s messing with us Dunkey, Let''s smoke him!¡± You guys look about 14 years old I don''t think it is legal to smoke at this age. I seemed to have pissed off all of the friends of Donkey. They started to rush at me with various types of magic. A fire punch, seems lukewarm, I caught it with my hand coated in water. What? An earth kick, looks slow, I evaded it. A wind blade flew at me, looks dull, I parried it with a failed blade I pulled out of my coat. A friend rushed at me having enhanced his body with lightning, I tripped him and made him crash into someone else who was attempting something but his magic activation was slow so his cast got interrupted by someone crashing into him.

    ¡°What is this guy?¡± Clunky was looking at how his friends got tripped up and got even angrier. ¡°Move away! I''m going to toast him with my blue lightning.¡± You know that shouting will give me time to evade it right?

    ¡°Ha, evade lightning? You make me laugh!¡± Cranky was charging up his lightning magic. The magic circle that appeared seemed impressive but it was quite slow. I evaded more of his friends while keeping an eye on Chutkey ehh the chunky guy who leads these delinquents, can''t these parents give their kids easier names to remember? Most of the magic I encounter has the magic circle only appear for about 1 or 2 seconds at most before activating but this guy was already charging for about 20 seconds. At this point, it would''ve been faster for him to physically draw the magic circle since it would be faster and wouldn''t get taxed in power.

    Magic circles can be drawn manually and this will take time but it will cast whatever magic it belongs to at full power, but nobody has time to do that in an actual battle so there are ways to speed it up. Unaspected magic or how it''s mostly called: household magic. Gets used to draw the magic circles. Now there is one problem, using magic to make a magic circle drops the power of whatever magic wants to get cast. It''s about a 40% reduction in firepower and effects but it gets used because it is fast. If a way could be found to draw magic circles with something that is not magic it could be cast at full power but it doesn''t seem like a faster or better alternative exists, yet. If I master leyline energy I could probably do that and it will also help against my nausea problem since no magic of my own will be used in such circles only magic of the environment. But if it takes more than 40 seconds to cast magic from a magic circle made by household magic then I don''t see the advantage of what Funky is doing. Anyway seems he''s done charging. Let''s see how impressive his blue lightning really is. It seemed to be light-blue lightning so it was not even the stronger version of blue lightning. He fired it off. It wasn''t slow it was as fast as lightning gets but I dodged it.

    ¡°How did you dodge that?¡± Punky seemed a bit tired and upset that I dodged. If you think I''m just going to stand here and take a lightning attack you''re wrong! But I will reward you for your effort. Since it wasn''t much magic, I needed to deal with these delinquents I could do this without my tails. I made a motion and activated my own lightning magic. In 2 seconds, it went from yellow to purple. ¡°What? Purple lightning?!¡±

    Hasta la vista noobs! As I zapped and fried all of them. Feeling like a burden fell off me I headed towards the workshop. I can insult my friends and that''s fine because I don''t mean it but I won''t have any mercy on others that insult my friends. I arrived home and readied up to make Gregory¡¯s hammer.

 Chapter 12: Pink Broccoli

    As I thought it was quite challenging to hammer the pole inside a block of sapphire. I had to carefully melt a hole in the sapphire. I couldn''t use any tools for it so I had to heat my finger and carefully melt a hole in the sapphire. I tried to make the edges of the hole look decent and not ugly. I didn''t have anything to polish out any mistakes. It went well for a while until I messed up a bit and some molten sapphire formed a blob outside the hole.

    Aah, screw it! I hammered the pole in the block. It seemed to work quite well. The outside of the hole which had the pole in it now looked kind of messy. I couldn''t grind or sand it because I didn''t have anything tough enough. I just made an ornament to cover up the mess and weld it to the pole. I could make a decent ornament and it would look fancy! Nobody would see that I messed up a bit. Temperature control was easy. I could spot what parts were hot enough with my eyes. The problem was my control over fire magic. Normally delicate usage isn''t needed for fire but this time it was and that''s why I messed up. I finished the ornament and welded it on the handle of the hammer. It was quite heavy. I took it outside and gave it some swings.

    Oof this is heavy. A couple of swings already made me quite tired. I was wondering how Gregory was planning to lug this around and swing it the whole time. But I guess that wasn''t really my problem, for now. Putting the hammer together didn''t take much time because all I needed to do was hammer a pole inside the sapphire. The easiest weapon I made in my life! Not having to make a hammerhead saved me an insane amount of time though. Anyways, a hammer is a hammer. I picked up the hammer, spun around on my heels while spinning the hammer, and threw it into my dimensional pocket.

    I hope it didn''t crash into something fragile. I did throw it into the section of heavy objects but since it''s made out of sapphire it could probably smash or dent almost anything I have stored in there. Ah well, I''ll find out later. I headed towards Gregory when I met Ted on the road.

    Hey Agnis, are you done preparing for the investigation? More or less, I just need to check my inventory and then I''m set, did you learn anything from the townspeople about the underground or do you have to yet start asking around?

    Hmm, a lot of people don''t seem to know anything, Old Lady Uraya said that there used to be a city here and that a god buried it but I don''t know how accurate that is. A city? Here? In the middle of nowhere? Not sure if that makes sense.

    Yeah, she said teleport gates were way more common back then than they are now. You''ve seen them before, right? Teleport gates? What are they like? They don''t have any here.

    Hmm well, I haven''t gone through one myself but in Kozar¡¯qubac, the city where my tournament was there was a big arch, it was pouring unaspected magic down into like a grated slit under the arch, and as I understand some strands of lost magic are pulled through it. Some mechanism seems to be in play there which is hard to replicate and needs a rare ore. I don''t know the specifics but the reason those gates are so uncommon is that the technology to make them kind of got lost. The only thing the teleport caretakers can do is replace the ore in the device that powers the teleport gate. It can teleport caravans, and loads of people almost anything with ease. Quite the sight to behold. It does need to be linked up with other gates but I don''t know the specifics. I guess if that was a common thing then putting a city here wouldn''t be strange. This place is quite inaccessible so it wouldn''t have to worry about invaders. We are quite close to the border after all.

    Maybe it is tied to those caverns you and Gregory found. Suddenly a buried city doesn''t seem so weird anymore. As long as nothing is still alive in there, I don''t care what is underground we have enough stuff to deal with, and adding dealing with a city to that doesn''t sound pleasant. I said as I kicked a random pebble. It hit someone and I pulled Ted into another street to avoid their detection.

    The thing is that she mentioned that a god buried it, sounds like quite a rocky situation. What do you know about the gods here on planet Yabia? Hmm not much, I do know there are different groups of gods, and that one group seemed to have become more active lately but that''s all I know. My mother told me about the reason why there are so many groups of gods but I forgot the reason. I think there were about 8, I might be wrong about that but I do know that my mom, Felicia, and Nadila wiped out 3 whole groups because they were destroying the planet and messing with them. So, there were way more in the past.

    Hehe, who knows maybe one day we¡¯ll kick the asses of some that remain. Hmm, I hope we''ll never get to deal with any of those. Anyways let''s see if Gregory is done.

    <hr>

    We rang the door to Gregory¡¯s house, well actually it was Pietro¡¯s house but that''s just a small detail. No answer¡­ Do you think he''s still in full focus mode? Probably.

    How did you get him out of it the last time? Uhm, it may or might not have involved a lot of water.

    You are pure evil. Any other way to get him out? Hmm. I can try something. I took a bottle of liquid shadow vodka out of my dimensional pocket.

    Oooh, I haven''t had any in a while! Thanks! Hey back off alcoholic! This is not for you!

    Aww, just a sip! I popped off the cork. I made sure it made a loud pop. I heard some rummaging and the window opened.

    Is that?! Liquid shadow vodka! Gregory jumped out of the window at the bottle I was holding. I froze a lid on the bottle and put it back in my dimensional pocket.

    Aight, we collected Gregory! Let''s go!

    Just a sip! If I didn''t know any better, I¡¯d think you two were brothers! I walked towards Raishin¡¯s hut dragging the two alcoholics that were hanging onto my legs. I didn''t make it very far though.

    Yoo guys back off! You¡¯re heavy! I thought I could be cool and drag you back to the hut in a cool and composed manner but you guys are seriously heavy! You really think and say useless things from time to time! I''ll let you be cool in trade for that bottle of liquid shadow vodka! The two alcohol addicts got up, brushed off their clothes, and tried to get some of that liquid shadow vodka while we walked towards Raishin¡¯s hut.

    He doesn''t seem to be home. Oh no, what did he get himself into this time? Oh, there he comes. I caught a lot of food!

    As usual only meat and no fruits. Good, chuck it into my dimensional pocket and we¡¯re ready to go. Raishin chucked the food into the dimensional pocket I opened and we went to the manhole Gregory indicated as being closest to the pink broccoli that he saw.

    This is the first time I visit the sewers, anything I need to pay attention to? Yes, you need to dress lightly, don''t forget shades and sunblock, might also want to wear bug repellant. Gregory smacked me.

    This is not a holiday! Haha, but this is the first time in a long time we have had a proper adventure with the four of us!

    What about when we hunted the PB? That didn''t count! He was dead in no time! I mean a thrilling adventure that puts our lives on the line! Yeah, I can''t believe you called that disappointment of a PB an adventure!

    Ok, calm down adventure junkies! I''m not sure if I''m too happy with the ¡°put your life¡± on the line part. It will be fine, it can''t be as bad as that dungeon I did, right? I think you just jinxed us. Oh, crap now we''re gonna die! Raishin started to act dramatically as always. He should give theatrics a shot.

    Guys calm down! Somehow, I''m the only one who hasn''t been in the sewers but seems the calmest. It''s exactly because you haven''t been down there! There is so much water down there¡­ That is to be expected though¡­ You¡¯re so silly Greg.

    Ted facepalmed and pointed at a manhole. Is this the hole we dive into? You really couldn''t say that differently? Are you having dirty thoughts, Ted?

    I don''t want to hear that from you! Hey Greg, I think we need a really strong shadow cloak. I said as I looked down.

    Yeah, I can feel it from here. We might want to speed up our escape plan if this keeps going on it will leak out of the sewers and affect the people in the town. Charlize already got hurt but more might follow. Is there any way you can manipulate this so it won''t be as harmful?

    I can but since the source will keep pushing out more and more it might be more efficient to just nuke this tree. I made some anti-nausea potions so when push comes to shove Agnis or Raishin can vaporize that tree. Raishin also suffers from nausea? Hmm, not really It did at first but I just shifted from magic to real electricity so it does not affect me! Now that you mention it, I haven''t seen you activate lightning magic in a long time. I guess if you can create energy from thin air, I guess it doesn''t matter much if you can use magic or not you can just do whatever you want, I guess.

    Yeah, but since it would be quite suspicious that I didn''t create any magic circles, I just made dummy circles with household magic. I''m shocked, you had me fooled. I''m also amazed that you came up with that by yourself!

    Hehe, I have my bright moments too! And to fool your enemies you have to fool your allies! I think that''s how it went; it doesn''t seem like I fooled Agnis though, but he probably didn''t pay attention to it. Yeah, I should''ve noticed sooner, if you want to use magic it seems Gregory made a lot. I count 13 in my dimensional pocket.  I got fooled by Raishin¡­ Snap out of it Greg!

    C''mon Greg, we''re waiting for your shadow cloak! Ah right! We got shrouded in a black mass of darkness. It felt a little bit as if we were wrapped in a dense gas and it felt a little bit cool. It had some slight dark purple highlights on it. Gregory stomped on the ground and sent the manhole flying with earth magic.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Heh, I always wanted to do that. We jumped into the sewers. I froze the water down there solid to make Gregory a bit more comfortable. Raishin acted as a lightning bulb by holding his hand up and creating a bright flame. Gregory and I can see perfectly fine in the dark but Raishin and Ted can¡¯t.

    Hmm, haven''t seen any green sewer rats in a while, Agnis? Going off heat signatures there are none close by; I can''t go by magic signatures with this dense magic flow interfering down here.

    Follow me. I looked around but all I could see was just a single sewer line, similar to my route toward the dungeon two days ago. I saw the place where the barrier ended and behind it, the line transitioned into a cave corridor. The cloak around us became denser and denser as we progressed, probably indicating that the imbalance in the magic composition was getting more extreme.

    Ok, this is the closest spot we can go where I feel it would be safe to continue without any defensive measures. We stopped about 10 meters away from the exit of the corridor. We could see pink-purple light coming from the room up ahead.

    Do you think illusions would work on a tree? Hmm, a trick-a-tree-t will always be welcome. We ignored Ted¡¯s poor attempt at a pun and discussed how a tree would be tricked by an illusion.

    What I''m saying is that a tree doesn''t have any sensory organs for me to fool with the illusions! But your illusions don''t affect sensory input and outputs, do they? Didn''t the nine-tailed illusions interfere with reality?

    Well, yes, but the induction is triggered by a sensory trigger someone observing us or me speaking or making a sound or touching someone will trigger the altered reality. I generally use observation because that''s the easiest to pull off. After all, I don''t need to trick people that aren''t looking at us. So then go touch the tree!

    But we don''t know if that''s gonna work and besides I¡¯ll be illusionless until I reach the tree! Well, good thing you¡¯re fast as fuck, now go on induce that illusion! I''ll weave some defensive magic for you in case you get into trouble! Gregory pushed me into the cave as he said that and started preparing defensive magic.

    Ugh, I¡¯ll get you for this! I shot back as I sensed the tree lock onto me.

    Uh hello, Mr. Pink Broccoli! We are just here to do ehh an ecological survey! We just want to take some samples here and there and maybe also vaporize you that''s no problem, right? I dodged an enormous pink spear made out of leyline energy that got shot at me. This thing is fast!

    I guess that is a, no? About 14 pink spears get formed out of the branches of the broccoli as if it was blooming but instead of growing flowers, they grew 10-meter-long killer spears that flew at me at about Mach 1. Yeh, these things are stupid fast! Whoa look at him go, those things are fast though, it is good Agnis volunteered to test it out.

    I didn''t volunteer! I dodged 5 spears flying at me. I fired up my tail dynamo because I didn''t know if I would need more speed in the near future. The sonic booms these spears made sounded quite rhythmic.

    Hey Greg, Before I attempt to put this broccoli under an illusion, can you try to remember the tempo of these spears? The sonic booms they make sound rhythmic and it feels like there is an attack pattern. A rhythm? Do you think this might be a puzzle like you encountered in your dungeon run?

    Perhaps, since then I can''t shake the feeling that anything that is old as fuck likes puzzles in some kind or form. I kept dodging the spears and listening to the sonic booms. And then I realized it wasn''t a real rhythm, the sonic booms which were in different frequencies sounded like they were forming songs that would act like a voice stringing it together it sounded like it was speaking in some old language. It was one of the languages that Tero gave me. That is why I felt some familiarity or rhythm in them.

    I''m sorry Agnis if it has a pattern or rhythm, it is too long for me to figure out the pattern of it. Yeah, sorry I just now realized what it is that I noticed, don''t you think if you string the sonic boom sounds together it''s like something is speaking?

    Hmm, not really, the sonic booms are too far apart to sound anything like a voice. Yeah, I can''t understand it well though, it seems to be a language I know but it''s like in a weird pitch and the booms are too far apart. I''m going to see if I can make it go faster. Hey! Are you sure that is a good idea? Making it go faster means that it will shoot way more spears at you!

    Raishin, start making a lot of energy and feed it to me in case I need a strong shadow wall to save Agnis! On it! Ok, let''s see how fast I really can go! I noticed the number of spears it shot at me seemed to be constant, always 14. Gregory noted that when he was here it shot 4 at a time. The reason for the difference in number is unclear. I''m just assuming it is proportional to the magic output. The golems in the dungeon seemed to react to magic too. Hmm? I was more or less invisible in the dungeon because I don''t circulate magic so why am I not invisible to the tree? Maybe the shadow cloak Gregory has on me converts the dense magic here and turns it into something harmless. So basically, I''m a magic beacon. There is no helping it I either get my magic corrupted or I''m like I have a big magic signature saying: I''m here! Hit me! If I increase the power and efficiency of my tail dynamo my magic will rise.

    I''m starting to become a bit nauseous but it is still manageable. I circulate some nature energy and push it away. I never went past this point with my tail dynamo because firstly it was unnecessary and secondly, I have no clue what to do with the excess energy. I remember when I first tried this when I was on potato peel duty, after I finished peeling the potatoes, I still had a boatload of energy left and it kept being converted in speed and sturdiness. At least it protected me when I crashed into the steel wall. Anyway I don''t have that problem now I can just turn the excess energy into a nuke and blast the tree. I spun my tails faster and instead of the standard 2 or 3 tails that I spun I went at it with 4. The lightning crackled and turned deep purple. The purple lightning, I normally created was normally light purple close to blue but this one was dark and dense.

    Whoa, guys look! He might shift his lightning to the next stage! What is the next stage?

    It is red, but the difficulty in maintaining and controlling lightning spikes hard after dark purple, he might be better off keeping it dark purple. If he''s gonna go for a nuke to vaporize the tree he won''t need any of that though! He could just blast it with red lightning! Wouldn¡¯t that be bad for us? Hmm, I''ve only seen Raishin use red lightning briefly, it wasn''t that bad to defend against. If it''s red lightning he goes for that is fine if he uses the energy to nuke it with fire then we have a problem. The tree reacted to the spike in magic. I could get way more out of this dynamo but as I vaguely hear my buddies say I was better off not having the lightning shift to the next stage. I had to waste a lot of energy to make sure that wouldn''t happen. The nausea was creeping up on me and going red would definitely make it unbearable. The spears shooting at me numbered 36 at this moment. I was zipping about.

    Going at this speed required a lot of energy but what I was producing was leagues more than I needed. I would have to start attacking or I might explode. But first. I closed into the tree and threw a lightning punch at it. It blew a hole in the trunk but since the trunk was huge it would probably not do much to the tree. But that''s fine I just needed to touch the tree. I fired up my illusions. I had plenty of energy so I could afford to use a 7 layered illusion. Normally in fights, you need to worry about not spending too much energy but at this moment I needed to find ways to spend it because I either would explode or the lightning would shift to red and the energy cost might flip on me and it would require more than I could produce to keep it up.

    I activated my illusion! I don''t know if it will work on the tree so be cautious! Aight let''s move out! Raishin, can you keep an eye out for Agnis? Depending on the situation we might need to nuke the tree so we need you to be ready when that time comes. Normally Agnis is in charge of the timing but it seems he has his hands full now so you gotta adjust to him.

    Roger! Meanwhile, Ted and I will deal with these. I was busy wasting energy and zipping around but I could still see that the tree seemed to have formed some weird pink broccoli-like creatures. They were about 2 meters tall and seemed to be made out of a weird mix of magic and ley line energy. Huh, I thought those two energies didn''t like to interact, guess I was wrong on that. Or well I''m sure I''m not because the information that rushed into me about leyline energy stated such, there might be a special condition where that is not the case. I noticed that Raishin was attacking the pink broccoli. It seemed to completely ignore Raishin and only shoot at me.

    The added magic signatures of my buddies seemed to have increased the spears to 92. The booms were closer but still too far from each other to make out of anything. It wasn''t Corund, it was the other language I found in the dungeon. Not the primal one but the one that was in the treasure room with the primal language and Corund. I needed it to fire more spears so I could hear what it was trying to say. I couldn''t afford to gather more magic though; the red lightning and nausea were bottlenecking me here. I would just have to make our power generator do some work.

    Yoo Raishin! Holy shit Agnis don''t stand next to me! I''ll get hit by a spear! I grabbed Raishin and dodged a spear that landed right where Raishin and I were standing.

    Ugh, my heart! Whatcha want? Raishin imbued himself with purple lightning and started dashing about also dodging spears since I was kind of sticking close to him. I need you to make an obscene amount of energy.

    We''re going to nuke the tree?! Well yes and no, first I want to know what this tree is saying so we need a lot of magic and after I find out then we nuke it.

    Does it need to be magic though? I think so yeh, sorry. I took 3 of Gregory¡¯s anti-nausea bottles and threw them at Raishin. He caught 2 and dropped 1.

    I knew your accuracy was bad but to think you also can''t catch... Why are you wasting my potions!? I heard Gregory shout from the other side of the room.

    So, want a wind nuke, a fire nuke, or a lightning nuke? We dodged more pink spears which numbered 114 now. I could see that Raishin was having a hard time with their speed so I took more distance from him.

    Let''s go with a fire nuke since I''m going to use a lightning element. Let''s try to make the fire and lightning combine and make the fusion element I''ve heard my mom talk about. The main elements of magic are water wind fire earth lightning dark and light but there are subgroups under those or some extra ones that are formed by combining them. Magma could be either seen as a subgroup of earth or a fusion of fire and earth. The fusion of lightning and fire is called well uhh Fusion. Basically, it will create an effect compared to what happens inside a star. So, if you pull this off well you can make a mini sun. My mom sometimes uses Fusion to vaporize foes when she doesn''t feel like fighting, she mostly used it on enemies she deemed as a pain in the ass to fight though.

    Hmm sounds risky, I love it! Ted and Greg might give us an earful though. Let''s deal with that problem later, our current problem is this pink broccoli.

    You don''t think this pink broccoli has a chance at surviving an attempt at Fusion element magic right? None of my attacks seem to really do anything. If it can we have a serious problem. Because the nausea that sets in after we fire that off will be ugly.

    Ugh, I hope this potion of Gregory works. I dashed away and started chucking lightning bolts and electro balls at the pink broccoli. As Raishin said it didn''t seem to do much to it. It even seemed to regenerate some of the damage. Raishin started to form his fire nuke. I could store energy in my tails but I had no idea what would happen if I did that while also generating energy with them. I didn''t want to try any risky stuff so I just kept speeding around and throwing lighting attacks. 256 spears and it started to become crowded with spears, I needed to watch out that I didn''t come near my buddies or in a position where any spears would get aimed at them. If the spears would double, I would probably be able to hear more clearly what this tree was saying. I just had to hold on till Raishin gathered up enough magic. The only limiting factor was his nausea. I got a good chunk of energy and managed to convert it to nature energy. I chucked it at Raishin. His complexion started to become pale but after getting hit by this It seemed to get better.

    Thanks. I would probably have to repeat this in shortened intervals to make sure he didn''t interrupt his cast. I had quite a busy role here.

 Chapter 13: Pink Broccoli II

    Raishin and Agnis seemed to have a plan to deal with the tree¡¯s attacks. I suppose Gregory and I would have to deal with these broccoli minions in the meantime. Besides we needed to get to know more about this tree before the guys can nuke it.

    It seems we¡¯re all on a time limit here. I said to Gregory and he nodded. I took my battle stance and released my taunting roar. I hoped it wouldn''t attract the attention of the tree but it still seemed to shoot at Agnis. The number of spears kept increasing but it seemed like he was quite comfortable evading them. Normally he plays a seemingly passive role disturbing the enemies'' movements so that we have an easy time hitting them and not getting hit but well a tree isn''t exactly mobile so I guess this is when his role seems to flip. Raishin is our main attacker and it seems he''s really serious about nuking this tree.

    This brings us to my role, I''m the frontline tank and attacker, while Gregory is also a tank but more aimed at tanking magical or energy-based attacks. I deal better with physical attacks while he deals with magical attacks. Normally our plan would be quite unusual and stupid but since neither Gregory nor I could block or react to those spears we will leave it to our mobile glass cannons. If they get hit it would be game over for them though. We will deal with the enemies we can actually defend against. I counted about 75 pink broccoli monsters which headed toward me because of my taunting roar.

    These things are safe to punch right? I''ll cover your limbs with a special shadow cloak which will only allow for energy to flow out but not in. Just in case. The black cloak extended to cover my limbs but instead of its usual black color, it turned dark purple.

    So that is what the dark purple in your cloak does! Yeah, give them hell! I will provide some support while investigating, you¡¯re mostly on your own though, is that ok?

    That is fine, I will call you when I need assistance. Have fun. Gregory left a shadow clone that would probably assist when I needed help while he headed off closer toward the tree before melding with the shadows and disappearing to who knows where. My taunting roar felt unnecessary now because I didn''t expect Gregory to go very far. Oh well, it is time to punch some pink broccoli monsters! I let out a battle roar and rushed at the broccoli monsters. I punched one with a flame-infused fist and it got sent flying. It got up after crashing into the wall 20 meters behind it. It seemed these things were quite tough. By now I was surrounded by broccoli monsters but that wasn''t an issue. These creatures weren''t as simple as they suggested, they stood in a circle around me seemingly waiting for me to make the first move, and move I will! This time I infused my fist with earth and punched at the ground. The ground cracked and sent a huge shockwave and rock spikes outwards. I proudly looked at the broccoli monsters I launched and impaled with rock spikes. Pink broccoli skewers! Maybe I should apply fire to finish the dish! Woops I''m starting to think like Agnis, he would totally go for such a pointless combo.

    Anyway these skewered broccoli monsters wouldn''t be bothering me. They were not exactly close to dying but they couldn''t free themselves so I consider these a low priority for now. I blocked a swipe from a broccoli monster and shifted my center of gravity to throw it toward another broccoli monster that was heading for me. After throwing the broccoli monster I didn''t have much time since I had to react to the other ones coming at me. It seemed some were preparing to cast simple magic in the distance. Since I don''t have a good way of dealing with stuff like that, I will have its allies'' bodies block the magic for me. I kept some broccoli monsters at bay, I went for their shins, solar plexus, and joints. They didn''t seem to work well. The shins worked the best since they couldn''t move fast after getting their shins snapped in half. The magic went off and I moved behind the crippled broccoli monsters to use them as a shield.

    The broccoli got well steamed and toasted and I threw this broccoli dish at the magic casters. It wouldn''t do a lot of damage to them but it would allow me time to dash over to them and properly disable them. I locked 2 casters in a combo consisting of a flurry of punches, jabs, and the occasional kicks to throw them off balance. If this was a human, they would''ve broken quite several bones but these things didn''t seem to be that affected. I would just have to go for what I know works. I imbued my fist again with earth magic and punched the ground. I would like to have some more variety in ways to deal with these broccoli monsters. I looked over at Agnis and he was zapping the tree and throwing fireballs but none of those seemed to deal well with the tree. I''m assuming the same would work for these monsters. Earth seemed to somewhat work but most of my magic is related to body enhancements and imbuing my limbs with elements. I got an idea. I picked up a rock, imbued it with earth magic, and punched it at a broccoli monster. It punched a hole in its head. It was still moving as if nothing happened but the hole was there.

    Hmm, why are these monsters weak to earth magic while it is shifting the magic balance towards earth? I stomped on the ground sending rocks floating and I punched them and imbued them with earth magic at the same time. Rock-et Punch! They flew straight and true and turned 3 broccoli monsters into something similar to a beehive. Their structural integrity couldn''t hold out with so many holes in them and they collapsed into a puddle of uhh energy? I should get Gregory over here soon. Broccoli that is weak to beehives... I''m sure there is a pun in there somewhere. I got lost in thoughts when a broccoli came a bit too close.

    Whoa, not cool man! Back off! As I punched it and it flew into the wall 20 meters further up. Hmm, Deja vu. It started to get quite warm here. That''s odd I shouldn''t be working up a sweat from these movements. That is when I noticed the enormous fireball Raishin was making. Whoa! I wonder if that fireball could one-shot these monsters. Only one way to find out! I dashed at two broccoli monsters and dodged their swipes. I crouched and grabbed each one by the leg and spun on my heels before throwing them one by one into the fireball Raishin was making. They went in and¡­ didn''t seem to fly out. Well, that is one problem solved. I wouldn''t have to assign more brainpower and magic to deal with this broccoli. Sad that I can''t punch them into oblivion but oh well.

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    I baited some broccoli to stand in a line and punched them one by one into Raishin¡¯s fireball. I still had to block some attacks and some overhead throws but I tried to make sure I could punch most into the fireball. It got progressively easier because the fireball kept growing. How big is he going to make that? He was about 200 meters away from me but the fireball above his head at its closest point was about 50 meters from me. Which made it quite hot here. I decided to move away but not without punching and throwing some broccoli in the fireball on my way out. There were about 25 broccoli monsters left. I don''t have many flashy moves but I want to defeat the last ones in style. These 3 friends of mine started to rub off on me. I focused and gathered magic within my core. I gathered wind magic in my feet and performed a tornado kick. The wind magic sucked all the broccoli into my kick and after pulling them in and continued tornado-kicking the broccoli into the fireball. The swirling wind started creating a small tornado. The sudden occurrence of wind magic started to feed the fireball and it started to get hotter.

    Whoa, thanks Ted, this saves me a lot of time! Uhh, that kind of happened by accident. Yoo Greg, I need you to check out these energy puddles! The shadow clone which stayed stationary for my whole fight started to head towards me. It held its hand over the energy puddles and mumbled something. I started backing off more because it started to get hot again. I noticed something moving in the roots of the big tree.

    Not good! I ran in to block a big broccoli charging at Raishin.

    Ugh, where did this come from? I was blocking this big broccoli about 50m away from Raishin. It was really hot here. I imbued myself with magic to protect myself from the heat but I needed to deal with this charging monster.

    Just focus on making the fireball Raishin, I will deal with this oversized broccoli! I tried to push the broccoli back but it was huge and stronger than me. I guess I will have to go into big bear mode. I felt my bones crack and my muscle mass expand. My perspective went from looking up at the broccoli to looking down at the broccoli. I took one step and easily pushed the broccoli back. The broccoli tried to swipe at me but since I was a really big bear now it bounced off my fur. I returned the favor and swiped at the broccoli. My bear slap sent the broccoli flying and it got lodged deep into the cave wall about 100 meters further.

    I jumped down, stomped on the ground to make an earth spike, broke it off, and threw it at the broccoli lodged in the wall, impaling it. Now I was sure it wouldn''t break free. I looked around between the roots to see if there were more big broccoli monsters. When I didn''t find any, I canceled my Big Bear form. The fireball started to become annoying because there wasn''t a place in this huge room where its heat couldn''t be felt. It wasn''t like I could stand anywhere though since Agnis was using half of this room to move around. There were so many spears shooting at him I couldn''t even count them. The tip of his tail seemed to be turning red. I assume he''s not fully managing to keep all the lightning from turning red. It seemed like he got what he wanted to get out of the tree because he signaled to Raishin to prepare for a nuke. Well, this was quite the problem because Gregory was nowhere to be seen. I didn''t want to be bear-bequed.

    Yoo Gregory, where are you? Something close to me appeared out of the shadows.

    Sup? Whoa! Stop using shadow sneak on me! Did you find anything?

    Not much the only things I''ve found out are that this tree''s regenerative ability is no joke and that there is energy flowing from its roots to the main tree we see over here. We both looked at the tree.

    I also found a lot of big broccolis hiding between the roots which I weirdly enough could one shot with earth magic. Has been a while since I could one-shot something. Yeah, my Rock-et punches were effective.

    Rocket? You know what I don''t even wanna know. It seems Agnis got what he was looking for and they are ready to nuke the tree.

    I will start making multiple earth walls then, I will telepathically tell Agnis where he gotta drag Raishin to after they released their nuke. Gregory made layers of earth walls and filled the spaces with shadow walls. He tried to make an ice wall to keep us cool but it almost immediately melted.

    Guess we need Agnis for this. We watched as Agnis gathered an insane amount of lightning. He made something that looked like a purple lightning ball around him and threw it at the pink broccoli tree. The tree regenerated the damage almost instantly. It seemed he started to get the hang of using lightning magic a lot. He looked very pale though. We were too far from them to hear what they were saying but it seemed both of them wanted to rush the nuke because they were getting nauseous. Raishin shot the enormous fireball at the tree and at the same time, Agnis shot a big ball of deep purple lightning at it. The two balls would collide together on the tree. Agnis grabbed Raishin and dashed towards us. He slipped into the opening in the dome of walls Gregory made and sealed it with frost magic. Because his frost magic wall was see-through, we could see the tree getting nuked.

    Ugh, I feel sick. Time for that potion. They both opened the potion and a very foul-smelling odor spread through the dome. I''m not sure if they popped open the potion too late or if this foul-smelling potion did it but both emptied their stomachs.

    Gregory you bastard! What''s the point of anti-nausea potions if the smell of them sends you barfing? Blegh! You can¡¯t barf from magic-induced nausea if you end up barfing from smell-induced nausea. Gregory said while tapping his temple with his index finger.

    Ugh, I will get you back for this! Blegh! Gregory said that but even I, who wasn''t nauseous had to control myself to not barf from the smell, Gregory seemed not too great either as he also used magic so also must''ve been a bit nauseous. One moment these guys pull off some crazy impressive feats and other moments they sabotage themselves and end up in ridiculous situations. I''m not sure if I should be proud of them or worried about them.

 Chapter 14: Pink Broccoli III

    After I emptied my stomach, I managed to drink Gregory¡¯s stinky potion. My nausea instantly disappeared. I still would rate it low in usefulness because when you need the potion it will wreck you. It is effective but I wouldn''t want to rely on it in the future. We looked outside through the frost door I made and saw that the nuke had created a huge crater. The combo attack I did with Raishin didn''t exactly turn out to form into Fusion element magic but at least it did its job. Or so we thought.

    Wait guys look! Gregory pointed at the crater. We all saw that out of the crater which was just uhh crater, slowly a sprout grew and slowly started growing into a tree. I could see the problem though; I saw magic and leyline energy flowing from faraway locations to the spot where the big roots exited the room. That energy flowed towards the crater and reformed the tree.

    I can feel energy gathering from 7 directions in this room, can you see where it is coming from Agnis? Yeah, we have a big problem, it seems the tips of the roots are sending energy to this room and reforming the tree. Our nuke wasn''t ineffective since the roots seem to have lost quite an amount of energy but blasting the tree trying to exhaust the roots seems pointless since we will probably run out of steam before the tree does. Ugh great so what do we do now?

    Uhm guys we have a problem! I don''t know what''s happening but the movement of energy feels like bad news. Agnis what do you see? What is your take on this? Hmm, guys, I must inform you that, through my years of knowledge and expertise adventuring, I can conclude that we are¡­ fucked.

    Yup, that sounds about right. Uhh, so we run? Yup! I fired up my tail dynamo again and started preparing a short-range teleport.

    You need help with that? Yes, please. Raishin fed me energy by pouring it into the frost door.

    Grab on we''re going to Raishin¡¯s hut. I saw the energy swell and it looked like the tree that just got nuked but looked like a regular-sized tree. It seemed as if it was going to make a big jump in size and with it release a stupid amount of energy, we didn''t want to be anywhere near it when that happened. The ping I sent for the teleport returned and we teleported to Raishin¡¯s hut. 7 seconds after we arrived a pink-purple beam shot into the sky and the ground rumbled.

    Hehe, this is the second mountain you vaporized Agnis! Hey, this wasn''t my fault this time! Well, this sucks it feels like that stunt made the barrier slightly stronger. Crap! I guess we need to formulate a new strategy then.

    Yeah, we goofed up. This tree is cheating! Imagine anyone else than us trying to break this barrier it would be impossible! Hmm, maybe that is the point, right? To make sure it doesn''t get broken?

    That is true but most magic works on a set of rules an all-powerful barrier doesn''t exist! Everyone making barriers and defensive skills knows this! I look at Gregory.

    Huh? I don''t get it why is that? Hmm, what Agnis means is to make a truly strong barrier you need to be selective with it. Making a barrier that blocks everything won''t be strong. But if you make it weak to all elements besides fire and make it strong against fire it will be unbreakable against fire but other elements can easily break it. That''s why multiple layers are used to cover the weakness of other layers. This also applies to most magic skills by the way. your lightning augment makes you sturdy against physical, element-less magic and lightning attacks but it''s quite useless against other magic. So back to the point, this barrier seems to have only 1 layer but it''s quite strong in its effect. I guess the weakness is that if you don''t want to leave permanently it''s as if the barrier doesn''t exist but besides that, it is extremely strong. Maybe the roots are the barrier''s weakness but still, from what I can see it doesn''t seem like a real weakness since 7 points need to be destroyed before the origin of the barrier, which is the tree itself, can be destroyed.

    Oh, you remember the cave we saw when we were hunting the PB? Yeh, that crossed my mind too. I suggest we eat, rest up, and make a plan tomorrow. I''m quite tired But it''s only like 15:00 we can still do more adventures! Well, you with your infinite energy only had to charge up a nuke, Agnis has been running illusions and literally running around for an hour dodging spears of death so he might be tired, I''m also a bit tired.

    If you have so much energy, can you gather some berries and herbs for me? I need to try and make this potion less stinky. Ugh fine, if it makes that abomination less stinky, I guess I¡¯ll make the world a better place by helping with that. Raishin headed off to probably not gather berries and herbs but meat again. I was tired but not that tired. Ted seemed like he had quite the battle against broccoli monsters.

    Oh, before I forget! Did you discover what the sonic booms were saying? Yah, it said: ??? ??? ?????? ???

    Uhh in Kaledonian please? Oh right, it said: The real one isn''t here. The language doesn''t use words that form sentences it uses more expressions that need to be strung together and interpreted. The expressions used are: different identity, location misplaced, in between, and true form. That is what the tree told me. The best that I could make out of it is that the real one, whatever it refers to, isn''t here, its location is misplaced and in between something. I don''t know if it refers to the tree, the barrier, the caster, the clue to lifting the barrier, or something completely else. It took me a while because I had to make sure I didn''t misinterpret it and to find out if there were new expressions between those I''d already heard. I still might be wrong on this but it should be close to the actual message.

    Any chance this tree we saw isn''t real? Hmm, I observed it with as many filters as I could but I didn''t notice anything off nor does it seem like an elaborate illusion. It could always be made by a genius illusionist and we¡¯d be thinking it is real but it is just an illusion way beyond our level.

    I also didn''t feel anything off with various forms of energy. Besides magic and leyline energy, which are in the majority, it also gives off a bit of nature energy and other types but besides the leyline and magic abnormality rest seems within realistic ranges. Normally the energy footprints are a bit off after an illusion or something deceptive happens but from what I could tell everything seems normal, which is odd since this tree is anything besides normal. So, what could this message mean then? Or was it a message? I can''t imagine the tree just giving us hints to defeat it. Hmm, it could be a trap but a lot of effort is needed and knowledge of a dead language to get this message so I''m not sure if it is a trap.

    I will try and see if granny Uraya knows something about it! Isn''t that going to be super suspicious if you ask something so specific?

    Nah I always ask her weird stuff. I once asked her if she could make a medicine that could boost my pun-formance or how she as a magic caster would counter someone who focuses on martial arts as a reference. And I got to hear a lot of interesting stories from her. Seems she was a well-known and strong magic caster in her time. Hehe, I wouldn''t be surprised if she was a witch with all her magic knowledge and knowledge about herbs and medicine. Hmm yeah, she is a reliable source of information for when I need to craft potions. Maybe I should ask her for tips to make my potion less uhh stinky. And calling her a witch is rude!

    <hr>

    We split up to do our own things. Ted and Gregory were heading for Uraya¡¯s grocery shop and I went towards the front gate. Every month some merchants set up some stalls outside the barrier for a week so that the people in Boshi town can get to buy and experience stuff that''s made in the rest of the country. It is a pretty big thing for Boshi town. I saw a lot of people heading toward where the merchants were stalled. The reason I went to this market was that I wanted to sell some rubies. It is nice to have a bunch of rocks in my dimensional pocket that is worth a lot but it''s not used as a currency so it might be a good idea to convert some of these into gold.

    Boshi town is known for providing lumber, metal, and various types of rocks and minerals since we¡¯re up in the mountains so there''s a high chance that some merchants are looking to buy gemstones. There were about 30 stalls of merchants looking to buy stuff or looking to sell stuff. A lot of carts from merchants and townspeople alike were seen. Hmm, this is a problem, I walked down to this market but it didn''t seem like I had anything for me. The number of rubies I wanted to sell was quite heavy. As I wondered how to fix this blunder, I overheard someone talking to a merchant.

    ¡°The monsters around here have been getting stronger and more vicious, I would like a bit more for these pelts.¡±

    ¡°You said the same thing last month!¡± The merchant said back clearly annoyed.

    ¡°Yes, but this month they are extra fierce! I almost died hunting simple pheasants!¡± I thought about the PB we fought; I wonder how much we could sell that if it didn''t explode. I checked if anyone was paying attention to me and got a small cart with the rubies in it out of my dimensional pocket. Nobody seemed to have been paying attention to me to notice the sudden appearance of the cart. I spotted 3 merchants dealing with rocks in this place, and I pulled my cart toward the closest one. This shit is heavy yo! I got ruby crystals filling up this whole cart and it weighs about 100 kg it takes up the space of like 20 magical moving boxes! I had it covered by a veil to prevent my cargo from attracting attention.

    ¡°Hey, there! What kinds of stuff do you have there?¡± Do you deal in rocks and minerals?

    ¡°I sure do! I''m a well-known merchant from the Yttroz industries which deals in anything that comes out of the ground!¡± If you are so well known then how come I don''t know who you are?

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Listen here kiddo, don''t take the winds out of my sails here I''m not just trying to impress you but also other people from your town. Besides your town is in the middle of nowhere I''m sure there are a lot of well-known names you''re probably unfamiliar with, ever heard of Teppei Fugaku? Or Beatrice Manarune or Dehlia Star?¡± Nope, never heard of them, although that Beatrice Deltarune sounds familiar.

    ¡°It''s ¡®Manarune¡¯ anyways thanks for proving my point. My name is Jeremiah Odell.¡± Oooh!

    ¡°What? You''ve heard of me?¡± Nope, sorry.

    ¡°Ugh this kid, anyways what can I do for you?¡± I want to sell some rocks. I said as I pointed at my cart.

    ¡°I''m assuming they¡¯re special rocks else you would''ve carried that heavy-looking cart down the mountain for nothing.¡± Oh yes, they''re very special rocks, they¡¯re the good stuff, it will make you feel like a new man!

    ¡°Wait are you sure you''re talking about rocks? It sounds like you''re talking about something else.¡± Just make sure that nobody catches you with them.

    ¡°Hey kiddo what are you trying to sell me? Is this some kind of drugs or a magic weapon?¡± Wow, chill out dude I''m just trying to sell some rubies. I said as I uncovered my cargo.

    ¡°Some rubies? Holy crap where did you get all this?¡± The mountain further up.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± He asked while inspecting the rubies in amazement. I''m Agnis Hourai.

    ¡°No, I mean what did you do to get your hands on all these rubies?¡± Well, this was a problem, I can''t tell him that I soloed a dungeon that can only be opened by an ancient language, although he wouldn''t believe me if I told him that. I would just have to go with a white lie. I''m a blacksmith and from time to time I need ore for my blacksmithing.

    ¡°Very young for a blacksmith but I guess that makes sense, so you found this while looking for ore?¡± That works.

    ¡°What?¡± Yes, that is correct. Since I started talking to this guy I paid close attention to his mannerisms, the way he speaks, his breathing perspiration, and his pulse. Why? Merchants are great liars. If they can buy for cheap or sell for expensive, they will do so, and to be honest I don''t know anything about selling rubies.

    ¡°Hmm this is a good batch you have and this is the largest load of rubies I''ve ever seen, where did you mine these?¡± The merchant asked while inspecting the rubies with a magic tool. I mined it in the Umbra mountain range. But it seems something vaporized the mountain not too long ago so regrettably there is nothing left there.

    ¡°Hmm yeah, we did see a blue pillar of fire when we headed towards this town, and also a pink pillar of light not too long ago. What is happening here?¡± No clue.

    ¡°They sent some people to check out the pink pillar of light but they didn''t seem to have found anything.¡± Hmm, that''s interesting.

    ¡°I overheard some hunters talking about monsters getting stronger and stronger and I thought he was talking nonsense but considering these pillars of light and fire it might be actually true.¡± Yeah, weird things have been happening a lot lately. So, what can you tell me about these rubies?

    ¡°They seem to be almost in a perfect state, the color, saturation, clarity, and cut seem to be perfect. There are also no inclusions. Did you heat-treat them?¡± What? I found them like this, I didn''t put them in the forge if that''s what you mean.

    ¡°That''s not what I mean¡­ Judging from your answer you don''t know what that is so I assume they are not heat-treated. Ok kiddo how much per carat do you want them for?¡± I''m selling rubies, not carrots.

    ¡°You really don''t know anything about gemstones, do you?¡± I know that rubies are hard because they were a pain to mine. I know of their properties but only from a practical standpoint, I''ve never had to sell any. I observed Jerry and saw that he looked composed but inside he was probably happy that he could rip some rubies off me. I know rubies are worth a lot but I don''t know exactly how much. And Jerry probably realizes that. I could still sell it for a lot but since I had a boatload more in my dimensional pocket I wanted to get as close to their real value as possible for future reference. Jerry seemed to be thinking and then started explaining.

    ¡°In short, the color and clarity of rubies are the most important, the redder the better, and if it''s clear the value gets even higher. I used my magic tool to polish some surfaces of some of your crystals; they all seem to be of perfect clarity and color. When selling valuable metals and minerals you use ¡®Carats'' to indicate their weight and a price tag is attached to these carats.¡± Oh yeh, I knew that.

    ¡°What? But you said carrots? You know what, never mind. You seem to have about 15 big crystals here. Do you by chance know how much all of these weigh?¡± I looked at the rubies. My estimate placed it at about 100 kg but I suppose in these cases the exact weight would be quite important so I checked the weight of the crystals with my Elgards eyes and added them up. 117.362 kg. Jerry, who seemed to know that the rubies together must''ve been quite heavy still seemed surprised. No signs yet that he lied to me only that he will try to get these for cheap. Good luck buddy, I will try to squeeze every cent out of you.

    ¡°Hmm, 117.362 kg is a bit under 587 000 carats. Oddly enough all these crystals seem to be about the same size. Tell me your price per carat and I will message the CEO of Yttroz Industries to notify him of this valuable deal and to send over enough gold to pay you. I''m wondering though how you are going to carry all that gold and what you¡¯re going to do with it but that''s not my business.¡± What would be a good price per carat for these rubies?

    ¡°Hmm, how about 100 gold per carat?¡± I knew that was a lot of money but looking at Jerry I could see that he didn''t believe that price was fair. Hmm, I don''t think that is a fair price. Jerry seemed calm outwards but I could see he panicked a bit. This guy was a good merchant, he could''ve fooled me if I didn''t have my overpowered eyes.

    ¡°Ok, I might have been suggesting something on the low side, how about 300 gold per carat?¡± How much were rubies worth anyways? Because I could see that he still didn''t believe this was a fair price. I think I will just ask those other merchants.

    ¡°Nonono! He started to visibly show that he was panicking. ¡°I thought you didn''t know anything about gemstones!¡± Well, suggest me a fair price and then we can do business.

    ¡°Ugh, you''re quite tough kiddo. Fine, the most expensive ruby ever sold similar to what you have here was the ¡°Phoenix blood¡± ruby or also known as the Brilliant Dawn ruby for 1172 gold per carat. However, it wasn''t as big as this one, and to be honest I would have no idea what an accurate estimation would be for these gigantic crystals.¡± Hmm, how does 1200 gold per carat sound?

    ¡°Ugh, that is a lot of gold but it''s probably way less than it''s worth. You ok with that?¡± Well since I now have a reference of how much rubies cost; I would say I don''t mind.

    ¡°Wait you have more of these?¡± I couldn''t carry all of it.

    ¡°What are you even going to do with all that gold? Are you going to start your own country?¡± I thought about our homeland which was gone now. In the worst-case scenario that it is gone forever making a country might not be such a bad idea after all. I do have to make sure I don''t become the leader though, or else I will get stuck in the same problem as my mom. Right, I have to answer this guy¡¯s question.

    I want to start my own blacksmith projects and I will need a lot of gold to buy exotic materials. I won''t settle for regular quality stuff! This wasn''t exactly true but also not exactly false, I haven''t looked through the blueprints I found in the dungeon but there could very well be ingredients that are easy to acquire but only if you have deep pockets. At a glance, I saw some parts need rubies. Well, I''m more than covered on that part but if I didn''t rob that dungeon clean of its rubies it might''ve been a really expensive joke. I can only imagine that having to use diamonds or more exotic and rare materials could make most of these relic magic weapons impossible to make. Jerry thought about my answer.

    ¡°Here, is my business card, if you ever need to sell more rubies or you get your stuff up and running and need materials, I¡¯ll be your guy!¡± He handed me a hologram-looking piece of magic. What is this? You''re giving me junk?

    ¡°Right, you live in the boonies, and this here is a magically printed card, it can''t be duplicated, well it can but it''s exceedingly difficult and not worth it, anyways wherever you need something from the Yttroz industries just flash that card. It will also allow you to contact me if you''re at a telepath booth.¡± A what?

    ¡°This town needs some serious upgrades, I¡¯ll try to see if I can arrange some stuff for my next visit, anyways a telepath booth is where you can go to send telepathic messages to people you are close with or who permit you to be contacted telepathically.¡° So, it isn''t a skill you can just freely use to contact people?

    ¡°Nono!¡± Jerry said while laughing. ¡°People that can use telepathy are really rare and it seems it takes a lot of magic to get a clear connection. We use telepath booths or mobile telepathic devices called Teleroad.¡± This is a pun, isn''t it? Turning ''path'' in ¡°telepath¡± into ¡°road¡±?

    ¡°Hmm never noticed, you must be good at spotting puns.¡± Sadly, I have a friend that keeps making puns. Anyways so the transaction? How is this gonna go?

    ¡°Right, I need to contact the CEO to send means to transport this and they will also deliver your gold. I can''t take this off you now because, to be honest, this stuff looks heavy as fuck and I can''t keep it away from prying eyes. They will send a vehicle with the gold and transaction details. It will most likely arrive tomorrow evening at the latest. And congratulations you are probably the youngest millionaire which has earned his fortune by himself and in one transaction. Damn 704.2 million gold is gonna put a dent in our industry''s budget but we will put the rubies to good use and earn it back of course!¡± Impressive merchant spirit.

    ¡°Alright, now I just want you to fill in these forms and sign them with your magic signature.¡± After we finished Jerry looked at me and seemed deep in thought. ¡°You know the transaction is over but I would like to ask you a question and make a suggestion. My suggestion is to open a bank account for all that gold, I could try and pull some strings to make it happen so you don''t have to deal with physically over 700 million gold.¡± Nah that''s fine I have a way to deal with it. And I''m not too sure how this bank thing works.

    ¡°Uhh ok, now my question is do you want to give these rubies a name? They will no doubt make ripples in the world because never before have such perfect and big rubies appeared.¡± Uhh, how about Hourai rubies.

    ¡°If I remember correctly, I saw you write that as your last name. It''s a cool name though. I will make sure these rubies will be known as Hourai rubies.¡± Jerry seemed quite happy even though he didn''t manage to scam me. To be honest, this question he asked me took me by surprise, I couldn''t come up with a cool name so I used my last name. Oh! I could''ve named them after the late Bunai! I have failed you Bunai! But 700 million gold, eh? That''s a lot. I only used a small portion of my stash. It just dawned on me how filthy rich I am. I just had to be careful that they wouldn''t deceive me but since I have to keep the rubies around till, they deliver the gold I assume they are doing things properly. For now. My cart drew a lot of attention so I took it away from prying eyes and put it back into my dimensional pocket. I wanted to look around to see what other cool stuff I could find but people might be wondering how I made my cart disappear. I will just have to go home.

    I didn''t feel like walking back up the mountain so I checked my surroundings and then short-range teleported to my room. I remembered that we didn''t decide when to adjust our plan but I suppose we will do that tomorrow. We will need a solid plan to destroy all those roots and then the tree within the 6 or well now 4 days we planned on escaping. We might have to delay our escape to make sure everything will run smoothly and not rushed. It was quite late but not late enough to go to bed. I was wondering what to do with the last part of my day. I decided to go downstairs and go through some books about rocks, ores, and minerals. Maybe it will give me a better insight into the qualities that determine the price of rubies and sapphires. The next merchant I meet might not be as nice as Terry or was his name Jerry? I spent the rest of the evening looking through books about rocks minerals and ores, I found some information about some interesting metals and minerals and archived them, or else I would forget.

 Chapter 15: An unexpected purchase

    I was relaxing in my office thinking about the successful business deal I finished up an hour ago when I got a Teleroad message. ¡°Hmm, Jeremiah?¡± How unusual of him to call me outside the appointed timeslots. I accepted the Teleroad ring. ¡°Hello Jeremiah, you''re talking to Barusu Onyxbeard.¡±

    ¡°You don''t have to keep saying that boss, I know who I''m connecting this Teleroad to!¡±

    ¡°You might be right but the CEO of Yttroz industries needs to be formal at all times.¡±

    ¡°Right, Jeremiah Odell speaking here. As you know I went to Boshi town to buy some ores and minerals. Well, I met a kid, and he''s selling over 580 000 carats of the highest-purity rubies. They seem to be of similar grade or even higher than the brilliant sunset we dealt with 10 years ago.¡± My cigar dropped out of my mouth. If fell on my beard and started to smoke.

    ¡°Hot, hot, hot!¡± I said while killing the embers that started appearing in my beard.

    ¡°Boss? Are you ok?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m fine! I might''ve misheard did you say over 580 000 carats? How is that possible?¡±

    ¡°Well, I don''t know I got a good look at it and I even inspected it''s not heat treated and it''s in a perfect state and according to this kiddo, it weighs about 117 kg which seems accurate as far as I can tell. I''ve never seen anything like this before! I''m calling to confirm if we want to buy this.¡±

    ¡°Of course, we will!¡± I shouted a bit too excited. The processing and selling of the Brilliant sunset ruby greatly kickstarted our industry. Without it, we would still be a poor mediocre company. But now we''re the biggest dealer in anything earth and construction related on the continent. Buying this amount of ruby will set us back a bit financially but only in the short term. As I remembered the procedures and impact it had on our small company back then 10 years ago, I could say it was worth it. ¡°So how much did you say you''d buy it for?¡± I asked Jeremiah trying to keep down my excitement.

    ¡°Uhh, I tried to get it for cheap but this kid seemed to notice that whatever I suggested wasn''t anywhere near the price it''s worth and, to be honest, I have no idea what its true value is, I''m not a dwarf like you boss, so really, I have no clue. The kid suggested 1200 gold per carat and I agreed. It¡¯s 15 crystals that all are about the same size and the total sum that would need to be paid to the kiddo is 704.2 million gold.¡± I sank into my chair. Even for a big company like us, that was a lot.

    ¡°Listen here Jeremiah, that is a lot of money but you have no idea how cheap that is if what you say is true. Any ruby exceeding 30 carats is exceedingly rare or even impossible to find anywhere. If he has 15 crystals that together are over 580 000 carats that means every crystal is way over 38 000 carats it would be safe to say those things are priceless and even if there was a price attached even all our assets wouldn''t be able to pay for it.¡±

    ¡°Oh, the kiddo said he''s a blacksmith and he''s going to use the funds to gather valuable and exotic material for his blacksmithing.¡± This triggered the dwarf inside of me.

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    ¡°Listen here Jeremiah, we will pay this kid, if what he said is true, we might have just met one of the greatest upcoming blacksmiths. I remember that Philip is the only blacksmith in Boshi town, I''ve worked with him before, he''s a skilled blacksmith but just like most blacksmiths, their work gets bottlenecked by the costs of the materials that they need. If this kid is his son or apprentice, we can expect great work from him. Did you secure a way to contact him?¡±

    ¡°Yes, boss I gave him my card.¡±

    ¡°Good.¡±

    ¡°You always had a soft spot for blacksmiths boss.¡±

    ¡± Ugh, shut up Jeremiah.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not worried about giving a kid an insane amount of gold like that boss? or wonder where he got all of that?¡± I lit another cigar.

    ¡°Hmm not really, the area around Boshi town is quite a weird place. It is close to the border but our war-loving neighbors never bothered to invade it. Yes, there are the Umbra and the Lucidus mountain ranges but it''s not just that. There have been tales of weird monsters and phenomena happening there. The area is rich in resources but anyone that doesn''t live there doesn''t seem to be able to find anything there or return alive. It is quite weird. And that might not be the whole story, besides the mountains and strange monsters and phenomena, there might be something else there. I can''t see that those would stop a war-loving nation from invading via those mountain ranges. You might go and send a team to find the location where he might have found the crystals but drop that thought.¡± I huffed out some smoke and looked at the picture I hung up on my wall 10 years ago. It shows me completing the transaction of the Brilliant Sunset ruby. The true start of our company. ¡°You probably won''t find anything there, that is how that place works, everything only ever works out for the inhabitants there and to live there means to be trapped into that seemingly logic-defying barrier. How many miners have gone into those mountains to just mine some iron ore and either didn''t return or couldn''t manage to find even 1 iron vein in the iron-filled mountain ranges? Some weird magic we don''t know anything about is probably at play here. I will arrange for the gold and the procedures to be in order. I will make sure that we can pick up those rubies around noon at the latest. I need you to arrange a location where you can do this discreetly with the kid. Leave a good impression on him, who knows what else he might find in those mountains."

    ¡°Alright, Boss. I have a question though, what is the state of the order Leefa Seorwynn placed?¡± I rubbed my head.

    ¡°That woman is such a pain; she might be the successor of the sword saint title and have a lot of gold because of that but that doesn''t mean she can just randomly decide to buy half a ton of various rare metals and minerals and expect us to deliver it on the same day! She will have to wait just like all our other customers.¡±

    ¡°But what if she attacks us like last time boss?¡±

    ¡°After that incident, I kept in contact with her mentor. He might be busy running his school but he said that even as a principal he still has time to deal with her if she stirs up trouble.¡± I went through some documents and looked at the order Leefa placed earlier today. ¡°I don''t understand how such a calm man could mentor such a crazy woman like that¡±.

    ¡°I guess the saying: you got to be a bit crazy to be a genius, holds true.¡± I puffed another cloud of smoke. I didn''t agree with what Jeremiah just said but I didn''t want to shift the focus of our conversation to arguing about that.

    ¡°Anyways, she has to wait, if she wants an express delivery she has to pay extra!¡± After I said that Jeremy started talking about some minor issues but I tuned out a bit. After I said something about the express delivery, I got an idea. I said ¡°uh huh¡± and ¡°ok¡± to whatever Jeremiah was talking about and closed the Teleroad. I instantly sent a Teleroad request to a well-known jeweler connected to our company. I would need to bounce this idea off of him. The Teleroad request got accepted and I got connected to my childhood friend Sulador Rubybeard. ¡°It has been a long time since we spoke good ol¡¯ Sulador! I¡¯m calling you because I have an idea and a favor to ask.¡±

 Chapter 16: The Abomination

    I woke up later than I''m normally used to. I guess the fatigue is slowly catching up to me since I never really take the time to rest. I feel refreshed now. Yesterday I learned that telepathy is uncommon and generally not something that is done between people but requires special service. Another tidbit that proved how disconnected we were from this world. But I didn''t care. I sent telepathic messages to my buddies to check when we would meet up to form a new plan.

    Heyhey, look who¡¯s awake! Hey, zip it! I was tired! What you guys up to?

    Hmm well, I was planning to investigate some stuff in the sewers but I got blasted by high-concentration magic when I lifted the manhole so Gregory is checking up on me to see if nothing is wrong with me. I''m sure there is a lot wrong with you¡­

    Hey, I don''t mean it like that! Jeez, Raishin sit still! How am I supposed to make sure you won''t get any magic corruption issues later on if you make this so difficult for me? Well, I was planning to try something Uraya told me but then this idiot came by saying that he might or might not have got himself blasted by a high-density magic blast. This guy sure is troublesome. I managed to calm some townspeople that were close by and saw it happen. We have a talent for setting energy blasts off. Why didn''t you stop him if you were close by?! Uhh, I may or might not have been deep in thought thinking of new puns. So, here''s what I came up with...

    Ugh, I don''t want to deal with this. I remember I have a lot to do maybe another time Ted, or never. I prefer the latter. I need to focus on Raishin¡¯s checkup. Wow, you guys! Fine, I¡¯ll find a way to pun-ish you guys for this!

    You already are. Anyway I need to make some high-quality swords. Gregory, can you send a shadow clone to me I can only make 2 and I might need an extra set of hands to speed stuff up. Sure, I will have to make sure nobody will find out that I''m at two places at the same time though.

    That''s fine I will arrange for that when it arrives close to the workshop, just let it shadowmeld towards here. Oh, by the way, I almost forgot, when are we going to make a plan to deal with the pink broccoli? I heard people went to look for the pink blast everyone saw yesterday but nobody could find anything. Uhh, I don''t have any plans after I finish this with Raishin. I can make some more potions afterward but that doesn''t take the whole day just send a telepathic message when you¡¯re done with your blacksmithing. Holy shit Raishin just sit still and stop touching all my stuff. Hey, what does this do?

    No! Don''t touch that that is concentrated anti-nausea extrac¡­ AH IT STINKS WHAT IS THIS SMELL? IT IS AS IF SOMETHING DIED HERE!

    WHY DID YOU EVEN TOUCH IT? MY NOSE! Wow, must suck to be you two, how about you Ted? I will just do some asking around, those two guys you and Gregory talked to might''ve found something by now. Just send a telepathic message my way too when you¡¯re done.

    Oh, by the way, Ted, it seems there is a service for telepathic messages here since it''s not normal to be able to do it as we do. And it''s called Teleroad. Hoo, that''s a good one. I''d like to meet the person who came up with that!

    Thought so, anyways I got lots to do. I closed the telepathic link or well Teleroad I guess and changed into something more suitable to forge some blades. I don''t have time to do this normally as I would do it. I will for the first time in a long time use my Elgards eyes extensively to make some swords. I will have to lock my workshop since I''m planning to put my tails to use. It will be as if I had 7 extra limbs. Stuff will go exponentially faster but with my trend of shattering swords lately, I''m planning to make a lot of swords. So, I will use my 2 shadow clones to help out and Gregory¡¯s clone for basic stuff like bringing materials over or fetching snacks.

    <hr>

    I went downstairs when the doorbell rang.

    ¡°Can you get that for me Agnis?¡± Philip said from the kitchen. ¡°Hera and I have an argument about the last dinner.¡± Did you find another way to not eat her dinner again? ¡°What do you mean again?¡±

    ¡°Hey, Philip stop trying to escape this argument! Or do you want to go without dinner today?¡±

    ¡°Ugh no honey, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Yes, you say that every time but you keep finding creative ways to manage to not eat my food. Your health keeps deteriorating because you miss so many dinners and eat those shitty cookies! You need good nutrition!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll try to make sure that the next energy blast won''t knock my dinner off the table.¡± Woops this instance of Philip missing his dinner might be our fault. I closed the door to give them some privacy and opened the front door. Hey Terry!

    ¡°Terry? My name is Jeremiah well I mean this is a company-issued clone so that I can enter Boshi town, while not physically entering it. I don''t want to get stuck here!¡± Was it Jeremiah? I''m sure your name was Terry

    ¡°This is about the transaction of yesterday. In a half hour, your gold will arrive and we will pick up those ruby crystals.¡± He gave me a slip of paper. ¡°We would like to exchange these valuables discreetly so if it''s not too much to ask we would like to hold it at this location. I looked at the slip of paper and it had the name of the location and even a small map drawn on it.¡± That is fine.

    ¡°Alright, my colleagues will see you there. Oh, also my name is Jeremiah! Don''t forget.¡± I won''t! Cya later Jerry!

    ¡°Ugh, I swear kids these days.¡± I watched as Jerry walked off and almost tripped, looked back to check if I saw that, realized that I was smiling at him, and ran off embarrassed. Alright since I have to be there in a half hour, I will have to briefly delay my blade forging. The spot wasn''t far so even if I had to physically drag those heavy ass crystals there, I would make it with about 10 minutes to spare. The problem was I didn''t want to do that. I can''t come there with empty hands. I will have to do something I have never done before.

    I looked around and nobody seemed to be watching me. I took the cart out of my dimensional pocket. But it didn''t have the rubies in it. I just put some light stuff in it but they took up a lot of space. I would carry this to the spot and when I''m close or after I arrived, I will swap them with the ruby crystals. I had a veil over the cart so it should work although the change of deformation under the veil might cause some issues. I ran some magic through the veil to make it cover the cart like it was a box. Maybe I should make it the shape of a dome? Both shapes looked weird. I decided to go for the cube-like shape and froze it solid. Now it just looked like a cart that had a huge box on it. I did some experiments with swapping items that are outside my dimensional pocket with those that are inside. It seemed to work quite well. I then tried to replace everything with the rubies in one go and I succeeded! Great! Now time to go to the meeting spot. I grabbed the cart but got pulled back by the weight. Right, I have to swap them back with the light stuff. I swapped the rubies out for some stuff and headed off to the meeting spot.

    The spot was outside Boshi town just outside of the barrier at a quarry, it was easy to get there. While dragging the cart to the meeting spot I did some small experiments to see if I could swap the location of objects that weren''t inside my dimensional pocket. It was some form of spatial magic or well, a skill I should be able to do. Since it is a skill, it doesn''t use magic but its effects can be improved with magic. The reason why mythical and legendary creatures are so strong is that they have skills that normally would need magic to be executed. For example, my dimensional pocket. It costs me 0 mana because this falls under what nine-tailed foxes can do as a race. Any other race would have to burn a lot of mana to do stuff like this. A good comparison is when I use shadow techniques and when Gregory does this. He could throw around shadow clones all day and do his edgy shadow stuff because it is a Shadowcat skill.

    Meanwhile, I have to burn mana to make shadow clones because I don''t have that skill. Lately, we''ve been relying a lot on our racial skills because we get nauseous from using too much mana so we will try to be as effective as possible without using too much mana. That is the reason why I''ve been working on making weapons and improving my weapon mastery. I can''t use a lot of my racial skills in public and that''s the same as my buddies. I guess Ted can though. And I say weapon mastery but I would only consider myself to have somewhat mastered the sword and daggers. I can use spears, hammers, and bows too but I won''t be using those for the fights where life and death matter, like fighting the pink broccoli or the last boss of that dungeon. If I had to fight Charlize or that chunky guy, I could use those to mess around. I managed to make some leaves and rocks swap places. I wondered if I could swap bigger objects.

    As I was about to try this out on bigger rocks I arrived at my destination. Might not want to do anything weird now, there might be people nearby. I parked my cart ad a good spot and swapped the contents of the cart with the ruby crystals. Guess I covered the cart with the veil for nothing. There was nobody here yet. I undid the freezing on the veil and it covered the crystals so that you could see the shapes underneath it. Not long after I arrive, I heard a low humming and sensed a magical signature approaching. And there it was a big vehicle that was quite long that just hovered in and parked close by. We were at an abandoned quarry so there were tons of space. Three men in black suits and with black shades stepped out of the vehicle and approached me. I had the odd feeling that they would zap me and wipe my memory or something.

    ¡°You must be Agnis, right?¡± Said the first man in a black suit. He looked quite bulky and was bald. He had bronze skin and didn''t seem like his body was made for wearing black suits like that. That depends on whether you guys are planning to wipe my memory or not.

    ¡°Ha, this kid is funny! He must be Agnis, Jeremiah told me about his conversation with him, truly a unique character!¡± I consider myself quite normal though. After I said that I realized that I actually was anything but normal. Hmm, maybe I should alter my self-assessment.

    ¡°Haha, see this is what I mean! What kiddo just randomly ends up in the largest ruby transaction in history?¡± Wait this is the largest? I thought you guys buy and sell a boatload of rocks all the time.

    ¡°Hahaha, ouch my sides, I can¡¯t, this guy is too funny.¡± The two other men were looking at the guy who thinks anything is funny rolling on the floor laughing. What''s wrong with this guy? Did you guys wipe his memory and brainwash him?

    ¡°Hahaha! Memory wipe! Brainwash! Ahahaha!!¡± He tried to smack my back but I sensed a lot of power behind that smack. I dodged it. Are you trying to kill me?

    ¡°Kill you? Wahahaha of course not!¡± ¡°Alright, Brock, it¡¯s time to shut up, we can''t do business when you keep laughing like this in an unprofessional manner! We¡¯re in front of a client!¡± ¡°Oh right, I''m sorry. Hi, I''m Brock, I''m in charge of leading this transaction.¡± You¡¯re the leader? Hoo boi, this company of yours is in trouble. The two other guys laughed a bit.

    ¡°See I told you this kid was funny!¡± Anyway I''m quite busy today so I want to get this over with. I walked to the cart and unveiled the cart.

    ¡°Whoa hearing about it is one thing but seeing it is something else.¡± Man in black nr 3 walked over to the cart. ¡°May I touch it?¡± You don''t have some weird magic that melts rocks on touch, right? Coz if you do, please don''t.

    ¡°Wahahaha.¡°

    ¡°Alright, Brock, that is enough!¡± The man in black nr 1 seemed to cast something that looked like summoning magic and a big crate made out of metal fell out of the sky and fell on Brock. Well, to be exact it seemed to be hollow so it trapped Brock inside. ¡°Alright, now we can''t hear him. I am the designated backup leader in case something happens to Brock. Do you have any objections to this?¡± Is he going to be alright? I asked as I pointed to the big metal box that stood in the middle of an abandoned quarry.

    ¡°Don''t worry this is not his first time in the metal box, he will be fine.¡± Oh, in that case, I don''t have any objections.

    ¡°Can you confirm the details about what''s written down here?¡± Yup, yup that''s correct.

    ¡± Alright then we have your gold in this vehicle but... I know this is not my business but how are you going to move all this gold?¡± Magic!

    ¡°Well yes, we guess so but¡­ You know what, never mind. If you want us to help you move it, we can do that free of charge. Normally with this weight, it would cost a lot but the CEO told us that we got these for quite cheap so anything you need extra we can provide for free that is if it''s within our power.¡± Oh no, it''s fine, it must''ve been rough on you guys getting this here to the middle of nowhere within 1 day.

    ¡°You have no idea!¡± Man in Black 3 got a tear in his eye. ¡°Being stuck with Brock in a cramped space for a whole day was hell! Also, this gold is heavy as fuck so we almost caused 4 accidents. And Brock decided that it was funny and he couldn''t stop laughing!¡± Man in black nr1 walked over to the vehicle and opened a big door on the back of it. I didn''t see gold but I saw some weird-looking bags.

    ¡°Oh, these?¡± The man in black nr 1 asked while pointing at the bags with his thumb over his shoulder. ¡°These bags compress space so that large volumes get uhh less voluminous. The weight stays the same though.¡± Oh, can I have a couple of those?

    ¡°Well technically all these bags are yours now with the gold in them but we can throw in some extra yes.¡± Let me guess they are really expensive but because you guys got these rubies for cheap it''s free. ¡°

    Smart kid." Man in black nr 3 said while looking at the metal box. Well, my cart more or less works similarly to that, it seems it was a cart made in ancient times and I found it in the mountains. It can do the same as those bags but it also cancels out a lot of weight So I can move those easily. That was obviously a lie but failing to give them hints or an explanation of how I can move all this gold will raise suspicion.

    ¡°Ohh that explains how you got those rubies here and don''t look very tired. Ancient technology is so cool.¡± The man in black nr 3 looked at the completely normal cart in awe. ¡°I''ve heard that a lot of weird things are found in these mountain ranges so I''m not surprised. It is said that one of the very first teleport gates was found in the Lucidus mountain range.¡± Anyway I can move them myself so you guys don''t need to worry. I used water magic to lift the rubies out and then flushed the bags out of the vehicle and into the cart. But I just moved the bags on the bottom of the pile into my dimensional pocket so the pile didn''t seem to be growing.

    ¡°Whoa, awesome!¡± The man in black nr 3 was impressed. After I flushed the last bag on the cart, I covered it with the veil and froze it. I then swapped the gold bags under the veil with some random crap I had laying around in my dimensional pocket and started to move the cart around which was quite light now. ¡°Wow! Hey, how about you sell us that cart?¡± Man in black nr 1 smacked the back of man in black nr 3¡¯s head.

    ¡°Do you have any idea what such a thing is worth? We will probably need 2 of these vehicles full of gold to pay for that and you know what''s the worst part? We have to share more cramped spaces with Brock!¡±

    ¡°Oh, hell no! Your cart is cool but some things are just not worth it!¡± Man in Black nr 3 said while he backed off. I looked over at the metal box. Speaking of Rock, I think he escaped.

    ¡°Impossible! He has never been able to escape my perfect metal box prison!¡± I think he dug a tunnel, this ground here is easy to dig through, after all, I said while I looked at the ground.

    ¡°Oh no!¡± Man in Black nr 1 said. What?

    ¡°It was nice meeting you Agnis but we¡¯re in a hurry!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we''re in a hurry¡± man in black nr 3 echoed as they hurriedly stepped into their vehicle and rode off at a high speed. I wonder what they are going to do about Rock. Anyways, that is not my business. I scanned the area to check for the Rock¡¯s presence but it seemed he wasn''t in this area anymore. What a weirdo. I put the cart in my dimensional pocket and teleported back home.

    <hr>

    I checked out the town to check the status of the shadow clone Gregory would send over. It seems the clone was halfway. I looked over at Gregory¡¯s house, it seemed Raishin was still there. They looked like they were cleaning his lab. But it didn''t seem to make much progress since Raishin kept knocking stuff over. It has been about 45 minutes since I last talked to them but I have the feeling they will be doing that cleaning for quite a while. I tried to look for Ted but since I didn''t know where to look it proved quite the challenge. After 10 minutes of looking for him, I spotted him helping and talking to some of the elderly of the town. What I would give for a ¡°search for¡± option for my eyes. I cast an illusion on the approaching shadow clone Gregory sent me and went down to the workshop. I made two shadow clones myself and waited for Gregory¡¯s clone to arrive.

    When it arrived, I locked the doors and cast an illusion around the workshop. Nobody would be able to disturb me now. I released my nine-tail spirit fox state and the clones followed suit. Even though we normally fight strong opponents with some of our tails out it''s not the same as releasing the power of our race. As we normally fight, we¡¯d be recognized as humans with tails or beast kin since there is still a level of disguise there. Releasing our true form will alert anyone close by that''s sensitive to this energy that a mythical or legendary creature is close by, it will also give us access to more of our racial abilities and stuff. I laid a 5 layered illusion so that nobody would be able to notice that so all good. I don''t look that much different in my released form except my hair is full silver now. I also have some blue will-o-wisps floating behind me. I have way better control over my eyes, tails, and magic in this mode. It''s kind of funny that I use this to make swords but never in combat. But it would be like shouting hey a rare shiny mythical being is fighting here! I think I also have an influence on my environment when I do this but I haven''t noticed anything of this yet. When my mother releases her phoenix form it turns into daytime regardless of whether it''s night or day and it also seems to become like it¡¯s summer, everything reverts to normal when she cancels it though. This illusion I made is not only to keep people outside but also to keep whatever this release does to the environment inside.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    I started crafting some swords. This is the first time I did this in released nine-tail form but damn this goes fast and efficiently. It normally takes me 1 to 3 days to form one high-quality blade. After 5 hours I''ve already made about 17. Normally I don''t lose track of time because I have a good internal clock but I was so absorbed in making swords that I forgot to pay attention to the time. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and looked at the 17 swords I made. Not a single failure. I did work myself and the clones to the bone though. If you would describe a nine tails power in short it would be spacetime and deception. I''ve used some minor time control to speed up processes that normally require time. I''m way more proficient in spatial control. If you were curious Gregory¡¯s powers would be darkness and energy manipulation in short and Raishin would be energy generation and fundamental natural forces. Hmm? you thought it was electricity or lightning? Well, it is what they use the most, they mostly use electromagnetic forces but they also have access to the other forces that make up the 4 fundamental natural forces. I think electromagnetic forces are the easiest for them to use and they are super strong with those alone so I guess that works for them, each of us is overpowered in our own way. Now, why do we keep losing and have to run away? I wonder that too myself. I guess being overpowered is not enough sometimes. I put my swords in my dimensional pocket and contacted my buddies.

    Yoo sorry guys it took longer than I expected but I''m done now. I realized that my illusions might interfere with this message so I canceled my transformation and illusions and dispelled my clones and sent the message again. Oh, I got worried there, we visited your house to check on you but you didn''t seem to be there even though your workshop was empty.

    Yeah, sorry about that I put up some strong illusions to keep people outside. And? Did you manage to make anything cool?

    Hehe, I made 17 swords. What? What kind of sorcery did you use? Not sorcery, forgery, anything that needs to be cut can be cut now. Will save me the use of mana. How did the cleaning go Gregory? Please, I don''t want to talk about it¡­

    It was that bad huh? He has like a million things that are super easy to break! Anyway we all did the things we wanted to do; we were just waiting for you.

    The usual place? Yes. I cleaned up the place a bit and wondered if I should just walk there or teleport. I''ll have to master these teleports sooner than later so using them a lot will make me more familiar with them. I tried to send a ping to Raishin¡¯s hut to teleport but the ping came back distorted and I decided to not go through with the teleport. What could be the cause of this? Was the dense magic leaking out of the sewers that was messing with the teleport ping? I don''t know if this was a problem I had because I''ve not mastered this yet or if this is a problem that is normal for this technique.

    I sent a stronger ping and it came back undistorted. Oh, this was definitely me. At least now I know that the pings can get distorted by going through differing magic concentrations. To test I sent multiple pings of different strengths and the weaker ones came back somewhat distorted. This was an interesting interaction. Not only does the user have to be aware that his teleport could possibly end the teleport up in the incorrect spot in similar situations I''ve also found a way to counter this if an enemy would ever attempt to use a short-range teleport. The pings only seem to distort whenever they moved between different concentration fields, I suppose just like light will refract when it goes from one medium to another. The magic being dense doesn''t seem to affect it but going from normal into a high-density magic area will throw it off. So, I will have to account for that when I want to use it to escape. Or I can throw off enemy teleports by creating various magic concentrations between him and his destination to mess up his teleport. I smiled at this discovery that could allow me to mess with teleport spammers. I sent a strong ping toward Raishin¡¯s hut and teleported there.

    Sup! You are all probably wondering why I''ve gathered you here! Didn''t I gather us all here? You''re speaking nonsense again Raishin.

    But it''s my hut! So, what is the plan, Gregory?

    Meh, I''m being ignored. Well since the tree seems to regenerate with the help of its roots it stands to reason that we deal with those first before we nuke the tree. Agnis if you can please? I projected a 3D map of the area from my eyes and indicated the locations where I saw the energy flow from after we nuked the tree.

    These locations are where I felt energy come from and where Agnis saw energy coming from and flowing into the tree after we nuked it. I felt 7 flows but Agnis only saw 6 energy flows. I don''t know if he might have missed one but there is also a possibility that one is well hidden. I located 6 roots, I looked for the 7th root with various filters but since there wasn''t any energy flow I can''t pinpoint where to look for and it didn''t show up on any filter I used. Hmm, these roots seem to be quite far from the tree, so judging from that the 7th root could be practiced almost anywhere.

    It makes me think of the message that Agnis deciphered. The real one isn''t here. Maybe that root is the most important one but it is not here or something like that. Hmm, we would be screwed if that is the case. If we can''t destroy all the roots we will probably be stuck here forever since the tree will just regenerate. Hmm, what if we destroy a root and then kill the tree, you can then ignore the flows you''ve already seen and coordinate with Gregory where the last root could be.

    That sounds like a good plan, it is not like we have a lot of options. I have one concern though. Which is?

    Well, this tree is obviously an end boss so what if the seven roots need to be destroyed simultaneously to kill the tree? And they regenerate if you don''t. Hey, doesn''t that make this tree like World Boss tier? We don''t have enough people to deal with something like that! Hmm.

    I agree with Raishin here, remember that summoning circle that spawned after we found it in that PB cave? Yeah, it summoned something strong. Not something we could handle solo or let a shadow clone deal with.

    And if the PB was just a regular trash mob then that would make the problem worse. Boss? Trash mobs? What are you talking about Agnis?

    Hmm well in games a boss marks the end of a stage or bars progress to check if you have the required skills to progress. And trash mobs are just enemies to pad out the encounter and slow and wear you down before the boss fight. But this isn''t a game? Ted is right but I can see what Agnis means. I didn''t know what Agnis meant with ¡°phase 2¡± when fighting the PB but there was something more to it even after it seemed to be defeated.

    Yes, the last boss in that dungeon I fought was the same. I seemingly defeated it and then suddenly it spiked in power and got up and started doing different stuff than it did before. I''m assuming whatever that circle summoned and the tree to do the same. Ugh, we just want to leave this town why is doing something so simple such a pain in the ass? Hmm, I see that PB definitely was a weird case and anything about this pink broccoli is weird. So how would you propose we tackle this non-tree-vial problem?

    Well, if this tree is world boss tier, we¡¯re seriously fucked but if we can kill the roots one by one and then destroy the tree it sounds quite doable. I just think we should try out and find out which of the two it is by getting rid of the only root that has been visually confirmed by me and Gregory and where we already know what the situation is around it. It will give us an indication of what to expect for the remaining roots. I hope¡­ You hope? Well, this is very different from the adventures we''ve had before. You could say this is our first real adventure. We don''t have our siblings or mothers to bail us out when things get dangerous So I can understand the slight uncertainty.

    Hmm, it''s not that, it seems I can''t see what''s going around the roots unless I get close to them. That''s why the PB cave root is the only one I know about what to expect. I can''t see what''s going on there now. But since I have been close to it before I can take a guess. I think the tree has something to interfere with or influence perception of it. But indeed, not having our siblings or mothers around to help when things get dangerous is certainly a problem. If we mess up, we might die for good. Yeah, we don''t have many lives, only those we got from that fun dinner before the attack. I can''t relate to that but it does seem that getting hit by those spears would one-shot you so even if you have multiple lives, you could still get killed off by this tree.

    It gets even worse; I told you about that dragon, right? If you get hit by it and survive it, it will mess up your magic balance. It didn''t kill off that dragon but left like that he would definitely die. If any of you guys get hit by that I would probably still be able to do something by it but if I get hit then I think it''s probably game over. Oh, right I forgot about that. Not that I was planning to get hit by it anyway. Do we know what the roots can do? So far, the only thing we know is that it can summon stuff and has seals protecting it. So, we will probably have to lift the seals fight whatever it summons, and then destroy the root. Not in that order, we will see how we¡¯re gonna tackle that when we get there.

    Oh! Can I fight whatever is there? I''m not good at magic control or seal stuff like you two but I know how to smash stuff! Yes, I noticed when you were in my lab¡­ Hmm, how about this: since Agnis had the toughest job last time he gets the seemingly easy job of dealing with the seals this time while looking out for other possible incoming threats. Raishin and I will deal with the big threat and can you deal with the smaller ones Gregory?

    Sure, I would need some of your offensive input from time to time to finish them off. Ok, let''s go to smash some roots! Yes! Let''s get to the root of the problem! Are we gonna walk, teleport, or Sonic Boom Express there?

    Uhh, teleport, please. Can you port us there Raishin? I want to see how you deal with this situation. I''ll leave some illusions of us behind to make it look like we¡¯re uhm still in town. Huh? Sure, I don''t know what situation you mean though, aight time to teleport!

    Wait you didn''t notice that the magic density interferes with¡­ He grabbed us and his teleport went off. I saw Raishin sending the ping which came back distorted but he still accepted the ping anyway.

    Oh, something didn''t go well here. I facepalmed. We were at the correct location. In front of the PB cave entrance. There was one problem. Instead of on the ground we were about 1500 meters in the air. You always find new ways to surprise us.

    Whoa, what happened I''m sure I got the location right! HOW CAN YOU GUYS BE SO CALM WHEN WE¡¯RE FALLING? Ugh, you see Raishin when you send a ping through various magic densities it comes back distorted, you either have to correct it, send another ping, or just not accept the returning ping. Ooh. So how are we dealing with this situation? I don''t like the idea of us turning into red splats on the ground.

    I could do something but I''m sure Ted is not gonna like it. At this point, I''ll take anything over turning into a red splat on the ground! I know what you mean but you shouldn''t word it like that to Agnis, it will just give him ideas to try out crazier stuff next time! I fired up my tail dynamo and froze an ice ramp that will direct our falling trajectory into one that will slide down the steep ice slope and into the PB cave. I made sure to undo the frost wall I put there some days ago so that we wouldn''t turn into red splats on the frost wall.

    I am speed! Wait!

    Too late! I grabbed my buds with my tails and slid with high speed into the cave and shot into the area where the root was.

    So, guys¡­ Oh no.

    I forgot to make a plan to make us stop, any suggestions? I knew it! Gregory sighed and made a big shadow wall in front of us and covered us in a shadow cloak. We crashed into it but it felt more like a lot of dense gas was cushioning our impact.

    Hey, couldn''t you use this to break our fall? This is a wall; walls are vertical structures¡­

    How pointlessly useless. Hey! It saved us! Ugh, my heart. Hehe, that was fun! We all looked angrily at Raishin.

    Hehe ok, it might''ve been my fault I''m sorry. It''s fine. I said as I made a frost wall behind us blocking the blow of a very large creature. There was a lot of power and magic in its punch but my frost wall didn''t care. If I made an ice wall then that would''ve been a problem though. So, this is the big threat, it looks impressive but I was expecting more, it doesn''t seem to be able to do much against your frost wall. Don''t let that lull you into a false sense of security, Agnis¡¯ frost wall is quite overpowered. It is probably the only good defensive skill he has.

    Hey! I can''t help it that I was born as a glass cannon! So, can I nuke this thing now?

    Go ahead I need to deal with all these seals that seem to want to activate stuff. I froze all the seals that wanted to activate something. It would stop their activation but I couldn''t keep them frozen in frost magic forever. It just bought me time to disable them one by one instead of having to worry about some activating while I was still dealing with other seals. Gregory made 4 shadow clones and erected some shadow walls to block the corrupted bats that got attracted to all the noise we were making. I will try to make some space so you guys can fight that abomination to your heart''s content.

    Just a warning guys, those punches that thing is doing at my frost wall gives me an enormous amount of energy so beware of getting hit by it or getting near it when it slams something could send you flying or even kill you. Understood! You can lift the wall now.

    I removed the wall and the abomination¡¯s punch headed toward Raishin. He charged up his fist with a lot of lightning. And before the fist was about to hit him it sifted to red and he met the punch with a punch of his own. Raishin didn''t get sent flying it only canceled out the power of the 7-meter-tall abomination. Just like me, Raishin is also a glass cannon but as long as he can cancel out something like that punch with his own power, he won''t have to worry about taking damage. Raishin is the true damage dealer in our group. I looked over at the seal in front of me. I unfroze it and looked at the magic flow. How I managed to figure out how to break the slave crest is observing the magic flow and magic runes used to make it and understanding how it affects the seal. I rerouted the magic flow in the seal to disrupt it. It won''t activate for a long time now but I didn''t disarm it yet. I will have to mess with some magic runes.

    I will either have to insert some disruptive ones, which I don''t know how to do, or rearrange them or knock some out to disarm the seal. After that, I restore the magic flow in it and it will implode. That is If I do it correctly. If I don''t knock out influential runes or mess up the wrong runes it could turn into practically anything. Even though I don''t have a lot of experience dealing with seals it would only take me about 2 or 3 seals to get an idea of how every seal in this room works and perhaps even all the seals protecting the other.

    Every magic circle uses magic runes so if I get proficient in this, I might be able to mess more with magic circle formations. So far, I could only influence them when I¡¯m in direct contact with them. I see 3 magic runes that seem to be very important to the functioning of the seal. 1 seems to be a trap though, knocking that one out might just summon another monster or explode or something I don''t want to happen, so I knocked the other two out and swapped the order of the trap with some other runes. I restored the magic flow in the seal and the seal fizzled out. Alright, I''m not gonna do something risky like trying to find a faster or more efficient way to disarm these because that might be a bad idea, I want to but as I look around, I see that there are about 43 seals on this root. Someone really wanted to protect this root. I went to the next seal and did the same thing I did to the previous one. The last seal took me about 5 minutes to disarm, I don''t think I can do it much faster than 5 minutes though because it could blow up on me if I got careless. 43 seals times 5 minutes, eh? This is gonna suck. Time for my shadow clones! It will make it 3 times faster but it''s still gonna take a while.

    Yoo, guys, I need about an hour and 15 minutes to deal with all these seals! Are we allowed to kill this abomination before the seals are lifted? I don''t know! Do you need help? I can send 2 clones your way but I can''t spare any more than that. Will you be okay with using fewer clones to deal with those corrupted bats? Eh? It should be fine, they are numerous but not that strong, as long as they don''t bite me and corrupt my mana, I¡¯ll be fine, I have my shadow cloak on so no way that will happen. Aight, I¡¯ll link your vision with mine with instructions on how to disarm these, if you find a faster way surely do tell me.

    I linked up my vision with Gregory, which had the effect of it also linking to his clones. With the 2 clones of Gregory helping out it would only take about 45 minutes to deal with these seals unless we find a faster way. I disarm 3 more seals and they don''t seem to be any different. I think the caster of these seals assumed that there was no way to deal with these seals activating before anyone can get to them so just copy-pasted the same seal over and over. It certainly was effective if I couldn''t stop their activation with frost magic. Anyways dealing with these seals is monotonous and not very exciting. The only noteworthy moment was having to dodge the abomination that Raishin and Ted were throwing across the room. At first, they seemed to be struggling with it but after they got used to the attack patterns and the abomination¡¯s habits, they started to slowly overpower the abomination. It might be me but it seemed like the abomination looked a bit different than I remembered.

 Chapter 17: The Abomination II

    Just a warning guys, those punches that thing is doing at my frost wall gives me an enormous amount of energy so beware getting hit by it or getting near it when it slams something could send you flying or even kill you. Understood! You can lift the wall now.

    Agnis canceled the frost wall and this strange big ehh thing. What was this thing? It looked like a really big man that had too many steroids in its system It was just a chunk of muscle except it didn''t look like a human. Hmm, I don''t know what this thing is actually, every bulging muscle also had a different color of brown. It looked quite ugly. I will decide to call this thing The Abomination! I''m pretty sure my buddies would call it similarly. The abomination was throwing a punch at me and I decided to meet it with a punch of my own. I generated and concentrated the energy on my right fist and turned it into lightning. This thing has way more reach than I have so I will just charge my punch until I can meet it with my own. Red lightning, perfect, I threw a red lightning punch at the incoming fist and canceled out the abomination punch.

    Hmm, even though I canceled the punch That still kind of hurt. I blew at my sore hand. You know maybe you should leave the defense to me and focus on the attack.

    Will do. I imbued myself with lightning and dodged another punch and threw a lightning punch at the abomination''s arm. His bulky bulkiness kind off made it bounce off. Ted couldn''t do his taunting roar because all the bats, that Gregory was dealing with, would go to him. The abomination threw a punch at Ted which he dodged. Ted threw some jabs at the elbow joint of the abomination and the abomination lost the ability to move its arm.

    Hey, what did you do? Teach me that too! Uhm I can but now? The abomination roared in frustration. It managed to move its arm a bit but it seems it was brute forcing movement by just using its shoulder to move its arm.

    You have a knack for finding the enemy''s weak spots, right? Your lightning magic might work great on this technique. Just aim for nerves and give them a good jab or in your case give them a good shock, it will temporarily numb or disable the area you hit. Since the nerves I hit are responsible for moving the elbow he can''t move his elbow for a bit. Ooh, we need to teach this technique also to Agnis! Nothing will ever be able to move if he learns that!

    Well, I guess both of you have a good affinity with this technique, just don''t go ham on the electric pulse else you might as well nuke him. With my newfound power, I dashed at the abomination. It was trying to still recover from having its right arm numbed. What if I numbed both its legs? The bigger they are, the harder they fall! Would be funny to see this big guy be unable to stand. I might not understand much my buds talk about in general but if it''s about weak spots then that is right up in my alley. It''s important for hunting and I guess in combat too. I can sense the weak electric impulses nerves send out when I''m close to an enemy, I can also use this to hunt but I would have to really focus to sense this from a distance and I don''t really like focusing but I can see the use of it. The impulses seem weaker in its right leg so that''s what I¡¯ll be going for. It tried to stomp on me with its left leg. I guess that''s why the impulses were weaker in its right leg.

    Near the joints, eh? Yah. Ted was shooting rock spikes at the abomination while making punching moves and yelling something about a rocket punch or something. I don''t get it. The abomination got distracted by Ted and I copied Ted¡¯s move but infused it with lightning. He said not too strong so I''ll just go with dark blue lightning. I jabbed areas near the knee and ankle of the abomination''s right leg that looked weak to me and the abomination started to stagger and roar. Woops I had to get out of here else I¡¯ll turn into a Raishin pancake. I know I''m delicious but I¡¯ll only let a hot chick enjoy me! I got out from under the abomination and looked proudly at the results.

    Heh, easy! Well, I gotta say this thing packs a punch but if you don''t get hit it''s not that strong. I looked around and I saw that Gregory was caging the ugly ass bats in shadow cages and made a pyramid out of cages with those things trapped in it. He seemed to be handling them quite well. I looked over at Agnis and he seemed to be dispelling the seals.

    Yoo, guys, I need about an hour and 15 minutes to deal with all these seals! Are we allowed to kill this abomination before the seals are lifted?

    I don''t know! Do you need help? I can send 2 clones your way but I can''t spare any more than that.

    Will you be ok with using fewer clones to deal with those corrupted bats? Eh? It should be fine, they are numerous but not that strong, as long as they don''t bite me and corrupt my mana, I¡¯ll be fine, I have my shadow cloak on so no way that will happen.

    Aight, I¡¯ll link your vision with mine with instructions on how to disarm these, if you find a faster way surely do tell me. Hmm, it seems we have to kill some time.

    What do you think will happen if we kill the abomination before the seals are lifted? I asked Ted while looking at how Gregory sent some clones over to Agnis and they started to tackle the seals with their clones. I have no idea but maybe more abominations will spawn when we defeat it before all the seals are down. This one seemed to have spawned when Agnis and Gregory tried to investigate this cave. I looked over at the abomination and it was still struggling to stand up. It was making a lot of noise though.

    Oh, it stopped making noise. Uh oh. What uh oh?

    Does the word ¡°Phase 2¡± sound familiar? You¡¯re telling me even a scrub monster like this has a phase 2?

    Hmm, maybe not maybe it was warming up and is not in its true form kind of like a warm-up. The muscles of the abomination started to wobble and it looked quite disgusting.

    Nope, this is a phase 2! Get ready Ted! Ugh, I miss the time when you defeated monsters, they were defeated for good! The abomination drastically shrunk to about half its size. Still big and ugly but it seemed a bit slimmer.

    Hey just something that concerns me. You don''t think it exchanged power for speed, right? Haha, that would be ridiculous. The abomination dashed at me.

    Oh shit, it really did! Ted blocked the abominations charge. Ugh, I hate that I was correct on this. I jumped up and away from Ted and threw a lightning bolt at the abomination. It dodged it and jumped at me again this time readying a punch.

    What the? Ted jumped, grabbed me by the leg, and pulled me down making it so that the abomination missed me. Whew, thanks, Ted. This thing is fast. Gotta thank Agnis for this, He is fast yes but we''re used to seeing Agnis zipping around and this thing is nowhere as fast as he is, that is probably the only reason I can somewhat follow its movements.

    Yeah, Agnis would kick its ass in speed. Sadly, we have to deal with this now. You might not like this idea but I suggest we stay at a range from this thing and dodge it until we get used to its speed. We don''t know how much power it exchanged for speed; it might still split your skull open if it hits you.

    Meh, fine, I created some distance with it and occasionally tried to zap it. Some hit others didn''t. It seemed to be inconsistent in its dodging. Ted made some rocks appear in front of its legs tripping it up. Same thing it dodged some and didn''t dodge others. It did seem to come close to hitting us whenever it dashed at us. I had to short-range teleport to Ted to grab him and move out of the way of the abomination''s trajectory. And Ted had to block some of the charges it did to me. Because Ted blocked those, I could see how much power was behind those charges. Ted was sturdy but one wrong hit could seriously injure him.

    It is kind of hard getting used to this speed, but now I kind of understand how Agnis¡¯ opponents feel. Yeah, I think I''m starting to get used to this guy¡¯s speed.

    Hmm, I was wondering though, why is it so inconsistent in dodging our attacks? It does seem to barely miss when it locks onto us. Haha, maybe it''s using autotarget or something.

    Auto target? Yeah, when it attacks it just locks on to the closest target, you don''t have to see or aim at your target for auto target to work.

    Wait, what if it can only dodge attacks for those it is locked onto? Hmmm

    Hmmm. The abomination faced me and seemed to want to dash to me. It kind of caught me off guard because I was still thinking about what Ted said. It started dashing but tripped over the rocks Ted made in front of its feet.

    Hmm, this seemed to work, try to disrupt him whenever it locks on to me Raishin. Alright. It dashed at me again but mid-dash it got tripped up again. I was readying a lightning bolt to throw at it but since it was faceplanted at the moment I guessed that it won''t be able to dodge in this state anyways. A clean hit. I doubled the power I put into this attack. I was forming it intending to disrupt but this works too. This time it seemed to go for Ted. I threw a lightning bolt at its legs intending to briefly paralyze them. It hit and the abomination faceplanted again.

    Hehe seems you were correct. Now how are we going to bully this abomination? Hmm well, we can''t kill it till Agnis is done with the seals so I guess we should just keep disabling it.

    I know something better how about we try to see how long we can keep it airborne? Whud why would we do that? I teleported towards the abomination, amped up the lightning magic on myself, and kicked the abomination in the air and towards Ted.

    Here! Catch! What the! Ted charged up a fire punch and returned the abomination to me. Here take this spicy Abomina-ball I almost missed the timing of my kick because of Ted¡¯s lame pun.

    That''s such a lame pun! The abomination couldn''t do much because every time I returned him to Ted with a lightning-charged kick I zapped it with some paralyzing lightning. We kept sending the abomination back and forth. It had yet to touch the ground. I didn''t really want to lose so the abomination, which was curled up in a ball by now, got hit by a lightning kick, but I made it a curveball. It approached Ted but about 10 meters before it would get to him it curved to the left and headed towards Agnis who was dispelling seals. I don''t know if it was a clone or him himself. Is that a proper sentence? I don''t know but you know what I mean! Raishin, you dumbass!

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    Hey, I don''t want to lose! I''ll have to make you drop the ball! Ted seemed to rush to send the ball back before it hit Agnis but it seemed like it would be my win. Agnis seemingly dodged the ball easily though. What in the Hourai are you guys doing? Uhh Abomina-ball

    Without me? Uhh, it was Raishin¡¯s idea.

    Don''t kill it yet, it seems to be close to being defeated, I wanna join in a bit too before I dispel the last seal. Uhh sure. I did win though Ted! You are a jerk. Let''s go for round 2, and no sneaky curveballs that would impede Gregory''s or Agnis¡¯ job.

    I''ll be more careful this time.

    We resumed our game. You guys seem to have a lot of fun, can you guys blast this pyramid of shadow cages? I¡¯m running out of space to put all of them and there still seem to be a lot more bats to cage. Oh, great now we have targets! We added some spice to our punches and kicks and tried to crush all the cages Gregory had piled up without hitting the ground or bothering Gregory and Agnis. It did add a whole lot of difficulty though. The ball was now burning and electrified so it did quite the damage to the bats inside those cages. Whenever we successfully crushed the bats inside the cages, the cages would return to shadows and return to Gregory. That''s how we could see if we successfully crushed the bats. Improperly crushing the cages kept the corrupted bats still alive and the cage wouldn''t return to Gregory¡¯s shadow. We used this to perfect our abomina-ball techniques. Anything that couldn''t crush 4 cages with corrupted bats in it was a nonviable technique. Ted took round 2.

    Best out of 3? I will crush you this round. Ha! You wish! The abomination was on my side so I launched it with a strong lightning kick. It seems Ted saw that coming and was charging a powerful punch to send it back. It was a heated match. There were a lot of moments where I almost missed returning the ball and the same for Ted. But something that shook me to the core happened shortly after. After I kicked the ball back to Ted, Agnis lifted the last seal. Mid-air the ball glowed and grew back to its original size and bee-lined for Agnis. Agnis watch out! I saw Agnis turn around but it was too late. The abomination smashed and when it lifted its arm all that could be seen, was a lot of gore and blood dripping off its fist.

    AGNIS! How could this happen? Nooo. A wave of sadness and anger went through me and the only thing I wanted to do was avenge Agnis. I dashed off to the abomination and one shot it with a powerful energy blast when I heard clacking footsteps.

    ¡°Aah, that annoying dispeller is finally dead. I tried to kill him by sending curses through the seals but he kept freezing and dispelling them. All I have to do now is to kill you brats and restore the seals.¡± My sadness turned into anger. Who are you?

    ¡°I am Guyani Ingrei, the guardian of the Bei root.¡± I have failed, how could I let Agnis die like that? I''m supposed to protect everyone. Gregory, I know how you feel but you need to get a grip! We need you else we might all die! I don''t care if you''re Guyani or Nayani you are dead meat! I tried to rush at this white-haired chick who had a wide smile on her face but Ted stopped me.

    And I need you to keep your cool, this chick seems strong, we can''t afford to lose our grip here.

    ¡°You blonde brat! How do you know my sister?¡± What? I don''t care about you or your sister, you are dead! Gregory, I need your help to calm Raishin down! I rushed at this annoying woman and aimed a red lightning-charged lightning kick at her head. She dodged it and sent an energy blast that sent me flying. I crashed into a wall but neither the blast nor the impact hurt. I heard from Agnis that my lightning enhancements increase my resistance to physical, lightning, and element-less damage. I got up but I then saw that Ted and Gregory were under attack. Gregory seemed to be panicking and couldn''t seem to be able to do something. Ted was struggling to keep himself and Gregory safe but he was starting to accumulate injuries. I suppressed my anger a bit and dashed over to just in time kick away a fireball that was aimed at the panicking Gregory.

    ¡°Hmm, why didn''t my last attack work on you blonde brat? Wait this enhancement.¡° She started to throw around more fire magic. I''m no expert but the magic circles appearing when she cast this magic seemed different. Raishin, I think we need to flee; we can''t fight in this state! I dodged most fire attacks but still got hit by some. This woman packed a punch.

    Without Gregory¡¯s and Agnis'' support, it seems that we can''t do much really. Ted punched the ground which created rock spikes aimed at that Guyani chick. It didn''t seem to do anything as she floated up. Hey! That is cheating. I took this chance to short-range teleport to her with a fire punch ready. I tried to copy one of the punches Ted used on the abomina-ball which gave me a lot of trouble. It was bound to be powerful.

    ¡°So naive! Do you think I don''t have any precautions against teleport users?¡± She seemed to know exactly where I would appear and floated down to the ground while torching me. Aaagh! Raishin! Ted dashed at me, grabbed me, and moved me out of the way milliseconds before a fire pillar spawned on the spot, I was lying down moments ago. Ugh, this hurts, thanks, Ted.

    ¡°Impressive that you brats dodged that, but aren''t you forgetting something?¡± The woman landed on the ground and pointed her hand which was charging up fire magic, which turned deep red at Gregory, who was still panicking and alone. Ted punched the ground but instead of rock spikes made the ground sink under Gregory, making the fireball, ehh it wasn''t a fireball actually, it looked like a fire laser. Anyways the fire laser missed. We need to grab Gregory and run, can you teleport to him and then away? Ugh, I¡¯ll try but I still don''t have the hang of that stuff Agnis told me about the distorted teleport pings.

    At this point, it doesn''t matter just get us out of here! I teleported us to Gregory but before I could teleport away that chick blasted us with element-less magic.

    ¡°Indeed, I can''t prevent you brats from escaping but if I don''t give this blonde brat time to focus, I won''t have to worry about any teleports.¡± She kept firing element-less magic at us, which I could withstand with my enhancement but it required enough focus to keep it up strong enough to not do serious damage to me. Just dodge it! She''s not trying to defeat you she''s just making sure you can''t teleport us away till you get worn out! What about you guys then?

    We¡¯re tanky, we can take some hits!

    ¡°It seems this is the end of the road for you three,¡± Guyani said while she created a ring of fire around us and was about to hit us with a big fire spell. Well, good thing we came with four. A sword pierced her chest, all the fire got sucked up to something behind her and she started to freeze solid. The frozen body shattered and behind her, we saw Agnis holding his sword forward and three tails out. He looked a bit different than we used to see him. He looked very serious, his eyes were light blue almost white and his tails seemed to be made out of frost. His sword shattered too and he approached us.

    Ugh, you were really cutting it close there Agnis. Agnis! You''re alive! Agnis! Wait you knew this, Ted?

    Well not really but there is no way he would get one shot by a slow monster like that, and you guys should also remember that his specialty is speed and deception. Even though I wasn''t sure I assumed he activated an illusion because he probably found out that something like this would happen. I''m so glad you''re alive! Gregory went to Agnis for a hug but he stopped him.

    I¡¯m sorry Greg but stay away from me for a bit. I tried something new and my body is extremely cold now, you might freeze when you touch me. What did you do?

    I absorbed all the magic of this Guyava inside my tail. I will let my tail analyze the magic to get an idea of what her capabilities are but also what the capabilities of these guardians can do in general. I don''t know how much I can learn from it but we can never be too careful. I needed to use a lot of frost magic for this because she was really strong. And as you can see my body temperature drops a lot when I use this. Too much and I can freeze myself solid and will probably end up sealing myself for several hours. I don''t want to turn into a popsicle yet so I don''t want to overuse this. Hmm, I did hear about the possible downsides of frost magic. I didn''t realize you could just end up freezing yourself too.

    I think my innate core temperature being higher than normal helps a lot with this. Maybe if I learn to channel my phoenix side better, I could take this frost magic further to counteract its side effect but for now I probably won''t be able to do this to anything stronger than this guardian. You look cool though.

    Alright, enough puns, sorry to have you guys go through that but this illusion had to be realistic so that I could pull off that sneak attack. Ted and Gregory are good at acting but you suck at it Raishin! I felt attacked but I knew he had a point. Ugh at least give Gregory a heads-up next time, he was a real mess. Ugh, I''m sorry, I just couldn''t even formulate a plan on how to deal with this situation.

    Alright, my temperature stabilized. We all went in for a bear hug.

    ¡°How nice, having a warm group hug after you murdered my sister!¡± Ah, right she did mention having a sister. Oh, shit! I looked behind me and saw Guyani about 30 meters behind me but she looked angrier. Wait I thought you just died and when did you manage to change clothes?

    ¡°I''m Nayani! the twin sister of the lovely woman you guys just killed! I''m gonna freeze you brats to death!¡± Ah, twin sister, that makes a lot of sense. I acknowledge your strength but I don''t think you can do anything ice-related with Agnis here! Yeah, another fight, that''s a bad idea! Let''s teleport out!

    ¡°Hey, don''t run! Let me kill you brats!¡± Before I could send another comment back to her Agnis teleported us back to my hut. I agree with the retreat but I still want to ask why? Hmm, well even though I kind of one-shot that guardian she is really strong, fighting her sister who might be as strong or stronger sounds like a bad idea, especially when I can get information out of the magic, I pulled out her sister. Her specialty might be ice but if she also uses frost magic as I do, we''re in deep shit. Hmm yeah, I''ve seen what you can do with frost magic, I don''t want to ever fight against something like that. So how long do you need to analyze that?

    About 1 day. Meh.

    Also, I left a nice present behind for her, she won''t be able to place any seals because it will set up frost traps. Nice! She''s gonna be so pissed when we''re gonna defeat her. I guess. I heard Guyani saying stuff about sending curses your way while you were dealing with the seals, are you ok?

    Guyani? Oh, that chick uhh yeh there were some curses I guess, I thought they were just baked in the seals, they were nothing special. Hmm, that is good. Ugh, I''m pooped! Yeah, we need to recover. It''s good that we didn''t listen to you and kept fighting.

    Ugh ok, I admit I was mistaken, but it feels lame to retreat. Do you know what is lamer than retreating? Death! Now let''s go rest up! You too Agnis! I know you''re probably going to do something or exhaust yourself to analyze that magic faster Ugh, fine. Guess no secret frost magic training.

    I knew it! Gregory started treating my burn wounds with his potions and bandaging me up. We do heal fast but that doesn''t mean we shouldn''t heal up properly! At least that''s what Gregory always tells us. The guys left and I decided to go to bed early It was about 21:00 but we were pooped. As I lay down in my bed I thought back to when the abomination smashed into Agnis.

    It looked so real. I then thought of how he one-shot that guardian.

    We can''t keep getting carried by Agnis, one day he will get into deep shit and we will be screwed if we don''t do anything about our current state. I decided for the first time in a long time, to actually put in some effort and do some simulations and practice new techniques. With the resolution to carry my buddies in the fight against that Nayani chick, I fell asleep.

 Ch 18: The Trap

    After making a grave for my sister and weeping for her I decided to kill the brats who did this to her. They didn''t even leave the remains of my sister to bury! She got frozen solid and shattered into a million pieces! It is an empty grave! I didn¡¯t sense her returning to the spirit world nor is she reforming¡­ I will freeze them solid and have them decorate this room as statues. I will have to turn this whole room into a freezer to keep them frozen though, my sister always told me to not come near the root with my ice magic because it''s not good for the root.

    Ugh, do I have to go outside and kill these brats? I can''t use my ice magic here and that brat with black and white hair and that sword seems to also be able to use ice magic so I can''t let him near the root either. Ugh, this is such a pain! I made a mirror with my ice magic and looked at myself. I''m all alone now. I brushed my long white hair and fixed myself up. I looked like a mess after crying. That ice brat seemed a bit special though.

    I looked at my light blue almost white eyes. He had similar eyes to us. But he''s a guy, he can''t be from the snowwoman race. Hmm, he also seemed to have no issues defeating my sister. I thought only spirits could defeat other spirits! Is he a spirit? I remember that he had 3 ice things behind him, were those tails? I should''ve paid more attention to the traits of different races when I was younger. I left a lot of things to my reliable sister but she is gone now. There were a lot of things she told me to do or not to do and I barely listened. Now that she is gone, I miss her. And I wish I listened more to her. Those brats don''t seem like a big problem to deal with besides that ice brat, ice versus ice doesn''t get us anywhere, and on top of that, he can damage spirits. I should''ve listened to Guyani and practiced how to create fire with wind magic. Something with adjust oxygen levels and then you just need a spark? I tried this out but nothing happened.

    Ugh! This is so frustrating! I want to go outside and kill those brats but I can''t go too far from this root else my power will decrease. I think my sister explained it as something like that spirits needs a place of power to be anchored to. If they go too far from it their power will drop and when it drops too low, they will have to return to it. Or I have to make a contract, but I don''t want to make a contract with a stupid mortal and even if I wanted to the ones that had an affinity for spirit contracts are extinct, or at least there aren''t many of them. You know what! I haven''t been outside this cave since I got here! Time to kill some brats! But first I will have to place the seals on the root. They are here to protect it from getting destroyed but also so that its energy doesn''t go out of control and harms the tree. I looked at the Bei root. I forgot what the function was of the big tree but all I know is that if the root disappears my place of power disappears. I luckily do know how to do these, my sister kept using this as a chore for me to do when I got lazy. I made the first seal and it almost instantly disappeared. Did I get it wrong?

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    I''m sure I did it correctly, I''ve made so many seals in my life that I can''t be mistaken. I made another one and this one disappeared too.

    "What is going on?" I stomped but I realized throwing a tantrum wasn''t going to help. Okay, there was another way to do this, it takes a bit longer but it makes more robust seals. It took me 5 minutes but a seal started to form. It almost got to completion when it began to freeze and shatter. What! Don''t tell me that this is the work of that ice brat! I tried making the seal multiple times but they kept freezing over and shattering. That asshole! I secretly was also a bit impressed because I had no idea how he managed to do this. Maybe I should kill the other 3 brats and make him tell me all his ice tricks. I was properly pissed now. I prepared to go on a warpath. I think there is a settlement above ground, but I don''t care as long as I can kill those brats. I just have to make it quick before my power starts to drop from being away from the root too long.

    I headed towards the entrance but I met an ice wall. Ha, nice try kiddo but this is nothing to an ice user! I tried to cancel the wall but it just seemed to absorb my magic. What? I heard the sound of something freezing and an ice trap exploded. Ugh, silly trap, I tried to dispel this trap that froze my leg to the ground but this too sucked up my magic, moreover, it didn''t melt or disappear. What?

    "WHAT IS THIS ICE!" I still don''t understand how normal magic was affecting spirits so easily. Hmm is this normal magic though? I feel my magic draining towards the ice.

    "Whawawa? What is going on!" I tried to blast the ice with element-less magic but it got absorbed too and the ice on my leg grew. "Wait wait! I don''t want to go out like this!" I think the ice listened since it stopped. "Oh, you¡¯re listening, hey ice can you get off me?" Nothing happened. "Please?" No response.

    I lost my temper again and started hammering on it with my fist. "Let me out!" Another trap went off and froze my arm. "Noooo!" I tried to wriggle out but I was stuck. "Please let me out!" As I started crying. "I only want to kill some brats; I¡¯ll be a nice spirit afterward!"

    No response. My tears dried up and I was still stuck. I started to become angry but I had nothing to vent it to. I couldn''t move, using magic would only make these ice crystals grow. This ice brat, I''m definitely going to make him my slave and make him teach me how he did this! My energy kept being sapped but since I was still relatively close to the root it didn''t affect me too much; it did take more than I got from the root at this distance though. Maybe if I run out of spirit energy it will disappear. I will disappear too for a while but I will reappear at my place of power after a while. My only concern is how that ice brat killed my sister. She isn''t coming back, if his ice has that effect I''m screwed. Suddenly letting my energy drain seemed like a bad idea. But I had no way out! Ugh guess I''ll go into hibernation mode; it is meant for when the place gets too warm for snow-women or yuki-onna as we were called long ago but I have no choice now. I will just have to hibernate until something makes that ice brat dispel this ice. They will probably return here anyway to deal with the root. They can¡¯t enter the cave with this here. I shifted to hibernation mode waiting till the brats would return to this place.

 CH 19: Gianni and the rusted sword

    I woke up and noticed I had a lot of energy flowing into me. I grinned, as that meant my trap worked out. I woke up at my regular time which was around 07:00. I put the energy I absorbed from that Guyana chick yesterday to analyze in my tail before I went to sleep. Normally I hide it but I can''t while it is still analyzing. I look at my silver tail. I took this opportunity to brush it. I applied an illusion to make it as if it wasn''t there. I turned around, If I only made it visually imperceptible it would knock stuff over. It didn''t, I only applied 3 illusion layers so that was a given but I can still make mistakes. It seems the illusions I made yesterday to make it appear that we were doing stuff above ground were quite productive.

    The illusions I made of Gregory and myself were crafting stuff the whole time while the ones of Ted and Raishin were hunting. The problem with illusions is that I can''t make illusions do stuff that isn''t outside of what we normally do. The ones I make in battle can but ones meant for simple deception will just follow our regular life day. That is why clones are superior in this case. They can do whatever I want to do but I personally can''t since my main body is occupied and also after dispelling them, I get the information they have gathered. I have no clue what my illusions did while I was underground, I just heard from Hera that I seemed hard at work in the workshop and after a short talk with my buddies it seemed the illusions of themselves also did something similar. I greeted Hera and asked where Philip was.

    ¡°Oh, Philip? He said he felt better and dove into his workshop.¡± Oh, that is good to hear. I haven''t seen Philip get near his workshop since I finished my apprenticeship. I went to his workshop, which was next to mine, to say good morning. But he seemed too absorbed in his work so I didn''t disturb him. Hera looked at me as she saw me walk to the front door.

    ¡°Oh, by the way Gianni will arrive today.¡± Johnny is returning?

    ¡°Yes, and I don''t know if that''s a nickname you have for him or if you¡¯re messing with him but make sure you use ¡®Gianni¡¯ when talking to other people about him since they won''t know who you mean by ¡®Johnny¡¯¡± I went out and picked up Gregory, I couldn''t find Raishin anywhere, He didn''t seem to be at his regular hunting spots either. Ted was training and said he would meet with us after he was finished. Do you know where Raishin went off to? No clue, but I don''t think he''s reckless enough to go back alone.

    True, but can you check just in case? I sealed the entrance again with frost magic so he couldn''t enter even if he wanted to.

    Good. Hera said Johnny will arrive today.

    Ooh, I wonder what he brought this time. Oh, I see him! He will arrive at the front gate in about an hour.

    So, what are we going to do in the meantime?

    ¡°Hey, punks! This time you will pay for what you did last time!¡± Who are you?

    ¡°See dad this is what I meant! This asshole just keeps pretending to forget who I am!¡± No seriously, who are you? He is not pretending; he is top-class in forgetting names and faces.

    Hey! that is not true! Ok then, describe and name Cecilia¡¯s daughter.

    Ok, I got this! Her name is uh random villager #56, and she looks like uhm she¡¯s invisible! Easy! You suck.

    ¡°See dad! This is the other thing! They just keep ignoring me!¡±

    ¡°I see that Dunkey. Hello, you two are Agnis and Gregory, right?¡± You know us?

    ¡°Yes. my son here, Dunkey, has told me about how you keep bullying him.¡± I''m sorry Mr. Eh?

    "Munkey is the name, Munkey Hurado.¡± I was trying to hold in my laugh. Hey, stop it! Gregory smacked me while also trying to hold in his laugh.

    ¡°Is something the matter?¡± Donkey and Monkey! Hahaha!

    ¡°See dad!¡±

    ¡°Yes, I see son. They are indeed bullies.¡± Hey, come on with names like that you¡¯re just asking for it! Hahaha. Hahaha, damn sorry, I¡¯m trying, but he has a point haha.

    ¡°What would your parents think of this?¡± Monkey said. I thought about it. My mom would probably have the same stance as Gregory. Gregory¡¯s mom would throw a savage joke on top of it. Trust, me, it would be worse if you would talk to our mothers.

    ¡°It seems you guys had a poor upbringing then!¡± Gregory and I stopped laughing. Listen here, Monkey, Donkey, and parents of their friends, everything is fun and games until you badmouth our mothers. We will let this slide for now but if something like this repeats, don''t blame us for the consequences. Normally I''m the calm one but after Agnis said that I will stand down, however, if you decide to go on with this prepare for the worst. Gregory and I were exerting killing intent and the bullies who brought their parents all backed off.

    A smart move and I will suggest you guys either accept that Agnis is going to forget your face and name or accept that he''s gonna mess up your name unless you put in the effort to get close to him. Judging from your personality I would suggest just staying away from us, you don''t mix well with people like us. We walked away in a badass way.

    ¡°Hey, dad I think I peed my pants.¡± Never mind that cracked me up.

    <hr>

    The encounter with Donkey and his friends only took about a half hour. We spent some time talking to Uraya and hanging around in her shop. She had a lot of interesting stories. About a battle that happened long ago when a beautiful young woman fought against a god and got imprisoned or how a huge whale once sunk entire coasts just because it was hungry. As Johnny¡¯s arrival was nearing, we thanked Uraya for her stories to which she thanked us for spending time with her and for the sapphire I gave her. She said something about it making a great catalyst. I don''t know what she meant by that but if she''s happy, that''s great. We stepped outside on the town square and decided to wait there for Johnny. Ted joined us as he was done with his training. Raishin was still nowhere to be found, we sent telepathic messages but he wasn''t responding. A group of people arrived at the town square.

    Johnny was part of the merchant group of Boshi town who went around and buy stuff up at other places and bring them back here. We can''t keep relying on other merchants coming here to sell stuff so the town decided to send out merchants itself. The merchants all came and rest a bit on the town square and talk to some townspeople before they would get their stuff home and prepare for the market tomorrow. Hey Johnny! What do you have for us this time?

    ¡°Yoo guys, my name is Gianni by the way, how have you been?¡± We¡¯re doing fine, how are you?

    ¡°You two seem to have some bandages though. Did Charlize finally catch you? I had my bet that she would catch you guys in about two months.¡± These people here really do love gambling, don''t they? Ah, it''s not a big deal it will heal in no time.

    ¡°Well, I got some cool stuff for you guys but they were expensive so I hope you guys have money on you.¡± Ugh, I hope I can get by with 20 silver. Hmm, I''m also relatively broke because Raishin and his boars ruined the last market for me.

    ¡°For Ted, I have a book full of foreign puns translated into Kaledonian.¡± Awesome!

    ¡°And for the expensive gift.¡± Gianni rummaged through his stuff. ¡°A hand cannon!¡± Whoa! Wow. Ooh! Ehh how much for it?

    ¡°I will take your 20 silver and it''s yours.¡± Back to broke again I guess but I¡¯ll take it!

    ¡°For Raishin, oh he''s not here. For Gregory I have this device, I don''t know how it works but it can detect nearby ores and minerals. I was thinking of giving it to Agnis but you seem to need them more, He mainly needs metal ores while you need all kinds of rocks for whatever you cook up in your lab.¡± Oooh, nice! Thanks.

    ¡°And speaking of labs.¡± Gianni went to a big cart and took out a box. It seemed similar to those bags of gold I got, as in what was in it was compressed to save space. ¡°So, I got this for relatively cheap because nobody in his right mind would want to use this when they can just use their own lab.¡± He took out what was inside the box. ¡°It''s a portable lab. It has basic functions and stuff to store certain concoctions safely. As you can guess I also don''t know how this works and perhaps you can use it.¡± Hmm, using my own lab would be way more convenient but I can''t say that a mobile lab isn''t useless. How much for it?

    ¡°As I said I got it for cheap 6 silver and it''s yours.¡± I don''t know what the prices are out there but that sounds quite cheap.

    ¡°Alright for Agnis, well this might be a problem but let''s start with the free gift first. I remember you had problems with hard materials before. Something about your tools not being sturdy enough. Here I got some top-grade blacksmithing tools for you! Well, they are not top grade a higher grade than this came out recently so a good blacksmith friend of mine who just bought these gave them to me.¡± Wow! Any clue how sturdy they are?

    ¡°It advertises that if you want to make diamond-tipped spears you can make those with these tools.¡± Ooh, that sounds very good. Gianni handed a big box to me. This thing was really heavy but to me, these tools were more valuable than Gianni could imagine. I have no way to get better tools except outside the town and barrier. Everything I have was handed down to me by Philip.

    ¡°Well, I got lucky with this at the auction.¡± He took something out that was wrapped in cloth. Oh, is it a sword?

    ¡°Yes, but it''s not just a sword!¡± Gianni unwrapped it and showed a quite rusty old sword. Looks like junk.

    ¡°Well, that might be true and its previous owner also lost its scabbard driving down the price. But my merchant''s eye tells me that this sword is special. Nobody could use it but I think it''s a magic sword.¡± Wow! That must have cost you a fortune to get this then?

    ¡°Well not really, firstly it''s really old and rusty so nobody looks at it but it also seems that blacksmiths that tried to restore it all failed to. As if it has a will of its own. What I know about magic swords is that some have a will of their own and don''t accept anyone who isn''t worthy.¡± Hmm, I''ve heard stuff like that on my travels but I''ve seen some magic items get exchanged like they were regular items, I don''t know if that''s true.

    ¡°Well, I don''t buy it either. Well until I bought the sword and tried to transport it. The reason why I wrapped it up was not only for safety and to protect the sword but it wouldn''t let me if I didn''t. Now I know you are good at using a sword and a blacksmith. A combination I weirdly enough haven''t seen much. Maybe you can do something with this.¡± I looked at the blade. It did seem different from a regular blade. If it had any secrets, it was hiding them very well, or maybe it was dormant. I assume this sword is going to cost me an arm and a leg.

    ¡°Well, if you can''t pay for it, I will just keep it until you can, I can''t think of anyone who could do anything with this sword. I will buy it back from you if you can''t restore it so don''t worry.¡± Oh, it¡¯s fine, I might be able to pay for it, how much?

    ¡°Ugh, I feel bad asking so much gold from a friend.¡± That¡¯s fine you have to live too, how much is it?

    ¡°9 gold.¡± What! That''s insane. Holy shit I could live like half a year off that amount of money. I looked at the sword. It did seem interesting. I decided to buy the sword. I discreetly got some gold coins out of my dimensional pocket. Here you go, I''ll take the sword, it looks interesting. Gianni, Ted, and Gregory looked at me as if they just witnessed a miracle.

    What the! How do you have so much gold?

    ¡°How even!¡± Oh, I found some valuable rocks and managed to sell them for a good price.

    ¡°Hmm, I guess that makes sense, I will drop by Raishin later for his stuff. The week-long market rush will end tomorrow. I have to get my stuff in order so I can sell as much as possible tomorrow. Too bad that the trip back here took longer than I expected. I hope I can sell most of my stuff else I will have to wait a month for the next market rush. Wanna hang out the day after tomorrow?¡± We will see, we¡¯ve been a bit occupied lately.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°Hmm, and I guess that Agnis will be busy trying to fix that sword. Ok, that¡¯s no problem, you guys know where to find me!¡± Johnny waved and got his stuff and left. We got some good stuff. Yeah, with this hand cannon, I have more options for ranged combat.

    I am curious about that sword though; it gives off an interesting energy. Yeah, I can''t see much about this sword but I think that''s because it is dormant. Try unwrapping it and touching it.

    Hmm, bad idea, who knows what might happen, if it is a magic sword you do want to mess with it with a lot of innocent civilians nearby. Yeah, we probably need to see what it does in a place where we are safe and where there is nobody around. Like my workshop! Let''s go!

    Not really what I was expecting but I''m curious. Me too!

    <hr>

    We got to my workshop. Gregory and Ted took defensive measures while I laid an illusion over the area. I first inspected the tools I got from Johnny. As far as I could tell these were as good as new. I didn''t know how to tackle this magic sword though; Do I just treat it like a regular sword or do I apply magic to fix it?

    I decided to fix this sword with magic. This might get rough. How did a magic sword get rusted anyway? You would think something like that would be protected from something simple like rust.

    I have no idea; this sword doesn''t even seem to be made out of anything that can rust. Maybe it decided to rust since there are no worthy opponents. It sounds like a convenient explanation but I can''t come on with another reason that could apply here. I put the sword on a workbench. It was still wrapped. I carefully unwrapped it without touching it.

    I still think it looks like a piece of junk. It seems to be in a bad state but it is a katana, something you''ve always wanted to make. Hmm yeah, if I could fix this and use it, that would be great, but I still want to make one myself one day. I was wondering how to approach this; Normally I would take the blade out of the handle but what I know about magic weapons is that every part of it is as important as the others. While a normal sword separating the two might be no big deal, a potential magic sword might make this impossible or end up destroying the magic sword. Can magic weapons even be destroyed? I don''t know but I don''t want to find out now. I wanted to put on my gloves but realized I don''t need them if I would fix it with magic. I approached the sword. I kept my distance and carefully poked it with my index finger and then immediately jump back.

    What are you doing? I was checking if it would explode if I touched it. Why would it explode?

    I don''t know maybe it''s an exploding magic sword. It didn''t seem to react at all. Judging from what Johnny said it didn''t explode when he touched it, he just couldn''t move it without wrapping it up. Try to pick it up and move around with it.

    Right. I touched the sword again before picking it up. It didn''t seem too heavy. I swung it from the height I picked it up to a downward motion making the tip point to the ground. A motion I always made after picking up a sword.

    So far nothing feels off. I could probably fight well with this katana. I took a step and I could feel something activate. It is doing something! I took a look at it and it seemed to have woken up. I took another step but nothing exciting seemed to happen. A lot of magic was being generated within it but that''s all. Magic weapons have a different kind of magic than normally gets used. I knew this but witnessing it with my own eyes was something new. Very interesting. I swung the sword around while taking some steps and so far, it seemed like the sword accepted me as someone who can use it. I don''t feel like it has a will, nor do I see strange things in it. If it chose me as worthy then I can''t feel or see anything special about it.

    Try holding this, Gregory. I gave the sword to Gregory. Do you feel anything funny?

    Hmm, this is interesting but I think I know what the issue is here. I don''t need to swing it or move with it to know I can''t use it. Its energy frequency doesn''t align with mine. It''s a bit different from yours but I think it can synchronize with yours. Gregory tried to swing and walk with the sword but it looked like he was trying to move something that looked like it weighed tons. Yeah. as I thought, try it out, Ted. Is there a point? I probably wouldn''t be able to move it either.

    It''s a good thing to at least get the feeling of different kinds of energies and experiences, maybe one day you might find a magic weapon with a similar feeling. But unlike weapons, we can adjust our energies a bit. Yours and mine are far from this sword but your energy is closer to Agnis than it is to mine so try and see if you can match it. Gregory gestured to Ted to take the sword. Ted took the sword and tried to lift it. There seemed to be a bit of movement in it.

    I don''t know how well you feel the energy the sword gives off but try to match it. Ugh, I don''t know how! This thing doesn''t cooperate. After making a lot of weird bear and grunting noises Ted managed to lift the sword in the air. To drop it moments later.

    Ugh, I think I figured it out but that''s the best I could do. I picked up the sword and tried to feel the magic Gregory was talking about and tried to match mine better with it. The sword seemed to feel lighter and lighter and then it became a bit heavier. Seems I found the sweet spot. I went back to where it felt the lightest and swung it down like I did before. But during my swing, Gregory put up a shadow wall.

    What are you doing? Are you trying to kill us? The shadow wall seemed to have blocked a wind blade that was created by swinging the sword down. Whoa sorry, I didn''t know this would happen.

    Didn''t you also almost cut off Charlize¡¯s arm with a high-quality sword of yours just by swinging it around quite fast? Hmm, something like that happened yeah. It seems pretty powerful to me like this. What could restoring it do?

    I guess the magic that gets trapped in the sword because of its state could flow free. Time for some restoration! I chucked the sword in the air and caught it in a water bubble. The first step would be to get the rust off. I would normally let it soak in an acid bath, but nobody has time for that. I have put a lot of effort and research into a lot of techniques that could be mimicked and sped up with magic. Water is very versatile and it can easily be turned into an acid. All I need to get rid of rust are hydrogen ions. I worked my water magic to split into H+ and OH- ions and moved the ions I didn''t need to the edge of the bubble. I then made the acid that made contact with the blade spin at high speeds to also polish the blade in the process. If this went too slow, I would have to throw in some abrasives to mimic the effect of a grinder. I don''t know how well those would do in a strong acid though.

    Hmm, what are you doing? I''m giving it an acid bath and also grinding it to make it smooth.

    Acid? I thought that was water! Well yeah, water can be turned into acid if you know how it works.

    Ugh, that is scary. I''m feeling like all the water users out there aren''t using it to its highest potential. Well because magic is quite omnipotent and everywhere, not a lot of people bother studying chemistry and physics. I''m not too great at physics but chemistry is very important as an alchemist so I could, in theory, do something like this too.

    Ugh, I¡¯ll keep punching stuff. Hmm, the sword doesn''t seem to be doing any funny stuff so this is going quite well. The blade seemed rust-free and kind of polished.

    So, is it done? Hmm, I don''t know, this is the second time I have restored a rusted blade. I will just do every process I did the last time. Time to heat it!

    Hey, wouldn''t it, like I don''t know, retaliate when you start heating it? Only one way to figure out! Get that shadow wall ready Gregory! Hoo boi. I grabbed the sword at the hilt with my right hand and with my left hand, I went over the side of the blade and started to heat it. The magic inside the sword erupted outward and set the blade on fire.

    I guess that works. Makes it easier for me. After making sure it reached the correct temperature, I started grinding it again with water by making it spin over the blade at high speed. Then I carefully heat the blade to temper it. After it reached the right temperature, I applied some time magic on it to skip waiting for half a day.

    Ugh note to self, don''t use time magic when not transformed. Do I need to fetch some energy I have stored in the shadows for you?

    Yeah, please do. I have no idea what you¡¯re doing but it seems intensive even though you''re speeding it up with magic. Yeah, this is not something you can finish in 30 minutes if you want to do it properly. More grinding and polishing with water magic.

    Alright, this seems fine. A lot of steps can be skipped when using magic. I guess now I gotta check its magic conductivity. I picked up the sword and it felt even lighter. I ran some lightning magic through it while putting the tip on a device that measures magic output. I knew exactly how much I put in the sword so I could see how much difference there would be at the tip.

    Hey, isn''t this cheating? What¡¯s up?

    I get 3 times the value of magic I put into this sword as output. Hmm, although that is a lot, isn''t that the point of magic swords? It should be able to make its wielder compete with those proficient in magic.

    Well, yes but if someone who can use magic uses this wouldn''t he become like really overpowered? Well congratulations, you just became overpowered.

    Hmm, I don''t think that matters though. Why?

    Well, just think about it, Raishin, Gregory, and I are mythical beasts, we should have had no problems with whatever we had to fight in theory, even if we don''t transform. But despite that, everything just managed to more or less own us. Doesn''t that mean that you guys just suck? Well, that is a possibility but the problem I see here is that so far, we haven''t dealt with regular inhabitants. This tree those guardians are all things that are not supposed to be here. And back home there were just too many beings out of our league because were just babies compared to all of them.

    Yeah, we¡¯re taking the wrong place, wrong time, and wrong enemy quite to the max here. Even though this thing is overpowered I can''t see it dealing with those trees or roots easily. The guardians might be another story though, although I have the feeling that if I didn''t sneak attack, one shot that guardian the other day, she would send us packing. I carefully swung the sword making sure to not create any wind blades.

    How is analyzing her energy going? Hmm from what I could analyze so far, the only thing I can tell you is that she could''ve easily soloed us. This guardian seems to be really old and has a lot of fighting experience. Also, I''m not sure about this but it seems that even landing hits on her would be a challenge. So, her sister would have similar characteristics. Sounds like we might get our asses kicked if we don''t take this seriously. Hmm, I see, I will go do some more training unless you guys need me for something.

    Oh, by the way, I kind of forgot to give this to you. I opened my dimensional pocket and shot the hammer at Gregory. He caught it but the weight made him fly backward. He cushioned himself with a shadow wall.

    Why can''t you do anything normally? I''m sorry¡­

    Thanks for the hammer, I will train too I guess, it has been a long time since I''ve held a hammer. It looks cool though, what did you use to make it this nice and blue? Oh, this hammer was quite simple, I just drove a pole into a big sapphire, at first it was a bit rough but I managed, if you don''t like the shape, you can alter it with earth magic. Be warned though, it is very hard.

    Wait, you made this out of sapphire? Sapphire? Holy shit, where did you get that from? Do you know you could get a fortune for it if you sold it? I told you about that corundum dungeon, right?

    Oooh, wait is that how you are so filthy rich? Yeah, I sold some rubies yesterday. I said proudly while making a cool swordsman stance.

    Hey sugar daddy, Ted needs new shoes. That is no problem but don''t ever call me that.

    Ok¡­ A very beautiful hammer, ehh I mean I guess we won''t ever have financial issues. Just don''t let Raishin get wind of this. Yah, I''m not gonna pay for all his dumb dates and presents.

    Alright, I''m off. I want the shoes on sale at Heffner¡¯s shop! Thank you and Cya! Well, I guess we both have to train with our new weapons. We went to do our own training. I kept analyzing the magic of that guardian I absorbed while practicing with the new katana. I noticed that it was moving as if I owned this sword for years. I made a scabbard for it to make it safer to carry around. I also wanted to try this technique I once saw. It was a move where Viridian drew his katana out of its sheathe, did a really quick slash, and sheathed the sword back, all within the blink of an eye. Speed is my specialty so I should be able to do something like this. I just need to practice a lot. If I remember correctly, it was called Quickdraw or Iai.

    Getting the sword quickly out of the sheathe was easy, getting it back in quickly was another story. I almost cut my hand multiple times by trying to sheathe the sword swiftly. Accuracy wasn''t an issue with my eyes but without them, I could imagine that this technique could take years if not a lifetime to master. For a magic sword, it didn''t seem any special, it had no fancy effects, it just amplified my output and it seemed to make me able to have faster movements. I practiced till dinner time; I did take a break before dinnertime and got the shoes Ted asked for before the shops closed. After dinner time I contacted my buddies to talk about the results of my analysis and to discuss how we''re going to tackle the guardian.

 Ch 20: Analysis Complete

    Hmm, this is worrying. The analysis of the magic I stole from that guardian was complete and things weren''t looking so good for us. I walked over to Raishin¡¯s hut which was our main gathering place. It was on the edge of the town so quite a quiet place and hardly any unexpected visitors. Except for when those two men came to investigate. Raishin also seemed to have something to share with us since he finally responded to our telepathic uhm I guess it''s called Teleroad, messages. I seem to be the first one to arrive. Raishin never locked his door so I just entered.

    What a mess, how can he find stuff in here? I decided to take this opportunity to practice a bit more with my shadow clones. I finally managed to make a third shadow clone that didn''t look like shit. With Gregory¡¯s instruction, I didn''t need to apply any illusions to it to make it look like me. I still didn''t master them fully so if you would take a better look at them, you would notice they don''t look exactly like me. The fewer clones the more I could make them look like me. All of Gregory¡¯s clones look exactly like him and he seems to be able to make about 10 of them. I will get there one day. Since I don''t need them to look like me in this case, I added 2 more. They looked messed up now but as long as they could use my speed and clean up that was good enough. I cleaned up Raishin¡¯s hut in record time. Only took like 5 minutes! I''m sure Raishin would take a whole day to clean this. Hmm was Raishin¡¯s hut always this big? I heard someone approaching. By the sound of the footsteps, it would be Ted. Ted and Raishin entered the hut.

    Something feels different here, was your hut always this big? Hey, where is all my stuff? Did I get robbed? Who would steal all that junk? And I cleaned the place.

    Oh, so I have something to tell you guys! Might want to wait on Gregory.

    You don''t think he got lost? He is directionally challenged, even though he likes making maps, but he came here multiple times so he could find this without problems.

    Well, yes but that is because there always is someone with him when we come here. Let me see, where is he? I looked around.

    There he is! He is here, kind of, he''s about 100 meters further up. I''m going to fetch him; I¡¯ll be back in 10 seconds. 1¡­2¡­ I stepped outside and dashed towards Gregory and returned to the hut.

    9¡­10... Wow, it really took you only 10 seconds. Ugh, you scared me there, there must have been a gentler way to guide me to the hut. Time is money. Even though you¡¯re¡­ Ted looked at Raishin.

    Never mind¡­ Ok, so guys I have 2 things to tell you! First, I have an idea! How about we give all our skills names? That is an awful idea.

    What you want us to just shout our magic and skill names in battle? What¡¯s wrong with that? It will be fun! Rejected! Hmm, he might have a point. Everyone looked at me.

    Hey Agnis, is your brain still frozen from the day before yesterday? No, I don''t mean the shouting names in battle, that is a stupid idea. But giving our skills and stuff names could be useful. Assume you have an idea and need me to use a certain skill. What would you say? Hey, Agnis use that ice skill you used that one time? No not that ice skill! The other one. For communication purposes that would be useful. Like some basic skills, we know the name of like shadow cloak. I guess my frost wall could stay with the name frost wall. But as we get more creative with our magic the more options we have. Traditional skills like fireball etc. are a given but what if Raishin does something creative with a fireball, then another name might be needed to distinguish a normal skill from whatever iterations we end up needing.

    Hmm, I''m convinced, I guess your idea was only 50% stupid Raishin. Hmm, I see so I can name my cool skills. Yes, in Ted¡¯s case, I¡¯ll leave the naming of skills to you, Gregory.

    That is fine. Wait why! Your puns are un-bear-able! Gregory smacked Raishin for that pun and I sighed and facepalmed.

    Meh, so what was the other thing you wanted to tell us Raishin? Hehe, I have a new technique! It¡¯s called Raishin Kick! Let me guess, this is why you wanted to give names to skills.

    No!... ok fine you got me¡­ Hmm, let me guess, it is not a kick. Why would you say that?

    He said technique, not skill or move. Well, it is a combo. Why would you name a combo ¡°Raishin kick¡±?

    It sounded cool! ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Oh, come on guys, you know that ellipses aren''t a dialogue option. He is trolling us, right? He is definitely trolling us. Sadly, I think he''s serious. Anyway we can check your ¡°Raishin kick¡± later. I had the idea of doing a short sparring session anyway because the information I got out of the analysis is kind of problematic.

    How bad is it? I do know for a fact that if you didn''t sneak attack and one shot that guardian we could have literally ended up as toast. How do you like ¡°Raishin Toast¡± as a name for a move? Ugh, hard pass. So, what did you find? Well, it seems as we suspected, this guardian was really old. She seems to be older than our mothers.

    Oof, she must be super strong then. Her specialty is water and wind. Nowhere could I find out that she is decent at fire or can use it at all. Wait but we saw her using fire!

    Well as far as I can tell there are 3 explanations for that. She can use chaos magic, she was using illusions, or she did something that made it look like she could use fire magic. Out of the analysis, the first two don''t apply. So, she was using fire by not using fire?

    Exactly! Huh, how does that make sense? Hmm, I think what he means is that if you¡¯re creative enough you can do things that are normally outside what is accepted as normal for a technique. It is possible to use ice if one has a strong fire affinity. As far as I know, fire affinity is actually incorrect as it is a heat affinity but everyone and their grandmother just use it to create fire and the like. But by removing the heat, which is possible with what we call fire affinity, you can create ice and stuff. Similarly, to that, you could kind of control the weather with water affinity even though that is mostly attributed to wind. I assume her making fire is related to her water or wind affinity. I''m assuming she is messing with oxygen concentrations or using compressed gas which heats up, or both. Hmm, something felt off. I can''t read magic circles at all but it didn''t look like any I''ve seen before when fire magic was used.

    I guess that is the explanation for that occurrence. Hmm, any stuff we need to watch out for with her water affinity? I saw you turning water into acid earlier today so I kind of know what I can expect. I didn''t find anything about how they use their elements, just that they have an affinity for those. Actually, affinity is quite wrong. We all have our affinities but that doesn''t mean we can''t use those we don''t have affinities for it will just take more effort or have a high failure rate. This guardian is literally incapable of using anything besides wind and water magic.

    So, to be clear, you¡¯re talking about water magic and not frost magic? Yes, we don''t have to worry about frost shenanigans. Phew, am I wrong to think that it will be an instant loss for us if she could use frost magic?

    Sounds about right. Yup, we¡¯d be so screwed if that was the case. I don''t want to ever fight anyone with frost magic, if I find one, I will instantly run, screw that! Yes! Fear us! Gregory smacked me.

    Anything else? Uhh, oh right, our biggest problem. She is a yuki-onna, so she is a spirit. Uhh, why is that a problem?

    Well, as far as I know, you can''t damage a spirit. Hmm, but you one-shot it right? Don''t tell me it is coming back.

    I don''t know, I''m surprised I could even hit her. Hey, Agnis, dumbass, aren''t you forgetting something important here in this picture?

    Whud? Aren¡¯t, you a spirit too?

    Hmm, my body is quite corporeal and as you know I take damage. Gregory facepalmed.

    Aren¡¯t, you a nine-tailed spirit fox? Oooh. Ooh. Ooh. wait I don''t get it, why does that matter?

    Hmm well, I''ve read that there is a thing like spirit mages down here. It is a rare branch of ehh it isn''t even seen as regular magic. It isn''t a lost art but it might as well be with how few can use it. So, a human or any sentient creature makes a contact with a spirit and this has to be mutual. The spirit mage as it''s called then uses the spirit to fight. It is impossible to harm the spirit unless you¡¯re a spirit mage yourself so the basic strategy is to defeat the spirit mage and then the spirit will get knocked out too. They are known to be quite powerful though. You could give a teenager a mid-tier spirit and even skilled magic users will have difficulty dealing with the teenager. You¡¯re talking as if teenagers are weak and clueless but aren''t we teenagers too?

    Well, it''s a figure of speech, and that is the example the book gave! Anyway what I can gather from what I''ve read there is that unless you¡¯re a spirit you can''t damage a spirit. They can damage you though. Hmm, that is really overpowered, it''s cheating even! Well, putting two spirits in charge of guarding a root sounds like a genius idea. Nothing can kill them and they can just easily fight off whatever tries to destroy them.

    So, if they are so strong why haven''t they taken over the world yet? Hmm, the book said something about spirits needing a place of power, that is why they form contracts, in that case, they will have a mobile place of power but otherwise, they have to find a place with a lot of energy and that will be their charging station. If they run out of juice, they get forced back into the spirit world or to their power spot depending on the situation. Just destroying the place of power will force the spirit to run out of energy and return to the spirit world. Hmm, so what about Agnis then? If he¡¯s a spirit, shouldn''t he have the same limitations? Hey, don''t look at me! I just discovered that I''m a spirit!

    But you always knew you were a nine-tailed spirit fox¡­ And about that... I don''t know. Hehe, Agnis, you''re such a weirdo! Hey! I don''t want to hear that from you! Agnis, you¡¯re such a weirdo!

    Not from any of you! Anyway it seems that Agnis is the only one that can do damage to her. But what about my Raishin kick? I trained for nothing!

    Well, the root needs destroying, you can Raishin kick the root. We don''t even know if we can beat that chick. It might be faster if I keep her busy while you nuke the root. There shouldn''t be any seals so the root should be unprotected. Hmm, maybe it will spawn some pink broccoli so you might still be able to use it. But I want to use it on the last boss!

    Well, you can use it on the last boss, do no damage, and then deal with the root, is that ok? Nooo! Raishin collapsed dramatically.

    Ugh, got any good news? Hmm, well they are weak to fire if you can hit them that is. She seems to be adept at creating and dispelling seals I managed to nab some seal-forming and dispelling magic and I''m analyzing it to get better at that. Besides that, not really just raw power. I couldn''t make heads or tails from this spirit magic she can use. Not that it would matter since none of us are spirits. Gregory smacked me.

    Do I have to remind you again that YOU are a spirit? So, seems I can do something with it, after all, too bad I discarded that magic.

    Ugh, this guy. Hey, I didn''t know that back then! Fine, anything else? That is about it. We already know she has 2 sisters. Wait there is one more? You know what maybe this town isn''t that bad after all¡­ Oh, I can use my Raishin kick on her! Still a spirit. Nooo! Raishin collapsed dramatically again.

    Well, since they are proficient in water and wind, I think we don''t have a choice but to split up. I need Gregory to deal with defense when I''m fighting the guardian. Which means Raishin and Ted fight the root. Hmm, I guess that makes sense since he doesn''t do much damage anyways it won''t be much of a difference if he''s fighting something he can''t hit. Hey!

    We should focus on destroying the root because they might not be able to defeat the guardian. I think it would be more accurate to say that we¡¯re on a losing battle there so it would be nice if you guys could destroy the root before she murders us.

    I will let you Raishin kick the biggest broccoli monster. Yes! Ok, I''m pumped now, let''s go! Raishin got up and was heading towards the door when Ted grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him in and down forcing him to sit on the ground.

    How about you wait till we are done here? Meh, but you guys talk for so long! We¡¯re done now, you wanted to show us the Raishin kick right? Then how about we spar, let''s make it a 2v2 in the pairs we''re gonna fight the guardian with.

    Alright, Ted! Let''s own them! Ugh, you say that because you didn''t see Agnis¡¯ new sword. I''m not a big fan of this idea but I could see the use of this. We all practiced some stuff; it would be best to give them a test run so any of us can point out possible flaws in what we''ve practiced. I''m sure that Raishin''s kick has a lot of holes.

    So, I got my Raishin kick, what do you guys have? I have Agnis punch. Really?

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    Of course not! I have a new sword. I have 16 more in my dimensional pocket. Didn''t you make 17?

    Yeah, one shattered when I one-shot the guardian. Aah right, somehow your swords always shatter, might as well make them out of glass, would be way cheaper. But it seems that the sword didn''t make the cut. Any sword that doesn''t shatter in Agnis¡¯ hands can be seen as s-word-thy. Ugh, another dumb pun.

    Wow, such haters. Anyway I got my hand cannon. I got my hammer. You finally got a hammer?

    No reaction to my hand cannon? No, because you''ll probably throw in another dumb pun. Yes, it is heavy though, I have to make my shadow carry it for me. So where is it now?

    Shit, I forgot it! Wow, Gregory forgot something.

    Hey, I was busy, and forgetting things is normal! not how you forget things Agnis! Meh, do I need to get it?

    Yes, please it is in my backyard. Aight. I teleport to Gregory¡¯s backyard, and sucked the hammer into my dimensional pocket, yes, it got sucked in. I managed to fix my problem of getting stuff inside my dimensional pocket. And teleported back and took it out.

    Thanks. So, are we going to spar now? I want to show off my Raishin kick! Uh, I guess we can do that now, just have a question though, how are you going to hit that? I don''t think you can hit Agnis and well Gregory is like an immovable force.

    Shit! Noo I won''t be able to use it! Hey Agnis, can you stand still so I can Raishin kick you? How about no? Raishin collapsed dramatically again.

    <hr>

    We found an area that had enough space but also some rock formations and trees to hide between. I made an illusion cover the whole area so that nobody would see what we were doing. To outsiders, it would just look like nothing was happening here.

    So how do we decide when to stop? Hmm in my case if I take 3 direct hits, I¡¯m out I guess, how about you Gregory? Same here.

    Uhh. I guess when my regeneration slows down, and let''s just knock Raishin out. Hey! Sounds good to me. Acceptable terms.

    Hey! Why do I need to be knocked out? Because you ask questions like this. Because you neither are evasive nor defensive.

    Ugh, I¡¯ll Raishin kick you all and end up victorious. I''m going to be happy if we can even land a hit on them. Any combo that has Gregory or Agnis in it is unfair to fight; it''s even worse now they¡¯re in the same pair. Well, we need all of that when fighting the guardian. Hope you guys are ready. We all popped out our tails. I fired up my [Tail Dynamo]. Both Gregory and I popped out our shadow clones and the thunder augment as I''ve been calling it got the name [Thunder cloak]. Gregory covered himself in his [Shadow cloak], his to-go move. Gregory and I opened a private Teleroad line between us. I assume Ted and Raishin are doing the same. I also linked my vision with Gregory. It didn''t seem like the other 2 needed some basic setup skills. Gregory can see now whatever I can see. It will make it easier for him to react defensively. I turned on filters that showed magic activation sequences, energy movement, and electrical impulses next to the ones I always have running. Our biggest obstacle is Raishin. Forget 3 direct hits on me he could knock me out in just 1 if I''m unlucky. I do not doubt that Raishin kick packs a punch so I don''t want to get hit by that.

    How long can you keep the visual link? 45 min to an hour. I want to finish this as soon as possible though. Make sure you get to test the stuff you want. I will get out the magic sword in about 15 minutes. An energy blast from Ted¡¯s hand cannon came flying and Gregory easily blocked it. I don''t know what he named this skill but I have the feeling it''s a dumb pun. Hey guys, do you know how this cannon lost its last job? Don''t react to that Agnis!

    It got fired! I evaded the shot he probably named [Fire] and countered. I shot out a blue [lightning strike] Gregory followed up with a [shadow bind], using his shadow to pin down Ted''s shadow. Ted punched the ground with a [Ground Pound] raising the earth around him and disrupting the shadows and breaking free. I wanted to drop another [Lightning strike] since Ted blocked it but I had to evade Raishin¡¯s attack. Raishin activated his own [Thunder cloak] and swiped his spear at me. I don''t know what he was trying to do but since his move pool is relatively small and I don''t recognize this it seems to be his Raishin kick. Hey, don''t dodge! So, it was your Raishin kick! I dodged something that looked like he wanted to sweep my legs me with his spear.

    As I thought, this isn''t a kick. I said as I used [Voltaic step] to create distance and send a numbing electric wave outwards which has my initial first 3 steps as the epicenter. Its effectiveness drops the further the target is from the epicenter but I use it to disengage so anyone who knows how it works would want to create distance fulfilling its purpose. My buddies know very well that once they get stuck in a crowd control chain by me it would be hard to break out. Raishin reacted and created distance. My shadow clone rushed in and shot some [Chilling Water] at him. While my other clone was using [Frozen Ground] and [Bubble Trap] I left some canals on the frozen floor through which I let water flow. I didn''t complete the canal network but gradually while fighting I would form them into a magic circle and then run lightning through it to activate some big magic. Since magic circles draw in magic from the surroundings I wouldn''t need to worry about nausea. I just have to make sure they don''t notice. Raishin tried to leg sweep Gregory with his spear but Gregory blocked it with a [Shadow wall]. A lot of fast-moving rocks got absorbed into Gregory¡¯s shadow wall at the same time Raishin tried to, I guess, [Raishin kick], Gregory.

    Say Raishin, are you going to use other moves or what? I will! After I land this! The hammer smashed down with a heavy slam and almost flattened Raishin. Gregory went for another round but Ted dashed in and blocked it. A crack formed in his metal knuckles. What the! Hehe, don''t mess with sapphire! I used some [Frost Bubbles]

    Oh shit. What we just saw was Ted freaking out because of some bubbles. Raishin was too busy Raishin kicking Gregory¡¯s shadow wall and got hit by a frost bubble. It sucked up some lightning that surrounded Raishin till it filled up and then exploded with lightning and frost magic. Aagh

    Ugh, you idiot. Ted punched the ground to pop the bubbles with his [Earth Spikes]. A lot of rock spikes popped most of the bubbles I made. Gregory slammed his hammer on the ground and reverted Ted¡¯s earth skill and a dome appeared around Ted and started closing in on him. I formed some more canals because Ted was probably the only one who would notice what I was trying here and he was occupied at the moment. Raishin came at me for another leg sweep. I backflipped and in the process kicked his head with a lightning-charged kick. He kept dashing in and I kept evading and countering his moves with various lightning-enhanced kicks, throws, and punches.

    Ugh, you¡¯re tough, I''m sure those eyes tell you exactly what I''m going to do! You know even a blind person could do this if you keep trying to do the same move against me! I dodged his [Lightning Strike] and countered his [Raishin kick]. I saw Gregory going ham with his hammer. He seemed to be swinging the hammer around quite well but more often than not he let the shadows grab and swing the hammer while he was casting magic. Ted had an easy time with the magic Gregory threw at him but he was struggling the most with the hammer slams and the occasional shadow skills he got attacked with.

    Aaagh! Screw this! Raishin started to gather a lot of energy, probably for his [Nova blast] Oh shit. Hey, Raishin, are you trying to blow us all up? Raishin started to glow orange-ish and energy started to gather in both of his hands.

    Agnis over here. I ran over to Gregory and hid behind the [Earth wall] and [Shadow wall] and I formed a [Frost wall] myself. I saw, and I guess Gregory also, since he shares my vision, saw through the walls how Ted started to run for his life and Raishin nuked the whole area. Before the nuke landed, I saw Ted trying to burrow into the ground to try and escape the blast. I felt sorry for him but this was a sparring match, so I used [Frozen Ground] with frost magic to freeze the ground where he tried to dig into. Because of this, he failed to dodge Raishin¡¯s blast. We were just chilling in our protected area. It seemed to have vaporized the earth wall Gregory put up but it didn''t do much against his shadow wall. My frost wall was for insurance and to make sure no weird stuff gets through that can''t be blocked by the shadow wall. Like radiation or other nasty stuff like that.

    You are merciless Agnis. Ted said while he came all bloodied from behind a boulder, he made last minute. I feel bad about this but at least that means we will have to hurt you less now to knock you out. You keep Raishin busy while I finish Ted off.

    Are you going to release your stored energy? Yup, I called it [Liberation].

    I feel sorry for Ted, I''ll make him some ice cream afterward. Gregory surrounded Ted with his shadows. Uh oh. Sorry about this one, Agnis is going to make some ice cream for you as an apology. Gregory¡¯s shadows start to seem to become solid and shiny. The look of it reminded me of obsidian. Ted was surrounded by obsidian structures. Gregory used [Liberation] and all the energy he absorbed from Raishin¡¯s nuke and other energy he had stored got unleashed on Ted. A lot of dark purple and black lasers bombarded Ted as the shadows started to become more gas-like as they unloaded their energy.

    Ahh! It knocked Ted out and Gregory rushed at him to give him some healing potions. Meanwhile, I was countering Raishin''s kicks and evading lightning bolts. Raishin, we need to talk about your variety in battle! I amped up the speed and speed-blitzed him with ice punches. I mixed in some frost punches to sap his [Thunder cloak].

    Ugh, maybe Ted was right, fighting you two was a bad idea. Raishin tried to react but couldn''t manage to hit me. As I was zooming around, I noticed he was preparing a wide-range attack. I used [Voltaic step] but because he was so busy trying to charge his attack while attempting to Raishin kick me, he got hit by it. Hehe, I got you now!

    Crap! Raishin who got hit by all 3 of my voltaic steps got a long and nasty paralyze on him. He could still use skills but he couldn''t move. Since lightning won''t do much to him, I went for fire. He won''t die from this but it will hurt.

    Wait fire? Ok ok ok! I give up! It doesn''t count unless you get knocked out!

    Damn you, Ted. I sent a [Flame wave] at him and made him crispy. It didn''t knock him out though. He broke out of the paralyze and teleported behind me. Because I could see the pings he sent out to where he was teleporting, I expected it and sidestepped it while Gregory bonked him on his head making him pass out.

    Seems I couldn''t test out my sword. Maybe that is for the best, you could probably kill them with that.

    Fair point. How was the hammer? Hmm, I got to get used to it but it does add some power to my skill set, which I badly need. I couldn''t see much of those two¡¯s training though. Although Ted could keep up pressure even from a distance, honestly, that hand cannon is quite weak.

    Hmm, well we didn''t give them a chance to do stuff, and Raishin blowing up on Ted didn''t help either. Yeah, we need to talk to Raishin about his battle behavior.

    Although that is true, I think it might be better for Ted to do that. I said as I gestured towards Ted who was waking up.

    Wow, that was brutal. We were just talking about how you might want to give Raishin a piece of your mind about his battle style.

    Ugh, I got a lot to say, I couldn''t even test out my mighty hand cannon! Not gonna lie, that thing is weak but at least you can keep up the pressure from ranged with it. It is not going to do anything against opponents like Agnis or me.

    Hmm, so you''re telling me it is a piece of junk? Hmm not really. I have an idea that you can use it with but I¡¯ll have to bounce off ideas with Gregory. Is it ok if I can hop by tomorrow morning? There is something I want your opinion about Greg. Sure.

    Hmm, I''m curious. I don''t want to get your hopes up but I might have an idea that allows you guys to hit a spirit. Ooh, I''m curious now, guess I¡¯ll find out tomorrow what you cooked up.

    So, is that slacker going to get up? He got up a bit ago but I think he¡¯s sulking.

    So, you know it''s supposed to be a tag-team, right? You can''t just spam the same skill over and over! Ugh, but fighting Agnis and Gregory is so unfair!

    Well, we already knew that! And what did you do to make it less unfair? Spam your Raishin kick? We didn''t need to be handicapped more than we already were! On top of that, you nuked me! I''m the only one who took damage from that! Sorry about that. But... but... My Raishin kick! Ted continued scolding Raishin as I thought about our sparring match. Raishin did make a fool out of himself but I know for a fact that he would never do that in a real battle. Reason 1 is because I would probably set up the target so that he has an easy time landing his Raishin kick and secondly is that I feel that he felt like he could mess around a bit since it is a sparring match.

    I think it''s good to let Ted vent for a bit. Even though they did lose it didn''t feel like they would just let us do whatever we wanted.

    Yeh, I tried to set up some big magic with the canals I made in my [Frozen Ground] but Raishin melted it with his nuke. He probably didn''t mean to but his intuition sometimes just tells him to do stuff that ends up working in his favor. Let''s hope his intuition doesn''t tell him to do stuff all too crazy.

    At least I learned to set these things up with frost magic. I could''ve thrown a nasty counter by returning the energy absorbed by that nuke. Hmm, one day we should coordinate the liberation of the energy we absorb I''m sure it''s going to vaporize our adversaries.

    You still have energy left to throw around against the guardian, right? Oh of course. I only unleashed 20% of Raishin¡¯s nuke back at Ted.

    Scary, both his nuke and your [Liberation]. I''m trying to figure out how to convert some energy I absorb into heals. It won''t turn me into a healer but it would help you squishies out.

    So overpowered! I guess I should find ways to live long enough to make use of those then. I''m not sure how well I can hold out after getting hit. Well, you do have your overpowered frost magic so just spam it, I guess?

    Well, I noticed that that might be a bad idea after I one shot that guardian remember? I guess every strong skill has a downside. We watched for 30 minutes how Ted was scolding Raishin.

    Anyways even though that was shorter than expected¡­ Ted looked at Raishin. It was good to stretch a bit even though we got defeated quite easily. Ted looked at Raishin again, who was smiling uncomfortably and nervously.

    Let''s get some rest. That means you too Agnis! No secret training! What! I didn''t say anything!

    You didn''t get to show off your new magic sword, which I''m grateful for actually. But no secret sneaking off and training, who knows we might wake up to a cut in half mountain. Come on that is ridiculous!

    Do I need to remind you that you cut a deep gash into the floor and rock wall when we were fighting the PB? Or how you vaporized a mountain and the pink broccoli? Oh, come on Raishin helped with the pink broccoli!

    That is not my point! But thank you for confirming the other incidents! Ugh, fine I¡¯ll put it to hold.

    Ha! I knew it! And no secret practicing your [Raishin kick] either! Meh. Well, I''m off to craft some potions, are you coming over at 9 tomorrow? Yah. Guess I¡¯ll craft some daggers and make wires.

    I''m going to cry myself to sleep. Don''t be such a baby! Hey Raishin. Sup? I''ll make sure you will be able to use [Raishin kick] on the boss tomorrow.

    You¡¯re the best! Hehe, I know. Hey, don''t feed his ego! More! feed my ego more!

    As I was walking home, I thought of the idea I had in mind to help my buddies out to do damage to the guardian. I wasn''t sure if it even would work and I promised Raishin he would get a hit in. I will find a way one way or another. I confirmed that there was still energy flowing towards me from the guardian who was stuck in my frost trap. Maybe I should warn my buddies that she is probably going to be super pissed off when we encounter her. Nah, that is not so important. It would be nice if we could defeat it while she was stuck in the frost but it would interfere with whatever magic we throw at her. Setting her loose wouldn''t be a great idea either. I could use the same move I did to one shot this one but I don''t think I will get off that unharmed this time. The last time I didn''t have a lot of frost magic sucking up magic all over the place. This time I have. It might very well send me over my limit.

    There might be a possibility that I have to sacrifice myself to get a fast and easy kill. But dealing with the other guardians of the other roots, if any, would get increasingly difficult for my buddies. So, I don''t think that is a very good idea. Just releasing her from the trap sounds like a stupid idea too. I should leave some frost on her and cover it with some illusions so that she doesn''t notice. And when needed I can make it siphon a lot of magic from her when the need is dire. I think that is the plan I''m going with. I''m going to try to see if I can defeat her with a good sword swing first. I arrived home and set the plan I had in motion. I greeted Philip and Hera and went to my room. I had to be careful and precise so that it will be as safe and efficient as possible.

 Ch 21: Nayani Ingrei

    I woke up and looked at what I''d spent the bigger part of yesterday making. I stored them in my dimensional pocket and went downstairs towards the kitchen to get something to eat. It seemed Philip and Hera ate some pheasant last night. I took a pheasant leg and fried it with fire magic. I chomped on the pheasant''s leg while heading toward Gregory¡¯s house. What worried me was the possible extra sister of the guardian. When I was inside the PB cave the only sentient beings I noticed were those two. I never saw the third one. There is a possibility I missed her but why would she hide where the other 2 didn''t bother? Is she the sneaky type? Or the sensory type? Was she on holiday? That would be too convenient. Is there something else that I might be missing here? While deep in thought I bumped into a wall. Correction, it was a kid who looked like a wall.

    ¡°Hey, watch where you go noob!¡± I''m sorry do I know you?

    ¡°There he goes again Dunkey! Teach him a lesson!¡±

    ¡°Nah, let''s be the better person and just let him be.¡± The wall and 2 of his friends left. I have the feeling I met them before¡­ Ah well, they can''t be that important if I can''t remember! As I came close to Gregory¡¯s house, I saw Charlize and her daughter in crutches. Wait I worded that poorly Charlize was in crutches, not her daughter. Oh shit!

    ¡°Wait! As you can see, I''m in no state to chase you nor do I intend to. I was on my way home but I guess I''m in good luck meeting you here. I want to offer my apologies. I didn''t realize what we¡­ I put you through by chasing you guys down on sight.¡± Ahh, I think something like this happened before, I think Cecilia apologized on your behalf too.

    ¡°Yes, but I would like to apologize to you personally as well. I''m not giving up on you though! I will find another way that doesn''t disturb your peaceful lives, to hook you up with Kanna.¡± Who is Kanna?

    ¡°I guess I should also do something about that poor memory of yours. Hop by for some tea one day, I promise I will not drug it but I might know something that can stimulate memories.¡± That is very kind of you, but I don''t remember having a poor memory.

    ¡°Yes, that is the problem¡­ Anyway I won''t hold you up longer. The construction of our house finished yesterday so it should look nice.¡± Construction? Wait what happened to your house?

    ¡°A forgetful teenager happened, have a nice day.¡± Charlize and her daughter walked past towards their house. Charlize is quite a nice person to talk to if she is not chasing you down. I met so many people today only by making a 15-minute walk to Gregory. I hope this isn''t a weird sign. As I almost arrive at Gregory¡¯s house, I notice that every manhole has a seal on it. It is probably to prevent people from opening it and keeping the magic inside the sewers. I''m noticing that I haven''t been paying much attention to what was happening inside the town. There are fewer people outside than normal. And people in black suits seem to be investigating all kinds of stuff. I wonder where they got those suits from. I don''t think they are people from outside else they will get trapped within the barrier. I inspected the two men in black and identified them as the two men who were asking us questions and going through Raishin¡¯s stuff. I looked to see if I could find more men in black suits. Did Johnny or another merchant bring in suits and made it the go-to fashion in town? I see men in black suits also doing normal stuff and not investigating. Hmm, how odd. I ring the doorbell at Gregory¡¯s house and he opens the door.

    Wha! What are you wearing? Cool eh, it''s a black suit. Gianni had some left. He also had one for you. He goes inside and I follow.

    Are you sure this isn''t some brainwashing technique or something? Do you see any weird magic on these? He asks while handing a suit to me. I assume this suit is meant for me.

    Hmm, not really but you can''t be too sure! Don''t be silly! So, what did you have for me? I rummaged through my dimensional pocket and presented my work to Gregory.

    What are these? Marbles? Yes, frost marbles.

    And they are going to help us¡­ how? Okay, so the idea is to store magic in these marbles and throw them!

    Can I have a more detailed explanation? Oh, right, so you know how my frost magic absorbs magic and energy and converts them to magic that I can use. Now my theory is that at that point the magic gets turned into my magic. But if I don''t absorb it, which only is possible with small amounts of frost, then it will just be a magic capsule with ¡°my magic¡± in it. And since I''m the only one who can hit spirits, this will allow you guys to hit her too!

    Hmm so if I understand this right. Gregory takes a marble out of my hands as we walk toward the backyard.

    If I take this marble, infuse some earth magic in it, and throw it. Gregory infuses the marble and throws it which explodes and sends rock splinters everywhere which he blocks with a shadow wall.

    Hmm, it does feel like the magic was cast by you yes, a bit dangerous on the execution though. Yeah, so my idea is to give you guys lots of marbles and have you charge them with whatever element and maybe even exchange some. Like I can''t use earth magic that well so I could use some of your earth-charged frost marbles.

    That sounds like a good idea but how do you make sure these things don''t just keep sucking magic? Well, that was the challenging part of making these marbles. It took me the biggest part of yesterday to fix that. After it hits max capacity, it will turn into normal ice and won''t be able to absorb magic anymore. I had to put some enchantments in it to indicate that it was full because Raishin would probably keep going and make it explode in his face. Haha, I can see that happening yes. So, the thing is¡­ regular ice melts. I managed to make it become dense ice so it should be fine but no longer than an hour or 2.

    Sounds good so far, so what do you need my help for? Well, these things aren''t very efficient at doing what they¡¯re supposed to do and I want to make batches that are more tuned to our, uhm what did you call it energy wave uhh frequency stuff?

    Close enough, but that could make the process easier yes, it would reduce the need to make them more efficient. I can help with that too. As far as I could tell you need more frost magic in the marbles and less uhh other stuff. It absorbs mana slower than I could pour it in in a casual manner. Trying to do something like this swiftly would make for some nasty surprises. Hmm, yeah thought so. I also could only make them explode. So that should also be taken into consideration, these things are kind of frost bombs.

    They didn''t seem to release frost magic when they exploded. Oh right, that is because I have some loaded with frost magic already. These things are more stable than when they are charged with any other element.

    Oooh, those sound nasty, they are surely going to come in handy. Aight so if you could help me out refining these then maybe fighting that guardian won''t be as rough as we thought it would be!

    That is some dangerous optimism but if these could damage the guardian then that will be the case indeed. Gregory and I spent the whole morning refining and perfecting the frost marbles. Gregory came up with the idea to make some kind of liquid that would make it easier for different types of magic to mix. He called it a magic emulsifier. It vastly improved the capabilities, capacity, and power of the frost marbles. They seemed to pack a punch now. Because these explosions were practically turned into my magic, I could control these ways better than Gregory could. Both Gregory and I found and fixed flaws in them. At noon all the frost marble refinement was completed. I got a vat of Gregory¡¯s emulsifier and sucked it into my dimensional pocket. I put one of my tails on duty to create more frost marbles while I was doing other stuff. Of course, I put on an illusion to hide my tail. The other stuff in question was for one last time discussing the battle with the guardian and the necessary preparations.

    We arrived at Raishin¡¯s hut. As soon as I confirmed that everyone was here Gregory made shadow clones of us and I layered some illusions over them. We had to keep up appearances. We don''t know how long this battle is going to take so it is always better to take precautions.

    So, you are probably wondering why I''ve gathere... Alright, so what is the plan?

    Hey! Well, I have some frost marbles here, just pour in some magic and the magic will be converted to my magic and if you throw it, it should be able to damage the guardian. It will be a big explosion though so beware.

    Ooh, do we get gadgets? Yeah, just charge it till it tells you to stop. After that, you have 2 hours to throw it else it will explode in your pocket. Lovely¡­

    I got some charged with frost magic these don''t have a time limit. Ooh, that is so cool! That guardian will get a bone-chilling experience when these marbles start rolling hehe. Alright, enough cold puns.

    Besides that. Uhm I kind of made a frost trap that caught the guardian. I was thinking about it but I can''t keep her in there since any magic we throw at it will get absorbed and I can¡¯t check her status because the frost magic is interfering with my Elgards eye. Haha, she must be so pissed being stuck there for 2 days! Wait isn''t that a bad thing? If we need to let her out of that frost trap it will just be worse for us if she''s pissed off!

    Well, I can try to instantly kill her with some sword slashes but I might have to let her out. But wait, do we need to let her out? Can''t we just destroy the root and keep her in there?

    Well, we could but I can''t keep her in there indefinitely It is not good for me to keep absorbing mana non-stop. Especially if we have more guardians to deal with, I will have to dispel it at one point because there is a frost magic limit I don''t want to go over. Ugh, fine so we just have to defeat this Nayani chick, right? It seems so. Go charge up some frost marbles though, we can exchange some.

    Oh right, give some of those cool marbles. ¡­ Ugh, can I have some frost-charged frost marbles? Oh, I thought you would never ask. I gave everyone some frost-charged frost marbles.

    You just have to hit something with it. Hey, can we defeat this guardian by dinnertime? I have a date. Ted smacked Raishin.

    Go make a clone and cancel that! Aww. Unbelievable. Assuming we make it out alive.

    But we are fully prepared, right? What could possibly go wrong? Great now you jinxed us. Crap, we¡¯re going to die now, aren''t we? Come on, guys! Let''s focus! I got some improved anti-nausea potions, half the stink twice the effectiveness.

    So, they still stink¡­ Hey! That is the best I could do! I also got some minor healing potions and some concoctions that can make smokescreens, inflict status effects, and stuff. I''m not sure how effective those will be on spirits though. But could come in handy. Aight, I got some meat for y''all when you get hungry mid-battle! Ted and Gregory look at Raishin.

    Ooh nice, thank you! And now they''re looking at me.

    What? I got a shitty motivational speech! Don¡¯t die! And kick ass! That''s the best I can do. That is fine, any longer and we¡¯ll get a flood of lame puns.

    <hr>

    We started to walk towards the PB cave while discussing some more strategies. I would harass the guardian while Gregory would handle the defensive measures. I would use my crowd control to ensure she won''t attack Ted and Raishin who would destroy the root. After the root was destroyed there should be a big chance that the guardian would lose her place of power and either weaken or disappear. We can then decide to escape or defeat her. If broccoli monsters appeared then Ted would keep them busy while Raishin focused on the root. It was a simple plan but everyone needed to get a role. Gregory and I aren''t defeating this guardian so Ted¡¯s and Raishin¡¯s roles are very important. We just have to keep her busy and stay alive long enough.

    My trap probably pissed her off so she would want to kill me first I assume. Gregory and I had the plan to just absorb whatever she would throw at us and return it to her. If our firepower wouldn''t be enough, surely hers should be sufficient to damage herself. We arrived at the PB cave and entered the cavern after Gregory covered us yet again in his shadow cloaks. A huge chunk of frost magic was blocking the entrance to the cavern and there seemed to be a woman stuck in it. She had pale skin, long white hair that ended up in a single braid, and a light blue kimono with snowflake patterns on it. She had light blue eyes that almost looked white and they were glaring at us. More specifically me.

    ¡°So, you finally decided to show up after two days! You know I have better things to do than being stuck on this stupid ice for two days!¡± Like?

    ¡°You are so dead ice brat! When I get out, I''m going to kill you first!¡± Hahaha, you got stuck! I was hoping this would cool you down but it seemed to have an adverse effect. So ehh just curious how are you planning to get out of this? I looked at her and she was frozen to her hip. Her right arm was also frozen.

    Oof, imagine if she got an itch on her toe! She wouldn''t be able to reach it! That is some brutal torture Agnis!

    ¡°Why did you say that? Now my foot is starting to itch! Let me out!¡± So, what do we do now? I''ll see if I can one-shot her with my new sword. I took the magic sword out of my dimensional pocket and approached the guardian. Any last words?

    ¡°Ha! Nice try you won''t be able to kill me with that!¡± I swung the sword at her neck but it was met with a lot of resistance. The guardian froze her neck and it completely blocked the sword. ¡°Hah! As long as I know that you can damage me, I should be able to prevent dumb surprises and get one shot just like my sister!¡± Hmm, dumb enough to fall for my simple frost trap but smart enough to realize this.

    ¡°Just let me out so I can kill you guys! I will make you spit out all your ice secrets first!¡± So, what makes you think I will let you out?

    ¡°Humph, it is not like you can kill me. I''ve had a lot of time to think and this ice here makes magic useless so you can''t use any magic to damage me.¡± Time to think, eh? I say as I look at her half-frozen body. You mean you realized that after throwing magic around and it freezing half your body? This trap originally only freezes your feet to the ground but half your body is frozen.

    ¡°Ugh so annoying! Fine! I got careless! How about a deal? You let me out and I will let you brats live for 10 minutes.¡± Hey is this chick dumb or something? Does she realize she¡¯s in no position to offer deals? Although you''re right, we can''t get in the cavern or defeat her with her being stuck in this frost trap. So, what will you do in those 10 minutes you will spare us?

    ¡°I will freeze the bread I baked before you brats brutally and unfairly killed my sister. I hope it is still good¡­¡° Deal! Wait whud! Exciting! Have you lost your mind?

    ¡°You are crazy, but I like that, you pissed me off the most but I will keep you alive after chopping your limbs off as you will teach me all you know about ice magic.¡± How kind. I undid most of the frost magic. I left a bit on her legs which I covered up with an illusion. Have you lost it?

    We can enter the cavern now at least. But she seems to love her bread.

    ¡°Just stay here you brats I will kill you in 10 minutes¡± she runs off while munching on some bread. I have no idea where she got that from.

    Running away defeats our purpose of coming here. I think we should piss her off more, she seemed to have calmed down quite a bit. The more pissed she is the more mistakes she will likely make. What do we even do while waiting? The magic that was characteristic of the guardian started to swell. I would loaf to but I don''t think I can get a rise out of her. We can''t do anything half-baked. We noticed that the magic pressure she gave off was unlike anything we prepared for or could imagine. We should have prepared for this yeast-erday. I can''t believe that we were bun-prepared for this!

    I should have spent some dough to make sure that we wouldn''t get caked. Ok, guys don''t get pastry now we should calm down else our plan will come crumbling down. As the 10 minutes started running down, she returned and walked towards us menacingly.

    Let¡¯s get b-ready, we''re toast if she catches us. I don''t want to g-rain on your parade but she is coming for you now.

    Whoa stay away, I want naan of that. Gregory, stop loafing around and help me out! Wow so kneady, fine I''ll help. Let''s drop a nuke on her!

    Whud? We gotta risk it for the biscuit. I got no nukes but a knuckle sandwich with her name on it. Hey, don''t you guys think we made enough puns?

    ¡°I have never met anyone as annoying as you guys!¡± The guardian sent ice spikes at us and I dispelled them easily. ¡°Ugh, right I gotta deal with ice brat first.¡± You two go do your thing Greg and I will annoy... I mean keep her busy! Aight let''s go! Raishin used [Thunder cloak], grabbed Ted by the back of his shirt, and teleported toward the root.

    ¡°Do you think I will just let you go to the root?¡± You probably wouldn''t but you also might want to pay attention. I shot frost spikes at the guardian. Noticing that something was approaching that was absorbing some of her magic she shifted her attention to me and dodged the frost spike.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Ha! You missed.¡± If he misses, that means he wasn''t intending to hit you. Gregory threw some earth-charged frost marbles.

    ¡°Hey! That hurts why can everyone suddenly damage me?¡± Seems to be working.

    ¡°Screw you!¡± The guardian sent large air slashes at us. I dashed towards Gregory, grabbed him, and dodged them. While I was dodging Gregory sent out some shadow clones and smacked some away with [Shadow Tendrils] We need to bait Nayani into using bigger moves! Uhh, what? Ugh, Nayani! The guardian we¡¯re fighting!

    Ah right, sure, I will have to put you down though. Time for sword action?

    Yes. I will try and set up something big, will you be fine?

    I will just jump behind one of your shadow clones, they automatically use defensive skills when they get targeted by an attack right? I say as I see some shadow clones putting up [Earth wall] and [Shadow wall] to block some air slashes. Yah. I put Gregory down and take out the magic sword. I put some mana into it and it started to feel as if I owned this sword forever.

    ¡°Using a sword against long-range attacks, how foolish!¡± She sends a freezing wind my way with ice shards but I dispel the freezing wind with a slashing motion and parried all the ice shards. I then dashed at Nayani. I say dash but it looks more like I blinked toward her. ¡°Wha!¡± I aimed for her neck but before the blade made contact with her neck I got blasted back by a strong wind. ¡°Phew that was close I don''t know if that would do anything to me but I don''t want to risk it.¡± I saw that she created a wind barrier around her. Getting close to her will become risky with that barrier around her. I made a shadow clone and sent it to her. The moment it came within melee range, its strike got blocked and it got sent flying.

    Hmm, that will leave me vulnerable to counterattacks. I swung my sword at her and sent a wind blade at her. She used my [Frozen Ground] skill and dispelled the wind blade with wind magic. It seems neither ice nor wind magic was effective against each other. Nayani seemed to notice that well. She started throwing around elementless attacks. I dodged them and fired up my [Tail Dynamo] and used [Thunder Cloak]. It will dampen the blow of element less magic if I do get hit. I charged the magic sword with lightning magic and the blade started to vibrate. I briefly looked at it and it seemed to be a feature since nothing seemed to be wrong with it. I swung the sword towards Nayani after blinking behind her and a big lightning-charged slash made it through her barrier and hit her. Anything behind her got cut by the [Lightning slash].

    ¡°Ouch!¡± She charged up a stupid amount of magic and sent it toward me. I wanted to dodge it but a shadow wall appeared before me and blocked it. I looked over at Gregory but it seemed that this was a part of his preparation. He might need to absorb a lot of energy for it. Ha is that all you got?

    ¡°Don''t worry, I have more of those for you!¡± She rapidly fired those magic blasts. I kept dodging behind shadow clones which erected [Shadow walls] ¡°Ugh stop dodging! I guess I should take those clones down first.¡± Good luck with that. Nayani, who was now focused on defeating the shadow clones started attacking into shadow clones. She managed to defeat 1 clone. I didn''t lose this opportunity. I put some more lightning in the sword but I kept it in the sheathe. I took a stance and prepared for a quickdraw or Iai as I like to call it since it''s shorter. [Iai: Thunderclap]. I got to say, I have a lot of fast attacks but this one takes the cake. It was also the first time I used Iai with a lightning-infused sword. It hit Nayani and I seemed to have damaged her with it.

    ¡°What was that?¡± She applied ice magic to her cut. It wasn''t deep. Even though yet again everything behind her got cut. While the lightning slash looked big and flashy this slash was a pure cutting attack so only a thin line could be seen of things that got cut. But Nayani only had a small shallow cut. Hmm too shallow.

    ¡°What are you actually? You don''t seem to need anything special to damage me and even among things that can damage me rarely have things made me bleed. I never won against my sister but that is because she just sealed my magic and movements and tickled me till I gave up but she never could put a scratch on me.¡± Oh me? I''m just a random brat.

    ¡°Bullshit!¡± She glared at me. ¡°You are better at ice magic than me and at least some of your sword skills can hurt me.¡± If you are so tanky, why did you block most of my attacks?

    ¡°I don''t know what abilities you have, that ice of yours gave me a hard time, I might not be as smart as my sister but I''m not as proud as her either so I will just be cautious and kill you while turtling down. I have all the time in the world.¡± A very wise move. I jumped behind another of Gregory¡¯s shadow clones which blocked another blast. It seemed like she was focused on me and Gregory now. I looked over at Ted and Raishin and they seemed to be fighting a horde of broccoli monsters.

    There was only 1 enemy that seemed to be able to give them some trouble but they were clearing the wave of monsters quite fast. It should take them no more than 20 minutes to clear out every one of them. I don''t know how many monster waves there are or how long it would take to destroy the root but we might not have to keep Nuyani busy for too long. I decided to do something uncharacteristic of me. I started to talk during combat. I have a good excuse for that. Our role is a distraction and buying time. Also, Gregory was preparing some skills. And we were severely lacking information. If you are so strong, why are you down here guarding some random tree root?

    ¡°This is my home. It is irrelevant whether this root is here or not. Anything that can be used as a place of power will do.¡± a place of power. ¡°Yes, I''m a spirit, and spirits need a place of power to stay anchored to the corporeal world.¡± I dodged a punch that cracked the rock wall behind me. Sounds inconvenient, why don''t you go back to uhh your spirit world or something?

    ¡°We did go back for a bit but a long time ago the spirit king started making decisions that a lot of spirits disagreed with. At first, it was just my older sister living here but 5 years ago Suyani and I came here to live with her. Suyani disliked this place and went back 2 years ago.¡± There were some things I already knew and others that I didn''t about this story Nayoni was telling. So, they do have another sister but she¡¯s not here, that is reassuring. I sent more lightning slashes at her but she kept up close combat preventing me from doing any big moves. I don''t mind close combat fighting but this chick hardly takes damage even though I can hit her and she isn''t super-fast but fast enough that I have to pay attention. And as these cracked rock walls and craters in the ground can tell, she packs a punch. I got a Teleroad message from Gregory. It is done, it would be more effective if you absorbed some magic with your frost magic. Are we going to do it now? Do you need setup? Not really but Nayiri is insisting on punching me so I might need a bit. I blocked 2 punches by covering parts of my body with frost magic and tried to counter her. I landed my counter successfully and sent her flying with a kick.

    ¡°Ugh, why is it so hard to hit you?¡± That is my thing. So why don''t you just move to another uhh place of power? I blocked a wind blast with some frost magic.

    ¡°You want me to abandon my home? My memories with my sister? My personal bakery?¡± Wait personal bakery? And well if you say it like that, I guess moving sounds like a bad idea. But this root is responsible for a barrier that keeps a lot of people trapped! I sent another [Lightning slash] towards her and countered the punch she threw at me after evading it. I had to be careful with these counters one mistake and she would wreck me. Maybe I should stay with the things I¡¯m good at. I tried to cut her speed down by going for her legs but she evaded them and sent another element-less attack toward me. Which I blocked with a frost wall. I activated the frost on her legs that I covered up with an illusion and froze her feet to the ground.

    ¡°What? When did you?¡± I am ready, do I need to lure her to a certain spot? Just let the nearest clone block her next attack, she will then be in range. I''m sure you will get the timing right with your attack so good luck! I dodged another blast.

    ¡°So, what about you brats? What business do you have with me?¡± We don''t like your style, we¡¯re the style police.

    ¡°You killed my sister for something like that!¡± I dispelled the frost freezing her to the ground. She seemed to get even angrier and tried to dash toward me. I jumped behind the Gregory clone. Suddenly the surroundings started to become black as we got enveloped by a dome of shadow. Tendrils came out of the walls of the dome and they started to turn more solid and shiny like obsidian. Oh, it is this skill. I thought you knew what I was up to! I was busy dodging this crazy chick!

    ¡°Who are you calling crazy?¡± She sent ice disks at me which were spinning at a high speed. I cut them in two. The big shadow dome started to make it dark inside. It should be releasing its black and purple lasers soon. I will have to time my attack with this. Nayani didn''t seem to be paying much attention to the dome since she seemed to want to cut me in half with these ice disks. I liked these ice disks so I sent out some of my own. She just tanked it. I decided to send out some frost disks. She evaded these. ¡°Don''t think I didn''t notice your little tricks!¡±

    How about this one then? I snapped my fingers and the dome started shooting its purple and black lasers, they did scatter some light blue items before that though. I didn''t set this in motion though I synchronized my snap with Gregory starting his modified [Liberation]. Oh, I see what he did. He seemed to have modified the frost marbles a bit and is shooting those lasers at the frost marbles which are falling down now. I will get vaporized if I get hit by this. I will have to throw in an attack of my own though. I increased gears on my [Tail dynamo] and threw in the energy I absorbed from blocking attacks with frost magic. It will be a lightning-based attack but I can¡¯t call this skill Liberation now, can I? [Frost mirror: Purple Lightning wave]. I blinked towards Gregory who was waving with a prepped earth and shadow wall. Nayani seemed to be confused by the rapid developments and got hit by the lightning wave and the frost marbles that exploded.

    ¡°Aaargh!¡± Wow, she doesn''t seem to take a lot of damage from this. What a monster.

    ¡°Ugh, that stings. You guys have interesting moves but don''t seem to be threatening. I''m starting to wonder how you killed my sister.¡± She seemed relatively fine. The nuke we sent at her seemed to have messed her hair up a little bit and she seemed to have some scratches on her but she seemed relatively fine otherwise. I didn''t see any defensive magic. Hey, what if, we can make her an ally? She would make an amazing tank! Good luck with that one, after killing her sister I don''t think she has any interest in being on friendly terms with us.

    Hmm, that makes sense. So, do you think this is enough stalling? We weren''t really supposed to defeat her but it''s a bit disheartening to see that a big attack like that doesn''t work. I don''t know, if you linked my vision with yours, I could tell.

    Oh sorry, I forgot. I linked Gregory up and we looked at Raishin and Ted, they were fighting the last big broccoli monster. It seems we need a little bit more. Gregory erected a shadow wall to block Nayani¡¯s ice spikes and ice disks. I used all my stored energy in that attack. So, you¡¯re practically useless until you store up the minimal amount of energy to get stuff done? I''m sorry.

    Don''t worry, it is not your fault that this chick is so overpowered. I parried ice disks and dispelled ice spikes that Nayani was throwing at us from within the enormous crater our attack made. It seemed that she was cautious to approach us recklessly as she did before. I decided to go towards her. I spun my tails faster and strengthened my [Thunder cloak] and blinked toward her while infusing my blade with lightning. This time I was planning to make it go red lightning and at the moment it changed color used an Iai on her. This way I won''t have to deal with the insane energy cost of red lightning since I will only be generating it and discharging it in a split second. The moment I blinked behind her the red lightning flashed as did my sword. A loud crackling could be heard and I smelled something that had similarities to burning flesh. I saw the slash travel and cleanly slice Raishin and Ted¡¯s last enemy in two. I also heard a familiar sound. This was the sound of a sword shattering.

    Shit! As I looked at the magic sword that just shattered, I also saw Nayani with her arms crossed in front of her. On one of her arms, there was a deep cut and some burn marks. Ugh, weren''t magic swords supposed to be indestructible? I made a mistake. At that moment Nayani dashed at me with an ice-augmented punch. I saw it coming but I would have to block it. I layered frost and water magic on me as a [Multilayered water and frost barrier] and met the blow with this barrier. The punch still sent me flying. The frost magic absorbed a lot of the energy and the water magic wedged between the frost layers turned into steam due to the energy transfer which got let out by holes at the edge of the barrier. These barriers can protect me from a stupid amount of damage but the fact that I still got sent flying into a rock wall 40 meters further shows how much that punch packed.

    ¡°I can''t believe you actually hurt me and didn''t go splat from that punch. You have a lot of interesting tricks up your sleeve. I can''t wait to get you to teach me those! Even by force!¡± She came in with another punch but this time an [Earth wall] and a [Shadow wall] came to my rescue. I¡¯m sorry I couldn''t react to that punch earlier. Don''t mind it, I got careless. I inspected myself. Just some minor bruising. It hurt in some places but not to such an extent that it would hinder me. Nayini tried to go for another punch but she seemed to be immobilized. That must be [Shadow bind] and I was correct I saw tendrils of shadow touching her shadow.

    Hmm, that seems to work. That is because I''m letting the energy out of the frost marbles and letting it flow toward the tips of the shadows. I tried it earlier and it didn''t do anything.

    You must be running low on marbles. Yeah, I can''t keep this up for long. I would say use this opportunity to land a blow on her but after taking that hit with that red lightning sword strike, I don''t think there is much you can do to hurt her besides using stuff that will probably damage everyone here.

    Hey Nayini can you stop being so OP and let us defeat you?

    ¡°My name is Nayani! And I''m not OP whatever that means.¡± It means overpowered and my bad.

    ¡°You are weird.¡± I hear that a lot. Greg, back off a bit. My magic sword broke so I had no more cool stuff to test out. Why do all my swords shatter? Maybe I¡¯m the problem. I don''t know what I''m doing wrong. Back off? For what? I started to raise my temperature and orange flames started to gather at my hands.

    Oh shit, you''re going to use fire! Gregory backed off a lot.

    ¡°You can also use fire! Ugh, I should''ve killed you and not played around. Now that I look more closely, weren''t there 4 brats? Where are the other 2? ¡°Oh shit! I seized this moment to create a ring of fire around her and sent a [Flame wave] at her. Normally I would try to control the power of my fire but there seemed to be no need for this now.

    Hey, Agnis can you dial down the heat a bit I can feel it from here. Sorry. The fire seemed to be more effective against Nayani but as I thought I can''t overuse it since Gregory, who was hiding behind a rock 50 meters away from me, could feel the heat of my flames.

    "Ice, fire, lightning, hard-hitting sword skills, 7 tails. You are not some random brat, are you?" I guess the fox is out of the bag.

    ¡°I should start getting serious too. I''m sure those other 2 brats are up to no good.¡± Oh, you don''t need to get serious! You can just stay like this, maybe even go easier on us!

    ¡°Nice try ice brat, that fire magic you used hurt so I will have to kill you now, I wanted to keep you as a slave to teach me those ice tricks but you are too dangerous.¡± Nayano seemed to focus and her power started to swell. The root started to glow a little bit. The temperature dropped and it started to snow inside the cavern.

    Are you testing a new move Agnis? Wait what are you guys doing down here, shouldn''t you be destroying the root? Well, this guy''s intuition told him to not touch the root and to consult Agnis first.

    I''m getting a bad vibe from that root. I don''t feel anything. I think that can wait, Agnis might need our help! While my buddies were talking, I was dispelling and interrupting various ice attacks coming at us. I tried to parry ice shards and stuff first but my swords seemed to instantly shatter whenever I landed a parry, either the magic sword was super strong to not shatter when I did this earlier or her powerup was crazier than I thought. I could dispel most of her ice attacks because my skill level in ice seemed to be slightly superior to hers. Also, I could see the formation of the magic circles she was making and disrupting some. I focused mainly on disrupting those that belonged to big magic spells. I managed to put a halt to the snowfall but the low temperature was here to stay. Raishin sent some lightning bolts at her but they passed through her.

    What! Is she a ghost? Use the marbles smartass. Ted threw some marbles at Nagani which she deflected back.

    Oh shit! Ted and Raishin dodged the marbles that got sent back to them. Use the marbles! He says, also Ted: almost blows us up!

    Hey, I didn''t expect that! Give me a break. Ted attempted to block a huge ice spike flying at them. I wouldn''t do that if I were you. A [shadow wall] appeared in front of Ted but the ice spike made it through. This however gave Raishin enough time to grab Ted, Torai style, and teleport toward us.

    ¡°Oh, you''re all bunched up now how nice of you. I have to first do something about that shadow brat.¡± She weaved some magic which seemed like a different type. I couldn''t interfere with it. ¡°Here I have a taste of spirit magic!¡± I expected some flashy attack but I only heard a grunt behind me. Greg! Greg! Some white-blue chains wrapped around Gregory. Ugh don''t worry about me she just hit me with a seal, it disabled all my magic and skills, I can still manipulate the energy in it though if you guys can stay alive for 10 minutes, I can disable this myself. Something tells me that we won''t be able to. The root starts to glow brightly and Nayani seems to grow in power and starts another magic attack that has a similar magic circle as the attack that sealed Gregory.

    Uhh, guys, I think a big one is coming. Shit, we could use Gregory¡¯s walls now. She finished her cast and a beam half as high and wide as this cavern shot at us. I didn''t hesitate and made the biggest frost wall I''ve ever made. I was hoping that this spirit laser was a fire-and-forget attack but it kept going. I assume that she can keep this up for a long time since she is at her power spot. Well, this is a problem. Hey, Agnis I thought you sucked at defensive skills! That is correct, this is a poor defensive skill.

    How so, it is blocking this laser fine. Look at his hands and feet. I was blocking this laser and its energy was being converted by the frost magic. This process lowers my core temperature, normally it is not a stupid amount of energy like now so it hardly does anything or just lowers it by 1 or 2 degrees Celsius. When I one-shot that other guardian my core temperature dropped to 5 degrees Celsius. Because of all this energy, my core temperature was plummeting and my extremities started to freeze slowly. Also, the rapid influx of energy was damaging my body but my hands mostly were touching the frost wall. My hands started to get cuts and were bleeding. I decided to waste a lot of energy before I would explode.

    Oh shit, I don''t think I have anything strong enough to defend against non-physical attacks though. That is fine, it might get a bit hot here, I need to waste a stupid amount of energy else I will explode. I said as I set myself ablaze with blue fire. It uses up a lot of mana but it''s not even close to what I''m getting in at the moment. The frost wall was going strong but I was frozen till my ankles and my hands started to get cold. The fire was counteracting this process well but I started melting the ground beneath me and my buddies weren''t comfortable. I appreciated that they weren''t complaining but I had to find something else. Pain and cold were flooding every millimeter of my body but if I gave up, we would all get vaporized. I started doing things I normally never do because they are too mana-intensive. I infused lightning into the frost wall to attempt to push the laser back, and with enough force, I could turn this into a counter. The lightning turned red in no time. The normally mana-guzzling red magic hardly put a dent in whatever I needed to spend. I made a pointless amount of illusion layers. I also started casting spatial magic which when cast without my nine-tail skill takes a stupid amount of mana, there is never a reason for me to use it like this because I can cast those for free with my skills but it¡¯s ridiculous mana cost were convenient now. I bombarded Nayani with spatial arrows and created distortions around the laser to divert some of its power away from the frost wall.

    The incoming energy decreased dramatically because of this but I still wasn''t in the clear since the incoming energy vastly exceeded what I was spending. If at first, I was getting an ocean''s worth of energy in and spending a droplet, now I am getting a slightly smaller ocean in and spending a bucket. The lightning got darker and darker as it needed more and more mana. I was hitting quadruple digits in illusion layers and I was frozen to my knees. My buddies were saying something but I couldn''t hear them I had too many things I needed to keep track of. What felt like an eternity of wasting mana and blocking this laser seemed to be only 2 minutes. 8 more until Gregory was free. The gap between what I was getting in and spending got smaller. I started bleeding everywhere because my body couldn''t handle the stress. Until the bleeding stopped, I guess my blood froze. Suddenly my lightning spiked and the force pushing back the laser spiked. My lightning entered the next stage: orange. I wasn''t happy about this because I would never be able to use this mana-guzzling lightning stage under other circumstances. I diverted more of the laser away with distortions. I noticed that after all this my lightning started to mix with my frost magic. How odd. I couldn''t see what was going on with my feet because there was a sizable amount of frost covering my body. A silver lining was that it was numbing my body making the excruciating pain more bearable.

    My core temperature was approaching minus 20 and 4 more minutes to go. Would I make it out of this alive? The moment my core temperature hits minus 70, I will certainly die. Being a frost phoenix has its perks. Without that cheat race, I would have kicked the bucket the moment my core temperature dropped below 25 degrees. Then again, I wouldn''t have been able to use frost magic. This orange lightning is putting in some work. I''m frozen to my waist and the orange lightning has completely mixed with my frost. I also managed to push the laser back 5 meters. The energy in and output were more comparable to a lake in and a bucket out. I made more illusion layers and ran useful but also a lot of pointless simulations in my tails. I sent a lot of mana to my eyes and turned on all the filters, this would normally cause my eyes to bleed but at this point, my blood was frozen at least the upside of this situation was that I wouldn''t bleed out. I saw a lot of things and I sent the information to my tails. They could deal with all that information. I Infused some blue fire in the frost wall and this almost equaled out the in and output a little push and all this would turn into the biggest, riskiest, longest, and most painful counter ever. I prepared that all the magic I had running would collapse into the counter and stop sucking mana. I had to hurry. I was frozen to my chest. I wanted to strike a cool pose before I completely froze, which is inevitable when I stop using mana. I gave the push, the frost wall and orange lightning sucked up all the mana I had in running and shot back at Nayani. It looked like a blue-orange helix shooting back at her. I struck a cool pose.

    I made 7121992 illusion layers, use them wisely. I will be frozen for about 3 hours, don''t die! Those were the last words I could say to my buddies before I froze solid, but I made sure that all those illusion layers hid me from my enemies. My core temperature was minus 46 degrees Celsius and I managed to return the favor to Nayani after blocking her stupid laser for 9 minutes and 24 seconds. This low core temperature won''t kill me but I will be unable to do anything. But that doesn''t matter. I''m sooo sleepy.

 Ch 22: Nayani Ingrei II

    As I watched as Agnis was blocking this uhh what is it? Spirit laser? Yes, let''s go with [Spirit Laser]. As I looked on how he was using his frost magic to block the laser and how Gregory was doing his best to speed up the process of dispelling his sealed state, all I could do was watch. Normally I would help out by providing energy to help block tricky attacks but something tells me that this is the last thing Agnis needs. He seems to throw around a lot of magic to the point it seems like he is wasting mana. What I know from his frost magic is that when something gets absorbed by it, it turns into usable energy for him. I can''t imagine the amount of energy he gets from this so the wasteful way he spends mana might be related to that. I looked at Ted.

    He kept making rock walls which got instantly vaporized by the laser. I assume that is his way of helping out. I''m not sure if it is actually doing something. Besides Agnis who is in the worst state of us all since he''s all freezing up, Gregory doesn''t seem to take this situation well. I also feel a bit guilty, we always poked at Agnis about why he never uses his overpowered frost magic to block stuff or just spams it and overwhelms opponents. I guess this is the reason. I''ve never seen Agnis being hot or cold but he is shivering and actually freezing over. I had the idea of thawing him out to help but since he''s getting frozen over by frost, I will just feed him more energy.

    Aargh! This is so frustrating! Isn''t there anything I can do to help out? Can I do anything to help speed up getting rid of that seal on you? Ugh, I''m afraid not, I''m not very familiar with spirit magic so it is taking me longer than usual I will just have to carefully dispel it and avoid triggering any trap mechanisms.

    Trap mechanisms? Yeah, skilled users will put those in anything that seals or restrict the opponent''s movement, if a mistake is made in dispelling them it could either do damage or become stronger and you will have to start over with the dispelling process. The most effective way of dispelling stuff like this is dealing with it before it gets cast but I assume Agnis wasn''t familiar with spirit magic either so that would''ve been a tall order, which sadly he is paying the price for now. Even though Agnis is probably in a lot of pain right now I haven''t heard him saying anything or making any sound. I checked if he was still alive. He seemed to be but I was wondering something.

    Hey Gregory, I''m curious about that something can you check out Agnis? He is still alive but my intuition tells me something else. Ugh, yeah, I can, I''ve passed the hardest part, it should take a minute tops before this seal is dispelled. Hmm, nothing seems off¡­ oh. Oh no.

    I don''t know what you''re sensing but I guess this is serious. Normally I try to lighten the mood in dire situations but at this moment I don''t feel like that. If I make one mistake here Agnis might get wiped out.

    I don''t know exactly how but it feels like he expended 2 lives since he started blocking this laser. What? How is that possible? Don''t you guys get a small heal and restore when you expend a life and get revived?

    The circumstances vary a lot, normally that is the case but I don''t think he lost any lives because of that laser, it might be related to the insane amount of energy that''s flowing in his body and his violent expenditure of it. He normally has great control over how he spends it but I assume he is in no state to regulate that properly because if he doesn''t get rid of it fast enough, he might explode or even worse, die of mana poisoning. Yikes. Uhh, I''ve heard about that before, wasn''t that the only way you guys can die for real even though you still have a lot of lives left?

    Yes, so I assume Agnis is expending lives in the hope he can finish this counter of his in time before he might explode, which might not cancel out the laser and we will get hit by an explosion and the laser, or trying to contain it and die of mana poisoning. Counter?

    It is slight but he''s pushing back on the laser, the moment the pushing force equals that of the laser he can return it back. It will be strong but I imagine he will still hold back to not vaporize everything in the surroundings. He seems to be good at vaporizing things.

    Alright, I''m free... The moment Gregory broke free of his seal an epic scene played out. The frost wall started to glow deep orange, It looked like frozen orange soda but more sparkly and uhh electric. I will dub this attack of him [Electric Orange soda]! And well it sucked a lot of mana to the point that even I could feel it. And his wall turned into an orange soda laser and shot back at Nayani. I saw Agnis striking a cool pose.

    I made 7121992 illusion layers, use them wisely. I will be frozen for about 3 hours, don''t die! Not going to lie even though he looked messed up it was so badass.

    Damn, I was too late. Ugh, I hope he doesn''t die in there, I didn''t know he could be frozen, do you think he will survive that long? I don''t know¡­ but all we can do is believe in him and grasp this opportunity. Gregory seemed quite depressed while saying this, I didn''t feel great either but I agreed. At this point, we had a task that Agnis gave us. I looked at the molten path the [Electric Orange Soda Laser] made and in the back where the wall was molten, I saw a silhouette.

    I don''t know how she did it but she managed to resist the effect of getting frozen by that attack, it does seem that the damage part of that counter got to her. To be honest I was shocked. I had the feeling she might survive that counter which she did but she didn''t seem as damaged as I hoped she would be. She was visibly bleeding and seemed to have some lightning burn marks but besides that, she seemed to be relatively fine. She looked way worse for wear than before the counter though.

    Damn, are you immortal or something! What a cheat! My buddies looked at me. I expected a retort from Agnis but then I remembered he was incapacitated. I don''t know why but only now did I snap. I guess I still have some growing to do since I only really registered what happened after I didn''t get the usual retort. Watching my buddy almost get torn to shreds by a bigass laser should normally be enough.

    Alright, I''m properly pissed now, time to put this spirit in the ground. I don''t think you can bury spirits. Drop it, Ted!

    ¡°Ugh, that was unexpected, where is that brat? I''m going to kill him; he should be unable to fight now!¡± Nayani looked around but couldn''t find Agnis, we also didn''t know where he was but that wasn''t an issue for us, as long as she couldn''t find him that¡¯s all that mattered now. Nayani seemed to look for Agnis quite frantically. I don''t blame her if Agnis could still move he would use this moment to drop into stealth and prepare a nasty attack to one-shot her as he did to her sister. Ted took a fighting stance. Don''t bother looking for him, you won''t find him. As a response to your [Spirit Laser], he made a stupid amount of illusions, he could easily hide himself.

    ¡°Illusions eh, I assume it''s the kind that undoes fatal injuries or death, depending on the severity it could take up multiple layers. That is not an issue I''ve fought illusionists before. It doesn''t matter if I have to kill you brats 20 or 30 times, even better I will savor those various chances I get to kill you brats. Now in what creative ways will I kill you? The biggest annoyance was that ice brat which is gone now so it should be easy to take you guys out, although I will need something special for wall brat over there.¡± She said as she pointed a bloody finger at Gregory. Gregory laughs. You have no idea how much energy you spent on that laser, do you?

    ¡°Of course not! My energy is almost infinite here.¡± Well seems that is your downfall, your seemingly infinite power gave Agnis enough energy to weave 7121992 layers of illusions. Even if it takes you 10 seconds to kill us per layer, it will take you over 2 years to get through all of them. Nayani realizing that there is a good chance he isn''t bluffing starts to get upset.

    ¡°But that is the same as altering reality! Why are you guys so stupidly overpowered?¡± Says the chick with infinite energy at her disposal! Gregory and Ted look at me. You know that''s almost the same as you.

    Oh yeah, haha. I''m sure if Agnis wasn''t an ice cube he''d retort to that with spirits that are overpowered. Well, he can still be hit and doesn''t get infinite energy from his chill spot so at least that would be accurate.

    ¡°I hate how you guys are so calm, I''m going to murder you brats.¡± Good luck, we got 7121992 lives. As a blast hits us from nowhere. The sound of glass cracking can be heard. Cracks appear in space and shatter. Behind it is the same situation as before the blast happened. Oof, I guess that is one layer gone. Time for round 2 guys. Yeh let''s not try to get one shot like the last layer.

    \Ugh, I didn''t see that one coming. Another blast from seemingly nowhere but this time Gregory blocked it with his [Shadow wall], I decided not to waste any time and started generating a lot of energy. I was hesitant to use magic since I''m more prone to nausea than Agnis and Gregory since I''m always using a loophole. But I might need some. For now, I will feed that energy into my [Thunder cloak] and for the first time start using red lightning in combat. I grabbed a handful of marbles and sloppily poured the red lightning into them. They seemed to absorb them well. I remember Agnis mentioning that he tuned my batch together with Gregory to account for how I infuse energy. The marbles started glowing. I think they are full now even though they keep absorbing energy, there is probably a reason for that so I teleport behind Nayani after throwing some and throw some more after the teleport wedging her in between the marbles. Her reaction was to jump away from me making my attempt at a [Raishin kick] miss as well as the marbles that I threw after I teleported. The marbles I threw before teleporting hit her though.

    ¡°Aaaagh!¡± Nayani looked around. ¡°Where is he?¡± Hehe looking for Agnis? I said as I was juggling 3 marbles. I saw Gregory making a gesture that I should buy them time. It seems Ted shoved a lot of charged marbles in his hand cannon and needed time to fire it off. That sounded like a cool idea.

    Uhh, so nice weather, eh? I see Ted and Gregory facepalming, Ted¡¯s facepalm almost messed up his charging cannon and Gregory and Ted were panicking while trying to prevent the cannon from misfiring. Nayani turned around and saw Gregory and Ted messing around.

    ¡°Nice try brat, we¡¯re in a cave and you suck at buying time.¡± As she sent an ice wave at my buddies. She kept her eyes on me so I didn''t have an opening to take advantage of this. She also threw an ice blade at me which I was ill-prepared for. I fed more energy into my [Thundercloak] but then realized it wouldn''t protect me from water-based attacks. Bracing for the impact a sapphire hammer flies by and smashes into the ice blade shattering it. Nayani who turned her head towards where the hammer came from took a barrage of earth-charged marbles to her face.

    Seems your hand cannon is useful for something. Ugh, this is so gimmicky! Nayani who rubs her face which got scratched starts throwing tornadoes at us. I see a shadow moving in the corner of my eye. Gregory still had his shadow attached to the hammer which he used to smash at Nayani. She didn''t seem to intend to block it. It wacked her good and she got sent flying into a wall.

    Hmm, that is odd, that wasn''t supposed to work. Gregory scratched his head and launched Ted with an earth pillar at Nayani. Ted who had charged his cannon with a new load of marbles flew at her and aimed his hand cannon at her. I decided to play a supporting role here. Nayani seemed to be weaving some magic, since this magic circle doesn''t look familiar it would probably be spirit magic. Which to be honest is overpowered as hell. So, I threw my spear at her. This is risky because I can''t use my [Raishin kick] without my spear. The spear flew straight and true and Nayani interrupted her cast to dodge the spear. I guess after getting whacked by Gregory¡¯s hammer she isn''t sure what attacks hit her or not. It sounded like a good move but I only realized now that it might as well just not do anything to her. Although so far, she only has been hit by Agnis¡¯ attacks and Gregory¡¯s hammer. Hmm, I get a weird feeling. Did she get hit by Gregory¡¯s hammer? Ted shoots off another round of marbles but this time Nayani blocks the majority and moves away and stops close to the root. Her power started to swell again. It also seemed that she slowly started to heal a bit. Hey, that is cheating!

    ¡°Take this brats!¡± She started to gather wind in her palms. Uh oh. What?

    Remember that wind nuke I used when we were fighting the PB? How could I forget you almost killed me with tha... Oh, this is the same, isn''t it?

    Yah. I grabbed Ted by the back of his collar and teleported toward Gregory. He was already ready with [Earth wall] and [Shadow wall]

    ¡°I will blow you guys away!¡± That ball of compressed air she had was way bigger than what I made outdoors when fighting the PB. Is she trying to bring the cave down on us? So, guys I was thinking, we might not need these marbles.

    Well, we used all of your and my marbles in the last attacks so it is not like we could use them even if we wanted to. No, listen, that hammer slam wasn''t supposed to hit her. Tremors were felt as the attack hit Gregory¡¯s defensive walls. Normally there would be a frost wall inside¡­

    So, I have a theory. I can''t confirm it because Agnis is skillful at making illusions. But what if. What if because of all of his illusion layers, all of our attacks count as his attacks? Since we are in HIS illusion. Hmm, so you are saying that because we are in his illusions, we can directly hurt her since a spirit weaved these illusions? Wait does that mean I can hit her with my [Raishin kick]?

    He did promise you after all that you would get a chance to use it on the boss. That is great and all but even if that is true, I don''t think we can do much to her since the infinite energy thing.

    I can try to divert the power the root is giving off toward my shadows. It will power me up and will give her access to less energy. The root generates a boatload of energy so it won''t make a huge difference but it might be good enough to not get vaporized. The force hammering on the walls increased and the walls started to crack.

    Yikes. I also have another suggestion. Like this, we can''t do much damage to her. As he gestured to us hiding behind the walls. Do you want us to get vaporized?

    Technically we have 7121991 lives because of the illusion layers Agnis gave us, so yeah? If there is a time to use reckless and risky attacks now is the time. She definitely won''t expect us to forego defense to keep attacking her. Gregory grunts as his walls take more and more damage.

    So, what are you going to do then? You don''t have many offensive skills, right? I will practice more with my hammer and I can still provide some control and disruption. It won''t be as good as Agnis but it could make it easier for you guys to hit her. So, I will cancel the walls and after this layer breaks, we will go full offensive is that okay?

    Sounds good to me. A question If I prepare an attack now will it get canceled when the layer breaks? It shouldn''t, I assume Agnis set this up to give us all the advantages and our opponent all the disadvantages but trying won''t hurt, he did make all these layers in a hurry after all.

    Some messed up silver lining but let''s see what we can do when we don''t need to worry about defense or dying. Gregory dispelled the walls and we got hit full-on. There was no pain since the illusion layer instantly shattered and it was as if Nayani never decided to use that attack.

    ¡°This is getting annoying, stop wasting my time and die already!¡± Two layers in and Nayani is really annoyed, she has a rough road in front of her. I instantly used [Lightning step] to close the gap after the layer broke and threw a red electrified hook at Nayani. I hit her and she got sent flying and crashed into the root.

    Ooh, you''re right Greg! We can kick her ass now. I briefly left my guard down and an ice disk cut me in half. Another layer broke. I patted my torso which was cut in half a moment ago. Another ice disk flew at me which I narrowly avoided. Ted rushed in and locked Nayani in close combat. This didn''t give her enough time to throw magic around.

    Good one Ted! I charged up a red lightning spear and threw it at them zapping both Ted and Nayani and followed up with a [Nova blast]. Another layer shattered as this inflicted great injuries on Ted. Hey, I know we have a lot of lives with these illusions and all. Ted said as he blocked an ice punch.

    But could you at least warn me before you throw your attacks at us, they hurt! I already had another lightning spear charged and was about to throw it. Watch out! As I repeated the same combo. Another illusion shattered as Ted yet again got great injuries.

    For fucks sake Raishin! I mean with that, allow me some room to dodge! Third time is the charm? I said as I had another red lightning spear in my hand. Ted and Nayani ran away. I ran after her with my lightning spear in my hand.

    Hey Nayani, you''re not supposed to run away!

    ¡°I''m making a strategic retreat!¡± As she turned around. I felt a familiar feeling. It seems she copied Agnis¡¯ frost traps. Uh oh. She made an ice spear and threw it at me. A shadow appeared and so did Gregory, who smashed the ice spear away with his hammer. Huff, can you guys, huff not move around so much, I''m not as fast as you guys.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    It is not that we¡¯re fast you¡¯re just slow. Nayani froze the ground and Gregory slipped. But Gregory being accustomed to Agnis freezing the floor under him, managed to skate towards her and brought down his hammer at her. She blocked it with an ice shield. She did this with one hand and shot a wind blade at Gregory with her other hand. He hardly took any damage. Heh, I don''t normally take damage directly but even if I do it generally doesn''t do much damage. It seemed like Gregory used some earth magic to make his hammer vibrate and a lot of cracks started to appear on the shield. I decided to assist and used a wind-imbued flying kick at the back of the hammer adding a lot of extra force shattering the shield and bringing the hammer down on Nayani.

    She is gathering a lot of energy, get back! Numerous ice spikes erupt from the ground and impale us. Another layer shattered.

    How is stealing energy from the root going? She still has access to too much energy; I''m reaching the limit of the volume of energy I can store per minute. I''m not running out of capacity anytime soon but this root generates so much energy that I can''t put a dent in it energy-wise. So why couldn''t you guys destroy the root again? Gregory smashed numerous ice spikes flying at us. He also made shadow clones that looked like us to confuse Nayani, which... Wasn''t working at all since she was just blasting the whole area. ¡°Hahaha If I keep this up I can just rapid-fire and kill you!¡± Gregory threw his hammer with a shadow attached. Nayani dodged but since the hammer was still attached to the shadow Gregory changed its trajectory and hit her from behind. This sent her flying at us and I wanted to use this opportunity to hit her with another [Nova Blast] but she used wind magic to speed herself up and sliced us with wind blades. Another layer down. The exchange of attacks went on for about an hour.

    <hr>

    We burnt through about 200 illusion layers. Nayani seemed beat up. But this could change at any second. We got a bit used to her attack patterns but she was still overpowering us. We did manage to keep her busy enough so that she couldn''t tap into the root''s power and heal. It seems that as long as she takes direct hits her recovery will halt. So, we just have to keep attacking.

    ¡°Ugh, how did I get stuck in the most pain-in-the-ass fight ever?¡± There is an easy way to fix that! Just kick the bucket so we can move on!

    ¡°Not a chance!¡± She sent a gale at us and it started snowing. ¡°I changed my mind, I''m not going to kill you guys, I will freeze and preserve you. I won''t have to worry about those illusions if I do that.¡± Haha, that won''t work! Hey Greg, that won''t work, right? To be honest, I don''t know and I don''t want to find out. Gregory used his water magic to try and dispel the snow. Leave it be Greg it''s just snow!

    Uhh, you weren''t there when we got attacked by the berserk water nymphs back at Hourai were you? Hmm? We couldn''t calm them down after this jerk embarrassed and upset them. And Agnis froze them to calm them down. We were in a cave like this and it started snowing. Every snowflake that hit their body froze and turned into ice. The ice crystals grew and started covering parts of your body. Get hit by a couple and you''re doomed to get frozen completely. It won''t kill you but it''s not something you want to get hit by.

    So that''s why you''re so paranoid about snow? Only indoor snow. If it snows outside and an ice user activates it, it''s game over, fighting an ice user in the snow is a stupid idea anyways. Ted and Greg block the ice disks and ice spikes fly at them. I throw back lightning spears but it seems we''re at a stalemate. Gregory is too occupied dispelling the snow to do a proper job shielding us. Another layer is gone. We¡¯re not close to being defeated but this fight is wearing on us. Nayani seems quite battered but it doesn''t seem like we did enough damage to her to push for the deciding moment. Till now the [Lightning Orange Soda laser] is still the attack that did the most to her. I wonder if my [Raishin kick] can out-damage that. It is a tall order because that soda laser was truly impressive. It wasn''t even at full power because else we would all be vaporized. But wait there are a gazillion layers why didn''t he just do that and one-shot Nayani? Ugh, this is a problem for Gregory! I''m just here to smash stuff. It is time for my prized [Raishin kick]. Alright, I said I was going into serious mode before but now I really will go into serious mode.

    Agnis said she is supposed to be weak to fire right? Yeah, Agnis tried but got shut down and it was too hot for us.

    I''ll torch her then. I had 2 marbles left. I charged them with fire and threw one at her. I observed where she would dodge to. This I''ve learned from observing Agnis. He has no reason to miss with those eyes of him but he still does, why? Apparently, he does this to force an opponent into another spot and catch them when they''re in a position in which countering or evading is hard. I will have to do this on feeling because my eyes aren''t as good as his. I teleport toward where I expect her to dodge. I flicked the other marble at her before she could put her foot on the ground. Making her unable to move out of the way before her foot lands. I was off by a bit and the explosion grazed her.

    ¡°Ugh what is with you, you''re starting to fight like the ice brat.¡± I took this moment to throw a fire punch at her which she blocked with an ice shield. In this brief moment, I got reminded about Agnis complaining that people who say that water magic is strong against fire are morons, as we both get blown back by the following steam explosion. I took some damage and lightly burnt my hand but the injuries were seemingly not enough to make the illusion layer shatter. I guess I got to put up with this until this layer shatters. Nayani as always looked like she didn''t take much damage. But oh, it looks like she burnt her hand too. Hehe, it seems you are weak against fire!

    ¡°Not that it matters to me but if you knew that why didn''t you use it earlier? Do you love watching your friends suffer that much?¡± She said with a nasty smirk. Yeah, why didn''t you use fire earlier? Agnis we can understand because just being near him when he uses fire magic will just make us sweat buckets and even activates my minor heat resistance, which is crazy if you think about it. Don''t bother he was probably too busy thinking about how to land his Raishin kick or how to make the coolest moves. Ugh, hit where it hurts.

    ¡°How about I add another one to that?¡± This time she came at me with a wind punch and I blocked it by temporarily imbuing my [Thunder Cloak] with fire. The wind fed the flames and it started to become hot. Hot, hot, hot! ¡°Ugh, why is my compatibility against fire so poor?¡± To keep yuki-onna¡¯s power level in check.

    ¡°You! How do you know what I am?¡± She said as she crossed her arms covering her chest as if she got exposed. Courtesy of the one you call ice brat; you can thank him later.

    ¡°Ugh, what is he, in all the thousands of years I''ve been alive I''ve never fought anything as annoying as he, there were stronger opponents than him for sure but this brat makes fighting against him just unfun! ¡± Haha, yeah people that have fought him for real generally don''t want to ever fight him again, he sees it as a badge of honor since that means he¡¯ll have to deal with fewer possible enemies in the future. What are you boasting about as if you''re talking about yourself?

    Hey, can''t I be proud of my buddy? We''re still kind of messing around but at least it seems he found a way of how he wants to fight. Speak for yourself! I know how I want to fight already! Yeah, me too!

    Huh, what? I''m the only one who¡¯s unsure? I threw a fire fist at Nayani followed by a [Flame wave] but she seemed done blocking fire attacks and just evaded them. I looked around. I threw my spear multiple layers ago and almost forgot about it. I spotted it on the other side of the room. There were a lot of attacks flying around between me and my spear. Gregory was going ham with his hammer; Ted had a rock-solid formation by blocking and attacking with [Rock-et punches] He closed in and went close combat with Nayani while infusing his fists with fire. This seemed to put Nayani on high alert and she focused hard on her exchanges with Ted. This was my chance. I teleported toward my spear but I crashed into the wall next to it. What is this my teleport misfired? Impossible! I never messed up my teleports! Besides that, one time, I teleported in here, well not in here above here.

    Oh, I remember Agnis telling me something about it, something, something can''t teleport well in areas where magic density is high? Low? I can''t remember it well. What a pain in the ass. At least I got my spear. I looked at Nayani and used [Spot weak spot]. There don''t seem to be many weak spots on Nayani, which is impressive, most creatures have multiple ones but Nayani only has one, right below her right shoulder blade. She does seem to block a lot of attacks with a one-handed shield or barrier in which she uses her right arm. Alright, I found where the first real hit of my [Raishin kick] will land. I was excited, it might really happen, my prized [Raishin kick] was a skill I made inspired by Agnis and Ted''s combos. During sparring matches whenever Ted locked me in a combo, it would hurt a lot but I could escape if I''m lucky and paid attention, he does hit pressure points though so the longer I stay in it the less likely I can break out. Agnis'' combos are just impossible to break out of, his combos do less damage but it doesn''t matter because I''m stuck in it till, I get defeated. He uses various paralyzes, stuns, and knockdowns, he also once launched me in the air and disoriented me.

    I did hear afterward that it was an impressive sight and I asked Agnis to show how it looked from a third-person perspective. I gotta say it looked fun to do, but not fun to be in. So, I will combine the control that Agnis uses and style points and Ted¡¯s damage, although my combo will do vastly more damage. I normally would use lightning with this but maybe I should alter it [Raishin fire kick]! Yes, that''s more like it! I''m not as precise or have godly timing as Agnis so the hit on the weak spot must be effective. I try to sneak behind Nayani but she spotted me and sent a large volume of water at me. Gregory made some shadow clones and seemingly also of the hammer and he with his clones started hammering away.

    Enjoying your hammer time Gregory? Focus, please! Gregory smacked the ground since Nayani used [Frozen ground]. The floor cracked and it became walkable, kind of. We are used to moving on slippery floors but she doesn''t need to know that. I finally spot my moment. I teleport behind her and sweep her legs with my spear. Mid-fall I hit her weak spot with a fire knee.

    [Raishin fire kick]! Oh no here he goes. Let''s see how strong this skill of his is. The fire-imbued knee I gave her launched her a bit in the air, I imbued my spear with fire and poked at her while she was in mid-air to change her position so that I could hit her better. Her weak spot was faced towards the ground. I followed up with a fire vertical roundhouse kick which landed on her weak spot sending her flying upward again, I jumped up and used some lightning kicks to paralyze her before kicking her to the ground. The moment she gets up I swept at her feet again with my spear but this time I unleash a flurry of fire punches whenever it seems she doesn''t flinch from the punches I throw in an electrified punch to briefly stun her. I was pouring a lot of energy into it. For the first time in a while, she seemed to take damage. I threw a heavy punch which sent her back a bit and made her stagger, I followed up with a flaming shoulder bash which in turn pushed her back again but she was still in range of my spear. She tried to weave some magic but I wouldn''t let her! She would ruin my Raishin kick! I slashed and stabbed at her by alternating fire and lightning, she managed to block some but the majority landed. I teleported behind her and landed another blow on her weak spot. At this moment something surprising happened. My fist exploded in a bright orange light and my body felt invigorated as I started to glow in an orange light which made a strange buzzing sound.

    ¡°Aaah, wait what is that sound that I hear?!¡± It is boss music! You''re going down now! Holy shit! Wait did he trigger a critical rush?!

    Yeah. Weren''t tailed beast critical rushes special or something? Hmm, you know how any creature can land a critical hit (crit) yeah? It is rare as, like 1 in 10 million chance, some individuals never land one some land multiple. The more attacks you can do in a battle the higher the chance becomes of landing a critical hit. So, whenever you land a critical hit or a crit as Agnis calls it, your critical damage does three times its normal damage and you get bathed in an orange glow like that. That state is called critical rush, your critical rate gets boosted to 1 in 100 000 and whenever you land a crit under it. it will do 5 times as much damage as normal. Now this state is only active for 2 minutes. There are no real effective ways to boost the chance to land a critical hit. For tailed beasts this critical rush is a bit different normally critical rush ends after 2 minutes or after 3 crits, initial crit not included, but this is not the case for us, every crit extends the critical rush duration by 10 seconds and there is no limit on how many could be landed. also, hard to cast or setup skills become easier to use during this. So, there is a tailed beast with a crazy number of crits? Not really the maximum seems to be 4 crits by Agnis¡¯ mom, that is excluding the initial crit

    Hmm so, in theory, it could land you more crits but it doesn''t make a big difference. Ohh, it does, there is a high chance that whatever Raishin tries to do now will succeed, which is scary since he has almost infinite energy at his disposal.

    Does this mean we won? If he lands one or 2 more crits we probably win yes. I listen to Gregory¡¯s explanation while unleashing a flurry of lightning and fire punches I hit some pressure points but I''m not sure how effective it was. I didn''t know all of that about this crit rush thing. At least I now know I didn''t mess up and that this is something I should get the best out of. Nayani seems to be in a lot of pain but I have no sympathy for what she did to Agnis and us. And she was planning to kill us anyways.

    Things will get easier to set up, eh? It wasn''t part of my [Raishin kick] but there was something I always tried to do but never could pull off. It was a skill I saw my sister once use. It was my thunder spear skill but stronger, it was faster, it hit harder, and was just way better. My sister gave it a weird name but it was a skill she learned from mom and modified. [Imperial thunder lance] oh It succeeded, and it hit her in her weak spot. The thunder lance exploded in orange light as it hit. Nayani screamed out as I did massive damage to her. Oooh, lucky! Another critical hit! I continued my Raishin kick. Nayani seemed a bit numb from that thunder lance. She did manage a counter which hit me in the stomach. A layer shattered but I was still in my critical rush mode. I didn''t keep track of time so I don''t know how long I have left so I will finish it off here. The finale of my [Raishin kick]. I really hoped this one would crit. I gathered all the energy that I could muster in my right leg. The energy that gathered was many times more than when I practiced it before. I hit Nayani and sent her flying into the root. No crit, too bad. I put as much energy into that burning kick So I was hoping she would be defeated now.

    You did it! Hey, don''t say that! Whenever someone says something like that the enemy gets back up! Some noise could be heard and a bloodied and burnt Nayani appeared. See! She collapsed on the floor.

    ¡°I''m sorry sister, I will join you soon.¡± Don''t be silly we¡¯re not going to kill you. You''re back! I saw an area get blurry and Agnis appeared. He was thawed but still full of the injuries he got from that energy influx

    Ugh this shit hurts.

    ¡°What do you mean you''re not going to kill me? Quit that bullshit!¡± It is not like you will die you will just get sent back to the spirit world, I got a vague idea of where it is, and I¡¯ll send you there with the energy of your sister, she should be fine, I think.

    ¡°My sister? She is fine?¡± The bloodied Nayani starts crying. Alright time to send you two back, just a heads up I don''t know exactly where it is since the information, I analyzed from the essence that I absorbed from your sister was vague so don''t blame me when you get sent to the middle of nowhere there, I''m sure it beats bleeding out of energy out here. Agnis opened up a portal and released some energy, the other sister appeared although a bit transparent.

    ¡°I''m free! Let''s go, Nayani, we lost and this guy is kind enough to open a portal for us.¡±

    ¡°Sister wait! And Hey ice brat? You¡¯re alright, I¡¯ll kick your ass next time we meet though, and make you teach me all those tricks.¡± I sincerely hope we never meet again. After the portal closed Agnis collapsed. You had to play the hero again, eh?

    Ugh not really, I just know that destroying spirits left and right is a bad idea. So, 3 hours already passed, eh? How are you feeling?

    Like I got hit by a laser. Hahaha. Everyone looked at me.

    What? I do have to say though that [Raishin kick] was quite impressive, we would still be popping illusion layers if not for the stupid amount of damage you did there. Yeah, that critical rush came at the right moment. Oh, he got into a critical rush? Nice! Alright, imma take a nap you guys deal with the root.

    Wait! I said as I grabbed Agnis and shook him so he would stay awake.

    Ouch, ouch, that hurts! What is it? I need you to check out that root, I got bad vibes when I got close to it but Gregory doesn''t feel anything.

    Hmm, hmm let me see, nothing to see on this filter, nothing on this one, damn my eyes hurt. Oh, got it, ah right, this is a problem. Ugh, there is more?

    Hmm it''s not a big problem but one nonetheless, anyone who destroys it and was involved with its destruction will get cursed, I can''t read what curses it has though. This seal doesn''t seem to be made by those spirit sisters, it''s older than the other ones, and this one is written in ancient language symbols. I can barely read it. It looks similar to one I do know so what I pick up from it might be inaccurate. At this point, I¡¯d just say blast the tree, Gregory and I will deal with the curses later. And with this, I''m going to nap. Hold on a second! Gregory grabs 3 potions out of his shadow and grabs Agnis and pours the contents down his throat.

    Some healing potions before you pass out. Oooh mint flavored, alright good luck. Agnis popped out all his tails and curled up in it turning into one big ball of fluffy fur after which an illusion made it look like a rock that belonged in this cave. Gregory, remember which rock is Agnis, it wouldn''t be funny that we will have to investigate every rock to carry him home.

    I got it. Let''s go. Ugh, that was rough, I surely hope the other guardians are easier than this one, we almost died.

    Yeah, after we destroy this root, we should rest for a couple of days before continuing. We walked up to the root. There was minor damage to the root because of some stray attacks and when Nayani got launched into the root but besides that, it seemed to be brimming with energy, at least that''s what I think, Gregory is the energy guy here. So, this is the root of all our problems, it is enormous though, I carrot see how to destroy this. C¡¯mon Ted those puns weren''t even good!

    Can you vaporize it Raishin? It will take a bit but it should be possible. I start gathering energy for my [Supernova blast]. I see Gregory and Ted run off into my eye corner and create an earth dome next to the Agnis rock and make it sink into the ground.

    It is time to say your butt goodbye! Take this! I said as I threw the swirling energy at the root. A shadow grabbed my ankles and pulled me underground. I heard a loud muffled sound. I wasn''t sure if you were immune to your own attack so I dragged you in just in case.

    Haha, of course I''m not immune to that! Might be useful to tell us you know; you could''ve fried yourself there.

    Haha, no way! I do feel weird though. Hmm, I''m feeling a bit dizzy. Everything is starting to become blurry. I suddenly felt a ringing in my head and my head started to hurt.

 Ch 23: Boshi Adventures

    Ouch, what was that? I don''t know, I''m running diagnostics, I''ll check with you guys too. I whipped out 3 tails and started checking various filters on my Elgards eyes to check if something changed or was wrong.

    Hmm, I can''t say nothing happened since something is slightly off but I can''t tell what it is exactly. Can you try to explain what it might be?

    Hmm not really, the filter that showed something indicates that something was messing either with the dimensional fabric or with the fabric of time and space. I can''t tell the specifics, where, or when that happened. What do you mean? We know when it happened it happened just now! I think that''s the problem Raishin if something messed with time that is completely relative.

    Whud? Did it affect us negatively? I can''t say that anything changed for us but we could either expect a dimensional invasion, like what happened before we got kidnapped from home, or whatever we did or going to do will be different than how it normally would go, either time-wise or location-wise. In short; I have no fucking clue what just happened, it might be that there is nothing but this filter which indicates temporal and spatial consistency got a glitch. Maybe it''s just because I''m tired.

    Hmm, let''s hope it is nothing then... Can you show the underground map of the area? Ah right.

    Hmm, something is off. I vaguely remember this conversation. Also, the last thing I remember was napping in my tail cocoon but here I am in Raishin¡¯s hut showing a hologram of Boshi town and the underground. Hmm, something feels off, weren''t we underground a moment ago? So, I''m not the only one who feels this way. Hmm, so guys we have a problem.

    Ugh, what is it this time? So, I don''t know if you remember the first time, we really made plans to escape and went hunting the PB the day after. Yah.

    It seems we are back there again. I can see the PB cave, the PB is alive and well. What about the root?

    The root is nowhere to be seen, and the cavern is empty as if there was nothing there. But I assume Raishin nuked the heck out of it so it should be a big hole in the ground. I don''t like the sound of it, so it undid our last 5 or 6 days? It seems the root count is now 5 so there is definitely something that has changed. The crater I made is still there. Uhh, Gregory what else happened around this time? The small mall should be in a mess and Charlize¡¯s house should be destroyed. Besides not much happened at that time.

    Her house is destroyed yes. So why did you save those spirits?

    I thought you one shot that other spirit. Hmm oh, that? Well, I thought so too but the mana I absorbed was mixed with her essence which is apparently similar to her will. But only this morning she started to communicate with me, or well I guess this morning is inaccurate because it is in 5 days. But she was pissed at first but since she couldn''t act on her temper I could just explain and show her what is going on. She wasn''t happy but agreed to temporarily retreat to the spirit world if she could. Well, things worked out weirdly because that big laser her sister shot at me allowed me to set up a portal to the spirit world. I had a delay put on it so it would open when I thawed. Anyways as far as I can tell is that there is some instability in the spirit world and destroying strong spirits will not make the situation better. Gregory claps his hands

    Anyways; we beat the guardians and destroyed the root! That is some progress, it was really sloppy but we are alive. Speaking of which... He looks at me.

    So, I''ve come to the understanding you burned some lives there! Ugh, you could tell?

    Look, I''m grateful that you saved us, and there wasn''t really much choice there and yes it massively helped out, but never do something so reckless again! Even though I know where you coming from, I refuse! Wha! If there is a scenario where one of us dies instead of all four of us, I¡¯ll take that option any time of the week! I¡¯m with Agnis if I had anything like his frost wall, I would also use it to keep you guys safe! But if we combine our forces, we should be able to get through it, we either all live or all die.

    That logic is flawed since the process of rebirth exists. As long as one of us survives and we all run out of lives we can still be brought back by rebirth. And in the case of Ted, he doesn''t have another chance once he dies so out of us 4, we should at least make sure he doesn''t die! You do know that setting a rebirth in motion is so insanely difficult and costly on mana and requirements that we might spend 500 years and be unable to?

    I don''t think that matters, there are a lot of secrets in this world, I''ve recently discovered a blueprint of some magic weapons which are way more advanced than we have ever seen, there might be things like that but aimed towards easing requirements of rebirth or stuff, you never know! I can''t deny that possibility but there might be solutions that work as well that aren''t as reckless! We kept arguing about this topic for a while until we got hungry. I don''t know if this hunger is from the original day ehh let''s call this day 0. It was the day we made the plan to escape. We defeated the root on day 5. So, what I''m trying to say is, I don''t know if we were hungry from day 0 because I assume we got sent back in time or are in a time loop or if we were hungry from what we did on day 5. I guess these things are a bit complex because it is not something that you encounter daily. It was easy to check though. I checked my dimensional pocket and found that I still had my mountain of gold. I guess that proves it we carried stuff through this time loop. Wait I might be making a crucial mistake. Nothing in my dimensional pocket is affected by time since I can keep food in there for almost forever. So, getting sent back in time might not remove this.

    Hmm. Greg, and Ted, do you have your weapons on you? My hand cannon? Of course, I have it. Ted shows his hand cannon and Gregory retrieves his hammer from some shadow pocket of his. He tried to apply the idea of a dimensional pocket to his shadows since he can store energy but it works more than those special bags I got; it can compress volume but the weight still stays the same. Well in his case some weight gets shaved off but it doesn''t disappear completely, also he has room for his hammer and some small objects, like marbles.

    Ok, so when we get sent back in time everything on us got brought with us. Hmm, I was thinking, I''m assuming this happened because we destroyed the root right, why would it send us back in time? Because now we gain 5 more days to destroy all the roots and escape, it is only in our favor.

    Hmm, I think that might''ve been me. What?

    No not sending us back in time. You know how it is impossible to kill Raishin or Gregory by draining their energy to 0 since they manage energy? Something similar happened here. Anything spatial or temporal can¡¯t affect me if its goal is to undo something forcefully that I did or had an influence on. I don''t know the specifics but I''m assuming it tried to send us back and undo us destroying the root. And we still all remember this because we have close relations with you?

    I didn''t destroy this root alone; I didn''t even touch it so that is my assumption yes. Hmm if that is so we have yet another problem. Why can''t nothing just go easily?

    If the root tries to set us back in time and try to undo whatever we did every time we destroy a root¡­ that means we will have to redo certain events multiple times until all roots are destroyed. What? I don''t get it.

    Ugh, what he is saying is that every time we destroy a root we get sent back in time. What! Which sadistic jerk designed this boss? I want to file a complaint against the developers! This is certainly a high-difficulty boss. The issue is though, do we have to make sure everything goes similarly to the original timeline?

    Isn''t that impossible though? Since that root is destroyed, we can''t do everything the same. Moreover, your memory is so shit, I''m not even sure you can even remember everything you did in the last 6 days. Wow, rude. Guess I should archive more stuff. Why don''t you just make a diary or something? Just important events and stuff.

    Meh, that sounds like too much work. Hey, how many times have we gotten into trouble, or could things have ended up way easier because you forgot something?!

    Pass. This is not a game! You can''t pass your turn on this question!

    Tss party-pooper. Fine, I will consider it. Sooo, does this mean we get a rematch with the PB? Now we know it will explode we could prevent it and eat it! Raishin and I started to drool at the thought of some tasty meat.

    Did you guys forget what it looked like? Do you think that thing would taste delicious? Also, not to forget that unbalanced and corrupted mana it released when it exploded. Oh, right forgot about that. Did something like that happen?

    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    Why does nobody here have a decent memory? So, what are we going to do this timeline and what root are we going for? I suggest trying to keep everything as close to the original timeline as possible, we don''t know what weird stuff happens if we don''t, I never learned how to correct temporal and spatial inconsistencies so if some paradox happens and things turn out chaotic, I can''t do much about it. What do we do with the PB?

    I haven''t seen your [Raishin kick] You could use it on the PB. Oooh, good idea. As for which root to go next¡­ I showed the hologram of the area but crossed out the root in the PB cave.

    Let''s see this one goes way too deep, something really strong seems at this one and the root of this one seems a bit off but I can''t tell what it is. Hmm, how about this one, it is one of the closest one and seems relatively simple. I point at a location that is close to Boshi town but seems to be under Boshi lake Major.

    We could take a small boat from Boshi lake Minor, pass through Boshi lake Medium and leave the town and enter Boshi lake Major. Objection! How about we take a dry route? And if we''re supposed to be under the lake, I don''t see why we need to take a boat! I zoom in and show that some underwater caves lead toward our destination. I will need either of you to confirm with a seismic scan if these are all the entrances but as far as I could see, the only way to enter it is by diving down into lake Boshi Major and entering the underwater cave. I showed another underground passage I found. The underground passage that is closest is here, which means that you two will probably be digging for a whole day until we can get to the root. I don''t know if your nausea will allow you to dig for so long. Ugh, how about teleporting there?

    There is a lot of water and different types of rock which will constantly throw off my pings, teleporting underground doesn''t go well most of the time, getting out is generally less of a problem but I don''t want to teleport into solid rock. How about a dimensional teleport?

    You want me to try something so risky after scolding me for doing something risky? Ugh, fine I''ll take the boat, can one of you knock me out and wake me up when we arrive? We might need you, Boshi lake minor and medium are safe but major has monsters in it. Fuck my life. A boat trip! It will be fun!

    Noo! Yeees! We will have to wait with going there though, we first have to fight the PB.

    Alright, give me a second, I''m making a list of the series of events for a certain forgetful person. Hmm? I''m writing this down so don''t lose it! I''m only writing down important events and things I remember that you did.

    <hr>

    Day 0 (today): making plans in Raishin¡¯s hut

    Day 1: Raishin and Agnis encounter Dunkey and fight Charlize, escaping through the sewers. Fight with the Pheasant Boar (PB) and discovery of the PB cave. Two men were investigating Raishin¡¯s hut and Agnis and me, Gregory, went with them and revealed the sewer problem, we discovered that Charlize got minor mana poisoning. Agnis and Gregory did shadow clone training.

    Day 2: Agnis and Gregory were at Gregory¡¯s house making potions and looking through Pietro¡¯s books. Cecilia visits and apologizes. You encounter Dunkey and his group again. The fight against the pink broccoli. You sell your rubies to a merchant.

    Day 3: You finish your transaction and receive payment for your rubies. We make a new plan here in Raishin¡¯s hut. We return to the PB cave and encounter Nayani Ingrei and Guyani Ingrei which we fight and you ¡°one shot¡± Guyani after which we flee. You start analyzing the energy you absorbed from one shotting Guyani.

    Day 4: Gregory and Agnis encounter Dunkey and Munkey. We meet up with Johnny (his real name is Gianni, don''t forget!) and we get our gifts, notable gifts are Ted¡¯s hand cannon, Gregory¡¯s portable lab, and your magic sword. We met up to discuss the analysis that you completed and we sparred. Raishin and Ted lost the sparring match. You started making frost marbles.

    Day 5: You met Charlize and her daughter and visited me to perfect the frost marbles. We fought Nayani and destroyed the root. We got sent back to day 0

    <hr>

    Keep this and don''t lose it! Gregory shoved the note in my hands. Hey, can you also make one for me?

    Do you remember what you did the last week? Yeah, why?

    Then you don''t need it! Meh. Thanks so next up is fighting the PB?

    The note is right there! Read it! Wow, chill, hmm let''s see, oh were going to meet with Charlize and Dunkey! Who is Dunkey by the way? Let''s go Raishin!

    Ugh, really. I feel that my movements get restricted by [Shadow bind]

    I''m not letting you go before you read the note! Here it says here day 1! Today is day 0! Ok ok sorry! I was just joking! I''ll behave. Gregory released me and I carefully read the note and archived it. You guys are so exhausting sometimes. Let''s go eat and relax for the day.

    <hr>

    We left Raishin¡¯s hut and I went home to eat with Philip and Hera. It feels like it has been ages ago since I last ate with them. On today''s menu was soup. I dislike soup. It can''t decide if it''s food or a drink, same with cereal. What is wrong with just solid food? Philip and Hera were talking about some townspeople and trivial events. Since they weren''t paying attention I freeze-dried my soup, turned it into powder, and took out some fried pheasant out of my dimensional pocket. I used the powder as seasoning. This is the only use I''ve found of soup. I cast a simple illusion so that when they would look in my direction it would look like I was eating soup. And technically I was, it is just powder now and acting as a seasoning for my fried pheasant. I was wondering if there was any need to make more frost marbles. I put a tail on duty to make these. I finished my food and went to my room. And then I heard a voice. I looked around but I couldn''t see anyone. I heard the voice again.

    ¡°Hey, ice brat!¡± Whud Guinea?

    ¡°My name is Guyani!¡± Ugh, I must be tired I''m hearing voices.

    ¡°My sister was right; you are hard to talk to. Since I can contact you means you still have some of my essence stored up.¡± Do you want it back?

    ¡°Nah I''m fine, listen I have a question. If you find a place of power, could you link us to it? Since you still have some of my essence it should be easy to do.¡± Uhh, I have no idea how all that works, I just winged it when I sent you two to the spirit world, and how do you even remember us? We kind of got sent back in time so you shouldn''t even remember us, you might not even exist in this timeline. ¡°I don''t know the spirit world isn''t affected by much which affects the outside world.¡± It must be really boring there if you want to return here after only half a day has passed.

    ¡°Hmm, I can''t blame you for thinking that but 2 years have passed over here.¡± Ah, I see, so time there flows differently.

    ¡°Well normally time flows similarly but the spirit world is unstable so almost anything here is subject to change. And jeez Nayani stop it! What? Fine, I''ll ask him. Nayani asks if you can teach her ice tricks when you manage to get us back.¡± As long as she doesn''t shoot any more lasers at us, I¡¯ll see what I can do.

    ¡°What? Didn''t I tell you already? Fine, I''ll ask him. Nayani asks what you are since we normally don''t take damage from living beings on that side. It might be better if you explain so I don''t have to repeat it to her.¡± Uhh hello, I''m Agnis Hourai, a nine-tailed spirit fox, my hobbies are blacksmithing, sneaking up on people, and gaming and I like to fish and make cool magic and skills.

    ¡°Yes, this is what I told you before! Nayani is shocked that you are a spirit.¡± Believe me, so was I.

    ¡°I can''t believe you were fighting a spirit and didn''t notice. It doesn''t matter if he looks like a human or a common mortal, so do we! And the number of tails didn''t tip you off? No, Nayani, I''m not expecting you to remember every race but surely those that you have to watch out for!¡± I don''t know what Nayani is saying to Guyani but judging by what I hear her saying it is clear how their conversation is going. I kind of feel like I''m eavesdropping but since I hear Gulana¡¯s voice in my head I can''t really help it. ¡°What I''m trying to say is, Nayani, we are lucky to get off this easily after fighting a nine-tailed spirit fox!¡± I''m sorry to interrupt your chat but do you know anything about nine-tailed spirit foxes?

    ¡°You don''t know anything about your own race?¡± Well, I lost my hometown 5 years ago and my mother was more in tune with her phoenix side and both my sisters were phoenixes too so I only know stuff about phoenixes.

    ¡°Wait you¡¯re also a phoenix? Wait this sounds familiar. Oh! You¡¯re from Hourai, now it makes sense! Are you Edea¡¯s son?¡± Do you know my mom?

    ¡°Not personally no, I also never met her but her name is well known. Hey Nayani, you hear that, we¡¯re super lucky we¡¯re still alive, a phoenix could make short work of us.¡± You say that but I think it''s us who got lucky to survive. Anyways what do you know about nine-tailed spirit foxes?

    ¡°Hmm, I don''t know much about it but I do know that there used to be some here in the spirit world. But they moved out a very long time ago, I don''t know why though. I think it had to do with that they were spirits but they also had physical bodies. They didn''t really belong with the spirits but also didn''t fit in with the humans or beast kin. They are the only bridge between the spirit world and the corporeal world, spirits have a non-intervention policy, and it''s not like we really can anyway, unless we find a good power spot or have to put up with a contract. But spirit foxes don''t have to deal with all that because if I remember correctly their own body acts as a vessel and as a mobile power spot or contract. I''m not sure which of the two. But basically, if you would master spirit magic you can abandon your body and still live. You will have to deal with finding a contract or power spot then though, which I wouldn''t recommend but staying here in the spirit world sucks too. What? No, I don''t think spirits can make contracts with other spirits. Nayani asks if you would make a contract with her.¡± I would rather not, at least not now, because I don''t know if I want to at this moment and if I can.

    ¡°I guess, for you, it''s fresh that we tried to kill you. Be more considerate Nayani!¡± It is fine, what do you guys know about the roots?

    ¡°It has a lot of energy.¡± Anything else?

    ¡°Not really sorry, there was a woman who showed me that spot though, she was a massive bitch but she helped me get an energy spot in a cool cave so that worked out.¡± Do you know if this purple barrier was surrounding Boshi town back then?

    ¡°I don''t know, I''m sorry.¡± That is fine, even though we needed to, sorry for destroying your home.

    ¡°I know how it feels to be stuck in one place, we can''t change that but you can. I''m not saying that I''m not upset by the fact you destroyed our home but I would probably do the same in your situation. What? Oh, Nayani apologizes for almost killing you guys.¡± Alright, I will try and contact you guys when I find a power spot, I''m warning you though, I get told a lot that I have a terrible memory.

    ¡°Yes, I''ve noticed. In case you forgot I¡¯m Guyani and my sister is called Nayani.¡± I will do my best. I archived this conversation because it had some useful information. I thought of making more weapons because I had no more swords in my dimensional pocket. I decided for once to just go to bed early since if all of the oncoming days go the same way as the last 5 days went, then I would need all the rest I could get.

 Ch 24: Urayas Shop

    Day 1. I''m totally not writing the day numbers down now to make sure I don''t forget. This is for anyone who reads this for clarity reasons! Yeah, let''s go with that! I woke up really early. Since yesterday, something was bothering me. I looked outside and it was still quite dark outside. The sun wasn''t high enough yet to shine through or over the mountains. What was bothering me is that I can see that this timeline is different than before. But what I also see is that even though it is supposed to be similar or even the same. This is not the case. It could be compared to you buy a bag of apples; you''re expecting to find apples in the bag but there is also a banana in the bag. This is the banana. There might be huge differences, the scary part is that maybe for us it could be the same but maybe in the rest of the world chickens go extinct while in the original that wasn''t the case. I guess the spirit sisters contacting me was an indication. Whatever we did in the last timeline is affecting this one. I hope we¡¯re not fucking up the course of this world by trying to escape from this shitty town. If I find books about timelines and stuff, I should give them a read. It could also give me ideas for cool attacks.

    I''m getting close to figuring out magic runes and how to mess with magic circles but I''m missing so much information. In general, making new magic is just by altering what already exists by toggling its shape volume, and power. You can get away with a lot if you¡¯re creative but you¡¯re not making new magic since the magic circle and the magic runes it uses are still the same. That is for now reading magic circles is quite unreliable. But I could find nothing about it in Hourai and this place is too tiny to have something relating to that matter. Most of my ice attacks are actually the same magic spell it''s just the power and shape are different. The original magic circle is for water bubbles. Anyone who could read magic circles like me would just see that I''m using water bubbles half the time. Not really a reliable skill if that is all they can see me do. And because of this messing with magic circles has been seen as a waste of time and not worth the effort. Anyways Raishin and I were supposed to fetch some seasoning to eat with the PB but I don''t think we are actually going to eat it. But since I woke up too early, I have time to kill. I could practice with the sword or could practice with my shadow clones. Or! Do both! I''ll make shadow clones and spar with myself.

    I haven''t found anyone yet who could match my speed but if I do, I might not know how to deal with it. I made 3 clones. They seemed to have a good performance. They didn''t look weird. They would be weaker than me though so I boosted them with some illusions. I didn''t apply any on myself so it should be a fair fight now. I could gather an insane amount of experience like this since whenever the clones got dispelled, I got their experience too. I gave every clone another sword made out of illusions for variation. I say that but most of them would fight the same with it. Clone A had a different sword though, it was a curved blade but it looks hard to use. Clone A will have to adjust its sword fighting style to use that sword, I''m curious. I have about 4 hours until I will have to go to the town square with Raishin. I realized I was about to start a sparring match inside my room. Hmm, this is a bad idea. I decided to use a small pocket dimension I made a while ago but never used. It is only as big as the town square and also modeled after it. But like this, I won''t have to be afraid of destroying stuff outside. Let''s see what I can do here!

    <hr>

    Oof I''m exhausted, the clones weren''t kind to me, I got various cuts, and I wasn''t kind to them either. I defeated one. I''m getting a better grasp on how enemies feel fighting me. It was almost impossible to hit these guys. The moment I hit one clone I just locked him into a combo and finished him off. I didn''t get lucky enough to do this with the other two. I did get better at [Iai] but using this against fast opponents is risky and it doesn''t work well with swords that aren''t katanas, I shattered one by incorrectly using it, even my swords made in my illusions shatter... I also got a good idea of how I wanted to develop my sword fighting. What I''m doing is quite standard. The only saving grace is my speed. The moment I get caught, I''m toast, as the clone I owned kindly demonstrated. It might be biased because I know how I fight with the sword but it is easy to exploit once you get used to the speed. It would take one skilled swordsman to break in an opening and cut me down.

    For this, I need to make a katana, not just a normal one since that magic sword shattered after just a mild swing. Ok, the swing wasn''t mild but it is a problem if my swords can''t take my swings. Yes, it was charged with red lightning which seriously packs a punch and almost anything would shatter but that is not the point! I need to make something that is reliable! I will have to find instructions on how to make a relic magic weapon in some dungeons. I do know how to make a katana, in theory, but making a magic sword? I have no clue. I haven''t looked at the instructions for the weapons I did find something for but I don''t know how similar the process will be or if it needs the same stuff. It will just occupy my mind while I have better things to do. I prepare to go and meet Raishin. I''m a bit early but hopefully, that doesn''t cause a butterfly effect and wipes out Boshi town or something. ¡­ Maybe I should wait a bit. I will need to find a way to make my frost wall more efficient as in technically less efficient in sucking mana. Or I need to find something in which I can safely dump most of my energy. I would like to think that I will never have to use that again but my multi-layered water and frost barrier and that frost wall are the only good defensive skills I have. I could waste a lot of time and energy trying to come up with a new one. I''m better off trying to improve what I''m already familiar with. Ok, now it is time. I go outside and head over to Raishin. We talk about our last week as we approached the town square.

    Uhh, so what comes next? We walked onto the town square. Well, that is not exactly true since Raishin bumped into something.

    ¡°Hey, watch out twerps!¡± I''m sorry, we must''ve been blind to not be able to see you coming.

    ¡°Wha! Hey, Dunkey I think that kid called you fat!¡± One of his 3 friends said to the chunky guy. Your name is donkey? I said as I tried to hold in my laugh.

    ¡°It is Dunkey!¡± Hmm, this sounds familiar, I also think I''ve met him before. Oh, it''s you guys, please do us a favor and buzz off, we need to hurry else she will catch us. Hey, Raishin we haven''t met them before in this timeline, we don''t know them and they don''t know us. Oh, sorry never mind I was wrong I have no clue who you guys are but we¡¯re in a hurry! Cya!

    ¡°Hey, stop messing with us what do you mean you don''t know me? I''m Dunkey the one who will be the first to leave this town and make a name for myself! You must have heard that I''m the youngest person to master blue lightning. I will be the next Beatrice Manarune!¡± Yes, yes, cool story bro, we¡¯ve already heard this story now excuse us!

    ¡°Hey! Don''t walk away! I am Dunkey Hurado, a descendant of the great hero Hurado. My name is ancient Kaledonian for Brilliant Hurado.¡± We walked towards Uraya¡¯s shop when I felt lightning magic activate. ¡°Keep them busy guys while I show off my amazing lightning!¡± Ugh, we don''t have a whole minute to wait till you¡¯re done charging your puny spell.

    ¡°Wait how do you know it takes a minute?¡± Agnis can see your future. In a couple of seconds, you will encounter a mother and a troll, Agnis has predicted that you will need your slow-ass lightning for that. I¡¯ll leave a small present for you. I used [Lightning orb] a weak version. A ball of blue lightning weakly approached Donkey and dropped to the ground in front of him.

    ¡°Haha, what is that? You missed.¡± I''d like to tell you that Agnis doesn''t miss in general but we have no time, good luck! The lightning orb was still on the ground before Donkey. We entered Uraya¡¯s shop and closed the door. I looked outside and saw Charlize and her daughter arrive. At that same moment, the lightning orb discharged and cracked the troll''s makeup.

    ¡°It''s a troll!¡± Donkey shot his magic at the troll but missed.

    ¡°Who are you calling a troll?¡±

    ¡°Wait it wasn''t us those other 2 brats did this!¡± One of his friends said.

    ¡°Lies! Dunkey is the only one who can use blue lightning in this town!¡± Seems like they were getting along well, we also successfully dodged Charlize. Hello Granny Uraya, we want your special blend.

    ¡°I see you made quite the commotion outside.¡± It is fine no animals are getting hurt. There is a troll attacking a donkey how are there no animals getting hurt?

    We did say we had no time for them though.

    ¡°So, what are you guys up to this time? She went to the back to get her special spices blend.¡± We found a PB, and we were planning to eat it but it looks disgusting so we¡¯re not sure about that if we are going to eat it, we should eat it with your special blend.

    ¡°Ooh, I''m glad you like my blend, it is one of the 96 products I''ve made to perfection. And I''m not with the term Paybay Is that something the youngsters say a lot these days?¡± Oh no, what he means is we found a Pheasant boar it''s like they combined into 1 animal or something, but since it is too long, we shorten it to PB.

    ¡°I must be getting old but I don''t remember an animal like that existing.¡± Yeah, me neither. Do you have any idea how such a creature can exist? Isn''t that simple? When a mommy pheasant and a daddy boar love each other very much¡­

    Please shut up Raishin.

    ¡°Hmm, I don''t know much about this, I''ve never seen or heard about anything like that since I moved here.¡± Oh, you moved to here? Where did you live before?

    ¡°Well, It is not really like I moved here I got forced to live here, but I''m fine with it now. I used to live far from here. A big academic city where magical research and the understanding of research were the main focus. You couldn''t even enter the city without qualifications and the skills and knowledge to be an asset there.¡± Ugh a city where you''re forced to study sounds like a nightmare, you might be better off here. I smacked Raishin. That is rude! I''d love to visit a city like that, I''m quite interested in the workings of magic myself.

    ¡°Ohoho that is good to hear but there is one problem, only women were allowed to live there.¡± Hmm, weird, guess that''s a non-option then. A city full of women? I was wrong! That sounds like a great place. I smacked Raishin again.

    What? I sighed and shook my head.

    ¡°I don''t even know if that city still exists.¡± Hey, what is this? Raishin, don''t touch random stuff! Crash.

    Uh oh. Wait I''ll clean it up! crash 2x Just leave it be! You¡¯re making things worse! Clank! Some weird potion fell on Raishin and he started floating.

    I believe I can fly! I believe I can tou... Hoo boi. I jumped and grabbed Raishin¡¯s ankle to prevent him from floating too high but since I''m not so heavy it did nothing and it carried me up too.

    ¡°Oh my, you got an overdose of a levitation potion.¡± Is there an antidote?

    ¡°Yes, but it''s the potion he smashed earlier.¡± Why are you always like this Raishin? You''re like a bull in a china shop. I would prefer ¡°tiger in a china shop¡±.

    Whatever. I was hanging on Raishin¡¯s ankles while he floated up and bumped his head on the ceiling. Ouch! He bounced a little off the ceiling and rose again bumping his head again. Owowow! And this kept repeating. That is what you get!

    ¡°You boys seem to be having fun.¡± Uraya said while cleaning up the mess Raishin made. My head! I might become stupid from all these blows to my head! I don''t think it is possible for you to become even stupider.

    Hey! Instead of making fun of me give me any recommendations on how to stop this. Have you tried turning it off and on again?

    Oh, I didn''t, let me try¡­ wait how do I do that, I can''t can I? Agnissss! Hey, stop flailing we might fall! And just on cue, we fell to the ground. I caught myself in a water bubble but Raishin faceplanted on the floor.

    Guess that worked well! Modern problems require modern solutions! But you didn''t do anything!

    Nobody likes a smartass Raishin.

    ¡°Hahaha, oh I''m sorry, seeing you two I wish I was young again and had friends I could talk to like that.¡± Were you alone in your youth?

    ¡°Yes, back then my life was rough, I was a bit stronger than my peers and I became cast out because of fear and jealousy. Looking at you two I wish I was born in your age; I am too old and too weak now to keep up with you two.¡± Nonsense! I''m not sure why but I have a feeling you¡¯re still quite strong! Want to join us in fighting the PB? Hey Agnis!

    ¡°How kind but I will have to decline. I need to make some special products because I lost a bet.¡± Oh, it''s about... Ehh what is it about? I almost let out that I knew it was about when Gregory and I got caught by Cecilia and Charlize.

    ¡°This might sound rude to you but the town has a bet running about when you and Gregory get caught by Charlize and Cecilia. My bet was on yesterday but since that didn''t happen, I lost.¡± Well, we did get caught but we also escaped, you weren''t wrong. I already took a small sapphire out of my dimensional pocket when she wasn''t paying attention. Here, as compensation.

    ¡°Ooh, you¡¯re making me blush.¡± Please don''t make this awkward for me.

    ¡°Thank you, I will remember this, come by another day I will have some interesting stuff for you boys.¡± Uhh ok. I looked outside and Donkey and friends got wiped out by Charlize and the troll.

    ¡°Thank you for the chat and take care!¡± Uraya said with a warm smile. We left the store. Charlize was too busy scolding Dorky and co so she didn''t notice us. I assume she won''t get poisoned now. Even though we tried to do the same as the last timeline, just avoiding one inconvenient encounter changed quite a lot. Are we screwed? At least I can take a leak in peace now! Ah, right it caused us various amount of problems last time. We went to Raishin¡¯s hut where he took a leak and we waited for Ted and Gregory who arrived together.

    Ok so last time we tried using magic we¡¯re not familiar with but I''m not sure if that is a good idea since the PB exploded and all. Well, I still need to see the infamous [Raishin kick] so I was hoping he could show me and if it still survives, we can just nuke it before it explodes. I agree! Well, if I don''t need to use water magic then I''m fine with any plan, I¡¯d say go for it.

    Are you mad? You know how good these guys can vaporize stuff! At least when they do it it''s controlled, more or less, I don''t want to deal with that dirty bomb. Dirty bomb? Did the PB not shower?

    No, I mean that it is probably not aiming to kill with its explosion but with the magic corruption you get when hit by it, I also want to try and avoid Agnis having to use frost magic as much as possible. Don''t worry, it is fine if it''s not a lot I will be fine.

    I like the: nuke-the-PB-into-oblivion plan more. Alright, let''s go! I can''t wait to show off my [Raishin kick] Oh look what is this? Oh no, that might have fallen in your cape when you were knocking stuff over in Uraya¡¯s shop.

    Hehe, I wonder what it does, let''s throw this at the PB! Do you want to defeat it by sending it into the stratosphere?

    What? What happened in Uraya''s shop? He knocked over potions and other stuff and one potion made him levitate; it is good that we were inside. That sounds problematic, so that is the levitation potion?

    I have no idea what it does but I¡¯d rather he just returns it to Uraya.

    <hr>

    We arrive at the PB cave. Raishin dashed inside. C¡¯mere, c¡¯mere, PB wherever you are! We heard a roar.

    Take this! [Random potion attack] Another roar.

    Oh shit! This doesn''t sound good. Raishin came running out of the cave and the ground started rumbling. A lot of noise came out from the cave and heavy footsteps could be heard. For some reason, they started to become heavier and heavier. I looked inside. Raishin, I have 2 questions, number one: Why? And number two: can you Raishin kick that? Uhh to number one, because I can! and to number two, hell no haha I can''t combo that! What happened? What did the potion do? Something huge burst out of the cave causing it to collapse. There stood the PB but bigger than ever and it kept growing.

    You can''t be serious! A growing potion? We looked by as the PB was growing to enormous proportions. It was easily 50 meters tall now.

    This is ridiculous but I''m on board with the nuke-the-PB-to-oblivion plan, you are very persuasive Raishin! Hey, what would happen if I threw this potion at the bakery girl¡¯s ass? Raishin!

    What? I smacked him. Let''s vaporize this thing. The PB let out an ear-deafening roar.

    Great, I''m sure they heard that in Boshi town. What did you say? We were all holding our hands on our ears to block the sound of the roar.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    What? Can you repeat that? I didn''t hear what you said! Did you say anything? I was watching as my buddies were yelling at each other while holding their hands on their ears, even though the roar ended a while ago. Idiots. I took out a sword and started my [Tail Dynamo]. I was going to attempt a skill I made during the practice with my clones. It was an upgraded version of my potato peeler skill. I imbued my sword with purple lightning and activated [Thunder cloak] I dashed at the PB and unleashed 428 rapid [lightning sword strikes] in succession which I called [Potato peeler v2.0]. Its hide was tough so I couldn''t get through but it did start to bleed.

    Purple isn''t enough, eh? I wondered if I should go red but I''m sure this sword would shatter, it was looking quite beat up and I hardly did any damage. The PB was trying to hit me but it was so big and slow that I¡¯d probably die of old age before it would hit me. And my race technically doesn''t have an upper limit to how old we can get so that says something. How could I increase my damage besides using a higher tier of lightning? I dropped the lightning tier a because I was feeling some mild nausea come up. It wasn''t anything I couldn''t deal with but if I wasn''t doing any damage I might as well drop my mana consumption till I find something out. I then remembered the thing I did when I was in the workshop with Ted and Gregory after I got my sword. I wondered if a normal sword would have something like a resonance too. It won''t respond with magic since it is not a magic sword but I could try. With the magic sword, I could do it by feel but for a normal sword, I would have to use my eyes to find out when I''m hitting the right wavelength. I poured some mana into the sword and changed its wavelength bit by bit. I noticed that under certain wavelengths some impurities in the blade appeared which disappeared on others. Hmm, interesting, I guess I still have ways to go in making a good sword. At least I had something I could try to make my swords better so they don''t shatter when I sneeze on an opponent. The PB was still attacking me but it was so slow that I could easily dodge it while not paying attention.

    Oh! Agnis started without us! Took you, slowpokes, long enough! I found the right wavelength. I matched it and poured purple lightning into it again. I used the same attack that I used before [Potato peeler v2.1]. Well, color me surprised. Holy shit Agnis!

    What! You didn''t leave anything for us! Well, guess that is one worry less. The attack that previously only wounded the PB now sliced and diced it into numerous chunks. The cuts were clean but the sword still shattered. It was beaten up from my previous attempt so that wasn''t surprising. What was surprising was the difference in performance. Well, I guess I found a way to prevent swords from shattering or at least make them last longer.

    I wanted to fight it too! Well, everything seems to go way differently than the original timeline. We won''t get into trouble for this right Agnis? Uhh.

    Oh no. I don''t know but might as well ride this out. Our actions still more or less line up with the previous timeline. I''m assuming and I hope that only the big actions matter, like how we defeat the PB doesn''t matter only that we defeat it! Yes, that sounds about right!

    You don''t sound very convincing¡­ I know as much about this as you guys do. My [Raishin kick] ... You will get another chance to use it.

    So next up is: you two talking about the sewer problem, right? We didn''t take as long fighting the PB as last time. Uhm, about that, we didn''t fight Charlize this time so there is a high chance she doesn''t get mana poisoning. So, I''m not sure how that will end up.

    Any more surprises? I think that¡¯s it for now, but hey we got a canister of Uraya¡¯s seasoning. Didn''t we already have seasoning? Gregory takes out the canister we got the last time.

    Oh¡­ What are we going to eat it with though? This PB looks yucky. I burned the remains of the PB.

    Do you want to burn the place down?! Oh, it seems you got a lot better at controlling your fire, it is still hot as fuck though. He said as he backed off a bit. Alright nobody will find out about this thing now, let''s go check out the town square Greg, maybe someone else got mana poisoned. What about us? Just do¡­ ehh whatever you did last time.

    Alright, Ted let''s go! We gotta first make sure they don''t steal my stuff! But we don''t know if those men are coming! My stuff is in danger! He grabbed Ted by the back of his shirt and teleported away. I looked over at Gregory.

    Teleport or sonic dash? I want to try something. I want to see if I can make you [Shadow meld] too and travel with me through the shadows.

    Ooh, that sounds cool. You can learn [Shadow meld] too, right?

    Uh since I have an affinity for your shadow magic. Alright. We walked towards the side of the rock wall close by.

    So, the darker the shadow the easier it is to [Shadow meld]. I can do it on very light shadows but if I''m going to try something new, I will first do this on darker shadows. I looked around. The sun was a bit low because it was a bit later in the noon. The mountains cast a shadow over Boshi town. It wasn''t a super dark shadow but the sun wasn''t shining fully on Boshi town. The range in which Gregory could easily [Shadow meld] to was insane. Was [Shadow meld] only becoming one with the shadow or did it also count for the shadow?

    Alright, stand here on this shadow. I will try to force you to shadowmeld, I will attach my shadow to yours so that you don''t get lost in the shadows somewhere, it wouldn''t be funny if that happened, it would take a great deal to find you. Sounds scary.

    I''m sure that after you feel how I [Shadow meld] you, you can figure out to undo it since it is the same process but let''s not take any unnecessary risks. Hey, I have an idea, if you master this could you use it to banish someone into the shadows and leave them there?

    Hmm, that is an interesting idea, I could yes if I master it, It will be unusable in bright sunlight but if there are shadows that should work. So, let''s say you banish someone in the shadow of like, that rock over there, and after a while, the sun shines on it and eliminates the shadow. What would happen to the guy you trapped in there?

    \You have some interesting questions, to be honest, I don''t know. I do know that we store the energy we need in eternal shadows. I don''t know if you''ve noticed but it is impossible to make my shadow disappear. That is so cool but also so edgy.

    We do this because if the shadow disappears so does the energy it has stored. So, we either store energy in eternal shadows or in shadows that don''t disappear or dark places. The inside of your ear or mouth will never get fully illuminated so those are examples. So, you could technically one-shot someone by banishing him to the shadows and let me or Raishin light up the place and make the shadow disappear.

    If you say it like that, I suppose. Haha.

    What is so funny? You have the lowest attack out of all of us but you have the most ways to actually one-shot opponents, granted the requirements are harsh and strict, but if things line up you could one-shot opponents easier than Raishin or I could. Because they don''t seem to care whether the opponent has resistances or high defense, they will just get wiped out regardless.

    I guess. Alright, I think I can force a shadowmeld on you. I felt my body liquefy and become a thick black mist as I dropped to the floor and merged with the shadow we were standing on. It was a weird sensation. Everything went black and I felt like I was everywhere in the shadow that the mountain cast over Boshi town. I got tugged along, most likely Gregory, It wasn''t a slow process. Since I felt like I was everywhere in the shadow it would be hard for a [Shadow meld] noob like me to appear in one spot. Greggory just tugged on me and forced me to concentrate on one spot. This all went really fast. I went from a feeling of being a large volume of liquid spread out over a wide area to it getting pulled and concentrated into a big droplet in one spot. The droplet that was me rose and eventually broke loose from the ground at which I popped out of the shadow in the alley behind Uraya¡¯s shop.

    Seems that went successful, that was an interesting experience. It also seems to go fast. It is only fast because the accuracy increases when the area, I can travel to is big and I can more or less automate it, just pick a spot that makes my shadow coalesce there and I pop out over there. For shorter distances, the accuracy drops, and I have to manually select where I go or just move as a puddle toward it.

    So quite useless in battle or going from your place to my place? Unfortunately, yes, I can use it to dodge attacks though, but I don''t require that most of the time. Setting up a shadow wall is easier and faster.

    Here I was thinking you might shed your slow status but I guess you still got it. We walked towards the town square. We were about 2 hours earlier than the last time we got here. And! Nothing was going on. I had a suspicion this would be the case but it is still disappointing.

    How about we visit Uraya? I''ve been here already today but you haven''t seen her in a bit, did you? Sure, let¡¯s go.

    We entered her shop but it seemed to be empty. It was nearing closing time so it wasn''t surprising. She was also an elderly lady running this shop by herself so we just sat down and waited. There was no trace to be seen of Raishin¡¯s rampage earlier today, it was more than half a day of course. I assume Uraya was replenishing the potions Raishin broke. I was wondering if she had a huge cauldron in which she was brewing them. Gregory was boring because he made most of his potions with laboratory equipment, beakers, flasks, and test tubes. Say, Gregory, what is the difference between the potions you make and that Uraya makes? The potions that I make are those that anyone could make if they have the correct equipment and knowledge. These could also in theory be mass-produced with some modern electronium technology. The potions Uraya makes also needs a deep understanding of the magic that makes the potions work, they are also in general of a stronger effect, so I assume Uraya dilutes a batch that she makes and can sell bottles out of one batch. Meanwhile, when I make 1 batch it is mostly just 1 or 2 bottles.

    So, you could be replaced by a machine but Uraya cannot? Yes.

    ¡°Ooh, you guys are back. Oh, it''s Gregory, I haven''t seen you in a while, how is Pietro doing?¡± Busy as always, he is always going out and working in his small lab he built somewhere in the mountains. He doesn''t come home often.

    ¡°Oh, how can I help you, boys?¡± Oh, we just hopped by to visit, we wanted to check something out here on the town square but nothing is happening so we thought we might as well hop by.

    ¡°Not many youngsters are as thoughtful as you, do you know that?¡± We don''t interact with them. Uraya sits down.

    ¡°I''m curious though, the 4 of you seem to be more mature in behavior, magic, and intelligence compared to the other youngsters here. I do know you arrived together here 5 years ago; does it have something to do with that?¡± Hmm yeah, we got drilled from a young age in etiquette, useful knowledge for adventuring, and problem-solving. It was rough because we liked to go on adventures and have fun but our mothers also made sure we would be prepared for almost everything. Well, we are still young so our education was nowhere close to complete when we got separated but we¡¯re doing quite well if I have to say so myself.

    ¡°How did you get separated from your fathers and mothers?¡± Fathers? Hmm, now you say that they were never around, only Ted¡¯s father.

    I don''t know my real father but I consider Viridian as my father figure. But now I think of it I don''t think I''ve ever seen his wife; I don''t even know if he has one, he has a daughter though. Hisui, right? I get shivers when hearing that name.

    Yes¡­ Well anyways if they weren''t around, they aren''t that important, I bet our mothers were too much for them. And well to answer your question, we got separated by an attack and got sold into slavery and that is how we ended up here.

    ¡°Oh! You 4 are slaves?¡± Yeah, we hide it quite well, only a few people know that. I showed the slave crest on my neck which I normally have hidden by a scarf, Gregory showed his too which he also hid with a scarf.

    ¡°Ohh is that why you guys are never present at the annual Boshi lake festival in the summer?¡± Not really, this guy here hates water. If I want to get wet, I''ll just go and take a shower!

    You got to get over it one day! Never!

    What if we find an underwater library? Ugh, I''ll just have to miss out.

    All that knowledge never touched, waiting to be read. Ugh, I''ll consider it, are you happy?

    Very! I grinned.

    ¡°I think I can see why you guys don''t interact much with other youngsters, there is not much room for them when you guys get like this, it is as if the rest of your surroundings don''t exist, it is fascinating to look at.¡± Hehe, it annoys Charlize to no end though.

    ¡°Oh, that sapphire you gave me was useful, it was so pure it''s almost unnatural. It made for a great catalyst.¡± Oh, I thought you would sell it, but since it¡¯s yours now you can do whatever, you want with it. I''m curious though, what would use sapphire as a catalyst? I don''t know much about magic potion brewing but I do know that the stronger the potion the more valuable and unique the catalysts need to be. I''m assuming it is some super strong potion.

    ¡°You are sharp, I''m trying to make something I''ve always wanted to make but never could. I''m sorry but I will have to keep it a secret. Part of the reason is also that I don''t know if it will succeed, I miss ingredients so I will have to make do with poor alternatives. I will tell you when it is done.¡± Anything we could help you with?

    ¡°Oh no, you boys don''t need to worry about this, this is my problem, you are already helping enough by visiting this old lady once in a while.¡± It is no big deal we come across a lot of weird stuff anyways, maybe we got something you need. I took a small box out of my coat. It was empty but I could link the inside with my dimensional pocket. If the ingredients weren''t too big, I could pretend to have them inside the box and give it to her. I made a habit to gather random stuff and chuck it in my dimensional pocket since young so there is a big chance, I got some stuff she needs.

    ¡°Ooh is that a dimensional box?¡± I guess Uraya partly saw through my trick. Uhh, yeah, I got it from Johnny a year ago. I lied.

    ¡°Hmm of the things you might find here are: crystalized earth magic, a sapphire, which I have, a ruby as pure as the sapphire you gave me, Some fresh spring water from the Umbra mountain range, the blood of a strong unusual creature and a mistflower. Things like a dragon scale and blue obsidian would also fall into that but those are things I don''t expect you boys to have since they are rare or almost impossible to get.¡± Let¡¯s see what I got. You can crystallize earth magic right Greg? Yeah. So, Earth magic, check, ruby, is this good enough?

    ¡°Oh my, that is beautiful!¡± Ruby, check, uhh I don''t have fresh spring water I''m sorry, I think I can copy its composition with my water magic but I can''t make much of it. Mistflower, check, the blood of an unusual creature... Does a PB count as an unusual creature? Did you save its blood?

    Of course not! But there was still some on my sword!

    ¡°You boys are impressive; a small amount of blood and water will do.¡± Dragon scale, check. What the!

    I don''t have blue obsidian though; I didn''t know it could be blue. Hmm, I might have some, I found it on the mountain you vaporized... Uhh, a bug on.

    Vaporizing a mountain. Ehh bug makes blue obsidian?

    ¡°Hmm, that fire pillar of yesterday might have created a bit.¡± I see. Oh yeah, something like that happened yesterday.

    ¡°You are of big help; I won''t ask where you got this dragon scale from since I''m not telling you what I''m making but my greatest thanks.¡± Oh, no problem, we will leave you to your potion, it was nice having a chat. Cya granny Uraya, good luck! Uraya smiled and waved at us while we left her shop.

    Did you hear that Agnis? Yeah, we might be screwed. Do you think she knows?

    It is hard to tell. What we are talking about is that in her happiness she thanked us and talked to us in old Kaledonian. Because we know Hourai it is easy for us to follow and we responded. But nobody these days would understand old Kaledonian. It makes sense for Uraya who seemed to have studied and lived in an academic city to know old Kaledonian but it makes no sense that 2 random brats can speak and understand it.

    I can''t believe we blundered like that. I think we can trust her but yeah, we messed up quite badly here. Maybe we could tell her everything and ask for advice if we get into too much trouble dealing with these roots. She might not know specific stuff about it but might know some stuff about seals or a potion that could deal with whatever we are struggling with at that moment.

    If it makes things easier for us, I would say go for it. If every guardian is as strong as those sisters, then we could use all the help we need. Oh, by the way I talked with Guila? Gurindi?

    Guyani? Yes her! I said while snapping my finger and pointing.

    Huh? Isn''t she in the spirit world or something? Yah, I had still some energy I had absorbed from her with me and she found a way to contact me by using that. So, I got some information about the spirit world and stuff.

    Wait, isn''t that something that never happened now that we are on a different timeline? Yeah well, it seems since they are in the spirit world that doesn''t apply to them also for them 2 years passed in the half a day that passed for us. They want to come back and asked me to hook them up with a place of power.

    They don''t like the spirit world, do they? I don''t think so no, I think they implied something was going on there but I didn''t dig into it too much.

    Hmm so are you going to do that? Link them to a power spot? I don''t know, it might be good to get allies, in the long run, it is just that their range of motion would be limited. It would have to be a strategic point where we could get their assistance but also not a useless spot. Hmm. We waited for a bit but nothing seemed to be happening. I checked out Charlize¡¯s house but she wasn''t there.

    Wow, something destroyed Charlize¡¯s house! Yes, that something would be you, did you forget that you made a large volume of water erupt from within her house?

    Right¡­ so what do we do now? I guess shadow clone training, I might as well teach you how to use [Shadow meld].

    Really trying to stack defensive skills on me now, are you? Was it that obvious?

    A little bit. But it might also help you to reach spots that might be hard to teleport to.

    Like that underwater cave? Yes! I hope you get good enough so that you can carry us with [Shadow meld] there although that might be a too-tall order.

    Why can''t you bring us there? To use shadowmeld I have to have been there before or have to see my destination.

    Oooh. I will do my best but I can''t promise anything. What is the moving around in the shadows called? I might be able to pull that off in a short range. Well, speed and accuracy are your things so I don''t doubt that. I don''t have a name for the movement.

    Mind if I call it [Shadow sneak]? I have the feeling you will use this for mischief in the future but as long as you have more ways out, I won''t have to worry about you randomly dying unless you block a laser head-on.

    Ugh, you''re not going to drop this, will you? Just reminding you since you seem to forget. We arrived at Gregory¡¯s house.

    Oh, I will send a clone to tell Philip and Hera I will spend the night here. After I sent the clone we went inside. We started the shadow clone training and when my clone returned started with the shadow meld training. Gregory would accompany me after I shadow melded to make sure I didn''t get lost in the shadows. The shadow meld process was kind of easy of course I could only do this on dark shadows even my own shadow was too light to use it on. Moving around and getting out seemed to be quite the challenge. It was time to go to sleep and I only mastered getting in and out of the shadows. I still had difficulty concentrating myself at the spot where I wanted to appear. Gregory and I used the whole of Boshi town to practice since we both knew the town quite well. I could just focus on a location instead of manually going there. But even that seemed a challenge. We left it there for the time being. So far, I could only use it to dodge attacks when I was standing on a dark shadow. I couldn''t move while melded yet and trying to without Gregory¡¯s supervision would be risky.

 Ch 25: Brock

    Day 2: we woke up early, there were a lot of things to do today. Or well that was the case originally. There was no point in going to the pink broccoli and running my ass off trying to figure out its message and then nuking it. I leisurely look through Pietro¡¯s books. I forgot which book I was reading the last time but I have it archived so I will find out when I really need it. I picked up a book about gemstones and catalysts. It reminded me of what Uraya was talking about yesterday. I looked for sapphire. ¡°Sapphire: a catalyst used for expert-grade potions related to protection, beautification potions, potions related to the warding and breaking of curses, and curing and immunity to ailments.

    This catalyst exhibits and forces these properties on the potion if it is of pure quality which turns it automatically into a crucial ingredient if the potion crafter wants to craft a potion that is above Expert level. The value of pure sapphires can''t be underestimated in potion crafting but since sapphires are very popular in the jeweler industry they will hardly end up as a catalyst. To make a legendary-level potion more than 3 carats are needed.¡± Hmm, I don''t know how many carats I gave to Uraya, it was a small sapphire but it weighed at least 2 grams. I''m less accurate in weights than I am with time and distances but I''m sure I''m not far off. I might be one carat off, but that would still put the sapphire I gave Uraya at around 10 carats. I can imagine that she would be making a beast of a legendary-level potion now. I don''t know what it would do, I have a vague idea now because of this book. But since there are still various things, she could do with it; it is still a wild guess. Maybe she has an incurable illness that she wants to fix with that potion, or she wants to protect something or ward off curses. Too bad I can''t ask her. I looked for more information but it all boiled down to because pure sapphires were so uncommon in magical potion brewing that there wasn''t much information on it. Only that this potion was invented by a witch. In the second biggest city of the witches, Witchaven. I know next to nothing about witches only that they wear pointy hats and fly around on brooms and I don''t even know if that is accurate.

    Their magic is nearly unparalleled though, that is the only real fact I know about witches. At least that nearly unparalleled counts for everything that lives here in this biggest part of the dimension. So, I''ve been thinking about calling several things side dimensions are confusing. Hourai and where we are now and I guess the spirit world are all in the same dimension they are just uhh closed off from each other. It is like a bag with pockets the whole bag is our dimension and the pockets or sections are like different parts, the biggest part is where we are and Hourai would be like a small pocket on the front of the bag or something. I don''t know how big the spirit world is so I can''t say anything about that, there might be more other pockets but I don''t know anything about it. My pocket dimensions are becoming confusing now since I used a bag as an example. Hmm just see my pocket dimension as really small pockets inside pockets! I''m sorry, I don''t have a better example. Anyways in this bit, the witches are probably one of the strongest beings magic-wise. Most mythical and legendary creatures would give them a run for their money purely magic wise but it won''t be an easy fight. Because they are also smart. It is easier to defeat some gods than a smart and skilled witch because gods over-rely on their power and don''t use their brains in general. Not my words, my mother''s words. She has fought gods. I''m just a 0 experience brat. So yes, you''re hearing this right, in theory, a witch could be harder to deal with than a god. Yes, this world is crazy! Gregory comes down and the doorbell rings.

    Hmm, would that be Cecilia? We haven''t told our story about escaping through sewers and stuff, so she wouldn''t feel guilty then, right? Oh no does that mean we go back to being chased? I surely hope not. The doorbell rings again. Let''s pretend nobody is home!

    ¡°I can hear you Agnis!¡± Shit! Do we run? Let''s hear what she has to say first, you open up the backdoor while I open the door. I will be relying on your speed in case things go wrong. Sure. I opened the back door and returned to Gregory who was opening the front door. He opened it a little bit so he could easily close it, What do you want?

    ¡°We came to apologize for chasing you two around so much.¡± Gregory looked at me, and I indicated that I had no idea what was going on. This is very sudden, did this realization hit you suddenly?

    ¡°Uhh well, we talked to Uraya yesterday and she scolded us for giving youngsters such a hard time. And thinking about it we agreed that she is right.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but we are not giving up on you guys!¡± Cecilia added. ¡°We will just use different non-aggressive methods.¡± How about Donkey? Dunkey. How about Dunkey, Isn''t he a better match than we are?

    ¡°That child has problems; he thinks he''s the strongest kid on the continent and his father is a dunce. And he is not as strong as you two,¡± Cecilia added. None of us can use blue lightning though.

    ¡°I had a run-in with him yesterday, he insulted Kanna and he and his friends started attacking her.¡° Oh no, how terrible! Gregory looked at me, and I shrugged.

    ¡°And well even though they are just kids they didn''t pose any challenge. Whenever we are chasing you two down, we have to be a bit serious about how we approach it else you guys will just slip away.¡± I wouldn''t say slipping away means that we are strong, it just means we are too weak to fight back.

    ¡°You are saying that after what happened three days ago!¡± Three days ago?

    ¡°Yes, when you almost cut my arm off and locked us in the small mall.¡± Oh, sorry about the arm thing.

    ¡°No worries, it convinced me that if I don''t fight you seriously, I could get injured badly, I got lucky because you are so kind.¡± Well, uh apology accepted, thanks for stopping by. Gregory opened the door fully since their intention to stop chasing us seemed to be genuine. It is such a shame if they weren''t so crazy, we would have probably tried to give getting to know their daughters a shot because besides being crazy they seem to be nice people. I think.

    ¡°We¡¯re not expecting you two to forgive us just like that but whenever you feel like you can give us a visit.¡± Charlize said as they were about to walk away. I remembered something that I couldn''t do in this timeline. I threw a small sapphire at Charlize, which she caught. ¡°What is this?¡± My apology for blowing your house up, you can use it to pay for the damages.

    ¡°Ohh how sweet, thank you!¡± Ok Greg, close the door before they change their minds! Gregory closed the door.

    Hmm, it seems that some events will still happen even though other events that could lead up to it were different. Yeah, Uraya saved us there, we should thank her.

    We have a whole day now. So, I guess we can go whenever or just relax. But don''t forget to sell your rubies to that merchant today. But do I really need to? I still have the money from the last timeline and I don''t have the rubies I sold back then. You have more rubies, right? Yeah.

    Just sell those and get even richer! But I don''t need more money¡­

    Although I agree with that, you have to realize you put something unique and valuable in the world, there is no way to know how much of an impact that would''ve made. Doesn''t that mean I should use that as a reason not to do it?

    I don''t know, you tell me, you¡¯re supposed to know this! Ugh, fine I''ll do it, we''ve already deviated too much from the original timeline, so let¡¯s at least try to keep the same as we can. I left Gregory¡¯s house and headed home lost in thought.

    ¡°Oh, look who we have here!¡± I looked at where the voice came from and I saw a chunky guy with 6 people walking behind him. And who are you?

    ¡°You''re kidding, right? We met yesterday I¡¯m Dunkey!¡± Who?

    ¡°Ha, I see my appearance was so shocking that you drew a blank.¡± Said the chunky guy while making a ridiculous pose while discharging some blue sparks. ¡°I see your friend isn''t around today.¡± Yeah, he is actually doing useful things instead of ganging up on guys 2 years younger than him.

    ¡°Hey! We''re not doing this because we want to!¡± One of Chunkey¡¯s friends said. Well then in that case just move along and let me pass. I dodged a blue lightning strike. I assume that he planned this encounter because the magic circle I saw before he shot his lightning seemed to have progressed slowly. Hmm, I think I remember this guy now. Wait I remember you! You are that guy who got owned by that troll!

    ¡°And whose fault do you think that is?¡± How would I know? Probably your own fault for being weak?

    ¡°Alright, Dunkey! Let''s kick his ass!¡± Ugh, this again. I was quite outnumbered. There was Chonkey and his 7 friends. They started to rush at me with various types of magic. A fire punch, seems lukewarm, I caught it with my hand coated in water. What? An earth kick, looks slow, I evaded it. A wind blade flew at me, looks dull, I parried it with an ice blade. A friend rushed at me having enhanced his body with lightning, I tripped him and made him crash into someone else who was attempting something but his magic activation was slow so his cast got interrupted by someone crashing into him.

    ¡°What is this guy?¡± What am I? How rude! I''m a person I have feelings too! Chutney was charging up some more lightning magic while all his friends got tripped up. I shot water bullets at Chunkey with my finger pistol and caused him to interrupt his cast.

    ¡°Shit! Carl back me up I need to recast my blue lightning!¡± I used [Frozen ground] and everyone was sliding around and slipping. I froze their pants to the ground the moment they slipped. Take this time to cool off, I don''t have time to mess around with you guys. I headed home after all this and did some practicing with daggers and wires. I never really used these in battle but they were useful. And then I got reminded about the day I went to deliver the rubies and got the gold for them. I was practicing how to make items and swap places. I was practicing it on leaves I remember. I threw a dagger and made it switch places with some leaves.

    The leaf continued with the speed the dagger had but flipped over and whirled and dropped to the ground. It looked cool and funny so I kept repeating this. I decided to call this swapping [Turning leaf] It made no sense but I got some amusement out of this. The question was if I could swap things that were different in size and weight. I only seemed to swap the objects so whatever inertia the swapped objects had got taken over by those that got swapped. I threw a dagger and swapped it with a stone 10 meters further. The stone was heavier than the dagger. I successfully swapped their places but because the rock was heavier the impact it had when it hit the wall was many times larger.

    Oh, this could turn out to become a very nasty skill. Now for another experiment. I rushed to a wall and swapped places with a dagger. The dagger shot through the wall like it was made out of paper. I realized how risky this was because if this failed, I would have crashed into the wall. There didn''t seem to be an increase in strain when I swapped myself with something small. I had to go look for bigger objects. I teleported to the quarry outside the town. There were a lot of big boulders here. I threw a dagger and swapped it with a boulder. No issues here. The boulder though¡­ It crashed into a rock wall; it was quite destructive.

    Hehe, I knew it, speed is king! With enough speed, I could turn any object into a weapon. All those people in the world claiming: to be strong, is to have high offense! I call bullshit! Speed is king, always was, and always will be. Offense is useless if you can''t hit your target anyways. I throw more daggers and swap them with boulders, I also swap myself with daggers, and I attempt chain swapping. I throw a dagger, swap it with myself, speed up to add more speed to it, and then swap myself with a boulder. Or throw a dagger past a boulder, dash away from the boulder, swap myself with the dagger and the boulder with the dagger which ended the dagger on the original location of the boulder, me flying away from the boulder, and the boulder flying off in the other direction. This was cool and all but getting sent flying after a swap was a bit inconvenient for me. I wanted the option to cancel the inertia if I swapped with a moving object or target. I kept practicing and getting a feel of this skill that for once didn''t put a burden on me or seemed to be too hard to pull off. I then went down the slope to the market where I sold my rubies the last time. I managed to remember how this went and the exchange with Jerry went the same as last time. I knew now how much they were worth so I let him sweat a bit and then asked for the same price I did last time. I had a bit fewer rubies to sell since I was still underselling them. I met up with Ted to go visit Uraya. Gregory was practicing something so I took Ted with me.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    Good afternoon granny Uraya! 2 people in the store were finishing up their payments. Out of the conversation they had with Uraya they seemed to have bought potions that alleviate symptoms of mana poisoning. We might have to tell someone that the sewers are leaking mana and that they should be careful of manholes. ¡°Oh, it''s you again Agnis and I haven''t seen you in a while, Ted.¡±

    Haha, yeah, I recently came back from a trip. I didn''t win but I came close.  I whispered to Ted. Hey didn''t you ask her about the town and stuff? Ted whispered back.

    That was the last timeline, I didn''t talk to her yet in this one.

    ¡°So, what can I help you, boys, with? Do you need more spices or are you hiding again?¡± Uhh, no I just came to thank you for talking to Cecilia and Charlize for us.

    ¡°Ooh, how thoughtful but don''t mind it, you''ve helped me out so even though it isn''t much I''m returning the favor.¡± Oh, it helped a lot! Now we don''t have to be on edge the whole time. So, you¡¯re finally free now eh, I gotta say it did help you become a master at escaping though.

    Well, yes, but I would have preferred a different method over that one. Oh, by the way Uraya, do you have a potion that helps against hydrophobia?

    ¡°This is for Gregory, yes?¡± Yeah, we want to have an adventure on Boshi lake but I''m afraid Gregory won''t have fun. I would ask Gregory to make one for himself but I don''t know if alchemy or magic is needed for this potion and well uhm Gregory¡¯s potions always have some weird side effects. The last potion he made was against nausea but it was so stinky that it ended up making anyone barf who tried to drink it. Uraya chuckled.

    ¡°I might have something for that. It might not be so but have you checked if he has Rabies?¡± Rubies?

    ¡°Rabies, it can make people develop hydrophobia.¡± Uhh, he has had this since forever but how do we find out? I couldn''t tell Uraya that this is because he is a cat so I just played along.

    ¡°Just give him this, this will cure him of Rabies if he has it, it could be dormant for a long time. If he doesn''t have it, it will do nothing. And this is for hydrophobia. It only works for 2 hours and taking a higher dose isn''t recommended so I''m sorry to say this but try to limit your adventure to two hours.¡± Two hours is better than nothing. Ted accepted the blue and purple potion. Any side effects?

    ¡°The hydrophobia potion is the purple one and it has a side effect that it can make the consumer thirsty.¡± Thank you, granny Uraya! I took some silver coins out but Uraya stopped me.

    "I can''t take any money from you after you gave me that sapphire." But the payment¡­  Uraya took a pensive look and then walked towards a shelf and took a potion.

    ¡°If you insist then how about this, you will undoubtedly encounter some Boshi gulls. If you could catch one and make it drink this potion, and bring whatever it spits out to me I¡¯ll accept that as payment.¡± Do you want the Boshigull barf as payment? Alright! It is for your super potion, right? Uraya nods. I grabbed the vial with a yellow-orange liquid in it.

    ¡°The bigger the gull, the better.¡± Alright, thank you Uraya! We need to leave before Ted starts making stupid puns. Hey! My puns are wonder-gull!

    Yes, I was afraid of this, cya Uraya! We left Uraya¡¯s shop. Tomorrow, we have planned to check out the lake and possibly go inside the cave. Since its accessibility is poor, we will leave clones behind since we will probably have to stay down there for longer than a day.

    <hr>

    Day 3: I headed towards the quarry to complete the payment. I would have to seriously consider what I''m going to do with this mountain of gold. Wouldn¡¯t I cause inflation if I would bring this much gold back into circulation? I have no clue how economics works. It probably wouldn''t do anything. I do have to be prepared for super expensive rare materials when I want to make a relic magic sword. Better safe than sorry. I swapped the rubies in the kart and waited for the men in black to arrive. And they did.

    ¡°HELLO KIDDO! WE''RE HERE TO FINALIZE THE¡­¡± The bulky-tanned bald guy looked at a sheet of paper. ¡°RUBIES!¡± I don''t remember this guy being so loud the last time. I thought this was meant to be discreet, but now the whole of Boshi town knows I''m selling rubies.

    ¡°Bwahahaha this kiddo is funny!¡± Ugh, this again. He walks over to me. ¡°Hey, kiddo want to work for us?¡± I''d rather not, I don''t own any earplugs.

    ¡°Hahaha, you¡¯re hilarious, c¡¯mon it will be fun!¡± Those guys don''t seem to be amused also I don¡¯t have any skills in ehh what do you guys do? I said as I pointed to his colleagues. I forgot which one I assigned man in black 1 and man in black 2 the last time.

    ¡°These guys need to learn how to have fun don''t you think and we at Yttroz Industries are responsible for handling rock, dirt, metals and minerals we also are responsible for construction!¡± Yes, I don¡¯t know anything about construction! So, I¡¯m unsuitable!

    ¡°Oh, everyone can join in the construction fun! Everyone knows the household magic [Construction], [Deconstruction], [Reconstruction] and [Repair]. That is all you need!¡± Well, yes, I can use it to make things like ramps and other inanimate objects that aren¡¯t necessarily magic skills but after the magic wears off, they also disappear¡­

    ¡°Well of course! That is why you need to apply those on real materials! After the magic wears off the materials, you used [Construct] or [Repair] on will linger after the magic wears off. That is why water and earth magic are interesting to us. These 2 elements can be used to create structures purely out of already existing water or earth and after the magic wears off, they will linger.¡± Wait really? I pulled water to my hand and made sure to not increase its volume but only used already existing water and made a small ice dagger. The magic skills Rock named are so basic in life and magic that most people don¡¯t think about it. The [Construction] magic wore off and where the dagger would normally disappear, it still remained in my hand but started melting as soon as the magic wore off. Interesting

    ¡°I see you already figured it out! I knew you would fit right in!¡± He tried to slap my back but just like the last time there was way too much power behind it and I dodged it. ¡°You also seem to have some moves yourself.¡±

    ¡°Hey, Brock stop harassing our client! We¡¯re here to exchange the rubies for gold.¡±

    ¡°I know but good talent is invaluable!¡± Oh no, I don''t like how this is going. ¡°But you¡¯re right. Can I at least get a fist bump?¡± Sure, why not? I gave Rock a fist bump.

    ¡°Hmm, so you''re this strong, eh?¡± I jumped back at that comment. I have no idea what you''re talking about. I said as I inspected my hand. Nothing should have given away my strength. Did I mess up on something basic? I only know how things are done here in Boshi town. Maybe things go differently outside. Sock took off his black suit and went shirtless, it suited him more than the suit he was wearing earlier.

    ¡°Hahaha, you don''t need to hide it kiddo! I can determine how strong someone is with a fist bump!¡± What a useless ability¡­

    ¡°Ok, that is enough Brock!¡± Man in black nr 1 or was it nr 2? He cast something that looked like a summoning circle and something dropped out of the sky.

    ¡°Hahaha! Not today!¡± Bock backstepped and punched whatever dropped from the sky at me. I sidestepped it.

    ¡°Wha!¡± The one who summoned this thing was surprised. ¡°Let''s see what more tricks you have up your sleeve.¡± He rushed at me. He wasn''t particularly fast but he was fast for his build. He threw numerous punches which I evaded. I was wondering how I could get out of this situation without giving too much away. People in Boshi town knew me for my water magic so I had to stick to it. But normal people wouldn''t be able to cast anything while under a fierce barrage like this. I could but that would just feed this guy¡¯s motivation. I should try to be as average and mediocre as possible. I realized that I already made a mistake. The men in black were looking at me quite surprised. It seems an average person wouldn''t be able to evade all these punches. So, do I get hit then? I analyzed these punches. Yah, these will send me flying and they will hurt like hell. I imbued my legs with ice and kicked one of his arms aside, I followed up with a roundhouse kick which he blocked. Ice crystals started to grow on his arm so he backed off.

    ¡°Not bad kiddo! I''m glad I wasn''t wrong about you, it wouldn''t be funny if I punched you and you went splat on the rock wall behind you, wahahaha.¡± So, there you have it I''m a bit stronger than the average kid, are you done now?

    ¡°I will give up if you can defeat me kiddo! And if you lose you will join our company!¡± But why! I looked over to the men in black and they seemed to cheer me on. It seems they gave up. I was dodging more punches and used [Frozen ground]. I then skated towards him and threw an ice punch at his abdomen. Ouch! This guy was as hard as a rock. I mean literally! I don''t need any Raishin innuendos or Ted puns here! Rock shrugged the punch off and seemingly wanted to do a wrestling move. I backed off. If he catches me there is nothing I can do against his stupid strength. He threw a big punch. He was a couple of meters in front of me but I still dodged. A mass of air rushed past me. Whew, that was close. He threw more air punches and I evaded these too. I guess he started throwing air punches because he would slip if he moved. I moved behind him. Rock punched the ground and rocks jutted out of the ground. He jumped on some rocks and started throwing boulders. What is wrong with this guy? I looked at the men in black and they were eating popcorn. How rude! I froze a boulder he was about to pick up which made it slip out of his hands and dropped on his toe.

    ¡°Ouch!¡± Hehe, how do you like my new move the [Toe Crusher]?

    ¡°Haha, you¡¯re a funny kid but I''m wearing heavy-duty steel-tipped boots!¡± He showed his boots that looked sturdy indeed. ¡°They are on discount now for only 3 silver they are yours!¡± You are ridiculous! A bit upset that my new move [Toe Crusher] didn''t work I froze the rock, Rock was standing on. I also sent a water blast at him. He punched the water blast and dispersed it. What! He punched again and I dodged the air punch. I sent an ice disk at him. He picked up a huge rock and used it to block the disks. I would give it to him, he surely was creative. He punched the ground again to make more rocks jut out since I froze the majority of his rocks. I realized not only do I suck at using earth magic but my matchup against it also kind of sucks. That is if I don''t want to kill him. I''m severely lacking in non-lethal moves against regular people. I gathered water and formed a water bubble around his head. If I could make him pass out like that then that would be great. Rock smashed his head into a rock. I guess the rock sucked up the water. He pulled his head out of the rock and a little bit of blood trickled down his forehead. Great the only damage done to him was him head-smashing a rock. I can''t cut him up, using lightning will put everyone on alert, I surely can''t vaporize him.

    Close combat¡­ I looked at the bulky Rock, yup that''s not going to work either. What else can I do with water? Rock was chopping some rocks with his hands. What is this guy doing? He threw some rocks at me in the meantime to keep me busy. There was no need because for now, I didn''t know how to deal with him nor was getting close to him a great idea. He was in his mountain of rocks; I would practically step into his domain. I remembered making fun of people who think strength is everything and that speed is king. I wish I could punch the past me for saying this.

    Let me think, speed is king, speed is king¡­ I remembered how I moved the big paparazzi stone into my dimensional pocket. Yikes, that is going to be hard to set up against anything with a brain. I can''t rely on my tails to boost my speed. If I could just shoot myself forward. Hmmm. I made a hollow cylinder out of ice, filled it with water and made an ice disk, moved it back, and compressed the water. The cylinder I made was quite thick so It would be able to handle the increase in pressure. I froze the lid to the cylinder with frost magic. The water was pushed back by about 30% into the cylinder. I went to stand on the lid. Rock was too busy chopping rocks and throwing them to notice what I was doing. Now that my setup was done, I just had to turn the water in the cylinder into steam making it expand and removing the frost that is keeping the lid in its place.

    This should shoot me out like a cannon. I would have to make my multi-layered water and frost barrier again so I was a cannonball. I was considering that this might be a bad idea but Rock then noticed what I was doing. Guess it''s do or die! I fired off the [Steam Cannon]. Rock hastily put on some rock ice skates he seemed to have made and tried to escape. I made ice ramps to steer my trajectory. So, I guess I accidentally copied a game where you shoot a ball through a track and tubes. Anyways the barriers I made were around me forming a ball and I was making ramps and tubes and bends with ice to try and hit the ice-skating Rock. He realized that he couldn''t possibly keep dodging an enormous fast-moving ice marble and took a foothold on a rock and met me head-on with a punch of his. I''m sure Ted would like this guy. I realized that Ted could fight like this! I should knock this guy out and tell these men in black who are still eating popcorn to get into contact with Ted. My water/ice barrier wasn''t budging, and Rock wasn''t budging either. I guess this is what they call a stalemate. Or was it? There was a big rock behind Rock. I swapped places with it and formed an ice blade which I held at his neck. I guess this is my win.

    ¡°Haha kiddo you are really strong! I would like to surrender but then well both get run over by this ball of ice. I was convinced you were inside of it!¡± Ice clone I lied as I made a clone of myself with ice. I canceled all the ice and water crashing into Rock. ¡°Too bad we would''ve made a great combo!¡± I doubt that. He tried to pat my back again but there was too much strength in it so I dodged it which made him slip. ¡°Ouch, you are merciless kiddo.¡± Uhh sorry. I also canceled the frozen ground. The men in black walked toward us while clapping.

    ¡°That was a marvelous display! Yeah, you owned Brock!¡± Uhh, thank you, I guess?

    ¡°Ugh, you really schooled me kiddo. But I''m satisfied.¡± I know someone who would love to be your sparring partner, he is as strong as I am. Just send one of your company-issued clones or some other message to this address. His name is Ted. I wrote Ted¡¯s address on a piece of paper and handed it to Rock. Also, I would like to finalize the transaction.

    ¡°Ah right! That is what we came here for.¡± Man in black 2, who still had popcorn in his beard, opened the vehicle. Everything after this went similarly to the first time lop. Only this time Rock was there actually being useful. I am filthy rich now. We were planning to go investigate the underwater cave at the same time as we investigated the PB cave the last time. This means that we will go after dinner. It isn''t that great of an idea to head out on a lake when it''s starting to turn into night but we will have to try to at least keep the timelines similar. This meant that minus eating dinner I had about 5 to 6 hours of free time.

    As I walked home, I thought back on my steam cannon. The setup took too long. The idea worked but I wanted more power and less setup. I don''t use steam as much. The steam expert is Yuna. I stopped. I tried to not think much about it but I did miss my family. I convinced myself that being sad wouldn''t help, I needed to figure this skill out so that we can get out of there earlier and can go home. So, what would Yuna do... she is a master of steam explosions. Maybe I should use a steam explosion to power the cannon. Chuck in some fire in the cylinder and the fire will forcibly sublimate the ice creating a steam explosion that would send me flying. There I fixed the skill. Or not it will blow up on me before I fully form my water ice barrier. Hmmm oh, I could swap some fire-loaded frost marbles in when I''m ready for takeoff. Just leave some ice cubes that I can swap marbles with. Now the skill is fixed. Or is it. No, I think it is fixed now. I arrived home and was wondering what I would do until it was adventure time.

 Ch 26: Boshi lake

    I decided to head over to Raishin to do some gaming. Raishin got a gaming console 3 years ago from Johnny. After that Johnny brought various games that Raishin could use. A moment to relax and do nothing was important too! We were playing, a racing game where weapons and items can be used to gain an edge. My exceptional vision made me a tough opponent for Raishin to beat. We also played a fighting game in which we were evenly matched it was a clash of his ability to find my weakness and my vision, sometimes I lost sometimes I won, and sometimes wins were completely random because of the nature of the game a lot of random stuff happened like bombs blowing up or random events obscuring the screen or characters throwing stuff at us. One chaotic game. This was the game Johnny brought for him in the last timeline apparently. After that, we played a role-playing game.

    We left this one for last because we wanted to play this the most. It might not be based on reality but some boss fights could give us insights that could help against real enemies. Raishin¡¯s intuition was very important in these types of games. Since it is a game, I can''t just look around with my eyes in its environment and here is where Raishin¡¯s intuition was superior. Raishin was playing a warrior and I was playing a mage. We basically played the role that comes the closest to what we do in real life. Not very exciting I know but there is a reason for it. We suck at anything else. It is that simple.

    Raishin¡¯s impulsive and impatient behavior only really leaves a warrior or a knight role for him. I could probably also be a rogue but I feel more comfortable as a mage. We entered a dungeon after having to solve some obnoxious puzzles. The trash mobs weren''t that bad. Oh, right for the non-gamers, trash mobs are just random monsters that annoy you until you can fight the main boss or a mini-boss. I''m not sure how the term trash mobs will sound to anyone unfamiliar with it so just so you know! Anyways the dungeon was quite uneventful until we arrived at the final boss. We expected something big but it was just a human-sized troll. The corundum dungeon was way more exciting than this fantasy dungeon. What is going on here! Did the developers run out of creativity? After a 10-minute boss battle, the boss died and dropped mediocre loot.

    Well, that was a disappointment. Do you think we were over-leveled?

    I don''t think so it hit both of us and the damage seemed to be normal. I think the battle was just boring, there was nothing to make us pay attention or something. It didn''t even have a second phase or enrage! What kind of boss doesn''t have these!

    I don''t know, maybe the boss returns later in the game and is way stronger. We look at each other.

    Naaah! Naah! We put away Raishin¡¯s gaming console.

    Those spirit sisters didn''t have a second phase or enrage, do you think they will come back for a round 2? I talked to them and it doesn''t seem like they are up for round 2. We might have to look out for those that could though.

    You know I was thinking, I don''t have any great defensive skills so I was wondering about how to help in sticky situations. Is our last battle bothering you too?

    Well of course! So, I was thinking instead of using defensive skills how about I just throw an equally strong or a stronger attack back to cancel out the threat? That sounds like a good idea but how do you know how much power you need to cancel out a big attack?

    Hehe, that is what you are for! Oh no¡­ what do I need to do?

    Don''t worry! I thought long and hard about it. So, I need to just attach a number to attacks so I know how much power I need to cancel them out! What? I have no clue what you mean by that.

    Ok, I''ll show you! Let''s go outside! I followed Raishin who dashed outside. We took a great distance from his hut so we could more or less throw skills around without being an issue.

    Ok so I will use a skill on that tree there and you analyze its power! I will give the power I put in it the number 1 and I will make more attacks that are stronger than the initial one and you will need to tell me how much stronger it is than the initial one. Skills that are 2x as powerful as my initial skill get the number 2, skills that are 3x stronger get the number 3, etc. Sounds like the calibration curves Gregory makes sometimes.

    Cali what? Eh yeah, that! I guess. Alright, that sounds like a good idea, but how is that going to help you to cancel out attacks in the future.

    Ok, so let''s assume the next boss we fight shoots a big spell at us, all you have to do is say the number that corresponds with its power, and I can throw an equally powerful attack at it to cancel it out! Hmm, that could work, let''s go for it! The following hour we spend refining this idea. After getting a good grasp on it I sent some attacks at Raishin and told him the power number associated with it to which he threw an attack of equal power at it, canceling it out. I did remind him about element interactions like you don''t throw wind at a fire attack because you will feed the fire and make it stronger, things like that. Anything under the number 43 could be countered by Raishin almost instantly, anything higher and he would need some time to generate energy. 43 was still a big number. I did test levels that weren''t whole numbers. Raishin seemed to struggle to get the power level of those correctly with those so I just decided to round up and give him that number. Apparently, his [Raishin kick] is a 43. I asked him how he wants to deal with combos but he didn''t know. So, I decided that he wouldn''t deal with combos.

    <hr>

    It was time for dinner. After dinner, we would go give Boshi lake a visit. Hera baked a potato dish. As I looked at my nemesis that was lying on my plate in slices of something that looked like a mountain but made out of potato slices and spinach. So, Hera, is Philip eating enough? I said as I pushed the plate towards Philip. ¡°He seems to be eating well, he went from not eating half my dishes to only not eating a quarter.¡± I looked over at Philip who was eating nervously and pushed the plate back. For some reason, Philip always managed to somehow miss eating his wife''s food. I think he is cursed.

    He still looks a bit weak I think he needs to eat a bit more. I said as I pushed the plate back to Philip. Hera was still fixing some stuff up in the kitchen so she was with her back at us. She told us to eat ahead because she was going to some friends of hers and exchanging their food or something. Philip''s plate wasn''t empty but he was close to finishing. He didn''t seem to accept my kindness and the mountain of potato slices with them. I handed him a glass of water and with it my plate. It¡¯s a package deal, accept it. I whispered. I even ate all the spinach; I know you don''t like spinach. He still didn''t accept, I guess the mountain of sliced potatoes was too intimidating to him, I can''t blame him. He also looked a bit thin; he really needed the food.

    ¡°Don''t tell me you¡¯re not eating again Philip!¡± I swapped my plate and his plate with [Turning leaf] seconds before Hera turned around. ¡°Philip!¡± I apologized to Philip in my head, quickly shoved the 6 remaining potato slices Philip left me in my mouth, and went off.

    Thank you for the food! I said with my mouth full. Now I know that was very mean but I''m in a hurry! It is adventure time and I don''t have time to waste 2 hours on eating a potato mountain! I felt sorry for Hera but I also feel sorry for myself for having to deal with those potatoes. As I headed towards the lake I bumped into a blue-haired woman. It was starting to get dark so things got harder to see. I didn''t have a reason to keep Elgards eyes running in this situation so that is how I bumped into her. My memory isn''t that great but I would remember if someone with an unusual hair color would live here. It could also be the poor lighting that I mistook for the color of her hair. Oh sorry, my bad.

    ¡°Pay it no mind, I wasn''t paying much attention either.¡± Be careful! You never know what weirdos you might run into! I shook my head as I realized I would probably also fall into that category. ¡°Have fun on the lake!¡± Thank you! I wasn''t late or anything but I still ran towards my destination. I arrived at Boshi lake minor after 10 minutes. I was looking for a boat or something I could make a boat out of when I realized something. Did I tell that lady that I was going to the lake? Where I bumped into her was quite far from the lake so it wouldn''t make any sense for her to know that I would be going to the lake. I activated my Elgards eyes and tried looking for her but weirdly enough I couldn''t find her. I tried different filters. Did I imagine this encounter? I didn''t get any chance to give this anymore thought because Raishin and Gregory arrived.

    Ted says he is running late, he went to meet a bulky guy outside town for some training. Oh, he must be meeting with Rock. Rock? I told my buddies about my encounter with Rock.

    Sounds like an aggressive fighting style. He sounds cool! But ehh what do we do while waiting for Ted? We make a boat! I looked around but I couldn''t find anything that could make for a good boat.

    No luck let''s go home! I stopped Gregory as he turned around. Not so fast. For situations like this, I have my dimensional pocket!

    You''re not going to tell me that you have a boat in there! Of course not! What sane person would chuck a boat in their dimensional pocket! Raishin and Gregory give me a weird look.

    I do have wood though! We spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to build a boat and eventually, we finished. Our masterpiece was uhh. Pathetic. I am not going on that lake with this¡­ thing! Can this even be called a boat?

    Hmm, this went way better in my head. Yoo guys what are you up to? We attempted to make a boat.

    Oooh, nice! So where is it? Ted looked around trying to find a boat. He realized what we called a ¡°boat¡± when Gregory pointed at it.

    Oh, I thought this was some driftwood. Hey, that is 20 minutes of hard work you''re insulting! Well, we can''t head out like this. Anyone knows boat magic? What is boat magic supposed to be?

    Is that even a thing? Alright, an ice floe it is! I hope you guys like freezing your asses off! Hey, can you line the inside with snow? It will insulate and it won''t be as cold.

    Sure, oh wait let me try something. I think I might be able to make frost magic that isn''t cold. Are you sure you should just be throwing frost magic around like that? It is lost magic after all.

    It will be fine! I made a nice spacious rowboat out of frost. It was only a little bit cold.

    There I even got some oars and special seats for Ted and Raishin! Ooh, nice! Wait why do we need special seats?

    Because you two are rowing of course! Objection!

    Well, if you suddenly gain proficiency in water magic then I will let you deal with unexpected situations. I withdraw my objection. Meh.

    Alright! Raise the sails and let''s sail off into the sunset! I said as I put one foot on the bow of the ship ehh rowboat and pointed a sword made out of ice forward.

    We don''t have any sails and the sun has already set. Party-pooper. You had to ruin it. We rowed over Boshi lake minor. Nothing eventful happened because this lake is safe. It is also enclosed by Boshi town so even if it had monsters the townspeople would have dealt with them ages ago. The only dangerous lake is Boshi lake Major, our destination. We rowed into Boshi lake medium.

    \Say... I don''t want to complain but why aren''t we using magic to power this boat? That is a good question why aren''t you guys using magic to row faster? Hey! And uhh, I saw Raishin just row manually so I just went with it.

    Whoa, so it is my fault? How about we see who can row the best! Haha, I will destroy you. Please don''t do anything reckless!

    Oh, right we have something for you, Greg. Ted took two potions out of his bag.

    We got two potions to fix your, what was it? Hydrophobia. Ah, right we had those yeah. I took a potion out of my dimensional pocket.

    Which one was it though? I thought you knew. Gregory grabbed Ted by the collar. Why would you leave Agnis in charge of anything memory related!

    Uh, my bad. Hey come on my memory isn''t that bad! Let''s see, the purple one was for his hydrophobia, the blue one was against rabies and this orange-yellow one was to get gullbarf for Uraya. What? Why are you all looking at me like that? Who are you and what did you do to Agnis!

    Hahaha, I''m surprised you noticed! I''m Singa the doppelganger, I have claimed this young man¡¯s soul so that I can experience greatness! Yup, he''s the real Agnis. Sorry, I doubted you. There is no way any imposter would say something like this.

    Wow, you guys suck! Gregory downed both the potions Ted gave to him.

    I won''t ask anything about this rabies potion as long as it works. I looked around and saw a bulky Boshigull fly past. Wow, that gull lifts! That is the one we need! It looks like he skipped leg day though.

    I don''t think birds can train their legs. I finger pistoled some ice cubes at its wings making the bulky gull drop down into the water. I then retrieved it and shoved the potion down its throat. It coughed up some weird dark purple goopy ball that looked like it had veins in it. I caught it in an ice jar and placed it in my dimensional pocket. I don''t know if it decays so I just kept it chilled and time locked in there. Eww, what was that?

    I don''t know and I don''t want to know. I released the bulky gull which left after punching me in the nose. Ouch! Can''t say you didn''t deserve that.

    I should suggest fried Boshigull to Hera as a new dish. We sailed uhh rowed down Boshi lake and passed through a small river that connected to lake major. There was a small sluice here that kept the waters separated. It would only open for fishing boats and boats aiming to exterminate some monsters. Getting past this was easy since Raishin teleported us with the boat to the other side. This potion works really well. We didn''t make it far before a lake monster appeared.

    It''s a sea monster! Agnis fry it! We are on a lake which makes it a lake monster.

    Agnis fry it! I froze it.

    Why aren''t you frying it! I would like to remind you that we are on a boat made out of frost magic any attempt of using high-energy magic will just get absorbed by the boat. At least it won''t melt so we¡¯re lucky with that. Hmm no that''s not it, I decided to take a supportive role. You can stop rowing Raishin, go zap these monsters.

    Ooh! Now we¡¯re talking. Hmm why this sudden change? I will probably end up freezing the whole lake which is a bad idea, also my mobility is limited on this small boat.

    Oh. Here I was thinking you could run over water or something haha. I can but I feel like sitting back today.

    Oh. I thawed the lake monster and Raishin zapped it. More lake monsters appeared and he tried zapping them too but he was having difficulty hitting them. They started firing water blasts at us and Gregory was blocking these with [Water wall] and [Shadow wall]. The waves rocked the boat. The water started to become violent so I kept the boat steady despite these waves.

    Ooh, that is useful, teach me that later Agnis. A lake monster emerged from the lake and shot a water blast at us. Gregory was ready to block it but I stopped him. I used a frost mirror which returned the water blast with greater power. It is a nice skill and it counters and transforms any attack that hits it into an attack that looks like I cast it. Of course, this counter blasted the lake monster''s head, and one shot it. Gregory was shocked but I explained that it is a heavily modified frost wall that I used to counter the laser in the last timeline and that it won''t cause me problems. I will shatter this mirror if it would come to the point that it would affect me, I do have an idea to make it work even if it fails to counter so don''t worry. Gregory who looks convinced relaxes.

    So, what now? Our main damage dealer isn''t hitting anything and this lake is infested with monsters. I have just the thing for that. You remember that rain Cecilia made right Gregory? I said as I pointed towards the sky and it started drizzling and then raining heavily. Hey, what gives!

    Just bear with it, it is a support skill, it washes mana off the opponents which makes their magic attacks weaker for allies it has a calming effect and prevents and removes berserk, rage, and panic status effects. It does also boost water magic attacks but this is indiscriminate. But the biggest reason for using this is that over there! I pointed towards Raishin.

    Hahaha! Agnis this rain is amazing! It makes my lightning attacks have 100% accuracy! Raishin was wildly throwing lightning attacks around which still ended up hitting the lake monsters because of the rain. Ted carefully rowed towards the middle of the lake and then we saw a huge shadow beneath us. An enormous bulge of water emerged and an enormous lake monster, which I assumed is the boss of this lake, appeared. I guess we summoned the boss.

    Raishin, show him who¡¯s boss! Haha, this will be easy! I don''t even need to aim. He made a huge red lightning bolt and threw it up in the air. Hey, Raishin where are you aiming, it is right there!

    100% accuracy remember! The lightning bolt hit the clouds but nothing seemed to happen. Uh oh, this is bad. Not this again, what is bad now?

    So, I use small frost particles in those rainclouds to make the magic bounce around and amplify itself, this way I can use a drop of magic for this wide-range effect. Let me guess now Raishin¡¯s lightning is bouncing around and getting amplified?

    Bingo! The clouds started glowing red and they transformed into thunderclouds. I could see the charge build up in the clouds and the negative charge around us getting flushed away.

    So, Greg, I''m sure I don''t need to tell you this because you probably felt that energy shift, but just so you and Ted know, WE ARE SO SCREWED! Ugh, Raishin is too far. I haven''t tried this before but I really hope this would work. I used [Turning leaf] and swapped Raishin with a raindrop falling next to me.

    What the! Gregory made a shadow ball around the boat and I made a frost ball around the boat. These were basically [Shadow wall] and [Frost wall] but since we are in a boat, we want to protect ourselves from all directions.

    Hey, link us up with your vision I want to see what''s going to happen! I''ll bet 10 gold on chaos; chaos is going to happen. I linked my vision with my buddies. All we saw was the clouds getting deeper and deeper red.

    See it wasn''t that bad. And then it started raining red lightning. Numerous red lightning bolts poured down from the thunderclouds like it was rain, electrifying the whole lake and killing every single monster in the lake, also every fish got electrocuted. The water even got purified by the sheer amount of electricity running through the lake. The red lightning rain continued for 10 minutes before it started to calm down. After 15 minutes the clouds cleared away and it was safe to drop the balls.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Any chance that this went unnoticed in Boshi town? I¡¯m sure all the people that are deaf and blind wouldn¡¯t have missed this. Well to be fair last timeline we created a pink pillar of light so I guess we are supposed to drop at least 1 highly noticeable flashy skill every once and a while. We all look at Raishin. Uhm¡­ oops?

    Right, no point in telling you that you could have killed us, let''s move on. What about all these dead fish and lake monsters? On it! I sucked the dead fish into a pocket dimension meant for food, so it would be chilled and preserved, I don''t want any stupid dead monsters near my food so I chucked them in another part. Who knows maybe I will need an electrified lake monster in the future. I doubt it but who knows! After I moved all the dead stuff away the lake looked super clean.

    Any chance that we secretly helped out Boshi town a lot with this? Hmm well, the lake monsters were always a problem so we did help out with that, the disappearance of the fish here, however¡­ You give some, you take some! Let''s find that cave! We headed towards the rock wall where the lake met the mountainside.

    So how are we going to get down there? We swim of course! So how do we get down there? I grabbed Gregory and jumped in the water.

    Geronimo! Time for some water fun! Nooo! Guess we''ll go then. I popped out 4 tails and used them as propellors. The lake seemed quite deep. I identified the cave entrance and made 2 rows of ice balls filled with water towards the entrance of the cave making a path that indicated where to go. Raishin grabbed Ted. Ted could swim but he wasn''t as fast as us when we used our tails as propellers. We also can''t take our time because obviously, we would run out of breath. We dived down to the bottom of the lake. The lake was about 450 meters deep. We had to put some speed on it. When we are in the cave Raishin can make an air bubble stick to the ceiling so we can breathe. We made it into the cave as we started to run out of breath and Raishin made an air bubble.

    Phew, that was deeper than I thought I almost thought we wouldn''t make it. How much further do we need to swim until we can set foot on dry land? Can we go home now? Uhh, at least 600 meters more.

    Alright, let''s go! Noo! We made 2 more stops to breathe before we could swim up and emerged from a small lake inside a cavern.

    Yes! Solid ground! I won''t ever lose contact with you ever again Yabia I promise! Stop being so dramatic! I said as I removed all the water from our clothes. By the way, what Gregory said is something people say when they have been stuck on or in water for too long or in the air. Yabia is the name of our planet. I don''t know what you guys call it now though. Anyways we were in the cavern complex which would lead towards our target, the broccoli root. We investigated the cavern a bit. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. Until¡­

    Raishin a 12 at your 4-o clock! Raishin turned and shot a lightning bolt at a laser that appeared out of nowhere.

    Ugh more lasers, you guys deal with that! I have had bad experiences with lasers. I focused on the origin of the laser and...

    Bunai? No, you are not Bunai! Bunai is dead! Show yourself, imposter! Several rock golems appeared.

    You do know that golems are quite common right? Burn 5000 degrees! I said in Corund. The golems caught fire and melted.

    Easy, that is what you get for shooting lasers at me! But he didn''t shoot it at you! Aw, I wanted to test my new mountain buster skill on them.

    Don''t worry you can deal with any that appear. I have a bad matchup against these anyways, I will let you guys have some fun. We navigated through the cave system and encountered various underground monsters but more than any other monster we met golems. Lotsa golems. All went well until we encountered a big golem. Right, it is now time for my mountain buster!

    Just do know we are still under this mountain so please don''t vaporize it. Yeah, I like myself not vaporized. Hey guys! Shut up! Who here has vaporized 2 mountains and made it rain lightning for 10 minutes? It is you two! Not me!

    Hey! I only vaporized one mountain I¡¯ll have you know, the other one was a joint effort with Raishin so that doesn''t count! Wait so the lightning rain is my fault? Yes.

    Yup. You didn''t have to shoot it upwards you know; the boss monster was right in front of you¡­ Ted bumped his fists together and dashed toward the big golem. Before he reached the big golem he rotated once around his axis and landed an explosive punch.

    [Mountain buster]! You know you don''t have to yell your skill; this is not a game! I saw how earth magic from the ground was entering his body via his left leg and went to his right arm. The golem got sent flying and punched a huge hole in the wall. The wall started forming countless cracks which reached towards the ceiling. Hey, it seems like you''re one of us after all!

    Well, he is busting this mountain quite well, we gotta get out of here. Ugh, I can''t believe I did something similar to those guys! It is fine it was bound to happen sooner or later. We ran as the place started collapsing. And then I saw a passage that I didn''t see before. Hmm, that is strange? Did I miss it? That didn''t seem to matter because we were heading straight toward it and other exits were a bit too far.

    I think we need to make a bingo card for these things. What? A bingo card to keep track of who destroys the most mountains? An adventure isn''t complete with a collapsing or vaporized mountain or two! I disagree! It is kind of hard to cover up all this stuff with illusions. Oh, so all that stuff you''re hiding with your illusions?

    Well, not much hiding because most of these are sudden so I didn''t set up anything for it. I just make people feel uncertain that an event like that really happened. For some, it works better than others so when it gets discussed some say they don''t recall something like that happening which causes others to think maybe it was a dream or I imagined it. In the case of that lightning rain though, I had some illusion layers running so it is easy to make it seem that that never happened. Ooh, right you still have like a gazillion layers running, right?

    Yeah, but I have a lot of things I want to test out so don''t count too much on them, I will use them though in case any of us are in grave danger. Hmm, that''s fine, I guess you don''t have a lot of opportunities to work with so many layers. I guess it will benefit us in the future.

    Yeah, I still have to figure out what I can do with them and part of it falls into stuff like this. I snapped my fingers and undid the collapsing cavern.

    We might need this place, later on, I do think we should check out this corridor though. I said as I pointed toward the one, I seemingly missed.

    For some reason, I can''t see deep into this corridor, which makes it super suspicious. It is similar to how I can''t really see what''s going on close to any other roots. Guess we found our route then. So, does this mean that me busting this mountain doesn''t count?

    It still counts. Nice try. Meh. After going down the corridor we noticed that the rock walls were closing in on us becoming narrower and narrower as we progressed. Until eventually the path became so narrow that we couldn''t continue.

    Alright, let''s punch our way through! How about we don''t! Gregory took away the energy Raishin created and banked it in his shadow.

    Didn''t you see what just happened? You want to bring this mountain down upon us? Oh shit, my bad.

    Let me try something. There is a draft coming through here, right? Let me try and shadowmeld all of you guys and move through this narrow pathway. Ooh, good idea. Gregory covered us in a [shadow cloak] and made us meld into the shadows. Since he couldn''t see his destination nor did he know how far he had to move, he moved physically and tugged us along. I helped with tugging but the moving was done by Gregory. Moving like this wasn''t really fast but it also wasn''t slow. It was a bit faster than a lycanthrope sprint. How fast is a lycanthrope? It is fast but most races that aren''t slow could outrun it, humans belong to the slower races though, Raishin and I could outpace it easily, I guess Ted would have an even match, and Gregory would get left in the dust. After about 10 minutes the path got wider and the path became wide enough that the 2 of us could walk next to each other.

    Heh, easy! Gregory¡¯s mood turned sour when a couple meters further up the path started to transition into a body of water.

    I guess this is a dead end let''s go back! How about we don''t? It seems we can still continue. This is the first time I see a river underwater. Time for Ice raft v2.0!

    What happened to Ice raft v1.0? We left it behind on the lake remember?

    You didn''t dispel it? Maybe I should do that. Alright, time for Ice raft v1.1! I made the raft and stood on the bow of the rowboat.

    We have a problem; this river is too narrow to use oars. Don''t we have a living engine here? Ted said as he pointed at Raishin.

    Aight Raishin, here is the plan! You dip your tails in the water and use them as propellors! Roger!

    Ted, help me get Greg inside the boat! Roger! Nooo! Let''s go back! How about those other corridors they seemed dry! I guess the hydrophobia potion is starting to wear off.

    He should have 17 more minutes; he''s just being a baby. Gregory who was gripping onto a stalagmite wasn''t budging.

    Alright, let''s do this differently, Raishin fire up the engine, and Ted hop into the boat! Are we leaving him behind?

    Not quite. I put my finger in the water and let a drop fall into the empty seat behind me. While the droplet was still falling, I used [Turning leaf] to switch Gregory with the water droplet. What!

    Full speed ahead! Engine at maximum power! Ready for takeoff! Hey, are there any safety belts? Save me! And we sped into the dark.

    I was in charge of steering because I could see what was going on in front of us at this speed. Ted and Gregory were too busy holding onto the boat anyways. Raishin seemed to enjoy this. I got to say it was quite challenging, most of this underground river was almost as narrow as our boat was wide. I was quite good at using water magic and an accurate person, I guess my buddies got lucky in this. There were some moments when we had no choice but to scrape against the walls. I guess the 17 minutes have passed by now because it seemed like Gregory was crying. Hey, Greg? Wha.. what?

    Do you by any chance have a sleeping potion or something? You want to sleep now?! Who is going to perfectly steer this boat if you go take a nap!

    Uhm, it isn''t for me, just answer the question, do you have one? Uhh, I have one but it is a bit too concentrated, I was planning to throw it at a big boss.

    It doesn''t need to be ingested? It works best when ingested but it also works when inhaled.

    Alright. I took the potion and forced it down Gregory¡¯s throat. Wha? What are¡­ you¡­ doing... zzzzz.

    I''m sorry but you will thank me later. Why did you do that? I used some thick wires that I retrieved out of my dimensional pocket to fasten the sleeping, Gregory. And I handed some to Raishin and Ted.

    So, I just spotted a water rapid and not just any, there''s a big complex of rapids, there are waterfalls and maelstroms so uhh basically it will be a wild ride and Gregory¡¯s worst nightmare. Right, of course, we can never have a quiet, safe, and uneventful adventure, so how long until we hit this water circus?

    Well, it leads with a waterfall which we will encounter about now. As I said that we started to speed up and the rumbling of water could be heard.

    I hope you two fastened yourself properly, I won''t have much leeway in saving you when you fly off since I will be navigating and making sure we don''t capsize or sink. Hoo boi.

    Raishin at which power level are you propelling us forward? Uhh like as the training we did? This is a 5.

    Yes, like the training. I did some fast calculations to determine what power would correspond to what speeds. The same thing as with countering magic, if I say a number, you give that output in propulsion alright? Aye aye captain! So uhh about that sleeping potion is there still some left for me?

    Nope sorry! Raishin 0! The propulsion stopped as we started falling. We could see a stupid amount of rapids, torrents, and some maelstroms, there were multiple exits in this huge cavern and every single exit seemed to have fast-flowing water in it. We have been through a lot but this might actually kill Gregory if he was still awake.

    Raishin when we hit the water 15. Wait isn''t that too fast?

    If you want to get sucked up by that maelstrom then yes, else we¡¯ll need that speed. I created countless bubbles beneath the boat. To slow down the fall.

    Can you use wind magic to stabilize and orient the boat so that we don''t nosedive? Number?

    Really? Sorry. Raishin corrected the boat so that the bottom of the boat wasn¡¯t pointing down. I made more bubbles and our fall was slowing down. We crashed into the surface and the shockwave sent us upwards. Gregory was fastened properly so there were no problems there. Ted however flew off. I used [Turning leaf] on him swapping him with some water droplets. I''m so glad I have this skill, it is so overpowered, especially around water. I''m also glad that I realized that inertia doesn''t change after swapping so I had to find something for it. Seems I can cancel that or let the objects keep their initial inertia instead of taking over the inertia of what they switched with. This however did take some energy. It wasn''t that big of a cost so I could use it a lot. The problem is, however, at the moment I''m dealing with a lot of things. Raishin propelled us at 15 and we escaped the pull of the maelstrom. I needed to make a sharp turn else we would be heading for another waterfall.

    I wonder if a boat can drift as we do in our racing game. What?

    Guess there is one way to find out. I reduced the density of the water at the back of the boat so that there was more freedom in how the boat could move while calculating the best path and correcting for the wild and turbulent torrents.

    Ted, you''re not strapped in well enough, I can''t keep swapping you back on the boat! Ugh, I''m trying but everything is so wild!

    Trust me I know, here comes a rapid, Hold on! Raishin 3! Even though Raishin instantly dropped the speed, we sped up a lot due to the rapid.

    So next up we have 2 options ride the maelstrom which can take a while and take our exit or try to speed over and jump over it. Uhh, what is the safest?

    None are, there are a lot of rocks jutting out the water so riding the maelstrom could sink us if I mess up, and jumping over could sink us if we miss or don''t have enough power, pick your poison. Why do I have to decide! You¡¯re the captain, right?

    You are the elder on this vessel, sometimes the captain needs to consult someone older and wiser. Just pick one Agnis!

    Hey, it''s Captain Agnis! Really?

    I''m serious. Ugh right, Just choose one Captain Ag¡­

    Big jump it is! Screw you! Any speed recommendations captain?

    Uhh to be honest I have no clue. What! I thought...

    Give it all you got! Full speed ahead! 43 it is! Hey hey, guys isn''t that a bad idea? Won''t we go splat on the other side?

    Don''t worry we will only go splat if we miss the exit. So just in theory, if we do miss then what?

    I will hand over my Captain seat to you. But we¡¯ll be dead! It won''t be of any use to me!

    Exactly! So, make sure we don''t miss it, thank you very much! But that is your thing! Ugh, you are so impossible sometimes! What can I do?

    Do you see those stalagmites? Do something about them, I can make us evade those but it could end up throwing my aim off. So, do I slow down?

    No, keep going. While we were speeding at the center of a maelstrom. I was wondering if this place was directly connected to Boshi lake. There was an insane amount of water here and it seems this entire place was hollowed out by water. And where was this water going to or coming from? It wasn''t salt water so did it go to the sea? The sea is really far from here and as far as I know, there aren''t any big rivers close by. Does this river travel to the sea underground? I''m not sure how common something like this is, one thing I know is that nothing we''ve encountered lately is normal. Ted was dealing with all the stalagmites swiftly so I had an easy time aiming for the exit on the other side of the maelstrom.

    Hold on tight! It''s going to be a bumpy ride! I made a small ramp to send us over the maelstrom. I didn''t do a great job describing this place, but this cavern where all this water was violently moving around was as big as half Boshi town. And this maelstrom was occupying about a quarter of this space but since it was on the side it was easy to avoid so far. Some exits flow out from this maelstrom. So, since this thing is so big, we need a lot of speed to jump over it and even after we get over it, we need to have enough speed so that the current doesn''t drag us off course. I aimed the boat a bit upstream to account for it dragging us a bit after we land but I was running so many calculations and checking stuff out to make sure we don''t sink I don''t have any time to double-check if they are correct. Luckily if I messed up, I had do-overs since I still had a lot of illusion layers running but it would be way better if we got this right in one go. Things were going well so far; we were nearing our landing spot.

    Raishin, I need you to counter the current with a 15 after we land. I noticed that I might have miscalculated so I need Raishin to correct it. After we landed, I had to steer the boat but also reduce the density at the back of the boat so that Raishin could accelerate faster. This was hard because an enormous volume of water was passing under us at a high speed. The boat started to rock violently as the boat wasn''t lined up with the current.

    Ugh, this certainly isn''t something for Gregory. I like water rides but this is a bit much. Hold on tight, we are going to make it but we might bump into the wall. We did make it but we bumped violently into the wall which almost made us capsize. It is good that I made this boat out of frost magic because anything else would have been shattered by this impact. We got flung out of the boat but because we fastened ourselves, we got pulled back into the boat. I froze more boat on the side that was capsizing in the water to make sure we didn''t get water inside. Yes, I know this sounds weird but our situation is weird. Ted used earth magic to help our boat get pushed toward the center of the tunnel.

    You can go to 0 now Raishin. Phew, it''s over. I

    ''m afraid not, waterfall in 200 meters. Ugh, what is wrong with this place?

    This waterfall is a problem but I got this. What is with this waterfall?

    Hmm, I can''t see the bottom. Right, I think Gregory was right we should¡¯ve just gone home. No, I''m too young to die!

    Don''t worry I will make ice ramps to send us to our location, I think I got a good idea of where it is. You think?!

    Something is interfering I have no idea what it is it is blurry so the overall location should be fine, I just need you to use your mountain buster to smash through the 20-meter-thick rock wall. You what?

    I can''t see another way to get there it might be all the way at the bottom who knows but we could take this as a shortcut. You have to decide fast though, waterfall in 70 meters Ugh fine, how do I get to the wall before we crash into it though? I can launch you.

    Sounds like a plan let''s do that. ?!? Wait there must be another way.

    Hold on tight! Dammit! As we approached the waterfall, I tried to slow us down as much as possible, I would need this boat to follow the waterfall vertically down and then make an ice ramp and shoot us up. I will have to make some more ice ramps to navigate through this chasm.

    I can make some flares to light this place up so Ted has an easier time finding the spot he needs to smash. Raishin released a lot of flares that illuminated the big chasm while we were speeding downwards. I froze a big X mark on the spot where Ted needed to smash before making an ice ramp and shooting us up. The momentum of falling down carried us with great speed upwards. Now that falling wasn''t an issue anymore, we still needed to arrive at our destination. We were about 400 meters short of getting there. Since I could use ice for this, I could create large volumes. I made ice crystals on the nearest walls and make them grow out to become ice ramps and ice slides. I need a 10 Raishin.

    Uhh no water uhm oh wind magic, We got some thrust so that we wouldn''t just fall off the ice slide. I kept freezing ice ramps and slides to keep us going along the wall and also started freezing stuff further up to make scaffolding to make more stuff on. We had to separate from the wall soon because we were nearing another waterfall and I''m not freezing a whole waterfall.

    Can you push us off the wall onto that ice slide I froze over there? Are we even going to make it that far? And I guess I have no choice else this waterfall is going to take us down.

    Raishin 22. After that, I''m going to prepare to launch Ted is that fine? Yeah, just increase it to 26 before you launch him. I hope you¡¯re ready Ted else we go splat. Where did I go wrong¡­ and I''m ready. Ted pushed us off by bumping the boat off the ramp with earth magic and we barely made it on the ice slide. We sped up and got steered toward the X mark I made. Raishin accelerated more and launched Ted. How did he do this? He charged a powerful kick and Ted jumped on his leg as he kicked off, launching Ted. Ted would reach the wall about 4 seconds before we do. If things go wrong, we could catch him so he doesn''t fall to his death but the solid rock wall is a problem. I could turn this boat into a ball but the timing would be really tight.

    Give it your all, please! I don''t think I look good after going splat! I prepared to use [Turning leaf] on Ted to buy me a bit more time in case I need to turn this boat into a ball.

    Please be strong enough! [Mountain buster] The wall cracked. I underestimated how much time this wall needed to crumble. It was definitely weak enough to bust through. I used [Turning leaf] and formed the boat into a hollow frost ball. I filled it with snow to cushion any blows. I can''t say the impact was pleasant. If I knew this would happen, I would have asked for Raishin to accelerate more for a cleaner impact. After crashing into the wall but still making it through the frost ball kept rolling and rolling. And then it stopped. At least that is what I assume because the impact knocked me out. I assume it did the same to my buddies.

 Ch 27: Rough Awakening

    I had such a nice sleep but I got woken up quite roughly. The first thing I noticed after waking up is that I was spinning and there was snow everywhere.

    What is going on? But I didn''t get any answer. This spinning was making me dizzy. Was this one of Agnis¡¯ weird pranks again? I pinched my nose and took an anti-nausea potion to counter the nausea that the dizziness would evoke. After 5 minutes of spinning, it got to an abrupt halt. And the snow disappeared as well as the shell made out of frost. I assume this wasn''t a prank but an impromptu defensive measure. I looked around and saw Agnis, Raishin, and Ted knocked out on the floor. I turned around and saw a big hole in the wall. I assume that was where we came from. I observed a rock wall and rubble surrounding the hole.

    What did these guys do while I was asleep? Why was I asleep actually? I tried to recall when I would have fallen asleep but I can''t remember. I inspected this big open space and it was hard to imagine that this is a subterranean area. We were still underground right? I try to advance but the dizziness throws me to the ground. I waited till my dizziness receded and dragged my buddies to the side, covered them in a shadow cloak, and hid them with a shadow wall. I also left a shadow clone in there with them in case they would awaken. I don''t know what happened but it seemed like they went through a lot. There is a notable difference in their energy flow from before I went to sleep and now.

    They used up quite a lot. I believe they will be fine but that is not my biggest issue here. A large crystal gate stands in front of me. The rest of this area shows characteristics of a subterranean space but in close proximity to the gate, crystal tiles and other crystalline structures start to populate the area. Also, the wall next to the crystal gate has crystal bricks. But more importantly, an enormous crystal golem is guarding the gate. I think it is obvious that our destination is behind this gate somewhere. I don''t think Agnis would make a silly mistake like this, although he could send us sidetracked if he smelled adventure. I never really know what that guy is thinking. The golem doesn''t seem to react to my presence. What I remember from Agnis¡¯ dungeon adventure is that at least these golems here, which are made by what he calls the Corund civilization, only react to magic presence. My buddies are knocked out and in a shadow cloak and shadow wall so nothing can detect their magic presence and I keep my energy well controlled so it shouldn''t detect me. Maybe it is a good thing that Raishin is knocked out, he would instantly wake up this golem. Now, since crystals are all earth-based this shouldn''t pose much of an issue to me but fighting this golem and beating it is going to take me forever. Unless¡­ I checked how much energy I had stored. I don''t know how long my buddies will be knocked out and I don''t want to waste time here waiting for them. I could save this energy for the guardian of the root but¡­ [Liberation] The golem woke up before getting put back into eternal sleep.

    I¡¯m sorry for this rough awakening but I need to pass. Absorbing the lightning rain Raishin dropped on us earlier caused this [Liberation] to be the strongest one I''ve used yet. The golem never had a chance. As chunks of crystals covered in shadows fall to the ground, I inspect the gate. Some cracks formed in it since it partially got hit by [Liberation] but it was still intact. I hold my hand on the door and inspect it. This crystal gate is 5 meters thick. It wasn''t a particularly hard crystal but a formidable barrier nonetheless. Normally this would be quite a challenge to break even for me. But since there were already cracks in this gate the only thing, I would have to do is spread these through the whole gate and the gate would come crashing down. The gate crumbled. I made a shadow umbrella as I strolled through the rain of falling crystal chunks.

    What is this! Behind this gate, a floor covered in hexagonal crystal tiles spanned from halfway through this room to the end which seemed to be a crystal wall. I observed writings on the wall that I couldn''t read. I didn''t sense any enemies and if there were any, they weren''t giving off any energy but I also didn''t see anything in here. It just had the walls with writings, the floor with tiles, some crystal formations, and a... Huh? Chairs? Crystal chairs? 12 chairs made out of crystal stood in the part of this room that didn''t have any tiles. I inspected them but nothing seemed off.

    I sat down on one. Wow, these chairs aren''t comfortable at all! They are cold and hard. Since I need Agnis to decipher these writings on the wall I¡¯ll just have to wait till he wakes up. In the meantime, I will try to break through this crystal wall. It will be harder than the gate because I don''t have anything powerful enough to crack it anymore. My hammer might since there is a high chance that sapphire is harder than this crystal is. I should read up more on crystals. I take out my hammer and approach the wall. I heard a hollow footstep sound and yellow light came from beneath me.

    What is this? The first tile I stepped on went from colorless to giving off yellow light. I hope I didn''t step on a bomb. I covered myself in a [Shadow cloak] and stepped on another tile. This tile was red but nothing exploded, the next tile was purple and¡­ I got teleported to the beginning where there weren''t any tiles. What! I tried to think of what happened and looked over at the writing on the wall.

    Don''t tell me¡­ I got the feeling that this was one of the ¡°obnoxious puzzles¡± Agnis was talking about when he was telling his story about the dungeon. I''m assuming the writings on the walls are hints to clear this puzzle of the rules of the puzzle. I approached the tiles again. When I stepped on that tile it went yellow, I recollected. I could try different tiles but I don''t have enough information to figure out the rules so I shouldn''t change too many variables. I stepped on the same tile as I did before. The same hollow footstep sounded and the tile turned green? Did I make a mistake? I stepped on the next tile expecting it to turn red but it also turned green, the next tile was supposed to be purple and will teleport me back. The tile turned orange and I didn''t get teleported. Huh? I ran some simulations on what possibly could have happened. Are the changing of the tiles related to what time I stepped on it? The interval of time? I did have my shadow cloak on the last time so maybe that influenced it? Was it random? Were there set patterns that switched every time the floor got reset? So many options which didn''t help me narrow down the rules of this puzzle.

    This truly is an obnoxious puzzle. I wasn''t trying to figure this puzzle out for long but I do know that this will turn out to be a very obnoxious puzzle. I took another step and the tile turned blue and I got teleported back. I don''t want to deal with it so I tried something else. The walls around the tiles were made out of crystal, it wouldn''t be easy to walk on it but not impossible either. I climbed up and used earth magic to walk on the crystal wall. The tiles below me still made a hollow footstep sound and turned colors, red, purple, and green, and I got teleported back. Guess I couldn''t use this to cheat, how about traveling underground below the tile, I burrowed and headed towards the tiled floor but everything below the tiled floor was made out of crystal, I can''t burrow through this. I went down quite deep but the crystal continued.

    Ugh, so annoying. I surfaced back to the room. I had 2 more options in my head, Traversing the distance by not touching the tiles and not using magic because my assumption is that using magic to walk on the wall set off the tiles below me. Or I can try to shadow meld toward the end. I did this but got teleported back quite fast. From what I gathered I can activate at least 2 tiles before I get teleported back. I manifested my shadow and picked myself up with it. I will throw myself towards the end but if I throw myself too hard, I will crash into the wall, so I''m aiming at 2 tiles away from the wall. I won''t be using magic after the throw so hopefully, this works. I''m not concerned about my landing because I''m a shadow cat and cats always land on their feet. It was quite a distance; I''m guessing it is a good 200 meters. I used my shadow to throw myself. To my horror, I saw the tiles below me light up and after lighting up 3 tiles I got teleported back. But I was still in the air and still flying forward so I continued flying forward over the tiled floor. Blue, blue, red, red, orange, and I got teleported back. This was the longest streak of tiles I had before I got sent back. I completed 5 teleports back until I landed on the floor before getting teleported back.

    Ok, that did not work. So, what did I learn, for as far as I know you can''t cheat this puzzle, maybe nuking the whole place would work but I would need Raishin, Agnis, or even Ted for that, the tiles seem to react to a presence, I guess. And the order of colors seems to be important, the two times I had streaks longer than 3 was when I got the same color in a row, my assumption is that the third unique color you get will teleport you back, this is paired with that the colors that the tiles turn into seem to be random. The tiles also don''t seem to be magically active until they get triggered so I can''t get a read on what they will turn into. I step on two random tiles which turn pink and gold. As I thought there is also no difference in the magic they give off. This is truly an obnoxious puzzle. I did more couple of tests. I couldn''t find out any more hidden rules. The longest streak I could manage was 7, I got 3 greens, 3 yellows, and a white tile before getting sent back. Alright, I''m fed up with this, it is time to wake up my buddies. Maybe Raishin¡¯s intuition, Agnis'' insight, or Ted''s wisdom will help us out here. I tried waking them up but they wouldn''t wake up. I shook them, held a potion that could wake people up with its scent under their nose called out to them but they were still knocked out. I was quite annoyed at this point by the puzzle so I picked them up with my shadow, walked towards the tiled floor, and threw them over the tiled floor. Well, that is surprising they flew 1 tile in and got teleported back. It looked quite weird because they kept flying in 1 tile before getting teleported back before they hit the ground. I guess only 1 person can do this puzzle because, at 3 unique tiles, you get sent back regardless of who triggered it.

    After hitting the ground my buddies woke up. Ouch, my back. Ugh did I fall out of bed again? I had a terrible nightmare. Sup sleepy heads mind helping me out with this? Raishin rubbed his eyes.

    What? It''s just a floor. He walked over to the floor and triggered a white, blue, and green tile before getting teleported back.

    What? Oh, I know what this is! This is an obnoxious puzzle! Glad you catch on quick; I''ve been dealing with this for the last hour while you guys were napping. Putting in the good work, so how can we help. I explained to them what I found out about this puzzle.

    I see, I don''t want to disappoint you but the writing on the wall isn''t helpful, it reads: see if you can beat this puzzle! And have fun wasting your time! The other messages are something similar to this. Wow, they are totally mocking us, Let''s blow up this place! Yeah, I have had enough of this puzzle, normally I''m against this but this puzzle needs to go. Uhm hello guys? Are you forgetting that we are deep under a mountain? Do you want to bring the mountain down on us?

    Ted has a point; we might also blow up some cool treasures. You and your treasures aren''t you rich eno¡­ I cover my mouth as I looked at Raishin. I forgot that we can''t let Raishin know that Agnis is rich else he will constantly nag to get useless stuff bought for him. Luckily, he was distracted by trying out the puzzle.

    Hey, Agnis can¡¯t you disrupt this teleport? It is annoying. Well, I¡¯d like to but I can''t figure out where it is coming from, I will need to know what the source is. I could try to teleport to the end though, I don''t think Greg could try this. Hmmm, my ping gets sent back to my location so I can teleport but only to the same spot, I''m already at. How about that switching thing you did earlier?

    I would need something to switch with, oh look some chairs! It is no use whatever you throw will still set off the tiles and teleport it back. Agnis threw the chair and it landed 15 tiles further but didn''t trigger any tiles.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Whud? See? Easy! He swapped with the chair but all the tiles between him and the start suddenly lit up and he got teleported back. You were saying?

    Hmm well, that was too bad but we did learn something. Which is?

    Can you make a rock for me? I made some rocks for Agnis. We were in a cave but after he asked that I realized that this cave was really smooth and clean, there were no loose lying rocks or anything anywhere, which is quite strange. Agnis threw the rock over the tiled floor but the rock got sent back to the start after triggering 3 unique colored tiles.

    Huh? Why did the rock get sent back, the chair was doing fine. These chairs might look like a different crystal but they have the same composition as those tiles. I''m assuming the chairs are part of this puzzle. I don''t have a clear idea of how to use them though. Can you see anything special about those tiles?

    Not really, they look like normal crystals when inactive but when lit up they give off the same energy. Yeah, I came to the same conclusion. I guess we really can''t cheat our way through this.

    But cheating and loopholes are something different! Aren¡¯t those basically the same?

    So, when you threw us, we all triggered our own tiles right? Yeah.

    What if one of us carries the other 3 and at the 2nd unique color and 3 of us jump off to 1 tile as the one carrying gets teleported back! Is that even going to work? And what if we run out of ¡°bodies¡± the ones at the start cant rejoin. Is that so? Does the floor reset when there are still tiles lit up? Agnis made an interesting point here. If the floor didn''t reset the ones at the start could take the same route back.

    But what about the chairs? I don''t know but we might have to bring all of them with us and try and figure out how to use this. Is there any chance that someone that doesn''t have as many tails as you guys to carry stuff around could clear this puzzle?

    There probably is but as the wall would say it is probably a waste of time. I don''t think they would make an impossible puzzle but it is still here to protect something so they could just make it a huge waste of time to discourage invaders.

    You can''t brute force this with numbers either since technically only 1 person could be on the puzzle at all times. So, one of us carrying the other to only have 1 on the floor is your loophole? Yes. Well, nothing will happen by just debating so let''s try it out. Agnis got all his tails out and picked up 7 chairs, and Raishin took out 5 tails and picked up the rest.

    Why aren''t you stashing them in your dimensional pocket? So, the skill I use to swap things is called Turning leaf, it is a spacetime-attributed skill. When I used it to swap with that chair, I got a very nasty feeling as if something big and powerful was staring at me. I don''t know what it is and I don''t want to find out. My dimensional pocket is also spacetime-attributed so it might do the same. Moreover, we have more than enough tails to carry these, so if you would be so kind to carry us, Ted? Ted picked us up, I was holding Raishin up with a tail and Agnis was getting piggybacked by Raishin since he is the lightest.

    Right here we go! Red, red, red, orange. So, we jump now? Go 2 more tiles.

    You sure? You are doing something funny again aren''t you Agnis? I''m running probability manipulation I can only guarantee the next 2 tiles though, this is quite tiring. 2 more orange tiles, and as Ted makes a step to the next time, I jump off to another. Ted gets teleported back but we stay on our tile. The path Ted made disappeared but we were still standing on our purple tile.

    So, if we can abuse this why do we need these chairs? I can''t keep using this forever and I guess carrying others through this whole puzzle isn''t a viable option either so we will have to find out the role of these chairs sooner or later. Wait isn''t Ted going to trigger the teleport the moment he steps on an orange tile?

    Oh. As Ted steps on the orange tile, he gets teleported back. Right, Greg, you have a free tail left right? Can you throw these chairs on the tiles that are supposed to be orange? I realized what Agnis'' plan might be and I took some chairs from Agnis and threw them on the 3 orange tiles. Ted walked over to the tiles, looked at the chairs, and climbed on the chair.

    Oooh, that tile didn''t light up! Take the chair with you after you climb on the next and throw it at us, We will need to use these a lot. We gained a color but maybe we should have made him come here all the way on the chairs since one mistake will send us all back. How is the probability manipulation going? I looked at Agnis and it seems he was getting quite tired. I don''t think we can clear this puzzle by relying on probability manipulation. It is an overpowered ability, it helped us stick together after we got sold off but it doesn''t seem like anything he could use in a practical sense.

    I think we need another method; we can''t rely on probability manipulation. We have 12 chairs how about we just string them together and make a path toward the end? That almost sounds too easy but let''s try that. Raishin threw 5 chairs forward but when these landed the empty tiles that Ted used chairs to climb over lit up red and the tiles under the chairs went purple.

    Uhh is this supposed to happen? Something tells me there is a mechanic that prevents us from doing that. Since the tiles were lit up, we walked over to them and collected the chairs. It seems as long as a path is made it doesn''t matter how many people walk on it. We were 11 tiles in and already used up 2 unique colors.

    Does setting tiles off with magic count? Raishin said as he fired off a lightning bolt at the next tile You idiot don''t! The tile turned orange but we didn''t get teleported.

    Alright! Let''s nuke the place! But Agnis stopped him before I could stop him. Even this might have rules, it could be limited to only the tiles next to us, obviously nuking the whole place would make this too easy if it would reveal all the tiles.

    Ugh, why do you have to make so much sense! But hmm does that mean I have to blast the tiles nest to that orange one or this purple one here? I don''t know¡­

    I''m going to zap all the tiles next to this purple one then! There were a lot of different colors but there was one that was orange which was adjacent to our purple path and connected to the other orange tile. Do you think this is starting an orange path? But we already used up two colors. Right, let''s try this! Agnis threw a chair at a tile next to the tile which would follow the direction of this hypothesized orange path if it would continue. The tile turned orange and turned the red and purple paths we made orange.

    Well, I guess that is 1 problem gone. So reckless¡­ Well, if it works, I won''t complain. We kept zapping close-by tiles until eventually, the orange trail ended 5 tiles later. We needed a new color to transition to but there didn''t seem to be anything that looked like it would start a new trail.

    Hmm, I thought these rules we came up with were crystal clear but it seems we didn''t tile up all of them. Is it me or are your puns getting worse? Hmm no visible path, we can''t use the strategy we used at the beginning because we don''t have enough chairs to make a path here.

    Hmm, we do have 2 colors though since everything is orange now. Or we just throw a chair! Raishin threw a chair to a random spot but nothing happened.

    Hmm I was expecting it to turn everything from there to here orange. You might be right but something is missing. Agnis jumped to the tile next to the chair which was between our path and the chair. The tile turned blue and so did the tile the chair was standing on. He pushed the chair 1 tile further and the tiles between us and him turned blue.

    There you go! Isn''t the rest also supposed to turn blue? Maybe only when we have 1 color left.  I was wondering what I could do to help out and I got struck with an idea. I matched the structure of the chairs and made 3 small golems with [Crystal Golem]. I wonder if these are invisible to the puzzle.

    Hey, wait! If something goes wrong, we will get teleported back! I look back and we were halfway in so it would be irresponsible to cause us to be teleported back due to a mistake.

    Let''s try to make this all 1 color so Greg can test his crystal nuggets! They aren''t crystal nuggets they are golems!

    But they are so small! Do they have names?

    This one is Nugglet, this one is Nuggduo and this one is Nuggtrio. Hey, don''t give them weird names! Agnis threw a chair after Raishin zapped some tiles and turned the tile trail green. Gogo Nugglet!

    Don''t lose out Nuggduo! They both looked at Ted. What?

    Come on cheer on Nuggtrio else he will get lonely! Why? Can¡¯t you, do it?

    I already cheered on Nuggduo! You want me to cheat? Ugh fine, go Nuggtrio. You gotta add more enthusiasm to it!

    GOGO NUGGTRIO! Hey, you don''t need to yell! Nuggtrio, no wait I''m getting dragged into this nonsense, my third golem dashed off!

    What! Hey, golem listen to me! Hey, isn''t this bad if this doesn''t work, he will just trigger a lot of colors. I managed to stop my third golem but not after it dashed over 3 tiles, luckily it didn''t trigger the colored tiles. Wow, nice job Ted, you almost sent us back to the start! Ted and Raishin started to argue which broke out into a fight.

    Just ignore those idiots. You know that you are partly to blame too, right?

    I have no idea what you are talking about. Agnis said while he shrugged and took over Raishin¡¯s job of zapping tiles. I am going to send these toward that wall at the end to investigate, I can''t keep these active for too long because nausea will catch up to me. Progress was slow but steady. The golems didn''t discover anything useful so I canceled the magic and took another anti-nausea potion.

 Ch 28: Obnoxious Puzzle

    We were almost at the end of the room and Raishin and Ted were still fighting. I wanted to throw something at them but it would just trigger tiles.

    Hey! We¡¯re leaving you guys behind! They seemed to react to that and headed over toward us. Gregory was inspecting the tile trail which was white by now while I was continuing the trail. It would have been more efficient to make a straight trail but the colors didn''t allow us, so we kind of made a double S path to arrive here. It was an obnoxious puzzle but I''m afraid this is not everything it has for us yet. I connected the trail to the wall at the end of the room and the crystal wall seems to move. And what do you know it revealed another room filled with tiles. Some parts, which I will call islands, didn''t have any tiles. But this room also had differences. I could see a lot of hidden traps in this room. Also, some tiles had certain markings on them. But more importantly more Corund writing on the walls.

    So, ehh guys, you¡¯re not going to like this, this room has traps, and some tiles have weird markings of which I have no idea what they do but the worst part is the text on the wall. What does the text say?

    Congratulations on finishing the tutorial, the real thing starts now, good luck! And another says: room 1 out of 8. Great so there are 8 more rooms of obnoxious puzzles but this time there are traps. How long did that ¡°tutorial¡± take us?

    About 53 minutes. Oof there goes our evening.

    Our evening was gone already it was past midnight now. How did time fly by so fast?

    Well, we arrived at the lake at about 7 then had a nice trip and messed around on the major lake which took about an hour, diving and getting to a dry spot and drying off also took another hour or so, then we collapsed the cave and through that narrow corridor and then the water nightmare took about an hour which puts us at around 10 maybe a bit over. We were knocked out for a bit and then spent almost an hour on this puzzle. So, 1 hour per section? This is going to be a long night. Is there really no way we can cheat this?

    I can try to set up a dimensional teleport but I''ve never done this and we might as well end up in the middle of the mountain. Let¡¯s not do that, I have the feeling something really bad happens when you use your spaciotumporal magic.

    Spatiotemporal, and I guess I got a really uncomfortable feeling using my [turning leaf] earlier and I don''t want to find out what it is. I can''t believe I''m saying this but bringing the whole place down sounds really attractive right now. Do you think something will get summoned if you use your dimensional shenanigans? Would dealing with that summon be less of a pain than this puzzle?

    I really don''t know. Worst case scenario we will have to fight whatever appears and still complete the puzzle. Hmm yeah, that would really suck. So, what now?

    So how about this? We just have to speed this up so if Agnis just goes all fast on this, while Raishin zaps tiles and Greg and I will deal with any traps. Why do I get the lame task? Because whenever we give you a non-lame task you end up blowing stuff up in one way or another. Yeah!

    This also applies to you Agnis! In a lesser sense but it''s still true! At least we would have an easy time if we reach a puzzle where we just have to blow stuff up. So, chop chop get moving, we¡¯re not getting any younger by standing here. But we¡¯re practically immortal, aging is a non-issue for us.

    Move it! I sped up the process of forming trails while Raishin zapped tiles to check whether or not we could go forward or needed a detour. Some primitive traps went off by shooting bolts of magic at us or turning a tile in the trail into a spike trap. Gregory and Ted dealt with them easily. So, we had two problems, I don''t know if this is part of this puzzle but one of our chairs shattered. The other problem was that our next move was a tile that had a marking on it.

    Can we skip it? I don''t think so if I throw a chair, it will light this tile up too. We have no choice. What does your adventure sense tell you?

    It tells me this tile is bad news, it might teleport us back or be a bomb tile. Right defensive measures it is! Gregory covered us in a thick shadow cloak as I threw the chair. The trail connected and turned blue. The now blue tile with a marking lit up and a huge amount of water shot out from all the blue tiles.

    Aaaah! Nobody was harmed except Gregory who took psychological damage from the sudden appearance of a large volume of water. Hmm, so these tiles are colors of elements. Hmm, orange is earth? Blue is water, red is probably fire, and purple is lightning? White is light? Or is yellow light? Green is wind, I guess? What about pink?

    So, we have no clue? Let''s just test them all out! I don''t care what you do as long as it''s not the blue ones! Hmm, the colors are a problem though. The markings on the tiles are also different.

    I guess there is only one way to find out. Ugh, he is right, we''re too far in to go back.

    Raishin try to keep up! I kept throwing chairs after Raishin zapped some tiles, and we started to become quite good at this. Surely the rules aren''t this easy. I should have just kept that to myself. The next marking flipped all the tiles and every tile under us turned rainbow-colored.

    So, uhh what does this mean, are we in deep trouble? I got a bad feeling about this, time to redo this! I snapped my fingers and I broke an illusion layer. We were back to before we triggered the marking.

    Greg, can you remember this marking so that we can avoid this one? Sure, can do. I got a bad feeling about that rainbow too. Let''s go that way! Raishin zapped some tiles, but they were all pink so I didn''t need to throw a chair yet.

    The same marking as the first time, prepare to defend against some bullshit! I threw a chair and all the tiles lit up pink and the marking glowed. Fire burst out from the tiles. Of course, nobody got hurt because Gregory is overpowered.

    Sooo, if pink is fire, what is red? Beats me it surely isn''t an instant kill, right? Everyone looks at me with a look that indicated that they don''t know but that I might be right.

    So how about we avoid red with this marking? Yeah, sounds like a good idea. I don''t know if I can defend against instant kill. More traps that Gregory and Ted took care of.

    This marking is new but I can zap it, what do we do. I''m ready to undo this tile so go for it! I have defenses ready! Raishin zapped the tile and all the tiles turned black.

    Uhh. A ticking sound started.

    Of course, no puzzle without a time trial, we''re clearing this! I grabbed my buddies with my tails and fired up [Tail dynamo] with those left. Wait what? Gogogo!

    We don''t know how much time we have! I have no idea what is going on! I [Sonic Dashed] and we reached the end of the room in no time. Hehe, that was easy! Gregory, did you remember that one? If we get lucky, we might beat this obnoxious puzzle in no time!

    I''m tired of this puzzle, Raishin can you feed me energy to give to Agnis, Let''s see if he can run some probability manipulation to get that one again. Roger! The next section opened up and it looked similar to the previous section only this time there were¡­ flying metal ducks? Guys, the tiles are still black let''s see how far we can get, beware of the metal ducks, I don''t know what these are since these things aren''t animals, I''m familiar with. I made it 1/3rd into the floor before the black tiles started flickering and then turned to normal. I took this chance to drop us off on a tile-less island.

    These ducks¡­ why are they made out of metal? I''m hungry¡­ I can''t eat metal. Why are they metal? That is a good question. A metal duck attacked Ted and he punched it.

    Ouch, what are these things made out of? Metal, you just said so.

    Yes, I know but I shouldn''t have any issues punching through metal! Let''s zap it! Make sure you only zap those above this island else you will flip tiles. Raishin hit them with lightning, It did seem to do something but not much. Tanky flying metal ducks, great just what we needed. I threw a chair at the duck, and it hit the duck and fell on a tile. The duck that I just hit went to sit on the chair.

    Ha! Hey! Guys look! A sitting duck! I''m sure we can one-shot it now! Raishin make a path to it! Raishin stepped on a tile and all the tiles between the chair and the tile he stepped on turned purple. He walked over to the duck and smacked it. The duck made a quack and exploded. It wasn''t a big explosion. What the¡­ Hey, Ted, you didn''t make this puzzle by any chance?

    Huh? Yeah, nobody would make such a dumb pun a mechanic in a puzzle! You are not like a secret spy that infiltrated our group to sabotage us, are you?

    Hey, come on guys I would never do something like that! It just means that the maker of this puzzle is a genius! We all look skeptically at Ted.

    Agnis keep an eye on him! Roger! You guys! I am not a spy!

    That is exactly what a spy would say! Where have I heard of a similar interaction before? Ted took over throwing chairs at tiles while I was on duty to snipe ducks out of the sky and turn them into sitting ducks. It was straining our chair supply because we only had 11 and we lost 2 more because they were a bit far to pick up.

    Hey at this rate we will run out of chairs, can you summon Nugglet, Nuggduo, and Nuggtrio and get them to one-shot those ducks and get our chairs back? Who? Hahaha, that is a good Agnis impression!

    Rude! Your small golems. Ted said as he threw a chair, turned all the tiles green, and triggered a mark that will probably blast us all with wind. Gregory shielded us but well we got blown up in the air. Hmm, I didn''t expect this. Hmm, it makes sense though. I grabbed my buddies and dashed back down. The wind blew us off at an angle, I guess the makers weren''t complete sadists so this wasn''t triggering any tiles but landing on the floor would probably trigger them. Guess we know that now. Gregory made the crystal golems which one-shot the ducks and brought back the chairs.

    Any suspicious behavior from Ted? Nope, but maybe he triggered that wind trap on purpose to set up something while we were trying to recover from the situation! You guys are impossible! Wait a new mark! But Ted already threw a chair and turned the trail blue.

    Noo not blue! The mark lit up and we heard one single loud quack. I don''t like the sound of this! Uhh guys you won''t like this! Seems to be the theme of our life, what do you see.

    So, there is a flock of those ducks coming and one big metal duck. Raishin put his hands in his hair. How are we supposed to defeat all those ducks we only have 11 chairs! 10 chars.

    10 chairs! Wait what? What happened to the 11th chair? It broke after I threw it to turn the tiles blue. Suspicious! Smells fishy!

    Hey nobody said something when Agnis broke a chair! Trying to divert the attention now eh, hey where is Agnis? While these idiots were arguing a duck picked me up and abducted me.

    Hey, let me go! Well, at least he isn''t triggering any tiles. Raishin grabbed a chair and threw it.

    Ouch! Hit the duck not me! Crystal chairs hurt! Sorry! Raishin threw more chairs but I had to dodge them, I managed to grab 2 mid-air and smacked the duck with one, and threw another on the floor so I could land on it. Good job smartass because of your poor accuracy we only have 2 chairs and the others are scattered around.

    Uhh sorry. The flock of ducks is incoming. Quack! Don''t worry I will just undo... I suddenly got assaulted by a lot of ducks. They are preventing him from undoing the duck tile!

    I would disagree I don''t think Agnis is ductile. Raishin slapped Ted.

    No time for puns! The big duck is heading towards him! It was taking a lot out of me to make sure I didn''t turn into duck food. The only thing I could think of was just freezing myself solid or nuke the whole place but that would teleport us to the start. Hmm, teleport us to the start? It would give me time to undo the duck tile and we would end up on the spot before we triggered it. I smacked some ducks away with the chairs as I landed on the tile it stood on. I didn''t notice it was on a tile with a marking¡­ All the floors turned black and a ticking sound started.

    Holy shit Agnis, you are lucky! Raishin, I need your help let''s send these ducks to the scrapyard! Gregory I''m going to use fire! Oh shit! Gregory covered Raishin in a special shadow cloak as he rushed toward me and made a shadow dome around himself and Ted. Don''t get fried Raishin! Let''s go for a 43! I gathered fire in my palms and it swiftly turned blue. Can we just fire it asap? It''s already getting stupid hot here even with Greg¡¯s shadow cloak! Sure! Raishin and I struck a pose as if we were ready to punch as the flock of metal ducks and the big duck approached us. [Flame wave] 2x. The metallic poultry got turned into molten puddles on the ground. Gregory lifted his barrier and I grabbed them and rushed towards the end. I also went past the crystal chairs which Raishin and Gregory picked up T

    hat is some molten hot poultry soup! Ugh, Greg do you have anti-nausea potions for me? I got handed a potion and chugged it. We ended this floor and entered the next stage, stage 3 looked similar to stage 2 but this one also had other monsters just walking around. They seemed to trigger colored tiles but they only triggered 2 different colors. The rest of the tiles were still black since the time trial was still going.

    Another potion please Gregory, I''m speeding up, I''m tired of this clown fiesta. I downed another smelly potion and sped up.

    <hr>

    We made it to stage 4 before the tiles started flickering and turning back to normal. We are speed-running this puzzle so hard! Ugh I need to rest a bit; you guys continue while I rest. Sure. As I looked on as my buddies continued with this obnoxious puzzle, I noticed something interesting. Besides the monsters that moved around and only triggered 2 colors, I saw some chairs in different colors at the edge of the room.

    Colored chairs at 10 o clock! They looked over and spotted them. Do you think they force a particular color? I don''t know but another chair broke so we are really hurting for more chairs. Between knocking ducks out of the sky and making paths the chair requirements started to rise but the number of chairs started to decrease.

    I never thought I would say this but we need more chairs! Raishin head towards the chairs! Also, throw a chair toward Agnis some ducks seem to be heading toward him! Raishin threw a chair at me but his aim was a little off as usual and had to move to catch it before smacking some metal ducks with it.

    Ugh, what is the point of resting if I got to run to catch the chair! Sorry! I smacked ducks until the chair broke.

    Well, this sucks I guess my rest is over. I walked over to my buddies over the trail they made while dodging dive-bombing metal ducks. Raishin missed a duck and the chair hit a walking mob. The mob sat on the chair and made 2 trails towards us each of the 2 colors that it had. This puzzle is getting ridiculous. Raishin walked over to the monster to smack it but it started attacking. Whoa! Ted dashed towards it and punched it and sent it flying. It made trails of its colors as it flew past. We now had a long white and blue trail.

    The white trail, please! But the blue trial is closer to where we need to go!

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    THE WHITE TRAIL! Right, white trail it is. The white trail has the duck mark though¡­

    I will use [Liberation] on the duck horde, your flame wave charged it up nicely, Let''s go! Gregory stepped on the white trail, the blue trail disappeared and the mark activated. Quack!

    It is time for your extinction, I''ve had it with these traps! [Liberation]. The duck horde got engulfed in darkness and they disappeared. This triggered a lot of tiles and we got teleported to the start of the 4th section.

    Oh, forgot about that. Ugh, more nausea potions, please.

    This is the last one, what did you do this time? You used up a lot of magic. Made sure we got the same tile layout with probability manipulation.

    I guess this is the last time you can use that in this puzzle. I still remember our trail, Let''s go, leave a chair for Agnis so he can rest again and smack ducks. I wonder when my time to do something cool comes¡­ One day surely. The potion Gregory gave me wasn''t enough. I tried to control my nausea with nature magic. I was holding out for quite a while but that wasn''t enough. I emptied my already empty stomach. The taste of bile filled my mouth. It has been a while since I had this taste in my mouth. I had it a lot when I was practicing magic shortly after we arrived at Boshi town. It was a feeling I hoped never to encounter. Another wave of nausea and there was nothing left to throw up but I still got the urge to. I still didn''t know the exact cause of why this happened. It got paired with the usage of magic. Probability manipulation normally doesn''t require this much mana but I juiced it up a lot to get an immediate and accurate effect. I used up almost all my magic reserves for this. We managed to get halfway through the floor before we got teleported back so this would save us a lot of time. I could have used my illusions to undo that but that requires me to remember crucial details of what''s going on before breaking a layer.

    I was resting and not paying much attention until it was too late. If something happens, I won''t be able to undo that either unless my buddies get a severe injury or get killed. Nausea came and went in waves. I noticed some ducks approaching and tried to smack them. I managed to deal with them but I suddenly got a dizzy spell. Ugh, where was this coming from? On top of being dizzy, it felt like something tried to rip my consciousness away. The dizzy spell went away and my nausea got less. I was so tired right now. I really worked this nature energy to get everything back to normal. Suddenly the nature energy in me started to swell and the nausea completely disappeared. I assume I got better at nature energy, I never had something be this obvious though, I circulated nature energy again and it was as strong as it was after it swelled. That is odd. What is going on with my body? Was I dying? I unleashed various filters and inspected myself. I saw the nature energy swirling, the ley line energy in my body also seems to have grown, and nothing else seems off. My fatigue was quite high but I wasn''t really feeling it at the moment because of the nature energy. Hmm ok, there is something wrong with me. I have various curses on me but I think I subconsciously suppressed them. It seems my buddies have the same issue. I guess destroying that root dumped some curses on us. It is probably because of Gregory that we are not feeling much of those.

    Shadowcats have quite the curse resistance, it is not that you can''t curse them but if you do it might not have any effect, I guess he is bleeding that over at us, just like I''m bleeding over that forcefully messing with our time and space gets blocked, to a certain extent. I guess since it is not an issue, I can just ignore this. Maybe this fast growth of nature energy is Ted¡¯s effect on us. As far as I know, brown war bears don''t have anything like that but they have an insane vitality that can be related to nature magic. I looked at Ted but I didn''t see a special amount of nature magic. I felt a slight nausea coming back up which I pushed back with nature energy. After we beat this obnoxious puzzle, I need to talk to Gregory and we really need to figure out this nausea problem. So far, we''re scraping by but if something else like those spirit sisters appears we might be done for. I got up. I still felt a little bit weak. I smacked some more ducks and this chair also broke. My buddies almost reached the chairs I spotted earlier. We were down to 5 chairs. Numerous metal ducks were flocking to my buddies and they had trouble with them. They tried to abduct Raishin. I''m assuming that besides being annoying they want to pick you up and drop you on a random tile. No tiles lit up when they carried you. It seems Ted had enough of the ducks and jumped on one. He got attacked and used the ducks as footholds. He was above inactivated tiles but they weren''t lighting up. Ted seems to have noticed this and hopped from duck to duck towards the end. Raishin and Gregory collected the chairs and Ted stepped into the 5th stage and triggered random tiles which made us teleport to the beginning of section 5.

    We got chairs, we got to the next floor everything is going well! Yes, you''re saying that because you haven''t seen that yet! I pointed at tiles going up the rock wall. All the other sections were flat but this looked like going up a steep and dangerous cliff. There were no more ducks. Some patrolling monsters and a scary chasm. There were also boulders falling down that would trigger tiles to change color when the boulders rolled over them.

    Wow, this puzzle sucks. Just 3 more sections after this, how late is it now Agnis? 2:21, the time trials and Ted¡¯s duck hopping really saved us time.

    Shall we rest a bit? Yeah. Good plan. I took some food out of my dimensional pocket and we had some late-night dinner. I did feel that highly comfortable gaze again and this was way stronger and it was as if I could physically feel the gaze. It made me very uncomfortable.

    Are you alright Agnis? Just tired and dealing with some unknown entity watching me when I used my dimensional pocket. Meh, if I ever find the maker of this puzzle, he is going to eat a full-powered [Raishin kick]!

    Leave him alive so I could drop a red lightning slash on him. And a mountain buster. And uhh I will just curse him. Now that you say that I haven''t seen you use any curses.

    Well, I''m either too busy keeping you guys alive or you guys just obliterate your targets swiftly. I''d like to have some spotlight too! You guys are taking all the good bits! Well, if things continue like this I will probably be out of gas when we fight the guardian of the root. So, if you ask me, you could go solo him if you want.

    Uhh, I''m not sure if soloing the guardian is a good idea. We kept talking about our current situation while having some nice pasta and grilled fish. I had a lot of fish stashed so we would be eating a lot of fish for the foreseeable future.

    So, any ideas to speed run the rest? I don''t think Agnis has any tricks left that he still can use. Hmmm, [shadow meld] will trigger tiles. So, I can''t use that, Agnis said that teleports get their pings sent back. Dimensional teleports are out also, do you have any other types of teleport that don''t rely on sending pings?

    Hmm, I do but I need to have been there before or see my destination. It is similar to Agnis [Turning leaf] but I basically convert myself into energy and make it uhh dissipate? Is that the correct word? The energy dissolves in my location and ambient energy gathers to match the energy, I had while attempting the teleport, on my targeted location, and poof teleport complete! It is a tricky teleport because it gets harder the more energy, I¡¯m carrying so it only ever gets used by six-tailed tigers when they''re running low on steam and have to run away or something. So, if I drop all our energies low enough you can do this?

    I have never done this before! And I''m not as good at magic or energy control as you or Agnis so I don''t think I could succeed on the first try! Hmm too bad. Can I ask you to practice this whenever you can? We might really need that in the future. Who knows what other obnoxious puzzles we will encounter¡­

    I will! How about I bring that rock wall down on the chasm? At least we don''t have to worry about some gimmicks that try to send us off into the abyss. If we''re lucky there won''t be any tiles on the other side of the rock wall. You can do that? Ted slapped his biceps.

    Of course! we do have to get close to it for me to bring it down. How reliable! Nice!

    I feel a bit better you guys ready? Let''s clear this obnoxious puzzle. Let''s cheat our way to the end! Whatever is at the end of this puzzle is in for an ass-whooping. I''d rather take something stupidly strong like those spirit sisters over this dumb puzzle.

    Well, the goal of this puzzle is to waste our time. I don''t know for what though. Maybe the boss needs to charge up a powerful move that takes several hours to charge. Like that Donkey guy? Imagine, what if Donkey was the guardian and he has been charging up all these hours to zap us with some blue lightning.

    I would feel sorry for it and return it with a frost mirror. Haha, that would be so anti-climactic! We all went silent.

    It is going to be an easy boss, right? I really hope so, I might have to go phoenix mode to get some light golden flames rolling and absorb some mana with frost magic if that boss is strong. How about you just sit out this fight? You''ve carried us enough the last couple of days. Yeah, just sit this one out, we will call for help if we really need it.

    Meh, fine but don''t hesitate to call for my help if you need it! I guess I will be sitting this fight out, I wanted to try some dagger and wire stuff but since using spatiotemporal-related skills will give me that oppressive gaze that wouldn''t be possible anyways. The next floors wouldn''t be easier than the ones before so maybe I will be utterly exhausted by the time we get there. I should do something about my poor stamina. But I guess it isn''t a big deal if I sit out the next battle, Raishin is the main damage dealer, Gregory is the main defense and Ted is switching between offense and defense. All are vital for a team in battle, I''m more in charge of disrupting the opponents which aren''t really necessary. It does make the job of the others easier but it is not vital. We continued the puzzle; we threw some monsters around which made some trails for us. Gregory as usual freaked out whenever we got a blue trail. And we reached the edge of where the rock wall began and the normal tiled floor ended. Normally we would have to scale the rock wall while still doing this puzzle but Ted had other plans.

    Do you need anything, Ted? We managed to make the trail wide so Ted had some space to do stuff, courtesy of the colored chairs. I might need some energy, so Raishin, Greg? If you could? I took a step back as Raishin generated energy and Gregory turned it into something Ted could use and sent it to Ted. He grabbed the rock wall. He started emanating earth magic, his muscles started to bulge and his fingers sank into the rock. He gave out a bear roar and pulled on the rock wall. I''m assuming he is using earth magic to move the whole rock wall as 1 object and prevent it from crumbling. I could see some movement.

    I think he needs more energy. On it! On it! Ted got fed more energy and the rock wall started to move visibly now. All the monsters in the rock wall started to freak out. Another bear roar and he flung the rock wall over the chasm. The rock wall was big enough to completely cover it. Whew, that was tougher than I expected. We all clapped.

    Impressive. Ted bowed.

    Thanks. So, a new path opened up, it seems there was a hidden passage behind the rock wall. Hmm, this is suspicious it is as if something is predicting our move. Raishin looked around.

    I looked around, I don''t see anything off but this secret passage might be a trap. Although I understand the reasoning how many people do you think could pull this off or even come up with this idea? Gregory said while pointing at the rock wall that was covering the chasm.

    Hmm, you have a point. But there don''t seem to be any tiles on the back of the rock wall so we could just walk to the end of this section without any issues. Before that, here take some energy too. Thanks. We debated on which route to take. We first tried to decide it by games but in a game of tail wrestling I had the advantage, in a memory game, Gregory had the advantage, in a normal arm-wrestling Ted and Raishin had the advantage. We couldn''t find any game where none of us would have an unfair advantage. Ted and I were for taking the normal tile-free route and Raishin and Gregory were for taking the newly opened path. My argument was that the opened path could be a bonus round, a way harder floor and might give some cool stuff when completed but overall, a waste of time. Raishin¡¯s argument was that it was a shortcut. We both acknowledged that the other argument is very valid but that is where the problem lies.

    So, let''s assume that opened path is a shortcut then that will shave off time but we don''t know if it will put us in the last stage or the next stage. We basically get this stage for free so if it would bring us to the next stage there is no difference. But the problem is if it is a bonus stage then we might be in for a rough time. We have a free stage here now it would be pointless to risk a bonus stage. Moreover, if we lose who knows what might happen, we might be put back all the way to the start or if we win the reward might not be worth it. But what if the reward is that we get to complete the puzzle! It would still be a shortcut! But you¡¯re assuming we clear it, this puzzle kept getting harder and harder, we kind of skipped this 6th floor so we don''t know how hard this could have been but the bonus stage is going to be harder. We almost got defeated by random traps who knows what other things this puzzle has for us.

    Basically, we don''t have anything to lose or gain by taking the safe route. It would be neutral while taking this opened path could either make us gain a lot or lose a lot. Weren''t you the adventurous one here?

    Weren¡¯t you the cautious one here? On top of that Agnis is pooped so if any unexpected things happen all the burden lies on you, Gregory.

    I like adventure, yes but I don''t want to put us in needless danger when we are ill-equipped to deal with it. Hmm, this is tricky both sides have valid points but we¡¯re not going anywhere. How about we just flip a coin for it?

    Do you want to leave it up to luck? Even though we have been so unlucky lately? Hehe, it is simple! You flip a coin and if you¡¯re not happy with the result then you know your answer! Hmm, I guess debating won''t get us anywhere, we might as well flip a coin. I took out a coin and flicked it toward Ted.

    You do the honor. Right, I''m just going to make sure this coin has a head and a tail.

    Hey! Your specialty is deception, I just need to make sure! Ok, this is a normal coin, the head will be forward and the tails will be to the newly opened path. Ted flipped the coin up in the air, it fell on the ground and rolled into a dark crevice. We looked at Ted in disbelief.

    Hey come on how was I supposed to know that was going to happen! Ted took out a coin and flipped it. This time he made some small rock walls to make sure the coin wouldn''t escape. Why don''t you just catch the coin¡­ Hahaha, Ted is so clumsy!

    Ok, it is tails, the new path it is! Aight! Let''s go!

    Hey, I thought you were against the new path! Gotta play devil''s advocate sometimes! We can''t just keep ganging up on Ted!

    Hey! I knew it! What was I expecting from a fox! Hehe, I¡¯ll take that as a compliment. We went towards the newly opened path. Even though I was curious about what we would find the arguments that I brought up still were valid, it could turn out to be a nasty experience if it was a bonus round and we might have ended up better off continuing down the set path. Gregory approached me and whispered. You didn''t... By any chance let the first coin roll off because you saw that it might land on heads, did you?

    Who knows. As I stepped towards the crystal wall that was opening to reveal our next challenge or possible shortcut.

    The wall opened and¡­ Well, I didn''t really expect this. It was actually a shortcut. There were tiles in this room but they were all black. There wasn''t a ticking sound but we still went through it quite fast. It did give a feeling of a room that got scrapped or was inactive. It wasn''t illuminated like the other ones. The other stages had crystals that gave off light but none gave off light here and the place was quite dark. I couldn''t see from the outside if this place was active or not so this was a surprise. Anyways I guess we got lucky for once. I hope we didn''t use up all of our luck here. We still were wary but we seemed to accept that nothing really was going to happen here. I would have expected Raishin to say something but we were all quiet as we walked through the shortcut. We really were cheating our way through this puzzle. We reached the crystal wall that connected the end of our shortcut and the beginning of our next challenge.

    We made it guys, I don''t see any tiles in the next room, it does look like there is one strong enemy in the next room. Boss battle? Does that mean we beat the puzzle?! A bit anticlimactic but I''m glad that we don''t have to deal with that obnoxious puzzle again. I suggest we use this opportunity to prepare for the boss battle. We will probably attract the attention of the guardian when we step inside.

    That sounds like a good idea but you¡¯re misunderstanding here, I don''t think this is the guardian, we¡¯re too far from the root. Hmm, so this is a miniboss? It sucks but I''m kind of tired of all this we¡¯ll just defeat it, unlock a checkpoint, and come back tomorrow.

    Will it be that easy though? What game doesn''t have checkpoints?! We¡¯re not exactly in a game but if I get Agnis to master moving after [Shadow melding] we could get back to that room if Ted or I make a small canal through the mountain reaching all the way outside. To get around having to do the puzzle again? We¡¯re really cheating our way to this root, aren''t we?

    I don''t care, I don''t want to deal with this dumb puzzle again, if I ever meet a Corund I''m going to smack him! I don''t think slapping a random Corund will do anything. Anyways Raishin start generating a lot of energy so I can store it, I don''t have much stored and it might be useful to get in a fight prepared for once. Raishin started to make energy which Gregory banked in his shadows. Ted approached me.

    You¡¯re going to sit this one out, right? How do you feel? I could use some rest so even though I don''t like it I will take you up on it. Just call out if you need some assistance but I probably won''t pay a lot of attention to the fight so I won''t be able to undo certain stuff unless you guys get heavily wounded or die.

    That is fine. Just so you guys realize but fighting without Agnis is going to feel really different.

    Yeah, we noticed in the battle versus Nayani. We should be more prepared for something like this now. Ugh, I wonder if I will be able to hit my [Raishin kick] without Agnis¡¯ assistance. I believe in you!

    Is everyone ready? I''ll put a shadow cloak on you Agnis, just go find a good spot to rest. Will do. We approached the crystal wall which opened. A wide room was on the other side. There weren''t any crystals in this room. Only a big metal door on the other side of the room. There was a door to the right of the room, looking inside it looked like it was a living room and further down a bedroom. The boss lives here? How weird. I guess it makes sense, nobody is going to wait in an empty room until intruders arrive. In the middle was a big guy sitting down on a stool made out of rock, the rock looked like marble but I couldn''t really tell. My vision was getting a bit hazy from fatigue. The guy was about twice our size and was bald, and bulky.

    Hey, it''s Rock! Or well I guess this is his big brother so I guess it''s Boulder? Not everyone who is bulky and bald is from the same family! And his name is Brock!

    So, you just added a ¡°B¡± to his name? I guess that works, it makes this guy''s name also accurate because he is B-older.

    Never mind this was a mistake I just gave you food for a dumb pun. I looked at him to analyze his strength and looked for a spot. After getting a grasp on how strong he was I deactivated my eyes and made myself snug in a corner.

    This boss isn''t that strong, one of you could probably solo him. Maybe let Ted get some spotlight here since Ted would be the best matchup against him. It''s a good thing I''m sitting out because I''m a terrible matchup for this guy.

    Anyways I''m going to rest go get him, Ted! Aww I was hoping for some mountain-busting action! You''re not going to blow up the mountain! Do you have this one, Ted? Haha, I was waiting for a moment like this! Ted put on his metal knuckles and bumped his fists together and took a stance. The boss got up after looking quite bored.

    Not going to say anything eh? Ted faced off against this boulder of a man. Raishin and Gregory backed off and chilled on the side of the room. They still seemed like they were ready to jump in at any moment''s notice if something would happen. Now here is where I paid less attention so I''m going to do something I don''t often do. Switch to a third-person perspective! Ha, you didn''t expect that, did you? I can do that with my Elgards eyes! Or maybe you did expect that. Anyways I went to rest while Ted faced off against Boulder.

 Ch 29: Victory Punch

    Ted stared at the miniboss that they decided on was called Boulder. Boulder stared at Ted and looked at the other 3 that were sitting on the side of the room.

    ¡°This is the first time in forever that people have reached here and whaddya know? I get underestimated! But that''s fine, I¡¯ll just smash you, little twerps, bit by bit. I didn''t expect y''all to get here this fast, however. Normally I have more than a day to prepare for anyone who does make it through the ¡®Tile Experience¡¯¡±. I would call it more of a ¡°Shitty Experience¡± and I''m all that''s needed to put you in the ground.

    ¡°Hahaha. Let''s see about that half-pint!¡± I''m very normal sized thank you very much, but a rock-headed boulder wouldn''t know!

    ¡°We will see if you''re still able to talk like that after I make you eat dirt!¡± Boulder punched the ground and the whole cave shook and cracks appeared in the floor. Pieces of the rock floor shot up and Ted jumped from the rising rock to land at a safe spot behind Boulder. He threw some [Rock-et Punches]. The flying rocks hit Boulder but didn''t seem to have done any damage.

    As expected. Ted observed the boulder barreling at him. He stomped the ground and made a rock appear in front of Boulder. Boulder tripped but turned his momentum into a rolling attack.

    Shit! Ted took up a stance. He knew this was risky but he didn''t get a lot of opportunities to show off. He made earth magic flow from the ground into his left leg to his right arm and threw a punch at the fast-approaching rolling boulder. [Mountain Buster]. Boulder¡¯s body ground against Ted¡¯s metal knuckles. Sparks flew and neither moved. Ted was firmly anchored because of the magic flowing into his leg and Boulder¡¯s momentum made him almost like an unstoppable force. Ted put his back more into the punch and drew more earth magic in. He succeeded and sent Boulder flying. Beads of sweat rolled down Ted¡¯s forehead. Boulder crashed into the wall next to Raishin, who freaked out.

    ¡°Not bad not bad!¡± Boulder said as he got up. He then instantly threw a big rock, which got formed after crashing into the wall, at Ted. Ted kicked the rock back and dashed towards Boulder. Ted used earth magic to make sure the rock wouldn''t shatter by his kick. Boulder jumped and crashed on the ground creating shockwaves where earth spikes erupted from the floor around him riding the shockwave outward. Gregory made [Earth walls] to protect himself, Agnis, and Raishin. Ted punched the ground to cancel the shockwave and the rock spikes in a radius of 3 meters around him, he broke off a rock spike near him and threw it at Boulder, He broke off more and kept throwing it at Boulder. Boulder stood there and took all the rock spears head-on and took no damage. Guess I got to put a lot of force into my attacks to get through that thick skin.

    ¡°Haha, give up kiddo! You don''t stand a chance! You can''t hurt me and all I need to do is land one or two good hits to make you crumble.¡± I disagree with that sediment; It is you who can hurt me. I have landed attacks while you didn''t land any! Ted made a gesture for Boulder to approach. Boulder fell for the provocation. He rushed at Ted. Ted narrowly evaded Boulder''s attack. He wanted to try something but his range was too short because Boulder was too big. Boulder rushed at him again. Ted evaded this one too but this time he transformed into his big bear form. In this form, he was about as big as Boulder.

    He used Boulders momentum to perform a shoulder throw. [Bear mode: Boulder Throw]. He slammed Boulder into the ground and made a huge crater. Blood spurted out of Boulder''s mouth. Ted used this opportunity to mount Boulder and threw magic-enhanced punches at Boulder. The earth shook at every punch Ted threw in this big bear mode. Boulder tried to protect himself but he couldn''t do much since Ted was in this overwhelmingly advantageous position. After 5 punches Boulder started to realize that if he didn''t do anything he would be defeated here and then. He gathered mana with himself and used it to buff himself up. His muscles started to expand rapidly. So rapidly that it pushed Ted off him. He used this chance to get up and throw a punch at Ted but Ted blocked it. Another punch and Ted deflected it. Ted was proficient in martial arts so simple punches wouldn''t do much to him.

    ¡°Martial arts, eh? I know some myself too! But to think I would be fighting a war bear!¡± Dashing around and rolling around sure indicated otherwise¡­ Boulder went for a low kick but Ted moved out of the way and swiped his bear paw upward to attempt to claw into Boulder. Ted had a slightly longer reach. Boulder narrowly evaded it. Or so he thought, Ted¡¯s bear paw still drew blood but it was shallow. Ted¡¯s paw which was now high in the air turned to aim his paw downwards and made a downward swiping motion while stepping in. Boulder blocked it with his arm allowing Ted¡¯s claws to dig into his bulging muscles. Boulder threw a punch at Ted¡¯s abdomen, which he took full on. The thing is Ted is quite tanky. He smiled and threw a punch back at Boulder. This didn''t seem to do much to Boulder but more than the punch Ted received.

    ¡°Haha, that hurt but it isn''t enough to bring me down!¡± We will see about that! Ted pulled his fist a bit back from Boulder¡¯s abdomen. He pulled a lot of earth magic in with his left foot and sent it to his right arm he also gathered fire mana in his right hand. You must have heard of this technique, right? The one-inch punch? Boulder realized what was going to happen and tried to break free but Ted¡¯s claw dug further into his arm, moreover, Ted pulled him in with his claw making it difficult for Boulder to escape.

    Eat this! [Explosive One-Inch Mountain Buster]! A huge bang sounded. The ground underneath Ted¡¯s anchored left foot cracked and some enormous flaming projectile got launched into the wall opposite Ted. After the rubble cleared all that could be seen was Boulder with a huge scorch mark on his abdomen passed out with the white of his eyes showing. Blood was flowing out of his mouth. Ted approached to make sure Boulder was knocked out. After confirming Boulder was knocked out, he used earth magic to move him to his room and made an earth prison restraining Boulder¡¯s limbs and movement. After returning back to the boss room he looked around and inspected the havoc their battle wrecked. It was a short yet explosive battle. He canceled his big bear mode and strengthened the room with the help of Gregory.

    Whew, I won''t say that was hard but It sure was challenging. You almost turned me into a pancake! You dodged it fine, stop complaining! And I guess that is because we don''t encounter a lot of brawny types like those.

    Yeah, most of our opponents throw a lot of magic around so there isn''t much I can do about that. That punch boulder threw at you seemed to pack a punch didn''t that hurt?

    Just a bit. He was strong, yes but I''m confident in my defense! Ted slapped his right biceps. Alright, I''m making the small hole to the surface so that we can return here tomorrow, you guys go check on Agnis.

    That punch felt so good! I had to hold back because I was afraid that I would send him through the wall and bring this place down on us. Raishin looked at the 10-meter crater Boulder made by flying into the wall as a result of Ted¡¯s punch and pointed.

    That was holding back? About half of what I wanted to punch with yes.

    Scary! Hey, Agnis wake up! The battle is over! Is he napping?

    I don''t know! He has this weird half-awake half-asleep state. He once said that if dolphins can sleep with one brain half at a time why can''t he. But I don''t know if he managed to do that. What a weirdo¡­ Hey Agnis! Wake up! But mommy, I don''t want to go to school! I want to stay home and bake cookies with you! Ted and Raishin look at each other.

    Oy Agnis wake up! Ted slapped Agnis¡¯ cheeks. Agnis jumped up and started his [Tail dynamo] What? Enemies? Where? What is the plan! It is over. Ted beat Boulder. Agnis canceled his [Tail dynamo]

    Oh, I had a short nap, wish it was longer. Gregory is creating a way out; we should be able to go home soon.

    How did the fight go? Ted struck a victory pose. I won!

    Nice! Any loot? What? He didn''t drop anything.

    Oh, nothing really interesting in his room either. Hmm, I wasn''t expecting much from a mini-boss anyways. We will see what the real guardian has to offer, although the siblings didn''t drop anything either¡­

    Well, we¡¯re not here for any loot or stuff, right? Something cool would be nice though¡­ Hey, how funny would it be if the guardian were like Boulder¡¯s older brother Mountain or something! Then there would be Rock, Boulder, and Mountain!

    And a sidekick called Pebbles! The exit is done! We can finally leave this place! How late is it by the way Agnis? Nearing 4 in the morning, It might not be a great idea to take the places of our clones right now so let''s just sleep at Raishin¡¯s place. Good one, I could use some good sleep! Ted stretched as Gregory called them over. He shadow-melded them and they escaped from the hole Gregory made. They popped out of the shadow of Raishin¡¯s hut.

    So sleepy¡­ Time to sleep! Good night! Raishin that is my blanket!

    It is cold! Use your fur or something! Can¡¯t you use your tails like Agnis?

    Have you seen how fluffy his tails are? And have you seen how not fluffy mine are? Guys shut up I''m trying to sleep! Silence falls over Raishin¡¯s hut as the 4 guys fall asleep.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile

    A shadow stalks through the night looking for its target. Or actually targets. The shadow¡¯s search has brought it near a small village. The shadow spots a campfire with 3 silhouettes outside the village. The shadow carefully approaches and listens in to the conversation of these three men.

    ¡°Are you sure the information broker will come? This village here¡±, one of the men with a dark green cloak said while pointing at the small village, ¡°is quite in the middle of nowhere and hard to reach.¡±

    ¡°Well, that is the whole point of meeting up here dumbass, our identities as well as that of the information broker should stay hidden,¡± said a man in a black cloak.

    ¡°I still don''t know how it can be so hard to find 4 brats,¡± said the last man in a grey cloak. The shadow keeps listening and realizes that there is a possibility that these men have the same targets. The shadow is also in need of information because as these men said it proved to be quite difficult to find these 4 targets.

    ¡°Well, if we find them, we will be paid handsomely and let''s be real here, it was never going to be easy. They might be brats but they are the brats of the Calamity trio.¡±

    ¡°And one extra!¡± The man in the dark green cloak added. The shadow was sure that they had the same target. The shadow detected a slight sound and inspected the area where the sound originated. Another hooded figure was heading towards the camp. Judging by his gait and posture this wasn''t anyone of a similar profession as these men or the shadow''s own profession. This might be the broker they were talking about. The shadow wondered what the best course of action was. Clearly, the men didn''t have a specific time set for the meetup. The shadow could capture the broker and get information out of him and then pretend to be the broker and get information out of the three men. The shadow decided that this would be the course of action that would net the most information. The shadow blended in with other (real) shadows and easily abducted the broker.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Good morning, sir, Let''s make this an efficient encounter, and tell me everything you prepared to tell in your meetup.¡±

    ¡°Wh.. who are you! You are not my client! I''ve been told that there would be 3 clients!¡±

    ¡°We just had a little falling out, now tell me.¡±

    ¡°L..Lies! If that is the case what is the codeword?¡± The shadow knew that it couldn''t deceive the broker like this so a blade made out of shadows was held at the throat of the broker.

    ¡°I don''t think you understand, you don''t have much of a choice unless you¡¯ve grown tired of carrying this head around.¡±

    ¡°W...w¡­wait! Ok, I got it! All you need to know is what I wanted to tell you guys right?! The Clan will hear from this!¡±

    ¡°That is fine, you can file a complaint at the clan, now tell me what you know!¡±

    ¡°F...fine! So, this is about the Calamity trio¡¯s offspring, right?¡± The shadow held the blade closer to the broker''s neck.

    ¡°You¡¯re not very specific here¡±

    ¡°Eek! Okok, you need information about Edea Hourai¡¯s only son Agnis, Nadila Sheru¡¯s second son Gregory, Felicia Torai¡¯s only son Raishin and Barry Barrington¡¯s third son Ted, right?¡±

    ¡°I like how concise you are, continue.¡±

    ¡°You got the assignment from Enott Hing¡¯s right-hand man Emute Aer to capture those 4 targets and bring them to the drop-off point at Lasha volcano however unexpectedly they vanished shortly after we suspected that they escaped from Hourai. It has been 5 years and not a trace of them has been found. But a rumor appeared today about the appearance of Hourai rubies.¡± The shadow thought about these words.

    ¡°I''m curious about these Hourai rubies, go on.¡± The shadow moved the dagger so that the broker had more room around his throat. The broker took this as a form of satisfaction so he continued.

    ¡°We still need to verify if this rumor is true and the origin of these rumors but it is more information than we¡¯ve had in 5 years.¡±

    ¡°Is that all? A rumor? With no source?¡± The shadow brought the dagger closer to the broker¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Hii... okok! It is still a rumor but a man we have in the Yttroz Industries confirmed that a precious cargo arrived yesterday but he couldn''t verify if it was the Hourai rubies of the rumor. It was handled with great care and it went through the procedure that all highly valuable items go through! At least that was what the inside man said!¡±

    ¡°Yttroz Industries, eh?¡± The shadow thought of everything it knew about this company. ¡°So which branch are we talking about?¡±

    ¡°Uhm it was received by the headquarters in the capital of Hjuva.¡±

    ¡°You''re telling me that rubies were found on that enormous plain?! You are expecting me to believe that?!¡± The shadow pressed the dagger closer to the broker''s neck and a small trail of blood appeared.

    ¡°Owowowow! I don''t know! I only know where it was received! I don''t know which branch bought the rubies and transported them to the capital! I swear! We are still trying to find out!¡± The shadow released the hold on the broker. The shadow had monitored the broker''s pulse, transpiration and breathing rhythm the whole time, besides the obvious fear it was clear that there were no lies in the broker¡¯s words.

    ¡°The capital of Hjuva eh? Gittrian, the city of gold, that''s quite far from here.¡± The broker used some weak healing magic on the cut on his neck.

    ¡°Oh, I also had to add, they hired more spies and assassins to retrieve those 4 so you have way more competition, well good luck and Cya! I hope we never meet again!¡± The broker picked up the items he dropped as a result of the shadow''s ambush and ran off.

    ¡°Hey did you hear something too?¡± The shadow hid as a person was approaching. It was Greycloak. ¡°Hey! Isn''t that our broker? Why is he running away?¡±

    ¡°A monster maybe?¡± Greencloak said while he approached to look at the scene Greycloak described.

    ¡°Then why don''t I sense any monster!¡± Blackcloak said while he took out a short sword. ¡°We might have company, he continued.¡± The shadow wondered if it could get away unnoticed but it was also curious about what information these 3 had. The shadow revealed itself to the three men. ¡°I knew it!¡± Blackcloak said while getting ready for a fight.

    ¡°Hey maybe this assassin wants to corporate,¡± Greycloak said.

    ¡°I don''t think so! The battle has already begun!¡± Blackcloak pulls Greycloak aside and moments later a black spike shoots out of the ground where Greycloak was seconds ago.

    ¡°Ugh, another I-don''t-talk-but-I-will-kill-you type¡± Greencloak said while also getting battle ready. ¡°Be careful it is a shadow user!¡±

    ¡°I will consider letting you 3 go if you tell me all that you know about your targets.¡±

    ¡°Ha! You think you can beat us in a 1 against 3 fight! We will destroy you and you will tell us what you know! Right?¡± Greycloak looks at Blackcloak and Greencloak who don''t seem as convinced of this as Greycloak does.

    ¡°I''m listening unless you want to get impaled by shadows.¡± The shadow knew that it was strong enough but it also was bluffing a bit. The shadow had a rough week and at the moment the last meal the shadow had was 2 days ago, also the build-up of fatigue could hinder the shadow. In a perfect state, these would be easy opponents but the shadow was relying on some bluffs to intimidate these 3. In this line of work, every piece of information could be crucial and could be the difference between life and death. That is why the shadow was possibly risking its life here. After 5 years of searching this is the first opportunity to get useful information, the shadow wouldn''t let this chance slip. A silent wind slash got fired off but the shadow noticed it and dodged it while sending more shadow spikes at the three. Blackcloak seemed to be the one with the most experience while Greycloak had the least. The shadow learned this just from one attack and by how these three evaded. The shadow would focus Greycloak down first. The shadow moved and appeared behind Greycloak.

    ¡°What?!¡± Greycloak tried to parry the slash but his short sword broke.

    ¡°No augmentation, eh? How disappointing.¡±

    ¡°How many times do I need to tell you to augment your sword with magic while in battle!¡± Blackcloak threw a dagger which the shadow deflected. Blackcloak and Greencloak jumped at the shadow while Greycloak fired off some fire magic.

    ¡°Using magic so openly how bold!¡± The shadow said. It slipped between the two dashing towards it and went for Greycloak. The reason why magic doesn''t get used often in this profession is that it can be quite easily traced after a battle. It is also difficult to cover up completely. Some forms of magic are easier to conceal than others. Shadow magic for example is easy to conceal, shadow magic even gets used to conceal magic traces. Fire falls in the category that is hard to hide. Greycloak must be new to this profession. Shadow slashes at Greycloak and his head flies off. At least that is the illusion Greycloak saw due to the killing intent the shadow sent towards him. Greycloak turns pale and steps back. The other two also get to see a similar illusion due to killing intent but these don''t back off.

    ¡°Be careful! This one here is an experienced assassin! Their killing intent alone can hint at how you could die if you¡¯re careless!¡± Greencloak said at Greycloak who seemed to back off.

    ¡°I will give you one last chance! Tell me all you know about your targets.¡± The shadow approaches the three men and they back off slightly beside Greycloak. The shadow aimed its focus and gaze at Greycloak who got immobilized by fear.

    ¡°All we know is that we are looking for 4 brats of about 12 years old and that they''re impossible to find! We waited for the broker to find out more!¡±

    ¡°Idiot! don''t give away information!¡± Greencloak yelled at Greycloak.

    ¡°But we don''t have any information! That is why we¡¯re out of money, tired and dirty! I just want to go home but this assignment is impossible!¡±

    ¡°I see you don''t have any information. I guess you three are no use to me.¡± Judging from the reaction the three men gave off the shadow concluded that these men knew even less than the broker, just like itself they have had no success in anything related to finding these 4 12-year-olds. The shadow wanted to leave and go rest before putting the information from the broker to use, however, Greycloak took the words of the shadow as that the shadow would wipe them out.

    ¡°I don''t want to die! Nobody would hide my sexy magazines if I kick the bucket!¡± Greycloak shouted and rushed with short sword at hand at the shadow. The shadow dodged and tried to step away. Greycloak kept blindly slashing at the shadow to which the shadow responded by lopping his head off. Blackcloak and Greencloak who saw this were shocked and upset.

    ¡°At this point, it doesn''t matter if we get found out because of the use of magic if the alternative is dying here, right?¡± Greencloak said to Blackcloak.

    ¡°I have too much I need to yet accomplish in life to die helplessly here to a strong opponent so at least let us put up a good fight.¡± Blackcloak said as he started glowing gold and Greencloak ignited. Shadow wondered if everything it had done so far was the right decision. Normally these two would be easy opponents but it was a 2v1 and the shadow was really exhausted and hungry. If the battle didn''t get decided swiftly the shadow would get put at a big disadvantage.

    ¡°I should have just quietly assassinated them when I got the chance¡±, the shadow thought to itself. Blackcloak started casting magic that looked like the supportive nature, the magic coming from him also supports it since it was light elemental magic. The shadow summoned countless shadows and assaulted Blackcloak. Greencloak fired multiple [Fireballs] at the shadow but the shadow evaded those. Blackcloak got immobilized by [Shadowbind], Blackcloak tried to cast [Unbind] to escape the bind but the shadow cut off the arm which was supposed to apply the magic.

    ¡°Aagh!¡± A [Fireball] hit the shadow but it didn''t seem to do much.

    ¡°Hmm, I''ve experienced fire magic way hotter than this!¡± The shadow decided to ignore Greencloak since so far, he hasn''t been able to do any meaningful damage to the shadow. The shadow was intending to finish off the support first because it is unknown what types of supportive skills Blackcloak has. Blackcloak fends off an onslaught of attacks unable to cast anything meaningful because he is too busy trying to not get cut in half. Greencloak changed his strategy and started to cast strong spells. The shadow was wary but this fire didn''t seem like a big threat. It was either fast and weak or strong and slow. The shadow understood now that if Blackcloak could cast a supportive spell to fix Greencloak flaws the tables could be turned easily. Going for Blackcloak was the correct choice. Blackcloak seemed well versed in defending from shadow-based attacks.

    The shadow didn''t want to use too big moves because it would eat at its already low stamina and mana. But they also might instantly decide the outcome of the fight. The problem was, the shadow didn''t know if there are any other threats close by. It is always safe to stay vigilant. And Greycloak has been throwing fire around for the last 10 minutes so if there was anything close by it would have surely noticed by now. Blackcloak made a mistake and took a [Shadow slash] to the torso. However, Blackcloak used this moment to buff Greencloak¡¯s attack speed and magical attack power. Shadow instantly noticed that a reversal might be possible and it followed up by a [Shadow bind] and a [Shadow bolt]. Blackcloak wasn''t dead but he was very wounded and lost consciousness. The shadow now focused on the powered-up Greencloak. The shadow was breathing heavily. They weren''t tough opponents but more persistent. The [Fireball] Greencloak shot was many times bigger and hotter than before.

    The shadow dodged and sent [Shadow arrows] at Greencloak. ¡°I know that this is to be expected in our field of work but please die so I can avenge my colleagues!¡± Greencloak fired another big [Fireball] and the shadow used [Shadow meld] to dodge the fireball and appear from Greencloak¡¯s shadow. The shadow slashed at Greencloak¡¯s neck and Greencloak reacted by heating up making the air rapidly expand and pushing the shadow away. A shallow cut appeared on Greencloak¡¯s neck and the shadow looked at its melted sword. The shadow realized that it should consider escaping since without a sword it would have to rely on magic even though its mana pool was running really low. Normally it would have multiple daggers and hidden weapons but they all have been expended. The shadow made a mental note to take more stops to rest and resupply.

    The shadow looked at its melted sword and decided that martial arts might not be a great idea. The shadow threw the remains of its melted sword into the approaching fireball, evaded and made a shadow spread under Greencloak and the shadow formed walls on the side of Greencloak with teeth and made them collapse into each other as if a shadow shark snapped its jaws on Greencloak. Flames burst from this shut jaw and a slightly bloodied Greencloak emerged from the [Shadow Jaw] and dashed at the shadow clad in flames and flaming sword in hand. The shadow [Shadow Melded] to evade this dash. The shadow didn''t have much mana left to confront this buffed-up Greencloak head-on. Since Greencloak was throwing fire around it wouldn''t be an issue if the shadow used some fire magic too. The shadow had the choice between expending extra mana or extra stamina here.

    Fire magic as mana expensive but there was also an option to remove heat and create ice, this would be cheaper on the mana side but will be more stamina intensive. The shadow made a split decision to conserve mana. The shadow used [Frozen Ground]. Greencloak who was rushing at the shadow slipped, the shadow reduced the heat of the fire Greencloak had clad himself in and formed an ice blade. The shadow could now create ice blades and conserve mana by using swordsmanship as much as possible. This would not be a permanent solution. Greencloak got up and amped up his flames. The moisture in the air evaporated as did the [Frozen Ground] melt. This also made it harder for the shadow to use the water in the air to form ice by removing heat. But this didn''t bother the shadow much. The shadow used its speed to land 2 ice slashes which extinguished the flames where they hit. The shadow wanted to follow up with a third finishing strike but Greencloak amped his flames up more and blasted the shadow away in a big explosion. The shadow broke its fall and got up. Part of its [Shadow cloak] got blasted off and a part of the shadow''s face showed as well as the shadow''s left side.

    ¡°You! That race! It still exists?¡± Shadow realized that now is not the time to conserve mana or stamina, the identity of an assassin was also something valuable.

    ¡°I really didn''t want to do this.¡± The shadow said. Greencloak felt a pressure he had never felt before. The shadow approached him slowly while covering its face and body back up. Greencloak was convinced that he would never be able to forget that face and he know that this would be the end of the line for him. He knew this shadow was stronger than him but now that he knows what race this shadow belongs to. he knows it''s hopeless. He notices that the shadow used up all its mana by guarding against the explosion he set off earlier but he also feels that that doesn''t matter now. Never has he seen anyone be so intimidated while being out of mana and unarmed. He readied his flames, the buff Blackcloak put on him would run for 2 more minutes, the chance is small but he might be able to work a miracle and defeat this shadow. He tried to condense the flames and shoot them in a concentrated arrow to concentrate its destructive power but the split second he shifted his attention to concentrating his flames proved fatal. The shadow blurred and appeared behind him. The shadow concentrated some weird black-purple energy at its fist. Greencloak got an ominous feeling, he had no idea what this was but it wasn''t shadow magic.

    The shadow threw a lightning-fast punch after a half-second charge. Greycloak didn''t fly away, he didn''t feel pain but he felt his body twisting. He felt his body getting sucked into the impact of the punch while twisting, the parts closer to the impact area getting pulled in stronger than those further away. He felt this effect for about a second before he got completely sucked in. The moment Greencloak got sucked in a shockwave flew in the direction of the punch which returned and sucked everything in the black-purple glow of the punch. The shadow, panting heavily dropped to one knee. The glow in its right hand disappears. The shadow did a quick scan of the area. Nobody was nearby. The knocked-out Blackcloak got sucked into that punch earlier so all the opponents were eliminated. The shadow took off its [Shadow Cloak] and looked at the crescent moon.

    ¡°I wonder if this lead will take me closer to my targets. I will have to eat and rest before I head over to Gittrian.¡± The shadow said to itself and assured itself that the search will be over soon enough. With the shadow cloak disguise now dropped, the shadow looked like someone who could be a normal civilian after some minor tweaks to its appearance so it headed toward the close by village after resting for about half an hour. The sun would rise in about 1.5 more hours which would be about the time it would take to reach the village at normal walking speed. The shadow looked back before walking towards the village.

 Ch 30: Monkeyball

    Day 4: I woke up and noticed I had a lot of energy. It wasn''t the normal time I woke up but we returned late yesterday.

    Hmm, already 12, eh? I looked around. It seems Raishin was already gone, probably hunting but Gregory and Ted were still passed out. I got up but got hit by a dizzy spell and sat down. Did I overdo it yesterday? The dizziness wasn''t as bad as yesterday and was quite brief. Hmm weird, I guess I need to take my rest a bit more seriously onward. I say that but I will forget to do so anyway. I get up again and went into the archive I make mentally to check what the planning would be for today. It seems that we won''t be completing our adventure of yesterday until tomorrow when we are supposed to beat the guardian of the root and destroy it. Hopefully, this won''t put us back in the time loop again like last time. In the original time loop, we did a couple things, which were supposed to do again today. We went to receive gifts from Johnny, I remember fixing and practicing with the magic sword I got from him and we did a sparring match. I wonder if I would get a magic sword this time loop. A magic sword is quite unique, there are no two of the same ones unless its maker deliberately made multiple. This was another time loop so that shouldn''t apply but there were a lot of things different this time around. Maybe we wouldn''t get any presents after all. Johnny doesn''t always manage to find cool and useful stuff for us. Actually, getting duplicates of stuff we already have might be inconvenient. Maybe we should find a way to meet with him but not receive presents.

    I step outside and it is a bit windy as if a storm was approaching. So, this is also different, it was sunny the last time. I started to become a bit concerned about the effects this different time loop would have. A small drop can make ripples in a pond so nothing we can do could bring this time loop toward where it was originally supposed to end up. I started to wonder whose fault it would be if this would cause problems later on. Would it be our fault or the creator of this barrier? Was it that bad that we wanted to escape? Would everything fix itself if we would die? Is there a possibility that our messing around sets the world on a course to destruction or maybe to a better world? I leave Raishin¡¯s hut while deep in thought. I wasn''t going anywhere in particular but I thought I might as well take a walk. I activated my Elgards eyes and looked at whatever spatiotemporal data I could figure out with various filters. There was a lot that I didn''t understand. Having overpowered eyes is a bit useless if there''s a mountain of information I don''t understand or can''t use. I do know that every timeline has a number and the current number is different from the original timeline. Shifting timelines should make the next timeline number random unless a specific one is targeted but this timeline was just the number of the original timeline +1 which is very odd but also very specific.

    This is as much as I know about this timeline information instinctively as a nine-tail. If this tree¡¯s objective is to wipe our memories by sending us back to a different timeline 5 days earlier it shouldn''t make any difference what timeline number it has, in theory. So why is this number 1 higher than the last one. Is it a coincidence? Probably not, this timeline number has 18 digits there is almost a 0% chance that this wasn''t done intentionally. The reason why really bugs me. I don''t know what special effect this creates. A timeline with a 5 as a number for example might be more similar to a timeline that has 16723 as a number, not because 6 is closer to 5 means that its timeline is more similar to timeline number 5 than timeline number 16723 so I''m really confused here. Then again, I don''t have any nine tails around me to teach me about all this spatiotemporal stuff I will have to discover this all by myself which leaves a large room for me to be wrong. All these other things that I don''t understand might play a role in it but I just can''t figure it out. I sigh and close the filters. I headed towards the town square to meet up with Johnny. I was about to bump into someone but I evaded him. He seemed to have spotted me but somehow managed to trip.

    ¡°Ouch! Hey, it''s you again! Dad this is the guy I told you about!¡± I''m sorry, have we met before?

    ¡°Look, dad! He''s pretending again to not recognize my handsome features!¡± No seriously who are you? After saying that I got struck with a Deja vu. Have I experienced this before?

    ¡°I see Dunkey, you must be Agnis, right? I¡¯m Munkey, Dunkey¡¯s father. Me and the other parents were just about to head over to your home to talk to Hera and Philip about how you bullied our sons.¡± I look behind Donkey and Monkey and see 4 sets of parents with boys of about 14 years old that I couldn''t recognize. Hmm, I see, so you guys believe that 1 12-year-old, bullies 5 14-year-olds to the point that their parents have to talk to Philip and Hera?

    ¡°Hmm if you say it like that, it sounds suspicious. Are you sure Dunkey?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, he totally bullied us! The other bullies said¡±. I''m sorry who are you guys? I only vaguely recognize Donkey here.

    ¡°My name is Dunkey! D-U-N-K-E-I!¡± I think you dropped a ¡°Y¡±

    ¡°Dunkey my son your name is spelled D-U-N-K-E-Y.¡±

    ¡°I knew that I was just testing this asshole!¡± Right, I don''t have time for this nonsense, I have to meet up with some friends.

    ¡°Hold on there!¡± A random parent grabbed me by my shoulder. ¡°I will have you explain why my son tells us that you are bullying them.¡± I want to know that too and I just want to point something out. At this point all the bullies and parents surrounded me. Isn''t this categorized as bullying?

    ¡°We just want to know why my son keeps telling me why you are bullying them and judging from your attitude it looks like you are quite the troublesome child, hasn¡¯t your mother taught you anything?¡± My mother has taught me to not let bullies get what they want and that is what I¡¯m doing now. Even though I¡¯m innocent.

    ¡°Haha, you hear that Munkey it sounds like his mother doesn''t know anything about raising kids.¡± I tried to control myself but something snapped when that random parent said that. Go talk to Philip and Hera, I am going to pretend to have not heard that and go meet my friends, but my advice is to never bring up anything like that ever again. I still managed to keep my cool although barely. I really loved and missed my mother; she was a wonderful parent. Whenever she could she would spend time with me and tell various stories about her adventures, go on random tangents, and explain things I don''t understand or will later understand but she also kicked my ass when I did something wrong. These people have no right to talk as if they know her. It might be wrong but I really felt like kicking their asses when they said that. I tried to walk away but the parents blocked my path. I shot them an intimidating look.

    ¡°This kid is clearly misbehaved! I knew he has been taught poorly!¡± 10¡­ Donkey joined in with one of the parents said and started talking shit about my buddies. 9¡­8¡­ His dad Monkey made a joke about how I''ve probably been better off being raised by animals 7¡­6¡­ a random parent commented that maybe I was a wild animal 5¡­4¡­ Now the parents of my buddies got made fun of by one of the bullies. I swear whoever said that count down from 10 and your anger will disappear has no idea what he was talking about, it only seems to be increasing. 3¡­2¡­

    ¡°Haha, he has been counting down does he think he''s a rocket?!¡± Donkey¡¯s friend said.

    ¡°I''m surprised his mother even taught him how to count Donkey added.¡± 1¡­0¡­ The moment the word 0 left my mouth the area suddenly became quiet. I directed pure killing intent at the 14 individuals laughing at me. Their laughing turned into surprise. The temperature started to drop and condensation started to form whenever anyone talked. I have warned you guys, It is time to teach some bullies a lesson. I said in a cold deep tone. I was really pissed. I did set up some illusion layers I had running to isolate us from the rest of the town. It looked the same as the town but it was just a well-made copy. Everything was functional but there were no other people only me and these 14 bullies.

    ¡°Haha, so what? you have some killing intent what do you want to do fight us 14 by yourself? Don''t make me laugh!¡± I threw all my manners out of the window; I wasn''t planning to kill them but I wasn''t going to let them off easily. These seemed like the people that would do whatever they wanted until they got taught a lesson. I don''t expect a monkey to understand but I will give you one last chance, apologize for insulting my mother and my buddies and their parents.

    ¡°I can beat him up, right dad?¡± Donkey said while pointing at me.

    ¡°Some kids don''t learn until they get a beating. Show him how brilliant you are son!¡± Donkey and his friends rushed at me while their parents looked on smugly. I dropped the temperature to freezing point and made the ground slippery. Snow started to fall. They all slipped and didn''t manage to reach me. I was controlling myself so much by not flash-freezing everything here. I created ice pillars and smacked the bullies around with them.

    ¡°Owowow! Wait huh? This doesn''t hurt?¡± The bullies said. Don''t worry you are just numb from the cold, it just feels good to smack you around, I can''t have you squealing like piggies. The temperature was steadily dropping and the whole place was turning white.

    ¡°Hey, stop this right now! Or we will have to intervene!¡± Go on, Intervene, I''m waiting. The parents looked at each other and some started rushing towards me and others started slinging magic at me. Let''s see that magic is weak, hmm this guy''s posture is bad, that is supposed to be a fireball? This man? He is using water magic when it''s -15 ¡ãC, if you¡¯re going to bully someone at least be able to back it up. The water magic-using parent used a quite wide attack but it instantly froze so I used it to block all the other magic and slipped up those that ran at me and froze their pants to the floor.

    ¡°Hey, why would you use water when it is so cold!¡±

    ¡°You interfered with my magic!¡±

    ¡°Why is it so cold anyways!¡± I made more ice pillars and knocked the parents around that got their buts frozen to the floor. This of course ripped their pants and they got knocked around with their butts out in the cold. The parents that were left started to gather around those that could use fire magic. And started throwing huge fireballs at me. It seems that these fire users were quite competent. Too bad I have high heat resistance. The fire hit me but it did nothing besides a bit of blunt damage from its impact.

    ¡°What are you!¡± At this moment your worst nightmare. Everyone stuck in the domain started to bleed out of their noses. The dry cold air dried and ruptured the tiny blood vessels in their noses.

    ¡°Aah, my nose!¡± This didn''t take long because shortly after their blood froze. The parents were trying to fire off fire magic next to those that got knocked around by ice pillars. They were trying to not hit them but still heat them up.

    ¡°This won''t stop until we defeat him!¡± Monkey said to Donkey after skilfully saving his son from getting knocked around. I was planning to make a frozen Donkey pinball game but I guess Monkey ruined that plan. ¡°Let''s show him the power of the Hurado family!¡±

    ¡°D..D...Daad! Can you help warm me up it''s so c..c..coold!¡±

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Speed up the mana in your system and let it circulate and run either some fire or lightning magic but don''t activate it yet it will warm you up. Not enough to be warm in this cold but that is why we should defeat this guy as soon as possible! I never expected to see a water user this strong though.¡±

    ¡°H..h..h..ow do I do that!¡±

    ¡°I got to keep an eye on this guy, I can¡¯t assist you now! You''re a smart guy I believe in you, son!¡± I saw how Donkey was having difficulties putting his magic in motion, something that should be the basics of mana usage. He and everyone would freeze to death before he would get even close to moving it around.

    Don''t worry, I have all the time in the world, I don''t mind if you help your son, it is you guys who are on a time limit, I don''t mind waiting. Monkey looked at me to try and ascertain the validity of my words and ran over to his son and coached him on how to make his mana move and activate to keep himself warm. Monkey seemed to have the basics down quite well but it wouldn''t make a difference. I''ve done all this with just water magic, the moment I feel like throwing in some frost magic it would be game over for them. The reason I also let him is that I was trying to cool down. It''s quite ironic that all this ice didn''t help me cool off at all. I was either hoping I would cool off before these idiots took permanent damage or Gregory would notice something, breakthrough, and stop me. For cases like this, I made it possible for Gregory to break this illusion and calm me down else nobody would be able to interfere. I''m sure though if Gregory was here like he was last time he would be on board with teaching them a lesson. I wasn''t cooled off enough, no interference from Gregory, and Donkey and Monkey seemed ready for battle. I took one step forward and an icy blast shot out from me. The bullies that got knocked around the longest froze solid. They were still alive but they would need to be carefully thawed if they didn''t want to take a stupid amount of damage.

    ¡°My son!¡± A parent dashed at me with a spear made out of fire. I grabbed the spear with my bare hands and drowned out the fire with water which instantly froze. The parent instantly let go of the cold spear and I knocked the parent toward the other parents that were getting knocked around by ice pillars. I spun the now ice spear around and took a stance. I wasn''t as good with spears as Raishin but I was decent enough at it to deal with Donkey and Monkey.

    ¡°Ugh, it''s so cold, dad how are we going to own this kid?¡± Monkey looked over to the parents that were getting knocked around and how those that got knocked around the longest turned into frozen balls and got knocked into a pinball machine I made out of ice. He looked at me in horror. What? You like bullying 12-year old kids, I like pinball.

    ¡°You are crazy!¡± Sure, let''s go with that scenario. I let 12 ice shards float around my spear and dashed at Donkey and Monkey.

    ¡°I don''t need to tell you this son but getting hit by those shards is going to be bad news!¡± Monkey shot a [Flame wave] at me but I didn''t care, Heat resistance is so overpowered. I emerged from the flame wave unscathed and moved into Monkey¡¯s blind spot. ¡°Shit! I forgot that this kid is fast! Charlize wasn''t kidding.¡± He tried to turn around to face me but I kept moving into his blind spot. Donkey wasn''t really helpful because he was telling his dad where I was but by that time I already moved inside his blind spot after he turned around. I guess I''m calling this [Blindside] I actually enjoyed annoying Monkey like this and thought about how I could bring this further. My anger was slowly subsiding and the key was annoying these two to the max! Only this could quell my anger. Well, it would be converted into an opportunity to troll them. Anyways I got an idea after observing how my ice pillars were still knocking the bullies and their parents around.

    Not many bullies were left that weren''t frozen into ice balls but the pillars were knocking them around without letting them hit the ground. I [Blindsided] Monkey again and copied the beginning of [Raishin kick]. I didn''t see him actually use this skill because I was frozen when he did that but from his stance and how he kept doing sweeps at my legs with his spear, I know that the first attack is to sweep the target off their legs and then probably knock them into the air. I succeeded in what I knew from the [Raishin kick] and started my own technique that I came up with. I kept using my spear to knock Monkey up in the air not allowing him to drop to the ground. I did this while applying [Blindside]. It was quite tricky and I made sure to not do too much damage to Monkey while doing this. ¡°Wha! What is this!¡± Monkey tried to break out of his prolonged airborne state but he was unable to do anything. To Monkey it looked like he was being kept airborne by a ghost. Wherever he looked he couldn''t see where I was because I kept moving into his blind spot and knocking him up again. Hmm, how to call this. [Agnis kick]? Too unoriginal it isn''t a kick either¡­ It seems I vanished for this Monkey and I''m having to put in a lot of speed and footwork to make sure he doesn''t drop down. [Blinding speed]? Hmm, that sounds more like some other skill I could develop. [Spear juggle]? [Vanishing footsteps]? Screw it I¡¯ll go for [Vanishing footsteps]. For some reason, my footprints in the snow disappeared while using this technique so it really looked to him like he was getting combo-ed by a ghost.

    Now Donkey wasn''t exactly doing nothing. He was shooting his slow-ass lightning at me but as you¡¯ve guessed he wasn''t successful in hitting me. I suppose to him it was hard to even see where I was at all times. I wasn''t stupid, I didn''t juggle Monkey around in a small area, It would make it easier for me but also easier for Donkey to hit me so I was juggling Monkey over a wide area.

    ¡°Dunkey do something! I can''t break out of this!¡± Donkey ran to my approximate location with a fire punch and I used [Vanishing footprints] on him too. It wasn''t too hard to juggle both of them. Now that I don''t have any interferences, I had to think of how to bring this skill further. Most of my anger cooled off and I was now thinking of how to use this opportunity to practice [Vanishing footprints] and teach these bullies a lesson. It was easy to put more damage in this skill and to be honest if I could catch someone in this, he would be a sitting duck. Not like the metal ducks in that obnoxious puzzle but they would be a free target for my buddies to hit them with all kinds of ranged magic. I''ve been juggling Monkey for about 10 minutes and Donkey for 5 minutes and I''m starting to tire. They seem to have given up trying to escape. I decided to turn the ice shards I had floating around my spear into frost shards. Any attempt to forcefully escape this skill with the use of magic got nullified. They would need help from outside to break free, wait till I get tired, or break free with a big explosion or something. It can¡¯t be fire based because I''m practically immune to that, so uhh good luck Donkey and Monkey. I got tired of these clowns and I shoot an [Ice beam] out of my spear and freeze them solid. I sculpt them into balls and smack them toward the ice pinball machine with my spear. I had to rest for 10 minutes since it was physically demanding but fun nonetheless. I walk over to the ice pinball machine. 14 ice pinballs were waiting for me.

    I played pinball for an hour when suddenly I felt someone trying to break in. I recognized the magic signature as belonging to Gregory and let him in and made the temperature ehhh Gregory-friendly. What is going on here? I''m playing pinball.

    I can see that. You don''t seem pissed, what happened? Something must have really angered you because normally it isn''t this hard to break in, whenever you try to not turn the whole area into a frozen wasteland. These clowns didn''t heed my warning about dropping the subject of insulting our mothers.

    Same thing as in the original timeline? Even worse. I linked up my vision with Gregory and played the scene for him which angered me. I could see Gregory getting angry.

    Hey is there room for 2 to play pinball? Of course! We started to play some pinball.

    So, there is something I noticed with your family concerning getting angry. Gregory got his ball in an advantageous position where it kept bouncing around and generating a lot of points. Hmm, what did you notice? I said as I saw Gregory nearing my top score with his lucky shot.

    Everyone in the Hourai family seems to have a different interaction with anger. Whenever your mother gets angry all her focus drops and she will make a lot of silly mistakes so she has to make sure she doesn''t get angry in battles. Yes! top score! Meh. Xelia seems to be immune to getting angry, while Yuna is always angry. And you, whenever you get angry, whoever triggers that is kind of fucked. It was my turn on the pinball machine and I needed to reclaim my top score. I loaded the Monkey ball.

    Didn''t part of the Hourai palace burn down because some assassin stole and ate your favorite dish and accused you when he got caught? I managed a lucky shot too; the monkey ball was pinging between multiple points as if it got caught in my [Vanishing footprints]

    Wow lucky shot! I wasn''t angry because I got accused of eating all the food, or that someone tried to assassinate me, but because he ate the food I was looking forward to. I just came back from hunting spirit salmon with mom and she prepared it perfectly and that jerk stole and ate it!

    Yeah, normally it''s hard to make you angry but whenever someone touches your favorite food then he''s in for hell. He took my food so I took his life, he was planning to assassinate me anyways so I guess it''s fair that he should be prepared to die.

    Yeah, you took his life and a quarter of Hourai palace. Spicy food is one of Hourai¡¯s specialties. It was a bit too spicy for most people. Mom was happy though.

    Of course, she was¡­ nobody in our families is normal, including us sadly. That makes it more exciting! I beat your top score!

    Only by 6 points! One point for every tail I have more than you! Perfect!

    Ugh, lucker. So, what are you going to do with them? And why are some of them missing pants? Gregory gestures at the 14 pinballs.

    Got claimed by the icy bite of my ire and uhm good question. I will leave them to thaw but I can''t trouble Johnny or Uraya, someone I don''t like, hmm. Charlize and Cecilia? Great Idea! I got rid of all the ice I created beside the pinballs. I chucked them into my dimensional pocket and cancelled the separate domain I created. We went toward Cecilia¡¯s house where I dumped the pinballs in the yard and rang the doorbell. Random villager #53 opened and looked at us wide-eyed as we grinned.

    ¡°Mom! Gregory and Agnis are here!¡± Cecilia appeared and looked at us, then at the pinballs, and then again at us.

    ¡°I''m confused, what is going on here?¡± We have a present for you! Are you not going to explain anything?

    What am I supposed to say? These guys pissed me off so I turned them into pinball and I beat your top score with the Monkey ball? Hey! Come on stop rubbing salt in the wound you only won by 6 points!

    Hehe, it is not that I''m good, it''s just that your Donkey ball sucked donkey balls. Channeling the Ted inside, eh? Next time I will use the Monkey ball and kick your ass! Ooh, I¡¯d be happy to see you try!

    ¡°I''m sorry guys, I''m afraid I still don''t follow, why are these people frozen in uhm ice balls.¡± So, these people managed to make Agnis angry and they paid the price, we are hoping that you would tend to them in the thawing process because if this doesn''t go controlled, they will take a lot of damage and besides Agnis, you¡¯re the only good water user we know. Huh, didn''t we bring them here because we couldn''t be bothered to thaw them ourselves? Gregory smacked me.

    Are you channeling your inner Raishin now? Ow! No, I''m just still a bit pissed off that is all.

    ¡°I will accept this request. I''m actually curious how they managed to anger Agnis, something Charlize and I haven''t managed to do in almost 2 years but looking at these people I think maybe it is better if I don''t know.¡± Cecilia used water magic to move the pinballs to her backyard. ¡°Thank you for trusting me, you won''t mind if I question them after they thawed right?¡± Be my guest, they will probably only have bad things to say about me though.

    ¡°That is fine, I know better. If there is one thing, I''ve learned in the time we¡¯ve been chasing you guys it is that we realized that we should avoid angering you if possible.¡± I''m glad you understand! have fun with the pinballs!

    ¡°Thank you! I guess?¡± We left the ice balls at Cecilia¡¯s place and went toward the town square. We were later than the last time so Johnny probably already went home to rest and prepare to sell his stuff tomorrow. Or was he supposed to sell them today? I can''t remember. We tried looking for Ted but he seemed to be training with Rock again somewhere outside town. Gregory and I decided to leave the event with Gianni because we didn''t need any duplicates. We dropped the gullbarf off at Uraya¡¯s shop and headed home. We decided to get more rest because tomorrow would be the day, we deal with whatever guardian is protecting the root.

 Ch 31: Rage of the Mountain

    Day 5: I woke up well-rested. Philip and Hera asked me if something was up yesterday evening because normally, I''m always doing stuff and hardly resting. Maybe I should take this as a sign that I should take things easy, but sadly I don''t have time for that, there are still 6 roots left of which 1 is nowhere to be found. I thought of trying to look for it but the last time I looked for the location of the last root I came up with nothing, I will just waste time and energy. I came down the stairs and noticed Raishin approaching. I went to the door and opened it before he could ring.

    Whoa! You got to stop doing that! Sup!

    So, I''ve been perfecting my [Raishin kick] I''m not going to let you combo me!

    Nono! So, I tried those simulation things you and Greg always talk about and I realized that my move pool is quite limited. So, I came to ask if you could teach me a bit about control and some cool flashy fire moves. I tried to come up with some flashy moves myself but it is better to go to a member of a race that is known for its flashy fire magic! Ugh, my fire magic isn''t flashy because I want to! Well, that is not completely true but for the most part!

    So, can you teach me flashy fire magic? But I don''t need demonstrations! There is no point in incinerating the whole mountain range or melting everything within a 100-meter radius! Hey! I got better at controlling my fire magic! Raishin looks at me skeptically.

    When we did that [Flame wave] in that obnoxious puzzle your fire was way hotter and did way more damage for the fraction of the energy, I put in but even still you almost fried me with that heat! It''s a good thing I had Gregory¡¯s shadow cloak on! Hey, you can''t get your cake and eat it too! If you want me to do damage then it has to be hot! I''m not going to waste mana to make it have more blunt or explosive force! Fire is supposed to be hot and melt and burn shit not blast things away with mediocre damage!

    I mean¡­ you have a point but I don''t like being fried! Pff it''s not as if I use fire that often, it consumes way too much mana, and it makes me nauseous quite fast.

    Right, you have to use mana to make fire and lightning. That is normal! It is you who is abnormal that you can make those without!

    Hehe, I''m glad I''m a six-tailed lightning Tiger. But it seems we all have a loophole besides Greg. Hmm? He kind of does all those shadow skills are his racial skills so they don''t require mana. And since shadow magic is quite versatile, he can get away with using it for a lot of stuff. Raishin teleported us to an open space in the mountains outside Boshi town.

    Right, so you wanted to learn about some more control skills too, right? Yah!

    Well, there isn''t much to it besides timing, at which you¡¯re not great so instead of focusing on what you¡¯re bad at focus on what you¡¯re good at. I''ll teach you [Voltaic step] Ooh yes! That attack is so annoying to deal with!

    Besides that, you can also use its application for attacks, you won''t have to worry much about the timing when used as an attack because the 3 numbing electrical waves come out in a delay that automatically layers the control effects. So, I just hit my target with it and the waves will keep the target stunned?

    Nono, they won''t get stunned, they will get numbed when it''s used with attacks, it will make their control over movements and magic sloppy, they can still act and move, if you want to stop them completely you would stun them, and if you want them to stop moving you need to paralyze them. You can''t really stop them from using magic with using lightning magic unless you stun them, you will need to silence them. But isn''t numbing worse than all the other options?

    Not really, if you want to get in a counter or an opportunity attack in, like your [Raishin kick] or other skills that rely on your opponent making a mistake then this is perfect. Yeah, that is so you¡­ You give them the feeling they still are in control while they¡¯re not. That is why we hate fighting you, when we realize we¡¯re not in control of the fight it''s mostly too late. I shrugged and taught Raishin how to use the voltaic step and how to apply a similar effect to his attacks. Personally, I''ve never used it as an attack so I guess this was a learning moment for me too.

    So, wouldn''t it be just better to always use this as an attack? The original [Voltaic step] hits a wide area so it is also useful against multiple targets.

    Aah. Flashy fire magic next! I will just teach you a relatively weak but useful skill because anything becomes a nuke with you since you can just feed it infinite energy. Teaching you a strong skill will just end you blowing us up with it somewhere in the future. As long as it''s flashy! Right so¡­

    Nonono! I don''t need a demonstration just tell me how to do it! I already felt the temperature rise! Meh. Well, all you do is condense the flames of [Fireball] and shoot them out like a beam. It will be hot and powerful and maybe not easier to aim but you won''t be a hazard by torching the whole area.

    Like this? No, that is just a fireball.

    Like this? No that is just a bigger fireball.

    Like this? How about you stop making bigger and bigger fireballs! You need to concentrate the fire so it doesn''t spread in a ball but more like a beam and keep putting in more fire!

    Like this? That is¡­ what is that?

    I don''t know I did what you told me! I told you to make a fire beam how did you end up making a big puff of smoke.

    Are you sure you¡¯re not teaching me how to make a puff of smoke? Right¡­ I¡¯ll just show you.

    Nooo, I got this! I saw Raishin try more attempts but he just kept making [Fireballs] and [Flamethrowers].

    Ugh. I pushed Raishin aside and put him in a frost barrier and I demonstrated the [Fire beam] and continued to fire it uninterrupted for 5 seconds by writing my name on the rock wall. I lifted the frost barrier and looked at Raishin.

    Oooh, so it''s a fire beam! Isn''t that what I said?

    I don''t know. Raishin did 3 attempts before managing to fire a sloppy [Fire beam] Yup that''s it, now you just need practice.

    Haha after seeing it it''s way easier to learn! I looked at him.

    Ugh fine, yeah sorry maybe I should''ve let you show me the demonstration. Thought as much! I removed my name from the rock wall by melting the rock wall and started to circulate nature energy to combat nausea. Raishin teleported himself away for several hundreds of meters to not get fried and practiced some more [Fire beams].

    I have another one, it isn''t flashy but it is really useful, you just heat up quickly which makes the air around you expand rapidly and like this, you could push away anything close to you while also doing some damage. Raishin followed my instruction and nailed it on the first try. Ohh this is easy, and please never use this skill when we¡¯re near.

    Don''t worry I won''t until I get better control over the heat of my flames. Raishin practiced his new skills for a bit longer and we headed back toward the town.

    Say, why do you use so many different fighting techniques? Isn''t it better to focus on some and perfect them? Hmm, I''ve thought but it but decided against it.

    Why is that? So, you have the damage dealer role, Ted is the tank and Gregory is also a tank but could be more seen as defensive support. Normally that would leave a healer and a midrange fighter left. I''m not a healer but in theory, I should be able to do that with water magic. I decided to take another route.

    Having a healer could be nice though! That is true but how I see it. A healer fixes mistakes and damage that has been taken by the party. What I''m doing is making sure that those mistakes don''t get made and prevent us from taking damage by locking the enemies down. If I do this properly, we don''t need a healer.

    Hmm, I guess that makes sense, ironically the one who has taken the most damage in this escape plan is you. Hehe, yeah, I need to work on that.

    So, is that why you need a wide range of skills? Hmm, yeah, you don''t know what kind of enemies we will fight, in this case having a healer is easier but if these guardians can one-shot us, no healer will help us there. Also, imagine if we would fight those spirit sisters again. Who do you think they would focus on first?

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Hmm, I think you or Gregory, probably you because you were a huge thorn in their side. Probably yeah, in case we get rematches I would probably be their main target because they can''t fight comfortably when I''m messing with them, and having flexibility would be nice there. They might find something to counter my speed so I could shift to using ice and frost magic, they might prepare to counter my ice and frost magic and I will use sword fighting, etc. Fighting against groups with a more normal composition you would take out the healer first, in our case you could make the same argument for me.

    Hmm yeah, fighting Nayani was a huge pain when you were gone, nobody could make sure she didn''t go ham on our asses haha. Alright if I get a cool idea you can use, I will let you know! I went home and did some blacksmithing to pass some time. I was planning to use daggers and wires today and I was hoping the guardian would let me. I inspected the wires I had in my dimensional pocket. I still had a lot and they looked like they were in a freshly made state. I had wires of 3 different thicknesses. 1 was really thin and hard to see. This wasn''t made out of metal so it wasn''t as sturdy as the other 2. It was meant to just cut things without enemies noticing the wire is there. The other 2 are as a diversion, to trap enemies, or to bind them, these were made from metal and shouldn''t break. They won''t break, right? There is also the issue of my buddies running into them. I should probably share my vision with them so that they don''t get entangled. Hmm, maybe this is more something I should use in solo fights. If I do things well, I should be able to control the enemy so I can make areas that don''t have wires and trap my opponent in them while my buddies fight in the area that doesn''t have any. The daggers, however. Is something I can always use.

    The wires can be used to enhance my dagger tricks or the daggers could make my wire tricks more dangerous. I won''t have to use my speed if I keep throwing daggers and use [Turning leaf]. Now there is one problem. In the Corundum dungeon, I couldn''t lodge my daggers into anything or hit anything because everything was so hard. I took some rocks and a moderately sized sapphire out of my dimensional pocket and put them down. I took some distance and started throwing daggers at them. I tried to throw them as hard as I could without losing accuracy. They managed to poke holes in the softest rocks but didn''t get lodged into them. I was decently strong because of my profession but it wasn''t enough to make daggers get stuck in rocks. I then remembered how sword fighting became way easier if I matched my magic wavelength with that of the sword. I looked at my daggers and got a little bit depressed. I remembered that while I was looking for the correct wavelength sudden impurities appeared which only appear at certain wavelengths. These daggers would remind me again how shit I actually am at blacksmithing. Here I thought I was pretty decent. I looked for the correct wavelengths for the daggers and ignored the impurities. I had 7 daggers and they all had different wavelengths. Hmm, this is a royal pain. I guess I should make daggers that have the same wavelength or make specialized ones of which I can remember the wavelength off. I threw the daggers and they went through the 2 softest rocks and got stuck in the 2 harder ones

    The 4 hardest rocks had a small hole poked in or not a scratch. The sapphire still reigned supreme by not having a scratch on it. I might actually need a sapphire dagger to punch through that. Who knows. Does the magic wavelength of the rock also matter when I throw daggers? This is going to be quite complicated if this is the case. I will then need weapons with different wavelengths to deal effectively with different materials. Is this the part where I''m going to run around with a million different daggers and 100 different swords? I think not! There must be a way! I throw 2 daggers at the harder type of rock that had some holes poked in them and they didn''t do anything. I went through my dimensional pocket to look for a dagger that came the closest to the rock¡¯s wavelength. I threw that dagger and what do you know! It got stuck in the rock! I was happy and annoyed at the same time.

    Who decided on this convoluted system! Ok, I need to calm down. So, this means, in theory, I could lodge a dagger in that sapphire if I do it right, the downside is I need to look through all my daggers. Note to self: make swords and daggers that can change their wavelength or split up into copies with different ones. I had no clue how to do any of that though. My blacksmithing self-esteem dropped even more.

    Why am I so shit¡­I decided to ask Philip about this later on. I lost interest in most of the rocks, so I turned my attention to the sapphire and the second hardest rock I had. I didn''t have any daggers that came close to the wavelength of the sapphire. Well, that sucks. I threw a dagger at the second hardest rock with the closest wavelength. It punched a small hole in the rock but bounced off it. Oof, I busted this dagger. Hmm is there a certain point where the wavelength stops mattering and I just need to throw the dagger harder? I made a revised [Steam cannon] out of ice and frost magic. It was small so the dagger could be shot at the rock. I made a frost cylinder with the inside made of ice. I put some ice cubes in the bottom of the barrel and made snow with the dagger packed in it as the cannonball. I used [Turning leaf] to swap the ice cubes with frost marbles charged with fire magic. They caused a steam explosion when it came in contact with the ice inside the cannon and shot the dagger at the rock. The dagger flew straight through the rock.

    Wow, this thing packs a punch! I patted the new steam cannon. I will call it [Steam Cannon v2.0] It was faster and easier to set up than the one I used against Rock. So, the only one left is the sapphire. I feel like whatever dagger I shoot at it will shatter on it. Hmm, what if I coat it with lightning magic, it''s the element with a lot of power but also high penetration power. We were supposed to head towards the guardian in about an hour. If I went full-speed cheat mode I could make some daggers that matched the sapphire. I used several illusion layers to prevent anything from entering. I got my tails out and some clones and started to make some daggers that would suit the sapphire. I had no idea how. Maybe make it pure in the wavelength that fits the sapphire and leave others impure? What if I made a dagger that was pure in a wide range? I made 3 daggers with the wavelength of the sapphire pure and did my best to make as many wavelengths as possible pure in 4 others. I gotta say even in my full-speed cheat mode getting the impurities out at a large range was time-consuming. I had to use all my tails to make sure that when I smacked the impurities present in one wavelength the other already purified wavelengths didn''t get any impurities. I will need more time in the future to investigate this better.

    I had 3 daggers where I kind of did a shitty and half-assed job, but the 4th and last one was way better, also because I kind of figured out how to approach this. It wasn''t perfect but good enough. I panted heavily as I undid my cheat mode. I used some extra cheats today because 1 hour wasn''t enough so I used some time magic to stretch it out. This is not good we¡¯re going to fight a guardian soon and I''m already exhausted. I threw the daggers at the sapphire, and they bounced off. I picked them up and imbued them with lightning magic and threw them again. They made a different sound while bouncing off the sapphire. Is this a good sign? I still didn''t see any scratches. It is time for [Steam cannon v2.0]! Hmm, how am I going to keep them imbued with lightning if I shoot them off? I made a frost cannonball and shot it off at the sapphire and used [Turning leaf] to switch it with the dagger that I imbued with lightning magic. No sound.

    Oooh! It wasn''t much but the dagger was stuck in the sapphire at the tip. It wasn''t deep but enough to stay in it.

    Muwawawawa! I''m not so shit after all! Shit, I''m exhausted. I sat down and looked at the other two daggers I had. They weren''t as close to the sapphire¡¯s wavelength as I wanted but they were close. I shot these off and they also lodged in the sapphire. One got stuck but then fell out.

    Hmm, now how about this kind of perfect one? Hmm, I couldn''t really pinpoint what its wavelength was. Did I discover how to make it compatible with different wavelengths? This dagger was easier for me to attune to. I could also make it match the wavelengths that I had purified, There were some odd ones I missed or couldn''t purify and those were hard to impossible to get the wavelength to match. So, I just have to hit out all the impurities on every wavelength. That sounds like a royal pain. It beats making a gazillion daggers though. Since the exact wavelength of the sapphire was possible with this dagger, I first threw it normally at the sapphire. It lodged in the sapphire. Oho interesting. I imbued it with lightning magic and threw it at the sapphire. The blade went all the way in. I tried to take the dagger out.

    Shit, it''s stuck! I tried to pull it out with all my might but it wouldn''t budge.

    Nooo, my overpowered dagger! Sup, what are you up to? Are you ready to go? Ted and Gregory came in.

    Why do you look so exhausted right before a big battle? Uhh, it''s just the light! Yeah, the light here just makes me look exhausted! You did something unnecessary again didn''t you?

    Hey Ted, help me out can you pull this dagger out? I need it for our fight! It isn''t Excalibur so it is just a power issue. Why is there a dagger stuck in a sapphire? What were you doing? Ted put his strength into pulling the dagger out. It might be my imagination and it looked like it moved but, in the end, he couldn''t get it out.

    I''ll just smash it with earth magic! Noo don''t! You will destroy the dagger! It took me 26 hours to make that! I knew it! you used time magic to make something pointless! I pointed at the sapphire.

    Hey, how many things do you know that can cut sapphire? He has a point how did you do this?

    Hehe with some cutting-edge Hourai technology! Right so what did you actually do?

    Ugh, I made the dagger match the wavelength of the sapphire and ran lightning magic through the dagger to get it to cut the sapphire. But I can''t get it out now, by the way, this dagger can take on multiple wavelengths. Hmm very interesting, it sounds like something that should be able to cut anything tough that it has the wavelength for. As I can feel the dagger is as if it¡¯s one with the sapphire how about you try to change its wavelength? You might get it out like that.

    Hey, do you think maybe that''s how you get Excalibur out of the stone? I have no clue. I grabbed the dagger and changed its wavelength. The moment I did that uncountable minuscule cracks spread through the sapphire and the sapphire shattered as if it got vaporized.

    Why am I not surprised, you can vaporize mountains so why wouldn''t you be able to vaporize sapphires? Well, that is an interesting interaction. It felt like what you did caused the sapphire to get destroyed from the inside. Hmm, I saw countless minuscule fractures spread out before it shattered. I''m looking for any traces of sapphire or Aluminum oxide but I can''t find anything.

    Wait... are you saying it disintegrated on a molecular level? Seems so. I took a piece of meat out of my dimensional pocket and tried to match it to the meat.

    Hmm seems meat has multiple wavelengths; I don''t think I can do this with meat. I stuck the dagger into the meat with what I assumed came the closest to the average wavelength and then changed the wavelength of the dagger. Nothing happened.

    I guess I won''t be disintegrating living beings. Hmm, maybe it only works on crystals or objects that mainly compromise on the same structure. Ted put down one of his metal knuckles. You sure? I don''t have any spare for you.

    It is fine, I don''t use them that often, I prefer using my fists more, and my training with Brock made me better at dealing with tough opponents exterior-wise. If this makes you less useless against opponents like Boulder then this is a small price to pay. Hmm, these knuckles are alloys though. It also has multiple wavelengths. When attuning to it getting to the average wavelength or just matching one of the several wavelengths works but I guess for disintegrating it, that would not work. Hmm, what if you just try to match one of its wavelengths? I stabbed the dagger in the stainless-steel knuckles. I matched the wavelength with Iron and changed it. Various cracks formed and the knuckles broke into pieces.

    Guess that is enough to be useful. Haha, this is crazy if you ever become an assassin or something you could stab and destroy anything. Glad I''m on your side.

    Ugh, my hard work paid off! I slumped and rested a bit while circulating nature magic to speed up my recovery. Let''s give him another half hour to rest. Hmm I guess the only downside is that you need to pull the dagger out physically to make things break.

    I could get away with that by attaching wires with the same property as the dagger, but I don''t have any of those wires, I don''t want to think of how long it''s going to take to make those. Blacksmith at day, an assassin at night. Raishin came about 10 minutes later and after my 30 minutes of resting were over, we headed towards Boshi lake while Ted explained to Raishin what happened. I also got fed some energy by Raishin and Gregory teaming up.

    Do you want to try the shadow meld Agnis? I leave this one up to you, I still have to learn how to move through the shadows.

    Sure. Let''s go.

 Ch 31.1: Rage of the Mountain part 2

    Gregory shadow-melded us and pulled us along through the hole we made and appeared in the miniboss room. I looked at the room where the miniboss was locked up. He was still restrained but he seemed to be sleeping. His wounds seemed to have healed. Anyways that is not important what is important is the final battle. There was a long narrow corridor going down from this room. It eventually leads to a big room that is connected to a bigger room in the back. That is where the root is. As usual, I can''t see exactly what is going on in that room unless we get there.

    How about we sneak in and destroy the root before the guardian notices? Do you think that after that obnoxious puzzle and miniboss, it is going to be easy to destroy the root?

    We could try. It probably has seals that need to be dispelled I don''t think we can sneak in and dispel the seals before the guardian notices. That is if it''s competent. Relying on an incompetent opponent is a fast way to die.

    Guess that won''t work, eh? Don''t worry I will use sneak attacks whenever the opportunity presents itself! We reached the end of the corridor and Ted opened the passage. There was a big rock serving as a door, which Ted pushed aside. This big circular room which connected to a bigger circular room in the back made a big 8 shape with one side being bigger of course. There seemed to be a corridor connecting a smaller room to the room we were currently at. It seemed to go to the living quarters of the guardian.

    Are all these guardians just chilling here underground? Don''t they get bored? We were hiding behind the rock Ted pushed aside in case something would shoot magic at us the moment we opened the door. Nothing happened but we were still hiding.

    I hear something coming! I looked around. There was enough space to test my new techniques out here. Heavy footsteps could be heard and a large hand grabbed the side of the wall. A big bulky guy almost twice the size of Boulder walked out of the corridor but he tripped over something and fell. But before he hit the ground his head fell off as if it got cut by something invisible and blood sputtered out of his neck that just got liberated from its head.

    What! Well, that was easy. Hey is it just me or does it look like there are a lot of wires in this room? They are a bit hard to see. Ted and Gregory looked at me and I held up a peace sign with a wide smile.

    So, who said that it wouldn''t be easy again? That was kind of a dirty move Agnis! It¡¯s not over yet! Another one is coming!

    Remove the wires! I don''t want a boring boss fight! Hey, get off me! As I was struggling to get Raishin off me the ground started shaking.

    Hey, Raishin stop thrashing! You''re shaking the whole room!

    Hey, dude that''s not me! I''m not that heavy! Uhh, guys. A beefy bulky guy twice the size as the previous guy appears. Tension rises in the wires as this mountain of a man just walks his body through the wires as if they''re not even there.

    Ugh! I try to resist the force but the wires keep pulling at me. So uhh guys? I think this was a bad idea! Some wires that are supposed to prevent me from getting dragged in, snapped and I get catapulted towards Mountain.

    Guess I got to make the best of this! Mid-flight I start up [Tail dynamo] before using [Turning leaf] on the big rock Ted pushed aside and made it crash into Mountain at full speed. But as everyone knows, you can''t bring down a mountain by throwing rocks at it.

    ¡°Who are you? Where is Darion?¡± Hmm, 0 damage, eh? So, are you going to tell Mountain that you just one-shot his brother?

    Hey Mountain! I just one-shot your brother! Did that work? Mountain looks around and sees a severed head on the ground.

    ¡°Guuuoooh! Darion! What have they done to you!¡± Mountain kneels and looks at Darion¡¯s head. ¡°Why are you so weak? I told you so many times to go boulder lifting with me but you always slacked off and watched tv!¡± Wait he can get a signal down here? That is not the issue here? Mountain turned around.

    ¡°You ants! You will pay for this!¡± Oh, what are you going to do? Erupt? Mountains don''t erupt only volcanoes do.

    But aren''t volcanoes just lava barfing mountains? He has a point. He has? The mountain made a squatting pose.

    Guys, let''s leave this for later! Greg, do we evade or block? Uhh, I don''t have much energy. I made a frost wall.

    Raishin anything over 43, please! How many seconds do I have? 1 Hoo boi. Mountain leaped and was about to crash on us.

    I''m going to gamble, Greg can you make half of a [Shadow dome] with the opening pointing toward us? I linked my vision with my buddies and pointed out the spot where I wanted the dome. 1 second should be enough for that.

    You have a bit longer. I threw a dagger upward and used [Turning leaf] to swap Mountain with the dagger sending Mountain upward again. Oof that ate some mana, which it normally doesn''t. I guess large things will require mana. I started to circulate nature energy and continued my plan. Raishin blasted my frost wall. The Mountain started to fall down and I used the frost wall to amplify and release the energy it got from Raishin¡¯s blast and shot it at the falling mountain into Gregory¡¯s shadow dome. The dome also caught parts of the blast so it would feed Gregory energy.

    Ted, he''s all yours! The Mountain didn''t seem to take much damage from that but he was still disoriented. Ted rushed at Mountain and started unleashing powerful punches at the disoriented Mountain.

    Oof that turning leaf ate a lot of mana, guess I''m not doing that anymore on mountain-class opponents. Mountain class opponents? What does that even mean?

    Opponents or objects that are as big as Mountain over there. Mountain was a big guy he was easily 20 meters tall and almost as wide as he was tall. Judging from how he leaped at us he packs some serious speed for his frame. I picked up a rock and dropped it. Mountain focused on Ted so I used [Turning leaf] to swap him with the rock I dropped, which was followed by the sound of a heavy slam.

    This is a problem, because of this size difference and his speed it will be hard for you guys to dodge out of his range. Mountain stood up and looked at us.

    ¡°Your funny tricks won''t work on me!¡± But it kind of did, right?

    ¡°Shut up!¡± Mountain roared and dashed at us. Hey, isn''t this bad? I jumped up and walked in the air. My buddies levitated off the ground and were hovering about the ground about 50 meters from the ground. Agnis! You can fly? No silly these are my wires!

    ¡°Ha gotcha!¡± There is no way I can just randomly fly! I made a network of wires on top of the cave because on the floor they will just get wrecked by Mountain. I also used wires to pull them off the ground. Whoa whoa! How do you stand on these? I had to keep wires around Gregory and Raishin who seemed to be unable to walk and stand on these wires. Ted seemed fine. This is kind of cool.

    ¡°Come down you flies!¡± Mountain shouted at us while looking up. Look guys we got upgraded from ant to fly! How! Whoa, how do you stand on these! whoa! and I don''t think from ant to fly is an upgrade, its sounds like a downgrade. Mountain dug his hands into the floor and lifted a piece out of it and threw it at us.

    Woops, time to move! I pulled my buddies with wires and ran over the wires I set up to dodge the incoming floor, piece of the floor? How do I describe this? He threw a piece of the floor at us and we dodged that! Of course, this snapped a lot of wires and destroyed some of the spots they were attached to daggers and lodged into the rock walls and ceiling. I had to shoot out wires to make sure we wouldn''t fall to the ground. He threw more pieces of the floor at us but I threw daggers at him and swapped them with the pieces of floor. It did end up with daggers flying at us but those were easier to deal with than pieces of floor.

    ¡°Grooaaah! I''m going to kill you!¡± He jumped at the nearest walls, his fingers dug into the rock and he started climbing with incredible speed.

    So uhm guys although this was fun, I don''t see how we can beat him if we¡¯re literally just hanging around. He is going to catch us at this rate. How can you guys be so calm? We¡¯re going to end up as mountain pancakes! That is fine because there is a plan! Oh, do tell! Tell them, Ted!

    Wait what? I didn''t have a plan! Help us, big bro!

    Ugh, so now you play the big bro card! Fine! I will go big bear form but I will need your assistance Agnis. I don''t think I can take too many blows from that so I need you to either restrict it or move me away so that I don''t go splat. Raishin, you prepare a nuke big enough to vaporize the Mountain and the root. Greg¡­ uhh, you can lift the seals and ehhh curse the Mountain? Not bad for an improvised plan!

    I''m going to kick your ass later. Is this plan any good? Sounds good! An attack to destroy both the mountain and the root at the same time?

    Yes! Alright! Let''s go! I flung Gregory towards the root and flung Raishin a bit further away but in the same part as where the root was. Ted and I dropped down on what couldn''t be called a floor anymore. At first, it was a relatively flat floor. Now it was a jungle of rocks, boulders, and dirt. For someone with a lot of agility, this is perfect for me but for Ted, this might suck. Ted went into big bear form and stomped on the ground. The ground around him got flattened, it seemed to have a radius of 10 meters. Never mind I guess Ted fixed his problem. The Mountain dashed at Ted and Ted augmented his body and tried a shoulder throw but the Mountain was too big and heavy. Ted was now stuck with the Mountain on his shoulder. I cut the base of a rock spike and used [Turning leaf] to make it swap places with Ted. The rock spike got crushed by the Mountain and he got up like it was nothing, what was I thinking trying to defeat a Mountain with a rock spike.

    Thanks, don''t think I can use this guy''s size or weight against him, he is way too big and heavy. Using [Turning leaf] on him will take too much out of me in continuous uses so I can only swap you.

    That is fine, I will be relying on your support. I could finally enjoy a backseat in fighting. Ted started abusing the fact that he still was faster than the Mountain. The Mountain was fast for its size but it was his range that was the most threatening. Ted sidestepped most of the attacks and delivered some punches to the Mountains side. It didn''t seem to do much but Ted was learning. He kept attacking the spots that is weak on every human body. Was the Mountain even a human? I inspected the Mountain but my eyes told me that he was a human. Huh? Do humans grow this massive? It also tells me that this human is really old. I rubbed my eyes. This can''t be right. I looked again and surely this is a human. I looked at my buddies but their races are correct.

    I have no clue what is going on but that guy is just a human! You¡¯re kidding, right? Aren¡¯t humans uhhm small and unimpressive?

    He is also way over the average human''s lifespan like over 5 times! I linked my eyes with Ted. Whoa, you weren''t kidding! ¡°Hahaha! Wondering about these muscles?¡± The Mountain said while flexing his muscles.

    Not really. The Mountain stomped the ground and a fissure opened beneath me which I evaded.

    ¡°These muscles are the result of dedicated training!¡± I don''t think any human can get this big and old by just training¡­

    ¡°How about you say that again after eating this lustrous lariat!¡± I wrapped some wires on Ted and pulled him upwards to dodge this wide attack. I had daggers with rings lodged in the rock all over the place so I could use these as pulleys or attach wires. I dropped him afterward so he could unleash an attack from above. Let''s see if this works without support from the earth! [Mountain buster]! This seemed to do quite the damage to the Mountain and some blood trickled down his bald head. Did you just use a mountain buster on the Mountain? An interesting application of your pun but it didn''t work.

    ¡°A formidable punch! Let me show you something cool too!¡± Yoo, Ted, he¡¯s copying your move get out of there! I used [Turning leaf] and swapped him with myself. Why? When Ted is in his bear form there is a big height difference between him and myself. This punch would go over me but would put me close enough for some easy free damage. The problem was that I had bad matchups against these kinds of opponents so the question was how much damage I could do. I wrapped wires around the Mountains legs and tried to pull them up after the punch flew over my head. The wind pressure it created was quite strong but I anticipated that. The daggers got pulled out of the ceiling. Too heavy, eh? Ted started throwing earth magic at the Mountain from the spot where I stood before the swap. The Mountain probably didn''t notice that I was right under him, which was fine. I wrapped some more wire around the Mountain. I did them a bit loosely so that he wouldn''t notice them right away. Ok, preparations are complete now I just need enough force to send this guy''s legs up in the air. Because my eyes were still linked with Ted¡¯s he could see what I was up to. I decided to attach the ends of the wires to a [Steam cannon v2.0] ball. I made a big steam cannon and used 12 fire-charged frost marbles to shoot it off. The wires strained and look there! The mountain''s feet got pulled from right under him! They did snap at the same time though.

    ¡± Uaagh! I don''t like flying!¡± The mountain shouted in surprise. I was contemplating calling this move [Flying Mountain]. Ted who knew this was coming was already dashing toward the mountain who was on his back like a turtle. He gathered quite the earth magical energy so this mountain buster would probably hurt.

    How about this! [Rolling Punch]! He sent a flurry of powerful punches at the Mountain and at every punch round stones formed on the ground and rolled at the Mountain at great speed. I have the feeling there is a pun in this somewhere. The Mountain tried to get up but I used [Frozen ground] So his arms kept slipping and he couldn''t get up after which I froze his pants to the floor.

    Nice one! Ted continued the onslaught of attacks. Slowly but surely the damage started rolling in and the mountain seemed like he was getting worn down slowly but surely. I tried my best to keep him on the ground but nothing ever really works out for us. The Mountain slammed his arms on the ground and launched himself into the air by having a huge earth pillar pushing him upward. This of course ripped his pants.

    Ugh, this isn''t a pleasant sight! Don''t just stand there! I pulled Ted away and the Mountain crash landed 2 seconds later. I realized that I should have pulled both of us up in the air because this crash landing sent out shockwaves and sent us flying upward. The Mountain sent the rocks that he launched flying at us as well as charged up a big punch. Ted punched and crushed all the rocks that were about to hit us. He did get hit by some and I did get grazed by some.

    That punch is a problem. Him being pants less is also a problem can¡¯t you do something against that?

    What am I supposed to do about that? Not my problem! I''m going to deal with that charging punch you do something about that thing hanging over there!

    Maybe I should just cut it off¡­ Ted stopped his dodge and looked at me as if I just committed murder. The Mountain stopped his punch to cover up his family jewels. There fixed both problems.

    ¡°You monster! I think I should get rid of you first!¡± Hey! How about you cover yourself up first? We will wait here just go put on some pants!

    ¡°You ripped my pants!¡± Nono, I just froze your pants! You ripped it! I lifted myself with wires to dodge an incoming Mountain. He had one hand on his groin so he was less of a threat but one nonetheless. The Mountain jumped up and now I had a problem, wherever I would move I would still be in his range.

    ¡°Got you little fly!¡± And this is where Ted grabbed the Mountain¡¯s legs and slammed him back to the ground. Do something about his pants! It''s not pleasant to do this move while his thing is dangling freely! What do you want me to do? I can''t make pants out of thin air! Ted blocked a punch and got sent flying into a wall.

    ¡°Come down here! ¡°The Mountain jumped again but this time Ted couldn''t save me. I took out some daggers. Guess I should cut it off after all... The Mountain covered himself with one hand and I moved to the side of his occupied arm. I threw a dagger at the ground and swapped Ted with it. I shot out as many wires as I could and made a shitty pants for the Mountain. I landed on the ground next to Ted and we pulled the Mountain down on the wires I was still holding. Aagh! These pants are too tight!¡± Shut up! I don''t know your pants size and I''m not interested in knowing!

    ¡°It¡¯s getting crushed!¡± Do you want me to make them tighter? You are a monster¡­

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    All is fair in war; I¡¯d rather do this than go splat. I melted off the wires toward the Mountain¡¯s pants. I didn''t have many wires left now that most got used up to make a shitty pants.

    ¡°Can I get pockets in these pants?¡± I decreased the temperature on the Mountain¡¯s wire pants.

    ¡°Okok! I''m sorry!¡± Ted lifted a big boulder and threw it at the Mountain after which he rushed at him. The mountain shattered the boulder with a punch and threw another punch at Ted. Ted barely dodged it but the punch hit his arm, dismembering it. Ted kept going and his arm regenerated back. He hit the Mountain¡¯s leg with a powerful kick which made the Mountain tumble.

    ¡°Groaah! You guys like making me trip!¡± I wrapped wires around the mountain''s ankles, attached the other end of the wires to a [Steam cannon v2.0] ball, and shot it off, lifting the Mountain, briefly. Ted used a [Mountain buster] on the Mountains stomach. He dropped down on his head. Ted stomped the ground and buried the Mountain¡¯s head deeper in the ground. Can''t you just keep burying him till he disappears underground? He is also an earth user so he could easily dig himself back out. I prepared an extra big [Steam cannon] for the Mountain when he would get out of the ground. He got out and I shot a big frost ball at him. He caught it and threw it back at me.

    Oh, you want to play it like this, eh? I made a bat out of frost and hit the ball back. The mountain barely dodged it but behind him was Ted who also made a bat out of rock. Have at ya! He hit a home run... I mean he hit the mountain in his back.

    ¡°You!!!¡± He turned around at Ted and sent rock spikes at Ted. He crossed his arms but multiple still pierced his body. I''m all right! You better be! I ran toward the Mountain¡¯s flank and flung rocks at him with my wires. He looked over at me. Ted used this moment to break free and charge a [Mountain Buster]. The mountain charged at Ted who was with his back to the wall while I dashed toward the Mountain. Moments before the Mountain would hit Ted I used [Turning leaf] and swapped myself with Ted. The height difference made none of the Mountain¡¯s attack hit but put him in range of Ted¡¯s attack.

    Move out of there Agnis! I moved out after wrapping some more wires around the Mountain when Ted¡¯s attack hit. This is the kind of attack that hits harder the longer it gets charged up. Now nobody in their right mind would let their opponent charge up their attacks this long but we made it work. Ted used his full charge [Mountain buster] and he busted the Mountain. The mountain took an enormous amount of damage and it seemed like he was down for the count.

    ¡°Ugh! You pests!¡± Or not, since he got back up. He was quite bloodied though. I pulled Ted back with my wires because he was a bit too close to the Mountain for my liking. The Mountain let out a battle cry and some clear crystals shot out of the ground all around him. It didn''t seem to be directed at anything but it would have hit Ted if I didn''t pull him away. ¡°I''m going to turn you into pebbles!¡± Ha! You will be the one who will get turned into pebbles! I decided to try something new and bundle up my wires and run some lightning through it. The mountain tried to grab it but I managed to move the bundle aside. Hmm, I have some control over the wires after running some lightning through them. I got out my [Tail dynamo] and moved the wire bundle around like a tentacle. I didn''t have much wire left so all I could do was make one thin wire tentacle. Ted started to use his bear claws which seemed to cut through the Mountain¡¯s thick skin.

    Hey, Agnis I''m sure you could cut through this guy easily. I guess, but I''m trying out some stuff and this guy is perfect for that! I grabbed the arm of the mountain with the wires and and tried to yank it away so that the Mountain couldn''t defend himself against Ted¡¯s bear claw attacks.

    Does it have to do with that you haven''t used any attack skills yet? I tried pulling the mountain into Ted¡¯s attack range but he was too heavy so I threw my end of the wires at Ted, who caught them and pulled the Mountain into his range. Kind of, I''m also planning to figure out what attacks I can use to defeat opponents in a nonlethal manner. Hmm. Ted dodged some of the mountains'' punches and earth attacks but still got hit by some but he regenerated the damage he got from those relatively quickly.

    I guess that makes sense, as far as I can tell you only have 3 modes while fighting: nuking the whole area, one shotting opponents, or doing your best to not one shot them and end up doing hardly any damage to them. Ted pulled on the wires he was still holding while the Mountain was pulling back, trying to not get dragged in.

    It is kind of ironic, you who are in charge of controlling opponents has difficulties controlling your own attacks. Well, at least I haven''t killed anyone that I don''t want dead, yet. So, a super beefy opponent that we need to defeat is a perfect target dummy but I¡¯ve also been slacking on controlling the battlefield so that¡¯s what I tried out first.

    Good so can you help me with attacking now? I am doing damage but at this rate, it''s going to take forever to defeat him. Ted said while he was slowly getting pulled in by the Mountain.

    I would prefer it if you would start attacking about now! Right! I swapped myself with Ted and instantly got pulled in by the Mountain. I ran lightning through the wires and detached them from the mountain which I then formed into a lance and aimed it at the Mountain¡¯s shoulder which was where I got pulled into. The lance pierced his shoulder. The Mountain roared in pain and tried to smack me but I evaded. I pulled in the wires as I created some distance. This attack would have killed anything that wasn''t as tough as the Mountain so I need to find some non-lethal moves. Immobilization and strangulation until my target would pass out could work or just smacking them around but that''s not something I could practice on this opponent. The mountain charged at me and I formed the wires into a big spike with its base on the ground and its point aiming at him. If he would continue the charge he would run into the spike. He jumped up.

    Uh oh, not this again. Could you please avoid moves that force him to jump up? I attached some wires to the ceiling and pulled Ted and myself upwards to evade the earthquake that would be caused by the Mountain¡¯s landing.

    That is some earth-shattering quake. I''m going to drop you. I dropped Ted, who stomped on the ground to make the ground beneath him level again. I made the wire tentacle and started grabbing rocks and throwing them at the Mountain while Ted was trying to land some [Bear claws] and punches. This reminded me of one of my mother¡¯s battle styles. She had long ribbons of cloth that could multiply and stretch and with some technique, she could make it take many different forms. She would mainly use them as extensions of her limbs or as whips. She passed a set of those cloth ribbons on to me which I''ve never touched because I was young, thought it was for girls, and had no clue how to use them. I guess I should give it a try someday. I get hit with a wave of homesickness and think back to how things were before the invasion.

    Agnis wake up! I get pulled out of my daydream by Ted¡¯s call and a mountain of a fist approaching me. I didn''t have much room to dodge at this point so all I could do was make a water and ice multilayered barrier and take the blow. I got launched into the ceiling by this punch. The punch didn''t do much damage because I properly defended against that, the problem was I didn''t put many layers on my back so getting launched into the ceiling did quite some damage.

    Are you still alive? Ugh, yeah, might have broken some ribs. I swapped places with a falling rock to dodge the Mountain¡¯s follow-up punch. Ugh, I should''ve paid more attention. I think I''ve messed around long enough this guy is going down. I circulated nature energy to speed up my recovery and make sure my broken ribs wouldn''t become an issue. I''m still going to try some potential non-lethal moves though. I threw multiple daggers that had wires attached. Not all dug into the mountain¡¯s flesh but most did. I ran lightning magic through the wires, delivering it past his tough skin and into his body.

    ¡°Aaargh!¡±

    Hey, Agnis, that looks pretty lethal to me. Are you sure?

    Hmmm, pretty sure, I guess it depends on how much lightning you run through it but purple lightning would kill regular people especially if you poke holes in them with those daggers. Any suggestions?

    Ditch the daggers in non-lethal attacks just wrap them in wires and zap them, light blue or yellow lightning will do. But I can''t believe you managed to find another control skill that could just turn lethal, aren''t control skills supposed to do low or no damage? As far as I know, the area of crowd control is underdeveloped if all people can do is throw some 0 damage stuns, magic silences, and the occasional charm attacks or 0 damage lockdown combos then I don''t think it''s my fault that nobody manages to sneak in damage into them. I guess planning, patience, and precision are needed for crowd control, not something most people want to deal with. Also, not super relevant when you can just get a healer instead. I don''t even know if nine-tail foxes make for good healers.

    Isn''t Giana a nine-tail fox healer? Giana? Who¡¯s that?

    Ugh never mind. So how long are you going to zap the Mountain for? It is doing damage and he can''t attack us because of those spasms but it doesn''t seem you can defeat him with this. Hmm, at least we could get a breather.

    Hey Greg! Raishin! How is stuff going over there? What!? My ears! Just use Teleroad! We all entered our Teleroad channel. I think I should clarify whether telepathy is used or not. Dialogues could get quite confusing if I don''t.

    -So, what I was asking, was, how things are going over there? - -The seals are almost lifted. - -My attack is also almost done! - -Is it just me or does it seem there is no indication of energy buildup for a big attack? - -I was thinking the same, you aren''t slacking off, are you? -

    -Oh no! I prepared for a big attack; Ted asked me to vaporize this mountain after all. - -This mountain? No, I meant the Mountain, that guy Agnis and I are fighting! Not this mountain we¡¯re in!-

    -Well, that isn''t confusing at all¡­- -Raishin has a point, so what attack did you prepare then Raishin?-

    -[Solar stream]!- -Uhm, please correct me if I''m wrong, but isn''t that the attack that funnels flames and radiation directly from the sun toward your target location and vaporizes anything it blasts?-

    -Yup!- -Don''t you need complicated calculations or a nine-tail fox to help you lock on to a location with accuracy for that?-

    -Well, yes but since six-tailed Lightning tigers are immune to [Solar Stream] I can also make it lock on to myself so I don''t have to deal with all that nonsense!- -Uhm so what about non-six-tailed lightning tigers?-

    - Um¡­ oops?- -Ugh, you could learn from Agnis, at least he is trying to not nuke us off the face of the planet.- -So how long until we get blasted?-

    -How long does it take for light to reach from the sun to here?- -So we have a bit over 8 minutes, great¡­ Let''s just get out of here then. -- Didn''t he say that attack is locked onto himself? As long as we¡¯re close to him we¡¯ll get blasted. -- I don''t think leaving him here alone is a good idea either because the Mountain would only need to land 1 good hit on him to possibly kill him. -

    -Another impossible situation, how about we wrap this fight up and then just dig a deep hole and bunker with defensive skills? I assume Raishin made it strong enough to get this deep into the mountain and destroy the root so if we burrow for 100 or 200 more meters and turtle it out, we might survive. --Let¡¯s go with that, and Greg, please give Raishin a slap. - We heard the faint sound of a slap in the distance and an ¡°ouch¡± as we focused on our opponent in front of us. He slowly got used to the continuous zapping I subjected him to.

    Guess I should test non-lethal attacks another time. I pulled out the daggers and retracted the wires.

    ¡°Grooaahhh I''ve had enough of you! It¡¯s time to get serious!¡± I never understand why people always do that, they get owned but still don''t fight seriously. Ted looked at me.

    What? You know you sound like a hypocrite, right? I shrugged. The mountain¡¯s muscles bulged and he started to bulk up. I guess this is phase 2. The mountain roared and the whole mountain, not our opponent but the actual mountain, shook.

    ¡°Let''s see how you will be able to defeat me after this! [Diamond skin]!¡± Crystalline structures started to form on the Mountain¡¯s skin. ¡°Ha, let¡¯s see how you are going to try and damage me through diamond!¡± Look, Ted! It''s a Diamond Mountain! Very funny, how are we going to defeat him now?

    Hmm, diamond isn''t as invincible as people think it is. After that dungeon full of rubies and sapphires I read some books about rocks and minerals. We dodge something that looks like a big diamond that got thrown at us.

    I have 2 methods of dealing with this, you probably won''t like the second one even though it would make short work of the Mountain. Let me hear them.

    First. I grabbed Ted with some wires and pulled both of us up to the ceiling and dropped down again to prevent the Diamond Mountain from jumping at us.

    I can use that thing I showed where I shattered a sapphire, I''m pretty sure I can do that with diamond too. Ted created a rock wall that blocked diamond spikes flying at us. Some made it through which we avoided.

    The second option is, I burn it. Burn it?

    Burn it! I heard you the first time, what do you mean by burning the diamond?

    Hehe, diamonds aren''t that heat resistant depending on the pressure you can turn them into carbon dioxide or graphite. So, you are going to turn us all into ash before Raishin¡¯s nuke can do it?

    Nah only need a bit over 900 ¡æ to destroy diamonds it takes way more heat to mess up sapphires. Hmm, interesting, let''s just go with your first option and if we run low on time I¡¯ll just put up with your stupidly hot flames, can your flames even get as low as 900 degrees?

    I¡¯ll try¡­ I take out the three daggers that I can change the wavelength of and throw one at the Mountain¡¯s back after circling around him. It got stuck in the diamond skin but barely, but that''s all I needed. The Mountain who didn''t feel this was still trying to smash Ted into pieces. He was partly successful but Ted was regenerating. He was making sure he didn''t get hit in any vital areas. For a brown war bear getting hit in vital areas doesn''t mean much unless their head and heart get crushed simultaneously but obviously, it hurts more and takes a bit longer to regenerate. Ted was tanking an attack where the mountain kept punching the air and sending sharp diamond crystals at high speed at Ted. Hahaha, what do you think of my [Diamond Rain]?!

    It¡¯s so dazzling that it hurts¡­ I jump on the Mountain¡¯s back and grab the dagger. Ted prepares a [mountain buster]. I change the wavelength of the dagger and the diamond shatters creating an unprotected spot the size of a dinner plate. I jump off the Mountains back and throw my dagger at the unprotected spot and then swap Ted with my dagger.

    Eat this! A beautiful punch, the force pushes the Mountain back but only by a couple of meters. He also wasn''t defeated. I threw another dagger while I retrieved the one, I swapped Ted with.

    Hmm I see, this diamond skin has the weakness that the mountain can¡¯t feel where Agnis landed his dagger. The mountain, which was well aware that I was somehow responsible for breaking his diamond skin was wary of me but didn''t seem to have noticed that I already had a dagger in his lower back. The Mountain was also huge so I''m not sure if he could even get it out if he knew where the dagger was. The Mountain now aimed his [Diamond rain] at me. Now I could try to dodge this but the diamonds were quite close to each other so it would make for a high-difficulty evade, I also couldn''t throw up some dirt and swap all the diamonds with dirt because I can only swap 1 thing at a time, I can swap in rapid succession but it''s not helpful if many things are approaching me simultaneously. I also need something to swap it with. Ted kicked the ice ball I made at the beginning of the fight at the Mountain¡¯s back. I used [Turning leaf] and saw how the ice ball got pelted with diamonds. I grabbed the dagger and shattered another part of the Mountain¡¯s diamond armor. The mountain who was ignoring Ted and lost sight of me didn''t know what just happened and Ted landed another [Mountain buster]. We repeated this trick several times.

    4 minutes left till the nuke. Right, I''m just going to find a corner and bunker up, go turn this guy into ash.

    I will try to control them but bunker up to be safe. I created a ring of fire around the Mountain.

    I''m sorry but contrary to what most people say, diamonds aren''t forever. I shot out wires and wrapped them around the Mountain. I didn''t know why I did this because these wires will melt. The Mountain thought I had another trick so prioritized getting the wires off over attacking me. Deception complete! Even if it was unintentional. I assessed Ted¡¯s rock bunker and determined he would be fine as long as I kept the temperature below 2000 ¡æ. Right normally this would be easy but the coldest flames I''ve been able to make are just above that. As Ted mentioned before I¡¯m not great at controlling my attack power, especially if it''s fire magic. But I got a loophole. I took liquid shadow vodka out of my pocket dimension, took a big gulp, and sprayed it out in a cloud of alcoholic mist before igniting it. Like this, I can control the temperature better on the lower end while hardly using any mana-guzzling fire magic.

    I then got a better idea. If I would make the liquid shadow vodka emerge from my pocket dimension in my mouth, I could keep spraying it out for a long time and it would look like I''m breathing fire. Alright, let''s do this! I applied my idea. I might have accidentally swallowed some. Well, maybe I wasn''t as good at executing this idea. I managed to swallow quite a lot during this test. The Mountain kept getting torched but I also started to feel a bit tipsy. Guess I have a low alcohol tolerance. I stopped and saw that the Mountain lost his diamond skin and looked quite charred or was that graphite? He is still not defeated. I made the ring of fire close in on the mountain. I had one wire left. I took it out and drenched it in liquid shadow vodka. I ran some lightning through it and ignited the wire. This next attack is either going to do nothing or be quite destructive. I used the wire as a whip and swung it at the Mountain¡¯s neck which made it coil around his neck. Because fire and lightning magic was running through the wire it dug into his skin. I increased the temperature and lighting in the wire and pulled. The wire dug deeper into the Mountain¡¯s skin and cut through his neck detaching his head.

    I''m sorry, but we are out of time. Given his persistence and toughness, there was no way we could disable him before time runs out. I don''t feel sorry for killing him but if there is no need, I would want to avoid this. I hope this naivety won''t come and bite me back later. It will, won''t it? Well, I guess this was to be expected, you didn''t turn everything into ash so I¡¯m a bit surprised and impressed. Raishin and Gregory ran over. How long do we still have?

    If counting 8 minutes from when Raishin told us his attack was ready we have about 1 minute. So, I suggest you 2 start burrowing. Gregory and Ted started to burrow. Ted was in charge of digging and Gregory was in charge of closing the hole behind us to try and get as much rock and dirt between us and the room we just fought in. Raishin was acting as a light bulb and every couple of meters I would put a thin yet strong frost barrier down so that we don''t get screwed over by any energy or radiation that might make it through all of this dirt and rocks.

    Can we agree that Raishin should never use this attack again unless we all agree to it? Yeah, Sounds good to me. Meh, we will be fine, right?

    This is quite similar to the last time we destroyed a root so I guess? We will probably get sent back in time as soon as the root is destroyed, I just hope that is before that blast reaches us. Brace yourselves it¡¯s time. We put up our usual defensive skills and waited.

    Hmm nothing, did you mess up Raishin? Nope, it should arrive any minute now. . The earth started to shake and some rumbling sound started to get louder until we started to hear a loud ringing in our ears.

    I guess we¡¯re going back. My buddies seemed to all get the same ringing as we were clutching our heads from the headache and just like that it stopped and we were at Raishin¡¯s hut. I looked at the number of this timeline and it increased by 1 again.

    2 down 5 to go. Ugh to think we have to do all this 5 more times. At least it seems we get put back into the state we originally were at this point in time. I feel way more tired now than after our battle, so we could exhaust ourselves but as long as the root gets destroyed that will get fixed next timeline. But at least my ribs aren''t broken Ah right in the original timeline, it''s not so long after you vaporized a mountain so it makes sense that you are more tired than in that battle.

    Well, guess we¡¯ll have to make plans for this time loop then.

 Ch 32: Donkey ball

    Another root was destroyed. This one went better than the first one. I do have a suggestion though. Hmm?

    Let Agnis destroy the next one, he has more self-restraint so is less likely to blow us all up. Can do, I don''t know if I can without blowing us all up but I can try. But Ted asked me to vaporize the mountain!

    Yes, and nobody in their right mind would do that! Anyways we need a plan for the next root, Agnis? I showed a hologram of Boshi town and the area again and showed the crossed-out locations of the roots together with the 4 other roots. So, there are 5 roots left but I still can''t find the last one so here are the 4 I could find. Oooh, can we go to that one?! Raishin pointed to the root closest to Boshi town, It was below Boshi town on the eastern side. Of all the roots this was the only one that was right under Boshi town.

    Hmm, it doesn''t seem like this one is hard to get to, why didn''t we do this one first? This is not a game so we don''t need to do the easiest one first, at least it''s easy to get to, maybe it has some stupid strong guardian. The last one was problematic but not very strong, those spirit sisters were way stronger, so maybe we get a really weak one.

    Alright, let¡¯s go for that one then. I need to make more wires and maybe some more daggers and a sword. Do you guys need anything? Nope. Nope. Besides frost marbles not really.

    Ah right, I¡¯ll make some more of those. Can you make some more anti-nausea potions Greg? If I remember correctly, we ran out of them during that obnoxious puzzle. I will get to it. Hey, do we still need to try and do the same stuff as the original timeline? We didn''t really do that the last time and nothing really happened.

    Hmm, I don''t know. I would say still try but don''t go out of your way to try and imitate the original timeline, I can''t remember much of it anyways. Well in movies and other media related to time travel they do mention things like this but never is there given a good reason for it. Events will still go according to the original timeline so I would suggest at least not missing those. Aight. Should be no problem!

    Easy! Gregory looked at me.

    What? Do you still have that note I gave you the last time?

    Note? Oh, what we did the original timeline, Yeah, I have it archived! I will try to follow it. Good, let''s go investigate that root tomorrow afternoon. I don''t know how much time Agnis needs for all his stuff but I need at least a whole morning, maybe a bit more. Right, let''s take it easy till it is time for the investigation. We headed home. I thought of the stuff I needed to make. I need at least some wires. I have enough daggers but I want to also make a sword that can handle multiple wavelengths. I also want to practice more with daggers and wires but I don''t think I will get any practice in. I will have to start now if I want to make a decent sword. I arrived home and had to explain again where I was yesterday. I almost slipped up and told them what happened yesterday from my perspective but for them yesterday was when I got caught by Charlize and found the dungeon. I have to pay attention to these details because one of these time loops, I will slip up.

    I was supposed to talk to Guyani around this time but there might not be much to say since it will be similar to the last time. I wonder how much time has passed over there. I head over to the workshop but I''m not feeling it today. Making the metal wires that I used up is quite a pain to make. If I start with the sword, it will eat all of my time. I use some illusion layers to make sure nobody can disturb me and go full cheat mode again and use time magic to make and speed up crafting the wires. I left a clone to deal with post-processing like braiding and testing it for durability and magic conductivity, while I took 2 other clones and went to make a sword that could match multiple wavelengths. Since I have done this before on a dagger it should go faster than before but I''m still looking at a crafting time of 14 hours or more. Halfway I remember I''m also supposed to make frost marbles so I let a clone handle that too.

    <hr>

    Day 1: I finally finished. Skipping sleep might have been a bad idea but it is finally finished. I managed to have a wide range of wavelengths purified in this sword. Its quality is also high. I familiarize myself with its weight I decided to make this the predecessor of my potato peeler which would make it Potato peeler 3.0. I have about 9 swords stashed in my dimensional pocket now but this one is the best by a long shot. The other swords would shatter anyways, I hope this one doesn''t shatter.

    I looked at the wires my clones rolled up. As long as I don''t melt these, they should be good enough. I remembered the cloth ribbons my mom passed on to me. I reverted to normal and took it out. It was quite heavy. It looked like a very long scarf but it was twice the width of one. If I folded it in half in its width, I could use it as a scarf. It was about 10m long though so It would be impractical. The cloth smelled like my mother and it was dark blue with flame patterns. I put the long scarf over my neck and tried to move it as I did with my wires. It could multiply and stretch but it did none of that. I could swing it with my arms but since it was heavy, I wouldn''t be able to hold this out for long. I couldn''t figure out how this works so I folded it and returned it to my dimensional pocket. I took some wires and ran lightning through them. It worked as it did before, I could control it like it was a limb. Weird. A clone handed me a mountain of frost marbles with its tails. I sucked them up into my pocket dimension too. The preparations were complete. It was about 10 am. Maybe I should go for a quick nap. I then remembered I was supposed to do something with Raishin today. Let''s see, oh I have to meet Donkey for the first time, for the third time. I know it doesn''t make any sense but we¡¯re not supposed to know about him until then. I can¡¯t remember at what time that was though.

    -Yoo, Raishin, when were we supposed to go to the town square?- -In about 2 hours-ish, why?-

    -I''m going to take a short nap, can you wake me up when you arrive?--Another all-nighter eh? Sure as long as you''re not hiding behind some illusion layers I can wake you up.- Whoops, good that he said that else I would have forgotten to cancel these illusion layers. I canceled the layers and went to lie down on a small bed I had in a corner. Pulling all-nighters while blacksmithing wasn''t new to me so I had everything which was needed for a good nap.

    <hr>

    Day 1: Wakey, wakey! Ugh, 10 more minutes.

    You said that before, time to get up! Raishin pulled the pillow from under my head. I''m going to kick your ass!

    Haha! That is if you can catch me! Easy! I chased after Raishin. He was throwing lightning at me while running causing me to waste energy dodging it. This jerk still had my pillow in his hand.

    Can you at least leave my pillow out of it?! You would''ve put in less effort if I didn''t kidnap your pillow! And I don''t want to turn into an ice cube or get charred so this pillow is also for my protection!

    So sly! I try to make him slip but he keeps using [Voltaic step] to try and shake me off while evading the slippery floor. This jerk is using the skill I taught him against me! I managed to make him slip when we arrived at the town square. Ok ok! You win! Here is your pillow. I stored my pillow and looked around.

    So, Donkey is going to be here somewhere soon, right? Hmm, we¡¯re a bit early though.

    And whose fault is that? You pillow kidnapper! Hey, don''t you think it more quiet than normal?

    We¡¯re not that much earlier than normal right? Maybe 10 to 15 minutes. It wasn''t crowded the last 2 times but there were quite some people, there is nobody here now. Raishin walked over to Uraya¡¯s shop.

    Ok, now I''m beginning to get scared. What''s wrong? Raishin was looking inside so I walked over and looked inside too. All I saw was an empty store. Not Uraya¡¯s store with nobody in it, no the space was empty, no shelves no items nothing on the counter just nothing. What! I activated Elgards eyes and looked around. Most shops and stores are supposed to be open at this time so they should have people in them or at least the shop owners. Every shop and building in the town square was empty like Uraya¡¯s shop. Raishin and I were the only living beings in this town square. I tried to look beyond but for some reason, my vision got blocked.

    Raishin, I think we¡¯re in deep shit, every store is empty like this and there are no people here, moreover, I can''t look beyond this town square. It is as if we¡¯re stuck in an illusion or separate dimension. The problem is if that was the case, I could see that but my eyes are telling me that this town square is all that is left of this world. Ok, don''t Panic Raishin, don''t panic! So, what do we do now?

    I don''t know but I do have some ideas. I can try to open up a dimensional portal like I do to get stuff out of my dimensional pockets. Since the first-time loop, I kept track of the timeline and dimensional information so I should be able to put us back there, that is if it isn''t gone¡­ But what could just wipe out everything like that and why is this town square saved?

    I don''t know, I should know as a nine-tailed spirit fox but I just don''t know, I''m sorry. I tried looking for the dimension we just came from but it matched what we were currently in. I checked to see if we were stuck in an illusion. I couldn''t find any indication; this was either reality or we were stuck in an illusion made by an illusionist who was way more skilled than I am. At that point, it might as well be reality. There were probably multiple other possibilities but I wasn''t knowledgeable enough to come up with any that were plausible or made sense. Raishin was blasting lightning and fire at the edges of this isolated space. I could move to the previous time loop we came from but I don''t know what effects that might cause. I could get stuck there without my buddies unable to join up with them because they are stuck in a destroyed timeline. I tried expanding the space but expanding it a bit took a lot of energy.

    Yoo Raishin, can you feed energy into this frost wall I just made? I can expand this space but it''s draining a lot of mana. I started to circulate nature magic. I instantly felt boosted. For some reason, my proficiency with nature magic was increasing at a terrifying rate. A shame that the only thing I use it for is to not get nauseous. Will this help us escape?

    I don''t know but this is the only thing I can do now to possibly find out what''s going on, Raishin fed energy into the frost wall I made and I went to increase the size of the space. It seemed to work and as the space got bigger the buildings that were supposed to be there started to appear. Is it me or does it seem like this is diluting the colors?

    It seems so but there is nothing I can do about that. It seems whatever is in this space gets spread out. We might need to stop soon else we will make the air too thin in here. I stopped expanding the space. Ugh is this where it ends for us?

    I surely hope not. And then just like that, 15 minutes after we got stuck here the world turned back to normal and people just appeared as if they were walking there the whole time.

    Wha? I''m happy that we¡¯re back but this is still concerning. I hope that this never happens again.

    The colors are back to normal too. People didn''t seem to notice that we appeared from thin air, Or were we here the whole time? What even just happened? I checked the area for any abnormalities and used some filters related to spatial and temporal stuff. I couldn''t find anything; it seemed the same as inside that space. Raishin! You¡¯re bleeding!

    Huh, what? There is a scratch mark on your arm!

    Whoa! You didn''t feel when that happened?

    I didn''t, I don''t even feel it even right now. I took some bandages out and gave them to Raishin. I inspected myself. I had no wounds. I inspected Raishin¡¯s wound. I didn''t see anything. I went through some filters. And this one showed some purple-pink energy oozing out of the wound. Not only that there was quite a bit of that energy covering Raishin and me. The people around me didn''t have any. I''m sorry Raishin, I think that just now was an attack of some kind, I didn''t have the correct filter on, we¡¯re covered by some purple-pink energy, and some of it is oozing out of that wound you have.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    That is fine, we got out and I didn''t have a clue what was going on either. It is interesting though since we¡¯ve been trying to escape there have been a lot of situations that are pointing out the weaknesses of the things that we think make you overpowered. Do you think I''m just making unnecessary connections or is this something that was bound to happen? Hmm, it''s not just me, Gregory¡¯s lack of attack power and speed got highlighted in our first fight against the sisters as well as Ted¡¯s lack of ranged skills and uselessness if the opponents are heavy on the magic and ranged attacks. I guess you¡¯re the only one who doesn''t have glaring weaknesses. Or so I think, maybe something will point those out later. I tried to manipulate the energy and get it out of Raishin¡¯s wound and off of us but I couldn''t manage to. I can''t get this off, we¡¯ll have to visit Greg.

    Ok, We started heading towards Gregory¡¯s house.

    ¡°Hey, watch it, twerps!¡± Oh, right I forgot this was supposed to happen. A chunky guy and his friends were standing in front of us. We bumped into them but I''m sure they saw us coming but didn''t move out of the way. Who in the donkey balls are you?

    ¡°Ha! Me? I''m Dunkey Hurado! The greatest magic caster in Boshi!¡± Wow, Agnis! I didn''t expect you to get his name before he introduced himself! I put up a smug face. Hehe, that''s just what I do, being awesome!

    ¡°His name is Dunkey! Not donkey!¡± Tomato Tomato, it''s the same. So, what do you guys want? You''re not by any chance responsible for trapping us in a small dimension and attacking us with some weird energy, are you? Raishin said in an intimidating tone.

    ¡°I have no idea what you''re talking about!¡± I think he¡¯s right Raishin, do you think these noobs could pull something off like that? Hmm, you have a point, I bet he¡¯s even worse at lightning magic than I am!

    ¡°Wha! I won''t stand for these insults! I will show you why they call me the upcoming Beatrice Manarune!¡± Hmm, is she by any chance a comedian?

    ¡°Alright, guys! Let''s beat the shit out of these guys!¡± Wanna see some new skills I learned last time loop but couldn''t show off? Sure, I¡¯ll get to show off some of my moves too. I froze a spear in my hand and dashed at Donkey, I launched him in the air and used [Vanishing Footsteps].

    Whoa! That is cool, he makes for an easy target now! Half of Donkey¡¯s friends charged at Raishin and the other half tried to pin down my location. Is it me or did he bring way more friends this time loop than the last one? Raishin pulled Donkey''s friends in with wind and then sent them flying by heating up and expelling air as I taught him, He kept repeating this causing those friends to get sucked in, blown away then sucked in back again. In the meantime, he was chucking lightning bolts at them. He didn''t miss as often as he normally does because Donkey¡¯s friends couldn''t move a lot, only get sucked in and knocked back. In the meantime, I launched Donkey¡¯s friends that were approaching me and I was using [Vanishing Footsteps] on them and slowly freezing them into iceballs in the process.

    Oh, right we might wanna get out of here coz Charlize will arrive soon. Oh right. At the same moment, Charlize and her daughter arrived.

    Shit!

    ¡°Oooh, what do we have here!¡± Catch! I sent the Donkey ball at Charlize but she sent it back with wind magic.

    Oh, so you want to play it like that! I turned my spear into a frost bat and batted the Donkey ball back at her. Ooh, Ooh! I want to play too! Hey, troll it''s you and your mother against me and Agnis!

    ¡°Who are you calling a troll!¡± Woops! Because I chuckled, I slipped a bit and the Donkey ball was heading toward Charlize¡¯s daughter and hit her head. As usual, her makeup cracked and revealed her true face.

    ¡°Aaah A troll!¡± The friends of the Donkey ball screamed. Half of his friends got frozen by me so I assume those were the ones Raishin was knocking around

    ¡°I''m not a troll!¡± The troll made quick work of those side characters and headed toward us. Charlize also approached us with great speed. Hey, isn''t this supposed to be a Donkey ball game? I thought so too. I made a bubble and swapped the Donkey ball with it and hit the Donkey ball with the bat. It flew at Charlize who dodged it. Raishin short-range teleported and kicked the Donkey ball back.

    ¡°Mom watch out!¡± The troll punched the ball and sent it back to Raishin. Meanwhile, I had to deal with Charlize approaching me who seemed quite pissed off.

    ¡°I see you learned some cool new tricks!¡± I remember that I was supposed to throw a ruby at her face somewhere in this fight so that''s what I did. At least that was what I was supposed to do but I accidentally took out a frost marble which exploded and blew Charlize away with a strong gust.

    ¡°Ow!¡± Woops I used this moment to move away.

    ¡°So, what did Dunkey do that you are treating him like this? I can''t imagine you doing this for no reason.¡± He¡¯s a bully.

    ¡°I see, there have been rumors about Dunkey bullying other kids but those kids are mostly too afraid to speak up. I think they are afraid of him.¡± I smacked the Donkey ball at Charlize. I''m not afraid of this clown. Charlize blocked it with a wind barrier and leaned on the Donkey ball.

    ¡°Ooh, this is really cold. I can see that you¡¯re not afraid of him. Even adults have difficulty against him and if they don''t then they will have to deal with his father so nobody is really taking action.¡± Surely, you are strong enough to deal with this clown and his father.

    ¡°Well, I don''t have a problem with him nor does Kanna. But if he was trying to bully you, I can use this chance to make sure this doesn''t happen again. Can you at least go on a date with Kanna in exchange?¡± I tilt my head and look over to Raishin who is violently shaking his head. Uhm that isn''t necessary I can give you this in exchange. I made sure I took out the ruby and threw it at Charlize. Also, as an apology for busting your house, now cya! I dashed at Raishin, grabbed him, and escaped toward Gregory¡¯s house. Raishin kicked in the door.

    Greg! Help me! I''m wounded! Raishin made a dramatic pose and dramatically collapsed on the floor. Gregory rushed down. What¡¯s going on? And what is this weird feeling you guys give off? He is being overly dramatic but he is hurt and about the vibe¡­ I explained to Gregory what happened.

    Hmm, I can''t say I recognize this energy but it does feel uncomfortable to be around, let me move it off, you guys. Gregory moved the energy off us with ease and also out of Raishin¡¯s wound.

    Hmm, it instantly disappeared, guess I can''t even research it. Any idea what that energy was? I''m sorry I don''t have a clue, not even suspicions. That was scary, nothing happened to you?

    Nope, I was just crafting potions. Although I did feel a weird energy wave matching this energy at around the time you described that everything went back to normal. It was small and short so I didn''t bother to investigate. I got the filter on now so whenever something funky like that happens again, I might be able to see what is going on. Ooh, Greg apparently Donkey is a big shot in Boshi town!

    The guy Agnis turned into a pinball? I still need to beat that high score! Wait when did you guys play pinball?! Gregory explained what happened. Raishin got a bit upset but then calmed down.

    So what game are we going to turn him into next time he pisses you off? And call me when it''s about time for them to gang up on you I want to be there too! Yeah, I was supposed to be there so I''m planning to be there this time. Let¡¯s get Ted too and show them that insulting our parents is going to cost them dearly.

    You sound like a villain. Heroes are overrated.

    Not wrong. What do you mean? Heroes are cool! They get all the money and the chicks! So materialistic¡­

    You are the worst. So, what were we supposed to do? I assume we¡¯re not going to beat the PB again?

    I don''t see a reason to, I don''t think that was an important event. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s going to taste well, so there is no point¡­ Is food all you can think of?

    Whoa! Says you! I wasn''t drooling just at the thought of eating a PB! Sure, you were! All right, stop arguing. Since you guys have a lot of energy we might just go and look for that root now. Let''s call Ted over.

    <hr>

    Ted arrived at Gregory¡¯s house about half an hour later. Agnis, I met Paul and Paula on my way here, they want to talk to you. Hmm, maybe it''s related to the sword I sold old man Paul. Let''s hop by before we go on an adventure! I ran off in the direction of their house. I knocked on the door and old man Paul opened the door.

    ¡°Ohoho! You¡¯re fast as usual.¡± My buddies arrived shortly afterward. ¡°Oh, your friends can come in too.¡± We sat down in the living room and Paula offered us some tea. You needed to speak to me, right? Does the sword need more maintenance?

    ¡°Oh, the sword is fine! I still have it here since I haven''t been able to give it to my grandson yet. But I have tested it and it is a fine sword, I called you over to ask if you could make another one like the one, I bought but a bit longer, about 10 centimeters longer.¡± Hmm, I can yes, I will have to check when I can start on it though.

    ¡°My dear was quite the skilled swordsman in his youth.¡± Granny Paula said. ¡°He was so dashing! Sadly, he can''t be too active in sword fighting due to his age.¡±

    ¡°Paula! They''re not interested in this boring ancient story! By the way, Agnis is way more skilled with the sword than I ever was!¡±

    ¡°Oh really! Now I''m curious. Why didn''t you tell me that we had a prodigy swordsman in town dear?¡±

    ¡°Well, I only discovered that the day before yesterday on the market.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, and why haven''t you told me anything that happened that day? Don''t tell me you went drinking again afterward!¡± Old man Paul started to look uncomfortable and Granny Paula seemed to see that as a confirmation. Right, I don''t want to disturb your dynamic for too long! I will make the sword for you old man Paul but I don''t know when I will get to it, It could be done as soon as in 2 days or at the latest ehhm well undetermined. ¡°That is fine young lad, here let me walk you guys home, strange things have been happening lately.¡± ¡°Hey,

    "Paul! don''t try to escape!¡± Thank you for the tea and don''t worry Paul, I think your wife needs you so we will let ourselves out! Bye, Paul! Good luck old man Paul! We left the house and Raishin closed the door.

    Someone is going to sleep on the couch tonight! Ted smacked him. Coincidentally we were relatively close to the entrance of the cave that would lead toward the root. The house of Paul and Paula was a bit at the edge of the town and there was a forest behind the hill their house was on. After walking for about 15 minutes, we found the cave that would bring us to our destination. Well, that was inaccurate, it wasn''t a cave but just a hole in the forest floor.

    So uhm we just fall down here? How will we get back up? Uhm, with magic?

    Hmm makes sense yeah, let''s go! Raishin jumped in the hole. Guess we¡¯re not checking first what''s on the bottom then! I jumped in too. Hey! Wait! How can you just¡­ Ugh fine! I hope there isn''t any water down there. The drop wasn''t very long. I did see that Raishin went light bulb mode which made it easier for the others to land safely.

    Good no water. And no monsters. Yeah, that''s odd there is nothin¡­ Watch out! I shot out wires and pulled Raishin and Ted away. What the...!

    Why did you do that? It might be related to this weird feeling I get, it''s similar to that energy I removed from you and Raishin. You see something right? It seems my buddies couldn''t see this half-transparent pink uhh shade. It looked a bit like the broccoli monsters we fought. It might be made out of that weird energy we encountered and I can see it now because I have the correct filter on. I linked my vision with my buddies.

    My assumption is that something like this attacked Raishin and me on the town square. Wait you guys got attacked? Raishin explained to Ted what happened while Gregory and I were trying to analyze the pink shade.

    Any clues on what this is now you can see it, Greg? Hmm sorry, I have no idea but I don''t think it''s a stretch to assume this is somehow related to the big pink broccoli.

    Yeah, I was thinking that too, but why now? Why does it appear only now, we didn''t get any weird injuries or something, I also assume you didn''t feel this presence before did you, Greg? If something like this appeared I would have been sure to feel it, this hasn''t happened before. It still seems incomplete.

    Maybe it is related to the time loops. Or maybe the pink broccoli is getting more active and sending monsters after us now. Hmm both are plausible but the first one gives me an uncomfortable feeling; It might be correct but if that''s the case it will only get stronger.

    Yeah, that separate dimension or whatever that was makes me think it''s related to time getting reset or something like that. The pink shade was slow, we could walk away from it and it would never catch us. I assume it was relying on being otherwise invisible to land its attacks.

    So, what do we do with this, we can''t just let it walk around here. Why not? It''s not like anyone comes down here.

    Someone might fall into this hole and get attacked by it. That''s good and all but how do you suggest we attack it?

    Just punch it! Ted punched the shade but his fist went right through it.

    I guess that was to be expected. Let me try. Gregory manipulated the energy and managed to condense the energy of the pink shade, then form it into a ball and poof it out of existence.

    Phew, that was harder than I thought. Gregory wiped his forehead. Wow, talk about anticlimactic!

    Well, if there''s a horde of them then I can''t do that so let''s hope we won''t encounter any more of them. Right, let''s check out this root then. We continued to follow the cave and headed toward where the root was located.

 Ch 33: Bossmusic

    How long have we been walking now? About 20 minutes. Graaah! Are we there yet!?

    We¡¯re almost there. Do you guys hear that by the way? Hear what?

    It sounds like¡­ a piano? Ha! Impossible! I do smell something familiar though. As we neared our destination the sound got louder.

    You were right this is a piano. I''m getting a bad feeling. Ugh me too, hey why don''t we go for another root? Why? What is wrong with this music?

    Are you guys afraid of piano music now? You clearly don''t understand! This isn''t just any music! Listen carefully, this is boss music! I do gotta say though the one who is playing this on the piano is absolutely killing it! This is some impressive but intimidating boss music yeah; this might be our hardest fight yet. How can you guys tell? It is just music. We were getting close to our destination and the music could be heard clearly now.

    Even though it is silly, I get what Agnis and Raishin mean, this music is a bit intimidating, as if this is the sound that plays before your death. Yeah, that sums up the use of boss music. We entered the cavern and while we didn''t have many expectations, what we saw left us confused.

    Wha... What is going on here? There in front of us was our target, the root. It had no seals on it, there was absolutely no protection. As far as I could see there were no traps or monsters. But what confused us the most was Paula standing in the middle of the cavern and Paul playing piano right in front of the root. Wait you two are the guardians?

    ¡°Oh no, we are not the guardian of this root, the guardian of this root has passed away a long time ago, on contrary we want you to destroy this root but before that, there are some things that need to happen first.¡± Paula took a fighting stance while Paul continued shredding the piano and intimidated us by the boss music alone. Wait can''t we just talk this out then?

    ¡°This is the Pramouy root, I would suggest you 4 take this seriously.¡± Wait! I shot out [Ice disks] to intercept the multiple fireballs Paula conjured and sent toward us.  I don''t think we have the luxury to stand around and try to get answers out of her, she is serious! I threw some frost marbles at my buddies; they caught them and went into formation. Paul started a new verse and I don''t know if this is magic or a special skill but the music got to us and it seemed like Paula powered up.

    This really feels like a boss in a game now! We have to make sure she doesn''t wipe us! Ted tried to get close but Paula was keeping her distance. Raishin threw attacks at her but they seemed to continue missing. I threw some lightning-loaded frost marbles at Paula. She smacked some away with a gust but some still got close to her. I made a spear out of ice and swapped it with one of the marbles and tried to freeze her. The other marbles went off but she evaded my spear thrust and the exploding marbles. She was quite fast for an old lady and Ted was unable to catch up with her. She sent out a [Heatwave] and spread fire over the whole room. I evaded the fire and countered it with [Frozen ground] She started levitating and was barraging Ted with fire. Gregory tried to close in on Ted to protect him but he got boxed in by walls made out of wind. I tried to swap Gregory out of it but Paula grabbed my hand.

    ¡°You 4 are strong for 12 and 14-year-olds and your teamwork is commendable but you have too many weaknesses.¡± Her hand exploded and sent me flying. A blast got sent toward Gregory who was still stuck. I used water magic to create a veil around Ted and I used wires to pull Gregory out of the [Wind prison] while trying to bind Paula. She melted the wires I sent at her and she shot more fireballs at me. I wanted to tank them but I saw there was something in them so I dodged. Was it possible that she discovered that I have high heat resistance because I got out of that explosion unscathed? Raishin kept missing attacks, Paula kept kiting Ted, so he wasn''t really useful and Gregory was getting locked down. I released a cold blast that froze Paula on the spot temporarily which allowed Raishin to hit her and Ted to catch up. Paul started a new verse of his boss music and Paula¡¯s magic spiked. The attacks of Ted and Raishin hit her but she didn''t seem to have taken any damage from them.

    Raishin, can you create a vacuum wall between Paul and Paula? Ok! Paula charged at Raishin. I swapped myself with Raishin but it seemed that she anticipated this. She dodged my ice disk, grabbed my wrist, and threw me at Raishin. I threw some frost marbles at her and swapped myself with one of them. I didn''t want to interrupt Raishin by crashing into him. Paula swung her cane at me as if it was a sword. I used my agility and evaded it and closed the distance.

    I''m sorry about this! I evaded another follow-up strike of her cane, flipped up, wrapped my legs around her neck, and spun around to fling her to the ground. If I''m not wrong this is called a hurricanrana. She broke her fall and tried to counter with some wind lances but I narrowly dodged them. Normally people just take falls and take time to recover from them but Paula just accepted the fall and instantly prepared to counter. Quite scary. I looked back and the wind lances I evaded had punched holes in the rock wall behind me. Raishin finished his vacuum wall and the boss music disappeared. Paula stood up and dusted off her clothes.

    ¡°That surprised me, I didn''t know you were proficient in close combat too¡± I¡¯m not as good as Ted but I try to have varied move sets.  Paula continued to put pressure on us. She continued kiting Ted, evading Raishin¡¯s attacks and we were so far from Gregory now that it would take a while for him to get here.

    Hey Agnis, the boss music is gone but she still seems to be powered up. I put pressure on Paula with some martial arts but she still seemed to have enough leeway to keep my buddies at bay.

    Ugh, this feels like when I try to catch Agnis, and I have reason to believe that her power level isn¡¯t related to that music at all! Hmm, I agree, she probably timed her magic spike with the music to create that illusion, I would have done the same. I moved to Paula¡¯s blind spot and swapped Ted with myself. Paula instantly reacted and blocked Ted¡¯s punch with her cane.

    ¡°I guess if I can''t see when you activate that swap it''s hard to react to it¡± I froze the ground under her, knowing it wasn''t going to do much but increase the things she had to deal with. She almost instantly blasted the floor with fire. Ted jumped up and forward to launch a punch but Paula narrowly evaded it and created distance. I made wires close in on Paula, she tried to melt them but I canceled her fire magic. I successfully bound her at which Ted and Raishin grabbed the chance to lay down the hurt. Except Paula took no damage. ¡°I guess I''ve seen enough¡± Her magic spiked again and she started to cast some arcane magic. What is arcane magic? It is like household magic it doesn''t really have an element associated but while household magic is all about utility, arcane magic has honed its offensive capabilities. It could be scarier than elemental magic because, besides thunder cloak and a handful of other magic skills, there aren''t a lot of things that reduce the damage from them. There are multiple ways to deal with elemental magic but not against arcane magic.

    Guys this is bad! Raishin [Thundercloak] at max! Ted! I suggest you start digging! What about you guys?!

    We will manage! I hope. I tried to interrupt her cast by messing with the magic circle while also freezing some of the magic she was using to form this skill. I also created multi-layered water/ice barriers around my buddies. I got out the best dagger I managed to make and threw it at her. We got blasted. It didn''t kill us, and It didn''t hurt us that badly but all our defensive measures got blown away. The three of us got launched into the rock wall opposite of Paula. Ouch, If I knew this would happen, I wouldn''t have held back. Did you hold back?

    Ugh, not really but saying that would be better for my confidence! Huff, puff are you guys, ok? Paula appeared from behind Gregory and held the tip of her cane at his neck. The vacuum wall dropped and Paul approached us. Ugh, we concede, what are your intentions.

    ¡°These kids are stronger than we thought, they even managed to make you bleed¡± Paul pointed at Paula¡¯s cheek. She wiped her cheek and looked at her fingers revealing some blood. Paula had a small cut on her cheek caused by the dagger I threw before we got blasted away. ¡°Do you guys have any idea of why we are doing this?¡± I tried pulling Raishin out of the wall but he was quite stuck. Ted punched the wall causing it to crumble and freeing Raishin. To show us that old people are OP?

    ¡°Ope? I don''t quite understand¡± He means that people who are more advanced in age than us are way more powerful than us.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    Paula looks at Paul and laughs. ¡°Haha, no we don''t have any intention of flaunting our experience.¡° Then why?

    ¡°To make sure you 4 continue with having a good grasp on your weaknesses¡± What? Paula makes some chairs appear and gestures for us to sit down.

    ¡°I won''t reveal too much here since that will be done when you pass our test, but we are aware that you are trying to lift the barrier over this town, how do we know? We have repeated the same several days just like you 4 have, I assume.¡± You two aren''t affected by the time loops?

    ¡°No, we are not, as to why that is we will explain when you pass our test but know we are not your enemies, we want you guys to succeed and that is why we are doing this.¡± old man Paul said while he took out a flask. Paula grabbed it and smelled the flask.

    ¡°I knew it! You are drinking again!¡±

    ¡°Uhh, but that isn''t important! We have to explain to them!¡± Explain what?

    ¡°We have repeated the same 5 days twice now with this being the third round which suggests that you have already destroyed 2 roots, am I correct?¡± Correct

    ¡°Do you know by any chance what roots you destroyed? This root here is the Pramuoy root each root has a number, and this one happens to be the sixth root¡± Hmm, I remember Guyani mentioning that her root was called the Bei root.

    ¡°Ohh, Paula, they defeated the spirit sisters! Very impressive!¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I guess you guys started with one of the hardest roots, That root has the number 3, which makes it the third hardest root.¡± What? That was the third hardest only?! Raishin puts his hands on his head and starts acting dramatically. Hmm, we didn''t get the name of our previous root but it was guarded by a Mountain.

    ¡°A mountain?¡± A very big and bulky guy.

    ¡°Hmm that is odd every root beside the Pramii root are guarded by 2 or more guardians.¡± Wow great so we have double trouble on every root. What happened to the guardians of this root if you two aren''t the guardians?

    ¡°We defeated them, we are incapable of destroying the root in one go though, whenever the root gets damaged enough it starts the time loop, so unless you can destroy it in one go, it is a waste of time, we went through 3-time loops and twice we failed to destroy the root, the guardian seemed to revive with it too, we just left the root alone after killing it in this time loop, well the time loop before you 4 started destroying roots. Hmm, so how did you realize that we destroyed roots and didn''t fail to destroy any roots?

    ¡°We feel the barrier weakening, although it is a bit after every time loop started the barrier got weaker. Hmm, I see, so what is this test you two want us to do? I assume we already failed.

    ¡°Hmm, not wrong,¡± Paula said while she stood up and walked around.

    ¡°But you can keep trying, assuming you realize that you should kill all roots within the same timeframe. This means you have 5 days including today to pass the test and destroy the root. The test is simple. Iron out your weaknesses!¡± Paul walked over to his piano after saying that.

    ¡°Gregory!¡± Paula called his name while pointing her cane at him. ¡°You are physically too slow, this cavern is big so I could move away from you to not have to deal with your skills, either up your range or become faster! I would suggest finding a way to be faster. Besides that, You are overly reliant on the rest but more specifically Agnis to make sure the target stays close.¡± Gregory seemed to give it some thought and it seemed that he accepted the weakness Paula pointed out. ¡°Ted!¡± Paula now pointed her cane at Ted. ¡°Your problem is similar to Gregory, you aren''t slow but it is easy to out-range you, you need long-range skills, ways to get close to your enemy or pull your enemy close, which just like Gregory makes you reliant on Agnis and Gregory to make sure you don''t get outranged. I would suggest you find something to reliably be able to hit targets that try to stay out of your range!¡± I understand!

    ¡°Raishin!¡± Yes!?

    ¡°Your only weakness so far is that you keep missing, fix that and I don''t see any issues¡± But you won''t let me hit you!

    ¡°Irrelevant! Agnis!¡± She points her cane at me. ¡°You seem to be keeping this group together and although your battle style doesn''t have any flaws a lot of your techniques have, I assume it is because you have a wide variation of skills but if enemies can exploit them, you will become less effective, and looking at the state of your group now If you become ineffective your whole group fails to function.¡± I nod. ¡°That move when you swap targets, after seeing it happen a couple of times it is clear that whenever you make that pointing gesture with your palm faced upwards that you are going to swap something, you also lock your gaze on whatever you are going to swap. It is easy to exploit that once the enemy figures that out, your techniques with the wires are rough and they melt easily. You are making it up with that impressive speed and agility of yours but if none of your attacks work that¡¯s the end of it¡± Paul started to play piano again but he was playing a calming song now. ¡°Team!¡± Paula pointed her cane and moved it to each of us. ¡°I have the feeling that you were holding back a lot here, is this how you managed to defeat the guardians of 2 roots?¡± Uhm about that, we kind of did but we can¡¯t really go all out here. Paula smacked Ted on his head with her cane

    ¡°No need to be considerate I can deal with whatever you kids can throw at me¡± I don''t think you understand! Ted got smacked on his head again by Paula¡¯s cane.

    ¡°No excuses! Next time you retry the test make sure you work on those weaknesses and go all out!¡± But some of us can one-shot the root we don''t want¡­ Ow!

    ¡°Come back when you guys are serious and ready¡± Paula turned her back to us. ¡°There might be some things that you want to hide but is that really more important than being able to survive whatever this town throws at you?¡± Paula walks over to Paul and rips a flask out of his hands and starts arguing with him. So, what do we do? I suggest we do what Paula said, She seems strong enough to royally kick our asses, to be honest, I''m not sure we would have done any better if we did go all out whitout lethal force, we did already started to feel some of our weaknesses pop up in earlier time loops. I agree this might be a good thing for us, we basically have a strong opponent that isn''t here to kill us but to help us, we should use this opportunity to practice and as she suggested, to iron out our weaknesses. We could always hold back on the attack that will end up defeating her to make sure we don''t kill her.

    Hmm, I''m not so sure about that, she seemed to also hold back, and to remind you, Paul wasn''t participating in this fight, if he is as strong as Paula, we really have no chance of winning unless we fix our weaknesses. So how are we supposed to fix this in under 5 days? Hehe, have you forgotten who I am? You¡¯re Agnis?

    Well, yes, but I mean I can arrange for something. I can put a lot of illusion layers to work and make a space for us where time flows faster inside so you can train. I don''t know for how long I can stretch time yet so I will have to figure that out But it won''t be for super long. For myself, I can, of course, make it as long as I want but for you 3 it will be somewhat limited. So, we are not going to train together? I don''t think that is a good idea, Anyone who trains with you or Agnis will be getting blown up one or multiple times.

    Fair point, I also think it''s better to focus on our own stuff. Our teamwork isn''t really the problem but our individual skills are. That sounds like that''s going to use a lot of energy, are you sure you can pull that off?

    It isn''t going to take any energy at all, it is going to take a big chunk out of the many illusion layers we have left. At least we will be putting it to good use. But I like having over a million lives!

    No amount of lives will be enough if our opponent can keep exploiting our weaknesses. Yeah, did you forget our battle with Nayani? We had a lot of lives but we hardly made any progress because we were severely outmatched, if you didn''t land a critical rush, we might not have gotten any closer to defeating her at all. Fine! We looked over at Paula and Paul but they seemed to have stopped arguing and were having a duet on the piano. We decided to not disturb them and head back up.

    Well, that was an eye-opener. I suggest we make some preparations and start our training tomorrow; I assume Agnis needs to make some arrangements. Hmm? Oh yeah, tomorrow is good. I do want some more shadow clone training though, that''s what we''re supposed to do at the end of this day right?

    Oh right! What are you two going to do? Cry myself to sleep. Thinking of ways to fix my problem. And stop being so dramatic Raishin! It''s just a loss! I hate losing! I don''t want to be a loser! We ignore Raishin and go our own way. I went to Gregory¡¯s place and practiced shadow clones and shadow meld. I finally succeeded in the whole shadow melding process and could make 7 convincing clones now. Gregory said that he has nothing to teach me about these two skills now and that from here on I should try to give my own spin on them. In the meantime, I was running simulations on 2 tails to figure out how to best make those time dilations so that we can train. Gregory was running simulations on what he could do to fix his problem and I assume Raishin was doing the same, I guess Ted had to manually think over it. I¡¯m not sure if manually thinking is an accurate expression here but he had to allocate brain power to it while we didn''t, just tail power.

    Before I went to sleep, I managed to figure out how to go about this. It would eat up about one-third of all the illusion layers I had but it would give us a month of extra time and it will only occupy almost a whole day in real time. Since I already paid the mana price for all those layers, I just had to tweak them a bit. It will be made with environment and all the cool stuff also could add enemies we''ve met before; I totally didn''t rip this concept out of some games I''ve played with Raishin. I guess it does make sense to have some enemies in there, how are you supposed to practice whitout? Anyways my buddies know how these kinds of illusions work since I''ve made closed-off spaces in illusions before, if there is anything they need that isn''t too crazy they can more or less get it, I¡¯ll only put some restrictions on Raishin¡¯s space since he will get weird stuff in and slack off. I''m planning to bring some blacksmithing stuff in mine so I can make swords daggers and wires, I''m planning to work my 7 clones to the bone, so much to do in such a short amount of time. It was quite late, I should go to sleep, tomorrow will be a busy day. If we hop in the illusionary space in the morning, we¡¯ll get out late in the evening.

 Ch 34: Ursa Major

    I woke up early and did some light training. In an hour we¡¯re supposed to meet up at Raishin¡¯s hut and there we will get to hear the details of Agnis¡¯ plan. I thought for a long time about what I can do to cover my weaknesses, I have a rough idea but I''m unsure how I will pull it off. I don''t know how much time Agnis can give us but I hope it''s at least 4 or 5 days. Agnis had made similar spaces before in the past. There was this one time we had to wait 6 hours for our parents because we got stranded after an adventure and he made a space that made 6 hours go by what felt to us for only 10 minutes. He only has used it to speed up time and that was with the help of Gregory and Raishin but never did he stretch it, I wonder if those two things are the same for him. I paused my training. I don''t think I need more martial arts training. I wasn''t great at manipulating elemental magic and that''s why most of my magic is enhancement magic and imbuing myself with an element. But thinking back on yesterday there is one option I haven''t explored yet. That arcane magic Paula used was quite impressive. I looked at my hands. I never gave household magic a fair try. Well, if it''s used offensively, it''s called arcane magic but because it normally gets used for its utility.

    The only one I know that uses it offensively is Agnis and now Paula. I can imagine it needs a lot of control. I imbue my hands with arcane magic but it''s so weak it''s not any different from household magic. I punch a punching bag. It adds a bit more oomph to my punch compared to whenever I punch it without magic but that¡¯s all. I will ask Agnis or Gregory for some tips about mana control. Those two, in general, need a few tries to figure out anything related to mana control, with Raishin it''s either a hit or miss but he''s worse in mana control than I am. Because of this, I have the feeling that Raishin and I are the only two who have a high chance to come out of this training without adequate results. I hope he has a good idea about what he wants to do else he might not be able to direct his attention toward it. I might have to talk to him about that. Worrying about Gregory and Agnis is just a waste of time although they might overdo it. Why is everything those three do so extreme? I rubbed my temple. I cleaned up and headed over to Raishin¡¯s hut. As I approached it, I heard a lot of noise.

    What do you mean you have no idea of how to tackle your problem? Greg, calm down! Well, I have no clue!

    Why didn''t you run simulations like the two of us? Are you even taking this seriously!? Let me guess Raishin has no idea how to fix his problem.

    Yes! Can you believe this guy?! I can''t say I''m surprised. I know right? How about you... I stopped Agnis.

    Hmm? I appreciate that you want to help him out but it''s these kinds of things that ended us up in this situation. We always rely on you to fix our problems. Let''s have Raishin go through some growth and find out the solution by himself. But I have no Idea!

    I figured out what I can do to improve and I''m sure that''s the same for Gregory and Agnis, do you want to get left behind? Uhh, no, not really.

    Did you already forget what happened in the original timeline with the fight against the spirit sisters? No! How could I!

    Then let me ask you the same question Gregory asked, are you taking this seriously? Ugh, I admit that I might have taken this a bit too lightly. I will put in some more effort. Raishin sat down and seemed to start running simulations in his tails.

    I also have words for you two. Whud? Us? What is it?

    Don''t overwork yourself, that''s all. Oh, I will keep that in mind. Can do.

    Not can do! Will do! I never met a person that''s as lazy and hard-working as you, it is some weird combination but whenever the world thinks you''re slacking I¡¯m pretty sure you''re doing some things behind the scenes. I wouldn''t be surprised if we come out of our training period and you had some things arranged in real time while we were all training. Haha hard working me? He¡¯s right you know I can feel your energy dropping even though you seem to not be doing anything at the moment. Right, just make sure it won''t affect you negatively. I will, thank you for your concern.

    I guess Raishin needs a bit more time, so what have you been up to Agnis? Hmm, well about the training space I can sacrifice one-third of all my illusion layers and give us 29 days and 14 hours. Wow that is quite a lot, are you sure that won''t affect you negatively?

    Nope since I already paid the mana price for it in the original timeline, I only have to tweak it, It will have realistic environments and physics, and the gravity might be a bit different because even though that should fall into my expertise, I¡¯m uhh not very practiced in it. Also, you can fight anyone we have met before, at least those I can remember, including ourselves. So, we¡¯re not going to be able to fight a lot of opponents then¡­

    Hey, how rude! I had a conversation with Gregory earlier this morning to refresh my memory! Well, prepared I see. I have a question for you regarding gravity-related stuff Agnis.

    Hmm? I''m not great at it. Well, gravity although a slightly different iteration also falls under earth magic, do you have any tips?

    Hmm, I assume you want to combine it with your hammer? Oh, so you knew? Hmm well, that is convenient because the only tip I can give you relates to your hammer. It might have been a spontaneous thought but when I made that hammer, I had some form of gravity control in mind. My tip is to make sure you know exactly how much a certain object weighs, in your case the hammer. It will be used as a reference for calibration. So, assume you are blindfolded and handed 10 heavy objects, you should be able to instantly feel which one is your hammer by weight. That would make a good basis for being effective at manipulating gravity. That is the only thing I know about that. I will be relying on you after this to teach me more about it because I''m sure you will figure it out. Is that one of the reasons you always seem to have a need to familiarize yourself with the weight of your weapons?

    Kind of, it doesn''t help that they keep shattering though. I also have a question for either of you. I''m going to attempt to hone my household magic into arcane magic but my mana control isn''t that great any tips? Got impressed by Paula¡¯s arcane magic, eh? It was truly impressive. Not much I can say here besides keep going at it, just like how you keep practicing your martial arts move and intentionally holding back to control the power that''s how you should go at it with mana control. Just apply your normal training techniques to outputting mana. Normally I don''t think this would help anyone but I think this would be the perfect explanation for you.

    If you are trying to externalize it more than you normally do, I would suggest having a clear image in your head of what form you want it to take. Arcane magic isn''t as limited by magic circles as elemental magic is so it could take on any form you will it to with enough practice and effort. I don''t need to know specific magic circles to bring forth specific attacks? In general, not, the correct magic circle can steer it in the correct direction but it is also possible to cast strong arcane magic that doesn''t need magic circles. I don''t know why that is but that is one of the reasons we can form magic circles for elemental magic with it.

    Hmm, I see, thank you. I got it! Let''s hear it.

    I''m going to make lightning glitter! Yes, that makes sense, do you need any tips?

    Nope, I''m fine! I''m starting to get worried. Ugh, he has an idea let''s not ask him about it to avoid headaches, let''s trust that he''s taking this seriously.

    You still didn''t explain why your energy keeps dropping Agnis. Well, while we are here talking about the details and stuff, I''m already having my clones put in some work, ah there they are. I heard some rummaging outside. We went outside and we saw 4 of Agnis¡¯ clones disguised as us carrying blacksmithing stuff. They also seemed to be carrying some freshly crafted items.

    You are taking this seriously, eh? Hand me your hammer for a bit Gregory. Gregory took out his hammer from his shadow and handed it toward Agnis. He did some trick and removed the handle from the hammer and took out another handle and attached it to the hammer. He handed it to a clone who did some blacksmithing stuff to it on the quick setup they made and handed it back to Gregory.

    It should be easier to use now. Here are some metal knuckles for you in case you wanted to use them. I accepted 4 sets of metal knuckles. Ooh, what about my spear?

    What about your spear? What! Why do they get weapon upgrades and I don''t?

    Well, I can''t upgrade your weapon if you still have it¡­ Oh right hahaha. Raishin ran inside and fetched his spear. Agnis took it, went into his cheat blacksmithing mode, and reforged the spear in front of our eyes. This was the first time I saw him do such a thing and it was truly impressive. He put all his 7 clones to work and there were tails everywhere. They also worked super-fast and I assume he was using some time magic to speed up the process. About 10 minutes later it seemed like he was finished because he was adding some small decorations to the spear.

    Here you go! Wow! It''s beautiful! Did you just give him a golden spear? It just feels wasted on him¡­

    Nah it''s not gold I just plated gold on it, it''s way heavier than what he''s used to but it has better magic and lightning conductivity. When he runs enough lightning through it, he can make it bend a bit. But don''t bend it too much else it could break! Is he even listening? Raishin was stabbing the air with his new spear. Wow this spear surely is heavy but I¡¯ll get used to it soon-ish.

    If you break it, I''m not going to make a new one for you, you''ll have to buy one yourself! What! I''ll treat it like my child! You don''t have a child!

    Don''t say that! Look now you''ve upset Speary! It''s ok Speary! He''s a big bear bully, doesn''t listen to him! Raishin was stroking his spear. Great now it has a name.

    Why don''t you give your weapons names too? Agnis does it too. Yes, but he doesn''t treat it like his child! Maybe that is a good thing since all his weapons end up shattering¡­ We all look at Agnis.

    You murderer! I won''t let you shatter Speary! Right, this sounds like all of you want to pay the maintenance costs I''ve been giving for free to you all these years.

    Sorry! Please I¡¯m broke! Right so is everything ready to go? Yeah, give me a moment. His clones tidied up and he chucked stuff out of his dimensional pocket and started to form an enormous pile of weapons and other stuff I couldn''t really identify well because they were buried under a pile of daggers and wires.

    What are you doing? I can''t use my dimensional pocket well in that space so I have to take what I want to use out. I can only use it to take food out. I looked at the ever-growing pile of stuff Agnis took out, he also made 3 piles of food and the clones brought them to us.

    Oh, I didn''t think of food. I would suggest rationing it well because when it''s finished it''s finished, you could go hunt in the illusion but it will just be illusionary food, you will fill from it inside there but when you come out you will be hit by the consequences of not eating proportionally to the time you''ve eaten illusion food.

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    That makes sense, you heard that Raishin? Yes! The pile was the size of the Mountain now, the boss that we fought not a mountain made out of rocks and dirt. Alright, this should be about it. Agnis formed 4 portals that looked like the opening to his pocket dimension. His clones already started carrying the stuff into one of them.

    You will get thrown out of the space when the time expires, you guys already know how these spaces work as long as it isn''t super unreasonable you can make the space make it, besides food of course. I assume this one is for me?

    Yeah, the portals will close in 10 minutes so I would suggest carrying your stuff inside, and if you have some questions ask them now. Gregory started to carry his stuff inside. He seemed to have come with a backpack and he took a suitcase out of his shadow and brought it inside. Raishin only seemed to bring his spear and food inside. I didn''t have anything on me myself. After 8 minutes we all faced each other in front of our portals. Well, cya, guys in a month? Day? What is it?

    Good luck guys! Let''s all become even more overpowered! I''m expecting great results from you guys!

    <hr>

    I stepped back inside the portal and I got greeted by the same scenery I left behind, but as Agnis said, the gravity felt a bit off. The gravity seemed to be stronger here. I looked at the sky and saw the remaining time floating in the sky as clouds. How creative. I assume this place only has me but I was still curious so I took a look around in Boshi town and as I expected it was empty. I found it a bit eerie so I gave the command to add the people to Boshi town. People filled the streets and it looked as if I was in the real Boshi town. Although something looked off. I don''t recognize half the people nor do I think I''ve seen them before, I guess this part is only limited to Agnis¡¯ memory. I guess the overall density of people is something he can simulate but not the actual people since he will have to remember them. I went back to Raishin¡¯s hut because that is where all my food was. I will be claiming Raishin¡¯s hut for myself for these 29 days. I don''t feel like moving all this food and the empty space just beyond here is perfect for my training. I won''t be doing much until the latter half of the given time. First, I have to work on my mana flow to become more efficient in arcane magic, or at least turn this household magic into something that resembles arcane magic.

    I commanded the space to make a weaker copy of myself and sparred with my copy. I kept exerting arcane magic while sparring. I beat the copy and requested another copy that was as strong as me. It was a tough spar but I managed to win because I was applying arcane magic and my copy wasn''t. I think the increased gravity made it tougher because I felt a bit sluggish. I sparred for 5 more hours and then decided to stop for today. It was only the first day, I kind of got used to the gravity now. I went into Raishin¡¯s hut which was my hut now and ate some lunch. The rest of the day I kept making arcane magic flow through my hands and legs with minimal rest to get more accustomed to how my mana flowed. It was tiring but I remember Agnis and Gregory doing something similar to magic training back in Hourai. For the first week, I was planning to do only this and sparring with copies that I would make stronger and stronger. I would also throw in some other opponents that I''ve fought before that have a fighting style centered around martial arts. I tried to spar against an accurate Raishin copy but his martial arts was too sloppy and easy to take advantage of, Gregory wasn''t that great at martial arts and Agnis seemed to be too fast and agile for me to land anything meaningful. Raishin¡¯s copy tried to repeatedly hit me with a [Raishin kick] which obviously didn''t work and Agnis¡¯ copy used a variety of martial art moves that normally never work but he somehow pulls off and I couldn''t do anything against it. It just reminds me that he doesn''t resort to martial arts a lot. He pulled a crazy move on Paula yesterday and I was astonished that something like that worked. When I get the chance I should teach him more crazy moves, I''m honestly curious about how he''s going to spin those and make them work on real opponents. After the first week, I could clearly feel that my mana control has improved. My blows and kicks were many times more powerful with it than before. It also seemed to be able to create shockwaves and damage things internally that I landed punches on.

    The shockwaves weren''t that strong so It only extended the range of my punches by half a meter. I started working on the tip Agnis gave me. I need to form an image of what I want to do with this magic. What do I actually want it to do? I want more range but what image do I need for it? A bow? A hand cannon? Wouldn''t getting a weapon like that and mastering it be more effective? I don''t want anything as flashy as Agnis or Raishin, I want something that suits me. I decided to use the second week to think this over while continuing the same practice I did in the first week. I made them into fights and not just sparring so my opponents started throwing magic around and I tried to stick to the things I''d practiced for the last week. My created shockwaves grew to the range of 3 meters but beyond that didn''t seem to be working out. I got some ideas by using tornado kicks and using wind magic to pull my opponents in but it still had a relatively low range. It could be used to pull opponents in that was just outside the range of my shockwaves but not much beyond that. It only worked up until 5 meters and beyond that, the suction wasn''t strong enough. I also realized that my [Rock-et punches] weren¡¯t actually that strong, the shockwaves made by arcane magic were way stronger than the rocks I shot out. I wonder if I could make my punches fly. I imagined my fist extending beyond my physical limits.

    The arcane magic flew outside my fist and punched a hole in a tree 10 meters further. It was a shallow one and my image of the skill was quite half-assed but I got an interesting result. I repeated it and inspected what flew out. It wasn''t air pressure but I was firing off arcane magic. It had a range of about 8 meters at which it was powerful, beyond that the damage dropped off quite hard. 8 meters was a good enough range for me. I''m not expected to become a ranged fighter but have ways to deal ranged damage. I used the rest of the day to work on the form that I want it to take and at the end of day 16 it looked like a fist flying out. I decided to take a break the day after and rest. I still continued to think of what else I could do with this newfound power. I also had to work on images for kicks. But wait, do I? If I could form a body of arcane magic and make it mimic my moves or whatever move I want it to do I don''t have to go through every separate unique move. Since it was my break day, I didn''t try stuff out but continued to refine the idea. I didn''t have the luxury of having a tail figure that out for me like 3 certain overpowered individuals. I wonder how their training is going. I''m assuming Agnis and Gregory are training their asses off and managing to do more than they were supposed to. Raishin would have either already finished what he wanted to practice or won''t finish till the last day or at all. It is always hit or miss with him hardly ever in between. Before I went to sleep, I inspected the food I had left. I might have been too careful with my consumption I¡¯m on day 17 but I have more than half of the food that I got left. I decided to indulge the next time I take a day off. The next week I worked on making a body of arcane magic, I would call it a bear avatar. It wasn''t easy, the first thing I could form were the arms and whenever I punched the arms which were 5 meters long would follow my movements. Making them move independently from my own arms took longer to master. At the end of the week, I could form the whole bear avatar but it ended up being a rough week for me. Besides the [Bear avatar] I also worked on the ranged arcane punch and I called it [Meteor punch] I could send out a flurry of punches and create a barrage which of course I called [Meteor rain].

    On day 25 I took a break and indulged. I worked myself to the bone to master the [Bear avatar] so I would take this rest day seriously. I finished what I wanted to achieve but there were some ideas that I got to add on top of this. My [Bear avatar] was still rough and I needed some special attacks. I thought back on what I achieved in the last 25 days. After this break day, I will also check how my elemental enhancements have improved now that my magic control is better. I decided to go to Boshi lake minor and go for a swim. There aren''t many opportunities to do this because we are always busy and even if we aren''t we have someone who hates water. I ate some more and decided to go to sleep early. I woke up the next morning and looked up at the sky. The cloud clock said that there were 3 days and 11 hours left. I enhanced my fists with different elemental types which seemed to work out easier than I''d ever experienced before. I sparred against a copy of myself who was 1.5x stronger than myself and it was a worthy fight but I was dominating the fight most of the time. The copy was based on what Agnis knew of me from before we got in this space so it makes sense that the past me would have no chance of beating the current me even with a basic boost. I requested the space to recreate the Mountain. I summoned my [Bear avatar]. My bear avatar was bigger than I am in big bear form but still smaller than the Mountain.

    Trying this in big bear form is something I also want to practice but let''s see how I fare against the mountain like this. The mountain jumped up. I know what will follow but if I could knock him out of the air, he might not be able to cause an earthquake. I used [Meteor punch] with my bear avatar while using [Meteor rain] myself. It did a lot of damage to the Mountain but it didn''t change his trajectory. I picked myself up with the bear avatar so that my feet weren''t touching the ground. I was standing on its left paw about 5 meters above the ground. The earthquake did nothing to me. The bear avatar threw me and because it is centered around me it automatically followed me. I landed an avatar punch and the Mountain got pushed back. There was a huge difference between the fight I had with the Mountain now and before, previously my attacks didn''t seem to do much damage but now it seemed like the Mountain was taking a lot of damage. I decided to try a [Meteor rain] with my bear avatar but mix in some other elements. I instantly regretted doing that after I infused the magic. This was really mana-draining. This isn''t something I can do often but the mana was already spent. Let''s see what happens. I released the avatar [Meteor rain]. It blasted the mountain but the attack looked visually stunning. I decided that this is a special attack and I will call it [Aurora Bearealis] Because it looks like one. Not that I''ve ever seen one before but I saw pictures of it in books. Having made another pun and a visually impressive attack I was quite happy. This made me forget about the Mountain. The mountain roared.

    What? You are not defeated yet? The mountain got up but he looked like he was close to dying. He roared again and activated his [Diamond skin]. Hmm, I might have messed up, I don''t know if I can hit through this. I got help from Agnis the last time. Also, I used up a lot of mana so I might not be able to use [Aurora Bearealis] again. I used some avatar bear swipes punches and [Meteor punches] But they didn''t seem to do much damage. Only the [Meteor punches] seemed to do some damage because they also did internal damage when hit on a point-blank range. There are 2 or 3 things that I have left to test. The Mountain charged at me still with its diamond skin on. I took a stance and prepared my mountain buster but not myself, this time the bear avatar would do it. Of course, I would give it an appropriate name. I channeled earth magic from the ground into my right leg and made it flow into the [Bear avatar].

    Here goes nothing! [Ursa Minor]! The Mountain took this head-on and got blasted back but he seemed to have resisted it. Because the [Ursa minor] was charged with earth magic it caused the diamond to crack but it wasn''t broken yet.

    You¡¯re a tough cookie! But I will have you know that where there is a minor, there is always a major. The Mountain didn''t seem to react. Did Agnis forget to give them a speech? Well, whatever. The Mountain was wary and started firing off earth magic. I blocked them with the bear avatar and went big bear mode. My bear avatar grew in size too. My big bear form was still smaller than the mountain, and my bear avatar in my normal size was also smaller than the Mountain but now the bear avatar was head and shoulders above the Mountain.

    Ha! Who is the Mountain now! I picked myself up with the bear avatar and threw myself at him while deflecting earth magic with my paws and my avatar''s paws. I landed in front of the Mountain and sunk my feet into the ground. I started charging again. I used normal [Meteor punches] to clear out earth magic he was still throwing at me while the avatar was preparing the finishing move.

    Eat this! [Ursa Major]! The Mountain got sent flying at an impressive speed. I saw a lot of diamond chunks on the floor. I checked if he was defeated and the space confirmed that my opponent was annihilated. Oof I''m pooped. I guess I should try to make this more efficient on mana in the time I have left. It wasn''t a hard fight but it took a lot out of me mana-wise. I took a long rest and fought some other opponents. The fights against Charlize and Cecilia were completely lopsided in my favor. I did get owned by the spirit sisters. I fought one at a time and I could hit them because else there would be no point but they would still kick my ass. At least the matchup feels a bit fairer now.

    My bear avatar could be damaged by strong attacks and when hit in crucial parts like the joints I will need to fill it up with arcane magic and if that happens too often, I will get drained and am forced to cancel it. I could still throw [meteor punches] but these aren''t the types of opponents that would have difficulty dealing with them. I knew they were strong but again I realized how strong they were. I fought Raishin and even though I thought I would kick his ass I only had about a 60%-win rate against him. Gregory wasn''t fun to fight against because although he couldn''t defeat me, I had a lot of stalemates against him and only won 2 out of the 10 fights with a lot of effort. Fighting Agnis wasn''t fun either, nothing I could do would hit him and he would just lock my bear avatar down and blast the joints, I should have expected that his copy would find out the weakness of my bear avatar without issue but he was completely exploiting this weakness and after that, he just locked me down and defeated me. The only copy of my buddies that I had a chance against was a stronger version was Raishin. I tried to request fights against Paula but I assume Agnis didn''t have enough data on her since she wasn''t available. My favorite opponent was the Mountain and Guyani and my least favorite opponents were Agnis and Gregory. For fun, I requested to fight my dad and to my shock and horror it got accepted and I got destroyed, same with the mothers of my buddies. I spent the rest of the remaining time getting owned and owning opponents while getting to fine-tune my newfound power.

    Time ran out and I got kicked out of the space. It was dark outside and my buddies got kicked out too. It seemed to be evening. Holy shit Agnis and Gregory! Why do you two look so beat up? Ehehe, I might have overdone it, I''m so tired¡­ I might have been a bit over-ambitious, but I could use a good sleep too. Hahaha, idiots! With these things, it''s best if you take it easy!

    I hope you took this seriously! No problems! I mastered my new skill in a week! Raishin held up a peace sign.

    But what was wrong with those copies of you guys? I had no chance fighting any of you! Hehe, we¡¯re just that overpowered, wait what do you mean? Your copy got some wins in against me, how come you couldn''t beat my copy?

    That is what I want to know! Hey, you didn''t make them extra strong or something did you Agnis? We looked over at Agnis and Gregory but they seemed to have fallen asleep.

    Hey, Raishin help me with bringing them home, they deserve to sleep in their bed. Ok! Raishin picked up Gregory and I picked up Agnis. I knew this would happen and that''s why I told them to not overdo it but I guess that would have never worked. Boshi town, the real Boshi town was quiet but there were still some people walking around. During this month I''ve walked through Boshi town multiple times at different times but the real one still felt the best. For this Boshi town, only a day passed but for us, we¡¯ve been away for a month. Luckily the one who would slip up the most in this, which is Raishin, lives alone, Agnis might make some minor mistakes but since he has worked a lot on this time-space thing I''m sure he wouldn''t mess up. I rang the doorbell and Hera opened the door.

    ¡°What happened? Is he ok?¡± We had a rough training day; he is ok and just asleep. Can I ask you to not wake him up early tomorrow? He needs his rest

    ¡°This child always overdoes things.¡± I agree. I carried Agnis upstairs. It might just be me or did he get lighter since the last time I carried him? I have to ask him because while it is normal that someone becomes heavier as they get older, he is getting lighter, I''m sure he was heavier 5 years ago. I put him in his bed.

    ¡°Here is some plum pie I baked today, thank you for looking out for Agnis.¡± Thank you. I accepted the pie and waved at Hera as I headed home. I closed the door behind me. I checked the house. Harold didn''t seem to be home. I looked at the clock. It was a bit past 10 pm. Maybe he is on his way home now. I decided to go to bed. The moment I laid down in my bed I realized how tired I was and fell asleep.

 Ch 35: More Bossmusic

    Day 3(0): I woke up. I looked around. I don''t remember getting to my bed yesterday. My body still hurts everywhere, especially my feet. I circulated nature energy. I woke up again, I must have fallen asleep shortly after I woke up before. I felt refreshed but I could use more rest. I realized I slept for quite a long time as it was past 4. I got up and listened if there was anyone home. Nobody was home so I showered, changed, and started to brush my tails. After half an hour of brushing, I spread out all of my tails. They looked quite fluffy, all 8 of them. That is correct I can use 8 tails now. Just one left but there''s no rush. I retracted them and my ears so that I looked like a human again. I was quite hungry but was also wondering what my buddies were up to. I decided to physically check on them to stretch my body a bit. I headed for Ted¡¯s house first since his house was the closest, also because Gregory¡¯s house can be reached on the way to Raishin¡¯s hut, meanwhile, Ted¡¯s house is the furthest away from both of them so I wouldn''t get to his house naturally unless I go there first. I rang the doorbell. No response. I was about to head over to Gregory¡¯s house when I heard some noise inside. Ted opened the door.

    Did I wake you up? Yeah, but don''t worry about it, what''s up?

    Oh, nothing I decided to check on you guys while also stretching my body since I also just woke up. Oh, I¡¯ll join you, give me a sec, I gotta shower and change.

    That''s ok. I stepped inside while Ted went upstairs to shower and change. I sat down on the couch and waited for Ted. ...is... Agnis! I got woken up by Ted.

    Ugh, did I fall asleep again? You sure this is a good idea? Do you need to rest longer? I slapped my cheeks to wake myself up.

    No, I''m fine, let''s go check up on Greg and Raishin. I got up and headed out with Ted. So, did you finish what you wanted to achieve?

    Yup! And even more! So, what did you train for?

    Hehe, that¡¯s a secret, you will find out soon enough, how about you? I succeeded, it was rough but it worked out, you will see soon enough. Are we going to go for a rematch today or tomorrow?

    I¡¯m not sure if any amount of rest will make us refreshed enough for the rematch so I guess it doesn''t matter when we do the rematch. I was thinking about this evening but that depends on how Greg and Raishin are feeling. You are not going to fall asleep mid-fight, right? I surely hope not¡­

    Hey, you''re supposed to deny that!

    ¡°Agnis and Ted?¡± Oh hey, Charlize and Cecilia.

    ¡°That is odd, normally you would be put on edge whenever we bump into each other¡± I have the feeling that this is different.

    ¡°Hmm, you¡¯re not wrong, don''t you feel something is different about him today, Cecilia?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I don''t know what, maybe it¡¯s related to that we couldn''t find them yesterday?¡± Hmm, well we are here now.

    ¡°We talked yesterday and we realized that we might not have handled all uhm this appropriately, and we came to apologize for chasing you and Greg around all these years.¡± Apology accepted; I assume you two will stop chasing us?  Hey, Agnis are you ok? You¡¯re acting a bit¡­ mature¡­

    Hey, zip it, Ted! I can be mature too! Never mind, there is the Agnis I know.

    ¡°You aren''t asking why we suddenly decided this?¡± Cecilia asked. Nope, you would''ve told me if it was easy for you to tell me. I will relay this message to Gregory if you two don''t mind.

    ¡°Thank you, we will be off!¡±

    ¡°Don''t get the wrong idea though! Cecilia and I didn''t give up on making you 2 our daughters'' partners! We will just stop using aggressive approaches!"

    Yes, I''m not getting the wrong idea. I continued walking towards Gregory¡¯s house. What was that about? And how come you¡¯re acting so... Weird?

    I''m not acting weird though. This is normal if I get time to sort everything in my head. You might know me as chaotic but that mainly happens if I can''t sort stuff out, I made sure to think over whatever happened and archive them, I shouldn''t really forget anything important from here on out, I think. Anyways they were supposed to do that apology yesterday but we weren''t around, now the question is what caused it? The original time loop was the revelation that we escaped through the sewers, In the previous time loop Uraya talked to them but in this time loop we didn''t do anything yet, I''m assuming that this is one of those events that happens no matter what. Now there is one problem that I realized this morning. Which is?

    I didn''t sell my rubies this time loop, I was supposed to confirm the transaction yesterday and actually have the exchange this morning. Uhh, that¡¯s not an issue, right? As long as you make sure most of the stuff matches up in our last time loop then everything should be ok, right?

    That!... hmm, you might be right, if this time loop will get overwritten then at the end only the last one matters, I think. Anyways nothing I can do about it now so I¡¯ll just make sure that the last time loop matches up. We arrived at Gregory¡¯s house and rang the doorbell. Nothing happened for a bit but we heard a noise inside the house. Gregory opened up in his lab coat.

    Brewing more potions, eh? Yeah, I only started an hour ago. I woke up at around 4 and I woke up Ted after ringing his door. Wait it''s past 4?!

    Yup it''s almost 5 now. Then I haven''t been at it for an hour but for 4¡­ Well, good thing we hopped by, did everything go well in your training session?

    I had some difficulties because this nine-tail fox messed up the gravity in that space but I managed to complete everything I set out to do yes. My bad.

    Nah, you warned me beforehand. Since we know that Raishin completed whatever he wanted to do that makes us all successful then! Let''s pick up Raishin and prepare for the rematch.

    I imagined that that would be the series of events so I brewed some more potions. I don''t know what new kind of stuff you guys might need after the training but I hope it¡¯s adequate, can you come and store these in your dimensional pocket? Sure. We entered Gregory¡¯s lab, which was normally tidy but currently it was a mess.

    Did Raishin hop by? Nah, I was kind of in a rush, I will tidy up later. I stored all the potions and we headed off toward Raishin¡¯s hut. Ted knocked on the door but no answer. Are you there? I pushed Ted aside and kicked in the door.

    Wakey wakey! What are you doing?

    Oh, nothing, just some petty revenge! Raishin was still sleeping, I woke him up and stole his pillow. Hey, my pillow!

    Yeah, sucks, eh? Give it back!

    Catch me if you can! I dashed off with his pillow. What? He disappeared! Well even though he ran off I''m guessing he went to the root. I arrived at the hole that led toward the root. I activated my Elgards eyes and saw my buddies approaching at a snail''s pace, oh Raishin grabbed them and went for a teleport. Hehe, how about no. I interrupted his teleport. He looked confused. I don''t blame him, to him it looks like his teleport got interrupted out of nowhere. He tried again but I interrupted it again. Gregory seemed to go for a shadow meld approach. Since that is a racial skill and doesn¡¯t rely on teleport pings, I can''t interrupt it but I can make it a bit tougher for him to get here. I placed small bright white-yellow flames around the hole causing there to be no shadows in the vicinity. I hopped in the hole and also lit up the cave. Gregory appeared 100 meters from the hole and he seemed to look a bit annoyed at the flames I placed all over. I waited in the well-lit cave throwing Raishin¡¯s pillow up and catching it repeatedly.

    Let me guess these flames and the teleport interrupts are your doing? Correct. Give me back my pillow! Somehow Agnis became even more annoying. Raishin approached me in a zigzag manner, I stepped back with [Voltaic step] and he got paralyzed.

    Shit! Well, playtime is over. I threw the pillow at Raishin¡¯s face which he took full on because he was still paralyzed.

    Here is your pillow. Meh. The paralysis wore off and he picked up his pillow.

    Wait this isn''t my pillow! Correct your pillow is still at home. I canceled the illusion on the pillow and it turned back into its original form which was a pile of leaves.

    I''m glad my single-layer illusion was that convincing. Hey is it possible that we are going to win this round? Agnis seems really powered up. Let''s hope that is the case, Paula wasn''t really going serious on us after all. I canceled the flames beside 1 which I used to light up the cave. I''m still upset about that pillow! But did you manage to control your flames? It doesn''t feel hot.

    Who knows. You know!

    As we approached the root, we could hear the boss music again. I got to give it to Paul, he plays really well. A different piece but by no means less intimidating and epic than the previous one. Sounds perfect for a rematch boss music. Yoo we¡¯re back! Paul was still shredding that piano and Paula was listening. She got up and approached us after Raishin called out.

    ¡°You have only been gone for a day, what could you have possibly achieved in just one day?¡±

    ¡°Maybe they want to use the fight against you as practice.¡± Paul said while starting a new more intense verse. Well, you were right Paula, we did hold back two days ago, I would suggest being prepared though, because today we¡¯re going at it seriously, kinda. At that moment I released all 8 of my tails. What! Aren¡¯t we supposed to keep this secret?

    I don''t think we can if we want to pass this test. Paula seemed shocked. Paul stopped playing too.

    ¡°What? 8 tails? Fox''s ears? You are a beast kin? Or...¡± Paul¡¯s hand glowed and the piano started playing by itself while he approached Paula.

    ¡°A nine-tail spirit fox, I guess that is how they beat the spirit sisters. I don''t think you can do this alone Paula, Raishin¡¯s words suggest that the other 3 are hiding something too.

    ¡±He took out a blade that I recognized. ¡°I''m sorry for lying but this sword was meant for myself." I smiled. That¡¯s fine as long as it gets used by a worthy person that is all I care about, I got to warn you though, my swords have a habit of shattering.

    ¡°Hmm, that is odd, I have done many tests with it but where a normal sword would chip this one wouldn''t.¡± I was confused, then was I the problem and not the swords? My buddies released their tails too. ¡°This might be a long night honey.¡± Paula said to Paul, who nodded.

    ¡°I acknowledge that this makes a difference but as long as you haven''t addressed your weaknesses it won''t matter!¡± I can understand where she is coming from to her, we''ve only been away for a day but for us, it was a month, I guess she will find out the hard way soon. I would suggest being flashy and showing off a bit before we become a bit more serious in teamwork, doing teamwork is going to be hard if none of us know what the others have been up to anyways. Sounds good to me. I have a suggestion though, I remember Paula mentioning that Paul was a skilled swordsman, none of us have experience fighting magic swordsmen besides fighting you and to be honest fighting you in any way or form is a pain so could you hold off Paul?

    How rude! But sure!

    ¡°How rude! And I¡¯m not as freakishly strong as Paula!¡± Paula sends him a glare.

    ¡°Now you are being rude! Don''t tell me you forgot how we got engaged! I would only agree to marry you if you could beat me and I stood no chance!¡±

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s not my fault that your fighting style is weak to mine!¡± Great, they are both brokenly overpowered, try not to die, guys! Let''s go! I slipped into stealth and approached Paul, I only needed 2 tails for now so I removed the others. I sneak attacked Paul who barely managed to parry my lightning-imbued dagger.

    ¡°Whoa, that was close, purple lightning, eh? I wonder what other surprises you have!¡± Well, that¡¯s the thing, I do not want to reveal too much so if you can just get defeated by the same skill that would be nice! I went back into stealth but threw some daggers left and right to keep him busy. The uncertainty of my location made him wary but it also locked him into place because he realized that he couldn''t make any careless movements.

    ¡°I thought nine-tailed spirit foxes specialized in unparalleled ranged magic!¡± I kept my silence and kept Paul occupied, meanwhile I looked at what my buddies were doing. Raishin spread out uhhm is that glitter? Over a wide area. Paula tried to evade them and block them but since they didn''t do any damage or status effects they went through her barriers. She inspected them and determined they were harmless and just a diversion. I inspected the glitter but it truly seemed harmless. At least he hit an attack. Maybe that''s related. And there you have it. It might not be clear to most people but I can see it clearly. Whenever Raishin fires off lightning magic it makes an invisible trail, which is visible to me, towards any glitter on the opponent and the lightning follows that path. Basically, all his lightning attacks home in on the glitter. That is pretty smart, he still has to hit the glitter but I guess his problem is fixed at least if it''s lightning-based.

    Paula notices that it increases his accuracy so she is forced to block it since it can''t be evaded. And there you have it an anti-lightning shield. Raishin seems frustrated. Now, this is interesting. Gregory really worked hard. He is launching himself with earth pillars and flying left and right swinging his hammer. One swing and he shattered the anti-lightning barrier because as you can guess it''s only strong against lightning. He uses gravity to manipulate his hammer swings and make it easy to launch himself. He is also throwing the hammer like it is really light and is controlling its trajectory with a shadow tendril he has attached to it. He didn''t become physically fast so he just made himself and the hammer ping around like a pinball. Raisin''s lightning barrage continues and whenever Paula tries to make an anti-lightning shield Gregory shatters it. He also seems to be able to appear from the shadow his hammer casts. It looks like fighting Gregory how he is now is a royal pain. He also uses gravity to pin down Paula to make it harder for her to evade him. Ted is still looking and studying what Gregory and Raishin are doing. Besides the glitter, It doesn''t look like Raishin practiced anything else but I think that is fine. As long as it''s lightning-based he doesn''t need any setup for me anymore. Gregory is showing great control in flinging himself around and swinging the hammer. It seems he put in a lot of effort in mastering those. He doesn''t have my eyes so it is even more impressive what he''s pulling off because he has quite a high accuracy with what he''s doing. The self-playing piano starts a new more intense verse. I used this moment to up my Paul harassment a bit and threw in a [Frozen ground] and some water bubbles.

    Nothing special but now he needs to pay more attention to his balance and has extra targets to look out for. I''m still in stealth trying to avoid a real battle, also because I want to see what my buddies were up to the last month, if I get locked into a serious swordfight, I might miss some things. Raishin used this same moment to start closing the gap and attacking with his lightning-charged spear in addition to throwing lightning attacks at Paula. Gregory used this opportunity to make shadow clones and mix in shadow melds with his attacks. And Ted jumped in at this moment. It seems all of us had the same thought of using the boss music to seemingly power up. Now let''s see what Ted is doing. He is punching? But he''s not even close¡­ ohhh. Arcane magic flies toward Paula in form of fists. Paula is quite occupied but still tries to dodge them. They home in but slightly and they miss. Gregory and Raishin take this opportunity to flank Paula.

    Paula tries to cast a big spell to get out of it but I interrupt it. Paula seems surprised as she decides to take a hit of Raishin''s lightning attack and avoid getting hit by Gregory¡¯s hammer. Probably because her magical defense is better than her physical defense. As I thought the lightning didn''t seem to do much damage. Ohh what is that a whitish transparent bear appeared behind Ted. It is punching, ooh that looks nasty to be on the receiving end. It seems Ted fixed his range problem with a cool skill. Bit by bit Paula seems to get accustomed to these new skills and gets more room to throw in offensive magic and counters. But since Gregory is our defense guy and Ted¡¯s bear thing seems to be decent at blocking magic it doesn''t seem like she can damage them as easily as before. Any attempt to outrange Gregory and Ted ends up in failure.

    ¡°I don''t know what happened but you guys changed a lot in just 1 day!¡± She throws more magic at my buddies and tries to sneak in a big one but I interrupt it. ¡°Paul, I don''t think these 3 can interrupt my skills! Do something about Agnis!¡±

    ¡°I''d like to but even though I don''t know where he is exactly, he''s keeping me pinned down! Hey, are you planning to fight me seriously or not!¡± I attempt another sneak attack and he narrowly blocks it again he tries to counter but I evade it.

    I will, soon, I want to see what my buddies are up to a bit longer As I slip in stealth again. He didn''t realize I did because I left a shadow clone at my spot. I needed to test something. I''m convinced he doesn''t sense me but he managed to block my strikes twice. I''m assuming he has a certain range where he either knows or feels that an attack is incoming. So, I will have to coordinate my attack with my clone. I hear a bear roar. I look over and it seems Ted went into big bear form. Whoa that bear thing of him is huge, it''s even bigger than the Mountain. Paula casts the big arcane spell that defeated us the last time but his bear thingy punched it and canceled it. Paula looked shocked. I guess they don''t need me to cancel any magic anymore. The music became more intense and so did Paula''s magic. I have full confidence that my buddies can deal with this. Paul seemed to get bored by my clone dodging and tried to head over to Paula. I coordinated the attack with my clone.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°What!? Two attacks?!¡± He blocked my clone''s strike and took a dagger out and tried to parry my dagger strike but he was partly unsuccessful and he got a cut on his side. Hmm, some kind of skill that detects incoming attacks, eh?

    ¡°A clone, eh? I didn''t notice.¡± Which only leaves 1 thing to test. I threw several daggers and made them ricochet off the water bubbles which froze over. Paul deflected most of the daggers flying at him caused by the ricochets but he missed some and several grazed him. I see, it''s not more a warning about an attack but more about the intent to attack.

    ¡°Uhg I''ve heard that fighting nine tails is a bad idea but to be found out this easily is disheartening, are you sure you¡¯re only 12 years old?¡± I''m pretty sure I¡¯m 12 years old yes. I can see why you would have a good matchup against Paula or any person that relies heavily on magic. It is impossible to form magic without the intent to cast unless it has a random effect or it isn''t targeted at you but still somehow hits you. But I¡¯ve found another of your weakness and I feel dirty exploiting it but we need to pass this test.

    ¡°Oh, and what is that?¡± I do not doubt that you were fast in your youth, at this age, not even at any age it''s an impressive feat to block my sneak attacks twice and deflect all those daggers I sent ricocheting. I sent out 32 daggers and you only got hit by 5. You would probably still out speed most of the fighters out there but unfortunately, I''m not one of those.

    ¡°I''m quite confident in my speed, I might have gotten old but I''m still fast enough.¡± Paul seemed to power up too but it wasn''t synched with the music. Is he even taking this seriously? ¡°I do have to admit, I haven''t fought many sneaky opponents like you, but they all have something in common, catch them and it¡¯s over.¡±

    Hmm, I wonder if that will be the case here. I pulled all the daggers laying around into my pocket dimension and canceled the [Frozen ground] and [water bubbles].

    ¡°Giving up?¡± I retracted all my tails; I only had my ears out. ¡°Or are you underestimating me? Aren''t the number of tails in use an indication of how much power you¡¯re using?¡± He points at my buddies, Raishin is using 4 tails, and Gregory 2. Depends on the race, in the case of a nine-tail it''s the fluctuation of tails. If I pop some out, I''m preparing something, If I take them back means I''m finished.

    ¡°Wait at the start you popped out 8 tails!¡± Just a contingency plan, let''s hope we don''t need that.

    ¡°And the 2 tails you had earlier?¡± Uhh, you''ll find out soon! I threw out a lot of daggers and wires and dashed at Paul. He focused and tried to time his swing with my attack. I swung my dagger and Paul swung his sword to parry. He missed. Why did he miss? Because mid-swing I sped up and dashed past him and turned around for another follow-up strike. Paul did a spin strike to catch me but I backstepped. He used this moment to close the distance. I parried his swing and rolled away. I got to say that he is fast but he didn''t have a move to follow up on a rolling opponent.

    ¡°You really have some weird movements¡± He swung his sword again and it looked like he would cut me but his sword stopped 10 cm before my head. ¡°What!?¡± Hehe, these wires aren''t for nothing! I ducked as he managed to cut through them and I did a leg sweep. He regained his balance but I kicked his hand which was holding his sword and blocked his sword strike like that. He put more strength in his swing and I hooked my leg over his arm and used the movement of his swing to flip under his arm and end up behind him, I released my improvised evade and was in the air behind him. Since I was about neck height, I wrapped my legs around his neck and did a hurricanrana but flipped him up into the air.

    ¡°What the! Do the laws of physics not apply to you?!¡± Paul tried to orient himself mid-air and sent sword slashes downwards. I made 5 shadow clones and spread them out and each clone threw a dagger with a wire attached to him. He blocked all of them at the same time because I aimed them to hit him at the same spot. ¡°I have a bad feeling about this easy-to-block attack¡± Paul was still in the air and the wires made a tent shape with Paul at the tip, or a cone-like Christmas tree, I guess Paul was the star. I moved to the base of the cone right under Paul and took a spear out of my dimensional pocket, charged it with purple lightning, and kicked it right up at Paul. At that moment my clones ran lightning through the wire. The clones let go of the wire and the wires and spear formed a lightning-charged umbrella that started spinning and pushing Paul upwards, who was still blocking the attack. ¡°What is this!¡± You don''t like my [Lightning Umbrella]? The umbrella kept spinning faster and ascending while zapping Paul who had no choice but to keep blocking it.

    Hmm, I didn''t expect you to take the full attack head-on, now this is awkward, I only have a follow-up in case you broke free. Anyways have fun up there, I¡¯ll prepare something different there, it should stop when the lightning runs out in uhh I think 2 minutes? Maybe less? Paul amped up in magic again and imbued his sword and tried to push back. The umbrella stopped ascending but it was still keeping Paul airborne. This magic spike isn''t synched with the music again. How disappointing. I set up various types of wires and retrieved the daggers I had on the floor and that were stuck in the walls. I hoped that this wouldn''t defeat Paul because there were a lot of other things I wanted to test out. Paul finally broke through the attack and sent the spear flying back at me. I kicked the spear with a lightning-imbued kick and returned the spear. ¡°Shit!¡± He deflected the spear which lodged into the ceiling. Guess I won''t get that one back anytime soon. Paul sent a sword slash at me and rushed in. I jumped and dodged the slash. Paul was expecting me to land back on the floor but I floated in the air. Or more accurately I was standing on some wires I spread out.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, have you ever heard of gravity?¡± Paul seemed a bit annoyed. Don''t worry, I''m not flying or floating or anything, I''m just standing on hard-to-see wires.

    ¡°Yes, because that is going to make me feel better.¡± I threw daggers from my position which Paul evaded. I wasn''t trying hard to hit them because they were using some wires as a monorail so I could make them follow unnatural paths. The daggers curved around and flew towards Paul¡¯s back. I threw some daggers aimed at him this time and created a pincer attack. ¡°What is the point of physics if you¡¯re not going to follow them anyways?¡± He stabbed his sword into the ground and created a blast that blew everything close to him away. Including the wires in that area. Well, that sucked. He started a dash but instantly stopped. I guess lucky for him, he would have cut himself into ribbons by rushing into the wires. He got entangled in some that I had hanging slack but he blew those off and away. I casually walked over the wires which made it look like I was walking in the air. I took one tail out, grabbed the wire with it and let myself hang upside down, and threw more daggers. Paul deflected them but paid attention to the area that was wire-free. Well too bad for him that it doesn''t matter what he''s doing. I pulled on some wire and with the setup, I did before the wires and daggers formed a magic circle underneath Paul.

    ¡°Oh, you gotta be kidding me!¡± He covered himself with defensive magic. Now I might have mentioned this before, or I might have forgotten but magic circles are normally formed with household magic which makes it fast and easy to cast magic but because the circle was made with a type of magic the power drops by 40%. To make a full-powered magic attack you draw a magic circle or chant the incantation. What I just did with my wires falls under the category ¡°drawing a circle¡± since it''s not made out of magic it creates a full-powered magic attack, it also doesn''t use my own mana but the ambient mana. Good luck Paul! A lightning pillar shot out of the ground in Paul¡¯s wire-free zone and blasted the whole area. The lightning blast induced electricity in the wires which I stored in my tail. There were easier ways to do what I did but I kind of like messing with my opponents. I dropped down.

    Paul rushed at me at an incredible speed. He seemed quite damaged. I tapped the floor with my right foot and disappeared. Well, that is how it looked to him. One of the things I''ve practiced was something that I call [Accelerated steps] or [accel step] in short. As its name suggests it makes me speed up, some lightning is involved and it will be used instead of my [tail dynamo] now to speed up and generate lightning. It can be used without tails so in that case it''s superior. Every time I use it, I also generate a lot of lightning caused by the pressure, impact, and heat generated by my [accel step]. The only downside is that the ramping up speed is quite feet unfriendly. I got faster because of my accel step and used [Blindside]. Paul was holding up quite well, he still hasn''t landed even one hit on me yet though. I used some tripwire but he cut the wires moments after regaining his balance. I decided to fake him out and dashed at him. A split second before I got into range of his sword, I used an [accel turn] and made a sharp turn towards the direction I came from. I made a flip and threw daggers at Paul who was mid-sword swing. [Accel turn] is the same as accel step but it generates 3 times as much lightning as accel step and it also speeds me up more than [accel step] but this is the most feet unfriendly move I have. I shredded my shoes. I¡¯m augmenting my feet so they are fine but, in my training, I went far enough to also shred my feet a bit. It is the most efficient way for me to generate lightning and speed up though. All 3 daggers I threw at Paul hit by the way. ¡°I never expected to meet someone faster than me, you¡¯re even faster than when I was in my prime¡±

    Shouldn''t you take care of that? It will become a problem later on. I pointed toward the 2 daggers that were stuck in his arm.

    ¡°I¡¯m old but you don''t need to be overly concerned about me! I¡¯ve been through rougher fights!¡± Ok then. I shrugged and ran deep purple lightning through the wires attached to the daggers, zapping Paul in the process.

    ¡°Aargh!¡± I told you the daggers would become a problem. Paul pulled the daggers out of his arm and threw them into the ceiling. Guess I¡¯ll have to forget about using those too.

    ¡°Right, guess I have no choice but to use my [Godspeed] technique!¡± Wait before you power up!

    ¡°Why would I wait!¡± Because this boss music needs strings!

    ¡°Is this some stupid pun?¡± At that moment the boss music intensified and I ran lightning through some special wires that I set up and they started to vibrate mimicking the sound of string instruments and made it play along with the piano. At the moment the boss music had piano and violins playing! Although the violin sound is actually some wires. The strings added to the boss music and it sounded epic. Everyone, including my buddies and Paula, looked at me in shock and surprise. I totally didn''t use a stupid amount of time to master this, the only string instrument I can¡¯t mimic well is the piano because it is secretly also a percussion instrument. I''m also not going to tell my buddies that I gave myself 3 months to train while they got only 1. I have a lot of skills to perfect ok! One month wouldn''t be enough. If you were curious, this is what the 2 tails were for. I said as I manipulated the wires to adjust the pitch of the string part of the boss music.

    ¡°I¡¯m baffled, I don''t even know how to react to this.¡± You can react by powering up! The boss music got more intense! Paul powered up properly now although a bit late. I used the lightning I stored up earlier to kickstart a big [accel step]. Paul blurred and various afterimages appeared that sent out multiple slashes. I threw more daggers and more wires to block them while speeding up more and accumulating more lightning. The whole area was now filled with electrified wires and flying daggers from my side and sword slashes from Paul¡¯s side. At this point, it would just be a matter of time before he would be defeated. The wires formed a kind of cage because as long as Paul was in its area of effect, he would have no chance of defeating me. Not that he would if he was outside either. I wasn''t aiming anywhere with these because just getting close to the wires or daggers would get you zapped by the purple lightning running through it.

    Paul tried to get out of the area of effect but I simply moved with him. This attack is centered around me so if he can escape from me, he can escape from this. Paul was fast enough to still keep up with me but I kept using [accel steps] and [accel turns] so a difference started to show where he had an idea where I was but was unable to react in time. The lightning wrapped thick around the wires. At this moment it looked like there were wires inside a lightning attack instead of lightning running through the wires. I started to circulate nature magic through my system. Another [accel turn] and this death ball of purple lightning turned red.

    ¡°Aarrgh¡± Paul took a lot of damage. This attack isn''t even close to finishing but I¡¯ll have to finish it here, I don''t want to vaporize Paul. I made sure the daggers would miss him because the daggers in this attack do the most damage, if he gets hit head-on by them, they will punch holes through him. This attack has 3 dangerous elements. The wires are the least dangerous I can use them to restrict and/or bind opponents. I don''t think anything can escape from this attack because they need to out-speed me to achieve that so don''t use it for that. The second part is the lightning running through the wires. At a point, I don''t need the wires anymore because it becomes so thick that it just turns into a death ball of lightning that can be moved by only the daggers. This is the part that will probably do the most damage during the execution of this technique because it will constantly damage whatever is trapped.

    The daggers do the most damage on a single hit but I don''t think I need to use them because for now, the lightning is enough. Opponents I would use the dagger part on would probably be the Mountain with his Diamond skin on. Anyways I finished off this technique which I named [Dagger Torrent]. I dashed at Paul and hit him with a palm strike augmented with nature magic. This knocked him out but also sped up his natural healing. I got pretty good at using nature energy now. The piano stopped playing but the strings took over. I added some more instrument sounds. Now that I was in control of the [Boss music], I made it speed up again and increase the intensity once more. My buddies seemed to be wrapping up and this is the push they needed. I sat down and inspected my feet. I didn''t go fast enough to wreck my feet, good, I applied nature magic to my feet to be sure.

    [Aurora bearealis]! I looked on at how Ted used a flashy multi-colored move and made Paula concede, is it me or does his bear thingy look smaller than before? I guess he was running low on mana. And [Aurora bearealis]? I thought we wouldn''t be yelling our attack names because it sounds stupid. I guess he wants everyone to know what stupid pun he made.

    Paula and my buddies approached me. You had some cool flashy skills there! You guys did well too.

    ¡°I¡¯m very impressed, you guys came far in just one day¡± Wait let me get down for this. Down?

    So, there is something I¡¯ve omitted. Whatever you just saw me do wasn''t the real me. I pointed toward the ceiling directly above the entrance and dispelled my clone, which was the one I''d been describing the point of view of.

    So, what I was doing was covering myself in an illusion and letting my clone fight. I jumped down. I had a bow made out of frost in my hand and had 3 small ice orbs rotating around 2 of the tails I had out each. What the! Wait, you made a clone beat Paul? And what is this uhh frost mode you have going on?

    Just in case Paul and Paula had some nasty tricks up their sleeve. I canceled my frost bow and retracted my tails and returned back to normal. I¡¯m not sure I want to know but what were you planning to do if they had nasty tricks?

    Snipe them. Snipe them?

    Snipe them. You know what, never mind, some things are better if we don''t know.

    ¡°Not only did you beat Paul, but you also did that with a clone? I guess that is to be expected of a mythical beast. You three also put in a lot of work. I was planning to go easy on you in this test but you forced me to get more serious than I planned to. I have one request though, please don''t mention to Paul that you beat him with a clone.¡± Sure. I have a request for you too Paula, I assume we passed the test but could we hold another battle on the last day? You 2 against us 4. Ooh! I like that idea! If you want to do just a 2v3 and let Agnis sit out that would be good too!

    Hey!

    ¡°I will talk about that with Paul but I''m sure he would want a rematch, and Agnis, you can stop the music now.¡± Oh, yeh. I stopped the music. It felt weird this silence.

    ¡°You guys passed, I want to give you some more information about this root and town but I''m tired and I want to do this together with Paul, do you guys mind if we have this conversation tomorrow? Sure, Do I need to carry Paul up?

    ¡°If you would be so kind.¡± Ted took Paul on his shoulder and carried him to Paul and Paula¡¯s house. We made some tea for Paula and left their house. Good job guys! Yeah, we owned them!

    Your attacks looked cool! That bear thingy looked super strong and it was interesting to see Greg flying all over the place, no offense Raishin but your new attack looks lame but I guess it works. Pff, I channeled my inner Agnis, I thought that the opponents would be so annoyed if the cause of their defeat was some glitter!

    Hmm, not gonna lie, that is something that I would probably do. You had some weird flashy attacks too, I saw you defying gravity and making lightning umbrellas, and uhm what was that last thing? It looked like a dense mass of lightning. Did you use the gravity magic branch?

    Nah, just some wire stuff and evasion. Talking about wires that music was so cool! Yeah, what''s the deal with that music, did you really spend time mastering that useless skill?

    Hey! How rude! [Boss music] is just as important as the boss fight itself! Agreed! Well, it didn''t seem like any of his other skills suffered because he went for that at least it added some exciting element to the fight.

    Too bad I couldn''t finish my [Dagger torrent] everything just gets defeated before I can finish it... Wait what? Your lightning shifted red, there is more to that attack?

    Hmm, it is more a technique than an attack because it attacks uhhm. I don''t know how many times it attacks but the number probably has more than 5 digits. Even the spirit sisters in my simulation couldn''t stay alive long enough for me to finish it. That... hm how? Did you beat them?

    Well since I''m in charge of using crowd control to keep our opponents occupied, I fought multiple opponents at once but once they got stuck in it, they couldn''t escape and they got defeated. So, you CC¡¯ed them to death? Cc¡¯ed?

    Short for crowd control. Ah. you guys and your gaming terms.

    Well, in the beginning, my execution was rough but after fixing that I could trap both Guyani and Nayani in it and defeat them. ¡­ so, who said that control skills don''t do damage again? Hmm, that is impressive, I''ve only won against Guyani once I couldn''t reproduce it nor beat Nayani.

    Wait you beat her too? Don''t worry Ted, I didn''t beat any of them, we can be losers together!

    Nooo! I don''t want to be in the same group as you! So how strong is that technique in theory Agnis? And that frost bow attack you had on standby? Hmm, the frost bow attack is a modified, stronger, and 99% safe version of the attack that I used to one-shot Guyani, the [Dagger torrent] uhm I don''t know, I haven''t fought anything tanky enough to survive it long enough. It eats a lot of stamina though. give it several years and I can spam that attack! Which is one of the reasons I let a clone do it. I can''t use any other clone besides that one while doing that though.

    I wonder when you will use some skills that don''t have any vague or dangerous side effects. I have those too but they are boring!

    Being healthy is boring?! Stop taking stupid risks because you want to be flashy! Meh, so what are your skills and techniques called?

    Oh my [Bear avatar]? It''s pretty straightforward, it fixes my range problem, and it''s really useful! I got my [Lightning glitter]! Whatever gets hit by it won''t be able to evade my lightning attacks! So, it''s useless if you can''t use lightning?

    Ugh, that''s true but there aren''t many opponents that are immune to lightning Right? No clue, how about you Greg? I haven''t thought about how to name it, all I''m doing is manipulating gravity, shadow skills, and earth magic to fling myself and my hammer around.

    Why don''t you call it [Hammertime]! Rejected! How about [Gregoryball]

    Rejected! How about [Is it a bird, is it a plane, no it''s Gregory!]

    Too long and rejected! What is a plane by the way? No clue. I read this somewhere. Weirdo. Ok, Mr. Boss music, who is the weirdo here? Hahaha, you''re all weirdos. We talked more about our training experience and skills. Formed some incomplete strategies based on them and headed home. I was pretty tired, not from the battle but still from that training. As I was heading home, I bumped into something.

    ¡°Hey watch out!¡± Oh no, not this again. My bad! I tried to walk away but a hand grabbed my shoulder.

    ¡°You again! I will have to pay you back for what you did the last time!¡± Alright, get on with it then, I''m too tired to play Donkey ball with you,

    ¡°Haha glad that we got to an understanding!¡± Donkey and his friends surrounded me. What are you guys doing outside so late by the way? Isn''t it bedtime for you guys?

    ¡°Pfft! We¡¯re not kids! We decide when we go to bed!¡± Some random friend of Donkey thought that was a good comeback. You say that but holding petty revenge like this is something children would do though.

    ¡°Ha, you would know because you¡¯re still a kid!¡± Donkey looked at his friends because he thought he made another good comeback. Seriously where does this guy learn his failed logic? So besides beating me up, do you have any other ways to settle this petty revenge? I''m sure someone who is not a kid would find a sophisticated way of handling this.

    ¡°Huh, Donkey what does this guy mean with those words?¡± ¡°It means he¡¯s afraid of us! Let''s kick his ass!¡± I sighed, I wondered how to deal with them in a low-effort manner. How good are your defensive skills guys?

    ¡°Haha, we¡¯ve never lost a battle against similar-aged opponents! We¡¯re unbeatable!¡± I''ll take you for your word then. Donkey and co rushed at me, all ready to cast some magic. These guys have 0 coordination. I dropped some wires and formed a magic circle on the floor with them. Say hi to the Boshi gulls for me, if you see a bulky gull punch it for me, please!

    ¡°What? What is this!¡± The magic circle activated and created a wind blast that launched them high into the air. I stepped out of its activation radius, of course, I don''t want to get launched. I might use this for something cool in the future. I looked up but I blasted them quite high so without my Elgards eyes I couldn''t see them. Anyone worth their salt could deal with a fall of any height, I think. I continued my way home. I greeted Philip and Hera who seemed to have a late dinner. Philip talked with his mouth full, choked, coughed, and spat out his food. I see where this is going. I told them I would go to bed early before they started their argument routine.

 Ch 36: Johnny vs Monkey

    Day 4: I woke up late again. I got some good sleep in this time. I stretched as I got out of bed. I noticed something was off there was a lot of noise downstairs. I headed down and the noise became louder. It was coming from the living room.

    ¡°There he is! The murderer!¡± Murderer? Where? I looked around, and I saw Donkey and his friends and people that looked like their parents.

    ¡°You! You tried to kill our sons!¡± That is quite a harsh claim do you have any proof to back up that accusation?

    ¡°Get out! If all you guys came here was to falsely accuse Agnis then leave my house now!¡± Hera seemed pissed off. I didn''t see Philip.

    ¡°Our sons told us they had a run-in with you and that you launched them into the air and kill them!¡± Hmm, so you¡¯re telling me that 7 14-year-olds had a run-in with a 12-year-old, and not only did they lose they also claim to get launched into the air? They don''t seem dead to me, you sure I got that right because that sounds like quite a ridiculous story don''t you think?

    ¡°Hmm, well if you say it like that it does sound like an odd story, are you sure you¡¯re not lying, son?¡±

    ¡°Of course, not dad! This asshole keeps bumping into us, calls me Donkey, and messes with us!¡±

    ¡°Unbelievable and you guys call yourself parents? Not only are you ganging up on Agnis but you also believe such an unrealistic story! If you¡¯re going to lie, at least make it believable!¡± Hera still seemed like she was pissed off. She was waving her ladle at the parents and they were stepping back a bit. ¡°By the way wind magic? Have you ever seen Agnis use wind magic?! And strong enough to launch that obese boy?! Ridiculous!¡±

    ¡°Excuse me? Obese? My son isn''t obese! He''s perfectly in shape!¡± Round is a shape indeed. While this seemed to calm Hera down since she tried to hold in her laugh it did seem to make the other side angrier.

    ¡°I see what you mean Dunkey, this guy is certainly a bully, it seems like he didn''t get raised properly.¡± At that moment Hera and I stopped laughing.

    ¡°What did you say?!¡± Before I had time to get upset Hera exploded. Her magic spiked. I don''t know what life she had in the past but she didn''t seem like an ordinary weaver.

    ¡°Hey, hun I¡¯m home! Look who I met on the way here! It''s Gianni!¡± Philip stepped into the living room and met a scene with his pissed-off wife trying to swing her burning ladle at Donkey and co and me trying to hold her back.

    ¡°Hey what¡¯s going on here?¡° Gianni also stepped inside and looked into the full living room. Hera! Calm down, you''ll burn the house down!

    ¡°A small price to pay to incinerate these rude guests!¡± Hey Philip can you calm her down? I''ll make some ice cream, yoo Johnny, I¡¯d love to talk but shit is going down.

    ¡°Uhh, yeah I can see that¡­¡± I went to the kitchen and made some ice cream to calm Hera down, I could still hear her yelling from here. Even though I did launch them into the air I didn''t think I was in the wrong here. I returned to the living room with enough ice cream for Hera, Philip, Johnny, and myself. I handed them their share, sat on the couch took a bite, and looked over at the rude guests. So, what do you want me to do? Apologize?

    ¡±I would like to have an explanation as to why my son''s story lines up with their friends.¡±

    ¡°Isn''t that as you said because they¡¯re friends? It wouldn''t be surprising if they arranged a story to set Agnis up.¡± Ohh nice one Johnny but unfortunately their story is correct. So, you don''t think it''s strange that all 7 of them attacked me but that their stories line up?

    ¡°That is irrelevant! Answer the question!¡± Fine, I was heading home after a long day, and about half a block before arriving home I bumped into them, they started saying stuff about payback even though the 7 of them were blocking the whole road so there was no chance that I wouldn''t bump into them after turning around the corner. Anyways they started attacking me and I responded in kind.

    ¡°So Agnis was provoked into a battle, you can''t blame him for that!¡± Johnny seemed to be taking over the role of the parent defending me since Philip was too busy trying to keep Hera calm.

    ¡°And then what? You are saying you defeated them? You? Against the 7 of them?¡± I didn''t say that but if that is your assumption then I won''t correct you.

    ¡°They told me you cast wind magic and sent them flying!¡± Now here is where Monkey is wrong, it might sound the same but the wind magic I use wasn''t cast, it was activated. Casting magic involves using magic circles made by household magic or incantations, It¡¯s silly but I didn''t decide on this terminology, or however, it''s called. You know that this is something that can easily be checked right? What was it called magic tracer? It''s magic that can detect to which caster some magic belongs but it can also detect what magic recently has been cast by a user, I would suggest you use to on me to check. Monkey looks at the other parents who nod and approaches me. He holds out his hand and it starts to glow.

    ¡°The last 3 magic spells he cast were freezing something, I assume it was to make that ice cream, household magic to wake oneself up after a certain time, and household magic to stay awake longer. The last 2 were used before the time you described son, what is the meaning of this!¡± Guess I got them good with a loophole.

    ¡°I want to know that too! But I''m sure of what I¡­ what we saw!¡±

    ¡°Yeah! We got blasted by a wind blast!¡±

    ¡°Well either way I still want you to apologize to my son and his friends¡±

    ¡°You come here to my house, accuse Agnis falsely, and still have the guts to demand an apology! Get out of here!¡± Hera lost her cool again. Philip, there is more ice cream in the kitchen. Also rejected, I¡¯m not going to comply with these bullies, if you want an apology you will have to force it out of me.

    ¡°I don''t think Agnis owes them an apology, they ganged up on him 7 versus 1 and he luckily got out of it unharmed, I think that is enough, it also doesn''t seem like your sons are that hurt, I''ve seen fights that ended up worse than a couple of scratches.¡± Nice support Johnny!

    ¡°Force an apology, eh? Dad let''s do it!¡±

    ¡°This kid is annoying me a bit, don''t worry Dunkey I won''t back down.¡± Johnny stood up.

    ¡°I don''t think this is acceptable behavior for an adult and even less so as guests, but if you insist on using force, I will be your opponent!¡± Ehh, Johnny, you don''t need to!

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry Agnis! I will sort this out for you!¡± Hmm, I might have dragged Johnny into this.

    ¡°Sounds like music to my ears! If you lose Agnis will apologize to us and make us weapons for free for a full year! Wow, talking about unfair! What happens if you lose though?

    ¡°Ha! As if I would lose, but if I lose, we will provide you the finest Hurado cuisine our household has for free for a full year!¡± My mouth started to water after hearing about a year of free food for a year. I then realized that we wouldn''t be here for a year, meh, I guess it¡¯s fine, Hera and Paul could still benefit from it. Let¡¯s make that a deal on the condition we make it a 2v2! Johnny and I against you and Don... your son.

    ¡°Dad, you heard that he almost called me Donkey!¡±

    ¡°We will get our revenge soon and you have a deal.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure about this Agnis? I know you are strong but Munkey is one of the strongest fighters in town.¡± Don¡¯t worry Johnny, I can hold my own, I will deal with Donk... his son and I will help you out if you need help with Mon... the father.

    ¡°I admire your confidence! Let¡¯s win this, I will hop by more often after we win to benefit from the free food.¡± We headed toward the town square where we would hold our battle. I was wondering how I should go about this battle; I was limited to water magic and sword fighting. Since I will be using non-lethal force sword fighting was out. I bet a lot of people would be watching so water magic was my only option I guess, which is fine. There is one problem though, it hasn''t rained for a while here which is weird if you think about it. The weather in the mountains is always unpredictable but for some reason, it has been dry and sunny for a while. Why is this an issue? Because water magic users use the moisture in the air to do their water magic stuff. That is one of the reasons why water magic is seen as one of the weakest forms of magic.

    A water magic user can use 4 times the volume of water around him. If there is 1 liter of moisture in the area that I can influence then that means I can use 4 liters to use for my water magic. After the magic gets canceled or wears off the volume turns back to normal. That is why there aren''t a tons of water users fixing deserts because there is hardly any moisture in the air there. On the flip side, you would be crazy to fight a water user near a big body of water or when it rains. This brings me back to my problem, there is not a lot of moisture in the air and Monkey is a fire user. Water only does stuff against fire if there is enough of it. Our town isn''t lacking water because of the Boshi lakes but those lakes are a bit far from here. It will take some time but I guess I¡¯ll have to summon some rainclouds. I don''t know if it is normal to do so but I can do so after shooting a water ball high up in the sky, it just takes a while for them to appear. I think 15 minutes is the shortest time and 2 hours the longest I had to wait. We¡¯re in the mountains so hopefully, it doesn''t take too long. I can defeat Donkey with what water I have available but against Monkey it might not be enough, Johnny will fight him and I appreciate that he stood up for me but I don''t know if he can beat Monkey.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    Monkey is one of the stronger people in the town I''ve heard, he managed to beat Charlize, which to be honest isn''t surprising because her wind magic is a bad matchup against his fire. From the short match I had against him last time loop, I conclude that Charlize is a way better fighter and just has an unlucky matchup against him. I realize that I don''t know how strong Johnny is or what his specialty is, maybe he has a plan and can beat Monkey! We arrive at the town square and go over the basic rules. It is the standard fight till the other gets knocked out or surrenders stuff. No killing of course. The townspeople seemed to be organized because a lot of people gathered to watch, I even saw a booth getting set up for betting. These people love betting on stuff. I saw my buddies appear. Raishin seemed to be happy because he could make easy bucks by betting on me but it seems they didn''t allow him to bet because he was too young. It seems about two-thirds of the people watching bet for Donkey and Monkey and one-third for Johnny and me. Hera seemed to be fired up and seemed to have bid a lot on me. ¡°Gogogo Agnis! Destroy them!¡± Wow, Hera wants to see me win. My buddies also seemed to cheer me on. Cecilia and Charlize seemed to have relaxed faces even though they seemed to have bet a lot of money that I would win.

    ¡°Are you nervous? ¡°Johnny asked. Not really, you?

    ¡°A bit, I might have gotten ahead of myself a bit there haha.¡± Oh, this doesn''t sound good.

    ¡°What buffs do you prefer?¡± Are you a buffer?

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡± This is going to be interesting. Just speed will do.

    ¡°Only speed? Not attack or magic attack?¡± Just speed is fine. I can''t tell him that I might be afraid I could accidentally kill them if I get a magic attack buff. I managed to fix that problem in my training but a magical attack buff could very well easily undo that.

    ¡°Right, I don''t know why I¡¯m the referee but you guys can start¡± For some reason Philip was the referee. Johnny buffed my speed and ran at Monkey. He seemed to buff himself in the process. The first thing I did was shoot a [Water ball] up in the air to summon rain clouds. ¡°Haha, where are you aiming!¡± I¡¯m over here!¡± Don¡¯t worry, you''re hard to miss.

    ¡°Are you calling me fat?!¡± No, I''m calling you slow. A [Waterball] hit him and drenched him.

    ¡°Grrr¡± He started channeling his long-ass lightning magic. Hey, Donkey wanna race to see who finishes his cast first?

    ¡°You''re going down!¡± Great water stream gather in my palms, gather around, and condense. Shape into the form that suits this occasion. Still water, flowing water heed my call! [Water blast]! No magic circle but an incantation. Donkey still didn''t finish his magic circle and got blasted by a [Water blast]. In my opinion, it was relatively weak because as I''ve said before there wasn''t much moisture in the air but I made up for it by using an incantation. A part of the crowd cheered, I guess the ones who bet for me to win. I looked over at Johnny. He was fighting with some chains made out of light. He didn''t seem to be winning but he also didn''t seem to be losing and this seemed to frustrate Monkey. I want to defeat Donkey fast so I could observe Johnny¡¯s fight.

    ¡°An incantation eh, too bad it hit like a wet noodle¡± I¡¯m impressed, you got totally blasted but still are talking tough, don¡¯t worry, beating you won''t be hard because you¡¯re still wet behind the ears. I heard Ted cheering super hard, shit I think he heard my pun. He cast another lightning spell but this one was different; I know because it was short. He shot it in the air, and it arched and split into several lightning bolts which rained down at me.

    ¡°Hahaha! Dodge this!¡± Ok. I rushed at Donkey while evading all the lightning bolts raining down, I made some [Ice mirrors] to deflect some and blew some [water bubbles] to trap some lightning within them. And after dodging for about a minute I arrived at Donkey. I kind of took the long way because I wanted to catch a lot of lightning in my water bubbles.

    ¡°I was being sarcastic! You weren''t supposed to dodge them!¡± Donkey said while stomping the ground. So unreasonable! I used [Frozen Ground] and slipped him which caused his next lightning attack, which he was charging while I was dodging, to miss me and shot it towards Monkey. Nailed it. Monkey got hit by friendly fire and Johnny capitalized on it. Donkey tried to get up but I chain-slipped him and froze his pants to the floor after which I formed a blade made out of ice and held it at his neck.

    ¡°I¡­ I surrender! This fight is so unfair! I didn''t know he was this fast!¡±

    ¡°Dunkey surrenders!¡± Philip said. Monkey looked over to us, my fans cheered and Donkey ran crying to his friends. I made the bubbles filled with lightning rotate around me as I froze myself a couch and sat on it to spectate the battle between Johnny and Monkey. In the corner of my eyes, I saw Gregory roll his eyes. So, it seems Johnny¡¯s fighting style is buffing himself and fighting with short light chains as a kind of whip. They aren''t that long though half a meter in length each. So, he had to come pretty close to Monkey to hit him. He seemed to be able to block almost every attack Monkey fired at him with these chains but he still took a little bit of damage every time he did that. Johnny looks a bit beat up but it doesn''t seem he took a lot of damage; I assume this mainly got caused by the splash damage of the fire explosions Monkey was firing at Johnny. This type of fighting with fire seemed to be popular here.

    A lot of explosive power and power in general but hardly any heat. That is the difference between how I use fire and almost anyone else. Most fire magic would blow up a boulder and the boulder would get destroyed by blunt force, and my fire would completely melt it, this, of course, caused my buddies to complain that my fire is too hot but it isn''t really that I do that by choice, phoenixes, and nine-tailed spirit foxes both have a high fire affinity if you would mix that, of course, you would get some monstrous fire magic. Anyways Johnny is skillfully using his light chains, I would argue that he is a better fighter than Monkey but Monkey has superior firepower and doesn''t need to get close to deal damage. I hate to say this but Johnny might lose. Johnny buffed his magic defense more and seemed to drop his physical defense buff. Yikes, that is a mistake! This fire attack is magical based yes but the blunt force is physical. Another blast which Johnny blocked but he took more damage from the splash damage than he did before. I wondered if I should help him but he seemed really into it even though he knew he might lose.

    ¡°Ugh, why don''t you just get defeated!¡±

    ¡°Not everyone accepts being bullied by you!¡± Johnny pushed through and closed the distance. He hit Monkey¡¯s face with his light chain and tried to follow up but got blasted away. It seemed he blocked it but again not fully.

    ¡°Ugh! You annoying rat!¡± Getting hit seemed to piss him off. I saw some rainclouds heading over in the distance, they would be here in about 10 minutes. Hang on, Johnny! Monkey seemed to power up, there was no boss music this time so I guess that was acceptable. I was contemplating using wires to make boss music but I decided against it. I saw Gregory looking at me as if he read my mind and looked disapprovingly. When did Gregory learn how to read minds? I thought of confiscating more of his liquid shadow vodka. No reaction, maybe he can''t read minds after all. Johnny seemed to be running out of steam. He did pretty well for someone who with his magic normally is a supporting role. Johnny dodged a blast and threw his chain which hit Monkey on his face again.

    ¡°Aaagh my face again!¡± I wondered why he didn''t do this before but I then realized that the chain just stayed on the floor and no new one appeared. Apparently, it works like a normal object, throw it and you got to retrieve it. Maybe Johnny started to become desperate. Monkey stopped throwing flame waves and fireballs around but formed the fire into a spear which he threw at Johnny. Magic becomes more effective and stronger when it''s set to a certain shape. Fireballs and flame waves are regarded as shapeless. Johnny wrapped the chain he had in his right hand around his hand making it kind of a glove made out of the light chain and caught the flame spear. Well, this is surprising.

    ¡°I was waiting for you to do something like this!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Ooh is this what they call a hero¡¯s comeback? Monkey threw more flame waves and fireballs at Johnny which smacked them or pierced them with his new flame spear weapon. He buffed his magical attack and started attacking Monkey with the flame spear. He wasn''t good at using a spear but he also wasn''t bad at it. He was laying down the hurt on Monkey. When things started to go well for Johnny, Monkey snapped and created a [heatwave] that pushed everything away from him. I made an ice wall to protect myself from it. It instantly melted because the water was really thin now. I had to slowly melt my couch to make sure that I had some water to use if Monkey attacked me before the rainstorm approached. Ted seemed to have realized this and looked at me wondering what I would do. Cecilia also seemed to look concerned. It seems most of them realized that I wasn''t helping Jonny to keep his pride intact since he was fighting so hard and earnestly. A lot of people seemed to have realized it except for Raishin who was shouting for me to help him. I will help Johnny but only if he asks for it or surrenders. I hope he wins but... Monkey snapped and started to form some really dangerous magic. I wanted to interrupt it but¡­

    ¡°I won''t give up until you apologize to Agnis!¡± What am I supposed to do now? Johnny seems to face off against this dangerous magic fearlessly. He buffs his defenses more and charges into the huge fire monkey shape Monkey made. Can¡¯t say I''m surprised. Maybe monkey is inaccurate, it is a big fire gorilla but calling him Ape doesn''t sound as good. The fire monkey slams its fist down on him and he blocks it with the pole of the spear but it''s pushing him down with a lot of force and the floor under him starts to crack. Ok, screw his pride he might die if I don''t do something. As I get up from my couch to help him, he buffs my speed and surrenders. ¡°I''m sorry Agnis, I couldn''t make him apologize.¡± That is fine, I''m sorry that I let you go through this.

    ¡°That is ok, I''m glad that you let me see this through without interfering.¡±

    ¡±Ha! You think I''m just letting you go!¡± Hey, cancel that gorilla, Johnny surrendered! The gorilla was still pushing down on Johnny.

    ¡°Hey, Munkey that is enough! Johnny surrendered!¡± Philip tried to step in but Philip has 0 firepower so he couldn''t enforce it. I saw Charlize and Cecilia getting ready for action. This could get messy if I don''t do anything. Monkey, last warning, release Johnny! Oh shit, Agnis is getting mad! Oof who is going to pay for Monkey¡¯s funeral? Not me! My buddies are noisy. I gathered what water there was still left in the environment and formed a [water ball] inside the gorilla close to Monkey. I swiftly pulled Johnny from under the gorilla''s fist as a steam explosion went off that sent Monkey flying and canceled the gorilla. Monkey got up and looked super pissed, he was now focused on me.

 Ch 37: Rainy day

    There wasn''t much water left best I could do was make 2 short swords putting myself in a similar situation as Johnny, no he really earned my respect so as a reward I''ll call him by his name, Gianni. I would have none of these problems if I would use frost magic but I feel like that would be cheating. I can''t do something like that after watching Gianni fight hard. The air felt dry, my lips were drying out and I had to constantly lick my lips. I took a glance, 5 minutes till rainstorm. It seemed to be quite hot here judging by how the townspeople were behaving but since I have heat resistance, I¡¯m not noticing any of this besides my dry lips. Even this I could fix with frost magic but I won''t.

    I suggest that you enjoy the next 5 minutes because after that you will stand no chance.

    ¡°Ha! Cheap provocations! You''re just a brat! What can you do to me!¡± I needed to fire off these bubbles that trapped lightning magic because the water was slowly disappearing from here. Here is a gift from your son! I flung the bubbles at Monkey which popped sending the lightning at him. He made a [firewall]. I circled around the wall used [Blindside] and turned the blade into an icy glove and landed a palm strike on his back.

    ¡°Graaah¡± another [blindside] and another palm strike. He tried to push me back with a [heatwave] but I jumped back to evade it. I still got hit by the heat blast but that did nothing to me. I had to reform the ice on my palms because that obviously melted. ¡°Ha not so strong without any water around eh!¡± He tried to throw another [heatwave] at me but I closed in and manually interfered with his magic circle. Just touching it and inserting random magic runes would mess with whatever he wanted to cast. It is way safer to do this from distance but that is not something that anyone can do but anyone could do this, nobody is crazy enough to do this though. I kept [Blindsiding] him in close proximity to have an easy time messing his magic circles up. He also couldn''t use any big spells because he could hit himself. ¡°Aaagh! Stand still!¡± If you stop attacking, sure. I low-kicked him, kicking his legs from under him, and made a follow kick to send him up in the air. I jumped up, grabbed his ankles, and threw him to the ground. He crashed to the ground. It seemed to do quite some damage but nowhere as much as Gianni took. He got up formed a flame spear, and threw it at me. I did the same thing Gianni did, covered my right hand in ice and caught the flame spear. I don''t need the ice on my hand but only my buddies know that.

    ¡°Stop catching my flame spear!¡± He shot out more flame spears. Well, this sucks, I only have 2 arms, and I can''t catch them all without dropping them. Alright, playtime is over! I thrust the spear at Monkey He blocked it with a [Firewall]. ¡°Ha, that did nothing!¡± That¡¯s not what I meant. I pointed up and it started to drizzle which swiftly turned into a downpour.

    ¡°How did you!¡± As I said, playtime is over. Monkey tried to form fire magic but I instantly doused it with large volumes of water to prevent steam explosions. I suggest that you surrender, fighting a water user in the rain is a bad idea. ¡°You will never beat me!¡± Have it your way. I activated [Soothing rain].

    ¡°Ugh, what is this!¡± I would say: ¡°Your defeat¡± but that would be too cliche. I made 2 [Water walls] trapping Monkey in between them and slammed them into Monkey. Monkey passed out resulting in my win.

    ¡°Munkey is unable to fight, team Agnis and Gianni wins!¡± Hera broke out of the crowd and give me a big hug. A bit too big of a hug. Also, wet hugs are weird. A lot of townspeople made umbrellas out of household magic but some didn''t mind the rain. Gregory made a ridiculously large umbrella; it might even be considered a tent.

    Hey, what would happen if I send a thunderbolt up in those clouds? Raishin looked as if he was going to attempt it. Oh no, you don''t! Do you want to kill everyone here?! Ted tackled Raishin and brought him to the ground.

    It''s best you stay grounded. Nice tent Greg. Shut up! When is this rain going to stop?

    Beats me. Gregory grabbed me with his free hand. Make it stop!

    I don''t know how sorry¡­ Aaaagh!

    ¡°That was very impressive!¡± Charlize and Cecilia approached us under Cecilia''s water umbrella. Oh, shit it''s Charlize and Cecilia! Ted let go of me! We need to run! They¡¯re fine now.

    You could say that yeah, they¡¯re damn fine! Huehue! Ted gave him a knuckle sandwich and still held him to the ground. Ignore that idiot, how is Gianni doing? I gave him some potions and first aid Tara took him home to rest.

    Tara? His girlfriend.

    Oooh. What?! He has a girlfriend? Grrr, how envious! Ted continued his knuckle sandwiches.

    ¡°So, is this how you fight when you¡¯re serious?¡± Cecilia asked. Uhh, not really It was quite dry so I couldn''t do much, I had to wait till it started raining.

    ¡°You knew it would rain?¡± Just a hunch, I''m sure you can summon rain whenever right?

    ¡°Well yes, but it isn''t something that always works.¡± I see.

    ¡°What I¡¯m interested in is that thing you did to cancel Munkey¡¯s magic!¡± Charlize seemed interested in that part. Uh anyone can do that though.

    ¡°Really?¡± Yeah, when someone makes a magic circle if you can be in range where you can put your hands in it you can put a random part of a random magic circle in it and it will mess up the whole spell. Charlize urged Cecilia to use some random magic and she did what I described and successfully interrupted Cecilia¡¯s magic.

    ¡°Wow, I didn''t know that! You must be some kind of crazy to come up with it and execute it! It¡¯s not hard to do but I can''t see many opportunities where you could use it¡± Well I didn''t have a choice I had to stall till the rain.

    ¡°How about you tutor our daughters?¡± Absolutely not! But maybe Raishin is up for it. Yes, please!

    ¡°I guess it was too soon to ask¡± I looked around to see if I could find Monkey and his gang but they seemed to have already left. It seems Hera had the same thought.

    ¡°They just left! Philip come with me! I need to give them an earful!¡±

    ¡±Do you mind if we join you?¡± Charlize asked.

    ¡°I don''t mind, let''s go¡± Hera left and pulled Philip along while waving goodbye to me. Cecilia and Charlize followed her. It seems that you can''t escape the fact that those parents will come for you every timeline. Dealing with them gets old fast, I might have to avoid them or just teach them a lesson early on so that they don''t bother me. This time they got Hera and Gianni involved. Gianni? Did you finally remember his name? Both Johnny and Gianni sound the same to me.

    I hopped by Paul and Paula earlier today and they are ready to receive questions and offer explanations in the evening so what are we going to do now? I think I want to catch up on more sleep. Hmm, there is not much to do with rain like this so that sounds like a good idea. We could do indoor stuff!

    Good idea! Sleeping is indoors so I''ll do that! Meh. I could use some sleep too, not everyone has infinite energy as you do.

    Fine! Agnis, can I borrow your pickaxe? Imma go dig for gold in the Boshi mines. I looked around and saw that nobody was paying attention to us so I took it out of my dimensional pocket and handed it over to him.

    This is quite random even for you, is your intuition telling you to do this? Yup! I''ll be a rich man after you guys wake up! Good luck! We all split up. Raishin headed toward the quarry, at least in that direction, the mines were further and more south than the quarry but to get there you would need to take the same road to exit Boshi town. I headed home but then I changed my mind, I decided to visit Gianni and go to sleep after that. I went through my personal archive to fish out the information about where he lived. I found out where he lived and headed toward his house. I rang the doorbell and a woman opened it.

    Oh sorry, I think I got the wrong house!

    ¡°Wait! You¡¯re here for Gianni, right?¡± How do you know that?

    ¡°Because I''m his girlfriend silly, we''ve met once before¡± This is not a scam, right?

    ¡°Gianni wasn''t joking when he said you have an interesting recollection about things, come on in.¡± I still prepared myself for the possibility of this being a scam and this being the case of young women kidnapping young boys. I got to a bedroom and saw Gianni lying there bandaged up. He seemed to be sleeping. Hmm, he¡¯s sleeping, not much I can do now he¡¯s sleeping.

    ¡°Gianni told me a lot about you, he either talks about his merchant adventures, about you, or horseracing.¡± Oh, what did he say about me?

    ¡°He is convinced that you come from another planet or something, not just you but your friends too, how you 4 act and behave is unlike anything he has seen before and he travels a lot.¡± We come in peace.

    ¡°Hahaha, so what have you guys been up to? You guys always seem to be doing some strange things.¡± Just some alien stuff, I could tell you but I would have to kill you.

    ¡°Hmm, I would prefer to stay alive! Say, how did you end up in that situation anyways?¡± Well Donkey and his friends ganged up on me so I sent them flying, they ran to their mamas and papas because of that and they came to my house to complain, they also made Hera mad to which Gianni suggested we settle this with a battle. I didn''t know he was more supportive oriented though.

    ¡°Ugh he has been watching too many magic tournaments, it did make him strong yes but that doesn''t mean he is suited for battles like that¡± He meant it well, I appreciate that he did that. I will have to leave now, I''m quite tired and the rain is starting to intensify. We looked outside the window and saw how the rain was pouring down from the heavens. Hardly does it rain so severely here but it isn''t exactly new that rain falls like this here.

    ¡°You did come here without an umbrella, why?¡± I¡¯m a water user, getting wet doesn''t bother me.

    ¡°I see¡­ I guess that is another weird quirk of yours then.¡± Gianni¡¯s girlfriend smiled.

    Uhh, I guess, anyways say hi to Gianni for me when he wakes up. I stepped outside in the rain. I wasn''t really dry when I stepped inside Gianni¡¯s house but whatever state I was in was quite dry compared to the state I''m in now. The streets were deserted. Not surprising. My vision got obscured by all the rain that was falling. I might have overdone it but I don''t think this heavy rain is my fault, I did summon some rain clouds but when I practiced this it was enough for 15 to 30 minutes of rain. And it never was as severe as this. It has been almost an hour since the rain clouds appeared. I walked through the empty streets and got distracted, this looked like the Boshi town in my training space with the inhabitant settings off. I wandered through random streets to see if my copy of the town was accurate. Seldomly are the streets completely empty. I decided to head home when I noticed that I ended up close to Boshi lake. Shit, this is really far from home.

    I turned around but I suddenly got hit by a suffocating feeling. I clutched my chest. What is this? I activated my Elgards eyes and tried to find out what was going on. For some reason I couldn''t see far into Boshi town, I could only see what was going on around Boshi lake and its direct surroundings. Oh no, not this again. Even though, I normally don''t get cold or hot a chilling sensation started to fill the area. I turned on the filter of that weird energy Raishin and I encountered earlier in this timeline and it seemed like I was surrounded. Oof that''s a lot of pink broccoli shades. They had a humanoid shape but were pink purple and blurry. I wondered if I could hit them with magic. I shot some water balls at them but they didn''t seem to interact with magic. Ok, now I''m quite screwed. I threw a dagger at them and they also didn''t seem to interact with physical things. Ok that was false the dagger got covered in the pink energy but to my eyes, it looked like gloop.

    Yikes, so no physical contact either. The shades didn''t seem to be affected by getting pierced by daggers. I have one more option but I''m too physically tired to do that now so only one option! Run away! I started running, the shades weren''t fast but they were almost everywhere. Is this an invasion? I didn''t run this filter when I was walking around in the town earlier. I got to the edge of this space and it was as if an invisible wall was blocking me. How did we get out the last time? I think I expanded the space, but what if that wasn''t the cause of our escape? It did thin out the colors and the air in this space so I can''t say that is a good idea if I''m not sure if it will break me out. I still had access to my dimensional pocket and as I expected my eyes told me that this was the same dimension as I was in earlier. I started to get worried. What if my buddies get stuck in something like this? They don''t have space manipulation, nor can they see these things.

    These shades weren''t exactly coming for me but those that did notice me headed over to me. There were a lot of things I could try but because all my space-related magic was self-taught I couldn''t tell what sorts of effects they would have maybe I would get stranded in an in-between dimension with no way out. I never thought of this before but I might have to consider finding another nine-tailed spirit fox or a skilled user in spatiotemporal magic to teach me. With the elemental magic, you can mess around and learn by trial and error but with this, it might be a bad idea to learn by trial and error. If I mess up with elemental magic the worst thing that can happen is that I die but since I have multiple lives, although not many, that is kind of fine. If I mess up here, I might get something worse than death. Getting temporal or spatial locked in an empty dark dimension sounds worse to me than dying. I decided to leave this as a last option.

    I remember that Gregory could manipulate the energy and defeat the shades. there was only 1 when he did that though, I''m doing a quick count but there are over 200 shades here, even if I manage to figure out how Gregory did it, it will become a tiresome process. I feel like the world is mocking me, I got stronger and it just throws something else at me that I can¡¯t deal with. I decided to avoid the shades by chilling on the lake. They didn''t seem to like the water much even though my water balls didn''t seem to interact with them. I froze a couch on the lake and sat on it while the waves rocked my couch. Does that sound weird? I don''t know. It was still raining as hard as ever but suddenly it all stopped as if it had never rained. Ok, I might have thought I was in deep shit but maybe this is worse. I looked around but nothing indicated that anything strange was happening. I¡¯m sure I''m wrong on this, I probably haven''t found the correct filter. Hmm not doing anything wouldn''t get me anywhere but I have no idea where to start. I dried myself by expelling the water from me. The shades at the shore seemed to notice me and tried to approach me but didn''t seem to go further than waist deep, Well I don''t know if shades have waists but if they had them that deep. I contemplated flooding the whole place since nobody was here anyways. I had a wet town and Boshi lake on my side, this should be a piece of cake. Time to flood this place!

    ¡°That sounds like an interesting solution¡± I fell off my couch into the lake at the sudden appearance of a woman¡¯s voice. Ugh, what the! You can''t just sneak up on people like that! Moreover, where did you come from? Wait have we met before? In front of me was a woman with blue hair and unusual blue eyes. She looked like she was in her begin twenties and I don''t pay much attention to the opposite sex but she was really attractive. I''m sure Raishin would go crazy over her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know have we met before?¡± Hmm, it was dark and I was in a hurry but I did think we met briefly. I was convinced that I saw her when I rushed to Boshi lake.

    ¡°Hmm, I think I remember yes¡± Wait, I just remembered something. I got out of the water and stood on the surface of the water. She took the liberty to sit on the couch I made and crossed her legs

    I took a step back. A lot of things weren''t adding up, I just realized that I saw her in the last timeline, she shouldn''t remember me, also what is she doing in this space, I didn''t see anyone here before and I only noticed her when she said anything.

    ¡°How was the adventure on the lake?¡± Now I was convinced, she said something similar to this the last time. Ehh it was quite rough but interesting nonetheless. She patted the empty spot next to her gesturing for me to sit down. I concluded that if she wanted to kill me, she would have already done so or attempted to since I never noticed her presence. I reluctantly walked to the couch and sat down. So, ehh what brings you to this part of town? I mentally facepalmed but I guess this question isn''t that weird.

    ¡°Haha, that sounded like a failed icebreaker¡± Please don''t remind me¡­

    ¡°Hmm, well I would like to know that too, suddenly the rain stopped, and even though this looks like Boshi town it isn''t. How about you?¡± Same thing, it was still raining when I arrived here though.

    ¡°Why are you floating on this lake anyways?¡± I pointed at some shades, although vaguely. She followed my finger and locked her eyes on a shade that I was roughly pointing at. I paid attention and she seemed to briefly track its movements after which she turned her eyes to me.

    ¡°What are you pointing at?¡± She was a bit close and it made me a little bit uncomfortable. You see them too, right?

    ¡°Hmmm, I guess you caught me, yeah, I see them, that is why I joined you here because I don¡¯t want to deal with them.¡± So, what are they?

    ¡°My guess is as good as yours.¡± So, what are you?

    ¡°As you can see, I¡¯m a young lady!¡± Ok, then how about this? Who are you?

    ¡°Hmm, let¡¯s go with the name Azurra Mist, you can call me Azurra, and what is the name of my companion on this strange evening?¡± I¡¯m Agnis, but I have the feeling you already knew that.

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Hmm, nothing seems to go past you¡± You are not from here, or are you? My memory isn''t that great but I would certainly remember someone who... Ehh looks like you do.

    ¡°I¡¯m enchanting right?¡± She struck a seductive pose. Right¡­ let''s go with that one, you do know that you get trapped here if you come here, right? Not that it matters because since you are already in that means you can''t leave.

    ¡°That is very kind of you but I¡¯m well aware, you might not know but I''ve lived here for quite a while.¡± Hmm, not much of an outside person, eh? Wait that doesn''t add up if that is the case why were you walking around in the rain?

    ¡°I love rain!¡± Weirdo.

    ¡°How rude! But I forgive you¡± So I have another question, I might not look like it but I''m quite skilled in detection, how did you manage to sneak attack me?

    ¡°I''m super strong!¡± she said as she flexed her right biceps. Oh, so you can deal with these shades! Thank you very much! I will rely on this strong reliable adult!

    ¡°Nonono! Don¡¯t misunderstand! I don''t know what I''m doing here and what those things are!¡± Hmm really?

    ¡°So cheeky!¡± I don''t know what the deal is with this chick she acts so familiar and carefree. ¡°Hey, I have a question¡± Hmm?

    ¡°Can you braid my hair?¡± Excuse me?

    ¡°Mmmm! Don''t make me repeat that!¡± She seemed genuinely embarrassed. ¡°Can you braid my hair? Please?¡± Uhm, sure, but why? She got closer and handed me some of her hair she wanted to be braided. It seemed she wanted a single braid at the right side of her face.

    ¡°I''m too clumsy to make a good-looking braid, you look like you¡¯re a top-class braider!¡± Uhm, I''m not sure about that but Hera is a weaver so I''ve picked up something or two. I started braiding her hair. Her hair was silky smooth and it smelled familiar. Mistflower, eh?

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Nothing, are you sure I should be braiding your hair while we are stuck in this space?

    ¡°I''m not but at least you get to be in the company of a beautiful woman and braid her hair.¡± Uhm sure. I couldn''t get a read on this chick, not her intentions or what she is aiming for. I finished the braid. She looked in the reflection of the lake.

    ¡°Ooh, you¡¯re good at this!¡± I might or might not have dabbled in braiding wires and making ropes.

    ¡°Can I rely on you to braid my hair again when it gets loose?¡± Then don''t loosen it! She stuck out her tongue and spun around on the water.

    ¡°It''s a deal then for our next date!¡± Uhm what? ¡°I got to reward you though! I¡¯m not sure if this will work but let''s see if this will bring the place back to normal.¡± I don''t think I follow. She lifted her hands and all the water in the lake started to rise except the part keeping this ice couch afloat. I was shocked. No incantation, no magic circle. I looked around nowhere did I see a magic circle she could have drawn or prepared. Was she a force of nature? Is it a racial skill? She is definitely not human that is for sure.

    ¡°Are you surprised? You are surprised right?!¡± A lot of things went through my mind, if this was a racial skill like my dimensional pocket and stuff then it wouldn''t need any of that magic-related stuff but I couldn''t think of many races that could do stuff like this, they were mostly water related but the vast majority of them wouldn''t step outside the water. She isn''t using any illusions that is for sure. The water rose and flooded the whole area. The shades seemed like they popped out of existence. ¡°Hmm, it still seems like we are stuck, at least those things are gone¡± I looked at her while she walked back to the couch and sat down next to me. ¡°Don''t go falling in love with me now! Although I don''t mind¡± I don''t have any idea of how to deal with you She poked me with her elbow.

    ¡°Ahh don''t be so cold!¡± For some reason this felt like my most major defeat yet, I have no idea what comebacks to make or how to even interact with this person. ¡°So, what is the plan now?¡± Right doing nothing and being stun locked by this chick isn''t going to help. You are an ally, right?

    ¡°Hmmpf! I can¡¯t believe you still doubt me! What enemy lets her hair get braided?¡± As I see it you would have no problems wiping me off the face of this planet, so since you could do that easily it wouldn''t matter what I would do.

    ¡°Stop being so cold! I''m not your enemy!¡± This chick seemed to be genuinely upset as if a good friend suddenly accused her of being an enemy. Or she is an excellent actor. I sighed. Alright, I''ll trust you, Azu.

    ¡°Azu? Ehehe, I get a nickname?¡± I don''t know what is wrong with this chick. Anyways I''m going to do something I don''t want other people to know about.

    ¡°It''s ok it will be our secret,¡± she says as she makes a cute pose. These interactions are draining my stamina, I think she could defeat me by just talking to me. I released 6 of my tails and focused mana on my Elgards eyes. They turned deep purple with 3 vertical pupil-like slits in the middle. ¡°Ohh how pretty! Wait let me give you your reward first!¡± She ran to me and kissed me on my forehead. Wait wha¡­ I wanted to say that I didn''t need anything but I felt information go into my head.

    ¡°Did your heart skip a beat? It did, right?¡± What is this?

    ¡°I guess you already know but I give you 3 cool magic spells and also a skill that makes it easier for you to use water, now go bust this space, tiger!¡± Uhm ok, I¡¯m a nine-tailed spirit fox though, are you a dragon by any chance? Azu made a puzzled look ¡°Why would you ask me that? Of course, I¡¯m not a dragon! Would be cool though!¡± Right, what was I thinking? I expanded the space. The colors started to dilute. I focused on the integrity of the fabric of space. The moment it was about to rupture, I collapsed it back to its original size. I heard the sound of glass cracking. I guess I winged it.

    ¡°Thank you, see you on our next date!¡± Azu smiled as the space cracked more and shattered. The scenery of Boshi lake appeared and it was still raining like crazy. I instantly got soaked again. I looked around to see where Azu went but I couldn''t find her. Was she a ghost? I thought about it, I still had the 3 spells and the skill she gave to me, kind of hard to do when you¡¯re a ghost, she isn''t a spirit because I would be able to see that but even my eyes couldn''t determine her race, either A, she was crazy strong B, she also had Elgards eyes, C, she was cloaked in frost magic, which might be plausible or D she used the same method that doesn''t allow me to look beyond that space we were trapped in. maybe E she is a god? Could my eyes tell me that someone is a god? I don''t know. I think options A or C are most plausible, I¡¯m leaning toward A. I walked home. For some reason, a lot of time passed while I was in that space. It was almost 8 pm. I wouldn''t get much sleep in today I guess, I was physically tired, and now thanks to Azu also mentally tired. I think I¡¯m going to cheat a bit. I hopped in my dimensional pocket variation where time flows faster to get a good 5-hour nap. I hopped out and only 1 minute passed in real time since I took a 5-hour nap. At first, I didn''t care what I was but now I''m really happy that I''m a nine-tailed spirit fox.

    <hr>

    -You Ted, when were we supposed to meet up with Paul and Paula? - - In half an hour- - Alright thanks! - After this short Teleroad message I decided to relax and brush my tails. Philip and Hera were home but they seemed to be spending some quality time together so I was safe to have my tails out. I checked what Azu gave me. I almost fell off my bed. Does she want me to destroy the world or something? The skill I got was a passive one, now that I have it, I can''t turn it off, instead of being able to use 4 times the amount of water present in my area of influence it increased to 8 times, also my range got increased and it enables me to easily change the shape of my magic spells. Shaped magic is always stronger than unshaped magic. But it seems this is a legendary class skill I''m sure I¡¯m underestimating what this means. This first spell [Tsunami] sounds exactly like what it is but it has a lot of overpowered extra effects. It makes my next 3 magic spells mana free and I don''t need to do any casting or incantations for them either. It also doubles in power when used on a big body of water or during rain, it has some nasty knockback effects and when used on land it will break any earth and light-based barriers.

    I put my hands in my head, what is this chick doing passing on these destructive magic spells around like it¡¯s candy? The worst part is that because of the passive skill I got this will wreck stuff. The next one is [Flood] it isn''t as crazy as the Tsunami it covers the ground in shin-height water and adds a slow effect on anyone that has their feet submerged or doesn''t have adequate proficiency in water magic I can also make it create waves and sweep targets along and surf on it. It doesn''t seem to be super special instead that it also draws water out of the ground. So, this last one I don''t know what it is or does. It is called [Azure Mist] did Azu make this magic spell herself? If so, that is very impressive. Judging by her personality this is going to be stupid strong in some way or form. I tested a part of the new skill. I tried to form the [water ball] into different shapes. I did have a lot of freedom in doing this. Normally when some things don''t work it is because the user is lacking practice or some understanding of how the skill works but still at a certain point the skill is limited by the magic circle. Interfering with the magic circle of [water ball] would allow me to change its basic capabilities but the moment I mess with that it isn''t called [water ball] anymore it will be custom-made magic.

    Hmm, wait. Does this passive allow me to ignore the limitations of the magic circles and do whatever? I tried to turn my water ball into water wall and then frozen ground. No limitations, I didn''t have to cancel any magic or layer the cast. Wow, this is stupidly overpowered. I know I can make it look like I seamlessly flow one magic into another and a lot of people can do that but that requires a lot of practice and some effort in execution. This is stress-free. I guess that fits Azu, she seemed so stress-free even though she was trapped in that weird space. I guess my water magic got a lot of freedom. I went through the details of the skill again. Wait a second, it doesn''t specify that this is for water magic alone. It certainly would make sense if it was just water magic. I cast a lightning bolt and made it change shape. The thing about Lightning magic is that it is hard to make shapes with it, the reason I had to use a wire and that spear to make my [Lightning Umbrella] was exactly for that reason. And here I am forming an umbrella out of lightning with no issues. I let myself fall down on my bed. I put in my personal archive that if Azu ever became my enemy, I would have to do anything in my power to run away. I don''t believe even for a millionth percent that there is any way my buddies and I can win against her. If she can pass this magic on, which in itself is quite special, then she is sure to have a lot of other crazy spells that defy logic. I looked at the ceiling. The moment I get stronger I just get reminded how big the world is. No point in thinking about ¡°what ifs¡± she seemed quite friendly, maybe a bit too friendly, so we don''t have to worry about that, what bothers me is that she said she lived here for a long time even though I¡¯ve only seen her once before and that she seems to remember stuff from previous timelines. Which reminds me, Paul and Paula do too and they were going to give an explanation soon.

    Hey, isn''t this convenient? I got up and headed over to their house. They opened up and it seemed all my buddies were already there.

    ¡°You all came early, it seems that you are interested in what we have to say¡±

    ¡°Pff, as long as I can get my rematch then I''m fine with whatever!¡± Paul seemed to only be interested in a rematch, I can¡¯t blame him, I didn''t exactly give him a chance to fight to his heart''s content. But letting opponents do as they please doesn''t fall in my battle style so it¡¯s just going to be the same in our rematch. Paula sat down and began to talk.

    ¡°I will start with why we were giving you this test, as we''ve said before we tried to destroy the root and failed. The battle with the guardian wasn''t exactly easy but it wasn''t extremely hard either, yet¡­ we can''t destroy the root properly so we will be bound to repeat this process and that is why we left the root as it is now. So, we gave you this test because the guardians all have their own ways of being strong. The twins might be the toughest to deal with because they¡¯re spirits but they aren''t the strongest guardian.¡± I suddenly got hit with a realization, if Azu is a guardian we are fucked, we are not beating her.

    ¡°Also, we just wanted to find out how strong you guys are¡± Paul added. Ooh, that makes sense

    ¡°Now you all might be curious why we still remember events that happened in the previous timeline and the answer is very simple, this is because we are related to the reason that barrier and the detestable tree are here. Surprisingly, you guys didn''t get your memory wiped.¡± Paula looks at me. ¡°Hmm, maybe not, if it¡¯s a nine-tailed spirit fox then that all makes sense.¡± Hmm, I guess I''m not that great with time and space-related stuff though.

    ¡°I will have to stress this, It is more so aimed at your friends, a nine-tail has a crucial role in this world, don''t allow him to die to stupid stuff.¡± We won¡¯t but can you explain why?

    ¡°This ties to the reason the barrier is here and how Paul and I think that we are lucky that a nine-tailed spirit fox walked into the barrier. You see this is not a barrier. Just think about it, I will tell you the answer but I want you guys to try and figure out what the true nature is of this barrier.¡± Hmm, you say you two are related to why the barrier is here right? Roots are needed to break the tree which creates the barrier, the barrier doesn''t let people leave but if there is no intent then you can pass. Wait! I''m starting to get shivers. When things are summed up like this some idea came up that gave me a bad feeling.

    So, barriers mostly keep stuff outside, right? But this barrier seems to keep us inside, doesn''t make this more of a prison than a barrier?

    ¡°Correct!¡± I don''t see much of a difference, things can¡¯t pass through it, right? Personally, I think keeping things outside is fine but keeping things inside means something scary.

    ¡°This barrier is made to do only one thing, keep 1 individual inside¡± Wait this super strong barrier to keep 1 person inside? And wait then why can''t we leave then? Hmm, I assume the prison is so strong that we get caught in its side effects. This is bullshit! So, we get trapped here because someone couldn''t defeat a monster and locked it away here?

    ¡°Yes, you guys are more knowledgeable than I would have thought, the strength of the prison reflects on anyone that is inside its area of effect which is slightly larger than Boshi town.¡° You said you are related to why this prison is here right? Who or what is this barrier imprisoning?

    ¡°I''m afraid I can''t tell you that¡­¡± Is it that you won¡¯t or can¡¯t? Back me up on this Agnis or Greg but don''t these things usually come with a lot of restrictions on their targets? That sounds about right, they would have probably directly approached us if they could but their roundabout way suggests that they are restricted.

    ¡°Thank you for understanding¡­¡± So, what can you tell us then?

    ¡°The prison was made by a god to trap that certain individual and we were that individual''s close friends; we have been trapped here ever since but this prison doesn''t really allow us to interact with that individual.¡± Paula tried to keep back her tears and Paul took over. ¡°The reason why we are glad that you are a ninetails, Agnis is because one of the roles they have is to correct gods that act out of line.¡± Wowowow! Stop there for a second? You are telling me that nine-tailed spirit foxes'' role is to duke it out with the gods when they do stupid stuff? Hmm, that might explain why under the tailed beasts the nine-tail spirit foxes population is the lowest, it isn''t even a little bit lower last time I heard about it, the 8 tailed monkeys, the second lowest population has more than 10 times the population of spirit foxes. I think the population of nine-tailed spirit foxes is close to hitting double digits.

    Wait what? I didn''t know that! Does it mean we are going extinct?

    ¡°Sadly, very much so, I don''t think you guys have thought about it but every tailed mythical beast has an important place in the world, I''m assuming you guys are from Hourai? I think one of the reasons that place was made is to prevent the gods and the races down here from wiping them out in greed or curiosity.¡± Oh, Oh no! What is it, Ted?

    Uhm, Paula, I need you to be very calm.

    ¡°What is it, Ted?¡± Hourai is gone.

    ¡°What!?¡± Paul caught Paula who seemed to almost collapse. Gregory rushed at her and gave her some potions. I was monitoring her heart rate. Right, after what you just said our homeland disappearing is a big problem yes. Paul didn''t seem to show it on his face but he seemed to be in panic too.

    ¡°So, what does that mean? You are the only tailed beasts left?¡± Possibly, give or take a few extras. I smacked Raishin.

    ¡°Oh no, this world is doomed!¡± Well as far as we know it''s just gone, they are not dead, I hope¡­ I said that but I got a heavy inexplicable feeling and was filled with doubt. They are ok, aren''t they? Hmm, I knew we had an important role but I didn''t know it was of such importance.

    ¡°Ugh, suddenly our problems don''t sound as big anymore although that almost gave me a heart attack, this is too much for my old body." Paula laid down for a bit. So, a god made this prison, and nine-tailed spirit foxes are tasked to clean up their mess, was that right?

    ¡°Yes, I know they have quite a lot of tasks more than the other-tailed beasts but I only know of that one.¡± So that is why your race is so overpowered you have to fight gods when they do something stupid! Good luck! Raishin punched my shoulder. And guess who I will be bringing along! I punched his shoulder back. Well, I guess that explains the stories about our mothers fighting gods, I guess we will go down that road someday, although I surely hope that is not the case. ¡°Ahem so that bitch imprisoned that individual and we were collateral¡±

    So how many of you got caught in the crossfire?

    ¡°I can¡¯t say sorry¡± Can you do yes or no as answers? You were caught in the crossfire, correct?

    ¡°That is not a yes or no question but correct¡± Paula was caught in the crossfire, correct?

    ¡°Correct¡± Azu was caught in the crossfire, correct?

    ¡°Azu?¡± Oh, Azurra Mist, some blue-haired chick I met, she also remembered some events from previous timelines.

    ¡°That!¡± Paula and Paul both seemed shocked and surprised.¡± That I cannot say¡± Hmm, whoever put those restrictions in place is a moron because the fact that you can''t answer this means that she probably is the target of this barrier. I assumed that they couldn''t answer that question but their behavior confirmed my theory.

    Hey Agnis, who is this Azurra you just brought up? You never told us anything about this. Well, that is because I only learned about her an hour ago or so. What kind of trouble did you get yourself into this time?

    Hey! Not by choice! I was just walking home after we split up but I decided to hop by Gianni for a bit, he¡¯s doing fine by the way, I then headed home and it was raining like crazy. But then I found myself in a separate space Raishin and I got stuck in earlier this timeline. The one where he got attacked by some pink shade and where you guys got this gooey energy stuck on yourselves?

    Yeah, well I met her there, she seemed a bit too relaxed and then swamped the whole area because it was filled with shades. My take on this is if she becomes our enemy, we are toast, there is nothing we could do to her and she could probably yawn and wipe us out. That strong, eh?

    Yeah, the funny part is? I think she still has a lot of seals on her limiting her power, I couldn''t get a good look at her because my Elgards eyes didn''t work on her, but to think that a god had to do this to her and couldn''t manage to kill her doesn''t surprise me at all.  Paula, did Azurra get imprisoned because that god couldn''t defeat her? The elderly couple was silent but the answer was clear. Azurra was probably kicking ass and the god decided to seal her away because the god couldn''t win. Normally I would think of such things as some mythology but our moms were doing some similar stuff and well, we are quite mythical ourselves.

    Paul on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely do you think we could live a quiet and peaceful life if we leave this place?

    ¡°I''m sorry to say this Ted but that is a fat 0, if the god that made this barrier discovers that you guys lifted it, she might come for you.¡± Oooh, it''s a she! I don''t think it matters if she is petty enough to go after 4 teenagers for lifting her barrier.

    ¡°And petty she is! Aaargh!¡± After saying that Paul got struck by what seemed an intense pain. I''m assuming here that that is what happens when he says something he isn¡¯t supposed to. Hmm, I''m interested in which goddess did this but there are too many to do the false and correct game, let''s just hope we never find out.

    ¡°This evening has been too much for us, way more than we expected to, I hope you guys are satisfied with this, We need to rest.¡± Paula stood up but she seemed a bit weak. I guess the shock of Hourai being gone hit her hard. We helped them into their beds and stood in the corridor. So, this is a lot to take in. Ugh, I have to deal with a god''s bullshit? Just why! Surely the god isn¡¯t the end boss, right? We look at Raishin.

    Ugh! I don''t want to think about it! The 7th root being hidden suddenly makes a lot of sense! Wait! I was joking! It seems the spirit sisters were the 3rd hardest guardians, let''s assume the hidden one is the hardest that just leaves us with the second hardest root if we can somehow deal with that hopefully we might be able to scrape by.

    Paul did say that the goddess might come for us when she discovers that we lifted the prison he might not have meant to give us that hint but that most likely means that the god isn''t the last boss. So, we are safe, for now. Let''s hope so. We opened the door and it was still raining. Meh! Gregory shadow melded and headed home. Raishin dashed out and headed toward his hut.

    By the way, you forgot to mention what Azurra remembered from a previous timeline. Oh, she told me to have a fun adventure on the lake, even though only you guys were supposed to know about that. When I met her earlier today, she asked me how that adventure went.

    Oh, yeah, she certainly remembers something from another timeline then. I''m going home cya! Cya! I decided to teleport home to avoid any run-ins with bullies or possibly getting trapped in random spaces. As I sat down on my bed the rain stopped. What are you? With that thought, I fell asleep.

 Ch 38: Pramuoy root

    I woke up early. My sleep was troubled because a lot of things were bothering me. Us ending up in Boshi town, which I thought was just a random town didn''t seem so random after all. I took out the tail with which I did the probability manipulation before we got sold as slaves.

    Did you do this? My tail of course didn''t answer, and whatever answer it could have given if it could talk is something I should know. Another thing that came to mind is that Paul and Paula called Azu a close friend but there is a huge age gap. I''m well aware that Azu¡¯s race might make her look young even though she might be in her 80s or maybe even older but still. Also, the thing about my responsibility to deal with god bullshit might be the reason why our population always have been low. At least It is an excuse for why we seem to be so much stronger than the other-tailed beasts. Our low population suggests that it isn''t helping much. Also, Azu didn''t seem to be surprised when I took out my tails, maybe she already knew, at least that explains partly why she gave me this overpowered magic. It is strong but if I have to fight a god suddenly it doesn''t look so impressive anymore. Many more questions and missing puzzle pieces. How could I sleep with all those? I rolled around in my bed. I got up. Nothing was planned for today, we would have a friendly rematch with Paul and Paula at least if they feel better, and then destroy the root. It might be a good idea to check on them because if they are ready, I will prepare if they aren''t I will rest. I wanted to walk to their house but I decided to teleport there and knocked on the door.

    ¡°Ooh Agnis, are you checking up on us?¡± Yeah, how is Paula doing?

    ¡°She has seen better days but she will recover, I''m sorry but I don''t think we can have a rematch, we want to be there when you guys destroy the root though¡± Uhm about that we mostly just blast the whole area but we will see what we can do about that. Make sure you take your rest too!

    ¡°I will!¡± I guess a quiet day for us. Wait do I need to rest? After the timeline resets whatever fatigue and injuries we have will get reset. There is nothing I really need to do though. I quickly told my buddies what Paul said over Teleroad and decided to just do some blacksmithing. I haven''t casually done any blacksmith-related things in a long time. Always to make some new and improved weapon to fight what is to come next, now I can just repair stuff. Deep down I wanted to test the new magic I got but I was afraid that I would drown half the town. So, I continued to repair broken tools and sharpen and adjust knives. Also restoring some aged weapons when I got called for dinner. Dinner today was very deluxe, courtesy of the Hurado chefs.

    ¡°You can fail to eat this food all you want Philip! We have unlimited free food for a whole year!¡± Philip was chomping down hard.

    ¡°Hmmm, ooh, this is so good!¡± Even though he was right, the food tasted great, I still think he gave the wrong answer.

    ¡°Oh, so you eat the food of these assholes and not mine?!¡± I knew it. I tuned out of the argument while continuing to eat. I¡¯m trying to not think much of it but Azu seemed really cheery, not what I would expect from someone trapped here for I don''t know how long. She must have been really happy to speak to me. I should have treated her a bit more nicely. I¡¯m going to hang out with the guys, I might get home late.

    ¡°Ok take care!¡± I also avoided thinking about this but after we beat the root, in this timeline do I just never arrive home? Raishin lives alone in his hut so nobody is going to notice that he doesn''t arrive home, Pietro and Harold are out a lot and hardly home if ever so it might take a while for them to notice Ted and Gregory aren''t home but in my case it¡¯s different. After being away for one whole day and night and then coming back wounded really freaked Hera out. Philip tried to not let it show but he was worried too. How are they going to take it if I never return home in this timeline? Or does an alternate us take over from there? I don''t know and I guess I''ll never know. Deep in thought, I bumped into someone. Oh no, not this again.

    ¡°Oh, hey Agnis¡± Oh it was just Charlize, normally this would be equally as bad but things are fine now. Heya

    ¡°What is the matter? You sound tired¡± A long day of blacksmithing that''s all.

    ¡°Oh right, sometimes I forget that you''re a blacksmith!¡± Charlize waved and continued her way down the road. I headed towards the cave where the root was. I was the first who arrived here. I inspected the cavern. It seemed like there was a battle here long ago. The location where we had our fights was a bit different from where the battle between the couple and the guardian took place. I don''t have a way to determine how long this was ago but it seemed to be longer than 10 years. I sat down and waited for half an hour thinking about this whole complicated mess. What will we discover in the next timeline? Will it get better or worse from here? The couple and my buddies arrived.

    ¡°Now that we are all here, I want to thank you for what you have done and what you are about to do, if you ever have questions, we will try to answer them to the best of our ability.¡±

    ¡°We still feel a bit weak but we wanted to see the root getting destroyed. It will be some good closure for our son¡¯s 15th death anniversary.¡± Oh, I''m sorry for your loss.

    Paul wiped a tear from his eye, "don''t worry about it, it has been a long time ago.¡± Did... did he die at the hands of the guardian? The couple nodded. Maybe this was the real reason they made a test; we might not be their sons but they seemed fond of us and wanted to make sure we wouldn''t die.

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    We won''t disappoint you! Probably. Ted smacked me. In cases like this, even if you''re not sure make a confident statement! So, do I get to blast the root now? Uh, how about we give Agnis a chance? Although the chance is small there is still a chance, he doesn''t nuke the whole place.

    Hmm, I can destroy the root without putting us in danger. I walked to the root and started circulating nature magic.

    Anything you guys have left to say? This won''t be flashy but it will be over in a flash.

    ¡°We have nothing to say¡± Paula grabbed Paul¡¯s hand. I placed my finger on the root and modified a [flame pillar] with my new skill. It turned into a new skill so it needed a new name. I used nature magic to make sure I could perfectly control my fire magic. [Vaporize] I briefly heated the tip of my finger to over a million degrees Celsius and instantly transferred the heat into the root causing the whole root to vaporize and vanish in a flash. Uhm, I''m yet again shocked and impressed. I think I''m starting to see the birth of the master of vaporization. I turned around

    Cool eh? Paul and Paula seemed to be happy that the root that caused them so many issues was finally gone. The ringing in our heads started again. It seemed Paul and Paula had it too because we were all clutching our heads. And before we knew it, we were back at Raishin¡¯s hut.

    Yes! I¡¯m finally not tired anymore! I ran around. I am energy! Ted tripped me and urged me to sit down.

    Meh. Well, Now it is time to plan how to tackle our next root. Meh, I don''t feel physically tired but I feel mentally drained. We¡¯re halfway, we can rest all we want after we escape. I do hope this timeline isn''t as taxing on us as the last one but we are stronger now.

    I guess, we only have 5 days excluding today so we can''t really rest, can we? Sadly, not

    We are way stronger now how about we do 2 roots simultaneously? Normally I would agree to at least check with Paula and Paul if that is feasible but I have a reason to conclude that that might be a bad idea that could cost one of us our lives. Elaborate.

    Remember that space I told you that I got stuck in? If I''m not there you guys can''t get out of that space, there are also a lot of shades that you can''t see which makes it very dangerous. They didn''t seem to interact with magic or physical objects. The only thing that seemed to work was camping on lake Boshi because they wouldn''t get into the water and well¡­ swamping the whole place got rid of them. No, no water! Hey, do you think Greg is a shade? He is weak to water too! Ted smacked Raishin.

    So, for that reason, I think we shouldn''t split up, Gregory can deal easily with those shades with his energy manipulation. Even though they don''t interact with physical or magic Ted¡¯s bear avatar could keep us safe by providing us something to stand on. I could make them visible and tear open the space. And me? You are the battery!

    Meh Hmm, let''s see this root is close to where I found the dungeon. Hmm, I only see it now but I could have vaporized it with the mountain on day 0, oh that is today, If it was just a bit more west. We are climbing the mountain, right? Please no sewers. Eh? The sewers are an easier path from inside the town though. And hiking takes quite the stamina.

    No sewers! Why are you guys acting like we can''t teleport or something? We don''t have to stay underground because of the crater I made, hehe all is according to plan. What?! Did you plan all this? Of course, he didn''t! You didn¡¯t, right?

    Haha, of course not my foresight isn''t that good, do you take me for a god or something? You never know what kind of stuff you cook up and I would have agreed with that line at the begin the last timeline but now that doesn''t sound so convincing!

    You¡¯re thinking too much of it. Anyways we take that root down. How did your mining for gold go by the way? Ugh, I think I will need to focus more on mining. That is some gold obsession.

    I got too busy talking to this miner chick that I didn''t manage to mine any! Must be nice to only have 2 things on your mind. Anyways let''s rest, don''t forget Raishin, tomorrow we¡¯re going to the town square, I swear if you steal my pillow again, I will use [Vaporize] on you! I will join you guys. Yeah, me too, 11 at your place Agnis?

    Works for me. I headed home. I had a lot to think about and decided to rest mentally. We were almost at the halfway point. I hope this town doesn''t have any more surprises for us

 Ch 39: Escalating

    Day 1: I woke up and instantly felt there was a weird vibe in the air. I looked around but I couldn''t find anything. It seemed I didn''t wake up in an isolated space. Good starting point. My pillow seemed to still be here. I went downstairs. Are Hera and Philip still sleeping? I checked on them and they seemed fast asleep. Normally one of them wakes up early but I guess they were really worried about me and went to bed tired from worrying. I didn''t forget this time that to them I was away for a whole day and night. I couldn''t shake off this weird vibe. I made some sugar apple ice cream and ate some. My buddies arrived and we talked a bit after heading toward the town square. Hey Greg, do you feel that bad vibe too? It woke me up at 4 am. I feel it too but that is nothing compared to what my intuition tells me. It is going crazy saying that there is danger. We stopped.

    This is bad, can you see anything Agnis? I checked and even though I can feel something is off I can''t see what is off. I also don''t know what to look for. Can you feel what direction it comes from Greg? It seems to come from everywhere so I can''t pinpoint the source sorry.

    Ugh, this timeline is going to suck even more than the previous one, isn''t it? It can''t be worse than the Mountain timeline. Ooh so we¡¯re naming the timelines after the end bosses, sounds fine by me! We arrived at the town square and I looked around. The town square looked quite normal; the people were just doing their things like they always do. There were still some traces of the market from two days ago but besides that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. I looked into the sewers and¡­ oh. There was so much miasma down there, the moment somebody would lift the manhole it would certainly create problems. This brings me to the question: why isn''t it leaking from the sewers, manholes normally aren''t made to seal off high-density corrupted mana, I think. Who made this sewer system? If these manholes don''t leak how did Charlize get mana poisoning in the original timeline? The more I think about it the less and less of this town starts making sense. Not only do details about this barrier not make any sense but this town''s sewer system doesn''t make any sense either. Are they related? The sewers in Boshi town are suspiciously clean but nobody seems to ever get down there. As I thought about this we arrived at Uraya¡¯s shop.

    Wasn''t something supposed to happen here? Yes, but maybe nothing should happen. Hey, Greg, just curious, do you have any idea what is going on in the sewers?

    Hmm, it feels like the corruption down there is higher than before, I wouldn''t be surprised if some townspeople would be able to feel it without going down there. Do you think we should do something about it?

    What can we do about it? I don''t know? Don¡¯t you have some Shadowcat secret technique to deal with this?

    Well, there is something that could deal with this but I don''t know how to do it. No luck, eh? I am just wondering if is there anything any of you theoretically can''t do?

    Hmm, eat potatoes? Deal with water. Be single... I was a fool to ask¡­

    Well, I only know what a phoenix can do I have no clue what a nine-tail can do but all I know is that we probably would be screwed if I grew up in phoenix mode. Yeah, I was thinking about that too, if you were more skilled at using phoenix stuff like your sisters we might not be here.

    Also, life would be hard without you 3 I don''t think any of us would have been alive or doing well without each other. Well, shadow cats are only good at manipulating energy, curses, possibly assassination, and defensive techniques. There is a love-hate relationship with light users, we are either super weak to them or super strong against them.

    Huh, I know that the first shadow assassins were shadow cats but how does being bad at offensive magic and being an assassin match together it is kind of hard to assassinate people if you can''t attack. Well, that is where the love-hate relationship comes from there seem to be 2 types of shadow users and I even have a good example for this. It might look the same but the shadow magic I use is different than yours, you have the one that assassins use which is weak to light magic while mine is the defensive type which is strong against it.

    Hmm, that is odd indeed. We have to consider ourselves lucky that we only found opponents that exploit our personal weaknesses because there is nothing we can do about our racial weaknesses. No, don''t say that you just jinxed us! At that moment we felt an energy surge, even the random people walking around casually seemed to feel it.

    See! What did I tell you! Nothing visually impressive happened but we got hit by a feeling that induced nausea. Luckily, I¡¯m no stranger to nausea neither is Gregory. Ted seemed to suffer the most. I circulated nature magic through my system and took out some anti-nausea potions Gregory had me store and handed them to my buddies. Gregory emptied the bottle and directed his attention to the source.

    Guys, we have a big problem. Out of nowhere, they appeared, and everyone started to scream and panic. In mere seconds the whole town square turned into chaos. Why? The shades that normally only Azu and I could see now appeared. I wasn''t even using the correct filter so that means everyone could see them. It wasn''t just any small number. As far as I could see there were shades.

    Hey on a scale from 1 to fucked how bad is this? I''d say pretty fucked, we will be fine but I can''t say that about the civilians... I made some ice walls to block the path of some shades so that the people could escape. Gregory was doing the same with earth walls. I looked around, there didn''t seem to be an isolated space this time and the shades weren''t just on the town square but throughout the whole town. I could lead these people safely out of the town square but there was no use if they would get attacked by the shades out on the street.

    ¡°Hey watch out twerp! Hey, what are you! Aaah!¡± Oh, that must be Donkey. We looked over and some shades were approaching their group. Please tell me we don''t have to save them. That would be the morally correct thing to do. Let''s save them and be the heroes! I don''t think we are obligated to help them.

    I don''t want to be a hero or morally correct, let''s watch them squirm! And maybe help them afterward. Ted shook his head and ran at them with Raishin to help out while Gregory and I watched by.

    Not saying I disagree with you there but you sounded like a villain there. I don''t care what people think of me I''ll be whatever aligns the best with my interests. Let¡¯s see if we can find a way to deal with these shades while those guys play the heroes. I threw a dagger cloaked in ice at a shade and it went straight through the shade.

    It seems that they still don''t interact with magic or physical objects, at least they interact with visible light now. Oh, maybe light magic works. Well, I don''t know any light magic neither do you. You don¡¯t, right? Nope, but I can try something. As I see it now, I have the choice to allow you to blow up this place or get mauled by pink shades, I would like to say that the difficulty scale is set too high here!

    Hey, come on I haven''t blown stuff up in a while! Give me some credit! Do you even know any light-based magic circles?

    Haha of course not! Who would learn magic circles they can¡¯t use! You are not helping! Then how are you going to try light-based magic then?

    Hmm, light-based yes, magic? Not so. You just have to be creative! I could move the shades with my water magic by using [Frozen Ground] and making slopes that they would slide off to the edges of the town square. Gregory was moving the ground under the shades

    Ok I give up how are you going to try to defeat them? With my archnemesis! The laser!

    What? You know a beam of light, the things I have bad experiences with, I got hit by a laser in the dungeon, and another laser while fighting Nayani, I have a bad track record with lasers.

    I know what a laser is¡­ I formed droplets in the air and formed them into a lens shape. I focused the lenses on an ice mirror which aimed at a bigger lens. Laser go! A weak light beam got out of the lens and hit a shade. Nothing is happening and I''m sure a laser looks differently.

    Hmm, this went better in my head. Laser go! I cheated and shot out a [Fire beam]. Ha, see! It worked! You know that I realized that you were cheating, I could clearly feel the fire magic. Meh, tough customer, ok fine I¡¯m out of ideas, are you happy now? Not really and that shade seems unscathed. At that moment I heard the sound of [Windblasts]

    ¡°What is going on? What are those things.¡± Oh hey, Charlize, we have an issue with these things, maybe you can help out.

    ¡°Uhm sure what is the plan? We defeat them! Charlize sends a [Wind blade] at a shade but it doesn''t do anything.

    ¡°I want to know how to defeat them!¡± We are working on it. In the distance, I saw that Ted got tired of these shades and used his Bear avatar to keep himself, Raishin, and the bullies off the ground and out of reach of these shades. A shade got close and Gregory manipulated its energy and folded it in itself until it was a small ball and disappeared.

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    Any chance you can do that to all of them? 0 chance sorry, it takes quite a lot of concentration.

    Given infinite time can you get rid of all of them? I know this is normally a normal question but since you are asking it, I would want to hear some details first.

    Charlize and I will try to bundle them up and you will do that stuff on the bundle before it gets too big for you to handle how about that? If they are bundled up that could work but I''m not sure how fast this will go.

    Oh! Hey look they have shadows how about you shadowmeld them and remove the shadow of whatever you dumped them in? That! Hey, that might work. Go bundle them up I will make a big rock in the middle of the town square.

    I left a clone in stealth close to you to defend you! I ran over to Charlize. Hey Charlize we have an idea can you help me with luring these things to that rock over there?

    ¡°Sure, how about you go on a date with Kanna after this? ¡°Our town is in danger!

    ¡°Ok sorry! I will help out!¡± Ok, the guilt trip worked I don''t have to go on a date with the troll.

    ¡°How do I lure them though? magic doesn''t work on them¡± I thought about a rude comment but I decided to try and be civil. Uhm you could grab their attention and lure them they seem to go after anything that gets close. I dashed at a group of shades and made them slip toward the rock by making slippery ramps. They were still walking on the floor which means they did interact with the floor. They didn''t seem to slip and fall though. Not that I could use my signature move of freezing their pants to the floor because they didn''t have any pants. Charlize seemed to just lure the shades and made them follow her but since the shades weren''t fast it took a while and I could see that she was getting frustrated. I really hope she won''t take it out on me later.

    The shadow of the rock was full. I made a small ramp of ice at the perimeter of the shadow of the rock so that they couldn''t walk away and slipped back into the shadow of the rock. Gregory connected his own shadow to the shadow of the rock he made and [Shadow melded] them into the rock. The shades sunk into the shadow and disappeared. He then made the rock sink into the ground causing its shadow to disappear. He brought the rock back and seemed to check if the shades were still there. He gave me an ok sign telling me that it worked.

    ¡°Aagh, this is so slow and frustrating! You are so going on that date later on Agnis!¡± I guess I have an even bigger problem than those shades now. Luckily, she didn''t see what Gregory did because she was getting frustrated. The shades had a low attention span so after a while, they could just break away and wander off. Charlize would lose about 6 to 7 shades while trying to lure them to the rock. ¡°Hey, where did the shades by this rock go? Don''t tell me they wandered off!¡± I continued slipping the shades to the rock but I might have been sloppy and left some ice patches untended.¡°Aaah!¡± Oops, it seems Charlize slipped over an ice patch. She gave me a murderous stare. Uhm Greg, I might have found the end boss of this timeline. Hmm? Charlize seemed to forget her task and rushed at me.

    ¡°I know you did that on purpose!¡± I didn''t this time!

    ¡°This time? What is that supposed to mean!¡± Wait I''m sorry! Let¡¯s just cool down and deal with these shades!

    ¡°Cool down? I¡¯m heated up because of your ice!¡± I know this is frustrating but it isn''t good to take it out on me! Look there are a lot of targets here to vent!

    ¡°I can''t vent on something I can''t hit!¡± I dodged wind attacks which were clearly aimed at me. Greg! Help! Greg shook his head. I''m sorry but you brought this upon yourself. Why! I slipped Charlize to get away but this didn''t seem to improve her mood. She made a tornado. Any possibility we can talk this over?

    ¡°Sure, if you date my daughter!¡± Never! Raishin teleported to me. Hey, need help?

    Hey, you want a date right Raishin? Ooh, can you set me up for a date?

    I surely can. I used some illusion magic to make him swap appearances with me. I layered some water magic on top of it which would bend light to cause a similar effect. It is a possibility that he might mess up and that it gets found out that it is deception so the water magic is just in case.

    Right, you are now me and I am you, you can get a date with Kanna now. Ehhh? I feel scammed but a date is a date.

    I¡¯m thankful for your help. I gave him a short explanation of the situation. Alright, I got this. It is time for my famous Agnis impersonation.

    I am worried about those words but go for it. Hey! Charlize, I give up I will date your daughter! Hey, that is not how I would act at all.

    ¡°What? Really?¡± Charlize stopped the tornado and looked very surprised yet happy. She dashed at Raishin who looked like me now and grabbed him.

    ¡°Let''s go meet Kanna now! She will be delighted to finally get a chance to know you! ¡°She dragged Raishin away with amazing speed. But the shades!... I don''t agree with what you did there but at least you know how to make life interesting. We managed to clear out all the shades on the town square. Luckily there weren''t any people left there so nobody saw someone who looked like Raishin use water magic.

    Ok, I''m back! Those guys were a real pain but I managed to bring them home, where is Agnis? I''m here.

    Hmm? This jerk swapped appearances with Raishin to dodge Charlize, Raishin is going to have a date with Kanna soon looking like Agnis. The worst part is that Raishin agreed to this idea. I don''t know who is worse, Agnis for forming this idea or Raishin for going with it. I can call over Cecilia, I wonder what you would do in this situation. Ahum, given the situation Agnis had no choice let''s just forget this happened and move on. Hah! Thought so.

    None of you guys make sense... So, do we need to save Raishin? He did put us in a situation where we got caught by Charlize and Cecilia so I would suggest making him sweat a bit. Agreed.

    You guys are pure evil. Disagreed! He agreed to this idea! Moreover, what are we going to do about these shades, they are everywhere in the town we only got rid of those in the town square. Give me a second, I can instantly get rid of any shade standing in the shadow.

    Don''t you mean you can get rid of any shade standing in the shade? ¡­ ¡­ Come on guys! Ellipses aren¡¯t a valid dialogue option! That was a very good pun! Ok, I got it! Gregory slammed his hand on the ground and the shades we could see from here which were standing on any shadow got sucked into the shadows.

    They won''t get defeated but at least they are trapped. They can''t escape from there, can they?

    Unless they learn to [Shadowmeld] they are stuck there yes, You might want to be careful while [Shadow melding] yourself you might run into them and if you get too close you might drag them out of a shadow with you if you''re careless. Still, an uncomfortable feeling that there are shades trapped forever in the shadow of these buildings.

    Hmm not forever, if the sun is just right and shines directly above some houses it might eliminate the shadow completely, destroying the shade. Would be a very unlikely event but not impossible. Hey, any chance that some super strong monster might be sealed in some shadow somewhere and one day it gets dug up because of some fool carelessly shadow melding?

    I think it has happened once or twice before. I think it is something the shadow cats also deal with because in some cases the monster fuses with the shadow and becomes stronger than it originally was. So, it is a suboptimal way to banish opponents if there are other options?

    Yah.

    ¡°It is quite noisy outside.¡± Granny Uraya looked outside her shop. Oh, granny Uraya! We walked over to her shop. You didn''t notice anything about these shade things outside?

    ¡°I was brewing potions but I saw some pink things walking past the window, Is that what you guys are talking about?¡± Yeah

    ¡°It is rare to see you guys with just the three of you, you either are alone, with 2 or all together, did you guys have an argument with Agnis?¡± No, he got abducted by Charlize.

    ¡°Oh, the poor soul¡± Granny Uraya looked strangely at me. She didn''t see through my illusion, did she? Ooh! What is this!? I picked up a potion and clumsily dropped it.

    Woops! I stepped aside to make sure the falling bottle didn''t splash on me and in doing so knocked over some other potions. I feel sorry for Uraya and I will pay her back for the potions I broke but I need to do my Raishin impression to not be suspicious.

    Ugh, this potion stinks! A... Raishin! Stop touching stuff! Oof acting for Ted is a hit or miss. I¡¯m sorry granny Uraya but we have to leave before this clown smashes all your potions.

    Hey! Who are you calling a clown? My buddies herded me out of the shop. I ¡°accidentally¡± dropped a small sapphire in her shop. I made sure she didn''t see me drop it though. When we were outside, I told my buddies that I left a sapphire in her shop to cover the cost of whatever I broke and more.

    Phew. I think any longer and she might''ve discovered your illusion Agnis. So, you think so too, eh?

    That was a good Raishin impression but I''m not sure she bought it. Do you think she also got trapped here like Paul and Paula? They should be around the same age and she seems to know more than she lets on.

    Yeah, remember when we slipped up and we had a conversation in ancient Kaledonian with her? Yeah, maybe she is doing her best too to make sure we don''t notice even though we could probably just tell her.

    ¡°Wait you forgot something!¡± Uraya came out of her shop and had the sapphire in her hand. Oof, we lingered too long in front of her shop, what now? Ted whispered. Easy. You keep it granny Uraya! We¡¯re in a hurry! I grabbed Ted and Gregory and dashed away transporting them in the Torai manner. I dropped them off at Raishin¡¯s hut.

    Hmm, I will have to pretend I¡¯m Raishin while he''s still held captiv... On a date, what does he even do on a normal day?  Your true thoughts are slipping through. And mining for gold, trying to pick up chicks, and getting rejected, I guess?

    I will just attempt to hunt something. More shadow clone training this evening Greg or are we done? Depends on if there are still things you want to learn as far as I¡¯m concerned you are good enough with shadow clones and [Shadow meld] that I feel comfortable letting you mess with it and make it vaporize stuff or even more overpowered.

    Ok! I will work on my Raishin impression and will just have a relaxing day then! I dashed off into the wilderness looking for prey.

 Ch 40: The Date

    I got dragged to a cafe south of Boshi lake. What is this place?

    ¡°This is going to be the love nest of you and my daughter.¡± I thought we were just going on a date?

    ¡°A never-ending date! Isn''t this wonderful?!¡± I always thought that Agnis and Gregory were exaggerating but to me, it seems they might have even downplayed it. I instantly regret agreeing to this plan. Uhm how about we take it slow? We don''t want to get ahead of ourselves!

    ¡°Nonsense! Here sit down!¡± She pushed me inside the cafe and sat me down. Across me sat Kanna. Her makeup seemed different today, I always remembered her as looking plain but today she looks like someone even Agnis could remember the face of. Sadly, I knew the reality and that this must be the result of at least 5 cm of makeup. I tried to be really careful with my words, sometimes Agnis and I are quite in synch but at other moments we act completely different.

    I can¡¯t shake the feeling that this seemed like it was planned beforehand.

    ¡°How observant¡± Kanna smiles and takes a bite of the food she had in front of her. It looked like some kind of risotto. ¡°We are always ready for the moment that you get caug... Agree for this date¡± Alarm bells start ringing in my head. My intuition tells me that this situation is worse than the situation with those shades. I looked out of the window. There were still shades walking around in the streets. The cafe was empty except for the employees and some people that seemed to have chosen this place to flee from them. Kanna kept eating nonchalantly. I got served some food but I suddenly didn''t feel hungry. On a second thought, I don''t think this is appropriate! I should help out dealing with these shades! I stood up trying to leave.

    ¡°Sit!¡± A hand pushed my shoulder and forced me to sit. I looked over my shoulder and saw Charlize with her hand still on my shoulder. Yes, ma''am! I tried to eat but I really wasn''t feeling it.

    ¡°So Agnis, you might already know about me but my name is Kanna, let¡¯s get to know each other.¡± She smiled and leaned over to me. I responded by leaning back. I heard someone enter the cafe. Oh, please save me! But as I turned around to see who entered the cafe, I saw that it was Cecilia and her daughter.

    ¡°Oh, I thought you were pulling my leg Charlize but it is really Agnis!¡±

    ¡°Hey, Agnis! Eyes over here! What do you think of my outfit!?¡± I turned around and Kanna was leaning over she had a cute dress but it was more suited for ehhm chicks with eehm bigger badonkers.  Ehh what about it?

    ¡°Do you like it?¡±

    ¡°How did you catch him anyways?¡±

    ¡°Oh, he decided to come here by himself after forcing him a bit!¡±

    ¡±Hmm? That sounds a bit suspicious though?¡± Cecilia and Charlize looked at me. Uhm, I think I need to go to the toilet! I tried to get up but got stopped again.

    ¡°Nice try but water users have no issue with dealing with that in the short term,¡± Cecilia said. Is that so? I never heard about that!

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis stop looking away from me! But I forgive you because you¡¯re cute.¡± I almost choked on the food I managed to get through my throat. I coughed and managed to not choke. ¡°Are you ok?¡± Yeah, thank you, Kanna. Kanna slammed her hand on the table.

    ¡°Mom!¡± I felt bloodlust. ¡°Who are you!?¡± Eh haha, what do you mean? I''m Agnis! I was wondering what went wrong. And then it hit me, Agnis had a terrible memory, I don''t think he would have remembered Kanna¡¯s name and would either be vague or call her a troll. I royally screwed up.

    ¡°I knew something was off! Are you sure this is Agnis, mom?¡±

    ¡± Hmm, maybe his memory improved?¡± Cecilia said. She didn''t seem as alarmed as Kanna and Charlize. Ehh, Yeah, I decided that I had to work on my memory and did so!

    ¡°Hmm, so tell me something only Agnis would know if that is true. ¡°Kanna sat back down. Like? ¡°I don''t know! You are Agnis! Tell me something only you know!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, how about telling us about what kind of girls you and Gregory like!¡± Cecilia''s daughter stepped in. I might sound like Agnis now but I don''t remember her name. Uhm, Gregory likes intellectual girls and I don''t know what kind of girls Agnis likes. Oh, I messed up. The killing intent spiked.

    ¡°I don''t think Ted would slip up like this so you must be Raishin¡± Hahaha! How silly! I''m Agnis the one and only! A wind blade shot at me and I deflected it. The deflected wind blade hit Kanna in the face.

    ¡°Aaah! My makeup!¡± I¡¯m actually surprised your makeup is thick enough to protect you from that! The makeup cracked and revealed her real face. A troll! At this point, there was no point in the illusion and water magic Agnis put on me droped so the water fell off me and revealed my true appearance.

    ¡°Another of Agnis¡¯ tricks!¡± I dodged water and wind blades shooting at me as well as their infamous capture magic. I prepared a teleport and teleported back to my hut. Phew, I''m never doing that again.

    How was the date? I saw myself approaching from the Umbra mountain direction with a frozen solid pheasant in his hands. Ok, you guys were right, they really are crazy. They might or might not be super pissed at you by the way. Agnis dropped his illusion and shrugged.

    I will just have to keep low until they decide to stop chasing us. Do you think that will happen this timeline or after that?

    I hope this timeline¡­ We got inside my hut and I told Agnis what happened. I can¡¯t blame you for that mistake of remembering her name, misspeaking like that though, oof. Yeah, after I said that I wanted to smash my head on the table but at least I got another experience! Agnis smiled.

    Quite optimistic, eh? Well even though that date sucked it wasn''t the worst date I''ve had and you guys always help me out so I''m glad I could take some stress off you!

    I feel bad for you if that wasn''t your worst date ever. At this point, I just go with it! Now I have an actual date soon so I will have to get ready!

    With the goldmine chick? Not yet! I will have to start our friendly relationship all over so hopefully, I could go on a date with her tomorrow or the day after!

    Uhm well, good luck, just be careful, I have the feeling that if you keep this up a woman will one day stab and kill you. Haha! I will keep that in mind! Agnis left and headed home. I got ready for my date. Because of these time loops, I get more than one chance to make a good impression on the chicks! What could be better!

 Ch 41: Shades

    I left Raishin¡¯s hut and headed home. I looked at my hands and realized I forgot my freshly caught pheasant. I decided to leave it as a gift at Raishin¡¯s hut for helping me. I slipped the shades I encountered to the side of the road so I could walk in the street. Yet again the streets were empty, this time because of these shades. Normally I would practice shadow clones at the end of today but since I finished that I won''t have anything to do for the rest of the day. Is it ok to just take a break while shades are walking around in the streets? I tried some stuff but the only thing I could do was slip them up. There must be something.

    I looked into the sewers again. Whoa, it is swarmed by shades. Are they coming from the underground? I followed the sewer lines with my eyes. I followed the sewer lines that were the densest with shades and it led to, how surprising, the big pink broccoli At least the sewer leading up to it, I couldn''t see inside the room. I wouldn''t be surprised if the broccoli was churning out these shades. How annoying. I would blast the tree but I know that that won''t do anything. At least we¡¯ve found the cause. The question is: why? Why now? It started the last timeline, and now it makes more, does that mean the next timeline even Boshi town will be swarmed? They are relatively harmless though. They are slow and weak. Some civilians could easily fight them off it is just their numbers that are an issue. Just as I thought that walking while in thought always ends up bad for me, I see a group of people trying to fight some shades. This is quite close to my house, what are they doing here?

    ¡°Hey, you! Come help us!¡± It was Donkey and his gang. I sighed. Is there no way that I can evade them? The shades were in my way so I slipped the shades to one side and the group of bullies to the other side and walked through the middle. ¡°Thanks! Hey, do you want to join my group?¡± I¡¯m sorry I''m not religious.

    ¡°No, I mean our training group! I¡¯m helping people to get as strong as me!¡± Donkey made a confident smile while pointing at himself with his thumb. I tried to come up with the politest decline I could think of, It should leave no room for doubt because I''m tired of seeing their faces. I¡¯m sorry, I seem to be way younger than you guys I also think I will just drag you guys down; You guys don''t need me but thank you for offering. I tried to walk past them. I think I handled that quite well. Someone grabbed my shoulder.

    ¡°Hey I don''t think you know how this works but when Dunkey offers you a spot, you say yes, refusing is rude!¡± Oh, I¡¯m talking to him? The Donkey Hurado? Oh no, he is too dazzling for me! There is no way I can join his group! I don''t want to be a stain on his reputation!

    ¡°Hehe, I like you, don¡¯t worry we will train you well, If you recognize my greatness then there is still hope for you!¡± How does a nine-tailed spirit fox get rid of these bullies, can''t they just leave me alone? Is the world forcing me to interact with these idiots every timeline? I''m suddenly realizing that maybe those bosses and shades aren¡¯t so scary after all, this is way scarier. I¡¯m sorry! I realized I¡¯m over my curfew cya!

    ¡°But it''s only 5 pm¡­¡± I rushed home and closed the door. Holy shit that was annoying.

    ¡°What is wrong Agnis? Did you have a run-in with those shades?¡± Hera said while coming out of the living room. Worse than that.

    ¡°Charlize?¡± Uhh yeah, that too.

    ¡°I think you should take it easy, you¡¯re always busy and stuff, we were really worried you know?¡± Yeah, I¡¯m sorry, I think I¡¯m going to rest a bit.

    ¡°I just started making dinner, I will call you when it is done.¡± I headed to my room and closed the door. I let myself fall on my bed. This timeline just started and I already have a headache. I went through the stuff I needed to do tomorrow. I would have another run-in with Donkey tomorrow, I have to make sure I go and meet Terry to sell my rubies and what else? The apology for them chasing us? Ugh, I wonder how that is going to turn out. As I was thinking of all the things, we needed to worry about I fell asleep.

    ¡°Agnis, wake up dinner is ready.¡± Hera woke me up and still groggy I went downstairs. Dinner today seemed to be risotto. I absent-mindedly ate my dinner. Hera was talking about the new drapes she made and Philip was talking about thinking about starting to restart blacksmithing after his long break. I looked outside and the shade population grew again. Are we supposed to keep those numbers down every day? There was a stupid amount of them now it will only get worse. I sent a Teleroad message to Gregory to go cull the numbers a bit. We decided to do that when it was really dark outside. I would have to kill some time in the meantime.

    I decided to make some small spaces in my room. I would try to imitate the space that I got trapped in twice and try to break it without causing the whole space to collapse on itself or throw whatever I placed in that space into the void. I seemed to succeed 4 out of 5 times. Seems I got lucky that I didn''t mess up the last time. I wouldn''t say it was easy to do what I attempted; I do admit it was way harder to do in the bigger spaces. I might have a bigger fail rate if I do it for real. I need a backup plan for when I inevitably fail. What could I do? I''m just a noob in this kind of magic. No library in this town could help, I already looked through all the books in Gregory¡¯s house. Let¡¯s think if something wants to forcefully move me to another space or manages to what would I need to counteract that? Hmm, a spatial landmark? Is that even going to work? That would require me to know how to navigate between spaces and I have no clue. I need something to anchor me and if I get moved have like a line or something to pull me back.

    Hmm, what about a dimensional anchor. That sounds like a good idea. So how do I make one? I have no clue but it is something I need. I put it into my archive to remember that if we get out of Boshi town I need to find someone proficient in spatiotemporal magic to teach me. Hmm, what does an anchor do? It locks on and grabs onto something making sure a ship doesn''t drift away. So, I need something to lock on and grab this space or dimension and make sure I don''t drift off to another space. So, locking on to space is easy for me but how do I grab it? I coated my hand with spatiotemporal magic and tried to grab the space.

    Nothing happened. I guess it won''t be that easy. Besides it being able to grab I need to make sure it tethers me so if I get moved, I can get back easily even if I somehow end up in a void. I tried multiple things. Locking on was the easy part, I managed to make a tether but the most important part of grabbing onto space was unsuccessful. I started to get frustrated. There are so many things that I manage to figure out quite fast or easily. And even though they are cool or strong they aren''t as vital for survival as this. Maybe this isn''t a magic control issue or maybe my magic control isn''t good enough? I am missing something but I don''t know what. I kept trying and trying and failing. At a point, I started to become nauseous and started to circulate nature magic. Maybe nature magic is the key? It does help me control my fire magic. But before I got the chance to try it, I got a Teleroad message from Gregory.

    Time to wipe out some shades! I sneaked out of the house to avoid worrying Hera and Philip and I met up with Gregory outside Boshi town. Normally we would meet up at Raishin¡¯s hut but what we are going to do has a high chance of waking him up so we chose a different spot more northeast.

    So, what is your plan? I am going to slip all the shades in Boshi town here and you [Shadow meld] them and I will light a [Flashbang] to eliminate the darkness for a bit. Can you make a ring of fire that doesn''t light up the inside of the ring so I know in what area I have to [Shadow meld] them?

    Sure. I made a huge ring of some weak white-yellow flames. The inside of the circle was now a huge circular shadow

    Hmm, now it looks like we are holding some shady ritual. Well, that is correct technically, we are going to banish some pink shades into the shadows if that doesn''t sound like some shady ritual, I don''t know what does. It was really hard getting here while making sure I didn''t get surrounded by the shades.

    Yeah, they need to go. I used my eyes to make sure nobody was on the streets.

    Nobody outside, Perfect! I decided to stop cutting corners. I got 2 tails out and started to use [Frozen Ground] on the whole town and raising the floor at the furthest edges of the town, creating an enormous ramp to make them all slide toward us.

    Wow, you are getting serious, I guess I''ll have to get serious too. I don''t want to pat myself on the back but it seemed quite spectacular. In front of me was Boshi town and slowly but surely an ice ramp raised with a lot of pink dots on it sliding down. These dots were contrasted by the light blue ice that seemed to glow a bit in the dark. It kept rising and rising as the pink dots slid down. At this point, I was covering a lot of houses but I was using frost magic so nothing should happen to them. I started to vent magic and use the incoming energy to run simulations on how to make that stupid dimensional anchor. The shades should slide toward us by now but nothing happened.

    Great did they go invisible again? You are so stupid sometimes, I guess I wasn''t needed for this.

    Hmm? What are these shades made of?

    Some pink broccoli energy And what does your frost magic specialize in doing?

    Absorb energy... Oh. Well, I guess you can''t use this during the day to clear them up so this idea is still good but if nobody is here to see it then just your frost magic is enough.

    Hehe, I completely forgot about that. I hope you wouldn''t forget important things like that¡­ Oh, look some shades made it here! You still get to do something! I slipped them into the circle and Gregory banished them. I used [Flash bomb] it was just an amped-up yellow-white flame spark.

    Let¡¯s see if I can find where they are crawling out of the sewers if I can seal that off, we should have a shade-free day tomorrow. They are coming out of the sewers?

    Yeah, besides the corrupted mana flow, that place is crawling with shades, it seems the broccoli tree is making them. I slipped some more straggling shades into the circle for Gregory to banish.

    Ugh, why does nothing in this place make sense? I can''t find where they are crawling out of the sewers. The town is shade free though. Hmm, well at least we did what we could let''s go to bed, you probably don''t notice it but it''s quite cold.

    Oh sorry, let''s go. I held up a flame to warm Gregory up until we reached the point where we had to split up. For once your flames warm us up in a useful way, make sure you get some good sleep in! I nodded and walked home. The streets are empty again. No people and no shades. That reminded me of something and I teleported into my room. I got a fear of walking alone in the streets now, every time I do that something weird happens.

    <hr>

    Day 2: I woke up early. Some asshole is creating energy waves that travel through the whole town. I swear if it''s Raishin imma kick his ass. I open the door and instantly close it. What! What is going on!? The reason I instantly closed the door is that the streets are full of shades again and there are way more than yesterday. I eliminated the shades that fell into the door with frost magic. It was for a short time but 4 fell in when I did. It is impossible to go out the door because you will let these things in. They didn''t interact with physical objects but walls stopped them.

    How does this even work? Anyways I''m glad that the walls work. They don''t sink into the ground so maybe that''s how it works? Now at least I won''t kick Raishin¡¯s ass because if he''s the one causing this then he has a good reason. But is magic working now? I cast and dropped an ice spike on a random shade but it didn''t seem to do anything. Right, so only my frost magic and Gregory¡¯s banishing technique work and I can''t use my frost magic when everyone is watching also, I think with this many shades my frost magic will cause me to freeze myself. I¡¯m sure Gregory would veto me using frost magic on them now. We need more solutions not less! I started to get annoyed with these shades. I went upstairs and climbed out of my window. I went to the roof and traveled by the rooftop. I feel like a ninja now. My enjoyment didn''t last long because out of nowhere a wild Charlize appeared. Wild Charlize used [Wind slash]. Wild Charlize missed.

    ¡°You owe my daughter a date!¡± I don''t owe anything! And didn''t she have a date with me yesterday?

    ¡°We both know that that wasn''t you!¡± Is that so? I dodged another capture magic. I don''t know if it was because we kept repeating timelines but everything seemed to tire me quite fast mentally. I closed in and used the technique I used on Monkey the last timeline. I touched and disrupted any magic circle she made while staying in striking range.

    ¡°What? What is going on? Why doesn''t my magic work?¡± Alright, I think it is time you cool off. I made her slip and froze her pants to the floor and formed an ice cage around her.

    ¡°Ugh, one day I will catch you or Kanna will seduce you!¡± No amount of seducing will make me like you or Kanna if you keep this up! Well, I guess I can cross off the apology. I looked over the town from the rooftops. The streets were dyed pink from all the shades. I saw some people who had the same idea as me and climbed on their roofs. I started to become concerned about Paul, Paula, and Uraya who might have trouble getting on their roofs. Wait, Paul is agile as fuck and Paula isn''t a pushover either, I guess it''s the same for Uraya but I''m not sure about her. I decided to check on Uraya. I hopped from rooftop to rooftop and I slipped and fell. I almost fell into the sea of shades but someone grabbed me.

    It is unlike you to be so careless. Sorry, I was a bit lost in thought. Gregory and I cleared out all the shades in town at midnight but now there are way more.

    I guessed as much; my whole house froze but it wasn''t cold and there is only one who I know that can do that. But filling the whole town in just 7 hours, eh? I wonder what will happen if this goes on. I don''t know but I can''t absorb this many with frost magic unless I want to turn into a popsicle.

    Yeah, let''s not do that, I guess this is also a bit too much for Gregory to fix. We would have to wait till it gets dark to clear them out. That is the thing we don''t know what will happen if we let these things here the whole day.

    Hmm, maybe we should consult Paul and Paula and ask if it is wise to move up the schedule for destroying the root. Hmm, that seems like a good idea. Hey, can you check up on them and ask? I''m going to check on granny Uraya. I made sure to pay attention this time and arrived at the roof of Uraya¡¯s shop. Now here is the problem. How do I get in without intruding? Houses aren''t exactly made to enter from the roof. Oh, there was a balcony. I jumped on the balcony and knocked.

    Granny Uraya, It is me Agnis! Are you ok? No answer. Do I wait longer? Do I break in to check? Do I look inside with my eyes? I only made it a habit to look inside the houses of my buddies and not of other people. Not because my eyes are overpowered means I should intrude on others'' privacy. Not that I care much about that but I know there are a lot of things I''m sure I don''t want to see. Maybe Granny Uraya is taking a shower or taking a dump. I don''t need to see that. But I''m also worried a bit. I waited 2 minutes and knocked again. I heard some noise and Granny opened the balcony door.

    ¡°Oh, how nice of you to stop by, come on in¡± Oh I do not want to intrude I just wanted to check on you, did I wake you up?

    ¡°I just woke up yes.¡± Oh sorry, I forgot for a moment there how early it is. Anyways I would advise you to not go outside today or at least look outside before you do.

    ¡°Oh, are those shades back?¡± Back?

    ¡°I saw something moving them out of town yesterday, did you have anything to do with that?¡± Me? I¡¯m just a blacksmith boy, what could I do against these shades? Granny Uraya gave me a weird look. Can I ask you some questions?

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°You can always ask me anything Agnis.¡± How well do you know Paul and Paula?

    ¡°We both have lived here for a long time, I used to spend a lot of time with them in the past but that has gradually stopped, I don''t have many interactions with them now.¡± Hmm, I see. I have another question do you have the feeling that you repeated the last couple of days multiple times? Uraya looked at me but she didn''t seem to be surprised that I asked this question and smiled.

    ¡°I can only assume that you ask this question because you must have gone through something similar, I suppose. Yes, it seems that lately, I¡¯ve had the same days repeat.¡± I knew it! So, you also got hit in the crossfire like Paul and Paula!

    ¡°You could say that yes¡± Uraya seemed a bit downcast. Oh sorry, this must be a difficult topic. I¡¯m sure it must have been hard to have us continue to visit you and pretend that was the first time.

    ¡°Oh, not at all, I had my suspicions but if you guys are also repeating the same days you are really bad at hiding it.¡± Oh, ehh is that so? I thought we did a decent job.

    ¡°Maybe to regular people but whenever you youngsters visit you never ask or do anything normal, it makes me worry quite a bit. I do wonder how you boys remember while everyone else doesn¡¯t¡± Ehh, we got lucky? It seems that Granny Uraya doesn''t buy it. If she knows as much as Paul or Paula, she probably already has a slight idea of what is going on. Oh, by the way do you know a young woman with blue hair who has an ehhm interesting personality and smells like mist flowers? Uraya reacted strongly to that description but it seemed like she was struggling to find the correct words to form an answer.

    It is ok I''m aware you guys can''t talk about anything because of some stupid prison restrictions, your reaction alone is enough.

    ¡°So, you are already aware that this is a prison¡­¡± When Uraya opened the door, she seemed quite happy but over the course of this conversation, she started to become more somber.

    Uhm, yeah sorry, my buddies and I are trying to escape and, in the process, we have to lift this prison, I¡¯m sorry but please wait a bit longer. I headed toward the balcony. I''m sorry for waking you up and making you depressed, if you need more stuff for your potions just tell me! I will hop by soon! I hope! Cya granny Uraya!

    ¡°Thank you for visiting¡± I don''t know if she was acting but she seemed a bit cheery when she said that. It looked convincing but I could feel that she was still feeling down from the memories I must have brought up. I should try to not be so tactless next time. I was supposed to do something but I forgot. Good thing my tails are holding an archive for stuff I''m prone to forgetting. Let''s see, the apology is crossed off. Oh no I have a run-in with Donkey and friends today. Ugh, should I just get this over with? Oh, we should also find out the situation of the next root and after that, I got to sell my rubies. Selling my rubies is the part I look forward the most to. The rest is bound to have a tedious series of events attached. It was still early. The shades are still doing shade things and filling up every street. I chose a random rooftop to rest a bit. I checked the status of the dimensional anchor simulation. Nothing yet. I took the tail out of who was responsible.

    Are you taking this seriously? I said as I grabbed my tail and scolded it. I looked around. Phew nobody saw that. I hid my tail again and started to slack off. After an hour of slacking, I saw a group of people approaching over the rooftops. Oh, please let it not be them. Some chunky guy almost slipped off a roof and it made me chuckle. That was funny but that also means they are who I think it is.

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s you! Did you decide to join us yet?¡± Oh hey, I¡¯m sorry I get anxious in big groups. I can¡¯t join you guys.

    ¡°Oh, that is no problem! Because I¡¯m the mighty Dunkey Hurado I¡¯m also able to do private tutoring!¡± I¡¯m sorry I''m not into guys¡­

    ¡°No! Not that kind of tutoring!¡±

    ¡°Haha, Dunkey this guy is funny we need to recruit him!¡± Uhm, I got a confession to make, I deceived you that was not my joke I''m not funny.

    ¡°You surely are an interesting kid.¡± Please, anyone, tell me how to get rid of these idiots! Oh, I got an idea. I got up and pretended to slip and fall into the mass of shades. Aaagh! Remember meeeee! I saw how my illusion fell dramatically into the sea of shades from stealth.

    ¡°Wha! What! What do we do Dunkey?¡±

    ¡°I... I don''t know!¡±

    ¡°You can save him, right? You¡¯re the mighty Dunkey!¡±

    ¡°I... I... don''t know! I can try!¡± He started charging his long-ass lightning spell. I hate to break it to you Donkey but that isn''t going to save anyone. Now that that happened and I escape it is just finding this new root that is left. I don''t know what is worse, that group trying to bully me or trying to recruit me. I met up with Ted 30 minutes later.

    Yoo Agnis. Sup! What did Paul and Paula say?

    They advised against destroying 2 roots simultaneously especially now since there are shades everywhere, who knows what other unexpected obstacles the pink broccoli made for us? That is fair, did they have any idea what these things are?

    Paul hypothesized that these things were made by the tree to defeat the problematic elements, in which we were the problematic element. Although something seems to be interfering with its ability to do so. so that is why these shades are relatively useless in driving us out or defeating us. Hmm, maybe that is a good thing, I can''t shake the feeling that next timeline they might actually be able to fulfill their purpose.

    Hmm, Paula said something similar. We had some appear last timeline but besides your adventure, there were only 2 who were invisible. Now they are visible and in huge numbers but still useless, it isn''t illogical to think that the next step is that they will be able to track us down and swarm us. I was thinking a bit about it and I think we should just go all out next timeline. It is starting to become hard to hide who we are right now. We might not be able to clear out all the shades but if Gregory and I get serious we might be able to clear out a lot of these shades. They are quite harmless now so I think we can get away with not doing anything about them for now¡­ but if they become aggressive next timeline, we have no choice but to fight back. I overheard you and I agree. Gregory and Raishin arrived. Ted and I were talking on a rooftop which could be considered relatively in the middle of where Raishin, Gregory, and I live so it wasn''t surprising that they found us. Ted lives too far down south to take his house into account.

    So that means we can blast them next timeline? That is not what Agnis said at all¡­ I wonder how the townspeople will react. Hmm, I wonder too, there are only humans and 1 troll living in this town. Hmm, maybe that isn''t completely correct. I¡¯m sure Azu isn''t a human.

    Hey I¡¯m curious about that Azu why don''t we visit her? You¡¯re only interested because Agnis said that she¡¯s hot.

    Ugh. I don''t think we can find her easily; I never was able to spot her until she appeared. It is as if she is a ghost but I know that she isn''t a ghost. Sadly, we just have to wait till she comes to us. Hmm, you guys might not know this but it seems that in general humans have a bit of prejudice against beast kin, which is how they are going to see us.

    don''t care, they can choose between accepting us or getting mauled by shades. Wait! is this going to ruin my chances with the chicks?

    You can''t get worse than a 0% chance. Oof that¡¯s savage. As a fire user, it is only normal that Agnis is skilled at handing out burns and roasting people.

    Oh, about that I witnessed Agnis using fire yesterday, there were none of the usual issues. I didn''t sit still during that training period! That is good news! So now we don''t get hit in his crossfire! Hey, I wanted to make that pun!

    You both are idiots, let''s go check that root out. We jumped from rooftop to rooftop to leave Boshi town.

    Any of you have suggestions on how to get rid of these shades? No, I think we have to wipe them out again in the night, judging by the sheer number of shades present I will get something to do this time.

    Well, I don''t have many choices if I use normal ice, I will turn Boshi town into the biggest popsicle on the planet. Hmm, this might get tricky then I will have to siphon energy out of you while [Shadowmelding] the shades.

    Let¡¯s see how it goes then I have found quite some effective ways to waste mana. We arrived at Raishin¡¯s hut.

    Shall we go for a teleport by the way? It is quite far. As long as you don''t drag us around at super speed, I¡¯m up for whatever teleport method. If you would be so kind Raishin. Where are we going again?

    Over there! Gregory pointed at the Umbra mountain range. The mountain range looked normal from here but there was a mountain missing that you couldn''t see from here even if it was still standing.

    A teleport is incoming! Make sure you don''t drop us in the hole or the lava. The teleport went off and we were where the mountain was supposed to be.

    Ugh, this is on me I should have teleported us here. Despite my warning, we were falling into the hole I burned into this mountain several days ago. Really Raishin? I point at a whole mountain range and you manage to teleport us to the one spot that is not safe to teleport to? Hey, you were very vague! I did my best! Hey instead of arguing could we do something to make sure we don''t turn into ingredients of that magma soup down there?

    The joke¡¯s on you that just feels like a lukewarm bath to me. Yeah, I remember I fished him out of the lava. Wow, you can chill in lava? That is so cool! Ugh, guess I have to do it myself! Ted got out his bear avatar and made its claws dig into the wall. After decreasing its speed, a lot, it caught us with its left paw.

    Good job Ted! Raishin patted Ted¡¯s back. You need some discipline! Raishin and Ted started to fight. Hmm, we need to go a bit deeper, you see that opening there where the lava is coming out from? There should be a cave structure leading up a bit. We are below the root altitude wise but we have no way to get there unless we take that path. Raishin and Ted stop fighting!

    Ahem, sorry what? We need to go there! I pointed at our destination.

    We will turn into ash before we get there. Right, let me improvise a bit. I tried to copy Gregory¡¯s shadow cloak but I used frost so that would make this a [Frost cloak] I had never made this before so I had to be creative with my frost wall skill and form it into a [Frost cloak] but I got met with some difficulties.

    Hey Greg, if you would have to use magic to make your [Shadowcloak] would it use the same magic circle as [Shadow wall]? Hmm, I think using the magic circle for the [water ball] that you modified to make into those water and ice/frost barriers would work better.

    Hmm, that makes sense. I used the magic circle for water ball to make a [Frost cloak]

    Oh using this one makes it way easier. Right, this should protect your squishes from the heat. You are enjoying this, aren¡¯t you? Very much so. We climbed on the bear avatar''s head so that it could use both its paws to climb down. It climbed into the cavern with the lava river.

    Oh, I see the path we need to take. There were some rocks we could jump on to take a cave that led upward and northwest. We hopped off the bear avatar and I grabbed Raishin with one of my tails because he lost balance and almost fell into the lava. Be careful. We walked the path for about an hour when we got into an open space. There were luminescent crystals on the ceiling of the cavern. Well, I thought I¡¯d seen it all but I didn''t expect to find a village underground. As Gregory said, what we found was a village. It is hard to describe how spacious this place is. If there wasn''t a ceiling filled with crystals giving off some light blue light it would be hard to believe we were underground. The space was about as big as Boshi town. The village was quite small and it would take some walking to get there but still.

    How do they even get water or supplies here? I think the more important question is. Who lives here? Look it''s the root! It was hard to see but some pink could be seen at the far end of the village.

    A village built around the root? I¡¯m getting a bad feeling about this. Don¡¯t tell me we have to fight the whole village to defeat the root¡­ Hmm, I''m feeling unique and weird energy here.

    Yup, I¡¯m seeing some weird energy in that village, this can''t be anything good. Can these guys just stick to just magic and simple stuff? First, it was some guardians only Agnis can hit, then it was some dumb puzzle! Then we had a training arc what now?! Do we have to do stupid quests like; find my kitten and gather 10 flowers for these village people to satisfy them and gain access to the root?

    Please no! Not the fetch quests! What are you guys talking about? Trust me, you don''t want to know!

    Right, let''s see what is going on in this village. I put my eyes to work and looked at what was going on in this village.

    Hmm, this is problematic. I see about 200 people in this village, they seem to be worshipping 2 stone tablets. Somewhere else they are holding some cultist ritual. Hmm over here! Some villagers are acting weird, wait is that mana corruption? Well, if they are camping this close to the root all the time that is to be expected. I looked to the far side of the village.

    It seems there is a group of 20 villagers fighting some corrupted bats mixed with some corrupted humans. Hmm, these corrupted humans have a similar style of clothing as the other villagers. What is going on? Great a cultist village exactly what we needed.

    The two tablets that they are worshipping are giving off that weird energy, permeating throughout the whole cave. I''ve also spotted some exits of this cave where that energy is also coming from but it is weak. We sat down. You know suddenly I don''t feel like doing this anymore, is there a skip button somewhere?

    Real life doesn''t have a skip button. Can¡¯t you use your time magic to skip through stuff?

    Not like how a skip button works, the best I can do is put us in a space where time flows slower but nothing will happen if we don''t do something. Normally I wouldn''t suggest this but how about we just nuke the root village and all?

    Ooh, I like that idea. Hey, Gregory aren''t you supposed to be our voice of reason? I don''t think it is reasonable to deal with a group of cultists that have their village seeped in funky magic, I¡¯d say nuke the place. I like to nuke stuff but is that really the best idea?

    Hmm, even though I like that idea Raishin might be right. From what I could see the tablet has some ancient writing on it. It looks similar to one of the languages that dragon put in my head, with some time I might be able to decipher them. Ooh, any chance they have historical value or important information?

    There is a possibility. There are so many things off about this place I would hit myself over the head if we nuked a place with perhaps useful information and got blasted because we got impatient. Somehow you guys always find the wrong reasons to do something good and decent. Hmm did you guys feel that? Feel what?

    Hmm, not sure it''s as if something is calling me. Seems Raishin¡¯s intuition says that there might be something interesting here.

    Uhh, guys? I think the villagers noticed us. A group of 10 villagers approached us. They seemed to be on alert and seemed to be able to jump into battle at any moment.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± Ooh, they talk Hourai! It¡¯s not Hourai it''s old Kaledonian. Uhh, we got lost but we¡¯re in awe of this place is there any chance you guys can give us a tour?

    Hey, what the fuck Agnis that is never going to work! Said Ted in modern Kaledonian.

    ¡°Oh sure, you want to join our religion? We can show you around.¡± I leaned over to Ted and whispered: See? Easy! Ugh, why do I feel we¡¯re going to regret this? Probably because we will. We followed the cultists. They seemed to be wearing some relatively primitive clothing and on closer inspection, they were wearing spears and physical weapons.

    Hey, where did Raishin go? It seems he went off, probably to check out what was calling him. Is it fine to leave him alone? Unless it''s a guardian or a beautiful woman I don''t think anything can do something meaningful to him, he will be fine.

 Ch 42: The Zarrazax cult

    We got led into the village and everyone seemed to stare at us. So uhh how long have you guys been living here?

    ¡°Our ancestors arrived here 528 years ago and we have been living here ever since.¡± That is a very long time, for what reason did you decide to stay here specifically?

    ¡°Because this is the place the closest to the gods!¡± Excuse me? I don''t like this at all. Do we run?

    ¡°You 3 look confused so let me enlighten you!¡± Guys I''m sorry maybe this was a bad idea after all! The moment these guys mentioned gods I thought back to what Paul and Paula said and it is setting alarm bells off.

    ¡°I will tell you of our history! A long time ago our god Zarrazax got sealed away in a dungeon. My grandmother says this happened 2670 years ago but some elders argue that it was 2658 years ago!¡± Uhh, do 12 years make that much of a difference?

    ¡°Fool! Every year is of importance if it''s about our lord and savior Zarrazax!¡± Right¡­

    ¡°A detestable woman picked a fight with Zarrazax and obviously she couldn''t beat him so she sealed him away! The gall!¡± So, what does something that happened so long ago have to do with why you guys are living here?

    ¡°Hey let him finish his story! The good part is to come!¡± Another guy said. This guy looked super beefy and strong but also like he wasn''t the smartest.

    ¡°After our god got sealed that detestable woman got chased by Zarrazax''s lover the beauty and our benefactor goddess Biian. She got chased to around these parts. But unfortunately, that detestable woman was quite strong. She could seal our god and hold her own against Biian. So, our benefactor returned the favor and sealed her away! Serves her right!¡± Hey, what was the name of the person that your benefactor sealed away?

    ¡°You want him to utter that detestable name?!¡± The beefy guy spoke up and pointed his spear at me.

    ¡°It''s fine, Raza, If we want to recruit them it is important that they know who their enemy is.¡± Raza lowered his spear and stepped back, he still seemed angry. ¡°I don''t remember the name of that detestable woman because it isn''t in any records but she did go by a certain name that sends shivers through my spine whenever I hear it, listen well! I will only utter her name once! Your enemy is the Azure Mist!¡± Hey, Agnis isn''t that? Yeah, let him finish talking. I have never heard of that name; can you tell me more about it?

    ¡°You want him to tell about all the detestable deeds she did?!¡± Raza lifted his spear again but this time at Ted.

    ¡°What did I tell you Raza? They can¡¯t hate her like we do if they don''t know the details! Cool down!¡±

    ¡°Yes, Araz¡­¡±

    ¡°The crime she committed was wiping out our god''s private army. Our god required more territory and some of our ancestors gladly conscripted to become part of his personal army. It marched and conquered land until she appeared and mercilessly slaughtered the army¡± But hey don''t you think maybe he was in the wro¡­ I put my hand on his mouth. Let him finish.

    ¡°Our god got mad because his loyal followers got slaughtered and he confronted her, she wouldn''t listen to reason and a battle broke out. She couldn''t beat him so she used dirty tricks to seal him in a dungeon. She gloated and started to spread propaganda that gods are causing a lot of problems and that they either need to back off or disappear. And that we don''t need gods to interfere in our everyday lives. What nonsense! We are nothing without the help of the gods. That is where his lover stepped in. She was of course sad and mad that her lover got sealed away and drove that witch into a corner. Unfortunately, she couldn''t beat the Azure Mist so she used her wit and creativity to seal her away.¡° Wait aren''t you a bit bias¡­ I put my other hand on Gregory¡¯s mouth. Let him finish. You said that goddess drove ¡°That witch in a corner¡± what do you mean by that?

    ¡°Oh of course you don''t know that. The Azure Mist is a witch. Biian managed to ensnare her and her associates and imprisoned her. Unfortunately, despite that the Azure Mist didn''t lose all power. As we sit here, she is fighting back and weakening this prison! So that is why we need to unseal Zarrazax to destroy that evil witch for once and all!¡±

    Hmmpf! I took my hand off Ted¡¯s mouth. But that still doesn''t explain why you guys are living here! Just leave the man talk Ted.

    ¡°You seem to have quite the interest. But your friend is right, my story is almost done anyways. So, because of this fact, we were looking for the dungeon our god got sealed in. But then our ancestors found this wonderful device left by his lover Biian which allows us to communicate with the gods!¡± As he said that he pointed at the pink root. Cool story, so how does that work? That talking to the gods?

    ¡°We bathe in the energy and get a divine revelation!¡± I am totally freaked out by these guys but they do have some interesting information. I will have to pretend to be interested in their cult. What about those? I pointed at some ancient stone tablets with ancient writing on them. They also give off a weird energy

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I can¡¯t tell you about them or let you near them unless you are a part of our religious circle." Cool, can I join? Agnis are you out of your mind? Hey, this joke isn''t funny. I just got interested, we had so many troubles lately maybe goddess Biian can help us get out of this. Hmm is that what you are going for? Gregory seemed to have an idea of what I was trying here. I know our situation is bad but did you forget what Paul and Paula said? Ted didn''t seem to get it at all.

    ¡°Oh, so you want to join? That is wonderful news!¡± I know I¡¯m just a new recruit but is there a fast way to get a chance to uhm commune with those ehh sacred text over there?

    ¡°So quick to show our gods the highest respect! We don''t normally have an opportunity for that but our recent candidate for our yearly offering to our god Zarrazax showed weakness and isn''t pure anymore if you would take his place you get to commune with the sacred tablets before the ritual of sacrifice gets held." Ok cool, let''s do that! Hey, Agnis I don''t want to criticize you for your religious beliefs but shouldn''t you think this over a bit more? Think this over? Greg? They were talking about sacrificing Agnis! How are you not against this?

    That is fine, I already made my decision. I¡¯m sorry Ted but this is important to me. No! I won''t let them take you! I appreciate Ted¡¯s sentiment but I hope he would''ve read between the lines a bit as Gregory did. Ted took out his bear form and tried to grab me.

    I¡¯m sorry Ted but I will stay here. The villagers got battle ready and attacked Ted who tried to grab me. Ted stop! We¡¯re turning the whole village against us! How could you say something like that? Does Agnis mean nothing to you? They clearly did something to him! We need to take him back and find out what happened! The villagers seem to be quite strong; they use basic magic augmentation but their skills with spears and swords are remarkable.

    Ugh, get off! They were climbing on the bear avatar and trying to stab through it to reach Ted. It kind of looked like how small people would fight a giant and overpower it with numbers. Ugh, this is bad, we need to run! Noo! We can¡¯t leave him behind with these cultists!

    ¡°Hey! We are not a cult!¡± Raza seemed to be really glad now that he could use his spear. Gregory [Shadowmelded] himself and appeared in Ted¡¯s shadow and melded Ted and himself and escaped. I was alone now surrounded by cultists.

    ¡°I am sorry for treating your friends like this but they were very rude.¡± That is fine, They were out of line, if they can''t accept my choices then they aren''t my friends anymore. I secretly made 2 clones and let them escape from this village. One to send out to explain what I''m doing, to Ted and another to pretend to be me on the surface. I don''t know if I''m able to make it up in time to sell my rubies so my clone will do that.

    ¡°I am impressed, you show a lot of determination, you even cast off your friends. We need people like you!¡± I¡¯m glad that that impressed you but I did that for myself, I didn''t do that to score your trust or anything.

    ¡°As it should be! We haven''t had a candidate like you for a while, maybe after this year''s sacrifice, Biian will reveal herself to us!¡± The villagers started to chant something and dance. I will have to make sure I get what I need as soon as possible and get the fuck out of here. So, when is this sacrifice going to happen? I want to at least mentally and ehh spiritually prepare for it?

    ¡°The time where you will commune with the sacred tablets will be at noon in 3 days. The sacrifice will happen soon after.¡± So, on the day we normally destroy the root is the day that I get sacrificed, eh? Can¡¯t say I¡¯m excited. My clone reached Gregory and Ted and Ted seems to be angry. He accepts the plan that I made which is that I will find information from inside this village and they will investigate the surroundings to see what we can find out. I also told them about the day of the sacrifice.

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    The guy who I have been talking to the whole time seemed to be the son of the village elder and leader. He showed me around the village, important religious spots, other spots of great importance, and my hut. He then started to explain their rules and how they behaved in a group. He brought me away from the village to a path that exited the main big cavern and led me to a smaller cavern that also had those weird crystals on the ceiling but in this cavern, they were growing crops and holding animals. Groundwater surfaced here, creating a small lake. The weather was quite warm, probably because we are deep underground. He then brought me back to my hut and left because he said he had things to do. He left 2 beefy guys at my hut. I don''t know if it was to make sure I didn''t escape or because I am an important sacrifice. I don''t know how they choose their sacrifices but I got that role quite easily. I looked around again in the village. I didn''t see anyone around my age, besides me, the youngest person looked to be about 16 and that was Raza. Is that why? Does the sacrifice need to be of a certain age? Is the goddess a pedophile?

    At about 3 pm they had some ritual where they came really close to the root and did some sort of praying and bathing in the dense magic it radiated. I can see how some of these people got their mana corrupted. Do this enough times, and one day it is just game over. I participated but even though I have a higher tolerance to this than humans I still used some frost magic to protect me as a precaution. Even though that guy, ugh what was his name again? I didn''t archive his name. I will call him a cultist guy. Even though the cultist guy¡¯s story seemed to be full of bias there did seem to be some useful information there.

    So, Azu slapped a god and locked him in a dungeon which pissed off another god and she got caught and locked up herself. But the fact that she survived 2 encounters with gods is a testament to her strength. They didn''t even seem to be able to kill her. But a witch, eh? I don''t know much about witches but I know they can be terrifying opponents. Not only do they have high magical capabilities they are also highly intelligent. They seem to be quite similar to nine-tailed spirit foxes in that. Is that why we are supposed to deal with gods? My mom did say that gods over-rely on the fact that they are baseline stronger than almost anything while witches use their brains and thus could be a bigger threat than gods. I never thought I would find an example of my mother''s tales like this. I got to my hut but the two people that I thought were preventing me from running away still stood there. Are they bodyguards then? Anyways they blocked my path.

    ¡°You shall study!¡± Their tone made me want to decline to spite but I am interested in what more information these guys had about this strange town.

    Bring me to your leader! They looked puzzled and looked at each other. I actually always wanted to say a line like that but I guess this doesn''t involve their leader. They dragged me quite rudely to a big hut that the cultist guy described as their library. This is such a joke; this cultist village has a library but Boshi town doesn''t. The mayor needs to step up his game. I got pushed inside and a woman in her early 30s brought me a tray of food. Really? Of all the food they could have given me they had to bring me mashed potatoes?

    We meet again my arch nemesis. Guess I''ll go with no food for now. I politely accepted the tray after which they closed the door. I was left alone in this big hut with various scrolls and tablets and what is that? A modern book? I burnt the mashed potatoes to ashes and picked up the modern book.

    Well, this is useless I can''t read this at all. This doesn''t seem to come from the continent of Kaledon. Bah, useless. I throw the book into a corner. Right if this is a decent library these documents are ordered in some kind of way. I picked up multiple items but they didn''t seem to have any logical ordering. Did they just dump whatever they found interesting here? Half the documents here seemed to be in ancient Kaledonian which I can read. Of the half that isn''t I can read about half because they are all ancient texts. So, in total, I can read three quarters. The last quarter has some languages that look similar to the ancient languages I know but there aren''t many of those, only 3 documents. This library had in total 154 documents that I could read. Luckily most weren''t super long. With some luck, I could read all of them in these 3 days. I picked up something in Old Kaledonian. What is this? A family register?

    Bah, useless. I threw it in the corner with the book I couldn''t read. Hmm, what is this a diary of a sacrifice candidate that got caught stealing? Bah, useless! After increasing the pile of useless documents to 17 documents I found something that struck me as interesting. It was listing the 12 Sarian gods. What is this? What does Sarian mean? Is it a category? A type of power or just a name? It was just a list. After skimming over it I saw the names Biian and Zarrazax. Ok, this might be relevant.

    <hr>

    Zarrazax (Masculine): Associated with the sun, fire, red, power, combat, and immortality.

    Ha, he can be immortal sealed in that dungeon although I think all gods are immortal. How is being the god of immortality relevant?

    Adea (Feminine): associated with the moon, ice, illusions, silver, knowledge temperature, and mirrors.

    Hmm, sounds like I could get along with this goddess quite well, there are some things here that I would associate with myself.

    Zys (Masculine): Associated with lightning, analysis, purple, energy generation, impulsiveness, and propagation.

    Besides analysis, this one could get along well with Raishin.

    Ardella (Feminine): associated with the sea, water, light blue, energy control, the weather, harvest, vitality, and cleansing.

    Oof this one would be Gregory¡¯s archnemesis.

    Yttroz (Masculine): associated with volcanoes, the earth, orange, poison, momentum, durability, gravity, construction, and destruction.

    And here is Gregory¡¯s best friend, but where did this name sound familiar? I went through my archive. Yttroz industries, the place Terry works for, I think he said they worked with rocks or something. I guess they are not a religious cult but probably borrowed the name of the Sarian god of rocks.

    Bellia (Feminine): Associated with nature, dark green, life energy, healing, communication, husbandry, hunting, fertility, proliferation, and... What? Infinite resources?

    What does that mean?

    Xyoras (Masculine): associated with obsidian, darkness, weapon mastery, crowd control and curses, shadows, stealth, moods, and household magic.

    Huh? This sounds like someone Viridian and Hisui could get along with. Isn''t this god basically an assassin or am I wrong here?

    Biian (Feminine): associated with gold, light, justice, buffs, commerce, beauty, mind control, politics, religion, and subjugation.

    Hmm, this combination of associated things looks like a problem. Politics and religion? Yikes. Also, mind control and subjugation seem concerning. If I remember correctly according to cultist guy Biian was responsible for sealing Azu, I guess that falls under subjugation. Paul, Paula, and Uraya will get hit with a lot of pain when they talk about stuff, they aren''t supposed to so that is mind control? Or something else? Also, commerce¡­ I don''t think commerce, politics, and religion are things that should be governed by one god. I don''t like this Biian.

    Chiara (Feminine): associated with mystery, dark blue, chaos, spatiotemporal control, reality, the origin of chaos magic, infinity, and trickery.

    I wonder if this god could randomly pop up and teach me how to make this stupid dimensional anchor. I took out the tail responsible for figuring this out but it still didn''t find anything.

    Wyndur (Masculine): Associated with emptiness, body enhancements, martial arts, perseverance, enlightenment, and workouts.

    Well, this is an odd one, seems Ted would get along well with this one.

    Walter/Wyxyxozyas (masculine): associated with metal, machines, progression, magic deconstruction, and science.

    What is this name? And why does this one have 2 names? Was his real name too difficult? It must be that.

    <hr>

    There is some text below this list. Hmm, it seems that the name of these gods gives them power. For the male gods, the amount of X, Y, or Z¡¯s determines how strong they are, and for the females, it¡¯s the amount of A, E or I¡¯s. Hmm so I guess Walter is the strongest wait no he doesn''t have X, Y or Z in his name so then he¡¯s that whatshisname with lotsa x''s and y¡¯s. Does that mean that he got weaker by changing his name to Walter? That must have been rough.

    I saved this in my archive. These gods might come back in one of these texts. I threw this scroll in another corner. This is the useful corner. At least I know what group the gods belong to that they worship here, Zarrazax and Biian 2 of the 12 Sarian gods eh? I added more documents to the pile of useless. I guess things will go quite fast if it continues like this.

    Another useful document. It mentions the story that the cultist guy told me but is a bit more detailed. Hmm, it seems Zarrazax''s army was marching on Witchaven which seems to be Azu¡¯s hometown. Well of course she is going to defend her hometown from a marching army. She fought an army of cultist... soldiers belonging to Zarrazax alone. What? These soldiers were gifted with divine power. I don''t know what that means. I archived this; I hope I can find a document that explains this. I can only assume they got juiced up by a god''s power. She won a 1 versus 2 million. Wow. What were the other witches doing? But I guess if you have someone like her you don''t need to send out a big group. It is talking about some details. She seemed to be proficient at every element. She didn''t need a staff or wand. Is that relevant? I guess so? I always imagine witches as women with big hats, long robes, and dresses with staves and familiars. But maybe this is a bit stereotypical. I don''t remember any of these on Azu. She just looked like a normal albeit eccentric chick. So, she beat that army and went home. I can''t blame her.

    It continues about how Zarrazax went on a warpath to kill her. He fought her 4 times. She tried to avoid a fight twice. Why are these cultists so biased while these documents seem to be neutral? The third fight was a real fight and this is when this document claims that Azu got the attention of the gods because she sent Zarrazax packing after a 2-hour battle. The document didn''t say that but that is me paraphrasing. She kept using water magic to counter Zarrazax who is associated with fire. Wait what! Ugh, Azu what are you doing! So, the reason why she got the attention of the gods is because of her skill called [Azure Mist] which made her infamous under the gods. Isn''t that the magic skill she gave me? But wait who is the author of this document? I looked for any clues but there didn''t seem to be a clue. I should keep in the back of my mind that these things might not be reliable. But from what I know about Azu this is something she would do; she just randomly gave me some overpowered spells and skills.

    So, she sent Zarrazax packing when she used [Azure Mist]. He tried to kill her another time but that is when she sealed him. It doesn''t specify a location. I guess that makes sense these cultists would have already found it otherwise. That seemed to be the end of the document. At least the interesting things. The rest is about how the remnants of the army tried to reform a competent army to launch another attack on Witchaven but it went as you would guess. If only 1 witch is needed to defeat 2 million beefed-up soldiers some scrambled-together army isn''t going to be of any threat to a whole city.

    I leaned back. Witches are scary. Azu soloed a big army and slapped a god several times. I didn''t see anything related to her encounters with Biian or how she ended up here. Witchaven isn''t close to here, I think. I found an old map in this document, the map showed the strategic tactics the army used and how they flanked Azu but the result was still their annihilation. I chucked this document from the useful pile. I tried to look for the follow-up of the story but that is when my 2 bodyguards came to pick me up. No, wait! I want to read more! They dragged me out of the hut. They seemed to be pleased though, probably happy that I was becoming a cultist or something. It was surprisingly dark.

    ¡°It is time to rest, you have been in there for 6 hours¡± Wait really? My internal clock said that it was 22:12. I checked with my clone and it did what it was tasked with and met up with Terry to sell the rubies. Good. I decided to go to sleep. Who knows what they would make me do. The clone that I sent with Gregory and Ted was above ground with Gregory preparing to wipe out the shades. The number of shades was really ballooning. They piled up so high that even the roofs weren''t safe. I didn''t put much energy into that clone so I think it will disappear from exhaustion after cleaning up those shades.

 Ch 43: The Zarrazax cult II

    After Agnis¡¯ clone explained to Ted what his plan was Ted started to get angry. He cooled down after 10 minutes.

    Really, you could have given me a heads-up... I¡¯m sorry. But we don''t know enough about this town. It might be my curiosity but there might also be something that might be important to know.

    I get where you''re coming from but was this the only way? These cultists don''t seem to let anyone close to those tablets unless you¡¯re a part of them, This weird energy intrigues me and I have the feeling Raishin is doing something related to this or this cult.

    Fine, we will see what we can find here. But don''t do any stupid stuff and die! I won''t! Let''s try and follow the weak trails of that energy.

    I will sit this part out as a clone, I am tasked with helping Greg with cleaning up the shades when night falls, I don''t think I have enough energy to deal with whatever we might encounter so I will wait on the surface. You might be a clone but still, be careful!

    Do you think we need to keep a closer eye on Agnis after he pulled something like this? I have the feeling that one day something might really go wrong and he gets himself killed. I don''t know! But I guess it is also a bit my fault, If I just said yes to nuking this place, we wouldn''t have all this.

    You can''t blame yourself for that! I still will! Even though you guys are strong enough I still must keep you safe.

    I''m sorry that we are a handful. Don¡¯t worry about it, you guys are my best friends and like little brothers to me. Now let''s go hunt down some cultists and information!

    You recovered quickly from that. The faster we complete our objective the sooner Agnis can get out of there. I observed as Ted walked over to an exit. He tried not to show that he was worried but I knew he was. I share similar worries. Not only for Agnis but also for Raishin. He does impulsive things but never did he just disappear like that. I can only hope that he is safe and that this isn''t the start of our group falling apart. I followed Ted.

    We need to go this way! I confirmed that nobody was tailing us and disappeared into one of the exits together with Ted. Any idea what this new energy is?

    I don''t know yet, but I can assure you that we probably won¡¯t like the answer. Suddenly things are starting to escalate. Do you think we will make it out of this alive? I halted.

    I don''t know¡­ Agnis isn''t really showing it but he must be under a lot of stress. Yeah, I¡¯m afraid that if we make it out of here that it might be without him¡­ I wish I could do more! Ted punched the wall.

    I understand how you feel, let¡¯s just do what only we can do. I have the opportunity to play a larger role because Agnis can¡¯t deal with those shades and I will play my role to perfection, find out what only you can do in this situation. I don''t think Raishin did that on purpose but he also has found his role in this timeline. Talking about me?

    Whoa, where did you come from? I found something! Follow me! Raishin dashed through the narrow corridors. There were moments when the path split up but he didn''t hesitate in choosing what path to take and we just followed him. Coincidentally he took all the correct paths that by every turn increased the intensity of this bizarre new energy.

    Here! Half-zombie people! These are half-corrupted people, interesting.

    Hey, where is Agnis? You only notice now? Raishin brought us to an open space and some corrupted humans were sitting on the floor.

    Also, I think there is something buried here. Ted, can you lend me a hand? A paw also works. Over here?

    Yup! Ted started digging and excavated a tablet similar to the two we encountered inside the cultist village. This tablet was the source of this energy trail.

    ¡°Is that what I think it is?¡± A half-corrupted man approaches us. A zombie! Ted attack! Hey, I''m not your dog! And you can attack yourself! He is not a zombie; these people got their mana corrupted but they didn''t give in to instinct yet. I think I can help them. I cloaked my hands in shadow and placed them on the man¡¯s chest and forehead. I made the corrupted mana focus on those points; I grabbed it and pulled it out of the man.

    ¡°What?! I¡¯m cured! Are you a messenger from god?!¡± Uh oh. All the people gathered here started crowding around me and started uttering words like ¡°savior¡± and ¡°messiah¡± Hey! Aren''t you guys forgetting something?! Everyone looked at Raishin who stood on a rock.

    If you want the mesaja to heal you form a uniform line and pay me 2 silver each! Only then will the mesaja heal you! Ted and I facepalmed. Don''t listen to that idiot he is uhh our jester Gregory will help you free of charge but he isn''t the savior or messiah he is just here to help. The cultists didn''t seem to listen and kept referring to me as the savior and the messiah. Guys! Guys! Back off! Don¡¯t push! Anyone who calls me savior or messiah will get sent to that corner and has to pay 2 silver to Raishin! Suddenly everyone went silent. Perfect!

    Come on guys! Don''t you want to thank your savior and donate? Drop it Raishin.

    But my silver¡­ I eliminated the corruption of all the people here.

    ¡°Thank you very much sav¡­ Thank you very much!¡± You¡¯re welcome, I guess I know the answer but let me still ask, what are you doing here?

    ¡°We are exiled because we were too weak¡± Too weak? Too weak for what?

    ¡°Too weak to receive the divine revelation!¡± Oooh! Is it edible? You know what a revelation is right Raishin?

    So not edible? What revelation are you people waiting for?

    ¡°To guide us to the prison that holds our god Zarrazax!¡± What is a Zarrasacks?

    ¡°Ooh let me tell you about our lord and savior Zarrazax!¡± Oh no here they go. We already know, this guy just wasn''t paying any attention. So why would you get exiled for being weak? Is it combat related? The cultists shook their heads.

    ¡°We became impure because we were weak.¡± Do you mean this mana corruption? This isn''t a strong or weak thing; it can happen to even the strongest person.

    ¡°Don''t lie to us! We know we are weak! Only the strong can handle the continuous glory of the divine root!¡± Hey Greg¡­ Yeah¡­ what do you mean by the continuous glory of the root?

    ¡°Every day we hold a ritual and bask in the glory of the divine root to attempt to get a revelation!¡± So translation, you guys chill in the dense mana the root radiates which causes you to get your mana corrupted and call it being weak. I expect nothing less from cultists.

    ¡°You dare call us cultists?¡± A guy with eyes that seemed to pop out of his skull jumped at Ted with his hands ready for strangulation. Raishin kicked him. You guys are weird. ¡°Zax doesn''t attack our saviors, they might have a point¡­¡±

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    ¡°What?!¡± the man named Zax jumped at a young man aged around 18 attempting to strangle him. The young man kicked Zax.

    ¡°You are not from here I assume? Your accent is different.¡± The young man approached. ¡°I¡¯m Arraz¡± Gregory Ted The Mighty Raishin! I smacked Raishin.

    But you can call me Raishin So you''re saying you agree with the magic corruption not being related to your cul... Religion?

    ¡°I know what mana corruption is, I don''t understand why everyone thinks it is some punishment from god, I bet gods don''t exist anyways.¡± I hate to break it to you but they do exist but they aren''t as great as you might think.

    ¡°Great so for all I know we¡¯re worshipping a bitch and her simp!¡± It seems you had some contact with the outside world, I wouldn''t have expected these combinations of words from people speaking ancient Kaledonian.

    ¡°Yeah, this place sucks, I had plans to escape but then something blew a hole in the mountain, and the day after I got mana corruption, talk about being unlucky.¡± Oh, ehh yeah talk about unlucky. Hey! Stop talking about boring stuff! What is this thing? It seriously gives off a weird vibe? Is this some kind of ancient weapon? It¡¯s just a tablet Raishin¡­

    ¡°Oh that, it looks like the deity tablets in the village, there are supposed to be 12 of them but for some reason, we only worship 2, the other 10 are probably scattered somewhere.¡± Deity tablets?

    ¡°Yeah, the 12 Sarian gods, you don''t know about them?" Never heard of them but I''m not Sarian that I don''t know them. That pun was terrible Ted, please stop¡­ What can you tell me about those gods?

    ¡°Uhh not much sorry, I always slacked off in theology. I just know about Biian and Zarrazax. They were as far as I know lovers and someone got in between that and she paid the price.¡± Ooh, a lover''s quarrel? Is the goddess available now? Ted smacked Raishin. We heard a similar story like that can you tell us what happened after? Like how the goddess sealed the perpetrator here?

    ¡°Uhh something about the perpetrator seeking aid in the city that used to be here but she got tracked down by Biian, Biian couldn''t win so she used some special item and a big tree that was the guardian tree of the city to twist its nature and create a prison. I think she also took something from the perpetrator to power the prison but I''m a bit foggy on the details.¡± Hey your god sounds like the bad guy here!

    ¡°That is what I''m thinking too but it seems I''m the only one in this village of weirdos.¡± Uhh, it is that you¡¯re saying it yourself.

    ¡°Who are you calling a weirdo! It is you who is weird by not believing in the great Zarrazax! ¡± The other cultists started to chime in with Zax and started making noise.

    ¡°What do you mean! We have never seen that guy! How do we even know he exists?! And even if he does why would he care about some underdeveloped hobos living underground and bathing in mana that could corrupt us any moment?!¡± Hey? Is it just me or does Arraz have a point? Not so loud! The cultists start to assault Arraz and I decided to separate them with an [Earth wall].

    You guys are cured now! You can go and be un-exiled! Is that even a word?

    I don''t care! These cultists are annoying. The cultists listened and walked away. I pulled Arraz back. Not you!

    ¡°Oh¡± What else do you know about these tablets?

    ¡°Hmm, only that bringing all 12 together is a bad idea, or was it a good idea? Anyways something happens when they all get together. But these idiots only saw a need for Biian¡¯s and Zarrazax¡¯s tablet so they binned the rest.¡± You sound like you watch a lot of tv, where did you find one? It¡¯s hard to find one in Boshi town.

    ¡°We mugged it from a lost merchant and hooked it up to the root.¡± That works?

    ¡°Not really we can only get 2 channels because this stupid village is deep underground!¡± Arraz seems to be extremely frustrated. A cultist that loves watching tv, I thought I''d seen it all. ¡°Hey, guys can I come with you? You guys seem to be cool.¡± Absolutely not! We are on a secret mission to restore balance to the world! We can''t have randoms join our dream team!

    ¡°What! I didn''t know you guys were on such a noble mission! Can I at least tag along for a bit then? I swear I will behave!¡± Hehe as long as you understand! We have another member but I don''t know where he is I bet he is busy vaporizing something! Translation: Our last member Agnis, has infiltrated your village to gather information that could be crucial to restoring balance to the world. Did I do that right Raishin?

    As expected of my sidekick! I¡¯m the leader of the group by the way! Hey! Who is a sidekick! And there is no way you could be our leader! We would be long dead if you were our leader!

    Tss tss, always the jealous sidekick but I will forgive you because I''m a great leader! Raishin and Ted started to fight again. I hope that you know that most of the stuff those guys just said is a load of bullshit.

    ¡°Oh ok, so what''s next?" Can you guys stop fighting?! Raishin go find us the other tablets, I will give you 5 silver if you do! Pff, you think you can bribe me? I took out 5 silver coins.

    Ok! Let¡¯s go! Too easy. We commenced with the search for the training tablets. Hey is bringing these tablets together really a good idea?

    Probably not but I''m interested in the information they contain. I think Agnis suggested that he might be able to read them. Ignorance or possible annihilation by tablets, can¡¯t we choose ignorance?

    Ignorance could kill us too you know? We found 4 more tablets and with them corrupted people which I cured.

    Hey guys can you slow down a bit. I manipulated gravity to be able to keep up with Raishin and Ted but fatigue started to accumulate and I couldn''t keep up. After finding the 8th tablet I cured a man named Xz he thanked us but Raishin asked him why his name was so weird.

    ¡°The males in our community get names that are part or use the letters belonging to the name Zarrazax and the females get names with the letters belonging to Biian.¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, that leads to many uncreative names" Arraz added.

    ¡°There are various customs and rituals that are outdated but since I¡¯m not part of the elders I have no say in the matter.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s ok dad, I know you tried.¡± He is your dad?

    ¡°Yup! I thought I lost him a year ago when he got exiled.¡±

    ¡°You don''t seem to be overly happy to see me, son.¡±

    ¡°That is because I''m cool!¡± Raishin, Ted, and I looked at each other. Hug your damn dad you asshole! Raishin kicked Arraz and pushed him at his dad. Couldn¡¯t have done better. Hey, Xz do you know anything specific about this root or the pink broccoli?

    ¡°Pink broccoli?¡± I explained what we already knew and that we refer to the pink tree as ¡®Pink Broccoli¡¯. ¡°Oh, the Soun tree?¡± Is that what it is called? I prefer the name ¡®Pink Broccoli¡¯

    "Hmm, as far as I know, the tree was supposed to be a guardian tree but it got changed to entrap the Azure Mist. The Goddess Biian changed its nature and used an item called a Dimsha to empower it. Or did Biian alter the power of the tree and used the item to change its nature? I can''t remember but it is one of the 2.¡± Dimsha? Have you heard of something like that Greg? No, I have not, can you tell me more about this Dimsha?

    ¡°I don''t know sorry, I only know that a Dimsha is a powerful artifact, what it does and where it came from is unknown to me.¡± Thanks! And now go spend time with your son! Raishin kicked Arraz to follow his father.

    Shoo shoo!

    ¡°But!¡± Kssst! Shoo! Arraz and Xz left and we were left with just the 2 of us. I can''t believe he lost a parent and pretended to be too cool for their reunion! I¡¯m sure I will cry when we finally find our parents! Yeah, that felt so awkward.

    Let''s go find the last 2 tablets! Let¡¯s do that tomorrow. It is getting late and I need to do some cleaning.  Is it time for the shades to say goodbye? Yup.

    Hey, can you guys help me drag these tablets? They are heavy! Just leave them here, we will be back tomorrow.

    Ok! Raishin dropped a tablet and it burst and a vast quantity of energy erupted from it. Raishin!

    Sorry! The tablet started to glow and the characters on it rearranged. Hmm, I don''t know what happened but it seems that this is supposed to happen. Raishin, you can drop all of them.

    With pleasure! Raishin dropped the tablets and I created [Shadow cloaks] Around my buddies to protect them from the bursts of energy.

    I will cover these with a [Shadow blanket], they are a bit too luminous, and we can''t have curious cultists messing with them. After hiding the glowing tablets, we head up to the surface. The darkness of the night had already descended upon Boshi town. I headed toward the location where Agnis and I eliminated the shades the day before and his clone seemed to be waiting patiently.

    I don''t know if you¡¯ve noticed but the shades piled high enough to cover even the rooftops. This is not going to stop, is it?

    I hope it does but wishful thinking won''t get us anywhere, ready for the big cleanup? Let¡¯s go. We got rid of the shades similarly as we did the night before. It seems the clone couldn''t handle the workload and popped out of existence but not before it did its fair share of shade extermination. After finishing up Ted Raishin and I headed homebound.

 Ch 44: Frost Magic

    Day 3: I woke up early again because of another energy wave. I surely hope not that those shades returned in greater numbers. My internal clock said 05:42. I activated my Elgards eyes and everyone was still sleeping. I checked my tail to see if it finished the simulation. Still nothing.

    Hey, listen here tail, are you trying to get me killed? No response.

    I hope you reflect on your actions! I hid my tail again and left my hut. Why aren''t there shades down here by the way? Is it because we¡¯re underground? But there is a root here. I scratched my head. So many questions and hardly any answers. I had nothing to do so I decided to continue my search for useful information in the biggest library in Boshi town. I easily got into the library. I checked on my remaining clone. It was still pretending to be sleeping. Good, it should be ready to finish the transaction with the rubies. I give it some extra juice when creating it in case it has to fight Rock. Back to finding useful documents The pile of useless documents grew. I needed to find out more about what happened here. I need to know what this divine power is, specifics on how Azu got sealed, and information about who built Boshi town. What is this? A map of the capital of Hjuva? What is a map of Gittrian doing here, I was about to throw it at the useless pile but something caught my eye.

    What is this If I remember correctly Gittrian is on a huge plane why are there so many mountains surrounding it. Did the mountains get nuked? I looked more closely. Ok, this is odd why is the capital where Boshi town is supposed to be. Is this a joke? Am I supposed to believe Boshi town was the capital of Hjuva? Great! I¡¯m looking for answers and what do I get? More questions! Hmm, wait this map shows a different layout than Boshi town has. How old is this map? I look for clues but I can''t find any. Why is nothing dated here! This is the shittiest library ever! And to mock me, this old Boshi town has a huge library! I hate this! I think I should learn how to date items with my eyes. I¡¯m trying various stuff but I don''t have anything as a reference point nor do I know how all this stuff works. I took out my tail.

    Look, because you took so long, I have another thing added to my list to simulate. Stop hogging resources and come up with a solution for that dimensional anchor already! No response.

    You are lucky I can''t send you to the corner because they are all occupied. No response, eh? Going through puberty, eh? I stopped venting at my tail which did nothing wrong. Except for maybe being a bit lazy. I looked at the map of the old capital. It was called Vong. Unusual name it is written in ancient Kaledonian but I don''t think that is an ancient Kaledonian name. It is possible this map got copied and translated but since there is no date, I don''t know that!

    Aaagh, I¡¯m so frustrated! How old is Boshi town anyways? How long ago did Azu get sealed here, more things I don''t know. I inspect the map to make sure I¡¯m not missing any important detail. It has some weird symbols here, is this a structure? There are a lot of them surrounding this huge plaza. Anyways on the useful pile, it goes although it''s barely useful. All I know is that the old capital was here. But why? This place is in the middle of nowhere and is hard to reach. I have the feeling that looking for information just has the opposite effect. Instead of understanding more about this situation, I¡¯m understanding less. I should have just nuked this stupid root.

    I¡¯m so done with this timeline. What is this? I bet it''s another document that is going to give me more questions. Let¡¯s see it is talking about an item Biian used. That name sounds familiar. After a short search through my archive, I found it. Ah right, the goddess that started this mess. I hope I never meet her but if I do, I would like to consider kicking her ass for giving me this headache and this stupid prison. I think it would be worth dying for if I could get a good kick in on her butt. So, this item is called a Dimsha. It can interfere with time and she fused it with the Soun tree? And made sure it could use time manipulation to keep the prison going. Wait that is the name of the broccoli? Hey! I got an answer! At least we know the name of the pink broccoli although I prefer pink broccoli.

    So now we know the name of the broccoli and why we get stuck in time loops ok that makes sense. Wait there is more, a Dimsha is a Dimensional Shard and is rumored to be the remnants of fractured and merged worlds and thus have the ability to interfere with the world. What does that even mean? Dimshas tend to attract each other, holders of Dimshas can¡¯t be affected by the powers of other Dimshas unless they choose to. So, If I understand this Dimsha thing they are fragments of a fractured dimension? And because of that, they can interfere with the world. And we are so lucky to encounter one this soon Yay us! Why are we so unlucky? Let''s see we have the presence of divine activity, an item that can directly interfere with the world, what did I miss? Oh, a god-slapping witch. I thought this was just an unimpressive town. Oh right, this used to be the capital. I give up at this point they might as well tell a story that one day 4 kids come to bring chaos to this small town. Nothing can surprise me anymore. Please don''t prove me wrong documents! Wait. This god had an item that can interfere with time, how did she lose to Azu? How strong is Azu? Or maybe the god is a scrub. Couldn¡¯t even win with an overpowered item hehe. I need to stop thinking, I''m getting more questions, even more than I can remember. I heard some rummaging and saw my bodyguards come in

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here, we thought we lost you¡± Hey, did any of you read what all this stuff is about? This is madness!

    ¡°Uhh no only the elder and the sacrifice are allowed to read this.¡± Great so all the people with useful knowledge get killed off or don''t step outside. Whoever made this situation thinking this is a game level has set the difficulty to nightmare mode.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I understand what you¡¯re talking about.¡± That is fine, did you need me? If not, I have more things to read and figure out.

    ¡°We have breakfast, it''s potato salad.¡± Get out! Who eats potato salad as breakfast, are all these guys psychos? I got a message from my clone that the ruby issue is solved. At least there is some good news. I resumed my reading after my bodyguards left the biggest library in Boshi town. I didn''t finish this document about Dimshas yet, it seems Zarrazax has one too but its ability is unknown. Great, this is exactly what I want to know. There are 121 known Dimshas. There are more of these overpowered items? Maybe we should just stay in our bubble here. Nations have gone to war over them and countries got destroyed by these in the past. A skilled holder of a Dimsha could challenge a god. Some have specific rules for owner transfer while anyone can use others. Some have a conscious and others don''t. Some change the user, and others change depending on the user. It is hard to recognize a Dimsha unless it''s oozing its specific wavelength. Maybe these gods should just resign and make Azu a god. If it is possible to challenge a god with one and a god got defeated while in possession of one. I¡¯m sorry I don''t know what to say but you should be ashamed of being called a god! At least I was right, Azu could wipe me out by yawning. If she was so powerful why doesn''t anyone know about her? Then again, this stupid town doesn''t have a library so I wouldn''t know!

    I need to calm down. I would have probably died from high blood pressure if I was an old man. I finished this document responsible for my headache. I circulated nature magic through my system to calm down and fix my headache. As I did that a document started to glow. I was conflicted, this document could make my headache worse. I picked it up. I took a look at it. It was a map. Some crosses were reacting to the nature magic I was circulating. I stopped and the crosses disappeared, I circulated it again and they appeared again. Cool trick, now what does this mean? It seems to be a world map. Is it a world map? It seems small. The crosses seemed to indicate something.

    Oh, I know this location. One cross was over the Umbra mountains right where I found that dungeon. Does this mean these crosses are dungeons? I instantly archived the locations. Hehe found a treasure map. I guess this checks out this cult was looking for dungeons where their god was sealed. It would make sense that they would hunt down dungeons. My mood improved a bit. I got the locations of 5 dungeons. They surely didn''t sit still. This map is an odd one though. This map doesn''t even show the old capital where Boshi town is now. Is this map older than the other one? Of course, there was no dating so I had no idea what I was looking at. Since I archived these dungeon locations this map went to the useless pile. I¡¯m not giving this piece of junk any credit. I didn''t find many more useful documents after this. I did find one that seemed to be a document with a translation of some ancient texts. The symbols matched the ones on the tablet so I archived them too. Besides that, nothing else. I finished all the documents I could read or decipher. My bodyguards came to pick me up for the daily ritual. Was it 3 pm already?

    ¡°It is a good thing to be absorbed into the scriptures but it is also important to rest and eat¡± I will consider eating if you stop bringing me potatoes!

    ¡°But potatoes are our main diet here!¡± I hate it! Don''t you have anything else?

    ¡°How about a sweet potato?¡± Ok, I can''t! I''m out of here! I can''t take this anymore!

    ¡°Wait where are you going!¡± I¡¯m going home!

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    ¡°Your home is here!¡± Nooo! No potato-loving place could ever be my home! My mother would disown me if I would live here!

    ¡°How about yams?¡± That is just a fancy word for potato! I walked out of the village but a group of cultists and I guess their leader appeared. Oh, so now the leader of this potato village comes and greet me!

    ¡°Have some respect, sacrifice, this is the head elder you are speaking to!¡± My frustration and annoyance kept rising. Respect is earned, feeding me potatoes not coming to meet someone you say is important, and now referring to me as ¡®Sacrifice¡¯ certainly doesn''t earn my respect. Now I have a busy schedule, I¡¯m taking my leave, oh and also, I¡¯m taking these tablets with me! I took 2 tails out and grabbed the tablets with them.

    ¡°A beast! An abomination that is against the gods!¡± Still not doing great on the ¡®earning respect¡¯ part.

    ¡°Release those sacred tablets at once you foul beast!¡± My eyes turned deep red. Make me! The cultists charged. At least that is what they were doing but to my eyes, they were slow as potatoes. This potato village should just get roasted. I blasted these potato warriors with some weak fire magic as I escaped with the tablets. I wanted to properly fry them but I couldn''t destroy the root yet. Some more potato villagers were chasing me but they were way too slow. I''ve had it with this root, this town, this prison. I stashed the tablets in my dimensional pocket. I was concerned about the energy it was giving off but at this point, there was little I cared for. I surfaced and saw only pink. No Boshi town but just pink, probably from all the shades.

    You got to be kidding me. Something snapped inside of me and I froze the whole of Boshi town with frost magic. This caused me to freeze over but to be honest I needed to cool off. I would only be frozen for about an hour, that should be enough.

    <hr>

    I thawed and looked around. No pink great! I cooled off a bit but not enough. I walked into Boshi town. It was busy on the streets. I think the people took advantage of the absence of shades to do things. Shall I just go home and do nothing for the rest of the day? I could also decipher those tablets but I wasn''t feeling it. I checked my archive, and no meeting with Donkey was scheduled so I could freely walk over the streets. Or so I thought.

    ¡°Found you!¡± I casually dodged a swipe from Charlize. I ducked and picked up a rock, charged it with mana, and threw it at the magic circle Cecilia was forming and breaking the circle. Not now, I¡¯m not in the mood.

    ¡°Oh, are you feeling ill, we will nurse you back to health!¡± My frustration and annoyance that was subsiding grew again. Please just leave me alone.

    ¡°Oh, look Dunkey there he is! He is still alive!¡± Ugh, can this day get any worse? Donkey and co arrived but I was still forced to evade Charlize and Cecilia¡¯s onslaught of attacks. I used [Frozen Ground] because I saw their daughters sneaking around and trying to launch a sneak attack.

    ¡°How did you know!¡± Let me guess, in a couple seconds, something happens that causes your make up to crack.

    ¡°They are bullying our teammate! Let''s help him guys!¡± Donkey rallied his friends to fight Charlize, Cecilia, and their daughters. Of course, a bully hit Kanna¡¯s face and it cracked and shattered.

    ¡°A troll!¡±

    ¡°Who are you calling a troll!¡± The usual, Donkey and friends got rekt by the two daughters. I walked away. A [Wind wall] appeared in front of me.

    ¡°Nice try Agnis, today is the day you will be caught!¡±

    ¡°Hey, Charlize don¡¯t you think something is off about Agnis? It is as if he looks annoyed or pissed off.¡±

    ¡°He is always annoyed when we try to capture him, that is normal!¡± Charlize swiped a [Wind claw] at me but I didn''t feel like dodging so I formed a multilayered water and frost shell around myself and pushed her aside and tried to continue walking home. A hand made out of water grabbed me and lifted me up. I froze the water and broke out. But I got hit by capture magic.

    ¡°We did it! We caught him!¡±

    ¡°Now let¡¯s go find Gregory! He escaped us last time too. He suddenly got faster.¡± You guys won''t get anyone so I would recommend letting me go. I already knew the answer so I broke out of the capture magic with frost magic.

    ¡°What?! He broke out.¡± They fired off more capture magic and I froze it with frost magic.

    ¡°Could water magic always do this?¡±

    ¡°I don''t know! I''ve never seen water magic do anything like this, my water magic can''t do this!¡± I used this moment to slip into stealth and escape. They hung around my house so I couldn''t go there. I took a walk through Boshi town. I tried yet again to cool off. Today was just a really bad day. Maybe the stress from all this timeline stuff and dealing with idiots is finally getting to me. I almost felt like wiping out that village earlier, also I felt like freezing those mothers solid for a good 2 hours so that they could cool off. I¡¯m glad that I didn''t. Ted would have a field day with my condition. Could make cold puns the whole day. Where are my buddies actually? My wandering while lost in thoughts brought me to a place in Boshi town I wasn''t so familiar with. The southwestern part of Boshi town is the part I hardly ever go to. If I go north, I should get to Boshi lake. I headed north. That is odd, it''s still a bit before dinner time, where did all the people go? No! Please not now! I started running, I reached Boshi lake and looked around. I couldn''t look beyond a certain point. Is it possible that I didn''t meet my buddies because they are stuck in this thing again? I took out my tail.

    Hey now is the perfect time to make a breakthrough! Wait that is incorrect, I would have to lay down the anchor before I go moved. I collapsed to the ground. I don''t have the mental energy for this. And as usual, the shades appeared in this enclosed space. These shades looked a bit different. I walked over the water of Boshi lake and froze a couch and sat down. This time all the shades of this area started to gather at the lakefront. As if they were heading for me. They kept coming and coming. Where were they even coming from? They just kept appearing. I decided to use this situation to just calm down, If I broke out there was a possibility that I would get stuck with another annoying experience. The shades are harmless and predictable so I should be fine. I looked at the sky. Did I make a mistake somewhere along the way? Why did everything turn into such an incomprehensible mess? Is this what happens when you mess with something created by a god? I dropped my head into my hands and felt a gust over my head. I looked up and saw that the shades were charging something looking awfully similar to a laser.

    Oh, hell no! I jumped up to witness my couch getting turned into a beehive. I have bad compatibility with lasers. But because I jumped up, I could see how many shades this enclosed space had. They took over all the streets and were piling up at roof level. They all locked on to me and started charging lasers. I hate this town! I made a [Frost mirror] and reflected the lasers back but as expected they took no damage. The shades started walking over each other and kind of formed a raft like this even though it was just shades walking over each other. I landed on the lake¡¯s surface but it seemed like even the lake would be unsafe soon. I walked all the way back until I got met with an invisible wall. I need to break out. But I couldn''t properly focus on my spatial magic because of my mental distress. Is this where I die? What are my options? Get mauled by shades? Pass. Get turned into a beehive full of holes by shades? Also, pass. Trying spatial magic in my state and blowing up this space and dying? Pass. Blow up this space and get stuck in the void? Hard pass. Are there any options where I don''t die and be successful? If I can cool down, I can focus and maybe get out. I made a very large [ice pillar] and sat on top. I was about 100m above the surface.

    They wouldn''t be able to get me here, for a while. I saw how these shades were multiplying at a frightening speed and already covered the lake. I tried to collect my thoughts but the lasers started again. Why do these shades have such high accuracy? I fended off some lasers and froze some frost mirrors to the pillar so that lasers from most angles would be covered. I don''t think I can calm down in this situation. The shades were halfway through the pillar. I had to do it; I have to delete them with frost magic. I should have done this earlier but I thought I could manage to calm down. This might cost me. I have 5 lives left. If they get to me, I don''t think that is enough. Ugh, I have to make sure I keep this a secret from my buddies. I take out all my tails and my eyes turn light blue to the point it''s almost white and my pupils turn snowflake shaped.

    Here go some of my few lives. [Eternal winter]. All the shades got obliterated but so did I from the sudden influx of energy which cost me 1 life and also, as a result, I started freezing over. My core temperature dropped to -84¡ãC so that is another life gone. As I was encased in frost, I was still conscious but my body hurt all over. Frost magic was normally light blue or whitish but all the frost around me now was deep red, because of all the blood that erupted from my body after getting hit by that energy influx. The bad news is that I might bleed out after I thaw and lose another life if I don''t regain consciousness before that happens. This is truly a bad day for me¡­ I slowly lose consciousness.

    <hr>

    My head hurts, I open my eyes but I have no idea what I¡¯m seeing. What are these? I lift my hand and poke it.

    ¡°Ooh, that tickles!¡± I jump up out of surprise but my whole body screams out of pain and I almost pass out again. ¡°Be careful! you are still injured!¡± Where did I recognize that voice from? I collapsed but instead of feeling a hard floor or falling into the lake, I get met with a warm and soft sensation. My vision was still blurry but I saw this strange object again. I poked it again. ¡°You really like my chest, don¡¯t you?¡± I saw strands of blue hair. Azu?

    ¡°Yup, It''s me! I was hoping to have another date with you but I was quite shocked when I found you. I tried to patch you up but your injuries are a bit weird and healing isn''t my forte, so I decided to heal you with a lap pillow!¡± I see so this god-slapping witch has something she¡¯s not good at? Azu showed her face and she seemed to be pouting.

    ¡°It is not nice to call a young woman a witch you know! It is bad for her self-confidence! And you won''t be popular with the ladies!¡± She covered my sight again with her ample chest. ¡°But I guess you figured out who I am. There goes my mysterious lady act It makes me a bit sad.¡± I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m aware that someone like you would probably dislike it when people dig into your past.

    ¡°Oh, that is fine, that means that we can get to know each other better now!¡± I¡¯m sorry I don''t have the energy for that now¡­ do you mind If I sleep for a bit?

    ¡°Take your rest, I will take care of everything here. Sweet dreams and make sure you dream about me!¡± So¡­ selfish¡­ My consciousness slipped again.

 Ch 45: The Rescue

    Day 4: I woke up after the best sleep I ever had. I looked around and I was in my bed. How did I get here? My recollection was still vague. I remember meeting Azu after I self-destructed. My body still hurt a bit but it was manageable. Did that lap pillow seriously work? I hope for all the healers out there that that is not the case. Else their healing arsenal got matched by an eccentric witch just trying something random. I got up and winced. Still some sore bits. I ran some nature magic through my system but oddly enough it didn''t seem to work. I looked at myself and the weird pink energy was oozing out of me. This might be the cause and if that is so there is 0 chance that I can hide it from Gregory. Ugh, maybe this day will also suck. I took my tail out.

    You disappointed me! Oh, my tail did something! What? Try again?! Ugh great, my mood is ruined again. Can¡¯t I just go and sleep for the whole day and have things work out? I did some self-diagnostics. 3 lives left. This isn''t good. I burned through 2 lives while blocking that laser in the original timeline and I just lost 2. I thought back on Gregory¡¯s words when we were at Paul and Paula¡¯s place when he said that Nine tail spirit foxes were close to getting extinct. I¡¯m sorry but I just assisted in that. I wonder if there are still any that could take over. Maybe it might not be a good idea for me to die. Not that I''m planning to. But judging by the series of events that might happen. I tried to get up again but my body still hurt too much. I decided to take another nap.

    I woke up again. Something isn''t right, where is the daily energy wave? It was 10:53. I looked outside. No shades. I don''t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. They appeared without fail every morning but now they are gone. I changed and went outside. There were people outside but not as many as it would be on a normal day. This is suspicious. My body still aches all over but it is still bearable.

    I visited the homes of my buddies but they weren''t home, I tried to connect to them with Teleroad but no answer. I don''t like this at all. No shades no friends. The last thing I knew was that my clone and Gregory wiped out the shades, that was 2 days ago. Maybe something happened when he wiped them out last night. I am trying to piece things together from last night. I tried to go home for dinner but I got blocked from doing so after that I got stuck and self-destructed. I must have been frozen for a good 4 or 5 hours and after that when I woke up, I met Azu.

    Was that still inside that space or outside? So, something must have happened at around that time. I tried looking for Azu again but nobody in this town seemed to resemble her. I guess it makes sense if she doesn''t want to be found then I don''t think I can find her. Or maybe that isn''t the issue. I only know this prison is meant to keep her in check, maybe she is only allowed to be visible or to act for a certain amount of time per day, week, or month. If that is the case, why would she waste them on talking to me? I see Donkey and co approaching and slip in stealth. I think I will spend the whole day in stealth.

    I looked at the places my buddies were likely to be, and I went back to the cultist place and check to see if they were there. No results. Where are they? And where are the shades? The shades were annoying but they were consistently annoying, their sudden disappearance unsettles me. I peered into the sewers which should be overflowing with shades. Right, nothing here, the corrupted mana is also gone. I wonder if my headaches and annoyances are ever going to go away. I visited Paul and Paula¡¯s house. They didn''t seem to be home. I scanned the whole town. Nowhere. I checked to see if Uraya was home. Yes! Something is working out! She is home. I went to Uraya¡¯s shop.

    There were a lot of people buying potions and spices. Most of these people didn''t have the opportunity to go outside the last 2 days so I don''t blame them. I patiently waited till everyone left. I also found some things that I wanted to buy.

    I want to buy these things and if possible, I want to talk with you.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to pay for these, certainly not after you have been giving me sapphires every timeline.¡± Uhh, it still doesn''t feel good to just take it, just accept the money, I¡¯m not hurting for gold

    ¡°I am not hurting for gold either, just take it. And I assume you want to talk about the absence of the shades.¡± Yeah. I pushed the silver coins toward Uraya.

    ¡°Unfortunately, I don''t know why they didn''t appear today.¡± Uraya pushed the coins back to me. I guess you don''t have any idea what they are, have you seen my friends? Either today or yesterday? I push the coins back at Uraya.

    ¡°Only Gregory visited me yesterday after dinnertime, he was looking for you and he was asking if I know where you were.¡± Uraya pushes the coins back to me. Hmm, they seem to have completely disappeared, and so did Paul and Paula.

    ¡°Paul and Paula are also gone?¡± Uraya says shocked while blocking my attempt to push back the coins. Yeah, I couldn''t find them either. I think the shade¡¯s absence and their disappearance might be related. I flicked the coins over her hand.

    ¡°I will see what I can do but I don''t think there is much I can do.¡± Uraya picked up the coins and put them in my hand. ¡°How about instead of paying me with coins, you fetch me some ingredients?¡± I accepted the coins. Sure, what do you need?

    ¡°From the things that are easy to get¡­¡± Just give me the full list, since you know that we too repeat the timelines you must also know that we aren¡¯t any pushovers.

    ¡°Oh, ok, I need some more sapphires, the blood of an ancient or mythical beast, water from the depths of the earth, mist flowers, and the liver of a flying wolf. There are also some less important items but I have variations of most of them or substitutes, I can get Boshi shells and the sputum of a Boshi gull myself.¡± How many sapphires do you need?

    ¡°How many? Child, how many sapphires do you possess?¡± I will just leave 20 kg of sapphires here, if you need more just ask away. I took 20 kg of sapphires out of my dimensional pocket and put them on the counter. Uraya looked very surprised. Now about the blood of an ancient or mythical beast, I have that but there is an issue, This weird pink energy here is sticking to me and has invaded my system. It¡¯s almost at a level where I will get mana corrupted.

    ¡°What does this mean Agnis! Let me take a look!¡± Oddly granny Uraya didn''t react to the fact that I insinuated that I am an ancient or mythical beast but to the fact that I was getting close to getting my mana corrupted. She looked through one of her potions, took one, and put a drop on the palm of my hand. It started foaming and it started turning pink and crystals grew out of it. ¡°Oh, this is bad, I need to clear this out of your system as soon as possible!¡± Uhh, I will be fine, let¡¯s finish the stuff about your potions I¡¯m worried about my buddies.

    ¡°Unacceptable!¡± I have known granny Uraya for a long time but this is the first time I saw something resembling getting angry. She dragged me to the back of the shop. I knew I made a joke before that she might be a witch because of all her potion brewing but this place looked how I would imagine a witch workshop, it even had a big cauldron, it was a bit fancy though. Ah right, since Azu is a witch, her friends are probably witches too, although I don''t know how Paul fits into the mix, I thought witches were only female.

    ¡°Sit down, Paul is a human but Paula went against the rules of Witchaven and gave him a potion to extend his life expectancy, that is how she got kicked out from the witch community, now sit still.¡± This isn''t necessary I will be fine! Uraya, with her back toward me, made a gesture with her fingers for me to be quiet. She left this workshop space into another room, from here I could see that it was a spacious room, some spatial magic might be at play here. I tried to analyze it but I couldn''t see through the walls, I could make up a bit of how it was constructed though. I wonder how strong Uraya is. She might not be Azu strong but she has to be strong if she is Azu¡¯s friend right? Uraya returned with 3 potions and some weird items.

    ¡°These circumstances force me to do this the complicated way, without this prison it would have been as simple as a finger snap to get rid of this corruption.¡± I thought about how Gregory probably would have no problems with getting rid of this almost corruption. A witch of Uraya¡¯s caliber needs to do some complicated stuff. She drew a magic circle and placed the items in the circle. As far as I could tell this magic circle was modified. She used summoning magic and summoned 3 chickens and bound them to the magic circle with gravity magic. What are those chickens for?

    "I need to shift the magic that is corrupting your system to something." Ahh. So, it didn''t get rid of the magic it just transferred it. She poured the 3 magic potions over me and urged me to go stand in the middle of the magic circle. I did as Uraya told me. She finished the last part of the magic circle and the magic activated. I felt the foreign energy leave my body.

    ¡°It worked.¡± I looked at the chickens which were corrupted. Uraya snapped her fingers and they disintegrated. Uraya approached me. ¡°If something like this or any problem happens, please come ask me for help.¡± Her face went from serious to smiling. ¡°Now what were you telling me again? I just couldn''t let this slide how you casually announced that your mana was getting close to getting corrupted.¡± Uh, right. I bit my left index finger. How much blood do you need?

    ¡°Agnis, I need blood from an ancient or mythical beast, half a liter, what you are doing isn¡¯t going to work.¡± I popped out my ears and tails. Convinced? Uraya took a step back. She seemed fixated on my tails. Uhh, you can touch them if you want. I froze a big cup with frost magic and I used nature magic to force blood to flow out of my finger. After I filled the cup, I sealed it and started to feel a bit weak and lethargic. Uraya was touching and inspecting my tails with great curiosity. I brush them regularly to make sure they are fluffy!

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°Ah uhm sorry, I have never seen a nine-tailed spirit fox up close before, something about those tails is¡­ captivating.¡± Let''s see I got the water from when we had a wild water ride underground, I also have mist flowers, I don''t have a flying wolf liver though. I will hunt one down. I got up to leave and hunt down some flying wolves.

    ¡°Uhh, if you ever need those tails brushed, I can help out.¡± I smiled. I will remember that. Don''t overwork yourself Granny Uraya! I left Uraya¡¯s shop and headed southeast. We normally don''t encounter many flying wolves but that is because they hunt in packs and stay far away from Boshi town. But occasionally they try to attack the town but the barrier keeps them outside. Although now that I think of it, during the attack 2 years ago they seemed like they tried to escape from something. It was more a case of ¡°Let me in!¡± Instead of ¡°Growl! We¡¯re coming to devour your kids!¡±. I left Boshi town and headed toward where I thought the flying wolves reside.

    The problem with this request is that I just can¡¯t fight 1 wolf and be done with it, I will probably have to deal with a whole pack. But no, I got lucky, I found a lone wolf and successfully finished the request. I was curious as to why but I had more problematic issues than dealing with some wolf problem. I kind of felt for the wolf, at the moment I feel like a lone wolf too. I miss my buddies. As I walk back into Boshi town the town seems empty. Oh, can these spaces stop doing this!? I looked around but I was wrong, some townspeople were walking further down the road. I then got hit with the realization. What if my buddies were stuck in one? That could explain everything. How do I find them though? I dashed toward Uraya¡¯s shop to deliver the liver. Ted would love that sentence. She didn''t seem to be home, which was fine, I left it in her witch workshop in a frost box to preserve it.

    I went back outside and chose a rooftop. I used some illusion layers to hide what I was going to do next. I took out all my tails and focused mana in my Elgards eyes. They turned blue and purple and my pupils turned into an upside-down triangle. I turned off all filters except those related to spatially related stuff. I still felt a bit anemic and my body still hurt but I would regret everything if my buddies ended up dying. I carefully scanned Boshi town. Close to Raishin¡¯s hut the space seemed different. Imagine looking at a sheet that is neatly spread but at some point, you see that there is a little dip in the sheet. And this dip looks similar to a belly button. Like something tore a hole into space and fixed it but not properly. This is what I needed. I headed toward the spatial belly button. I coated my tails in spatial magic and used my tails to rip open this inconsistency It cost quite a lot of mana and there was a lot of resistance. The hole grew and instantly sucked me in.

    I landed in a scenery that looked exactly the same but the only difference was that I hear explosions and the like. I inspected Boshi town. It was empty. Gregory, Ted, Raishin, Paul, and Paula were fighting a horde of laser-shooting shades. The shades looked the same as the ones I encountered but there seemed to be one difference. Paul was slicing some apart and the magic they were throwing around seemed to damage the shades. They all looked tired and beat up. I cracked my neck. It is time for revenge. I drew various magic circles on the ground. I didn''t finish them because that would activate them. I drew 20 magic circles on slabs of frost magic I made. When needed I will swap them to my location and activate them. Now I started running various spatial skills and simulations. I was planning to throw around frost magic so I needed to match my mana consumption with the influx.

    I reduced my tails to 3 and made frost orbs orbit my tails. I made a frost bow and a 1 km tall frost pillar. Even without my eyes, I had a good view from up here. I pulled the bowstring. I sniped some shades that thought they could ambush my exhausted friends. They looked around but my arrows disappear after hitting energy-based creatures so they probably have no idea I just saved them. I popped out a 4th tail, this one is going to use the mana I get from sniping these shades to prepare some fancy and flashy magic. I aim my arrow at the sky and use [Frostfall]. Uncountable frost arrows rain down on the shades decimating their numbers. My buddies seem to realize that I¡¯m helping out and they seem relieved. The magic was coming along fine. What skill was I preparing? Well [Eternal Winter] of course! And yes, I''ve learned from my mistake that is why I¡¯m preparing this now. I don''t need a setup for this but well it will end up like last time. What I¡¯m setting up is that the energy doesn''t flow into me but feeds follow-up magic. And I will call it [Foxfire: Winter¡¯s end]. I am splitting this magic into 8 parts because I have just begun but it is already stronger than [Vaporize]. I continue raining frost arrows and it seems that all the shades are dealt with. My buddies and the old couple walk over to my location. They tried to tell me something but I was still on my 1 km high pillar. I could go down but I saw more and more shades appearing. I think this space is reacting to my presence, there were a lot of shades here when I arrived but since I came here the space slowly started to increase the rate at which they multiplied.

    - I¡¯m glad that you found us- - Me too. -

    - Can you get us out of here? - - I hope so, getting out of here doesn''t have a 100% success rate, so I¡¯m trying to burst this space open with a different method. -

    - Does it involve nuking this space? - I created frost walls around my allies. -Yup, but it will be a targeted nuke, there should be a weak spot in this space somewhere and if there isn''t I will make one. - It seemed I reached the minimum requirements I started to become a bit dizzy due to my temporary anemia. Some shades got close and I swapped the unfinished magic circles under them and blasted them apart after finishing the circles.

    -I need to concentrate, I will speak to you guys when this is over, take a good rest, and enjoy the show. - - Ok. - After this short Teleroad exchange I started to concentrate and circulate nature magic. I took out all my tail and canceled my frost bow. The shades were roof high and clumsily running towards us. They were shooting lasers but just like last time, I had frost mirrors on the pillar which made it hard for them to shoot me at an angle where I had issues dealing with them. I marked a spot in Boshi town which I thought would make a good target to drop my fox fires on. I selected Donkey¡¯s house.

    Perfect! [Eternal Winter]. Boshi town changed into a winter wonderland. All the shades disappeared and a huge blue fireball was growing above Boshi town. Seems it is working well. Some mana is still leaking to me but it isn''t an amount where I¡¯m in danger. Right, I have to let it hang there until the next wave of shades arrives or I caused a weakness in the fabric of space. I laced my foxfire with a bit of spatial magic so one of these 8 are destined to mess this place up. [Eternal Winter] was doing some serious work though, a huge amount of shades popped out of existence the moment they entered the winter wonderland. Is my frost magic too strong? The sheer numbers of the shades soon started filling the white-blue streets in pink. They were multiplying faster than they were popping out of existence. Right, eat this! [Foxfire: Winter¡¯s end]. The enormous blue fireball which almost had the same diameter as Boshi town dropped down. A flash of blue light and an intense heatwave. For me, it felt like a warm breeze but this would have vaporized my allies if I didn''t protect them with frost walls. I don''t think Gregory¡¯s [earth wall] can do anything against this, maybe his [Shadow wall] can. I inspected the space. Nothing yet. The winter wonderland was still there like nothing happened. All nice and shade free. One tail disappeared. I started to set some mana aside to make dimensional tethers. I couldn''t make the stupid anchor but at least I can tether us together so that we don''t drift apart from each other. I waited again till the streets were full and blasted it again. I saw a small crack. I moved the target from Donkey¡¯s house to that crack. The shades thought that if they shoot more lasers they would win. Nice try.

    -Guys, get ready to get subjected to a rude grab and a subsonic dash- - Get us out of here, please! I don''t care anymore how you do it! - -I will pass this on to Paul and Paula. - The streets were full again and I blasted the crack. It got big enough now so I didn''t wait and threw the remaining fox fires at the crack which caused it to expand. I canceled all my frost magic and prepared spatial magic while I fell to the ground with my back toward my destination. I got my 8 tails out again and grabbed my allies before I hit the ground and used [Accel turn] the moment my feet hit the ground. I shot forward. I continued using [Accel step] while weaving in between the buildings. I shot bolts of spatial magic at the crack and then stretched my tails and formed a ball with me and my allies on the inside. I tethered us together and infused my tails with spatial magic as I collided with the crack. We crashed through the crack. The impact made me lose consciousness for a short moment. This caused my ball out of tails to disappear. Luckily, I tethered us together. We landed on the floor. Back at Raishin¡¯s hut. It was nighttime.

    It seems time there flowed slower than here. My body hurt more than it did before. I went to sit on the ground.

    Phew, that was something. How long were you guys fighting there? A full day? Maybe more?

    Time seems to flow differently n there than here it was just past 1 pm when I got in to save you guys and it is 9 now. I¡¯m so tired!

    I see that Raishin fell asleep.

    ¡°Raishin worked hard to keep the shades in check, thank you for saving us.¡± Oh no worries, you guys would have done the same for me. Hey, what about your cult adventures?

    They only had potatoes as food so I gave up and left. I swiped their tablets though; they were quite pissed but so was I. I would ask you to show them normally but I¡¯m too tired now. Y

    eah, go to sleep! I need some sleep too. Luckily, we¡¯re already at Raishin¡¯s hut. Gregory and Paul carried him into his hut.

    How was your day? I explained to him how things went in the cultist village. I made sure to mention what I found in the library as soon as Gregory returned. I then told them about everything that happened but omitted what happened in the closed-off space. Sounds like quite the adventure. After we collected all the tablets we went for a break and then we noticed we couldn''t find you. We looked for you but then got stuck in here and the rest you know.

    ¡°That magic you did at the end, it was impressive.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m glad you didn''t use that when you fought me! I don''t think I can cut that.¡± It is tiring, and that is why I''m going to sleep! I took no chances and teleported home and dove into bed. I felt lightheaded and my body hurt. I wanted to take a bath but I was too exhausted. And like that, I fell asleep.

 Ch 46: Confusion

    The streets are full of life. Various humans and other races are walking through the bustling streets. Even though it is night, it is still full of life. Such a thing is normal in Gittrian, the city of gold. This is of course not in a literal sense. This city is the wealthiest city on the whole Kaledonian continent and 10 years ago the Yttroz industries which had its headquarters in Gittrian, increased the city¡¯s wealth even more. But some architects decided to add to this and built a whole city block out of gold. Gold is not a suitable building material so they used magic to make this all work. It is a spectacle that no other sane city would attempt. But in the city of gold, everything was possible. For the right price of course.

    Tourists from all over the continent and beyond would visit this wealthy city just to see the golden city block ¡°Aurum¡±. But also, merchants and individuals looking for job opportunities would visit this city. Because of this, the city was a melting pot of different races and cultures. The city was so successful because of this fact and racism, even though it was common in most parts of the country, was looked down upon in Gittrian. To deny one because of his or her race was to deny the reason for Gittrian¡¯s success and the proud citizens of Gittrian would not accept that. Because of this no matter how weird or unusual the look, nobody would think anything of it. This is why nobody looks up at the shadow who is wearing a cloak and walking through the streets. It is common for certain races to cover themselves because they are used to being discriminated against because of their looks. Not because this doesn''t happen means that anyone can get over that hurdle instantly. Moreover, one has to get to this city which means traveling between cities that might have people shooting discriminating gazes. The shadow doesn''t care about any discriminating gazes. The shadow is more concerned because its race is very uncommon, it is even regarded as extinct in many places or people don''t even know it exists until they see it. The shadow found a dark corner in the luminous and noisy streets and sighed. The shadow had an objective but was met with misfortune again and again. According to a source, more information about Hourai rubies was more likely to be obtained here. And this is the problem the Shadow encountered. Suddenly all information and even knowledge of the existence of these Hourai rubies disappeared.

    ¡°What is going on? Finally found a reliable source here in Gittrian and confirmed the existence of the Hourai rubies and a day later suddenly nobody has even heard of them.¡± The shadow slipped into another narrow corridor and headed toward the Yttroz industries headquarters. The shadow decided to infiltrate the headquarters because the information the shadow had was conflicting. One day the reliable source confirms their existence and the other day the same source didn''t remember anything even related to them. The shadow hunted down other assassins who might be in Gittrian for the same goal but even they didn''t know about the Hourai rubies.

    They do remember having a reason to come here but they didn''t remember what that reason was. The shadow used [Shadow meld] and slipped inside the walled-off area, entering the terrain of Yttroz industries. The shadow looked around to check if there weren''t any guards that specialized in detecting shadow magic. Most big companies aren''t afraid of spies and assassins because it is exceedingly hard to infiltrate them, the only exceptions are those that can use shadow magic. Not all spies and assassins can use shadow magic but those that can are a big threat to secrecy and keeping important figures alive. A company or industry cannot be taken seriously if it doesn''t invest in shadow magic detection. Unfortunately for Yttroz Industries, the shadow is very familiar with methods of shadow magic detection. In the past, the shadow has been part of shadow magic detection groups itself. The shadow creates effective shadow decoys. The guards that are skilled in shadow magic detection react and the shadow sneaks up on them and assassinates them. The other guards don''t seem to have noticed that their anti-shadow magic squad got assassinated. The shadow creates shadow clones which replace the guards that just got assassinated. Anti-shadow guards are quite expensive, especially in Gittrian so it is unlikely that there is more than 5 outside. There will be more inside but it will be easier for the shadow to just avoid them inside.

    The shadow swiped a keycard from one of the assassinated guards, thinks for a bit, and decides to carry all 5 in case situations might occur where the loss of one or 2 cards would be inevitable. The shadow approaches an entrance and sends a shadow under the door to make sure there is no anti-shadow guard on the other side. The coast is clear. The shadow [shadow melds] inside. This seems to be the area that accommodates the guards that are on shift outside the building. The shadow navigates the area and enters a corridor that leads toward other places in the building. The shadow hears footsteps. The shadow remembers that one keycard was different from the others, it indicated that this person was new. The shadow used [Shadow form] and mimicked the appearance of the new guard. 2 men in suits walked around the corner. They were deep in discussion. One seemed to be human and another seemed to be of the cat beast kin race.

    ¡°Excuse me, I think I lost my wallet on my last shift and I can¡¯t find it, is there a lost and found?¡± The two men look at the shadow who is disguised as a guard.

    ¡°Oh, you must be new here, head over to the reception and they might have your wallet if they found it.¡±

    ¡°How do I get there?"

    "Just turn around the corner where we came from and take the second turn right, you will enter the reception hall, there is a map on the wall next to the reception, you can use that to navigate your way back here.¡± The shadow followed the path described while still looking out for anti-shadow guards. This seemed to be a relatively public area so there were none close by. The shadow studied and memorized the map. Anything below the 5th floor was public so nothing of importance would be found there. The shadow pressed the button for the elevator. The elevator doors opened and there was another guard inside.

    ¡°Going up?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡± the shadow answered.

    ¡°Which floor?¡±

    ¡°The 5th floor¡±

    ¡°Do you have your card?¡±

    ¡°My card?¡±

    ¡°You must be new; you need a special card to head to the 5th floor and higher.¡± The guard showed a card that the shadow didn''t recognize.

    The elevator arrived at the 5th floor but only one guard stepped out of the elevator. The shadow had decided to drop the disguise of the current guard, assassinated the guard that occupied the elevator with it and to take on this guard''s identity. There was no sign of a battle or a body in the elevator. How did the shadow do this and where is the body? That is unfortunately an occupational secret.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    The shadow detected an anti-shadow guard and sedated him and stuffed him in a cabinet. The shadow realized that at a certain point, there would come a limit to how many guards the shadow could impersonate with shadow clones so for now it would shift to sedating guards. The shadow clones in the public area would notify the shadow when something is amiss and would also serve as extra ears. The shadow approaches 3 men who are passionately talking about gemstones.

    ¡°Excuse me my wife works in the upper circles of jewelry and she heard something about ¡®Hourai Rubies¡¯ Do any of you know what this is about?¡± One of the men takes a pensive stance.

    ¡°Hourai rubies, I can¡¯t say I''ve ever heard of that, Try asking Blugbert on the 6th floor, if there is anyone who would know about rubies it would be him, where has your wife heard about them?¡±

    ¡°One of her friends seemed to be unable to shut up about it.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I see.¡±

    ¡°Good luck with your search and be careful, word has gone around lately that a lot of spies and assassins have entered the city!¡± Another man said. The shadow waved at the 3 friendly men and took the elevator to the 6th floor. This floor had a different vibe there were blacksmith stations everywhere, also there were stonecutting stations at the far back, and welding stations to the side. All these men seemed to handle their crafts well while being in suits. The shadow was honestly impressed. The shadow knew nothing about these crafts but what it did know was that these normally didn''t get done in suits. Half of the men here were dwarfs. They somehow managed to keep their beards and suits clean. It was impressive, It almost looked like an art of how they were going about their craft. The shadow made quick movements to sedate and hide 2 more anti-shadow guards. The shadow asked a dwarf who seemed to take a short break for Blugbert. The shadow went back following the dwarf''s direction to the stone-cutting section.

    ¡°Are you Blugbert?¡± The shadow addressed a man who was about 3 meters tall, with pointy ears and red hair and was inspecting some red-colored stones.

    ¡°Yes, what do you want?¡±

    ¡°My wife heard about some rumors, it¡¯s about ¡®Hourai Rubies¡¯ she works in the upper rings of jewelry you see, she asked me to ask around.¡±

    ¡°I hope you are doing this in your break time! We can¡¯t have guards wasting their time asking about everything here!¡±

    ¡°Yes, my break ends in 10 minutes so if you could answer my question, I might still have some time left to rest¡± Blugbert put down the rocks.

    ¡°Whoever told you about these ¡®Hourai Rubies¡¯ was talking out of their asses. If any ruby gets bought by Yttroz industries I¡¯m the first one to know and receive them! No rubies have come in for about a month now! And before that, this stupid elf swordswoman plundered our caravan because we didn''t deliver her rare materials on the same day that she ordered them. The gall!¡± The man slammed his desk with his fist.

    ¡°Thank you, I will tell my wife.¡±

    ¡°Make sure that whoever told her gets their fact straight! And only big loads of gemstones get named before they get appraised here so if it already had a name before it came here means that it is 7 carats or higher!¡± The shadow showed its gratitude and headed toward the elevator. In the elevator, the shadow used [Shadow swap] and swapped places with a shadow clone that was pretending to be a guard outside. Whatever happened caused the Hourai rubies to disappear from the face of the planet. The shadow thought to itself if there was a possibility that this was a prank but that idea got dismissed. Coordinating a prank like this on such a scale is impossible.

    The shadow ordered a salmon pizza and ate it at a local pizzeria. At first, the shadow had difficulties eating while being cloaked but after enough practice, it mastered this skill. Some people in the pizzeria seemed to be impressed with how the shadow could eat efficiently without removing the hood. The shadow looked up at a screen that seemed to play some local news.

    The shadow started to get a ringing sensation in its head. The shadow has experienced this multiple times over the last month. The screen got some static as it suddenly started talking about the discovery of a large number of ruby crystals which were to be called ¡±Hourai rubies¡± The shadow choked and coughed. It managed to get the pizza through its throat properly. The shadow didn''t understand. What is going on? The shadow thought about the series of events and decided that it might have been related to the ringing in its head. The shadow was familiar with the ringing in its head but nothing like this had happened before so this was new. The shadow didn''t know what was going on but its lead was back. It paid for the pizza and headed off. The shadow didn''t dispel the shadow clones in Yttroz industries yet. It used [Shadow Swap] and retraced its steps from before and used a different guard appearance this time. The shadow approached Blugbert, it was the same location but his race seems to have been changed to a human.

    ¡°Are you Blugbert?¡±

    ¡°Who else! What do you want?¡± This human was looking at red-looking stones? There was a big pile of similar-looking ones behind them. The shadow counted 15 crystals in total. The shadow asked the same question. ¡°I hope you are not wasting time during work hours to come here and poke your nose around!¡±

    ¡°I am using my break time.¡±

    ¡°Then that is good, well aren''t you a lucky man, you¡¯re looking at the Hourai rubies, all 15 crystals.¡± Blugbert showed off the rubies as if it were his.

    ¡°Did anyone come here before and ask a similar question?¡±

    ¡°Why would you ask something like that? Of course not! I don''t know who the friend of your wife is but she must have very good connections, I got these in this evening but I didn''t have any time to look at them yet!¡± The shadow was genuinely confused. It couldn''t understand what was going on.¡±

    ¡°What can you tell me about the origin of these rubies and the seller?¡±

    ¡°Interested in gemstones, eh? I can¡¯t blame you, especially these babies! Look at them! Look how pure they are! I''ve never seen anything like this in 32 years in this field!¡± The man pulled the Shadow closer to give get a good look at the rubies. ¡°There seems to be a funny story behind these rubies, the seller seemed to have been a 12-year-old kid that even managed to defeat Brock who was in charge of picking up the rubies and paying the kid. Brock is quite strong, people in Boshi town are built different.¡±

    ¡°Boshi town? I have never heard of that place.¡±

    ¡°I don''t blame ya, it is in the middle of nowhere, and also has some peculiar barrier that traps whoever gets inside of it, I wouldn''t recommend ever going there. They do provide top-quality products from time to time though! Here feel! It is still in its crystal form but feel how smooth it is! That kid surely had the skill to cut them from the vein this smooth!¡± The shadow felt the surface of the crystal. It was cold and smooth, it felt like touching glass. The shadow could detect slight traces of dimensional magic being used on it.

    ¡°How did these rubies get transported?¡±

    ¡°Oh, in these bags.¡± Blugbert handed the shadow a bag. The shadow inspected the bag and determined that the traces of dimensional magic weren''t caused by these bags. ¡°So, are you a ruby fan now?¡± The shadow returned the bag.

    ¡°They look pretty but I¡¯m more of a fan of Jade. I will have to take my leave; my break is almost over.¡±

    ¡°If your wife ever hears more rumors come and see me!¡± The shadow swapped back with a shadow clone outside and decided to head toward the library. The shadow was a bit excited. It had narrowed down the location of its targets it was also 100% sure that the one who sold these rubies is the shadow¡¯s target. It was still unsure how at one moment these rubies didn''t exist and then popped back into existence as if nothing happened. The shadow took out an atlas of Yabia and located Gittrian. From there the shadow tried to find Boshi town. It took 10 minutes of searching to find it.

    ¡°Close to the Umbra and Lucidus mountain range, eh? That is quite far.¡± The shadow decided to turn in for the day. The next day it would restock on supplies and start the journey to Boshi town.

 Ch 47: Confusion II

    Day 5: I woke up from an energy wave at 6:26. Ah shit here we go again I got up, took a shower, and changed out of the clothes I was too lazy to change out yesterday. I opened the door to head out but something scared the shit out of me so I slammed the door.

    ¡°Good morning sweetie! Can you open up¡± What are you doing here?!

    ¡°How rude, I decided that because our last date got ruined to spend a day with you!¡± Should you be spending whatever time you have to freely move around with me?

    ¡°Why not?¡± I open the door and get met with a hug Noo! By the way, my body still hurts! Wait it doesn''t hurt?

    ¡°Hehe, my hug nursed you back to health!¡± Ugh, my headache is just getting worse though.

    ¡°I even have some nutritious food for you!¡± Hey, where did you take that from?

    ¡°Hmm? I¡¯m sure you can use dimensional magic too.¡± Yes! But I don''t take things out of my cleavage!

    ¡°Do you want me to put it back?¡± No! Maybe I should just accept the fact that I will never get rid of this headache.

    ¡°You should make sure to eat well! I¡¯m sure you haven''t eaten properly!¡± Azu bent over and handed me the food. I took the food because I realized I haven''t eaten anything in 2 days because of those stupid potato villagers. Also, I can¡¯t go on a date with you, I have a lot of stuff I need to do.

    ¡°That is fine! I will accompany you!¡± Uhh, you don''t have to.

    ¡°Are you trying to dump me already?¡± Ugh, you know what, do as you like.

    ¡°Yaay! I will burn anyone who stands in your way!¡± Uhh, sure why not? I didn''t feel like dealing with anything troublesome now so I guess this works. And with a blue-haired god-slapping killing machine locking arms with me, I headed out.

    Hey Agnis, Whoa who is that babe? Hmm, I didn''t expect you to get a girlfriend out of nowhere. Ugh, guys, meet Azu, Azu this wild guy is Raishin, this overly serious guy is Gregory, and this guy who looks like he just thought of a stupid pun is Ted.

    ¡°Hi, guys! I¡¯m Azurra Mist, the witch that is imprisoned here, since the barrier is weakening and I get more and more freedom I decided to say hi.¡± Are you single? Uhh, hey What an introduction, Hey, I¡¯m Gregory but you can call me Greg.

    ¡°Yes, Raishin I¡¯m single but I''m waiting till Agnis makes a decision!¡± Wait what? Shouldn''t you go do witch things after we break the barrier? And I''m too young for you!

    ¡°They probably forgot that I existed so I¡¯m free to go wherever and whenever!¡± What about Paul, Paula, and Uraya?

    ¡°They have their lives, I have mine!¡± But what about my headaches?

    ¡°Do you want a kiss on your forehead?¡± No! Because you will give me some more stupid overpowered magic that I can only use if I want to destroy the world!

    ¡°Come on! Destroying the world together sounds fun!¡± I like my world not destroyed! You know what? I give up, you two are perfect for each other, You get my blessing.

    Hey, we don''t! You seem to be getting along fine. I guess there is a trend, to be super strong you need to be batshit crazy you guys seem to have that in common. Hey, I¡¯m not crazy!

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not crazy!¡± Stop copying me!

    ¡°I¡¯m not copying you! We¡¯re just in tune with each other!¡± Nooo! Great now there are 2 Agnises. At least that means that we are certain to succeed now. I circulate more nature magic to keep my headache under control.

    Just wait Greg, when you find a crazy chick, I''m going to do everything in my power to get you together. Gregory shrugged. Do your worst! So, what is on the schedule, things have been hectic later.

    We need to wrap up the things with the tablets, deal with the cultists, and destroy the root.

    ¡°Tablets?¡± Yeah, these. I took the two tablets I stole, ehum borrowed from the cultist, and showed them to Azu.

    ¡°Oh, if you bring all of them in front of the root you can deal with all those at the same time." We looked at each other. That''s easy, eh?

    ¡°Well, if you don¡¯t know that it could cost you a whole day.¡± Whoa, look at her being useful.

    ¡°Hey! What do you mean? I was useful when I heal¡­¡± I covered her mouth. Ehehe yeah, my bad, thank you Azu. Hey, Agnis, why didn''t you let her finish her sentence?

    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Ehm, well you know, I might or might not accidentally poke her chest. So lucky! Tell me how did it feel! I smacked Raishin.

    And this is the reason why.

    ¡°Ooh Agnis, so bold to say that without reservation, it was supposed to be a secret¡± Azu made an overly exaggerated shy gesture. Maybe I should''ve told my buddies the truth instead of increasing my headache. Maybe I will die because my head will explode from this headache. Right, so that means we have a lot of free time. Wait don''t say that!

    ¡°Ooh, date time! Let¡¯s go!¡± Azu grabbed my arm and dashed off while dragging me. Help! We will always remember you. I will continue your legacy. Have fun! Gregory said with a grin.

    Assholes! I tried to slip away in stealth and leave a clone at my place but Azu noticed instantly.

    ¡°Ooh, you want to play hide and seek?¡± No! But I would just prefer to play ¡®hide¡¯ All my years of experience in escaping was useless against Azu. Maybe this was a test to push my skills far and beyond. If I could escape from her, I could escape from anyone.

    ¡°Hey look there is that kid again!¡±

    ¡°Wow look at that babe! That surely isn''t his girlfriend, right? Maybe it¡¯s his sister!¡±

    ¡°Hehe, do you guys want to know what? I will grant this kid the priceless position to become the brother-in-law of the amazing Dunkey Hurado!¡± Great, these clowns again. ¡°Sup kid, is this your sister?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not kid, his name is Agnis, and I¡¯m not his sister¡± You know what, maybe if I don''t say anything, things will work out and my headache doesn''t get worse.

    ¡°How about you ditch him and come have some fun with us?¡± Uh oh, Donkey why would you say something as clich¨¦ and stupid as this?

    ¡°Hmm, I won¡¯t come with you but I can have some fun with you.¡° The bullies smiled thinking they succeeded. I am sure that an almost 3000-year-old witch who can easily fight a god or 2 has a different definition of having fun than some random 14-year-olds.

    ¡°Aah! What is going on!¡±

    ¡°It is fun, isn''t it?!¡± Azu made fountains sprout from under the bullies launching and keeping them in the air. Hmm, I was worried about nothing. ¡°Hehe, can I play with your tails now?¡± Uhh, maybe later, certainly not in public I¡¯m starting to think that she might be an old witch but she seems like a kid inside, sometimes. We relaxed a bit at Boshi lake.

    ¡°You won''t escape us this time!¡± A [Wind blast] approached. I wanted to dodge it but it got cancelled halfway. ¡°Who is this vixen?¡± Vixen? I looked around.

    Phew, she isn''t here.

    ¡°Who are you calling a vixen?¡±

    ¡°You of course! Stay away from Agnis!¡± I need to do something; this is going to become ugly.

    ¡°Charlize, do you recognize that woman? I have never seen her before."

    ¡°Me neither!¡± The mothers shifted to attack mode.

    ¡°You two need to cool off!¡± I saw a brief flash of a magic circle. If I didn''t have eyes as good as mine, I would have never spotted it, It was there for several milliseconds. To most people, it would look like she didn''t create any magic circles. Azu is scary. Anyways she turned the mothers into frogs. How very witch-like. Azu looked me, who was in thought, in the eyes. ¡°You are impressed, aren''t you?¡± Uhh, yeah, so what are you going to do with them?

    ¡°They can go for a swim¡± She made some waves wash the 2 frogs away. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, no sea monsters will attack them, I put a ward on them.¡± There are no sea monsters in a lake¡­ Azu looked at me.

    ¡°So cute!¡± Another deadly hug. I felt an energy wave and had a bad feeling. I looked around Boshi town and the shades started to appear again. Did they go on holiday and just return? Anyways I had an idea that I had earlier but totally forgot about. I am going to try and weaponize my illusion layers. These illusion layers are centered around Boshi town and its outskirts. They aren''t centered around me. Which means that I lose them when we escape from Boshi town. So, I want to use them as much as possible. Also, since much stopped making sense lately, I couldn''t really use them. They only work on death or if I have a good grasp of the situation. Also, those stupid isolated spaces bypass them because my illusions are again centered around Boshi town and not myself. It feels like someone is trying to defeat me and use loopholes and cheats his way there. I ran off toward the shades.

    ¡°Agnis wait!¡± These shades were still the kind that couldn''t be interacted with. Now let''s test to see if this works. The shade approached me. I shattered 10 illusion layers and successfully put a debuff on the shade. It approached me and started to make swiping motions. I backed off but the shade popped out of existence. What just happened? I did the same with 3 more, nothing happened until they started attacking and then they took a lot of damage.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± I think I found a new overpowered skill; it reminds me of a game where you can cause opponents to do damage to themselves. It was called [Confusion].

    ¡°Ooh, try it on me!¡± Uhh, I¡¯d rather not use it on you, I also don¡¯t want to get attacked!

    ¡°I will use an attack that will make you charmed by me for 5 minutes!¡± No! No charm attacks! Please no!

    ¡°I will slow my magic circle down so you can react!¡± Ugh, if she is going to use a charm attack, I have no choice. I shatter 50 layers and place [Confusion] on Azu.

    ¡°Ouch! That hurts!¡± Ugh, it doesn''t seem to stop the attack. I tried my best to resist the charm attack. I shattered 10 layers to undo the fact that she cast the charm attack on me. ¡°Aw, I wanted to see what happened if you got charmed by me. How about you shatter more illusions or I attack multiple times?¡± If you use something else than a charm attack sure.  I have had bad experiences with charm attacks. I discovered early in my life that this is one of my weaknesses I can¡¯t fix. Viridian¡¯s daughter, Hisui used to use them a lot on me. And that is one of the reasons why her name causes me to shiver.

    ¡°I will just use [water bubbles]. They are weak and activate multiple times.¡± You know I can also just test it on those shades that are clawing at you but seem to do no damage.

    ¡°Oh!¡± She ran away from the shades and stood behind me. ¡°Save me!¡± You don''t need saving! Those shades were clawing at you for 2 minutes and you didn''t even notice! I shattered different amounts of illusion layers on the shades but they didn''t seem to take damage because they weren''t attacking. I looked at Azu and pushed her at the shades.

    ¡°Hey!¡± They clawed at Azu and the ones that attacked the fastest took the most instances of damage, the ones with more illusions shattered took more damage per attack. ¡°That was mean!¡± I will make some ice cream for you later, please bear with it.

    ¡°Ice cream? Azu tilted her head. You will see later. I tried something else. I discovered that I could shatter illusions to also land CC effects but they cost a lot of layers. So far, I could only use [Confusion] in a normal setting where I didn''t have 7 digits of layers waiting to be used. [Confusion] needed a minimum of 3 layers and could go as high as I want. The cc needed at least 50 layers. I could already undo certain events by shattering layers, the amount depended on the strength of the effect and the area affected. Azu¡¯s charm attack was strong so I needed 10 layers to undo it. On weaker opponents, this amount drops.

    I could also do damage with this but this didn''t seem to work on the shades. Azu told me to test it on her and she said that the ]Confusion] hurts way more. I burned some illusion layers on practicing with [Confusion] and Azu did some cheerleading. We decided to stop when we weren''t putting a dent in the shade population anymore. Azu tried some things but she didn''t seem to know what kind of skills would affect the shades. For now, Gregory was still the fastest and safest way to deal with them.

 Ch 48: Potato Village

    I made some crimson pear ice cream for Azu and she loved it. We headed towards the cultist village because we would soon nuke this potato village off the face of the planet, I mean we would vaporize the potato village, I mean we would destroy the root, and possibly catch a certain potato village in the crossfire. Hey, Azu these tablets give off weird energy, do you have any idea what it is?

    ¡°Oh, that is divine energy.¡± Great, oh I remember reading something about how you wiped out an army of 2 million who were full of divine energy or something, what does that mean?

    ¡°Oh yeah, something like that happened. I¡¯m not sure about the details but what I understood from it is that when mortals get infused by divine energy, they take on the traits of the god who grants them that energy and they also gain strength just below demigod level.¡± And you wiped 2 million of them out like it was nothing? I''m genuinely afraid, you might just turn me into dust if you sneeze.

    ¡°Don''t be silly! That won''t happen! Moreover, in my current state, I''m just a fraction of what I was before I got sealed. And as long as you use your brain and be a little bit strong you can take on any number!¡± I doubt that but that is still impressive.

    ¡°Hehe, you can fall in love with me now! Oh, can you braid my hair again? In exchange, I will play with your tails!" Why are you making this sound like a deal while you receive 2 benefits? I see you guys get along like usual. How was your date?

    ¡°Hey, Greg listen! Agnis pushed me in front of a horde of shades!¡± Wow Agnis, not cool! She took 0 damage! She was talking to me and those shades clawed at her and she didn''t even notice! Ooh, she is a tank? Is she going to put Ted and Gregory out of business? Gregory and Ted smacked him. We brought all the tablets.

    ¡°Oooh great! Line them up!¡± We lined up the tablets. ¡°Take this stupid gods!¡± Azu kicked all the tablets down the slope. What are you doing?

    ¡°Venting and activating them!¡± Yeah, they activate when you drop them. Oh, can I have a go at them too? I could use some venting too. The 5 of us started venting our frustrations and anger at the tablets and gods by kicking and throwing them down slopes. Whew, that was refreshing.

    This is exactly what I need, although I could also do with some venting at that potato village there. The tablets glowed and shot an energy beam at the pink root. The ground shook and the root started to grow. Wait did we just buff the root?

    ¡°It wasn''t mature yet, if you would destroy it in its immature state you would have to redo this timeline.¡° Oh, I''m glad that¡­ I didn''t finish the sentence because I felt that was a bad idea.

    ¡°You¡¯re glad that what? Come on finish that sentence!¡± I forgot!

    ¡°Don''t be shy!¡± Azu hugged and smothered me. ¡°Come on say it!¡± Help me! So, what now? I hear a commotion in the cultist village. Yeah, they are going crazy. Well, according to Agnis they hold their rituals at 15:00 sharp and we kind of seemed to buff the root with a matching timing, they probably think that their ritual worked.

    I give up! You win Azu! Now let me go! So, what do we do now? Didn''t we need to read the text on the tablets?

    ¡°Oh, those tablets are just prayers to that God, it is a waste of time if you don''t believe in them.¡± Azu... Please¡­ I think he is going to pass out if you keep doing that.

    ¡°Oh¡± Thank you, Ted! I got freed from Azu¡¯s grasp So when do we nuke the root?

    ¡°It has a proper barrier now, but it doesn''t seem so strong, how about we all nuke it?¡± Oh, that is an Idea I can get behind! Let¡¯s do it! Uhh, sure I guess I have no choice. We all popped out our tails and Ted took to his bear avatar.

    Let''s do a countdown! Ok! 3¡­2¡­ Wait do we go on 1 or go? We all charged up our attack.

    1! [Tsunami], [Fire pillar] [Liberation] [Aurora bearealis] Nooo I thought we would attack on go! The root and potato village got nuked. It was satisfying.

    ¡°Oh, by the way, this was fun! I don''t know if I will be able to help you with the next timeline but I will do my best!¡± It was a pleasure, Azu. Do you by any chance have a sister? Thank you for your help. Eh, I think you should rest next timeline! Our heads started to ring again and we were back at Raishin¡¯s hut.

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    <hr>

    That was a rough timeline. Ted watch out! I froze the shade that was about to claw Ted with frost magic and made it poof out of existence.

    Whoa, what was that shade doing here? It is not just one shade. Get out of my hut!

    No rest, eh? There were 4 more shades in the hut and I spotted many more outside. Raishin zapped one and it seemed to work. It seems we can attack them now; this makes things easy. We dispatched the shades easily.

    This makes things easier and harder. Boshi town is overrun. They are clawing down at the houses. How are we even going to solve this? Hmm, It is not that hard but you''re not going to like this idea, Ted.

    Ugh, hit me, I decided to prioritize our lives and well-being because if I don''t a certain nine-tailed spirit fox will do stuff that might get him killed. Hey, It worked out! I didn''t die!

    Yet. We ignore the need of the citizens, as long as we beat this timeline they will get back to life. We have to make sure we do everything right at the last timeline because that one will be more permanent. It will be the hardest to get right though. So, I would recommend practicing getting things right where you can. Also, Agnis! No more risky ideas!

    Yeah, and run them through us first. And Raishin! No more disappearing! Yes, dad. Yes, dad. Both of us got smacked.

    Normally we would rest today but... Shall we clean up a bit? I decided to not hold back anymore, are you sure?

    If that decreases the chances of any of you getting in mortal danger, I don''t care. Alright! Let''s go! I went outside and made my 1 km frost pillar.

    Wait! Agnis you can''t possibly be doing that right? That thing I did when I saved you guys? Yup.

    Oh no¡­ Oh yes! Hmm, I see, the shades can¡¯t kill the civilians if you kill them first! I shot a frost arrow at Raishin¡¯s feet.

    Hey! Who says, I''m going to wipe out the citizens? Wait you can do that and only hit the shades?

    My magic control isn''t as good as yours but that should be a piece of cake! Uhm, I don''t think I could do something like that!

    So humble. Just sit and watch the show! Gogogo! The last time was so pretty! I took out 4 tails while sniping shades. After I got enough mana, I used [Eternal winter]. You see because it is frost magic It doesn''t have to kill the civilians. It freezes them but that is it when the frost disappears it is as if nothing happened. Now the frost is important because if they are covered by frost the foxfire blasts aren''t going to do anything to them. It seems that there is a certain limit to how many shades can come out per day, else the last times we wiped them out would just be a wasted effort but the numbers did seem to stay at 0 after we wiped them out unless it was early at the day. I dropped a [Foxfire: winter¡¯s end] on the town and all the shades got wiped out. I didn''t lace it with dimensional magic this time. I waited for 2 minutes. Maybe because it is day 0 but they seemed to multiply slowly. If that is the case, what am I going to do with these 7 nukes? I could drop one on potato village.

    Screw it! Hey, Agnis where are you aiming? That is the direction of the Umbra mountain range! That is some intense potato hate. I vaporized the mountain next to the one I vaporized technically today and wiped-out potato village. I dropped another one in Boshi village but the shades stopped coming.

    o, guys, I have 5 nukes left and no more targets, what do I do? Can''t, you just cancel it?

    I can¡¯t! Why not?

    Because I will get the mana refunded. Oh, that is not a good idea. Drop them on my shadow wall. Gregory created a huge shadow wall in Boshi village and I dropped the nukes on it.

    What in the name of Hourai, that is a terrifying amount of energy Agnis! I know right? Oof, I¡¯m pooped. I cancelled [Eternal Winter] and jumped off my frost pillar.

    Hey Agnis back off a bit, you¡¯re still cold. I need sleep. I will take the next round of shade extermination. I want a round too!

    You can take the last one because you will wipe out everyone. I will pass on this mass shade exterminating; I don''t have any attacks that could do that anyways. We were about to head home.

    Wait what about the plans for the next root? Eh? I guess we¡¯ll just wing it, there is one in the southwest, so let''s take that one next and the one in the Lucidu mountain range in the next timeline.

    Ok. That sounds good sleep well! We all went home and went to sleep. I had a weird dream. It was very vague. I only heard sounds. It was vague but I got a feeling of dread and rage from this dream.

 Ch 49: Pink Shade Invasion

    Day 1: An energy wave, just the usual. No blue-haired witch in front of my door. The day starts as normal as can be. I open the window and a shade is in front of my window and tries to claw at me. I blast it with an [Fireblast] It feels good to not care about hiding our identity and just go loose. We should have done this earlier, everyone will forget anyways after we destroy the root, and on our last timeline we will disappear from this town forever so it would have never mattered. But this is hindsight. I wondered if I should just walk over the streets with my tails out but I decided to not do that yet. I hop out of the window and the streets are filled with shades again. They have physical forms now and are causing some damage to the city but so far, the civilians are safe. People are using the rooftops to navigate the town again. I decided to watch what was happening from my rooftop to make sure I don¡¯t run into trouble.

    I don''t feel cold but it would have been nicer if the weather was a bit warmer. It doesn''t get that warm up here in the mountains. I notice a windblast coming from the direction of Raishin¡¯s hut. Aah so convenient, because of my Elgards eyes, I don''t need to go there and check out what is happening. I can do that from here. It seems Raishin is fighting some shades, he is also fighting the troll and Charlize. Good luck Raishin! He seems to have forgotten that we don''t have to hold back. Not my problem, yet. Maybe I should help him. I got up but got hit by a dizzy spell so sat back down. Ugh, what is this? I¡¯m not even using magic. I looked at my hands and I was seeing double. My Elgards eyes didn''t seem to be able to see through this. The problems just keep piling up. The dizzy spell left as suddenly as it arrived. I decided to stay put in case it comes back. It was almost time for Raishin to arrive here to go to Uraya¡¯s shop but he was still locked in battle.

    Oh, Gregory appeared and started to help Raishin. Oh wow, He knocked Charlize out in no time, he wasn''t playing around. He bonked the troll unconscious with his hammer and dropped all the shades in a shadow. I clapped at Gregory¡¯s display of power. Technically his firepower is still low but that doesn''t matter if he can banish a whole army into the shadows to never return. Carelessly shadow melding might be a bit risky now though. I still could only shadow meld myself but that was all I¡¯m interested in. They seemed to head over to my house while defeating and banishing shades in the process.

    As I looked by as they approached my house, I noticed that Gregory seemed to have a new magic skill that he hasn''t shown us before. He creates a big shadow whirlpool that pulls the shades to the middle while it shrinks. He uses it to pull shades on a shadow and banish them. Without moving from my spot, I cast [Confusion] on several shades blocking their way. Some shades like to aimlessly flail their arms which seems to be counted as an attack so confusion instantly pops them. My buddies seem to like making things difficult for themselves. If they would just use the rooftops. I decided to meet with them. I jumped from my roof to my neighbors'' roof and tried to meet up with them. When I reached them, I pulled the up with wires.

    Good morning tryhards. The rooftops are safer. I was trying out my new skill. It is super cool! It goes swirl and all the shades get sucked in!

    Yeah, I saw it from the comfort of my rooftop. Shall we head toward the town square? I don''t think Charlize and the troll will be bothering us this time. Good! We arrived at the town square. The town square was crowded but not with people.

    What do we do? There are not many options, we either do nothing or clear them out. How about we destroy them by causing as much collateral damage as possible!

    Ugh, I guess these days were stressful for you, it seems like your villain arc has begun. Just an explosion here and there. I thought you vented enough.

    I decided to vent over future problems! So unreasonable!

    ¡°There you are! I was expecting you but I was unsure if you would still bother to visit me due to the current situation.¡± It seemed Granny Uraya got out of her house and was waving on her balcony. Sup! I probably don''t have to tell you but if you go outside, you will get clawed by a pink zombie!

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m aware of that Raishin but thank you for the warning.¡± How is your potion coming along?

    ¡°Oh, it is almost finished thanks to all of your efforts.¡± Hehe, no problem! What have you done?! As far as I know only Ted, Agnis, and I have helped her out!

    I was moral support and I helped you guys out so that means I helped Uraya out! He is kind of right you know.

    ¡°Watching you guys interact is always refreshing, come on in.¡± Oh, by the way, Uraya is also a witch. Oh, so do you turn people into frogs and the like?!

    ¡°Are you interested in becoming a frog?¡± Ehh, no no no! I¡¯m ehh asking for a friend! Gregory wants to turn into a frog! What? Absolutely not! frogs are water creatures! I hate water! Technically they are amphibians so they can do both water and land.

    As long as water is involved it doesn''t matter if it is an amphibian or a dragon! Come on Greg! Take one for the team!

    You take one for the team! So, is there something you want to show us Uraya?

    ¡°I want to give all of you something. In the end, you 4 are going for the tree, right?¡± Yeah.

    ¡°I created some charms that can ward off the high energy density that is present there, these will protect you.¡° She handed each of us a charm and one extra for Ted. Oh cool! But we don''t really need them, right? Greg can fix that for us!

    ¡°Oh?¡± Ah, right, I¡¯m a 3 tailed shadow cat so I can deal with energy-related problems but these charms will become a useful asset in our battles.

    ¡°Ooh, so Agnis is a nine-tailed spirit fox and you are a three-tailed shadowcat, now I¡¯m wondering what Raishin and Ted are.¡± You told her? Incorrect! I showed her! She needed the blood of some ancient or mythical beast so that was an easy request. I¡¯m a six-tailed lightning tiger and Ted is a brown war bear!

    ¡°Oh, those combinations of races sound familiar just like the Calamity trio. I was a big fan of theirs. Wait¡­ Agnis what was your last name again?¡± Hourai Uraya looked shocked.

    ¡°You all are from Hourai? Agnis, are you related to Edea Hourai? The Edea Hourai?¡± Somehow everyone seems to know my mom. Hey, Agnis help! She fainted!

    Isn''t she a bit too old to fangirl over my mother? Stop complaining and help out! I don''t get it; how does she know your mom? I helped Gregory with getting Uraya on a chair.

    I don''t know, but it seems Paul, Paula, and Uraya have been stuck here for a good 2600-ish years, so it wouldn''t be that surprising if they were familiar with our mothers. Yeah, at that time period, our mothers were still active down here, it was only later that they moved to what we know as Hourai. Hmm so like a living time capsule?

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Uhh, I guess? So, what are we going to do now? I guess we wait, and you should probably prepare an autograph to give to Uraya or something. After 10 minutes Uraya woke up.

    ¡°I had a wonderful dream, I dreamt that I met the son of Edea.¡± Ehh, yeah, don¡¯t let your dreams be dreams! When this prison is gone you can go out and try to find him and meet him! I¡¯m conflicted, maybe I should just shut up.

    ¡°Hmm, anyways, it seems you didn''t need my assistance for the charms then¡­¡± Nope! We smacked Raishin. We appreciate the charms. I¡¯m sure they will come in useful! We left Uraya¡¯s home.

    Something is wrong with you Raishin. We already knew that though¡­ Hey! Sup guys! What are you up to?

    Scolding Raishin. What did he do this time? Gregory explained what we have been up to. I follow a shade in my eye corner. This shade had a slightly different color than the others. According to my knowledge about games and movies, this might be a mutant. Please be wrong, please be wrong! The shade moves to the corner of Uraya¡¯s shop and tears down the wall with one swipe.

    Shit! I jumped down and froze all the shades. The mutant shade didn''t seem to get its energy sucked up by my frost magic. What is going on? My buddies also jump down. Raishin and Ted kept the shades at our back busy.

    Doesn''t this shade seem different to you? Yeah, after you said that I noticed. It doesn''t get instantly defeated by your frost magic. Let me shadow meld it. I jumped back and Gregory used his [Shadow vortex] and banished it.

    That''s it? That¡¯s it. Ted and Raishin wiped out all the shades that were on the plaza.

    Anticlimactic but a good change for once. I hope that is all there is to it. I think more of these mutants might appear sooner than later.

    Do you want to wipe them out now? If I do that too often all the shadows will be full of shades and shadow melding might become risky, some might also ooze out of the shadow and become shadow shades, and it would be even harder to fight something like that.

    Right then it is Raishin¡¯s turn! Also, because I feel a bit lazy! What?

    Go shoot some glitter on the shades and nuke them! Chop chop! But what if I hit civilians with the glitter? Uhm, just don''t hit them?

    My aim isn''t that good! What if I give Agnis the glitter and he tags every shade with it, then I can do it! Ugh, I thought I could slack, fine I¡¯ll do it, you can use some spotlight. There are 1492 shades in the town, that is how much glitter I need.

    Here have 4000! Right, lightning tigers aren''t precise creatures, I¡¯ll just store whatever I have in surplus. I froze an ice pillar and made an ice bow. I stuck glitter on the arrows and shot them at each shade. Because I was using ice, they didn''t get one shot. I might as well have dealt with them myself if I had to do this. It seems my sniping pillar attracted a lot of attention.

    I tagged all of them! I decided to stay up here to observe Raishin''s skills. Alright here I go [4000 lightning bolts!] So that is why he made 4000 glitters. What is he going to do with the surplus? This skill though isn''t a special skill he just fires off [Lightning bolt] in quick succession. It is dumb but it seems to work. All the shades are zapped. The lightning bolts hit random spots in the town¡­ This idiot. I took out the remaining glitter and threw them into the air. The lightning zapped at the glitter. Phew catastrophe averted. It seems Ted is giving Raishin an earful. Suddenly the earth started to rumble. I don''t know what is coming next but I''m sure it will worsen my headache. All the manholes got launched and the shades were pouring from the sewers. Corrupted mana flowed out and even corrupted sewer rats emerged.

    Well, that was unexpected¡­ Ugh, disgusting. Any chance that a plumber can fix this sewage problem for us?

    What plumber do you know that can fix this mess? I know one!

    One that isn''t a game character! I don''t know anyone¡­ Suddenly ignoring the problem seems like a good idea.

    That is quite the amount of mutated shades, there even seem to be some super mutated shades. They are almost red! So, ehh about that idea to banish them? Fine, il do it. Gregory made a [shadow wall] to block 2 lasers aimed at us.

    I''m so done with these things! Greg I¡¯m going to slide them out of the town like the last timeline but with ice. What about the citizens?

    What about them? They either get mauled, lasered down or frozen for a bit. Is there no other way?

    There probably is but it is either going to take too long or take too much mana, Greg let''s go! Right! How do I get there before you do though?

    Hehe! Wait! I shouldn''t have asked that I can figure it out myself! Hey, Agnis wait! What are you doing with that cannon?!

    After shooting Gregory with my [Steam cannon v2.0] I started to use [Frozen ground] and slowly raised the floor at the most southern part of the town slowly creating an enormous ice ramp. I made sure that the parts that became shade free got thawed. I wanted to freeze manholes made of frost to block more from emerging from the sewers but these would feed me energy constantly. Ted, can you start going south and make sturdy earth manholes to cover up the sewers? Sure, I¡¯ll try to get there in time.

    Hehe. Oh no.

    After shooting Ted to his location, I continued my ice ramp. I made a snowboard out of ice and enjoyed some snowboarding while cleaning up the shades. I saw Charlize and the troll approaching but they got caught in my snowboarding trick and got temporarily frozen. I dumped all the shades north of Boshi town in the shadow of one of the mountains Gregory was waiting at. My work here was done. The enormous shadow the mountain cast on Boshi town devoured the shades and corrupted rats. It seemed this quantity forced Gregory to use mana. He popped an anti-nausea potion and downed it. As I returned to Boshi town I saw Ted place thick sturdy and heavy manholes on the last sewer openings while Raishin was dealing with the rats and shades that escaped in the meantime. Phew, that was the last manhole. This is starting to become a real pain in the ass.

    The people are staring at us. Let them, it is not as if we took our tails out, we should still be fine. The people were indeed staring at us but more in an appreciative manner. I wonder how fast that will change when we will inevitably be forced to go all out.

    ¡°Hey, ass! You froze us! That was not cool!¡± I am sure you would be one of the least affected, the others aren''t as ¡®lucky¡¯ to have an ¡®insulation layer¡¯ as you.

    ¡°Huh? What does that mean?¡±

    ¡±I think he just called you fat Dunkey.¡±

    ¡°What! I¡¯ll show you!¡± I shot a purple lightning bolt at his feet. I don''t have time to deal with you clowns, scram!

    ¡°Ha! I can also use lightning!¡± I didn''t have time to wait a minute before he could show off his weak blue spark. I created shadow clones and we all rushed at the bullies.

    ¡°What?! Clones?¡± All my clones kicked them into the air toward one point. My clones arranged to stand in a circle and shot a dagger with a wire attached toward them. I stood in the middle of the circle, took a spear out of my dimensional pocket, and kicked it up with a lightning-augmented kick. The clones ran lightning magic through the wires and let go of them. [Lightning Umbrella]. The lightning umbrella unfolded and spun while ascending, pushing the bullies skyward while continuously zapping them. Good riddance. I looked at how my [Lightning Umbrella] was slowly ascending. It is a cool skill but it requires quite some setup. It looked super cool though. I saw people stop to take a look at the spectacle that was my lightning umbrella. I tuned the damage to be low because I would instantly kill these bullies if I was serious.

    ¡°Did you do that?¡± It seems Charlize met up with Cecilia and came after me again. Do you want some of that too?

    ¡°What trick did you use? Water users generally can''t use lightning,¡± Cecilia was correct, the arrangement of all my affinities doesn''t make much sense to normal races down here. Charlize and Cecilia dodged a hammer flying at them. I don¡¯t know who I should be stopping here but I will warn you 2, engaging Agnis is a bad idea.

    ¡°It seems we got a 2 for the price of 1 sale Cecilia.¡±

    ¡°We can take revenge for what they did yesterday!¡±

    Are you ready for this rematch Greg? No more running.

 Ch 50: The Power of Friendship

    You two have probably always been wondering what exactly the 2 of us can do right? Well, today is your lucky day! We will show you!  You might not like it though.

    ¡°We know you 2 are very skilled but nothing you can do will surprise us now!¡± I wonder. I stretched out my hand. [Fireball]. I didn''t hold back a lot on this. This fireball was one I would use before our training in the separate space. Their eyes opened wide and Cecilia made a [water wall]. Unfortunately for her, I have a sister that specializes in steam explosions so I know exactly what is going to happen. I link my vision with Gregory.

    We are going to use the steam as cover! The steam explosion launches them backward. I stand on Gregory¡¯s hammer which he swings causing me to fly at them. Mid-flight I shoot [water balls] at them The moment I land on the ground I used [Turning leaf] and swapped Gregory to me. Gregory seemed to be charging a heavy hammer slam which was completed when he got swapped and appeared in front of them. He sent [earth pillars] at Charlize and Cecilia. They were dealing with my water balls and got hit by Gregory¡¯s pincer attack. They tried to jump up because Gregory¡¯s attack was continuous but Gregory snuck some shadow magic in that attack so tendrils of shadow pulled their feet back to the ground. Meanwhile, I jumped up and shot another uncontrolled [Fireball] at them.

    ¡°Cecilia, you deal with Agnis! I will take Greg!¡± Gregory used [Shadow vortex] and prevented the two from executing their plan. I made 6 shadow clones while Greg launched himself like a pinball at the 2 and hammered them into the air. I set up [Lightning Umbrella] But Cecilia managed to escape. Charlize was disabled for now due to the [Lightning Umbrella] It looks cool and maybe even silly but if you get hit by the tip of the umbrella it is hard to break free from it. It is easy to escape if you get hit by another part of the umbrella. That is the weakness as well as it takes a lot of setups. Unfortunately for my opponents, I have a high accuracy so I will hit at least one target.

    ¡°What is this!¡± Charlize was using some wind barrier to limit the damage she was getting. That is an umbrella! Cecilia tried to help Charlize by trying to grab her with a [water whip] but Gregory slammed the water whip with his hammer. And then chucked his hammer at Cecilia. She formed a [water wall] which I froze and shattered.

    ¡°Aah!¡± I fist-bumped Gregory and we waited till they recovered. Charlize managed to escape the umbrella and Cecilia got up.

    ¡°Ugh, they seem different today.¡±

    ¡°I think we should take this more seriously¡±

    ¡°But we might kill them! They might be strong but they¡¯re still kids!¡± Cecilia tried to stop Charlize. A strong wind started to envelop Charlize. Shall I go control or damage? Damage please, we don''t have all day.

    Ok. I shot out multiple daggers and wires. I didn''t forget to set up some [Boss music]

    This again? You don''t like some good music? Do I even get to do anything?

    You can keep them busy while I do some light setup. Gregory shot an earth pillar at his hammer which he was holding sending himself and the hammer flying toward the two.

    ¡°Here he comes!¡± Gregory kept them close by utilizing [Gravity] and kept swinging his hammer. He seemed to miss a lot but there seemed to be some rhythm to it. I inspected his skill and it seemed he was adding some attribute called [momentum] to his swings. I realized what he was doing. This is the kind of skill that ramps up in power, if you are going to get hit by this skill better do that at the start but he will probably lock you in a combo. Once they get hit by that hammer once it is over, they will get comboed till they get defeated. I guess this is his message to me: be fast else I will finish them myself. I finished my setup and started my first [Accel turn]. The friction vaporized my shoes.

    Shit! I forgot to get custom shoes for this! Idiot! If you¡¯re ready I will send Charlize over to you!

    ¡°Ha as if!¡± Gregory amped up the gravity on Charlize making her unable to dodge Gregory¡¯s hammer as he smacked Charlize over to me.

    Thanks. I caught Charlize, but not in a literal sense. I caught her in a web of strings. I already started using [Dagger torrent] and she was right in the middle of it. I don''t know what Gregory¡¯s technique is called but he is already combining Cecilia. A crowd gathered and is watching by as we finish our combos. I kept my lightning purple because I didn''t want to kill her. Gregory also seemed to kill his combo early to make sure we didn''t become murderers in front of a crowd. The crowd was silent and then cheered. I fist-bumped Gregory again and we walked away from the scene like badasses.

    That was some good exercise. I think I understand now how you feel when you can¡¯t finish your combo. It feels wrong. Yeah, nothing we can do about it. The troll ran at me.

    ¡°That was awesome! Please marry me!¡± Rejected! What is wrong with her? I just beat up her mother in front of her eyes and this is what she¡¯s thinking about?

    I think Cecilia¡¯s daughter is approaching us, do you want to run? Yeah, let¡¯s get out of here!

    Hehe. Noo! Not like that! I shot Gregory with my steam cannon and followed him. He landed neatly in front of his door.

    You know, one day I will kill you! I will be looking forward to that day. I helped Gregory stand up and we relaxed for the rest of the day and talked about possible combos we could do and strategies we could make. I decided to go home for dinner. Even though Gregory and I still had much to talk about. I felt a bit relaxed. The day started a bit messy but the latter half was quite fun. As I walked through the streets barefoot the streetlights flickered and went off.

    What in the name of Hourai? A blackout? I¡¯m still surprised that things that surprise me keep happening, call it surpriseception. I halted. Shit! How could I forget? I tried to teleport home but it failed. Ugh, Great this stupid space again. I made my 1 km high frost pillar. I looked around. I couldn''t even see the town square from here. This closed-off space seemed to go outside Boshi town though but this is weird. Where are the shades? Are they stuck in another enclosed space? Or are they in the sewers? Yet again I¡¯m surprised. The sewers are empty but it seems that the sewers go beyond what I can see here above ground. Is this the return of sewer adventures? I jumped toward the boundary of this space to make sure this boundary actually exists and that it isn''t just my vision that is blocked. Nope, another invisible wall. I approached a manhole. Well, it wasn''t a manhole because Ted placed a big heavy rock on it. I augmented my left leg and attempted to kick the rock off the hole.

    ¡°I wouldn''t do that if I were you sweetie.¡± I lost focus and dropped the augmentation causing me to kick the rock without augmentation. Ouch! I grabbed my foot and fell down. The owner of this voice was none other than our blue-haired god-slapping busty witch Azu.

    ¡°Come! Let me heal you!¡± No, I¡¯m ok!

    ¡°You are not ok! You''re rolling around clutching your foot in pain!¡± I wonder who is responsible!

    ¡°Why aren''t you wearing shoes?!" It''s¡­ complicated Azu put her hands in her side.

    ¡°What is so complicated about it, tell me!" Uh, that is also complicated. She stretched out her hand at me. This isn''t some trap, is it? She didn''t say anything but continued stretching out her hand. I grabbed it, and she pulled me up and pulled me in for a hug. I knew it!

    "But your foot doesn''t hurt anymore, does it?" Is hugging the only way you can heal me?

    ¡°It is proportional to the area of physical contact.¡± I was afraid that would be the case. So, what are you doing here? You¡¯re not going to convince me that a super-strong witch got trapped here too by coincidence.

    ¡°Hmm, ok then I won''t say that! It is just that the prison seems to weaken whenever a space like this appears.¡± Hmm, that''s the first thing you''ve said that makes sense in a while.

    ¡°Aww, don''t be so mean!¡± Well, you appeared last time when my buddies were stuck in a space, besides that, most of our encounters were in a space like this.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Yes! I can communicate a little bit when there isn''t but it is limited. I get more freedom when a space like this opens up.¡° Azu spun around with her arms stretched out giving the impression that she felt free, even though she still was imprisoned. So why is it a bad idea to go down there? I will smack you if it is a silly reason!

    ¡°Ooh, will I get a spanking? Sounds exciting!¡± Right off goes this rock! I augmented my leg again and prepared a kick.

    ¡°Wait! Azu dove at me and I dropped the augmentation and kicked the rock again without augmentation." Ouch! Are you trying to assassinate me?

    ¡°Hehe, nobody assassinates their target by making them kick rocks barefooted.¡± So uhm, can you get off me?

    ¡°Is your heart racing?¡± Get off me, please?

    ¡°Make me!¡± ¡­ I released all my tails, wrapped them around her, and moved her off me. Ugh, I need to visit Uraya for anti-headache potions, I think you do more damage to me than any guardian has ever done.

    ¡°Ooh, so fluffy! Talking about Uraya, she told me that you''re the son of Edea Hourai. Is that true? Is it true?¡±  Uhm, no?

    ¡°Hehe, you can¡¯t fool me! I can''t believe you¡¯re the son of my idol! Now, I¡¯m sure! I will stay at your side!¡± Uhhm why? And I''m just some brat! Go harass other people!

    ¡°Tss, young Agnis, you don''t understand!¡± Azu made a serious voice but she was still stroking my tails like she was charmed by them. Exactly I don''t understand.

    ¡°Let me ask you, what is your life expectancy?¡± Uhh, between 5 minutes which could be when I manage to piss you off, and somewhere till infinity, I guess?

    ¡°And what is my life expectancy? Uhh, I don''t know. I think I''ve read that Witches get between 1000 and 10 000 years old, it is quite a wide margin.

    ¡°Well, it is higher than that but you get the idea. You have been raised between humans but races with longevity think differently about this. We measure our ages in Kaledonian years but the measurements in our race ages aren''t that far off.¡± That sounds like a convenient excuse. This answer unsettled me. It lined up with the behavior of Viridian¡¯s daughter Hisui. She is about 60 years older than me¡­ in Kaledonian years, and kind of raised me with Viridian when my mom was busy. than me but ever since I started to mature mentally, which tailed beasts do at a very young age, she started acting differently. Nono this can¡¯t be it, right?

    ¡°It seems like you just remembered something along the lines of what I just said, what age are you according to your race?¡± A bit over 1 year.

    ¡°And your friends?¡± Uhh, Raishin, and Gregory are also 1, I¡¯m the youngest because it will take longer for me to 2 years old.

    ¡°And you seem to realize that the rate at which your races measure age is different right?¡± Yes¡­does that mean?

    ¡°Witches gain 1 witch year every 1000 years, which makes me just a bit older than you since I¡¯m 2 witch years old!¡± Nooo!

    "You mentioned that you had bad experiences with charm attacks, right? Do you know what female nine-tail foxes are specially gifted at? Charm attacks.¡± It felt like the world as I knew it started to collapse. So, you¡¯re saying that If I ever meet Hisui I should run as fast as I can? I just thought she was eccentric

    ¡°Oh, so Hisui is her name? What is she like?¡± Scary and you are quite similar to her that is why you scare me and I try to keep my distance

    . ¡°Oh, so she is charming like me, you have your work cut out. But I will stop teasing you, for now,¡± I didn''t do much but I felt extremely exhausted. ¡°It is cute how dense you are.¡± I¡¯m not dense!

    ¡°Hmm, I disagree, about the sewers, you will get attacked when you get there.¡± Oh, so now you¡¯re answering me properly? And attacked by what? Azu wrapped herself in my tail and seemed to have missed my question. I¡¯m so mentally exhausted. Attacked by what?

    ¡°The tree of course? Some fast pink spears will turn you into anto an Agnis beehive, and I won''t allow that.¡± I can dodge!

    ¡°There is hardly space to dodge! I won''t allow it!¡± She was still playing with my tails. I was too mentally drained to resist. So, what do we do then?

    ¡°I play with your tails till I feel like cracking this place open.¡± You can get me out?!

    ¡°Yes, but then I go back to being extra imprisoned.¡± Oh. but last time you could move around even after the space was closed!

    ¡°That was at the end of the 5 days when I had enough time to save up some energy to stay a bit longer,¡± Ok¡­ you can play with my tails. I wanted this to be over but I also didn''t want to rob Azu of her free time. I decided to get back at her and tickle her with my tails. Hey, Azu, what are you going to do after we break this prison? Azu tried to speak but wasn''t able because my tickling made her laugh uncontrollably. I paused my tickling.

    ¡°I would like to travel and see how the world has changed! But I also want to stay with you guys, you guys are fun!¡± What about your family and Paul, Paula, and Uraya? Azu was silent for a bit. It seemed like she didn''t think much about what to do after she would be free.

    ¡°Paul and Paula have each other, I¡¯m not sure about Uraya¡­ I actually don''t have any family; I was relatively alone¡­ They are my friends but¡­ It feels wrong to say this but they were kind of my retainers, I see them as my friends but... I want to have a life of my own!¡± I didn''t know what to say in response to this. ¡°I don''t care for the witch community anymore, they weren''t nice to me before all of this happened, they only saw me as a powerful witch but not as someone with needs or dreams. They just forced me to fight that army alone because they didn''t want any casualties and that if I would fall that I at least would take out a big portion of that army. I just want to live my life without my peers forcing me to do this because I¡¯m responsible as a powerful witch and do that. I¡¯m sick of it!¡± Azu became a bit agitated and I stroked her with a tail to calm her down. I thought for a bit. I didn''t have any experience with this but I know someone who has. My mom seemed to have been in a similar situation. She was often frustrated. After all, she had to do some things because she was the empress even though she would rather want to just go out on an adventure and have fun. I stood up. I think I understand you better now. I don¡¯t say this to be mean but I don''t think you can come with us, at least not now.

    ¡°But why? Am I not sexy enough?¡± Ugh, it has nothing to do with that. I have 3 reasons! Firstly, you should still work out things with Paul, Paul, and Uraya, you can¡¯t just disappear and leave behind the people who have put up with being imprisoned here for over 2600 years. Secondly! This is me being a bit selfish but if the witch community discovers you are free and decides to continue their stuff, we will be caught in the crossfire, and I am going to be blunt here, the moment witch spells will fly around, we 4 will just get vaporized. You are strong but I don''t know how well you can protect us while fighting off a horde of witches and, to be honest, after all the pain you went through, I don''t want to put you through more, So I would suggest you either figure out how that is going to go or join us when we are strong enough to contribute. And thirdly this one is similar to the second point, the issue with the gods, you will be fine fighting gods, we won''t, we will be even more useless in that aspect than if you get abducted by the witches. An uncomfortable silence fell. Azu buried her face in one of my tails and screamed in it. She raised her head, she looked sad.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid you are right; you might not believe me but I¡¯m quite smart you see. Unfortunately, I can think of way more reasons to not join you guys, the only reason I have to join is that I want to. I... I really want to..." I started to feel sorry for acting so coldly toward Azu. She slapped her cheeks. ¡°I can do this! How about 10 years?¡± What?

    ¡°I will sort this mess out in 10 years! And then go adventuring with you guys!¡± Uhm you can take your time you know.

    ¡°So cold! But I can do it! Because I¡¯m awesome!¡± You have an amazing recovery, that is awesome indeed¡­ Azu walked toward me and hugged me.

    ¡°I will be saving up a lot of energy so you won''t see me for the rest of this and the next timeline, I will need it to help you in the last one, it is going to be rough, I¡¯m afraid you guys might die so I will try to get enough energy to spend the full 5 days with you at the end. Don¡¯t go missing me now.¡± Is the last timeline that bad?

    ¡°You probably already know, don¡¯t you? When I saved you after that pretty frost attack, you were so close to dying for a third time, Please don''t be so reckless ever again.¡± I will try my best.

    ¡°How many lives do you have left?¡± Uhh, enough don''t worry.

    ¡°Please tell me¡­¡± Uhm, 3 lives. Azu looked at me and hugged me again.

    ¡°I think I need to go, every bit of mana counts, promise me you won''t die before I can help you out.¡± I promise.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± The cheery Azu seemed to be replaced with a melancholic Azu. I think I like the cheery and flirty Azu more. ¡°Have you looked at the magic skills and passive skills I gave you?¡± Uh, a bit yeh.

    ¡°These skills I gave you are a package; you don''t necessarily need them but they will make using my custom skill [Azure Mist] easier. [Tsunami] makes your next 3 skills completely free, no mana no casting. [Flood] costs a lot of mana but has no casting time and is great for setting up very strong attacks. You will have 1 free attack slot, and you can use whatever you want, make sure it is powerful, but I¡¯m sure you will do such because powerful skills either take long to cast, cost a lot of mana, or both. The last skill to cast for free could be [Azure mist] The only requirement for it is to use a damaging attack. [Azure mist] hardly costs mana but has a long cast time. You can do these all for free after using [Tsunami]. Now for the specifics of how my skill works, you will find out, I¡¯m sure you will like it. A slight spoiler: after you used [Azure Mist] there is a low chance that you can lose unless you self-destruct. Don''t use it on opponents you don''t want to kill.¡± Azu walked to a random spot. ¡°Do you remember what skill I used to help you guys destroy the root?¡± Uhh, Tsunami, right?

    ¡°Yeah, that means my next 3 skills are free. And this is the first free skill [Dimensional fracture]¡± The dimensional space started to crack and the sound of glass cracking could be heard loudly. ¡°Please be careful¡± The dimension shattered and everything was back to normal. I looked around. Azu was nowhere to be seen. I thought back at what just happened. She looked really sad there at the end. I headed home and took some snacks before taking a bath. Was this the correct thing to do? With Azu at our side, we wouldn''t have to be afraid of anything, besides the witches and gods. Was it worth making a woman sad that has been locked up for over 2 millennia because I¡¯m afraid of witches and gods? Am I correct? Or am I the asshole? Normally I don''t mind being the asshole but this situation has a bitter taste. Over time I have started to see her as a friend. Would I leave my buddies behind because I was afraid of witches or gods? No, I wouldn''t! I would go through hell and back for them. I decided to apologize to her the next time I see her. With that in mind, I fell asleep.

 Ch 51: I dont care

    Day 2: The usual, I wake up due to an energy wave. I rubbed my eyes. I opened the window and blasted a shade that was camping in front of my window. Yet another chaotic day. I sent a Teleroad message to Gregory because there was something I wanted to know. I explained to him what Azu told me.

    -Hmm, she is right, you might not remember but things like that have been like that in Hourai. It doesn''t help that in races like ours, males are thin in numbers. That is why the 2 tailed dogs are doing so well compared to the others, they are a race that mentally matures early and seems to be mainly male. Many of their members got claimed early on. Raishin is actually more in line with how we should react in that environment. He was popular in Hourai you know? - - Ugh really? Raishin is the normal one here? -

    - Well things are different here so it is important to adapt but this is just how things go, I don''t know if there is a reason things go like this but it might just be related to what race we are. Dragons are mainly male, there are more females under the human race, sylphs are exclusively female and the list goes on and when your race has a problem like that and age doesn''t matter¡­ - - You get people hunting down partners over 2 millennia younger?-

    - Kind of, I think my mother claimed my father when he was 16 years old, I don''t know what happened to him though.- - More things to worry about, great, at least that is good to know.-

    - At least Raishin seems to take things into his own hands¡­- - I can''t believe he is the normal one here¡­-

    - Different cultures and different customs, just do what you think is right, just don''t be surprised if more races with longevity get aggressive.- - If I remember correctly there was the female heir of the three-eyed race that was really interested in you.-

    - You really do remember only the useless things¡­- - It was fun but now it makes sense.-

    - As I get older, more things that I remember from back there seem to click and make sense.- - Hey, how likely do you think it is that Charlize and Cecilia will apologize to us this timeline?-

    - quite low, did you have a look outside? There are more mutants this time around. - - I didn''t but I wouldn''t be surprised. How about we defeat the guardian and destroy the root when it is time? Kind of what Paul and Paula did. -

    - Still didn''t vent enough? - - Kinda, also makes the last few days less stressful if we just blast the guardian now, because these shades seem to increase in numbers over time. If we deal with the guardian first, we won''t have to worry too much near the end. -

    - Yeah, we got a bit lucky that that village was guarding the root, was that maybe the easiest one? If so, we wasted a golden opportunity, we could have Azu take care of whatever guardian we encountered. - - I''m not surprised, our luck is terrible. -

    - Alright, I will make some more potions let''s meet up around 2 pm at our usual spot to deal with that guardian. - I sat down on my bed. It was still early in the morning, and I had a lot of time. I decided to nap. I tried to sleep but after half an hour I felt another energy wave and it felt like the ground shook. The ground kept shaking and I started to get annoyed. I am convinced if hell exists, this is it, we¡¯re in hell at this very moment. I go toward my window and look outside. I saw a dark pink mutant shade continuously pounding on the ground. It is way bigger than the others. This asshole is going down! I jumped out of the window and navigated the rooftops to arrive at the big shade on the town square. Some people were shooting magic at it but it didn''t seem to do anything to it.

    ¡°Run! It¡¯s that kid again!¡± Good, this is as it should be, the bullies saw me and ran away. Do I discreetly dispatch this shade or do I just blast it? I decided that I didn''t care. I wonder how tanky this thing is.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, did that shade catch your attention?" Uraya was on her balcony again. I jumped on her balcony. Yeah, can you look after my shoes for a bit?

    ¡°Your shoes?" Yup, I only own 2 pairs of shoes and I kind of vaporized my last set.

    ¡°I don''t think I follow¡­¡± I put my shoes on the balcony and jumped down. I started to let nature energy flow to my feet. Now people were still shooting magic at that shade and I wondered if I should ask them to stop. I decided to ignore it, there might be situations in the future where it will be unreasonable to ask others to stop attacking my target.

    ¡°Hey, kid! Get out of there we are preparing some collaboration magic to blast that thing into pieces!¡± Go ahead, I don''t care.

    ¡°What!? But you will get blasted to bits!¡± That is fine! Continue doing your thing! I shot my daggers and wires out of my dimensional pocket. I also set up [Boss music]. The big shade noticed me and stopped pounding the ground. It started shooting pink spears at me. A familiar attack. Let¡¯s see how fast this thing is. I started the wind up for my [Dagger torrent] I continued using [accel turns] and [Accel step] to speed up while evading the spears and magic the townspeople were shooting at it. I tugged a bit harder at the wires, and a dagger flew at the big shade, hit it on the shoulder, and shattered while creating a small electrical explosion.

    Not enough power in it eh? While accelerating the charge in my body started to push the lightning to the upper edge of purple lightning. The spears started to become more numerous and they were approaching speeds that would break the sound barrier. A lot of townspeople put down barriers to protect the buildings but they could only do so much. I erected frost ramparts so that they could still shoot magic but didn''t need to worry about the buildings.

    To be honest I don''t care what would happen to them but I do not want to accidentally get Uraya¡¯s shop get nuked by subsonic pink spears. My feet were still doing fine, I was fast enough to dodge all these spears but the lightning wasn''t strong enough to deal with this shade. I sent another dagger at it and it took some damage but not enough, time to go red. I sped up and all my wires vibrated oddly before the lightning shifted to red. This momentarily disturbed the [Boss music]. I need to work on this transition. I had to increase the flow of natural energy because from my training I know that I will start to get nauseous about a minute after I start red lightning. Suddenly I remember the skill Azu gave me which makes magic free. Shit! I should have used that before I started this! Then again, I don''t know what I need to set up [Tsunami] It might be as tedious or rough as my umbrella or this.

    The normal shades on the plaza all got vaporized by the red lightning. I shot more daggers at the shade and it punched holes in it. The shade roared and pink energy flowed to it causing it to regenerate. Well, what a cheater. I smiled; this means I can go as hard on it as I can. The big shade and I were now inside a cocoon of dense red lightning. I don''t think anyone on the outside can see what is going on, if the shade had eyes, it probably wouldn''t have any idea where I am either. It was just shooting out spears which seemed to track me but not perfectly. I started to pant. This move isn''t taxing on my mana system but more on my physical stamina and my feet. I basically generate mana for free with these [accel steps] and [Accel turns]. Well for free isn''t correct, I am trading physical stamina for it. I had no theoretical limit on this skill, I could go all the way up to orange lightning and beyond but in my current state.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    I only have enough stamina to almost get to orange lightning. I sped up more and the lightning turned deep red. The daggers were vaporizing holes into the shade which kept regenerating. I decided to lock this deep red lightning in. What does that mean? It means I am moving to Phase 2 of my attack! I don''t see why bosses can have a Phase 2 and I can''t. There is one downside to my Phase 2, its activation hurts like hell. I made a third skill in the accel series which is [Accel stop], [Accel stop] is stronger than [accel turn] in a lightning generation but it kills all my speed, and hopefully not my feet also. What it does is collapse all this lightning that is swirling here in a ball into my body, which hurts like hell but it makes my body lightning. Overpowered, eh? Last time I checked you can''t deal physical damage to lightning. I don''t know if magical attacks work on it but there is one way to find out. I used [accel stop]. My feet were fine, but the rest of my body wasn''t as the lightning collapsed into my body. I turned into red lightning in a human form.

    ¡°What is that!¡±

    ¡°This is the first time I''ve seen red lightning!¡±

    ¡°Is that Agnis?¡± Guys, I''m only going to say this once, either get sunshades or get out of here. The numerous spears shot at me but passed right through me. I blurred and created a red streak of lightning as I dashed at the shade and kicked its shin. This kick made its shin past tense. I seriously saw people getting their shades, but nobody seemed to want to move away. It seems I can get loose. I don¡¯t have any creative names for this, if this guy has a problem with this name, then he can come and fight me for it! I don''t care! I formed a small ball of frost in the middle of my lightning body. I shrank as a result of concentrating the lightning around it after a certain point all the lightning bounced off from it, tripled in power, and exploded outward. It created an enormous pillar of deep red lightning that vaporized anything on the town square. I called this [God of Thunder]. My body turned to normal and I was physically drained. You would think something like this would drain my mana but nope. Because my body was lightning before I used this, I¡¯m immune to lightning attacks for the duration of phase 2 of [Dagger torrent] and 10 minutes after I get out of it. If the actual god of thunder would appear now, he wouldn''t be able to do anything to me for 9 more minutes.

    I hop onto Uraya¡¯s balcony, still a bit wobbly because I''m exhausted and my feet hurt like hell. They weren''t bleeding yet. I only felt a little bit nauseous. Nature magic is helping out a lot here. I asked her for my shoes but just like all the other townspeople they are staring at the crater I just made with their mouth open. Granny Uraya looked quite cool with shades. I located my shoes and put my feet in them. Ouch! This might be a painful day. My body seemed to recover faster than my feet. It seems Uraya would still be staring at the crater for a while. I wave my hand in front of her face but no reaction. I hopped onto the roof which was a big mistake. It felt like my feet were turning into liquid. I grabbed my feet in pain and almost rolled off the roof. I froze myself to the roof just in time. I decided to take off my shoes and make shoes out of frost. The cold could numb my feet so I could walk. I did so. It worked, kind of. I was walking weirdly. Everyone was still looking at the hole anyways. I limped back home. As I reached my bed and got ready to resume my nap, I got a Teleroad message from Ted.

    - What did you do? There is a huge hole in the town square! - - But no big shade that makes a lot of noise, I can finally nap now. -

    - But the town square is an important meeting place for the townspeople! - - I¡¯m sorry but I don''t care. -

    - Wasn¡¯t there another way to defeat it? - -Probably but it is gone now, so nothing we can do about it. -

    - Ugh, what did the people think of your sudden lightning affinity? I¡¯m sure the whole town saw that enormous red lightning pillar you made. -

    - I¡¯m sorry Ted, at the moment there is very little I care about besides keeping us alive and getting rid of this prison. - - I see, Greg was right it does seem that the stress is getting to you. -

    - It will pass if I can get a decent nap in, wake me up when it is time to vaporize the guardian. - - Ok- I tried to sleep but had difficulties, my feet still hurt. I wonder if I can hypnotize myself to sleep. I made a frost mirror and tried to. But my eyes automatically blocked poor attempts of any deception or hypnotism. Thinking that I might not be able to fall asleep, I managed to doze off and get a nice nap.

    <hr>

    I woke up to another energy wave and Ted shaking me. Oh, is it time already? What was that energy wave? Is the big shade back? Yeah, but Raishin nuked it. Now we have 2 big craters in Boshi town. I got up and winced. It wasn''t as much as before but my feet still hurt.

    Hey, I might be a bit useless fighting that guardian, I kind of rekt my feet. Ted sighed.

    Well, there are still a lot of things you can do to help out without moving a lot, just don''t be reckless, ok? Careful is my middle name!

    I¡¯m happy that you feel good enough to joke around but it is not! You are Mr. Reckless!  We headed toward Raishin¡¯s hut but there was no hut only a big crater.

    I knew you were crazy but to think you would blow up your own home. Hey, my aim was a bit off ok! Things like that could happen to anyone! I wholeheartedly disagree with that, all you needed to do was land some glitter on it. Well, he only inconvenienced himself with it so it''s fine.

    I need a place to stay now. We all look at Gregory.

    Wait! what? Why me?! Well, you just said that he only inconvenienced himself with it so I think you should take responsibility for that statement. Agreed! Oooh, a sleepover with Greg!

    Hey, come on guys that''s not fair! I can help you with making potions!

    Noo! You stay away from my lab! You are a danger to fragile objects! Come on! It will be fun!

    Maybe fun for you but not for me! I¡¯m glad that''s settled, now let''s go deal with that guardian, Agnis says he might be unable to do much because this smartass wrecked his feet. [Dagger torrent] Again, eh? Did you take your shoes off this time? Yup! Why are you walking on ice clogs then? To numb the pain in my feet!

    Aha. well, then let''s go. We headed south but since walking was painful, I just teleported them to our location.

    Is it a good idea for you to join us with your feet like this? Hmm, maybe not, but what else can I do? You can snipe those shades! You don''t need to move for that right?

    Fine, I will do that. Don''t go dying now that I''m not there. We won''t! I teleported back home and made my 1 km frost pillar. I made my ice bow and sniped shades. I didn''t use my tails this time.

 Ch 52: Gangsta Mole

    We discovered a cave after Agnis teleported back.

    Hey, I know his feet hurt but was it a good idea to send him back? How are we going to find the root without his eyes? We will figure something out; we can''t keep relying on him. This might give him time to rest and get rid of some stress. That is if he doesn''t get stuck in another space like that.

    Yeah, we got lucky that we only got caught in one once! Hmm, I don''t think it is related to luck. I think this prison complex is targeting him specifically, probably because he is a nine-tailed fox. Why is that?

    Think about it if you use some time-related item to lock someone in a prison and a creature that is known to easily mess with that appears, don''t you think that would be a huge oversight? I think there is a defense mechanism to deal with that. Just as I think that these shades are a defense mechanism to deal with anyone trying to lift the seals. They don''t seem to randomly attack people but if we get close, they attack. Hmm, now that you mention it, that seems to be the case. I had no clue what Greg and Ted were talking about. But they would definitely figure out how to deal with any problem. We kept walking and walking and I just got the feeling that we were lost.

    Hey, just curious, you¡¯re not letting Greg lead, are you? Oh shit! I forgot that Gregory has a poor sense of direction! I just walked with you guys! Don''t blame me!

    Can we get Agnis back? I don''t want to spend a whole day being lost! Even if that would be the best idea how do we go about it? We don''t know where we are!

    Note: Don''t go adventuring underground without bringing your nine-tailed fox friend. We can do this! I think we need to go that way! We just came from there!

    It is time for my intuition! Oh? You can turn it on at will?

    Nope! Ehh what is it telling you?

    Nothing! Ted stomped on the ground.

    Then how is it helping? I heard someone say: Crack. Hey Greg, did you say something? No? Crack crack.

    See! I knew it! You said ¡®Crack¡¯! Why would I say ¡®Crack¡¯, wait did you say ¡®Crack?¡¯ I looked down and the floor under us seemed to unfloor itself. We fell down and I tried to try and break our fall but there was water below us.

    Someone do something! Don''t let us hit the water! But we don''t have to use any magic or skills the water will break our fall. Nooo! Greg freaked out and created an earth pillar that pushed us away from the water.

    Great! Now we will go splat on the floor! Better than falling in the water! It is not! Ted unleashes the bear inside and catches us with his bear ghost thing.

    Thanks, Ted. Phew, we almost got assassinated by Greg. Where are we?

    Hey doesn''t this look like a bathtub to you guys? Don¡¯t be silly Raishin¡­ hmm it does look like a bathtub indeed. It is quite large though.

    Ha! Imagine! I bet this is the bathtub of the guardian! If that is the case, I''m glad the bath wasn''t occupied while we fell down.

    Just zap him while he is taking a bath! Easiest win ever! That feels dirty¡­

    What? do you want to wait till he is bathed and clean to zap him? Ha, he beat you with a pun there! The worst part is that he probably didn''t even notice¡­

    Let''s go find this clean freak! I think I feel the root¡¯s presence. It feels, diluted... That is bizarre. We left this bigass bathroom. Whatever lives here doesn''t seem to believe in doors.

    Hey, do you hear that? What is this? A song? If Agnis was here he could add his [Boss music].

    Why did he even pick up a useless skill like that? It isn''t useless! The sound got louder and we started hearing what this song was.

    Hey, this is a rap! When you think you''ve seen it all. We entered a hall and in the middle of we saw a 4-meter-tall mole with shades rapping and breakdancing. His clothes were really cool. I wonder where he got them. Of course, it¡¯s a rapping and breakdancing mole.

    <hr>

    I''m the underground king, like a mole in the dark

    Rhymes so cold they''ll leave you with a frozen heart

    I got a flow that''s smoother than a protein shake

    Breakin'' down beats, like a breakdancer, ain''t no mistake

    I rule the underground, the king of the throne

    With a gangster''s flow and a breakdancer''s tone

    Blind to the haters, I''m standing tall and proud

    I''m the mole, underground, the king of the crowd

    I''m living life on the edge, with no sight to see

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    But my rhymes are hotter than a broccoli tree

    My beats are sick, they''ll blow your mind

    I''m the blind mole with the underground grind

    I''m rooted deep, like the earth below

    My rhymes are solid, like rocks you know

    My skills underground, like a precious gem

    Ain''t no one stopping me, I''m at the top again

    <hr>

    Wow, he¡¯s good! I¡­ I¡¯m impressed. Hello Mr. Mole, we are looking for a pink tree, are you, its guardian? The gangsta mole turned around, faced us, and lifted his shades.

    ¡°A pink tree? Can¡¯t say I¡¯ve seen one! Hahahaha!¡± Hahaha! Ugh. Is there something you are guarding by any chance? Can we take a look at it?

    ¡°Who is that!¡± Oh sorry, I¡¯m Ted, this is Raishin and this is Gregory

    ¡°Huh where!¡± We¡¯re right here!

    ¡°Oh, my bad, I didn''t see you there! Hahaha¡± I love this guy he is really funny and he can even rap! Hey, Ted, he is a mole, you are setting yourself up for mole jokes¡­

    ¡°Hahaha, mole jokes! What can I do for you homies?¡± Hey, Ted, you¡¯re getting owned in the pun department. We are looking for something pink.

    ¡°Pink? Why are you looking for it? You have one on your hand each, they are next to your ring finger!¡± Noo, that is a pinky! Hahaha, Ted, he is blind! Why are you asking him about colors?! I couldn''t keep in my laughter; I was really hoping this mole wasn''t the guardian. He is too cool and funny to vaporize. We are feeling Agnis¡¯ absence right now, although he might have joined in with this mole.

    ¡°What? Do I hear that right? You have a mole in your group?¡± Hahaha! So fitting, if we did have a mole in our group Agnis would have the right skills for it! Hey, Moleguy do you want to join our team? Hey, don''t just invite random people ehh moles into our group!

    ¡°Who are you calling a mole guy? The name is Molerock, a professional rapper and breakdancer!" So, who pays you?

    ¡°Nobody¡­¡± Molerock looked down and seemed depressed. Wait is looking down accurate? He is blind so he is blinding down? Blind what you did! You made him depressed!

    ¡°Ha, I blind what you did there!¡± Guys, can we stop the mole puns? You want mole puns? Gotcha!

    No! Aagh! We¡¯re getting nowhere. Did you find any large organic or magical object that gives off a vast amount of magical energy?

    ¡°A vast amount of energy? Do my protein shakes count?¡± Your... Protein shakes?

    ¡°Protein shakes are shakes with a high amount of pro¡­¡± Yes, I know what a protein shake is! But why would you bring those up?

    ¡°Well 5 years ago I was just doing ma thing ya know, just diggin'', chillin'', rappin¡¯ breakdancin¡¯ and I hit this thing that emitted a lot of magic. So, I was like yo! If I make this into a protein shake, I can get bulked up and replenish mana! So, I breakdance chopped it into pieces, did some grindin¡¯ and windin¡¯, and turned it into a protein shake¡± Molerock started walking and we followed. We entered a huge kitchen with an even huger fridge. ¡°It was quite the big boy so here it is!¡± He opened the doors to his fridge and it was filled with gazillions of bottles of pink broccoli juice. You... You turned the root into protein shakes? There is no mistaking¡­ that is our target¡­ Won¡¯t this give you a stomach ache?

    ¡°Good question! It did at the start but I upgraded my toilet to accommodate it!¡± Wouldn¡¯t the normal solution be to get rid of the problem? We are interested in your protein shakes, what do you want for them? ¡°Are you coming after my life!?¡± No, just your protein shakes.

    ¡°Same thing!¡± We will try to fulfill any request you have, within our power, to get those shakes!

    ¡°I see how it is, protein shake addicts eh?¡± Yeah, Ted is addicted to his shakes! Hey!

    ¡°Hmm, can do but let¡¯s make it a match! If I win, we will have a weeklong rapping session for the 4 of us! If you win you can have all my shakes!" Deal! Wait Raishin we don''t know the terms!

    ¡°Good! Here are the 3 things we will compete in! Rapping! Breakdancing! And a Digging contest!" Hey, that is favorable for you! Ted smacked me. That is why you always listen to the terms before agreeing! Now we are stuck with this thing we are disadvantaged with! When will the matches be held and is it the best out of the 3?

    ¡°Yes, yes! Be prepared because I will put you in the dirt! The first match is tomorrow at noon, the second one the day after same time and if you somehow manage to get a win in, the last one will be in 2 days at noon!¡± We will bury you! Right, let''s go we need a strategy meeting.

    <hr>

    I''m a conqueror of the underground art

    My rhymes are fire, like a victory spark

    I may be blind, but I see my win

    With my moves, my rhymes, I''m ready to grin

    I''m the champion of the underground

    With a gangster''s flow and a breakdancer''s sound

    Blind to the haters, they can''t bring me down

    I''m the mole, underground, king of the crown

    <hr>

    He started rapping again. Pff, he thinks he has already won! I teleport my buddies to the surface.

    The reason he thinks he already won is that he¡¯s not wrong, can any of you breakdance or rap? I can rap! I can''t dance but I can break things! It shouldn''t be different from martial arts, right? Gregory made a difficult face and facepalmed. I wanted to try out rapping though.

    I will do the rapping! Let Ted breakdance! I want to see that! Ugh, we are so going to lose! Do you think Agnis can rap or breakdance?

    I don¡¯t think so, he doesn''t put the effort into anything he isn''t interested in or likes but if he is then he will probably be uselessly good at it. Hmm, this doesn''t seem like something he¡¯d be interested in. That is fine! I will win the rap battle; Ted will lose the breakdance battle and Greg will win the dig battle!

    Uh, why do you assume I will lose? You will lose and I will win! Why do any of you assume that you are winning? Because winning is what we do! Yo, Yo! Nobody can break our flow!

    Is that your rapping attempt? I need to polish it, I''m getting there. I started to think of the best rap ever it will involve victory, chicks, PB, and my Raishin kick. Ooh, look at that the town looks like an icy porcupine! There are a lot of ice spikes and arrows sticking out of the town. I see a really huge pink shade but Agnis seems to turn it into a pink beehive with ice arrows and finishes it off with frost magic.

    What! What is he doing! He is making an icy porcupine! Hmm, punching holes in the shade so that he doesn''t absorb a lot of energy when he hits it with frost magic. It seems he isn''t taking stupid risks anymore.

    Look at the city! This is why we shouldn''t leave him behind! Eh? It¡¯s fine, right? It seems he is venting and looks like it''s working. He looks quite relaxed. You are right, I haven''t seen him look this relaxed in a while. Let''s hope it stays like that. We went into Boshi town there weren''t many shades left, most of them got one shot by ice arrows.

    It seemed like he stopped caring and just leaves the ice out here. It will melt, it isn''t that cold here. Hey is that donkey? And is that his father?!

    I like what he did here. Is¡­ is that a pinball machine? Ugh, it is half-melted I can''t beat his high score like this. Donkey and some other people were frozen into balls, there was a big pinball machine in this street but it was already melting. Greg inspected the pinballs.

    They will be fine if they just melt let''s go inform Agnis about our challenge. I kicked the donkey ball and followed my buddies.

 Ch 53: Inconsistencies

    I slowly melted the ice pillar I was sitting on. My feet feel fine now but I don''t want to overdo it. Sup! Is the guardian dead? Ehhm, about that¡­ Gregory explained the situation, apparently they met a breakdancing mole guarding pink broccoli shakes and agreed to a match whitout knowing the terms and now they were set up for a losing battle. I can''t believe these guys.

    You guys suck! Never pick a fight you can''t win! Yeah! Gregory smacked Raishin. This is your fault! So, do you have any ideas to win this?

    Hmm, let''s give up on the rap battle, we¡¯re not winning this. But my rap will be awesome!

    He is blind, not deaf! This brings us to the breakdance part, we have already won that one. Huh, why?

    Precisely because he is blind. You are not going to lie to a blind opponent, are you? I¡¯m just bending reality that''s all.

    That is the same! Just give up that is his race¡¯s identity it will be here whether you like it or not. How fast can you dig Greg? Uhh depends on how much mana I need to use for that.

    Right, I will take that one then. I thought you sucked at earth magic!

    Yeah, so? Don''t you need earth magic to dig a hole?

    Let me ask you guys, did I use earth magic to make a hole in the town square? Oooh. Oooh. I guess this area will lose another mountain, that is fine, we have more than enough mountains¡­

    So that is the plan, quite the easy one, did you guys even try? Nope!

    Well, my feet feel better now. I saw a man almost slip over the ice I left behind in the village and forcefully melted all the ice I had lying around. It was time to sell my rubies again. I think I might be the wealthiest person on the continent by now. Maybe the whole world, I don''t know much about the other continents though, maybe the richest person here is a beggar compared to the other 4 continents. I only know there are 4 more, I don''t know their name or their size, and I don''t even know how big this continent is. I know so little of this world it''s frustrating. But that will change after we get out of this town. I headed down the mountain. Had the same interaction with Terry, it seems his name was Jeremiah all along. The conversation seemed to be slightly different but the contents were the same. I assume I will have to deal with Rock tomorrow too. I walked back up the mountain and after entering the town I saw Uraya taking a stroll.

    Oh, I forgot to ask do you need more items for your potion? She stared at me for a bit and spoke.

    ¡°I already got what I needed, I needed something that was magic dense but after you, um, destroyed the town square I managed to capture some residue mana., even more than I needed.¡± I have a question; how would you react if Azu decided to do her own thing after she gets free? Uraya looked at me as if she didn''t understand.

    Oh, with Azu I mean Azurra mist.

    ¡°Oh, I did understand your question, let me think, the thing is she has had to put up with a lot of problems before she got imprisoned, she never really experienced freedom, ironically she seemed the freest I''ve ever seen her the last month or so.¡± Month? Oh, right we have already been at this for over 20 days because of all the time loops.

    ¡°Anyways I will be ok with whatever she decides.¡± We walk around the hole I made. Some citizens decided to make some bridges at the side of the hole so that people could still kind of pass through the town square. ¡°My potion is technically done but it will need to simmer for 2 weeks." So, we will get to see the result in the last timeline? Is it something to help Azu?

    ¡°Something like that yes. And could you be a bit more careful next time? It almost seemed like you blew yourself to pieces.¡± Ugh, suddenly everyone is telling me to be careful, fine! I will do my best.

    ¡°Good, now go be a good kid and go do some kid stuff for once.¡± With those words, granny Uraya disappeared to her shop after a short wave. Wait, what does she mean by that? Kid stuff? What do kids do these days? Donkey likes to bully, and troll likes stalking. Is this what society has devolved to? Bullying and stalking? I could do that. So, who am I going to stalk? I slipped into stealth. I looked around and saw Charlize and the troll chatting while heading toward the bakery. Found my targets! I sneaked around. The moment they were putting their foot on the floor I made a minuscule [Frozen ground] and made them slip.

    ¡°Ow!¡± they looked around and at their feet but I instantly made the [Frozen ground] disappear so it looked like they slipped over nothing. I sneaked behind them and tapped both of their shoulders. They looked at each other and asked what was wrong but became confused. Hmm, this isn''t as fun as I thought it would be. I decided to go home and do some casual blacksmithing

    <hr>

    Day 3: You thought I would wake up to an energy wave, eh? Well, you¡¯re wrong! I got up super early to investigate what this bullshit is all about. I''m here hanging on my [Lightning Umbrella] and waiting for something to happen while scanning the town. This energy wave better hurry up before my umbrella will take me to space. And there it is the energy in the sewers starts to swell and pushes it out through some weakness in the fabric of space. It creates an energy wave and the energy forms into shades. Yikes, that''s a lot of mutants. Luckily a lot of shades fall into the holes Raishin and I made yesterday. I locked on to the weakness in the fabric of space and managed to fix it. Now ideally, I would want to strengthen it along the sewers but I can¡¯t do that. Not like I don''t know how to do that I just can¡¯t. That is the job of another tailed race, strengthening and stabilizing space and structures, would make a good sidekick but I forgot which tailed race did that. It is not like they are common or easy to find so that wouldn''t have mattered anyways. Now that this is fixed hopefully, I won''t have to wake up early. That there will be no shades is just a side-effect. I grabbed the umbrella with my tail and hung upside down.

    I took out my frost bow and wondered if I should do this. It would be better if I dropped my eternal winter and winter''s end combo. I decided against it. I wouldn''t know what to do with the remaining 5 or 6 nukes after I wiped out all the shades. It would also take a while and I¡¯m seriously high up now because it took a while for them to appear. The air started to become a bit thin and the clouds were getting in the way. I shot ice arrows and it seemed that from this height they really picked up speed and seemed to grow stronger. Do my arrows get stronger based on my distance? Is it because it is like -30 ¡æ up here? Distance is easy to check. I shot my ice arrow as hard as I could toward a mountain in the Umbra mountain range, totally not a mountain close to the potato village. Ohh that is a lot of damage, the arrow that I shot made a sizeable crater. Hehe, I am so overpowered! The ice melted quite fast though.

    Right, I got to snipe these shades. The town was really small under me. I could see some villages in the distance and what is that? I focused on something super far but shiny. Is that a city? It sure looks huge. I got distracted and looked at what was going on inside the city. I never zoomed in on something this far before. This city seems to be very distant. What is this a golden city block? How tacky. There seem to be enormous differences between this city and Boshi town. Is this even the same country? I don''t know, my eyes can''t see the borders of countries. Anyways, the air started to become thin I think I should cancel my umbrella. I entered freefall and started sniping shades. I might or might not have added multiple craters to Boshi¡¯s pavement. So, I have sniped all the shades but I¡¯m nowhere near the ground. Why am I falling so slowly? Well, this works out because I haven''t figured out how to land but if I fall this slowly does that matter? I decided to land in a huge pile of snow. I have to do it close to home because Terry will ring the door soon. I shot an arrow at my destination and made it explode into a huge pile of snow. Now to land¡­ Did gravity break or something? I gently fell into the pile of snow almost 18 minutes later.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Terry arrived on time; he seemed like he got spooked by what he calls some freakish hail that destroyed the shades. The exchange went well, Rock didn''t give me any issues. I needed to kill some time. I went to Gregory¡¯s house and read some more books about metals rocks and minerals. Gregory joined me in the reading session. It seems like he was reading up on some potions.

    Ever thought of weaponizing your potions? Gregory looked up from his book.

    Do you want me to become like Raishin? How would I be able to control the effects after throwing it? You can use water magic, use it. I think I¡¯m fine like this now, besides we already have you as a water user. We continued reading our books.

    How are your stress levels and do your feet still hurt? I looked up from my book.

    I think I¡¯ve de-stressed for the most part, my feet are fine, it¡¯s just¡­ What is it? I seem to have gotten lighter¡­ I hope this isn''t something bad and I poof out of existence when my weight hits 0. Hmm, I think it might just be related to your race, you were around the same weight as us when we were in Hourai but your weight decreased over time. Did it? I don''t know if that is normal for your race, I don¡¯t even know what is normal for my race. Do you have any weird stuff happening? Well, I do know that I¡¯m highly resistant to curses and that nothing can wipe out my shadow, how useful that is¡­ I don''t know but I also think my shadow talks to me sometimes. So, you are finally going crazy? I don¡¯t know. What is it saying? I don¡¯t know, I didn''t pay attention to it. Does it feel malicious? It doesn''t. Try listening to it, you can decide what to do after that. Sounds reasonable. We continued reading.

    How skilled do you think Raishin is at rapping? Gregory looks up from his book.

    We are 100% going to lose this round. Thought as much. I closed my book.

    It is time to go. Let¡¯s make this loss quick, what is the status on the shades? I found out what was spawning them and I think I fixed it. The streets are shade free. Gregory opens the door.

    Oh, we just were about to ring the door. Raishin and Ted were standing in front of Gregory¡¯s door.

    How is the rap coming along Raishin? Oh! You will hear it during the match! This win is ours! We looked at Raishin it seemed like none of us believed that he would win but maybe he has a really good rap.

    So, is it just a rap or is it a rap battle? A rap battle? What is that? We all facepalmed.

    Yup, we lost this one. I can¡¯t say that I¡¯m surprised. We headed underground and descended into something that looked like a big bathroom. I looked around and just as my buddies said a weird energy was emanating from this moles fridge. It was the energy that was characteristic of the root. I sneakily made a shadow clone and covered it in a 5 layered illusion. I sent the clone with my buddies and I headed toward the kitchen in stealth. I inspected the kitchen there didn''t seem to be any magic traps or systems in place to protect the fridge, it was just a kitchen. I used my wires to open the enormous fridge. Rows and rows of refrigerated pink bottles could be seen in this fridge.

    There was no mistake, this was the root in liquid form. I created 4 shadow clones and loaded all the bottles into my dimensional pocket. I scanned the whole area to make sure there were no leftover bottles, there seemed to be one in what looked like a bedroom and there is one on a table next to the breakdancing mole. I raided the fridge. I stored all the bottles in my dimensional pocket. I didn''t touch anything that wasn''t pink protein shakes. I dropped a 10-layered illusion on the fridge to make it seem like I never raided this mole¡¯s fridge. I wanted to close the door and go after the leftover bottles when I realized I missed something. My illusions are generally as effective as the knowledge I have of the situation I think that that is the whole reason that my eyes can do what they do, now some things can¡¯t be seen with my eyes. I took a bottle out of my dimensional pocket, opened it, and smelled it. Ugh, this smells terrible. I took a sip but almost spat it out.

    Yuck protein shakes are not my thing, doesn''t he put flavoring in them? I returned the bottle to my dimensional pocket and adjusted my illusion so that it won''t get unmasked by simply opening a bottle and taking a sip. I almost made an illusionist rookie mistake. I closed the fridge door. And headed toward the living room. Invading rooms is quite easy because there are no doors. I swap that protein shake with an illusion too. The only one left is the one next to the rapper mole. I head over to the living room in stealth. It seems they haven''t started yet. But at this point, it doesn''t matter. Even if we lose, we will still get our hands on the shakes because we already have all the shakes. We just have to destroy them at the right time. It is different from our original plan which was, beat the guardian, and then we don''t have to worry about that on day 5, but this works too. Now that we basically already won, let''s try to enjoy these next couple of days. Neither my buddies nor the rapping mole seemed to have noticed that my clone is pretending to be me nor that I¡¯m sneaking to the table to replace the last shake. I successfully replaced the shake. A moment after I did the mole reached for the shake. I guess this is the moment of truth. He downed it in one go and seemed to have no clue he just downed an illusion. Guess that¡¯s it, we won. I relaxed on the table and saw how Raishin and the mole got ready for their match.

    ¡°Are you ready to lose?! Who of you is going to rap? Or are all of you going to rap? I sense that you have an extra is it a pet? It seems to be light but moves as if it is a human.¡± Oh, he must be talking to me, maybe he detects presences by how heavy they are. It¡¯s a good thing that I reduce many things to 0 while sneaking around, Currently, in stealth, my weight is almost nonexistent. Is this driving my weight down or is it just a race thing as Gregory said? I thought back to my days spending time with Viridian and Hisui, I¡¯m trying my best to remember, but I think it also seemed like gravity didn''t apply to them.

    ¡°I will give you the honor to start, do your worst mate!¡± Haha, don''t get discouraged when my rap is going to blow your mind! Alright! Be prepared to be amazed!

    <hr>

    Yoyo, My name is Raishin yo!

    I will blow you away with my electrifying flow!

    Just like my Raishin kick, I will blow you to pieces

    My spear will impale you just like I will do with your nieces

    Seducing chicks is what I do

    We will beat your mole ass till you see blue

    But you are blind so you won''t see a thing!

    As we kick your ass and knock you out of the ring!

    I facepalmed but at least this rap was better than I expected, but this rap is a bit lacking¡­

    Yo listen up, I''m the mole with rhymes so cold

    Gonna diss this terrible rap, and leave it untold

    I''m the king of the underground, with skills so real

    While this other rap is just wack, it''s no big deal

    I''m the mole, with bars so tight

    Dissing this terrible rap, with all my might

    I got the flow, and the rhymes to spare

    Leaving this terrible rap, beyond repair

    My rhymes are sick, and my flow is insane

    While this other rap, just ain''t got the skill to remain

    I''m the king of the underground, and I''m not to be messed with

    Leaving this terrible rap, in the dust, it''s just a myth

    <hr>

    Well, no surprise there in my opinion the mole won. It seems Gregory and Ted think the same.

    ¡°Well, I guess you were lucky we didn''t agree on a rap battle but I think this is my win.¡± How come you weren''t affected by my rap? It was supposed to mentally destroy you! Silence fell, nobody seemed to know what to say in response to that.

    ¡°Practice more and maybe one day you will, I got this win in the bag, not looking so good for you guys¡± Raishin seems down and Ted consoled him. Well, that was a waste of time. I disagree with Gregory but he doesn''t know what I''ve been up to. My buddies and my clone headed back to the surface. I stayed to see what the mole was up to after we left. He just started to rap again and after that, he headed over to a room I hadn¡¯t visited yet. It seemed to have some weird appliances. He seemed to start to work out using these odd appliances. I concluded that this mole is harmless and just living its life. Now that the shakes have been acquired things seem to be looking well. My clone separated from my buddies so I cancelled it and I was free to move around. I walked through the streets and remembered that only bad things happen when I do this.

 Ch 53.1: Inconsistencies part 2

    The moment I decided to teleport home I saw Gianni walking with his girlfriend. I got home and went to the kitchen because I felt like eating some ice cream so I made some. I halted. Wasn¡¯t Gianni supposed to arrive tomorrow? I continued making ice cream. I tried to remember when he was supposed to arrive but my memory failed me. I only interacted twice with Gianni in these time loops.

    The first time I got a magic sword from him which I fixed and I used it the next day. I slowly started to remember. I used the magic sword on the last day on which we destroyed the root. This means Gianni arrived on day 4, I don''t remember on which day I had that fight against Donkey and Monkey but if I go with the original timeline, he is a day too early. I think this shouldn''t be a big problem but my instinct says something else. I never had my instinct tell me something different. Is this how Raishin feels all the time? Events have been different but they never jumped days. Does this mean that Gianni''s journey was one day shorter? Or¡­ I dropped what I was doing and headed over to where I saw Gianni and his girlfriend.I located them and pretended to casually walk up to them. I needed to check several things. Hey Gianni, how was your journey?

    ¡°My journey? I didn''t go anywhere, have we met before?¡± My intuition was right, this is worse than I thought, first I wanted to know if he was still a merchant, second if his journey was just a day faster, and lastly if the relationship between us was still the same. This one reply gave the answer to 2 of them. Oh, sorry, I might have misheard Hera, I thought she said you were coming back from a merchant travel.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry you might have misheard, I¡¯m just a postman, not a merchant.¡± This is even worse than I thought, Gianni hates postmen. My bad, sorry for disturbing your date.

    ¡°Date? I''m just having a stroll with my sister, but don''t worry about it.¡± My bad. I walked away. That was embarrassing. His girlfriend is his sister now? What more has changed in this timeline? The mothers still seemed the same, the bullies¡­ I don''t know, they seem afraid of me but I defeated them swiftly. Also, I don''t have that many interactions with people inside the town. I felt a bit sad that my friend wasn''t my friend in this timeline anymore. My intuition still told me something was wrong. Why is this wrong? What else is wrong? I thought things would get easy now that we have the shakes.

    -Gregory, I am teleporting over to your house, drop everything you are doing. - -This sounds serious, I''ll be downstairs in 1 minute. - I teleported over to Gregory¡¯s living room. Gregory came downstairs.

    We have a situation. Remember our talk earlier today? Yes, I do.

    I think my nine-tailed spirit fox instinct is telling me there are things in this timeline that are wrong. I¡¯m listening.

    So, I just encountered Gianni, he is not a merchant, he is a postman, his girlfriend is now his sister and you might remember more clearly but today wasn''t the day he was supposed to be in town These details make my intuition go wild but what the implications are or what actions we should take are unknown to me. Hmm, Gianni was supposed to arrive tomorrow yes, if your intuition tells you that this is a problem then it is. I don''t think we can correct this, was there anything you could see that was off?

    Anything that is off? Nothing made sense several timelines ago. I don¡¯t know what is supposed to be right or wrong, I didn''t pay enough attention to our original timeline. Don¡¯t blame yourself, it was impossible to know that we would get stuck in a time loop¡­

    Yes, but that isn''t helping us at all. So, what do you think the implications are?

    I have no idea, maybe the fabric of space gets messy I don''t know! oh. Did you figure it out?

    Nope but this reminds me of what happened when those people appeared that tried to kidnap us. Kidnap us? Oh, you mean the dimensional blinks in Hourai?

    Yeh, the fabric of space gets messy when that happens. Do you mean that something is trying to dimensional blink here?

    I don¡¯t know but it looks like that. Hey Agnis, do you remember the message that you deciphered from dodging the pink spears?

    No? Ugh, the message that you deciphered was ¡°The real one isn''t here¡±

    Oooh! So, you remember?

    Nope! I hate you. You really need to pay more attention to things. Anyways, what if the real one is trying to dimensional blink here?

    Possibly, it is going to be a huge problem if it gets through, it might irreparably tear the fabric but what that will do, I don''t know, probably chaos. It is chaos now it won''t be any less chaos than this. So, what do we do, do we do nothing?

    I am wondering if I should try and fix the fabric of space or at least try, I can only make holes in it and fix the holes. I don''t know how to make it neat but the thing is, even if I figure out how to fix it, should I? If the last root or whatever the ¡°real¡± one is will appear when it breaks through, I will be sabotaging all our efforts. So, it is to allow chaos to descend on Boshi town or stay trapped here¡­

    I¡­ I think I should prepare to fix the hole this will make¡­ I don¡¯t know if I can¡­ If I survive all this, please remind me to find a nine-tail fox to teach me all this stuff. Don¡¯t say that, it might get rough but we will get out of this. We just have to figure out how to avoid lethal mistakes.

    There is something I need to tell you, and please keep this secret from Ted and Raishin, I lost 2 lives last timeline right before I came to save you guys. What! How, how did that happen?

    The reason you guys couldn''t find me was because I was stuck in one myself. Breaking out of the space as I did before wasn''t a 100% guarantee if I would just die trying that wouldn''t have been an issue but I could get stuck in a void forever so I tried to not recklessly force my way out. The space was full of intangible shades and they were shooting lasers at me and multiplied rapidly. I made the decision to self-destruct because if they would catch me, they would overwhelm me and tear through my 5 lives easily. I blasted the area with frost magic and the intense energy influx killed me after which my core temperature dropped to -84 ¡æ and killed me again. I would have died a 3rd time if Azu didn''t heal me and prevented me from bleeding out while I was unconscious. I don''t know how she got me out of there but I woke up the next morning. Gregory was silent. It looked like he was sorting out his feelings and tried to come up with something to say but he kept silent.

    I''m sorry, I do not know how to react to that but I should have expected this, when we were stuck, we came close to dying so many times, luckily, we didn''t¡­ And it wouldn''t be weird that we would lose some lives along the way with how things are going but still. You already blew through more than half of your lives while we haven''t lost any¡­ I think maybe¡­ maybe we aren''t taking enough risks... What if being too careful has the effect that you have to do more¡­ Hey, listen, I''m not doing all this because I think I have to, I''m doing this because I want to. I don''t feel forced to do anything.

    Yes, that might be right, but does that matter? Look what situation that brought us. Maybe we should stop holding Raishin back, and maybe I should play a more active role. Don¡¯t force yourself, letting Raishin thing is one thing but if you have to force yourself to do something you are not familiar with it might come to bite you back when it matters.

    I will keep that in mind. We felt an energy wave. We ran outside and what we saw was¡­ the Umbra mountains getting hit by a [Foxfire: Winter¡¯s end]?

    What is going on? Did you?

    No! Is this? The same attack you used at the beginning of the timeline?

    It is, nothing is lining up here, the number specific to this timeline disappeared, everything is wrong! I noticed something and protected Gregory with frost magic. A second later the whole town got frozen in frost.

    See this is what doesn''t make sense! The town should freeze over before a foxfire gets cast! Did everyone get frozen?

    Besides you and me yes. I undid the frozen town.

    This isn''t right, come with me. I led Gregory to the town square. The town square was crowded because, for some reason, the hole I blew into the town square was fixed.

    Oh, no this is bad. Greg, I will need you to watch the sky and prepare to defend the whole town, I will forcefully move everyone away from the town square, also if you remember any big events like these, please remind me. I pulled as many townspeople from the town square as swiftly and safely as possible with my wires. Judging by what has happened before, there could be no tell that indicates when my past [God of thunder] goes off, the town froze after the nuke on potato village went off. So, this nuke might go off before I see a [dagger torrent], also¡­ the foxfire I dropped on the town hasn''t gone off yet. As I pull people off the town square the sky starts to brighten. An enormous blue fireball appeared in the sky. Maybe, just maybe I should find a different skill to wipe out the shades¡­ But what happened next surprised me more. Gregory formed an enormous shadow dome over the town. I saw Gregory chugging anti-nausea potions. A large tremor shakes the whole town as my foxfire hits Gregory¡¯s [Shadow dome].

    Hey, Agnis, how about using some weaker attacks to wipe out the shades next time? Yeah, I was thinking the same. Numerous ice arrows rain down on the town. Right, that happened too, sadly not only once. Gregory canceled his dome. I should give him a cursus on using nature energy although I don''t remember if he was proficient in it. I took out my tails, took out my ice bow, and shot the ice arrows down that were raining down while my tails were controlling the wires to pull people off the town square. A lightning blast goes off near Raishin¡¯s hut followed by another blast on the potato village.

    Bad news Greg, another blast went off on potato village, these things might not happen just once. More ice arrow rain this time coming from the sky and I saw a [dagger torrent] appear on the town square. Some people got caught in it. Great now I had to figure out how to break my own skill, I worked so hard to make sure it had minimal weaknesses. I decided to pull out all the mana by sending a wave of frost magic out of it and pulling the wires apart with my own wires. It didn''t work that well but it was enough to pull the trapped townspeople out of it. The dagger storm was still purple but I saw a red flash collapse into a point.

    This is bad. Greg, can you deal with this ice rain? I need to freeze this red lightning nuke, also it might be a bit much to ask but could you pull mana out of me as I do so? Gregory nodded and also took his tail out. I stopped sniping the ice arrows and focused my eyes on the town square. There are still too many people on the town square I have to turn this lightning nuke into a frost pillar the instant it appears. In the corner of my eyes, I see some [Aurora Bearealis] shoot some ice arrows down. I see the charge build-up. I prepare some mana expensive skills and ready them to aim at the sky. I don''t need these things to come back on us later. The split second after the first sign of the red lightning pillar appears I freeze it and send thousands of spatial bolts in the air; I feel Gregory pulling mana out of me while still dealing with the continuous ice rain. My body is hurting but I''ve had worse. Gregory seems to be feeling nauseous. I approached him while sending nature energy into his body to help him recover while still working my wires to pull everyone off the town square.

    What is going on? I explain the situation to Ted.

    This is bad. Another nuke goes off at Raishin¡¯s hut.

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    Why is this happening now? I don''t know but it looks like something is wriggling behind the fabric of space, it looks gross and it makes me nauseous but it might give us a clue about what is happening next. My nature magic couldn''t keep up with all these nausea triggers.

    What is Raishin doing? His intuition told him to go into the sewers and deal with the shades there. What? But he will get his mana corrupted down there!

    I told him the same thing but he said that he feels that it will work out¡­ Hey, Greg, what are the special lightning tiger traits? I¡¯m not sure¡­

    Wouldn''t it make sense that a race that generates infinite amounts of energy in various forms would be highly resistant or immune to mana corruption? That actually makes a lot of sense. Hmm, yeah it would be hard to imagine having a race get their mana system overloaded when they are responsible for generating insane amounts of it¡­

    Well, if that is true or not, Raishin¡¯s intuition has yet to be incorrect, let¡¯s believe him in this. If he is keeping the shades in check that works for us because the appearance of the shades in town is something we don''t need right now. The ice rain that halted started again so I shot some down but they got vaporized when another blue ball of fire appeared in the sky.

    Greg, I¡¯m freezing the town, it is the only way we can do this without eventually slipping up and having a lot of people die. You are not going to self-destruct, are you?

    I am going to form as many fox fires as I need, since potato village is more than ash right now, I will just dump all of these there. Can you fetch as many anti-nausea potions as you can? I¡¯m reaching my limit and I think I will be doing this for a while. What do you want me to do?

    Get rid of ice arrows that might hit me. I took out all my tails and chucked as many fox fires as I could on potato village. I tried to get my mana as low as possible before freezing the town. Moments before the foxfire dropped on the town I used [Eternal winter], weirdly this didn''t hit Ted and Gregory, and I started chucking more fox fires. I paused because ehhm, I had to empty my stomach. It had been a while since I felt this but yet again it felt like bugs were crawling through my veins. It was so intense that I would prefer exploding in blood as I did in that closed space in the last timeline.

    Are you alright? No, I¡¯m not but this won¡¯t kill me, I think. This feeling makes me want to kill myself though.

    You¡¯re bleeding¡­ Yeah, I have to focus on dumping this mana. The ice rain started again and Ted blocked the arrows heading for us and shot some extras down. Another foxfire appeared above the sky paired with a [God of thunder] on the town square. All the people were gone from the town square. That wouldn''t matter because everything is frozen but if I pass out the town will stay frozen and since I¡¯m not conscious to keep it non-lethal it might wipe out everyone. Another huge shadow dome gets cast over the town. Ted catches 2 bottles thrown at him and passes them on to me. I see Gregory chugging a potion as I do the same. It didn''t remove it but made it more bearable. I chugged the second potion. The nausea persists.

    So, I¡¯m starting to run into a similar problem as Agnis. I will soon have to dump this energy; My shadow was already quite saturated from the fox fires he dropped on my shadow on day 0.

    There is a lovely ash potato village in the Umbra mountains, I¡¯d suggest you drop it there. I don''t have a ranged option to dump mana¡­ I always have to be close. Hey guys, I know that this isn''t something that I would normally say but¡­ what if we just let everyone die, it isn''t worth it right? As you guys said before they will be back next timeline. We look at Ted.

    No offense but why do you think I''m protecting the whole village? I¡¯m protecting you guys, Uraya, Hera, Philip, Paul, Paula, and Gianni, most of these attacks would turn this town into ash or an ice comet field, also I¡¯m a little bit fixing my own mistakes. It sucks but he is right, most of these things are also our fault and if we¡¯re trying to save a small group of people we might as well try to save others as collateral. The dome trembles as it absorbs yet another foxfire.

    I am also concerned for Raishin. I haven''t seen any big blasts which is his signature fighting style, unless¡­ Unless? Hey, are you thinking of what I¡¯m thinking of?

    Ted, can you go into town and fetch Uraya, Hera, Philip, Paul, Paula, Gianni, and his girlfriend as well as other people you care for and I forgot. Yeah, please place them far outside the town, maybe also bring Cecilia, Charlize, and her family. Uhh, ok, what is this about?

    Does [Solar stream] ring any bells? Oh shit! I''m on it! As Ted leaves, Gregory''s dome drops, and the ice arrow rain it was blocking after absorbing the foxfire started to rain down on the town again.

    Is there any end to this? The question is: will nausea incapacitate us before or after Raishin¡¯s [solar stream] arrives?

    -Hey guys! The sewers are crowded, I hope if you guys don''t mind but I used [Solar stream]. - -That is fine but you could have warned us earlier, we already assumed you did because we didn''t see or feel any big blasts coming from the sewer. - - Yeah, please warn us beforehand next time, how long ago did you use it? -

    - Uhh 5 or 6 minutes ago. - - Right, good luck there, we will be busy here too. - I chucked more fox fires on ash potato village while chugging more potions. They didn''t seem to be working anymore.

    Ugh, my potions don''t seem to be working anymore, did we become resistant to them? That would be a cruel joke, please tell me we just reached the maximum effect that it can give us. Our focus started to slip. The edges of the town started to lose the protection of my frost. I also missed my fox fire and sent it way too far. It might have flown over the border and vaporized something in the next country. If I do this in the last timeline that might cause a war.

    Hey, I think we should start running. You expect me to run with this nausea? If I move one step my dinner of last night will come out.

    Ha! I already got my dinner of 2 days ago out of my stomach! How cute! I got my dinner of last week out of my stomach! But seriously, aren''t we quite screwed?

    Hmm, do you think you could survive a [solar stream]? You are quite tanky after all. I¡¯m as likely to survive that as you are able to dodge it when it comes into the atmosphere. You can¡¯t dodge lightspeed attacks, can you?

    Of course not! -The targets are safe- - This might be much to ask but could you add 2 more targets to that list? -

    - If there is still time sure, who are the targets? - - Agnis Hourai and Gregory Sheru-

    - Oh for fucks sake guys! I¡¯m coming! Don¡¯t die! - So how long do you think we have and how long do you think Ted needs to get here? I heard a loud bear roar and something really big flew at us.

    I think there is your answer. Ted went into big bear form and used his big bear avatar to launch himself at us. He crashed next to us and pulverized the building he landed on. The temperature started to rise. The attack is getting close. Ted¡¯s avatar grabbed us and launched itself toward the direction it came from.

    Greg, do you still have the energy to pull energy out of me? I don''t think I have a choice. As we were still flying away from the location the sky started to become bright. I covered Ted and his bear avatar in frost, protecting us all. Gregory pulled as much mana out of me as he could manage and formed a shadow ball around the frost layer. Because at this rate we will still get hit by the [solar stream], luckily not full on but we might spend a good 1 or 2 seconds in the attack which could be enough to vaporize us unprotected.

    This is going to suck! We got hit by something and it almost instantly broke through the shadow layer. My frost layer held out for a second before the energy influx became too great and I had to cancel it. But that was all we needed to land outside the range of the blast. Gregory did a great job pulling mana out of me. We both ended up vomiting all over big bear Ted¡¯s fur.

    You guys are disgusting but I prefer that over dead. We dropped to the floor but didn''t get up. Any movement was paired with an intensifying wave of nausea. The inside of my mouth was sour and acidic. The [Solar stream] was still ongoing.

    ¡°What is going on?!¡±

    ¡°The town!¡±

    ¡°What in the world?¡± The people Ted saved thawed when they were being transported by Ted or before that. They were surprised, understandably so, the town they had lived in for so long was getting wiped off the map. Hey guys, how about we ban Raishin from using that skill ever again? We didn''t answer but it wouldn''t take a genius to know that we agreed. The solar stream continued for 3 more minutes before it stopped. Most of the people we saved noticed us and came over. I didn''t pay attention to anything they said because I was trying my best to get my nature magic flowing again but I was unsuccessful. The feeling of bugs crawling in my veins and the sensation as if they could break through my skin and crawl out was absolutely horrifying. So, I made a decision. I could only control a little bit of nature energy. So, what I did was temporarily slow the blood flow to my brain to make myself pass out.

    <hr>

    I woke up to an energy wave. I got up in a pool of vomit. The sour disgusting smell assaulted my nose. Yuck, it seems that I even vomited in my sleep. I did feel better now, slightly nauseous. I cleaned up and used water magic for this. I looked around. I was in what seemed like a hut made out of earth and dirt. The whole hut smelled like vomit. Gregory was laying down passed out 2 meters from me, also lying in a pile of his own vomit. I decided to clean him up with water magic too and stepped outside the hut. It was 23;17 but it was really bright outside, why? There was a [Solar stream] dropping on where Boshi town once was. I assume this was the energy wave I felt. There seemed to be a camp made out of earth huts. Only Paul and Philip seemed to be outside.

    ¡°Hey, are you ok? What happened?¡± I still felt weak and sat down. Before that, is there anything to eat? They shook their heads.

    ¡°We only managed to quickly get some vital stuff before we had to evacuate.¡± Paul continued. I took some food out of my dimensional pocket and offered them some food. Philip looked at me wide-eyed but I ignored him. I explained what had happened so far. Paul seemed to be somewhat understanding but Philip was stunned. ¡°I see, I¡¯m sorry there isn''t anything we can do to help you, especially when you¡¯re dealing with things like that.¡± as he pointed at the [Solar stream] that was still falling on ash Boshi town. That''s fine, did Raishin arrive here?

    ¡°Yeah, he was apologetic, but as you described and judging from his story it seemed to be necessary.¡± Well, the idea was good, it¡¯s just the skill he used that is a problem.

    ¡°How is your nausea, I never saw such strong mana rejections as you 2 showed.¡± Mana rejection?

    ¡°Yeah, it is something, my wife¡­ Paula studied in her younger years, it is uncommon but it causes effects like Gregory and yours, it can occur in anyone but if it manifests it¡¯s there to stay. There have been some great witches that had no issues with using large volumes of mana and one day, they couldn''t handle using a fraction of that mana. She could never figure out why it would suddenly appear but her hypothesis is that the rejection only happens if the mana that is used isn''t pure and it seems that the percentage of unusable mana in the ambient magic flows has increased since we got imprisoned." Well, I found a mild loophole, I use nature magic to offset the nausea but I guess it is more treating the symptom than the cause, Gregory is chugging anti-nausea potions like its water. Paula stepped outside a hut.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re awake.¡° Philip was still sitting there shocked and stunned at what he was hearing.

    ¡°We were talking about Gregory and Agnis¡¯ mana rejection.¡±

    ¡°Yes, your cases are quite severe, I don''t even know how you came this far with a mana rejection as severe as that.¡± Well, we mainly use our racial skills so we don''t need to use mana and for some reason, my frost and water element don''t cause it, so that is why I¡¯m known for being a water user in town.

    ¡°Very interesting, interesting indeed, as I found out in my research, lost magic doesn''t trigger mana rejection, this is because for some reason only this branch of magic can form pure mana.¡± Aha, I¡¯ll pretend I understand what that means.

    ¡°Frost magic as you call it always comes with a water affinity attached to it right?¡± Yeah

    ¡°So frost magic converts whatever it absorbs into energy the user can utilize and on itself, it doesn''t cost mana or a minuscule amount, correct?¡± Sounds about right.

    ¡°Now frost magic belongs to lost magic so there is that but also the part of ¡®energy that the user can utilize¡¯ is important. If your body rejects impure mana then the only mana you can use is pure mana.¡± Oooh, so that is why magic I use with mana gained from frost magic doesn''t make me nauseous. But I did that earlier today and for the first time ever it made me nauseous.

    ¡°I don''t know the answer to that one sorry, I never managed to finish my research, because of this prison thing and also because I got kicked out of the witch community.¡±

    ¡°sorry about that¡­¡±

    ¡°It is not your fault Paul; I chose that path.¡± So, did you find any ways to lessen the effects? I assume you didn''t find a solution to it?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but the only solution I found was to keep mana usage within accepted ranges or not use mana at all. Sadly, that is a poor choice for a nine-tailed spirit fox and a three-tailed shadow cat¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey, Paula how are they supposed to do their role with this affliction?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know Paul, maybe the time of this planet has come.¡± Is there really nothing you can tell me about a nine-tail fox''s special traits or skills?

    ¡°I''m sorry, we''ve told you all that we know.¡± Do you know if there are any other nine-tailed foxes down here?

    ¡°I heard a rumor of an old merchant friend of mine but there have been sightings of 3 girls in the neighboring country and that one of those 3 girls is a nine-tailed spirit fox.¡± What country?

    ¡°Lopazh, a small country where a lot of beast kin live.¡± I guess that makes sense. The [solar stream] stopped. I think I¡¯m going to sleep again.

    ¡°Sleep well, and be careful tomorrow, Hera was worried sick.¡± I¡¯d like to say I will be careful but unfortunately, I can¡¯t promise that. Sleep well you 2. Sleep well, Philip. Philip was still looking around shocked and stunned by all the information he just heard. I retreated to my earth hut. Gregory seemed to still be sleeping. I laid down and fell asleep too.

 Ch 54: Breakdance Battle

    This might not be surprising but I got woken up by an energy wave. I looked around and it seemed Gregory had already got up. I stepped outside. Paul was casually roasting marshmallows over a campfire while Cecelia and Charlize were arguing with Hera and Philip, well actually more with Hera, Philip was backing up Hera but not helping much besides that. Their daughters were sitting next to their earth hut looking depressed. I didn''t see Paula or Uraya, nor Gianni and his girlfriend. Raishin was trying to cheer up Charlize and Cecilia''s daughter while Gregory was also roasting marshmallows. I didn''t see Ted either.

    Good morning. I looked toward Boshi town, and as usual, it was continuously getting nuked. As is potato village.

    I expected to be more noise, maybe some crying, screaming, or the like. Paul, Paula, Ted, and I did our best to explain the situation as well as possible. It isn''t easy for them but this is the situation we are in now. They just need time to get over this,

    ¡°Hey, uhm this might be a bit late but we apologize for chasing you and being a bit too obsessive.¡± This apology which doesn''t match the previous timelines starts causing my intuition to send off more alarm bells. We accept the apology, it is water under the bridge so please don''t talk about it

    ¡°Uhm, ok, are you sure?¡± Charlize and Cecilia seemed apologetic. I hope they don''t think that we nuked the village because of them. Yeah, I''m sure Greg will feel the same. Greg sticks up his thumb with his mouth full of marshmallows.

    ¡°So, what do we do now? We can¡¯t leave this barrier and our town is well¡­¡± Cecilia looks at the [Solar stream]. Gregory stands up still chewing his marshmallows. We can make a better settlement with earth magic. The daughters approach.

    ¡°Does this mean that we have to repopulate, us with Gregory and Agnis?¡± Gregory and I get shivers. I would rather not. I will politely refuse.

    ¡°Girls we promised to not press this any further with them. They won¡¯t have a choice anyways now that you are the only girls left from their age range.¡± Maybe my intuition was ringing alarm bells because of this fact. I can volunteer, it is not like you have much of a choice now! He is right you know. Right, Uraya is working on a magic circle to create a proper settlement. Agnis, we need to go do some shade hunting, some have been spotted in the forest several kilometres away from here.

    ¡°Hey, could we join? We need to keep ourselves distracted from our situation.¡± Charlize and Cecilia offered to join. Sure, it might sound rude but try to keep up.

    ¡°Uhh ok.¡± I started to circulate nature energy, took out 3 tails, grabbed Gregory, Charlize, and Cecilia, and dashed off starting with an [Accel step].

    ¡°Whaaa!¡±

    ¡°Ooh, this is soft.¡± I continued speeding up. Hey, Agnis. Hmm?

    I think you forgot to take off your shoes. Shit! At that moment my shoes vaporized.

    Nooo! My favorite pair! Gregory facepalmed.

    I guess I have to temporarily add big rocks and boulders to my archnemesis list. Why is that?

    They are shoeless kick unfriendly! You make no sense. Shades at 2 o clock. I weaved between the trees approaching them. Gregory bound them and sucked them in the shadow with [Shadow bind] and [Shadow meld]. I lit a [Flash bomb] to eliminate the shadows. We decided to go back to the basics. This combo wouldn''t be harmful, except maybe to the eyes.

    There are a lot of shades, can you 2 try to use magic that minimizes the damage to the environment? Preferably control skills that don''t do damage, or else we might get something like that. Gregory points at the continuous nuke on Boshi town.

    ¡°Ehh, sure, we still have to... Get used to these new identities of you¡­¡± That is fine, take your time, as long as you don''t use high damaging magic it should be fine. Another [Shadow meld] [Flash bomb] combo. The wind picked up and it bunched up the shades. The floor froze and made shades slip to one spot.

    Hey, you can scale those attacks up, Greg pull mana out of me and give it to them. Sure. Thousands of shades get slipped and blown to our location while Gregory [Shadow melds] them and I use [Flash bombs]. The shades start to thin in number. We get a bit closer to Boshi town and even though it is supposed to be quite hot here neither Gregory nor the two mothers seem to react.

    Hey, just say so when it becomes too hot. Hmm, now that you say that it doesn''t seem to be any hotter here. Can you get closer, I will tell you when it¡¯s getting too hot.

    ¡°Is this a good idea?¡±

    ¡°Aren''t you curious Cecilia? We¡¯re this close to what Greg described as a [Solar stream] but it doesn''t feel hot at all.¡± It still looks like a solar stream to me but it has no temperature, how odd. We reached the edge of the enormous crater. I looked over at potato village but the nukes that were dropping on it still had their original temperature. Gregory and I threw some shades into the blast and they vaporized.

    How peculiar. How does this feel to you?

    To me, it looks identical to Raishin¡¯s original [ Solar stream] but without the temperature and it looks like it would do damage. Hmm, it feels the same to me but the temperature suggests otherwise. Right, If I show signs of mana corruption can you pull the mana out of me? Wait what! I put my hand in the blast.

    No damage, it is a stream of mana but it doesn''t seem to do anything to me. Greg puts his hand on my shoulder.

    It doesn''t look like anything in your body is getting disturbed by this. He puts his hand in the stream too.

    Again, I¡¯m baffled, I have no idea what is going on.

    "Does this mean we can rebuild Boshi town here?¡± Hmm, our constitution is a bit different from humans, Agnis can you prepare an illusion to undo something I don¡¯t need to but I will pay attention, go ahead. Can you try touching this stream? We can handle whatever happens.

    ¡°Uhh, I don¡¯t know¡­¡± Cecilia took a step back.

    ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± Charlize boldly stuck her hand in the stream. ¡°It feels a bit warm like a ray of sunlight.¡°

    "Huh?¡± Cecilia put her hand in the stream too. ¡°You¡¯re right!¡± Gregory looks at me. I¡¯m out of ideas. Same here, nothing here made sense anyway.

    Let''s see if I can capture this with frost magic. I freeze a net out of frost magic and hold it in the stream to catch the energy and it melts.

    Well, that is interesting, this is lost magic. So, is this caused by the weird stuff that is happening or is this what normally happens when Raishin uses [solar stream]?

    Well, we never stuck around for his solar stream so I have no idea. There is only one way to figure out. Are you out of your mind?

    I thought you already accepted that I am! Let''s get Raishin! I grabbed my passengers and dashed back to the camp.

    Hey! Agnis! Wait! Think this through! I did! He can just drop it on ash potato village!

    But that place is getting nuked continuously! Moreover, we have a breakdance match in 2 hours!

    ¡°You what? We are in a dire situation and you are going to a breakdance match?¡±

    ¡°Isn''t that a bit inappropriate?¡± Look what you''ve done Greg! Ugh¡­

    ¡°Explain yourselves!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve misjudged you¡­¡± Ooh, yes! That¡¯s it! Good job Greg, that is correct! You misjudged us! We¡¯re terrible people!

    ¡°You have a good reason for it right?¡± Ehh no? Give up Agnis, they¡¯re not buying it.

    What can a nine-tailed spirit fox do these days to lose trust?

    ¡°I guess stopping putting so much effort in freeing this town and even sacrificing the few lives you have?¡± You told them? Why not?

    You are going to walk the rest back to the camp! Noo! I apologize!

    Hmpf. I dropped everyone off at the camp, including Gregory.

    Remember! I''m doing this for myself and my buddies! I don''t have a real attachment to this village!

    ¡°Sure, sure, every teenager goes through a phase like this.¡± I¡¯m not a teenager! Well in our races we¡¯re like 1 or 2 years old so you¡¯re not wrong there.

    Ugh, have it your way! Raishin! Stop him! Gregory, Cecilia, and Charlize piled up on me. Let me go! I got [Shadow bound].

    You guys suck, aren''t you guys curious? I am but there is a time and place.

    Time: now, place: ash potato village. You are ridiculous.

    ¡°Potato village?¡± Oh yeah, there is some cultist village somewhere under that mountain. They only fed me potatoes so I nuked them.

    ¡°How could they do that to you, everyone knows you hate potatoes.¡± I know right?! Please don''t encourage him!

    What is Ted up to? Practicing his breakdance.

    Why? Why? So that we can win?

    Why don''t we just cheat? We¡¯re battling a mole, he is blind, and as long as it looks like he is breakdancing we can convince him that Ted was way better. Well, I''m sure Ted won¡¯t agree to that.

    We can''t really afford to lose this one, can we? Gregory sighs. You have a point¡­ I break out of the shadow bind with frost magic.

    The mole can feel our presence by our weight and weight distribution, so he won''t be able to accurately gauge how well Ted can breakdance as long as he tries. Is it that simple? It is that simple.

    ¡°Can we join?¡± Charlize and Cecilia¡¯s daughters asked. Ehhh. I don''t see any issues with that, we are not fighting the mole. Yet.

    ¡°Yaay let''s get ready Leah!¡± Who is Leah?

    ¡°I¡¯m glad, you¡¯re still the same.¡± Charlize¡¯s daughter smiled and pulled Cecilia¡¯s daughter into a hut. You do know that we have to get them on board in cheating now, right? Shouldn''t be hard right?

    I don''t think I''m very persuasive, you handle that. You just don''t feel like talking to them, do you?

    It is good that you catch on quickly! I patted Gregory¡¯s back as I went to get Raishin and Ted.

    Hey, slackers time to go! I entered their hut and saw Ted doing some breakdance moves while Raishin seemed to give him tips.

    Is it time already? I¡¯m not ready yet! Doesn''t matter you will do fine! I grabbed Ted and dragged him out of the hut.

    Wait I need 15¡­ no 10 more minutes! This is breakdancing not a nap, there is nothing you can really improve in 10 minutes! Troll, villager C let¡¯s go.

    ¡°Wait where are we going?¡± They are coming too? Well, Greg decided that so they are his responsibility now. Hey!

    Alright, all on board the Agnis express is going to leave soon! Wait you aren¡¯t going to¡­

    I¡¯m doing exactly that! I still need to get rid of some mana! I grabbed everyone with my tails and dashed off.

    Hmm, it doesn''t feel so bad when you''re dashing without augmentations. I¡¯m going a bit slow here because Greg, these chicks'' mothers, and I did some shade wiping here, I want to make sure nothing is echoing here. Echoing?

    The repeats of those nukes we dropped left and right, I''m calling them echoes. Sounds reasonable. Hehe, do you get it? Sounds? Echo? I dropped Ted.

    Wait wait! I¡¯m sorry! I used [turning leaf] and grabbed him again with my tail.You deserved that. He should have left you behind.

    ¡°You guys are funnier than I remember.¡± Wait who are you? Did I grab the wrong chicks?

    ¡°What?! I know your memory is terrible but this is ridiculous!¡± He is just messing with you; he remembers who you are just not your name¡­ and possibly also not your face¡­

    ¡°Then what does he remember?¡± Trust me I want to know too¡­ Hey guys! Do you want to walk there or something?! By the way Raishin we need to test something after we own this mole. Wait our team has a mole?

    Yeah, I suspect one of these chicks is the mole. So, what do we do?

    Do you see that light beam?

    ¡°Hey, we can hear you guys! Don''t drop us in that light beam!¡± the troll started thrashing. Oh no, all that thrashing is making me lose my grip! My tail is slipping!

    ¡°Nooo! Don''t drop me!¡± Stop messing around. Gregory smacked me.

    Meh, we¡¯re almost there. I jumped into the cave.

    Wait! There is water down there! I dropped down and used [turning leaf] on the carpet.

    You made his carpet wet¡­ He has a bigger problem after I beat him with my breakdancing skills! Hey did you tell the chicks, Greg? Yup, they''re on board. Yet again we enter the living room and the mole is rapping again.

    ¡°I see you have come with an audience, are they the jury?¡± Yeah, we 3 will be the judges.

    "Oh, a new voice and you brought? Hmm, similar size but lighter, 3 girls? You have an odd voice for a girl though, you also might want to make sure you eat well.¡± I cleared my throat and fixed it to sound more feminine. I¡¯m sorry, I had something stuck in my throat.

    ¡°Oh, that is a cute voice.¡± Everyone looks at me in shock and surprise. I act like it is normal. What the fuck Agnis? Shouldn''t you be focusing on your match? I asked with my feminine voice imitation. The race of deception¡­ checks out but it''s still scary. Gregory mumbles. Hey, teach me that later! I sat down and Greg and Raishin sat at one side and the troll and villager nr 52 sat on my other side.

    ¡°Alright do you want to start or shall I show ya how a gangsta moves?¡± No, it''s fine, I got this. I won¡¯t be breaking a sweat dancing you out of the competition. Booo! Bad pun!

    Shut it! Kyaaa, so rude!

    ¡°Hey now don''t go bullying that girl!¡± But! I shoot a mean grin at Ted.

    I swear this guy¡­ You never fail to surprise us¡­

    ¡°Your voice is so cute! How do you do that!¡± Eh? I always have something in my throat I just cleared it out that''s how! Ehehe.

    ¡°What more can you do?¡± I can run really fast if you don''t stop bullying me! Raishin help!

    ¡°Hey, missy if they are harassing ya I can step in and help you out!¡± Ooh, how reliable! Maybe I will take you up on that! Show me what those big strong mole muscles can do! You really are pulling out the stops¡­ Hehe, this is interesting! Let''s see where this goes! Ted and the mole face off.

    Hey guys, if you need music, I can play something for you!

    ¡°Oooh, she can even play an instrument, what a cultured lady.¡± What string instrument would you like? I can¡¯t do piano though.

    ¡°I guess, you can¡¯t play this but it''s worth a shot gimme ya best rock with an Electronium guitar!¡± Hey, Greg? What is an Electronium guitar? I only know what a guitar is. Uhh, just amp the sound with lightning magic?

    What color? Does it matter?

    Yes? Wait, does it?

    I guess I''ll become a rocker girl and give a demonstration! How many pointless things did you practice? I took out my wires and put up an intricate setup. Normally I would be fighting while playing [Boss music] but I¡¯m not doing that now so back to my roots. I took out my tails and started [Tail dynamo].

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    This is what it sounds like with white and yellow lightning! I played the wires and it sounded perfectly clean. Oooh, that sounds good!

    Here with blue lightning! The sounds turned a bit more vintage. Ooh, I like this one.

    Purple lighting! The sound coming out turned a bit throaty with some reverb. Hey, maybe this isn''t a useless skill after all!

    And now! The sounds started sounding like a cello. Woops, silly me, I made a mistake.

    ¡°This girl is multi-talented yo!¡± And now my favorite with red lightning! I started going ham because red lightning created this beautiful bass sound.

    ¡°Oh, my this is amazing! I see why you¡¯re so interested Kanna!¡±

    ¡°Yes! turn up the bass baby! Let''s start this breakdancing contest! After that could we maybe make a mixtape with your bass skills?¡± Hmm, maybe, If you win, I will consider it! Hey! Why are you motivating him? Agnis, you¡¯re a demon.

    Calling a frail lady, a demon, how unacceptable! Hey, Greg, he is totally killing this act!

    Alright, guys! When the music intensifies it is time to start! I amped up the bass. Ted and Molerock started breakdancing on the beat. The girls were cheering, Gregory seemed to enjoy it and Raishin was enthusiastic. I could see Ted put a lot of effort in his breakdancing it is just¡­ Molerock is better, he probably does this everyday while Ted only started yesterday or something. There didn''t seem to be a great difference between them though, which would make this deception even easier.

    ¡°Hey, don''t you feel bad deceiving this mole? He seems quite nice.¡± Troll leaned over and whispered. Well, we can lose and let chaos continue if that is ok with you.

    ¡°Ugh, fine¡­¡± I started the outro because Ted seemed to be getting tired. Physiology can be interesting sometimes; Ted could physically fight for over 2 or 3 hours without getting really tired but after breakdancing for 3 minutes he was sweating beads and seemed exhausted. I finished the outro and everyone clapped and cheered. I dropped all the magic I had running. I had some surplus but I might be able to get rid of it later when I will go make sure that ash potato village is properly vaporized.

    ¡°Huff, puff, that music made this sure intense, so missy who won?¡± Hmm, girls what do you think? Mr. Mole was good, but Ted seemed to have put more soul into it.

    ¡°Hmm, I agree, there seemed to come more effort from Ted.¡± Troll agreed with me, her deception seemed on point although we weren''t exactly lying, Ted was really being a try-hard, I guess the troll picked up on this.

    ¡°Hmm, I think it¡¯s a tie but it seems the other two already made their decision.¡± Oh, villager ¦Â did something smart here, credit where credit is due.

    ¡°I see, so I lost huh? That was unexpected but enjoyable. Too bad that I won¡¯t get missy to play bass for my mixtape but oh well!¡± He seems to be taking this well. Well, the next challenge is a digging contest, as a mole, he has a huge advantage.

    ¡°Hey, sorry for asking but why did you guys agree to these stupid challenges? Agreeing to rap, breakdance, and out dig this mole?¡± Troll raised a good question. Yeah, why did you do that? Ted and Gregory look at Raishin. This smartass agreed to the terms before hearing them. Classical Raishin.

    ¡°I feel like this small trip allowed us to get you guys better than the last 5 years¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah, they are¡­ interesting¡­¡± We walked toward the exit. I saw the mole pick up a guitar in the corner and try to play and rap. Hey, guys, go on without me, I think I¡¯m going to help the mole a bit with his mixtape. Are you dying? Agnis! Are you ill?

    You guys are asses. Don''t forget we need to try something after Raishin! Sure! I walked over to Molerock.

    Hey, Mr. Mole, I have a spare 30 minutes, I can play some bass for you. Molerock looked up from his guitar and looked happy.

    ¡°Ooh thank you missy! Let''s start right away!" We jammed a bit and the Mole seemed to have some device running on Electronium to record sound so he could work with whatever he did with it. This is the first reasonable... Ok, maybe he isn''t that reasonable but he seems alright, guardian. I headed over to the camp. Raishin let''s go! Everyone gave me a weird look. Haha, Agnis you can change your voice back now.

    Oh shit!

    ¡°What is going on?¡± Philip asked. Gregory will explain! Let''s go Agnis! Wai¡­ We teleported to the Umbra mountain range close to where the ash potato village is getting nuked.

    So, what are we testing? I point at the solar stream.

    I thought you guys banned me from using that. That is true but there is one thing you see, that light beam you see there is doing 0 damage now, moreover, it melted my frost element, meaning it is, either way, stronger than me or it is lost magic, I''m leaning toward the latter. Now I don''t know if this is lost magic created by everything going to shit here or if it''s part of your [Solar stream] so to test this out. Please nuke that mountain next to potato village with [Solar stream].

    With pleasure! So, can you like use my eyes to use it this time? There is no point in calling it on yourself and wiping us out in the process.

    Uhh, I''ll try. I linked my eyes with Raishin.

    Ugh, your eyes are always so hard to use, how do you deal with seeing all this shit all the time. Got used to it. I don''t know what else you need so just get rid of the filters you don''t need, or I can do it for you.

    Uhh, I don''t know! Right, not surprising, let¡¯s see if I would want to do something like your [Solar stream] I would use these. I sifted through the filters and only activated those that were needed like locking on to a space, determining the output needed to blast through the mountain, what radius would be needed to blast the whole mountain and corrections needed due to the rotation of the planet, disturbances in the atmosphere and the like.

    Aagh my head! Can''t you just do the ones you always do when we do this during battle? This is different just bear with it!

    So, do I do this? That is too far, you will nuke the neighboring country and start a war, although I might already did something like that.

    Oh, I see a big crater burning in blue fire, did you miss too?! Raishin, focus, please!

    Uhm so I think I locked onto my target but this outline shows a different location. Yeah, it is correcting for all the variables If you aim there it will hit your target.

    Ohh that is useful. Only on stationary targets, now you need to set how strong you want it.

    Wait you can tweak that too? Well, you won''t have trouble with this but there might be a possibility you won''t be able to punch through the mountain to the desired depth and this is telling you how much mana or mana control you need to pour in it, just ignore the mana control requirement you can just brute force it with output. Just shoot!

    Right here we go! Nothing seemed to happen but my eyes were telling a different story.

    Oooh, there is even a timer till impact. Yeah, 521 seconds, eh? Good to know. Guess we can chill a bit before this nuke vaporizes Ash Potato Village¡¯s neighbours. Just a question. Do you know what kind of special things you can do as a lightning tiger?

    Hmm, I don''t think I have to be that careful in those mana-heavy environments like you guys. Yeah, I guessed as much.

    Uhh, I can run out of physical stamina but I don''t think I can run out of mana unless I try really hard. Yeah, we noticed that¡­

    I just don''t use mana, why use mana if I can just make electricity out of thin air? Good point, shouldn''t you be able to do that with fire too?

    Ugh, I just can''t get that right, I still have to use mana to use wind or fire. Anything more?

    I don¡¯t know¡­ Well, that is fine, when we get home, we can ask our moms all about this.

    Yeh¡­ Hey, what do you think happened to Hourai? Hmm, all this time stuff made me think. Also, the spirit sisters that I sent to the spirit world had 2 years pass when for us only a night passed. What if they got into trouble, but time started flowing differently there than here? I¡¯m sure that our mothers wouldn''t hesitate to come and get us when they fix the situation there. But what if only 1 minute passed in Hourai since we have been gone? If 1 minute is 5 years here how long will it take before they come and get us? 10 Hourai minutes? An Hourai hour? A Hourai day? I don''t want to scare you, but this thought came up in me after all this. I also don''t want to think about this but what if Hourai got stuck in a void, or even moved to a different dimensional plane? I recently discovered that for a nine-tailed spirit fox, I don''t know anything about dimensions and time stuff¡­ There might be more scenarios that could be plausible but since I don''t understand enough of this stuff, I can''t even come up with them¡­

    So that is why we haven''t been picked up yet¡­ It might also be this stupid prison, I vaporized a mountain before the time loop started, why hasn''t anyone from the outside come and investigate it, It is close to the border, It could have been the start of an enemy invasion. It really seems nothing here is getting out; nobody might even know what is going on here in Boshi town.

    So, you think they might be looking for us but can''t find us because of this prison? Look at that Raishin! I pointed at the mess we made, craters and magic raining down that kept getting echoed over and over. Do you think our mothers or even anything else wouldn''t notice if stuff like this happened for almost a whole day? Rock and his people managed to get here in one day from some important corporation so if they can get here in a day, something that is curious can.

    Hmm, well it¡¯s a prison so nothing should be able to get out right? I guess, if this prison can hold Azu, it surely can keep anything in that''s weaker than her, which means everything happening here. But your [Solar stream] came from space. It should have been noticed right?

    I don''t know. Nothing makes sense here, it is hard to use my illusion layers if I don''t understand what''s going on¡­

    Oh right, you still have a gazillion illusion layers right? I have to find a better way to weaponize them. Since I already spent the mana for it, it could be a good way to deal with shit here without being afraid that an echo will nuke the whole town. I still haven''t found anything that does meaningful damage.

    Layers, eh? Just like an onion! Make an onion! And do what makes the shades cry? Can they even cry?

    Uhh hey, when you shatter your illusions, it looks like the whole uhm air becomes made out of glass and then shatters, and you shatter your enemies to pieces with that? What? Like, use illusion shards or something?

    Uhh, that''s not what I meant but illusion shards sounds interesting. Hmm, I guess I could try that. Thank you. But this sure takes a while to fall, surely doesn''t feel like it when you have a million things to do.

    So, what''s the deal with you and Azu? Ugh, nothing.

    You can tell me! There is nothing to tell

    How far did you go with her? What the hell? I didn''t do anything, moreover, there is a big difference in age!

    Not really though? Aren¡¯t you, me, Azu, and Greg in the same age range? How come that even you know about this?!

    The power of intuition! Ah yeh, the uselessly overpowered intuition of the six tails. I guess it helped us a lot.

    Nice try don''t change the subject! I''m not changing the subject!

    So, tell me! Or give me tips! You know more about chicks than me what tips could I ever give you?

    I don''t know that''s why I''m asking you! Oh, it¡¯s coming!

    Changing the subject again! Oh, it''s coming. We looked on as a stream of light and fire descended from the heavens and vaporized the mountain. I turned on the sunshade function in my eyes.

    Vaporizing a mountain is so therapeutic. I know right?

    So, for how long is this going to blast the mountain? Beats me. ¡­

    I don''t know why I¡¯m surprised by that answer. I saw a shadow ripple. Gregory appeared out of the shadow with Ted and the 2 chicks.

    Why is it so hard to track you down? Sorry, it''s a habit, what are they doing here? Greg has 0 resistance against polite requests.

    Ugh, so I came here to discuss something. If it''s about the [solar stream] Raishin already cast it as you can see.

    It¡¯s not about that, firstly I want to stop you from nuking something because you will probably need that tomorrow to blast a hole in the ground¡­ Oh! Right! Thanks for the reminder, I almost forgot!

    And secondly, my shadow is saturated from all the energy that I''ve absorbed over the past 4 days. It barely scratches the minimum needed for abyss magic, now here is the problem, do I keep this in case that goddess appears? In that case, I won''t be able to block anything with my shadows, or do I release all the energy here?

    ¡°Hey, what is abyss magic?¡± Hmm, it is kind of a sure kill magic, If you get killed by that you can¡¯t revive or reincarnate, you get turned into energy which is returned to the world. As far as I know, only shadow cats can use it but it costs an enormous amount of energy. Currently, it is our best shot against a god. But there is no point to it if we die beforehand because we lack your defensive skills. I¡¯d say blast that mountain. We don''t even know if you can get a clean killing blow in with it. Hmm, that is fair, what do you think Ted and Raishin? I agree with Agnis. Me too! Right, I''ll just drop it on what Agnis calls, potato village. Gregory did something to his hammer and launched it at the location where Potato village once stood. A large shadow emerged from his hammer and he used [Liberation]. A dark obsidian-looking structure formed out of shadows and blasted ash potato village.

    ¡°So do you guys do stuff like this often?¡± What stuff?

    ¡°Blowing up mountains and stuff?¡± Ehh not really. Normally these guys are more behaved but a lot of weird events happened.

    ¡°There was a blue fire pillar several days ago, was that also done by one of you?¡± Ehh, yeah that was me.

    ¡°I can''t believe that our mothers never came home injured, maybe except from when she had that cut on her arm, but it explains why she could never catch you guys!¡± Well, they are tough opponents if we stick to our elements and human form. Troll and background character 14 look at our ears and tails.

    ¡°Hey, can we touch¡­¡± Hey, Agnis it stopped! Well, it did but it didn''t! Yeah, this is what I¡¯m looking for, Greg are you done blasting? Yes, I grab everyone with my tails and teleport over to the beam of light.

    ¡°Hey what are you doing! I don''t want to die!¡± It is the same, Ted can you put your hand in it? My hand? Your paw also works. Ted looks at me and puts his hand in the light beam.

    It¡­ it does nothing? Oh, it does something! I made a net out of frost magic and held it in the beam of light and it melted.

    What?! It¡¯s lost magic, on the same tier as my frost magic and Greg¡¯s abyss magic.

    What does it do? No clue, Raishin do you have any idea what it does? Raishin looks at it. He seems quite focused. He looks up.

    I actually have no idea haha. Why am I not surprised? Don''t you know what this might be Greg? Well, I''m aware that nine tail foxes and three-tailed cats have roots in lost magic, I don''t know if six-tailed tigers have it. By the way Agnis, your frost magic isn''t from your nine-tailed fox side, isn''t it? You should have some other lost magic. Uhh, I think chaos magic right, you guys should have it too, right?

    I don''t have any¡­ That''s not an issue you''re a bear!

    How is that supposed to help? Pass.

    You can¡¯t pass this question like it''s a game! Ha! But I just did! Deal with it! What does it do though?

    ¡°Let me feel too!¡±

    ¡±Leah, wait!¡± Apparently, this person was called Leah and she put her hands in the beam.

    ¡°It feels like sunbathing!¡± Troll also put her hands in the beam. So, we don''t feel anything but these girls and their mothers feel like they¡¯re getting hit by a sunbeam or something. It doesn''t seem to be an attack, although we have baseline better defenses than humans. But this is a really weak attack even more so by Raishin¡¯s standard. Yeah, he doesn''t know how to hold back so the only conclusion is that this isn¡¯t an offensive spell.

    Does Raishin even know any non-damaging spells besides his glitter? Uhh, as far as I know, he doesn''t. Nope, just my glitter!

    ¡°You can make glitter?!¡± Don''t bother troll, that glitter gets you zapped by powerful lightning skills.

    ¡°Oh¡­ never mind¡­¡± Anyways, Raishin, don''t use this unless it is included in a plan, especially now we don''t have an idea what this does, who knows maybe it buffs our enemies. Ok! I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll need it in the last timeline, that¡¯s for sure. If things are just going to get worse from here, I wouldn''t be surprised if we need it next timeline as well.

    Hmm, I have a question for you girls.

    ¡°Us? Sure, ask away.¡± I¡¯m sure you 2 are used to fighting together as well as your mothers do, how normal do you think it is that when using wide-range skills it automatically misses your allies?

    ¡°Uhh, if your friends evade it that is normal else wise, I don''t think I''ve ever heard of that happen, we have to make sure we use magic so we don''t hit our friends, our mothers worked hard to master that and we are still learning.¡± Agnis hear me out, when Ted saved us from that blast, our shields broke yes? I had to cancel it because it was absorbing a lot of energy.

    The thing is Ted got hit by it. Yeah, that wouldn''t have been a problem because I could regenerate it but¡­ It didn''t do any damage to me. What?

    So, I have a suspicion because if you think about it a lot about our group is odd. The only exception I can think of is your fire magic before you got it under control but besides that even though our teamwork is good, we never hit each other with our magic, and if we did it didn''t do damage or automatically avoided us. Also, why are our special racial abilities bleeding over into each other? You can¡¯t be affected much by time-related stuff so only you should be able to remember all this stuff, but here we are. I have a high resistance against curses and all the curses those roots dropped on us aren''t affecting any of us. Wait! We got cursed?

    Well, whenever we kill a root, we get some curses dumped on us. What! Are we going to die? Nah, I think Gregory¡¯s race ability is carrying us here.

    Your race ability is carrying us the hardest here but we don''t know what Raishin¡¯s one is and maybe this is it, which means Raishin¡¯s race ability is carrying us the hardest, or if it isn''t that it might be related to this beam of light. So, what do you think it does?

    I think it causes either one of these or both. So, the first thing is, besides Agnis old fire magic we never hit our allies in a malicious way, when I use wide-ranged attacks I have to put extra attention in hitting you guys instead of that it just hits you. Hmm, same with my frost magic, If I casually freeze the whole town, you guys get left out.

    Secondly, it makes our specific traits bleed over to each other. Hmm, Let''s test it. Do you mind Ted? Go for it! Ted braced himself and I shot purple lightning at him. He took it and it seemed to do nothing.

    Wow Well, only Raishin is likely to hit allies, Ted is more melee focused so nobody is at risk there, Agnis and I have great control but if this means that we don¡¯t have to be afraid of Raishin¡¯s nukes¡­ Hey, Raishin zap me! Sure! He drops a red [Lightning bolt] on me and I feel nothing.

    So, his attacks only become a problem when we try to block it with frost or shadow magic? Seems so and that is all we''ve been doing in the past. What about that sparring match where he fried me?

    Uhh, maybe a loophole? But that''s not important. Hey! Does it work with physical attacks? Ted punches Raishin in the stomach, Raishin flies into a rock wall and seems to be in pain. Ugh! Nope.

    ¡°You guys are insane!¡± Well, this is useful to know, I just think the only thing we should watch out for is Agnis¡¯ fire and frost magic since it saps mana. I guess your abyss magic too, it doesn''t sound like a good idea to test if we can¡¯t get hit by that... I don''t know why my fire magic is an exception. I shoot a controlled [fireball] at Ted. It does no damage.

    Hey! I fire an uncontrolled [fireball] at him.

    Hey, Agnis this thing is really hot! Owowowow! Ted burst into flames after getting hit by the fireball. I doused him in water.

    That is odd. Well, I guess we can just relax in Agnis¡¯ and Raishin¡¯s nukes now, that takes some stress off.

    Yeah, let''s go back. I will teleport us this time! We got back to the camp. It seemed like I have to correct myself, it wasn''t a camp anymore, it looked like a small village.

    ¡°Hey welcome back! Dinner is ready!¡± Hera ran at us with a ladle in her hand. The dinner was soup¡­ I freeze-dried the soup and put the soup powder on some food I took out of my dimensional pocket. I was technically still eating the soup. Ted and Greg went out with the girls to cull some shades while I decided to rest

 Ch 55: Digging with Lightning magic

    Day 5: I didn''t wake up to an energy wave. Should I be concerned? I got out of my small house. Everyone got their own house in this village made out of earth magic. Except for the couples of course they shared a house. The echoes were, as usual, still going at it. People were still sleeping or inside. The digging match will be at 12:00 ish while we normally destroy the root between 15:00 and 16:00. There isn''t much to do today besides beating Molerock and destroying the shakes. I put my tails on duty to create frost marbles and re-run simulations of how to make that stupid dimensional anchor. I also decided to put simulations on those illusionary shards Raishin came up with. We can¡¯t throw flashy magic around the next timeline as this timeline had demonstrated to us. What else? What could get worse in the next timeline? Let''s run simulations on that too. Ugh, there is so much to remember. Good thing Gregory is on top of most of those things.

    I sit on top of my roof and look at the echoes shining down on the town and potato village. I¡¯m 100% sure that if we were just normal boys we would''ve died a million times over, our specific traits and skills brought us this far. Without Raishin¡¯s weird lost magic or ability, I don''t know which, we would have probably succumbed to curses, only I would have remembered what was going on all the time which would be catastrophic because I forget a lot. Also, he plays a big role in effortlessly vaporizing roots. Without Gregory¡¯s ability, as I''ve said we would have succumbed to curses also we would have probably died quite fast in the original timeline because his defensive skills helped us a lot. Without Ted, our moral compass, kind off, we might have blasted the town earlier and had to deal longer with this echo problem. Also, some guardians would have been tougher. Without me well, I guess their memories would get wiped and the root wouldn''t stay defeated. So, they would be stuck forever. Oh, wait they also would have no way to damage the spirit sisters. Oof that would have been the worst-case scenario.

    The more I think about it the less likely it feels that we ended up here by coincidence. Who or what is putting this in motion? Is it a foe or an enemy? Does it want Azu freed? Or is there a possibility that it wanted to trap us? Or is there another explanation? Was the ability of this prison needed to make sure something couldn''t find us? Is that something our mothers? Or the people responsible for attacking Hourai? So many possibilities, so many questions, and no answers. I still had a lot of mana ready to be used after I generated a lot of lightning with my [tail dynamo] yesterday. I could make it easy and dig a hole by blasting one with red lightning or I can try to form it into something else with the skill I got from Azu. I still haven''t tried anything with them because honestly, I can''t tell how strong these are. Especially now with these echoes that is something I have to pay attention to. What did she say again? Tsunami to set up the next 3 skills. That makes sense, get 3 free skills after it. This is stupidly strong. A 0 setup [Foxfire: winter¡¯s end]? Yeah, that is brutal, it will only give me 1 instead of 8 but that is a good tradeoff, I think. I don''t think frost magic is something I should use too much; I already knew this but recent events have painfully reminded me why. I have put this off a lot but I should also try to move away from using mana or at least lessen the mana consumption. The day before yesterday sucked hard. Mana rejection, eh? It all happened in that underwater cave in Hourai, it seems we all got it there. Is this leyline energy the cause for it? I turn the filter on for leyline energy. It seems thin but gets thicker the closer it is to where the pink tree is supposed to be. It does interact poorly with magic. It is like mixing oil and water. Is this the cause? I head over to Paul and Paula¡¯s house and knock on the door.

    ¡°Yes?¡± I stepped inside. I have a question¡­

    I stepped outside after talking to Paula and Paul. Well, that was a fruitful conversation. Paula seemed to be interested in the contents of my question. I also learned some useful information. It was almost 11 am. We¡¯ve been talking for almost 3 hours. I also decided to just blast a hole with red lightning. I also need to remember to change my voice. I decided to do it now else I will forget. I cleared my throat. And success. Raishin was talking to Troll and uhm I think it was Leer. I didn''t see Ted or Gregory but I saw magical waves in the distance so maybe they are culling the shades.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis! Let''s chat!¡± Raishin and the 2 chicks approached me. About what? Your voice! Teach me that!

    What are you going to use it for? Uhh¡­

    Yeah, that is a no. Meh.

    ¡°So, what kind of cool things can you do?¡± I can fly! Create monkeys out of thin air and drive people crazy. He is trolling.

    ¡°Who are you calling a troll!¡± I showed an illusion that showed off the exact things I ¡®lied¡¯ about.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± Hey! Using illusions is cheating! Is it though? I can technically do those things with illusions.

    Ugh, you are the only one I know that can get away with lying.

    ¡°Can you make a unicorn with your illusion?¡± Sure. I created an illusion, the girls seemed excited but then it disappeared.

    ¡°What is this!¡± A unicorn?

    ¡°It''s a rhino!¡± it has 1 horn; I don''t see the problem. Hahahaha!

    ¡°I mean it''s like a horse with a horn!¡± Horse with 1 horn coming up! I made a horse that had a horn on its ass.

    ¡°Noo! The horn is on its head!¡± So, demanding! I created a horse with a rhino head.

    ¡°I hate you!¡± Leah stormed away. Hahahaha nice one! This is actually funny imagine wanting to see a unicorn, a mythical creature when there were 2 right in front of her!

    ¡°Hmm, I haven''t thought about that.¡± Don''t you need to follow Lana?

    ¡°Her name is Leah, my name is Kanna by the way, and she will cool down in a bit. So, is this how you 2 really look like or do you have a real form or something?¡± Hmm, I could tell you, but then I''ll have to kill you! Well, it''s not exactly a secret but just for further reference Troll if you ever see a mythical creature in its true form, run.

    ¡°Huh, why?¡± So, my mother is a phoenix, if she shifts into her true form, it becomes daytime, it doesn''t matter if its midnight, it becomes daytime and it becomes quite hot. The true forms affect the environment. When this guy goes into his true form it will continuously rain lightning, imagine a heavy rainstorm but instead of water, its lightning bolts. And those lightning bolts scales with how strong he is so it will rain red lightning if this guy goes in his true form. Well as for me, space and time will start acting weird kind of what is going on here, although more controlled.

    ¡°How about Gregory?¡± The shadows will come to life!

    ¡°That sounds scary¡­ So, is that why you¡¯re not in your true form?¡± Haha! We don''t care about that! It''s more to blend in better and so that we don''t get hunted down! Hmm yeah, let''s use Raishin as an example, as you know he likes the opposite sex, now can he do what he wants when wherever he goes lightning is pouring out of the sky? Goes for most of the mythical creatures, also it seems we have been hunted down in the past true form or not, something about the intrigue of catching and killing one.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Didn''t ninetails got hunted down for the fur on their tails? And because people thought they were bringers of doom? I grabbed my tails. Yes¡­

    ¡°I''m sorry to hear that, but they look so fluffy! Can I touch?¡± Ugh, why does everyone suddenly wants to touch my tails! It is kind of part of my butt you know! I don''t ask you to touch your butt!

    ¡°So, I can¡¯t?¡± Noo! Just do it, secretly he doesn''t mind.

    Raishin I¡¯m going to kick your ass!

    ¡°This is even better than my pillow! Hey, wanna date?¡± Nooo!

    ¡°Ooh, Raishin your tails feel good too!¡± What are you guys doing? I break away from Troll and hide behind Gregory who just arrived.

    ¡°Hey, Raishin wanna date?¡± Yes! Oh, you managed to get rid of her, good job Agnis! It was a hard-fought battle but I finally emerged victorious! Are we ready to go? Ted also arrived.

    Let''s go! The female voice again Agnis?

    I have to be consistent. Consistently annoying.

    Ohh so who do you think was responsible for your win, certainly not you! Wha! What do you mean? There was no way that you influenced the outcome! Oh, are you sure about that? Molerock seemed to be dancing on the palm of my hands. I copied Azu a bit and brought out a seductive tone.

    ¡°Agnis is scarily good at this¡­¡± His race specializes in deception, knowing that is one thing but witnessing it¡­ I would have been fooled too if I was blind. Please don''t make this awkward Agnis, Let''s go. Raishin teleport, please!

    ¡°Wait! Let me get Leah!¡± What does it matter? The match will be over in a blink of an eye anyway.

    ¡°I have snacks!¡± Let''s wait! Let''s wait!

    ¡°Too easy!¡± Troll fetches her friend and hands us snacks. All right let''s go! Raishin says with his mouth full and teleports us to the mole¡¯s bathroom.

    ¡°Hey what gives man? Can¡¯t a mole take a bath in his own house?¡± Wow, talking about things I never hoped to see.

    ¡°Aaah! A naked mole!¡± So, this is what a naked mole rat looks like. Let''s get out of here!

    ¡°I¡¯m not a mole rat!¡± We fled to the living room. ¡°I can''t believe I let some humans see me like this!¡± Molerock entered the room. ¡°Follow me!¡± We followed him to a room covered in rocks and dirt. ¡°There is a room at the bottom with a bell, the first one to ring the bell wins the digging contest. Just a warning it is 200 meters. You can give up now if want." 200 meters? Easy!

    ¡°I¡¯m facing off against you missy? Are you sure? Even if it''s you I won''t hold back!¡± Aww, I don''t get a handicap? That is fine, do your best Molerock! Otherwise I will crush you!

    ¡°HahaI, I don''t hate tough girls!¡± I saw everyone holding their hands at their foreheads. Only Raishin seemed excited. ¡°Right, someone do a countdown!¡±

    3!... I get out 2 tails. 2!... I locate the bell with my eyes. 1! I blast a hole in the ground with a red [Lightning pillar] and jump down the hole.

    ¡°Wait that''s it? I thought we¡¯d dig on ¡®Go!¡¯¡± Molerock starts digging but I rang the bell. ¡°What?! That fast? Are you the world champion digger Maria Mole?¡± I''m sorry, I can''t tell you that, I¡¯ll be taking those shakes!

    ¡°Ugh I don''t think that 1-second mistake would make a big difference in the results, I lost¡­¡± I got out of the hole.

    ¡°That was it?¡± That was it.

    ¡°I rushed for this?¡± I told you it would be over in a blink of an eye

    ¡°My shakes¡­ but a loss is a loss, I¡¯ll lead you to them." About that, can we come and pick them up later Molerock?

    ¡°Uhh, that''s fine by me, when¡¯re yall coming back?" At 15:00, make sure you won''t be bathing!

    ¡°Yessir!¡± Hey, Molerock, you know, it can''t be helped if out of frustration of your loss, you drink some protein shakes, it is not like we mind or will notice some missing. Cya!

    ¡°Thank you, missy!¡± We headed toward the surface. Is it a good idea to encourage him to drink those things? He has been at it for 5 years and we¡¯re taking his whole stash away, cut him so slack, moreover, he is helping us destroy the root although slowly.

    You can change your voice back now. Oh sorry. I cleared my throat and returned my voice back to normal. Raishin teleported us back to the small village. This whole adventure took us only 32 minutes.

    Well, this guardian was a pushover. Was he really a guardian? Is a guardian supposed to drink whatever he is tasked with protecting? That is a good point! Well, we still kind of have the root in our possession, right? We just have to go there and destroy his supply.

    ¡°Do you think he will give it to us?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, it is as Kanna said, why would he give it to us?¡± I¡¯d like to think he is a mole of his word. Right, I need to prepare something. Ok! Let''s go shade hunting Greg! Sure!

    ¡°Can we come too?¡± Of course! You are in charge of the teleport Raishin! What are you going to do Ted? Practicing new skills for my [Bear avatar] Good luck!

    Don''t overdo it! Those are my lines! We split up. And I sneaked off to a quiet place and hopped into my dimensional pocket. In front of me in this alternate space were the shakes I swiped. I got an idea. It got right on time before we would destroy the root. I would never get the chance to do this if I don''t do this now. I took a shake and dipped my tail in it. I let my tail run an analysis on its components more specifically the parts that belong to the root. The more information we have the better decisions we can make. I smell the shake and shudder. I close it and put it back on the pile. I then move myself and the pile out of the dimensional pocket. I¡¯m at the edge of what is still inside the barrier. I put an illusion on them to hide them and mark the whole pile with dimensional magic. This is a skill I''ve never used before. I set the timer to go off at 15:15. I activated [Time bomb] and returned to the village. I killed some time and Raishin and Gregory returned. We had a small discussion and decided that I would freeze all the shakes and shatter them into dust.

    ¡°Hey, will we remember this after you guys do this reset? Or do we continue living in this situation?¡± Uh, we don''t know but judging by the past timelines you won''t remember anything of all this and even if you continue living here the barrier should disappear when we break all the seals. Right Agnis? I honestly don''t know the answer to that question but I nod in agreement. We head over to Molerocks place. He seemed sad that his supply would get nuked. I froze the illusionary supply and timed the destruction of the shakes with the timebomb going off. Our heads started to ring.

    Don''t forget that after we return to Raishin¡¯s hut we have to deal with the shades that invaded it! Ok! We were back in Raishin¡¯s hut. We swiftly took care of the shades. They seemed a bit tougher but we easily took care of them. After we cleaned up the mess in Raishin¡¯s hut we sat down. We need to make some rules.

 Ch 56: Shade Trashcan

    Right firstly, Agnis and Raishin you are banned from using any big attacks, you can do so at the end of day 4 and on day 5 but not before that. Sounds fair.

    But I know that even though this makes sense it can be unreasonable to do so when needed we launch the shades in the air and destroy them there. I know that Agnis and Raishin do well in aerial combat how is that for you Ted? If they are not too far, I can just send [Meteor punches] and [meteor rains] at them and I''m sure one of you guys can launch me in the air if my range is too short.

    I see, I¡¯ll see what I can do with gravity manipulation. Next up when dealing with shades in the city prioritize non-damaging skills but also ones that wouldn''t become an issue when it becomes echoed, Agnis¡¯ [frozen ground] and his [Flash bombs] are good examples, while annoying it isn''t going to hurt anyone. But I don''t have any of those! I think he is saying that you should just not do anything or figure out some new skills with this. You could use wind magic to blow shades in the air or out of the town. Just don''t do it too hard because it will blow everyone else away too.

    Oooh! Lastly, and this is for you Ted, I think it is best if we make a corner or something that can hold a lot of shades with earth magic. We can all try to get them all in there and then either blast it or I will shadow-meld it. So that when the echo happens, we only need to chuck the shades in there and they will get blasted by the echo. We need to use some sturdy earth magic for that. Hey, that is a good idea. So, it is like a shade trashcan? I like that idea.

    ¡°Grooaaah!¡± Raishin keep your stomach under control! Or go eat something! Hey that wasn''t me this time! Right, guys, I failed to mention this, we have good news and bad news, what do you want to hear first?

    Uhh, bad news first. There is a 15-meter tall red shade rampaging in Boshi town. And what is the good news?

    It isn''t killing anyone because we are stuck in a closed space. I''m conflicted about that good news, is there any better news?

    Uhh, it locked onto our location and is coming for us right now? How is that better news?

    I''m sorry I''m not good at this! Oh, we need to get out, that is a laser! We all ran out of Raishin¡¯s hut and looked for cover as a large blast hit his hut.

    Nooo! My hut! This jerk is going down! Hey, Agnis how likely is what is happening here to echo in the real world? I have no clue but since this is a bit outside town it should be fine, let''s lure it further away from the town and nuke it. I will slide all the shades over here. I started to slide all the shades in this enclosed space to one point.

    Shade trashcan where? Right, let''s get to work, Ted! Right!

    Hey, Raishin you can practice your wind stuff now! Guys another laser! I made a [Frost mirror] and reflected the laser into space.

    Hmm, no invisible wall in the sky, eh? Ooh you have a cool idea, don''t you?

    Shall we see how high we can get this thing? Hehe, let''s go!

    Let¡¯s see¡­ I activated a filter which allowed me to see how heavy this shade was.

    It looks big but it only weighs like 60 kg, we should be able to do this easily. Right, let me blow him this way and then make a tornado. Raishin blew the big shade over to us and created a tornado. It lifted himself, me the big shade, and multiple other shades into the air.

    You guys were right last timeline, I had to specifically target ourselves to also be affected. Right, let''s do this! We took out our tails and used them to propel ourselves through the tornado. Since we were in the air it was fair game so we could use whatever magic, we wanted. I had to be careful because I had the habit of using [Tail dynamo] when spinning my tails but I didn''t need it this time.

    How can we make this more interesting? I can make ice blocks for footholds.

    How are you flying up so high so fast anyways? I don''t know! I think I''m becoming immune to gravity! I wrapped my wires around Raishin and pulled him upward. The big shade was still shooting lasers but because we were flying upward while spinning in the tornado it couldn''t aim very well. The same went for the regular shades so this tornado was kind of filled with lasers.

    These lasers are annoying. How about some baked shades?

    Control your flames, please. I made a controlled flame and the wind fed the flame and the whole tornado turned into a fire tornado.

    Hahaha, this is pleasantly warm! The big shade doesn''t seem to be affected though.

    Hey, remember when we tried to form Fusion elements by fusing fire and lightning magic? Want to give it another try? Hehe, things are so much easier when friendly fire is off! Let''s go! I linked my vision with his.

    Oh, this again. Let''s try to tune this better.

    So, what do I do? Just drop lightning in this tornado till my eyes tell you to stop.

    Easy! Raishin poured his red lightning into the fire tornado. And it turned into a lightning-fire tornado.

    I¡¯ll try to tune my flames better. Hey look it seems that shades¡¯ laser is feeding our tornado!

    Yes, keep shooting shade! You will just speed up your demise! Hey Agnis what is this?

    Oh, that means that we messed up the ratio and that this tornado is going to explode. Oh... too bad, we¡¯re immune to this explosion, right?

    Uhm, well see this here it says that this mixture changes the nature of this attack so the answer is no. I see¡­ Hmmm, this sucks¡­ Raishin grabbed me and teleported us out of the tornado. We landed on the ground and the tornado seemed to go out of control and it started tearing into the fabric of this enclosed space.

    So, since you guys discovered that we can''t hurt ourselves you just decided to blow up the whole space? Hey, listen it went well until¡­ uhh it didn''t. Is this going to break us out of this space properly or will there be more problems?

    Well, it seems bad but so far it looks like it will get us nicely, well not so nice there will be a huge explosion first that is going to do a lot of damage if we don''t protect ourselves. Oh, shit then say so earlier! Gregory made an [earth wall] and a [Shadow wall] I decided to make a [frost wall] inside these in case some nasty radiation will get released.

    Hmm, it seems we had more than enough time to get out of that. Well, the [Explonado] is volatile so it could explode any moment. Explonado?

    I like it! The [Explonado] exploded and tore the separate space to pieces and we ended up in the normal world.

    Shade free, eh? They will probably appear tomorrow. The big one will be there too I guess. It seems the normal world is unharmed but ugh the dimensional fabric looks yucky. I circulated nature magic because just the look of this dimensional fabric was nausea-inducing.

    What are those? What? Yuck! You can see it too Raishin?

    I¡¯m still linked with Agnis¡¯ vision. I linked my eyes up with Gregory and Ted and they instantly hurled.

    Please disconnect! I have seen enough! I closed the link.

    Ugh, what are those things? I don''t know, but it can''t be good. What I was seeing was something like the following. Normally the dimensional fabric is nice and smooth like fair skin or a piece of a silky tablecloth. But now it looks like skin that is festering, and to make it worse there were some weird dark green fluorescent maggot-looking creatures crawling on parts where the dimensional fabric looked torn but healed back together. I don''t know if healed is the correct term but since I¡¯m drawing comparisons between that and skin that is the only term I can come up with. I¡¯m not saying that the dimensional fabric is like skin but at the moment this is what it looks like.

    Ugh, I think I will be relatively useless in this timeline. You can turn the filter off, right?

    Yes, but whatever happened in the fabric of space or dimension gave a decent indication if something was worsening. I don''t think anything is going to turn out to be better than the last timeline so anything that can warn us of danger is valuable information, no matter how queasy it makes me. I emptied my stomach.

    Maybe I will feel a bit better tomorrow. My buddies seem to have recovered a bit. I hoped that nothing bad would happen today so I turned the filter off and went home to rest. Before I reached home, I saw something appear that suspiciously looked like a trashcan made out of earth magic close to Raishin¡¯s hut. I yet again apologized to Hera and Philip for worrying them and headed to my room. I tried to sleep but kept thinking about those disgusting things. If I draw a comparison to what maggots would do on a real festering skin then they are eaten rotten uhh dimensional flesh? Does that even exist? Something is not going well and these things are an indication of that. Will destroying them solve the problem? Or are they more of an indication of a problem? Removing maggots from festering flesh won''t heal whatever is going on. And I''ve never even heard of any creature like these existing. It isn''t something you can see unless you can see the fabric of space/dimensions. As far as I know, there aren''t any spatial pest exterminators under the tailed beasts, is this something I should deal with too? What is next? dimensional rats and cockroaches? Please no.

    We really used the worst timeline to get Azu¡¯s help. It wasn''t an easy timeline but also not the hardest. I look outside. The town seems fine. I turn the filter back on. The town doesn''t look fine now. I remove the filter. The town looks fine, I turn it back on yeh this doesn''t look good. I turned the filter off again and circulated more nature energy through my system. I laid down in bed. What if the rest of the world is as crazy as this town? It will suck but I''ll try asking Charlize about it tomorrow. She was an adventurer so she should know a lot about the world. The question is¡­ How am I going to formulate this question? Maybe ask her what her craziest adventure was and how it stacks up to her regular experiences. I guess that works. I will meet her tomorrow no matter how much I try to avoid her so might as well make use of it. The encounter with Donkey, however¡­ Will they leave me alone when I join their group? I don''t think so. What if I disguise myself as an adult? I cast an illusion on myself and inspected myself. I made myself 10 years older. Hmm, will this work? People will still see that this is me. I decided that I don''t care. I went to sleep looking 10 years older.

    Right, I have to specify, 10 Kaledonian years. Not that that makes sense because, after the age of about 20 Kaledonian years, the appearance of most immortal species gets locked. So, a 20-year-old me will look almost the same as a 2000-year-old looking me. Tailed beasts don''t seem to have their ages correspond linearly like the witches. They count 1000 years as 1 witch year. For me and my buddies, it isn''t so simple at least for now. Ted is the oldest but that''s because his age actually gets counted in Kaledonian years officially so he is 14. After that, the 3 of us are all 1-year-old, I¡¯m 1 year and a bit in nine tail. Raishin isn¡¯t 2 years yet in six-tail and Gregory is also far away from turning 2 in three-tailed, now here is the thing. And Gregory explained this to me. Apparently, to convert our real age to Kaledonian we need some funky exponential formula. Each long-living race has its own strange formula. So, I turned 1 year old after 9 Kaledonian years but I will turn 2 at 81 Kaledonian years. Raishin turned 1 at 6 Kaledonian years and will be 2 at 54 Kaledonian years. Gregory turned 1 at 3 Kaledonian years and will turn 2 at 27 Kaledonian years. It''s complicated, Yeah, I know. But that means Gregory is the oldest and I¡¯m the youngest. I don''t know who came up with these rates but they made sure that whatever number tails we have is the age we have when we turn 1-year old. After that, they gave up so after 5 years old it''s just 1 year extra for every 900 Kaledonian years for me, 600 for Raishin, and 300 for Gregory. The same goes for other-tailed beasts I assume.

    <hr>

    Day 1: It''s a beautiful day, the sun is shining and it feels like something big is pounding on the floor. Ugh, it''s that stupid shade again. No shade in front of my window which is good. I climb to the roof. There aren''t many shades in town but the 4 big shades in this town make up for it. I hopped to a rooftop looking over the town square where the shade was being an asshole again and was pounding the floor. It noticed me and approached me. I decided to lure it to the shade trashcan and blast it. I saw Donkey and his crew struggling against some shades. Do I help them out? Does it matter? As long as I help them out in the last timeline. I attracted the attention of another big shade so this would be a bad idea anyways. I lured the shades to the trashcan and I saw windblasts throwing shades in the air. I made ice slides to catch them and transport them to the trashcan.

    Sup Agnis, Whoa! First a female voice and now a growth spurt? It is to avoid Donkey and his friends, they won''t bully me or try to recruit me as an adult, I think¡­

    ¡°Agnis, is that you?¡± Oh, nice timing Charlize, and hey what are all of you doing here?

    ¡°We have some questions.¡± No, we won''t go on a date with your daughters!

    ¡°We, know, Kanna and I have some memories of the last 5 days except they weren''t the last 5 days and a lot of weird stuff happened, like you guys being some mythological beings.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, Leah and I have the same!¡± Uhm, bad dream? Yeah?

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°But these things that you guys called shades look the same and our dreams seem to match with Cecilia and Leah''s dreams.¡± Aha, well then there''s no helping it, we might have mentioned something about time loops, this is the next one.

    ¡°I see¡­¡± I guess this works out, we won''t have to deal with you guys chasing us. I slid more shades into the trashcan after Raishin blew them up in the air.

    How come they suddenly remember? No clue, maybe everyone remembers now, or the people we saved from your nuke.

    ¡°Hey, you''re not going to destroy the town again, are you?¡± We are doing our best that''s why we''re getting all these shades to the trashcan!

    ¡°And why are you older now?¡± Troll looked at me. I¡¯m trying to avoid Donkey and friends; I have a question for your mother and Cecilia by the way. Since you remember what all happened and stuff this makes things easier. Is the outside world as crazy as what is going on here?

    ¡°Oh no not even close, this is 100 times crazier than my wildest adventure.¡±

    ¡±Same here.¡± That is good to hear. So, if we break out, we will have a quiet life? Sounds good! We swipe up all the shades and get them into the trashcan.

    If you would be so kind Raishin. I can finally blast something! [Nova blast] The shades in the trashcan got vaporized.

    ¡°So uhh how can we help?¡± Hmm, that is a good question. Let''s fetch Greg and Ted. On the way to Gregory¡¯s house, I explained the rules we made to make sure Boshi town wouldn''t end up as a crater.

    ¡°So, we just move the shades to that¡­ trashcan and ask Raishin to destroy them?¡± Oh, the echo will take care of that!

    ¡°Ah, right.¡± Raishin banged on Gregory¡¯s door. Boshi police! Open up! I can hear that it''s you Raishin! Gregory opened the door.

    Well, this is an unusual team and what are you trying this time Agnis? Evading Donkey and co.

    And them? He points at the mothers and their daughters.

    They remember the last timeline. Huh? How?

    No clue, maybe you had an idea. Do Hera, Philip, Gianni, and his girlfriend remember too?

    Dunno didn''t check, I''ll go ask Hera and Philip, you guys do uhh, your stuff! Hehe, I¡¯ll go mop up some more shades, wanna come Kanna and Leah?

    ¡°Uhh, sure, not sure how we can help though.¡± That''s fine! I''ll carry you!

    ¡°You don''t need to carry us! We can get there ourselves!¡± That''s not what I meant but sure¡­ I headed home and asked Hera and Philip but they didn''t seem to know what I was talking about I did get questions about my appearance and I convinced them it was one of Gregory¡¯s potions and that it is temporary. Hmm, it would be awkward to ask Gianni now that he doesn''t know me. As I was thinking about what this meant I heard a loud screech. I heard screams and saw people looking up. Well, I guess a flying shade isn''t surprising. It is just one though. I shoot an ice arrow and freeze it solid. It falls to the ground. Easy! It gets swept up by some wind magic Raishin and Charlize use to move the shades. I look at the trash can. It is getting full but no echo yet. Raishin can blast it but if echoes are not coming then we¡¯re being careful about nothing. So not much will be happening today according to what is supposed to happen. Half our problems remembered the last timeline and are assisting. We also gave up on following the timeline properly. Only the important things will be dealt with. Talking about important things I still need to nuke potato village.

    As I got that thought my intuition went wild. Charlize is on our side now which means¡­ I turned on the filter which allowed me to see the messy state that the dimensional fabric was in. Something seemed to be moving behind it. It still had those nasty maggots on it but it looked like I saw something making a tear in the fabric. Is that a claw? Oh, hell no! I took out all of my tails and closed up the hole. The maggots reacted and headed over to me. I blasted 2 with spatial bolts and they exploded in dark green goo and it splashed all over me. An enormous wave of nausea swept over me and I fell to the ground vomiting. It wasn''t the fact that they exploded, everything here looked gross enough but this goo on me had the worst sour smell I''ve ever experienced and it was all over me! I tried to undo this by shattering illusions but it didn''t work.

    Are you kidding me? Is there something I don''t understand about getting hit by disgusting goo?! I cleaned myself with water magic but I was still more or less incapacitated by nausea since the stink didn''t go away. Is this how I die? In my own vomit? Whatever was behind the fabric of space was moving again. Wait I made myself older with illusions, if I break this one maybe I won''t stink anymore! I shattered this illusion and I was back to my non-stinky 12-year-old self, good! I coated my hands in spatial magic and reached out to grab illusion shards that were swiftly disappearing. I couldn''t grab one with my left hand but I succeeded in grabbing one with my right hand. It turned into a weird looking dagger. That is cool and all but my tails still haven''t worked out what I can do with this. I took out my tail.

    Hey, do you have answers? No answer, I take out another tail.

    Did you figure out how to make a dimensional anchor? Also, no answer. Why are my tails so lazy? Right, what to do with this illusionary dagger? It was some blurry crystal-looking dagger that refracted light which made it rainbow-colored and shifted color depending on the angle you looked at it. I inspected it. My eyes told me that this dagger doesn''t exist. Great now I''m fooling my own eyes. I hid my tails and I fixed another hole and more disgusting maggots wiggled toward me. I wish I had more of these daggers because normal ones probably won''t do anything to them. And this non-existing dagger split. Well¡­ ok. I threw the daggers at the maggots and they crystallized and shattered. No goo. Some energy came out of them and flowed into the fabric of space. It seemed to slowly heal up. Hmm, don''t tell me this is how I''m supposed to fix this mess? I kill more maggots and the fabric looks way healthier now. It still looks bad though and this thing is still trying to tear holes into the fabric. Also, the maggots are starting to run out and it''s nowhere near being fixed.

    Ok, all maggots are gone, what now? The claw tears through space again and I throw the dagger at it. The dagger bounced off the claw and an earth-shattering roar followed. It caused an earthquake, no that is wrong, the whole space trembled. Did I do something wrong? Whatever it was started thrashing. Sometimes a claw poked through and I fixed it but besides that, it just looks like something big as moving behind it. I don''t know if I can look through the fabric to see what''s behind it but maybe I don''t want to know. I strengthened the nature magic in my body to counter the disgusting feeling I was getting from how bad the fabric looked. I need more maggots! Never thought I would say this. They were key to fixing this. I looked at some goo that was still on the ground where I got hit earlier. Don¡¯t tell me I need to understand this goo to fix this. Ugh, can I procrastinate on this? Is this why my race is endangered? I can''t imagine that vomiting this frequently is healthy. I inspected myself, I wasn''t in danger but I was far from healthy. Meh. so, this thing wants to come in, which is a bad idea, what else can I do to make it go away?

    What is my race¡¯s specialty? Illusions and spatiotemporal magic. Is that all? I don''t know. Can I create a powerful illusion to trick it and convince it succeeded the invasion? I don''t know what it would do if it will just trash around it''s not going to help. The best thing is to trick it into fleeing, but what would a thing like this be afraid of? What would the scariest thing be? A god? I don''t know what any look like. Azu? She is stronger than a god. Oh¡­ my mom! Now, this might sound bad but hear me out! My mom has defeated multiple gods also she often went on expeditions to fix whatever happens when dimensional cracks appear. I don''t know what the difference is between dimensional cracks and tears but they probably aren''t that different. So, if there is anything that relates to this and knows about my mother then it should have an impact! And my mom is super strong. I got a plan. And I got 7 digits of illusion layers on my side. I¡¯m not going to be cheap I''m going to use half my layers to make an illusion of my mom. Maybe it can stick around and help us. Although not sure how good that would be for my mental state since eventually, she will have to go¡­ Maybe just scaring off that thing is the best idea¡­ doing otherwise is tempting though but it''s not really her¡­

    I slapped my cheeks. I focused as hard as I could and brought up all the memories I had about my mother and all the stories she told me. I started to tear up but I kept focus. My instinct told me to stab myself with the illusionary dagger so that''s what I did. The area I stabbed cracked and it looked like that area turned into glass and shattered. Light shone out of it which made a projection that slowly turned into the figure of my mother. The wound closed up and it was as if I never had been stabbed. The dagger disintegrated. I noticed that this didn''t take as many illusion layers as I intended to feed it, it only took 50. It did seem that I could only use this dimensional dagger when in the proximity of a dimensional-related problem. The illusion of my mother looked at me and smiled. It then took off in phoenix form and flew through the fabric of space. Another earth-shattering roar and a phoenix cry. I don''t know what happened but I could guess, this illusion sent the monster packing. The fabric of space started to burn.

    Oh shit! I approached it but it seemed to fix the fabric. It extinguished. It didn''t fix much but even if it''s little, that helped. I looked at my hands. I thought of what just happened. I tried to make another illusionary dagger. I failed. I got close to the part of the dimensional fabric that still looked like it was festering and tried again. After 3 tries I got my illusionary dagger. Right, I still don''t know how to fix this with this dagger but at least I know I can, and how to make it. I threw the dagger but it did nothing. I stabbed myself again with the dagger but nothing happened. It went through me as if the dagger didn''t exist. I repeated what I did earlier and tried to bring my mother out again but that didn''t work either. What am I supposed to do? The dagger vibrated, shot out of my hand, and pointed at me while floating.

    Me? I looked behind me but there was nothing. I moved to the side but it kept pointing at me. It kept vibrating while pointing but the vibrations became less and less and it fell to the ground and shattered. This forced the filter to close and I stopped seeing the dimensional fabric. I have no clue what just happened there and I¡¯m sure nobody knows the answer. My intuition tells me this might be a nine-tail fox specialty. I decided to leave it be. Suddenly I saw a flash and felt a magical energy surge. I looked over and saw the trashcan getting nuked. Raishin was on the other side of Boshi town blowing shades though, does this mean the echo started? I was quite mentally exhausted but decided to help clean up some shades until it was dinnertime.

    During dinner, I tried to discover if Hera and Paul remembered the previous timeline but it seems they didn''t. Did you hear those 2 roars?

    ¡°Roars?¡± Yeah, I heard 2 earth-shattering roars this afternoon.

    ¡°Did you hear something, honey?¡±

    ¡°No, sorry, are you sure you¡¯re feeling alright Agnis?¡± Hey, isn''t this odd those roars shook even the fabric of space itself, shouldn''t everyone in this village have felt and heard it? Oh, so no roars or earthquakes? Maybe I dreamt it then.

    ¡°I didn''t feel anything no, it might have been a dream yeah.¡± Hera took the dishes and brought them to the kitchen.¡°Can you make some ice cream for us Agnis? We haven''t had any for a long time.¡± What fruits do we have?

    ¡°Oooh, can you make banana split?¡±

    ¡°We had banana split last time Philip! I want chocolate strawberry!¡± Strawberry chocolate it is! I started making the ice cream while lost in thought. Did I really dream that? Did I fool myself with my own illusions? Was it a dream? I handed Hera and Philip the ice cream while still lost in thought. I decided to ask my buddies.

    -Guys, I have a question, did you guys hear an earth-shattering roar that shook the fabric of space? - - I did not, what is this about? - - No roar and not earth-shattering. - - Nope, sorry- I explained what happened.

    -That is concerning- - Do you know what that thing was? - - I don''t know what any of that was I also had no clue what I was doing, I¡­ I just followed my intuition.-

    - How many times did you vomit?- - I lost count¡­- - Sounds rough, was it another enclosed space?-

    - Nope, I''m sure of that.- -Did you awaken?-

    - What?- - I don''t know some power sleeping inside you woke up and now you''re even more overpowered than before!-

    - Don''t think so, I feel weaker than ever, I don''t know what is going on most of the time.- - Maybe you''re not supposed to know what to do in that instance just follow your nine-tails instinct, maybe that is the best thing to do. When my dad taught me how to get into big bear mode and increase my regeneration, he told me to stop thinking and just follow my instincts. If I had to tell a fellow war bear how to go in big bear mode, I wouldn''t be able to because it is something that is hard or impossible to describe or teach. Maybe this is what is going on, you are thinking too much, and let intuition take over. - - Last words before Agnis goes crazy and drops the world into chaos! -

    - Hey! I wouldn''t do that! Probably¡­ But thanks for the tip, Ted. - - Maybe I should follow that example too. -

    - Oh, right how is it going with that voice? - - He is hearing voices? Is he finally going crazy? - - Why is everyone saying that?!- - Because that is a valid question? -

    - I¡¯m not going crazy but to answer your question, my shadow is talking to me, and I''ve been ignoring it for a long time but it gets louder every timeline. - - I don¡¯t think there is any chance that this is good news. - - What is this good news you guys are talking about? We could use some of that, so dimensional stuff is fucked up so now the shadows are joining the dark side? Hehe.-

    - Well, Agnis advised me to try and listen to it but I haven''t yet, I¡¯ll listen to what it has to say, give me a second¡­- - I bet 2 gold that it''s super bad news.- - Nobody is going to bet against you, we all know it''s bad news, the question how bad the news is.-

    - Hmm, guys, shall we just give up?- - Ehh, what did your shadow say?-

    - So ehm remember what I told you Agnis that sometimes things sealed in the shadows can merge with it and get out?- - Oh no please not this!-

    - So I don''t know how or why but there is a dragon sealed in the shadow of a mountain close by and my shadow has been trying to tell me about it the whole time.- - Please be a baby dragon, please be a baby dragon-

    - it''s a light dragon of about 1500 years old¡­- - Alright guys it was nice knowing ya! When is it escaping? -

    - I don''t know but if it doesn''t get out of the shadow in this timeline it certainly will next one. - - Can¡¯t we flash bomb the shadow of the mountain to eliminate it? -

    - You see the problem with things as large as a mountain is that if you set a flash bomb off on the side where its shadow is the shadow just shifts to the other side of the mountain¡­- - Let''s ignore it! - - What? You want to ignore a light dragon? Wait it fused with shadows so what is it?- -Don''t they cancel each other out and there will be no dragon?-

    - That would be convenient but I don''t know what it is.- - Does your shadow tell you how it got there?-

    - Well that is the funny part, it was a goddess¡¯ pet but it got banished by a witch¡­- - I should be surprised but I just am not¡­- - How strong is Azu?-

    - Wish I knew¡­- - Is it a good idea to unleash her upon the world?- - That is a good question but she seems harmless and that question could be extended to ourselves. Imagine if we were about 2000 Kaledonian years and a god came to harass us what do you think the aftermath would look like?-

    - Well if you say it like that I would say that Azu managed to keep the damage to a minimum, the world is still here after all, if Raishin or Agnis would get harassed by a god I would fear for whatever is in a 3000 km radius of that battle.- - Rude but probably true.- - I would just undo the damage with an illusion.- - anyways, I don''t think Azu is a threat, the gods and that trapped dragon are but ignoring it might be good for now.-

    - Are you crazy? It is a dragon! - - And what can we do against a 1500-year-old light shadow dragon? -

    - Uhh, good point. - - We leave it be till the next timeline, Azu said she would help out next timeline, and she will be our best shot. -

    - Oh right. - - You don''t have any more bad news by any chance do you Raishin? - - Nope, my intuition tells me we''re screwed enough because of what you guys said. - We closed the Teleroad conversation.

    Well, this sucks, I don''t remember the mention of a dragon in the potato village library. The dragon was called a pet, who calls a dragon a pet? I guess a god would. Although Dragons fall also in the category of creatures that could challenge a god and have a chance of winning. 1500 years is quite a young age for a dragon though, maybe it got raised by the goddess? Dragons are one of the few long-living races that don''t mind high numbers in their ages. I forgot how much 1500 Kaledonian was in dragon years though. I decided to stop thinking about things and went to sleep. We are going to find the last root we can detect. I¡¯m sure it will be a pain in the ass.

 Ch 57: Earth Palace

    I got woken up by an earth-shattering roar. I hate this. I put on the correct filter and look outside. I instantly try to hold back my nausea. I circulate nature magic through my system. I hate this. Not only is the town being invaded by shades the place is infested with dimensional maggots. Nothing is trying to break through the fabric of space though.

    I turn off the filter. I didn''t see anything! Nothing is breaking through so we will be fine! Right? I still feel like I should investigate what the deal is with those maggots but I decided to procrastinate. I decided to wipe out some shades by sliding them into the trashcan. I didn''t need to do much because the echoes were taking care of most of them. It was unintentional but the echo was helping us now. Or maybe Gregory took this into account with his plan. It wasn''t perfect because the big shades didn''t get moved to the trashcan but most of the normal-sized shades got moved to the trashcan and got incinerated. I guess the longer this goes on the less we have to do as cleanup duty. Which is good because we have many more problems.

    ¡°Did you get enough of your adult form?¡± Charlize and troll came to help me deal with the big shade. I needed to get rid of it to get rid of maggot goo.

    ¡°I don''t think I will ever understand you...¡± We moved the big shade to the trashcan and Boshi town was safe for now. ¡°We will keep an eye on the town you guys go do¡­ whatever you need to do!¡± Thank you, that is very helpful. I scanned the area. I know where the root is but I haven''t found a way to get there yet. This root is the deepest underground out of any root. That is why I left this one as the last but maybe we should have left the easier ones for last. I wanted to make sure that there were some easier ones between the harder ones. But that seems to be a bad idea in hindsight. Hmm what is this, whoa right below Boshi town, there is a city buried here, Is this the city I saw on that map?

    I compared its layout to what I had archived, it is a bit different but most main points seemed to line up. This city didn''t just get buried; at the moment we are about 3500 meters above sea level. This city is buried 3000 meters below sea level. How did it get there in the first place? Or did someone drop an insane amount of rocks and dirt on it? The map suggested that the capital was on a mountain or was it inside a mountain?

    Anyways the map suggested it was elevated. I normally love mysteries but these suck. I decided to stop thinking about it, just more headaches. Now I can''t see a connection between the root and the city but I did find a way to get there, of course through the sewers. Gregory isn''t going to like this. I couldn''t find any other path to get there. This isn''t weird because this city is 6500 meters below us, we should be happy there is even a path going there. Some parts seem collapsed but we can easily get there. Worst case scenario we need to drop some nukes to get there. Oh, we can¡¯t because of the echoes. Meh. Maybe Molerock was involved in sinking this city. But I have to remember, there is no indication that this is the city Azu was visiting when she was attacked. Because wouldn''t she be stuck underground if that was the case? Does it work like that? I don''t know. Only one way to find out!

    I kidnap Ted who is training in his backyard and head over to Gregory¡¯s house. Is it time to find out what more this timeline has in store for us? Yup. I knock on Gregory¡¯s door and then ring the bell. What¡¯s up? I whisk him away and head over to Raishin¡¯s hut. He is not here.

    Let¡¯s wait here. So, I found a city buried 6500 meters down here.

    Down here? Isn''t the root over at the Lucidus mountain range? Correct!

    So why don''t we go there? I don''t know how to get there but I do know how to get to that city! Sup guys!

    So Raishin I found a city 6500 meters underground. Cool! Let''s go! Wait, so you think this city has a path to the root?

    No clue. So, what is the relation between the city and the root then?

    Probably none. Ted holds his hand over his forehead.

    So, remind me why are we going to this city then? To figure out why a city that once was on the elevation of Boshi town or even higher is buried so deep. Do you think it might be related to the battle between the goddess and Azu?

    That works. What?

    There is no evidence that that is the city Azu visited when they fought but it surely can''t be unrelated right? Because Boshi town doesn''t look 2600 years old, even the oldest parts aren¡¯t that old the city down there seems to be ancient but if that wasn''t the city, she visited either¡­ Then there might be a 3rd city that got wiped out somewhere. Also, it to the root than here so it will be easier to dig from there. Kinda? How deep down is this root exactly?

    Uhm do you really want to know? Yes!

    Well, as far as I can tell there is magma everywhere around the root, does that tell you enough? No? Is it in the mantle of the planet?

    Almost! Hoo boi. What''s the mantle of the planet?

    Magma layer about 40 km down, gonna be fun to dig there¡­ Maybe leaving the toughest root to reach as last was a bad idea¡­ But it looked so close on that hologram you made!

    Well, that wasn''t on scale of course else you wouldn''t be able to see the root. So, I hope your digging skills are polished because we need to get there within 4 days. So ehm how are your dimensional teleports coming along?

    I haven''t touched them and I''m not sure if that would even be a good idea with how the dimensional fabric is in this state¡­ Did it get worse?

    You have no idea¡­ How deep does your [Solar stream] go Raishin? Dunno.

    It went through a mountain that was about 5300 meters above sea level and went as deep as 1000 meters below sea level so a good 6300 meters we would need 7 of those to get there and if an echo starts when we are descending, we might blast whatever is down there. But it''s worth a shot. I can only use it once a day. So, we need to wait for an echo to pick it up? I¡¯m not sure that is a great idea.

    Do we even know if the echoes work outside the range of the barrier? Good point logically it shouldn''t work. Well then let''s see if there is a path going there from that city of yours, how do we get there?

    Through the sewers. Absolutely not! So, do you have another solution?

    I don''t¡­ Sewer adventures here we come! I think you are the only one who is excited to go down there¡­

    Wow, no weird puns I¡¯m proud of you! So ehh do we still need a [Shadow cloak] now? Yes, we don''t know what other energy is down there and your mana corruption immunity probably doesn''t fully apply to us because I had some times when I felt close to getting there. Hmmm, yeah same, cloak us! Gregory cloaked us and we hopped into the sewers while Ted kept up the manhole. Gregory sunk the shades in the shadow and Raishin and I used [Flash bomb]. Nothing of importance happened. Some corrupted green sewer rats attacked. Well, that is inaccurate because they were corrupted, they were some ugly pink-green.

    A lot of pink energy here. I hate it here are we close to the rock tunnel?

    Yeah. We got into the rock tunnel and felt a slope descend. Ted and Gregory had to clear out the tunnel several times because some parts collapsed. I tried to not think of it because it would cause more headaches but I couldn''t help but wonder who was responsible for making this tunnel. The tunnel made a huge detour, which made sense because the city was almost directly below us. There were some larger open spaces that seemed to be rest spots. We followed the path and after 3h we were at the correct altitude.

    Hey, Agnis you can teleport us out of here if needed, right? Walking all this way back will kill my feet! Uhh, this is quite far down, I don¡¯t know if I can.

    Nooo! Raishin dramatically collapsed to the floor and grabbed his feet.

    It will be all right feet; we will find a way! Can¡¯t Gregory shadowmeld us up? The tunnels and the sewers are dark. That should be no problem. We went around the corner and we saw there was an enormous city made out of some golden-brown colored earth. It didn''t look like earth at all. The city was earth colored but it stood out from ehm the earth around it. It looked like polished earth if that makes sense. I¡¯m not an earth expert.

    Wow! I¡¯m sorry Agnis, I¡¯m glad we came here now! This is amazing! How did this get here? How did they even make earth like¡­ this? I don''t know let''s ask them! I run over to some weird looking human? He looks odd for a human.

    Hey, Agnis share your vision with us, we don''t see anyone here. Oh, but I¡¯m not using my Elgards eyes. I activated Elgards eyes and linked my buddies vision with mine.

    Hey Greg¡­ Yeah, Agnis these beings are all spirits, that''s why only you can see them.

    I guess they are weaker than the spirit sisters. So, what is this place? Spirit capital? Don¡¯t think so, because that would be in the spirit world. Hey, excuse me! What is this place? Wait Bunai? Is this golem heaven? In front of me, I saw a golem-looking spirit. It turned around but it didn''t look like Bunai at all.

    Sorry, wrong golem ehh spirit. The golem responded and started to ask me questions. Another ancient language? I looked at Raishin. What is he talking about? I''m just talking to these spirits normally. Well, I guess we will have to wait till Agnis figures out that only spirits can interact with spirits. It seems that for the weaker ones, this is quite literal.

    Oh, you can''t understand them either? Well, this guy said that this is a great power spot for earth spirits so many have gathered here to chill at the power spot. Not-Bunai doesn''t know any other details though. Did you call that spirit Not-Bunai?

    Not Bunai (name tentative), yeah. You need to work on your naming sense.

    His name is tentative! I can rename him! Have you asked what his name is? We can''t understand what you''re saying while speaking to spirits.

    He said that he doesn''t have a name only the higher, superior, and legendary spirits have names. Sounds like spirits have different rarities! So where do we go?

    Well, he recommended that we head over to the palace of earth spirits to meet the spirit in charge. We probably wing it from there. And this is a good idea?

    We will just kick their asses if they create trouble. May I remind you that we can''t interact with them?

    Oh right, here are some frost marbles. I handed over a big load of frost marbles to each of my buddies.

    Hehe, they better watch out now! Maybe we can get some answers. We walked toward the big palace in the center of the city. Spirits were just walking around like they have lived here for a while. Does this power spot give you any boost Agnis?

    Nope, I¡¯m not an earth spirit, Yeh else he would be able to use earth magic properly! Fair point. We looked around and several spirits looked at us but still continued their daily life. It just looked like a busy normal city; the only thing is that it would look like a ghost town to non-spirits.

    This is fascinating! Hey, Agnis can you talk to some of these spirits? I talked to some spirits and they seemed to be very polite. Some had been living here for a good 200 years, and most of them fled from the spirit world. It seems there are some spirits here too that don''t have an earth affinity. There was a magma lake a bit further up where fire-related spirits made their home.

    Hey, can you ask why they left the spirit world? I think Nayani and Guyani said something similar. I asked this bronze-looking horse spirit why he fled the spirit world. Apparently, they fled because the spirit king started rolling out new policies that displaced a lot of spirits and in general displeased a large group. The normally compassionate spirit king seemed to issue harsh punishments to dissenters. Hey Horze what did the spirit king do that you guys disagreed with? Hmmm, I see Yeah, that makes sense. What did he say?

    He said that there were 2 problems, one is the expansion of the area that gets assigned to the spirit king. Normally it is quite small and has been for millennia but suddenly he wanted to quadruple his territory and kicked out whoever ended up in his new territory, secondly, he started issuing a spirit energy tax. Hey Horze what is spirit energy? A spirit equivalent of life energy? Yikes. So, these are all fugitives?

    That is sad. Oh, Horze says that the closer we get to the palace the more likely we find spirits that have been here longer. Thank you Horze, can we¡­ well I do anything for you? Oh really? Must be hard for you to translate everything the whole time.

    Well, I didn''t know I could speak spirit but it''s not hard. Horze said that he doesn''t mind helping ¡°The Bridge¡± I have no clue what it means and neither does Horze. Is his name really Horze or did you just name him that?

    He doesn''t have a name but he liked the name Horze so what is the problem? Never mind¡­ We came closer to the palace and the earth started to rumble and I heard an earth-shattering roar.

    Shit this again! Go on without me I have to deal with this! Hey, smartass we can''t do much here without you! I circulated nature magic through my system, sighed, and opened the correct filter. Yuck!

    Ugh, I feel sick! This is gross! Raishin didn''t say anything because he was emptying his stomach, right I forgot that I still had my eyes linked up. More festering dimensional fabric and more maggots but there also seemed to be some big maggots and some¡­ what are these things? Centipede. Is this the point where our adventure slowly turns into horror? The centipedes were black and had red stripes but on each of their many legs were centipede heads. Is centipede even accurate now? It has many legs and heads so I guess? I don''t have a big issue with bugs but its more the vibe they give up that is nauseating.

    Ugh, how do we fight those things? They are quite easy to deal with but that comes with its problems. Kill them and they explode in super stinky goo, I''m not kidding imagine the most stinky substance you''ve ever smelled and multiply that by 100 so DONT KILL THEM! So, we just let them do their thing and be creepy?

    I can deal with them but I don''t know if you guys can help. I shattered an illusion layer and grabbed a shard which turned into an illusionary dagger.

    What... what is that! I''ve never felt energy like that before! I¡¯m following my instincts here! Can''t think! Translation: he doesn''t know. I guess nothing we can do about this. Hey, look the spirits are gathering. My daggers multiplied and I threw them and crystalized and shattered the maggots, the centipedes, however, were tough and didn''t want to get one shot. The bigger maggots needed 2 or 3 hits to get defeated. The festering dimensional fabric didn''t seem to recover much. Then I saw something moving behind the fabric.

    Shit this thing again! Another earth-shattering roar shook the fabric of space. Aaah my ears! What is that?

    So, you hear and feel that too? Those spirits don''t seem to notice though, although the ones that are the closest to us seemed to have noticed something. Maybe it is only detectable when in close proximity to Agnis. That is cool and all but if I don''t stop that thing who knows what will happen? The big maggot sprays some green liquid at us.

    Oh, hell no! I froze it with frost magic and threw it at a centipede. The frozen green liquid seemed to corrode into the centipedes. It started to thrash around and bite its allies. Right, so I keep the fat maggots alive and use their spit to make the centipedes go berserk. This looks like some weird game. Another fat maggot spray and I repeated this. Another centipede went crazy and died after. Sadly, the centipedes started to catch on and started to slaughter the big maggots.

    Ugh, I feel like I''m playing a strategy game, Greg, can you bind the centipedes? I will try. I threw some normal daggers and used [Turning leaf] to swap the big maggots with the daggers. What strikes me odd is that they don''t directly attack me. Only with ranged attacks. The centipedes seemed to be melee oriented but they stay on the dimensional fabric. Does something happen if I knock them off? The fabric bulged and a claw tore through it.

    Shit, I forgot about this guy! Ted Raishin, can you prepare your frost marbles? Something really strong is observing us and approaching! I don''t have time to deal with everything that is going on here! I saved more fat maggots but the frequency of their spits seemed to have decreased. And while the maggots didn''t increase the centipedes just crawled out of the fabric. Is this what is on the other side? Another claw tears through the fabric and something with uncountable eyes looks at me. I get shivers through my whole body and since I saw it my buddies saw it too.

    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    Wh... What was that? A huge headache if I don''t deal with it, Greg? I¡¯m sorry it seems none of my magic or skills can interact with them¡­

    Frost marbles? I¡¯ll try! I throw my illusionary dagger at the claw and yet again it doesn''t work but with another earth-shattering roar that causes everything to tremble. Gregory throws frost marbles which are filled with my frost magic but they don''t seem to do anything.

    Hmm, this is weird I swear frost magic worked. I hit the centipedes with frost magic. Nothing happens, fire magic, nothing happens, lightning magic also nothing. Nothing with water either. What!? it worked on the maggots! I froze a big maggot and it got frozen. I jumped up towards the tears in the fabric and fixed them with spatial magic. I looked at my hand. What if only spatial and illusion magic works on these things? I shot a bolt of spatial magic at the centipedes and they didn''t take a lot of damage but they seemed to get impacted by it.

    Great, now I also have to practice spatial magic. I dashed at a centipede, imbued my hands in spatial magic, grabbed some of a centipede''s legs with heads, dodged the heads on the legs trying to bite me, and threw it off the dimensional fabric. It seemed to be in pain and tried to rush back to the area where the dimensional fabric was exposed. An earth wall appeared and it blocked the centipede''s path. The centipede started to screech. Hey, Agnis, it is slight but the energy these things carry changes a bit when you throw it off that fabric, I think we can hit this one! Gregory impaled and one-shot the centipede.

    That is good news but it''s not like I can easily throw all these centipedes off. But I think I understand what Gregory is saying. Since I stepped on the dimensional fabric, I feel different. I managed to throw 3 more centipedes off but they were quite organized and I was more focused on making sure that whatever is behind here isn¡¯t coming through. I fixed more holes but couldn''t keep up with the claws of this thing behind this fabric tearing more and these centipedes were really annoying.

    Hey, Agnis someone is coming! I¡¯m sorry I''m busy! I heard footsteps approaching. And then suddenly all the sound disappeared. No screeching centipedes, no disgusting burping sounds from the big maggots, no more low-pitched vibration sounds from the dimensional fabric, no background sound, no battle sounds that my buddies made, nothing. But there was one thing I could hear. A clear female voice.

    ¡°I see that you are struggling, but are you not too young to start fixing dimensional festers and infestations?¡± The moment I hear that a wave of spatial magic sweeps across us, it instantly kills all the maggots and centipedes. They didn''t explode, and they also didn''t crystalize but turned into motes of green and red lights and floated into the fabric of space. It closed all the tears but didn''t do anything about the festering. Whatever was behind the fabric protested and let out another earth-shattering roar. Maybe I should call it a space-shattering roar and another space quake.

    ¡°Silence!¡± This new individual folded her fan and pointed it at the rough location where this thing was behind the fabric and a ball of spatial magic shot out, went through the fabric, and got followed up by another space quake, the thing roared again causing a space quake and seemed to flee. I looked at my illusionary dagger, it seemed that it was more cooperative the last time. Although I have no clue what I am doing so maybe it¡¯s more accurate that it didn''t guide me this time. I closed the filter and looked at the newcomer. All the spirits seemed to show her respect. Uhm, thank you, are you, their leader? Hey, why can we understand you?! Raishin shush!

    ¡°I do not regard myself as the leader, but I am the oldest spirit here and have been here the longest, so in response to that these kind spirits express their respect towards me but they know they do not have to. But more importantly, are you not going to close that up?¡± She points at where the fabric of space was opened up. I couldn''t see it now because I removed the filter. I activated the filter again and yet again almost had to vomit. Hey Agnis, can you stop doing that? Sorry! Ehm what do you mean by closing it up ehmm, sorry I didn''t catch your name. Ugh, not like you would remember it even if she did. I feel sick! Make it stop!

    ¡°I apologize, My name is Isi Medri, I¡¯m a 7349-year-old chrono spirit.¡± She made a polite bow. She looked like a 16-year-old human girl, well besides the extra eye on her forehead. Wow, what a weird name and she is older than our moms! Hey Raishin where are your manners?

    Uhh, I left them at the surface? You can¡¯t leave behind what you don''t have¡­ Hey, guys am I the only one worrying about why she is just staring at us and not doing anything? Well, be happy, she could probably wipe us out by blinking.

    ¡°Oh, I am not your enemy, depending on the situation of course, it is just a very long time since I have seen members of your race and so young, I would have thought they were extinct by now.¡± It¡¯s that bad, eh?

    ¡°It is that bad, yes, but come to the palace, let me hear why you are here, surely not to evict these spirits?¡± No, we are just trying to get to the pink broccoli root, do you know how to get there?

    ¡°Yes, I do, but let me close that for you, it seems that you are new to dealing with this situation.¡± Isi waved her fan and I saw a spirit magic circle and the dimensional fabric slowly disappeared as if a dimensional band-aid was placed over it. ¡°Please come rest and talk at the palace. I am deeply sorry my fellow spirits but there is something I want to discuss with ¡°The Bridge¡±. I look around and the spirits seem to understand and go back to doing their own things. We might finally get some answers. I wonder if there is a library here¡­ Should I tell him that I nuked the largest library in Boshi town? I hope that this place has a library so that that fact becomes untrue. We walked into the large halls of the palace, multiple golem-like spirits but also spirits with various appearances were busy doing their own thing. It had the same vibe as Hourai palace. We got led to a big room with a large table and chairs lining the table.

    ¡°I apologize, we do not have any food, since spirits don''t need to eat, I do enjoy drinking tea so that is all we have here.¡± A spirit drinking tea¡­ Hey, are you the leader here? Why can we interact with you and are you single? Tea got brought to us by 2 human-looking spirits.

    ¡°As I have said, I have not claimed such a title but I am responsible for ensuring the safety and well-being of the spirits here, so in a sense yes. It is not odd to interact with higher spirits although my case is special.¡± Go on. This tea is good!

    ¡°I am currently a spirit residing in a physical vessel.¡± Do you mean that you possessed someone? Isi took a sip of her tea.

    ¡°I understand why you would ask that but that is not the case, this vessel is artificial and was made especially for me 5876 years ago. By a dear friend of mine. Unfortunately, he was a mortal so he has passed away a long time ago. And I am single yes.¡± A spirit with a physical vessel, that is unusual¡­ Can you stop forgetting that you are exactly what she just described?

    ¡°Yes, this idea took inspiration from the nine-tailed spirit foxes. Decades of research went into making this vessel and although it is functional it has many flaws. You see, despite this vessel, I still have to find a power spot every 2000 years and recharge for a year, something that a nine-tail spirit fox does not have to do.¡± Is that why you are here?

    ¡°I arrived here 3481 years ago for that reason but have stayed where ever since.¡± Wait, so this city was under the ground at that time?

    ¡°It was not buried this deep but it was underground yes. I am not an earth spirit so I had a harder time locating this city but after that, I escorted spirits without an earth affinity here. It is a few of the big power spots that seem to be untouched by the dominant races living here.¡± So, this city is unrelated to the Boshi town on the surface or what happened when Azu got locked up. Can you tell more about this vessel of yours and about the nine-tail foxes? My friend here doesn''t know much about them because we all grew up and lived in Hourai but we escaped from it before it disappeared.

    ¡°That name sounds familiar but I know Hourai as a person, a promising young woman abandoned by her family.¡± Wait mom got abandoned by her family?

    ¡°Oh, is she your mother? I see that makes sense. The paternal nine tail side of her family is unknown, and the maternal phoenix side of her family abandoned her because she was not a full-blood phoenix, at least that is what I have heard, but this did not stop her from doing the things she loved to do. This is all I know about her.¡± Poor mom¡­ I guess you really don''t know more about her, do you? If you say you came here 3481 years ago then you might have only known about things when she was really young¡­ How old is empress Edea? 3504 years¡­ Yeah, unfortunately, we won¡¯t get to hear about her youth, but we can ask her when we get back home! You said also something about that vessel?

    ¡°A lot of questions, I have not talked like this in centuries! This vessel was made by my dearest friend Vo. He was a human but had a passion for spirits. He was a competent spiritmancer but his dream was to ¡®bridge¡¯ the gap between spirits and the corporeal beings, just like the nine-tailed spirit foxes did. As you know we don''t have physical forms and this is what he was passionate about solving. He befriended a nine-tailed spirit fox named Rignef and together they managed to make this.¡± Isi spun around in her very human-like body. Hey, this might sound rude but do you mind if I check your body out with my Elgards eyes? Wow! To see the day that Agnis would peep! Raishin shush!

    ¡°Sure, I only know the basics of maintenance so if you can see any defects I would like to know, Rignef used to do the same.¡± I kicked Raishin out of my visual connection and inspected Isi. Hey! I¡¯m going, to be honest, I don''t know what I''m looking for but this is amazing. Oh, something is blocking some energy there in your shoulder. Hmm, it is similar enough to a human body that if I wouldn''t pay attention, I would think you were but now it is clear that this is synthetic. I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t know anything about spirit vessels so I can¡¯t tell you if there is a defect.

    ¡°Knowing about a blockage of energy in my shoulder is enough, is it my right shoulder?¡± Yes. This is fascinating. I¡¯m sorry about Vo¡¯s death, but Rignef should be still alive right? I¡¯d like to talk to one of the creators of this vessel.

    ¡°He too died¡­ I think this is an effective way to transition to why nine-tail foxes have a larger responsibility in maintaining the world and why their numbers have been dropping alarmingly, want more tea?¡± Sure. I¡¯d love to! Yes, please. Hey Agnis! Let me in! I linked my vision with Raishin again and sipped some tea.

    ¡°You might have heard the phrase: more tails, more responsibility. This is true, the only exceptions are eight-tailed monkeys. This does not mean that the more tails one has the more important one is, the world will encounter great difficulty when only one of the tailed races goes extinct or has a population low enough to become unable to fill their role. And I do not know what the state is now but it was quite concerning before I came down here. Anyways all of you are very young so I will not be surprised if none of you know what you all can do and what you are supposed to do.¡± Yeah, we have an idea but in general, we are clueless.

    ¡°Well, you are all supposed to start learning these when you turn 3 years old or later.¡± Uhh, you mean 3 years in their race system, right? Not Kaledonian? ¡°Yes sorry, when your race dictates that you are 3 years old you start to get taught about the specifics and techniques that will help you. I saw this young fox struggling and that is normal, this is not something he should be dealing with at this age.¡± So that is why we know nothing! It will take forever before we turn 3 though!

    ¡°It pains me to say this but you might want to try and pick up as much as you can on this, unfortunately, I can''t help you because I do not have the correct race but I can tell you what your roles are.¡± Yes, please.

    "I will use some analogies here. Imagine that this whole dimension we reside in is a house. It has a basement, main floor, second floor, and an attic. Currently, we are on the main floor. Multiple races that are aware of the different floors have different names but personally, I call it Mainfloor, you can call it however you like but I will refer it to as Mainfloor. The basement is the underworld, we are on the main floor, the second floor is where the deities reside and I know there is an attic but I do not know what resides there. Whenever dimensional magic is used and different spaces are made this is still within the main floor. It is confusing but it is hard to move between the dimension which is the house in this analogy.¡± Ok, this is clear so far, Raishin do you get it? Uhm, I think so.

    ¡°Ninetails have the function of repairing the house and making sure nothing in or outside the house breaks things. That thing behind the fabric of space you saw earlier is something trying to invade the house and, in this analogy, it broke a window, which you tried to fix. Your job is to also either defeat it or scare it off. But you also deal with tenants that cause trouble. Deities seem to love breaking systems on the main floor and second floor so it is up to you to discipline them and fix their messes. It sounds unfair but that is just how things are. You can also make separate rooms on the main floor to either protect endangered tenants or isolate problematic tenants.

    This brings me to the role of the 7 tails, they can also make rooms and reinforce whatever the 9 tails fix, their role is similar but more focused on construction and reinforcement while the ninetails also enforce. The six tails generate the energy to run the house, it is simple but really important, everything runs on energy, and they have an important relationship with the three tails which evenly distribute this energy and store any surpluses and return it into the system when it runs low. Besides that, they are responsible for dealing with any shadow-related problems. It is common for tenants to cause trouble on the Main floor but only when it gets too bad is when the eight-tails and ninetails step in, the nine-tails will then either uhm ¡®beat them up¡¯ or isolate them in a separate room to cool off. The Eight tails are like ferrymen between houses so an eight tail could evict problematic tenants when necessary and bring new tenants in from other houses. Only the seven, eight, and ninetails can easily move between rooms and houses. So now there is the problem which is the spirit world. In this analogy, it is the backyard. None of the tailed beasts have any real influence on the spirit world. The energy the six tails generate and the three tails distribute leaks into the spirit world which keeps it going but systems can break there too and invasions from other worlds can also target the spirit world. But as you know that unless you are a spirit you are unable to interact with spirits.¡± Is this why you called him ¡®The Bridge?''

    "Yes, I do not know how this all came into effect but the spirit world is unsustainable like this for an indefinite amount of time. Because the ninetails are the only spirits, they are the only ones that can bring the spirits to the Mainfloor, or alternatively work with the seven tails to extend the Mainfloor over the spirit world, but I do not think any of these races have the numbers to pull this off.¡± What is in the basement?

    ¡°Devils, demons, and the like.¡± So, this role of mine, is it just for the Mainfloor or the whole house?

    "Every tailed beast is responsible for the whole house, most work closely with the seven-tail or nine-tail race since these have the ability to move the most freely around. Since the ninetails have drastically dropped in numbers the other tailed races decided to lend a hand in the only area they can help: enforcement.¡± So, if Agnis needs to beat up a god messing around it is normal for other-tailed races to help them beat it?

    ¡°Correct.¡± Hey look guys, dealing with gods is now not only my problem but also yours! This doesn''t make me happy at all! But I don''t think letting you fight a god alone was never an option anyways. So, what do the gods do on their second floor? Do they get to do anything?

    ¡°Do they do anything? I wish I knew¡­ They seem to control certain aspects of nature or even abstract things and perhaps interfere when that particular thing is affected but overall, they do not seem to be much concerned about what happens on the Mainfloor, as long as the second floor doesn''t get affected.¡± Well, that is selfish. Do you know anything about what shadow-related problems mean?

    ¡°Hmm I do not know the specifics but it seems that ¡®basement activity¡¯ can sometimes surface to the Mainfloor. So, this would be a three-tail and nine-tail problem.¡± Really working us to the bone, eh? So why are we especially low in numbers?

    ¡°Well, between things trying to invade the house, and dealing with problematic tenants, especially deities, they have the riskiest role, it did not help that the most abundant race on the Mainfloor, the humans, started hunting them down for various reasons.¡± Oh, yeah¡­ So, the reason they are kicking the bucket is that they have to fight gods monsters trying to break in and also have to deal with humans hunting them down? I¡¯m surprised they are still around¡­ Is that why this guy here is so reckless? Hey, I''m not reckless!

    ¡°Well, they are bad at risk assessment but that never seemed to be an issue, I do not know when the numbers started to fall but this was ongoing when I was born. I am afraid it is an ancient story for which even I am too young for.¡± So how did your nine-tail friend pass away?

    ¡°... he got hunted down by a deity.¡± Revenge?

    ¡°I do not know¡­¡± Thank you Isi, do you have any questions for us? Oh, I have another question actually, your name is very unusual, is it from an ancient language? And what does it mean?

    ¡°Hmm, that is odd Isi should be the name of this planet, did that change?¡± Uhh, we know the name of our planet as Yabia. Isi put her head in her hands.

    ¡°So that deity is up to no good again?¡± Uh oh. I might regret asking but what do you mean?

    ¡°I do not know many specifics because important memories from that era are gone but information and memories of those events have been wiped out around 3800 years ago. I can only vividly remember events from after that time period. But the one thing I do remember is that I am named after this planet and that my name is Isi. Oddly enough it seems that individuals still managed to remember anything related to names and some information associated with them. Besides that, anything that could hint at anything from before that event got wiped clean¡­ That deity must have gotten opportunistic and used this to combine her name with the ancient word for Justice and renamed the planet." For reference what deity are we talking about?

    ¡°The Sarian deity Biian.¡± Right¡­ this bitch again¡­

    ¡°She is a bitch indeed, she and Zarrazax are responsible for Rignef¡¯s death¡­¡± Some familiar names, at least the latter is sealed away now, we are here to escape a prison, this prison is responsible for keeping a very strong witch trapped. This might interest you but this witch sealed away Zarrazax and fought Biian, unfortunately, she got sealed away by Biian. And this prison caught a whole village in its crossfire.

    ¡°I see¡­¡± Isi stood up. ¡°I will personally lead you to the root. I can not help you because my duties are here but I can make your path to the root as safe as possible.¡± Oooh!

    ¡°I will arrange for my leave but unfortunately this is going to take a while. Will you be staying?¡± Uhh, we¡¯d like to but we have some things we need to arrange on the surface first, is it ok if we return tomorrow?

    ¡°Oh, that aligns perfectly with my schedule, but please at least enjoy your stay here a bit more, I can not guide you because I have a lot to still do but the palace is open for visitation, I will have to take my leave now, excuse me.¡± Isi bowed politely and left. A lot to take in. So, what happens if we all die? Is this ¡®house¡¯ screwed?

    It seems it''s already screwed because our numbers are quite low. So, guys¡­ about this eight tail¡­ do you think that eight tail that attacked Hourai, manage to ¡®evict¡¯ Hourai? We all fell silent.

    If that is the case, it might not be so easy to just get out of here and go home¡­ Where would we even look? We can just look around outside the house, right? I don''t think it is as simple as it sounds.

    It is a possibility but that doesn''t mean that something like that happened. Let''s get out of here first and then we find out what to think about next. I agree. We decided to focus on our more immediate problem. We looked around in the earth palace. I tried to make an earth spirit teach me and Gregory some cool earth magic. I learned absolutely nothing but Gregory got some new tricks. Raishin instantly headed for the kitchen with Ted behind him. Didn''t he hear that Isi said that spirits don''t really eat? So, Gregory and I were just looking around, we were both looking for anything that could be a library. I talked with another spirit and tried to learn some spirit magic. This stuff is hard. I only learned a simple spirit magic energy bolt, that''s it. I decided to act upon a plan that I was secretly hatching. I made a shadow clone and sent it off to have a short chat with Isi. Also made another clone to be on standby if that chat reaps any rewards.

    You are doing something risky again aren''t you? I¡¯m just putting in some groundwork for a contingency plan.

    Do I even want to know what you''re up to? Hmm, I won''t tell you everything yet but this is what I can tell you. Don¡¯t you think this lace could make for a good evacuation location?

    Well, yes, but getting people down here will consume a lot of time and will be extremely tedious. I don''t know what you are planning but it seems to cost more effort than it''s worth. Hmm, we¡¯ll see. We found a spirit that gave directions to the library.

    Yes! So, I didn''t vaporize the biggest library in Boshi town! Gregory asked me what this was about and I told him about the library in potato village. I see, I would recommend storing documents you deem useless or can¡¯t read anyways, they might come in useful later. Fair point We arrived at the location that the spirit pointed us toward. It also matched what I could remember from the map I found in potato village. It was the second largest structure in the city, with the palace being the largest. The spirit did have an unnerving message for us though. It seems that every spirit they sent inside to investigate never returned. If this was about a human or any corporeal being that would still be bad but since as far as we know only spirits can interact with other spirits this becomes a bit more¡­ problematic.

    That spirit did warn us but I can¡¯t help to curb my curiosity, is this how you feel whenever you go on an adventure? Pretty much, these doors seem heavy, could you open them? Sure. Gregory worked his earth magic to open the heavy stone doors of the library. We stepped inside and the doors slammed shut on us. I can¡¯t say that was surprising because it was a cliche development. Darkness took over the library. No light source in sight anywhere. It is a good thing that Gregory and I can see perfectly fine in the dark. We did get assaulted by a wave of musty smelling air.

    I can¡¯t say I didn¡¯t expect this, this library feels¡­ weird¡­ do you see anything? Hmm, it looks like a normal library to me¡­ a bit too normal. It seems like it hasn¡¯t been used in millennia which checks out but are books supposed to still¡­ look like books after being unattended for so long?

    No clue, that¡¯s why we¡¯re here to investigate and learn as much as we can. We didn¡¯t detect any immediate danger so we headed deeper into the library

 Ch 58: Spirit Library

    We looked around and tried to get a grasp on our surroundings. I wasn''t expecting much but I also wasn''t expecting that nothing would happen.

    Can you read this? Gregory pointed towards signs that probably indicated what section we were at.

    Nope, sorry, from what written text I¡¯ve found I can read none of it. Hmm, that¡¯s unfortunate, here I was hoping you could read all this. We continued walking deeper into the library.

    How are we going to find useful documents if we can¡¯t read all this shit? I said as Gregory and I were looking through random books, scrolls, and documents trying to find one that wasn''t written in an ancient language I could read.

    Hmm, I didn''t expect this, I can¡¯t expect you to throw every document in this library in your dimensional pocket¡­ Gregory picked up a thick book and opened it.

    Oof, what a musky smell. I coughed.

    Ugh easy with the dust there. Maybe we should find the kid''s section and see if we can find books with images. Unfortunately, that is the only thing that might prove us useful¡­ Now how do we even find it¡­ I looked around and realized that libraries are quite illiterate unfriendly. It does make sense but it isn''t helping us any bit.

    We kept wandering around opening random books here and there. Is there anything you see that could help us? Only books, shelves, and more books. There is one thing that bugs me though¡­

    And that is? Do you hear that? Gregory focused.

    Do you mean that ticking sound? It¡¯s probably just a clock. Well, yeah, but maybe ancient technology found a way to keep clocks ticking for millennia but here is the thing, I can¡¯t find it¡­

    Not in any of the filters you have? Well, that is the thing! Why do I need filters if it is a normal clock? That only means¡­ I went silent as we both heard something.

    What was that? I want to know too, I can''t see anything, do you feel anything? I haven''t felt anything off since we came in here.

    I haven''t seen anything off since we got here¡­ But something is definitely off¡­

    Agreed, let''s proceed with caution. We continue wandering around trying to find anything that could indicate where the kid''s section was. My eyes were unfortunately quite useless in here. There wasn''t a place where kids could play and read in here. Then again this is the first proper library I''ve ever been to besides the one in Hourai. So, I have no idea what the norm is. My nausea slowly started getting worse.

    Ugh, why am I getting nauseous? You have it too? I ran more filters, maybe something invisible was attacking us.

    Oh, look here! What?

    This book has a magic circle, I don''t know what magic skill it is though. Hmm, I can''t tell what it is from this magic circle alone, can you?

    I can¡¯t¡­ I am not sure if this is something we should recklessly try out¡­ Yeah, maybe it will flood the whole library or turn us into potatoes. Gregory closed the book and hastily put it back. We both coughed.

    It sure is musty and dusty in here it''s making my headache worse. Ugh, I don''t think it''s the dust, can you open a filter that can identify poison or the like?

    Do you think the books are poisoning us? I did as Gregory asked and spotted particles in the air that seemed poisonous.

    Oh, shit you''re right! We covered our mouths and noses with our scarves.

    Ugh, thought as much, what is it exactly? Right¡­ we have some poisonous fungi spores here¡­ When you thought you¡¯ve seen it all.

    A moldy dusty musty library¡­ Sadly this can¡¯t kill any spirits so I don¡¯t think this is the cause of the disappearing spirits. Ugh, how bad is our poisoning? We sat down and Gregory pulled out his small portable lab.

    Oh, you got better at storing things in your shadow? Not really, I only have space for this and my hammer, I will need you to pull out any ingredients I need. Alright. I supplied Gregory with the materials he needed.

    It isn''t lethal in this dosage but it will cause persistent headaches and nausea if we don''t clear this out of our systems. It could end up lethal if we keep inhaling it though¡­ Gregory made a temporary solution that wasn''t really an antidote but would boost our resistance to this toxin. I also got some anti-nausea potions out of my dimensional pocket and we downed a bottle.

    Unfortunately, this would be easy to solve if you could put the fungus and the spores on fire but unfortunately, it will take the books too. I covered the area in frost magic, grabbed some shadow liquid vodka out of my dimensional pocket, took a mouthful of it and sprayed it in the area, and ignited it causing it to destroy all the toxic spores in the air.

    Creative, so this is what you¡¯re doing with all MY liquid shadow vodka. Well, It is a pain to keep doing this so best is if we find the source so we can burn those shrooms. I lifted the frost magic and tried to locate the poisonous mushrooms by following the increase in toxic spore concentration. I had to repeat the liquid shadow vodka vapor trick several times. I should make this an attack! After my 7th [Shadow Vodka Blaze] I started to become a bit tipsy and we found the source.

    You have no alcohol resistance¡­ and this is a problem. In front of us, there was a section in the library that was filled with books that were alive, as in they were covered in black mold that had a faint dark purplish glow.

    Yikes, I didn''t think this through, how do we destroy this without destroying the books? We made sure to extra wrap our scarves around our faces. I decided to make a water bubble around our heads. It wasn''t filled with water of course! I also used [Shadow Vodka Blaze] to clear the area of toxic spores before making the bubble.

    I will have to say that again but your creativity amazes me. Hehe, it has been keeping me alive so far.

    I hate to say it... But I don¡¯t think there is any saving those books¡­ I guess time magic is the only hope but who knows for how long these things have been in this state¡­ it even looks like some books are ready to walk away... Disgusting.

    Torch it, release those books from their misery¡­ I made sure to control my flames and only burn the books that were infected by the mold.

    Yuck, I don''t think I will eat a pizza Funghi for a while¡­ I used another [Shadow Vodka Blaze] to get rid of the toxic spores that lingered.

    I surely hope that that wasn''t the kids'' section but our luck is terrible so maybe it was¡­ Greg¡­ the clock stopped ticking¡­

    Let¡¯s hope it doesn''t mean anything¡­ Yeh, I must be overthinking, it probably ran out of batteries or something. We continued through this maze of books. We kept our eyes out for any books that might find useful, clues to where the spirits might have disappeared to and I was on the lookout for more toxic spores. We descended some stairs. And went down a floor.

    I felt myself become slower. Ugh, what is it this time? What is it?

    Right, you are used to being slow but something is slowing us down. I went through various filters and found the culprit.

    Great more fungi, this time it''s paralysis. It¡¯s going through our skin¡­. Does any of our cloaks work against that?

    Water cloak could¡­ Rejected! But we will have to get rid of these bubbles around our heads soon so in the end we will still have to deal with it¡­

    I think I can get rid of this; I don''t know if it works for you. I will just make another potion to combat this. I tried to remember what color flame could get rid of paralysis, I think it was a honey-yellow-ish flame. I ignited myself in it and the paralysis wore off.

    Ha! Easy! My potion is done too. It should give us some resistance but again we need to torch them. I used another [Shadow Vodka Blaze] attack but it didn''t work on these spores.

    Slowly but surely, everything is starting to cheat¡­ We downed Gregory¡¯s potion and located the next section that was taken over by mold. Well, these were actual mushrooms. I torched them but the spores still lingered. Some wind magic would have been nice here.

    I wonder how many types of fungi grow down here¡­ To be honest, I am glad that those are the only living beings down here, this place creeps me out. We looked through more books but only found some that had magic circles. We decided to stay clear of those. There was one that had a map that was almost identical to the one I found about this city in potato village.

    These ancients surely didn''t believe in images in their books. Yeah, I¡¯m slowly getting the feeling that this might be a waste of our time¡­ I spotted more spores.

    Ha nice, try fungi! I¡¯m immune to hallucinations! I linked my vision with Gregory so that he wouldn''t get stuck in hallucinations. We torched another section that was claimed by the fungus.

    Quite the amount of hazards for a seemingly harmless library. I¡¯m getting tired of this shit.

    Do you hear that? Hear what? Oh¡­ the ticking is back. Did someone fix the clock?

    You said that we are the only living beings in this library besides the fungi, right? Yes¡­ I kept an extra eye out but I could see nothing out of the ordinary. We descended to the 2nd floor below the main floor. And surely the ancient symbols seemed to be bigger. I grabbed a book and flipped through the pages. I saw quite some images.

    I think we found the kids'' section! Finally! What images does that book have?

    Look! We looked through the pictures. We couldn''t make out what it was about but we saw an image of the city we were in. Of course, less buried and less abandoned. The next image had an image of a large structure, what stood out was something that looked like an enormous black hole in a dome.

    Is¡­ is that a black hole? I think so¡­ the ancients were crazy¡­ We also found an image of a flying fortress and something that looked like an enormous blacksmith workshop built inside a volcano.

    Whoa! I need to visit this place if it still exists. Interestingly enough this place sounds perfect for you. This floating fortress looks interesting though but this image makes it difficult to determine its size, it''s either enormous or quite small, I can''t tell¡­

    You know the worst part of all this is? We don''t know if these things are normal outside this barrier because we are quite sheltered. I¡¯m sure this is amazing, but we don¡¯t know how amazing it is. Yeah, we are already used to crazy things now, this doesn''t shake us as much as it probably should. Ugh, what is this image a series of dams and dykes? What were they even trying here?

    They were probably trying to not drown, I guess. We flipped through some more pages. We saw some things that were called pyramids and a huge glass dome that had a metal rod inside of it that was discharging different colors of lightning. It looked very spectacular. The last image was just a lighthouse.

    Hmm, this looks boring, the rest was quite interesting in its own way, this is just a lighthouse. Most of the other images were schematics of these structures. Since one of these structures was this city, I decided to archive it all.

    I actually don''t think this was a book for kids¡­ Agreed¡­ Maybe it''s about schematics to build cool stuff! Maybe it has something to build a big mecha robot! We looked around more. No mecha robots. It seemed to be a section about architecture. At a point, we hit a part that seems to have blueprints and schematics of weapons.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Yesss! I grabbed whatever I deemed remotely useful and dumped them in my dimensional pocket. Gregory looked at me.

    What? It''s not like anyone is going to use these, or do you want Mr. Fungus to claim these too? Fine¡­ take them. I stashed whatever I could and suddenly the ticking noise stopped again.

    Hey, Greg do you feel anything? I¡¯m feeling very uncomfortable and my eyes aren''t picking up anything¡­ Yeah, I share that feeling¡­ maybe we should¡­ Suddenly a bright flash appeared in the dark library. I dodged something that looked like a scythe but it got followed up by a smash from a huge paw. I heard a weird sound that was a combination of clicking and buzzing. A [shadow wall] blocked the paw.

    What in the Hourai is that? I jumped away from a weird light golden cloud that occupied half of the lit area. Strangely it created an area that lit up only a circle with a radius of 10 meters everything outside that was as dark as if there was no light source. This weird cloud with 2 scythes and 2 enormous dog paws kept going for me. I evaded and left the lit area and the whole place went dark again.

    Where did it go? Why didn''t I see it coming? And why don''t I see it now? I didn''t feel it until it appeared¡­ Also, the sound it made is gone, it is as if it vanished...

    What even was that¡­ I don''t know but it had something against you.

    Is it because I stole those books? Possibly¡­ Maybe it is responsible for wiping out the spirits that came to investigate.

    How does that explain anything? It shouldn''t have a fixation on me if it likes munching on spirits. Gregory smacked me.

    When will you remember that you are a spirit too? Oh! Wait does that mean I¡¯m his dinner?

    Most likely, yes. Aww hell no! Can these things stop picking on our race? This is racism!

    Anyway, let''s be careful, neither of us could detect it before and after it left. We have to be on our guard. Gregory put a [Shadow cloak] on us and I put a [Frost cloak] on us.

    I suggest that we get out of here, I don¡¯t want to take unnecessary risks¡­ Fair, let¡¯s get out of here¡­ oh more fungus.

    Ugh, I feel tingly, what is it this time? Ugh, Greg, we have a problem. My eyes started to sting and tear up.

    Please don¡¯t tell me it''s hypersensitivity¡­ Uhm, ok then I won¡¯t¡­ What type of fungus is this? It shouldn''t work on us, right? I tried to clear the tears out of my eyes. The stinging wasn''t helping.

    Ugh, it is somewhere in that direction! It should be the 3rd or 4th fungus-infested section that way, the others are harmless. Gregory helped me navigate through the library because it was hard for me to see. My skin also felt tingly but I guess Gregory had it worse.

    Ugh, this is bad we¡¯re basically sitting ducks. Controlled fire about 40 meters at 2 o clock. I lit the target on fire that Gregory gave the location of. I was rubbing my eyes when I saw another bright flash.

    Shit! More clicking and buzzing sounds. Luckily the scythes and paws were big so I didn''t need great vision to evade it but I couldn''t use my speed as well in this state. A hammer slammed into the buzzing cloud.

    I don''t know if you can see this thing but I have no idea what it is, besides the 2 large scythes and large dog paws it has dark blue glowing eyes a big mouth with fangs, and a doglike snout. But the whole thing is just a light golden buzzing and clicking cloud. I don''t even know if it''s a creature that is supposed to exist. I rolled and dodged another scythe. This thing was really fast. I could vaguely see its mouth open and its fangs. It seemed to want to chomp down on me. Gregory used [Shadow bind] on it and it seemed to be really effective. The shadows were slowly darkening the cloud and it started to trash. I wiped more tears out of my stinging eyes and went into stealth and used a shadow clone. It seemed to trash around and fled after it broke free.

    Ugh, thanks, Greg. We need to get this fixed and get out of here.

    At least it seems weak to your shadow magic. Yeah, but not helpful if it can appear at any moment and eat you. We moved to a corner and rested a bit. Gregory was trying to make something to cure or alleviate our hypersensitivity.

    After 15 minutes he found something that would help, although only a bit. Right hopefully we can function with these. After we get out of this, I will spend more energy on finding something better against hypersensitivity. Ugh, this is way better, and yeah, this sucks. I could see normally now but I will have to either ease up on my Elgards eyes or deactivate them, but I won''t be able to see in the dark if I do. I had to use the stealth mode I developed to make sure my sisters can¡¯t feel that I¡¯m inspecting them to escape for another adventure.

    This is gonna suck, let¡¯s go. We got up but I spotted something.

    I found a secret passage! But¡­ ugh, you got my curiosity, we will take a look and then get out of here asap!

    I can''t look through this library with my eyes like this to teleport so you will have to [shadow meld] us. Well, this hypersensitivity compromised my ability to do that because I do that based on feeling.

    So, we have to walk? In this case, I would prefer running.

    This place sucks¡­ I agree. I locate the secret passage and we easily break through the weak barrier it had.

    Right, what secrets does this secret room have? Only 3 shelves, nothing indicating what this is about¡­

    They give off weird energy. Yeah, maybe it¡¯s best to not touc¡­ I picked up a book and opened it. At that moment we saw a bright flash.

    Ah, shit not again! Hey, this isn''t the Scytedog! What is this? Don¡¯t tell me. Great, we got sucked into the book you picked up¡­

    I hope it''s a cooking book and not a horror book¡­ Why would those be in a secret section?

    Let''s hide someone is coming! We were standing on a dirt road in what looks like a mountain pass. The sky was filled with grey rain clouds and it was drizzling. Gregory and I spawned on the dirt road but moved to the side to hide in some shrubbery. We saw a middle-aged cloaked man running with something in his arms. He seemed to be running from something but we didn''t know from what.

    ¡°Come here!¡± Another middle-aged man with shorts, slippers, and a T-shirt crashed down from the air and landed in front of the cloaked middle-aged man.

    ¡°You will never get this Dimsha!¡±

    ¡°Ha! I will just take it by force then!¡±

    ¡°Over my dead body!¡± So cliche¡­ Shhht! The cloaked man stomped on the ground and scales appeared all over his body.

    ¡°Just give up, there is no way that one dragon can face off against a god! Especially not if that god is me! Now hand over that Dimsha!¡±

    ¡°Heh, good thing I¡¯m not alone!¡± Hey, do you think he noticed us? Impossible! The story in this book is supposed to be set, all we have to do is survive whatever happens in here and we can get out!

    Well, nobody is appearing¡­

    ¡°Nice Bluff Kaledon, now hand it over!¡± Wait? That is Kaledon? The dragon that united the continent? He sure looks like background character #117. But the father of Tero eh? Interesting.

    Wait that dragon was the son of Kaledon? Didn''t I tell you?

    No! Maybe because you forgot again!

    ¡°Ahem excuse me but if you 2 are this guy''s backup, he was calling for you¡­¡± The guy calling himself a god was standing over us and seemed to have heard us talk. Right! Ha! We were just discussing how to deal with this situation. We would like to strike a bargain with you Mr. ehhh I didn''t catch your name.

    ¡°You guys look like kids but I know better than to underestimate creatures of the lower layers because of that!¡± We would like to settle this as officially as possible so we want to make sure we have enough details as possible. My name Is Obsidian. Gregory extends his hand toward the guy claiming to be a god. The guy looks at him and shakes his hand.

    ¡°My name is Wyxyxozyas, ouch! I mean you can call me Walter¡± Your name is whats-his-jas? That is a mouthful, I will call you Walter then.

    Wait... What''s-his-name-ias sounds familiar¡­ I looked through my archive. Uh oh.

    ¡°I will blast you if you don''t apologize!¡± He took out something that looked like Ted¡¯s hand cannon but way more sophisticated and smaller. I couldn''t get a magical read on it but it seemed to be quite mechanical. He was the god of metal, machines, and science if I remember correctly. This is a problem. Ehum, so what is the god of machines and science doing here in a casual outfit in the middle of nowhere?

    ¡°Wait? Do you know who I am? Oh, this changes everything!¡± Gregory gives me a strange look, and I shrug. I decided to try and behave because I don¡¯t need another problem with some god. I¡¯m sorry my knowledge about gods is a bit rusty, I didn''t expect to meet one.

    ¡°Oh, so you''re not one of that Bitch¡¯s followers?¡± Uhh, who?

    ¡°Ha! That is great to hear! It is hard to find lower-floor dwellers that have never heard of that bitch Biian!¡± Ugh, this bitch again¡­ It would be nice if we could go a day without hearing that name¡­

    ¡°Yes! Yes! That is the reaction I want to see! I just need to¡­ Where did he go!¡± Who?

    ¡°Aaagh! I need that Dimsha to put that bitch in the ground!¡± Ooh, now that sounds like music to my ears! Can we help? Agn¡­ Agate! Have you gone mad? Gregory pulled me over.

    The fact that that bitch is still causing problems is probably because this guy failed in his objective, moreover, we can¡¯t let him kill Kaledon. Gregory whispered.

    So, what do you want us to do to fight a god to make sure that bitch lives? It will end us fighting 2 gods in total! If we let him do his thing we don''t have to deal with any! Did you forget that Kaledon is responsible for like almost all the history of our continent?!

    And how is that of use to us when we¡¯re dead because we picked a fight with a god? Hmm, fair point¡­

    ¡°Are you guys, ok? You are acting weird¡­¡± I¡¯m sorry, this guy here got dropped on his head when he was a kid. Hey!

    Even though we hate that bitch we would prefer to stay neutral, we don''t want to get in her crosshairs¡­ we probably already are...

    ¡°Oh! I¡¯ve heard about a faction of brave lower floor dwellers that stood up to her, regrettably, most of them got wiped out, so you are part of them, I always wanted to meet them but it is hard to track them down and when I do, they''re always dead or locked in combat with her forces¡­¡± He grabbed our hands and violently shook them. ¡°You must be from the ninetails and three tails then I suppose?¡± We looked at each other and nodded. We got out our ears and tails. We would like you to keep it secret that you met us, we are acting differently from our main groups and we don''t want to tip off that bitch! We hid our tails again.

    ¡°Hmm, I see, your races aren''t doing so hot right now. I will try to assist with your objective! But first I need to catch that dragon! come with me!¡± He summoned a weird floating mechanical vehicle which was quite similar to the vehicles in our racing game and offered us seats. We got in and he raced after Kaledon. Now, this is a problem, how do we get out of this mess? I went through my archive and remembered what Dimshas were. So, this Dimsha, what does it do?

    ¡°It can wipe out magic from this planet, it will make that bitch¡¯s cult powerless and allow my technology to take over the world!¡± Right, so this is certainly a problem. We need to sabotage him somehow to make sure this doesn''t happen but also so that we don''t get one shot by a god. I swear can these gods just mind their own business? I¡¯m sorry, we are so absorbed in our mission, as you can see, we¡¯re quite young but we¡¯ve been on our mission for years now, and we lost track of time, can you tell us the date and year?

    ¡°Sure, it is the 4th of the month Yttroz in the 8191st Sarian year.¡± What? Uhm this late already?! We need to hurry G.. Obsidian! Uhh, yeah! Something told me that if I carelessly threw magic around it would set off Who-can-remember-his-name-ias so I launched Gregory and myself out of our vehicle with leyline energy and while he was distracted put a 7 layered illusion on us and made a shadow clone to follow Kaledon.

    ¡°Interesting so there are still some races that don''t only rely on magic, fascinating!¡± I tried to get myself and Gregory, who was freaking out, on a trajectory to escape but Mr. casual god caught us with his machine again, ¡°I promise this won¡¯t take long! I just need to kill that dragon and get that Dimsha!¡± Ugh, fine, it seems you hate magic though, would you mind if I locate him with magic?

    ¡°Ugh, I hate magic but I guess it is impossible to expect everyone down here to not use it, I can see its benefits.¡± Hmm, well you might already know this but my race¡¯s eyes are special so you might feel some discomfort.

    ¡°Oh! I¡¯ve heard about it! You need to be careful though¡­ I¡¯ve heard that that bitch likes to collect the eyes of your race.¡± I grabbed a tail I just popped out. She what?! This bitch needs to go down! I fired off my eyes. Even though I wanted that bitch dead I assume that if we don''t stop Who-cares-about-his-name-ias we will never get out of this book. I scanned this god to look for his weaknesses.

    ¡°Oh, this is an interesting sensation, it feels like something on the level of a god, I guess this is how you guys have held out for so long, even I as a god am struggling against her.¡±

    She is that strong, eh? It seems that my eyes work on gods, he doesn''t seem to have his guard up which allows me to get some information about him, is he naive or just stupid? I remember the words my mother said about gods relying on their strength so they don''t seem to be that smart overall. My eyes confirm this, he could even defeat Azu easily, scary. Then again, she gave the bitch a run for her money and according to this guy, that bitch is stronger than him. He doesn''t seem to have obvious weaknesses, he seems to have a complex about his name, is lactose intolerant, and is weak to frost, light, and abyss magic. Well, what do we have here? I also attempted to put illusions over him which failed 5 times but succeeded the 6th time, he really didn''t notice or thinks nothing of it¡­ I can see why he is losing. We catch up to the illusion I made out of Kaledon. The real one is safe and went through some sophisticated secret passage in the mountains. My clone is following him.

    Now I assume this should meet the criteria, the other one might be to defeat him¡­

    "I guess that''s him there!" The noob god quickly overpowered illusion Kaledon and retrieved the Dimsha. ¡°Right, now I can help you guys! What do you need!¡± For now! Lunch! I took some food out of my dimensional pocket. And we settled down. I am not a super picky eater but there are a few things I despise, one is potatoes and the other is poison, also known as milk to other people. It tastes disgusting and my whole body protests when I drink it, I can deal with products that use poison but not it in its purest form. It seems this noob god is also weak to poison so I will have to assassinate him here. He asked for some water and I gave him poison disguised as water. Gregory told some bullshit story about what our mission was when noob god started to act weird.

    ¡°Ugh, sorry guys, I don''t think I can help you; I have some uhh, urgent business to take care of!¡± Noob god was clutching his belly. Are you alright?

    ¡°Yeah, don''t worry, talking too much about that bitch causes me some distress, it was nice meeting you, and don''t get wiped out ahhh!¡± Noob god clutched his belly as if he was in severe pain and jumped in his vehicle. The space started to brighten and we were back at the library. What just happened¡­ I told Gregory what I just did.

    I¡¯m now running simulations on the data I gathered from that noob god in case he comes back for revenge but I doubt that he knows what happened. So, you ¡®Defeated¡¯ a Sarian god with milk? If I didn''t know you or was in this situation myself, I would have never believed you¡­

    Well, it may or may not have expired¡­ You are a demon¡­

    But now I know where that Dimsha is hidden, kind of... I don''t know what area we were in but if we ever get to it, I can find it. Right an item that can influence the world, you surely aren''t going to wipe out magic from the planet, are you?

    Nope, but that seems to be the max setting, it can temporarily erase magic in an area. When switched off it allows for magic use again, he probably planned to max its range and leave it on forever. I see, that sounds useful indeed. You could just cut opponents up with your swords and wires, I don''t think many things can match your speed without magic, now let''s get out of here!

    Wait!

 Ch 59: Spirit Library part 2

    I was holding another book. It had images of 2 men on the cover, one was a nine-tailed fox and another one was a three-tailed shadowcat. I showed it to Gregory. Shit, I¡¯m curious but it will probably do the same as the last book. Yeah, but aren''t you curious? Noob god mentioned our races already being thin, I don''t know what that date was he gave us but as far as I know, it isn''t a system we use nowadays.

    Yeah, we use Kaledonian years, and our months aren¡¯t named after Sarian gods¡­ Ugh, I will regret this but¡­ Gregory grabbed the book out of my hands and opened the book. The area was filled with light and we appeared to be in a house made out of ice. Hmm, frost magic.

    ¡°How did you two get in here?¡± Uhh, we got lost, we will see ourselves out!

    ¡°Wait, aren''t you two too young to be on the battlefield?¡± We saw 2 men in front of us, and we recognized them from the cover of the book, one was inspecting us with Elgards eyes and I countered it to make sure he couldn''t see much.

    ¡°Oh, this young one has quite the powerful eyes, I could only see their age and race.¡±

    ¡°Oh, do tell¡±

    ¡°They are a nine-tail spirit fox and a three-tailed shadow cat just like us, it''s just¡­ They are only 1 year old¡­¡± We can hold our own I¡¯ll have you know!

    ¡°Nonsense! I¡¯m about to become a father soon and you will be hardly any older than my daughter!¡±

    ¡°Didn''t you guys decide to delay when she will get born? At least until all this mess is over, you didn''t even get a name for her!¡±

    "Well, I¡¯m sorry but not everyone can come up with cool names like you 2! I was thinking about Ennea, Ennea Oures, sounds good right?¡±

    ¡°I thought you wanted to make sure that the gods couldn''t find out that your daughter was related to a nine-tail spirit fox¡­¡± Hey, those guys kind of remind me of us, they completely forgot about us. Yeah, I was thinking the same.

    ¡°So what? I completely change her name?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what we did, I hid my wife in a safe spot, she will delay the birth of our daughter and call her Nadila Sheru.¡± !

    ¡°Hmm, I like Ennea Oures, though maybe I should change it a bit, Elea Oura? Emea Houra? Oh! How about Edea Hourai? Yes, that¡¯s what her name is going to be!¡± !

    ¡°That sounds like a wonderful name. Oh, sorry, forgot about you two there, anyways we need you kids to stay alive to play with our daughters.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, who are your parents by the way?¡± Uhh... I have a question. Agnis?

    What are your names? The two looked at each other.

    ¡°I¡¯m Alep Oures¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Giovanni Nyx, now where are your parents'' young ones?¡± I looked at Alep. You can find out if we¡¯re lying or not with those eyes, right? Agnis??

    ¡°I can if you let me, I have never met anyone with Elgards eyes as strong as you though.¡± Go ahead go and find out, So I¡¯m Agnis Hourai, son of Edea Hourai and this here is Gregory Sheru, son of Nadila Sheru! Have you lost your mind?

    ¡°Haha, Giovanni this guy sounds like you! Let me see¡­ Oh my¡­¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t see any trace of deception¡­ he is speaking the truth¡­ they are our grandsons¡­¡±

    ¡°If you are pranking me, I swear I¡¯ll kick your ass! This is not funny!¡±

    ¡°Here see for yourself!¡±

    ¡°....¡± Hey what do you think you''re doing? Look we probably need to do something here but if they are in the middle of a war, we have no chance! So, to make sure to get out of this we need their help but as they said we are just brats do you think they would help us if I didn''t do this?

    There surely must have been another way, what if this affects the future? We don''t know how all this works! Maybe we are never born now! But if we never got born, we could have never set this in motion because we needed to be born to do this in the first place!

    That is not a reason to be so reckless! What if they use this as an excuse to keep us extra safe and prevent us from reaching our objective? Safer than what? We¡¯re brats! They could easily take us away and put us I don''t know where! And then we are certainly never going to reach our objective!

    ¡°Hey, Alep, I think these 2 really are our grandsons¡­¡±

    ¡°But what are they doing here and how?¡±

    ¡°Your race can mess with time, right?¡±

    ¡°Well yes but it is not easy, it¡¯s probably harder at that age¡­¡±

    ¡°So, what do we do? I want to talk to them but I don¡¯t know how or what?¡±

    ¡°Maybe we can train them!¡±

    ¡°What? Alep, are you out of your mind?! They are just kids!¡±

    ¡°They are our grandkids and they¡¯re here for an objective, we can¡¯t just send them away, might as well teach them some tricks!¡±

    ¡°You want to babysit while we¡¯re in the middle of a war?! I don¡¯t mind talking a bit with them but we can¡¯t train them! What if it messes up their future?!¡±

    ¡°It can''t be that bad, they came here by themselves my grandson could even block my eyes I¡¯m sure they will be fine!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that! Maybe they¡¯re here because of things not being fine!¡± Hey, Greg, I think these guys really are our grandparents¡­ Yeah, I was thinking the same¡­ Our gramps kept arguing so we left the room in this icy building. We walked through some corridors and got outside. It seemed we were in a budget village, more houses made of frost could be seen everywhere and there were tails everywhere.

    ¡°Oh hello, what are you two doing here? Aren¡¯t you too young to be in a camp on the frontlines?¡± I worked hard on this illusion to make us appear young and trick our enemies! Wha?

    ¡°Ohh, this is indeed very convincing I can¡¯t even find out much about you two only your age and race, some very potent illusions. I¡¯m Astrea Mikazuki what are your names?¡± This place is a paradise of information, way more useful than this shitty library.

    ¡°Oh, Astrea you found our grandsons!¡± Shit!

    ¡°Grandsons? I thought your firstborn daughters would be born far away timewise and location-wise from this war!¡±

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°Uhh, it is complicated! Hear us out!¡± Our grandfathers explained the situation. It seems that Giovanni¡¯s brother is Astrea¡¯s husband.

    ¡°So, these troublemakers somehow managed to go back in time, very impressive, his eyes are better than ours¡­" But I¡¯m not even that good at using them¡­

    ¡°Right, so what do you guys need?¡± Right, this is going to sound weird so hear us out. Gregory explained our situation.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re stuck in a book that brought you here and you need to follow the objective of the situation to get out?¡± Yes.

    ¡°I have the feeling that all you need is to learn some cool skills.¡± Same!

    ¡°As long as you 2 don''t send your grandsons into battle, I¡¯m fine with it, so uhm do you by any chance know my grandson?¡± Uhh you probably mean Hisui Mikazuki, I guess?

    "Ohh, so Neia has a daughter called Hisui." Uhh. Uhh, no Hisui is Viridian¡¯s daughter.

    ¡°Oh¡­ That was what I wanted to call my next child if he was a boy¡­.¡± Awkward¡­

    ¡°Anyways let''s teach you some cool skills!" Ooh, gramps! Do you have some cool frost skills to teach me?

    ¡°Frost skills?¡± Yeah, like that! I point at the houses made out of frost magic.

    ¡°Oh, Pagos, so they call it frost in your time I see.¡± Yeah, that! Let''s go! Can I learn some abyss magic gramps?

    ¡°Going for the big hitters, eh? Sure.¡±

    ¡°I wish my grandkid was here too¡­ Wait for me!¡± Gramps tried to teach me complicated skills called [Pneuma Boreas] and [Kryokym], and Gregory was trying to learn [Erebea] and [Telos]. Our gramps didn''t go easy on us, these skills were extremely difficult.

    ¡°Hey Agnis, my grandkid is a nine-tailed spirit fox too, right?¡± Yeh ¡°Can you teach her these skills?¡± On top of that, I also got two more skills stomped in my head to teach Hisui. Which were [Pneuma Nefriti] and [Thalia]. I¡¯m going to be real here we didn''t get close to mastering these skills at all. We did get a good foundation though. It gave us a better understanding of how frost and abyss magic worked. I also got blasted with how nature energy works. The skills I have to pass on to Hisui were based on nature energy, I guess I can use these for myself too. [Thalia] seems like a problem though¡­ it is a super stacked skill it combines nature energy with illusions and charm attacks¡­

    ¡°I knew these skills were hard but you guys surely learn fast¡­¡±

    ¡°Ha! It is because they have our genes!¡± My head¡­ so much stuff¡­ I think I will let my tails sit on these for a while¡­ After 4 hours which felt like forever, we got the basics of the basics down.

    These skills, seem very potent. They have to be if you want to slap gods. We rested while our gramps went to do their stuff.

    Do you think this here is a form of time travel and is affecting our present or is it just the magic that traps us here? I have no clue, maybe it just makes our gramps and Althea act like how they would if they were still alive.

    That sounds plausible. We stayed the night and had some fun with gramps and their friends. A lively bunch, hard to tell that they are about to go to war with that bitch. I hope they win¡­

    The next day arrives and more training. After 2 hours it clicks for Gregory and me and it seems we reached our objective. We haven''t mastered it yet but we will without guidance from here on. We said our goodbyes before a bright flash appeared and brought us back to the library. Phew¡­ that was rough but I¡¯m glad we did that. Ugh, that was so tiring, and we still had to walk out of this library. I took the book and several others and stashed them in my dimensional pocket.

    I saw that! I¡¯m not handing gramps over to Mr. Fungus!

    Understandable¡­ Let''s go. I might already know the answer but do you think they escape alive?

    Sadly, I think only Althea escapes¡­ Thought as much¡­ We climbed the stairs and we heard the ticking sound again.

    I forgot how this place creeps me out. How long do you think it will take for us to master these new skills?

    A year? Maybe 2? I didn''t know that magic could get so complicated¡­ Me neither¡­ it already took us so long to understand these magic circles, what madman made these?

    Probably our gramps themselves or maybe our great gramps. It still feels close to what we regularly use although way more complicated. Yeah, crazy how much magic and well everything deteriorated I wonder what happened that caused the Great Eraser. We¡¯ve seen glimpses of what happened before it.

    So many factions were involved and I''m sure we only saw a small portion. Maybe all the books in that secret area were clues about it but to do this trapped in a book things over and over¡­ too much! Well, yeah, this kind of magic only traps you for about 2 to 4 pages worth of content, you either get rid of the magic to read everything or you keep jumping in, which I wouldn''t recommend¡­ Do you hear me?! Don''t do it!

    Yes, yes, I won¡¯t jeez you''re starting to sound like your gramps! Why you? Another bright flash.

    Ah, shit here we go again! The Scytedog goes after me again. I try to stay in the lit area because it keeps disappearing when I get out. It is hard to evade this with this limited space. Gregory is assaulting it with shadow magic. This creature seems light-based so it is taking a lot of damage. I take out Potato Peeler 3.0 and parry the scythes while I evade the paws. Parrying the scythes is hard because there is a lot of force behind them. Gregory anchors my shadow to make sure that I don''t fly off from the force behind those scythes. This is actually the first opponent in a while that is giving me trouble. My eyes are still affected by hypersensitivity. Inside the books, it was like I never got hit by that fungus attack but now I¡¯m back outside I¡¯m back to being nerfed.

    This sucks. Can¡¯t you do anything about this Scythedog? I don''t want to end up as a doggie snack! Working on it! Gregory was using his [Shadow whirlpool] and the light cloud slowly got sucked in and got smaller. It started thrashing, broke loose, and dashed at me to which Gregory responded with a [Shadow wall]. I moved to its cloud body and slashed it but it did no damage.

    Great so only dark and shadow magic works? Hmm, that reminds me, you don''t know any real offensive shadow skills, right?

    Not really no only utility, but I can try something with the skill I got from Azu. It took me a lot of concentration but I managed to make a small dagger out of shadows. I tried to close in but this thing was fast and wouldn''t let me get close to its cloud body again. I just had to distract it while Gregory was slowly defeating it. It screeched and fled again.

    Pain in the ass monster. Can I drop some fire in your shadow wall so you can one-shot it with [Liberation]?

    Uh, sure. Gregory made a shadow wall and I shot some fireballs at it till he told me that that was enough. I chugged an anti-nausea potion. We almost reached the main floor when the ticking sound started to become really loud.

    This is giving me a bad vibe, shall we run? Yeh! I grabbed Gregory with my tail and dashed. Gregory told me from memory where to go because I couldn''t see as far with my eyes as I wanted to. We made some small detours because Gregory seemed to have trouble with placing us in the correct spot but from where he thought we were in the library he seemed to know where to go I made sure to swipe and stash some random books that I came across. Kind of weird that he has a good memory but has difficulty with directions. I recognize a part and know the route from here.

    Another bright flash. There are more of these things? Maybe, we fought a different one each time. 2 Scythedogs were blocking our path. I ran at them and evaded their swipes while Gregory one-shot one with [Liberation] and the other fled.

    Good riddance. The ticking sound was loud and ominous. It felt like a clock was being held close to our ears. Both our intuitions started to send us alarms and we decided to not stick around to find out what it was about. We saw the front door of the Library which Gregory tried to open but couldn''t.

    How much energy do you have left? Enough to feed to you for a nuke or 2, I don''t care what you do I want to get out of here, [Vaporize] that door! Gregory fed me energy and I touched the door. My finger briefly turned into millions of degrees and I transferred it to one of the stone doors. The door didn''t [Vaporize] but turned into magma and created a small pool on the ground, through which I dashed. Gregory protected himself with a [Shadow cloak]. The moment we got outside a big slam could be heard as out of nowhere another door appeared where I just melted a hole and the Library was shut again.

    Never am I going back there again¡­ Same here, that place is spirit-unfriendly. We went back to the palace tired but we decided to suck it up and take Ted and Raishin and head back to the surface with Gregory''s [Shadow meld]

 Ch 60: Monkey goes to space

    We surfaced and we were met with a relatively clean Boshi town. Not all shades got cleaned up by the echoes but the majority did. I saw several weak attacks getting echoed left and right. I guess that it might have been wise to tell the townspeople to limit their offensive magic but there is no way that we could tell this to the whole town and make them listen.

    I forgot that this is also a possibility¡­ I missed this as well. I think it¡¯s fine, this doesn''t look as bad as when you guys start wiping out shades. We dodged some random attacks flying around and headed home. At least my buddies did. I needed to do some more setup. I made 5 clones and spread them out in Boshi town. I was drawing a magic circle that covered the whole of Boshi town. I would have to conceal it well because people might notice it and erase it. It isn''t malicious but it would suck if someone messed with it before it got completed. This is the first time I set up a magic circle of this size.

    I have to be extra careful to make no mistakes because the result would be messy if I do. I recalled one of the many magic circles Paula showed me in the chat I had with her and Paul in the last timeline and made sure I made no mistakes. I covered it properly with some illusions to make them undetectable.

    It was a lot of work but after 2 hours I finished it. I left some spots open else it would activate. I placed some random items on the open spots. I would swap them with slabs of frost that have the missing pieces on the huge circle when I need to activate the circle. It would be like placing the last puzzle pieces to complete the puzzle. I have 5 empty puzzle pieces and I need to complete them in a certain order to give the magic enough time to flow throughout the whole circle to make sure everything activates properly.

    It takes time to set this up but personally, I find this quite fun. I could do something like this in battle since I can put clones in stealth and make them do stuff like this. It was 21:37 and I stood on top of my roof looking at my hidden magic circle with my Elgards eyes.

    Perfect! I should actually check how the dimensional fabric was doing but I didn''t feel like it. It will be fine if I just make sure I deal with that tomorrow. I went inside and chatted with Philip. It really doesn''t seem like he remembers anything from the last timeline. I think I will have to find Gianni and ask him about it tomorrow.

    I scanned Gianni¡¯s house and he was home. I guess he is still a postman in this timeline¡­ The clones that I left in the underground city also finished what they were tasked to do. I decided to leave them down there. In theory, I should be able to swap places with my clones. I don¡¯t know if I can do this with [Turning leaf] but there should be a shadow skill that can do this. I think it¡¯s called [Shadow swap]. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t know how to do this. I looked down and tried to use [Turning leaf] on my clones to make them swap places with each other but it seems they are out of range. I locked my door and sat down on my bed. I took out all my tails and started to brush them.

    So, did you figure out how the dimensional anchor works? I asked one tail. No response and no result.

    How about you, did you figure out what is going on here? Also, no results.

    How about you? This tail unloaded an ungodly amount of frost marbles.

    Look guys use tail 4 as an example this one is working hard! I stashed the frost marbles in my dimensional pocket but my other tails didn''t seem to care.

    I will not brush you if you keep this up! Oh, I got something. Did I request my tail to try and figure this out? Hmm, let''s see Raishin¡¯s lost magic could possibly be the lost element of Harmony. Aha, so what does it do? Hmm pretty much what we speculated but if this is what it does then we know for sure now. It just makes close allies harmonize so no friendly fire and special traits get borrowed. It is strong but isn''t offensive, it seems extremely strong in support. Hah, what would you know our glass cannon has one of the best support elements.

    Although it seems it doesn''t have many special effects. If you fight alone, it seems relatively useless. It can make allies share some experiences the user has had. Is this what is happening? I went through my archive. Charlize, Kanna, Cecilia, and Leah seemed to have touched that Harmony skill last timeline while Hera and Philip didn''t. Is this why they remember? If Gianni doesn''t remember I guess this will be more or less confirmed. It is odd for them to suddenly remember after all. I brushed the tail that came up with this a bit extra.

    See guys, if you are useful, you get rewarded! No response. I expected this. Maybe I should let these rebel tails fight. Hmm, they can act like my limbs so why shouldn''t they? The only problem is they also act kind of like extra brains so it would suck if they get damaged a lot. I take a sword out of my dimensional pocket and hand it over to one of my tails. I try to handle it as I do with my hands but it is quite clumsy. I cut my nightstand in half.

    Woops. I guess I need to buy a new one now. I could fix it by undoing this but this nightstand was old and shitty, it wouldn''t hurt to buy a new one, I''m swimming in gold anyways. I tried something less dangerous and tried some more delicate wire control with my tails. I ended up getting myself and my tails tangled up quite badly. It took me 2 hours to untangle myself.

    Wow, this is hard. For now, I can make them do basic big movements but something more precise and delicate is impossible for now. I also have to brush my tails again. I was quite exhausted from all of this and went to sleep after I brushed my tails again.

    <hr>

    Day 2: I woke up and felt quite nauseous. I circulated nature energy through my system. After 5 minutes the nausea subsided. This isn''t a good sign. I looked outside. Everything seemed fine besides the shades getting launched by echoes and getting transported to the shade trashcan. I should check out the dimensional fabric but I was afraid. If I can feel the nausea without having the filter on it will certainly incapacitate me when I turn it on. I decided to do this at the end of the day when I didn''t have other things to do.

    My internal clock said that it was 12:41 I normally don''t sleep this long. Is exhaustion catching up to me again? I climb on my roof. There are shades on the streets but it is still possible to avoid them and walk over the streets. It would be difficult though. I saw strong magic being used on the town square. There was a crowd in the town square and people were fighting. Wait they aren''t fighting the shades but each other? Ugh. Hell is breaking loose but humans being humans can¡¯t help and turn against each other. I rushed to the town square and heard a scream.

    ¡°Nooo! Gianni!¡± As I arrive, I see a small flame pillar and someone collapsing inside it.

    ¡°That will teach you! The strong will decide the fate of the weak! If you want to protect these weaklings go ahead but don''t drag us down!¡± Monkey and some of what I assume and his followers were opposing another group of people. I saw Gregory healing up Cecilia and Charlize who have severe burn wounds. Ted is holding back Raishin who seems pissed off. Gianni¡¯s girlfriend, I mean sister rushes at a charred silhouette that collapsed and is still burning. ¡°He got what he deserved if he was strong, he could control his fate better.¡± I jumped off the roof and approached what I identified as Gianni¡¯s charred body. I removed the fire with a simple swipe and inspected him. He is dead but it didn''t seem like he died instantly. Even though his body is charred I could make out the injuries he got shortly before being burnt to death. Hey Agnis listen you need to calm down! What happened here, aren''t you supposed to fight off the shades and not other townspeople?

    ¡°What would a kid like you know! He wanted that we would waste our energy putting in the effort to protect everyone from these things even to the point of opposing us directly. Hah! What a joke if they are too weak to fend for themselves that is none of our business, survival of the fittest.¡± I slowly walked toward Monkey. You might not realize this but you are too weak to even understand what is happening here, if what you say is true then you would have died 5 times over.

    ¡°Nonsense! Or do you want to join that pile of ash there?¡± He pointed at Gianni. Be my guest. Ted let me go! I want to beat him up!

    ¡°Have it your way!¡± He sent a [Flame wave] at me but it didn''t do anything. You know normally I would never listen to you but for this one, maybe you are right. The strong will decide the fate of the weak. I took a sword out of my dimensional pocket.

    ¡°Hah bringing a sword to a magic fight? See this is why kids should just say out of this!¡± He shot a [flame spear] at me and formed his [Fire Gorilla]. I caught his flame spear and ignored his fire gorilla. His followers started shooting magic at me. I don''t need any fancy speed augmentation against these people, just my normal speed would do. I dodge all the non-fire attacks and swing my sword. Everyone looks on in shock as Monkey''s head flies through the air. His head and body drop to the floor at the same moment. Blood sputtered from the neck that got liberated from its head. The head was empty anyways so not a big loss. His followers start becoming more serious but I evade every attack, close the distance, and lop off their heads one by one. This whole exchange only took about 30 seconds.

    Don¡¯t think you got away with this easily. I snapped my fingers and shattered 5 illusion layers making sure that the experience of their lopped-off heads remained but that they were back to life. They felt their necks and looked surprised.

    ¡°Wh... what are you!¡± Just an angry fox, I hope you are ready for round 2.

    ¡°I will turn you into ash!¡± Monkey seemed to become serious and he made his fire gorilla but it looked way stronger and it seemed like he put in a lot of effort to get to this point. I don''t care. I let him blast me with various fire magic. While I approach them yet again. I will show you a demonstration of how to really use fire.

    Oh shit! Everyone back off! Ted and Gregory pulled everyone back with their [bear avatar] and shadows and made [earth walls] to protect the crowd. I swapped Gianni and his girlfriend ehh sister to behind the walls and used [Fire ball] on a random follower. The smell of burnt flesh started to permeate the air. A scream of agony that swiftly died. The faces of the followers that were close to the one that I hit started to melt a bit.

    ¡°Hothothot, what is this fire!¡± I saw some water walls getting erected and blew everyone away by shooting more [fireballs] and causing steam explosions. All of their followers were sweating heavily except for Monkey.

    ¡°I thought you were a water user!¡± Monkey roared and made the fire gorilla punch me. Now, this is a problem, the fire isn''t a big issue but I think the blunt force is enough to give me problems. I was fine with their earlier flame waves but this might hurt. I canceled the [Flame Gorilla punch] with a [fireball]. I blurred and appeared behind Monkey. Here have a taste. I put my finger on his back, briefly heated my finger to a million degrees, and transferred all the heat into Monkey. [Vaporize]. Monkey disappeared.

    ¡°Wh,..wha!¡± Yet again his followers came at me and I kept using [Blindside] and [Vaporize] until there was no trace to be found of my enemies. Yet again I snapped my fingers and undid all this and my opponent appeared but they seemed to be extremely terrified now. Hey, shouldn''t we stop Agnis? How do you want to stop him? But if you have an idea good luck with that, I¡¯ll just wait till he calmed down. Greg, is there anything you can do for Johnny?

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    I¡¯m sorry, I can''t heal people who have passed away. This time I felt like playing with frost magic. My opponents seemed to want to escape though. Too bad they need to be faster than me to escape. I used [Frozen ground] but they didn''t seem to be able to get far since they kept slipping. Monkey was directing fire at the floor to melt it but tough luck, frost magic doesn''t care. They still tried to use magic but I kept sucking the mana out so that they couldn''t even form magic spells.

    Right, Ted, you see this? It started to snow.

    This is the skill Raishin and I were so afraid of inside the cave when we were fighting against Nayani. The snow sucked up any mana my opponents wanted to form and the moment it hit their bodies it froze that part and slowly started to form ice crystals all over their body.

    ¡°I... I apologize! I was wrong! Let us go!¡± I am sure that nothing Gianni would have said would prevent you from murdering him, why do you think I¡¯m the same? The strong decide for the weak right? I flashed a malicious smile and the snowfall turned into a blizzard. They were all encased in ice. I clapped and the ice shattered filling the area with red vapor.

    I snapped my fingers again and they were back again. They instantly ran away. I took off my shoes and used [accel step] and easily caught up to them. I kicked them all into the air with a lightning-augmented kick while creating shadow clones that threw daggers with wires attached to them. They were all bunched up in the air and I completed the setup for [Lightning Umbrella] They all got stuck in the attack and got zapped while the umbrella spun and ascended. [Fold] The umbrella increased its spin and folded turning it into basically a lance and shot through Monkey and his friends, killing them and creating purple and red fireworks, the chunks were a bit disturbing though.

    I snapped my fingers again and instantly froze them into balls with normal ice. I made my [Steam cannon v2.0] and shot all the balls into space.

    Good riddance. I suppressed my welling nausea with more nature energy. Are you done? Yeah. I turned around and the crowd seemed to be afraid of me.

    Boo! The townspeople scattered and fled.

    I already know the answer but is there anything you can do for Gianni Greg? I¡¯m sorry, he is already dead¡­ I... I think this is my fault, I shouldn''t have held Raishin and Greg back¡­ I patted Ted on his shoulder.

    None of this is your fault, it''s their fault. I said as I looked up.

    I assume you two got hurt standing up for Gianni. I looked at Charlize and Cecilia who still looked a bit beat up but at least didn''t have any burn wounds anymore.

    ¡°Yes, we¡¯re sorry, unfortunately, we got outmatched¡­¡± You did your best, I appreciate that. Poor Gianni¡­ Raishin turned around and I think he started to cry a bit. I sat down and put my hand on my forehead.

    Ugh, how could this have happened? Gregory explained that a lot of townspeople were having trouble dealing with the shades and that some went to ask the stronger townspeople for help. Charlize and Cecilia had their hands full so they asked Monkey and their group for help. But as I noticed earlier, they didn¡¯t feel like it and even demanded compensation if they wanted protection so badly. Gianni and his sense of justice spoke up for the people in need which resulted in the situation I encountered here.

    I assume you can''t undo his death since you weren''t here when it happened¡­ I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t unless it happens to you guys...

    ¡°Thank you for healing us, Greg, your potions stink though." Cecilia got up and brushed the dirt off her half-burnt clothes. ¡°And this outfit was new¡­¡± She went to Gianni¡¯s sister and started to talk to her.

    ¡°We will take care of Gianni and Tara, I guess you guys have more important things to do.¡± Charlize also got up and said this while brushing off her clothes. What is going to happen now? When is the funeral?

    ¡°I... I don¡¯t know but with how things are like this there might be none and more people might die as well¡­¡± She walked over to Gianni, Cecilia, and Gianni¡¯s sister and carefully transported them away with water and wind magic. Ted followed them. I expected people to die but expecting it and experiencing it are 2 different things. I wanted to reply to Gregory but I got hit by a severe wave of nausea and started to vomit.

    Are you alright? It didn''t seem like you overdid it with magic just now. After I finished vomiting, I looked at Gregory.

    I didn''t overdo it I¡¯ve been nauseous since this morning; I¡¯m pushing it away but I''m honestly afraid to see what¡¯s going on with the dimensional fabric. I heard footsteps.

    ¡°You! You killed my father!¡± Ugh, I don''t feel like dealing with these clowns. I saw Raishin get up in the corner of my eye. He wiped off some tears.

    Do you mind if I get some petty revenge? I don''t care, go for it. I won¡¯t stop you. Raishin walked over to Donkey and his friends.

    I know that you might not know the answer but what do you think will happen if I ignore that dimensional fabric? The only thing I can think of is that that thing we saw behind it will get through. I heard battle sounds in the background.

    What would that thing even do when it gets here? I don¡¯t know but I don''t think it will be anything good.

    Ugh, I''m not sure I can even deal with all this. Well, Isi did say that you are way too young to deal with this. Gregory helped me stand up but I fell to the floor and vomited again.

    This seems like a difficult situation If you don''t fix this you will keep vomiting but if you fix this it might even get worse because I can¡¯t imagine how disgusting it might look now. I got some water out of my dimensional pocket and drank some. It mixed with the sour aftertaste in my mouth and didn''t help me feel better. Gregory handed me some anti-nausea potions and I drank them too while pinching my nose.

    Ugh, it¡¯s not helping much. I managed to stand up this time.

    Hey Greg, give your honest opinion, do you think I will die before we make it out of here? I won¡¯t let that happen come on! He put my arm over his shoulder and started walking to his house.

    You already have enough stuff to deal with just let me deal with any troublesome things that pop up. Ugh, ok. I linked my vision with Gregory.

    I made this magic circle yesterday and my clones made a similar one in the underground city yesterday. Is... is this a giant teleportation circle? Is this what you meant when you asked about the evacuation? Where did you even learn this magic circle?

    Paul and Paula have a lot of cool magic tricks you know. I suppressed another wave of nausea with nature magic.

    I¡¯m planning to activate this when shit goes down and send everyone down to the spirit city, my clones already talked to Isi and the spirits down there and they are ok with it as long as it''s temporary. You really don''t sit still.

    Hehe, sorry. Can you take over the activation of this circle? And also talk to Paul, Paula, and Uraya so that they can help the villagers after they get teleported? I gave Gregory instructions on how to activate the magic circle.

    So, I need to send clones down there to also activate the circle down there? Yeah, to make sure everything arrives safely at their destination. Gregory opened his door and we stepped inside.

    I will take care of that, anything else? That''s it for now.

    I thought you didn''t care for the townspeople. Maybe I do a little but I need to practice this so I don''t mess up in the final timeline.

    Makes sense. Stay here for a bit I will go craft an extra strong anti-nausea potion. It will be extra stinky though¡­ Ugh, it''s not that I can run away in this state. I waited till Gregory returned and told him what my tail came up with about Raishin¡¯s Harmony element.

    Hmm, that would explain a lot, also why they suddenly remember. Drink this. Gregory gave me a flask and backed off. I could smell the stink through the bottle. I could hardly control my nausea. I looked at Gregory and he nodded and gave a thumbs-up while standing 5 meters away from me and pinching his nose with his other hand.

    How about you give a demonstration? I tried to hand back the potion.

    I¡¯m fine you need it! Why can I smell it through the flask?

    You can? Must be your imagination. I will save this for emergencies, I will see what Uraya is up to! I got up and tried to leave.

    Oh no, you don''t! Test this potion! I knew it! I''m a guinea pig! I''m not drinking this stinky potion! If I open this I will probably pass out before I could drink it!

    Just one sip! How about I give you a bottle of liquid shadow vodka and I don''t have to drink this.

    Deal! You''re such an addict! I took a bottle out of my dimensional pocket and Gregory pounced at me. He didn''t go for the vodka though he grabbed the potion, took off the lid, and tried to force it down my throat.

    Greg! You bastard, you want to make me drink this and take the vodka! Glad that you catch on quickly, come on for science!

    I like science but this goes too far! I try to push the potion away but its stinkiness is weakening me.

    Ugh, this smells foul, did you use Raishin¡¯s sweaty sock extract? How rude, I¡¯m not trying to poison you only to fix your nausea now here drink up and hand over that vodka! I was doing my best to keep the stinky potion away from me and to prevent Gregory from stealing the vodka with my other hand.

    Don''t make me get serious! Ha! Do your worst I''m confident I can tank whatever you throw at me! We both got our tails out. I tried to zap Gregory but it didn¡¯t do much. He was throwing shadow skills around but I undid them with my illusion layers. We went at it for 15 minutes and both of us started to get nauseous from the stinky potion which at this point made the whole room smell foul.

    Ugh, give up Greg! At this point, we will both lose! Just be a nice cat and let the fox win! How about you listen to those older than you and be a nice fox and drink the stinky potion!

    You¡¯re only older in shadowcat! We¡¯re the same age in Kaledonian! Hah but even in Kaledonian I¡¯m older I will turn 13 in June while you will turn 13 in December!

    So, what? Just drink this potion yourself and return the vodka! Never! Gregory formed multiple shadow tendrils to make up for the lack of tails and tried to wrestle the vodka out of my hand and push the potion in my mouth. I was starting to lose this battle.

    Yes! Be a nice fox and drink this for science! Ugh, I guess it is time for my trump card! I linked my vision with Gregory and opened the filter that allowed me to see the dimensional fabric. It looked even more disgusting as before the dimensional maggots were infesting the dimensional fabric and pulsating. We both vomited and passed out.

 Ch 61: Monkey goes to space part 2

    I woke up in a pool of vomit. Ugh, Agnis you bastard. Heh, don''t mess with a nine-tailed spirit fox or you will regret it! I emptied my stomach. Gregory grabbed his potion but emptied his stomach before he could drink it.

    Ugh, fine my potion sucks. Are you going to do anything about that fabric? I didn''t see it for long until I passed out but it is probably the most disgusting thing I''ve ever seen. Ugh, I don''t think I have a choice, it looked at its limit. Ugh, we stink. Water magic time! No, wait! I got this! Wait! I washed us both with water magic. Gregory collapsed on the couch defeated but at least he was clean and didn''t stink.

    Are you sure you¡¯re not a demon fox? Heh! Don¡¯t mess with a fox! I grabbed Gregory¡¯s stinky potion, pinched my nose, and downed it.

    Can you make more of these and something that temporarily kills my sense of smell too? Are you going to fix it now?

    I don¡¯t want to but I think I have no choice. Did your shadow say anything about that dragon? It is in a critical state but I think we can ignore it in this timeline. It will probably break out either on day 0 or day 1 next time line.

    There is a high likelihood I won''t be able to help you guys with that. This dimensional rot or whatever it''s called is not going to get any better I assume. Hey Agnis, don¡¯t die.

    I will do my best but if I pass out again from nausea there is not much I can do to defend myself. I wonder if there is a passive skill that makes one more resistant to nausea. People might disagree but at the moment that sounds like the most overpowered skill ever. I tried to walk to the door but got hit by a dizzy spell. Gregory caught me before I fell down.

    Maybe you should wait with dealing with that, we need to eat something. Yeah, maybe that is a good idea. I took some snacks out of my dimensional pocket which Gregory and I ate and then we cooked, baked, and fried some fish. I had a mountain of fish stored after Raishin zapped Boshi lake major a few timelines ago and since we both love fish this is perfect.

    Oof, I''m stuffed that was good. Yeah, I¡¯ll let it digest a bit. I don''t want to throw this back up.

    Good plan. We just sat and digested.

    Hey, how about you try and master your shadow clones better so that they can do all these risky things in your stead? That is one of their main functions anyways. To what extent can they take over what I would normally do myself?

    It comes close to what you did when fighting Paul. It can do whatever you want to do and the more you master it the closer they come to your own capabilities; it will basically be as if you made a perfect copy of yourself. That sounds super strong. At the moment I can let them do relatively basic stuff or in combat perform quite well but it will take a lot of focus.

    Just keep practicing and they could just be another you, you wouldn''t have to deal with that nausea-inducing dimensional fabric and just send your clone at it. Hmm, this sounds really important, I will put 2 tails on this.

    How about somewhere in this timeline you make another space and train your shadow clones for a month or so? I don¡¯t want you to die or be incapacitated by nausea¡­ Hmm, maybe I should do that yes, I''m running into too many things to handle and fix. Some capable shadow clones would be quite helpful. But what about checking out the root with Isi today?

    I will send a shadow clone down there and explain the situation, I''m sure she will understand. When are you going? And will it again take a day for us here? I... I don¡¯t know¡­ I think I will go after fixing whatever is going on with that fabric as much as I can. It should take the same time for you guys as we''ve been away in real time last time. How do I practice my shadow clones though? I assume it is different then what we did together?

    You will probably like this method. You just go full lazy and let your shadow clones do literally everything. Also, with battling the things you would normally do yourself let them do it. It is a bit like how we get familiar with our tails. Oh! I had the idea of getting more familiar with my tails and doing more delicate things with my tails! Like handling a sword and wires! I should do something like that too.

    I¡¯m better with shadow clones than you so I don''t think I need a special space to get good results, don''t forget that the experiences of the shadow clones count as ours so keep as many out as you can keep up, it doesn''t matter if they look odd. I cracked my neck.

    Another busy schedule for me, I wonder if I¡¯ll ever get some rest. Well, I guess that the life of a tailed beast isn''t easy.

    I guess, I bet you will have your hands full when that light shadow dragon escapes. Yeah, I have no idea how to deal with that, to be honest. Time to run more simulations! After we escape this town, we should take a good and long rest.

    Let¡¯s hope that goddess doesn''t get wind of us! ¡­ ok maybe we should find a good or strategic hiding spot so you can drop multiple illusion layers and then we rest!

    So again, no rest for me? We are relying on you! Gregory slapped my back.

    Ugh well, let''s hope that we can hide from a god. I think I feel a bit better now, time to undo that by dealing with that fabric. I will take care of whatever happens here in the town after you fix that mess and go train.

    I think it¡¯s time to set Raishin loose, of course [Solar stream] is still banned but he can go loose, we can evacuate the whole town now. Ok, good luck! I will make various potions for you to take with you for training. I stepped outside. I kicked a shade that approached me. It was almost 14:30. I circulated nature energy through my system and a lot of it. I never went loose with nature energy before but I think I would need it now. I circulated it for 10 minutes when I noticed that grass and other plants started to grow around the area I was standing. They were getting through the tiles of the pavement.

    Hmm, when did I get this good at nature energy? I did realize that what I constantly did to suppress my nausea is similar to the technique that''s used to improve mana control of any element. Basically, countering my nausea also doubled as training my control over nature magic. The nature magic in me spiked again. I should be fine with this much nature energy going through me, right? I opened back the filter. I felt some mild nausea but I was otherwise fine. All my fatigue disappeared. The fabric looked worse than ever there was no spot that seemed untouched, and various tears could be spotted it was full of dimensional maggots and centipedes and there were also newcomers.

    Some disgusting fat beetles with transparent abdomens that had some green disgusting-looking liquid moving around in it. All of it looked repulsive. It seemed they could fly too. I saw the thing move behind the fabric again and make a big tear in the fabric. Perfect, I undid that by sacrificing 10 illusion layers and grabbed a shard making my [illusionary dagger] appear. I wonder how could I do this as nine-tail as possible. [Foxfire]? Trick these bugs? But only spatiotemporal magic works on them. What if I lace a [Foxfire] with spatiotemporal magic? But they will explode and not repair the fabric. The [Illusionary dagger] started to vibrate.

    What!? I don''t know what that means! It jumped out of my hand and floated and pointed at me when vibrating.

    I don''t understand vibrating daggerish! It kept vibrating and pointing at me. I looked at myself with my Elgards eyes. As if I was looking from the dagger''s perspective. What is it? I looked at myself, nothing seemed wrong with me, maybe a little bit pale after all that vomiting, also plants were growing around me because I was going crazy with my nature energy. The dagger started to vibrate violently. If I don''t do something fast it will drop and shatter.

    I don''t know what you want! I took out my tail. Hey, do you know what this dagger wants? No answer. The dagger started to glow blue and shot into my tail. My tail started to glow blue too. Even though the dagger just shot and merged with my tail there was still one floating and vibrating.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    Oh¡­ I get it¡­ I tried to do something super nine taily without my tails out¡­ Is that what you mean? The dagger just kept vibrating. Right, I should stop talking to things that can¡¯t answer. I took out my 7 other tails and the dagger copied itself until there were 7 and shot into my tails which also started to glow. It stopped my nature magic but some weird but familiar energy started to well up inside me. I should have no clue what this is but somehow, I know what this is.

    The energy slowly left my tails. I felt my 9th tail appear and at that moment my nine-tailed spirit fox form released. I didn''t do this on purpose but it seems the illusionary daggers forced it together with my 9th tail. Space around me started to bend. What caught my eye was that the sky was acting weird. I looked up and it seemed like day and night were rushing past. I don''t remember this. I don''t think this is supposed to happen.

    It stopped and even though it was 14:52 it looked like it was midnight and the full moon was in full display. That is odd, the full moon is supposed to appear in 6 more days. As I looked at the full moon, I felt myself getting stronger. My silver tails were covered in blue fire and I had blue fire wisps floating behind me. My hair was fully silver now and my eyes were glowing silver and my pupils were¡­ hmm my pupils are gone; my eyes look like a full moon.

    Damn, I look cool! I looked at my tails covered in what I assume is [foxfire]. I bathed in the moonlight while the blue wisps got darker and turned into a mix of [foxfire] and spatiotemporal magic. My tails pointed at the dimensional fabric and torched it. The maggots turned into vapor that flowed into the fabric. It seems this fire also heals the fabric. The centipedes and beetles seem to be relatively fine. The centipedes seemed to take damage but the beetles seemed unharmed. One tail disappeared. My intuition tells me that I''m on a time limit and that I should wrap this up before all my tails disappear.

    Space was folding around me so I didn''t move much to cover a great distance. I got on the dimensional fabric and grabbed it with my tails and tried to pull it straight. It seemed to work. I cauterized tears in the fabric. Another tail disappeared. All this time the Thing was still moving around behind this fabric. It is weird I¡¯m using up a lot of mana but I don''t feel nauseous. Am I using lost magic? I can¡¯t tell. Since I''ve stepped on this fabric it feels like I¡¯m in a different space where the rules of the world are different. A world where only spatiotemporal magic works. Is this why only spatiotemporal magic works on these things?

    I cast a [Foxfire: Winter¡¯s end] mixed with spatiotemporal magic and wipe out all the centipedes differently colored motes replaced their vaporized bodies and they flowed into the fabric. It seems it affected the thing behind the fabric because it let out a space-shattering roar. My intuition didn''t tell me how to deal with it I only know how to deal with these bugs. Another tail disappeared. I shot a [fireball] at the beetles flying at me. Shit! I forgot to lace them with spatiotemporal magic! It hit the beetle and it did a lot of damage.

    Well, isn''t this odd? I shot another fireball and analyzed it. Well, it seems I instinctively lace my fire skills with spatiotemporal magic, I¡¯m just overkilling it by trying to infuse it with extra. Well, I feel stupid now, anyways. I keep pouring spatiotemporal magic in my next [Foxfire: winter¡¯s end] This one vaporized most of the remaining beetles. The killing of the beetles seemed to have a great effect on the fabric of space. I pulled the fabric more neatly with my tails. I had 5 tails left now. There were no bugs left, the fabric was still covered in blue foxfire and there were still some spots that were festering and didn''t look healthy. I slowly felt that I was getting exhausted.

    Another tail disappeared. I still had to deal with that thing behind this fabric. It kept making tears that I cauterized and which slowly healed because of the fire. I kept blasting the festering parts but they didn''t heal as fast as when I destroyed the beetles. I guess I still didn''t really figure out how to do this. I only had 3 tails left now, I decided to ignore the festering parts because there weren''t many and it didn''t look severe. I should focus on this Thing. I still don''t know how to get behind this but maybe that is a bad idea as long as I didn''t figure out how to make a dimensional anchor.

    I shot more [foxfire: Winter¡¯s end] at the thing that was behind the fabric of space and it started to thrash and let out more roars. I used 3 100 illusion layered [Confusion] on it and it seemed to thrash even more and its roars turned into screeches. It sounded like it was in pain. Good. I used another [Foxfire: Winter¡¯s end] on it and another 100-illusion layered [Confusion], and another tail disappeared. Another screech but it seemed like it got more distant. No more moving behind the fabric, no more slashes through the fabric. Did it run away? I only had one tail left and the sky started to act weird again by quickly shifting between day and night.

    I decided to try and fix the dimensional fabric as much as I could with the last tail I had left. The tail disappeared and I almost fell unconscious. I fell down and crashed into the ground. The pain helped me to regain my consciousness. And out of nowhere, a big wave of nausea came up. I tried to counter it with nature energy but I had to vomit once before getting it under control. This is starting to become very annoying. I tried to get up but my body felt heavy. I dragged myself to a corner and cleaned my mess and my mouth with water magic. I blasted some shades that thought I would be an easy snack. I formed illusions around me and took a nap.

    <hr>

    I got up and rubbed the sleepiness out of my eyes. After I dispelled the illusion hiding me some shades dashed at me and I jumped on a roof to evade them. I third to check on the state of the town but nothing happened. I tried again but my Elgards eyes didn''t want to activate. Did I ignore the headaches that get paired with nausea too much? Did I get brain damage? I couldn''t check myself because my eyes wouldn''t activate.

    Hmm, that is inconvenient¡­ I tried to take out some tails to run by what could have happened but my tails didn''t appear either. Uh oh, did I delete my nine-tailed spirit fox race? I realized how silly that was after I said that, if such a thing was possible some evil organization would go around and wipe out the problematic races and turn them all into humans or other things. Am I just human now? I did a small test and it seemed I still was part phoenix. I put that away because I''ve had 0 practice with it and it would make things worse, probably. I¡¯m just assuming that whatever I did put a lock on all my nine-tail abilities. I attempted [Turning leaf] and using my pocket dimension. It went rough and cost a lot of mana. Now my mana pool is large because I¡¯m a mythical beast but that doesn''t mean that I should still throw these around. Because of obvious reasons and nausea.

    I circulated more nature energy to counter it. Now luckily, I don''t rely much on my tails but I do on my pocket dimension and my eyes. I made a frost bow and sniped some shades that got lifted in the air by echoes. Frost magic was bound to my phoenix side so this is fine. Hitting my targets was a bit more difficult than normal but it seems my accuracy is still high unassisted. I only had 4 daggers and 2 relatively short wires on me in person. I made a shadow clone, and this still worked fine, and going into stealth and the like also worked. I guess I should practice more on how to fight a as human in case things like this happens more often. Now the question is for how long would this last?

    I looked up at the sky. Because I didn''t have my eyes, I didn''t know how late it was but it seemed like it was getting close to the part of the day where the sun would set any time soon. I could still form illusion layers because I cast those a long time ago, I just couldn''t shatter them to use [Confusion] and similar skills, only undo things. Without my eyes to analyze many variables this just became way harder. Now I was planning to train my shadow clones in a separate space but I can¡¯t do that now. I made 6 shadow clones. Ok guys, since I can''t use my Elgards eyes and I can¡¯t talk to my tails anymore you will do! You will now be my eyes! And if something weird happens you guys can figure it out by yourself! You''re old enough!

    My clones nodded and spread out. Now I guess Gregory postponed looking for the root to tomorrow. I also didn''t have my archive. Uh oh, what was I supposed to do today? It is day 2. I''ve done this many times by now, think Agnis, think! Right! Selling my rubies! How do I do that without my dimensional pocket? Hmm, I think I will skip it this timeline. I¡¯m not going to lug around over 100 kg of red rocks. What else? Probably a run-in with Donkey because that happens almost every day. I slip in stealth and kick whatever shade I find in my path to the sky to make sure they get caught by the echoes. I wonder if I can do this in my now human form why don''t the townspeople do that?

    Suddenly I got an idea. Maybe Uraya or Paul and Paula know what happened to me! I head over to Paul and Paula¡¯s house but then remembered how Paula almost got a heart attack after Ted said that Hourai was gone. What would happen if I said I¡¯m not a nine-tailed spirit fox anymore? And man, my race name is a mouthful I¡¯ll just say 9t fox, Yes that is short. Anyway maybe a bad idea to tell Paula. How about Uraya, she handled my mana corruption quite well. I decided to head over to Uraya¡¯s shop. Maybe I could get some cool potions to fight with! I barged into Uraya¡¯s shop because I tried to use some lightning magic but it was hard to use any lightning skills besides [Lightning bolt] without my eyes. I tried a budget [Lightning Umbrella] but it was a disaster and I might have attracted a bit too many shades by doing that.

    Uraya¡¯s shop was empty. I rang a small bell that would call her if she was doing something in the back. Granny Uraya? I didn''t hear anything. Did she go out? I waited for 10 minutes. Not because I¡¯m a really patient guy but because there were still many shades on the town square.

    ¡°Oh, I didn''t know you were here Agnis.¡± Oh, you¡¯re home, well there seem to still be many shades wandering outside. Do you know how late it is by the way?

    ¡°It is 17:43, I was preparing to close the shop, do you need anything?¡± Hmm, well I need your wisdom. So, let''s say, hypothetically, of course, I wouldn''t be able to use my racial abilities, what would you say could be a cause or way to fix it? Uraya gave me a weird look.

    ¡°Agnis, what did you do?¡± I guess I can¡¯t fool an ancient witch. I explained the situation to her. She sighed and conjured a chair and sat down on it.

    ¡°You really like to keep the situation tense, do you?¡± I¡¯m sorry, I had literally no clue what I was doing¡­

    ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have a solution for it since I don¡¯t really know what happened but I do know that this is temporary. You see nine-tailed spirit foxes aren''t well known for their, ehmm¡­ risk assessment skills. If something like this was permanent it would be a well-known fact among those that deal often with creatures like that and especially the witches, since we kind of have a love-hate relationship with them.¡± Oh, why is that?

    ¡°Their eyes and their intelligence make them the ideal research partners to study magic, but as you know they also love pranks and making trouble and witches are well uhm a bit stiff in that department, actually they hate it.¡± Hmm, a bit like Greg and I!

    ¡°I guess that is a good example. I would suggest that you stay low until you get your abilities back¡± Ok thank you! By the way, is this perfume you¡¯re wearing popular? I think I''ve smelled it somewhere before but I can¡¯t remember where.

    ¡°Silly Agnis, this isn''t perfume, this is the true potential of mistflowers that you are smelling.¡± Working hard on that potion I see. Well, good luck! I will do my best to stay low!

    ¡°I really hope you will¡­¡± I ran out of Uraya¡¯s shop and almost bumped into a shade. I dodged it and a clone came to my rescue. I almost forgot that Gregory told me to let my clones do everything. I guess things will get boring for me while I can''t do anything. Maybe I should rest and let my clones do stuff. Yes, that sounds like a good idea! I snuck inside my room via the window, locked my door, and decided to nap.

 Ch 62: Raishin Unleashed

    I have been trying to talk to some chicks for almost the whole day but they either are too busy being afraid of the shades or are too afraid of me. It seems most of the townspeople now think not only Agnis is a monster but Ted, Greg, and me too. I sigh. Maybe I should go to the mine and see how the mining chick is doing. She won''t judge me, right? At that moment I see Greg approach. Hey, have you seen Agnis? I made some stink¡­ anti-nausea potions for him. Doesn''t he have enough already?

    He needs extra strong ones now, we both passed out from nausea after he linked my vision and opened the filter of the dimensional fabric. It is a whole new level of disgusting. Greg seemed to start feel sick after thinking about it and took one of his stinky potions. I could smell it from here the moment he opened the lid. I took a step back.

    Ugh, that stinks! Is it that bad? Yea¡­

    I haven''t seen him sorry. At that moment the sky started to act weird and well everything started to wobble and look goofy.

    Is this the infamous skip function? What? I think Agnis got serious.

    But is the sky supposed to do that? Oh, look a full moon. I don''t remember messing with day and night being between one of the effects nine-tailed spirit foxes cause when they release their form.

    So, this is not Agnis¡¯ doing? I don¡¯t know. Also, Raishin, as long as you don¡¯t use [Solar stream] you can do whatever you want.

    Wait really? What about the town? Agnis was so kind to set up a magic circle to teleport everyone to the city down below, I got the task to execute it since I bet, he has his hands full.

    Oooh! Cool! So where is he now though? Well, I don''t know exactly how it works but since we can''t see that dimensional fabric without his aid, I guess we can¡¯t see or detect him when he is dealing with that but the effects seem to be quite clear. Even though it is still noon it was dark outside and the sky was well-lit by the full moon.

    Hey, was the moon always that big? Don¡¯t try to make sense out of this, there shouldn''t have been a full moon in 6 days, I think time fast-forwarded to the night that has a full moon. I don''t know why though. And I assume Agnis doesn''t know either.

    Everything is so blurry and weird, I like it! So, can I go wild now? Not yet, I will do a final check on this magic circle Agnis made and then prepare to activate the teleport. I want to activate it at midnight so that most townspeople will be inside and not notice.

    Midnight?! I have to wait that long? You''ve waited 5 timelines I¡¯m sure you can wait several more hours, you can vent by blasting the shade trashcan some more.

    Fine! I went to the trashcan and blasted some shades. I saw a large shade getting pushed toward the trashcan. Ooh good! Since I was outside the town, I could go ham! I made a tornado and sucked everything in. It reminded me of that [Explonado] Agnis and I made.

    I can do that too! I fed the tornado a [Flame wave]. Ooh, a toasty tornado! I look around. I don''t see Ted; he would probably name it something lame like [Toastnado]. What was next? Lightning, but we didn''t manage to succeed. Since this tornado is red-orange what if I feed it red lightning for a super rednado! But before I could feed it lightning it got swallowed by a big shadow.

    Hey! I said to vent on the trashcan not create a tornado of death that might go into town. Do that after I finish the teleport.

    Meh. I had to kill time until it was midnight. Time to dig for gold! I picked up the pickaxe out of my hut and headed toward Boshi mines. I descended into the mines but nobody was here. I sighed. It was the same in the last timeline. I don''t blame them; it is just I don''t have a family like them to stay with during this invasion. I took off my coat, scarf and sweater and started digging. How nice would it be to be able to use earth magic like Greg and Ted. I stopped digging. Wait! Agnis dug a 200-meter-deep hole without earth magic! Haha, I can use lightning magic! I''m a genius! Well, Agnis is a genius but I''m a genius for ripping off his idea! I dropped my pickaxe, well actually it''s Agnis¡¯ pickaxe, and put my index finger in my mouth and stuck it in the air. There is no reason why I did this but it made me believe that I knew what I was doing.

    Over there! My intuition told me to blast a hole at this part. I put my hand on the rock wall.

    [Lightning beam]! My voice echoed through the mine as well did the blast. It kicked up a lot of dust. I coughed as I waved the dust away. I decided to use wind magic to get rid of it. I made a small flare and walked into the tunnel I just made. I looked at the molten walls but I didn''t see anything that looked like gold. I saw something goldish at the end of the tunnel.

    Yes! I did it! I wanted to dig the gold out but I realized I left the pickaxe behind. I walked back but couldn''t find it. I retraced my steps.

    I stood here and then dropped it like this. I looked at where I remembered I dropped the pickaxe and looked down the mine shaft which was I don''t know how many meters deep. Nooooo! I looked around to make sure I didn''t misremember. Sadly, my memory isn''t bad like Agnis so I¡¯m sure I dropped the pickaxe down there.

    Screw it! I took out my tails and used [Thundercloak] and jumped down. Nobody has time to climb down! I crashed down to the bottom. I didn''t manage to land neatly and faceplanted. Luckily my thunder cloak reduces physical damage. I shook my head and looked around. I can''t see shit! I made a flare and in front of me was Kanna.

    Oh hey, trol... Kanna, have you seen my pickaxe? Kanna roared and ran at me with a huge club. Hey was Kanna always this big? I dodged a swing of her club but I forgot to maintain the flare and it became dark. Shit! Hey, Kanna it''s me! Raishin! Another brutish roar. I felt the ground shaking as Kanna? Wait is this her? Maybe it''s a different troll. I lit a flare and saw the club swinging down on me. I threw a 24-strength attack at Not-Kanna to cancel out the swing. I bet Agnis probably already forgot that we had this arrangement where he would give a number and I would match it to cancel out an attack. Maybe I should remind him. I have to do this on intuition though. My attack blasted the club to pieces and the troll looked upset.

    Hey, Not-Kanna, I''m just here to get my pickaxe, wait it''s not my pickaxe it''s Agnis¡¯ pickaxe, I borrowed it from him! Another roar and I dodged a Kanna punch. How rude! Fine then don''t help me but I will blow you up! Not-Kanna seemed to not care and threw another punch at me. I dodged and sent a [Lightning bolt] at her but she was using some weird magic that made her dodge my attack without moving or using a magic circle. I threw more [Lightning bolts] but only a few seemed to hit.

    Heh, impressive, to think you would avoid the majority of my attacks! It is good that I have AOE attacks! Hahaha! I shot a red lightning bolt to the sky but it hit the ceiling of the mine. Oh, nobody told me that this attack doesn''t work indoors! I ran from Not-Kanna who was chasing me. Heyhey! Time out let me¡­ I dodged another punch.

    ¡°Grooaar!¡±

    Shit, you trapped me! How sneaky! I was looking at a dead end. But this is no problem, I will summon my spear with [Thunder call] and I will [Raishin kick] Not-Kanna. I reached my hand at the sky and used [Thundercall]. I was waiting for my spear to fall into my hands but nothing happened. Huh what?! Not-Kanna was merciless.

    Hey! Stop punching! Don¡¯t you know it''s rude to attack someone when he''s preparing an attack? I looked at the sky to check where my spear was and looked at a rock ceiling. Oh, I guess this also doesn''t work indoors¡­ Do I even have attacks that work indoors? Screw it. A worthy opponent indeed, you forced my hand. Eat this! [Nova blast]! A big flash, a lot of rumbling, and then darkness. That didn''t hurt as much as I thought it would! There is one problem though. I¡¯m stuck. I might be buried in the dirt here. I don''t want to be buried alive! Something told me to feed more energy in my [Thundercloak] and use another [Nova blast] so that''s what I did.

    Aah fresh air! I¡¯m a master of digging! I looked around and I was standing in a super big hole. Was this hole always here? I saw my spear stuck in the ground a bit further. There you are! I tried to pull my spear out of the ground but it was stuck.

    Oh, come on you¡¯re not Excalibur! You¡¯re already mine! I blasted the ground and made my spear unstuck. Perfect! It was getting dark but it didn''t look like midnight yet. The big full moon was gone though. I should''ve used that full moon as an excuse to think it was midnight. Wait! My gold! Nooo! I looked for the entrance of the mine but this big hole filled with rubble was in the way! Who filled up this mine with rocks while I was fighting Not-Kanna! I blasted the rubble away until I saw something that looked like gold.

    Yes! I¡¯m rich! I tried to dig the gold out of this big boulder but realized I didn''t have a pickaxe.

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    Noooo! I can''t believe I forgot to retrieve the pickaxe! Agnis is never going to let me hear the end of this! I will just carry this boulder to Greg and ask him to dig it out for me. Ted would probably punch and smash everything. I tried to carefully blast all the rubble surrounding my gold boulder. Hey, what are you doing?

    Hey, don''t sneak up on me! I called out to you several times though¡­

    Oh, I¡¯m trying to bring this gold boulder to Greg to dig it out. So, you finally struck gold, eh? But a Goulder, eh?

    Ugh, you see that is why I didn''t want to ask you for help! Stop with these bad puns! But it''s a good one! Gold and Boulder make Goulder! Eh? Ey?

    No! It sucks! So, can you dig this out for me or can you only punch this thing to pieces? Uhh, for something this delicate you might want Greg. But I thought this mine only had iron ore.

    Hah! They were wrong! This is obviously gold! Can you carry this for me, please? Well, some extra funds wouldn''t hurt I guess, it is not like one of us is filthy rich¡­

    Yeah, we''re all super broke but don''t worry now that I will be rich, I will give you poor scrubs some allowance hehe! I helped Ted carry the gold to Greg¡¯s house.

    Is he even home? I don''t know, he said he needed to fix some stuff so he might be not. Ted smacked me.

    So, we carried this here for nothing? Hey! That hurts! And no look there he comes! Do I even want to know what you guys are doing? And have you seen Agnis? I can¡¯t reach him with Teleroad and I can¡¯t feel his energy.

    I hope he didn''t get stuck in another separate dimension. That would suck but that would be something he would get stuck in. So why are you guys carrying junk to my house?

    It''s not junk! It''s gold! I¡¯m rich! Why didn''t you dig it out?

    Well, you see I dropped my pickaxe well not my pickaxe, Agnis¡¯ pickaxe and I went down the shaft to get it but then Kanna attacked me! Kanna was down there? Ugh, of course not, you met a real mountain troll.

    So, it is not her brother? I don¡¯t think so, come in, and I will dig the gold out for you. We enter Greg¡¯s house but it smells a bit funky.

    It smells a bit funky in here! Uhh, well this and that happened, Put it down here. Ted dropped my gold and Gregory inspected it.

    Where did you find this? Hehe, jealous, eh? I found it in Boshi mine nr 2!

    Hmm, I thought only iron ore could be mined there. That''s what I said too! You guys are just jealous! I don''t know what Gregory was doing but he was slowly digging the gold out. I didn''t mind because he was careful with my gold but I did get bored.

    Phew, it took 2 hours but it¡¯s finally dug out! Yes! My gold! So, what now do we melt it into bars?

    Hmm, you might want to appraise it first, you''ll have to bring this to Agnis. Hey, Greg is it midnight yet?

    I¡¯m almost done with the setup. It isn''t close to midnight but more and more strong shades are appearing so we might have to move our schedule a bit. Yes! We went outside after feeling an energy wave.

    Oooh, look at how big that shade is! Right, I think I should hurry up, from the energy flux I feel it seems that it is going to shoot a laser soon. Raishin I will create a big earth pillar when I¡¯m done. When you see it count to 10 and then you can do whatever you want besides [Solar stream]

    Oooh! I can¡¯t wait! Hey, can I know the plan too? There is not much of a plan, we will just teleport everyone to the city below and Raishin will nuke the town.

    What is this plan? You sound just like Agnis! Well, it was his plan. I hope he is ok.

    He will be fine; I will be surprised if anything manages to kill him. Ehh, yeah, time to work! Greg made some shadow clones and they spread out. They surely moved slowly though¡­ I guess it will take some hours before I can start blasting¡­ I jumped on a roof and saw some townspeople running away from shades. Ha! Time to become Boshi town¡¯s local hero! I threw some [Lightning bolts] at the shades.

    ¡°Aaagh!¡± Oops, seems I zapped some townspeople. The townspeople look at me angrily and continue running away. A good thing I used some weak lightning. Hmm, that went better in my head. I jumped down and used [Raishin kick] on some shades but none of this was exciting. I saw a huge magic circle activate. Oooh, it''s almost time! The magic circle took some time to fill with mana and it was finally completed. I saw townspeople disappear and a rising earth pillar.

    Yes! Now, what am I going to use, hmm¡­ I got a magic message prompt asking if I want to accept the teleport with a timer. No! I want to stay here! The towns people don''t get this I feel, who would accept a random teleport? Oh, right I¡¯m supposed to count to 10! I counted to 10 and then decided to go ham. Agnis went true form earlier so now it''s my turn! I took all my 5 tails out and released my six-tailed tiger form. I got a cool tiger print jacket and it started to rain red lightning.

    Ahh, it feels good to not hold back! I tried the [Rednado] I came up with earlier which got interrupted by Greg. but it will be bigger! And there will be more! I made 10 [Rednados] and easily wiped out all the shades in Boshi town. The whole town was bathed in red light from the red lightning rain and [Rednados]. One [Rednado] was acting weird though. It was giving off more energy than the others and was slowly turning orange. Hmm, I didn''t feed it more energy why is it turning into an [Orangenado]? It started to eat up all the other [Rednados].

    Hey, Orangenado get along with the other nadoes! The orangenado started to give off a lot of heat. I have the feeling that it''s not orange because it upgraded to orange lightning¡­ My intuition told me to get away from this [Orangenado] Because it started to turn yellow.

    -Raishin, what the fuck did you do? -

    -I made a [Rednado] but it turned orange but now it¡¯s turning yellow! I don¡¯t understand what''s going on! - -I can¡¯t believe that you find a more destructive move after we ban your [Solar stream]. Come to my house, Ted and I are here waiting for you so I can shadow meld to the underground city. -

    - Uhh, sure, so what is this [Yellownado]? - - You remember that Agnis was trying to make the Fusion element with you right? Well congratulations you made a [Fusionado]. What is worse than calling down a blast from the sun is making something that is very well on the same tier as the sun, just in tornado form¡­ Can¡¯t you guys do anything normal?- - Hey Raishin, can you hurry up its getting really hot here!-

    - On it!- I looked at the [Fusionado] that ate up all the [Rednadoes] and started to get whitish It was also gigantic, I could see Boshi lake Minor from here but most of it was already evaporated because it was close to the [Fusionado]. And Ted was correct it was really hot out here and it set the whole town ablaze. I might have overdone it. I cancelled my six-tailed tiger release mode and teleported to Greg''s house. Ted smacked me after I arrived.

    Are you trying to kill us?! Hehe, sorry, I didn''t know this would happen. What about Agnis? This probably wouldn''t do much to him but he can shadowmeld and also teleport, there is no reason to be worried that this will do anything to him. He is also probably training his shadow clones.

    Shouldn''t we be immune to that ehh thing? Ted points at the [Fusionado]. I don''t know how all this works but since this heat is affecting us, I don¡¯t want to gamble on it. Let¡¯s go!

    Greg grabbed us and shadow melded to the underground city. It seemed quite busy and Agnis, Paul, Paula, Charlize, and Cecilia were explaining things to the townspeople. Hey look it¡¯s Agnis! He seems to be stuck in a troublesome situation, but I thought he would be practicing shadow clones by now. Well, I guess it was his idea.

    The people seem upset don''t they know we just saved them? I¡¯m sure they see this situation differently. Let''s get a bit closer and hear what they''re saying.

    <hr>

    Yes! And what I''m saying is that if you guys stay up there you will just get wiped out. All those attacks echoing around and those shades will eventually cause lots of deaths.

    ¡°Just like how you killed off Monkey and his group!?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, why should we trust you!¡±

    ¡°Murderer!¡± Hey, listen, to be honest, I don''t care, if you want to go back up there, be my guest. You are safe here if you want to go back up, I won¡¯t stop you. You don¡¯t have to trust me or believe me.

    ¡°Good! Then we won¡¯t! Guys let''s go back up!¡±

    ¡°Yeah! So ehh how do we get back up?¡± Well, you guys don''t want to listen to me so there is no point telling you since you won''t believe me anyways. Agnis shrugged. It seems like he made himself the villain but still has everything under control.

    ¡°How about you tell us and then we decide if you¡¯re telling the truth!¡± I think you guys are misunderstanding something here, I have no obligation to you all. But if any of you can tell me exactly what is going on what is causing all this and how it all became like this, I will acknowledge that you know how to handle yourself in this situation and I won¡¯t mind sending you back up there.

    ¡°We think that you caused this to oppress us!¡± Ooh, I like that one, go on!

    ¡°And you¡¯re holding us captive to make us slaves and do whatever you want!¡±

    ¡°Yeeah! I bet you want to become our mayor or something and order us around!¡± Hah, if you guys think that you know absolutely nothing about me! Anyways I¡¯m done with you clowns, you can do whatever you want, I don¡¯t care. Just consider yourselves lucky that you got caught in the crossfire of me trying to protect the people I actually care about. Agnis left and headed toward the big palace.

    ¡°Hey come back! What about us!¡±

    <hr>

    Ugh what a mess, I guess that as inevitable. Let''s try to avoid the townspeople and rest. I don''t need rest! No, but you need to reflect on your actions! See this is why we try to keep you on a leash! You will just casually wipe a town off the map!

    Leave it be Ted, this was kind of what we expected. I was just hoping he would go for a bit less hazardous skills but this works too. I¡¯ll try to see if I can catch up with Agnis.

 Ch 63: Cee Horze

    I met up with Horze in the palace. The majority of the spirits relocated to the palace to not get disturbed by the humans that got teleported down here. They won''t bother each other but the spirits can see everything the humans do and the humans are noisy. I managed to calm the majority down but there were still a lot of humans that didn''t want to listen to reason. It didn''t matter if I, Paula, or Charlize explained the situation they decided that they know better. That is fine but it gave me a headache. Originally, I was planning to use a random house here in this underground city but after all this, I will just see if I can get a room in this palace. I was talking to Horze to ask if he knew if there were empty rooms left. He told me that anyone would gladly clear out the room they claimed for me but I don''t want any of those special privileges.

    What? Any spirit would be happy to be my roommate? Well, that is nice of them but just an empty room would be fine, maybe also some for my buddies. We walked around the palace to find some empty rooms. It was quite lively here with all these spirits. I still don''t have access to my Elgards eyes or my tails but I can still interact with the spirits so this means I''m still a 9t fox. To anyone else, this palace would seem empty or maybe haunted. It certainly looks like things are living in here I don''t know how others would see it. I think Isi will go greet the humans soon but I don¡¯t feel like going back there at this moment. I got distracted by how lively the palace was. Horze was still talking to other spirits and then addressed me.

    ¡°There is only 1 small room left Agnis, it is just big enough for your 3 friends.¡± Oh, that is great! Wait what about a room for me?

    ¡°Won''t you become my roommate?¡± Eh? Are you sure?

    ¡°Well, I share a quite big room with my family and they got interested after I ehh, bragged that I met the ¡®Bridge¡¯ So can you do this for me please?¡± Uhh, I don¡¯t mind, just a warning though, I¡¯ve been told that I¡¯m a difficult person to deal with.

    ¡°Oh, thank you! I won''t forget this!¡± Oh, come on I''m not some celebrity and you¡¯ve helped me quite a bit this is the least I can do, even if it''s just resting in a room¡­ Huff, there you are!

    Oh perfect! Horze fixed a room for you guys, it''s ehh, where was it again Horze?

    ¡°Room 441 in the east wing¡± Well you heard it! I will stay in Horze¡¯s room as a thank you. You know that I can''t see or hear him, right?

    Oh right, you guys are in room 441 in the east wing. How did things go on your end? Gregory explained to me how Raishin brought some gold to his house, how the magic circle activation went, and how Raishin destroyed the town with a Fusionado. A [Fusionado] eh? Interesting. What have you been doing?

    Napping and dealing with angry humans. Did you give up on training shadow clones in your separate dimension?

    Ehh, well about that¡­ I explained to Gregory what happened.

    I guess I can let it slide this time because you didn''t know the risks and you needed it to deal with that disgusting-looking dimensional fabric but be more careful next time. It is good that this didn''t happen mid-battle. Yeah, I will only use this outside battle and when the dimensional fabric becomes disgusting like that.

    What was up with that full moon though? It was noon. I have no clue sorry.

    Hmm, fine, are you still using shadow clones? Yup!

    So, I¡¯m talking to a shadow clone? Nope! ¡­

    Go nap and let your shadow clones do everything! Okok! Horze take me to your leader!

    ¡°Do you want to meet Isi again?¡± No! I mean the leader of your room, you know what never mind, let''s go to your room! I waved Gregory goodbye and got led to our room on the 3rd floor.

    ¡°Here we are!¡± Horze opened the room and inside this spacious room, I could see a Horze Senior, Horzina Senior, Horze Junior, and a Horzina. I assume these are his parents and 2 siblings. It would be awkward if I got this wrong. Ehh, hey! I¡¯m Agnis.

    ¡°Is this a nine-tailed spirit fox?!¡±

    ¡±Ooh My son has told us a lot about you!¡± Horze senior said as he approached me. ¡°You even gave him a name!¡± Uhh, it is kind of hard to address him without a name, is it that big of a deal?

    ¡°Oh yes! Medium spirits like us don''t have names, every spirit that isn''t a higher spirit or stronger with a name always accomplished great things and sometimes even made it to become a higher spirit!¡± Oh... I¡¯m sorry I wasn''t aware of that and uhm maybe gave him a half-assed name...

    ¡°Oh no, I love this name! It fills me with energy!¡± Oh... oh really, well then, more power to you! Horze who looked like a humanoid horse with a horse face flexed his horse muscles.

    ¡°Can you show us your tails?¡± Horzina senior said with a curious look. I think it is curious. I¡¯m not that great at reading horse faces. Uhm my tails are under maintenance at the moment, I will show them later!

    ¡°See, I told you, darling, nine-tail spirit foxes are overly conscious about their tails. You remember the stories right about how the humans hunted them and the fox beast kin for their tails?¡±

    ¡°Oh! I¡¯m sorry! Whenever we heard that story, we got so mad!¡± Uhh, it¡¯s fine.

    ¡°But you¡¯re so young! Where are your parents?¡± Uhm, I ran away from home, I will return to them soon, don¡¯t worry. I decided to lie to them because I don¡¯t want to put more people in distress by revealing that Hourai is gone.

    ¡°Good, good I wasn''t there myself but my grandpa witnessed how a goddess led a genocide against the nine-tailed spirit foxes. He tried to help the spirit foxes but he was just a weak medium spirit so he got defeated and sent back to the spirit world¡± Wait genocide? I never heard that it was that bad I thought they just were at war.

    ¡°Hey, dad didn''t information of events that happened before the Great Eraser get wiped from everyone that isn''t a spirit? I don''t think they know.¡± But we¡¯re spirits too, kinda shouldn''t we have remembered too?

    ¡°I don''t know.¡± Horze¡¯s dad smoked a pipe and continued. ¡°My grandfather was just a weak Equuspirit but he was befriended with a young nine-tailed spirit fox boy. He wasn''t even 3 years old. But despite being this young the spirit fox was very proficient at frost magic.¡± Oh, did he have a three tailed shadow cat friend?

    ¡°What? No just a random nine tailed spirit fox kid, he was very skilled at frost magic. The problem was that this was very effective against a specific god. It was a troublesome god and he got killed multiple times by the spirit foxes. But it was necessary, he wanted to make some stupid army or something and use it to fight another god.¡± It would be nice if they would just keep their business to themselves and not bother us on the Mainfloor.

    ¡°Ohh you''ve talked to Isi about similar stuff! That makes things easier! So, when the Great Eraser happened all the knowledge and information just disappeared from the Mainfloor, and we in the Garden that is the spirit world got untouched.¡± Wait, so the gods on the first floor remember?

    ¡°That is correct, the reason some gods started a genocide against the spirit foxes was to secure their own safety. Not only are they equipped to fight gods but their frost magic was especially effective. This also extended to other races and individuals who could use frost magic. It was more targeted to frost users but the spirit foxes took the biggest hit because a high percentage of their population could use it, unfortunately, there are none left now that can use it so the gods have a relatively easy time against them¡­¡± So, the reason that frost magic is rare to nonexistent is because the gods decided to wipe them out?

    ¡°Only 2 gods were responsible for this and they targeted frost magic users and abyss users.¡± So that¡¯s how the 3t shadow cats fit in that war¡­

    ¡°Back then there were 3 races that could use abyss magic sadly 2 of them went extinct¡­¡± I put my head in my hands. My headache started to get worse and worse. So hypothetically, what would happen if a 9t fox appeared that could use frost magic?

    ¡°He or she would probably become a high-priority target for those 2 gods, but fortunately I heard that one got sealed away.¡± Wait¡­ don¡¯t tell me... The gods you''re talking about are Zarrazax and Biian?

    ¡°Ohh! Yeh, I completely forgot their names but those are the names yes! So, you have heard this story?¡± Ugh, these assholes again, I think I need to lie down.

    ¡°Look dear, you made him upset!¡±

    ¡°Hey, dad you can''t just casually tell him how his race almost got wiped out!¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± So, if I understand this well then, the moment I step out of this prison and Biian catches wind of my identity I¡¯m toast. At least the silver lining is that this was already the case but instead of hopefully being non-important to her I will probably have a high priority on her list. Added to that Gregory also has crosshairs on him. If I had this information and I was a god and I learned that a frost using 9t fox and a 3t shadow cat were traveling together I would make sure to wipe them out asap.

    ¡°Hey, are you ok?¡± Oh, sorry Horze, I was just deep in thought and dealing with my headache.

    ¡°Oh, ok, hey guys shoo! Let him rest!¡± Horze¡¯s curious family returned to whatever bronze horse spirits do. I took some rest. My clones were still moving around in the underground city and scouting out the area. Most of my clones got vaporized by Raishin¡¯s Fusionado so I had to replenish them. Only 1 clone was still alive above ground. The Fusionado was going out of control and melted almost the whole area. Boshi lake is no more, just some empty holes where there once were 3 lakes. I decided to let my main body sleep and selected a clone to investigate a tunnel that looked like it would lead toward the pink root.

    <hr>

    I walked through the tunnel while the main body went to sleep. I have to be extra careful now because I won''t get any more mana fed to me in case of emergencies. No 9t fox powers, no extra mana. This a high-difficulty quest. I pass by an underwater lake and see various water spirits. This place really is a haven for spirits. I¡¯m starting to feel bad for bringing noisy humans to their paradise. I approached them and apologized. They didn''t seem to mind but I still insisted on my apology. I saw some humans playing at the edge of the lake.

    ¡°Hey, that''s the guy that killed our parents and brought us here! Let''s get him!¡± Why am I still surprised that I bumped into these idiots? Donkey and his group approached me.

    Scram Donkey, I don''t have the energy to deal with your idiotic takes. I got surrounded by Donkey and 12 other 14-year-olds. Wait I think there are some between that are older. Where does he get all these idiots from? Do they sell idiots at the Boshi market? You guys are making a terrible mistake, go back to school, messing with a water user in a lake is a very bad idea.

    ¡°That is why we have Chad and Brad with us today, these brothers are very strong water users!¡± Right, so you got them and waited here all the time until I would pass?

    ¡°Hey! who told him!?¡± That was a joke... Are you kidding me? How stupid are you? From the corner of my eye, I saw the water spirits gather and surround the bullies. From those that I could read their expression, they didn''t seem happy with this development. Uhh, this is bad, hey guys maybe you should stop.

    ¡°Hah! Acting all tough but now you know about Chad and Brad, you''re getting cold feet!¡± Donkey and his friends started laughing loud. I told the spirits to calm down. ¡°Haha! Hear that he''s starting to talk gibberish in fear! Chad, Brad if you would be so kind!¡±

    ¡°Sure, Dunkey, don''t forget you promised us a week of free Hurado cuisine!¡± Chad and Brad started to use water magic but the spirits hijacked it. Great, you pissed off the spirits, can''t say I didn''t warn you. Good luck! Spirits go for it, don''t forget to have fun!

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    ¡°Hey! What is going on!¡±

    ¡°The lake is attacking us!¡± I made a [Waterspout] and shot myself in the air and landed on the other side of the lake. A spirit approached me. What? You want to join me? I don''t think there is water where I¡¯m going, there might even be magma there. The seahorse-like spirit insisted saying that it stored up a lot of spirit energy on this power spot and will just return when it runs out of energy. I looked back and the spirits seemed to be playing with the bullies by throwing water attacks at them to keep them airborne. I felt like joining them but I decided against it.

    Alright, Cee Horze but promise me to return to the lake when it gets too much for you, I¡¯m a clone myself, not the real body. Whud? No not Chorze, Cee Horze. I wrote ''Cee Horze'' with water magic but I realized that I don''t know how to write in spirit language or however it is called. I asked what Cee Horze could do. It could make anything act like a body of water and had some useful-sounding spirit skills.

    Hey, Cee Horze does that mean that we can swim through the air or ground when you use this? Cee Horze used his skill on the ground. But nothing happened. Maybe because I can stand on water. I used a simple [water pillar] but instead of a pillar made of water appearing the ground acted like it was water and I made an earth pillar. Huh? This is actually overpowered. Cee Horze blew some bubbles and they popped on the earth pillar turning it into water, which made the water drop to the floor. It stayed water.

    Why are you a minor spirit? This is super strong!

    What? Oh, water also is seen as a weak element under the spirits? And this is useless in water and without allies because you can''t control what you turn into ¡®water¡¯? Hmm, I can see how that is a valid argument yeah. Don¡¯t worry I think I¡¯m a decent water user! With my new ally, I continue down this tunnel. Not much happened, just some annoying bats that tried to attack me. They were no match for me but at least I made this tunnel safer. It started to get warmer and Cee Horze seemed to struggle a bit. Water is strong against heat and fire, yes but remember when I said the power of water depends on how much moisture there is in the air?

    Cee Horze, use your skill. Cee Horze made it so that the air would act like water. I used [Water jet] And moved the air with us in it like we were well¡­ in a water jet. Cee Horze blew bubbles at the moving mass of air and it turned into water. We shot through the tunnel like this. After a while, I moved to the back of the water mass because I was running out of air. At that moment we entered an enormous room with magma everywhere and only some narrow rock paths through it. The water mass shrunk quite fast. I don''t know if Cee Horze can chill in boiling water so I dispersed the water and formed a [water ball] around Cee Horze with some frost cubes in it to keep the water cool.

    Well, this seems quite water spirit unfriendly, I would have expected fire spirits here but nothing... Are you alright Cee Horze? Cee Horze confirmed that he was ok. I walked over the rock path. Oof this place stinks like rotten egg or Raishin¡¯s farts. Ugh this smell is summoning my 2 best friends, headache and nausea.

    Hey, Cee Horze can you turn this stinky gas into water? Cee Horze used its skill and blew some bubbles. The stink disappeared and I felt the humidity rise slightly. Thanks! This rock path makes some stupid long detours. Screw it. I jumped on the magma. Cee Horze yelled at me to not kill myself. Chill, Cee Horze, see I''m fine! I walked over the magma to where it looks this rock path was heading. I had to endure Cee Horze scolding me for being so reckless. As I walked over the magma, I felt a ripple. That¡¯s odd, the magma has been quite quiet all this time. It is molten rock, after all, only seismic activity or something colossal would be able to move it like this.

    Just a question Cee Horze, how long have you lived on your power spot?

    312 years? Have you heard of any non-spirits living down here? Hmm not that you know of? I decided to run toward a big solid rock island a bit further. The rock path would lead me there eventually. A small earthquake and something came out of the magma.

    Hey look Cee Horze, we¡¯re lucky that it isn''t a fire dragon! Cee Horze started to complain that I shouldn''t be so optimistic in this situation.

    It is just a magma snake it is not that strong!

    What? My perspective on what is weak and strong is warped? Hey if you have to deal with incoming divine activity then everything is weak! The magma snake locked on to me but was just observing.

    ¡°Turn back mortal!¡± Oh hey, it speaks! Hey Mr. Magma snake, have you seen a broccoli root ye high and uhh pink?

    ¡°I said turn back! There is no place for weak mortals here!¡± Sure, sure but can you answer my question? I¡¯m a bit lost and uhh yeh! My parents are waiting for me at the root! Because as you can see, I¡¯m just a kid!

    ¡°Nonsense! You can''t fool me!¡± Well, if I can''t fool you why do you think I¡¯m a mortal then?

    ¡°Tricks won¡¯t work on me! I won¡¯t repeat myself again! Turn back!¡± So, hey what are you hiding? Is it treasure? Are you hiding naughty magazines? Maybe of some sexy fire dragon?

    ¡°Hey, can you just shut up and go back while I''m still asking nicely!¡± What do you think he is hiding Cee Horze?

    Hmm, naughty magazines? Of Lamias? Ooh, that is also a possibility!

    Hey Horny Snake, don¡¯t worry we won''t kink shame you unless you tell us where the root is!

    ¡°Aagh! So annoying! I will roast you!¡± How do you want to roast me while you have been on the defensive all the time?

    ¡°I mean literally! Not verbally!¡± So, your verbal ineptness makes you resort to violence? I can''t say that is something to boast about.

    ¡°Ugh, I''m getting a headache, ok mortal you are dead!¡± Horny snake made a [magma tidal wave] and sent it at me. I moved Cee Horze away so he wouldn''t get hit and I dove into the magma. If I had my tails, I could be able to move in the magma but because it was so dense, I would just dive under to evade the tidal wave and pull myself out of the magma afterward. The magma tidal wave passed and I tried to pull myself out of the magma but it was heavy so I was a bit stuck. ¡°What the! You are not a normal mortal!¡± Seems, I fooled you after all! Hey, Cee Horze can you help me? I¡¯m stuck. Cee Horze used its skill on the magma. It became easy to move through the magma as if it turned into water and I got out. Don¡¯t blow bubbles at it yet I have an idea!

    ¡°What are you? And what are you doing here? No mortal can bathe in magma without the proper preparations!¡± I can tell you, but you won''t believe me anyway. I removed some magma patches from my clothes.

    ¡°Try me!¡± Well, here it goes! I am Agnis, Hourai, the son of Edea Hourai, which makes me part phoenix part nine tailed spirit fox. I am here to destroy a pink root that is part of a 7-point barrier to lift a prison that is imprisoning a 2800-year-old witch that ended up imprisoned because she sealed away a god and got sealed away by another god. I¡¯m here with my spirit friend Cee Horze, to locate the root.

    ¡°Ha! If you are going to lie, you should have made up a more believable lie!¡± See Cee Horze, I knew he was an idiot, claiming that I can''t fool him but if I tell him the truth, he doesn''t believe me!

    ¡°Enough!¡± Horny snake started to spit fire at me. I covered Cee Horze¡¯s water ball in frost. I used [water ball] on the part of the magma that still acted like water and sent it at the Horny snake. I got hit by the fire but it didn''t do anything to me. ¡°What! Impossible!¡± Hey, Horny snake I would advise you to just give up unless you have attacks that aren''t fire based.

    ¡°Ha! Fool telling me your weakness!¡± Horny snake got its tail out of the magma and went for a tail slam. Good thing that I¡¯m quite agile. I dodged the tail slam. Hey, Cee Horze can you use your skill on this whole magma pool?

    You won''t be able to use the skill after doing that for a long time? That is fine, can you turn it into water when I give a sign? Perfect! Cee Horze used its skill on the whole magma pool. It looked like it tired him out.

    Right time to give this a spin. [Tsunami]. The magma pool multiplied its volume 8-fold and turned into an enormous tsunami. Go for it Cee Horze! The magma tsunami and the magma pool turned into water after Cee Horze spat bubbles at the tsunami.

    ¡°Hey! Wait! Ok, I apologize! Wait I can¡¯t deal with water!¡± The tsunami crashed into Horny snake. The whole magma pool turned into an enormous underwater lake. The rock paths and everything got drowned. Woops, guess I will have to freeze a path when we go through here. I couldn''t see Horny snake anywhere. I released Cee Horze from the [Waterball] and we jumped into the new lake. We dove and saw a rock version of Horny snake on the bottom of the lake. This lake was incredibly deep. Rock Horny snake was lying on a part that wasn''t so deep but I couldn''t see the bottom. Azu gave me one overpowered skill, but Cee Horze is overpowered too.

    I surfaced and walked over the water. I used up quite an amount of mana. Using this in my main body would pose no issue but this took one-fifth of my available mana. Luckily my next 3 skills are completely free, I would have turned back if that wasn''t the case. Cee Horze looked quite comfortable now that there was water everywhere. We walked and walked but I noticed that the speed at which this lake flowed started to pick up.

    Where have I seen something like this before? I froze a path on the surface because the water would become too fast to properly walk on it if it would continue to speed up. A bit further and I saw an enormous steam column in the distance. I don''t like this. My suspicion was right this was a waterfall. Originally a magma fall. But because magma is heavy and flows slowly this would probably be no big deal. This water was falling into a big pool of magma deep below and evaporating creating this steam column. It was hot and humid here. I am fine, anyone else, oof. What I was looking at below was like our water ride in the first timeline but this is the magma version.

    My buddies will have a blast with this¡­ I think this is where my investigation stops. I don''t have my eyes to find out how to navigate around here and I won''t be able to get back up here because any form of teleport is risky since I''m not used to doing these without my eyes. Are you alright Cee Horze? Cee Horze seemed to be drained of spirit energy. Turning all this magma into water was impressive though, I''m not surprised that it drained him. Sadly, this skill is useless if you''re always surrounded by water. He might be a valuable asset to a spirit mage though.

    Hey Cee Horze, if you ever encounter a spirit mage, drop everything and escape, your skill might be useless if you live in the water but anywhere else this is super overpowered, can you promise you will do this?

    Good. I don''t know how spirit mages form contracts but there will always be good and bad people and it doesn''t matter what group you''re talking about. I''m sure some evil ones would enslave spirits to do their bidding. I stopped for a moment, am I at risk too? It really started to sink in why my mother created Hourai. So many things here to screw us over. We might be strong mythical beasts but we¡¯re not invincible. Cee Horze seemed to sense what I was thinking about and comforted me.

    Thank you, Cee Horze, but I¡¯m not sure if even I will be safe out there. We reached the tunnel we came out of. At least we were supposed to. We were met by a rock wall.

    So, how big is the chance we completely flooded our tunnel?

    Extremely big? Yeah, I agree. We dove down and saw 2 openings. Well, this sucks, which one did we come out of? I will go with my gut feeling and pick the other opening. I have been so unlucky lately so I¡¯m sure this will work. My gut feeling says right so left it is! I sped up using water magic and entered the left tunnel. We kept going for a while and I really needed to breathe but the tunnel kept going. I must be wrong but the tunnel seemed to descend and not ascend. I started to slowly run out of breath and the pressure kept increasing. This isn''t good. I relieved the pressure but I still needed to breathe.

    Do I remember the magic circle for [Air ball]? I saw Raishin using it when we dove into Boshi lake but I only remember how it looked overall not the specifics. Cee Horze told me that he would turn the rock above us into water-like so I could [Water jet] Upward until I hit a tunnel or surface. It was mean of him because I couldn''t argue back. He said it would completely drain him and make him disappear and probably send him back to the spirit world. I know this means he will be fine but this can''t be comfortable for a spirit to do. I wanted to tell it that I¡¯m just a clone and that he shouldn''t bother but my life as a clone would be over if I tried to speak underwater.

    Cee Horze used his skill and made the ground above me act like water. I gave him a nod before he disappeared and used [Water jet] to propel myself upward. I threw caution in the wind and went at max speed. As I started to feel like I ran out of breath I shot out the ground and appeared inside the underground city. I gasped and clutched my chest. The humans looked at me with a mean look and cleared away. I walked to a wall and sat down.

    I wonder how long it would take for Cee Horze to return to the power spot. I know spirits return to their power spots after they manage to leave the spirit world and reform there but he omitted how long it would take. I guess the stronger the spirit the less time is needed. I just hope it won''t take too long; I would like to thank him before the timeline reset. A mild nausea and its usual headache welled up. Are my 9t fox powers back? I tried to take a tail out and it appeared. Oh, how I''ve missed you! I cuddled my tail and then I noticed that someone was looking at me.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, uhm I know the people haven''t been kind to you and I didn''t get a chance to thank you but thank you for saving the town!¡± Oh, don''t worry about it Kanna, but I didn''t do it for them I did it for you guys, to be fair I have had it with these people.

    ¡°Hey, are you alright? You remembered my name!¡± How rude! Given enough time I will remember names, kind of.

    ¡°It took you over 18 months though!¡± Hey, let''s be real here. The first time we met was when I blew up your house!

    ¡°We met multiple times before that!" Ha, you can''t fool me!

    "Your memory is just bad!" I don''t remember having a bad memory!

    ¡°Ugh, why did I even try...¡± Kanna sat down next to me. ¡°Hey, what are you guys going to do after you escape this town?¡± Probably go back home.

    ¡°Didn''t you guys say you lost it or something?¡± How much did Greg tell you... Anyways that is true, we just have to find it. Just¡­ I bet it isn''t that simple but we will manage somehow. We just have to make sure we survive all this. And after we survive this, we have to make sure we don''t grab the attention of some petty goddess.

    ¡°Huh, what? You''re pulling my leg, right? You guys are super strong and gods and stuff it is hard to imagine that they exist but they surely won''t come after some kids, right?¡± You see if you say it like that it makes perfect sense but sadly, I have reason to believe that it won''t go like that¡­ but you don¡¯t have to worry about that after we break this stupid prison you guys are free too. This is good because there is a 99% chance that there will be nothing left of Boshi town after we break this prison¡­

    ¡°How many times do we... you guys have to do all this and defeat roots?¡± After we destroy the one in this loop we''re at the last one. If you guys remember everything after this one resets, get ready to leave this town, and don¡¯t take any risks. People have died this time loop this will only get worse next time loop. Make sure you tell this to your mom and Cecilia.

    ¡°Ok, thank you.¡± Kanna got up and offered me her hand. Oh, thank you but I think I will stay here for a bit longer.

    ¡°Ok, and hey, be careful, bye!¡± Kanna ran off. Now that I had access to my Elgards eyes I could see that it was 22:14. I don''t know what the other clones are doing but I think I should retire for today. I will check if Cee Horze is back tomorrow.

 Ch 64: Wild Magma ride

    Day 3: I woke up refreshed, with no energy wave, no shade pounding on the ground, no headache, and no nausea! The day starts perfectly but I can''t shake the feeling that this is the best my day will get. A clone notified me that my 9t fox powers are back. Hmm, one clone, in particular, has been quite busy. The Horze family was still sleeping.

    I took all my tails out and started to brush them. I noticed that I only have 8 tails. I thought I unlocked the 9th yesterday but it seems it was only temporarily. I looked at myself. So still no cool-looking blue ears, that''s fine it will come eventually. I should check the dimensional fabric but I think I did a decent job fixing it and honestly, I don''t feel like it. I will try to keep my day as nausea and headache free as possible. I quietly left the room. There seemed to be some ruckus. It was coming from upstairs. Why can''t I chill in another room? Ted snores! Because other spirits are occupying those rooms!

    But they are empty! Not because you can''t see them means that they are empty! Guys, the whole palace can hear you.

    Ooh, can I sleep in your room? Just listen to Greg¡­

    Meh. I''ve had enough sleep I''m going to stretch my legs. Ok, I''m going to sleep some more.

    How can you sleep with that¡­ that noise! I could hear Ted snoring from here.

    Just put your tails in your ears. Gregory put his tails in his ears and went back to their room.

    Ooh, smart! Raishin did the same and went back to their room. It was 04:46 so I don''t blame them for going back to sleep. I stepped outside the palace and it was quiet. Everyone was still sleeping. I went to the underground lake to see if Cee Horze was reformed. As I arrived, I saw a lake way larger than I remember. Right, My clone flooded the tunnel. It seems the water reached all the way here. I think I should omit that this is my fault when we probably have to pass through here later today. Gregory is going to kill me if he knows this was my doing. I talked to some water spirits but it seems Cee Horze hasn''t reformed yet. Too bad. I thanked the spirits for helping and played with them. I made sure to only use racial skills because my next 2 magic skills were free because my clone used [Tsunami]. It used one free cast for [Water jet] Which was kind of a waste but understandable. I wonder what I will use my free casts on.

    Technically I can refresh this with another [Tsunami] but¡­ I looked at this lake that was quite large now. Yeah, that is going to cause problems. It is a good thing the water my clone used from [Tsunami] disappeared after use but it seems Cee Horze¡¯s skill is permanent. 8 times the volume of the water there would probably also flood the underground city here. That would have sucked. After relaxing and playing with the spirits for about 3 hours. I decided to check what the schedule is for today, hmm not much. I walked through the city which was a bit busier now. People were arguing and being noisy.

    ¡°There you are!¡±

    ¡°Hey! Let me go!¡± I saw a group of humans approaching, they were dragging Philip and Hera. I guess this is where my headaches will start again. Coming to do something stupid again? Let them go.

    ¡°We will if you send us back to our town, we investigated this place yesterday but we couldn''t find a way out!¡±

    ¡°Yeah! This is a prison!¡± Hmm, that is odd I remember walking to this place.

    ¡°You are not only a kidnapper but also a liar!¡± Yeah, yeah, whatever. I looked at the surface and the Fusionado was still going. It looked like it got weaker but there was no trace of Boshi town left. You will just die if I send you back, do you still want to return?

    ¡°We can find out for ourselves if we will die or not!¡±

    ¡±Yeah!¡± a good 300 people seemed to agree. Fine, let them go and I will draw a magic circle to send you back up. Gather everyone who wants to ignore my warning and die up there. I gestured for them to move aside as I started drawing a big magic circle on an empty space. Some people went and fetched more humans to get teleported back. A good 1700 people gathered around.

    ¡°Ooh! I see that you persuaded the criminal!¡± I really wonder what is going through their heads, they don¡¯t trust me in anything except for returning them to the surface, some people will just selectively believe in what they want regardless of any other facts that point out the flaws in these beliefs. I saw Paul and Paula. They seemed to be in a hurry.

    ¡°Agnis! What are you doing? You can''t send them back up there! They will die!¡± Well, that is what I told them but they don¡¯t want to listen, they threatened to hurt Hera and Philip so I don''t have any choice.

    ¡°But you will be sending them to their deaths!¡± I know but if they choose for that who am I to deny their choice? I just want them to stop harassing Hera and Philip. Paul and Paula tried to address the 1700 people and convince them while I continued working on the magic circle. I saw Donkey and his group of bullies between them. Hera approached me.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, will they really die if they go back up there?¡± You have seen how bad it was before right? It is many times worse there right now.

    ¡°Is there no way to save them?¡± If they are going to actively harm people here to get what they want then I¡¯m afraid not, if they hurt each other then I don''t care but if they mess with you or my friends then we have a problem. The nicest thing I can do is to just give them what they want.

    ¡°I see¡­¡± I could see some light bruises on Hera suggesting that she got treated quite roughly. Right, anyone who wants to meet the Fusionado, come step on this magic circle, it¡¯s almost done. I led Hera and Philip far from the circle. I brought them to where Paul and Paula were still trying to convince people to not step into the circle. It seems they only managed to convince 2 small families.

    Right because Hera asked so nicely, I will do one last attempt. What you will experience when you arrive is probably instant blindness followed by getting vaporized several nanoseconds later. Anyone able to survive past 1 second could be counted as unlucky because at least instant vaporization is painless. You will die before you will even be able to see the state Boshi town is in. Anyone who thinks I¡¯m talking nonsense is free to stay in the circle.

    ¡°We won''t fall for your tricks!¡±

    ¡°Just send us home already!¡± Right, at least I tried. I finished the magic circle and the group of 1700 ish humans got teleported to the surface. I looked at Paul and Paula and they seemed quite sad. I¡¯m sorry but at this rate, they would become a danger to the other people here.

    ¡°We understand... But that didn''t make it an easy choice¡­¡± For some reason, the ambiance in the city improved. It seems most of the troublemakers were gone now. The people still looked at me a bit odd but I guess the meanest looks I noticed were from those that got sent away. I guess most of them realized that it was a bad idea to continue living in a place swarmed by shades. I went back into the palace and located Isi.

    ¡°Oh Agnis, I was just about to send for you. Are you and your friends ready for the journey to the root? It is a long one. I hope you are well prepared.¡± I will get my buddies; shall we meet up at the underground lake?

    ¡°That is fine. I will meet you there in 30 minutes.¡± Isi made a short chat with a golem-like spirit and disappeared into one of the corridors. Ok, so where was the room my buddies were staying in? Shit, I didn¡¯t have my tails when they got their room so I forgot. It was one floor down from where I was staying. But I also forgot where that was. Hmm, this sucks. I asked a golem-like spirit and he directed me to the east wing on the third floor. I heard another ruckus. I guess I found them. I saw Raishin running away from Ted with a pillow in his hand. I used my tails as tripwires. Oof! Ha! Thanks for helping catch Raishin! We have 30 minutes to get ready for the trip to the root. Isi will be waiting for us at the lake.

    Ok, I will tell Greg! Ted grabbed Raishin by his ankles and dragged him back to their room.

    Help! That''s what you get for stealing pillows! I walked toward the lake still thinking about what skills I would use for free. I guess it depends on the situation. I should practice more with this strong passive skill I got from Azu. I''m still neatly adhering to the rules that magic circles force upon everyone. I am lacking shaped magic. My ice arrows aren''t real arrows just some frozen [water balls] that are stretched out. My ice bow is the only thing I used the skill for.

    I looked at my hand. Am I that afraid of the skills Azu gave me? I used [Tsunami] when there was no risk in using it. Theoretically, I could shape the tsunami after it forms and control it better. Hmm, I guess you can''t make an omelet without breaking some eggs. I will see what I can do. I arrived at the lake and looked at how the water spirits were playing. They surely are carefree. I envy them a little bit.

    ¡°So carefree these little ones.¡± I saw Isi appear with one bulky golem-like spirit. Yeah, I was just thinking I envy them a little bit.

    ¡°I envy them too, yesterday I had my hands full with some humans that demanded to get rooms in the palace.¡± Ugh, of course, they did, I''m sorry for that. I¡¯m slowly getting the feeling that bringing them down here might have been a bad idea. I know they can¡¯t see spirits but I made it clear that they are guests here¡­

    ¡°Pay it no mind, I have heard complaints and reports from other spirits that these humans did not treat you well either even though you saved them. I had several from the water spirits and also some today from spirits that happened to see your interaction with that large group.¡± Even though you were ok with me teleporting them here, I still apologize.

    ¡°Oh, you do not need to apologize, some spirits were worried that you would side with the humans but they seem to be happy that you have a more neutral stance.¡± Hmm, I''m not so sure about neutral, I''m familiar with humans but the spirits have shown me nothing but respect and decency. Even those spirit sisters that almost killed us seemed to be quite decent.

    ¡°Just like there are bad humans there are also bad spirits, I hope you will not forget this.¡± You have a point. I saw my buddies approach. Ugh, I don''t remember this lake being this big! Me neither.

    ¡°Hmm, I can not remember this lake being this large either, maybe some water spirits wanted to expand their territory a bit. I have no problems with water. Do any of you?¡± This guy here has! We don''t have to dive down there, right?

    ¡°Unfortunately, the tunnel we need to go through has been flooded so we will have to go for a swim.¡± Noo! We are underground! Why is there water down here? I thought we would deal with magma and dirt! So how far do we have to travel underwater?

    ¡°I do not know but we do have someone who does now.¡± Isi looks at me. Whud? Yeah, go look for how long this goes on! Oh right! Phew for a moment there I thought Isi knew that I was responsible for flooding this tunnel. Hmm, ooh that is quite the distance. That is a good 900 meters to a kilometer. Bah. There seems to be a huge lake at the end. Nooo!

    ¡°Hmm that is strange, I know I haven''t been down here for over 700 years but the last time I was down there, there was a big magma pool there¡­ What could have happened¡­¡± Maybe some god was messing around again! Oh right, that reminds me! I told Isi and my buddies what the Horze family told me. Ugh, so it is worse than we thought¡­ So, you 2 traveling together could be seen as a war declaration on Biian?

    That is my assumption yes¡­

    ¡°I did not know this fact but if this is true it is well in her personality to see you 2 traveling together as a war declaration yes.¡± The day started so well and now my headaches are back¡­ You always have headaches! Hey Greg where are you going come back here! Ted grabbed Gregory who tried to escape.

    We are going down there! Nooo! Ted handed Gregory over to Raishin who dragged Gregory into the water. Time for some tailed swim action!

    ¡°Oh, that is not necessary. We will need to swim in that tunnel but getting to it will be quite easy. Water spirits if you could?¡± The water spirits gathered and parted the lake so that we could walk to the tunnel. As we walked to the tunnel Raishin gathered air and made a big [Air ball]. I paid close attention to the magic circle he used and archived it. I know enough about magic circles to discover that this magic circle is quite sloppy. It wastes too much mana in its creation, but I guess that is not a problem for Raishin. Hehe, like this we can walk all the way to the end with an air bubble this big! You can thank me, Greg! Never thought I would say this but you''re a lifesaver Raishin!

    Hehe, praise me more! Just start walking! We walked through the tunnel in the big air bubble.

    Make sure you allow some water to pass over the bubble so that we don''t get into trouble with pressure differences! I don''t know what that means but sure! We descended and eventually entered the big magma chamber which was a big lake now. We were still underwater but the surface of the lake seemed lower than when I left. Hey is that a rock snake?

    ¡°That is the magma snake that used to live here, A lot has changed here since I visited here the last time." What would even be able to turn a magma pool into a big lake? I stuck my tails out of the air bubble and used them as a propellor and brought us to the surface.

    One frost boat incoming! I made a super sturdy frost boat that was big enough to carry us all but also would have high mobility. I also made sure there were seatbelts made out of frost.

    Hey Agnis¡­ what are these for? You will figure out soon enough. Oh, this reminds me of the last time we were on a frost boat! Let me be the engine again!

    I will be the engine this time. Huh, do you have enough energy to do this? Can''t we just do the same we did last time? You use those numbers thing we came up with and I match the output?

    Oh, that was a thing! Oh, that is a good idea! I made a small ball of frost and threw it at Raishin.

    Huh? Same thing, I say a number and you feed the matching energy into that frost ball! Agnis? What did you see? I have a feeling I know¡­

    What? Ted explained our adventure in the underground river. Gregory seems horrified.

    What?! That¡¯s insane! I¡¯m glad you knocked me out but can''t you do that this time? Ugh, is it just me or is it starting to become quite suffocating here? We are still going to right way right Isi? The spirit she brought with her was fanning her but it didn''t seem to help much.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Yes, we need to go past the magma fall and take the third entrance from the left." Wait magma fall? Everyone looks at me.

    Yup, it is so suffocating here because this ends in a waterfall but it falls into a magma pool, that steam column you see there is the result of it, it is driving up the humidity here. I made [Frost cloaks] on everyone.

    ¡°Ooh, this is comfortable.¡± So, the reason why you are our propellor is because Raishin will burn his tails off when we hit the magma? Yup! I will have to turn this boat into a cart though after we fall. Why is that? Magma is just molten rock, boats don''t float on it, just like you can''t use a boat on land you can''t use one on magma I assume.

    Wait won''t we sink without a boat? Gregory explained to Raishin why we wouldn¡¯t sink as I prepared for the waterfall.

    Waterfall in 100. 100 what? Meters? Seconds? Minutes? I can''t see anything with all this steam! Meters, strap in guys because this will be a wild ride! Raishin when I give the sign, I need you to put a 33 on that frost ball! Uhh, ok! I can''t see anything! I can link my vision with you guys but you might get headaches from what I¡¯m running now. No, I¡¯m fine! Pass! Link me up, please! I linked Gregory¡¯s vision to mine and I could see him grab his head.

    Ugh, this route you have mapped is madness! Nah it will be fine! We dropped down and I realized that I wasted a free skill on [frost cloak] which takes like 5 mana or something.

    Hey hey! what are you doing? You can''t do that! What? I can''t see anything what is he doing?!

    He just scrapped his whole route to use his [Tsunami]! He had a skill like that? Sorry guys I only have 1 free cast left so might as well make it big! I used [Tsunami] and made our boat ride on top of the enormous wave.

    Hey, Agnis what is this 8x volume multiplier on your water spells? I thought it was only 4x. You can thank Azu. The tsunami drowned most of the magma below turning it into rock. I formed the boat into a kart. It brought us safely all the way to the other side and we took the 3rd exit from the left. We sped through the tunnel and slowly all the water ended up evaporating. I dipped my tails into the magma and started spinning them. This costs a lot of energy but it will give me greater control over our vehicle. We entered another magma chamber that had pillars of magma erupt occasionally.

    ¡°We need to get up there!¡± Isi pointed at an exit that was quite high up.

    How do we even get there? Hehe, I don''t like the sound of that.

    Raishin gimme a 43! Roger! Agnis, I hope this route you mapped is a joke. It is a joke, right?

    Our ride-up will arrive in 74 seconds please strap in and keep your limbs and tails inside the vehicle at all times! Agnis!!! I weaved between some rocks and magma pillars to make sure we would arrive on time to catch our magma pillar up.

    Right, I suck at earth magic so I will need one of you 2 to make sure we don''t fall off this magma pillar! Can''t you just use your fire or whatever? How many times do I have to tell you that magma isn¡¯t fire it¡¯s just molten rock! I will take care of that because else you might be the only one that survives this. This is crazy¡­

    We arrived at our destination and magma erupted. I steered us to the magma pillar and circled around it slowly climbing the magma pillar. Be careful! I can''t save you if you get flung off! This is insane!

    Can you launch us, Greg? I don''t have a choice, do I?! Gregory launched us by causing some magma to push us off the pillar toward our exit.

    Greg! You missed! Hey, give me a break! I¡¯m not used to dealing with magma! Hmm, this is a problem. Actually, it isn''t. I froze wings of frost to our cart and steered us mid-air. We crashed on the floor and slid into our exit.

    Wow, nice one! There is some solid rock here we could rest a bit¡­ No thanks lets continue! I see what you¡¯re doing you''re planning some stupid route again! Guys a bit further up is the last magma chamber the problem is uhh it has waves.

    I thought you said it was molten rock and not like water! Well, that is true! But it seems this magma chamber doesn''t care¡­ Yeah, if it was water, we could crash through some waves but if we do that here we will literally crash and you will all turn into tailed barbeque.

    Ooh, I¡¯m getting hungry now! Do you have some food? I took a chicken leg out of my dimensional pocket but it instantly turned into ash.

    Uhh, how about some ash? Meh, this place sucks. Agnis what is this idea?

    Ugh, I should kick you out of this visual link. Okay, so I have an idea. I will modify my [Steam cannon v2.0] into [Steam cannon v2.1] and make it shoot us through the air, then I will remake the kart with some wings. Hopefully, all the hot air will create enough lift to keep us in the air for long enough. I will need Raishin to be the engine of this though to bring us as far as possible and he will swap with me after we crash¡­ ehhm land. Hey! Is there any idea that isn''t crazy? How about we teleport?

    We can try that but¡­ There are a lot of pockets with ambient mana that differ in concentration¡­ Yeah, that¡­ I can try to teleport us somewhere in the air and freeze a kart below us, I like the kart with wing idea more though¡­ I vote teleport! Kart with wings!

    Teleport! Hmm, 2 against 2, Isi?

    ¡°While your idea sounds interesting Agnis, I would like to go for the teleport.¡± Hey golem spirit you want the kart with wings idea, right? Meh, he wants whatever Isi chose. Maybe another time. Hey, Greg help me correct for the different pockets here this is quite tricky. I think that pocket there might interfere since it might move, also avoid that one there.

    Hmm, can¡¯t we just brute force it? How much energy do you have stored? Hmm is this enough?

    Barely, let''s see what happens. I grab everyone with my tails and teleport. It threw me a bit off but only by 12 meters.

    Hmm, I didn''t use any mana for that. Hmm, what is this? 2 out of 3 free magic spells left? Oh, right haha! So, you messed up?

    It''s only 12 meters! We even got further than I planned! I froze another kart and we headed toward our destination. It looked like some small temple on a big rock island There was some odd bridge behind it. The bridge was stupidly long. We arrived at the weird temple.

    Oof I¡¯m pooped. Isi walked toward the temple and cast some spirit magic on its gate. The gate opened and 2 large higher fire spirits came out.

    ¡°These people here are my guests, is Ira here?¡± The spirits told her that they haven''t seen this Ira person for over 500 years. We walked inside. The spirits gave us a mean look but after their eyes fell on me, they corrected their behavior and gave me a polite nod.

    What is this place? ¡°My old friend Ira lives here. Well, I say old friend but the last time I talked to her we had an argument¡­ She had the classic case of trying to take over part of the corporeal world, she is a spirit too, one without a vessel¡­¡± So, we are waiting for her?

    ¡°She oversees this area so I would suggest we do such, you see Ira, she... She has a bad temper. I would recommend doing our best to not anger her.¡± Do you hear that Agnis and Raishin? Hey! Hey! So, in the inevitable case that one of these 2 anger her what do we do?

    ¡°We run¡± We run?

    ¡°We run yes.¡± Hmm, that sounds like an issue, make sure you don''t piss her off Raishin! Hey! Isi told us that as long as we stayed in this area of the temple, we could make ourselves at home. We were not to wander to the other parts of the temple or go to the back of the temple. She told us that she will go and look for Ira and that this might take a while and suggested that we should prepare for spending the night here. There seems to be only one long bridge behind this temple, it shouldn''t be hard to find her, right?

    ¡°I am not concerned about finding her, I¡¯m concerned about how she will react when I find her.¡± Oh¡­ that sounds complicated! Good luck!

    ¡°Thank you¡± Isi left and we were alone with the 2 big fire spirit guards. So, what do we do now? Why don¡¯t you practice some magma magic, Greg and Ted? Hmm, It doesn''t respond well to earth magic, I think I need specific magic circles for it. Oh, maybe this place has a library! Or documents!

    In this heat? Good luck with that one. Don''t forget to stay in this part of the temple! I will keep an eye out on Raishin. I decided to talk to the fire spirits or well it seems they are magma spirits. They could speak a bit Hourai eh I mean Old Kaledonian but they weren''t great at it. So, we talked in the spirit language. They told me that their road to becoming higher spirits was quite tough but well worth it. Apparently, they started out as lesser fire spirits. It seems to be a combination of luck, mastering their spirit power, and finding good power spots or other spirits to help them grow.

    It doesn''t seem to be time-related because some grow way faster than others. It is not like us corporeal bearings who grow naturally stronger over time. I asked them why every spirit is treating me with such respect even though I haven''t done anything to them nor is it likely I probably would. And they told me that the prolonged presence of a spirit fox stimulates their growth. It seemed related to why we are ¡®The Bridge¡¯ I guess. I asked if it was possible for me to become a spirit mage. The spirits misunderstood and politely declined to state that they had a duty to protect this place.

    Wait so it is possible? They seemed to know that it is possible but not why there only have been 5 spirit fox spirit mages in history.

    It is probably super hard then, we have so much stuff to deal with adding learning spirit magic on top of that sounds like a huge headache. The spirits agreed with me. I asked them to tell me about the person who is supposed to live here Ira. They didn''t want to tell me a lot about her besides that she has a bad temper and that she set out to find something. She sensed that something changed or was amiss and set out 500-ish years ago and never returned.

    I hope she isn''t dead¡­ I get the stereotypical ¡¯Of course she isn''t dead!¡¯

    ¡®She wouldn''t lose to anyone!¡¯ Then again spirits just disappear and reform at their power spot and the worst-case scenario gets sent back to the spirit world. It seems this temple is the core of her power spot so she would probably have reformed here if she got ¡®killed¡¯. Maybe she is trapped? Or something is keeping her busy. What would keep a literal hothead busy for over 500 years? I thought about it and I didn''t like the first idea I came up with.

    I¡¯m sure a hot-tempered and prideful magma spirit would never give up if she encountered an obnoxious puzzle¡­ I asked the spirits if there was a chance that Ira encountered an obnoxious puzzle. They didn''t know. I tried to look beyond the bridge but something like the Boshi barrier was blocking my view past a certain point. I made sure to check that this wasn''t like those separate spaces but it wasn''t. Just the stupid barrier. I look outside and Gregory seems to have found something written on fire-resistant leather and is practicing some magma magic.

    What did you find? A method describing how to use 2 specific magma skills one is [Magma wave] and it matches my earth affinity well but this one here [Magma snake] also seems to need a strong fire affinity, maybe you should give it a go. Won''t my terrible earth affinity make it useless? I don''t know, that is why I''m practicing. The [Magma wave] is quite tricky but given enough time. How about you give the [Magma snake] a try? Gregory hands me the leather which describes the magic and contains the magic circles for them.

    Learning magic skills like this isn''t always effective, especially not when they''re complex, this one isn¡¯t that complex so it should be fine. Most elements have skills that are similar, the only difference between the magic circle of [Fire ball] and [Water ball] is the magical element they invoke. There could be some minor differences but in theory if a person knows a certain skill, he/she could learn the equivalent in another element relatively easy. I know [Water Snake] so this should be a piece of cake. I studied both skills and archived them. As Gregory said, a strong fire affinity was needed to use [Magma Snake] I would probably be unable to use [Magma wave] but I could get away with a shitty [Magma snake].

    It surely was costly in mana but it seemed the more mana you put in it the more it would act and behave like a living creature. I wonder if Horny Snake was some super strong individual pouring an ocean''s worth of mana into it¡­ I can¡¯t blame everything on Azu. I think Magma snakes are also real living creatures in this world. I would know if there was a library in this town! I calmed down because it seems Gregory picked up on my sudden frustration.

    I have 2 more free casts. This is a problem I just want to practice I don''t want a sentient shitty-looking magma snake¡­ Can I regulate the strength of it if my cast is free? I don''t know¡­ Maybe the skill Azu gave me will help! Yes! She must have given me this for situations like this! I tried to set how I wanted the snake to behave and used my free cast to make a [Magma Snake]. I was expecting some huge badass monster like my clone met yesterday but what I got was a 1-meter-long cute magma noodle. Well, that is rude it was a proper snake it was just so small and it looked harmless. I picked it up.

    Hey, I don''t remember this document mentioning something about making a snake pet. I... Me neither, honestly, I¡¯m surprised, I expected you to make some enormous monstrosity or flat-out fail.

    Hey! I¡¯m quite confident in my mana control! And I did my best to make something that''s not huge! The magma snake was coiling around my arm and looking around curiously.

    This is just a magic skill, right? I didn''t just make a lifeform, right? Gregory inspected it. He couldn''t properly feel the energy it was giving off because my [Frost cloak] was still protecting him from the heat and it would also absorb other kinds of energy.

    Hmm, I¡¯m sure it''s not a life form but it also doesn''t seem like simple magic. What did you do? I just used the magic circle as this document told me to but because I have a free cast and its effectiveness depends on how much mana you pour in it, I just tried to make it a [Magma snake] that was useful and well-behaved.

    Well, there you have it, it is useful because it isn''t as large as I expected it to be and it seems better behaved than Raishin. How did your poor earth affinity play into this? Hmm, I think it is responsible for its small size because I imagined it to be¡­ bigger. Hmm well, some runes in this circle suggest that earth plays into its size and sturdiness while fire into its attack power and ability to... Regenerate? Am I reading this right?

    I don''t know to me it reads more as able to piece itself together, it sounds similar but I''m not sure how accurate this is¡­ I played a bit with the [Magma Snake]. I need to give it a good name. I decided to name him Ignis. Agnis and Ignis! Perfect! I put Ignis on the ground and let him explore a bit.

    Is it a good idea to let it roam around like that? Ignis will be fine, he is a good snake. Oh, you named it¡­

    Yeah, Agnis and Ignis! Cool, eh? At least you didn''t call it something silly like Fire Snake or something. I observed how Gregory practiced and improved his [Magma wave]. After he decided that he practiced enough we went inside. I asked one of the spirits where Ted and Raishin are and they directed us to the kitchen.

    I thought spirits don''t need to eat. They don''t need to but it seems that some spirits enjoy eating. And it works out for us! It wasn''t as hot inside this temple as it was outside so my [Frost cloak] wasn''t needed in here. It also didn''t seem to be just room temperature because Gregory was sweating a little bit. We got to the kitchen and found Raishin raiding the kitchen and Ted trying to stop him. Well, can¡¯t say I''m surprised, found anything good to eat? Nope! There is only bread!

    What''s with spirits and their obsession with bread? No clue¡­ Raishin don''t touch that!

    Hmm, this bread is pretty good.

    Agnis, not you too! Hey, what is this snake doing here? Oh, Ignis, you want some bread too? Ignis slithered up my body and coiled around my neck and took a bite from the bread I offered.

    You tamed a baby magma snake?! What if his mother comes to get him back? Relax Ted, Agnis made it with a magic skill we found.

    Oh, because that makes it any less crazy! Yeah, I know right Ignis? He is just jealous!

    Ugh, why do I bother¡­ Hey, can I pet it? If you want to burn your hand sure!

    But he¡¯s so cute! Alright! I''m done with your weirdos! I''m going to take a nap! How late is it Agnis? It''s dinner time, I guess I''ll help myself to more of this bread. We helped ourselves to some food and decided to relax. All of us relaxed while Gregory continued to practice with some magma magic. I played with Ignis and sent him after Raishin.

    Hey, that''s hot! Owowoow! Get him Ignis! Use [flamethrower]!

    Hothot! We continued doing not much while waiting for Isi, our day ended without her returning or any sign.

 Ch 65: Ignis

    Day 3: I woke up and Ignis was still coiled up. He didn''t disappear throughout the night. I think I woke him up because he popped his head out of his coil. It seems he is basically a pet now. I picked him up and used him as a scarf and wandered through the temple. I talked to the magma spirit guards and I asked them if we could look for Isi.

    They said they would allow us if we wait till noon. It was only 7:23, noon was quite far away. I have to say so far this timeline isn''t as bad as the others. I¡¯m sure I will eat these words later on but since we moved underground most of our problems disappeared. I fed Ignis some more bread. Is it just me or does it look like he is bigger than yesterday? I met Gregory after I left the kitchen. What are you up to? I found another magma skill; I''m wondering if I should learn it though¡­ What skill?

    [Lava Bomb] ... Learn it!

    I knew you would say that¡­ Well, most of your earth and rock moves down here will turn into lava so might as well learn it else you will have to struggle using earth magic on magma.

    I know¡­ Gregory looked at the piece of fire-resistant leather and audibly sighed.

    I guess I should get familiar with this¡­ Yesyes! Go get some volcanic firepower!

    If you don''t mind? Hmm? Frostcloak? Ah right. I used my last free cast to make a [Frost cloak] for Gregory. I realize that spamming [Tsunami] to keep the free casts up is not a good thing for me. I had a lot of mana stored up in my tails from using all these frost cloaks.

    I wouldn''t be able to get rid of it if I kept using free casts. Imagine being so overpowered that free magic skills are relatively useless. At least this gives me more control over my mana economy. I don''t necessarily need frost attacks now to use mana expensive skills. I just need to flood the whole place¡­ maybe I should stick to the frost magic route a bit longer¡­ I could hear Ted snoring from here. I wondered what I should do, there was not much to explore in this temple. Maybe I could join Gregory and see what Ignis can do.

    I stepped outside and saw Gregory [Lava Bombing] the magma pool. An explosive performance! I need to have a talk with Ted his stupid puns are rubbing off on you guys¡­

    Ignis show us what you can do! Ignis looked around and then looked at me.

    Hmm, you have a point there is nothing to fight here. Hey, Greg shouldn''t there be like ehhm, more monsters here? How should I know? I¡¯m just glad that we can have a normal timeline for once!

    Hmm, you also have a point, sorry Ignis, I don''t think there is anything you could fight. How about you show off your accuracy by shooting Greg¡¯s [Lava bombs] down! Ignis started spitting lava bombs at Gregory lava bombs.

    Oh, you can use that skill too? Maybe you can teach Gregory something! Ignis shot lava bombs that exploded mid-air and rained down lava and rocks.

    Ohh look Greg you can do that too! Gregory tried several times and managed to make them explode but it looked messy.

    Hehe, you got outdone by a magma snake. It would be a sad magma snake if It couldn''t¡­

    Fair point. Now that I don''t have any free skills, I can try a proper [Magma snake] attack! I used [Magma Snake] and made a 4-meter-tall magma snake.

    Hmm, still smaller than I expect one to be but this looks promising. I made the magma snake blast a wall. It could also use [Magma wave].

    That snake of yours is quite powerful, probably because your fire affinity is through the roof. It seems like it¡¯s a glass cannon though, just like you. Gregory used [Lava Bomb] on my magma snake and blew it to pieces.

    Hey! Magma gathered and it reformed. Oh¡­ Hahaha! Yes, Magma snake! Rise like a Phoenix! Why are all your skills like you¡¯re cheating? Gregory shot more lava bombs at it but I made it evade.

    It¡¯s fast as well¡­ I wonder, can I use this when there isn''t magma around? No clue, but you could always just melt some rocks and use it¡­ Oh! That is smart! I will archive that! We kept practicing. I made Ignis and my magma snake shoot Gregory¡¯s [Lava bombs] down.

    -Hey, Agnis, can you make some frostcloaks for Raishin and me? - I looked inside, located Ted and Raishin and made them some frost cloaks.

    I hear explosions! I want to join in too! We were just wrapping up. Hey is it me or is Ignis a bit bigger now? That is another magma snake that I made.

    No, I mean the one that''s coiling around your neck! Oh, you think so? I can¡¯t tell. He probably doesn''t even remember how big it was when he made it. I also want to make explosions¡­

    Hmm, you could use some target practice. Ignis shoot lava bombs over that magma pool! Go shoot them down Raishin Gogogo! As usual Raishin¡¯s accuracy is shit. Gregory also shot off more lava bombs and at least Ted could hit them with his [Meteor Punch]. His [Meteor Rain] had a good enough accuracy.

    Hey, can you stop making them move so much? They are hard to hit! What do you mean? They fly in a fixed path! This is purely a skill issue. Yeah, Raishin, you suck, git gud.

    Pff, look at this! Raishin shot off a [Flame wave] and hit multiple lava bombs at once.

    See easy! Yes, and now with single-target attacks!

    But that''s too hard! Look even Ignis has better accuracy than you and he¡¯s a snake!

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    I bet he¡¯s a cheater just like Agnis. Hey! I didn''t use a [Flame wave] to hit those lava bombs! How does one cheat on accuracy feats anyways?

    Those eyes! I bet you couldn''t hit them even if I linked my vision with you.

    Challenge accepted! I linked my eyes with him.

    Aagh this headache! Good luck Raishin.

    Ugh, this is easy! There! You missed.

    There! Almost hit it

    How am I supposed to focus with this headache? I mean I could give you the headache-free version which I normally give you guys but that would be cheating right? I thought you knew this Raishin¡­

    Fine! Ok, it¡¯s not cheating! Are you happy? Can you unlink me, please? Hmm, do I want to?

    Hey, what is that? Hmm, just a spirit on the bridge approaching the temple with a huge scythe.

    Your eyes say that this spirit is bad news shouldn''t we do something? We should yeh. So, what are we going to do about it?

    Hmm, well the problem is¡­ I took frostmarbles out but they instantly got charged with fire magic because of the environment.

    Oh Oh! I see it let me explain! So, he just took these frost marbles out but they instantly went shwoop and sucked up the ambient fire mana here and all turned into fire-charged frost marbles! But his eyes say that fire doesn''t work on that spirit! Yup. So how do we deal with that spirit then?

    You don''t¡­ Wait you had still multiple layers of illusions running right? Can''t we damage it as we did to the spirit sisters?

    Well¡­ you see those are centered around Boshi town. I attached them to that as the location because that cost the most mana. At this point, we are quite far from Boshi town and underground to boot. Out of range of its effectiveness¡­ Hey the spirit is preparing to attack the temple!

    If I can get some water here I could probably one-shot the spirit with a [Tsunami]. Would frost work on it?

    I don''t want to go too crazy with frost magic in an environment that has a lot of energy¡­ Right¡­

    I still have to figure out how to ditch all this mana I¡¯m getting from your frostcloaks. Guess I will blast it with some lightning. I teleported to the spirit and dropped a purple [Lightning bolt] on the spirit.

    ¡°Move away intruders!¡± Raishin copied what I did and also teleported and dropped a purple [Lightning bolt] but he missed. Not that he would hit it anyways. Is there any chance we can talk about this or that you give up on ehh whatever you want to do?

    ¡°I am tasked to destroy anything that isn''t a spirit!¡± Oh, so you will let me through? Wonderful!

    ¡°Spirits with vessels don''t count!¡± Hey, what did you do to Isi?

    ¡°Not sure you want to know the answer to that.¡± I took a sword out of my dimensional pocket and sent a lightning charged slash at this spirit. He blocked it and swung his scythe at me. At this point, Gregory and Ted arrived who had to take the long way. The magma spirits lagged behind them.

    ¡°Hehe, I see I attracted quite the crowd, all these souls ready for reaping!¡± Talking about edgy, how about using a normal weapon, who uses a scythe these days? Only edge lords use those! I bet you probably have a tv hooked up somewhere here and are watching stupid shows!

    ¡°You will not touch my tv!¡± I fucking knew it! That tv is going down! Hey, how does a tv not melt down here or even get a signal down here? Is that really important?

    Of course not! The question is who would deliver a tv down here? Gregory facepalmed. I prevented this spirit from ¡®reaping¡¯ my soul. I sent some random slashes at the spirit while dodging his swipes on the narrow bridge.

    ¡°Hey! Stand still and let me reap your soul!¡± I jumped over him and landed behind him. I don''t know how strong Isi is but judging by your level of combat I don''t think you would be able to defeat her.

    ¡°Hah, that''s where you''re wrong kiddo!¡± Agnis get back! Gregory ran in and cast [Shadow cloak] on us but a bit too late as Raishin, Gregory and I got hit by a purple wave. Hmm, this didn''t do any damage.

    Shit! Ugh, this situation is such a pain in the ass... I suddenly felt demotivated to do anything and hungry.

    Let''s not let this guy make fools out of us! Man, this battle would be so much better if we were fighting some hot spirit chick. Hey, guys are you alright? You took that wave head-on. Hmm whatsup magma spirit? I don¡¯t understand spirit language. What curse? Did they get cursed? Hey Greg, I thought you were immune to curses!

    Ha of course! I would never get hit by a curse! Now let''s defeat this spirit to see what rewards he will drop! Hey, Agnis stop eating! We¡¯re in battle! Ugh, what''s wrong with you guys?

    ¡°Hehe, these idiots took my powerful curses head-on, consider yourself lucky because the range is quite short!¡± Should you really be revealing this?

    ¡°Heh, it''s not like you can hit me, the only one that can is stuffing his face over there!¡± Hey, edgelord do you have a sister? Are you sure you cursed Raishin? It doesn''t look like he is acting weird.

    ¡°Huh? Impossible my seven deadly sin curses are impossible to resist!¡± Ah, I see, so Agnis probably got hit by Gluttony, Raishin would probably have no issue eating lust, Gregory, not sure¡­ Oh that was a good meal, haven''t eaten so good in a while. It seems my eating compulsion eased up. Ugh, that was rough but I guess my racial skill came through, although a bit weak and late. Do you really have no hot sister?

    Not sure if Raishin is just being himself or is still under its effect.

    ¡°What? impossible!¡° Hey want to know something funny? This guy here, he¡¯s a three-tailed shadow cat. The spirit backed off a bit.

    ¡°What? Why? Why is a shadowcat here? My curses!¡± Are useless now! But these curses are quite strong. We have to properly dispel them after you blasted this spirit, vaporize him Agnis! Right, he is immune to fire but I think I have the right skill. I took off my shoes and put them on the bridge. They instantly turned into ash because now that I''m not wearing them the fire resistance doesn''t apply to them anymore.

    What is the point of taking my shoes off if they''re going to get vaporized anyways! Aaah! You are going down asshole! I loved those shoes!

    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t take it out on me! That was your own fault!¡± I made a frost ball and threw it at Raishin. As much energy as you can, this asshole is going down! Hey Agnis what about this bridge? We need it!

    Don''t worry, I got this. Ignis! [Lava bomb] at 7 o clock! Ignis shot lava bombs over the magma pool and I swapped the edgelord with a lava bomb as well as myself.

    Hey, don''t drop lava bombs on the bridge! Gregory moved them away from the bridge and made them explode.

    Right, edgelord this is what is going to happen, I am going to use [Dagger torrent] on you and you get shredded. Any questions? No? Right, let''s go! Ignis help my buddies if something else pops up! I¡¯m entrusting the bridge to you! I caught the edgelord in my [Dagger storm] and it was only a matter of time before he would get defeated.

 Ch 66: The shadowcat and the magma snake

    Agnis caught this weird spirit in his attack and left us behind on the bridge with his pet Ignis. Hey, are you guys, ok? Those curses seemed quite strong. We will be fine; these curses aren''t lethal. But didn''t he call them seven deadly sins? Doesn''t deadly mean like lethal?

    He has a point. It will be fine I managed to drop the severity. I think I can dispel it.

    Hmm ok then. Shall we continue on this bridge? I¡¯m sure Agnis can easily catch up. But what if more spirits arrive?

    Well, since Agnis made this little guy, I''m sure he can damage spirits. I pointed at Ignis who seemed well over 140 cm long now. I¡¯m sure this snake is getting bigger and bigger. Hmm, ok then let''s go. We walked for a good 5 minutes before we encountered some rock golems.

    Agnis sure is taking his time with that spirit¡­ He was quite upset because his shoes turned into ash, I''m sure he is stretching it long enough till he cools down.

    As long as he doesn''t get knocked out and causes these frost cloaks to drop off.

    Right let''s deal with these golems! As I turned my attention to them, all I saw was a puddle of lava.

    Well, Ignis and I already dealt with them¡­ Haha, Ted, you got outdone by a snake! Hush! You don''t seem to be particularly useful here either!

    I¡¯m moral support. Go Ignis kick Ted''s ass! Ignis and Gregory dispatched more golems before I could do anything.

    Magma is so useful against these golems. Hey is it me or is Ignis growing?

    Yeah, I thought so too, I guess I''m not the only one. Hey, Ignis are you going through puberty? You are almost as tall as us now! Ignis jumped into the magma pool

    You scared him off! Agnis is going to kick your ass when he hears that you bullied his pet. I didn''t bully him! The bridge transitioned into a rock path. But it was blocked by a huge pile of rocks.

    Ok guys we need to be really quiet and try to go around this. Why? We can just blast our way through the rock! Take this [Lightning beam]!

    You idiot! This isn''t a rock wall it''s a giant golem! How was I supposed to know?

    You didn''t give me time to explain why we needed to be quiet! The wall started to rumble and formed into a huge golem.

    Your attack didn''t put even a dent in it¡­ Why does nothing down here work besides magma and earth magic! I want to blast these things too! It is time for... I tackled Raishin and held him down.

    Oh no, you don''t not again! I¡¯m sorry Greg can you deal with this? Let me go! I saw Raishin attempting to use wind magic but I used the technique I learned from Agnis and put my hand in his magic circle and disabled it. This skill is invaluable for martial artists like me who specialize in close combat.

    Let me use [Fusionado]! It will blast this golem! It will blast us too! Right, I guess it''s just me then. At that moment a huge stream of magma shoots out of the magma pool and hits the golem. The golem tries to block it with its arm but Gregory takes the opportunity to use [Magma wave] and flank the golem. It seems Ignis came back and he is bigger than ever. What is going on with this snake? The golem seemed to focus on Ignis and was throwing boulders at him but Ignis dodged and countered with lava bombs. Gregory moved behind the golem and continued using [Magma wave] and clogged the golem''s joints with magma.

    Ignis can you somehow pull this golem into the magma pool? At first, it didn''t seem like Ignis understood what Gregory said but then I noticed it was also starting to hit the part of the rock wall the golem was standing on. I canceled another of Raishin¡¯s attempts to cast [Tornado]. Gregory seemed to catch on to what Ignis was doing and sent [Lava bombs] at the golem''s feet. The rock path crumbled and the golem slid into the pool of magma. The golem slammed Ignis and Ignis went splat into various magma blobs.

    Oh no, Ignis! Don¡¯t worry about him, he will reform in a bit! The golem now shifted its attention to Gregory who was firing off multiple lava bombs at the golem. The golem tried to walk over to Gregory but it seemed to have a hard time moving through the magma. Another attempt at using [Tornado], I interrupted it and knocked Raishin out. I saw Ignis reforming.

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    Hey, are magma snakes supposed to do this? I don''t know! Gregory was blocking a laser with his shadow wall. It seems the golem didn''t notice that Ignis had revived. Was that the correct word? It was more like the magma gathered and he reformed himself. A bit like a slime. Ignis seemed to be preparing a large attack. I used some earth magic to repair part of the path Gregory and Ignis blasted apart and dragged Raishin back on the bridge because it seems the attack Ignis is going to fire off has a wide range. The beam stopped.

    Ignis fired off something that looked like a [Magma Tsunami] As expected of Agnis¡¯ pet, it has some stupidly strong skills! Gregory covered himself with a [Shadow cloak] and coordinated a [Liberation] with the [Magma Tsunami]. A [Shadow dome] covered Gregory and one also got cast on us as the magma tsunami approached.

    The dome dropped. The golem was quite melted but not defeated yet but its core was exposed. Gregory finished it off with some lava bombs destroying its core. I am glad that I listened to Agnis and learned this skill. It has some nice offensive power.

    We heard some rumbling and saw a horde of golems approaching. I put Raishin down and joined Gregory in dealing with them. Gregory made some golems himself and we were trying to hold the line. Our earth magic was quite useful but not entirely effective. Gregory and Ignis were still doing the most work with their magma magic. That didn¡¯t mean I was useless. I used my [Bear avatar] to pick up golems, and throw them into the magma pool. They didn¡¯t sink entirely but they did get stuck.

    Maybe I should also learn some magma magic. I swatted some golems into the magma. These golems weren¡¯t that big, they were about 1.5 m tall. We made a great team. Gregory lumped the golems together with his earth and magma magic. I picked them up or swatted them into the magma pool. And Ignis pulled them under effectively drowning them. Can golems even drown? As I was starting to have fun with this the golems ran out.

    Hmm, no more golems, eh? Seems like it, this would have probably been harder with Raishin trying to throw [Fusionadoes] left and right.

    Yeah, I really wonder what goes on in his head sometimes¡­ I went back and picked up Raishin who was still passed out. We continued on the rock path when Agnis arrived.

    Yoo, you guys didn''t get far. We got attacked by a big golem.

    What''s up with Raishin? He almost blew us up.

    I¡¯m not surprised. What is up with your pet by the way?

    My pet? Ignis.

    What about him? Look at him! He¡¯s huge! I pointed at Ignis who was as big as the magma snake he made yesterday.

    Are you sure? He looks the same to me. You can¡¯t be serious! He used to coil around your neck!

    He can still do that. Oh! I want to see that!

    Ignis come! Ignis got out of the magma pool and coiled around Agnis.

    Hey, watch out! You''re splashing magma everywhere! Ignis was coiled around Agnis, but I couldn''t see Agnis anymore. The coil was moving forward slowly.

    So, do you notice now? I guess he is a little bit bigger than I remember. You are an idiot; you can''t even walk like that.

    Ignis it''s fine, I don''t think we can fool them any longer. Who are you trying to fool... It was obvious that he was getting bigger.

    It seems that he gets bigger when I gain mana or use mana. So, what he is just going to grow forever?

    Probably. At least dealing with the root will be easy then, he will probably be enormous by the time we get there. More golems appeared but these were magma golems. I had my hands full carrying Raishin. Agnis seemed to take a passive approach and let Gregory and Ignis handle all the hard work. And then we saw it. A huge pit in the magma. We could see something pink shine all the way at the bottom.

    So how do we get down there? Easy! Gregory caught Agnis with a [shadow tendril] mid-jump.

    \We are not jumping! Uhh ok, did you learn to fly in the time I was dealing with that spirit?

    No. Any other suggestions? I can¡¯t teleport down there because while I can see the root from here I can¡¯t ¡°see¡± what is going on there with my Elgards eyes. We might as well jump, at least we can react to whatever is down there.

    Might I remind you that we can''t just jump into a magma pit as you can. Why not? My frost cloak is protecting you. I think he means, is that we have enough common sense left to not just jump into a magma pit.

    Guys, really? Look around us! How is common sense going to help us here? Hmm, he got me there, common sense would never get us here normally.

    Point taken so how about we find something a bit¡­ less crazy than jumping in? Oh! How about Ignis brings us down there? That¡­ That is actually a good idea, who are you? What did you do with Agnis?

    Hey! Do I need to give you a headache too? Let''s go ride Ignis! I didn''t know you were interested in riding snakes. Agnis smacked me.

    Let''s go! Ignis bring us down there! We all rode the snake into a dark hot pit. Agnis smacked me again.

    What? I bet you were thinking of some dumb pun. Ugh, what is going on? When did I fall asleep?

    Ted is thinking of stupid puns again. Raishin smacked me. Hey!

 Ch 67: Isi

    Ignis did his best to descend slowly but despite that, we were picking up speed. Oddly enough it didn''t seem we got closer to our destination. We were descending a good 15 minutes and by now we reached terminal velocity and were basically falling but we still weren''t getting closer. Hey, something weird is going on. You only noticed now? What is going on Agnis? I think we got stuck in a spatial lock.

    Can you get us out of it? I don¡¯t know, we kept speeding up but that''s not supposed to happen in a spatial lock. So, what is going on then?

    Something weird. It''s like we hit a barrier that doesn''t let us pass but continues our action of falling. This might be some sort of time magic. Can you fix it?

    I¡¯m not that great at the spatio part in spatiotemporal and I¡¯m absolutely garbage in the temporal part. I¡¯m not even sure if I understand what is going on here. So basically, we¡¯re stuck? Maybe I can manipulate the mana in this barrier. Hmm, it is a mix of the prison, some barrier that we normally find around the roots, and something else. I will need 10 minutes and your help Agnis, to dispel this. We might need to get a bit forceful here and there with your frost magic.

    Ok.

    We messed around with the barriers. We needed to be careful because we know that the prison barrier has some defense mechanisms. Right, Raishin get ready to slow down our fall after this barrier breaks. Agnis, can you use your frost magic here? Here?

    Yes, freeze those runes. I need to refresh myself on mana runes, here it goes! I froze some runes that were responsible for the structure of the barrier, which caused it to lift temporarily. That was enough for us to fall through. Raishin threw around [wind blasts] and created air currents that helped us slow down. Well, it wasn''t really needed for me because I fell way slower than my buddies. Ignis though... He crashed into the floor.

    Ignis! My buddies landed while I was still falling. I inspected this area. It wasn''t big but it also wasn''t small. There seemed no magma here besides the magma walls on the side. It even seemed like it was room temperature down here. There seemed to be 3 more barriers surrounding the root. I saw traces of multiple of the same type of barriers being lifted in the past and there was something in the innermost barrier. I think it is a person or a spirit and it''s sleeping. I saw Isi trying to persuade some spirit with red flaming hair. This spirit was doing something on the barrier and it seemed to piss her off. There is no mistake that must be Ira. I gracefully landed and removed the frost cloaks.

    Whud? It¡¯s not hot here. This place is weird, hey who is that hot chick! Raishin dashed full speed at Ira. He said something to her and she fire-punched him in the face. He flew back to us and Ted caught him.

    I guess this chick is too spicy for you! Idiot. I went to the spot Ignis crashed on the floor. It didn''t seem like he was reforming. I paid my respects to Ignis and decided that I will never take a real pet. Bunai got smashed into pieces, Cee Horze disappeared due to exhausting its spirit energy and Ignis crashed into pieces. I¡¯m a terrible pet owner.

    He is not reforming, is he? I¡¯m a terrible pet owner¡­

    I don''t think this was your fault¡­ Does it matter? Ignis is still dead¡­ Gregory patted me on my shoulder and we paid our respects to Ignis. We turned around and Isi and Ira were still arguing.

    I wonder if they have been arguing since yesterday. I noticed that Isi¡¯s outfit seemed different than I remember.

    ¡°I am not going back until I get that device over there!¡± She points at some cube that seems to be made out of multiple smaller cubes and every small cube in it had a different color.

    ¡°You have been away for over 500 years! The magma is going out of control! The spirits at the temple need you!¡±

    ¡°Well too bad! I need that device to take over the corporeal world!¡±

    ¡°That creature that is sleeping next to it will wake up and defend it!¡±

    ¡°Ha! I will blow it away! Now scram! I¡¯ve had my fill of you! Unless you came to apologize, I would love for you to fuck off!¡±

    ¡°Apologize for what? You know I can not travel down here every day to visit you! This place is so hostile!¡±

    ¡°Oh, but if something goes wrong you can come for a visit? Get out of here! I¡¯m busy!¡±

    ¡°I got help this time! You know I can not stand the heat that well!¡±

    ¡°Not my problem! Now scram!¡± It seems like their conversation is going well¡­ Hey, guys we need to talk. Sup Greg? What¡¯s up

    So those curses we got, eh? They were stronger than I¡¯ve ever seen, I offset some of their effects but the well ¡®deadly¡¯ part was hard to get rid of so I directed that part to myself. Wait so¡­

    Yeah, it dropped my available lives by 3 but I still have enough left. How many do you have left? 12. I got some liquid shadow vodka out of my dimensional pocket.

    Ooh, nice thanks! Back off alcoholic! It''s for Greg! How many bottles did you need last time to get 1 life added? I love my Shadow liquid vodka but 5 bottles is way too much!

    You have a high alcohol tolerance, right? Gregory backed away. Hey, guys, 12 is more than enough¡­ Raishin help me let''s try to at least get him 1 life back! Aye, sir! Hey, guys really, I¡¯m fine! Gregory started running.

    Hehe, you¡¯re way too slow to escape for me! We captured Gregory easily and forced liquid shadow vodka through his throat.

    Hey, can I have some too? I¡¯m sorry but it''s a bad idea to have both our defensive fighters drunk. I¡¯ll give you a bottle if you help with keeping Greg down and he sobered up.

    Right! Sorry, Greg but it''s for my liquid shadow vodka! Glub¡­ wait¡­ I¡­ can¡¯t breathe¡­ Artificial breathing incoming!

    That''s¡­ glub not glub... What I mean¡­ Since it was hard already to force 5 bottles down Gregory¡¯s throat, we decided to keep it at that. Gregory was lying on the floor passed out.

    We never heard the rest of the story. His lives are more important, for now.

    What if you guys will die to the curse while he''s passed out? He is not that careless; he knows how reckless Raishin is so he wouldn''t risk something like that.

    Hey, you are reckless too! Fair point.

    I just wished all of you were more careful, you guys just seem to be throwing away lives like it¡¯s nothing. And it''s not like you guys don''t need them, being in the god''s crosshairs doesn''t seem like something you can get away with easily. Hmm, that is a good point, I need to find something to deal with that. I took out 3 tails and made them find a way to avoid dealing with gods and stuff after we break free.

    They are still arguing. Isi and Ira still seemed to be arguing about who knows what. Isi was staying calm but Ira seemed fired up and was being quite aggressive with her words. It didn''t help that she was trying to lift the barrier at the same time by trying to solve a puzzle. Rather her than me, I have no interest in obnoxious puzzles.

    So, what do we do now? We are supposed to destroy the root in 2 days. We are almost 2 full days too early. Well, we could kill some time down here, moreover, those 3 barriers still needed to be lifted, which doesn''t seem like an easy task, and then there is that guardian that is sleeping there. At least we have better control over the events now. I suggest that we just relax for today. Gregory is passed out and we need him to dispel the barrier. This timeline so far has been quite kind to us I wonder how things are going to go downhill from here¡­

    Such pessimism, but I understand the feeling. The best we can do is just rest up and prepare for whatever will be coming. Right since the frost marbles are useful down here, take these. I don''t think that guardian is a spirit but who knows when Ira snaps and attacks us.

    Good call. Anyways so far it looks like they will continue arguing, let''s wait a day and hope they work it out. Here take this bottle.

    Ooh thanks, I have missed you my sweet vodka! Eww, Ted is being gross. I took some food out of my dimensional pocket and we all ate a complete fish meal. I still had a mountain of fish that needs to be consumed. Maybe I should sell some fish next timeline. I didn''t sell my rubies this timeline but I have to make sure I do that the next timeline, I could add some fish with it, the problem is¡­ Who is going to buy 2 tons of fish¡­ I¡¯m getting close to being able to run my own department store with all the stuff I''ve stored, weapons, random items, plants and herbs, rocks and ores, mountains of rubies and sapphires, food, and much more. I even stored quite a volume of magma.

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    Am I a hoarder? Most of the stuff I randomly stored has been useful in one way or another. Maybe I should also store large volumes of water so that I could use [Tsunami] even in a place full of magma. Hey, that is a good idea! I started running different simulations and decided to sleep.

    Are you going to sleep already? Wait how late is it? It is almost 4 but I feel like sleeping. I put some simulations to run, I might have some cool stuff ready for tomorrow.

    What about us? I froze a pinball machine with frost magic.

    Hehe Ted I will kick your ass! Never have you beat me; I will destroy you! Have fun. I curled my tails into a ball and went to sleep.

    <hr>

    Day 4: I woke up after the best sleep I''ve ever had I saw some earth tents so I assume Gregory woke up at one point. My ball was hidden by illusions so he made a tent at a random spot thinking that I might be there. I appreciate it but he missed. I look over and it seemed like the argument between Isi and Ira turned into a full-blown battle. It seemed my buddies are still asleep so I just took some snacks out of my dimensional pocket and spectated. I don¡¯t have any popcorn stocked sadly. Ira seemed really angry and was swinging a big fiery great sword around and shooting fireballs. Isi seemed to not dodge them but dodge them? What kind of skills is she using?

    Ira seemed to get more frustrated because she was unable to hit Isi. I tried to analyze the fight and it seems Isi was using some funky time magic. It reminds me that she told us that she was something like a chrono spirit. I wonder how this battle would go because both of them were far from their power spot. Although Isi had a vessel so she should have the upper hand. They were throwing some fancy spirit magic around. It didn''t seem to have any element. Is this the arcane version of spirit magic? I only knew how to use an element-less spirit bolt. I wonder what element I would be associated with.

    So far Isi only seemed to be able to use time and Ira magma and fire. Ira used something that looked like a magma wave but Isi didn''t move. She used some time-related stuff to make some of it turn into rock stopping it in its tracks. I don''t know much about time magic but it doesn''t seem that useful offensively. It is overpowered in defense but I don''t see how she is going to win this without attacking. Oh, never mind she reversed the flow of magma and sent it back to Ira, she should be immune to it though. Yup Ira tanked it and is completely fine. Suddenly some element less spirit attacks appear out of nowhere and hit Ira. I¡¯m just as confused as Ira. Maybe Isi does have some tricks up her sleeve. Ira suddenly teleports to a random spot and gets hit by more element less attacks. Wait is this random though? I continued watching the fight and paying close attention and memorizing every detail of this fight.

    I found out what was happening. She is basically doing something similar to the echoes we had to deal with. It doesn''t matter if she misses her attacks, she can make it echo whenever Ira is in a spot where she can get hit, she can also return Ira in time to where she stood on a spot that will get her hit. Oof this is nasty, the longer this fight goes on the more time is on Isi¡¯s side. I looked around, Ted is still sleeping, good. Isi also does this to herself; she moves herself to a time when she was in a different spot making attacks miss her. I guess she needs a good memory to pull this off. This pisses Ira off to no end, understandably. From this exchange, I can''t tell how strong Isi is but that doesn''t seem to matter, as long as she doesn''t make any mistakes, I can''t imagine her losing. Ira uses a wide-range fire attack. I guess just hitting the whole area can counter that but¡­ Isi disappeared and the attack passed. And she appeared again. I don''t know to what spot she went back to but since she quite recently got down here, I assume she went out of range and got back.

    Ira exploded in rage and dashed at Isi with breakneck speed. Isi moved to a different spot but Ira was fast enough to reach her new location almost at the same time. Isi moved to spots that had bigger distances between them and Ira seemed to be able to somehow match those teleports. Isi was too busy moving away to counter but Ira was torching the whole area while dashing. I paid close attention because maybe we don¡¯t need to fight Isi in the future but there is bound to be some annoying person out there in the world that fights like this. It seems Ira caught Isi but it seemed Isi just turned back time to before Ira used that technique. It seems Ira''s fatigue was still intact though.

    Right, unless Ira has some crazy skill that is super-fast and can one shot Isi, I don''t see how Ira can win this. Ira summoned some fire and magma lesser spirits and sent them to attack Isi. She seemed to be paying close attention to how Isi is moving. Isi is slowly starting to get her hands full with the spirits and Ira did her super-fast dash again and landed a hit on Isi! Because she has a vessel the vessel got damaged a bit but it seemed Isi was still fine. She ported away and sent a barrage of attacks at Ira. Why isn''t she moving? I ran some more filters. Oh, her time is frozen. Well, I guess the fight is over. Ira got hit by the barrage and passed out. This is the first time I''ve seen a spirit pass out.

    ¡°That did not go as I had planned¡­¡± It seems that the argument escalated, what happened?

    ¡°She got annoyed when I kept trying to persuade her to stop the idea of taking over the corporeal world and to return to her power spot. She has weakened considerably, If she was in top condition that blow, she landed on me, would have taken this vessel''s arm, maybe more. And I would have to surrender.¡± I hope you can fix that; I know it''s a vessel but if that happened to me, I would have to put the bones in my arm straight and make sure it healed properly with nature energy or instantly blast it with regenerative flames.

    ¡°I know the ins and outs of basic maintenance, do not worry, I have had worse ¡®Injuries¡¯ before.¡± I might remember incorrectly but didn''t you use spatial magic when we first met? Why didn''t you use it in this fight?

    ¡°I am not that good at it, if it is helping fix the dimensional fabric, I can do that a bit since I joined Rignef in it a couple of times but I can only do simple stuff and I do not understand much about it, I prefer to stick to skills I know how to use especially against an opponent like Ira.¡± Hmm, that makes sense. We look at Ira who is still passed out on the floor.

    So, what is that device that is going to help her to take over the corporeal world?

    ¡°Hmm, It seems to grant power equal to a God but it seems to have some requirements.¡± How does she know about this thing anyways?

    ¡°She encountered some humans 508 years ago and she learned it from them.¡± Huh? Don''t spirits in general avoid interaction with humans?

    ¡°Well, you are not wrong, she found them by chance and they told her that communing with a root would allow her to get the power of a god. They were also talking about some item that was supposed to be at the root they encountered but they could not find it. And it seems Ira remembered that there was a root close to her power spot.¡± Wait, did that village have cultists that only ate potatoes?

    ¡°I am not sure about this cultist thing but they seemed to have offered her potatoes yes.¡± Ugh, stupid potato village always causing problems! So, we just destroy that item and we don''t have to deal with gods?

    ¡°Although it is the cause of various problems its power could come in useful. Although given our experiences with gods it might be a good idea to destroy it yes, I do not want to see another nine-tailed spirit fox get slaughtered right before my eyes¡­¡± Yeah, I prefer myself not slaughtered.

    ¡°I will have to say I am impressed though, Ira managed to brute force her way through 12 of the 15 barrier layers. I know it is possible to brute force some barriers but doing this to 12 layers and still having enough power to fight me as explosively as she did is impressive¡­¡± Yeah, if you don''t have frost magic, breaking barriers with force is a huge pain in the ass. I have a feeling she might be angrier when she wakes up. Maybe we should restrain her.

    ¡°No need, I will take her back to her power spot and scold her. While breaking these barriers she has been venting and melting the whole area, this much magma is uncommon down here. At this rate, the mountains on the surface might sink and even push magma upward in the process. I do not know what is up there but I do not think they will appreciate the appearance of several volcanoes.¡± Yeah, it would suck if you were living on a mountain which then sinks and turns into a volcano¡­

    ¡°I will take Ira up and make sure she does not disturb any of you, she eventually managed to finish the puzzle in that barrier. You just have to put some energy in it and the layer will lift.¡± Thank her for me when she wakes up.

    ¡°I will, thank you.¡± She took Ira and vanished. I decided that the first thing I will do next timeline is turning potato village to ash again. Talking about potatoes it might be time to give Gregory another round of liquid shadow vodka. It was almost 08:00 so it was time for these slackers to wake up. Not that I knew what to do after they woke up.

    I woke up my buddies and told them what happened. What! She is gone? But I wanted to talk to her¡­ You would just take another fire punch to the face. So, before we dump more vodka in your system what was it that you still needed to tell us about those curses? Ugh, you guys want to do that again?

    Well, we need to minimize as many risks as possible. Yeah, and you might have to solo that shadow dragon depending on the situation because I will probably have my hands full on an even yuckier dimensional fabric, I''m not looking forward to it. Ugh, yuckier than what we saw in this timeline? I don''t know which of us has it worse. Can¡¯t we help?

    Hmm I think it is tricky, that dimensional thing is something only Agnis can deal with and if that dragon only interacts with shadows only Greg and Agnis can deal with it but Agnis is busy with the yucky fabric. So basically, it''s up to us 2 to deal with the shades and stuff. Ooh, so I can go loose? No idiot! We need to do things as safely as possible; we might have to set up another teleport. I¡¯m not helping those jerks again.

    But the town¡­ I¡¯ll do it¡­

    Thanks. Do you have an idea how to defeat that dragon? I have no clue; do you have an idea how to fix that fabric without sabotaging yourself?

    Nope, no clue. Hey guys, you''re not going to die, are you?

    We will figure something out¡­ probably. This timeline wasn''t so bad maybe the next one is similar. We all look at Raishin.

    You do know that we have no clue where the last root is right? Oh, shit, that''s true! Guys, what do we do? I guess we¡¯ll die¡­

    Hey nobody is dying! But Greg died 3 times to make sure we didn''t die to curses! Ah right so about those curses, I couldn''t lift them but we shouldn''t have any issues with them, I think.

    You think? I feel fine so all is well! Yup, no problems here.

    Ugh, don''t tell me that I¡¯m the only one who is going to survive this¡­ I think I should address the curses we got on us by destroying the roots. I took a look at them yesterday for the first time and eh¡­ Currently, we have over 500 different curses on us. I don''t know how much this passive of mine will help you guys so I will start lifting them. I would like to start now. Sounds good but first¡­ I took 5 bottles of shadow liquid vodka out of my dimensional pocket.

    Oh no¡­ Raishin get him! We caught Gregory and made him ingest 5 bottles of liquid shadow vodka.

    Ugh, you guys might kill me by alcohol poisoning¡­ Stop being such a baby! You have a high alcohol tolerance! See and you didn''t even pass out this time! Go rest in that corner I will start dispelling these barriers.

    Can you link my vision with yours? Dispelling curses is quite boring and the majority seem to be easy, I can assist a bit. Sure. I guess there is nothing we can do, Ted let''s continue using pinball! I will destroy you today! You didn''t even come close to my lowest score yesterday!

 Ch 68: Pi Root

    The layer disappeared quite easily. We have to thank Ira for this. But spending 500 years dispelling these barriers just because of the ramblings of that potato village. She might not be mad about that but I¡¯m slightly annoyed that what potato village told her might not even be true and wasted 500 years of her time. She might seem hot-headed and want to take over the world but the fact that she believed that shows either naivety or that she is unable to mistrust random shady cultists. She is violent but besides that, she falls in line with what I know about spirits. In general, they are nice and friendly maybe also na?ve creatures. Except for that edgelord, I hope he is enjoying his time in the spirit world. I started on the next layer.

    I was relieved to find out that it didn''t have an obnoxious puzzle. Barriers could have various conditions to lift them. To make a barrier truly strong it needs an obvious weakness and this weakness gets covered by some kind of restriction or requirement. The previous layer was covering it up with an obnoxious puzzle. A barrier could be made that can only be lifted by someone under the age of 15 but then it can be covered with something that nobody under the age of 15 can pull off. That is the general gist of how barriers get protected. This stupid prison has 7 obvious weak points which are these roots but the roots themselves are protected by barriers and stuff. Well, you see where this is going, to protect the holes with more barriers and protect those holes with more barriers or seals or guardians. It is the perfect strategy to annoy someone or waste their time. I can''t really figure out what the weak spot of this barrier is.

    That is annoying. I guess it is time to brute-force it with frost magic. I will have to carefully read the magic runes that make up this barrier and find the correct ones to freeze. This is theoretically easier than all that other crap. Find the correct rune and freeze it and done. In practice, I will have to read hundreds of lines of runes and find out which relate to which and which are dummies which ones are traps that either attack me or make the barrier stronger, etc. It is like lifting seals but way harder and more complicated, for this, I need the assistance of Gregory because I can''t remember what every magic rune does in relation to which. He does for most cases but there are also various nuances depending on the style of the caster of the barrier. In short, it is a royal pain in the ass, so much so that I would have a hard time deciding to brute force open it or do an obnoxious puzzle.

    -That rune there is a trap ignore it. - - I rerouted the mana and deprived it of mana, if another rune is linked to it at least it won''t blow up on me. -

    - Smart, you are getting better at this. - - I don''t have much choice, do I? What about this rune, it looks suspicious, as if someone took too much effort in making this look like a trap. -

    - Bust it! - I froze the rune and shattered it. The barrier became notably weaker.

    Hey, Raishin this barrier became super weak, can you bust it with a nuke? I stepped away.

    How much? Hmm oh, something like a 50.

    Ooh, Just the strength of my amped-up [Lightning beam] Here we go! Raishin hit the barrier and it started to crack. I moved water in the cracks and froze it causing the barrier to shatter.

    Thanks, Raishin. Go prepare to one shot the guardian together with the root. Let''s not make things too troublesome. After the barrier breaks just send it! I can use [Fusionado]?

    If you give Gregory and me enough time to protect us then sure. Yes!

    Now this barrier seems super strong, this one might take the rest of the day. I guess that works out right? We are supposed to destroy this root tomorrow.

    I guess. I started to check this barrier¡¯s runic lines but there were a stupid amount of them.

    -How is the dispelling of curses going? I really need you on this. - -I got rid of almost 300 curses, I think we are in the clear now, I will come over and help. - I started running simulations in my tail to figure out which runic lines would be the best to tackle first. Gregory walked up to me and inspected the barrier.

    Ugh, this is almost like the barrier covering the town. That one has way more juice though, I don''t think we can break that if we manage to break this.

    Ugh hey, can you do markers in your eyesight? Uhh, I think I can wait let me sift through my filters. Hmm not this one, nope not this one either.

    Ugh, can you slow down with that? Now I¡¯m getting a headache. I¡¯m sorry. I think this works.

    Right, how about you analyze this part and I do this part? This middle part seems to hold the two together. I don''t know why but we might want to want to understand these parts better. Ugh, those teachers in Hourai could have gone more in detail about this stuff.

    Well, I¡¯m glad we at least got the basics down pretty well but it seems from here on were on our own to figure out the nuances, it doesn''t help that every barrier user has his own style. Hmm, I don''t understand what is going on here, I might not be great at this but this looks like the maker was a total amateur. Or it is so genius that it looks like it''s made by an amateur.

    Hmm same with this part, surely parts this large can''t all be dummies? The creator must have balls of steel to make this much of the code a dummy.

    Or stupid, let''s assume that the creator is a genius. This is the last layer after all. Agreed. We spent the whole morning and a big part of the afternoon studying the composition of these parts. I managed to knock out some traps and get rid of some redundant runes but I had still 90% of my part untouched. Gregory had better progress with 70% untouched but it was a long and tedious progress.

    Hey, how is it going? Quite poorly this barrier sucks.

    So, what is the problem? We have no idea what keeps this barrier running, what its weakness is nor what part of these sequences are important to the barrier.

    Can''t Agnis just suck the mana out of it? Barriers have many traps and mechanisms in it to prevent something like that from happening. Frost magic is rare but there are magic skills targeted at draining mana from things like barriers, seals, and wards.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Don¡¯t those traps make those skills useless then? Hmm, not really, like in our current state if we can disable most traps or make them blow up so that they don''t harm our progress we can drain the whole system and lift the barrier. We are trying to do that but this code is so fucking long!

    If it is that hard it must have taken forever to set up the barrier then¡­ Creating barriers is something you do before you actually make one. You make the limitations, the specifications, the strength, the traps, and the dummy mechanisms way before you put the barrier down. Putting a barrier down is almost as easy as using any magic spell, creating a barrier yourself needs what we are doing but in reverse. I don''t think he gets it. Oh, I knocked out a row of dummy runes.

    Hey, what if this is the obnoxious puzzle? Gregory and I paused.

    You can''t be serious. That could be quite plausible.

    If that is true this should have some sort of set of rules. Hmm, you said you knocked out a row of dummy runes, eh? What if we need to chain combos?

    Ooh, I like that you¡¯re starting to think like me now! Not sure if that is a compliment or an insult. The simulation of one of my tails came with a similar conclusion.

    There are so many parts in this structure that would multiply the effort needed to create this puzzle by 4-fold. So, the only reason I can see why someone would do that is to make some dumb puzzle. Do you see these 2 runes that I marked? My simulations told me that whenever the 2 appear in this order they are traps.

    Right, time to reroute the mana away from them! After some trial and error, we managed to disable most of the traps and knock down all the dummies.

    Ugh, this is exhausting. Yeah, but at least those 2 parts are done, let''s leave the middle part for tomorrow. We worked on this obnoxious puzzle till well past midnight so we had decided to stop for the day. Raishin and Ted left some fried fish behind for us. We ate some, and discussed things we learned about this barrier and about the composition of barriers in general. We both decided to run some simulations in our tails to come up with a half-decent barrier.

    <hr>

    Day 5: Gregory woke me up and we started working on the barrier again. after 2 hours we got rid of all the traps. The only thing that needed to be done was to drain the mana out of the barrier. I went to wake up Ted and Raishin. How much time do you need to one-shot the root and the guardian? I don''t know¡­ Really Raishin?

    Well, I first need to make rednadoes and then let them eat each other and after they turn into an orangenado they will turn into a fusionado. Do I even want to know what that means? Right let''s set up some strong walls and defensive skills first, I can drain the mana from this barrier from a distance so we can just let Raishin set up his [Fusionado] and then lift the barrier. After this obnoxious puzzle bullshit, I don''t feel like dealing with this guardian. We set up multiple earth walls shadow walls and frost walls. Gregory would use his shadow dome after some of these walls broke. Raishin started spamming tornadoes and as he described they started to cannibalize each other.

    Raishin come here! I¡¯m lifting the barrier! After we were all safe behind our walls, I drained the mana from the barrier. The guardian woke up but got up slowly.

    ¡°Oh, prey has appeared! I am Anachong the guardian of the Pi root. Let me show you the power of a 1000 suns which I have gained by absorbing a shard of Zarrazax!¡± That was cool and all but he was so slow that the [Fusionado] completed and hit the guardian and root. The [Fusionado] suddenly disappeared.

    ¡°Ha! Now I have the power of 1001 suns!¡± Raishin used his [Raishin kick] on the slow guardian. This is the perfect opponent for him, he can¡¯t possibly miss this! This is the first time I see his [Raishin kick] and its impressive. It does a lot of damage but I don''t know if it¡¯s because the guardian is slow but it doesn¡¯t notice the damage it is taking. What a weirdo.

    ¡°Now! will unleash¡­¡± Raishin finished his combo which ended in a kick and sent the guardian crashing into the root, after which he made another [Fusionado] and managed to destroy the Guardian with the root¡­ What was that about? Probably something that would give us a headache. Our heads started to ring again.

    Talking about headaches!

    <hr>

    We were back at Raishin''s hut. We all came into action to deal with the shades but there were none. That is odd. We went outside and nothing seemed to be off.

    Is there anything catastrophic going on? Hmm, everything seems normal. Which to me is abnormal. I don''t like this I don''t like this at all. Maybe we got lucky?

    Lucky how? We have no idea where the last root is. Can you look around again? If you haven''t found it by tomorrow, we shall try blasting the pink broccoli again, maybe then it will appear. Just don¡¯t overdo it. I think he should just not try to do that because he will see to it that he overdoes it.

    Fine, I will relax. I had quite a nice rest last timeline but it got reset¡­ I¡¯m sure that today is possibly the only time I can rest. We all made sure to patrol the town to make sure nothing was wrong. Gregory took this opportunity to draw the teleport circle. He sent a clone to go underground and draw one to properly receive the targets of the teleport.

    A result of a simulation came in. I could use up all the remaining illusion layers I had left after we destroy the tree to cast powerful illusions on us that can create the effect that any witch or god that is looking for us will be unsuccessful. It can have the side effect that nobody can find us only by coincidence but I think that is a risk I¡¯m willing to take. I don''t think our mothers are great at being covert so if they are looking for us, we will probably notice. I ran another simulation to try and refine this. I looked through various filters. The dimensional fabric looked beat up but not to the point at which I had to fix it. There weren''t any dimensional bugs so I wouldn''t be able to fix it properly anyways.

    Some data about this timeline seemed to be glitching. This is the one we are going to get stuck in. I¡¯m starting to become even more worried. After confirming that nothing seems wrong, I headed home. I yet again apologized to Philip and Hera and spent some time with them. I don''t know if I will be able to after this. I wanted to tell them that we will be escaping but with everything going on I don''t know if it is a good idea to tell them. I went to my room. I decided to write a letter and leave it behind when we would finalize our escape. I paused. Maybe I should also consider that I might not survive this. I rewrote the letter with this in mind. I rewrote this letter over 8 times.

    Writing a letter is hard. I wrote a slightly longer letter. This is the one. I burnt the failed letters and went downstairs to the living room. Hera and Philip seemed to have gone to their room. I put the letter on the table and cast an illusion on it to hide it. It would appear in 5 days or when I die. I went back upstairs and sat on my bed. This felt like the calm before the storm. I took out my tails and brushed them. A simulation was completed. The dimensional anchor was ready. Maybe a bit late but maybe I would have use for it. I fidgeted a bit with it and managed to make a complete one with a tether and all. I managed to anchor myself to this space. Using ''dimension'' is confusing. I anchored myself to the Mainfloor, yes that''s it. I wonder if Isi managed to work things out with Ira. Which reminds me! I need to vaporize potato village! I will do that tomorrow if I have the time. With the feeling that tomorrow will be a clown fiesta, I dozed off.

 Ch 69: Clownfiesta

    Day 1: I woke up to a severe rumbling. I looked outside and saw that this wasn''t just a rumbling but an earthquake. I guess the clown fiesta has started, in the 5 years that we lived here we never experienced any earthquakes. I could also spot shades in the town but there weren''t that many. I climbed out of my window and had to keep holding out to the walls and roof to make sure I wouldn''t fall.

    This earthquake was quite severe. Everything that wasn''t attached to something else fell to the ground and it seemed that some buildings started to show some small cracks in the walls. I looked around and tried to find out where the epicentre of this earthquake was. It brought me deep into the Lucidus mountain range roughly where the previous root was.

    Uh oh, this isn''t good. I saw smoke rising from the area there. The hole deep in the ground that Ira made is probably still there. But why is this happening now? I looked around and saw some things that weren''t there in the last timelines.

    -Greg, wake up! We have a huge problem! - - I hope you are not assuming that I will be able to sleep in this earthquake! -

    -You see if it was just an earthquake then that would be fine, I just checked the areas beyond Boshi town. Every place that had a root and that we blasted has signs that we blasted them. This wasn''t the case in the other timelines. - - Ugh, what is all this rumbling, what is going on? - -Quite impressive that you could still manage to sleep in this, I bet Raishin is sleeping through this. -

    -Are earthquakes supposed to be a thing here? - - What I was trying to tell Greg is that this timeline has the effects of what happened after we blasted our roots. There is a big hole in the mountain that has the PB cave, the same as where we fought the Mountain. Ash potato village is still ash, just no hole in the mountain, which brings us to the root of the last timeline¡­-

    - Right the fusionado. Wait¡­- -Yup, it upset the whole place because I imagine it setting off explosions. Several mountains are slowly sinking as we speak. It will just be a matter of time before they make a big shift that smoke indicates that there is a chance that we might get volcanic activity¡­-

    -Smoke? Wait give me a second, let me look outside¡­ There really is smoke¡­ any chance it is something else? - - I can''t think of anything else and Isi mentioned something like this¡­- - Well at least it''s far away we won''t have to deal with most of its bullshit luckily. - At that moment the rumbling became worse as I saw 3 mountains visibly sink a lot. I didn''t hear anything yet but I noticed a shockwave it sent out. The clouds around those mountains got pushed away. A column of smoke and ash rose up

    -Cover your ears- 15 seconds after I saw the mountains sink, we heard a loud bang paired with loud rumbling like thunder. I could see the panic in the town.

    -I¡¯m sure that woke up Raishin. - -Nope, he is still sleeping¡­- - The world could be ending and he would just sleep through it¡­-

    - The only thing that can wake him up is your snoring¡­- The pillar of ash rising up started to increase in volume and I saw lava spewing out of one of the mountains that had sunk. The tip of the mountain was collapsing. I linked my vision with my buddies to watch the spectacle.

    -We luckily won''t have to deal with any of this, the only problem is the ash¡­- - We will need Raishin to make tornadoes outside the town to act as a vacuum cleaner. Just tornadoes not rednadoes of fusionadoes. - - Well technically he would be cleaning up too if he used those. -

    - Cleaning up the air not the town! - - Right, if you wanted to use that teleport circle, Greg, I would advise you to do it now. - Another earthquake followed but this one was a bit more severe than the last one.

    - Well guess you were too late, that earthquake just busted your magic circle. - - What! I¡¯m going to check it out! I will speak to you later! - - I¡¯m going to wake up Raishin! - It seems Gregory was going to check up on the magic circle.

    I decided to head over to Boshi lake because these earthquakes made the water misbehave. I encountered Cecilia and Charlize trying to keep the lake in check but they were having a hard time.

    ¡°Oh, hey Agnis, nice timing could you lend us a hand?¡± I looked at the lake. It had a large bias toward trying to flood Boshi town. What if I sent all that water toward Boshi lake Major? I cracked my neck and took my tails out. You 2 can rest I got this. I created an ice dam and used [Tsunami] to send all this water away from Boshi town. Well, that was easy.

    ¡°What is that skill? Where did all that water come from!¡± Just a small [Tsunami].

    ¡°Tsunami?! The 10th strongest water attack in history?!¡± Cecilia seemed to be losing her cool. Oh, I knew it was powerful, I didn''t know it was that powerful¡­ Anyways we don''t have to worry about Boshi lake acting up. I shot some shades down with my daggers imbued with lightning. I have to be careful to not waste my free casts on trash, so I will have to use imbued attacks or my daggers and wires to deal with these shades. The lakeside started filling with shades. They seem insistent on making me waste my free spells on them but I won''t let them! Right, you 2 scoot over here! I pulled them in with my tails while I made a magic circle with my wires.

    Just bear with this for a bit. I covered us with my tails making a ball and completed the magic circle which created a pillar of fire and obliterated the shades. I checked the status of my free spells. Still, 3 left, completing magic circles like this didn''t eat any charges good! The shades are stupid so this works, I don''t think I could do this against opponents with a brain. I released the 2 and inspected the area while they were still standing there dazed. Right the shades here are gone, I¡¯m a busy fox so make sure you make preparations to flee this place!

    ¡°Wait our memories are a bit weird we have done this timeline or something before right?¡± Not this timeline but something like this before, talk to your daughter Kanna, it seems that she has a better grasp on what is going on with these timelines cya! I left them behind and went assassin mode on the shades. I snuck up to them and one-shot them. I couldn''t use shadow clones because that would eat a free charge.

    The sky started to darken as the ash was covering the sky. I could see lightning in the ash clouds that were still escaping from the new volcano. I saw some tornadoes spawn at the edge of the prison barrier on the north. I didn''t notice any ash falling yet but it would just be a matter of time. I hope there will be no echoes in this timeline because this for sure would become messy.

    A big shade spawned. It was easily over 15 meters tall and it let out a loud roar that could be heard throughout the whole town. Right! forgot there was some hole somewhere where they were leaking from. I put on the correct filter and located it. It was easy to fix this, the rest of the dimensional fabric looked ugly but still whole. What is going on here? Isn''t it supposed to be either nice and smooth or how it was the last timeline? I was about to engage the big shade when I heard a bear roar and saw Ted in big bear mode with his bear avatar. I guess he doesn''t need help. The bear claws were shredding into the shade. It fought back but the bear avatar is just magic. It seemed to do some damage to the bear avatar but Ted easily fixed it by feeding it a bit more mana. It was completely one-sided and Ted defeated the shade in under 2 minutes.

    You got the hang of it. Ted swiped at me as he turned around.

    Oh, it is you Agnis, stop sneaking up on me!

    My bad, is it a good idea to leave Raishin unattended? We looked on as we saw tornadoes appear at the edge of the barrier. Most of them stayed in place but the earlier ones he cast started to wander a little bit.

    His magic control isn''t that great so it is just a matter of time before those tornadoes start to move all over the place. The ash has already started to fall so this is just a measure until Gregory finishes the magic circle. So far it seems he is not having much luck, the earthquakes made big tears in some parts of the circle but also small ones in other parts. Same with the one underground, he either will spend a lot of time fixing both or has to erase these properly and remake them. What would be the best in this situation?

    You have to ask him but as I see how it is now either one is going to cost him 4 hours maybe more. I tripped up and ensnared some shades that were attacking some townspeople.

    4 hours¡­ a lot can happen in 4 hours; I don''t think those tornadoes will behave for 4 hours¡­ It is almost noon but it almost looks like it''s about to turn into night¡­ We looked up and the sky was filled with dark grey clouds.

    Maybe Raishin should use [Solar Stream] to punch a hole through those clouds! That is not a funny joke¡­ we need the non-lethal version of sunshine¡­ You stay here I will wipe out shades in the south of the town.

    Ok. I tried to control the shades by attacking wires to their limbs and making them attack other shades but I couldn''t manage to pull it off so I just cut them into pieces with the wires. The shades stopped spawning so their numbers gradually dropped but the dimensional fabric slowly started to get worse. There were no dimensional bugs though¡­ There was no festering it just looked like it was starting to get old and wrinkly. I will keep up the comparison with skin until it doesn''t fit anymore. So, it seemed to look like aged skin and I think it is a bad thing but I don''t know what to do about this. Do I make some dimensional lotion? How do I deal with this? I tried to mimic the mode I was in the last time that I fixed it. I didn''t use the illusionary dagger. I just put blue flames on my tails and laced them with spatiotemporal magic and fired it off at the fabric. It ate up my free mana charges.

    It seemed to have some effect but just like last time it didn''t seem to do enough. And at this point, the fabric started to crack just like dry skin would. I tried to cauterize it but it didn''t seem to work. I started to hear some familiar sounds. It sounds like that Thing was approaching again. The Thing started clawing at the fabric again but where normally it would have some flexibility and not get torn through easily this time it just got shredded. I kept firing [fox fires] at the fabric but it was hardly doing anything. And slowly but surely, I started to see more and more of this Thing. So far, the only thing I knew about it was that it had a large number of red eyes with dark purple pupils and that it had claws. I could now see 2 sets of crab or scorpion-like claws and mandibles. I assume this thing is some inter-dimensional scorpion. It was pitch black with some dark purple sheen.

    Oh, hell no! There is no place in here for an abomination like you! I tried to keep my wits together because this thing terrified me. I started to realize that maybe the presence of those bugs was a good sign when they were around, I could fix the fabric better and it seemed that when these bugs were around this Thing was less aggressive. Also, maybe they hydrate the fabric? I don''t know how any of this works! The Thing attempted to crawl through. And that''s when I saw it. Now that I could see what was behind the fabric because there was a big hole in it, I could see something pink behind this Thing. You got to be kidding me, I need to let this Thing through to get the root out?

    -Greg, we have a huge problem! - - A bigger problem than this magic circle being irreparable? It will probably take me 5 hours to erase and remake this!-

    - Well, you remember that Thing that moved behind the fabric of space right?- - Yeah-

    -So it is trying to come in here, I can''t fix the fabric so it is probably a matter of time before it does, also behind it, beyond the fabric of our own space I see what I think is the pink root.- -... are you suggesting that we need to let that thing in to gain access to the root?-

    - I¡¯m not suggesting anything but I don''t think I can get past that thing and somehow bring the root out¡­- - So how do we defeat it?-

    - Well it is the same as those bugs so unless you suddenly learned spatiotemporal magic I will have to solo it¡­- - Is there any good news?-

    - We have found the last root yay!?- -Not helping¡­ I will ask Ted if he can help you defensively if that is even possible to defend against¡­ I have my hands full at the moment. -

    - Ok! Don¡¯t die! - - What do you mean I''m just fixing a magic circle! It is you who I have to say: Don¡¯t die! -

    -I¡¯ll do my best- Right so the people we care about are still in danger because of the impending tornadoes and this Thing trying to get in. I have no idea how to fight this or fix the fabric¡­ I send more fox fires at this Thing and start circulating nature energy. My mana is starting to run low so I will have to start using frost magic soon, but on what¡­ I made a [Frostcloak] to absorb ambient mana. The Thing swung a claw at me and I dodged it. It seemed to be stuck which worked out for me but one set of claws was already inside our side of the dimensional fabric. Maybe I should completely shift to spatiotemporal magic the fox fires don''t seem to be doing much. I regret wiping out the shades because I could use them as a battery. This Thing didn''t seem to fire off magic or something I could get energy from it was just swiping its claws and shrieking. Another earthquake and the volcano exploded sending a large volume of magma and rocks into the sky. Right because it couldn''t get any worse. I saw Ted looking around, I guess he was trying to find me. I linked my vision with his.

    Oh, there you are, whoah! What is that? This is what I have to deal with.

    Uhm, I think that thing is out of my weight class, how can I lend a paw? I shifted my gaze upward.

    I need you to shoot those down with your [Meteor rain] else it will look like this town will get hit by one. Holy shit! Is that all from that volcanic explosion?

    Yup, I would love to help but¡­ I sent a spatial bolt at the Thing¡¯s many eyes making it move back a bit.

    You have your hands full; I get it, I will do my best! The problem is I don''t know many spatial attacks. I could use [Spatial Distortion] ... I used [Spatial Distortion] and tried to bend space to snap the claws off but this thing was sturdy. Ted started shooting [Meteor Rains] into the sky assisted by my eyes to snipe down the lava bombs raining down on the town. I wasn''t successful in pushing the Thing back but it also didn''t make much progress in its invasion. But I was consuming way more mana than I got from my [Frost cloak] and I was running nature magic on its max. I was standing on the dimensional fabric so I didn''t cause vegetation to sprout and grow but I probably would if I were standing on the ground. I need to make it more internalized to prevent that from happening but at this moment I didn''t have the luxury to deal with that. We have a problem¡­ I know.

    No there! Dunkey is causing problems again. Let a lava bomb drop on him none of us have time to deal with that.

    I will check what Raishin is up to. Ted shot down more lava bombs raining down on the town and I was attempting to push the Thing back but was failing. Its second set of claws also made it to this side and I wasn''t safe by standing on the dimensional fabric. But if I want to stand on the roofs it would claw at me and smash the buildings. I made 5 shadow clones. I let 2 help me out dealing with this Thing, 1 to help Ted out and 2 more to gather civilians willingly or forcefully and move them to Boshi lake. I will have the clones help Cecilia to make an ice floe with a dome to protect against lava bombs. Boshi lake Medium seemed relatively safe so that is where they will have to move to.

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    The north and east of the town were the parts that were getting hit by the most lava bombs falling down. Another explosion sent lava flying into the air. The three mountains have almost disappeared by now. I guess they all got converted into lava and launched into the air. The sky was very dark and lightning was traveling inside the clouds. I decided to shoot a frost ball up there to absorb some energy from the lightning up there. Since my clones didn''t care about the objections of these humans it didn''t take too long before the area directly under this Thing was evacuated. The Thing let out a roar. Ted who was still linked to me clutched his ears. It made the space quake. Earthquakes, space quakes can everything just stay stable! It crawled halfway into our side. It had more legs than a scorpion thing should have. When it put its legs down on our normal space whatever area it touched started to corrode. Yeah, letting this Thing in, is a bad idea but it''s not like I can do anything about it. I dodged a fast-moving object shooting at me.

    It obliterated the building I was standing on and the area that got hit was corroding at a very fast rate. What I just dodged was a scorpion tail stabbing at me. This Thing had 3 tails. I¡¯m sure this isn''t some 3 tailed mythical beast from our dimension. Other races have multiple tails and do not fall into the mythical category so theoretically, it could still be from our dimension but given these circumstances¡­ I walled off the areas that got corrupted by frost magic. It seemed that this stopped the spread of the corruption but it completely flooded me with energy. I got rid of the frost ball in the sky because, to be honest, it didn''t feed me much energy. I started wasting mana by firing off [Spatial distortions] and [Spatial bolts] left and right. I tried my best to not repeat the same scenario where I self-destructed. There was one problem though... The energy influx. I can remove the frost stopping the spread of corruption but then this town was done for. I decided to remove the frost and the corruption started to spread again. I jumped on the ground and plants started to grow around me. I dodged a claw swipe and landed next to the Things leg.

    Oh shit! Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Ted dashed at me and picked me up with his bear avatar.

    Hey, what''s the deal with those plants? I decided to give up on being a fox and decided to be a plant man.

    I¡¯m serious look the spot where you just stood is unaffected by the corruption. Plant man is overpowered, wait what? Another tail attack. I swapped Ted with some rubble and dodged. I knew for sure this tail attack was too fast for him to react to.

    Ted, a question, what would happen if I blast the whole area with nature energy? I have no idea, maybe this town will turn into a jungle?

    Well, the town is already a circus I guess adding a jungle and possibly a zoo wouldn''t hurt. I blasted the area with a nature energy wave and all the corruption got pushed back and halted. But as Ted guessed the town was starting to get taken over by nature.

    Welcome to the jungle! The Thing almost completely made it to this side and it seems the pink root was wrapped around its 3rd tail and it was pulling the root out into our dimension.

    Ted any suggestions on how to lure a giant 4-clawed 3-tailed thousand-eyed inter-dimensional scorpion? I don''t know. Lure it with food? I dodged another tail attack and swapped Ted into a young growing tree as he was in range of the follow-up claw attack.

    What does this thing even eat? Dimensional maggots? Maybe crunchy dimensional beetles? You gross me out but I guess?

    I don''t have any! I shot more spatial bolts at the Thing but I already knew it wouldn''t do much.

    How about you just piss it off? I¡¯m sure that is easy for you! Ted was still shooting down lava bombs. There were few but they could still do a lot of damage. My clones managed to evacuate a large part of the town and made a huge ice raft.

    We got an angry telepathic message from Greg. -Guys what is going on? Why is this place turning into a jungle? I can¡¯t finish my magic circle like this! - - Oops-

    - Why am I not surprised? - - In his defense, this ehh Thing is corrupting everything it touches and this jungle is countering that. I know that planting your magic circle might get delayed by this but you¡¯re barking up the wrong tree. - I shot a spatial bolt at Ted¡¯s feet.

    Hey come on that was a good one!

    -I made my clones evacuate people on a huge ice boat, I think you might have to give up on that circle. - -How are the townspeople taking it? -

    - Not so well but I don''t care. I''m sure they would be fleeing if they could see this Thing. - - Hey guys I finished my tornado duty! What''s up next? - - Get half of your tornadoes under control because they start to move inwards to the town. -

    - Anything that isn''t impossible? - - I will try and help you, I don''t have any wind affinity though so you will have to listen carefully to me. -

    - Meh, fine! -

    Well, I guess Greg just got a task harder than ours! Well, you say that but what are we going to do about this? You want to lure it to drag the root out sure but what after that? You don''t seem to do any damage to it.

    Oh, I can deal damage to it! I forgot! The Thing prepared to attack and I shattered 200 illusions 4 times to place [Confusion] on it. It shrieked in pain. It seemed to focus on me.

    Well congratulations you pissed it off, I think it¡¯s a special talent you have¡­ Heh! I¡¯m not done yet! I froze a big fishing pole with frost magic and threw the line toward where I wanted the Thing to go and attached fish, frozen in a ball to it.

    Gogo Thing! The sudden appearance of something big moving fast caught its attention and it followed it at a breakneck speed causing it to trample a big part of the town and dragging the root out in the open. It clawed at the ball of fish and attacked it twice with its tail and the fish started to corrode.

    I guess that''s not edible anymore¡­ You won''t be able to eat it anyway if this Thing manages to kill us! You might also want to look over there it seems it came with friends. Thousands of small things crawled out of the big hole into the open. I would say small but they were still about 1 meter tall. This Thing though, my estimate told me it was around 120 meters tall.

    So, what is the plan? We run.

    Finally, a plan I like. I grabbed Ted with my tails and weaved between the trees and buildings and headed toward the lake. The Thing shrieked as I dropped more [Confusion] on it. The town was almost completely turned into a jungle now.

    Hey, maybe you should stop circulating nature energy. Hmm, good idea. It was a habit by now but I kept circulating nature energy which probably fueled this transformation. The jungle slowly disappeared after I stopped circulating nature energy.

    Good thing it is reversible. I jumped on the dome of the boat my clones made as I looked at how the small Things were taking over the town. Raishin teleported next to us with Gregory. It seemed they gave up on controlling the tornadoes. The bad part was that the tornadoes didn''t affect the small Things. I linked Gregory and Raishin up to show them what we¡¯re dealing with.

    I see things didn''t go well. Hmm they don''t seem to affect this world just yet but I''m not sure how long that will last, there is still some residual nature energy counteracting the corruption but who knows for how long. Another earthquake.

    Noo, noo! Not now! More bad news?

    The dragon trapped in the shadow is trying to break out. Great, more bad news?

    ¡°Hello, boys!¡± Before I could react, I got smothered. Help! Azu! You are going to kill him like that¡­ I got freed.

    Guys, now we are really screwed, now we also have to deal with this witch!

    ¡°Hey, come on! I¡¯m here to help! But there doesn''t seem to be anything to help with¡­ And you''re barefeet again...¡± Right¡­ you can''t see this mess. Link her up!

    Yes yes, you are forgetting that this isn''t as easy as I make it seem, I''ve been with you guys since forever that''s the only reason that it is easy.

    ¡°Ooh, I get to see things from your beautiful eyes? Lucky me!¡± Ugh, my headache returned¡­ Azu come here. Not that close! Well, I guess this works. Lucky guy, he gets a hug from a hot chick¡­

    Right, since you are way stronger than me can you try to match my wavelength?

    ¡°Can I play with your tails in the meantime?¡± Ugh, really?

    ¡°Yes! Thank you!¡± She grabbed 2 of my tails and played with them while continuing to hug me. I can feel that you¡¯re done, that was insanely fast¡­

    ¡°Noo, I''m not done yet!¡± You just want to play with my tails! I tried to link Azu¡¯s vision with mine and it went smoothly. I could feel that she was shocked.

    ¡°What is that!¡± Azu, please... You''re squeezing the life out of me! I explained the situation.

    ¡°Ooh, I can help! I think¡­¡± That works. Ooh, pick me! Nope, I need you to help me out Raishin, I need you to teleport to that mountain there and feed me energy to deal with that dragon.

    Wait that''s happening now? Not now but I want to be prepared, Agnis can you show him where to teleport to? I would love to if I knew what mountain you¡¯re talking about.

    Right... Where was that marker filter, uhm let''s see oh here, this mountain.

    ¡°Oooh, this is so cool! Hey, Agnis do you want to become my research partner after I''ve dealt with the mess my release will cause?¡± Uhh, let''s focus on escaping first! Ok, let''s go, Greg! What about me? Can you lead these people to the underground city? I hate to say it but you only have 1 life¡­

    Hmm, that is fine. Ok, you can kick us out of the link Agnis, it will probably distract us, let''s go Raishin! Roger! Do you still remember how to get down there?

    I have a working memory yes, I will be fine make sure you don''t overdo it. Everything will be fine!

    Yeah, I don''t buy it... Hey Azu can I ask you something?

    ¡°Hmm? Of course sweetie! Ask away!¡± Can you make sure this guy doesn''t die? Jeez what an overprotective brother.

    ¡°Of course! I won''t let him die on my watch!¡± Azu took a confident pose. Good, then I have nothing to worry about, I''m sure Agnis won''t be able to die even if he wanted with someone as stupidly powerful as you. Hey!

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll take gooood care of him!¡± Hey... that didn''t sound right! I kicked Ted out of the link and I dodged a bear hug from a blue haired witch. We need to deal with those things!

    ¡°Just one more hug!¡± You can hug me and play with my tails all you want after we mopped up those things! At that moment I felt instant regret. The way she looked at me after I said that made me more scared of her than these Things.

    ¡°Deal!¡± I might have made a mistake¡­ Azu spiked in magical power, grabbed my hand, and jumped at the Thing. Whoa, wait! We landed on the Thing and she covered her foot in spatial magic and stomped on it. The Thing went through its legs and fell to the ground.

    ¡°Hey have you used my skills yet?¡± Uhh only [Tsunami], it is super useful.

    ¡°Aww you called me useful!¡± I dodged another bearhug but was caught by a follow up. How does she even keep landing these hugs she isn''t moving extremely fast or anything. Focus, please¡­

    ¡°Right, let''s get rid of those tails first.¡± The Thing was continuously trying to attack us with its tails but Azu made a dimensional barrier to block them. Hey, can you teach me some spatial skills?

    ¡°I can but do you really need them? You should have almost unlimited freedom in forming spells now, right?¡± Oh¡­

    ¡°Are my skills that untrustworthy?¡± Ehh, no not that it¡¯s just that most things I do are out of habit, I have used it several times but I haven''t put much energy into it yet¡­

    ¡°Hmm, that makes sense.¡± Azu formed a hammer out of spatial magic and hammered it on the Thing¡¯s back and kept going and crushed 2 of the big Thing¡¯s tails when they attempted to attack her.

    ¡°So how about we use a combo attack! Let''s use every skill I gave you to wipe these Things out!¡± I released another wave of nature energy because corruption started to encroach on Boshi town and the jungle started to grow again. Uhm water doesn''t work on these things. Azu laughed.

    ¡°Silly Agnis, that doesn''t matter if you mix it with spatial magic!¡± She sent a [Water blast] at a small Thing and it got obliterated, it also made a crater in the overgrown pavement.

    ¡°You know that spatiotemporal and lightning magic are the only types of magic that can mix with other magic without affecting the outcome of the magic skill much right?¡± Uhh, I did not know that, I guess I''ve been unconsciously lacing fire with spatial magic.

    ¡°Oh, that seems to be normal for spirit foxes! Anyways just do it with water, I¡¯m sure you can do it.¡± I don''t think I''ve ever mixed spatial magic with anything besides fire.

    ¡°How about I help you a bit?¡± Hey hey, what are you doing? I got this! I stepped back and fired a [Water blast] at a small Thing but it didn''t do anything.

    ¡°Come on! Let me help you!¡± I ran away from Azu while trying to properly mix spatial magic with water magic. This was trickier than I thought. Doing it with fire was quite instinctive. I had to think for this. Moreover, I had a blue-haired witch chasing me!

    ¡°Oh, I don''t mind doing some chasing! I love a challenge!¡±. I was way faster than Azu, but she was using spatial magic to cheat and catch up to me. So, I got unnecessarily extra pressure on me because I needed to figure this out before she got serious and caught me. She still seemed to be acting playful. In the meantime, I blasted small Things with fox fires laced with spatial magic and obliterated them. There were so many... The root got dragged out more in the open and smaller side roots grew out of it and burrowed into the ground. I sent another laced [Water blast] at a small Thing and it got destroyed. No crater in the pavement though¡­

    ¡°Aww, you figured it out by yourself¡­" Sadly this didn''t stop the chase. I swapped myself with a small Thing.

    ¡°Hey!¡± I fired off more [water blasts] and other water skills laced with spatial magic to make sure I got it right.

    ¡°Wow, it only took you a half hour to figure that out, that took me 2 hours when I first thought of it!¡± What a monster¡­ I had my tails assist me in this. You don''t have any tails¡­

    ¡°Hehe, I¡¯m amazing, eh? Now praise me by letting me play with those fluffy tails!¡± I don''t think that''s how praising works! I swapped myself with more Things because I had the feeling she got used to my speed and could catch me if I got unlucky.

    ¡°Ah right, I forgot, you will only let me if we wipe them all out! Now that you figured it out come here!¡± She instantly caught me by using spatial magic and moved us to the edge of Boshi lake medium. I got caught¡­

    ¡°Yes, you are a naughty boy and I will have to teach you a lesson!¡± What?

    ¡°Ahem, well just follow my lead! I need you to do your best because your spatial magic seems more effective on them than mine!¡± Are we going to use the combo that you used to slap that jerk Zarrazax?

    ¡°Yes! It is as if you read my mind!¡± I¡¯m starting to become concerned that I might get completely sucked in your pace.

    ¡°You remember how it goes right?¡± Ehh, [Tsunami], 2 skills of which one has to do a lot of damage, and then [Azure mist]?

    ¡°Yes! Let''s show these Things not to mess with us!¡± We both used [Tsunami]. The idea sounded good. But I just saw 2 enormous walls of water move toward Boshi town. Mine was 50 meters high, Azu¡¯s [Tsunami] was 100 meters high. The waves swept the big Thing away. Of course, the small Things stood no chance. I formed a [Water ball] into the form of an icicle and threw it at the big Thing, Azu used a [Water blast] and a water skill I didn''t know but a huge shark made out of water jumped out of Boshi lake and bit off the Thing¡¯s last tail. It continued to swim around and bite off the legs. I decided to fire off a variation of a skill that I used before. I used [Foxfire: Summer Heat] It was a foxfire 4 times larger than [Foxfire: Winter¡¯s end] and it was multi-colored, it was mainly a blue flame but it had red and orange flames mixed with it.

    ¡°So pretty!¡± It dropped down and it created an enormous steam explosion. This was deliberate. I was cheating and sneaking in an extra attack but it wouldn''t eat a free charge because it was a reaction between dropping this on a big body of water. Since the water and the fire were laced with spatial magic this steam explosion was too.

    ¡°And now for the finale!¡± Azu seemed very excited and she was spreading out her hands like she was enjoying this. Water vapor was covering the whole area but I guess that didn''t matter because our next attack is [Azure mist] so water vapor or not the area would get foggy anyways. We both used [Azure mist]. The fog turned azure-colored. The Thing screamed and went silent. Wait, what happened?

    ¡°It died too fast!¡± Wait how? I didn''t see what happened!

    ¡°It died too fast!¡± Azu seemed like someone who just had someone ruin her party. The fog disappeared and revealed an enormous crater caused by the steam explosion. I tried to fix the big spatial hole but nothing I did would work. I just decided to make a [Firewall] laced with spatial magic to make sure no smaller Things would get in. It would replace the dimensional fabric in keeping things outside but it didn''t fix anything. I soothed Azu who seemed upset. I felt quite tired. I froze a couch on the lake and set down to rest. Azu approached me.

    ¡°Hehe, it is time!¡± Ugh, I promised, didn''t I? Azu spent an hour playing and cuddling my tails.

 Ch 70: The root of the problem

    After an hour of getting my tails cuddled and played with, I decided to undo this huge crater by sacrificing 20 illusion layers. I should start throwing these around because I have way too many of them. The town started to turn back to normal because I stopped circulating nature energy. I wondered if this could help fix the fabric. I got up but Azu was still wrapped in my tails so I just carried her with me. I used nature energy on the dimensional fabric but nothing happened. I guess I was out of ideas.

    The firewall flared up a bit because several little Things tried to get through it but got one shot. At least that is working, I could see beyond the fabric now but it just looked like a void. Normally I wouldn''t get the idea to go in there but the root came from somewhere. I jumped on the root and walked through the [firewall] beyond the fabric. And now for certain, I have left the dimension. I checked my [dimensional anchor]. Everything was ok for now, if I walked back over this root, I would be fine. I covered myself and Azu in a [Frostcloak]. Azu seemed like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn. It seemed like she had no idea what was going on around her. Sometimes she can be such a child, but I guess I¡¯m one too. I decided to disturb her only when I needed her assistance.

    I continued walking over the root. There was only void around me. I went through multiple filters but no matter what I did I couldn''t see further than 10 meters in front of me. I was scared, actually terrified of this situation. There were only 3 things that made me continue doing this. The fact that this root is basically a path, my dimensional anchor, and Azu. I held one of my tails in nervousness as I continued to follow the root. I can''t tell how long I¡¯ve been walking; time seems to pass here but how relevant that is here is to be seen. Azu was still completely absorbed in playing with my tails and being completely wrapped in them so she probably still doesn''t notice what is going on.

    The moment I decided to turn back I saw something that looked like a window. The root came out of this window. Something was up with this. Every step felt heavy and seemed to double my anxiety. I approached the window and looked through it.

    What I saw made me even more anxious. I saw a wall with what looked like a trophy wall. I looked into the room from behind the window, the room seemed to be a long room. It was about 5 meters wide but over 50 meters long and along the walls I could spot different items on display, all with pictures above them.

    I recognized many of these items. They were all ripped-out tails of nine-tail foxes. I clutched the tail I was holding. The pictures all seemed to have the same woman on them, they looked like victory pictures. In front of the window there seemed to be something that looked like a big snow globe, it had a pink broccoli in it and this root seemed to grow out of it. The room also seemed to have 5 more similar-looking snow globes but they had other objects in them. One looked like a jungle, another one was an anchor, they all had strange objects in them.The majority of the ¡®trophies¡¯ here were sets of 9 tails but there were also various other items like eyes in jars, golden objects, strange rocks and other objects that were more suitable for a trophy room. I was absolutely terrified.

    Suddenly my intuition told me to drop the intensity of my Elgards eyes to stealth mode. The only time I used this before was to sneak out of my room and to not trigger my sisters because they could tell when I was using my eyes, so that''s why I developed a stealth mode. Seconds after I put my eyes in stealth mode a woman entered the room. I recognized this woman; it was the same woman that was in every picture in this room. She had long black hair, pale white skin and red lips, she was quite beautiful but something told me that her personality is rotten. She seemed to like gold a lot. She was¡­ she was wearing a fancy-looking coat made out of¡­ fur. My instincts told me to run but the fear felt like it petrified me. I clutched the tail I was holding to my chest.

    ¡°That is bizarre, I thought I felt the gaze of Elgards eyes, I must have been mistaken.¡± She gracefully walked into the room as if she owned the place, I guess she really did. She looked at several of her trophies and seemed to be happy. ¡°But this is convenient, that bitch Chiara ruined my precious coat.¡± Her fancy coat seemed to be damaged.

    ¡°It is a good thing I have more than enough tails to make a new one!¡± She laughed and seemed to be proud of herself that she had ¡®backup¡¯. She looked at the tails of the foxes she most likely brutally murdered and choose one. ¡°Hmm, let''s see, oh these are the tails of that fox. Rignef, you fool, if you abandoned that spirit, you would have lived but that is fine because you realized that you were better off as my trophy. I will grace you the highest honor of becoming my new coat.¡± She took the tails off the wall. My fear and anxiety slowly turned into anger.

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    ¡°Hmm let me take the time to remind myself why I am the greatest goddess of Yabia. You put up a good fight, your frost magic was impressive but not as impressive as the softness of your tails, I enjoyed your screams as I ripped these tails out.¡° She walked over to a snow globe with the jungle in it.

    ¡°You were one of the most obnoxious spirit foxes I¡¯ve ever fought, sadly I couldn''t kill you so I had to seal you away, I will make another attempt when I run out of tails. What was your name again? Norya, right, just as obnoxious as her mother¡± She had these monologues in front of most of the trophies that were in the room and then she stopped in from of the snow globe with the pink broccoli. Her face was close which made me highly uncomfortable but it seemed that she couldn''t see me. She looked at the pink broccoli snow globe. Even though she didn''t seem to show much emotion when talking about the other trophies for this one she showed disgust.

    ¡°You made a complete fool out of me; your retainer even banished my favorite pet! I hope you rot in that prison.¡± That is all she had to say to the pink broccoli snow globe. She continued her routine. She then stopped. ¡°I also need a new robe¡­ she took more tails off the wall. I froze myself to the root to make sure I wouldn''t do something super stupid like attacking her.

    ¡°Hmm, my stock of tails is running low, I haven''t seen any nine-tailed spirit foxes for millennia¡­ I made sure to not drive them to extinction. I won¡¯t be able to enjoy this high-quality fur if I do.¡± She walked around and looked at the empty spots on the wall where previously the tails were hanging. She then started to laugh.

    ¡°My own ingenuity perplexes me sometimes; I will just have to breed them! male nine-tail foxes are exceedingly rare though¡­¡± My anger turned back into fear. She continued her monologue but I had seen enough. I needed to get out of here. I unfroze myself and turned around to start running back when I got met by a hug.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry you had to go through that¡­¡± for the first time I hugged Azu back. ¡°Let''s get out of here.¡± She picked me up and ran back over to the root. Before we got too far from the root, I put a 5-layered illusion over the pink broccoli snow globe. From how this woman behaved it seemed that the snow globes were prisons, the fact that this root is connected to the snow globe means something. I hope I¡¯m wrong but if this root gets destroyed this snow globe might be able to tell that woman that the prison is broken. I don''t feel like dealing with that dangerous woman. I had a good idea who she might be but I had no proof other than she referred herself to as a goddess.

    She seemed to be quite narcissistic so maybe that was that but she did mention the name of another goddess I have heard the name of before. My mental energy gave out and the fear started to take over my body again and I started to shake. Azu tightened her hold on me and sped up. After a bit, the [firewall] appeared and she jumped out of it.

    ¡°It¡¯s ok now, we''re back safely.¡° I was still holding onto my tail and shaking. I got another hug and heard things got blasted away in the background but at this point, I was too busy trying to get this uncontrollable fear under control.

    ¡°I already hated that bitch but to think she had a sick hobby like this! I¡¯m pissed! When I get free, I will make sure she doesn''t get away with this!¡± I have never heard Azu talk like this but it calmed me down for a bit. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Agnis, I won''t let her get to you, not if I can help it.¡± I grabbed another tail. Thank you, Azu, just a question, how rare are silver foxes?

    ¡°Please Agnis, you don¡¯t want to hear the answer to that¡­¡± All those tails were red, orange, blue, pink, brown, gold or gold brown, one set was black. Even in Hourai, there were hardly any silver foxes only me¡­

    ¡°I see¡­ well it is as you guessed they are very rare¡­¡± I tried to forget what I just witnessed but I couldn''t get it out of my head. I started to realize another reason when 5 years ago my sister tried to make my hair black. I looked at my silver tails. I applied an illusion to them to make them black. ¡°I like them more silver-colored, but I understand why you would do that.¡± Hey, Azu?

    ¡°Yes, sweetie?¡± If you ever encounter her and she is wearing a silver coat, can you kill her and find my mother Edea Hourai? Azu hugged me again.

    ¡°She won''t get you I promise!¡± I spent an hour sorting out my emotions. This was so unlike me; I try to keep my emotions in check.

    I slapped my cheeks. Sorry about that Azu, I¡¯m fine now. She was again playing with my tails but more careful and her mind seemed to be somewhere else. She looked up. Do you by any chance know how to fix this? I pointed at the dimensional fabric that still had a hole in it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t, sorry, this is something only a nine-tailed spirit fox can help you with, I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± Don¡¯t worry about it.

    ¡°Are you sure you are, ok? You are still holding your tail; you seem to do that when you''re anxious.¡± I looked at the black tail that I was holding and let it go. Yeah, I''m fine, thank you. I strengthened the [firewall] a bit more because some Things seem to have slipped through it while we were away. Azu was absentmindedly blasting them so they weren''t causing any problems. I spent the rest of the day with Azu monitoring the hole in the dimensional fabric and the root that was sticking out of it.

 Ch 71: Monochrome Dragon

    Raishin teleported us to the problematic mountain. This mountain was a considerable distance removed from the newly formed volcanoes so the only problematic factor is how unstable this shadow is. Wow, it must be really bad if even I can see what shadow is the problem. Raishin was correct, one shadow, in particular, was acting bizarre. Personally, I have never seen a shadow act like this but I know in theory what actions to perform in this situation. The shadow in question was moving as if restless, also a pair of dragon eyes had formed and glowed periodically. Our forces were split up, I would have preferred to deal with this dragon with the 4 of us. I decided to stall the dragon by attempting to stabilize the shadow.

    Raishin, can you slowly pour energy into my shadow? I am going to attempt to stall this dragon till Agnis and Ted can help us out. Don''t forget Azu!

    We especially need the help of Azu but she is making sure that Agnis doesn''t die so we will just have to be patient. Ok, here is some energy.

    We will have to put up with this for an undetermined amount of time, you know that right? Although fighting a dragon sounds exciting, I don''t feel like dying so go for it! I stepped on the problematic shadow causing my shadow to mix with it and I attempted to stabilize the shadow. It was fierce in its counterattacks; it is a dragon after all. But as long as it was trapped in the shadows it would have to obey me as its master.

    Attempting to gain control was straining at first but after half an hour I mastered the execution. I was putting both my tails on simulations to help me refine and perfect it, and also to come up with solutions when the situation gets worse. That is correct ¡®when¡¯ not ¡®if¡¯. It required utmost focus and precision so while I was maintaining control my tails would be responsible for dealing with other problems.

    Uhh, Greg, what are these? Shadowshards, it is this dragon''s way of fighting back. You could defeat them with well-placed flash bombs.

    Won''t that mess with your shadow? It is impossible to mess with my shadow unless you are a shadow cat yourself, go crazy with the flash bombs. I took sunshades out of my bag and put them on. Several flash bombs went off.

    Aaah! My eyes! Idiot. I fetched a spare out of my bag and threw it at Raishin.

    Thanks! Despite Raishin¡¯s flash bombs the number of shadow shards seemed to slowly increase. I allowed a tail to gain control over shadow magic and it decimated the shadow shards while I was maintaining control over the trapped dragon. Some shadow shards increased in size in response to Raishin adding lightning attacks in between his barrage of flash bombs.

    Don''t use regular magic! You will just feed them, and treat them like you are fighting shards made out of frost magic. So, I run?

    That is a valid conclusion normally but we can''t run now. So only flash bombs and shadow magic work?

    If you produce enough light to make them disappear then that will be enough. Maintaining control over the trapped dragon and dispatching shadow shards became taxing on my magical facilities. I grabbed an anti-nausea potion and downed it. I never had to attempt something this big and draining before. I wasn''t completely sure if I was doing the right thing in this particular situation. I assume this is similar to how Agnis must feel. My problem seems a bit more straightforward though. The rate at which I had to ingest anti-nausea potions increased. The sky was quite dark because of the ash, this made it easier to control the shadow. Without the ash covering the sun this dragon would have escaped no doubt.

    At nightfall, I would be able to rest. The more distinct the shadow the more effort I need to put in to keep it in check. Raishin was holding out well. He seemed to have mastered the art of using flash bombs. The shadow shards didn''t seem to decrease in numbers but they weren''t increasing in numbers either. As long as we could hold out till nightfall, we would be able to rest. I started to think of a reason why so many phenomena had defense mechanisms. I am assuming those Things that crawled out of that dimensional tear were a form of defense mechanism, I might be wrong on this, Agnis thinks they are invaders from beyond our dimension.

    The shades seem to also be some defense mechanism, just like these shadow shards. Something or someone must have put these systems in place else it would be unrealistic that everything has a defense mechanism. I dispatched more shadow shards and ingested my last potion. The sky started to darken considerably and the number of shadow shards dropped dramatically, also the energy required to keep the dragon in check dropped gradually.

    You can rest Raishin, the rest will disappear in just a bit. I stopped controlling the dragon because it did not have enough energy to break out. I was exhausted and Raishin seemed to show signs of physical exhaustion.

    Oof, do we have to do this tomorrow as well? Yes, but I don''t think we can hold out for long. We might have to fight the dragon tomorrow. Depending on how bright it is tomorrow we might have time to prepare or none at all. Assume that we will have to deal with it at daybreak.

    Ugh, you weakened it right? I did but it is inconsequential in its total power, it won''t cause us to get a miraculous win. It will probably still destroy us; our only hope is Azu and maybe some impossible trick Agnis comes up with.

    Can''t you just banish it again after it gets out? Not when it gets shadow corrupted, we either have to defeat it usually, defeat it with a solid light attack, or rip the shadow out of it and then banish it again. I don''t know how to rip its shadow out so that option is out, it is theoretically the safest option that has the lowest fail rate¡­

    I guess just like Agnis you¡¯re too young to have been taught how to do that. Yes¡­ Raishin grabbed his head and acted all dramatical.

    Aaagh! Why can''t they just send stuff our way that we just have to vaporize? Things would be quite easy if that was the case yeah¡­

    Hey, what is that? Uhh, that doesn''t look good, I hope Agnis can manage to stay alive. Darkness descended on the Boshi plateau but in the distance in Boshi town, we could see that the root started to glow dark pink.

    Hey Greg¡­ Sup?

    I have the feeling that Azu and Agnis won''t be able to help us tomorrow. Hmm, yeah, I was thinking the same. The glowing root was giving both of me and Raishin a bad feeling. I guess we all had a rough day but it seems his day isn''t over yet.

    Can that dragon be only hit by shadow or light attacks? It depends if it had a big weakness before it got sealed that weakness will persist but besides that, it will be immune to any element besides dark and light magic.

    Please be weak to lightning, please be weak to lightning! Wait none of us can use light magic! Didn''t you have a mild affinity for it? Don''t you have any light-based magic circles?

    Uhhhh¡­ I facepalmed. What was I expecting? I strained my brain to check if I could recall a light-based magic circle. I couldn''t.

    The first thing you are going to do when you find a light-based magic circle is study it until you''ve mastered it! Ugh, I hate studying.

    We¡¯ve noticed¡­ I think when push comes to shove you should use [Solar stream] on the dragon. It seemed to be a mix of fire and light magic so it should work. Aye, sir! I will only use it when you tell me to! I urged Raishin to rest since tomorrow will be a long day. I was wondering how Agnis is holding up. I attempted a Teleroad message but it didn''t seem to go through. I assume he is busy. I checked on Ted.

    -How are things going with the evacuation? - - I fully understand now why Agnis sent some of these people to get vaporized. It is like they are deliberately making things difficult for me. -

    - Are you in the underground city now? - - Yes, it took a long time to convince Isi to let these people in. Luckily Agnis¡¯ clone was helpful in this because she might not have agreed without that clone by our side. I am busy preventing these people from carelessly claiming rooms in the palace. Agnis¡¯ clone seems to put in a lot of work but it seems that it is running out of juice, how is the real Agnis doing? I can''t reach him. -

    - Hmm, we can''t reach him either but the Thing¡¯s are gone. I assume because I can feel Agnis'' energy which I normally can¡¯t feel when he is dealing with his dimensional stuff. But the pink root seems a bit bigger and is glowing so he might have different problems now.- - I see, how is Raishin behaving?-

    - He was behaving well today, so I will allow him to misbehave tomorrow because that is probably when the dragon will escape.- - I will try my best to wrap up things here, delegate the responsibility to Paul and Paula, and come and help you guys-

    - Take your time, we don''t want you to rush here to end up dying, I am expecting both of us to lose some lives against this dragon, in the worst-case scenario Raishin will use [Solar stream], and if that doesn''t work we have to lure it to Azu.- -Be careful, I have to go, Donkey and Monkey are causing problems, I might have to beat them up.-

    - Have fun.- Raishin went out to catch some fish in a small lake nearby. We had fish yet again and decided to sleep early.

    <hr>

    Day 3: I awoke and the first thing I noticed was that the ash clouds had disappeared and the sky was magenta colored. I got up and looked in the direction of Boshi town. I saw multiple pink spears flying around, large shades, and a lot of frost and water magic flying around. I don¡¯t have to deal with that mess but I started to get a headache. So, this is how Agnis must feel constantly. The dragon trapped in the shadow was stirring but it wasn''t bright enough for it to break free. I decided to ignore it and wake Raishin to start our preparations. Ugh, why so early? Because if we wait longer the dragon will escape and you will have no time to prepare.

    Meh, so what do we prepare? The moment it escapes from the shadow I want you to spot its weak spot and hit it with every element you can use and pay attention to what does damage. I will also need you to pour more energy into my shadows, I will attempt to shoot it down with abyss magic, I will need you to keep it busy while I set it up.

    Ooh, are you going to one-shot it? I am scratching the bare requirements with a fully saturated shadow so it won''t be very powerful so I would be surprised if it could kill the dragon.

    Ok! Do I get to use my [Fusionado]? Uhh, do you have anything that is more environmentally friendly but still strong?

    Like my [Raishin kick]? If you can Raishin kick a dragon I would say, go for it.

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    But I will need you to keep it on one spot because the beginning isn¡¯t lightning-based. Just lightning glitter it, and imbue the beginning with lightning¡­

    Oh! You''re a genius! This is going to be a long day¡­ For once in a long time, I prepared curses to drop on the dragon to weaken it. I also ran simulations on how and where to hit the dragon with abyss magic. There was a high probability that this won''t do sufficient damage to the dragon. It was nearing noon and the sky became brighter and brighter pink. The shadows stirred and a black mass shot up to the sky from the shadow. There in the bright pink sky, there he was, a monochromatic dragon. It had its eyes focused on me.

    The sky got littered with lightning glitter and a [Lightning beam], [Fire beam] and [Wind lance] shot out. Only the lightning beam hit. The dragon let out a deafening roar. It appears that it resisted the lightning attack. It dove at me. I needed more time before I could use abyss magic so I [Shadow melded] into my own shadow to dodge the attack. I reappeared from my shadow and continued readying my abyss magic. Raishin was still trying to hit his [Fire beam] and [Wind lance]. I remembered where Raishin hit the dragon with his lightning beam so I sent a [water ball] in the form of an icicle at that spot and some [Lava bombs] They both hit but only the icicle seemed to do damage.

    Great, it is weak to water, it just so happens that 2 strong water users are dealing with pink spears in Boshi town¡­ What? It is weak to water? Why not lightning?

    Water is regarded as the weakest element so having water weaknesses won''t be a big disadvantage. Meh, so [Fusionado]?

    I am not sure if that will work but wait with it. Keep it busy I¡¯m almost done. I launched myself to the side to dodge a light-based [Dragon breath]

    Take this! [Raishin kick!] It is not a kick though¡­

    Owowow this dragon is hard! Raishin¡¯s swipe with his spear didn¡¯t do anything but hurt his hand in the process. The dragon slapped Raishin with its tail and he flew into a rock wall. I attempted to [Shadow bind] the dragon but its physical strength was too great so I couldn''t restrict it for too long. I cast the curses [Heavy body] and [Hex] on it. [Heavy body] went through and the dragon fell to the ground but [Hex] got resisted. I attempted another [Shadow bind] and this was somewhat successful. I cast another curse [Exsanguinate] but this got resisted. Raishin managed to hit the dragon now but he wasn''t doing any damage.

    You can start casting [Fusionado] nothing you do seems to work; my abyss magic is ready. I didn''t have a name for it and it was relatively weak I just named it [Abyssal Bolt]. A bolt blacker than I¡¯ve ever seen shot out. Observing the blackness of this bolt seemed more like going blind than observing something extremely dark. It was hard to continue looking at. The dragon seemed to have the same but it covered itself with its wing. The wing got obliterated but the rest of the dragon was still there. It howled and thrashed, broke my [Shadow bind], and attempted to take off to the sky. But it couldn''t, [Heavy body] was still in effect and it was missing a wing. It roared and a huge magic circle showed up behind it.

    This is bad! I launched myself at Raishin and covered us in a small [Shadow dome] Because I had to travel to Raishin before taking defensive measures I didn''t have enough time to use more and the shock of the attack sent us flying as well as breaking my [shadow dome]. I got up from that attack and saw the whole area covered in some whitish sticky liquid. The blast injured both of us heavily. I looked at Boshi town.

    There is a huge chance that we are outside the range of Agnis'' illusion protection. I hate to say it but we have to lure this thing to the town. Raishin, get up, are you ok? Ugh, everything hurts, I don¡¯t think I¡¯m okay though.

    Unfortunately, we don''t have time for this. I grabbed Raishin and dodged a tail swipe by shadow melding. The white liquid seemed to have eliminated all the shadows on the floor except mine. It removed Raishin¡¯s shadow and it was attacking his feet.

    Owowow! Stand in my shadow. Raishin moved to stand on my shadow and he seemed to be fine. The rednadoes Raishin made fused into one and turned orange but it still wasn''t doing any damage to the dragon. The dragon inhaled. Hey, do you have some more of those walls and domes? I can only use [earth walls] I will have to move my shadow away from you to use any shadow skills now, and I don''t know what it will do to you so we might have to take the hit. Use your shadow skills! Raishin climbed on my back. I used [Shadow cloak] on both of us, [Shadow wall] [Shadow dome], and various [earth walls].

    I have been trying to teleport us away but it keeps getting interrupted. Light dragons are quite slow so their racial ability disables any form of disengagement relating to teleports. We would need Agnis to get us out of here.

    Everything here is cheating! We got hit by a light-based [Dragon breath] but also another light-based attack. It punched through all the defenses besides the shadow cloaks and sent us flying. Both Raishin and I lost a life in the process. We tumbled down the mountain and the monochrome dragon followed us. It sent some [Dark waves] at us but our shadow cloaks grants increased resistance to shadow and dark-based attacks so these didn''t hurt as much.

    A bright light appeared on top of the mountain which was probably the [Fusionado] but it was safe to say that Raishin missed again. I made 2 [Rock plates] and we used them as some form of a skateboard. I had to manipulate the rocks and earth in front of us to make sure we wouldn''t crash. We left the monochrome dragon behind which it didn''t like. It started to send fast-moving [Light beams] at us. Here is a funny thing. Normally these would travel at light speed but because of its forced shadow affinity and it being so naturally slow even these beams seemed to become slower. It was still fast enough to become a threat but as long as we paid attention, we should only get hit by 1 or 2.

    Heh, this is cool! Raishin seemed to be uselessly good at this skateboarding while I was struggling to keep myself from making an ugly fall. I made some [shadow walls] behind us to block the [Light beams] we couldn''t dodge. I got hit by 2 in my back but I have high magical defenses and the shadow cloak helped out. Raishin got hit once and he seems off worse than me. The monochrome dragon roared and formed a wing out of shadows and took off to the sky.

    Wait he can do that?! I agree that is cheating. I tried my best to protect us from the attacks from above. We were feeling the lack of Ted¡¯s bear avatar or Agnis CC or speed.

    Greg! I can''t use [Solar stream] like this even when I lock it onto myself with this much movement it is certainly going to miss! Aha so that stupidly overpowered skill has a weakness!

    How is this helping? Good point. Alright, it is time to drop him with a [Liberation]. I threw my hammer at the dragon and cast [Liberation] from its shadow. It roared and crashed to the ground. I retrieved my hammer by pulling its shadow towards me.

    That dragon sure is slow to get hit by that¡­ At least I hit my attacks¡­

    Pff minor details! We arrived at the base of the mountain.

    Can we teleport now? Meh, still can''t. Raishin used [Thundercloak], grabbed me, and dashed away from another light-based [Dragon breath]

    So are we in range of Agnis¡¯ illusions now? I feel like I''m about to kick the bucket soon. I¡¯m not sure, he said it had the same range as the prison but as you can see, we¡¯re still far from it. How many lives do you have left?

    After this one 5. Ugh, can you hold on a bit longer if we are getting close to losing this one might as well use it. We are going to make that dragon launch us into the prison.

    Die since we are going to lose this one anyway, eh? I like it! We are finally starting to rub off on you! I¡¯m not proud of it at all! Can you provoke it?

    Hey, dragon! Yo, momma is so fat, when she gets on a scale it says: To be continued! How is that going to work? The dragon roared and seemed genuinely pissed off.

    Well, I''m stumped, that actually worked¡­ Hehe, I was Hourai¡¯s ¡®Yo momma¡¯ jokes champion!

    So useless! I put up defensive skills but made sure that the incoming attack would ideally launch us toward Boshi town, the only problem is¡­

    This is going to hurt like hell. Do you have anti-hurt potions?

    Don''t you think I would have used them already if I had something convenient like that? Just askin¡¯ We got hit by an unfamiliar light-based attack. The defensive skills shattered and sent us flying. The pain was seeping into every fiber of my being until the life was expended. I recast [Shadow cloak] to make sure we wouldn''t lose any more before getting in range of the prison.

    I believe I can fly! I believ... Shush! Go arrange that we have a safe landing! The dragon was flying after us but it was still slow so after landing, we would have some time to prepare. I had enough energy stored for another [Liberation] but I was unsure how to use it because it didn''t seem to do much damage to this dragon. I could knock him out of the sky¡­ I decided to stall for as much time as possible and threw my hammer and dropped another [Liberation] on the dragon. It yet again got knocked out of the sky. I tried to manipulate the wing made out of shadow but I couldn''t manage to alter it. I suddenly felt as if I got caught by the wind and got lifted up.

    Raishin¡­ Sup!

    Of all the wind magic you know. WHY DID YOU CATCH US WITH [Tornado]? Ehh, oops?

    If this dragon wasn''t out to kill us, I would kill you myself! The tornado carried us upward in a classic tornado manner. All my plans of having time to prepare for the dragon''s attack got blown away with this tornado.

    Can you at least move this tornado toward the town? Haha, you know I can''t control where tornadoes go right? Who needs enemies with allies like him? I grabbed Raishin with a [Shadow tendril] and used gravity magic which caused us to get flung out of the tornado and then reduce our weight to make a relatively safe landing. I smacked Raishin and we started running toward Boshi town. For a lack of better words, It was raining pink spears. I saw something that looked like purple lightning flashes zip around. I assume that is Agnis. An enormous ice wall towered over Boshi Lake and it seemed to be blocking, what I assume are [Tsunami] echoes. The dragon roared and started to catch up.

    Sup guys, what brings you to this part of the town? Multiple spears that were locked on Agnis headed toward us.

    Are you trying to kill us?! Woops sorry! He vanished and the pink spears all flew to another spot.

    - We need Azu to deal with this dragon, where is she? - - She is throwing a tantrum because she couldn¡¯t one-shot this root-

    -Aha¡­ so can you get her? - - Sure, maybe the dragon likes pink spears in its diet. - I saw some flashes of lightning and then suddenly countless pink spears headed toward the dragon. I saw something blue drop on the dragon.

    - I would advise you guys to run. - - We were planning to but let me still ask why. -

    -Well to get her out of her tantrum I told her I would make her some ice cream if she would deal with the dragon swiftly¡­- - Resorting to manipulation now, eh? -

    - Ice cream and cuddling my tails is the only thing that works when she is in a bad mood! And I¡¯ve had enough of the latter! - - Don''t put her in a bad mood then! -

    -That is impossible! - -Oh, the dragon is weak to either light, water, or shadow/dark magic. -

    - We, know, I can see it, she is going to unleash some cool water attacks on it, that is why I said run. The first one is probably going to be [Tsunami] good luck! - -Wait¡­- No response, I only saw more pink spears following something too fast for me to see. I went serious with my gravity magic and started to launch myself as far away from the dragon as possible. I heard a big crash, not just a normal crash but also something similar to crashing waves. I looked behind and I saw an enormous wave approaching the dragon. I knew it was slow, I would hate to be that dragon. I reached the town and looked behind. The dragon was bound by ice shackles and some enormous spear made out of ice was slowly dropping out of the sky with the dragon as a target.

    Wow! Do you think she could teach me that? You suck at water magic.

    Do you think she will teach Agnis that? I¡­ I don''t want to know¡­ The spear crashed down on the dragon. It seemed to do a lot of damage and it had pinned the dragon to the floor. I then saw a huge hammer made of ice appear in the sky. I could see where this was going. The hammer slammed down on the ice spear, driving the spear into the dragon. The dragon roared and then breathed its last breath after which it turned into shadows and dispersed. A large shock wave traveled outward and some cracks appeared in the plateau. I despised the dragon but I felt a bit sorry with how one-sided this was.

    Uhm, we are sure Azu isn''t the last boss, right? I surely hope not. Let''s pick a spot and rest. It feels cheap but we did survive an encounter with a dragon¡­

    Yeah¡­ lets rest¡­ We made sure to pick a spot that was out of the range of the spears and where the shades couldn''t reach us. The scene of a dragon getting defeated within 4 attacks stuck to my mind. It was a young dragon yes, but even still is it supposed to die this easily? With this on my mind, I dozed off.

 Ch 72: Underground Zoo

    -How are things going with the evacuation? - - I fully understand now why Agnis sent some of these people to get vaporized. It is like they are deliberately making things difficult for me. -

    - Are you in the underground city now? - - Yes, it took a long time to convince Isi to let these people in. Luckily Agnis¡¯ clone was really helpful in this because she might not have agreed without that clone by our side. I am busy preventing these people from carelessly claiming rooms in the palace. Agnis¡¯ clone seems to put in a lot of work but it seems that it is running out of juice, how is the real Agnis doing? I can''t reach him. -

    - Hmm, we can''t reach him either but the Thing¡¯s are gone. I assume because I can feel Agnis'' energy which I normally can¡¯t feel when he is dealing with his dimensional stuff. But the pink root seems a bit bigger and is glowing so he might have different problems now.- - I see, how is Raishin behaving?-

    - He was behaving well today, so I will allow him to misbehave tomorrow because that is probably when the dragon will escape.- - I will try my best to wrap up things here, delegate the responsibility to Paul and Paula and come and help you guys-

    - Take your time, we don''t want you to rush here to end up dying, I am expecting both of us to lose some lives against this dragon, in the worst-case scenario Raishin will use [Solar stream], and if that doesn''t work we have to lure it to Azu.-

    -Be careful, I have to go, Donkey and Monkey are causing problems, I might have to beat them up.- - Have fun.- I closed the Teleroad link and looked at how the hu... townspeople were bickering and arguing with each other. Even some small fights broke out. Charlize, Cecelia, Paul, and Paula were doing their best to keep order. Gianni and his girlfriend ehh cousin, yes Tara is his cousin now, were also trying to calm the crowd down. I sighed and headed over to the crowd.

    ¡°We can take care of ourselves! Bring us back!¡±

    ¡°This is a violation of our rights!¡±

    ¡°I left my tv up there!¡±

    ¡°Guys! Guys! If we could just all calm down!¡± Paul was trying to calm everyone down but it didn''t seem like most of the people here could hear him.

    ¡°Calm? You want us to stay calm? There were those things everywhere! An earthquake and a volcano erupted!¡±

    ¡°2 volcanoes.¡±

    ¡°Yes, two volcanoes! Wait what?! 2 volcanoes erupted and you want us to stay calm!?¡± What he means is that right now we¡¯re safe if you go back up there you will just get met with more dangers.

    ¡°How do you know!¡±

    Gianni stepped forward. ¡°Well, since we are deep underground the pink monsters and lava bombs won¡¯t reach us. The earthquake didn''t seem to do much to this place down here so it should be safe.¡±

    ¡°You have no proof!¡±

    ¡°Do you have proof that we¡¯re unsafe down here?¡± Oooh, nice one Gianni.

    ¡°I don''t feel safe here!¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, feelings aren¡¯t proof, there are many people here that accept that this is safer than on the surface why can¡¯t you see that too?¡±

    ¡°Don''t tell me how to behave I¡¯m going back!¡±

    ¡°Yes! Come with us we will all guide you to the surface, for the right price of course!¡± Monkey and his group were spurring the people to join them and go back to the surface, they are using this situation as an opportunity to earn some money. Hey, Munkey, you¡¯re giving a bad example! We must stick together in safety! ¡°Silence brat! I won''t have you ruin my opportunity to earn some gold!¡±

    ¡°Hey, dad can I beat him up?¡±

    ¡°Sure, son, show him that messing with the Hurado family is a foolish thought!¡±

    ¡°Ha! Carl, Hubert, Chad, and Brad! Let¡¯s beat that kid up!¡± Dunkey, no Donkey gathered his friends and approached me. I will have to apologize to Agnis, these guys are annoying indeed. I thought you would personally deal with me; do you need your friends for this?

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    ¡°The weak should just shut up and listen to the strong!¡± Donkey''s line reminded me of the last timeline where a similar line ended up in Gianni¡¯s death. I clenched my fist.

    ¡°You guys must be cowards to gang up on him!¡± Gianni stood next to me and tried to drive the bullies off.

    ¡°Hey, dad help! This guy is obstructing us!¡±

    ¡°Sure, son, let''s turn them into a pile of ash!¡± I remembered how Tara was crying and Gianni¡¯s charred body and the smell of burnt flash. I decided to follow Agnis¡¯ example and teach these bullies a lesson. I would do my best to defeat them non-lethally but if they ended up dying, I wouldn''t care. They will cause many more to die if they get ignored. Hey, Gianni, it seems a battle is unavoidable, are you ok with that?

    ¡°I am but a humble postman but I''ve watched enough magic tournaments on tv to get a grasp of how to be an effective fighter!¡± I got the feeling I would have to protect Gianni quite a lot in this battle. As I remember, he was a buffer and used light chains. Gianni made a pelican made out of wind¡­ How much did these timelines change Gianni? It¡¯s like he¡¯s a completely different person! Monkey got out his fire gorilla and I took out my bear avatar. Monkey, a gorilla, a Donkey, a pelican, and a bear, it looks like a zoo here, I bet Agnis and Raishin would have a field day with this situation.

    ¡°Let''s incinerate them!¡± Monkey sent his fire gorilla at us. I decided to take care of that because Gianni¡¯s wind pelican would be a bad matchup. Donkey started his long-ass lightning cast and Gianni made his pelican swoop by and blew the bullies away. His pelican dropped packets of compressed air while flying over and bombarded them¡­ When did Gianni get this strong? My bear avatar had a strength contest with the gorilla. My bear avatar was bigger and was pushing it back. I made it swipe and the gorilla took damage and shrank in size. Monkey was throwing [flame spears] at me but I shot them down with [Meteor punches].

    ¡°Ugh! how vexing! Just be a nice brat and drop dead!¡± Monkey prepared for the gorilla to slam on me but Gianni¡¯s pelican blew Donkey in range. ¡°Hey! That is dirty leave my son out of it!¡±

    ¡°If you wanted to leave your son out of it you shouldn''t have joined his fight!¡± Gianni was keeping the bullies under control with wind magic. I was stunned. Did he even need me here? Wait he does, He needs me to deal with Monkey.

    ¡°Dad help! This guy is cheating!¡±

    ¡°How despicable!¡± Uhm it''s you guys who started a 6 v 2 and you call us cheaters?! One of the bullies sent a [Water blast] at me. Honestly, this thing looks super weak. Maybe because I¡¯m used to Agnis¡¯ water blasts. I didn''t even need to block or evade them. I got hit but only got wet.

    ¡°What? No damage? You monster!¡± I let out a loud bear roar and 2 bullies backed off and peed their pants.

    ¡°Here take this! My prized blue [Lightning bolt]!¡± I got hit with it too, it hurt a bit, also because I was wet but it didn''t seem to be a threat. Hmm, why am I bothering with these guys again? Right, so they don''t lead other townspeople to their deaths. I gently smacked the bullies aside and they passed out. It is just Gianni, me, and Monkey.

    ¡°My son! What have you done to my son? How could you!¡± Some discipline, something that you should''ve done yourself, although it seems you need some too! ¡°You are dead meat!¡± The fire gorilla swelled and¡­ split into 2 gorillas. ¡°Ha! I bet you never saw fire magic this strong and potent!¡± Ooh boy, you have no idea¡­

    ¡°Take this!¡±

    ¡°Hey, Ted are we going to be, ok? Those [flame waves] look huge¡± Don¡¯t worry Gianni, I got this! I made an [Earth wall] to block a [Flame wave] from one fire gorilla and blocked the other one with my bear avatar. I could easily do this for hours because these flames weren¡¯t that hot.

    ¡°What? Impossible!¡± I closed in on a fire gorilla and destroyed it with a point-blank [Meteor rain]. I grabbed another one with my avatar paw and slashed it with [Bear claw]. Monkey looked shocked as his prized fire gorillas got destroyed in seconds. Gianni, you get the honor to finish him off.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± I am sure. Monkey seemed paralyzed by fear and disbelief. Gianni walked over to Monkey and imbued his left fist with wind magic. I didn¡¯t know he was left-handed. He stood in front of Monkey and landed the most satisfying [wind punch] I¡¯ve ever seen. Monkey flew away in a beautiful arc and landed in a rock wall 20 meters further. His followers surrounded us and some ran at him. I got ready for round 2 but at that moment I heard lightning crackle. It seems Paula had enough of this situation and got mad.

    ¡°If you guys are here to start trouble then you either go take that up to the surface or answer to me!¡± Her magic was spiking hard and Paul got out the sword he bought from Agnis and was releasing killing intent. I high-fived Gianni while Monkey¡¯s followers calmed down. Thank you, Paul and Paula!

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, Ted. Your exchange with Munkey showed us that some people just won''t listen to words, so we decided to step up.¡± Paul patted my shoulder.

    ¡°Thank you for helping Ted out Gianni, your talents seem to be wasted to be a postman.¡± Paula thanked Gianni.

    ¡°Eh, yeah, I hate being a postman, I want to become a fighter in one of those tournaments!¡± Uhh, good luck with that, you are certainly stronger than I would¡¯ve thought, maybe you can ask Charlize for some tricks in using wind magic, she used to be an adventurer.

    ¡°Oh! That is a great idea! Thank you, Ted!¡± Gianni ran at his gir¡­ cousin, talked a bit to her and they headed toward Charlize.

    ¡°We will take it from here, Paul, and I will make sure everything will go without any problems, you go back to help your friends.¡± Thanks again, Paul and Paula. I tried to look for the Agnis clone that arrived with us here but I couldn''t find him. I tried to contact him with Teleroad again. No answer. I sighed and decided to walk the long road back to the surface.

 Ch 73: Solar Stream

    I saw how Azu easily defeated the salt and pepper dragon and realized that I was using [Tsunami] wrongly. I used it so that I could use free spells whenever often having to waste free charges on skills like [Frost cloak] or the like because the situation needs it. When used in a combo attack like Azu demonstrated it is almost impossible to waste charges. Also, the freedom with which she used that water magic was inspiring. I had a good 300 pink spears chasing me but I had no idea how to get rid of them. The last time we blasted the whole pink broccoli. Azu tried to one-shot the root with the [Vaporize] I taught her but it didn''t work. Maybe because the root is way bigger than the part that we can see. [Vaporize] only works on things you have a good grasp on of how big they are, if you fail to transfer enough heat into something because it is way bigger than you expect it to be it will just get spread out and heat it up only a bit.

    I say that but¡­ I drop a [Foxfire: winter¡¯s end] on the root. I used up the mana I gathered from using frost attacks here and there but it didn''t make a dent in the root. Is it fire-resistant? I landed on the root and made all the spears crash into it. It got rid of the spears but not a scratch. We might need Raishin to go ham on this thing. I¡¯m not sure if letting Azu loose on this is going to be safe¡­ I saw Raishin blasting some big shades in the distance. The echoes were picking up in frequency but oddly enough Boshi town turning into a jungle didn''t get echoed. Is it because nature energy isn''t magic? It behaves like magic but it is not. I decided to fire a nature energy blast at a random spot. A tree sprouted and grew where the blast hit, I shot another blast this time vines popped out. So inconsistent! I fired off several identical blasts but the results were random. I can''t use this in combat¡­ I want consistency¡­ I dodged some newly formed spears. I will check those spots for echoes later.

    ¡°Ice cream time!¡± I dodged Azu and more spears. I lured all the spears and made them crash into the root again. I got caught by Azu. Ugh, gimme a second, I will make you some ice cream soon.

    ¡°This situation doesn''t seem to improve, were things like this too the last timeline?¡± Hmm, yeah.

    ¡°You kept your promise and didn''t die right?¡± Of course, not I¡¯m super careful! Azu gave me a skeptical look.

    ¡°You do know that your race is known for having non-existent risk assessment?¡± Ugh, why does everyone keep bringing that up? I used [Confusion] on a big shade that was about to swipe us but it didn''t get one shot. Woops! We jumped away from the swipe

    ¡°Here! This! This is what I mean!¡± Azu blasted the shade. Just coincidence!

    ¡°Enough coincidence that this is consistent in every member of your race?¡± Uhh, yeah?

    ¡°I guess I need to keep a closer eye on you!¡± Wait ok! Fine, I¡¯ll be more careful! I crashed more spears into the root but it seemed perfectly fine. Most of the shades walking around got dealt with the help of the echoes.

    ¡°Hehe, too late, you¡¯re stuck with me now!¡± I dodged another spear and Azu. Azu pouted.

    ¡°Hmfp! How are you supposed to make ice cream for me with all these distractions? It''s time for them to go!¡± Uhh, wait! Don¡¯t do anything crazy! I got this! I made 3 shadow clones and sent 2 to distract the spears while the other one went to deal with shades that got close.

    ¡°Oooh, so many tails!¡± They are not for you to play with! They can deal with this for now. I hid us with some illusions and made some ice cream.

    ¡°Hehe, it''s like a date!¡± Right, maybe I should let my clone deal with this.

    ¡°Nooo! I''ll behave!¡± What would your suggestion be if this gets worse? I finished making the ice cream and gave Azu her portion.

    ¡°Hmm, I think the best way is to get rid of this root.¡± She tapped her hand on the root. We were sitting on it. And looked over a half-destroyed Boshi town. ¡°This ice cream is really good! You could make a living off it!¡± Hmm, I guess, I¡¯m not hurting for gold so I can do whatever I want till I run out which might even be never, which reminds me I have to sell some rubies today.

    ¡°Ohh, can I come with you?¡± Eh? It''s just something boring, there is also a high chance that my buddies need some help. I dropped the illusion layers and looked for my buddies. Gregory was taking a nap and Raishin was blasting shades to his heart''s content. I looked for Ted underground, it seems he was heading up.

    Let¡¯s help Ted! I grabbed Azu with my tail and teleported to where Ted was. Whoa! I grabbed Ted and teleported back. It looks like an apocalypse here¡­ Why is the sky pink and why are your tails black? Palette swap.

    ¡°So fluffy!¡± Azu was assaulting my tails again. Is everything alright with her? Honestly, I don''t know, something might be wrong with her head but she was a great help.

    So, are you changing profession to witch tamer? Not funny.

    \So, what is the plan? It seems Raishin is having the time of his life there. I don''t see Greg. Greg is taking a nap. I explained to Ted what happened on my side, I omitted the part about what I saw behind that window though. I also told him what I knew happened to Greg and Raishin.

    Seems everyone had a rough time. Yeah, I have to go sell some rubies later but we first need to try and destroy this root.

    Hmm, from what you''ve said our only chance is maybe Raishin¡¯s [Solar stream] or we need to unleash Azu on it. Let''s try the [Solar stream] idea first. I told you about how she defeated the dragon but seeing it puts way more emphasis on how strong she is. We also don''t know if she is running on a timer or if she is running with a certain amount of resources, we should use her as a trump card.

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    Look at you being reasonable. I almost was wondering who you are. Hey, come on I''m not that reckless!

    Hmm, not sure about that but let''s try and get Raishin over here. Oh, that is quite easy.

    -Hey, Raishin, Azu is going to hug you if you can come here immediately- Raishin instantly teleported onto a high building, looked around, spotted us, and teleported toward us.

    Sup! What do I need to do? We need you to drop your strongest [Solar stream] on this root here. He looked at the root that we were standing on.

    We will get blasted if we stay on it though. We understand that how strong is your strongest [Solar stream] compared to the one we have seen before.

    Dunno. Right, I will link you up with my eyes in a bit then we can figure it out. Hey Azu?... Azu? Azu didn''t seem to hear me so I hid all my tails.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Can you give Raishin a hug? He needs it; I will take my tails back out afterward.

    ¡°With pleasure!¡± Agnis! You are the best friend ever! Raishin got a long hug from Azu. I picked everyone up with my tails and teleported to the napping Greg, picked him up too, and chained teleports to the mountain which is above Potato Village. It is a good thing I didn''t vaporize it, yet.

    Right, just like us you¡¯ve also worked hard Raishin so now we need your full focus on blasting that tree! Sure! Uhm, I can''t do it like this though... I love this hug Azu but I need a bit of space!

    ¡°You all are so warm!¡± Azu went to hug Ted. Whoa! Oh, good one Ted keep her busy while we vaporize the root. I linked up my eyes with Raishin.

    Aah, my head! Just deal with it, you remember what we did the last time right?

    Uhh, I needed to do this and this, right? Yeah, but now just put as much power in it that''s comfortable for you.

    So, like this? ¡­ Guys, we¡¯re still a bit too close¡­ Wait what?

    Yup. I looked for a suitable mountain to teleport to. There were some with frozen peaks, they wouldn''t be that comfortable for my buddies but I can just make some fire for them. I selected a mountain and chain teleported to it and made a ring of fire around us.

    Was that all the energy you could put into it? I can put in a bit more but then I will need to start generating a lot of energy to power it. Ok, let''s go for this.

    Go for it! It seemed like nothing happened but Raishin looked like he felt a bit weak as a lot of energy left his body. We sat down and saw a timer appear. Azu was still hugging Ted.

    Guys help? Welcome to my world. Phew, haven''t been this tired in a while.

    I''ll just get some shades out before we forget. I put one on Greg too he might wake up and get his retinas blasted. We chatted a bit. 3 minutes before the solar stream would hit Greg woke up and we caught him up to the situation. My tail got assaulted again by a blue-haired witch.

    Ooh, it is coming! Raishin and I did a countdown and the whole area got blasted. Light and fire rained down for 5 minutes before it calmed down.

    Did it work? Hey! Come on this is bullshit! What is going on?

    ¡°Oh my, this is a problem¡± Agnis can you link Ted and me up with your eyes? I linked them up. What we saw was an enormous hole in the ground. There was one problem, although it did look like it took a considerable amount of damage the root was still where we had left it.

    What is that thing made of¡­ I think you will need to generate a lot of energy and then blast it to destroy it. When are you able to blast it again with this? Because it doesn''t seem the echo of your [Solar stream] does damage. Oof, I should be able to use it the day after tomorrow. Hmm, so what do we do in the meantime? And I think we will be running out of time if that also doesn''t work, we might have to rely on Azu. Azu flexed her right biceps.

    ¡°Leave it to me!¡± How about we check on the hum... People down below? Hmm, did I hear that right? They did annoy you too, didn''t they? I won''t go back there sorry, not only because I don''t care what happens to most of them but because there is still that! I opened the correct filter which showed the big hole in the dimensional fabric, the [firewall], and the obvious root that was sticking out of it.

    Oh, that looks like a big problem indeed. Do you know what to do with it? Not really, I have simulations running but my instinct tells me that as long as the root is sticking out of it, I won''t be able to fix it. Hmm, that makes sense. Hey, Ted want to join me in the arduous task of closing up that hole in the ground?

    Oof, sure.

    ¡°Ooh! I can help too!¡± Sure!

    ¡°You two make sure to take some rest!¡± Wait I still need to check on various things!

    ¡°You have had 2 long days without rest, you can do that later.¡± Meh, I''m fine. Azu made a weird bubble around us.

    ¡°This bubble will only break after 8 hours have passed, and it has a spatiotemporal lock so no cheating with time magic or hopping into dimensions where time flows differently! If I notice that you still escaped it, I will use my secret skill [1001 Azu hugs] on you!¡± Sleep it is then¡­ Wow so easy, hey Azu do you want to join our team?

    Not you too Greg! Shoo, go rest!

    ¡°I will think about it, I want to but I still have some loose ends I need to deal with after I break out.¡± Fair enough. Raishin seemed to have dropped asleep already. As I see Azu take Ted and Greg away, I curled up in my tails. Only after doing this did, I realize how tired I was. It was a good thing I still had clones around. 2 got caught in the blast but 1 escaped and went to sell the rubies.

 Ch 74: Echo

    Day 3: I woke up because something was tugging on my tails.

    ¡°Are you awake?¡± I got out of the ball made by my tails. Good morning, Azu.

    ¡°Something is off, the echoes have stopped.¡± I got up and looked at where Boshi town was. The ground was closed up and it seemed calm. The only thing that was off was the root that was still there. ¡°Can you link me up with your eyes again?¡± I linked her up and we checked out the area. You¡¯re right, there is nothing. I''d like to say that this is good but I know better. I woke up my buddies and linked them up with my vision.

    This is concerning. Let''s check it out! Raishin grabbed us with his tails and teleported us to where Boshi town once stood.

    Great job at closing that hole. Ugh, it was exhausting. Yeah, we dropped asleep after we finished.

    Hmm, my clone seemed to have done its job. It seems the clone already finished the transaction and got the gold. I look around and there is no trace of there ever being a hole here. It seemed like they tried to mimic Boshi lake but it looked¡­ artificial.

    Nice lake. Hey, it''s hard to make it look natural!

    When have you ever seen a hexagonal lake? Ugh, that might have been me I just wanted to get over with it.

    ¡°I like it!¡± So, we have this whole place for ourselves what do we do? Wanna play pinball? I am going to destroy you this time! The sky flashed pink and the root seemed like it grew and grew 2 smaller roots that headed toward us.

    I guess the root doesn''t like pinball¡­ Ugh, what is it this time¡­ Guys... Can we please run? What is your intuition telling you? Azu put up a barrier which worked out because a fraction of a second later 3 pink shockwaves shot out from the root and hit the barrier.

    ¡°Are you guys alright?¡± Yes, but you aren''t! There is pink energy clinging to you! Gregory moved the pink energy that was clinging to Azu¡¯s body. And suddenly we felt strong magical presences appearing.

    So Raishin you remember that talk we had when we were gaming right? Yeah¡­ we totally jinxed it. In front of us, we could see a relatively pink version of the spirit sisters, the Mountain, and whatever we kind of one shot in the last timeline.

    So this is what you guys refer to as ¡°Cheating¡¯... Ted can take the Mountain, I will take the sisters, Raishin and Greg take the uhm whoever that guy is. Is it going to be this easy?

    ¡°What about me? I¡¯m not letting you do a 2 versus 1! I¡¯m coming with you!¡± Uhh, I would prefer it if you help my buddies, I can keep them busy. Uhm guys, that isn''t the biggest problem look! Raishin pointed at a silhouette behind the pinkish guardians.

    Is that? Azu?

    ¡°Oooh! I look so hot in pink!¡± Right, guys, we¡¯re dead, it was nice knowing you! Adventuring with you guys was a blast, I will miss you. Hey, guys, we''re not dead! Yet. Ted smacked me.

    I¡¯m afraid that Azu can¡¯t help us, can you keep your clone busy?

    ¡°I won''t let this imposter play with Agnis'' tails! That is my duty!¡± I will just ignore that comment and take that as a yes, can you at least try to take your battle somewhere else Azu? We will probably die if we get caught in the crossfire¡­ Yeah, can you do that, please?

    ¡°Fine! Just promise to not do anything reckless!¡± Got it! Everyone looked at me.

    ¡°Ugh, I will try to make it quick and help Agnis.¡± Please do so. Much appreciated. Please save Agnis from himself!

    Hey, guys come on! Azu vanished, slammed her pink imitation to the ground, and vanished with it.

    Wow¡­ Ugh, we still have to deal with this at least they aren''t as annoying as that dragon. Yeah, it would be so cool if we had a dragon on our side! I suddenly remembered something.

    Oh! Agnis? What did you remember? Gregory approached me suspiciously.

    Uhm well, haha you see, I totally forgot but we might or might not have a dragon on our side. Gregory grabbed my collar. And you only remember now?! Well, I was kind of busy, and uhm I forgot... So ehm oops? Ted and Gregory spent 5 minutes kicking my ass.

    Ugh, you guys are so cruel. Go get that dragon, Raishin let''s deal with that uhm guardian. Let''s get out of here before he remembers something else that will increase my headache! Gregory stomped away and dragged Raishin with him.

    After we escape, we need to get your head checked. Ted went big bear mode, got his bear avatar out, and charged at the Mountain. I shot a [Fireball] at the pink sisters. This caused them to immediately lock on to me. Right, how did Tero tell me how to call for him again? I forgot, I just stomped on the ground and let nature energy carry the shockwave as far as possible. The root spawned more pink shades but the weaker kind. I started evading ice attacks and ignored the fire attacks. Guyani noticed but didn¡¯t switch to ice attacks. I just needed to stretch time until Tero arrived. Hehe, I can''t wait to fight with a dragon! I used [Confusion] on them by shattering 10 layers for each. They didn''t seem to like it and started casting spirit magic. I fired a [Spirit bolt] at their attack but it was too weak. The earth started to tremble. I threw some fireballs at them and they seemed really cautious and evaded them.

    As the ground started shaking violently Nayani sent [ice disks] at me but when they arrived there was no target. All it hit was a huge earth dragon that came out of the ground. It did precisely 0 damage to Tero. Tero was now flying in the air and I was on his head because he emerged from right under me. Yoo Tero.

    ¡°Hey, son of Edea.¡± My name is Agnis.

    ¡°Haha, I didn''t forget.¡± I believe that you were probably just thinking about my mother again you perverted dragon.

    ¡°Such rudeness towards one that comes out to help. So, what trouble did you get yourself into¡­ Oh.¡± Tero looked around and saw the chaos. ¡°You really have a talent, just like your mother.¡± Ugh please don''t remind me, we need to do something about those two. As I pointed at the sisters who seemed quite shocked. Not only they were shocked, but my buddies also seemed quite shocked. During our conversation, Tero was flying uhh whatever the opposite is of gracefully. You aren''t great at flying, are you? What was I expecting from an EARTH dragon?

    ¡°I need to have a chat with your mother about your rudeness! And this might sound like an excuse but listen!¡± Hmm, I''m listening.

    ¡°You can recognize what type a dragon is by how it flies!¡± I wanted to call that bullshit but I''ve only seen wind and fire no-winged dragons fly, mainly because those are the only ones I''ve seen, and they indeed did fly differently from each other. You don''t sound very convincing but I believe you so how is that relevant to how you are flying? Like you can only turn in angles and not just bend naturally.

    ¡°That is just how it is with earth dragons and earth dragon veins. Have you mastered some of it?¡± Uhh no.

    ¡°The movements of how we dragons fly are similar to those needed for dragon vein. Water is flowing and flexible movements, wind is powerful strokes that still have flexibility, and fire and lightning are explosive in their own way.¡± And earth is janky?

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Don''t call it that!¡± Is that why all my attempts to use Dragonvein have turned into water?

    ¡°Possibly.¡± During all this, we were dodging the attacks that resumed. I say we, but it was Tero. However, did he need to? His janky movements were uncomfortable. Okay let''s go on the offensive, you can use fire, right?

    ¡°Of course, I can! I¡¯m a dragon!¡± Ok cool, let''s go! As I pointed at the sisters, I shot frost pellets at the attacks they sent at us.

    ¡°Lead the way.¡± What do you mean, lead the way, you are flying!

    ¡°Just like hot chicks can''t help to shake their body when music plays, no-winged dragons can''t help it to follow the movements of one using dragon vein.¡± Can you stop with those tasteless comparisons? And does that mean you become my pet?

    ¡°Dream on kiddo!¡± Rude! But I don''t know how to jank ehh use earth dragon vein, I''ve only ever made water.

    ¡°That is fine because I''m wise and smart I know how to fly like a water dragon!¡± Isn''t saying " smart " after "wise" redundant? It doesn''t make you look wise at all¡­

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± I connected to the leyline energy, heard the voice again and compiled all the information I had about leyline energy in my tails, and applied it. I started to move the leyline energy in the way I always do it. I created a large volume of water and Tero seemed to follow my movements mirroring how the water moved. It was a little bit janky but way less than before. I assume this time it was my fault because my moves were a bit rough. I am probably stuck using water leyline energy for now but that is fine. Water hit Guyani as did a dragon tail sending her flying.

    ¡°It is a bit rough but you seem to have a decent grasp on it! Let''s smoke these bitches!¡±

    Uhh ok¡­ I made Tero turn towards Guyani who got sent flying and made the water I created swirl around me. I could make it do this without any movements so I could move Tero while not having to keep wasting water. It seemed the skill Azu gave me affected the leyline energy too because the volume of water that I was controlling was ballooning in volume. Tero spoke some words that I vaguely understood. Probably because his mouth was filling with fire and he shot a fire-based [Dragon breath] at Guyani. Nayani made an [ice wall] trying to protect her sister but I dispelled it. The breath impacted and threw up a lot of smoke and dust.

    I sent the water and thus Tero down to Guyani because I could see that she blocked it partially with a wind barrier. It didn''t seem to have done as much damage as I hoped. As the water crashed into Guyani so did Tero. This ended us pushing Guyani underground and separating her from her sister. As Tero burrowed deeper he shot another [fire breath]. Guyani who was at point-blank range managed to tank it but it didn''t seem to do much damage. I curved Tero upward toward the surface because it seemed we couldn¡¯t defeat them with just dragon fire. We surfaced and were met with enormous ice disks. I wanted to dispel them but Tero said to not bother. The disks hit Tero and did 0 damage. Dragons are so overpowered.

    ¡°So young phoenix what are we going to do about these 2, just like they don''t do a lot of damage, neither do we.¡± I¡¯m a nine-tail spirit fox, not a phoe¡­ Wait this pervert dragon was right. I was a phoenix. I just never bothered to use that side because I would turn anything into ash. I should be able to control the flames now but even if I can¡¯t I have millions of illusion layers on my side. I used 5 200 layered [Confusion] on the spirit sisters which seemed to deal quite a lot of damage. Despite that, they seemed mostly unaffected. How tanky were these two?

    -Yoo guys, I''m going phoenix mode, you have 30 seconds to run or hide. - -Wait¡­- as I closed the Teleroad link. I checked stuff that would change if I shifted toward my phoenix mode. Not much it seemed, it would allow me for better use of frost magic since it would have a way lower effect on my core temperature. I would lose access to my dimensional pocket though. Hmm. I took out some daggers and a sword just to be sure. I also used some dragon vein movements to send Tero up into the sky. Which I later realized was pointless because phoenixes can fly.

    ¡°Hey, easy! I don''t do this often! Give me a break!¡± I went phoenix mode and felt myself getting hotter and lighter. I also got a weird invigorating feeling which reminded me of my mother''s light golden flames.

    I miss her¡­ I sent the water and Tero down while taking off. And uhh I got to apologize to Tero, flying is hard. My flight probably looked worse than Tero''s with his janky earth flight. But that was fine, I was going to nuke the area and then go for a dive bomb. You don''t need to know how to fly for that! I wrapped myself in blue flames, the same ones I used to vaporize that mountain before all this timeline stuff happened, but this time controlled, probably. I used [Phoenix Fire: Blue Mountain Buster].

    I sent the flame pillar down and started my divebomb. I covered myself in blue flames and added some purple lightning in the mix. My control over the illusion shatters was less now that I was a phoenix but that can be easily fixed by increasing the shattered layers. The two sisters seemed to be really damaged. I shattered some more layers for more [Confusion] and used frost magic to freeze them in place. The sisters couldn''t move and it seemed they wouldn''t be able to for a long time. I broke the sound barrier as I crashed into them with my [Thermoelectric Divebomb]. I caused a large explosion which was followed by a steam explosion after all the water made contact with the fire. I regenerated as I looked around. So uhh I was planning to just nuke the sisters with my mountain buster but I kind of nuked the whole area. It seems the other guardians escaped; I don¡¯t blame them nobody wants to fight a dragon. And my divebomb created a 30-meter-deep crater, just after my buddies closed a crater, I made a new one, I probably won''t hear the end of it¡­. There was molten rock everywhere. You see, this is why I don''t go phoenix mode, it is kind of unfriendly to my allies.

    ¡°Hey, kiddo are you trying to kill me?¡± You''re a dragon, you''re fine.

    ¡°Yes, but my feelings are hurt! You half melted my favorite scale!¡± Whud? I looked at Tero and it seemed like I almost landed a direct hit on him with my dive bomb he had 4 scales that looked singed and 2 were slightly distorted from melting. Oh sorry, but you have enough scales! Why is that your favorite scale though?

    ¡°So, 5712 years ago I met this hot water dragon chick and¡­¡± Never mind I was foolish to ask.

    ¡°I got to say though, that packed a serious punch.¡± Oh right, what happened to those sisters? I looked around but couldn''t find them.

    ¡°You vaporized them ma dude. If you can melt an earth dragon scale, I''m not sure what other creature will be fine after a direct hit of that. Maybe I should change my plan of what to do when I meet your mother again, phoenixes are scary.¡± I¡¯m just gonna pretend I didn''t hear that. Anyways thank you for helping!

    ¡°No problem. Anyway this was fun! Call me again when you''re in deep shit!¡± Tero burrowed and disappeared. The big root was still here. It took some damage from my divebomb but it was still standing. I switched back to my 9t Fox mode. The other guardians seemed to have fled inside the root, how does that even work? Couldn''t they let themselves be one shot? Oh, right gotta check on my buddies.

    -Are y''all still alive?- The ground shook and a huge crystal dome with shadows pouring out emerged from under the ground, which shattered and revealed my buddies. For some reason, they seemed to be sweating a lot.

    -Hey Agnis, could you like, I don''t know, give a longer time window before you vaporize the whole area?- -I knew you would manage!- -Wow you melted everything and vaporized those sisters!- -Hey Raishin, do you know what that means? There are a lot of more hot chicks now! -

    -Wow Ted that is inappropriate. - -Says the guy that almost turned us into ash! -

    -I have no idea what you''re talking about. You seem fine-

    I looked around and fell to the ground of exhaustion. Going phoenix mode was fine but using Dragonvein was physically draining. I realized that I could have just used [Foxfire: Winter¡¯s End] and it would have had the same effect. Trying new stuff and doing a dive bomb is cool though. My buddies approached. Your dragon scared our bosses away¡­ I¡¯m sorry, I guess we will have to fight them another time. Did the dragon even do anything? This all seems like your doing. I thought about those words. Wait he''s right. Tero pretended like he did something but all he did was give me a ride and scare some guardians. I will put him to work next time I call him. Greg, can you please remember that this jerk can call a dragon? It could have been useful so many times in the past! Of course, we are going to make full use of this information. We saw some blasts in the distance. I don''t think it takes a genius to know that Azu is fighting there.

    I think I can beat the Mountain by myself, before he ran away, he didn''t seem to be able to do much to me. Our guardian was so slow he didn''t manage to do one thing before he got grabbed by the Mountain and dragged inside the root. Good, so I won''t be the only one to create craters fighting the guardians.

    If Raishin behaves, you will be the only one¡­ But this means we got stronger right? We used to have problems fighting them.

    Hmm, I¡¯m not sure if these are as strong or stronger than the originals, they do seem to have more energy but their behavior is a bit¡­ robotic. Yeah, they didn''t seem to adapt well. Not that I gave them a chance to. I¡¯m sure the real ones would flee instantly the moment a dragon appeared. Why did ours run away then?

    Because you guys suck? Hmm well, it seemed like those 2 really locked on to you, the Mountain didn''t seem to be that interested in attacking me. Hmm, I can''t tell what happened to ours because it didn''t do anything¡­ just use your taunting roar next time.

    Will do. Ugh, I''m exhausted, maybe I should rest more¡­ Yeah, shoo go rest, we will deal with the shades that you didn''t vaporize. Hey, do you think these new guardians are the new echoes? They won''t come back after we defeat them, right?

    Uhh, Greg? I have no idea but I hope they stay gone. I looked at the dimensional fabric. It seemed like what parts weren''t torn seemed to have improved in quality. Would defeating all these pink guardians enable me to fix it? Maybe we can only get rid of the root after we defeat all of them. I formed another ball with my tails and took a nap.

 Ch 75: The Mountain

    After Agnis went to take a nap, we cleared up some shades. Gregory theorized that destroying the root might be easier after the guardians are defeated because its energy level dropped after the spirit sisters got defeated. I was eager to test my skills against the Mountain. Because I had fought him before the training and during the training, I have a good grasp of my progress but now I want to see how far I''ve come. It was disappointing that he fled but anything that doesn''t flee at the appearance of a dragon would have deserved to get vaporized when Agnis dropped those attacks. I was absentmindedly smashing some shades thinking about how I would handle my rematch with the Mountain. I didn''t need to wait long. After an hour he appeared again.

    This one is mine! I dashed at him and let out a [Taunting roar]. The Mountain locked onto me. Perfect! Because the current setting was quite wide, I noticed how slow he really was. Well, he wasn''t that slow but certainly one of the slower opponents we have faced. It didn''t matter much when we fought him in an enclosed space. The Mountain dug his hands in the ground, lifted a mass of earth, and threw it at me. I used my [Bear avatar] to catch it and throw it back. The Mountain jumped up and toward me. I smiled. I have to give Agnis credit, we didn''t fight him for long the last time but from that information, he seemed to have made quite an accurate simulation of him. When I was training my bear avatar, I fought the Mountain a lot.

    That simulation was a bit faster than this one but the behavior matches perfectly. I went into big bear mode and shot a [Meteor rain] at him. He couldn''t dodge this nor block it and took it full on. He got hit full-on and crashed down. I used this opportunity to rush at him and attack him with some bear claws. The Mountain took some of those slashes and started to bleed. He tried to punch my bear avatar but without magic augmentation, it won''t do anything to it. I tried to end it quickly with an [Ursa Major] but he seemed to sense that and backed off. I had to give up on it to block masses of rock being thrown at me. It chipped away some of my bear avatar but it wasn''t an amount that would cause problems for me. I threw some more [Meteor punches] to apply pressure on the Mountain and tried to close the distance. He stomped on the ground and spikes shot out of the ground. I jumped back and picked myself up with my bear avatar. It seemed he found one of its weaknesses. Now that my bear avatar only had one arm to attack the pressure, I was putting on the Mountain dropped. I returned the favor and sent [Rock spikes] back at him.

    He jumped up. Is this what Agnis meant by that they adapt poorly? I put myself down and hit him again with a [Meteor rain]. The same thing happened as it did the first time he jumped up. Abusing this would make for an easy win but I won''t feel satisfied with this. I¡¯m sure Agnis and Gregory would abuse this either because it is fun or because it is the most effective and risk-free. I rushed at him and landed some punches on him. It didn''t seem like he was well-versed in martial arts. Quite understandable with this build and sturdiness however that won''t work for me. I attacked his joints by hitting some nerves and the Mountain lost control over his body. I was intending to immobilize him but it seems his beefiness decreased the effectiveness of my attacks. He responded by using [Diamond skin]. Unfortunately for him, I have just the skill that can punch through it. I made an [Earth wall] behind him so he couldn''t escape.

    My earth walls aren''t as strong as Gregory¡¯s but it does the job of cutting off escape routes. I charged my [Ursa Major] with earth magic and hit him on his torso. Chunks of diamond fell off as my fist broke through it and sunk into his abdomen. He flew backward and broke through the earth wall I had behind him. He put his feet on the ground but still slid backward from the force making 2 canals in the ground where his feet dug into the ground. He seemed still conscious but close to defeat. The mountain roared and raised both of his arms above his head forming his hands into fists and slammed them down on the ground. The ground shook and formed cracks as the shockwave traveled toward me. I picked myself up with my bear avatar and dodged the shockwave. The Mountain dropped to one knee and leaked pink goo out of its wounds. I walked toward him and punched him with a [Meteor punch]. He flew backward and dispersed into pink vapor. I canceled my big bear mode and looked at my hands. Are they weaker than we remember or did we just become stronger? This fight went similar to the ones I had with the Mountain in Agnis¡¯ simulation so I have no reason to believe that they were weaker. Did we really become this strong in just 5 days? No, that was wrong we have repeated 5 days multiple times this is more like a month, on top of that we got a month of training from Agnis so that makes 2 months. But still. I looked at Raishin and Gregory. Gregory seemed to be studying the root and Raishin seemed like he was cheering me on. None of them seemed to have any doubt that I would win. Granted this was one of the weaker guardians but still¡­ I walked over to Raishin and made a victory pose.

    That was so cool! Was the Mountain always this weak though? Hmm, he didn''t seem to adapt as well as a real opponent would do, he was slower but also sturdier than I remember, I think that we just got stronger over these past 2 months. 2 months? I explained to Raishin that we have been doing this for effectively 2 months now.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    We¡¯ve been at it for 2 months, eh? It doesn''t feel like it but also feels like it! Not sure if that makes any sense. So, when is that other guardian coming out?

    I don¡¯t know why he moves and talks so slowly! He couldn''t even finish one sentence before the Mountain grabbed him and escaped. He seems easy but my instinct tells me that he is super strong. Well, he can be both, maybe he is the type that when he gets an attack of that you''re screwed so just make sure he can''t.

    Like a slow Agnis? Or a slow¡­ like a Greg? Hey, I heard that! Did you learn more about the root?

    Its energy dropped again after you defeated the Mountain. How was the experience by the way? Is anything different from the original? A bit slower and sturdier and poor adaptability that is all.

    Hmm, neither you nor Agnis got hit so I don''t have any evidence but I think they have way more firepower. Because that is the only way I can explain that. He points into the distance and it seems that some mountains that were there before had disappeared but it seemed like Armageddon was taking place there.

    Is Azu still fighting? Seems so. Oof good thing she is keeping her copy busy. So how many mountains do you think will disappear before she wins?

    Well, it seems they already destroyed 2 so I would guess 5. Hmm, I think 6! I think the battle is almost over. We look at Gregory.

    Why do you think that? Hmm, judging by what I know her personality in battle is probably in between Raishin and Agnis so she will mess around and then swiftly defeat her opponent either by nuking the whole area or becoming a more technical fighter and overwhelming the opponent. She has been fighting for almost 3 hours so it should be around the time that she will be getting serious. I didn''t know you were interested in her! Don''t tell me you also have an eye on her. Raishin pokes Gregory with his elbow while moving his eyebrows up and down.

    I¡¯m just basing it off the fact that her personality seems close to you and Agnis and since I know you both quite well, I¡¯m using that for my conclusion. Meh, boring. It seems the fighting stopped. I can''t believe you were right¡­ Azu appeared 30 meters from us, but she looked¡­ odd.

    Azu?

    ¡°Sorry guys, that took a bit longer than expected!¡± Are you alright? You look¡­ different.

    ¡°Yeah, I liked how hot I looked in pink so I tried to absorb her without messing up my mana signature. It wasn''t easy, it also didn''t help that she seemed tankier and stronger than I¡¯m supposed to be, she did survive attacks I probably wouldn''t, but she didn''t act like me at all though¡­ So how do you guys like my new look?!¡± You¡¯re even hotter than before! Did you spend 3 hours fighting just to become hotter? Gregory buried his head in his hands.

    That is crazy¡­ but unfortunately, we know someone who would do something similar¡­ I can¡¯t believe how similar she is to Agnis¡­

    ¡°Hehe, really? Where is he? I want to show off my new look!¡± He is sleeping somewhere over there. Azu put her hand over her eyes and looked around. ¡°I don''t see him.¡± He probably hid himself with some illusions, he should be near that crater somewhere. Hey Azu, a question. Of all the people you know who are as strong as you are, how many have strange or difficult personalities? She seemed to ponder over this question a bit while putting a finger to her lips and looked at me.

    ¡°I don''t know! I didn''t have any friends back then, also nobody seemed to be able to keep up with me.¡± I¡¯m not surprised. Azu went to look for Agnis. I helped Gregory to set up some small houses made out of earth to stay in while Raishin went hunting. There seemed to be fewer and fewer shades spawning which allowed us to get more rest.

 Ch 76: Azu

    I awoke to the feeling as if something strong was looking for me. I was hidden in my illusion layers so I should be safe but I also went into stealth. I was still curled up and comfy in my tail ball. The feeling went away. I was relieved. My buddies came to mind. I dropped stealth, my illusions and uncurled from my tails. That proved to be a fatal mistake. I instantly got attacked by something blue and pink and it was¡­ a hug? I can''t¡­ breathe¡­ is this how I die?

    ¡°So dramatic! What do you think of my new look!¡± I can''t¡­ see anything like this¡­

    ¡°Oh silly me!¡± I finally got released. Phew, I almost choked there. I took a step back and looked at her. Whoa. I mean what of it?

    ¡°Hehe! I knew it! You like it don''t you?¡± She spun around. I¡¯m sure you did something unnecessary; you seem almost twice as strong as you were before, and¡­ you went for the bubblegum witch look I assume? Please don¡¯t tell me your charm magic also got a boost¡­

    ¡°Yes! It looks great on me!¡± I can¡¯t deny that¡­ Azu pounced at me and locked arms.

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± Go where?

    ¡°Where else of course! A date on the lake!¡± You mean the hexagon? And I have important stuff to do!

    ¡°Like?¡± Uhm, the dimensional fabric!

    ¡°Didn''t you say that you could only do something about it if the root was gone? Gregory says that it became weaker after the guardians got defeated so we just have to be patient!¡± But¡­

    ¡°Let''s go!¡± Someone... Help¡­ We arrived at the hexagon. So, what is the plan?

    ¡°I want to chat!¡± Uhm, ok.

    ¡°Well¡­ I was afraid that I wouldn''t have enough mana to help you guys out for this whole timeline but I solved the problem now.¡± She showed off the pink strands of hair. So, this wasn''t just a fashion statement?

    ¡°I killed two birds with one stone! This also made me sexier. I can feel it your heart is skipping beats!¡± She got really close. Well even though you are difficult to deal with I¡¯m glad that you can stick around for longer.

    ¡°Yeah¡­ You might think of me as being difficult but everything I do is for a reason¡­¡± I started to feel bad. I know that she has been imprisoned and alone for over 2 millennia. I¡¯m sure I¡¯m just not great at dealing with people who act as you do¡­

    ¡°That''s fine! It¡¯s so endearing!¡± Ugh, so you absorbed your pink clone I assume? There are 0 side effects?

    ¡°No side effects! It took me some time to fix that though but I¡¯m just me now with some extra oomph!¡± So, are you giving up on your name Azure Mist? You are quite¡­ pink now.

    ¡°Hmm well, that name is quite stuck to me so nothing will change that. A lot of strong individuals get nicknames fitting their personalities, battle styles, or a strong custom moves they are known by. For me, it is [Azure Mist] as you know.¡± Yeah, that Thing stood no chance. I don''t even know what happened¡­

    ¡°Hehe. You will find out eventually! And well uhm, I kind of lied to you¡­ My real name isn''t Azurra Mist. Please don''t hate me!¡± Hmm, I kind of figured that, I don¡¯t mind it that much, you must have a good reason for why.

    ¡°Well¡­ I didn''t want you to treat me differently.¡± Hmm? Why would we?

    ¡°Well, this how I look now is how I really look like, well the pink is new... But this prison altered my appearance to¡­ not sexy.¡± Wait? Are you Troll? I mean Kanna?!

    ¡°No silly! You know me as Uraya.¡± What? I had difficulties processing what I just heard.

    ¡°It is me, Uraya! This prison forced me to age like a human¡­ I hate it!¡± What? So, the reason you acted so familiar was¡­

    ¡°Yes, I already knew you guys for 5 years. But you guys suck at hiding stuff it was quite funny.¡± Wait so¡­

    ¡°Yes, that was me¡± And back when?

    ¡°Also, me!¡± And when the!

    ¡°That was me too!¡± Hey, wait a second there''s no way you did all those random events I came up with!

    ¡°Ooh, so you''ve noticed¡± Ugh, my headache¡­

    ¡°My real name is Ayaru Mistflower, but you can keep calling me Azu, I have grown to like that name.¡± Aha¡­ I still was shocked.

    ¡°You are not upset, are you?¡± No, just shocked. So, all that stuff you needed for your potion?

    ¡°Was to get back to this!¡± She struck another cute pose. Right¡­ Is that why you needed so many mist flowers? ¡°Oh no, I love mist flowers, here smell!¡± Too close! I can smell them yes! I guess that checks out then¡­

    ¡°So, you had no idea that I was Uraya? I was getting nervous 2 timelines ago because I thought you caught on!¡± I¡¯m sorry¡­ I had no clue.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    ¡°Hehe, then I still got it! I deceived a nine-tail spirit fox! I will take cuddling your tails as a reward!¡± Uhh, sure.

    ¡°Yay!¡± My tails got assaulted as I was deep in thought. All the interactions I had with Uraya flashed by. In hindsight, it started to make sense. Hey Azu, if you got the nickname Azure Mist because of your skill wouldn''t it be a problem to just give it to me? She popped her head out from my tails.

    ¡°Not really, mentors and couples do that all the time.¡± But I don''t fall into either category! She popped her head out again.

    ¡°That is fine!¡± What would the witch community think if they saw me use that skill?

    ¡°Oh, that might be a bad idea, they will go after you and know that I escaped. Not that I care if they go after me.¡± Figured¡­

    ¡°Oh! I have more skills to teach you and your friends!¡± Uhh, we¡¯re fine!

    ¡°Rejected!¡± I felt mana flow into my tails and got 2 passive skills and 2 more magic skills. Really?!

    ¡°Hehe, whoopsie?¡± I¡¯m sure that was deliberate! Azu escaped from my tails and ran to my buddies.

    ¡°Ted! Help! I made Agnis mad!¡± Don''t listen to her it¡¯s a trap! She put her hands on Ted¡¯s shoulder as she hid behind him and winked at me. Hey, what! Wait what is this, Azu? She ran away again! I used [accel step] because she was cheating with dimensional magic again.

    ¡°Raishin! Want another hug?¡± Of course! Oooh, so soft, wait what is this? I guess I can''t stop her¡­

    ¡°Hey, Gregory!¡± What? Hmm, interesting. Ugh, I was too late. [Earthquake] and [Arcane mastery] eh? I got [Chain Lightning] and [Updraft]. I got [Shadow Separation] and [Quicksand].

    ¡°Hehe, you¡¯re welcome!¡± Isn''t passing skills on like that either extremely rare or extremely hard?

    ¡°Hehe, I¡¯m a genius so it''s no problem for me!¡± I guess we just became bigger environmental hazards. Since when do you care about the environment? Ted pointed at this whole area. I have to say, he has a point. So, what did you get Agnis? A headache¡­ Did you learn all this magic or did you make some of them?

    ¡°Ooh, a good question! Most of these I learned but my research was focused on magic skill synthesis. I focused on passive skills but I also made a lot of custom skills! [Arcane mastery] is something I helped Paula with. I recreated my interpretation of [Shadow Separation] after I saw an assassin use it after he failed his assassination attempt on me. It was quite hard to make. The rest I just learned.¡± So, what did you get Agnis? I got [Purifying flame] passive skill. Whenever I use fire-based attacks they have a chance to remove effects like confusion, panic, and nausea.

    ¡°This one was hard to make without my workshop, I don''t have anything against your nausea, sorry Gregory.¡± That is fine, Did you make this recently?

    ¡°Yup, but I¡¯m out of mana runes now and [Purifying flame] is quite limited, normally It would guarantee the removal of nausea but because I was short on materials and don¡¯t have my workshop, this is the best I could do it should have a 20% chance to remove those attacks so just blast away when you get nauseous!¡± Cool! So, you gave him a reason to blast away¡­ at this point, I¡¯m not surprised anymore¡­ I got [Frozen skin] whenever I use water and I guess frost attacks I get this which protects me from taking damage. It seems to build layers and each one protects against 1 hit. Finally! You¡¯re not a glass cannon anymore! Thank you, Azu!

    ¡°Well, it only builds 5 layers and after it loses 1 layer it will become inactive for 30 minutes. It is also weak against multiple attacks. This was the last skill I worked on before I got imprisoned. It is incomplete but it should prove useful.¡± I got [Dimensional sword] and [Meteor]... Meteor? Meteor?! Cool!

    ¡°It suits him right! He can drop a [Meteor] and Raishin can use [Solar stream]!¡± Hey, Agnis it doesn''t damage us just like your other skills, right? Right? Uhh, want to find out?

    Noo! Noo! I was kidding chill guys! Thank you for the cool skills Azu! We will try to not destroy the world with them!

    She gave Agnis [Meteor]¡­ we are all going to die! Hey, come on it¡¯s not that bad! Wait isn''t that one of those skills that get more powerful the user''s affinity is to its element?

    ¡°That is correct Raishin!¡± Wait so if this guy with a stupid high-fire affinity uses it what will happen?

    ¡°Is his fire affinity that high?¡± Phoenix and 9t fox checking in!

    ¡°Oh, be careful to not destroy cities or a country then haha!¡± Silence fell. I will¡­ try to not use it. I bet 2 gold that he will forget to not use it! You don''t even have that much gold!

    I will after I win! Right, thank you Azu. We have to remember that we might have to deal with gods in the near future so on that scale these attacks aren''t that crazy¡­

    Hey Azu? How many [Meteor] does Agnis need to cast to drop a god?

    ¡°Hmm, maybe 15 or 20? Depends on the god and if he can hit them.¡± 15 or 20? How am I supposed to cast that many? That is not the point? Right, I guess we now can destroy this root, just let Agnis cast [Meteor] and Raishin [Solar stream] ...

    Oh, yeah that would work. How long does it take for your meteor to drop Agnis? Well according to this magic skill, it depends on my fire affinity. Time until impact, the power, its speed, and its size, are all determined by my fire affinity. So, it will drop instantly, be enormous, and vaporize everything, gotcha.

    Anyways it''s getting late let''s rest up because this guardian doesn''t seem like he will come out today. Ooh, I can''t wait to blow up Slowpoke and then the root! Tomorrow is going to be a good day! We ate some deer Raishin caught with again fish from my dimensional pocket. Azu told my buddies what she told me. It seems they too were shocked. We talked about our new skills and other different stuff and then decided to go to sleep. I was about to curl up in my tails to sleep when I saw Azu look at me with puppy eyes.

    No! Azu dove at me as I curled up. I think she got caught between my tails but I was safe.

 Ch 77: Mr. Slowpoke

    Day 4: I got rudely awakened by Ted. Hey, wake up! Your guardian is moving! Meh, give me 20 more minutes he is a slowpoke after all.

    You said that twice before he really stepped out the root now! Wait what? My boss fight is here?! I jumped up, grabbed my spear, and ran outside. There he was Mr. slowpoke. He was almost completely outside the root. I can feel that this guy is super strong. But I can''t see how he would be a threat if he is so slow. He is even slower than Greg! Greg looked at me.

    You are thinking about something rude, aren¡¯t you? Whud? Of course not! I thought of Greg swimming in a lake to check if he suddenly learned how to read minds. No reaction.

    Phew, I¡¯m safe. Safe from what?

    Never mind! So, what''s the plan? Can¡¯t you just [Fusionado] him like you did the last time?

    But that is so boring! It was effective, or do you want to waste time by trying to fight him properly?

    I want to use [Raishin kick] Fine, go ahead, Raishin kick him and then blast him with Fusionado, don''t forget that we need to beat this guardian, then destroy the root, Agnis has to fix that hole and then we also have to defeat the tree and we don¡¯t know how long any of that will take so I would recommend to not waste any time.

    Oh right, the pink broccoli, I almost forgot! We really are rubbing off too much on each other¡­ Where are Agnis and Azu? Agnis is trying his best to escape from her. I guess he still can improve on escaping others. With all this training he gets nobody will be able to catch him in a couple of years. I see that as a good thing. We heard an explosion and saw the side of a mountain melting and the appearance of a magma snake.

    Ooh, he is using Ignis. Suddenly the mountainside got blasted by water and Ignis turned into stone.

    And there goes Ignis. Do you think I could get a girlfriend as cool as Azu?

    I don¡¯t think Azu is Agnis¡¯ girlfriend, but one day you will find someone. I think¡­ You think?

    Now go defeat that guardian! On it! I slowly walked up to Mr. Slowpoke. He didn''t seem to have noticed me. What I heard from Agnis, Azu, and Ted is that you need to make him lock on to you else he might flee. Well¡­ if he can with this speed. I stood in front of him waved at him poked him even punched him but he didn''t lock on to me. He just kept staring forward and moving slowly. I tripped him but it took him half an hour to get up and he still didn''t lock on. I just started attacking him. He seemed to react but got sucked back into the root.

    Nooo! I should have just [Raishin kicked] him. I waited for 2 more hours until he got back out.

    This sucks! Agnis said he made the sisters lock on him by using fire magic, probably because they were really weak to it. Ted used a taunting roar and Azu slammed hers to the ground. I shot a [Fireball] at Mr. Slowpoke, yelled at him, and tried to slam him into the floor but he was heavy. He didn''t lock on. Maybe I should listen to Greg and just one-shot him. I decided to use my secret weapon and if that didn''t work I would just Fusionado him.

    Hey Mr. Slowpoke! Yo, momma is so fat, when she goes camping, the bears hide their food from her! My instinct told me to dive to the side which I did. A beam that looks like my [Solar stream] shot at where I stood moments ago. Mr. Slowpoke locked onto me.

    Heh, Yo Momma jokes always work! I tried to get close to land my [Raishin kick] but even though he was slow his lasers weren''t. It is a good thing he isn''t fighting Agnis, Agnis has bad matchups against lasers. I noticed why these things are stupid fast. If it wasn''t for my intuition, I would have been a Raishin beehive. Something told me that I wasn''t going to land any [Raishin kicks] today. I decided to test out my new skills. I used [Chain Lightning] but it looked like a normal lightning bolt.

    How lame. I used [Updraft] and launched Mr. Slowpoke into the air.

    Ooh, this is cool! The problem was it seemed to give him high evasion because I couldn''t hit him anymore.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Meh, why did I get these lame skills? I decided to just [Fusionado] him and complain to Azu. I started with [Tornado] but it was huge. It looks like a hurricane.

    Ehh, what do I do now? Ignore it! Yes! Just continue! The other tornadoes I made were normal though. How weird. The redhurricanado ate all the rednadoes and turned into an orangehurricanado. I got a bit concerned; this thing was way bigger than I expected it to be. My intuition was warning me that my own skill was dangerous. Mr. Slowpoke was nowhere to be seen; he was somewhere in that now Yellowhurricanado. I teleported to our small camp.

    I should have known, you managed to make it so big that we are at risk even at this distance¡­ Hey, not my fault that one of my tornadoes got that big! I bet that was a crit!

    Did you enter a critical rush? What?

    Orange glow? Same thing you had when you fought Nayani? No?

    Then it''s not a crit! Fine! Where is Azu? I need to complain about the skills she gave me!

    What about them? [Chain lightning] is just a lightning bolt and [Updraft] gives the opponent more evasion!

    Uhm, [Chain lightning] hits multiple targets after you hit the initial hit on 1 target it is going to look like a lightning bolt yes¡­ and [Updraft] doesn''t give your opponent more evasion, you just suck at hitting moving targets... And I¡¯m sure it makes your next wind magic spell stronger. Oh, that is pretty good!

    At least that explains that monster of a [Fusionado]¡­ It''s a [Fusiohurricanado!]

    A what? You know what never mind. Ted! We need to run! Hmm, what''s up? Ted came out of his small earthhouse.

    Whoa! That looks bad, let''s go yeah! We took our distance and looked at how the [Fusiohurricanado] was probably shredding Mr. Slowpoke.

    The root doesn''t seem like it''s taking much damage from that¡­ I hope [Meteor] and [Solar Stream] can take care of that.

    So how is Agnis doing? At that moment Azu appeared hugging a defeated Agnis.

    Save me¡­ Hehe seems he¡¯s doing fine. Hey Azu first I thought your skills did nothing but they''re pretty cool!

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you like them.¡± Is he going to be all right?

    ¡°Oh, he will be fine after I play some more with his tails.¡± I¡¯m not so sure about that¡­ Hey, Azu don''t witches normally have like cool staffs and big hats?

    ¡°You mean staves? And well that¡¯s correct. That bitch stole my hat so that she could seal me away.¡± How is your hat related to this?

    ¡°Oh, I guess you guys don''t know, you see a witch without her hat is quite weak!¡± We all look at Azu and then at the crown of her head. Wait, so you are telling me, the current hat less you is weaker than you would normally be?

    ¡°I¡¯m awesome right?! But yes. 70% of the mana witches generate comes from their hats. They also need a tool to exert a great amount of mana. Normally staves get used but there are some other weapons or forms that could be used. The greater the witch the smaller the tool. 10 Kaledonian years before I got imprisoned, I got to the point where I don¡¯t need a tool to exert large quantities of mana! A tool would certainly make things easier for me though¡­¡± Ugh, so basically you eliminated most of your witch weaknesses?

    ¡°Yes! It is hard to almost impossible to destroy a witch¡¯s hat, they will only disappear when the witch dies. The tools like staves and wands can be destroyed though. So, my hat should still be somewhere¡­¡± So even after stealing your hat which takes away 70% of your mana generation that bitch goddess still couldn''t defeat you?

    ¡°Well, it did become harder for me to keep up with her but yes.¡± Right, you can play with my tails all you want, all my desire to resist just got vaporized.

    ¡°Yaaay!¡± She tamed Agnis¡­ Is there a possibility that it is providing this prison with mana? It is very complicated and strong; I can imagine it takes an insane amount of mana to keep it running. It isn''t draining the environment from mana so it must come from somewhere. You think her hat is in the pink broccoli? But we didn''t see any after we blasted it.

    It reminds me of the message Agnis deciphered, maybe that tree was a dummy or an ¡®echo¡¯ of the real tree. The real tree should be visible after this root is destroyed, that is my theory. Let''s go with that, it is not like we have anything else to go by, and if that''s not the case Azu is strong enough to deal with whatever appears, she could still annoy a goddess hat less.

    ¡°Ooh, so confident in my abilities!¡± So uhh when are we going to blast the root? When that thing there stops. And how long is that going to take?

    No clue. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Come on guys you know ellipses aren''t dialogue options!

    ¡°I can stop it for you.¡± Oh, can you do that, please? Azu stretched her hand toward the [Fusiohurricanodo]. I saw something that looked like a magic circle flash behind her back. It was faster than I¡¯d ever seen before. And the [Fusiohurricanado] disappeared. Damn, she is hot.

 Ch 78: Dimensional Patchwork

    I wasn''t surprised when Azu made that bigass [Fusionado] disappear. Not anymore. I was still a bit tired from attempting to escape from her but it wasn''t that bad. I guess my turn is up. How much time do you need to charge up to have enough for your amped-up [Solar Stream]? 5 minutes should be enough. Raishin took some distance from us and started to generate energy. Some weird tiger-patterned cloud swirled around him. This is the first time I''ve seen it but I¡¯ve heard about it before. It only shows itself if the energy that is being generated greatly surpasses the maximum capacity six-tailed lightning tigers can casually carry around. This means if you see this while fighting a six-tailed tiger you either have to kill them immediately or start investing in seriously running away. In Raishin¡¯s current state, it seems he can''t use it in battle yet because he seems to be focusing hard. I got hugged from behind.

    ¡°I would recommend aiming the [Meteor] a bit further back.¡± How big is this thing going to be?

    ¡°As big as my awesomeness!¡± Uhm ok¡­ I fired up my Elgards eyes and set things up so that I could cast it. That is odd I can¡¯t see the range that it would cover. Normally I would see something akin to a dotted line to indicate the range. I don''t see it. Maybe Azu made a mistake and it is really small? A small [Meteor] doesn''t make any sense.

    I¡¯m done! Can you link me up? I linked Raishin up and decided to link Azu up too.

    Ooh, this has a big range. I did see the dotted line for Raishin¡¯s attack. Its range was stupidly large.

    Just aim it to the back there, and you will still hit it. Right here it goes!

    Now just wait. So, Azu I can¡¯t see the range of [Meteor].

    ¡°Hmm, that is weird, maybe just a glitch! You are still young, maybe it misses some things.¡± I guess¡­ We waited till there were 30 seconds left before [Solar stream] would hit. It seemed that my [Meteor] would drop 25 seconds after casting. I used [Meteor], I circulated nature energy to combat my nausea. and both Raishin and my intuition went off.

    Say Agnis, do you remember that time in that game we played and you found this shiny spell? Funny that you say that because I was thinking about that too.

    ¡°What what? I want to know too!¡± Uhm so same story, I couldn''t see the range of that skill to test it out and it seemed to have a range so big that the range indicator was outside our field of vision we were standing in its range¡­

    ¡°Oh, this isn''t good then¡­¡± HEY AGNIS ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL US?! I think Greg knows. Yup, he knows.

    ¡°We might have made an oopsie¡± I grab Azu and Raishin with my tails, dash toward Ted and Gregory, grab them too, and chain teleport us far away from the blast zone.

    So, I may or may not have forgotten to control [Meteor] with nature magic so it also may or may not be laced with spatiotemporal magic. So, I was right, it would hit all of us¡­

    I will reflect on this mistake. An enormous flaming meteor covered and darkened the sky. The moment it crashed into its target a thick beam of light and fire pierced it causing the area to get hit by both simultaneously. Gregory put up all his defensive skills, I used my [frost wall] and Azu used some barriers.

    We should coordinate this whenever a god messes with us. Gregory and Ted slapped me.

    Well, look at that! The root is no more! Nice!

    Time to close that dimensional hole!

    ¡°Take me with you!¡± That was my bad guys but I''m off to fix that hole. I grabbed Azu and chain teleported toward the dimensional hole.

    ¡°Ouch ouch, it''s hot here!¡± Oh, sorry. I made a [frost cloak] for Azu. Because the root was gone the fabric seemed to be back to normal although still torn. I saw some maggots appear.

    ¡°Eww! What are those? Get it away get it away!¡± They are just maggots, haven¡¯t you seen them before?

    ¡°They¡¯re gross!¡± I agree with that but I need those, now how do I get more of them¡­

    ¡°You want more of them?!¡± Azu started freaking out. I sighed and covered her in 6 of my tails. ¡°So fluffy!¡± I guess in cases like this she was easy to deal with. Now how do I make them multiply? The maggots gathered around the frayed edges of the fabric and started to do something. I didn''t know anything about them so I decided to wait and observe. Slowly but surely, they were repairing the fabric but what they produced was ugly festering fabric. Hmm. So, I let them do this then blast them to turn the festering fabric into a normal one. This seems like it''s going to take a long time. And if that''s the case what is the function of those centipedes and beetles? I looked on for 3 hours but the process was slow. And still, no other disgusting bugs of which I was unsure what their function was. There must be a way to speed this up. Azu was still entranced and playing with my tails.

    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    What a weirdo. The only solution I could think of was using that technique that causes me to lose my 9t fox powers for a while. Everything I did in that mode was on instinct. It was almost 14:00 If I use it now, I will be able to use my 9t fox powers tomorrow. I used one of my free tails to untangle and grab Azu and placed her in front of me. Hey, Azu, I¡¯m going to do something that could potentially fix this hole but after I use this, I won''t be able to use any 9t fox powers. Will you watch over me after I lose it?

    ¡°What? Your tails will be gone!? It isn''t risky right?¡± Well, if you look after me, I don¡¯t think it will be risky.

    ¡°Ok! Count on me! Tails or not I will protect you!¡± That is reassuring. I shattered a layer and grabbed my [Illusionary dagger]

    ¡°Ooh, so colorful!¡± I held the dagger in front of me with an outstretched hand and let it go. It floated and started to point at me. I spread out my 8 tails. It multiplied and a dagger each sot into my tails. The illusion making my tails and hair black dropped. My ears turned blue and a 9th tail appeared. All my tails got covered in blue fire and fire wisps started floating behind me. My pupils turned into waxing moons this time and a silver mana burst erupted from me.

    ¡°Oh gosh, this is the most beautiful thing I''ve ever seen!¡± Space started warping around me and the sky started to act weird again. Day and night flashed by until it settled at a dark clear sky with an unusually big full moon. I didn''t know what to do but my instincts told me what to do. I gathered all the wisps floating behind me, turned them purple by mixing them with spatiotemporal magic, and fired it at the [firewall] which was still incinerating the Things. [Foxfire blanket]. It replaced the [firewall] but now it looked like its name suggested. It looked like a purple flaming blanket was covering the hole. The maggots that were hit by it melted and their green goo seeped into the blanket making whatever part of the blanket that got hit by the goo look like healthy dimensional fabric. This only made the hole a little bit smaller since all the maggots were gone now.

    A tail disappeared. I shattered another illusion layer and created another [Illusionary dagger]. I jumped on the [Foxfire blanket] and dipped my tails into it. The fire that was covering my tails ignited the already burning blanket. It doesn''t make any sense I know. It made the blanket shrink and I pulled the edges of the hole closer together with my tails.

    Another tail disappeared. My intuition told me to look up to the full moon, which I did. My pupils turned into crescent moons and the sky started to shift between day and night again until a big waning gibbous moon could be seen in the sky. Silver tears dropped out of my eyes but when I caught them with my tails they turned into threads. At this point, I knew what to do. Hera was a weaver and I know a thing or two about weaving.

    Another tail disappeared. I made smaller [Foxfire blankets] and threaded the silver thread attached to the [Illusionary dagger]. I continued to repeat that stitching foxfire blankets together. Any blanket that was stitched to the healthy dimensional fabric turned into a healthy fabric itself.

    2 more tails disappeared. Judging by the speed at which I was doing this I might barely make it. I heard some noises and saw a medium-sized Thing approach. My luck is terrible it had all the time to appear and it appears now. I decided to do something possibly risky. I fired up my [Tail dynamo] and sped up. I circulated nature energy to make sure I didn''t get hit by nausea. I made more [Foxfire blankets] and stitched them together. I started to become a little bit sloppy because the hole was still big.

    Another tail was gone, I only had 3 tails left now and this Thing might get through because I don''t know if a blanket will stop it. Probably not¡­ I saw Azu looking at me absolutely enthralled. It is going to be hard to shake her off after I¡¯m done with this, isn''t it? White opaque flames formed on my remaining tails. What do they do? No clue but something told me to fire them off at the fabric that was already fixed.

    I sped up because that dropped my tails to 2 and I still had a lot to fix. I fixed 70% of the hole but I don''t think I will be able to fix all of it.

    I fixed 80% of the fabric when another tail disappeared. The white flames seemed to have thickened the fabric. It also seemed to have attracted some maggots. I don¡¯t know if I can fix the rest after I drop out of this but even if it''s slow, they can fix the rest. I got to 85% before my last tail disappeared. This was because I had to keep the medium Thing at a distance. My blue ears disappeared, my Elgards eyes deactivated and the sky went through day and night again to return back to normal. I fell exhausted but Azu caught me.

    ¡°That was amazing! This is the first time I''ve seen a nine-tail spirit fox fix dimensional anomalies!¡± Azu, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m exhausted, let¡¯s talk later¡­ My eyes felt heavy and I fell asleep. I seem to be sleeping a lot lately.

    <hr>

    I woke up and saw something familiar but I can¡¯t remember where I''ve seen it before. I poked it.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re awake. How do you like my lap pillow?¡± Lap pillow again? But I¡¯m not hurt. I got up but my head hurt.

    ¡°You looked so cool and pretty when you fixed that hole!¡± I had no clue what I was doing for the most part. I didn''t even manage to fix everything.

    ¡°Well, you closed up most of it, so it should be fine right?¡± Hopefully. How late is it?

    ¡°It''s past midnight, you were out for quite a long time. I helped Ted and Gregory close up the hole in the ground again.¡± Oh, in that case.

    Day 5: So, did anything weird happen with the pink broccoli in the meantime?

    ¡°I don''t sense anything off, and neither did Gregory.¡± I tried to activate my Elgards eyes but they haven''t returned yet. So, several more hours and it will be over, are you excited to be free?

    ¡°I was at first but now it feels like that is when everything will start. I seemed to be one of Witchaven¡¯s greatest hope and to them, I suddenly disappeared. Then there is the thing with the gods. I also want to reclaim my materials from my workshop at least and set up a workshop somewhere else. I also don¡¯t know anything about the world so I will have to catch up on that, there is so much stuff I need to do and that means I sadly can¡¯t afford to stick with you guys.¡± Hey, I was thinking, I was quite mean to you, if you want you can join us, we will fight the witches and gods together. Azu shook her head.

    ¡°You were right, I need to get everything in order I also need to catch a witch traitor because I¡¯m the only witch who has an idea where she could be hiding. I will be sure to meet up with you guys once I¡¯ve finished all of that, that is if you still want me at that point.¡± You¡¯ve been a huge help, without you we would have been dead, especially me. I know we are working toward setting you free and it is natural for you to help but it seems it didn''t exactly cost you nothing to do all this.

    ¡°Hehe, don''t worry about it, I did this with pleasure and had fun while at it.¡± So, you guys fixed the ground so that we could blow another hole in it to defeat the pink broccoli?

    ¡°Gregory investigated the tree and it seems it can be defeated with what he calls ¡®An obnoxious puzzle¡¯ whatever that means.¡± I clutched my head. Nooo! Azu giggled,

    ¡°So dramatic now sleep!¡± Whud? So sleepy, did you use sleeping magic on me?

    ¡°Who knows!¡± You know!

 Ch 79: Pink Broccoli IV

    I woke up after what I hate to say was my best sleep ever. My headaches were also gone.

    ¡°Good morning sweetie¡± I have to give it to you that was the best sleep I had in a long time. I got up, took out my tails, and stretched. Wow it''s almost noon. Time to blast that tree.

    ¡°Your friends are already at it but I think they need your help.¡± What? Why didn''t they wake me up?

    ¡°They said they didn''t want to disturb you.¡± Whud? Why?

    ¡°Ehehehe¡± Azuuuuu!

    ¡°Yes?¡± Alright! I''m leaving you behind!

    ¡°Noo!¡± She dove at me as I teleported. She surely is fast, she managed to grab me in time and got teleported with me. ¡°So, mean!¡± Sup guys! How was your sleep? You seemed awfully comfortable hehe. We didn''t want to wake up sleeping beauty. I''m so jealous!

    Yes yes, what is the status? Gregory solved 2 obnoxious puzzles; we had some broccoli monsters to fight but this one seems in a different language.

    I¡¯m surprised they weren''t all in an ancient language. They were but Azu could decipher those, she can¡¯t decipher this one.

    Hmm, hmm let''s see. Oh, this is easy.

    ¡°Ow! If you want some of my beautiful hair you just have to ask!¡± We need something from the one imprisoned here. This wouldn''t have been funny if we didn''t know this was a prison. Or that Azu was the one imprisoned¡­ Now I might be wrong because this language is a pain.

    ¡°Hey! So, you pulled my hair out for nothing?¡± You will forgive me, right? I looked at her with puppy eyes.

    ¡°Of course!¡± Heh, so easy, I can play this game too!

    ¡°Hey!¡± It worked. what is next? No clue, I can''t read this. It would be nice if these jerks would stick to just one language. Can you read this Azu? Azu looked at the symbols that appeared on the trunk of the pink broccoli.

    ¡°Nope, no clue!¡± Well, this sucks, so we will be bottlenecked by some dead language. Can¡¯t we just nuke it? Or hack it like you guys did the last timeline? Gregory and I sighed at the thought of hacking that barrier. I guess we have no choice¡­

    ¡°I can help! Magic runes are my specialty!¡± How reliable! Let''s keep a lookout while these nerds hack this tree. Ok! I linked Gregory and Azu to my vision.

    ¡°Oh, wow this looks way easier like this! We should be done in no time!¡± This is a lot to decode though¡­

    ¡°Oh not really, you see these and these are traps, this is redundant it can go, hmm this one is tricky, maybe you can look through it Gregory, pay attention to this part if you mess with those 2 runes that part will either reveal itself as a trap or show itself as the main part running this section. Let¡¯s see dummy, dummy dummy, dummy, trap. Oh, how cute nobody falls for traps like these anymore.¡± We just looked in amazement as Azu was wiping out traps and dummies like she was the one who made this obstacle. Hey, Azu do you even need us for this? Yeah, I feel that we would only hold you back¡­

    ¡°Oh don¡¯t be like that! You can learn from the best! Take this opportunity!¡± Ehh ok¡­ Sure. Azu spent half an hour teaching us the ins and outs of hacking barriers and layers of entry of magic defense systems. My head hurts. My headache is back¡­

    ¡°You guys learn fast! Let''s do some research together after I¡¯ve dealt with all my stuff!¡± I¡¯m not sure if we will be useful to you¡­ Yeah, this is nuts, we will just slow you down¡­

    ¡°Nonsense! Look we got through!¡± Gregory and I collapsed on the floor of mental exhaustion. This was like a week''s worth of Hourai class in a half hour¡­ Now I understand why Raishin hates studying¡­

    ¡°Hmm, that is odd, I can¡¯t read this but it''s in draconian. Did that dragon that Paula banished make this?¡± Wait does that mean we should''ve left that dragon alive? Not really¡­ Ted and Gregory looked at me.

    What? You know draconian right, and if not, you know a dragon¡­

    Right, let''s see¡­ Great it''s a stupid riddle. What happened to just defeating a boss and being done with it?

    ¡°Hey, what does it say?¡± Hmm, this is a weird one.

    <hr>

    This riddle describes my one-sided crush, whoever finds the answer to this riddle will be granted access to the Soun Tree¡¯s core.

    I am a creature both divine and rare,

    With wings of gold that glitter in the air.

    My breath is sweet, my voice is soft and kind,

    And in my presence, peace you''ll always find.

    Though many seek me, few will ever see,

    For I am elusive, even to a deity.

    But if you are pure of heart and mind,

    I''ll grace you with my presence, and be forever kind.

    <hr>

    You know what? This sounds like someone I know. I bet Tero made this riddle! I stomped on the ground and summoned Tero.

    Hey, Agnis if you summon him here won''t that cause problems? Ehh¡­

    ¡°Low-risk assessment, you can''t blame him for that¡± Then who do we blame?!

    ¡°The gods?¡± I like that let''s blame them! Gregory covered us in a [Shadow dome] as the ground started trembling and Tero emerged.

    ¡°Hey, why is it so cramped here?! Hey, can someone help me? I¡¯m stuck!¡± What is he saying? I don''t understand Draconian! I linked everyone to my vision and created subtitles in Hourai. Only you can get stuck in a cave! We just need your head!

    ¡°You really are a rude kiddo! I will make sure your mother hears of this!¡± Yes yes, go ahead, if you find her send her my location, it would save me a lot of trouble.

    ¡°So rude! Did you summon me for this?!¡± We found a riddle that sounds like you made it, now spit it out what is the answer?!

    ¡°A riddle! Do you think I would waste my time playing with words and not with hot dragons?!¡± Right, my bad, you don¡¯t have the capacity to create riddles, this one is on me, you can go back now¡­ Oof, Agnis is roasting this dragon.

    ¡°Fascinating to think he can burn an earth dragon this easily.¡± He truly is the master of fire.

    ¡°Hey! Listen when you get as old as I am you will realize that only good things happen if you respect your elders!¡± I look at Azu, I look at Tero. Nice try!

    ¡°Hey, what is that supposed to mean!¡± Azu and Tero said in chorus.

    ¡°Hey, sexy, have I seen you before?¡± Great now he¡¯s trying to pick up a witch, hey Tero focus! The riddle!

    <hr>

    This riddle describes my one-sided crush, whoever finds the answer to this riddle will be granted access to the Soun Tree¡¯s core.

    I am a creature both divine and rare,

    With wings of gold that glitter in the air.

    My breath is sweet, my voice is soft and kind,

    And in my presence, peace you''ll always find.

    Though many seek me, few will ever see,

    For I am elusive, even to a deity.

    But if you are pure of heart and mind,

    I''ll grace you with my presence, and be forever kind.

    <hr>

    So, what is the answer?

    ¡°Wow, this guy must have really been a beta dragon! What a loser!¡± Tero, seriously? Weren''t you the one who tried to score brownie points with my mother?

    ¡°Hey, it is not my fault she is hot! But hmm these friends of yours also give off familiar energy, are their mom''s friends of yours?¡± Ehh, yes, wait you don¡¯t¡­

    ¡°Hey, guys are these your moms?¡± He showed 2 images.

    Hey, why does he have pictures of our moms? Wow, my mom was so young there! Ugh, I don''t know but he also had one of my mom.

    ¡°Ooh! I haven''t seen these pictures of the calamity trio! Do you have any copies I can have?!¡± Right, you were a big fan, he can¡¯t understand Hourai or Kaledonian though. Hey Tero, this chick asks if you have copies of our mom¡¯s pictures and we demand to know where you got them from!

    ¡°Oh, here are some copies for you sexy, now about this riddle¡­¡± I swear, when I¡¯m strong enough I will kick your ass, now what about this riddle?

    ¡°I have no idea, but ¡®wings of gold that glitter in the air¡¯ reminds me of Edea, so many dragons had a crush on her." Great¡­ more information that I didn''t want to hear I can''t imagine wanting to deal with dragons if this is how dragons are¡­

    ¡°Hey! Being a dragon is great! You get to do what you want and loaf around all day!¡± And you need to be a dragon to do that because?

    ¡°So, I think the answer to this riddle is your mom.¡± You can¡¯t possibly suggest that the answer to this riddle is ¡®Your mom¡¯...

    ¡°No, not my mom, your mom!¡± What did you say about my mom!? Agnis, focus, please¡­

    Right¡­ The answer to the riddle is: ¡®Your mom!¡¯ Everyone who could, facepalmed.

    No, he is talking about Edea as an individual. Oh, the answer is: ¡®My mom¡¯ They facepalmed again.

    Just say Edea Hourai¡­ The answer is Edea Hourai¡­

    ¡°Nothing is happening¡­¡± Yes, I can see that Tero¡­

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m out of ideas!¡± Aren''t you supposed to be super wise and all? Is this all you got?

    ¡°Each dragon has its own specialty!¡± And yours is?

    ¡°Collecting images of hot chi¡­¡± Right! Nobody cares! Hey, Agnis the riddle asks for the identity of the creature, not of a person.

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    So, you¡¯re saying the answer is a Phoenix? The tree glowed and the symbols disappeared.

    Really? This dragon had a crush on my mom? Wasn''t he too young to be around when my mom was down here? I¡¯m more surprised that the random ramblings of this dragon were actually helpful¡­

    Same¡­

    ¡°My work here is done!¡± But you didn''t do anything¡­ Tero burrowed and disappeared. Mental note: never call Tero for anything I need wisdom for¡­

    ¡°That was such a unique experience, do you guys always get adventures like this?!¡± Kinda¡­ I wish we could have some more normal adventures¡­ The tree stopped glowing and became transparent.

    ¡°That''s my hat!¡± Stylish hat! Azu''s hat was as expected, azure colored. it had some strange markings and patterns of mistflowers. it also had a real mistflower on it.

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Hey, what is that! I looked at where Ted was pointing and I froze. I grabbed my tail and reapplied illusions to my tails to make them black again.

    ¡°Oh, guys this is bad.¡± Who is this hottie a pink copy of?

    ¡°The goddess that trapped me here, her copy is certainly strong.¡± Hey, Agnis are you ok? You¡¯re shaking. I... I''m fine.

    ¡°I will applaud you for coming this far but the fact that my copy had to appear means that this is the end of the road for you.¡± The copy talked as if the real one was talking through it. I grabbed another tail.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this is her personality, the real one shouldn''t know about this yet.¡±

    ¡°Naturally it is impossible to replicate my exquisite beauty but the appearance of this clone will still be more than enough to drown out the repulsive ugliness of you ground crawlers. It is not too late to abandon hope and flee, for fighting my clone will end in your demise.¡± Yuck, that is one nasty personality, she was hot until she opened her mouth. Hey is Agnis going to be, ok? Azu hugged me.

    ¡°It¡¯s ok it¡¯s just a clone, we can defeat her.¡± I took a deep breath and slapped my cheeks. Ugh, I hate this bitch, guys, this is a clone of a goddess so take this seriously, but we have Azu on our side, we can''t lose! Yeah, let''s turn her into ash! Are you sure you are ok Agnis? You¡¯re still holding your tail. Just imagine that she is a potato. At that moment a switch in me flipped.

    Hey, Greg, Agnis changed his vision so that she looks like a potato. Oh, this clone is dead. I took potato peeler v2.0 out of my dimensional pocket and fired up my tail dynamo.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what is going on but I''ve never seen Agnis this serious before¡± We neither¡­ Guys let''s go all out before Agnis solos her! I used a 500-layered [Confusion] 5 times as I blinked behind her and used [Potato peeler v2.1] on the clone with purple lightning. The clone got hit by the confusion damage when it tried to react. I moved so that my buddies were at my back and used [Tsunami]. Azu used the water my tsunami created to cast her own [Tsunami]. Guys! Easy with the water! Light beams filled the room and Gregory blocked as many as he could with [Shadow wall] and the [Shadow cloaks] he put on us. Ted went big bear mode and used [Aurora Bearealis]. Raishin threw [Lightning glitter] and kept firing, [Lightning bolts] and [Nova blasts] at the bitch clone. It created a light barrier which got instantly broken by the 2 [Tsunami]

    ¡°Hehe, no light or earth barriers work against [Tsunami]¡± Azu used her water shark attack again and I used a 0 setup [Lightning umbrella]. Ted grabbed the bitch clone with his bear avatar and held her in the [Lightning umbrella]. I have some abyss magic ready! Just fire it! I threw a dagger at the bitch clone and swapped Gregory with it. He fired it off at point-blank range. The bitch clone took a lot of damage from it. Ted grabbed Gregory with his bear avatar and moved him away from some [Light beams] the bitch clone was firing off. Azu formed a huge ice spear. I decided to do the same and coordinated it to hit the bitch clone at the same time. It got hit but escaped Ted¡¯s grasp.

    ¡± [Divine Radiance]!¡± Ugh, this bitch clone is of the cringy type. The whole cave was filled by a burst of light. Luckily, I had the [Frozen skin] skill from Azu, so I only had 1 layer left but since I got hit, I will have to survive for 30 minutes to get more layers. Azu seemed to get hit but seemed fine. Ted protected himself with his bear avatar but the avatar was really small now. Gregory managed to protect himself. Only Raishin got hit head-on.

    Ouch, if it wasn''t for Greg¡¯s shadow cloak, I might have been seriously wounded from that. Light-speed attacks are cheating! I saw the bitch clone attempting it again so I interrupted it. The bitch clone locked onto me. I went into stealth and used a 500-layered [Confusion]. The bitch clone seemed to try and find my location by blasting random spots but Raishin went in with a red lightning punch. The bitch clone blocked it but Raishin followed up with [Updraft] launching it in the air. Gregory blocked some light beams aimed at Raishin with his [Shadow wall] and used [Liberation] after throwing his hammer. I used a controlled [Foxfire: Summer heat]. Azu jumped away but my buddies were immune to it thanks to Raishin¡¯s racial perks.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, are you ready for [Azure mist]? Will my buddies be, ok?

    ¡°You can set its target so they will be fine!¡± We both used [Azure mist]. The area became foggy but my allies and I could see perfectly through it. The bitch clone was throwing more light beams around but whenever she did, she got hit by a [Foxfire: Summer heat] and Azu¡¯s ice spear. Wow, I suddenly get access to a lot of water! What is going on?

    ¡°Hehe this is my custom skill, it is very strong but even stronger against gods. Let me recite the instructions I made for this magic skill because I don''t know if Agnis will use it otherwise.

    <hr>

    <ol>

    <li>All magic circles or invocations take twice as long to activate, invocations need to be cast twice. Drawing circles is unaffected</li>

    <li>1 doesn''t apply to divine energy but it does double the cost of divine energy used.</li>

    <li>Obstructs vision and weakly saps mana and divine energy.</li>

    <li>Azure mists require the caster to cast at least 1 attacking skill (Priming skill) before using it. Any skill used in the Azure mist that is weaker than the Priming skill gets turned into water and put under the caster of [Azure mist] control.</li>

    <li>Any opponent outside the Azure mist can¡¯t hit the user while he/she is in the Azure mist.</li>

    <li>The Azure mist automatically attacks opponents that are using divine energy with the same power as the Priming skill. Non-divine energy users get hit for twice this damage.</li>

    <li>Azure Mist costs minimal mana but has an insane cast time.</li>

    </ol>

    <hr>

    So, since this bitch is firing off magic fueled by divine energy, she will eat my [Azure Spear] and Agnis fire attack whenever she does it.¡± So, if I use [Meteor] as a priming skill it will be easy to defeat a god if it spams skills like this?

    ¡°Well, yes and no, you see uhm, most gods would flee when [Azure Mist] gets cast since it doesn''t prevent anyone from fleeing.¡± I see, that works too. So, do we just wait till it self-destructs? It has poor adaptability so I don¡¯t think it will stop firing off attacks. This feels like cheating¡­ If it works it works, how about we help her with her self-destruction and pile on?

    I like that idea! Since the bitch clone had poor adaptability and couldn''t see us because of the double cast [Azure mist] she just became a punching bag. That being said we still had to make sure we didn''t get hit by random attacks. She also tried to use more room-wide attacks but we were prepared. Not without casualties though. I almost lost a life. Raishin lost 2 and Gregory lost 1. Ted came close to death multiple times but his insane vitality healed him back up. I had to assist him by infusing some nature magic into him. I unleashed a red [Dagger torrent] on her while Raishin kept chucking [Nova blasts]. Ted¡¯s bear avatar was quite resilient and a force to be reckoned with, with his new [Arcane mastery] sadly this was needed because the bitch clone still managed to give him a run for his money. Azu did the heavy lifting by firing off various dark elemental magic. Gregory unleashed his tailed mode and the shadows seemed to come alive and assaulted the bitch clone. This allowed him to do a lot of damage and limit the amount of light in the area which drastically dropped her firepower.

    Hey, is it just me or is Greg OP against this bitch? I was thinking the same. Go get her Greg! Gregory seemed to be able to charge his shadows extremely fast like this and could spam [Liberation] and abyss magic on the bitch clone.

    Sorry guys, if I knew stronger abyss magic this might have been easier. Don''t worry about it. Gregory made waves of something that looked like liquid shadows and drowned out the shadow of the clone and made our shadows stronger. What this means is increased resistance against light-based attacks for us, I don''t know what removing her shadow does, nobody of us would throw light attacks at her, maybe it does something else. Gregory once told me that resistance against light magic can be removed if you remove that person''s shadow, on the flipside by reinforcing the shadows the light resistance increases. I can see now why shadowcats were also a problem for this bitch goddess. Imagine a group of shadow cats using this, there''s not much she would be able to do. Unfortunately, this bitch clone could still throw strong enough skills around to give us problems. Even Gregory''s 3t mode and double [Azure Mist] weren''t enough to make this fight easy.

    I know that you want to cut her up Agnis, but getting close to her while she''s thrashing like that will surely get you killed! Ok!

    I shifted to mid-range and long-range combat. Most of the defense was done by Gregory and Azu. Raishin was throwing every lightning skill he knew at the clone while I was using frost magic and foxfires. Azu reminded me that I still hadn''t used [Dimensional Sword]. I could cut stuff while ignoring distance. Another overpowered skill. Unfortunately, it wasn''t overpowered enough against this bitch clone. It regenerated most of the damage we did to it regardless of the type of attack. Azu made sure to block every laser-type attack.

    "Hmm, these attacks are getting weaker and weaker." Yeah, you can thank Greg for that, anything that has their skillset based around light or darkness is quite fucked with him around.

    Greg gave a thumbs up as the waves of shadows wrapped around us and nullified [Light Waves]. He also strengthened our shadows. Our shadows were so dark that it felt like I could fall into them. It looked like an endless hole. He also made his shadow act idependantly from his body. It was strange but it didn''t seem overly useful to me. Azu bound the arms of the bitch with [Azure Chains] and allowed us several seconds of free damage before she broke out and started to glow.

    Guys! lets temporarily retreat! it''s phase 2! Greg folded the waves of shadows and filled almost half the cave with his shadows protecting us. A shockwave ran through the whole area. Greg unfolded teh shadows and shot an [Abyssal Bolt] at the bitch clone. It blew off one of her arm and it didnt regenerate. Take that! Abyss magic will be your downfall!

    Greg was looking quite cool at the moment.

    "Potatoes, pink." Aaand his coolness disappeared as Greg turned into a potato and Azu turned into a pink blob. Uhh, guys? This is bad! I swapped Greg with an ice cube because a [Divine Light] was heading toward him and Azu. I hope Azu can tank this. The bitch clone still got hit by both [Azure Mists]. It was impossible for her to see us but these attacks seem to follow their targets and if her words were some form of command she wouldn''t have to see us to use it. What a pain in the ass goddess. Azu got blasted and Greg, who i had saved unpotatofied and turned into his Gregory self. His 3t mode was gone though.

    Azu! are you ok?

    "Ugh, that stung, I forgot about that, it has been over 2000 years since I''ve fought her. Can anyone silence her?" I can fill her mouth with water or drain it causing her mouth to dry out but it needs a lot of concentration and I can''t keep doing that.

    "That''s fine just do whenever you can. it might not look like it but we''ve already won! we just need to survive!"

    Even though we basically already won it was still rough and after an hour the bitch clone was finally defeated.

    <hr>

    Holy shit that was tough. Imagine how bad it would have been if she could target us. Yeah, her phase 2 wasn''t even funny. In her phase 2 she basically said 2 random words and those of us who were the closest associated with those words turned into those things for 5 seconds and at that same time were targeted by [Divine Light] It seemed to home in on the target so we had to defend our buddies. The roughest parts were when both Azu and Gregory got turned into something random. I can''t swap things simultaneously so I could only swap 1 to safety with good timing. This is where most of us lost lives and where Ted took the most damage. Azu seemed a bit beat up but she still was better off than all of us. Besides that, the pink broccoli started shooting pink spears again halfway through phase 2 so Azu and I had to act as mana beacons and lure them away from the rest.

    Oof, I thought that was a free kill after you guys landed that fog and Gregory went 3t mode but that still was impossibly hard. This would have been really ugly without you, thanks Azu, I''m also annoyed that her turning me into a potato cancelled my 3t mode... I was afraid that Agnis would turn me into ash... Come on! I have some self-restraint

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it, unfortunately, this doesn''t even come close to the real deal but it does feel good to destroy that bitch, even if it¡¯s a clone.¡± Agreed. The tree started to become more transparent and it felt like something disappeared. We never felt like something was pressing us down but now it felt like something heavy lifted from our shoulders. At that moment I used up all the illusion layers I had to make sure that any god or witch that would come looking for us would be unsuccessful, besides that finding us would be difficult for other races unless it''s by coincidence. With so many illusion layers it would 100% work against gods and witches, it would only be for 5 years but that is fine. I explained this to my buddies.

    So, no more 500 layers of confusion or undoing catastrophic events? Nope sorry. How is Azu going to find us then? She is a witch too!

    ¡°It will take me at least 10 years to finish my business so that will be fine. Now for my hat!¡± Azu put her hat on and an enormous mana burst out from her. Some shackles and seals that seemed to have been invisible before appeared on her and all broke. her presince was quite oppressive and we couldn''t help to get a bit frightened.

    ¡°I am free!¡± Guys, how did anything ever manage to catch her¡­ I think I peed my pants¡­ You are not suddenly going to decide to wipe us out right?

    ¡°Of course, not sillies! Not because I¡¯m at full power now means I¡¯m any different! I will just wipe out some people I have a grudge against, maybe slap that bitch around, recover my workshop and come back to join you guys¡± I can''t wait¡­ Just take your time, I don''t mind if it takes you 5000 years or forever. Preferably forever.

    ¡°So cold! Right, I have to reward you guys! Here take this! It probably won''t work in the first 5-7 years because of Agnis¡¯ illusion but after that, when you use this, I will come and help you! Isn''t that great?!¡± I accepted this rock that looked like a mistflower and attempted to throw it far away. Azu dove at me before I could do so. ¡°Nooo! Don¡¯t throw it away!¡± Let me go! I don''t need it!

    ¡°Fine let''s do it like this then!¡± She pushed it into one of my tails and it disappeared. Hey! What did you do?

    ¡°Since you won''t use it willingly, I fused it with your life force, now again it doesn''t work in those first 5 years but after that, if your life is in serious danger I will pop by!¡± Note to self: don''t come close to dying else something worse than death appears.

    ¡°Just be true to your feelings! I know you will miss me! Say it!¡± So, what about the humans?

    ¡°Hmpf! Not fair, you''re copying that dragon now!¡± What about them? Right, they are still stuck underground.

    ¡°Oh, I got them back up and restored the town, I even wiped their memories including about you guys! And now to heal you guys up!¡± Ooh nice, thanks Azu, and uhh maybe I will miss you. I dodged a hug to get hit by another one. She also gave my other buddies a hug which healed us up.

    Thanks, a lot Azu. You saved our asses. Until next time. Oof, I¡¯m tired. I broke all our slave crests.

    Ah, right those were a thing. We are free men now!

    ¡°Right, I would love to stay but that mana burst I set off after getting freed is certainly going to attract attention so I need to get out of here, you guys should get out of here too.¡± Again, thanks a lot Azu. She smiled did a twirl, blew a kiss at us, and vanished.

    So how do we get out of here? Let''s go for a teleport! Wait! Let''s at least say goodbye to Paul and Paula, I don''t know if they still will remember us. Are you okay with Philip and Hera getting their memory wiped Agnis? It is rough but it¡¯s better than that I will make them sad by leaving and never returning.

    Makes sense. We surfaced. We had to go through the sewers to surface so Gregory was already in a foul mood. We visited Paul and Paula. Paula seemed young again but Paul was still an old man. They seemed to still remember and we shortly explained what happened. They seem to have decided to stay in Boshi town to try and put up an illusion to make it seem like the prison was intact. We said our goodbyes. I checked in on Hera and Philip and it looked like I never lived there. I was a bit sad but also happy that they wouldn''t have to keep worrying about me. I retrieved the letter I left behind because it wouldn''t make any sense to them now. We left the town and looked back one last time at the place where we lived for 5 years.

    "Goodbye, shitty town." We said in unison as we descended the mountain and after 2 days left the Umbra and Lucidus mountain range.

 Ch 80: Epilogue - Untraceable

    As the shadow approached its destination hitchhiking a ride in a merchant cart headed toward Boshi town the area shook due to an enormous mana wave. It came from quite far. The horses panicked and the small caravan stopped to calm the horses.

    ¡°What is going on?!¡±

    ¡°Is it an attack?!¡± The merchants sounded panicked but even though they seemed to keep their cool overall. The shadow stepped out of the cart to look around. Nothing seemed to be amiss, no monsters, no bandits, nothing.

    ¡°Is everything alright?¡± The shadow addressed a merchant who seemed to visit this town often.

    ¡°Yeah, it was a surprise but everything seems to be alright. The mana wave seemed to have originated from Boshi town. We are planning to send out some scouts to check it out but the barrier is still a problem.¡±

    ¡°I would like to volunteer; I have experience scouting out dangerous situations.¡±

    ¡°Oh, really? That is of great help, I will tell the others that we have a volunteer, and we will look to see if we can find more volunteers to help you out.¡±

    ¡°That is not needed, I prefer to work alone.¡±

    ¡°Oh¡­ Ok, The name is Jeremiah Odell, by the way, what is your name?¡± Jeremiah reached out his hand to the shadow to shake hands.

    ¡°You can call me whatever you want, my name isn''t important.¡± The shadow shook Jeremiah¡¯s hand.

    ¡°Well, I need a name to tell others that you are taking care of everything¡­¡±

    ¡°I will get whatever I need and leave immediately, what can you tell me about the town and its inhabitants?¡±

    ¡°Well, I have been here 2 days ago going in between Boshi town and Ypa town. Something seemed to be off. The market at the foot of the mountain was quieter than normal. Only one kid selling rubies and fish this time. Quite the weird kid. Overall, the people of this town are a bit weird but nice. We occasionally get company-issued clones to send inside the barrier and from that, we know more or less how the town is.¡±

    ¡°A kid selling rubies? Can you tell me more about him?¡±

    ¡°Well, he seemed odd even for Boshi inhabitants, it was as if he could read my mind but on the other side, he either couldn''t remember my name or was messing with me.¡±

    ¡°Was his name Agnis Hourai by any chance? I came here to meet him.¡±

    ¡°Uhh, I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t disclose details of my clients.¡±

    ¡°That is fine, your description was enough.¡± The shadow got ready to set out. Jeremiah grabbed the shadow''s arm.

    ¡°Hey, he is an important client to Yttroz Industries, you are not planning to harm him, are you?¡± The shadow turned around.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but that is not your business.¡± The shadow freed its arm and started walking toward Boshi town. ¡°But as a small thanks for bringing me here, I will tell you this, he won¡¯t lose his ability to do business with Yttroz Industries in the future so you can rest assured.¡± After which the shadow vanished.

    ¡°Be careful kiddo¡± was the last thing the shadow heard Jeremiah say. The shadow headed toward the mountain range; The small caravan would arrive at the foot of the mountain leading up to Boshi town in half a day so there was quite the distance to cover. It followed the path while running in stealth. After 2 hours the shadow reached the foot of the mountain. There seemed to be a small cleared-out area where other merchants were breaking up stalls.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°This must be where they sell their wares to the townspeople.¡± The shadow said to itself. A clear path led up the mountain. The shadow decided to ask some merchants here about the state of Boshi town.

    ¡°Oh, that energy wave? Yeah, we felt it, some people went to check it out and what do you know! The barrier is gone!¡±

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, because of Boshi¡¯s barrier, we always have some experts with us to make sure none of us get trapped in it. The size of the barrier varies from time to time. Some years ago, even this place was inside the barrier. But now they are convinced that the barrier is either small or gone. Some have gone to the town to do some sightseeing. I¡¯m planning to do the same before the barrier comes back.¡±

    ¡°Thank you very much¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome, now if you excuse me, I still have to finish breaking up these stalls.¡± The merchant continued his business as the shadow started to head toward Boshi town. It sent some shadow clones in front to scout out the situation. The shadow was confident in its endurance but even this climb was quite challenging. Something was off. If the targets were in this town the shadow should have felt their presence by now. The shadow focused. It was 500 meters from the town. The clones reported that there was no sign of any barrier and that the town was safe to enter. The shadow reached the edge of the town. The shadow sensed that this town had 6271 inhabitants but none seemed to match its targets. Were they aware of the shadow''s presence? No that is impossible. The shadow entered the town square. It seemed busy. Every shop seemed busy except for one.

    ¡°Uraya¡¯s shop. Must have taken a day off.¡± The shadow asked around but none of the inhabitants seem to know anything of the loose descriptions the shadow provided. Maybe they greatly altered their appearance. While lost in thought the shadow bumped into something.

    ¡°Hey watch it noob! Hey, who are you!¡±

    ¡°My name is of no importance, do you know anyone going by the names Agnis, Ted, Gregory, or Raishin? They are a bit younger than you 4 are¡±

    ¡°Ha, why should I know about those below me, if you want to look for someone important you have found him! I¡¯m Dunkey Hurado and I will be the next Beatrice Manarune! You might be surprised to know that I mastered blue lightning!¡±

    ¡°Oh, good for you¡­ Isn''t Beatrice Manarune a woman though?¡±

    ¡°That doesn''t matter!¡±

    ¡°Hey, Dunkey I think this stranger is making fun of you!¡± The shadow was surrounded by these 4 kids.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have time for this.¡±

    ¡°What? Where did he go!¡± The shadow looked down on the confused kids from a rooftop. The shadow sent out more shadow clones to either look for the targets or to ask around. Some interesting information the shadow gathered included that the lake here was unnaturally hexagonal shaped and that there were unnatural holes in the surrounding mountains. But more importantly that there was no trace nor indication that the shadow¡¯s targets had ever been here. The shadow thought about it. All evidence gathered inside this town points toward that they have never been here, while all the evidence gathered outside this town points toward the opposite. What is going on? One of the bits of information the shadow gathered was that the seller of the Hourai rubies was a blacksmith apprentice. The shadow headed toward the only blacksmith in the town.

    ¡°Hello, can I help you?¡± A quite skinny balding man opened the door.

    ¡°Are you Philip the blacksmith?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I am, are you here for a commission?¡±

    ¡°Oh, no I just wanted to ask a question, I have come from far and have heard about a 12-year-old blacksmith living in Boshi town called Agnis Hourai, do you know anything about this?¡±

    ¡°That is odd, I would love to have more blacksmiths here in Boshi, but unfortunately, I am the only blacksmith in this town. I¡¯m sorry but your information must be wrong.¡±

    ¡°Philip come eat your food!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m at the door, Hera! Do you know anyone by the name of Agnis Hourai?¡±

    ¡°No, I haven''t.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I can''t help you and apologies but I have to finish my dinner else I will get into trouble.¡±

    ¡°That is fine, thank you for taking your time.¡± The shadow had sneaked a shadow into their house and it couldn''t find any trace of anyone else having lived there besides them. They also showed no signs of deception. The shadow sent shadow clones further out to slightly beyond Boshi town and the results brought more confusing results. There were signs of the shadow¡¯s targets activity outside the outskirts of the town. Boshi town would fall right inside the range of motion of all these spread-out traces. These traces just led toward Boshi town where they all died out. The shadow grabbed its head. This situation caused quite a headache. The sun had already set and the moon was out. The shadow had looked for almost half a day. It sent a shadow clone to the merchant group to report that Boshi town was safe. The shadow completely forgot to look for the cause of the energy wave but it didn''t find anything that could have caused it while looking for its targets. The shadow looked up to the waxing gibbous moon. The shadow removed its shadow cloak disguise and revealed her long hair and light green eyes. Her blue fox ears contrasted with her silver blue hair.

    ¡°Agnis, where are you?¡± She kept looking up at the moon as if it would give her an answer

 Ch X-1: Important Announcement

    First and foremost thank you for reading my story and getting this far. This surely wasn''t easy but I did enjoy writing this. This is my first written piece of fiction so I''m sure it''s imperfect but I hope I''ve overcome some deficiencies. Now It might be unclear or I haven''t put this often enough but the story is some record or diary of the main character Agnis Hourai. Now Agnis is quite chaotic and doesn''t always adhere to the rules, allowing me to write what I want more or less.

    Originally I had planned for Boshi Town just to be several chapters or an arc at its biggest. Well, that didn''t work out as I expected. I had planned some events to happen within my story but I didn''t manage to get to them. I don''t know if Boshi Town was too dragged out, personally, I feel it doesn''t but your opinion as a reader might differ and is more important so let me know if the pacing was too slow.

    Anyways on to the special announcement. Or maybe it isnt so special, this could be quite subjective.

    I''m working on the continuation so the second book is underway. Surely their story doesn''t end after escaping the town so It only makes sense that there is more. Currently I have no clue how long this story will become so I can''t give anything concrete, so far it looks like there is still more to write even after the 2nd book so I hope I can keep the story interesting enough to keep you reading for that long.

    Now here is an issue. The story will grow and thus the second book might need some slightly different tags. I will do my best to make this as natural as possible.

    Anyways what is the next book going to be about? It''s called Escaped, because well, they finally escaped from Boshi town and are free now. There may or may not be another reason for this. At first I wanted to split this book in half but I decided against it. You will find out in time why I considered splitting it, The reason why I didn''t... laziness and it would make for 2 short books. That''s it I don''t have a good excuse. I will attempt to make a synopis but everything about this can be subject to change.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    <hr>

    After escaping Boshi town, Agnis, Gregory, Raishin and Ted attempt to find out how to get back to Hourai. They soon find out that their isolation from the rest of the world has made sure that they have no idea how to behave properly and interact with other non-immortal species. Their experiences from living Boshi town don''t seem to have helped them a lot. Will they be able to act as convincing humans? How would they even find Hourai, which is supposed to be hidden away from the ''Mainfloor''. Was escaping Boshi town really a good idea? Will they finally be able to stay out of trouble or will they somehow still attract the attention of some petty goddess? And why are there assassins everywhere looking for them?

    The story begins 7 months after their escape from Boshi town and eventually brings them to the city of Ainahs where they become painfully aware that even at their best behaviour they stick out.

    <hr>

    I will shift to releasing chapters on Mondays and Fridays. Personally, I''m excited to bring out 1 or 2 chapters out per day but unfortunately, this will cause me to blow through content way faster than I can write. I apologize for this and hope that asking for your patience doesn''t discourage you to continue reading.

    <hr>

    So now for clarity:

    Title: Agnisotra: Origin Tails - Escaped

    When: in a week (18th September 2023)

    How frequent: On Monday and Friday

    Possible important information: The time frame of this book is way bigger than Boshi town. Technically the whole of Boshi town plays off in 6 days. This book will span over several years. so they won''t be brats anymore. Now the tailed races mentally mature early in their life so this doesn''t necessarily mean their behaviour will change much. Besides this there is a slight theme I''ve put in this book. i will leave this in a spoiler tag for those that want to find out by themselves. In the story itself spoilers will mainly contain images.

    The theme that I have is Mortality and Immortality.

    The numbering of this announcement is a reference to something in the next volume. I wonder how many of you will remember by the time that appears.

    Hopefully that was clear enough. Again thank you for reading and I hope the next book will be as enjoyable or even more.

    -Chireiden-

 Vol 2 Ch 0: Introduction

    Well, the first part ended up being longer than I expected. I guess that writing things down isn''t as easy as I had initially thought. For those that have found this part, I would advise you to locate the first part. I could make a short summary but to explain everything is a royal pain, to be honest so go find the first part! If I remember correctly, I named it Agnisotra: Origin tails - Boshi town. But I keep hearing that my memory is bad so I might be wrong in that. So, the first part was about my childhood and how we arrived at a shitty town called Boshi town. My buddies Gregory, Raishin, Ted, and I were trying to escape this town but we had some problems doing this.

    Who would have known that leaving a town could be such a pain in the ass? It wasn''t easy to break out of that but we all got out of it alive, somewhat. Now there are some things that I didn''t mention in the last part. And no! I didn''t forget! Or maybe I forgot if I mentioned them. Anyways elemental magic gets formed by magic circles which are formed by household magic. The same goes for light, dark, and spatiotemporal. Now where magic users can still use earth, water, fire, lightning, and wind if they don''t have the affinity for it, this is different for light, dark spatiotemporal, and other less common magic types. Since nature energy doesn''t fall under magic everyone can learn it, it also doesn''t require any magic circles or incantations because as I said it isn''t magic. Now all isn''t hopeless if one would, for example, want to use light magic but doesn''t have the affinity for it. Under normal circumstances, this person would never be able to use it but this is different for attacks that have mixed or multiple elements. An example is the [Magma snake] skill I learned in the 5th time loop. It was a mix of fire and earth element. Having a poor affinity for either will affect the outcome but won''t make it impossible to use.

    In Gregory¡¯s case, his poor fire affinity would make the [Magma snake] quite weak in offense and wouldn¡¯t be able to reform when in the vicinity of magma or molten rock, which doesn¡¯t make it all too useful. In my case, my poor earth element affinity would make it easy to defeat and it would be smaller than intended. So, with skills like this, the inability to use certain elements can more or less be bypassed. Why am I telling you this? Raishin¡¯s [Solar Stream] is a combination of light and fire magic, meaning that I can learn it too! I can¡¯t use light magic so this is useful! But this is also to clarify that certain magic differs in effects between individuals. Not just existing affinities but also the strength of these affinities. [Meteor] is a good example, it goes from almost useless to apocalypse-inducing depending on the user¡¯s fire affinity. Strong magic users like Charlize or Monkey could use magic besides wind and fire but because their effectiveness and familiarity are way lower it is not mana efficient. [Fire ball] is one of the magic skills that almost every magic user knows. Despite having electronium and magic everywhere, fire will and stay something very useful and important. Even when the affinity for fire is extremely low, being able to make a small flame is still valuable. You would think other elements would have an equivalent to this but unfortunately, that isn''t the case. So magic users will generally stick to the elements they have a high affinity for because it is more mana efficient and has a low to non-existent chance of failure.

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    Mana control also plays a role in this, it affects how successful a magic skill turns out but it also allows the user to modify their existing magic skills to a certain extent. [Water ball] can be turned into icicles, a hollow shell that can act as a barrier or even into a cloak with enough mana control. But mana control still is limited in this, some magic skills are more receptive to a certain transformation than others. [Frozen ground] can be turned into an ice ramp but at a certain point it would be easier to use [Water wall], freeze it and turn it into a ramp. I hope this makes sense. Now, something else can be done to make these. Just like almost every magic user knows [Fireball], almost everyone knows [Construction], [Deconstruction], [Reconstruction], and [Repair]. These can be used to make ice ramps too and to be honest, it is easier to use it like this. Now here is the catch, when the magic wears off, the structures disappear. It won¡¯t melt just disappear. That is normal because when the magic wears off the situation will attempt to return to as natural as possible.

    When I use [Water blast] I use the surrounding water, multiply the volume by 8 and this becomes the attack, after its executed and hits the target, the water might linger for a bit but after it wears off the water would return to how it was before I used it, so only 1/8th will stay behind. In the case of fire, things caught on fire will still continue to burn after the magic wears off but fire created by the magic will disappear, heat is still a real thing so in the case of fire magic this isn''t that big of an issue. Now I learned from Rock that if I use the construction on a real volume of water it won''t disappear when the magic wears off because all the water used was real, this also applies to earth magic which makes sense, water, and earth magic are the only types that use physical things to deal damage. Nobody would make a ramp made out of fire or wind but making this out of ice or earth is not abnormal. Where am I going with this? Water and earth magic¡¯s shaped magic works differently. Well, it is still stronger but in theory shaped magic can be made with a real quantity of water or earth whit [Construction] magic without the need of knowing the magic circles for their respective skills and they will have lasting effects! I am not sure how common knowledge this is but this is a big advantage for water and earth users, I still don¡¯t know why water is regarded as the weakest element though¡­ Anyways this is supposed to be an introduction but I¡¯m going off a tangent. How does one write an introduction actually? No clue.

    Anyways 7 months passed after we escaped that shitty town. It is now September. Ted told Raishin and me that we needed to adjust our fighting styles because now that we were free there would be no do-overs and our fighting styles would kill most of our opponents quite easily and that would have severe consequences. Raishin was banned from using magic so Ted drilled more martial arts into him, I was only allowed to use water magic, yellow or white lightning, and dark magic. He also drilled martial arts into me just in case. He made sure we would avoid contact with any settlements before we managed to get to a satisfactory level. So, for 7 months only Ted and Gregory went into the villages to take care of supplies and the like. Something nonsensical about that we would get into trouble somehow. Gregory secured a map and we left Hjuva and went over the eastern border into Igrini Kingdom. According to our map, Boshi town was quite northwest of Hjuva. It wasn''t intentional but we seemed to get as far as possible from Boshi town.

 Vol 2 Ch 1 - Prologue: Freedom

    Year 573 on the New Kaledonian calendar. It is 10 minutes past midnight and there is chaos in the palace. The princes and royal guards are frantically turning the palace inside out. The monarch of Igrini kingdom, King Ignatius Nvirath Gosileth is holding his hands in his hair in panic. He sees some strands of hair fall and looks at his hands. More of his golden curly locks seem to be detaching from his scalp. He orders a servant to bring him a mirror. He looks in the mirror.

    ¡°Good I still have my beautiful golden locks, wait that is not important, where is my daughter? I thought you made sure that it was impossible for her to escape again?!¡± A royal guard rushed into the king''s study room.

    ¡±Your Highness! Princess Shania is nowhere to be found in the palace!¡± King Ignatius Nvirath Gosileth clutches his head again.

    ¡°Aagh! How is this possible? Is queen Shera still sleeping?¡±

    ¡°Yes, your Highness!¡±

    ¡°Cast some sleeping magic on her, if she notices that Shania escaped again, I will be in big trouble! I hate sleeping in this study room! I can¡¯t have her punish me more!¡±

    ¡°But sir, you¡¯re the king surely¡­¡±

    ¡°Not another word! There are things kings can and cannot do and opposing queen Shera is one thing no king can do!¡±

    ¡°Surely, you jest, only you can¡¯t oppose¡­¡±

    ¡°Not another word!¡±

    ¡°Yes, your majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you understand, now how did she escape this time?!¡±

    ¡°Ehh, we don¡¯t know, your majesty but Nesho thinks it might be related to why she has been such an exceptional student in light and dark magic lately. He thinks she might have picked up some magic skills suited for escaping¡­¡±

    ¡°And who taught her that!¡±

    ¡°The court professors, your majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°Why?!¡±

    ¡°Because you ordered them to, your majesty! In case she got kidnapped!¡±

    ¡°... So, you are saying this is MY fault?¡±

    ¡°I would never say such a thing your majesty!¡± King Ignatius Nvirath Gosileth put his hands back in his head and again he saw some strands of his hair fall out. He urged the servant to show him the mirror again.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°My hair is still fine, listen here. Mobilize all the top members of the royal guards to find her and bring her back!¡±

    ¡°Uhm, they are unavailable your majesty¡­¡±

    ¡°WHY?!¡±

    ¡°You sent them on leave for holidays two days ago your majesty.¡±

    ¡°... So, you are saying this is MY fault?¡±

    ¡°The silent six are available, your majesty.¡±

    ¡°You want me to send assassins to locate my daughter?!¡±

    ¡°Well, Nesho told me that princess Shania¡¯s escape is comparable to beginning spies and assassins so it is unlikely that we of the royal guards will be useful finding her.¡±

    ¡°.... Fine, send them, but make it clear! They are not to harm her and anyone that even comes near her is to be sent to Event Horizon and eventually get executed!¡±

    ¡°Yes, your majesty!¡± The royal guard runs off. King Ignatius Nvirath Gosileth leans with one hand on his desk and puts the other over his forehead.

    ¡°Please, recover her before Shera wakes up, I don¡¯t want to get my ass kicked again¡­¡±

    <hr>

    A hooded figure enters the bar. The smell of alcohol and sweaty men assaulted the nose of the hooded figure. There are only a few customers in the bar and they don''t seem to pay much attention to the new arrival. The hooded figure shows an item to the bartender and the bartender sends the hooded figure through a door behind the bar. This is not a place where normal customers can enter. The hooded figure walks through a corridor, climbs some stairs, and enters a livable area where the owner of the bar resides. The hooded figure removes the hood and reveals her long wavy blond hair and blue eyes.

    ¡°Ooh, Shania, it has been a while, did you escape from the palace again?¡± A short man with a round belly stood up and greeted princess Shania.

    ¡°Yes, it is way easier with these new dark and light magic I learned!¡± The bar owner petted his goatee

    ¡°I see, so what brings you here at this time of the day? Surely you didn''t come here to just say hello.¡±

    ¡°Well, you see, I decided to escape from the capital and go for an adventure!¡±

    ¡°O, this is a problem, you do realize you¡¯re the king¡¯s only daughter, right? If you disappear it will inconvenience the king and lately, he seems a bit¡­ on edge¡­¡±

    ¡°Please Jared! I know how much you hate this kingdom! And I hate the palace! It is so cramped and full of stupid rules! I want to be free!¡± Jared pets his goatee even more.

    ¡°I see, but if you escaped with light and dark magic the royal guards would probably be unable to find you¡­¡± Jared paces around. ¡°I decided! Get ready to leave in half an hour, I will arrange some supplies, Your escape could possibly get traced back to me so I will go with you!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it! This old man could use some excitement! And if I can inconvenience the kingdom that is responsible for my wife¡¯s death then I¡¯ll gladly help you give that king a bigger headache!¡± Jared went into another room and sent a Teleroad message to one of his associates. He then went to another room and got ready to leave. ¡°Put that hood back on, our ride is here! I, unfortunately, can¡¯t go with you on adventures but I can help you escape, I can bring you to Ainahs town 50 km from here, and after that go find some allies in either the adventurer guilds or hire some mercenaries, I assume you have gold on you right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I swiped 300 gold from daddy¡¯s secret stash!¡±

    ¡°Perfect! I will make sure to erase our trails as we go and I will continue to do so after I dropped you off in Ainahs, are you sure you want to do this?¡±

    ¡°You know the answer to that Jared! Let¡¯s go!¡± Shania put her hood back on, and Jared also turned into a hooded figure. They left the bar via a backdoor, got into a carriage, and disappeared into the night. An hour after this event 6 individuals cloaked in shadows left the palace in search of the runaway princess.

 Vol 2 Ch 2 - Prologue: Four Wanderers

    It¡¯s a beautiful sunny day and I get launched into a rock wall. Ouch, Ted, can¡¯t you be gentler? You are getting better at martial arts but I have the feeling you got sent flying because you tried something pointless¡­

    What do you mean? I was taking things seriously! To me, it looked like you dropped your stance to go for a weird counter, messed up, and got sent flying.

    Well, you get full points on this sparring match besides that last blunder you made. In the beginning, you were quite hopeless after I told you to stop abusing your speed in sparring matches but now it looks like you can defend yourself even without it. Raishin however¡­ We looked at Raishin who was passed out on the floor from an earlier sparring match where Ted kicked his ass.

    He did improve but it¡¯s just that he barely got over the requirement I wanted him to reach¡­ So, we can finally go visit restaurants? I mean cafes? I mean cities? Is food the only thing you can think of?

    Of course, not there is! ¡­. Going back home! You just had to seriously think of something there, didn''t you¡­

    You are overthinking! So where do we go next? Uhh well, I have never been to the Igrini kingdom so I don¡¯t know what there is to do here. Gregory took out his map.

    Well since we have no idea where to start in finding our way back home, I suggest we head over to Scasarras. The capital of Igrini kingdom. How far is it?

    Hmm if we walk it might take months if we take the Agnis express only a week. Ugh, both options suck.

    Well, we are due for restocking so we have to do that first, then we can follow the Aurelia river through the forest of Cnidaria, restock again in a village or town, and head over to Ainahs, which is a city close to the capital. We could rest there and look around because it will be our first city and then head over to Scasarras. Ugh, what happened? When did I pass out? You got your ass kicked.

    Again?! You know that that¡¯s your own fault, right? Since Raishin just woke up I suggest we get ready and head over to the nearby village to restock, we will leave tomorrow. Sounds good! We packed up our goods and Gregory and I erased all signs that we ever camped here. I made sure nobody was spying on us before I used what my buddies call ¡®Agnis Express¡¯ and brought us close to the next village where we would walk to avoid drawing attention. We weren¡¯t in the mountains anymore and we were also more down south so it was warmer than we were used to. It was also late summer.

    So, we finally get to see chicks! Ehh, I mean women! I mean a village! ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Hey come on guys, ellipses aren''t a dialogue option!

    Hey, is it really a good idea to bring Raishin into that village? Poor, poor villagers¡­ We have no choice, maybe enough exposure will calm him down, he hasn''t seen a chick in almost 7 months. Yeah! I want to at least meet and date a chick before or at my birthday!

    Right, your birthday is near the end of the month. Hehe, how does it feel Agnis? Soon you will be the only one who¡¯s still 12 years old!

    It¡¯s not like age seems to make you wiser so it¡¯s no big deal. Oof, is it time to roast him again? We¡¯re getting close to the village, behave yourselves, guys.

    Yes, dad. Yes, dad. I swear I will kick your asses more later on! We entered the village. It was way smaller than Boshi town. A quick scan and there were a bit over 1000 people in this village.

    Hey, this place is quite small are we even able to restock here? We don¡¯t need much; we have already managed to get some food from some farms.

    Farming the farmers, eh? Gregory smacked me.

    We are trying to see if we can get you 2 some shoes, especially you Agnis. I looked at my shoes and they looked like they could poof out of existence at any moment. There wasn''t much wrong with Raishin¡¯s shoes, but he used to have 3 sets, but due to reckless behavior he only has one set left.

    So, you guys went from vaporizing mountains to vaporizing shoes, even though it is a good development, I wish that you would stop vaporizing stuff¡­ Hey! I¡¯m not doing that on purpose! But at least I have an excuse! This guy on the other hand¡­ It couldn''t be helped.

    What do you mean it couldn''t be helped? Why would you use your shoes as fishing bait? Agnis still had fish in his dimensional pocket! Recreational purposes!

    So why your shoes? Well, you know how in cartoons they always fish out shoes right? Well, someone has to put them there! You can''t be serious¡­

    What about your other pair? Well, you banned me from using magic so how am I supposed to make a fire?! He has a point there.

    A point?! He set his shoes on fire to make a campfire! There are enough combustible materials all around us! Well, his shoes also fall into that category!

    Ugh, why did I even bother¡­ At least Agnis has a valid reason, I don''t even know how he managed to keep this pair intact for so long. Doing my best here but these shoes are fine though¡­ Everyone looks at my shoes.

    These are anything but fine¡­ How do these things even stay on your feet? You might as well walk bearfooted, eh get it? Haha Agnis, you¡¯re such a weirdo.  We all look at Raishin.

    What? I got ignored... Never mind. Do they even sell shoes in this small place?

    Only one way to find out now behave you two. We entered the village which seemed quite busy. Most villagers kept doing their own thing but some stared at us. Ted went to ask some villagers if there was a place where we could buy shoes.

    It seems they have a cordwainer a bit further up. A what? Is that edible?

    Did you guys forget already that we came here to buy shoes? That¡¯s the name of a shoemaker? Who even still uses that word?

    These people do apparently, let¡¯s go. We got to a small house and entered the shoemaker shop. I refuse to use that dumb word Ted just used.

    ¡°Ooh, I haven''t seen you lads around, where did you come from and how can I help?¡± Good afternoon, we are some wanderers looking to buy some shoes for these two. Ted points at our feet and the shoemaker leans over and looks.

    ¡°Oh, that lad needs a pair badly, let me see what I can do for you.¡± He approaches us, measures our bare feet and has some weird things to put on our soles. I assume to use it as a reference. ¡°Right since you guys are quite young, I will have to take your growth into consideration. Give me a moment.¡± The shoemaker went to the back and seemed to be getting some shoes for us. ¡°I don¡¯t know where you guys are from but my shoes aren''t as modern as the ones you seem to be wearing so apologies.¡± That is fine, they just need something for their feet, it surely beats going barefoot.

    ¡°I have these shoes for you two.¡± The shoemaker put 12 sets in front of us. Most looked normal but 2 looked quite odd. I will take this one and this one.

    ¡°Oh, a great choice¡± These 2 look cool I will take them! Uhm, Raishin are you sure? We know you¡¯re a clown but you don''t have to dress like one too¡­ It¡¯s pointless to try and convince him¡­ How much for these shoes?

    ¡°3 silver¡± Wait 3 silver for 4 sets of shoes? Are you sure? It sounds¡­ cheap.

    ¡°That is fine, I kind of like you guys and you¡¯re just kids so pay it no mind.¡± I motioned to Ted to distract Raishin. That is kind of you but there is no need for that. I gave the shoemaker 10 silver. He looked at it as if he never had seen 10 silver in his life. I put on one of the pairs of shoes I just bought. They smelled like leather and were quite comfy. They are not exactly my style but they look good enough and comfort is the most important part anyway.

    ¡°Oh, Thank you so much!¡± Don¡¯t worry about it. We went outside and Raishin put on his new pair of shoes. Oh, they feel a bit weird. I am not sure what you were expecting¡­ Let¡¯s walk these shoes in. We started walking to our next objective which seems to be a huge forest. We headed toward the Aurelia river. Raishin seemed to have issues walking comfortably in his new shoes.

    Maaan who thought it would be a great idea to make this place so far? Stop complaining, you did this to yourself with those weird shoes! We all looked at his shoes and they weren¡¯t exactly clown shoes but they looked a bit like clogs with various colors, they seemed quite rigid but they had some flexibility. The tip of his shoes also seemed heavy so it seemed to be quite a challenge to walk in. Maybe we could make him earn some money in the city by performing as a jester, I''m sure he could pull it off.

    Can¡¯t we go there with the Agnis express? And make him vaporize his new pair of shoes? Let¡¯s not do that. Yeah, these shoes are quite comfy. We kept following the river throughout the day ignoring Raishin''s complaints. The sun had already set and we were planning to set up camp. During these 7 months, I took it upon myself to cover our tracks and be the scout. Since my Elgards eyes are overpowered, I don¡¯t have to physically go out and scout areas out but I still like to do that from time to time. I didn''t this time.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    I see some people further down the river that have made a camp, do I go and take them out? No! Let¡¯s just join their camp, maybe we can get some useful information.

    Meh, I don¡¯t want to deal with other people. Ooh, are there any chicks?

    No, only 4 men, they all seem human and in their mid-thirties. Meh. I don¡¯t know if this is a good idea, maybe we should avoid them and camp somewhere else. I think we could learn some things from the people here, let¡¯s go

    If they make one wrong move, they''re going to meet their maker. Stop being so hostile! Nothing will happen. We approached the 4 men having made camp and I noticed that they pretended to not notice us approaching. We were still a good 200 meters from their camp in almost the complete dark but they seemed to have noticed us already. I guess that''s just an adventurer thing. We walked toward the camp, well except for Raishin. I don¡¯t know what to call it but it wasn''t walking. Why can¡¯t this guy do anything normal?

    Good afternoon gentlemen, do you mind if we join you on this lovely evening?

    ¡°Huh, what are these brats doing here?¡±

    ¡°Hey, Patrick, aren''t those?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s them! We finally found them!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s get them! We finally found them after almost 6 years!¡± This doesn''t sound good¡­ So how about making them meet their maker? Hey, gentlemen, I¡¯m sure we can talk this out! I swapped myself with Ted and blocked a sword slash with my potato peeler 3.0. Gregory locked their shadows down which was easy because it was nighttime.

    ¡°What?! I can¡¯t move!¡± Nice one Greg! Now about this thing, you guys said about ¡®finally finding us¡¯ what exactly do you mean? I approached them while Ted kept an eye on the men that looked most likely to escape Gregory¡¯s [Shadow Bind].

    ¡°Ha as if we would tell you!¡± Hey dudes. The men we captured looked at me.

    ¡°Shit! Don¡¯t look into his eyes!¡± Interesting, it seems they know what your eyes can do. Well, this is gonna hurt as hell but the lack of information could cost us our life so here, we go. I used the same technique I used to convince the two men in Raishin¡¯s hut in the original timeline back in Boshi town. I also dropped some illusion layers on them to convince them they are talking to someone they trust. One of my best friend, named headache, returned and my eyes started to hurt like hell. Alright, gentlemen what is the status of your objective?

    ¡°Wait! Emute Aer! We can explain! We haven''t been able to find our targets for almost 6 years! There is no trace of them! It is as if they don''t exist!¡± Hmm, interesting, so you are telling me that I lied to you and gave you an impossible mission and send you after ghosts?

    ¡°Nonono! We would never doubt you!¡±

    ¡°Yeh! What Hubert said!¡± Good, now remind me what was your mission again, and make sure to not forget any detail about your progress. He is really good at this¡­ Shhht!

    ¡°O... Of course! We were supposed to catch the youngest offspring of the calamity trio and their friend and return them to you before they got too old for us to handle.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, and since the disappearance of Hourai, we couldn''t locate them! No sign of them anywhere! None of the other spies and assassins could find them either. We know that Edea¡¯s son is adept at illusions and deception but even Calvin who can use shadow magic and illusions couldn''t find anything! Right, Calvin?¡± They looked at a scrawny blonde-haired guy. I signaled to Gregory and Ted to pay more attention to this Calvin. He might be able to break out and make things difficult.

    ¡°Uhh, yeah, hey guys I don¡¯t remember returning back to the Lasha volcano.¡± Ugh, my eyes, Ted, knock them out. Ted and Gregory knocked the men out and I applied ice to my eyes.

    Right, this is quite interesting, it seems we are wanted by probably whoever attacked Hourai. Ugh. Are you alright?

    Yeh So these guys are stalking us? Can''t say I¡¯m happy with this¡­

    It¡¯s not just stalking, they need to bring us to the Lasha volcano, I don¡¯t know where that is though, do you have any idea, Ted? Hmm, I haven''t heard about it either, as far as I know, there aren''t any volcanoes on this side of the continent.

    Are you sure? There is one now not far from Boshi town. He¡¯s not wrong you know. Hehe, we left a legacy behind at Boshi town! So, what do we do with this information?

    We annihilate everyone who could be spies and assassins! Hmm, unfortunately, I think that is the best course of action, especially because that seems to be their profession, we got lucky here but it might get problematic if we get ambushed. But I thought we couldn''t get ambushed because of Agnis¡¯ illusion to hide us.

    They can still accidentally stumble on us and if they spot us first, we could get ambushed, I¡¯m doing my best but I can''t keep my Elgards eyes active 24/7. Ugh, I can''t believe that trying to be a normal person backfired on us so swiftly¡­ Well unfortunately we are anything except normal. Gregory looked at Raishin and Ted and I nodded.

    Hey! You guys are weirdos too! I beg to differ! My race is quite common here!

    Mine too! You know that¡¯s not true Raishin.

    So, what do we do now? They did make a camp for us. Yeah, how nice of them, lets tie them up and cast some binding spells and curses on them and sleep. Personally, I don''t feel comfortable keeping them here even when cursed and tied up. Gregory finished binding and placing curses on our prisoners.

    Oh, easy fix then. I dragged them to the river, froze a raft, and threw them on it.

    Lucky stalkers, they get a cool boat ride¡­ You can join them if you want.

    No thanks! You can¡¯t just drop them on a boat and let them float down the river! Why not? It¡¯s easy! I kicked the boat and it floated off with its 4 bound and cursed passengers.

    Good riddance. Come on Ted, you surely would prefer this over killing them. Ugh, fine. We relaxed in our new camp.

    Phew, it''s still quite warm during the night, you made that boat out of frost magic, right? Uhm, yeah sure!

    I need to sleep before you give me a worse headache¡­ Ted retreated for the night. Hey guys! Can you help me? I can¡¯t get my shoes off! I think I¡¯m going to sleep too. Good idea!

    Hey guys! Wait! My shoes! Ugh! Help!? I curled up in my tails which had the useful side effect of shutting out Raishin¡¯s cries.

    The next morning, we cleaned up. I stored all the things we confiscated from those kidnappers. They had daggers, poisons, food, and other useful assassin supplies. I also stored a large volume of river water. I always wanted to do this but I kept forgetting. Since I will be mainly using water magic this could be extremely useful. We continued our journey toward the forest. 3 days later I spotted someone in stealth scouting the area. He didn''t spot us but I didn''t take any chances. I left a clone behind with my buddies and followed him to his camp. Judging from their conversations they had the same mission as the kidnappers 3 days ago so I silently assassinated them. I got more adept at shadow magic but not good enough to use it for successful assassinations so I just used my potato peeler 3.0 and beheaded them. Leaving traces is a terrible idea so I sucked them into a pocket dimension and vaporized the bodies there. I cleaned up their camp and erased traces of them ever being there before heading back to my buddies. I¡¯m expecting to do this quite often from now on so I should put more emphasis on getting better at shadow magic. 2 more days and we arrived at the forest.

    I will scout this place out for a bit. Ooh ooh, can I come too?

    With those shoes? Ugh fine. Have fun. I grabbed Raishin and teleported toward the forest. It had a lot of plants that looked unfamiliar. There didn''t seem to be much dangerous wildlife here. The forest was quite big and it even covered some hills further up. It had some clearings and some rock formations. Quite diverse for a forest. Raishin and I walked around. I spotted some fruits which Raishin recklessly picked and ate.

    Hey, these are pretty good! He said with his mouthful.

    You are going to die young if you''re so reckless. I inspected Raishin and it seemed at least these fruits were harmless so I stored them. Raishin touched a plant that bloomed and shot dozens of fist-sized seeds at us which exploded and released some weird gas that made Raishin¡¯s eyes tear up but also some translucent light pinkish jellyfish popped out of them and attacked him and zapped him with lightning-based attacks.

    Owowowo! Raishin has decent lightning resistance so he will be fine. It did cause a domino effect in which Raishin kept getting hit by and comped by these jellyfish teargas plants. I liked these plants so I wanted to store them too. I would have to make a new dimensional pocket to grow plants. I have enough water and I can emulate this soil. I inspected the soil and made a new pocket dimension for these plants. I will just call them Cnidaria plants. While Raishin kept getting comped I carefully pulled 10 plants out of the ground and stored them carefully. Each plant had about 30 bulbs which each could do such an attack. I¡¯m not sure how lethal these things are since even though Raishin is getting hit by a lot he still looks relatively fine. The zaps keep paralyzing him so he could be stuck till he eventually dies or a dangerous animal finds him and eats him. It also seems to be laced with some weak poison which is rapidly accumulating in his body because he keeps getting hit. I decide to end this scout preemptively to bring this idiot back to Gregory for treatment. I swap him with a leaf I picked up and teleported back to ed and Gregory. I will have to resume my scouting tomorrow and alone.

    Hey Greg, this idiot got combo-ed by an exploding jellyfish spawning a poisonous plant. He needs to get this poison out of his system. It stings! Greg, please help! Ugh, I knew bringing Raishin would be a bad idea, anything you learned from this place?

    Unfortunately, not much, Mainly some edible fruits and those cool, I mean dangerous plants. I will resume the scouting tomorrow. Ted looked at the sky.

    Yeah, it¡¯s starting to get dark, we might be better off spending the night here and going in tomorrow. Do you think it¡¯s possible to get out of this forest in a day? I don¡¯t think so but it¡¯s possible in 2 days, as long as we stay near the river we might be relatively safe. Meh, why don''t we just teleport?

    Where is your sense of adventure? Well besides that, there¡¯s a high likelihood we come across useful information by just traveling normally, for example, we wouldn''t have found out that there are numerous assassins and spies looking for us. It is a good thing that Agnis put that strong illusion on us to make it unlikely for anyone to find us if they are specifically looking for us.

    Well, it¡¯s not all-powerful, just like those kidnappers, they can still find us by chance but any active pursuit will lead to dead ends or failures. For this reason, going to big cities will be risky since the concentration of people there makes it way more likely for pursuers to find us by chance so there is no reason for us to rush to those cities. But what about my feet?! What about them? You did that to yourself! Anyways there is no real reason to rush these things, let''s eat something and rest.

    It¡¯s time for more fish! Ugh, I like fish but do we really need to? We have been mainly eating fish for the last 7 months!

    Don¡¯t worry this is the last bits of fish I have stored up. We can shift to other stuff tomorrow. What is the status of your stored food?

    Hmm, well because you guys keep visiting those farms there''s a lot of dairy products and poison. You need to stop calling milk, poison, milk is amazing!

    Yuck, anyways we¡¯re ok on poison and dairy, after today we¡¯re out of fish, besides those we¡¯re low on almost anything else besides deer and pheasant meat. Will it be enough to last us till we reach the city?

    Oh yes but I need to seriously restock on food there. At least water is no issue because I stored a lot of river water. Hmm ok, let¡¯s try to find a merchant caravan after we get out of the forest, we might get useful information there, a lift, and maybe some food. Sounds like a good plan. We ate and rested up. Ted and I did some more martial arts sparring while Gregory was studying some books and documents that I swiped from the underground library. Raishin was¡­ he was again trying to get his shoes off. Afterward, we went to sleep. We would venture inside the forest of Cnidaria tomorrow.

 Vol 2 Ch 3 - Prologue: Forest of Cnidaria

    The weather was clear skies, the temperature was 28 ¡ãC, a cool north-eastern breeze swept through the forest of Cnidaria and Raishin was sitting on a tree sipping a pineapple smoothie. Ted was digging a tunnel to escape the heat. Ted was about to take a break, so he climbed out of the tunnel and set up his lunch. When he was about to take a bite of his juicy sandwich with top-grade honey, something fell down and crashed down on him. Upset that his lunch was ruined he looked around to find the cause of the disturbed lunch. Next to him was a small crater with in the middle a pair of legs sticking out of the ground. When he recognized the cause of his disturbed lunch he sighed.

    Of all the places, you had to fall on my lunch¡­ he asked as he pulled on the legs. After getting unearthed, the owner of the pair of legs spoke.

    My bad I found a weird cloud. Raishin said as he dusted off his clothes and spat out an earthworm.

    It would be nice if you could keep having a lookout. Where did Agnis disappear to? Ugh, there''s something sticky on my butt Raishin said while examining the crater he made earlier.

    Yes, that would be my lunch¡­ They noticed Agnis running at them and frantically waving at them when a big shadow was cast upon their direct location.

    Hey, guys look what I found! Trouble? As they looked up, they saw an enormous floating Portuguese man-o-war. ¡­ Hey, Ted you can¡¯t use ellipses as a dialogue option, and I know what you¡¯re thinking, but I didn''t do anything this time! I¡¯m innocent! While the 4 were looking up confused a loud voice bellowed from the direction of the floating object.

    ¡°HELLO, THERE LITTLE RUNTS! MY NAME IS PELAGIA NOCTILUCA! I¡¯M HERE TO COLLECT TAXES!¡± Well, this is so unrealistic¡­ a big blimp claiming out taxes, also we¡¯re just brats we don¡¯t need to pay anything, go block the sun somewhere else! After a moment of silence, an obnoxiously loud voice yelled out,

    ¡°HOW RUDE, HOW DARE YOU CALL MY CUTE AURELIA A BLIMP!¡± A small shadow fell off the so-called blimp and it became bigger and bigger as it approached the ground as it landed next to Ted. For an entrance this big, you¡¯re quite a tiny creature yourself In front of them was the owner of the obnoxiously loud voice, the Pelagia Noctiluca. He was about 140 cm tall and he wore black armor that looked quite standard to an armored villain, he was also wearing a luminescent pearl necklace and in his left hand he was holding a megaphone and in his right hand he was holding a weird-looking wand. Wow what a way to ruin the nice view, what do you want? Raishin asked annoyed.

    ¡°I CAME HERE TO COLLECT YOUR TAXES!¡± Pelagia yelled. Zip it shrimpy, we¡¯re right next to you, no need to use that megaphone of yours Can you get rid of that blue bottle that¡¯s blocking the sun? And our taxes are in order, right Gregory?

    Wait, why do we have to pay taxes anyways? We¡¯re not citizens of this country! Agnis and Ted said as they looked at Gregory. Instead of a firm confirmation, they saw Gregory starting to become really nervous and breaking out in cold sweat.

    Well about that, I was about to, but then I saw this very nice-looking vodka in a liquor store we passed by some months ago, and because I was a bit tight on gold I wouldn''t be able to afford them if I did declare taxes so ummm I kinda didn¡¯t? But as Agnis said we¡¯re not citizens of Igrini kingdom so that should be fine right? Right? Who¡¯s bright idea was taxes anyway and we¡¯re just kids! This is criminal!

    ¡°EXACTLY! Uhm exactly!¡± Pelagia replied as he put his megaphone away. ¡°So, I''ll have to confiscate everything you guys have and especially those shoes as compensation!¡±.

    Ted sighed and looked at Gregory, Noo, not my shoes! I just started to get used to them! Raishin dramatically collapsed to the floor. Agnis helped him get back up

    This is your fault with your stupid vodka! I won''t part with my shoes! Fix this! Gregory sighed

    Ok listen here my friend here doesn¡¯t want to part with his shoes and I kinda like my vodka, so can¡¯t you cut us some slack?

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s fine, '''' Pelagia said with a smile. Yeh, thought so of course not, wait what? Gregory said surprised. Raishin''s face cleared up and started to smile.

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s okay, because I¡¯m more interested in the alternative when clients refuse, hue hue, ok surrender runts I''ll take your kidneys as compensation.¡± Pelagia shouted while readying his weird magic wand. Hmm an organ harvester, I did not see that coming¡­ I like my kidneys no thanks! Why does nothing normal happen to us¡­ Gregory had a complicated look on his face.

    Please don''t tell me you sold a kidney to buy that vodka, Greg! What do you take me for? Of course not!

    You never know what addicts will do to get what they want! Hey! Backoff! I only bought 120 liters!

    120¡­ liters? You don''t have that much gold! Let me see if you have a scar on your stomach! Hey, what! Leave me alone! If I give you my kidney, can you throw in a hot chick as a deal? Ted smacked Raishin while Agnis and Gregory we''re fighting.

    Wait what happened to the gold you had Raishin? Why do you need to sell your kidney? Well, about that, I may or may not have secretly bought an early access and alpha phase to a super-secret base from a wandering merchant, while you two were restocking in a village and Agnis was training.

    ¡°Haha, seems you are all poor, I¡¯ve been quite annoyed with you guys talking like I didn¡¯t exist so I¡¯m quite pissed, no more games! It''s Kidney Harvesting time!¡± Pelagia yelled laughingly and a lot of goons dropped down from the floating Portuguese man-o-war. It also started to swing its poisonous tentacles and shooting blobs at the four. The blobs turned into bio-luminescent medusae when making contact with the ground and started to approach them. I think this is the part where we run The four started dashing off westbound towards the heart of the forest. The bloom of medusae and the goons followed them in quite a relaxed manner.

    <hr>

    After fifteen minutes of running, they arrived at a cave complex, catching their breath they looked around to look for any signs of their pursuers.

    I think we lost them, we''re saved Ted wheezed while gasping for air.

    I don¡¯t think it would be this easy, nor do I think Pelagia will let us off this easy Raishin moved towards a rock and dramatically sat down.

    I¡¯m hungry, you got any more top-grade honey sandwiches, Ted? I would have if you didn¡¯t crash into them and ruin them! Agnis inspected the caverns and the group decided to hide inside. When they were about to move inside, they heard some obnoxiously loud laughing through a megaphone.

    Crap, it''s Palagia, he¡¯s close! The group ducked into the cave. After some spelunking, they stumbled upon a strange gate that was completely out of place. Ted tried to open the gate but it wouldn¡¯t budge. Annoyed, he punched the door and winced as he was punching a crystalline gate.

    That¡¯s not how you open it Raishin said while looking slightly excited.

    Wait don¡¯t tell me... THIS is your super-secret base? Gregory sighed. Yup! Gregory and Agnis facepalmed while Raishin gave a thumbs-up.

    How is this a super-secret base if we found it after literally 15 mins wandering in this cave system?! It''s still in alpha testing duh!

    Right¡­ of course¡­ Raishin walked to the gate. He was too excited to see Ted using ¡°¡­¡± as a dialogue option. Raishin struck an edgy pose and said the super-secret password that would open the super-secret gate to the super-secret base. He gathered all his attention and said in a totally not edgy voice.

    Lands of a timeless world. A magical, timeless world like no other, there where pearls fill the treasure vault and no one knows the password: Pheasant Boar. The super-secret gate to the super-secret base glowed, then it glowed brighter, and then nothing happened.

    Well, guess that worked well Gregory smiled sarcastically.

    Give it some time, the gate is lagging, it¡¯s still in alpha testing after all Uhh guys¡­ I think¡­ Before he could finish his sentence, the gate began to glow again and exploded.

    <hr>

    When they regained consciousness, they were back in the forest. Ted shot a venomous look at Raishin.

    Not a word! I know I messed up. Raishin looked disappointed in his failure. Crystal shards belonging to the gate were scattered all over the area where they regained consciousness. Raishin picked up the crystal shards that were shattered on the ground to try and still get some warranty and they started to walk aimlessly.

    That gate sure packed a punch Why can¡¯t you guys ever do anything normal¡­ After walking for ten minutes, they felt a tremor. When they looked back, they saw, in the distance, that the forest was on fire.

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    It¡¯s Pelagia! Meh, so persistent Let''s run! They started running. Then Raishin tripped

    Aww my ankle. Ugh, get up! Ted helped Raishin up and started running again. Then Raishin tripped again

    Ouch my other ankle. Really Raishin?

    These shoes suck! And who¡¯s fault is that¡­ Then they began to run faster because they could hear Pelagia laughing. Then they saw a small cottage at the end of the path. Just in front of the cottage, Raishin tripped for the third time.

    Auch both my ankles! So far for those shoes with ankle protection, you totally got scammed! Ted shouted annoyed. They entered the cottage and bolted the door. When they looked around, they saw an old man staring at them with his big round black eyes. His eyes were so black that it felt like your eyes got sucked into his pupils.

    Yikes, a creepy old man! Agnis your manners!

    ¡¯m sorry, they got blown up with that gate. Agnis, Gregory, Raishin, and Ted turned their heads away because they had the feeling that they were turning blind.

    ¡°Any problems youngsters?¡± The old man said with a happy face. It looked very strange because his face looked like an old pickle. Yes, my feet and ankles hurt We¡¯re being chased by Pelagia Noctiluca.

    ¡°My my that¡¯s no laughing matter¡± he said. ¡°Then if you want to defeat him you have to gather the cane of the dwarf and a golden tooth of the water snake and bring them to me. I¡¯ll make a weapon that¡¯ll whoop his ass in an instant '''' he said while he fiddled in his pocket, took out a map, and put it on the table. So where can we find the dwarf and the snake? Ooh, a map of the forest.

    ¡°Beyond Cnidaria¡¯s hills near the ancient ruins of Kundy you will face the trick of the old dwarf.¡± He said with a mysterious voice. ¡°You¡¯ll find the way if you¡¯re truly looking for it, so move it before it gets too late¡± the old man continued. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a Desert Eagle but it only shoots crystals so it might be useless but you still can hit good with it¡± after that the man disappeared mysteriously.

    What in the Hourai is a Desert eagle? Hmm, it looks similar to the odd wand Pelagia was carrying, it also reminds me of that weapon Walter was carrying.

    Walter? That god you poisoned with milk¡­

    Oh the noob god, hmm yeh this thing looks like a small portable cannon. Do I even want to know what you guys are talking about? How and where did that guy disappear to? He didn''t leave using the door or teleports!

    How does this thing work? Is this a foregin weapon? Agnis shook the Desert eagle and it shot out a blast that barely missed Ted.

    Hey, watch out! That bear-ely missed me! Hey Agnis, gimme that I think Ted needs another blast!

    Hey, wait! I¡¯m sorry! Let¡¯s go get the stuff that shady old man needed! Hey, this isn''t a trick so that he can harvest our organs, is it? Hey, Ted can you carry me? My feet hurt and so do my ankles!

    Ugh, Gregory please remember that we need to get new shoes for Raishin when we reach Ainahs. Sure. Ted piggybacked Raishin and they went outside and started to walk in the direction where they originally headed when fleeing from Pelagia and his goons. When they entered the forest again (for the cottage was on an empty plane in the forest) Pelagia and his pawns appeared and started to attack the team. Ted tried to fight them with his Kung Fu but retreated because the poisonous medusae made close combat suboptimal and he was still carrying Raishin on his back.

    Use that Desert eagle thing! Agnis pulled out the Desert eagle, loaded it with the crystals they found earlier, and started to give the goons and medusae the beating of their lives. When he almost defeated all the goons with it, Pelagia said with a frown on his face

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you supposed to shoot with that thing?¡± Is it that kind of weapon? I can¡¯t replicate those blasts from earlier Agnis inspected it and pulled the trigger but nothing happened.

    What are you doing, Blast him! Ted shouted while kicking some goons away.

    I can¡¯t the batteries are dead! He threw the Desert Eagle against Pelagia¡¯s head and started dropping the crystals while running away.

    We might have to go back to the cottage¡­ When they left the area, they saw that it was awfully sunny. Before the trees blocked most of the sunlight but now, that they were in a huge clearing they could see that the sunlight was very harsh. Just when they started to wonder why it was so sunny, they saw a sign and the sign said:

    <hr>

    Welcome to the holy sunny plain

    North: Forest of the Elves

    West: Hjuva border

    South: Nothing

    East: Cnidaria hills

    <hr>

    The sign answered their question and showed them directions at the same time. So, they headed east. When they arrived at Cnidaria hills and could see the ruins Gregory stopped Ted. Wait, didn¡¯t that old man say that between Cnidaria hills and near the ancient ruins of Kundy there is a dwarf that tries to trick us? You¡¯re right, from now on we have to be cautious. Whoa, look at that! A house made out of chocolate, pizza, and ice cream!

    But there¡¯s no honey! Ooh, nice! I haven''t had candy and snacks in a long time! I could store some of this! Hey guys! Focus! This is obviously a trap! But as most hungry people would do, Agnis and Raishin ran to the house and started to eat. After ten minutes of munching and crunching, they heard an old shrill voice:

    "Nibble, nibble, gnaw,

    Who is nibbling at my little house?"

    <hr>

    Shut up old hag, I¡¯m eating! Raishin had 3 pizzas in his hand and his mouth full of chocolate. Hmm, this ice cream is low quality, somehow this situation sounds familiar to a story I¡¯ve heard before¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m no old hag, I¡¯m a male, and who are you to insult my top-grade ice cream¡± I¡¯m Agnis, my ice cream is way better! The owner of the voice stepped outside. He had a green leprechaun pointed cap with a dark purple crystal sphere on it. Also, he had a long red robe and yellow shoes with the nose pointed up. The guy had red hair with dark blue dreadlocks. And of course, he had a cane, a silver cane with a golden spiral going from top to bottom, and on top of the cane was a crimson-colored crystal. The leprechaun or dwarf walked to Raishin and was about to hit him with his cane when he tripped over his robe and dropped the cane.

    Isn''t that the cane we were supposed to fetch? I think you¡¯re right. Ted grabbed the cane, dragged Raishin, and ran with Gregory and Agnis in the direction of the Aurelia river. When they stood by the riverbank, they saw that the dwarf was following with his flying furnace. Because his broom was eaten by Raisin because it was made of chocolate.

    ¡°I should have known that making a house of sweets and chocolate was a bad idea¡± the dwarf yelled. But they couldn¡¯t go further! I will not go over this river! It¡¯s just some water! And you won¡¯t even get wet let me help you! That doesn''t matter! Let''s go somewhere else! So, when the dwarf was about to catch up a snake fell out of the sky. He fell down and landed on Ted and Raishin.

    Whoa, where did that come from? When did water snakes learn how to fly? Beats me, rest in pieces Ted and Raishin. Hey! Don''t kill us off yet! Ted lifted the snake off him and threw it to the ground. This caused the snake to lose his artificial teeth and the golden tooth broke off and fell into Raishin¡¯s hand.

    I guess that works¡­ Let''s go! The dwarf was still hunting them down so they started running. Suddenly Raishin saw something sparkle.

    Let''s go there! It''s sparkly! Wait don''t pull on my hair! I¡¯m, not a horse!

    Giddyup war bear! I will drop you and kick your ass if you keep this up! The four of them ran toward the sparkling objects. They examined the strange object and came to the conclusion that it was the crystals they dropped when they departed from the strange old man. They started to follow the trail hoping that the old man could make a weapon that could defeat Pelagia and the irritating old dwarf that was still chasing them. They ran and ran and suddenly bright sunlight hit their faces.

    Hey, I think we followed the trail in the wrong direction. I was following Gregory! Hey! It¡¯s not my fault! Why would you follow me? Fair, this is on us.

    ¡°So, I¡¯ve finally got you now to be kind and return my cane and don¡¯t break it because the warranty is expired¡± the old dwarf gasped. The old dwarf with his green hat approached them with a big smile. So, he grabbed it from Raishin¡¯s hand and returned to his furnace. But when he looked closely, he realized that he was holding the sign:

    <hr>

    Welcome to the holy sunny plain

    North: Forest of the Elves

    West: Hjuva border

    South: Nothing

    East: Cnidaria hills

    <hr>

    He screamed and looked in the direction where the four were standing seconds ago. But they were gone already.

    They stormed into the house of the old man and pushed the items in his hands.

    ¡°So, you¡¯ve gathered the items¡± he whispered. ¡°I¡¯ll make the weapon¡±

    Two minutes later he came back with a gold and silver baseball bat with a crimson-colored spherical crystal.

    ¡°All you have to do is swing this bat with all your might and the baseball will do the rest.¡± Was what the old man instructed. They left the building feeling they could defeat the whole world when Pelagia and his blimp with more goons appeared. Agnis neared a goon with the shiny bat and swung it. The bat hit its target and the goon flew into oblivion with impressive speed. Several goons followed his example until only Pelagia was left. Agnis ran to Pelagia and tried to hit him but Pelagia blocked it.

    ¡°Bwahahaha you are a thousand light-years too early to defeat me¡± Pelagia said while laughing. At that moment an instruction note fell off the bat.

    <hr>

    The crimson hyper beam:

    Rub the crimson crystal and aim

    The crystal will release a powerful beam

    If the beam hits it will immobilize the target.

    While the target is immobilized feel free to hit it to oblivion.

    <hr>

    So, Agnis went toward Pelagia (he was still laughing with his megaphone), he rubbed the crystal, and aimed. Twelve red and eight blue intertwined bundles of light shot out of the crystal and hit Pelagia in his face. Agnis rushed at Pelagia with maximum speed and hit him. Pelagia flew away with an amazing speed and just before he disappeared, he shouted:

    ¡°Light-years measures distance not time¡­¡± What was that about? No clue, but this baseball bat is quite a strong weapon. Ooh, can I swing it too?

    Sure, I think a monster is approaching us, you can smack it. A monster looking similar to a tiger rat approached and Raishin swung and let go of the bat sending the tiger rat and the bat flying away at amazing speed.

    Why?! Sorry, my hand slipped¡­

    Ted! Sure, it¡¯s time to kick his ass. Ted and Agnis spent 10 minutes kicking Raishin¡¯s ass. Afterward, they headed over to the river because twilight was hitting. They spent the night and continued their journey the next morning. Not much happened. They fought off some monsters. Agnis kept complaining about that fighting these monsters would be cooler if they had the baseball bat. Raishin kept complaining about his feet and Ted had to keep carrying Raishin. Gregory kept making mistakes in reading the map so Agnis decided to take over and they managed to leave the forest 2 days later.

 Vol 2 Ch 4: Ainahs City

    We found a merchant caravan 4 days after we left the forest. Ted was so happy because he got tired of Raishin¡¯s complaining and carrying him. In those 4 days, I only spotted one group of assassins that seem to be also looking for us. How many groups are even looking for us? It makes me concerned but this also might be an indication that not everything is going to plan on the side of those who attacked Hourai.

    With that in mind, I decided to make it harder for them. I don''t know how this will interact with the illusion I put on ourselves to become hard to find but I dropped powerful illusions on these assassins and started spreading misinformation. I sent some clones out to do the same. I made this group think that we got taken in by the witch city, Witchaven. I wonder how they will respond to that. They will certainly get into trouble trying to invade that city. My clones will spread conflicting information to make sure that there will be maximum chaos under our pursuers. Right now, we are sitting in a caravan full of harvested corn. The merchants were quite kind and for some silver, we could hitch a ride.

    Meh, will we get to this city before my birthday? I want to meet some chicks! This whole trip is a sausage fest! Well, the merchants said we will arrive in 3 days so if everything goes well you have 3 days to do whatever you want. Not sure that is a good idea to let him loose but we might have to plan something for him on the 23rd to keep all the women in Ainahs safe.

    Yeah, we don''t want him to get locked up on his birthday for sexual harassment. Hey, guys come on!

    Well, people act differently than what we¡¯re used to in Boshi town, moreover, we¡¯re in a different country, and we don''t know the laws and rules here so it is better if you behave. You can''t stop me! But those shitty shoes can! I do have to say this, especially to you Raishin. The illusion that hides us from those assassins will be less effective in cities, especially if you cause a ruckus. We can just casually walk around here but inside the cities, we might have to be more careful, now we can still walk around and stuff but if you cause problems or move to the shadier parts of the city you might get found easier. We might have to use some mild disguises.

    Do you have any ideas or are you going to use illusions? I think using illusions is a bad idea because anyone looking for us is probably expecting us to use those to hide, but they probably also don''t exactly know what we look like so we just observe what the average city person looks like and get outfits that match that. Yeah, it didn''t seem like those kidnappers we found were sure if we were the ones they were looking for, they might only know that there are 4 of us so maybe we should try to avoid walking around in a group of 4 or we just travel together but 2 of us will walk at a distance from the other 2.

    That makes sense. Also, try to remember the important places and don''t look around too much, you will look like a tourist or someone who isn''t familiar with the city. This is aimed at you two! I¡¯ll do my best.

    I know, at least you take these things seriously, I''m more worried about this guy¡­ Hey guys this corn tastes weird! I see what you mean¡­

    Right beside that we have another problem, I have one but you 3 don''t, it is like an identity card. Ted showed us some card made out of magic with his image and basic details.

    Looks like junk. Wait this looks similar to something I found before. I took out a card that I got from Terry, it wasn''t the same but the magic on it looked similar.

    Where did you get that from? It looks and feels important. The guy I sold my rubies to. It looks more important than your card Ted. Well, he is probably an important businessman so that''s unsurprising¡­

    Can I see your card? Maybe I can copy it. Ted handed his identity card to me.

    Good luck, the whole point of these things is that it''s impossible to recreate. I looked at it with my Elgards eyes.

    Hey, Greg, this thing¡¯s runic structure looks easier than that barrier Azu gave us a crash course on. I linked Gregory up with my vision.

    Hmm, it is complicated, yes but it isn''t as complicated as that barrier, I can see how this will be impossible to recreate without Elgards eyes though. Wait, so are you saying you 2 could recreate this?

    It will take time but we might be able to make one like this card that belongs to¡­ it reads Jeremiah Odell, how did you come up with the name of Terry? Anyways we should be able to replicate this before we hit the city. Why can''t you guys do anything normal¡­

    Stop complaining! This is beneficial! Gregory and I spent 2 days trying to replicate the business and identity cards of Ted and Terry. It was challenging but after the drill, Azu put us through this wasn''t that bad. We even managed to spot some flaws in the system and improve on it. We only needed images of our faces to put on those cards.

    Can your eyes take care of this? I don''t think they can.

    How bout I just make a realistic drawing? Ah right for some reason you can draw uselessly well.

    It is not like you don''t have anything you''re uselessly good at, like your [Boss music]. I was surprised when you managed to be able to emulate a piano and also percussion and wind instruments¡­ Yeah, I will need to use some frost magic for those and it was challenging but I should be able to mimic most of the instruments out there.

    Anyways, do you still have some of my art supplies stored up? Yeh, I only have normal paper though¡­

    It should be fine; these images of Ted and Jeremiah don''t seem to be of that high quality so it should work out. At least this will ensure that Raishin has a normal expression on his card.

    Right, can you make a mirror for me? I will draw you first, then myself, I will just have to draw Raishin by memory because making him sit still is impossible. We looked at Raishin and he was leaning out of the cart and annoying a merchant in another cart.

    Yeh, that would be difficult. Gregory spent an hour drawing portraits of us and we used them to finish our cards.

    Not going to lie but making these cards predominantly out of magic seems to make it quite easy to replicate¡­ You know that''s actually not the case, people who have magic control and knowledge about these aren''t likely to attempt to recreate them because they would either be wealthy, magic researchers, or in a position where they don''t need to bother forging fake identities¡­ We didn''t make fake identities! Look they are very real!

    Yes, you 3 being of the human race is very real¡­ Nobody will be able to tell the difference unless we go loose. It is not like anyone would believe 3 mythical beings casually enter a city¡­

    And why are your identity cards of way higher quality than mine?! Now it will look like you are nobles or businessmen and I¡¯m just a farmer or servant! Hehe, such a peasant. Ted smacked me.

    Well to us doing a shitty job is unacceptable! Agreed! Ugh¡­ well at least they won''t suspect these being forged because they are so well made¡­

    Yes, praise us more! Absolutely not! Ted and I talked to some merchants to try and figure out some things that are going on in the world. It seems the Hourai rubies are making waves in the business world. They did various things with it but the part that seemed to be making waves is that it got used as a premium currency. The Yttroz industries seemed to have used 6 of the 15 crystals I sold and turned them into nuggets of 1 carat each. Because of this, there seemed to be 23724 in circulation with some sort of special magic carved into them. 1 Hourai ruby represents 1010 gold. They seem to be popular in large transactions but because there is a limited amount of them, they seem to also be a target for collectors. They were initially 1000 gold each but since less and less are in circulation because of the collectors their value starts to slowly increase. This is crazy. I checked my catalog and checked how many of those rubies I still had left.

    I had about 10 times the amount of rubies I sold to Terry and also still had a mountain of sapphires. Hmm, maybe I should leave this be for a while, I¡¯m filthy rich anyways, and I don''t know anything about economics but dumping these into the world might be a very bad idea. It also seems that the appearance of Hourai rubies as a new currency has annoyed some strong swordswoman and this caused her to attack the headquarters. According to the merchant, she got mad because her custom order didn''t get sped up and the Hourai rubies were the currency used to speed up these custom orders. It sounds like a stupid amount of gold to get stuff faster but I have no idea how this all works. Anyways that swordswoman got picked up and disciplined by her mentor. Another piece of news we heard is that the capital seems to be in chaos because the princess escaped and she is nowhere to be found. Ted and I discussed this matter and decided to stay away from the capital till this blows over and if this takes too long we might have to make different plans. We don''t want to be in a city that''s in chaos.

    Ainahs seems to be relatively quiet even though it is not that far from the capital so I guess we should be fine here. Besides that, it seems that lately a lot of shady characters have been seen all around, they have been around for several years but since about 7 months ago they seemed to have increased as if they are looking for something. I can¡¯t help to think that these are the people looking for us. I really didn''t expect this, it is a good thing that we have this illusion on us. There were more news tidbits about some wild beasts going on a rampage in some village I don''t know about, about the appearance of some new idol group, and a breakthrough in electronium technology. There were many more but most of them were as uninteresting as the ones I just named. Weirdly enough there was nothing about a certain bubblegum witch. Maybe she isn''t as wild as I thought she was.

    Ainahs was getting quite close, at this rate, we would enter it somewhere tomorrow in the afternoon. We decided that Ted would hold Raishin¡¯s identity card because he would probably lose it. Gregory and I checked the IDs we made to make sure we wouldn''t get caught for forgery. A day passed and we approached the city. It obviously was way larger than Boshi town, it had more and taller buildings. It reminded me of Jubra city but bigger. We spotted many devices and systems that ran on electronium that we¡¯d never seen before. Then again technically we¡¯re from the boonies so we¡¯re not used to how cities are run. The merchant caravan got stopped and inspected. About 10 minutes after we got stopped 2 well-dressed men got to our cart and looked inside.

    ¡°Oh, I didn''t expect there to be people inside here, could you step outside for a moment and show us your ID?¡± Sure, Raishin behave yourself. Yessir! We stepped outside. Ted showed his ID first, the two men inspected it, nodded, and returned it. They walked over to us and we handed over our ID¡¯s.

    ¡°Where is this guy¡¯s ID?¡± Oh, right I was holding on to it because he is quite reckless with these things. They inspected our ID and the expression on their faces changed.

    ¡°Oh, we apologize, we didn¡¯t expect you three to be nobles!¡± Wha¡­ I gestured to Gregory to stay quiet. Uhm, yes, we are sons of nobles but we are out here on a specific mission. Our fathers sent us, that guy there is uhm our servant, yes! Hey!

    ¡°Hmm, although your disguises look very convincing, your ID gives away that you three are from nobility or high status, you might¡­ ugh I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯m saying this, want to get a more low-profile ID.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, your fathers must be rich, I have never seen Is with this quality before!¡± Gregory and I looked at each other. So, how do we get these low-quality, uhm, I mean lower profile IDs, we, unfortunately, are quite pampered and we don¡¯t know much about how the commoners, excuse me, regular people do things. Gregory put up quite a posh accent. He was killing it and the two men seemed to be a bit impressed by his attitude. We did learn some etiquette in Hourai but Gregory is probably the only one who can pull it off and actually remembers it.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°Uhm there is an important building if you follow this road all the way to the center. It will have the Igrini royal crest and you could get it there. I suppose we have to get a recommendation since this is a special opportunity.¡± One of the two men seemed to write something down and sign it with a magic signature. ¡°Normally we¡¯d ask for how long you guys would stay but I assume that even if we get an answer, it might not be true. Which is fine, just a word of caution, a lot of shady figures have been roaming in and around Ainahs, if you have valuable possessions keep an eye on them.¡± The other man wanted to hand the document to Gregory.

    Give it to my servant, please. Really? I tried to hold in my laugh.

    Hey, servant carry me! Oh, you gotta be kidd¡­ The two men looked at Ted.

    Yes sir¡­ Ted accepted the letter and carried Raishin. We entered the city on foot next to most of the caravan. Some carts behind us still needed to go through the same process. You can let him down now Ted, we will attract attention if you keep carrying that idiot. Ted dropped Raishin.

    Hey! Is this how you treat the birthday boy? It¡¯s not your birthday yet, don''t be an asshole. It¡¯s your fault that I had to carry him!

    It was just an act, relax. Ugh, you guys¡­ We said goodbye to the merchants and thanked them and headed over to get our scrub IDs. It seems that we overdid it and they now think we¡¯re nobles. We arrived after a 3-hour walk and Raishin was yet again complaining about his feet. Some bulky man in cool-looking clothes was halting our progress. I spotted a magic weapon on him. He had a magic spear on his back. Ted showed him the letter and the man¡¯s expression changed. How high up the social ladder do these guys think we are? We got shown to a counter where Ted, showed the letter again and the woman behind the counter also had her facial expression change. She went to the back and later came back with an elderly but sophisticated-looking man.

    ¡°Come with me, gentlemen.¡± We followed the man into a room that had various odd appliances. Probably ran on electronium. I spotted a room in the back that seemed to hold some minor lightning spirits. I got a bitter feeling but tried to repress it because causing issues here would just cause unnecessary problems. The elderly man told us to sand at a spot and we got barraged by some light flashes. They then showed us our images and to choose the ones we liked, what background we wanted, and the frames. Gregory and I decided that the most basic look would be the best. What is the point of getting a lower-quality ID with a fancy portrait? I assume the fancier the more it will stand out in an ID check. I want this, this, and this! Oh, can you also add some lightning bolts there? Don¡¯t listen to him, he always dreamt of becoming the first jester born out of nobility. Just a basic frame will do for him.

    ¡°I see. Give us a moment, Clarice can you make these gentlemen comfortable while we finish their IDs?¡±

    ¡°Sure! Follow me!¡± With pleasure! I smacked Raishin. We got brought to some fancy room with comfortable sofas to wait in. We hardly sat down or a man came in and handed us our normal IDs. That was fast, what tip do we have to leave behind to show us our gratitude?

    ¡°Oh, no! Don¡¯t worry about it! This is free of charge! People of your status already contribute more than enough to society! Just take it!¡± I guess that works. I took the IDs and handed Raishin¡¯s ID to Ted. We thanked the staff and left the building.

    Wow, that was a bit too high class for me, how did I do Greg? You did fine, we have to consider leaving Raishin behind if something like this ever happens again¡­

    I agree¡­ Whoa, look at all the people here! And finally, some chicks!

    Let¡¯s find a place to stay first. Good idea, where do we start though¡­

    I¡¯m on it! I activated my Elgards eyes and looked for a hotel or inn or however, you call it. It had to be decent but not too extravagant.

    Right, I found one but Raishin isn''t going to like it, it''s about 40 minutes¡¯ walk from here. Maaan, who decided that having a hotel so far from here was a good idea! Can''t, we use those floating platform thingies? They seem to have the purpose of transporting people.

    It looks fun! Let''s use that! Do you know how it works Ted? Uhh, nope, do you? I know how these things work technically and magically but not how it works socially do we just hop on or is there a procedure? We¡¯re overthinking it let''s just hop on! I dragged my buddies and hopped on a platform. Some weird magic error started flashing on our platform.

    Shut up! I pressed my ¡®Noble ID¡¯ on it and it stopped. I have no idea what I just did but I think I nailed it!

    So reckless¡­ We rode the floating platform and got to see a good part of the city.

    Quite a nice city. Hmmm. What is it?

    This platform isn''t bringing us to where we need to go¡­ Can we steer it? It seems quite automatic; I don¡¯t think we can. There seem to be various colored floating platforms and they seem to follow different routes.

    Hmm, maybe we hopped on the wrong color. We need that one! The orange one passes close to where we need to get off! Wait!

    What? Do you see other people hopping off platforms when they are more than 50 meters above the ground? Let''s do things normally and hop off when it''s on ground level.

    Ok¡­ We waited till the platforms floated at ground level and hopped off. We got to where the orange platforms would reach the ground and hopped on them. Another magical error and I silenced it in the same way I did before. There were people behind us who looked at us strangely.

    I have the feeling we are doing something that isn¡¯t that normal or socially acceptable. Well, we haven''t been arrested by the social police so it will be fine. I don''t think there is anything like social police just police¡­ Are we there yet? Wait how are we going to pay for the hotel? We¡¯re broke! Ted and Gregory looked at me.

    Uhh, I will take care of that, can one of you two keep Raishin entertained? Ted and Gregory looked at each other and did rock paper scissors. After 3 draws Gregory lost.

    Ugh, let''s go find some good place with food close to the hotel, maybe something that has local specialties. Yes, food! But wait how are we going to pay for that?! We¡¯re still broke!

    I¡¯m sure Agnis will figure something out. We got close to our destination. The people still looked at us strangely. We hopped off and this didn''t help. Raishin dragged Gregory to a side street because he seemed to have smelled some good food. I tried to discover what the deal was with those stares. 50 meters from where we hopped off the platforms seemed to stop at some station and the people got off there and did something with a magic card that didn''t seem to be an ID but it allowed them to change to other colored platforms or leave the station. Woops. But not our fault that they weren''t clearer in that system! Ted and I entered the hotel. I started to wonder if it was normal for a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old to just walk in and fix hotel rooms. I also had no idea how this all works, I guess it can''t be harder than just asking for a room, or 2. Hello, I would like to have 2 rooms, please.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you too young to get a hotel room? Are you, his guardian?¡± The receptionist looked at Ted and sized him up. ¡°You both look young¡­¡± Does it matter if I have money?

    ¡°Hmm, I will have to see your ID first,¡± I looked at Ted and wondered if I should use my ¡®Noble ID¡¯ it seemed quite useful in those transport platforms before. I showed my fancy ID. ¡°Oh, what do we have here!¡± He inspected the ID and sized us up again. ¡°I assume the situation is complicated, do I need to get you some VIP rooms?¡± No VIP rooms. We are trying things out but we want the best non-VIP rooms, I¡¯m here with my servant Ted but there are 2 more scouting out the uhm culinary facilities nearby, they are about the same age as me one has black hair with a single braid and the other has blonde spiky hair and walks a bit weird if you ask them for their ¡®Special ID¡¯ they will show you theirs which is similar to mine. Wait I have Raishin¡¯s ID. Ted showed Raishin¡¯s ¡®special ID¡¯ to the receptionist.

    ¡°Ok that is fine, here are the magic keys to rooms 512 and 514, I will get someone to show you where they are.¡± No need, we want to attempt to get there ourselves, and we will make sure to find help if we can''t find it. We walked into the lobby and toward a corridor, the receptionist pointed us to.

    Is it a good idea to flash your overpowered ID everywhere? It seems to make all our problems disappear though.

    Well, yes, but we are not nobles¡­ You mean YOU are not! I¡¯m filthy rich remember! I could probably buy this whole hotel! Muwawawa!

    I really need to keep an eye out on you¡­ We managed to locate our rooms after looking for 15 minutes.

    How are we going to divide the rooms? Ugh, I would prefer to not be paired with Raishin but you paired with Raishin is a recipe for disaster¡­ I suppose Greg and I have to do another rock paper scissors¡­

    Hey! I¡¯m not a disaster! I can perfectly share a room with Raishin! Yes, that is the problem you guys would be perfectly fine with it and somehow end up vaporizing this hotel¡­ Anyway, isn''t it weird that they didn''t ask for payment?

    I don¡¯t know maybe we have to pay afterward. We heard a knock. And Gregory and Raishin entered.

    Ah here you guys are, we found a good place to eat. Ooh, nice rooms! Right, let''s get food! We got to the place Gregory and Raishin found. They had a local specialty called ¡®Fiery dragon breath stew¡¯ and ¡®Fiery dragon breath pizza¡¯ Raishin took the stew and since I don''t like soup or stew-related food I went for the pizza. Ted and Gregory went for something milder. Ted went for honey-roasted boar and Gregory went for a chicken salad. This dragonbreath pizza was interesting, it had various spices and peppers and some fire salamander meat toppings which gave it a fiery character. I have a high heat tolerance so eating this was quite comfy, I always liked spicy stuff so I¡¯m not sure if this is also my heat resistance or just my spicy tolerance but this was quite comfy to eat, Raishin however¡­ His face was red and he was literally spewing fire¡­ The staff seemed to be having fun though as well did some customers.

    Some staff members seemed to respect me for being able to handle this fiery dish. The food wasn''t that expensive for everything it was just 4 silver. The staff urged us to return since they loved Raishin¡¯s reaction to the spicy dish. It was definitely an interesting reaction. After we left the restaurant, we went to look for a place to get some normal shoes for Raishin which went without problems. It started to become dark. I was constantly keeping my Elgards eye active to make sure we wouldn''t accidentally run into shady characters. So far, we didn''t.

    We went back to the hotel. It got decided that I would share a room with Raishin but the moment we would cause trouble, Ted would swap with me. Raishin and I held a pillow fight before we went to sleep. Raishin imbued his pillow with lightning which caused it to fray a bit but if I got hit by it, It would hurt. I didn''t imbue my pillows but swung them fast and aimed to hit Raishin with the tip of the pillow corner. I swing the pillow fast enough to turn it into a cutting weapon. Raishin had various pillow cuts on him and I was dodging all his pillow smashes. He got tired of missing and started throwing pillows. I caught one and started dual-wielding pillows.

    What is this bullshit! How are you turning pillows into cutting weapons? How are you turning pillows into weapons of mass destruction? The pillows Raishin threw did a lot of damage to whatever it hit.

    Just give up you¡¯re never going to hit me! Ha, eventually I will! I just need one good hit! I kept dodging Raishin''s pillows and deflected some. He started to accumulate more pillow cuts. Raishin picked up a beat-up pillow, imbued it with a lot of lightning, and threw it at me. Die! Obviously, I dodged it. Suddenly the door opened.

    Hey, why are you guys so noi¡­ Ted took the pillow to the face and flew into the wall behind him.

    Oops! I¡¯m sure you yelled ¡®Die!¡¯ We should have known. Ouch, of course¡­ a pillow fight¡­ I should have known, Agnis you''re switching with me!

    Why is Raishin bleeding? It¡¯s a pillow fight¡­ These pillow cuts sting¡­ The corners of Agnis¡¯ pillows are red¡­

    I wonder if there is anything you can¡¯t turn in a weapon¡­ come on clean up this mess and you''re coming with me to the next room, I was wondering how long it would take before we had to separate you two but I surely didn''t expect to do so on the first night. I undid an illusion layer and the room turned back to normal.

    I see you at least have some sort of common sense. Hey, why didn''t you undo these stinging pillow cuts? And erase the proof of my victory? Ha fat chance!

    You didn''t win! So, you¡¯re saying you can win without ever hitting me? I demand a rematch!

    So, you admit to losing then? Alright, that¡¯s enough, Greg take Agnis away! Let¡¯s go! Gregory grabbed me with [Shadow tendrils] and dragged me to the other room.

    Gregory and I decided to go visit the library, if we could find it, the next day. He used his portable lab to make various potions against various types of fungi. I got some tips and tried to get better at forming shadow magic and using [Shadow tendril]. This library might be way safer than the last one we visited but one can never be too cautious especially when nothing ever goes well for us. We had a comfortable night''s rest.

 Vol 2 Ch 5: Visiting the library

    Gregory and I woke up at 8:05 to prepare and head over to the library. We needed to figure out where to find this but we would also use this opportunity to get a better grasp on the layout of this city. I could check this with my eyes but where is the adventure in that?! Anyways, another reason is that if we know exactly where to go, we miss the opportunity to stumble upon other interesting or useful places. Randomly finding out stuff can¡¯t be underestimated when information is important. At least I deem information to be important. Maybe we will find another good restaurant, or a nice caf¨¦ or some food stalls! We made sure to have everything we need in case the library would attack us. Now this might sound silly but even though Gregory loves reading and I think that information is very important, we haven''t been to many libraries.

    The library in Hourai palace was riddled with traps and magic spells at least where the more interesting and secret documents were stored. The public library was pretty tame but the head librarian was quite the jerk so that was a challenge in itself. Then there is that underground library under Boshi town, yeah, we don''t see libraries as safe places. We do realize that libraries are supposed to be safe and quiet places for learning it¡¯s just that that hasn''t been true for us, better safe than sorry! We left the hotel and looked around.

    So, I did notice that there are specific places where you are supposed to get on those floating platforms. Just hopping on and off them seems to be quite socially unacceptable. Yeah, I noticed that too yesterday, shall we give it a go or shall we walk?

    Hmm, let''s walk, I assume the library is a large building, I don''t see very large buildings around here but the center of the city did, let''s walk there to get familiar with this neighborhood and perhaps find interesting places. We walked down the road and saw mainly houses. Even though it was quite early there were still a lot of people outside.

    Quite the difference from what we¡¯re used to. Is that an antique shop?! Oh no¡­ Gregory grabbed my wrist and dragged me to the antique shop he spotted.

    Let''s go take a look! Let''s not stay too long. We got inside and entered the small shop. It reminded me a bit of Uraya¡¯s shop but this one has antique-looking objects. Mainly vases. Gregory looked at some items and barraged the shopkeeper with various questions. Gregory is such a nerd; he likes whatever is related to art and history. I¡¯m indifferent to art but I recently discovered that history is quite important. I looked around to see if I could spot anything that had ancient languages on it. Unfortunately, most of them are from the era of the Old Kaledonian calendar, while some are from the beginning of the New Kaledonian calendar. Hmm, guess no luck. I don¡¯t know much about history but so far, I''m only interested in that what happened before the Great Eraser. I spotted an old katana. Hey now at least this is interesting! It reminds me that I should also look for a blacksmith in this city. I have everything I need to restore this if it was in poor condition but locating a blacksmith might still be useful. Maybe there are some tricks here that I could learn. There is no reason why blacksmiths from the Igrini Kingdom will have the same methods as the blacksmiths from Hjuva.

    I inspected it. It was just a normal katana just very old. I picked it up. It was really heavy. I took the sword out of its sheathe. Yup, this is rusted. The smell of rust attacked my nose. It is weird why has nobody ever tried to make a katana that doesn''t rust. I tried to think of reasons, it is probably easier and cheaper to make them like they have been made for a long time. Maybe it needs some exotic material to achieve this or using different metals will negatively affect their performance. This katana has seen better days but at least the scabbard looks nice. Although¡­ I inspected the katana with my Elgards eyes. Nothing special about the katana but it seems the current exterior of the scabbard doesn¡¯t seem to be the original one. I do know that the scabbard used to be quite ornamental and the cooler it looked the higher status the owner had. The current scabbard looks quite fancy but it''s layered over a dull scabbard. Did someone in history try to fake his status? I wouldn''t be surprised. Anyways, I¡¯m buying this. I look around the store and a few items seem to be fake or just like this scabbard looks like something messed with it. These seem quite old so I doubt that the shop owner did it but it makes them either look older or more special than they are. I don¡¯t care for the historical value of this sword; I just want it.

    And do you agree that the cultural significance of this urn is¡­. Move over Greg, hey, I want to buy this katana. How do you keep finding old swords?

    ¡°Oh, the heirloom of¡­ ¡° I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m not that interested in where it comes from, I just want to buy it. The shopkeeper and Gregory looked at me as if I just insulted a family member of theirs.

    ¡°Kids these days don''t appreciate culture and history, why can¡¯t you be like this fine young man over here, that is 9 silver for you, culture barbarian!¡± I¡¯m sure insulting customers will make your business boom. I placed 9 silver on the counter. He looked at me.

    ¡°Your parents must be rich to have their kid spend 9 silver on an antique item.¡± He got out a cloth and some red rope to wrap the sword in. I strapped it on my back and went to wait outside. I made sure to not knock anything over. Gregory came out of the shop a half hour later. Did you know that this city used to be called something different 15 years ago? What was it called before then?

    It was called Arehs. What a weird name.

    What is weirder is that the royal family used to live here but decided to live in the capital 136 years ago after their mansion burnt down. Some items in this shop were ancient treasures recovered from that fire. Aha¡­ Hey, you saw how the scabbard of this sword looked right? Yeah. It is not the real one, there is a layer, well it¡¯s the real one, under it and it looks dull.

    Hmm, that is interesting. So, what are you going to do with it? Restore it so that it will shatter after 2 or 3 uses. Ha! Very funny! But I guess you¡¯re not wrong. I need to figure out why swords keep shattering when I use them.

    Don¡¯t you think it has something to do with how you swing them? I can¡¯t say that I know how to fight with swords but the speed you swing them seems abnormally fast. Hmm, haven''t thought of that but swinging it like that makes up for my lack of physical strength so it isn''t something I can just go easy on if I want to cut through stuff.

    Well, I guess for a mythical being your physical strength isn''t that high but compared to humans it''s quite good in that case hmm, might want to make something that can survive those fast swings of yours. Hmm, something stronger and flexible or something that doesn''t care. Sounds like a pain¡­

    Or master another weapon, how about a hammer? Meh, not my style, I will stick to swords. Anyways thanks for your insight. I will pay close attention to the condition and forces on the sword when it shatters to have a good idea of what is making them break.

    Already decided that the sword is going to shatter, eh? Poor sword. Are you sure you didn''t need to buy something from that shop?

    Nah, he was acting like an asshole to you and complaining about you after you left. Aww, such a softie.

    Shut up! We walked by some more places. Gregory had to stop me from visiting every restaurant and cafe we passed by. We passed by a pharmacy and Gregory went inside and tried to figure out where to get supplies for his concoctions. It seems he could get some but the factory that''s in charge of making most of those has a shop somewhere that is more suitable for his needs.

    He got the directions for it but I took it from him because he does love maps but he is not great at following them. Also, this place is also interesting to me. I¡¯ll just buy whatever I deem useful and store it in my dimensional space. I followed the map and we got to the store; it was quite close to the city center. We then spent a half hour convincing the clerk that we weren¡¯t just ordinary kids. Gregory was prepared and had his portable lab with him and showed them to the clerk. I couldn''t prove that I¡¯m a blacksmith without tools but I will just let Gregory buy whatever I find interesting. Gregory bought several small jars of white powder. I also found some chemicals that I could use. I asked him where I could find the blacksmith but it seems the blacksmith is near the edge of the city so it would be unlikely that we would encounter it. Gregory asked where we could find the library and it seems to be a bit south of the city center, where all the big buildings are. We thanked the clerk and headed toward the clerk pointed us toward. We had to go through the city square. It''s like the town square in Boshi tow but way bigger, does this have a different name in cities? A plaza? I¡¯m not sure. It''s the same big open space we went through to go to the building to get our IDs yesterday. It was quite busy and I could hear some music.

    Look Agnis, it¡¯s a street performer playing the xylophone. Can you mimic a xylophone with your [Boss music]? I never tried but I don¡¯t think so. We looked at the musician as we passed by. I could hear that he was skilled but since we could hear him, he has only been playing boring songs.

    Hey, Greg, you can play the violin, right? Gregory looked at me shocked.

    I¡¯m not doing that! Chill! I¡¯m not suggesting that you join him and help him out.

    Oh, ok, I got scared there for a moment, well it has been years since I touched a violin and I wasn''t that great at it anyway. I was thinking if he¡¯s still here after we come back from the library, both of us might give him a hand. Gregory looked at me.

    I am concerned that there is a high chance that you suggested this not because you wanted to help him out but because you have your own agenda, will you be fine though? You can¡¯t use your tails here. That is exactly why! I need to figure out how to do this unassisted. It is probably going to be super hard but I have to be prepared for anything!

    Right¡­ and do you need me to play violin for that? I don''t even have a violin on me. Well, it is to lessen the burden on me, I can play some simple violin sounds and you do the main ehh violining. Also, I can make a violin for you with ice and wires!

    Do you even know how a violin works? It is one thing that you can mimic its sound with wires and lightning magic but to make one you need to know how it works. Uhh¡­

    Thought as much. Well, it''s a good thing we¡¯re heading toward a library! I can look up how instruments work! Let''s go! I grabbed Gregory¡¯s arm and dragged him toward the library.

    Why do you always have the wrong motivations to do the right things? Don¡¯t worry I balance it out by having the right motivations to do the wrong things!

    That doesn''t make it any better! We located the library and stepped inside. Gregory and I took a battle stance.

    ¡°Hey, youngsters! This isn¡¯t a battlefield!¡± A tall old man with a long grey braided beard approached us. There are no books here that swallow us or fungus that tries to poison us here?

    ¡°Of course not! This is a library!¡± We look at the old man skeptically. ¡°Hmm, it seems you guys have gone through some rough times.¡± You can tell?

    ¡°I used to be an adventurer in my young days, I might have found a library or two that sound similar to your descriptions but be at ease this is a safe public library, I¡¯m the head librarian Peter Peterson.¡± That name is a joke, right? Gregory smacked me.

    That¡¯s rude! I am Gregory and this is Agnis, we are here looking for some books related to mythology for our school project.

    ¡°Ooh, mythology, go up the stairs there, head over to the right and it should be to your left after you passed the 3rd pillar. It should have a sign that reads ¡®Legends and Mythology¡¯. I hope the information there suit your needs.¡± Is there anything related to the composition of musical instruments and maybe another one that¡¯s related to teaching magic skills?

    ¡°Some broad interests you have there, musical instruments should be over there to the right, about the teaching of magic skills¡­ we have removed and banned those from libraries all over the country a year ago. Other countries are likely to follow this example soon.¡± Oh, how come? Excuse us, we¡¯re not from around here or this country.

    ¡°Hmm, well there have been cases where individuals came to the libraries to learn strong magical spells and use these to commit crimes. So, the board of head librarians has declared that all documents containing methods of teaching magical skills will be removed and banned from public libraries all over the country. The only method of acquiring these are from university libraries, which are heavily guarded, or specific libraries or laboratories, either way, they are inaccessible to the public.¡± Hmm, that makes a lot of sense. Hmm, yeah, I¡¯m surprised that it took until only a year ago for people to abuse it. Agnis!

    ¡°He is correct in thinking this, it only took several severe crimes involving the same specific magic skills to make a movement like this. The skills that were used weren¡¯t that rare but they were still quite uncommon and it was confirmed that the separate crimes had no connection besides using the same specific magical skillset that could be found in a specific document, it became quite popular before those crimes so it was quite easy to draw those conclusions after some investigations. Anyway, I will no longer hold you youngsters up, in the unlikely case, you find books that swallow people or poisonous fungi, don''t hesitate to contact me. I will be walking around on the main floor and in case you can¡¯t find me, report any issues to Clarice, the receptionist.¡± He gestured toward Clarice and walked off.

    Right, I¡¯ll study up on some musical instruments, I will join you in a bit! I split up with Gregory and headed over toward the section Peterson pointed to. After 5 minutes I found the correct section and picked up some books. I saw detailed schematics of various musical instruments. I stored these in my archive but I kept studying to try and understand them better. It is one thing to know something but something else to understand it. I was spending the most time on the piano and violin. I could mimic their sounds quite decently. The violin was near perfect but I need to understand how to make one for Gregory.

    For the piano, I was a bit off. It sounded like a piano but to people who play piano or have listened to many piano pieces, it might sound off. My general knowledge of how it works was good enough to approximate its sound but there are obviously things I don¡¯t know. Wind instruments roughly speaking are just vibrating columns of air so I have those mastered pretty decently. I also looked through some other instruments to attempt to improve their sound but the violin and piano were my main focus. The problem was that I was in the library so I couldn''t just make some out of ice and test if they sounded good enough. Does that mean I have to ace them on the first try? Unassisted? I don¡¯t know if this is going to go well¡­ this sounds harder than our Boshi town adventures. For the violin I decided to focus more on the exterior, Gregory can tune the strings if I mess up the string part. I hope. I spent 30 minutes studying the violin and an hour on the piano. The piano is the biggest obstacle, and which madman invented this complicated instrument, surely, he had too much time to spare. I should have a high success rate with the violin now, and the piano¡­ probably 50/50 I will just have to try out and make a physical piano out of strings and ice and play it a bit somewhere in the middle of the [Boss music], I want to add a piano solo but I have to use it before the solo to make sure it sounds and works ok.

    Feeling that I¡¯ve spent long enough on this and that I probably won''t increase my success without actually making the piano, I put back the books and headed toward Gregory. Where was it up these stairs and then 3 pillars to the left or right? I have to try to rely less on my eyes to find shit, come on brain remember! In the end, it¡¯s 50/50 so I can just guess. I decided to go right. I found Gregory absorbed in a book. He seemed to be halfway. I guess instead of finding out information about where our home might be or what kind of beings could have a clue, he managed to find some old legend or kind and was reading the whole story. It isn''t very often that Gregory is useless in what he set out to do. I called out to him but he didn''t respond.

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    Greg! This is terrible! A sewer line broke and this place will soon be submerged! Gregory closed the book.

    We need to get out of here immediately! I grabbed him since he tried to get up and run away and sat him down.

    Just kidding, you wouldn''t respond otherwise, there is no water incoming. Did you learn anything? Ugh, I got absorbed in this story about some hero who drove off a dragon. This dragon seemed to have 3 heads and 3 wings.

    Wha? How is it supposed to fly with 3 wings? And as far as I know, every dragon type has 1 head. Hmm yeah but maybe this dragon was of the 4-winged kind and lost one.

    Hmm, I''ve only ever seen no winged dragons even though 2 winged dragons seem to be the most common. Well 4 winged dragons seem to be the rarest kind but this legend is from about 500 years ago. The dragon was terrorizing the area, it doesn''t say which, and this hero fought it but this book was full of quite uninteresting or irrelevant details so that is pretty much all I got from this legend, it did however go into great detail about the hero¡¯s personal preferences and daily routine when off duty.

    Off duty? Is that a thing for heroes? Like yoo, a dragon is burning my field! Oh, I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m off duty, I will slay him tomorrow though! I don¡¯t know It was a bizarre story¡­ So why did you continue reading this for 1.5 hours?! I grabbed the book out of his hand and put it back.

    Weren¡¯t we supposed to find clues about how and what we need to do to go home? Hmm, you¡¯re correct it just has been a while since I could read some fiction. Most of them were encyclopedias, safety procedures, protocols, and the kind.

    Oof, the author would probably be upset if he knew you called his book fiction, I¡¯m pretty sure he believes in the crap he wrote. I started to pick out random books. I decided to cheat on these. I looked around and nobody seemed to be paying attention to us. I activated my eyes and rapidly flipped through all the pages.

    Meh, useless! I wanted to make a useless pile and throw the book on it but Gregory looked at me and shook his head. I swear sometimes it looks like he can read my mind. I carefully put the book back and took another. We spent an hour trying to find any clues but most didn''t seem to be remotely related to anything we need to know. I guess it makes sense, my mom made Hourai to escape and hide from the gods and mortals alike. It would be a shitty hiding place if everyone knew it existed and where it was. Gregory found one documentary but it mainly showed us what the perspective of the humans was on us as mythical and legendary species. On the same tier as gods. Great now we get lumped with those assholes. I was about to give up when I found something about nine-tail foxes. Gregory also seemed tired of the search so I urged him to come to take a look.

    Hmm, it started interesting but then it started to go on about how whenever disaster struck, nine tail spirit foxes were spotted. This caused the humans and some of the other dominant species on the Mainfloor to think you guys were the cause and started hunting you guys down and also using your tails for the fur¡­ Are you ok? I tried to find the comfort of my tail but I was hiding it so I couldn''t. I nodded.

    Yeah, it also says that we didn''t put up much resistance¡­ I don¡¯t understand why¡­ This is from after the Great Eraser so your numbers should''ve already been quite low, why would they choose not to resist?

    I don¡¯t understand¡­ I don¡¯t know. Maybe my race is pacifistic? Hmm, your mother is quite like you, Viridian is an assassin and so is his daughter of the 4 nine-tailed spirit foxes that I know none seem pacifistic. It doesn''t really help that you 4 might be about 2% of the total population¡­

    Wait what? I told you before, right? The last time I heard about the state of the population of the ninetails I overheard my mother talking to your mother, it seemed that the nine-tail spirit fox population is close to hitting double digits.

    Ah right¡­ 2%... this is bad¡­ Let¡¯s see what else this book says¡­ Are you sure you are, ok?

    Not really but finding something like this was to be expected. Let''s try and find out how to get home before my race loses another member¡­ I¡¯m starting to miss your optimism a bit¡­ We didn''t find out much from this book. Only that the humans suddenly noticed that we disappeared and that things seemed to get worse after that. Some scientists started to speculate that we might have been trying to keep things from getting worse which explains the frequent sightings close to disaster and now that we have been driven off or driven to extinction, that nothing was stopping those disasters which became worse and more frequent after the last sighting of a nine-tailed spirit fox. Another speculation was that the nine-tailed spirit foxes didn''t seem to fight back because they knew that if the humans would wipe them out, they would be sealing their own fate by doing so. I¡¯m not so sure about that one but it holds some truth. I don¡¯t know if my mother and I would just let us get killed with the thought that it would come to bite them later. Gregory picked up another book and I tried to not think too much about this.

    Vampires seemed to be real but they also disappeared. I mean we exist; I don¡¯t think we of all people should be surprised that weird creatures exist.

    It is interesting, they seemed to have disappeared at about the same time Hourai should have been created. I don¡¯t remember seeing any vampires in Hourai.

    Me neither but the last sighting matches the rough time period as the last sighting of the nine tails in that other book and when we know Hourai was created. Typical, we try to look for answers and we find more questions.

    Anyway, this information is useless for now. They seem to be a royal pain to fight, near immortality, super strength, and regeneration. Their magic depends greatly on which original race the individual was. Some of the most troublesome vampires seem to have been witches turned vampires. Oh shit, if Azu got turned into a vampire it¡¯s game over for the Mainfloor. They are supposed to be physically weak right? Becoming a vampire just wipes out her only weakness although she seemed quite physically strong to me¡­

    Yeh, I don¡¯t know how accurate this source is but the regular sunlight and garlic weakness bullshit doesn''t seem to apply to the stronger ones, the few ways to defeat them was using their true name against them. True name? Like their surname?

    It says that vampires, demons, and devils have a true name besides the names they normally use, it points to their origin their true being, know that, and you can control them or inflict great damage. So, can you kill them without knowing those?

    I don¡¯t know this book seems to suggest that a true name is the only way they could find. But only 2 minor vampires have been killed like that. If they don''t mean us harm then there should be no problem.

    This book doesn''t suggest that they are docile. Just the regular vampire stuff. Do they know how we can get home? Don¡¯t know, but we¡¯d have to find one first. I grabbed the book out of Gregory¡¯s hands and put it back.

    Well, that means this information is useless! Let¡¯s go, we''ve been here for almost 3.5 hours. We need to stretch our legs! Ugh, fine, how late is it?

    14:12, we''ve been out for quite long. I hope Raishin didn''t vaporize the hotel. Ted is with him so it should be fine. We looked around to make sure there weren''t any poisonous fungi in the library and we left the library and headed toward the plaza.

    I was hoping he wouldn''t be here but he still is¡­ Yes! Let''s go help him with some boss music! We approached the man who was playing some slow sad song on the xylophone. It didn''t seem like he earned much today.

    Hey, mind if we help you out a bit? We don¡¯t need money we just want to tes¡­ help.

    ¡°Eh? Sure, I was planning to leave after this song but I can do another one. You two don''t seem to have musical instruments on you though¡­¡±

    That is understandable but I got this! I released the wires from under my clothes and made my [Boss music] setup. It had ice pipes of various lengths, widths, and thicknesses as well 2 boxes that had wires going through them. I made the percussion out of ice. The wires all started at my fingertips. I made pointy ice caps for my fingers and every icecap had 3 wires going out of them. I can now mix lightning with ice so I can run this through my whole setup. I also froze a violin for Gregory and let him tune it. I gave a short explanation of the moments he could pause. I don¡¯t know the musical term for it. I think he is skilled but he just doesn¡¯t know any exciting songs. I¡¯m confident that he can follow the song quite nicely. I even gave him a xylophone solo!

    That is quite the setup you have¡­ It is not complete because I don¡¯t have the usual preparation. I will have to do everything with my own brain. This is going to be rough.

    Why does it feel like you seem to find this harder than fighting any encounter we had in Boshi town? Because it is! Have you seen the madness that is the piano? Which madman invented that thing? I might mess up my first piano part. I will play it a bit in the background to make sure my failure wouldn''t bring the boss music down.

    This is all unnecessary but whatever¡­ I finished the tuning, I¡¯m ready whenever you guys are. You have no issues following the flow of the song, right?

    I surely hope so, you didn''t give me a solo right? Uhh¡­

    Take it out! But¡­

    Take it out! Meh, fine¡­ party-pooper. Anyways let''s go!

    Gregory started with the violin and the man joined him soon after. And then I started. I ran lightning through the 2 boxes made out of ice. It produced quite an electronic sound but it would make the beat for this boss music. I also added some light percussion. The man and Gregory looked at me in surprise while still continuing to play their parts. The moment the electronic beat hit everyone on the plaza stopped and pointed their attention toward us. The man was keeping up with the fast beat and Gregory could rest a bit. Just some flutes and the xylophone now. Followed by some extra layers of electronic music. A crowd started to gather and put money in the man¡¯s hat. I added a little bit of organ and we returned to the chorus where all of us were playing. But near the end of the chorus, I added some strings to compliment Gregory¡¯s violin. The crowd was going wild and the man¡¯s hat was overflowing with money.

    The crowd doesn''t know yet though, the best is yet to come. We extended the chorus and I froze myself a piano. Time to try this. I did a piano part. It sounded good but not great. I covered it with another electronic layer. I figured out what was wrong with my piano. I could fix this before my piano solo. We went back to the chorus with some extra strings and wind instruments. We finished the chorus and it was time for the xylophone solo. This man was shredding it. I revised the piano and froze a bigger one. I started to play some notes at the end of the man¡¯s solo which transitioned into mine.

    I shredded the piano It reminded me of how Paul was playing the piano. I¡¯m not saying I¡¯m as good as Paul, but I think I was quite close. Both the xylophone and piano solo was intense and the crowd was loving it. After my solo, it blended into the same verse as our solos combined but everyone was playing now and we turned the intensity up higher. I prefer playing the piano with just running lightning through strings and the like but physically playing one has its charm and actually playing it feels like I¡¯m making a bigger impact. It is just hard to keep up with the other instruments running while I manually play the piano. I think I managed it well. My head started to hurt from all this concentrating. After this intense part, we had the outro which was a quiet part with just Gregory playing with some strings in the background to which the man joined and ended the boss music. The crowd cheered and started throwing money at us. I sat down utterly exhausted. Yeah, I¡¯m not doing this ever again without my tails prepping. This was crazy.

    ¡°We want more! We want more!¡± Oh hell no! Can¡¯t these people be more considerate?! Are you ok? You look exhausted.

    ¡°That was crazy! Thank you, guys! Are you sure I can keep this money?!¡± Take it, it¡¯s yours. I do have to admit, even though I played a part in this, this was insane. Sometimes I wonder what is going on in your head to think of stuff like this.

    A lot when doing this. I had to keep moving my fingers and hands around and apply the correct color and amount of lightning, but because I can¡¯t higher than blue in public, my options are limited, I have to keep the beat and music progression going, and the different instruments I need and how to imitate them and get the tempo and timing right, then there was the piano, holy shit that was hard! I think I managed it decently¡­ So much¡­ stuff going on. I think you did well, look! Gregory helped me up and pointed at the crowd who kept shouting they want more. The man took his money and vanished. Since my setup was still standing the crowd seemed to think there would be more.

    Ugh, humans are merciless! You do know you brought this on yourself, right? Fine! I will do one more but I will be mainly using the piano! Do you need my help?

    You can if you want, I¡¯m just going to play the first song we heard Paul play. Hmm, I think that piece seemed to be made for only the piano with maybe some slight assistance from other instruments. That is fine, you can go and collect their money then! I froze my improved piano and started to play the intimidating boss music. Also, secretly as a sign to intimidate them to not ask for more afterward. I added a few strings for some extra ambiance and an organ playing softly to make it extra intimidating. This was still hard but not as hard as that crazy music we did before. The crowd seemed to listen but I could see that the music had intimidated them a bit. This piece wasn''t that long but it could be easily looped so after 2 loops I stopped. Gregory seemed to have collected quite the amount. They cheered but not as loud and I broke off the setup. I got a headache from all this concentration and magic manipulation.

    That sounded even better than I remember. I gave it some extra. I have a massive headache though¡­

    Your magic control must be insane to pull all of that off and all for [Boss music]? At first, I thought it was useless but after seeing it in action up close, I realize that this requires an insane amount of magic control. Yeah, it was harder to master than I admit but I¡¯m glad that I got the hang of it. My piano sound is still a bit off but it seems to be hardly noticeable.

    ¡°Excuse me! Would you like to join my agency?¡± I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯d rather keep my organs.

    ¡°What? No, I work in the music industry! I recruit young talent! Here is my card, you may or may not have heard of me but I¡¯m responsible for making the new idol group Tails of Symphony¡± What? Who came up with that hard-to-remember name? How can people remember them? Only you have problems remembering names¡­ And you really seem to be collecting these cards.

    ¡°What?! Someone beat me to the punch?!¡± Not really¡­ I showed him the card Terry gave me.

    ¡°Jeremiah Odell from Yttroz Industries? What does he need from a musician?¡± Actually, I¡¯m a blacksmith¡­

    ¡°Excuse me? A¡­ blacksmith? Ehh¡­ you¡¯re pulling my leg, right?¡± Don¡¯t bother making sense of all this, of everyone you could find on this continent this guy probably makes the least sense.

    ¡°So ehh will you consider joining our agency?¡± I¡¯m sorry I have other goals I need to reach.

    ¡°I see¡­ Anyway, keep the card in case you change your mind!¡± The man made a polite bow and headed south. You sure are popular, shouldn''t an assassin keep to the shadows? I¡¯m not an assassin though.

    You move, think, and act like an assassin, I don¡¯t see how you¡¯re not one, you¡¯re just a bizarre assassin. I didn''t do this to draw attention though! I just wanted to test my [Boss music] unassisted!

    Yes, that makes this even worse, anyway¡­ Hey guys! Oh hey, Raishin, Ted, and hmm do I know you?

    See! I wasn¡¯t lying when I told you I know them!

    ¡°It is nice to meet you Gregory and Agnis, my name is Shania, and the performance you 2 had was marvelous!¡± Aha¡­ Hey Ted what is going on? Greetings, I¡¯m Gregory and this strange rude guy is Agnis. Well, some things happened and¡­ Hehe Agnis and Greg, meet Shania, my girlfriend!

    What? Excuse me? I pulled Ted to the side.

    Hey Ted, is this chick blind? Or did he drug her? Hey, I don¡¯t know! She seems genuinely interested in Raishin! Gregory joined us.

    Hey, Ted, this isn''t a trap, right? An attractive and seemingly intelligent woman falling for Raishin? Is today the day we die? See! I was thinking the same! Maybe she is one of those assassins who use the ¡®Honeytrap¡¯ technique to ensnare Raishin! Ooh, I like me some honey! Wait what is a honeytrap?

    Well, you see¡­

    ¡°Ahum, you guys know that I can hear you right?¡± Shit, she is on to us! We should have prepared against eavesdropping! I took out a dagger and took a fighting stance.

    ¡°Haha, you were right your friends are really interesting!¡± I know right? I inspected both Salia and Raishin. Nothing seems to be amiss with both of them.

    Psst Saria, if he is holding you against your will blink twice. Hey! I didn''t do whatever you think I did! I looked at Seline.

    ¡°My name is Shania, by the way.¡± I jumped back. A mind reader! No dumbass, Ted or Raishin probably told her that you suck at remembering names.

    Oh. We talked a bit with Salie and determined that she is harmless.

    ¡°Agnis, my name is Shania.¡± Stop mindreading! Haha, Agnis you''re so forgetful!

 Vol 2 Ch 6: Shania

    I woke up and looked out of the window. I looked around. Right, we were in a hotel. I got up and looked at Raishin who was still fast asleep.

    What a messy sleeper¡­ His sheets were only covering his right leg and he laid sprawled out on his bed. I decided to check on Agnis and Gregory but they seemed to have left already. I don¡¯t understand how those 2 can go to bed so late and wake up so early, is it possible to be a morning person and an evening person at the same time? I looked at the clock and it was almost 10:00.

    I decided to wake up Raishin and head out. Since Agnis is with Gregory, everything should be fine but even still Agnis probably wouldn''t do anything to give his location away, this guy, however¡­ Raishin rubbed his eyes and got up.

    So, are we going to look for a girlfriend today? You do know that we are here to restock, rest and possibly find out how to get home right?

    I¡¯m sure Agnis and Greg can do that just fine! We don¡¯t need all 4 of us to find a way home! Technically he isn''t wrong but that doesn''t mean we shouldn''t help.

    Let¡¯s explore the area, it seems we will stay here for quite a while, we also might need to find a way to earn money. Oh right! We¡¯re broke! Any chance they need hunters?

    This is a city so I doubt it¡­ Raishin dramatically dropped to the floor.

    Nooo! Then how am I going to attract chicks!?! By not being an idiot and earning some money?

    Oh, maybe there is a place that needs adventurers! Let''s go! My intuition tells me to go east! What wait! Raishin grabbed me and teleported outside, he looked around and wanted to teleport again but I interrupted him by flooring him.

    Hey! We are supposed to stay low! Teleporting around will draw attention!

    Then how are we supposed to get there then? Do you see these legs? Use them! Come on let''s walk!

    Meh, fine. I followed Raishin and made sure he didn''t step into every restaurant, bar, or place that sold women¡¯s clothing.

    Stop being so difficult! Just head over to your goal! I dragged Raishin away from another group of girls he approached. After an hour we managed to reach Raishin¡¯s destination. We stood in front of a huge building that had a large number of people walking in and out.

    Hehe, this was easy to find! You say that because you didn''t have to control a horny guy going wild¡­

    Such a drama queen! Let¡¯s go inside! Maybe they need help dealing with a strong monster for a lot of cash! What makes you think they would let a newbie do that? Raishin grabbed my arm and dragged me inside the Adventurer Association. We entered a large marble hall. It resembled a small mall but the small shops inside were related to gearing up and getting ready or supplies for adventures. There were also some small cafes and food-related shops. These were all to the side and in the middle, there was this large round registry desk with dozens of employees helping adventurers with requests or handing out rewards.

    Whoa! This place looks like a mall! It reminds me a bit of a teleport gate station. I have never taken one but I¡¯ve been inside one before.

    Look there in the back there are some small teleport gates over there! Oooh, this place is seriously impressive!

    I wonder what they have on the other floors. We looked up. We could look up to the 2nd and 3rd floors and it looked like the doors we saw, were all apartments, but I wasn¡¯t sure. There should be more floors but I couldn''t see them from here.

    Do adventurers live here? I don¡¯t know, but go ask then! You came here to become an adventurer.

    Hmm, yeah but the size and all these people are a bit intimidating¡­ I can¡¯t blame you¡­ It looked like we stepped into a completely different city. Or more like a city within a city. We moved aside because we seemed to be blocking the way of some tough-looking adventurers. Ted look! They have a shop that sells magic weapons! Wait really? We headed over toward the shop and went inside. It was a small shop and that was understandable because magical weapons are quite strong and uncommon.

    Hmm, I don¡¯t know much about magical weapons but these look fake.

    ¡°You must be new here, of course, these are fake! They are models. The specifications of the real deal are on these labels but this is only so that adventurers can shop for specifications, and see how the weapon looks and the weight. To inspect the real deal, you will have to go to our real shop on the 4th floor.¡± I guess this is to prevent theft or other shenanigans.

    ¡°Correct, now since you guys are probably new, you don¡¯t know this but you¡¯re only allowed to buy any magical weapons after you have reached a certain adventurer rank, more so these things are expensive.¡± The man handed us a model of a dagger. ¡°This is currently our cheapest magical weapon, take a look.¡± Ooh, maybe Agnis is interested in this, hmm needed adventurer rank C, dagger proficiency, duh! and 30 gold! What! I can go on like 30 000 dates with 30 gold! Hmm, this is indeed pricey yes. and maybe you shouldn''t spend that much on dates Raishin, no wonder you are broke¡­

    ¡°Yup, but adventuring also earns quite well, our weapons range from 30 gold to over 300 gold. But besides those requirements, the adventurers need to be trusted and a magical weapon license is needed to buy it." Is it needed to use it or to buy it? What¡¯s the difference? ¡°Only to buy it, why do you ask?¡± I know a skilled blacksmith younger than me who¡¯s interested in making a magical weapon. The shopkeeper dropped the model he was holding.

    ¡°There are still young blacksmiths interested in making those?! Can you bring him here when you can?!¡±  Is it a big deal?

    ¡°Of course, it is! Not many people bother with blacksmithing anymore because why would you if magic is everywhere? And those who are blacksmiths don''t bother with magical weapons because they''re expensive to make, need a great amount of skill, and are just impossibly hard to make. It is more likely for a normal blacksmith to out-earn a magical weapon blacksmith because of all this. Only the most skilled magical weapon blacksmiths are extremely wealthy and influential.¡± So, if Agnis can master it he can become filthy rich?

    ¡°The chance is small but yes.¡± Let¡¯s bring him here next time! So how do we become adventurers? We? I thought YOU wanted to become an adventurer.

    Come on, Ted, do you think it''s a good idea to let me adventure alone? That! ¡­ Shit you got me¡­

    Hehe, mimicking Agnis is quite effective.

    ¡°When you go out of this shop and go to the back there is a registration counter to the right, you go there to register and to handle procedures regarding going up in adventurer rank.¡± Thanks! Let¡¯s go, Ted! Yes, yes! Don¡¯t pull! We went to the back to register but there were quite a lot of people.

    Meh, I hate waiting! We looked around and saw some rowdy adventurers bunched up in a corner.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Hey, missies do you want to join our group?¡± Great, we instantly get a clich¨¦ situation. Hey, Ted let''s help them! We got closer and saw two girls surrounded by rowdy adventurers.

    ¡°Uhh, I¡¯m sorry guys, we don¡¯t want to¡­¡± Holy shit Ted, look that blonde with curly hair is super-hot! Is this the time to say that?

    Hey guys, I would appreciate it if you would move aside, they¡¯re with me! This would never work!

    ¡°Who is this brat!¡±

    ¡°Move away kiddo, we¡¯re talking to these chicks.¡± Yes, and I¡¯m saying they''re with me!

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry guys but my boyfriend is right, we¡¯re with them, come Tania.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure Shania?¡±

    ¡°Of course, my boyfriend will protect us!¡± The two girls called Tania and Shania walked over to us and Shania locked her arms with Raishin. I was honestly shocked that this worked. Now scram! You¡¯re disturbing our date!

    ¡°Hey, we found them first!¡± Fuck off! Raishin added some intimidation and the men backed off. Which was surprising since they seem older and more experienced than us. I really can¡¯t explain how shocked I was by this situation.

    ¡°Thank you very much! Ehmm.¡± My name is Raishin and this here is Ted.

    ¡°I¡¯m Shania and this is my acquaintance, Tania.¡± Oh, you¡¯re not friends? And I¡¯m just warning you two this guy is horny and crazy. Hey Shania, You¡¯re very attractive, will you be my girlfriend?

    ¡°Hey back off creep!¡±

    ¡°I appreciate it Tania but I¡¯m quite interested in him, sure Raishin, I will be your girlfriend.¡± Aww, at least I tried... Wait what? That worked?! That worked?

    ¡°Shania?¡± Uhm are you sure? This guy is crazy. I looked at Raishin and he was happily dancing.

    ¡°I liked his assertiveness and he stood up to those that were way bigger and stronger than him, I¡¯ve been here for over 6 months and this doesn''t seem to be common, moreover, come on Tania, look at him, he¡¯s quite hot.¡± I can¡¯t believe that worked¡­

    ¡°Are you sure about this?¡± I will do my best to treat you well!

    ¡°So, tell me more about you and Ted.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for helping us guys but I have to go, I will keep an eye out on you guys if you hurt Shania, my daddy will bury you!¡± That sounds reassuring¡­

    ¡°She is the daughter of the vice president of the Adventurer Association. Don¡¯t mind her, I know what I¡¯m doing.¡± Do you?

    ¡°Hmm, well you guys seem well-mannered although a bit crazy but I like crazy, you were prepared to defend us even though there was no merit for you in any way and both of you are quite hot. Moreover, my woman¡¯s intuition is never wrong!¡± Yes! My first girlfriend! Let''s go on a date! Hold on horny-pants, did you forget what we came to do here?

    Pick up, girls? I facepalmed.

    Register to become adventurers. Remember? But I got a girlfriend now!

    How are you going to pay for your dates if you¡¯re broke? ¡­ let¡¯s go register to become adventurers!

    I swear this guy¡­ Shania chuckled and we went to register to become adventurers. It seemed Shania already was an E-rank adventurer, we started as F-rank adventurers. Hey! Why do I have to start at F? I¡¯m super strong!

    ¡°Trust is also important to become an adventurer, it is possible to start as a D-rank but you need money and an assessment to see how strong you are.¡° So, you have been an adventurer for a while then?

    ¡°Not that long, but it¡¯s not hard to go from F to E rank, you either need to be an active adventurer for 2 months or bring in results.¡± Ooh, so what are you good at?

    ¡°Oh, my role is a Silent Night.¡± You¡¯re a knight?

    ¡°Haha, no silly every role has a specific name, these names are the ones belonging to the first impactful individuals that made waves in the Sichar tournaments¡± The what? I¡¯m sorry Shania, we¡¯re not from around here, not even this country we came from a small isolated village. Shania giggled and she led us to a shop that sells gear.

    ¡°Oh, that is no problem. So, every 4 years there is a big tournament in Sichar, just over the border in Hjuva, you do know that strong adventurers or just fighters, in general, get nicknames, right? Well, those get used in that tournament, if you don¡¯t have any that is probably where you will get one or at your Adventurer''s Association.¡± Ooh, so I can get the name Sexy Lightning?

    ¡°Maybe, but this is mostly a name others give to you either because it¡¯s a trait or you have an impactful skill with the same name, so if you want it, you should behave like sexy lightning. Anyways back to the roles, Silent Night was a rogue-like adventurer that made a big impression in that tournament so any roguelike fighter gets the role name: Silent Night.¡± Hmm quite a clich¨¦ name, so does this mean that Agnis is also a Silent Night?

    ¡°Agnis?¡± Oh, he is our friend, we are here with 2 more of our friends Agnis and Gregory, Agnis has rogue-like tendencies but also other fighting styles so I¡¯m curious what role he would get if he becomes an adventurer. Yeah, I¡¯m sure you will like them! Agnis is funny and has a shitty memory, if we introduce you to him make sure to remind him of your name coz he will forget!

    Gregory is quite serious and will probably be the most skeptical of your relationship with Raishin, they will mean well but to be honest they are quite blunt.

    ¡°Oh, it does sound like your group needs a female touch then!¡± Uhh, sure¡­ Yeah! I love you guys but I¡¯m tired of this sausage fest!

    Is there no other way to say that? Shania showed us the shop but we indicated that we don''t need anything from there. We told her more about us after which I let Raishin spend some time with her since I found a section where sparring matches were held between martial artists. I decided to tell Shania that we would go look for the other 2 in an hour. Sadly, I trust a stranger more in this than Raishin. The matches were interesting to watch. I saw some interesting moves but nothing that surprised me. I went back to the man hall and I saw Shania pulling Raishin to me. It seems that you were a good choice.

    ¡°Thank you, I understand him a bit more now, don¡¯t cause so much trouble for Ted, Raishin.¡± I don''t get what''s going on I met her a bit over an hour ago and she already seems like she has known me for years¡­ You¡¯re just that simple, let''s go. We went back to the hotel with the floating platforms, correctly this time, but they didn''t seem to have returned yet.

    There is a high probability they went to the library; do you know where it is?

    ¡°It is close to the central plaza; we need to take the green platforms to the center.¡± We got off near the center and we heard music in the background. ¡°Oh wow, that sounds amazing!¡± Hehe, that''s my friend playing there!

    ¡°You¡¯re not trying to impress me by deception, are you?¡± This is something he could do yes, but unfortunately, he is right this time¡­ Even Greg¡­ what are they doing? We approached the crowd that was gathered around. It seems Agnis and Greg were helping a random musician with [Boss music]. After they finished, the crowd went wild and Agnis played a familiar piano piece.

    Oooh, this is what Paul played back then!

    ¡°I thought you said he was a blacksmith?¡± Yeah, but this guy just does whatever he wants and is quite good at it also¡­ He finished and looked quite tired. A man approached them but left shortly after and we approached them.

    Hey guys! Oh hey, Raishin, Ted, and hmm do I know you?

    See! I wasn¡¯t lying when I told you I know them!

    ¡°It is nice to meet you Gregory and Agnis, my name is Shania, and the performance you 2 had was marvelous!¡± Aha¡­ Hey Ted what is going on? Greetings, I¡¯m Gregory and this strange rude guy is Agnis. Well, some things happened and¡­ Hehe Agnis and Greg, meet Shania, my girlfriend!

    What? Excuse me? I got pulled to the side by Agnis.

    Hey Ted, is this chick blind? Or did he drug her? Hey, I don¡¯t know! She seems genuinely interested in Raishin! Gregory joined us.

    Hey, Ted, this isn''t a trap, right? An attractive and seemingly intelligent woman falling for Raishin? Is today the day we die? See! I was thinking the same! Maybe she is one of those assassins who use the ¡®Honeytrap¡¯ technique to ensnare Raishin! Ooh, I like me some honey! Wait what is a honeytrap?

    Well, you see¡­

    ¡°Ahum, you guys know that I can hear you right?¡± Shit, she is on to us! We should have prepared against eavesdropping! Agnis took on a battle stance and I facepalmed.

    ¡°Haha, you were right your friends are really interesting!¡± I know right? Psst Saria, if he is holding you against your will, blink twice.

    Hey! I didn''t do whatever you think I did!

    ¡°My name is Shania, by the way.¡± Agnis jumped back and seemed surprised. Maybe the addition of Shania to our group is a good idea. A mind reader! No dumbass, Ted or Raishin probably told her that you suck at remembering names.

    Oh. We talked a bit with Shania and she kept reminding Agnis of her name which kept startling him.

    ¡°Agnis, my name is Shania.¡± Stop mindreading! Haha, Agnis you''re so forgetful!

 Vol 2 Ch 7: Adventurers Association

    We went to rest a bit in a small park. Ted Raishin and Shania had fun while Gregory and I were resting on a bench. Who would have known that Raishin would get a girlfriend like that? And a hot one on top of that, she does seem to have assassin-like skills but not good enough to deceive us, I think she¡¯s safe.

    That is reassuring. I do wonder though why she is alone though. Well, if she has an assassin-like skill set she probably prefers to move alone, it¡¯s easier. I wouldn''t be surprised that this was common under adventurers.

    Ted told you about that magic weapon offer you got right? Are you planning to become an adventurer and take that merchant up on his offer? Hmm, I don''t know, crafting magic weapons is indeed extremely hard, I might have the skills for it but not the experience, moreover, I want the best materials for it, I need to first know how and what I''m making and of course the first things would be weapons for all of us first, not for some dumb adventurer I will never meet.

    Hmm, I can understand that yes, you probably would also be stuck in this city if you do. Yeh, adventurer I can do but magical weapon blacksmith? Not really. What about you? I¡¯m sure they could use your skills too.

    Hmm, I don¡¯t know, I probably would have more freedom than you if you would go blacksmithing for them but our end goal is to go back home so I don''t want to make any long-term commitments. Fair point, so what do you think will happen to them if we find out how to go home? I gesture toward Shania and Raishin.

    To be honest I have no idea. Do you think he will choose to stay down here and stay with her?

    If he doesn''t screw up before that and she leaves¡­ He might. Hmm¡­ I spotted one lone minor water spirit in the pond of the park. What is it doing here? I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s a power spot but even if it was, he¡¯s alone. I got up and approached him. I asked him what he was doing there. It seems that this place used to be a lake before this city was built and he is the only water spirit left ever since. I asked where the others went. It seems they ran out of energy and returned to the spirit world. I asked him why he didn''t return.

    He told me that there is an energy here that prevents spirits from returning when they want, only if they completely run out of energy. But since this lake lost its power spot status after the city was built it was something he couldn''t control. I asked him if I could help him but the only answer he could give me was to help him get rid of all his spirit energy so that he could return to the spirit world.

    The fact that this was the only way I could help him. I confirmed that he was serious and sucked out his spirit energy with frost magic. He thanked me before he disappeared. I had no idea how to feel about this but it wasn''t a pleasant feeling.

    ¡°What is he doing?¡± Oh, Agnis sees everything! There was probably something there. You make it sound like I¡¯m crazy! But you are!

    Hey! So, what is the plan?

    We go nap? Where is your usual energy?

    Unassisted [Boss music] is draining! I mean, he is probably right, I am confident in my mana manipulation but that thing that Agnis did honestly scares me.

    ¡°Is it that hard?¡± Well, I have to make each of my fingers do independent actions while making sure the beat and multiple instruments flow while I also came up with that music on a whim, I need to send the precise forms of lightning magic through the wires and also make the ice columns vibrate at the correct rate and frequency, and I kinda made it harder for myself by manually playing the piano¡­ All in all, it''s a lot of mental gymnastics, mana control, and dexterity. Then why did you add the piano then?

    For style points of course! Of course... Why did I even ask¡­

    ¡°Hmm, that sounds challenging indeed, why don''t you just use normal instruments?¡± Are you crazy? I don¡¯t know how to play any of those! Besides a bit of piano. Sadly, this is the most logical argument you can come up with¡­

    But it¡¯s true¡­ I can¡¯t even read music notes¡­  Agnis, you''re such a weirdo!

    ¡°Is this normal for you guys?¡± Unfortunately, yes¡­ Right, let''s get us registered as adventurers and then Agnis can take a nap. You know what, napping sounds lame, I¡¯m interested in that adventurer stuff!

    Agnis, I swear if you¡¯re over-exerting yourself again, I will make you sleep! Meh, empty words it''s not as if you can catch me anyway!

    Getting cocky now, eh? Oh, you want to give it a go? If you can catch me before I reach the adventurer''s hall, I¡¯ll go take a nap!

    It¡¯s the Adventurer Association and sure! You don''t even know where it is!  Hah! You forgot what I can do! I don¡¯t even need to use my eyes! Gregory facepalmed.

    Did you forget that he has clones sneaking around and that he recently learned [Shadow Swap]? Oh shit! Hasta la vista noob! I used [Shadow swap] and swapped places with a shadow clone that located the Adventurer''s Association and stepped inside. It was quite busy and it looked like I stepped into a different city. I saw things that looked like teleport gates. How wealthy is the organization that runs this? I saw some stores but I assume I need to be an adventurer and have a certain rank to buy these. I located the shop that sold magical weapons.

    ¡°A lot of young kids visiting today.¡± Ah right Raishin and Ted were here earlier today.

    ¡°Oh, the guy with blonde spiky hair and the muscly guy with brown hair? Are you possibly the blacksmith they talked about?¡± Hmm, yeah, these specifications, don''t they seem¡­ a bit weak?

    ¡°Excuse me?¡± This dagger, I''m not sure how the power of it gets decided but even if this is a model if the model is accurate in its dimensions and the material it¡¯s made out of, I don¡¯t understand why it would be so weak.

    ¡°I¡¯m an appraiser, not a blacksmith... I don¡¯t know, I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± If I gave you a dagger I made, can you appraise it and compare it to the damage value you have on this dagger?

    ¡°Uhh, sure.¡± I took out one of the better daggers I crafted a while ago. I handed it over to the appraiser. ¡°Give me a second¡­¡± He took out some magical device but also focused mana into his eyes. He looked at my dagger from various angles and wrote stuff down. He seemed to be amazed. ¡°Did you make this?¡± Yeah, I made it 3 months ago.

    ¡°This dagger even though it is just a regular dagger has about 65% of this magical weapon''s attack power¡­ which is quite absurd for a normal weapon¡­ It almost makes it the status of a legendary weapon¡­ now these can¡¯t compete with magical weapons but¡­ and the materials you used to make it don''t seem to be that special either¡­ Hey, do you want to work for us? We will pay you handsomely!¡± Hmm, I¡¯m sorry I¡¯m not sure if I will stay here, my friends and I have goals. You can keep the dagger, by the way, I have many more like those. I showed off 10 more daggers I had hidden.

    ¡°Can you at least register as an adventurer? So that in case you change your mind things will go smoothly? Here, give me a second, I will get you a recommendation.¡±  Wow, I feel like I¡¯m cheating through life.

    ¡°How much do you want for this dagger?¡± It is yours, I¡¯m not hurting for gold, so in case I do make up my mind think of a way to entice me that¡¯s not related to getting paid in gold, bye!

    ¡°What a difficult guy¡­¡± I stepped outside of the scam shop and saw my buddies and Spania step in. So, what do I get for winning Ted? Ugh, I will show you to this place I found. I don¡¯t know exactly what it is but it has these things called Sushi and it has fish in it, I¡¯m sure you will love it. My mouth started to water.

    Beating you was totally worth it! Where do we go to register?

    ¡°Over there! Follow me!¡± We followed Shadie and¡­ ¡°Agnis my name is Shania.¡± I jumped back. You need to stop doing that!

    ¡°Only when you remember my name!¡± Guess you''ll have to deal with that forever hehe. Hey, stop being an ass my memory isn''t that bad! Ted, Raishin, and Gregory looked at me skeptically. Screw you guys!

    ¡°Shania! How did you bring even more guys!¡± Who¡¯s that? You 2 kinda look alike don''t tell me her name is Tania or something hehe.

    ¡°Ewww how do you know!¡± Wait what? How is this even possible?

    ¡°Hahaha, you guys are hilarious, Agnis, Gregory, this is Tania a good acquaintance of mine and the daughter of the vice president.¡±

    ¡°So Agnis is the name of my stalker, eh? I¡¯ll make sure Daddy puts you in the ground!¡± Hehe, not If I bury him first! Agnis! Ted smacked me.

    What? She started it!

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure you''ll never become an adventurer!¡± Abuse of power, so is there anything you can do without Daddy¡¯s power? Oh no¡­

    ¡°Ha! I might not look like it but I¡¯m a D-rank adventurer!¡± D for, Daddy¡¯s power. D? I don''t see D cups. Shania smacked Raishin and Ted smacked me.

    Stop provoking her! So, Daddy¡¯s pow¡­ D-rank so what? I dodged Ted who was trying to smack me again.

    ¡°I can turn you into dirt myself! I don¡¯t need to bother Daddy to smoke you!¡± What is it with people my age and smoking, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re allowed to.

    ¡°Agh! You! Me! Arena in 10 minutes!¡± I guess smoking too much makes your grammar terrible. Ted and Gregory looked at me disapprovingly while Raishin and Shania seemed amused.

    ¡°It seems you finally got my name correct¡± What! Are you sure you aren¡¯t a mind reader?

    ¡°Who knows?¡° Shania said with a mysterious smile. So where do I beat that midget up? You don¡¯t hold back, do you¡­ She¡¯s your friend right Shania? Aren¡¯t, you offended?

    ¡°Hmm, she isn¡¯t really my friend, and I find it quite amusing, I haven''t had this much fun since I came to this city.¡± Yeah, Agnis is a genius in pissing people off. Hehe, I know right? Now time to embarrass her!

    Make it as spectacular as possible! Where did I go wrong in raising you two¡­

    Hehe in thinking you can control us! Go get her Agnis! Shania made Gregory and me go through the registration process and I slapped my recommendation on the counter and I got the rank of a D-rank adventurer.

    Heh, D rank is easy, Tania is a scrub. I shouldn''t be surprised but regrettably, I still am¡­ Shania led us up a flight of stairs and we got to the 4th floor and to the sections with the arenas.

    Hmm, how am I going to embarrass her?

    ¡°What are your specialties? Raishin told me you also have rogue-like skills like me.¡± Hmm, that is true but I don¡¯t think that is going to embarrass her the most, I have an idea. Hehe, this is going to be fun, Shania let¡¯s get some popcorn quick! Raishin and Shania ran off to get some popcorn and Ted, Gregory and I looked at some other fights that were going on. To me, they seemed like low-level fights but maybe my perception is warped. I inspected them with Elgards eyes and it didn''t seem to improve my impression. What rank are they? It seems quite¡­ low level¡­

    I was thinking the same, maybe they¡¯re all F-rank. Such scrubs! Hey! We¡¯re F-rank too!

    Hehe, scrubs! Raishin and Shania came back with a lot of popcorn.

    ¡°I think you should go over there! I think I saw Tania walk somewhere over there.¡° We walked toward a part that looked like a VIP section. Hey, are you sure?

    ¡°Oh, I see you didn''t run away Agnis! I reserved a special arena to humiliate you!¡± I guess courtesy of Daddy¡¯s power. This is quite fancy! We got inside and the rest sat down where the spectators would sit. There seemed to be some older men sitting down in the front VIP seats. I guess her Daddy came to watch. If he does something funky, I will assassinate him.

    I got led to a preparation room by an employee. I got the basic rules no killing bla bla. And he needed to scan my adventurer card. I stepped into the arena and it was quite large. It was made out of dirt and there was a moat filled with water. Probably to help out earth and water users. There were some obstacles but the area was relatively flat and empty.

    ¡°Hehe, struggle as much as you want! Daddy is watching!¡± A screen lit up and showed our names specialty and adventurer rank. Because I was new, I didn''t have any specialty. She¡¯s good at lightning magic, eh? What even is a Crimson Eagle?

    ¡°What!? You¡¯re also D-rank?! I thought you were a newbie!¡± Getting D rank was easy, get rekt! Tania got visibly frustrated. The sign to start got sounded and Tania started forming various lightning magic circles. She was certainly stronger than Donkey and faster. She shot multiple lightning bolts at me but she missed. Well, she didn''t miss but I evaded with minimal movements so it looked like I didn''t move from my spot. I moved the water out of the moat and made 9 [Ice balls] float behind me.

    ¡°Ha! A water user! Not only is water weak it has a poor matchup against lightning! You were destined to fall by my hands!¡± I formed mirrors out of the water balls and sent the lightning back. I pulled more water out of the moat and used it to cast [Frozen ground]. I made her slip. She tried to dispel it but guess what! All this water is real water, I didn''t modify its volume with magic so the [Frozen ground] is here to stay until it melts. Which I prevented by gradually dropping the temperature.

    ¡°Hey! Why isn''t this working?!¡± I used almost all water in the moat so I guess I will have to use water like a normal water user. I created [Water bubbles] which caught her lightning and popped in her proximity bombarding her with her own attacks. Whenever she tried something big, I caused her to slip again.

    ¡°Aaagh! You''re supposed to be a weak water user!¡± She started a complicated lightning cast but she made sure she wouldn''t slip. I made the ice under her turn so that it turned her around the moment she fired the skill. Hey, I¡¯m over here!

    ¡°Grrrr! So, vexing!¡± She made 2 cats made out of lightning and sent them at me. I tried to make them slip but that didn''t work. She looked quite skilled with her lightning but it was all white lightning, I doubt it would hurt but I didn''t want to find out. I made ice pillars shoot up from underneath them, launching the [Lightning cats] and caught them into a triple-layered bubble.

    ¡°Hey! My cats!¡± Don¡¯t worry you can have them back! I sent the bubbles flying at Tania. She tried to run but she slipped and I froze her pants to the floor.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I dispel this!¡± Because it¡¯s just water. The bubbles hit her and she got zapped by her own attack. It seems she covered herself with some lightning to reduce the damage.

    ¡°Ugh, fine! I underestimated you! You are strong!¡± I didn''t do much though, you did most of this yourself.

    ¡°Grrr! How vexing!¡± she did something and it made her float. Ooh, impressive! She flew at me and shot a [Lightning ball] at me. I caught it with a [Water ball] and sent the electrified [water ball] back at her.

    ¡°Stop making all my attacks useless!¡± She dodged the electrified water ball and tried to kick me while augmented with lightning. Her pants were slightly ripped from when I froze her pants to the floor so I can''t say this was a good idea. I covered my hand in water and blocked her kick.

    ¡°What!? Why aren''t you getting zapped?!¡± Well, this is pure water, and pure water doesn''t conduct lightning, people who think lightning magic is strong against water magic have never fought any competent water user. She backed off and blasted me with lightning. I covered myself in pure water and was unscathed.

    ¡°Grrr! So, vexing!¡± Right, let me show you the cruel reality! I moved some water and created a [water ball] around her head, again didn''t alter its volume with magic so this was real water. She wouldn''t be able to dispel it. She tried to move it off by pushing it away but her hands just got into it. I made sure to remove it the moment she passed out and pulled the water out of her lungs.

    Wow, that was brutal. I got declared the winner and some people came to check out if Tania was ok and they gave the sign that she was ok. This makes sense because I made sure to stop the moment she passed out and pulled the water out of her lungs. I saw Daddy get up from the corner of my eye and approach me with some other men. I activated my Elgards eyes but it seemed there was no ill intent.

    ¡°That was marvelous! A bit vexing that my daughter lost like this but I have never seen a water user so skilled!¡± Uhm, I didn''t do much, and if this is skilled. the water users have a serious problem¡­

    ¡°I am curious though, what is your specialty? The way you fought didn''t seem like any popular style, I paid close attention but you did not once attack my daughter, even that [Water ball] you used to ¡®drown¡¯ her does technically not count as an attack.¡± I just used the least mana possible and turned her movements and attacks against her. Just some CC here and there. Tania¡¯s Daddy looked confused but one of his friends or whatever explained something to me.

    ¡°Ooh crowd control, yeah those people are extremely rare, unfortunately, we don''t have a role name for that, who knows when you become more well known the role will be named after you!¡± Ehh, I don¡¯t really need that, so can we go now? You are not here perhaps to take revenge for your daughter, right? And what happens if I beat you up? Will her grandfather come and challenge me? One of the men seemed to take offense but Tania¡¯s Daddy started laughing.

    ¡°And a good sense of humor, my daughter doesn''t have any rivals of her age besides Shania, ever since she turned 16, she has been encountering less and less skilled people at her age. I hope you can stay her rival.¡± She¡¯s 16? Uhm, I¡¯m not her age, I¡¯m 12¡­ Tania¡¯s Daddy looked at me.

    ¡°Huh, 12? And this strong? Interesting. I¡¯m expecting much from you!¡± He talked a bit to his lackeys, picked up Tania, and carried her away princess-style. This guy was quite cool actually. My buddies came to me and congratulated me.

    ¡°That was quite an interesting style you have there, do you mind if I request a spar?¡± Sure, I have a question though, Shania how old are you?

    ¡°15, why?¡± we looked at Raishin. You do know he is 12, right? I will be 13 in 2 days!

    ¡°Hmm, I didn''t know that but I¡¯m not surprised.¡± You didn''t tell her how old you were? You need some scolding! This is criminal! I feel like Shania is getting duped in this deal¡­

    ¡°It is fine, so how about that sparring match?¡± Uh, sure. We got ready and Ted dragged Raishin back to the spectator area while scolding him. The big screen again did the same, Silent Night? What are these weird terms?

    The start sign was given and Shania instantly dashed at me with a dagger in hand and shadows spread out from underneath her. Ah, right she was an assassin type. Since the shadows she wasn¡¯t using weren¡¯t racial skills I interrupted them and they disappeared. She seemed surprised and I met her dagger with a dagger I made out of ice. I did a leg sweep and shifted my body to go for an improvised body throw. She was agile so she used the momentum but didn''t fall. I used [Frozen ground] and tried to make her slip. She was unsteady but didn''t slip.

    This was all I needed though. She tried to dash at me but I created an ice pillar in front of her so she had to evade to the side. This made it easier for me to make her slip. She did slip but didn''t fall down. I have to say she is quite skilled. I interrupted more shadow magic and she started throwing light skills around. I formed some ice mirrors and deflected them and sent some back. She made an illusion with light magic but that was useless in front of my eyes. I did pretend to fall for it and made the illusion slip. I tried to play that game too so I used the moisture in the air to refract light and also create an illusion. She attacked my illusion which blurred and faded.

    ¡°What?¡± I froze ice blocks on her legs to slow her down. She tried to dispel it but again it was just water.

    ¡°Hmm, this is quite smart.¡± I sent some bubbles at her which she tried to evade but with difficulty because of the ice blocks on her legs. I succeeded in making her slip and made an ice pillar and froze the blocks on her legs against it causing her to hang upside down.

    ¡°Ugh, I lost¡± You¡¯re quite skilled.

    ¡°I am more impressed that you beat me without attacking.¡± It¡¯s not perfect but it seems nobody is used to fighting against someone like me.

    ¡°It seems to require patience and precision, not something even Silent Nights want to attempt.¡± What is this Silent Night thing? Shania explained to me that rogue-like fighters get the role name Silent Night, ranged magic casters get called Crimson eagles, A tank would be called an Iron Wall, someone who fights like Ted an Unstoppable Beast, quite fitting, and Defensive support like Gregory would be called Hard Light, Offensive support Grumpy Blowfish, Healer a Golden Angel, and a ranger or scout Hawkeye. Some names make sense others don¡¯t but their origin seems to explain why.

    Also, why there is nothing for CC because hardly anyone does this, and if they do they suck.

    ¡°So uhm Agnis, can you let me down now?¡± Oh sorry! I let Shania down.

    Stop beating up my girlfriend! Did you want me to disrespect her and lose on purpose? Ehh no¡­

    ¡°This match was very educative.¡± Now that we¡¯re adventurers time to nap! Well, it''s nearing dinnertime, Let''s eat at a restaurant and retire for the day. We had dinner together at a restaurant and split off from Shania. It seems she lived in an apartment in the Adventurers Association. She also said she needed to arrange to do something. We went back to our hotel and we went to bed. We spent that day preparing for Raishin¡¯s birthday.

 Vol 2 Ch 8: Raishin Torai

    Raishin¡¯s birthday came and we planned most of his day for him. He would go on a date with Shania for half of the day and for the other half, we would go do some adventuring together. In between, I would play some cool boss music for him, and I managed to pull Gregory into it. They would chill in the park go eat somewhere together and spend time together. Ted was making sure things would run smoothly in the park. I was making sure everything was in order in the restaurant they would go eat and Gregory had booked seats for a theater for them and he was in charge of that.

    The owner of the restaurant was being a pain in the ass because he didn''t feel like he had to negotiate with a kid and I tried to make him do a special alteration of a dish Raishin likes a lot. In the end, I flashed my OP ID and things worked out. Being rich surely is convenient here, which is funny because I didn''t get this because I was rich but that doesn''t change the fact that I am. I also had to fund Gregory¡¯s idea but that was no issue. I had clones around the city to make sure no random spies and assassins would mess with us. I haven''t found any problematic ones since we arrived but you can never know. Everything went quite well. Raishin was having a lot of fun. Ted spotted a shady character and after tailing him he discovered that it was someone after us and he knocked him out. My clone went over and got rid of him.

    After they had breakfast at the restaurant, I went to a hall we rented. Shania put in a lot of work yesterday because we have no clue how stuff works here so she helped us. I was alone and used this time for my tails to figure out what boss music I¡¯m going to play. I will still have to manual it when it comes to it but the mental strain will be gone with these preparations.

    We don''t know many people so only my buddies, Shania, Tania, and her daddy and friends are invited. It was Raishin¡¯s idea to invite them and I don¡¯t really like it because now they will discover I can also use lightning magic and wires, oh well. I was planning to use red lightning for this but now I will keep it to blue at max. It seemed people were heading toward this hall. I closed the curtains and made my setup. I improved it since last time so it should be easier to go loose on my [Boss music]. It is not going to be a big thing; I will only play 5 songs of which Gregory will join in with the first 2. Raishin requested the song I did on the plaza on the day we arrived so I had to run to the library yesterday to figure out how a xylophone works. Luckily it wasn''t a pain in the ass like a piano.

    Gregory appeared and I talked some stuff over with him. I linked up my vision and showed him a simulation of what I wanted to play and what he needs to do. He practiced a bit but luckily, he was convinced he could do it. The people gathered and we opened the curtain and started. First up was the boss music Gregory and I played on our first day here. I added some extras to it and Gregory had a violin solo in it now. I had to do 2 piano solos and a xylophone solo. After that, I did a new song that mainly had strings and where Gregory was the main character. Gregory took a polite bow and left the stage. I started another one that I recently made and it was mainly electric sounds, piano, and some percussion. I still manually played the piano because it added more oomphf, to it.

    I went ham and the crowd loved it. Well, crowd, not many people were in the hall. Only my buddies, Shania, Tania, her Daddy, 4 old dudes, and 2 guys of about Tania¡¯s age, she was flirting with one. How rude! I¡¯m playing here! Anyways I added some bass without the use of red lightning. For the next one, I had piano and trumpets as the star. I went for something that sounded a bit primal with some percussion to add a feeling of a rumbling sound. I slowly made the drums take over. For some reason, Raishin seemed to really vibe with this one. For the next one, I would try without the electronic sound, I didn''t use it much in the last song but it is good for filling gaps since I can¡¯t use my tails. This one is probably going to be the hardest. Lots of strings some horns in the beginning with some mild percussion at the start and the wind instruments gradually started taking over.

    I then transitioned to a part with wind instruments that sounded quite heroic. I kept the tones a bit low and made it sound like something big was slowly approaching. Little piano here and there and then I transitioned to the next part. It was quite rough in this piece. Raishin seemed to enjoy it so I guess that''s good. The next part of the song started with a lot of percussion and the strings in the lead. I kept adding wind instruments and increasing the tempo. And then I added a newcomer to my repertoire. When looking for the xylophone I found a string instrument called the Erhu.

    I had never heard about it but after trying it out for a bit earlier I discovered it had a unique sound. This one was the star of the song now and nobody seemed to be expecting it. I grinned and went loose with the sound of the Erhu and added more strings to compliment it. Some flutes in the background and then just because I can, I added some electronium guitar. I kind of forgot to keep up with most instruments so the electric guitar took over so I started the Erhu sound again and then ended the piece. I didn''t even start my last song yet but I was getting standing ovations.

    Man, this is tiring. I scrapped the last song I had in mind and just started a song with just the electric guitar. Because I only needed to deal with 1 instrument and some light drumming sound in the background, I could go ham. Would also be fitting for the finale. This one wasn''t something I came up with, I once heard this somewhere so some here might know it. It seemed that everyone here knew it besides Raishin and one of the guys Tania brought. Just a simple piece but suitable as a closing act. I bowed while getting a standing ovation and closed the curtains. Phew, that was rough. I still need a lot of practice. This wasn''t completely unassisted because I let my tails figure out how or what but preferably, I would want to use my tails to act as extra limbs. I sat down and ate a snack. Raishin appeared from between the crowd and pulled me outside toward the audience.

    Hey, what gives! They want to talk to you and thank you for your performance!

    But this is all about you, not me! Yes, I want them to tell you how good you were!

    Ugh. They applauded again when Raishin pulled me out and they all thanked me for my performance and Tania¡¯s Daddy, introduced me to the president of the adventurers'' Association and his 2 sons. Why is the president here? We talked a bit and they tried to turn me into the adventurer''s Association bard. Hell no! Why does everyone want me to do some stuff I don¡¯t want to do? One of the presidents sons approached me and was acting odd.

    ¡°I think he wants to be your friend Agnis.¡± I looked at the guy. Wow, Shania, you¡¯re brutal in revealing his sneaky intentions to the open.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°Wha¡­ I wasn¡¯t sneaky! I just tried to approach you!¡± I¡¯m sorry I don¡¯t swing that way.

    ¡°Huh?¡± Let me help you ehh, what is your name? Rule number one if you want to become friends with Agnis is to make sure you tell him your name, be clear with it, and keep repeating it.

    ¡°Yup he managed to get my name correct after one day!¡± That is because you kept doing your mind-reading tricks!

    ¡°I can¡¯t mindread though¡­¡± That is what you want us to think!

    ¡°Uhm... my name is Kal, nice to meet you!¡± He held out his hand but I inspected his hand. Ted smacked me. Shake his hand! I shook his hand.

    Agnis. Please forgive him he only has manners when it suits him¡­

    ¡°What a weird young lad, he defeated my daughter with ease and he is a master in music. Are there more things you can do?¡± Hehe, he is a skilled blacksmith! Ah right, that guy in that shop tried to turn me into a blacksmith for the adventurers'' Association but I declined.

    ¡°Ha! So, you cheated to get to D rank! I knew it!¡± Being skilled at blacksmithing is cheating? Isn''t using Daddy¡¯s power cheating? I needed to work to become a blacksmith.

    ¡°Ugh, fine you win!¡± Sweet victory haha now as the loser go bring me some food!

    ¡°Hey! This wasn''t a competition!¡±

    ¡°Hmm, what he did must have required a lot of mana control, he must be hungry, Tania let''s take him with us for a meal.¡±

    ¡°But daddy!¡± Uhh, that was just a joke, there¡¯s no need.

    ¡°Oh no! I insist!¡± You reap what you sow!

    Everyone left to rest a bit and I got abducted to have a meal with Tania and her daddy. She kept shooting ugly gazes at me while he was asking me a lot of questions. The food also was weird. It was fancy but they spent more effort on decorating than actually making food. And they also had soup. Yuck. I froze it the moment it came into my mouth and dropped it in my dimensional pocket so it looked like I was eating soup.

    ¡°Haha daddy! Look! The look on his face is asking where the rest of the food is!¡± Sadly, she was right there was a weird multi-colored cube on my plate with some sauce on the side. It wasn''t a big cube. I tapped it with my fork and it jiggled. I tried to take a piece out of it but it jiggled away from my fork. I tried a couple more times but it kept jiggling away.

    Is this a cubed slime? It¡¯s alive! Tania was laughing her ass off and her daddy seemed amused. They didn''t seem to have issues eating the living moving cube slime. I decided it was time for dessert and froze it and ate it. It was quite tasty but it wasn''t filling.

    ¡°Wow, that was funny! Let''s see how you¡¯re going to deal with the next dish!¡± I don''t know why but this didn''t seem like a meal but more like a trial. We got a huge plate with what looked like some weird food puzzle. What is actually wrong with this place?

    ¡°Oh, it is the food puzzle¡­¡± I looked at the food puzzle and decided this one was easy. I¡¯m used to obnoxious puzzles! I solved it and started eating. Tania and her daddy weren''t laughing anymore. Ha serves them right! They seemed to struggle with their obnoxious puzzle. A question, are puzzles popular? I see them everywhere.

    ¡°Hmm, they are popular but not extremely, it is said that a king in ancient times loved puzzles and that he had various treasure rooms that could only be opened by puzzle solving. This led to adventurers honing their skills in solving puzzles but that¡¯s an old story. How did you solve this so fast?¡± I¡¯m used to obnoxious puzzles. I looked at how they were struggling and helped them afterward. It was time for the dessert. I was curious what pain-in-the-ass dessert they had. The waiter told us for us the VIP guests there is a very rare and special dessert. The plates got put in front of us and I was shocked. Uhm, excuse me, are these red sky mangoes?

    ¡°Oh, you have an eye for luxury we recently got a hold on 20 red sky mangoes, they are extremely rare and valuable. Enjoy!¡± The waiter walked away and I looked at my plate. 2 red fruits the size of my fist were placed on a plate in front of me. Tania and her daddy also had 2. Maybe it was a good thing I came here. I don¡¯t know how many lives these are going to give me but it would be better than running around with 3 lives.

    They were delicious. I was hoping the others wouldn''t like them but they did. If they got 20, they are down to at least 14 now. I looked around. It seemed that there were 5 important-looking people that also got them. I guess only 4 left then¡­ These 2 mangoes put me on 9 lives, so I guess 3 per mango. I guess catastrophe averted, I can go on for a bit. I sent a clone to this place to attempt and steal the remaining 4 mangos. I did my best to stay polite and they finally let me go. We would soon go adventuring till almost dinner time. That was an interesting lunch but not useless. I thanked them and met up with my buddies.

    Unfortunately, it seemed that the place had used up all its red sky mangoes. My clone didn''t find anything or anything that could help my buddies. We took an E- rank quest of killing goblins. It was quite uneventful but we had fun blasting the horde of goblins. We were supposed to pick them off but Shania and I found their hideout and we were blasting the whole place. It was fun and that was what counted. I made sure Shania didn''t notice but I put an illusion on our surroundings so Raishin could go ham. He hasn''t been able to do so since Ted put a magic ban on him. At 16:30 we headed back because we had too much stuff to carry. We had to prove we killed all those goblins. Quite a large amount got vaporized so Ted, Shania and I tried our best to get the parts of the goblins that didn''t. We completed our quest, cashed out, and went to chill in the park after buying some junk food.

    Ahh, it feels good eating junk food after blasting goblins! Today was amazing! Was quite a busy day, hope you liked it.

    Yeah, I did thanks, guys! Ted Gregory and I left Raishin and Shania alone and went back to the hotel. I brushed my tails in my room and told Gregory and Ted about the red sky mangoes.

    Well, that is a relief, but don''t become more reckless now! I won¡¯t! But guys, I¡¯m noticing that there is a low amount of spies looking for us here, do you guys think there is a good reason for that? Didn''t you say that you made your clones spread misinformation?

    Oh right! I forgot! I¡¯m not surprised¡­ How long do you think this will be effective?

    I don¡¯t know but as long as we don''t draw too much attention, we should be safe here for quite a while. That is good to hear. When are we going to tell Shania what we are? As far as I can tell, we can trust her.

    Yeah, I didn''t find anything on her which is both suspicious and good. Being a rogue also ensures that she can keep secrets. But I suggest waiting a while before we tell her all this. Sounds like a plan, she is quite sweet, I hope Raishin doesn''t mess it up. Yeah¡­ We talked more about stuff, our day, and Raishin. Ted went back to their room and we went to sleep.

 Vol 2 Ch 9: Adventuring

    September passed, so did October and November. My birthday, December 7th, also passed and my buddies tried to do something big but I was fine with just all-you-can-eat sushi. After Ted introduced me to that place, I visited it quite often. It was now mid-December. We hadn''t made any progress on finding any method of getting home. The library was quite useless. It is quite hard to find a place that is not supposed to exist and is kept quite secret. Paul, Paula, and Azu knew about Hourai but they didn''t know where it was.

    After we escaped from Boshi town I called Tero and he didn¡¯t know either. I wasn''t surprised that he didn''t know though, all in all, he was quite useless, he told us he won''t be able to help us anytime soon because he is going to find something important. I¡¯m sure he just went to chase after chicks or something. Anyways Gregory and I decided to go through all the myths and legends because those might have the highest probability of having clues but there was nothing. I tried to sneak around at night to try and find the secret section but it seems this library doesn''t have any. How boring. We ran out of ideas to figure out how to get home. The only thing I could think of was to get captured and brought to the person who is looking for us but there is no guarantee he would tell us. Overall, that is a terrible idea. These assassins he sent out don''t seem to know anything which isn''t surprising.

    In the meantime, we were just doing our own things. Raishin was still together with Shania, I visited the blacksmith in this town but I couldn''t learn anything from him, I did gain the attention of a blacksmith that crafted some magical weapons but he was loud, proud, and obnoxious. He did teach me some tricks but I don¡¯t want to be his student or even near him. Gregory took up a job to make concoctions for the adventurers'' Association. He was doing quite well and raking in the money. He did make sure that it was just a temporary spot. Gregory and Raishin all got promoted to E-rank adventurers, Ted and Shania made it to D rank and I was still D rank myself.

    A lot of our adventurers'' Association assignments were done together but Ted and Shania were a bit more serious in this so they also took up a lot of individual ones. Gregory had his shop so it made sense that he didn¡¯t and I was trying to gather information and earn some money with blacksmithing. Raishin was¡­ not taking adventuring too seriously, he did go on a lot of adventures and assignments with Shania but half of the time he was a liability. Oddly enough everything goes fine as long as he doesn''t use magic, which sadly, he doesn''t adhere to if Ted is not around.

    I decided to go explore a cave system up northwest. It is not far away from the Aurelia river and some parts of the caves flood periodically so it is recommended to bring a water user. It is not rare to find a water user but they don¡¯t seem to be common, they either are healers or supporters or are mainly found around the sea and lakes if they have offensive skill sets. Besides that, there is a high likelihood that anyone with a water affinity and another affinity is going to practice and nurture the other affinity and ignore water. Anyways that¡¯s fine by me even though I¡¯m quite new, 12 years old¡­ 13 years old, and a D-rank adventurer, I have had some requests from other adventurer groups when they needed a water user. I tried to get by, by doing the bare minimum but the situations mostly turned out that I had to show off. Because of the importance and frequency of these, there is a high likelihood I will get promoted to C-rank after this one.

    Besides Raishin there are 3 other adventurers that took the assignment to investigate these caves. We seem to be forced to form some form of a party which sucks because now Raishin and I have to hold back when shit hits the fan but on the other side, we can let these more experienced adventurers deal with whatever is amiss there. We gathered at the northwest gate of Ainahs and met up with the 3 adventurers that are going to carry us, uhh I mean that we¡¯re helping out.

    Oh hey! Are you the guys that are going to carry ehh help us?! I facepalmed, at least I didn¡¯t say it out loud.

    ¡°Carry? You can walk right?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s what he means Albert, I think he means carrying as that we do the hard stuff and they just stick around doing not much.¡±

    ¡°Ohh, well they are just kids so leave everything up to us adults!¡± This guy called Albert reminds me a bit of Rock, except he is less bulky and has hair. This other person is quite tall with long blonde hair. He looks quite arrogant but so far, he has been friendly. There was another member, a woman wearing a hood. Ooh, Hello, I don¡¯t think I caught your name! I pulled Raishin back.

    I¡¯m going to tell Shania if you misbehave. Meh.

    At least the upside of you having a girlfriend now is that we can seriously punish you now if you misbehave. My bad! So, you are Albert? I haven''t heard the names of you two, also my friend Agnis here is quite forgetful so he might get your name wrong from time to time.

    ¡°I¡¯m Claude and I heard that Ainah¡¯s most recent water specialist is terrible with names.¡±

    ¡°My name isn¡¯t important, let¡¯s just do what we are assigned to do.¡± Ah, it¡¯s one of those types eh. My name is Agnis. I¡¯m Raishin, let¡¯s get along well.

    ¡°Ehh this is Bea, she has terrible manners but she means well.¡± Just like Agnis! Hey! I¡¯m going to kick your ass!

    ¡°They are just kids, we don''t need their help, you will just get in our way, come Albert and Claude!¡±

    ¡°Uhm Bea, how are we going to deal with the water in the cave systems without Agnis?¡± Bea stopped.

    ¡°Fine!¡± I don¡¯t like this chick; I¡¯m not going to help her if she drowns, at least I¡¯m controlling my bad manners. Hey Alfred.

    ¡°It¡¯s Albert.¡± Same thing, what''s the deal with her?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, as far as I know, she just hates everything.¡± Even food? What about sushi?

    ¡°I hate fish! But the only food I like is potatoes.¡± So, you have appeared, my nemesis. Bea jumped back.

    ¡°What? For a moment I detected bloodlust!¡± I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. During our journey toward the caves, I kept a close eye on this hooded chick. She is suspicious but she is extra suspicious because she only likes potatoes. So, we just go there to get rid of the water there?

    ¡°You would have known if you read the quest description. Not because you¡¯re a kid means you should slack off on that.¡± And now the arrogant guy shows his true colors. Fred tried to keep the mood in our group positive but those 2 were kind of ruining it. We arrived at the caves at noon and looked at the entrance. It just looks like a normal cave.

    ¡°Yes, and that is why we need to go inside to find out why it¡¯s not normal, use that brain of yours, pff kids these days they know nothing.¡± Probably because adults like you have shitty attitudes and don''t help us in a constructive way. Ooh, nice one Agnis! Mr. Asshole looked at me as if he was looking at filth.

    ¡°I have nothing to say to shitty brats like you, I could kill you with a snap of my finger.¡± Contrary to what you just said it seems you have quite a lot to say.

    ¡°Now now, don¡¯t fight! We are here to solve this not to fight each other.¡± We went inside the cave. Bea lit up the place with a flame. Mr. Asshole was using earth magic to make small rocks appear in front of me and tried to make me trip. Even without my Elgards eyes activated I could see what he was trying and he was unsuccessful. I decided to give him a piece of his own medicine and made him slip.

    ¡°Ow! I swear this kid made me slip!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous Claude, the whole place is slippery, you can''t blame him!¡± Yeah, don¡¯t blame me for busting your face on the floor. Raishin and I laughed and the asshole made a disgusting face at us. We kept going until we entered a room that was half submerged.

    ¡°Fix it, kid, I¡¯m going to do my nails.¡± Bea said rudely. I wanted to refuse because of how she said it but we would make no progress if I didn''t do anything here. I put my hand in the water and felt out the flow and where the water was coming from.

    ¡°Hey get to it brat!¡± If you can do it faster and better, be my guest. Asshole shut up but his mood didn''t seem to improve. You guys all have shitty moods, be a bit nicer to Agnis because when he is in a bad mood you guys would wish you didn''t put him in it.

    ¡°And what is your role actually blonde kid? At least that guy is a water user why do we need you?¡± He is here to make sure I don¡¯t permanently shut you up. This water here is flowing here from quite deep; I can drain the water but that is going to take forever, it is more efficient for us to move through the other side, there are various dry spaces further up. Bea got up.

    ¡°Eww, I don¡¯t want to get wet! You¡¯re here to make sure we don''t have to swim or get wet!¡±

    ¡°Come on Bea that is quite unreasonable, we know that the river is most likely causing this, he will have to drain the cave and possibly the river to do such!¡± Thank you, Albert.

    ¡°It¡¯s Al.. wait you got it right.¡± I can also call you Al if you want, it¡¯s easier for me.

    ¡°Uhh, sure.¡± He doesn''t have issues with short names. I can make an air bubble Agnis. Meh, only Al deserves this but sure we can do that. I moved the water aside and because Raishin made an [Air ball] with us in it I could let the water flow back and we¡¯d be dry and safe inside the bubble. Raishin kept the bubble intact and made sure to refresh the air in it and I moved the bubble through the water. If we get deeper, I would also relieve the pressure on the bubble.

    ¡°Ohh, this is quite useful.¡± Yeah, so far, he did more than Mr. Asshole and Bea.

    ¡°Excuse me?! Who are you calling an asshole?!¡± If you can¡¯t figure that out by process of elimination you might be more of a Mr. Dumbass.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to kill you!¡± Good luck, we¡¯re quite far from any rock or earth and even if you could we would all drown, so do your worst. Maybe he is a dumbass indeed¡­

    ¡°Well look at that Claude, you are getting owned by a bunch of kids.¡± Bea grinned and the mood in our party kept getting worse. I started to feel uncomfortable sharing this bubble with them so I pinched and split the bubble in half and made those 2 follow us in their separate bubble. Hehe, I think they are protesting but we can¡¯t hear what they¡¯re saying! While I kept moving the bubbles Raishin kept taunting them with gestures.

    ¡°Uhh, Raishin, be careful they don¡¯t pile on to you after they get out¡­¡± Hmm, say, Al, what kind of creatures live in the Aurelia River? And I mean specifically mean large and dangerous creatures.

    ¡°Uhhmm, only water snakes I suppose, the Aurelia River is quite safe besides those.¡± How about in this cave system because this is not supposed to be submerged like this, any aquatic creatures?

    ¡°Not to my knowledge, only standard cave creatures are supposed to live here. Please tell me you¡¯re not asking this because you noticed a dangerous creature¡­¡± You didn¡¯t notice it, Al? It has been looking at us the whole time!

    ¡°What? where?! ¡°Al looked around but he didn''t seem to spot it. I mean that makes sense. I still haven¡¯t activated my Elgards eyes but I can feel like something is looking at us and depending on the water currents there is something large and to me invisible swimming around here. I suppose Raishin¡¯s intuition kicked in and alerted him. I suggest that we try to keep the disturbances to a minimum because, to be honest in this state we are no match for it. Uhm, can you tell that to them? Raishin pointed at Asshole and Bea who seemed to be fighting and made the bubble contort in weird ways disturbing the water around them.

    Can you make them pass out? Or make their bubble fuse with ours? I can¡¯t do anything with just water magic. Uhm, how do I do that?

    I don¡¯t know! I¡¯m not a wind user! Hmm, let¡¯s try. Raishin did something and their bubble popped.

    Woops! For fucks sake Raishin! The creature reacted and I made a hand out of water, grabbed them, and pulled them into our bubble. I then froze the bubble which blocked jaws chomping on us.

    ¡°Wha... what is that! It is biting on us but it¡¯s still invisible!¡± Ugh, this is a problem. Good, they are knocked out, we won¡¯t have to deal with their bullshit! So, what do we do Agnis?

    There is not much we can do; we need to run¡­ swim away from this thing. I will keep this thing busy and away from us can you propel us through the water with wind magic? I made ice balls filled with water and formed a path out of them to indicate to Raishin where he needed to bring us. I activated my Elgards eyes and could see the creature clearly now. It looked like a huge moray eel and it was seriously ugly. I created huge icicles and shot them at the eel¡¯s gums so that it loosened its bite on us.

    Raishin took the opportunity to propel the bubble, which I thawed after we broke free, and followed the path. Al was freaking out while I kept sending ice spears at it and creating vacuum pockets on its gills. It didn''t like that but it would be the only way to slow it down without using all too much effort. I would have to do some flashy stuff otherwise.

    The eel was persistent but Raishin accelerated us enough to leave it behind after I froze its tail to the bottom of whatever we were in. I don''t know if it''s a lake or just a huge cavern that flooded. We shot out of the body of water and landed on dry ground. I dragged the 2 unconscious jerks to a safe distance away from the water. It looked like something invisible was surfacing and Raishin was sending [Lightning bolts] at it. It was a big target but he still managed to somehow miss half of them. To his defense the eel was invisible. Well, that was a nasty surprise.

    ¡°I don''t understand! There should be no aquatic creatures here because this place isn''t supposed to be submerged!¡± I have a question; my knowledge might be incomplete but is a creature like that supposed to exist? Because as far as I know, it shouldn''t.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but as far as I know there shouldn''t be invisible aquatic creatures, maybe those that are good at camouflage but not invisible! And then there is the issue of where it came from, these certainly don¡¯t live in Aurelia River!¡± But it¡¯s invisible so of course, nobody would have seen it! Well, both of us could sense it, it is big and seems to be aggressive, there is no way this wouldn''t have been discovered, maybe if this is the only one but I think it¡¯s safe to say that Al is correct on this¡­ We kept chucking icicles and lightning bolts at the eel till it gave up and left.

    Well seems the two with the biggest mouths were the most useless. Well, that is partly your fault but I agree, I don¡¯t think they would be useful either way.

    ¡°Well. an earth and fire user would be quite useless in that situation yeh.¡± Don¡¯t they have other affinities besides those?

    ¡°Well¡­ yeah, both have a water affinity but they never practiced with it¡­¡± So, they give me shit but they can''t even deal with some water¡­ What a useless bunch. What can you do by the way?

    ¡°I¡¯m an Iron Wall, specializing in light augmentation!¡± Ehh, what was that again Raishin? Iron Wall was I think a tank.

    ¡°Correct! It¡¯s just I can¡¯t do much without a foothold¡­¡± That is fine, we¡¯re not blaming you.

    ¡°But well, there have been a lot of sightings of strange creatures lately, I shouldn''t be surprised¡­¡± Hmm, so it''s not just us that encounter those weird creatures. Hey, how long are these guys going to sleep?

    At least it''s quiet, let''s drag them along while we explore. Al was dragging Asshole and Raishin was dragging Bea. I tried to figure out where all this water was coming from. The cave extended and went under the Aurelia River so somewhere there should be water coming in but for some reason, I had the feeling that the water in there didn''t come from the river. I couldn''t see anything that looked like a leak but yet half this cavern system was flooded. Is this all groundwater? I looked down but I couldn''t pinpoint what could cause this place to flood. This is weird.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°Ugh, my head, what happened?¡± It seems asshole woke up. ¡°Hey, Albert back off! You¡¯re ruining my clothes!¡± I found this absurd because his clothes were ruined already and besides who goes on an adventure expecting to not get dirty? ¡°You! It is your fault my clothes are ruined!¡± Asshole stormed at me and I made him slip and froze his pants to the floor. I am not going to entertain your assholery it is normal to expect to get dirty or even wounded on an adventure.

    ¡°You made us drown on purpose!¡±

    ¡°Hey, Claude chill out! It was an accident, and let¡¯s be honest here if they wanted you to drown, they could have left you behind in the water!¡± Al placed himself between asshole and me. Are you really a D-rank adventurer? I know I¡¯m the one to talk but you don''t seem very smart to me. Oof if Raishin says that, it means that you fucked up.

    ¡°Calm down Claude!¡± Al was blocking some earth magic Asshole was throwing around. Why are people so incompetent? Suddenly I spotted something interesting. There was another creature that shouldn''t exist. And I have a decent idea of what creatures should and shouldn''t exist, although it¡¯s not complete.

    Gregory and I went through volumes of books about monsters and animals because he was curious if the PB in Boshi town was really that strange. But I suppose someone, as experienced as Al, would know better. Unfortunately, I couldn''t reveal to him that I could see a creature further up but I could give him clues. Hey, Al, the flow of this water is quite unusual, I don¡¯t detect magic in it, are there any cave creatures that can control water like this? Or maybe even produce water?

    ¡°Produce water? As far as I know, there is no creature that can do that, maybe in the deep sea but living in caves or rivers? No. Controlling it without magic¡­ maybe a water spirit or a creature that is rare, because there should be traces of magic.¡± I knew this wasn''t a water spirit or any rare or mythical creatures I''d encountered in Hourai. As long as it''s legendary or mythical I should know more about them than humans but this thing seemed different. Let¡¯s assume it''s not a mythical or legendary creature what else could do this?

    ¡°There is no point in asking about assumptions of what ifs, I¡¯ll just bring this place down!¡± Asshole put his earth magic to use and tore down some rock walls but it was quite sloppy. So, you finally snapped and decided to bring the place down on us?

    ¡°I¡¯m just making this place wider!¡± Al was punching rocks aside that were falling on us.

    ¡°Are you trying to kill us?!¡± I¡¯m sure he is, he is just not very good at it. Raishin and I cleared away the rubble by blasting it away with water and lightning.

    ¡°Ugh, my head what is going on?¡±

    ¡°Ha, so you finally decided to wake up Bea! Stop slacking on the job!¡±

    ¡°Shut up! Hey, where is my hood? Did you guys see!?¡± Nope, we didn''t see anything, nice cat ears by the way! I think that¡¯s what she meant¡­

    Uhh, not nice cat ears!

    ¡°Ugh! I guess I will have to kill all of you here!¡± With this much water around? Good luck!

    ¡°Eat this! [Flame tiger]!¡± Ugh, yelling your attack name is so cringe! I used [Water blast] to instantly defeat the [Flame tiger].

    ¡°What! But you¡¯re just a kid! Take another [Flame tiger]!¡± I defeated it again and dodged a sneak attack Asshole made.

    ¡°Are you guys out of your mind? You¡¯re attacking fellow adventurers! And kids nonetheless!¡± Al punched some rocks flying at Raishin and he started throwing [Light waves] at the asshole and kept him busy. I kept shooting down the fire attacks Bea sent at us. It seems she tried to hide that she''s from the cat beast kin race but kind of failed and is trying to wipe us out because we know. I kept neutralizing her attacks which seemed to piss her off and I tried to avoid attacking her but the increased ferocity was driving up the temperature here. It was driving up the humidity and I could see it was causing discomfort for Raishin and Al. Hey, stop driving up the temperature, you¡¯re going to kill everyone here!

    ¡°Nice try kiddo! I haven''t hit anything because you keep cancelling them out! Nobody is going to die from that!¡± I stopped using the water around me and pulled the moisture out of the air and shot a [water blast] at her. She dodged it easily which made it easy for me to slip her and freeze her pants to the floor. She thawed herself by heating her body up and I gave her a cold shower. She hissed at me and seems extra pissed. Right, cats don''t like water that much. She tried to use her agility to approach me but I kept slipping her. She didn''t completely slip and recovered but I kept slipping her up.

    ¡°Aagh! So annoying!¡± She finally reached me and readied a [flame claw] but I easily evaded her and made her crash into an ice pillar. ¡°Yeoch!¡± I created multiple ice pillars around her boxing her in. I added a roof and made an ice cage. ¡°Hey!¡± Right, you go cool off. Raishin was suppressing asshole but he was also slowly bringing the cave down on us.

    ¡°Raishin chill out! You¡¯re going to bury us!¡± Raishin shifted to martial arts and knocked Asshole out. It was sloppy but it worked. Go to sleep asshole!

    ¡°Hey let me out! It¡¯s cold!¡± Bea was trying to melt the pillars without burning herself but it went quite slowly. ¡°What¡¯s up with this ice!¡± Your flames aren¡¯t that hot so of course, it¡¯s going to take forever for you to melt them.

    ¡°Bea, you do know better than fight a water user near water¡­¡±

    ¡°But I didn''t know water users could be this strong!¡±

    ¡°But that was the whole point of bringing him!¡± Right guys we have a problem. It¡¯s coming.

    Right, Al, do we run or go upstream?

    ¡°Can I get more information for an optimal answer?¡± Big wave incoming!

    ¡°Can we even outrun it?¡± Nope!

    ¡°Then why did you give the option to run?!¡± Illusion of choice? A big wave approached and Raishin and I worked together to make a bubble and let the water go around us. Oof this is quite difficult! This is a bad time to screw up Raishin, all of you might die if you do!

    ¡°Huh, what about you then?¡± I¡¯m a water user remember? It is going to suck for me but I¡¯ll live, probably.

    ¡°Probably¡­ I really wonder what goes on in the heads of kids these days¡­¡± Hey Agnis what about her? Raishin pointed behind us at Bea who was holding onto an ice pillar trying to not get swept away by the wave. Woops. I made a hand made out of ice and grabbed her out of the wave. She was shivering so I blew all the moisture off her.

    ¡°One day I will kill you!¡± Uhm, I¡¯m sorry? Hey, Agnis didn''t make this wave!

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that is the point¡­¡± The wave subsided and we were shin-deep in water.

    ¡°Ugh, I hate water, I should have taken a different quest.¡± This was the first time I got a good look at her but she had short red hair up to her shoulders. She also was quite petite. She did have a very mean look on her face though her cat-like eyes made it look extra mean..

    ¡°Whatcha lookin'' at!¡± That is one spicy cat. I heard a weird sound. And saw Al blocking a big claw. Hey isn''t that the invisible thing that came from the other side? No this is just an oversized lobster although¡­

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember lobsters having wings or tentacles.¡± Great another non-existing creature! I don''t feel like finding out what this thing can do, Raishin, blast it! Are you sure? The winged lobster flapped its wings and created water out of nowhere. Right, this is bullshit time to vaporize it! I moved the water away from Al and Raishin so that they could do their job. I also used some water to freeze its wings. It kept clawing and Al blocked the claws.

    ¡°Be careful about its pincher claw!¡± Whud?

    ¡°The claw that the smallest is the fastest! The other one, the crusher claw is slow but if it catches you, you¡¯re probably going to get crushed.¡± You sure know much about this creature!

    ¡°I love fishing, I just know a thing or 2 about lobsters!¡± Raishin dodged a claw and zapped it with blue lightning. It screeched and seemed to take a lot of damage. Ooh, it is weak to lightning magic! It¡¯s time for my [Nova blast]! Ok. I pulled everyone closer and made a multi-layered ice and water barrier around us.

    ¡°Are you stupid?! Water ain''t going to protect us from a lightning blast!¡± Alright, can you please shut up? Since you don¡¯t seem to know anything about water users. I purified the water I used to make this barrier. I felt like kicking the asshole out of the barrier but I decided not to. Raishin blasted the creature and the cavern filled with lightning. There was one thing we forgot. We were right under the Aurelia River. Raishin¡¯s blast caused more water to burst down from the ceiling.

    ¡°More water!¡± yes yes, I know how this goes, right Raishin come here! I looked at where Raishin was before the blast. The creature looked defeated but it seemed something knocked Raishin out. Great, guess it¡¯s just you and me Al.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m here too!¡± Can you swim?

    ¡°Of course not!¡± Then you¡¯re not useful! I navigated through the flooding cavern, grabbed and pulled Raishin inside the barrier, and shot up through the hole we made. There was a lot of water pressure but that was no issue for me.

    ¡°I have to say but you are a very impressive water user!¡± I don''t think this is impressive, most water users just suck. I got through the riverbed and surfaced. I dumped the extra baggage on the riverbed and dried Raishin and Al.

    ¡°Hey! Are you not going to dry me?!¡± You are a fire user, you¡¯re perfectly capable of doing that yourself.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Bea dried herself and Asshole. Hey, can you wake that asshole? It might be a good idea for him to close that hole. Bea slapped asshole but he didn''t want to wake up. I was not in a great mood. In what world do kids have to babysit adults? At least Al was pulling his weight. Raishin woke up and looked around. Wow, these 2 were useless they only sabotaged us. I¡¯m going to file a complaint! That¡¯s a good idea!

    ¡°Huh what? Why did I pass out?¡±

    ¡°Claude, can you close the hole in the riverbed?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Ugh, useless. Asshole shot me a mean look and we heard a loud screech.

    I thought you defeated it. I thought so too. Something shot out of the river and the lobster flew around and landed on the other side of the river and started creating water out of nowhere and shooting it at us. Hey, what if we catch this thing and send it to a desert or something?

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea but how are we going to catch it?¡± How about we boil it? Ooh, boiled lobster sounds good! Won¡¯t it taste bad though? I won¡¯t say that this is a handsome lobster¡­

    ¡°Hey, guys did you forget already that you wanted to catch it? It¡¯s not going to be useful dead or in your bellies!¡± Hmm, Al has a point. How about we boil it and just taste its claws, it¡¯s not like he needs it to shoot water, just have to keep the wings intact.

    Wow, you actually have a good idea! Let¡¯s boil it till it¡¯s almost dead then!

    ¡°Hell no! I will defeat it and will use this to rise to C rank!¡± Even though you didn''t do anything?

    ¡°How about a vote? I vote for capturing it but if that doesn''t work, we kill it.¡± Same. Same here.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care as long as I can stay dry!¡±

    ¡°So, capturing it is, I hope you can act responsibly and assist us, Claude.¡±

    ¡°I hate kids¡­¡± The wings of the lobster started glowing again. I froze the wings. Oddly this prevented it from creating water. Who wants boiled lobster? Raishin dashed toward the lobster and kicked the claw away from Al.

    Ow! This thing is hard! Duh! Asshole cooperated and boxed the lobster in. I kept the wings frozen so that it couldn''t fly away and create water.

    ¡°I will toast it!¡± Bea unleashed her flames on the lobster that was boxed in between [Earth walls]. I covered the lobster in a layer of water so that we could boil it.

    ¡°Why are you protecting it!¡± How are we supposed to boil it without water? Can you turn up the heat of those flames? We don''t have all day! I will make sure it doesn''t cause a steam explosion.

    ¡°Hotter? Steam explosion?¡± Bea added more flames but it didn''t make them any hotter. Does she even know how fire magic works? The water started to boil and the lobster seemed to take quite the damage. Raishin was chucking weak lightning bolts at it to make sure to not kill it. I¡¯m glad he learned how to hold back. Although he was drooling so he might just want to eat it and not vaporize it. How do we get rid of these claws? I can freeze his joints to which Bea could blast them with fire and someone chop off the weakened joints.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me what to do!¡± She said that but she did blast the joints I froze. It seems Bea was starting to pull her weight but the asshole still was doing fuckall. Al stepped in and chopped the claws off. I caught the claws in water bubbles and started boiling them.

    ¡°Hey! It doesn''t look like you needed me to boil the lobster!¡± Well, I can''t have you do nothing like that guy over there. When are you going to close the hole in the river dude?

    ¡°Right, and this is the part where you all are going to die!¡± Yeah, dream on. Are the claws boiled yet Agnis?

    ¡°Don¡¯t mess with me!¡± Asshole readied earth magic but Al used a [Light chop] on him and knocked him out. What a joke, and do any of you have a large amount of garlic, salt, or butter by any chance?

    ¡°Who would go on an adventure with those?!¡± I ignored Bea. I got a canister of Uraya¡¯s spices! Oh, right we have a lot of those, chuck it in the water! Raishin chucked the canister into the boiling water. Right, I didn''t mean for him to literally do that but that¡¯s fine. I cracked open the canister by forming [Water hands] inside it and threw the empty canister out. I reduced the amount of water to make sure the taste wouldn''t be diluted.

    ¡°Are we really going to eat this?¡± Why not? We all worked hard! Besides Claude and the cat girl.

    ¡°Hey! I boiled the¡­ never mind¡­¡± We cracked open the huge lobster claws and ate some lobster.

    ¡°Hmm, this is a bit bland but tasty nonetheless.¡± I can freeze and preserve the other claw and bring it back to Ainahs where we can eat this with some proper seasoning.

    ¡°Are all water users like this?¡±

    ¡°No, I had adventures with Sally before and she wasn''t an asshole like this kid but she wasn''t as good as him and also a bit boring. Maybe I should consider training my water affinity¡± Good luck with that, of all the primary elements water requires the most mana control to get decent at it.

    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯ve heard that before is the mana control requirement that high?¡± Well because water is the only element that is physical besides earth, it persists longer on the battlefield which allows for more flexibility, but that flexibility comes with a price. I did a short demonstration and made small ice statues of all of us.

    ¡°You did this without [Construction]?" Yup, it''s easier to make it with [Construction] but opponents can easily dispel it if I do that.

    ¡°I also saw how you saved us and the multiple water skills you used; it looks like a lot of mana control is needed indeed.¡± Thank you for the acknowledgment, it wasn''t easy to get here indeed.

    ¡°Hmpf! I can do that too! It was easy to master fire, I¡¯m sure I could master water just as easy!¡± Hmm, I don''t know about that, I''ve seen fire magic that¡¯s way more impressive. Raishin looked at me. I shrugged. We cleaned up and the asshole woke up and Raishin knocked him out again. You are going to carry him now you know! Meh. Raishin carried the asshole while Al dragged the passed-out lobster. I carried the leftover frozen claw.

    He sent Bea to get some people and they took care of the passed-out winged tentacle lobster. I hope they can put it to good use. Al and Bea filled in some papers and we went to the Association to give a report. We waited for the clerk to complete whatever he needed to do.

    ¡°Oh, congratulations Agnis, this quest put you in the requirement to become a C-rank, becoming C-rank requires a demonstration of your power so that the Association knows how strong their C-rank and higher members are.¡± Meh, it sounds like a pain, I don¡¯t need to become C rank.

    ¡°Hmm, it seems your friend Tania foresaw this and made sure to get you a spot in the assessment a month from now. All the prior procedures are set in place.¡± Wait what?! She isn¡¯t my friend! Why would she do that?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe she wants to face off against you since she also reached the requirements of C rank 3 days ago.¡± Aha¡­ can you cancel it?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, she arranged this with the vice president backing her.¡± Damn her and her Daddy''s power!

    ¡°Also, Albert, you also met the requirement for C rank, you need to go through the proper procedures though.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I will take care of that somewhere this week, by the way, we want to file a complaint.¡± Ah right! We filed our complaint and split off. Bea gave us a nasty look before she disappeared. She managed to find a hood somewhere so I guess only we know she is from the cat beast kin race. C-rank, eh? Is the assessment where you get to beat up all other C-rank candidates? I don¡¯t know but sounds like it yeah, I don¡¯t want to attract attention¡­ I guess too late now, maybe Tania wanted a rematch and is rigging the system so you have to fight her.

    I wouldn¡¯t be surprised... She probably wants to humiliate me in front of all the C-ranks. I need to find a way to lose and not embarrass myself. Why!? Go beat them all up!

    If I lose to her, she will give up and I can relax and stay D-rank. Do you think it will be that easy? She seems quite eager to crush you maybe she will start bullying you more after you lose.

    ¡­. Hmm that falls quite within her personality¡­ what do I do?! Embarrass her so hard that she won¡¯t dare mess with you! Just be sure to also embarrass the others, besides Al, he¡¯s cool.

    With only water magic? That makes the humiliation for them worse right?

    Hmm, ok I¡¯m motivated now! I need to find some creative ways to kick their ass with water! Raishin was going to meet up with Shania so we split up. I visited Gregory in his shop for a bit. I brought him up to speed on what happened and returned to the hotel room where I brushed my tails and started to run simulations on things, I can do with water magic.

    The skill I got from Azu made me very flexible with magic since I wasn¡¯t completely bound to the restrictions of magic circles anymore but in exchange, this required an insane amount of mana control to actually do this. I guess everything has requirements or a price. I have mainly used this passive skill on water magic, I haven''t been this adventurous with other elements but I¡¯m not in a rush.

    Dinnertime came and Gregory picked me up from my room to go visit a random restaurant with Ted, Raishin, and Shania. We all talked about our day. Gregory was just doing things in his shop. Ted was being an alcoholic and visiting bars and Shania spent her days questing. Gregory and I had the rare occasion to scold Ted for being unproductive. And so, December passed. we had a camp on the Aurelia river on December 40th and closed the year. Nothing much happened until it was almost time for my C-rank assessment.

 Vol 2 Ch 10: C-rank assesment

    Year 574 on the New Kaledonian calendar. In 2 days, I have my assessment but I¡¯m not happy. Tania is harassing and taunting me every day. I think she is using the network of her Daddy to keep finding which quests and assignments I am given where they need water users. I had some that were quite far from Ainahs since I was eligible for C-rank. It seems the creature we got caught was useful in restoring the water supply of a neighboring country.

    Their capital seemed to love water and the creature played a crucial role in helping them so we got gold from that even though it has been almost a month ago since we caught it. Yes, we got gold!

    Each of us got paid 2 gold for catching that creature and they sent us an invitation to meet but I don¡¯t feel like doing that it specified there was no time limit and to just hop by when we had time. We also got the notification that it got sent to try and turn a desert into fertile land. I had nothing going on today. Yesterday I did some blacksmithing and boss music on the plaza. And I¡¯m earning quite a lot with those besides adventuring, even though I don¡¯t need all this money. Anyways I decided to relax today and do nothing because to be honest I probably don¡¯t have to work for a very long time. I spotted a bar and heard someone yell out terrible puns. For fucks sake is Ted drinking again? This is really a bad habit of his. I went into the bar and dragged Ted out.

    Hey! You can¡¯t do this! Oh hey, Agnis! I got a good new pun! What am I if I stand on a bar? A Bar-Bear-ian! I dragged Ted to a fountain and threw him in.

    You need to sober up! Such a sour-fox! I dried Ted and dropped him off in a dojo he joined recently. I have gotten some lessons there with Ted before to polish my martial arts but I wasn¡¯t planning to do that now. It was 19:32 when I left the dojo after dropping Ted off. I wondered what to do. I normally don''t spend my time outside after the sun has set. Normally I¡¯m either still blacksmithing, adventuring, or in my hotel room. I learned that cities don''t necessarily get quieter as night falls. It''s a big difference with Boshi town since after 6 there¡¯s hardly anything to do in Boshi town. I saw groups of adolescents walking around and hanging around. Even young adults. I actually have no idea what these people do normally. I followed them and they went into bars and a thing that was referred to as a club? What are they clubbing? Is it like whack a mole? I got closer to this club and heard the music getting louder. Wow, this is terrible music! I activated my Elgards eyes and looked inside. I don''t get it they''re just dancing, drinking, and socializing. I don¡¯t see anyone clubbing something. I don¡¯t get humans.

    I get away from this place with terrible music and continued wandering the streets. I suddenly remembered something and looked around. Great no alternate version of this city. I almost forgot that bad things happen when I walk alone on the streets. Hmm, nothing bad. Although. I saw a shady figure moving around in an alley 2 blocks further up. It doesn''t seem he noticed me or is looking for me but he might be part of our group of kidnappers. I used [Shadow cloak] and shadow melded towards this shady character and tailed him in stealth. There haven''t been any spies or assassins in Ainahs for some time at least those that seemed to look for us so I was curious what this guy¡¯s objective was.

    This guy was quite good but not good enough. He had no idea I was tailing him. He seemed to be transporting something and he was treating it with care. I guess he was just delivering something. I followed him to the industrial area of Ainahs and became interested in what he was transporting. I looked inside the small container he was carrying and I was shocked. Inside was a small-sized medium lightning spirit. I don¡¯t know how or what but humans have found a way to detect and catch spirits. This container seemed quite special and had the property to interact with spirits. I wondered if I should free it now or follow this delivery guy and follow him to his destination. Maybe he will lead me to more captured lightning spirits. He leads me to the electronium power plant. Ah, I see¡­ I see where this is going¡­ He looked around and went into a secret gate and I followed him. I got onto the terrain and instantly noticed there were anti-shadow magic guards. I almost got caught once before because I didn''t know these were a thing but now, I know. There are only 3 on this terrain.

    Every guard is letting this guy through and he dropped his sneaky act. Mine wasn''t over though, unfortunately, these guys are anti-shadow magic, not anti-illusion so after dropping a 7-layered illusion I could casually walk past all these guards. I feel like such a cheat character now. I followed Mr. Sneaky into the building and after some corridors, he headed toward the elevator. Well, this sucks. I shadow-melded and sat in his shadow. He didn''t seem to notice. I followed him to wherever he went now because I was shadow melded in his shadow. This is quite a low-risk high-reward method of following someone. It¡¯s just¡­ uncomfortable. He got out of the elevator and I got out of his shadow and followed him manually. Following manually... This sounds weird.

    We entered some kind of lab and I saw over 100 pods with minor and medium lightning spirits inside them forcing them to give off their lightning which fed an electronium generator to feed mana to all houses appliances and anything that needed mana to function. I spotted 5 empty pods and the spirit got handed over to 3 of the workers here. I faced a dilemma now. If I ignored this the spirits would keep suffering but the city would have power but if I saved them the city would be without power. This sight disgusted me so I didn''t give it more of a thought. I made a shadow clone and it shadow melded in the shadow of the delivery guy. I would use this to [shadow swap] away from here after I free the spirits. After everyone was gone, I got into action. I made a [lightning orb] to stagger the blackout with when I release the spirits. I broke them out and they thanked me. Most of them were very weak. They all asked me to send them back to the spirit world. I told them I could bring them to a power spot if they wanted but they didn¡¯t want to deal with humans for at least a good 2000 years. They didn''t seem to feel malicious or hold a grudge against humans which made it even worse. These kind creatures got abused for who knows how long and they still have it in them to not hold anything against humans. I drained their spirit energy with a heavy heart. I used [Shadow swap] and ended up in the delivery guy¡¯s shadow. He was somewhere in the middle of the city so I could get out of his shadow and head to the hotel.

    I woke up the next morning and it seemed I underestimated the power of the lightning orb I left behind because everything was still working like normal. I spied on the electronium power plant with my Elgards eyes but it seemed that there is no sign that they know that the spirits are gone. The lightning orb I left behind seemed very weak so it might fizzle out at any moment. I guess this will cause chaos. I guess I will do some grocery shopping before that happens. I did quite the grocery shopping. I might have bought too much. I looked like a packing mule and everyone was looking at me strangely.

    A kind man helped me on the floating platform station to get all my bags onto my platform. At moments like these, I miss using my dimensional pocket. Spatiotemporal magic affinity seems quite rare so using it recklessly will draw attention. I thanked the man and rode the platform to the hotel where I went pack mule style and got everything into our room in one trip. Oof this was exhausting, maybe I should do something about my physical condition. It is not bad but when I go to the dojo, I notice that it¡¯s inadequate. It is superior to most humans there but the problem is¡­ I¡¯m quite light and apparently weight also matters which I don¡¯t have, so I need to compensate for my lack of weight by becoming stronger. What a pain. In the case of these groceries though¡­ definitely my fault for getting this much. I was alone in my room so I chucked things that we didn¡¯t need anytime soon inside, which was almost everything. Now I¡¯m completely resupplied. There is room for much more but at the moment I have enough for us to be traveling for half a year or more. I wonder how adventurers make long trips without someone who has dimensional pockets, that sounds like a royal pain. I got some rest and went outside again.

    I wanted to take the floating platforms but suddenly all power got cut. Ah right, I knew this would happen, but now I have to walk¡­ I walked towards the adventurers'' Association amidst the chaos. It seemed these city people aren¡¯t used to anything. They were acting like it was the end of the world. I stepped inside and things were calm in here. Things were working. It seemed a bit more hectic than normal but it was as if the power didn''t drop. Do they have their own supply? It always did give off a feeling of being in a different city. I have to say this Association really is something but that probably means they¡¯re enslaving spirits too. I didn''t feel like going out of my way to save them but if I encountered them, I will save them. Most of the people in here didn''t seem to notice the complete chaos outside. I dove into a magic tool shop because I spotted Tania. She was talking to Shania but I didn¡¯t feel like dealing with her.

    ¡°Good morning, how can I help you?¡± Oh, I¡¯m just hiding from someone.

    ¡°Oh, so you need tools to hide yourself, let me see what I got.¡± Wait, no that''s not what I mean! Hmm actually never mind I¡¯m interested, let me see what you got. As far as I know, all weapons, techniques, and tools are allowed in tomorrow¡¯s assessment as long as they¡¯re not of the forbidden kind. Magic tools were limited to only 1 per fighter though. I have never used any so it could give me an edge. Also, since I love to do my assassin things it could be useful. Assassin things generally don''t fit in being a water user. So, I could use this tool to cover that.

    ¡°I have a cloak that makes you invisible, it doesn''t work well against light and shadow users for obvious reasons.¡± Hmm, I see but this doesn''t erase my presence, does it? So even those that can¡¯t use light or dark magic could detect me.

    ¡°Oh, so you do know what you¡¯re looking for, my apologies, let me find something more useful.¡± The man went to the back of the shop and came back with 2 more items. ¡°These don¡¯t necessarily hide you but might be useful. This item removes your presence beside sight, it isn''t super useful but it could be useful depending on the user, this item makes it very hard for someone to lock on to you. Unfortunately, both of them are quite expensive.¡± Hmm, these are interesting. How much for them?

    ¡°This item that erases your presence almost completely goes for 95 silver and the other for 50 silver.¡± Hmm, they are pricey but depending on your skillset they can have strong effects. I will go with the one that makes it hard to lock on to me. I got some more instructions on how to use the tool. It isn¡¯t a tool that works at all times when equipped. It needs to be fed a sizeable amount of mana to create its effect for half a minute. Despite that, I still decided to buy it. It seems I¡¯m probably the first person that buys this tool. It isn¡¯t exactly a strong tool but it is annoying to deal with and that is right up my alley. It is a pseudo stealth. And since I¡¯m fast and specialize in CC this becomes even more useful and annoying. Hehe, Tania is going to get the match of her life. In general, when fighting most people have a type of household magic that helps them lock on to targets to more reliably hit them. I don¡¯t need it because I have my Elgards eyes, Raishin doesn''t use it because¡­ I don¡¯t know why. Ted doesn''t need it because he mainly fights in close combat.

    Gregory is the only one who really uses it. It is something that can be disturbed and interrupted but it''s so easy and fast to reactivate that there is absolutely no point in messing with it. But this tool messes with it, but not from the side of the opponent. I think it mimics stealth without being invisible and stuff. If I could use my regular stealth there would be 0 reasons to use this but I¡¯m pretending to be a water user. I just tested it out after buying it. It took quite an amount. In a realistic battle, I could probably only use this 4 or 5 times before it would become a danger to my mana pool. I don¡¯t have my tails or frost magic to use as mana reserve or gain mana so I have to do things like humans would. At least it makes me understand them a bit better. I got outside of the shop proud of my purchase and forgot why I dove into the shop.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Ah, I found you! Are you ready to get destroyed by me tomorrow?!¡± Please be kind to me.

    ¡°I practiced a lot to make sure your tricks don''t work on me! Look I got leggings immune to freeze!¡± She showed off her new leggings.

    ¡°Uhh, Tania, you shouldn''t show your legs and ass off like that¡­¡± I agree with Shania¡­ is it even a good idea to tell me this¡­

    ¡°Hmpfh! It is to make sure you can¡¯t complain that you lost because didn''t know about this fact!¡± Right¡­ in that case I practiced making my water extra wet so don''t complain that you lost because you got wet!

    ¡°Extra wet? What does that even mean?¡± No clue, I don¡¯t think I have anything to say that is going to make it less unfair to you after I humiliate you.

    ¡°Hah dream on kiddo! I will show you the power of¡­¡± Your Daddy?

    ¡°Yes, wait no!¡± Hmm, makes sense there is no ¡®C¡¯ in ¡®Daddy¡¯ so he can¡¯t help you anymore.

    ¡°Ugh, so annoying! Shania say something!¡±

    ¡°I couldn''t make it to C-rank for this assessment so I will be cheering you 2 on, make it a spectacle!¡±

    ¡°Hey! You¡¯re supposed to be on my side!¡±

    ¡°Why? You¡¯re a 17-year-old girl bullying a 13-year-old guy, why should I be on your side?¡± She has a point you know this is straight-up bullying! I don¡¯t feel safe anymore!

    ¡°Ugh, fine! Just don¡¯t cry when I kick your ass tomorrow!¡± Tania stormed off and left Shania behind. I thought she was 16.

    ¡°She made 17 a week ago.¡± Oh, so that is why her Daddy tried to invite me to something, I was quite busy though. Do you think she¡¯s upset?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I don''t know what goes on in that head of hers.¡± But you¡¯re her friend.

    ¡°That is true, but do you know what¡¯s going on in Raishin¡¯s head?¡± Fair point. I split off with Shania after a short chat. She had a quest that required her to be away for a good 2 months which started the day after the assessment. Producing great results on this quest will boost her up a lot and she might be eligible for a C-rank assessment after she completes it. Raishin wanted to go with her but his rank was too low which made him sad and made him take adventuring more seriously. Who knows maybe he will reach D-rank soon but not in time to be with Shania for her quest. I looked at some people that were just practicing magic and having duels.

    ¡°Uhm, excuse me, are you Agnis?¡± I looked at where this voice was coming from and a young blonde woman with a large staff addressed me. Uhh, yes, can I help you?

    ¡°I¡¯m Sally, I¡¯m also a water user, I was wondering if you could watch the duel I have in a bit. I¡¯m trying to become better offensively and maybe you got some tips for me.¡± She seemed quite timid even though she was way older than me. I estimate her to be slightly older than Tania, so like 18 or 19 years old. She had a blue frilly dress which didn''t seem suitable for fighting. You are a healer, right?

    ¡°Yes, but I want to be more useful by becoming better at offensive spells.¡± Hmm, no offense but that dress is going to be a problem, I don''t know how being a water-based healer and support is but as an offensive water user you will have to submerge yourself in water and the like, you will get wet. I¡¯m assuming your mana control is great because you wouldn''t make it far as a water user without but this won¡¯t prevent you from getting your pretty dress wet so if you have time, I would suggest you get something more suitable. Or something you don¡¯t mind getting wet and dirty.

    ¡°Ah, is that so? Thank you very much, I will find something more suitable and change!¡± she gave a polite bow and walked away. I started to become concerned for her, her timidness, frame, and politeness didn''t seem to make her suitable for being an adventurer. Most of the adventurers I encountered were quite rough. I wonder how she has survived this long, although she and I are 2 of the 3 skilled water users this Association has here in Ainahs so I guess she got some protection from the Association. 15 minutes later I heard her call me and wave at me. She was wearing something casual. I went over to her and she showed me in which arena she would be fighting.

    I saw a lot of adventurers look at her. I think I understand a bit how she survived this long; it doesn''t seem she realizes what is going on. I sat down in a spectator seat and this duel arena was filled with more people than the others. These duel arenas have seats for spectators but you can also look through some glass from a distance at the battle and decide in which duel arena you can take a seat, kind of window shopping. The duel started and she faced off against an unimpressive-looking guy. She formed a water ball and shot it at him but it looked quite weak. It was a bit sloppy but maybe it is because she normally isn''t in an offensive role.

    The guy pretended to have difficulty dealing with it but evaded it in the end. Yeah, she is not going to learn anything if her opponent is holding back. He sent a moderately strong fireball at her and she blocked it neatly. The match continued and she was quite skilled at defensive skills. She did try to add variety and I saw she was uncomfortable with some defensive skills she used which caused her to be hit several times but she could easily heal herself up. I don¡¯t know why she wants to become more offensively oriented because I was quite impressed by her defensive skills. I don¡¯t think she is a liability, as a healer you want to be the last one to go down. And even though this guy was holding back I could see that her going down shouldn''t be an issue.

    The match didn''t go anywhere because her offense was extremely weak so she wouldn''t knock that guy out, and the guy wasn''t pressuring her. To be honest he probably wouldn''t be able to win even if he was serious. After 10 minutes the guy gave up and everyone cheered ¡®Sally¡¯. Right, that was her name! She smiled and waved at the crowd but I could see on her face that she wasn''t really happy. I guess she isn''t that delusional to think that she won because of her own skills. I got up and left but met Samie after leaving the arena.

    ¡°You¡¯re right, I¡¯m soaked, so what did you think? Pathetic right?¡± You might want to dry yourself off.

    ¡°I did, I will go to my apartment and dry myself off, can you wait for me here? I want to hear your feedback, I heard you¡¯re quite blunt so maybe there is something you can tell me that others don¡¯t ¡° Why do you need to dry yourself off in your apartment? I removed the water from Sam and dried her off.

    ¡°Ooh, thank you! I can¡¯t do that so well¡­ Oh by the way I heard that I have to keep introducing myself to you because you are bad with names! My name is Sally!¡± Ugh, I¡¯m sure that is Shania¡¯s doing¡­

    ¡°So, what do you think?¡± Hmm, that guy you fought was certainly holding back, your defensive skills are almost flawless, even the ones you seemed to be uncomfortable with. It shows that you have great mana control, although I guess using water offensively requires more mana control. May I ask why do you want to become more offensive? There is nothing wrong with how you do things.

    ¡°Well, uhm¡­ I have the feeling people don¡¯t take me seriously because I¡¯m a woman, a water user, and a healer, I thought if I become good offensively, they might at least take me a bit more seriously.¡± Hmm, I think the most important thing is that you should just be a bit more aggressive, personally, I think you are too nice to be an adventurer, I¡¯m assuming people like to push you around, but having some offensive power might be beneficial for you, I guess. My guess is because you are a healer you don¡¯t want to hurt others, I didn''t feel any intent to do damage or win in your attacks. I think that is the most important.

    ¡°I see¡­ I knew asking you was a good idea! But how do I become more aggressive?¡± That I don''t know but without intent to do damage you won¡¯t become good offensively. I have a C-rank assessment tomorrow, maybe you could get an idea of how to use water offensively.

    ¡°Oooh, congratulations! I have actually never seen you fight! I will make sure to not miss it! Thank you!¡± Milly bowed politely. ¡°Don¡¯t forget my name is Sally!¡± I guess these people are really trying their best to make me remember their names. I decided to archive her name. I have a very good impression of her which is the problem, I think to be a good adventurer there must be something wrong with you somewhere, nothing seems wrong with her and maybe that¡¯s why she is struggling.

    She might be better off becoming an idol or something. Some adventurers look at me and I can detect some envy. Yup, she definitely would be better off being an idol or something. She reminds me of someone I met in the past. Anyway I have to prepare for tomorrow mentally. I stayed on the 4th floor and visited the annoying loud and proud blacksmith to steal some tips from him. It¡¯s not really stealing but he is convinced that his skill will eventually cause me to want to become his student. Dream on!

    <hr>

    Assessment day came and I wasn''t feeling it. The city was still in chaos. As I walked out of the hotel I was contemplating skipping out.

    ¡°Ah, there you are! Because of the chaos in the city due to the power outage, the vice president arranged for transport so that you won¡¯t get late.¡± I cursed under my breath and stepped into some weird vehicle. It looked like a fancy floating platform but with a roof and bigger. I guess I won¡¯t be skipping this. The fancy platform stopped at a side of the Association I never saw before. We entered and took the elevator to the 6th floor. You know I appreciate it but I don¡¯t need special treatment.

    ¡°Oh, we do, you¡¯re our only C-rank water user in the city¡± Wait, isn''t the point of this assessment to determine whether I''m strong enough for C rank or not?

    ¡°Yes, but let¡¯s be real, I''ve heard the report of the Aurelia cave quest, you were crucial for the success of that quest, and Albert and Bea described the amount of skill you displayed in controlling water. Even if you fail this assessment, you will still be promoted to C-rank.¡± So, if my C-rank is assured can I leave?

    ¡°We still have to go through the proper procedures, we can¡¯t show that we are playing favorites in your case.¡± Daddy said after entering the room. It seems he overheard our conversation. Or, you want to see a water user in action.

    ¡°He got us, boss.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s no problem, I don¡¯t think there was any way he wouldn''t find out. He is quite smart for a 13-year-old.¡±

    ¡°Hey is it true that the recent improvement in the quality of daggers and swords has been because of you?¡± I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. I guess I should go easy on bringing daggers and swords on the market. These guys all know I¡¯m a blacksmith so they will find out eventually, I guess. They told me to wait in the next room while they finished the last details of setting up the assessment. They brought me to the next room but it didn''t seem to be empty. Geh, you again? Stop stalking me!

    ¡°I¡¯m not stalking you! I¡¯m waiting till Daddy finishes his business.¡±

    ¡°Be nice to him Tania.¡± They left me alone with her. Tania started to talk to me and talk and talk. I tuned out and activated my Elgards eyes to see what they were doing. There was a huge arena with some parts of it looking like a piece out of various places, a piece of the arena had a forest another a desert another was only water, there was a snow part too, and many more.

    ¡°Hey, are you listening?!¡± No, they¡¯re done, let¡¯s go.

    ¡°Huh, what? How do you know?¡± I walked to the door and it opened and the men came in.

    ¡°Oh, we just came to get you.¡± We got led into the area for the assessment, and then to the area assigned to the ones participating.

    ¡°We have a lounge here where you can relax and socialize with the other participants but there is also a room for each of you if you don¡¯t want to. Here are the keys. We got our keys.

    ¡°We will start in half an hour. There is a screen in your room, it will show the timetable and the matches in real-time so don¡¯t be afraid to miss out on anything.¡± Aight, off to my room cya!

    ¡°Wait! Who am I supposed to talk to then!¡± Didn''t you talk enough?

    ¡°But you didn¡¯t listen!¡± I have no idea what you''re talking about.

    ¡°That''s what I mean!¡± Aight cya! I sped up and went to my room¡ªahh peace and quiet. I relaxed and brushed my tails till it was time for the assessment to start.

 Vol 2 Ch 11: Vice Daddys point of view

    I finished the final preparations with Jerome and could finally relax. Everything was in place to start the first official C-rank assessment of this year. I took my VIP seat next to Jerome and looked at how the people that were interested in watching trickled into the spectator seats. I looked at the files in front of me. We are not only looking for skills in battle but flexibility in combat and the overall usefulness of their arsenal.

    This is why Agnis already passed because the usefulness of his kit already outweighs everything, we will grade him on, if he is strong and adaptable that is only a plus. We have 8 participants today and we will hold a tournament-style bracket. They will be out of it after 2 losses but a loss doesn''t mean they fail to get into C rank. Winners could fail to get into C-rank and losers could meet the requirements. We made sure to make this clear to all participants. Although, I forgot to tell Agnis but he already realized that there is no way he will fail this. My daughter kept pressuring me to put her against him first and I told her no but¡­ I looked at the roster that was randomly generated and the first match was Agnis versus my daughter¡­ She will get the wrong idea and think I arranged this for her. I sighed.

    ¡°Sighing already Terrence? We didn''t even start yet.¡± I looked at my good friend and the president of the Adventurers Association, Jerome.

    ¡°It is nothing, it¡¯s just that this randomly generated roster is going to give my daughter the wrong idea.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha, that¡¯s not a big deal, I will be happy if we can get at least 3 people that pass.¡±

    ¡°We already have one.¡±

    ¡°Ah the water user, I see he¡¯s the first one up against your daughter, you seem to hold him in high regard, unfortunately, he is up against your daughter. Water is weak against lightning.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t know about that one, of course, I¡¯m rooting for my little girl but¡­¡±

    ¡°But?¡±

    ¡°He has fought her before and overwhelmingly beat her¡­¡±

    ¡°What? A water user? Now you piqued my interest! ¡°The announcer called up the first participants and the screen showed their adventurer details. ¡°He hasn''t been assigned a role yet?¡±

    ¡°Well, his fighting style involves crowd control, he is quite a rare addition to the Association.¡± ¡°IIIIN THE BLUE CORNER!!!¡±

    ¡°Jerome, can you tell Jerry to stop that obnoxious announcer act of his?¡±

    ¡°Jerry! Shut the fuck up and start the match already!¡±

    ¡°Yessir!¡±

    ¡°Very president like¡­¡±

    ¡°My Association my rules!¡±

    ¡°Fair.¡± The first match started and my daughter instantly started provoking and taunting Agnis. I facepalmed. I will have to talk to her after all this is done. Agnis didn''t seem to respond to the taunts I sometimes forget that he is only 13 years old. I saw his blonde-haired friend yelling to get her, yes that¡¯s how I expect 13-year-olds to respond. I¡¯m not sure if my daughter understood what is supposed to happen here because she is attacking him with her words. Meanwhile, Agnis is doing nothing. Wait is that correct? Slowly but surely, I see the water from the oceanic and tundra parts of the arena disappear. Where is it going? I have a bad feeling about this. If my daughter doesn''t hurry, she will be in for an unpleasant surprise.

    ¡°Hey Terrence, did you notice? All the water in the arena disappeared, I think your daughter is in deep trouble!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I think so too¡­¡± My daughter lost her cool and started attacking. Agnis evaded the lightning bolts with ease and caught some in water bubbles.

    ¡°Hey, Jerome, do you think you can dodge lightning bolts from that distance?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea, but let me tell you I can¡¯t do it with the ease this young man does.¡± He tried to slip Tania and freeze her leggings to the floor but unfortunately, she was wearing freeze-resistant leggings. Is this why she wanted them so badly? I slowly get the feeling I¡¯m failing as a father. She started sending out lightning balls that discharged randomly and Agnis protected himself with an ice wall and moved some water on her head. He tried to defeat her like the last time. She took her magic item and sucked the water up.

    ¡°Ha! With this magic item, you can¡¯t do that!¡± You chose to get a magic item that countered me and me only? I can¡¯t say that¡¯s a wise move. I agreed with Agnis¡¯ assessment. Only one magic item could be used so once you use it you have to use it for all the other matches.

    ¡°I only recognize you as my rival! I¡¯m confident I can beat the others without a magic tool!¡± I was hoping that a rival would make her stronger not petty¡­ Ok, you got me can I surrender now?

    ¡°Ehh, you want to surrender? No Daddy! Don¡¯t let him surrender!¡±

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    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Agnis, try to do your best to either knock her out or until you get knocked out. We are also interested in what you can do.¡± Meh fine, just don''t regret it. The moment he said that his demeanour changed. I must be imagining things but it looked like his eyes briefly changed color. I was still wondering where all that water went but I wouldn''t have to wait long to find out. Water came out of the ground and covered the ground to shin height. Agnis was just standing on the water and Tania used [Electromagnetic Levitate] to not get stuck in the water. Agnis created a spear of water. Tania shot more lightning bolts at him but he evaded them and dashed toward Tania. I now realize how he could dodge those lightning bolts; his speed was comparable to a lightning bolt. He closed into Tania and launched her into the air and¡­ he disappeared. I saw some ripples on the water but something was keeping Tania airborne.

    ¡°Wow this kid is fast, I can hardly see him, he is using his spear to keep your daughter airborne, he also seems to be hitting her in her blind spots so it seems unlikely that she will break out of this if it continues like this, impressive!¡± This was indeed impressive, it seemed like she was floating but according to Jerome, he was keeping her in the air. Tania seemed annoyed so I assume it didn''t do much damage to her. Suddenly water blasts started shooting from underneath her adding some damage to the move. Tania broke out by creating a large electric blast. Agnis seemed to evade it and didn''t take any damage from it. Tania broke free from whatever that skill was. If he had an ally Tania would have instantly lost there, she was a sitting duck in that move. She used one of her strongest skills [Thunder Warrior]. It is one of the skills she is very proud of. It is like a summon but made out of lightning, it is fast and has high offensive capabilities. She started shooting [Lightning beams] at Agnis while the [Thunder warrior] went at him. He actually fought it off well with his spear. This guy was extremely fast, he was faster than the thunder warrior and his skills with the spear were impressive. He pushed the thunder warrior back and Tania and the warrior continued shooting lightning beams. Agnis created 4 [Water snakes] and attached one to each of his limbs and he¡­ caught the lightning in the water snakes and made them swirl around him. He was now in the middle of swirls of electrified water. Is this how water users fight? I spotted Sally in the spectator seats and she was paying close attention.

    ¡°I really thought that water was weak against lightning¡­ this kid handles it like it¡¯s nothing¡­¡±

    ¡°It certainly requires an insane amount of mana control... I knew he could deal with what my daughter can throw at him but I didn''t know he could do this much¡­¡±

    ¡±A very creative way to use [water snake], instead of sending them to his opponent he uses it like whips to catch attacks and he can probably also attack with them.¡±

    ¡°He is so young too... How many fights and quests did he need to do to come up with this¡­¡±

    ¡°You told me he already made it to C-rank, right? I wholeheartedly agree, this is what we need from C-ranks!¡± Agnis kept catching lightning and there was so much water swirling around him that we couldn''t see him anymore It looked like the water snakes multiplied but I can''t tell.

    ¡°Is your daughter going to be alright? If he sends that back¡­¡± At that moment he did exactly what Jerome said, he sent the electrified water back in an enormous water blast. She evaded it but I already saw that that wasn''t a good thing. Agnis turned his spear into 2 swords and approached them with blinding speed. He went at the thunder warrior. A thunder warrior ranks very high in its weapon mastery but this guy¡­ He gave the warrior a run for his money but¡­ He got cut in half. Although¡­

    ¡°A water clone!¡± Agnis jumped out of the water reflection and got rid of one of the warrior''s right arms. He also shortly got rid of one of the warrior''s left arms so it only had 1 left arm and 1 right arm left.

    ¡°Hey, Terrence¡­ that is a clone too¡­¡± Jerome was right, Agnis got cut in half again but fell apart like water. Out of nowhere he appeared and cut off the warrior''s head. The area had a lot of tall waves so it was hard to see the whole arena from any point of view so he was probably hiding in the waves. Tania had a hard time making anything out between all those waves and this is the scary part. Suddenly all the waves stopped but Agnis was nowhere to be seen. Tania floated up and narrowly dodged a spear flying out of the water from below her. He got out of the water and stared up at her. He still had that different aura about him. My daughter looks quite worn out, she got hit by some waves, while Agnis seemed like he didn¡¯t get hit at all. He still had the water snakes on his limbs. He used them as whips and tried to hit Tania.

    Wait? was he really trying to hit her? He didn''t seem to put much effort into it. He got her to swap positions with him, all the time he was more in the middle of the arena and she to the sides. Is this what he wants? From what I know from how he fights, that combat wise it¡¯s a bad idea to let him get what he wants. Tania''s levitate wore off.

    ¡°Agnis won, your daughter''s levitate ran out.¡± Agnis rode the water snake at her. It looked like he was surfing. Tania electrified the water but only a small part around her got electrified. Tania was confused and Agnis reminded her about the properties of pure water.

    ¡°This guy is scary; he makes lightning users useless.¡± He whipped up some waves and this part of the arena looked like it was a stormy sea. He was controlling 2 columns of water which were the sea snakes with ease. Tania used [Thunder] but Agnis caught it with another [water snake]. He kept making water snakes and they closed into Tania. Tania used her magic tool and made [Lightning walls] to create a waterless cube where she could stand. It seemed futile but it looked like she was fighting against the sea. And what came next turned the quite noisy arena silent. Agnis used [Tsunami].

    ¡°This¡­ I¡¯m sorry for your daughter¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeoh me too¡­¡± The only ones making noise were his friends. I guess they knew he could use [Tsunami]. Personally, I don¡¯t see how anyone can win against him, he was skilled yes but if he can use [Tsunami] this makes it even more unfair towards his opponents. At no point in this match did I feel Tania was in control of the fight

    ¡°One of the 10 most powerful water moves ever cast... It is hard to win against that¡­ do you think we should just bump him up to B-rank? I don¡¯t know many B-ranks that have a skillset as exotic as his¡­¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s not give him too much preferential treatment¡­¡± We looked down and Jerry was still flabbergasted.

    ¡°Jerry do your damn job and announce the results!¡± Jerry jumped up and announced the winner. I saw how Agnis made a couch of ice, placed Tania on it, and pulled the water out of her lungs. She got sent to the medical room we had set up for these assessments. Jerome gave me permission to see my daughter so I got up and followed her to the medical room.

 Vol 2 Ch 12: C-rank assesment II

    I returned to my room. I might have overdone it. I do have 3 free casts though. I don''t know how familiar these people are with [Tsunami] but they will probably be shocked that I won¡¯t have any magic circles for my next 3 skills. They already seemed shocked that I could use [Tsunami]. I really needed to hold back on that one. These people are lucky that I moved the water back to where it came from.

    The next match started. It was Al against a random guy. Go, Al! Oof Al is getting his ass kicked, noo Al! The guy he¡¯s fighting was uhm how was it called? Silent night? He was an assassin-type fighter. Al¡¯s style is quite direct so I could say this is his weakness. He was holding out well but accumulating a lot of damage. Oh, he managed to catch the guy. Whoa, what was that! The announcer who was quite silent during my match said something about a skill called [Share Agony]. I guess it splits the damage evenly so this makes him healthier and makes the random guy take on enough damage to make the playing field even. That is quite a nasty move. It seemed to be arcane so I guess Ted and Gregory would find good use in it. Although it is not a damaging skill but more equalizing damage so I guess arcane is incorrect but more household magic.

    Al buffed his defenses and caught the random guy in a combo. It was quite exciting. The problem with assassin-type fighters is if you get them and you get them good, they will probably lose. Al was going ham with his combo and not letting the random guy escape. Unfortunately, the random guy escaped when it seemed the combo was almost over and turned the tables. Al couldn''t do much for the rest of the fight and unfortunately lost. But it was quite close. After that, there was a match between...

    Oh, it''s Bea and another fire user.

    They just threw fire at each other and it didn''t seem to go anywhere, they also had fire resistance so they didn''t take much damage from each other. It was quite a boring fight and after 15 minutes they got stopped because it didn''t seem to go anywhere. The last match was someone fighting with a bow and arrows against a guy wielding a huge obsidian axe. It looked so cool! I can see how much effort went into making that axe, it certainly isn''t easy to make that. Whoops, I have to observe the match. In theory, the axe guy should win he is throwing a lot of earth magic around but the bow guy seems quite agile and keeps shooting arrows and using wind to curve them in unpredictable ways. They seem to really pack a punch with those arrows. At this rate, he would win if he keeps his distance. But no, he gets up close and goes close combat on the axe guy with his bow, holy shit this guy is crazy. He also managed to win.

    I want to fight this guy! If I would be the person deciding who gets C rank this guy certainly deserves it. Imagine you want to pin this annoying guy down that pew pews you from far away, you finally get close and you think you got him and then he owns you in close combat. I hope Al gets C-rank too but I guess it¡¯s hard to asses him because his whole role is here to take damage. So maybe the fact he held up for so long against his hard counter means maybe he did his job, he almost defeated the assassin guy though which is quite hard to do for someone in his role. I can¡¯t see myself losing or almost losing to someone like Al if I go into assassin mode.

    The next match is me against assassin guy. I¡¯m going to show them how to deal with assassins. The usual thing happens when 2 people enter the arena, names and info appear on the screen, the announcer gets yelled at to do his job and the battle starts. The assassin goes into stealth. This time I started closer to the water. I didn''t cheat and use my Elgards eye but none of the assassins I''ve ever met completely erase their presence. I used the moisture in the air to feel out his presence.

    I pinned down his location and used [Flood]. Of course, everyone was surprised because no magic circle. Because of [Flood] I knew exactly where he was because he was shin-deep in the water and the water was acting like my skin. I rose a large ice pillar out of the water from underneath him launching him up into the air. He was shocked of course and he dropped stealth. I used my last free skill to create a [Water ball] around him and froze it, I launched myself into the air with an ice pillar and used the water around me to form a huge hammer and slammed the Assasin-ball into the ground. The ice cracked and a passed-out assassin got released from the ice ball. This was quite easy. Maybe if he was more skilled, he might have a chance against me when I¡¯m only using water. I guess they didn''t expect water users to fight like this. I did have a slight headache though because using water like this requires a lot of mana control and concentration. It¡¯s a good thing that there will be a break after this round.

    The next round was Tania against Al and Al lost again unfortunately but he held out for quite a long time. Tania seemed quite strong now that she could do her thing. I guess she deserves C-rank too. I guess Al is out of the match now since he lost twice. Next up is the chick Bea was fighting against bowdude.

    Bowdude had quite an easy time defeating this random chick as expected. After that, was Bea against axeguy. It was an interesting fight but axeguy was no match for Bea¡¯s agility. But neither of them could do meaningful damage against each other and after 15 minutes the battle got stopped. What does a draw count as? Bea had 2 draws and axeguy had a loss and a draw? Oh, it seems random chick, axeguy, and Bea are out. So, 5 people are out. I guess I''m not fighting Tania again so it''s probably bowdude.

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    Bowdude also needs to fight Tania. I guess they would let those without losses fight first and the ones with losses go against each other and I will go against that one in the final. We had half an hour break. I decided to go to the lounge and see what was going on. It seems only Tania was there. Oh shit!

    ¡°Wait!¡± I sat down and she started to talk again. She talked and talked and talked. I tuned out again and thought about how to deal with bowdude. I think I can be reckless because I have 5 [Frozen skin] stacks so I can take 5 hits before I have to pay attention. I think I have an idea of what I¡¯m going to do.

    ¡°Hey, are you listening?!¡± Break is over! It seems I have to fight bowdude.

    ¡°That was what I was saying! I won¡¯t allow you to lose to him! I want my rematch!¡± Guess I should lose then.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare!¡± I ignored her and went into the arena. Bow dude seemed to have taken his spot in the windy part of the arena. I guess he is serious. I walked over to the snowy part. He looked a bit surprised, he probably thought I would go to the sea part. The match started and bowdude started spamming [Wind lances] and shooting arrows at me. I wanted to make my standard 1 km ice pillar but that wouldn''t fit so I made a 50-meter ice pillar with mirrors in various angles attached to it so he couldn''t get me from sneaky angles and I sniped his arrows and wind lances down. It was quite challenging without Elgards eyes but I didn''t let anything through so far. I had the higher ground so he had to put in work to evade my arrows and keep up the pressure.

    But meanwhile, I was slowly shifting the snow, which was only falling on my part of the arena, to his part. He didn''t seem to notice it until it was too late. Snow hit him and ice crystals started to grow on his body. He looked horrified. I guess he has seen this before. He looked up and tried to run away from the snow. It looked quite funny a gown ass man running away from snow. I kept up the pressure by continuing to shoot arrows at him. This guy is amazing even while running for his life he kept the pressure on me. He seems frustrated and I know why. He probably wants to run toward me and not away but it''s also snowing where I am. I guess I will go to him.

    I created a [Steam cannon 2.0] next to the pillar I was standing on. He probably didn''t notice it. I aimed it at him. I bent the light around me with the moisture in the air and left a water clone to continue to shoot at him while I loaded myself in the cannon protected by my multi-layered ice/water barrier. He only noticed the cannon when I shot it off but it was too late. I crashed into him. He managed to somehow partially block it but I jumped out of the barrier, formed a blade out of ice, and held it at his neck. He surrendered. I shook his hand and he thanked me for the fight. What a nice guy, I¡¯m going to complain to Tania if he doesn''t make it to C-rank.

    Next up was Tania against bowdude and this was an important match both had 1 loss. Bowdude opened up very strong he put the hurt on Tania and put a lot of pressure on her. Unfortunately, he was still a bit tired from his match with me so he was a bit slower. This didn''t stop him from almost one-sidedly beating up Tania. She then used her lighting warrior thingy and this swiftly turned the tide. This thing is overpowered holy shit, is this even allowed?! Wait didn''t she use this against me too? In that case, I¡¯m sure bowdude can beat this.

    Aaand, he lost, I guess this thing is way stronger than I thought. Poor bowdude. Another break because Tania was quite messed up, I could probably defeat her with my pinky in this state. I suddenly realized that I didn¡¯t take any damage. Oh no this is drawing a lot of attention, isn''t it? Why can¡¯t I just be a regular person? I thought of maybe taking some damage but between my 5 layers of [Frozen skin], lightning magic hurting quite a lot and it probably being too late to start taking damage I decided to just continue how I do things. I think my first match with her was humiliating enough for her so I will try to finish this as swiftly as possible, I want to eat some sushi. A relaxing 30-minute break and we got back to the arena. I don¡¯t know what the deal was with that medical room but it seems quite potent.

    ¡°I won¡¯t hold back this time!¡± Me neither. Somehow this seemed to alarm the announcer and Tania¡¯s Daddy. So inconsiderate of them! It¡¯s not like Tania will die, probably. The sign to start rang and Tana summoned 2 lighting warrior things. I opened with [Tsunami]. Tania¡¯s look of confidence turned into despair as the wall of water approached her and she levitated and floated away from it.

    I followed up with [flood] and [Azure sharks] the lightning warriors helped her block the tsunami but it ended up getting one destroyed. I hopped on an [Azure shark] and sent the shiver of sharks at Tania. By the time she realized what happened the [Azure sharks] tore the lightning warrior into shreds, so far for her ultimate skill. She tried to make a big attack but I used [Azure Spear] which dropped from the sky in front of her. This scared the living shit out of her and she surrendered. These combos are brutal.

    And like this, I won this pointless tournament. I wanted to escape and go get some sushi but there were still some things that had to be done. We got some feedback and told us how we did on the various points they were paying attention to. Tania, Al, bowdude and I made it to C-rank. Bea sounded quite pissed but to be honest her fights were lame. After all the formal stuff I got met with my buddies. They weren''t surprised that I made it but with how much ease I made it. I had a short chat with bowdude and we decided to do some quests together at some point. Sally also congratulated me and made it overly clear that she was impressed and that she will make sure to apply what she saw here. 2 hours after my match with Tania finished, I could finally get out and went to my favorite sushi place but it was closed because of the power outage. Noooo! My sushi!

 Vol 2 Ch 13 Ella Reviha

    Life as a C-rank was quite easy. It had a lot of quests that weren¡¯t hard but just needed people of a certain strength. So it could be, beat up this problematic monster or something. I took quite some with bowdude whose name apparently is Jeff and Tania also tagged along for some reason. Months passed. Shania successfully finished her 2-month long quest and also made it to C-rank after her assessment. She was the only one who made it to C-rank during her assessment. Bea was there again and still didn''t make it. Shania decided to change her name to Ella Reviha after getting C-rank with the help of Tania¡¯s Daddy and the president. It seems that could be done.

    It seems that when adventurers hit C-rank there is a high likelihood they can become famous so if they don¡¯t want their real name to be known throughout the area or the world, they can change their adventurer name. This was a huge pain for me because I had to relearn her name now but since she already knew how to make me remember this wasn''t a big deal. Shit was still going down in the capital, Raishin, and Ted reached D-rank and Sally kept asking me for tips.

    Ted¡¯s birthday, March 19th, passed, Gregory¡¯s birthday, June 11th, passed and for the first time we met her we got to Shania¡¯s uhm I mean Ella¡¯s birthday on August 37th. Raishin decided to make a big deal out of it but Ella didn¡¯t want it to be something big. Things have changed a bit during this year and more and more shady characters have been spotted in the city.

    Ted and I fought off a group that seemed to be after us. We lured them into a dark alley and we beat them up. Ted knew that I had to dispose of them so he told me to do whatever I needed to do as long as he didn''t know what I did. But besides those, there were shady characters that didn''t seem to be looking for us. There were quite some delivering spirits. I intercepted those I detected. But there were also those that did neither, they seemed to be doing something else. The city had also put in an investigation to find out what caused the power outage earlier this year but so far, they haven''t found anything which is good news for me. I have the feeling that it might be wise to leave this city in the near future. I went to the plaza and saw Raishin with a huge sign with a picture of him a heart and Ella. I facepalmed, Ella is going to kick his ass if she finds out. I decided to tackle him and take his sign away but some guy started talking to him. I got closer and Raishin was happily talking about himself and his relationship.

    Sup Raishin, do you have a new friend? Oh hey, Gert this is Agnis. Agnis, Gert was wondering what I was doing and I told him that I was showing off Ella and he is thinking of doing something like that too for his girlfriend.

    Oh, Hello Gert, tell me a bit about your girlfriend if that¡¯s the case. I wasn¡¯t really interested in his girlfriend but I found this guy suspicious.

    ¡°Uhh, she is nice, a bit shy and I love her very much.¡± How long have you been together?

    ¡°Uhh, 2 years, why?¡± You have been 2 years with her but that is all you have to say about her? And if she is shy, don¡¯t you think she isn¡¯t going to like this? I pointed at the sign Raishin was holding and took it from him and destroyed it.

    Hey! She is going to kick your ass I hope you¡¯re prepared.

    ¡°Uhh, I haven''t seen her that much!¡± Yeah, that¡¯s bullshit! Who are you?! The guy instantly ran away.

    Raishin we¡¯re following him! I activated my Elgards eyes and we chased him down. I have a bad feeling about this.

    Hey Agnis, I have a bad feeling about this! Same! I just thought about it. We got into the less crowded part of the city. I intercepted an attack coming at us from the side and Raishin evaded something coming out of a shadow. There were 4 more people. Our target handed notes to each of them and they spread out.

    Oh no you don''t! I used [Turning leaf] on 2 of them. I could simultaneously swap 2 targets now but the 2nd target would take mana. I froze them to the ground. Raishin teleported and managed to catch 2 but 1 escaped. I sent a clone after him but he seemed skilled at escaping. I created a space with illusions so that these 4 wouldn''t escape. Who sent you!

    ¡°That is none of your business!¡± I wasn¡¯t asking nicely! Raishin blasted off the arm of one of the spies.

    Why were you poking around my girlfriend!

    ¡°Aagh! You have no idea who she is!¡± Well, then, why don¡¯t you tell us? I froze 2 spies solid that tried to attack Raishin. I shattered the ice and one-shot them. Raishin blasted off the spy¡¯s other arm. Tell me!

    ¡°Aaagh! I will die before I tell you that she is a princess!¡± Wow, this is the dumbest spy I¡¯ve ever encountered. Yes, I know! She¡¯s, my princess! But why are you after her?

    And my friend is dumb too! Tell me!

    Right, leave this to me. I put him under the illusion that showed his deepest fear.

    ¡°Aaagh ahh! Save me!¡± How about you tell me what I want to hear? The spy pissed his pants and spilled the beans. Whoever hired him truly messed up. But¡­ This information was quite concerning. Ella or Shania as we knew her is actually the princess of Igrini kingdom. This kingdom has a king in power when there is a war going on and a queen when there is peace. The fact that a king is in power means that this country has been in a war quite recently but because the country is in peace, the next ruler will be a queen. And Shania has 2 older brothers and is the only daughter. Which means she will be the next queen.

    So, I¡¯m going to be a king? Hoo I surely hope not and I think you will more likely be executed than being a king. Anyways this isn''t the whole story, is it? The spy blabbered more while still being under the illusion that he was getting tortured. It seems Shania hates how royalty and noblemen act and treat their citizens in general and that all she wants is to see the world. She can¡¯t be a good ruler if she doesn''t know how the world really works.

    I knew Ella was smart but this makes a lot of sense. I also feel for her because she has some similarities to my mom. I gave a sign to Raishin that this is probably everything he knows and that he can kill the other spies. Personally, I don¡¯t care that she kept this secret, we have secrets too and just like she would probably not believe ours, we might not have believed hers, the problem is how Raishin sees this.

    I can''t believe she hid this from me. He seemed quite sad.

    You do realize we are hiding that we are mythical creatures, right? But this is different!

    How? I don¡¯t know!

    Either way now that this has happened, we need to tell her we know and that people are after her. I had the feeling we need to leave this city soon before but now we need to put this as priority number 1. My clone didn''t manage to catch the last guy. I cleaned up and dropped the illusions. I talked a bit more about this with Raishin. We would continue celebrating her birthday and tell her the day after. I increased the number of shadow clones to monitor the city. The day continued like how it was planned and Raishin and Ella had a great time. Raishin did a great job at hiding that this was bothering him.

    Since I didn¡¯t need to be with them at all times, I wrapped things up on my end. I paid for the hotel telling them we would be staying for 3 more days. I also notified the adventurer¡¯s Association that we would be moving for an undetermined time to an undetermined place. Tania¡¯s daddy wasn¡¯t happy but he knew this was common for adventurers. He told me to talk to Tania before we would leave but I don¡¯t think I will do that. I noticed that someone was following me around in the Association and I confronted him. He claimed to be my friend and that we¡¯d met before. I don¡¯t remember anyone by the name of Kal. He insisted and that he was the son of the president. Playing his Daddy card too, eh? I politely told him that I was busy and shook him off.

    <hr>

    The next day we held a small meeting with the 5 of us in Ted and Raishin¡¯s room. Gregory and Ted didn¡¯t know yet.

    Right, this isn''t gonna be easy to say so I¡¯m just going to be direct here, Ella. Raishin, and I discovered yesterday that you are the princess of Igrini kingdom. We have no issues with that you keeping this secret but we¡¯re telling you because yesterday Raishin and I encountered someone that was snooping around and it seemed he was looking for you, we extracted this information from him. I already came to the conclusion that we might have to move away from this city but since they seem to know that you are here, we might have to get out of here as soon as possible. I have already wrapped up some things, I paid for the hotel and notified the Association that we will be leaving but including today you have 3 days. I don¡¯t know how fast these guys move but we¡¯re already at a disadvantage, moreover, the capital is quite close so preferably finish everything today so that we can leave.

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    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­ I didn''t mean to lie to you all¡­¡± I know! You did nothing wrong! Let''s flee together and be happy! This feels like a fairytale, you¡¯re not pulling our leg are you Agnis? Judging by how Ella reacted, I think it''s safe to say this is the truth. Can you tell us why you escaped? Ella told us about the situation at the palace that it seemed like they were trying to turn her into a puppet leader to further their own agendas and also that since she has had a history of escaping the palace and mingling with the common folk that she knew that what she got taught didn¡¯t match with the reality.

    And one day she decided to go in the world and see what her country really was like. She did get caught every time she escaped so she focused on mastering light and dark magic, she also has an affinity for water magic but she thought it was useless until she met me. She wasn¡¯t planning on escaping her duty of becoming a queen but she did want to become a good one. We are on your side Ella but just so you realize, we¡¯re quite screwed you know.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± Hey Agnis! Don¡¯t bully her!

    ¡°It¡¯s ok Raishin, he is right, I did my best to erase all my traces but it wasn''t enough¡­¡± Well¡­ I think they found out because this idiot was walking around on the plaza with a sign with your and his image on it and he probably bragged to some spies and strangers about you¡­ We leave you alone for a bit and this happens¡­ Ella looked at Raishin and had a complicated expression but hugged him and forgave him. She did smack him afterward though.

    Ow! You deserved this! So, Ella, or Princess Shania, what methods will the royal palace use to retrieve you?

    ¡°You don''t need to be formal with me, you¡¯re my dear friends. And I don¡¯t think they will use the royal guards¡­ I¡¯m afraid that they will use the silent six¡­¡± Let me guess, they aren¡¯t mute but assassins?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I think it is better if I escape alone, they won¡¯t hurt me but they would probably kill you guys!¡± Yeah, that¡¯s not gonna happen, that¡¯s not how we roll, right? Hmm, you¡¯re correct but this is a problem, they are professional assassins, not noobs like we have encountered since we escaped Boshi town. Ted, Gregory, Raishin, and Ella, you escape first, I will create false trails. Absolutely not! We either all go or we don¡¯t! You just said they are professionals; you can¡¯t convince me you can trick and survive 6 of them!

    ¡°Actually, there are 7 of them.¡± Then why are they called the silent six¡­ you know what never mind¡­ Well telling you exactly how many there are as an assassin group is kind of stupid and this information is actually really useful. So Agnis and I talked about this for a bit yesterday and ehh, we also have something we¡¯ve been hiding from you. You see all of us, besides Ted, are mythical beasts.

    ¡°Huh? Raishin you, dummy! You are trying to make me feel better with a joke.¡± I guess this was bound to happen sooner or later. We all got our tails out.

    ¡°Huh? You''re all beast kin? I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t recognize the race of any of you.¡± Well, I guess that makes sense, what Agnis and I discovered is that the knowledge about our races isn¡¯t common knowledge anymore and what our category suggests, is mythical. Gregory gave a quick rundown. Ella was playing with Raishin¡¯s tails while listening. I sensed something. It was almost noon but some shady figures were moving around boldly. Still within the alleys and stuff but they didn''t seem to bother to conceal their presence much. 6 presences were closing in on us but from quite a distance. But because of that, I knew something was up because there are supposed to be 7.

    They move fast, guys we have company! Gregory covered us in shadows and shadow-melded us. A shadowy figure appeared out of nowhere that was aiming to assassinate Raishin but he missed because of Gregory¡¯s intervention. We appeared in a dark alley 200 meters from our hotel room.

    ¡°Guys, I want you to promise me one thing, especially you Raishin.¡± Hmm?

    ¡°Don¡¯t come and save me when they catch me, they won''t kill me, but they will kill you guys, please, abandon me if that happens, I will be fine!¡± Ok Sure. What?! Guys! She is one of us! I agree with Raishin!

    Listen, I think Ella and I are the only ones that know what is going on because both of us are in the field of being assassins or rogues, this shit is serious, you saw how that assassin guy tore down Al in the C-rank assessment in January? They will tear through Greg and Ted¡¯s defenses like that but 100 times easier, our only option is to run or kill them 1 by 1 and that is almost impossible if we have to make sure Ella doesn''t get caught, also¡­

    ¡°Thank you Agnis but I got this, Raishin, Ted, please respect my wishes, I don¡¯t want anyone to die or get hurt because of me, especially not you guys¡­¡± But¡­ ok¡­ Greg! Yeah, I noticed! Gregory and I created shadow clones of which half almost instantly got killed. I linked my eyes up with my buddies and Raishin tried to teleport but it got interrupted.

    Yikes, guess that doesn¡¯t work, can you link your eyes with Ella too? I fended off daggers flying out of nowhere and used [Turning leaf] on my allies to make them evade sneak attacks.

    I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t do that right now. We need to get out of here! Ted punched with his bear avatar but his target evaded. We were only dealing with 3 of the 7 but the others were closing in.

    Screw this! I covered us in 5 layers of illusions. And we got some breathing room and managed to get 10 minutes of uninterrupted escape time.

    Greg, take Shania and Raishin and go ahead, Ted and I will lay some traps! I can¡¯t make any traps though¡­

    I need your bear avatar to protect me. I laid some frost traps and got my 5 layers of [Frozen skin]. This would be crucial because with this skill level, they would probably land some hits on me. They managed to break the illusions and took a good 1 minute to figure out our rough location. It was hard to keep to the shady alleys and not bring down the city so our options were severely limited. We were lucky that none of them were shadow users. 2 tried to teleport to us and I messed with their teleports and sent them in the other direction. Take that!

    We ran through an alley and encountered a clich¨¦ scene of some thugs trying to intimidate an attractive young lady.

    Scram! Ted punched the thugs away with his bear avatar and I apologized to her for the inconvenience as we continued running. I sensed a frost trap going off. It caught one assassin. I was hoping for more to get stuck. So, 2 were too far to be a problem and 1 was stuck. One presence disappeared so it only looked like 3 were following us.

    Ugh, this shit again! I threw a [frost cloak] on Ted and used [Frozen ground]. The assassin appeared, he didn''t slip but his aim was off because of the slippery floor, it broke a layer of my [Frozen skin] and I used [Frozen breath]. He tried to dispel it but this was frost magic. He noticed that it didn''t work and evaded backward. Only his right arm was frozen. I sucked as much mana as I could out of him and he made the swift decision to get rid of his arm.

    You are right, they aren''t messing around. Ted tried to get a hit on the one-armed assassin but couldn''t get a hit in but the assassin quickly identified the avatar''s weak spot and threw augmented daggers at its joints and gradually made the avatar smaller. I pulled mana out of the surroundings and the assassin decided to retreat because it was at a disadvantage.

    Is your bear avatar ok? If we get attacked by 2 of them, we might be in deep shit! I grabbed Ted and tried to teleport but it also got interrupted. I assume one of these guys is in charge of messing with teleports. I guess running it is. I dashed off with Ted. I made sure to stick to the low-populated alleys.

    2 of the 4 on our tails headed towards Gregory, Raishin, and Ella. Gregory and Raishin were still linked to my vision so they could see that.

    - How about you and Raishin coordinate a teleport at the same moment and see which one goes through? - - Good idea- I coordinated my teleport with Raishin and only ours went through.

    Sup! Ours failed. I figured out which one is messing with our teleports, be right back!

    Wait! Gregory used [Shadow bind] on me.

    Let¡¯s not be reckless, let''s escape together. We reached the quieter suburbs so we could use bigger streets to escape. Suddenly an assassin appeared in front of us.

    Crap I forgot about that one. Ugh, one arm again? One arm threw something at the ground and it suddenly teleported an army of royal guards and they surrounded us. Shit! That¡¯s cheating!

    ¡°Hand over the princess! You''re surrounded!¡± Hand her over or what?!

    ¡°Suffer consequences for your kidnapping!¡± It¡¯s not like you will let us go even if we comply so there is no reason to willingly give her up!

    ¡°Guys, please this is enough¡­¡± No! Guys, I don¡¯t want to be that guy but if we don¡¯t get out of here those assassins are going to catch up. I pushed Raishin aside and took a dagger aimed at his heart, I was down to 3 layers of [Frozen skin] and this time I froze One arm solid and shattered him into a million pieces.

    ¡°He showed aggression! Attack!¡± So unreasonable! He attacked first! We tried to hold them off but not only them we tried to prevent Raishin from blowing up the whole town. I lost all my [Frozen skin] layers and each of us took some minor damage. And when the assassins caught up, they kidnapped Ella. Noo! My love!

    ¡°Guys leave me! I will be fine! Remember what you promised!¡± I created 7 illusion layers and used [Confusion] on the assassin who kidnapped Ella... He took a lot of damage but didn''t flinch. Gregory created a shadow underneath us. I¡¯m sorry Raishin but she¡¯s right, these guys shifted from princess retrieval to kill the kidnappers mode. He shadow-melded us but Raishin broke out of it before the meld happened.

    Raishin, you fool! We need to help him! We can¡¯t! Gregory''s shadow melded to the edge of the city. It didn''t seem like we got pursued any longer.

    Good now we can get them back now that they¡¯re not pursuing us! I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t think that is a good idea. And that is the last thing I remember because I think Ted knocked me out.

 Mistflower Chapter: I am Ayaru

    The bitch was still chasing me. I had no idea where I was supposed to go to. I couldn¡¯t go back to Paula and Paul because I would be luring a crazy bitch to our home. Should I lure her into Witchaven? I was tempted but Remi and Bea are still there.

    ¡°Get hit by [Biian] and fall!¡± The goddess used a skill named after herself.

    ¡°You named a skill after yourself? How narcissistic can you be?!¡± I yelled back as golden light particles started to gather and the sky turned gold. This might be bad.

    Rays of light burst down and the light particles shot golden light beams in every direction.

    I created as many [Ice mirrors] as I could and cast [Slow] on Biian. It failed. I tried 3 more times and it stuck the last attempt.

    It was as if the world had turned into slow motion. All the light beams flew out at walking speed. I poured more mana into my staff and fled.

    ¡°Come here you bitch!¡± The narcissist was still slowed. ¡°Ugh, fine, have it this way then!¡±

    A bright light appeared behind me. I wanted to see what was happening but it would probably blind me. The light didn¡¯t stop. I decided to create an [Ice Mirror] and look behind me and I discovered that the bitch had become fatter. Well, that¡¯s not exactly true, she had immensely grown in size. Her hair was also gold.

    She swiped her arm at me and countless [Lasers] flew at me. I made more [Ice Mirrors] and flew upwards. I had noticed that some of Biian¡¯s attacks had hit the ground and might have wiped out a village or two. The sky was quite clear. If I could just get to the mass of clouds in the distance, I could attempt to scare her away.

    I scattered more [Azure Flowers] and made the petals turn into small mirrors to keep myself safe. I also used [Fog].

    ¡°Come here and fight!¡± Biian¡¯s face got red like a tomato.

    Is this bitch stupid? I am not going to fight fairly against an enormous goddess made out of light! Screw that! I want to go home! I swatted some attacks away with my hat. I also had taken some hits and my hat had poured another burst of mana into me to keep me alive. In my current state, I can ¡®die¡¯ 5 more times.

    I need a lot of time and rest to replenish my mana. I started throwing [Spatial Spears] at her.

    Nothing seemed to hurt her. Fighting gods is so unfair!

    Why did I get myself into this mess? It was hard to find out where this all began. It probably began right before I submitted my life¡¯s work. Maybe I should start there. But first! I need to introduce myself!

    <hr>

    I am Ayaru Mistflower, a witch researching magic circles and mana runes at the Misha Academy in Witchaven, the second-largest city of the witches. The other races call us ¡®Witches¡¯ but we call ourselves Misha. My magic affinities are water, fire, wind, charm, and spatiotemporal magic.

    I love magic, adventure, cake, and Mistflowers. I love the fragrance of Mistflowers and their calming properties. I love them so much that I created a Mistflower extract which I could use as a basis for perfume and lotion. I was blessed with beautiful blue hair which matches well with the color of Mistflowers. My looks is something I treasurel because unfortunately, this is all I have. I had one friend but she got kicked out of Witchaven. This means that I have no friends here. I was holed up inside my research lab because there was no point in going home. My life is my research. Misha put a high importance on achievements by research or by demonstrating complicated magic that had been deemed to be impossible. I am perfectly capable of doing the latter but I am more focused on the former.

    I put the book down that I had been studying that I have been reading for the last 3 weeks. Should go home? It has been months since I had entered my house. I tidied my desk and left my research lab.

    The entrance of my lab sits in a shallow pool of water. There is a reason for this. We lock our houses and research labs with magic skills or a sequence of magic skills that are difficult or even impossible to reproduce. I had fixed my lock 5 months ago because that is when I had officially finished my research. My lock opens from series of water magic spells, hence the shallow pool of water. Water magic increases in effectiveness when there is water around.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    This particular corridor looks strange because just like my research lab has a shallow pool of water, other lab entrances have strange conditions or structures near them to aid the owner of the lab in unlocking their doors. Research is very important to us as is protecting it. All I have to do is to finalize my research paper and submit it to the council. I wonder what they will think of it.

    I used [Tsunami] and my custom skills, [Azure Shark], [Azure Spear], and [Azure Mist] to lock my lab. I was proud of my new lock! Other labs could be broken in after some effort but mine is different! Nobody has studied magic circles and runes like I have. Just as humans use keys to lock their doors, we Misha use a sequence of magical spells to lock our doors and especially labs. Our houses are mostly locked by one skill that is unusual or unique to us while our labs mostly have a sequence of skills. Since my skills are highly customized, nobody can enter my lab or house!

    I walked through the corridors of the Misha Academy. I had graduated from here a long time ago. I was just a researcher now. Most students I saw here were older than me though. They call me a prodigy but I don¡¯t feel like I am.

    ¡°It¡¯s that Misha again!¡±

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t you think she might be a succubus instead?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so jealous!¡±

    They were all admiring my beauty but not in the way that I had hoped. I have certain features that are more common under the races that have charm or seduction as a trait. My mother is a Misha but I don¡¯t know who or what my father was. I looked at my bountiful chest. I couldn¡¯t see my toes but I don¡¯t need to see them. I pulled down my hat a bit and hastily walked past the students. I had lost all track of time. I thought it was late in the evening but a new day had arrived and it was already noon.

    The azure-colored house on top of a hill was mine. It wasn''t too far from the academy. I unlocked my door with an [Azure Spear] and dropped down on my couch. I haven¡¯t been here for almost 2 months. or 3 months? I can''t remember. I twirled my fingers and azure-colored petals floated through my house and started cleaning and clearing out the dust. I looked at an image of my graduation and another one of me and my only friend Paula. I sighed. What am I doing with my life? I am just researching day in and day out. I don¡¯t have time for my other hobby, adventuring.

    I picked up a book that had been lying on the couch since I had last been home. It was fan fiction about the Calamity Trio, 3 beautiful women who loved adventure. They had even fought off deities. They consist of Edea Hourai, Nadila Sheru, and Felicia Torai. An all-female team. They are especially popular with the non-humans. There was nothing they couldn¡¯t do! Their last adventure involved a large battle in the country of Bia, where Nadila had wiped out the capital city. As far as I know, Bia was in the wrong but I might just be a biased fan. Unfortunately, nobody has seen them for a while. And that¡¯s where the fanfiction had started. I had read this book almost a dozen times. I wonder, if I get strong enough, will they give me a chance to travel with them? They are all from races that are ¡®Immortal¡¯. While Misha are counted as mortals, we¡¯re technically immortal. We can¡¯t die from old age but we stay dead after we get killed, these 3 don¡¯t.

    Their races are fascinating. I leaned back and thought about my life so far. I would finish this research paper and submit it. Hopefully, it will get approved and then I will have enough accolades to leave and do whatever I want. I strengthened my resolve. I was almost there! I had worked hard to get here. I don¡¯t care what my peers think of me as long as I bring results! I ate some cake to cheer myself up and energize myself. I will revise all my work tomorrow.

    I went and took a long relaxing bath with Mistflower oil. Resting is not something I take seriously, so this was extremely relaxing. I had to make sure I didn¡¯t fall asleep. I went to my study room and took a book off my shelf. Most of these books here were written by me. My field of research is strangely uncommon. There have been 2 books vaguely alluding to aspects I could utilize. Most of the theories turned out to be incorrect, so It was almost as if I had started from scratch. I flipped through the pages but it had seemed that my fatigue was taking over my body and made it impossible to focus. I went into my bedroom which was themed after Mistflowers.

    Tomorrow would be a long day. I would revise my work but I will also have to spar. My rival Beatrice Manarune has returned and has spread baseless rumors again. I hate that bitch. She pisses me off to no end and it is time to put that redhead down. Not because my theme is blue and hers is red means that she needs to be such a bitch. What is worse is that she is as dumb as a brick. I have no idea how she graduated or how her papers have been approved but a teenage human can outsmart her. Unfortunately, that doesn¡¯t matter because her power is real. She might be the strongest Misha in Witchaven at the moment. I have a favorable matchup against her and I can show off my self-made skills! That bitch is going to hate this hahaha!

    I covered myself in blue fluffy blankets. I just love cuddling fluffy things! I fell asleep after finding a way to humiliate Beatrice and finding a way to dispel those rumors.

 Vol 2 Ch 14: Party Crashing

    I woke up and Ted and Gregory were arguing. Ted you asshole! I¡¯m sorry but you needed to cool down, you were probably going to blast half the city.

    Not wrong, what are you arguing about? I think we should get Raishin back no matter what the means and Ted is shoving his moral compass in my face.

    Right, let¡¯s vote, I vote for whatever Greg¡¯s idea is. Yes, but we can do that without blowing up half the town!

    They don¡¯t care about us, why do we need to care about them? They got Raishin! Our best friend! Aren¡¯t you angry or worried?! I am but blowing up half the city will make things worse! They aren''t coming after us now but if we do that they will! That is a fair point but I still think that we should do whatever we can, I don¡¯t want him to die.

    I¡¯m making clones and letting them look around, all my clones disappeared because you knocked me out¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­

    From what I can see is that they¡¯re not in Ainahs anymore, I¡¯m looking around in the capital but that city is a mess and quite big. I¡¯m sending 3 clones over there. So, what is your plan then Ted? Instead of going scorched earth on the city and capital we find out where he is held and break him out.

    What if he will be dead by then? Well, this suggests otherwise. What¡¯s that?

    I swiped this and it seems to be an order from the king, anyone who is caught associated with the princess will get locked up in Event Horizon. They can¡¯t find their own princess for 1.5 years and they blame it on us? Event Horizon? What is that? I know what it is as a scientific term but I¡¯m sure this means something different.

    No clue, I guess we should find out. Uh oh. What?

    My clones got found out and got assassinated. I guess that makes sense¡­ they will be keeping their assassins close to them now. We discussed more about how and what and it started to get late. I decided to send a clone to the library to find out what Event Horizon was. We spent the night in the camp Ted and Gregory made and found a place more remote the day after. My clone finally found useful information.

    Right guys, I got it, the Event Horizon is the largest and most impenetrable prison on the Kaledonian continent, it lends its name to the fact that is an ancient structure that managed to successfully capture a black hole and harness its energy. The modified technology uses time dilation to make criminals sit out long sentences which are not that long compared to those outside of the influence of time dilation. That explains a lot¡­ where is it?

    No clue, it didn''t give any location. So, I guess we need to snoop around then.

    I¡¯m sure they know where it is in the palace, if we sneak inside, we can get that information. Let¡¯s go infiltrate the palace! That is a reckless idea! How about we snoop around the people that monitor who goes in and out of the city. That army teleported in though, there is no guarantee that will be helpful.

    Hmm, ok how about this I will snoop around there and you 2 crazies can go infiltrate the palace, just keep an eye on him, Greg! Will do. Maybe we can take a diplomatic route and appeal to the king. Meh, that sounds naive best to assassinate the king so that Ella gets to power.

    Why doesn''t that sound like a terrible idea? No assassinating! Damn, would it kill you to turn off that moral compass of yours?

    No assassinating! Meh, fine, only when it''s necessary. How do you want to be diplomatic about it? Hey king, we found your daughter but you mistook us for kidnappers so can you give us Raishin back? Hmm, well if you say it like that it''s going to sound dumb. Don¡¯t worry, I will figure out something, you can go in disguise and see what you can do.

    Ooh, I guess I should work on my female disguise! What why?

    I think I will get better results like that. Uhh, do your thing, disguise and deception are your forte. We planned out how and what we would do. The only problem was how to get into the palace.

    <hr>

    The next day my clone found useful information about a party in the palace. Ted set out earlier this morning to go do his thing.

    When is the party? Tomorrow. We already have invitations! I showed 2 invitations my clone swiped from some nobles.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Great! We need an appropriate wardrobe though. Do we?

    Do you want to go like that? Moreover, didn¡¯t you plan to go as a chick? That means you need a dress hehe. Oh shit.

    Are you backing out? Ugh, I want to but retrieving Raishin is more important, no room for my pride here. Ugh, this is going to suck. I cleared my throat and did my female voice impersonation.

    Still creepy to hear how good you are at it¡­ did you make your voice sexier? No? I think it always was like that. Now to [Transform]!

    Don¡¯t you mean to use your illusions? Oh no illusions can be picked up by professionals, [Transform] cannot! There is just one problem¡­

    Which is? Switching back to male is super hard¡­

    How hard? I don¡¯t know because I never did it but I know it''s hard to transform back! After a certain amount of time, I will change back but I will be a chick till then, give me a second, I''m going to run some simulations on it. My clones that came close to the palace kept getting into trouble so I stopped sending them too close. After 3 hours my simulation was done and I [Transformed].

    Hmm, this feels odd, I feel heavier. Hmm, I knew female nine-tailed spirit foxes were gorgeous but it''s hard to imagine that you could pull it off too.

    Aww, don¡¯t be such a meanie, I have feelings too! Hmm, let¡¯s see what I look like. Oh, I¡¯m quite the hottie. You don¡¯t look like you¡¯re 13¡­

    I bumped my age up a bit, and did some tweaks. I have to be able to trick the biggest audience I can get. I have the feeling you are going to ruin a lot of men at that party¡­

    That¡¯s what they get for messing with Raishin! You might want to do something about that silver hair though¡­

    Hmm, how about blonde? Hmm, maybe keep it silver so that you draw attention.

    Hmm, I¡¯ll go for blonde, I don¡¯t think running around with silver hair is a good idea. Maybe I should also change to look a bit more like I¡¯m from around here. Done! Just don¡¯t get into trouble looking like that¡­ and where did you get that dress from?

    Just an illusion to see how and what.

    You¡¯re having fun with this aren¡¯t you? Now hide those ears, we need to go shopping. Hmm yeah, I need a dress to accentuate my curves!

    This sounds so weird¡­ please let this be over soon!

    We went to the city and got some fancy clothes. I instantly saw something that would fit me nicely. I don¡¯t understand why Ella always took so long to find clothes. We left the city and went to a quiet spot and I teleported with Gregory to the capital. It looked like a storm had raged through the capital. It wasn''t super messy but it wasn''t as neat as Ainahs. Right, let¡¯s find a hotel and crash a party tomorrow! Wait like this? They might get the wrong idea!

    So what? It¡¯s not like you know anyone here! No, I mean I will be fine, I¡¯m talking about you, you''re a chick now.

    Ah, you''re thinking too much about it, nobody will recognize me either, let''s go! We tried to get a hotel room but the receptionist kept making tasteless jokes.

    Ok, asshole! I had enough of your tasteless jokes! We¡¯re here to sleep, I¡¯m not here to bang him or suck his dick, and before you think anything like, I¡¯m leading him on or anything he is my brother so I would appreciate it if you would just do your job and stop making a fool out of yourself! Everyone in the lobby looked at me and clapped. I flipped a lock of my hair and grabbed the key. This is so easy as a chick.

    Did your personality change a bit when you transformed? I don¡¯t think so, I still feel like me. Now excuse me I need to run simulations, I will have to probably emulate Azu to get the most out of our party tomorrow.

    I feel sorry for the nobles¡­ I¡¯m going to abuse these looks as much as possible!

    I continued running simulations till late in the night and curled up in my tails. So weird my tails aren''t as fluffy as I¡¯m used to. I brushed them and tried again. What? Why does it feel different?

    Are there gender differences in my race besides the obvious ones? I did a self-diagnostic. My offense was lower but my defenses were higher, wait are guys even more glass cannon than the chicks? Oh no, what else, hmm I have access to charm attacks, yeh let''s not touch that, I don''t want to turn the palace into mindless zombies worshipping me. What else, yup less fluffy tail, my eyes seem to be worse but I''m way faster than as a guy. Does this mean that if Hisui finds me I can¡¯t escape from her? Shivers ran through my spine. At least I know now. What else? Females are better at transforming within their own gender but are garbage at transforming into the male sex. So, this is the reason why transforming back is a royal pain. Besides that, there were no differences but male nine-tail foxes being squishier and slower than the females bugged me, maybe this is why there are way more females. At least males have fluffier tails! I tried to sleep again by curling up again but it felt different and unfamiliar so I decided to use the bed.

    <hr>

    I woke up and looked outside. Ugh, that was an uncomfortable sleep. Agnis! Put something on! Hmm I have, ohh it slipped off. I have to change anyways!

    Ugh, this was a mistake¡­ I changed into the black dress I got from shopping yesterday after I accidentally flashed Gregory. I made a mirror out of water magic.

    Ooh, I look super-hot. All the information is mine for the taking! I waited till Gregory was finished and we headed over to the palace. I decided that walking would look lame so I created a vehicle out of ice. I located other noblemen that would be going to the party with my Elgards eyes but these eyes were harder to use. Quite an annoying gender difference. I headed toward the entrance the nobles would take to join the party. I locked arms with Gregory and we showed our invitation and got in quite easily. We got led into a big hall with tables full of food and a balcony where the king and the queen were sitting. The king looked like he was balding. I didn''t spot Ella anywhere. There were so many nobles here it was hard to count, and I had trouble because these eyes were difficult. Many nobles were talking to each other and it seemed a party just means talking. How boring. I saw nobody eating so I decided to watch and wait.

 Vol 2 Ch 15: AgnÃ¨s Oures

    Gregory went to talk to some noblemen to get a feel of the situation. I was eying the table with various seafood. It looked delicious but nobody was touching the food yet and I didn''t want to be the first one. Suddenly I found myself surrounded by 3 young noblemen. I guess it¡¯s time for my act.

    ¡°Good morning milady, can I have your name?¡± Ugh, so posh, let me do my best posh impersonation. Good day, my name is Ag¡­ Shit! I didn''t think this through! I need a name! What is a good female name?!

    ¡°I apologize, I did not catch that.¡±

    ¡°Psst hey look at how hot she is.¡± Ahum, I¡¯m sorry gentlemen, I thought I saw something in the corner of my eye, excuse me for being unclear, my name is Agn¨¨s Oures, with who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?

    ¡°Wow, she sounds well-mannered! Ehum, I mean my name is Olivier Eggart Nej¡± Olivier was a short man with big eyes and had glasses on that looked too big for his head.

    ¡°Norbert Ungas Bertov¡± Norbert was tall and skinny, he had an air of confidence and had unusual red hair.

    ¡°Werner Tillman Fotey¡± Werner looked like background character #24, he even had bangs covering his eyes so besides that there was nothing that made him stand out.

    I chuckled. Are these guys for real, did their parents realize they named their sons OEN, NUB, and WTF? Do you mind if I drop the formalities, to be honest, it is a royal pain in the derriere to talk like this.

    ¡°Oh, we don''t mind, so, are you alone here?¡± Hmm, I wonder¡­ are you going to keep me company?

    ¡°Oh, if you don''t mind!¡±

    ¡°Psst, hey Norbert look at her boobs!¡± These idiots think I can''t hear them, not that this matters. Hmm, I¡¯m wondering how the seafood tastes but I don¡¯t want to be the first one to take some food.

    ¡°Oh, let¡¯s get some for you then!¡± The 3 idiots went to grab some food for me and I sat down and looked around. It didn''t seem like the idiots were drawing much attention. I tried to eavesdrop on some conversations but there was too much chatter. The idiots brought me some food. I put up my best smile. Thank you! They were smitten. I might be a guy myself but damn are we simple.

    ¡°So, the Oures family, eh? I never heard about them.¡± I twitched. Damn, are they on to me?

    ¡°Maybe it is a very small family, just think about it if they have a daughter as hot as her then we surely would have known.¡± Ehehe, yeah, we¡¯re quite small, we might get kicked out of the nobility status because we are small and relatively poor. That is why I¡¯m hoping to make some useful connections here.

    ¡°Oooh! Is there anything you¡¯re interested in?!¡±

    ¡°Hey back off Olivier! I saw her first!¡± Oh, please don''t fight over me, I¡¯m just a poor noble girl, I¡¯m sure there are noblewomen here more suited for you guys.

    ¡°O, nono you¡¯re the prettiest one here right guys?¡±

    ¡°Yeh!¡± Right, time to sink my claws into these guys and get what I want. Oh, how nice, I¡¯m just curious about something but I might get into trouble and I can''t bring shame to my family, what do I do? I started sobbing a bit.

    ¡°Ooh don¡¯t worry! We will help you!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we won''t tell anyone!¡± I can''t! I can''t get you guys, kind guys, who I just met, I can''t drag you into this! I got up and dramatically ran away.

    ¡°Agn¨¨s wait!¡±

    ¡°Guys let''s help her!¡± While running away and pretending to be crying my eye caught Gregory¡¯s and he rolled his eyes. I was standing in a corner quite out of sight of the individuals that I identified guards.

    ¡°Wait! We can help! I might not be from a very influential family but Norbert is!¡± So, NUB is the less noob out of these guys, how ironic.

    ¡°I will do my best to help you.¡± You see an acquaintance of mine got into trouble and got sent to Event Horizon, but the allegations are false! He got framed. And I tried to figure out where it was but I didn''t have the resources to find out where it was and how to save him. I owe him my life! I can''t let him rot in there! I put up my best tears.

    ¡°Please don''t cry, your face looks prettier when you smile.¡± Ugh, I need to control my expression but that was so cheesy. I don¡¯t think I butchered my expression because the guys were still falling for my act.

    ¡°Hmm, Event Horizon, eh? That is tricky. Fortunately, I know where it is, it is in the south-western part of Igrini close to the border past the Aurelia mountain range on the Empty Plain, it¡¯s quite far from here, and it takes about a week to get there.¡° Really? Thank you! I grabbed his hand with both my hands.

    Why is it so hard to find though?

    ¡°Uhh, I don¡¯t know, I just know that only noblemen and the royal family know about it because only individuals who have wronged the royal family or the nobles go there, the common folk doesn''t know about it and aren''t supposed to. So, my family isn¡¯t seen as nobles anymore¡­ I should have known¡­

    ¡°Look what you did Norbert! It¡¯s fine maybe if uhm you would marry me your family will rise up!¡±

    ¡°Werner! Stop being a creep, you¡¯re taking advantage of her!¡± I¡¯m sorry for being such a mess and thank you. I don''t want to drag your family down. I¡¯m fine.

    ¡°But maybe we could help!¡± I¡¯m sorry, I don''t want to drag you down with me, I¡¯m going to save my brother and accept the consequences it has for my family, I don¡¯t want you to be involved!

    ¡°Ugh, you have a point¡­¡±

    ¡°Is there really no other way?¡± I don¡¯t know¡­ I don¡¯t have any information to make a choice here¡­

    ¡°Give me a second! My dad always carries his journal with him, it has various important details and events written in it, he always told me I could look into it if I needed guidance, maybe it has something useful!¡± Norbert ran off to possibly deliver a very useful journal to me. I ate the seafood these idiots brought me. Norbert came back with the journal.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see...¡± Can I take a look? I¡¯m a fast reader. I threw in a bit of charm and easily got the journal. It smelled like old paper and it was quite heavy. Luckily it was easy to find what I needed in no time with my Elgards eyes. I flipped through the pages and archived everything. I love being a nine-tailed spirit fox.

    There is no other way I can get my brother back but there were some details that could make this easier for me and methods where our punishment will become less severe. This was a lie because it only had procedures and nothing all too interesting for us but I can¡¯t really tell them what I¡¯m looking for.

    ¡°Whoa, you must be super smart! That was fast!¡±

    ¡°I see... So not much help, was it?¡± Oh no! You were a lot of help! I wouldn''t be able to save my younger brother if it wasn''t for you! My older brother would be delighted to know this!

    ¡°Wait you have an older brother?¡± The guys started to become uncomfortable and started to look around. Yeah, he must be somewhere here! I¡¯m going to look for him!

    ¡°Ehh ok¡± I managed to break free from these helpful guys. I tried to look for Gregory but he was nowhere to be found.

    Ah well, I walked around and tried to get some food from another table but some creep approached me.

    ¡°Hey, are you alone here?¡± I looked around and spotted someone who would be an easy target. I spotted a necklace on him which said ¡®Vido¡¯ Who wears a necklace with his own name? I ran at this Vido guy and locked my arm with his. No! I¡¯m with Vido!

    ¡°Wait what? Who are you?¡±

    ¡°Vido? Who is this woman!?¡±

    A wide woman waddled over to us.

    ¡°Elizabeth! I don''t know!¡± Vido? It¡¯s me! Agn¨¨s did you forget me already? After we had fun last week?

    ¡°I knew it! You were cheating!¡± Wait, Vido? Who is this piggie? Are you cheating on me? I thought you said you loved slim chicks with big boobs. Vido started sweating and the creep backed off.

    ¡°I... I don¡¯t know who you are and what you¡¯re talking about!¡± But you didn''t stop looking at my cleavage since I locked arms with you!

    ¡°Vido! Explain yourself!¡± Yes, Vido! Explain yourself! Who is this homewrecker?

    ¡°Me? Homewrecker? It is you who is a homewrecker! I¡¯m his wife!¡± I acted shocked.

    His... his wife? I looked at Vido in horror.

    You told me you were single and that I was the only one for you! I ran away and faked my tears. I left chaos behind.

    I did manage to snatch some food from the table I was interested in. Luckily this place was big so it was quite easy to avoid the people I just encountered. I looked around and nobody was paying attention to me so I altered my appearance a bit and shifted the color of my dress to dark blue. I saw some well-dressed noble girls approaching me.

    ¡°Oh hey, you must be from a poor family, I have never seen you at events like this.¡±

    ¡°Her face is pretty but her dress is atrocious.¡± I¡¯m sorry I don''t want to waste your time; I will remove myself so that you 2 have this food for yourself. I wanted to leave but my arm got grabbed.

    ¡°Excuse me, did you just call us fat?¡± Huh? I said no such thing.

    ¡°You did! You said you would leave all the food on this table to us, do we look like we could eat all of this?¡± I don¡¯t see how those are correlated, you can eat all the food on this table and not be fat.

    ¡°You are full of shit!¡± I can give a demonstration. I sat at the table in my most ladylike manner and in my most ladylike way, I ate all the food from the table in 15 minutes. I wiped my mouth with style and stood up. I demonstrated my flat belly.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    See, I¡¯m not fat, yet. I ate all the food on this table, which means they are not correlated. The 2 were looking at me like I was crazy.

    Well then excuse me!

    ¡°Hey hold it there bitch! You can¡¯t make fun of us and just leave!¡± Do you want me to make fun of you and stay?

    ¡°Yes, wait no! Don¡¯t you dare make fun of us!¡± Ok, I won¡¯t then, bye!

    ¡°Hey, I said hold it!¡± Ugh, what do you want? I dodged a slap.

    Are you done? I dodged another slap.

    ¡°Hey stand still!¡± I dodged a slap by pushing a chair into the bitch that tried to slap me which caused her to miss. She made an ugly fall that drew attention. Be careful what you wish for.

    ¡°You are dead!¡±

    ¡°Excuse me, ladies, what is going on here?¡±

    ¡°Ahh prince Nesho!¡± The chick that didn''t trip ran at a moderately handsome but short man with blonde hair. He looked like a shorter and male version of Ella. I guess this is her big little brother.

    ¡°This bitch is making fun of us!¡± Yeah! She is making fun of us! I said as I pointed to the chick that tripped. Small guy raised his eyebrow.

    ¡°I did see how you 2 harassed her when she was just relaxing at this table alone. It is clear that you 2 instigated this.¡±

    ¡°That is not true! She called us over and insulted us! Telling us we¡¯re fat for wanting the whole table for ourselves.¡±

    ¡°But I saw her eating all the food on the table by herself.¡± Just give up ladies, you¡¯re not going to fool him just come clean and confess.

    ¡°Wha! Why you!¡± She shot a fireball at me which I caught with the cup I was holding and put it out by covering the cup with my hand to make the fire die.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± Somehow a lot of people saw that and were amazed by this simple feat. I really need to learn what is common sense for humans¡­ The security royal guard came and escorted the women away. Thank you for your help.

    ¡°I haven''t seen you around, where are you from?¡± Oh, happens a lot, I¡¯m from a very small and unimportant noble family, don''t mind me.

    ¡°Hmm, can I ask you something?¡± Uhh, I¡¯m a bit busy

    ¡°On this party?¡± I may or may not have made some enemies here.

    ¡°Hmm, you are quite attractive, I can see why many women are jealous of you.¡± Uhm, that was not what I meant but I will take the compliment.

    ¡°You seem a bit more down to earth than most other noblewomen of your age, are you perhaps interested in meeting my little sister and talking to her? She has been quite depressed since she returned home.¡± Oh, you have a sister? She must be quite¡­ I looked down at him. Short¡­

    ¡°My sister is also blunt like you, I hope you will get along.¡± I guess I¡¯m visiting Ella. I don''t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. And where the hell is Gregory?! I got led through some corridors and I looked around with my Elgards eyes. There was one assassin in the palace and a lot of royal guards especially around Ella¡¯s room. Short stuff knocked on the door.

    ¡°Shania, I have someone you might like to talk to¡±

    ¡°Go away! I want to be alone!¡±

    ¡°I leave it to you.¡± How selfish! I stepped inside. Short stuff closed the door and left me behind in this room. This room was enormous. It could almost fit a small house.

    ¡°Go away!¡± Now now, Ella Reviha, is this how you talk to a friend? She looked up.

    ¡°How do you know that name? Who are you?¡± Let me introduce myself, I¡¯m Agn¨¨s Oures. I showed her my tails.

    ¡°Agnis? What are you doing here? And why are you so¡­ pretty¡­?¡± Well, this and that happened and we¡¯re planning to rescue Raishin. I would like to rescue you too but¡­ I looked around with my Elgards eyes.

    I don''t think that¡¯s gonna happen sorry. Ella started to cry.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, I didn''t mean to cause you all this trouble.¡± She cried in my arms. Listen here, we got into this ourselves and we accepted it, moreover, we have gone through rougher times than this. After we rescue Raishin, we will find a way to meet up with you and tell you about our adventures. We need you to be strong. You are the future of this country, make sure that whatever happened here dies when you come into power. Ella wiped her tears.

    ¡°Thank you. Did you come alone?¡± I came with Greg but that idiot probably got lost somewhere.

    ¡°Is he also¡­¡± Oh no, he is his normal male self, how do you like these boobs?

    ¡°They are¡­ impressive¡­ so what did you come to do here?¡± I came to find out how and what about Event Horizon.

    ¡°What?! They sent my poor Raishin to Event Horizon?! Absolutely unacceptable!¡± She tried to stand up but I sat her down.

    Before you go give your parents hell can you tell me what you know about it? Ella told me what she knew about Event Horizon. Most of it matched what I knew from that Journal. Also, that various strong wardens make that place their home. Basically, getting in is easy but just like a black hole, once you get in you will be devoured and never get out. Well, this sucks but we don''t have a choice. She also gave me a small amulet.

    ¡°When you get in deep trouble, show this to any of the higher-ups, hopefully, they will let you through. Please don''t forget! It could save your life, please save Raishin for me.¡± Don''t worry about us, you just focus on becoming the best queen this kingdom has ever seen.

    ¡°I will do my best¡­ I need to travel the country for that though.¡± Have you ever learned [shadow clone]?

    ¡°No, I have not.¡± I checked the area, and nothing funky. I dropped a 5 layered illusion on the room and pulled Ella into a pocket dimension.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Time flow¡¯s differently here, I¡¯m going to teach you [Shadow clone] and [Shadow swap]. I can only teach you the basics because to get really good at it you need to use them a lot. You can then escape and leave a shadow clone behind and swap places with it when you need to be present here because someone does a serious check-up on you or something. I gave her a crash course on how the skills worked and how to activate them. She learned fast and after 10 hours she got good enough at it that she could practice by herself. Shadow swap went messy but that was also good enough. We got out and I removed the illusion layers.

    Only 5 minutes passed here so don''t worry, maybe you should sleep, it might sound rude but you look like a mess and that training didn''t help.

    ¡°Thank you, please be careful! Event Horizon is a perilous place!¡± We will. I left Ella¡¯s room and I saw short stuff in the distance. He brought me to the party hall while doing some small talk. I told him she went to sleep which seemed to please him since she hadn''t slept since she got here. He extended an invitation for me to come over more often to talk to Ella but I politely decline because honestly, I don¡¯t have the time for that. I got led back to the party hall and noticed that there was a hard-to-notice barrier around it. It seemed to hinder the formation of magic circles.

    I guess that¡¯s why that random chick¡¯s [Fireball] was so weak. It forces you to either fail the magic skill or have to severely weaken it to still make it go through. I guess that makes sense, the royal family is in this hall too. Some noble guys were dancing with noble women. Yikes I have to stay away from that, I can¡¯t dance. I saw some men lock onto me. Right, time to show off my magic tool!

    Well, they are not locking on to me with magic but who knows maybe this will work. I moved and activated it. It seemed to work just with sight. I found a spot where I probably wouldn¡¯t be spotted easily. I was standing behind a pillar and peeking into the hall. I know it¡¯s a party but I hate crowds and people in general. The food looks good though, I just don''t want to get ambushed and made fun of on the dance floor.

    Nobody seemed to be looking at me so I used [Turning Leaf] and kept swapping the fake pearls of my necklace with food on the table a bit further up. I was limited to snacks because it would be obvious if a plate with food suddenly disappeared. I was clearing out a table with desserts. I first started with cookies but I discovered that these chocolate pastries filled with whipped cream were quite good. I got carried away and didn''t notice someone approaching.

    ¡°Hey there young lady, aren¡¯t you going to join the other nobles in the party?¡± I turned around still stuffing my face with some of the pastries in my hand. I chewed till my month was empty while sizing up this tall chunky guy with blonde curly hair that seemed to be balding.

    Oh, pardon my rudeness, your highness, ehh why are you talking to a low-status noble like me? I slowly continued finishing my desserts and licked my fingers and cleaned my hand and mouth with a handkerchief.

    ¡°Quite the appetite you have there, I got curious about why you seem to be hiding.¡± I don¡¯t feel comfortable with all these nobles, you see my family is so low in status that we aren¡¯t even regarded as nobles. Have you ever heard about the Oures family? I¡¯m sure we are so unimportant that they aren¡¯t even in your records¡­

    ¡°Oh¡­ I have indeed never heard about that name, hmm I can¡¯t relate but I can understand that this is uncomfortable, how about you have a chat with me and my wife? I heard from my son that you helped out my daughter.¡± Ugh, I don¡¯t really want to deal with the royal family. I looked into the hall, to deal with the nobles or the royal family. Why can¡¯t people just leave me alone? Uhh, I don¡¯t want to waste your time.

    ¡°Nonsense! My wife wants to thank you!¡± He put his hand on my back and led me toward their VIP area. I felt very uncomfortable and this king dude talked a bit to the queen. Now that I see her up close, she looks like a more mature Ella. She could pass for Ella¡¯s older sister. Short stuff was here too and some other people that looked like strong royal guards.

    ¡°Agn¨¨s Oures right? I heard that you helped my daughter and that your family has disappeared from nobility. I know the names of all the noble families and I have to admit, I have never heard of your family, are you sure you are of nobility?¡± Unfortunately, I don¡¯t think our family qualifies for nobility anymore, I can leave if this is a problem. I don¡¯t want to disrespect anyone here. I¡¯m really hoping my bullshitting will get me out safely.

    ¡°Well, I value family more than anything and since you helped my daughter more than any of us could I would prefer you to stay.¡± Uhh, ok¡­ I really need to work on my escape plans. And where is Gregory?!

    -Yoo, where the fuck are you?!- -I think I took the wrong turn somewhere. ¨C

    - So, you¡¯re lost¡­ again¡­ I¡¯ll link my eyes up with you so you can find your way here. I need to get out of here! - -Thanks- I linked my vision with him and relaxed. I just have to wait this out.

    ¡°So Agn¨¨s, what do you think of the state of the country?¡± For some reason, I piqued the interest of the queen.

    Note to self: avoid royalty in the future. Well, if I can be honest, it¡¯s a mess, the capital is a mess and shady characters have been lurking around everywhere for quite some time. Those are probably just the tip of the iceberg.

    ¡°Hmm, yeah, I would have loved to work on these problems but a certain someone kept me asleep and busy with unimportant issues! I only learned about Shania¡¯s disappearance 2 weeks ago!¡± She gave an angry look at the king and her son. They seemed to become quite uncomfortable. So, you are not in touch with what happens in the country?

    ¡°Unfortunately, not, my husband is currently in power but he only knows how to wage war so he needs my assistance, but lately he has been putting me to sleep or sending me on diplomatic trips all the time to get me out of the palace. You aren¡¯t cheating on me, are you?¡±

    ¡°O¡­ of course not! Right?!¡± Short stuff nodded and so did the royal guards, something sounds fishy, as if they were hiding something from the queen. Hmm, anyways Ella, I mean Shania just needs some time alone, I know you might be worried about her but she just needs time.

    ¡°Do you perchance know her? She surely didn''t sit still in those 3 weeks she was gone.¡± I looked at short stuff and the king, they seemed very uncomfortable. I think it¡¯s time to act maliciously and pretend I don¡¯t know what is going on here. 3 weeks? Oh no my queen, I met her almost a year ago and I have been with her ever since, but unfortunately several days ago she got roughly extracted from her life in the city by some assassins and royal guards. My little half-brother who was with her got caught in this chaos and got sent to Event Horizon. I put on my best sobbing act.

    We didn¡¯t know that she was the princess, we only learned about it at that moment, please my queen, can you save my brother Raishin?! He is too dumb to go to Event Horizon! The queen looked empathic, approached me, and grabbed my hands.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry you had to go through this, unfortunately, he falls outside our jurisdiction the moment he gets collected by the wardens. I will see what I can do for you but I can''t promise anything.¡± She got up and looked at the king.

    ¡°You lied to me again Ignatius, Shania was missing for over a year?! Is that why you kept me weak and asleep for so long?! You are in big trouble!¡±

    ¡±Noo, honey! I can explain! She is lying! Guards! Capture her!!¡± Ugh, the king is doubling down, I thought he was a nice person. I got something out of my pocket dimension, it was a copy of a document. This document was signed by Shania and it was the document of Raishin¡¯s admittance to the adventurer¡¯s Association. Whenever a new person gets a recommendation to join, they have to put their signature down to confirm that they recommended the newbie.

    I handed this over to the queen before running from the guards.

    ¡°Ignatius! This document is authentic! Look at the date!¡± Gregory arrived just in time. It was hard running in this dress. He seemed to realize that I yet again caused chaos and used [Blackout]. It is a racial skill so he had no issues using it. All the light in the room went out and he grabbed me and shadow melded to the edge of the capital. From there I teleported both of us back to Ainahs.

    I am convinced that your middle name is ¡°Chaos¡±. Hmm, Agn¨¨s Chaos Oures, nah, that doesn''t sound good.

    What? You know what? I don¡¯t think I want to know¡­ Gregory told me about what he went through during the party and what information he found.

 Vol 2 Ch 16: Lorenz Nyx

    I separated from the female Agnis to talk to some noblemen. I was sure he, she whatever, would give me a headache if I would stay close. Moreover, I would probably hurt her act of trapping noblemen at this party if I was nearby. It is bizarre, Agnis doesn¡¯t understand the female gender at all yet I have no doubt that he will be successful in tricking men. I guess it is in his nine-tail blood. I decide on a fake name and approach 2 noblemen at a table. They seemed to be talking about politics. I had to approach this carefully to maximize my efficiency.

    Good afternoon gentlemen, I¡¯m Lorenz Nyx, and I''m the accountant of that noblewoman over there. I gestured at Agnis who was in his female disguise and drew gazes at herself.

    Recently I discovered an old document from an anonymous sender which had various unimportant details in it but it had a specific detail pertaining to a certain ¡®Event Horizon¡¯ that drew my interest. I was unable to find concrete information or evidence about its existence, could you two perchance shed a light on my predicament?

    ¡°What a lovely lady you serve, even under the nobles it¡¯s a subject that isn¡¯t well known, I¡¯m not surprised your lady doesn¡¯t know about it because she seems quite young, I myself don¡¯t know much about it, only that crimes against royalty and noblemen get punished by getting sent to Event Horizon. I don¡¯t know where it is. All I know is that a message will be sent through the royal palace to the prison and wardens will come to pick up the criminal at the southeast gate.¡± Hmm, I see, the document alluded to a member of my lady¡¯s family getting sent to Event Horizon, do any of you have any suggestions for retrieving this individual?

    ¡°Hmmm, I got nothing, how about you Clive?¡±

    ¡°My apologies, as far as I know, once one enters the gates of Event Horizon, they will never leave.¡± That is unfortunate, I extend my gratitude toward you two for this little chat, do any of you perchance know of someone who might know more?

    ¡°Under the nobles, maybe Gregory Janis Bertov, besides him, probably the royal family.¡± He looked over to the royal family in the distance and I followed his gaze. Thank you very much. Clive showed me the person who I shared my name with. I tried to act casual and not head over to him immediately. I looked at what Agnis was doing and he seemed to have seduced 3 guys. One ran off and talked to my target and got something that looked like a journal. I guess in his own way Agnis found out information similar to mine and even procured information. In that case, I can relax a bit. I need to go to the toilet. I asked a royal guard where I could find the lavatory and got directions.

    I left the party hall and found myself in the palace corridors. I followed the directions but ended up in what looked like a reception hall. I backtracked but instead of ending up at the party hall, I ended up at the throne room. Is it possible that the layout of this palace constantly keeps changing? I saw a royal guard and approached him. Excuse me, I came from the party hall looking for the lavatory, one of your colleagues showed me the direction but he must have made a mistake.

    ¡°If you are all the way here that means he must have messed up yeah, you take the right there then take the second turn right and it should be on your left after you pass the indoor garden.

    Thank you. I followed his instructions but he must have made a mistake too because I found myself at the throne room again. I really needed to go to the toilet.

    Stolen story; please report.

    ¡°Hey, what? How did you end up here? I saw you going through that corridor over there. Did you teleport or something?¡± No, I just followed your directions and ended up here.

    ¡°That¡­ that¡¯s not possible¡­ here let me guide you to the lavatory, was it? That means toilet, right?¡± That is correct.

    ¡°You must be one of those, those people that always seem to get lost and find impossible ways to end up at the same spot, here you are, this here is the toilet, after you get out continue down this path until you hit a wall and turn right, you will find yourself back at the party hall, even you can¡¯t mess this up, cya!¡±

    I vacated my bladder and followed the direction of the kind royal guard. I kept walking and walking; I should be at the party hall by now. This palace needs clear direction signs. I walked a bit more and I got an ominous sensation. Some ominous energy was coming from somewhere. It can¡¯t be an assassin because the ones that kidnapped Ella at least were undetectable, these are either inexperienced assassins or something else. I followed the energy to a large wooden door. I looked around and shadow melded inside. I stayed in the shadow because there were 3 people inside.

    ¡°How is the plan going?¡±

    ¡°It is going quite well, we didn¡¯t have to do much, Ignatius tanked his credibility with the queen by himself, just a little bit more and it would be easy to get him assassinated, unfortunately, Shania got found but she still seems in distress so it might take time before she could become queen after the assassination. In the meantime, we could influence the other ministers and seize the power in this country.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, well the silent six are a problem to this plan though, fortunately, one died in their mission to retrieve the princess.¡± It seems that these 3 are ministers plotting the downfall of the current monarch. This is information that Agnis might be able to use to our advantage. It would be better to keep this a secret from Ted though, he would want to interfere even though it is not our place to.

    ¡°Maybe we can locate those that managed to kill one of the silent six and get them to our side.¡±

    ¡°Hmm I don¡¯t think that¡¯s necessary, Douglas, our top-secret project has shown good results. By modifying prisoners from Event Horizon, we have managed to make the perfect super-soldiers, their obedience is still a problem but not something we can¡¯t solve.¡±

    ¡°Do you genuinely think this is a good idea, Herman? They were locked up in the 4th ring for a reason.¡±

    ¡°Well, we have a prisoner from the 3rd ring that wants to lead them, he seemed willing to get his sentenced lessened to lead this bunch of misfits.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I see, anyways we have to make sure Shania stays in her current mood or we have to attempt and help her escape.¡±

    ¡°Well, we are lucky that she does this on a regular basis, it helped us speed along our plans, the palace always becomes chaos and poorly managed when she manages to escape.¡± I kept listening to these ministers chatting but they shifted to some political issues. I am uncertain if this information could be useful but it sounds interesting enough. I moved through the shadows and emerged in the corridor and tried to find my way back.

    -Yoo, where the fuck are you?!- -I think I took the wrong turn somewhere. ¨C

    - So, you¡¯re lost¡­ again¡­ I¡¯ll link my eyes up with you so you can find your way here. I need to get out of here! - -Thanks-

    Agnis, linked his vision with mine and I followed his conversation with the royal family. It seems he put himself in a difficult situation again. I followed the route he had planned for me, at least Agnis didn¡¯t lead me astray. I started to run because things were starting to take a turn for the worst.

    I arrived at the party hall and used [Blackout], drowning out all the light in this hall with shadows. I grabbed Agnis who was clumsily running at me with her long dress and shadow melded to the edge of the capital. From there he teleported both of us back to Ainahs. I am convinced that your middle name is ¡°Chaos¡±. Hmm, Agn¨¨s Chaos Oures, nah, that doesn''t sound good.

    What? You know what? I don¡¯t think I want to know¡­ I told Agnis about the information I acquired and he told me about his findings.

 Vol 2 Ch 17: Ted Barrington

    It took me a while to figure out how and what but I found out how to gather useful information. There is a small outpost outside of Scassarras where Raishin seemed to have been held for a day before he got sent off. If I only acted a bit faster. I sneaked into the outpost and observed the security. It was quite mediocre. That doesn¡¯t mean it would be easy for me to sneak around though. Agnis or even Gregory would have an easier time getting around here. Maybe I should have gone to the palace with Gregory and should have sent Agnis to deal with this. I vaguely remembered something Gregory and Agnis told me about sneaking around. Make my mana thin. I got a bit better at mana control this last year but I¡¯m not sure I can do this well enough to go by unnoticed. I managed to sneak into a building. I had to hide in a toilet stall because someone heard my footsteps.

    ¡°Quite the busy day, eh?¡±

    ¡°Can you please not talk to me while I¡¯m taking a piss?¡±

    ¡°Come on we got worked to the bone since queen Shera came back from her long trip.¡±

    ¡°I heard rumors that they just kept her asleep.¡±

    ¡°Anyways since she woke up the king got extra serious on finding Shania, unfortunately, this involved them sending a multitude of ¡®criminals¡¯ to Event Horizon.¡± Yeah, please keep this a secret but I¡¯m getting paid to take a shit at the moment, I¡¯m using this to get a break.

    ¡°Great, another one, can you guys stop talking to me while I¡¯m taking a piss?!¡± It is so exhausting, hey are there some people that they brought in that caught your attention?

    ¡°Hmm, to be honest, most seem like regular civilians, there were some human traffickers between them though¡­¡±

    ¡°I see I guess I won¡¯t be able to piss in silence¡­ If you can¡¯t beat them, join them. There was one funny kid that claimed to be the boyfriend of the princess though.¡±

    ¡°There are crazy people like that anywhere, I don¡¯t even know what the princess looks like, but if she looks anything like the queen, she surely is a hottie, huehue.¡±

    ¡°Stop laughing so creepy!¡± A funny kid? Are they even sending kids to Event Horizon?

    ¡°It seems so, weirdly enough he got sent to one of the deeper rings.¡± Deeper rings? I''m quite new here and didn¡¯t ask many questions, what do you mean by that? I heard someone close his zipper and the splashing of water.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly what it means but the lower the number of the layer the worse the crime is. I heard he got sent to Layer 2.¡±

    ¡°Layer 2? What could a kid do to deserve that?¡±

    ¡°Who knows, maybe he really was the boyfriend of the princess haha!¡±

    ¡°Haha! Hey don¡¯t take too long taking your shit! It will put more work on us!¡± The 2 men left the toilet area. I got out of my stall and looked around. Nobody was here. So, this prison, Event Horizon, has layers and they sent Raishin to layer 2. I don¡¯t know how big this place is so I might have to get a more precise location. I peeked out in the corridor and saw nobody; I walked through the corridor and went into the first door I found when I heard voices or footsteps approaching. I looked around and I was in a strange room. There was nobody in this room luckily. I tried to figure out what this room was but I was having difficulties because it was quite dark. I felt around but I couldn''t find something that could illuminate the room. My eyes slowly got used to the dark. It seemed like quite a strange room but I didn¡¯t have time since I heard people approaching. I saw a cabinet with boxes on it. I climbed on it and hid behind the boxes.

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    Two tall men entered the room and turned on the lights. One had hair that looked like fire and another man had a long beard. It reminded me of a dwarf but dwarfs aren¡¯t this tall. Both men sat down and looked through a window. There was a room on the other side of the window and s middle-aged man got sat down in the room. A person in a dark blue uniform entered and sat down and interrogated the middle-aged man. I assume this is an interrogation room. I couldn''t hear well what the interrogation was about but I could figure out what it was about. The conversation between the man with the flame hair and the man with the large beard implies that this is about the princess ¡®Kidnapping¡¯. They were discussing in which cell they would lock up this man.

    ¡°Let¡¯s lock him up in the 8th layer, North wing, section 3, cell 12.¡±

    ¡°A lot of so-called criminals lately, do you think they are all guilty?¡±

    ¡°That is not our job, we are not the jury, we just do as we¡¯re told and lock these people up based on how crazy they seem.¡±

    ¡°Most of these seem like normal people¡­¡± The man with the flaming hair looked at the man with the beard.

    ¡°Well, that kid we sent away yesterday was quite crazy.¡±

    ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t want to send him to Layer 2, but according to the protocol he should be locked up in layer 3 or worse, unfortunately, it doesn''t take age into account. The best I could do was send him to the East wing, which is the best part of the layer but still¡­¡±

    ¡°What has this country come to that they even send young kids into a prison made for dangerous criminals just for possibly interacting with the princess¡­¡± The man with the flaming hair put his head in his hands.

    ¡°Well, section 6 is quite empty so he won''t have to deal with many criminals.¡±

    ¡°That''s not the point, but whatever, the palace isn''t interested in if these people are at fault or not, they just want to send them to prison, and nothing we can do about it, send this guy away and get the next one in.¡± I had to sit through multiple of these interrogations. I started to get cramps but if I moved, I would get into trouble. After what felt like an eternity these guys decided to take a break.

    I waited for 5 minutes or so until I got out of my hiding spot. They turned off the light when they left but I got accustomed to it. I made sure to not knock over anything. I went to the desk the two men were sitting at and looked through the files. I looked at the date of yesterday. I found out where Raishin was sent. Event Horizon, Layer 2, East wing, Section 6, cell 4. I made sure to memorize this, put everything back in its place, and put my ear to the door. I didn''t hear anything so I opened the door and tried to leave the building. I heard footsteps and got into the toilets and locked myself in a toilet stall, again. I heard someone come in and about a minute later someone else.

    ¡°Yoo!¡±

    ¡°You again? Please let me piss in silence!¡±

    ¡±Aww, come on bro, we had a nice chat earlier today!¡±

    ¡°Hey! What the fuck! Don''t slap my back when I¡¯m taking a piss!¡±

    ¡°So cold, go pee out the bad energy! I wonder if that other guy is here too.¡± Sup!

    ¡°Oh shit! He¡¯s here too! I hope you¡¯re here again and not that you¡¯re still here.¡± Nope, I¡¯m here again, I think I might have eaten something that didn''t agree with my stomach.

    ¡°Look at us! We should become the toilet brothers!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d rather not! Leave me piss and that guy take a shit, nobody comes here to chat!¡±

    ¡°So hey, yesterday¡­¡±

    ¡°Alright! I¡¯m done!¡± I heard a zipper and someone leave.

    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s dirty bro! You didn''t wash your hands! Shitting bro are you still there?¡± I decided to not respond. I heard another zipper.

    ¡°Shitting bro?¡± I heard a stall getting opened and another. I have a bad feeling about this. This random guy finally got to the stall I locked myself up in.

    ¡°Hey, you didn''t shit so much that you passed out, did you?¡± I decided to climb up and go into the stall next to mine that he already checked.

    ¡°Hello?¡± I carefully got out of my stall and sneaked past him. He was quite rude he decided to look from under the door. I checked the corridor and it seemed safe. I made haste and left the building but before I left, I heard someone screaming about a toilet ghost. This drew the attention of the people outside and the chaos enabled me to escape. In the distance, I saw a strange large vehicle depart going southeast but I didn''t have time to give it more thought. I returned to Scassarras and decided to spend a night there before heading toward Ainahs.

 Vol 2 Ch 18: Event Horizon

    I have tried multiple times to transform back to my male version but have been on a failing streak almost the whole day. I was pretty exhausted. Gregory and I decided to try and store as much energy as possible since retrieving Raishin will be rough. At the end of the 5th day after Raishin¡¯s capture, I finally managed to get back to normal. Wow, that was rough, I can¡¯t see myself doing this again. Can you at least change your voice back to normal? It¡¯s unsettling. I fixed my voice back to normal. Weirdly enough nobody seemed to be looking for us after what happened in the palace, then again it seemed that even though the king is in power, it seemed the queen actually has the pants on in their relationship, she might have overruled the king¡¯s order. I made some clones to spar with myself to get used to my own body again.

    After a short spar, I got used to it and brushed my fluffy tails. Only after losing them did, I appreciate their fluffiness. Ted arrived the next morning and we pooled our information. Now that we more or less exactly know where Raishin is we can head out but Ted needed some rest. Gregory handed me some poisons and potions he crafted.

    So, I was thinking, you¡¯re more or less the assassin of our group but you don¡¯t use any poison, so I made 5 types of poison for you to use, these 2 are slow-acting poisons and these 3 work fast. Their effects, expiration dates and instructions are on the labels I¡¯ve added to the bottles. You really are going all out, eh?

    Be careful with this one. I put a red label on it because this one will turn into a gas and spread out when you open the bottle, use a syringe to get some out. And where am I supposed to get syringes from?

    Make some with your ice magic? Ah right haha, I knew that!

    I would give you a gas mask but I only have 1 and I¡¯m planning to use poison myself so I need it. I will find a way to not get screwed over by my own poison. Gregory looks at me skeptically.

    What! I will do my best ok! You better! I wish I could find out more about how that place works but unfortunately, I only got his location, it was quite risky for me, and I don¡¯t have any stealth skills.

    But at least you made them think there is a toilet ghost. Right, let''s go over the plan. It takes about a day to get from the Aurelia mountains to the prison. Agnis will teleport us to the edge of the mountain and we will walk from there. We don¡¯t know what kind of magic detection skills they have there but it¡¯s best we carefully approach it under Agnis¡¯ illusions. We will hide somewhere close and let Agnis and his clones scout the exterior out and when he identifies how and what Gregory will shadowmeld us inside. From there on we will have to navigate toward the cell where Raishin is locked up. I¡¯m sorry Agnis but you will have a lot of responsibility.

    That¡¯s fine. I was thinking that maybe we should let Agnis wreak havoc in case things go wrong. I prefer to stick together but the reality is, at some point, things will go wrong and if there is one thing Agnis is good at, it¡¯s throwing the enemies off, so, if possible, I want you to paralyze the system and either make them unable to react or spread misinformation. Meanwhile, Ted and I will do the rescuing. Is it really a good idea to leave him alone?

    In situations like this, it¡¯s best to move in the smallest groups possible. I will be fine, I¡¯m more concerned about you 2. I hope there are enough dark nooks I can shadow meld us in.

    When we¡¯re inside I could try and find the layout of the place which could make it easier for you guys to move around. Just make sure you don''t get caught!

    So overprotective! I¡¯ll be fine! Yeah, you should probably worry more about those that cross his path.

    Yeah, don¡¯t stop me, Ted! Whoever I encounter is going to meet their maker. Ugh, just make sure you don¡¯t get into trouble by doing that. Also don¡¯t forget to find out more information about the prison while you are at it.

    Putting all the hard work on me eh, but that¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll be ready to teleport us in a bit. It is okay to teleport us to a mountain on the edge of the mountain range, we will have to spend the night there, I don''t feel comfortable camping out on a plain. I teleported us to the side of a random mountain and found a cave to spend the night in. Tomorrow would be a week ago that Raishin got caught¡­ I hope he is ok and that we¡¯re not too late. Speed is important but being too hasty will get us all in deep trouble. I hope we struck the right balance here¡­

    We woke up and cleaned up the cave. We descended the mountain and headed toward the plain. I realized I picked out a suboptimal spot for us to rest last night because while descending we saw a glimpse of our destination.

    Whoa, look at that. Hmm, I guess its name makes a lot of sense now¡­ Whoa, that¡¯s fascinating! Even though our destination was still far away we could see it all the way from there because it was massive. I only know about this from stories and games I¡¯ve played but I assume this is a black hole, it felt like going blind when looking ati it, the word ¡®Black¡¯ was a huge understatement here. There was a large structure that had a glass dome over an massive black hole that seemed completely out of place. The black hole was floating well it looked like it was floating.

    I activated my Elgards eyes. Yup it¡¯s just a hole in spacetime which makes it look like it is floating but it just has a fixed position. I couldn''t inspect much because this large structure blocked most of my filters. But from what I could see is that this black hole was well-contained with no risk of causing any issues. It was extremely heavy but I don¡¯t have a reference to how heavy it is, throw enough digits at someone, and the context is lost, the radius, however¡­ 4.4 km that''s impressive. I could detect some ancient technology, actually most of this place seemed to be ancient technology.

    Can you link us up? I want to see it too! I linked Ted and Gregory up.

    This is truly impressive¡­ this is ancient technology, right? I don''t think anything could make something similar to this not even the Yttroz industries¡­ This just shows that they were way more advanced than we are, I would have never dreamed of actually seeing this structure in person. You know about this?

    Well yes and no, you''ve seen it before, remember that book we found in the underground library? We found pictures of large structures from ancient times, I recognize this one as one of the images, although it obviously looks slightly different, there is some modern technology and buildings there, see? Oh, right yeah, I remember now, but that is cool and all and this looks impressive but isn''t this very bad news for us? How so?

    Firstly, we can¡¯t nuke this place when shit goes down because else this black hole will go rogue, and that is assuming we can destroy ancient technology coz to me it looks way sturdier than anything I''ve ever seen, secondly, the insides would probably be like a dungeon and dungeons from ancient times don''t mess around, if it was just modern stuff that would be no problem but ancient technology simply terrifies me and lastly¡­ look how frigging huge that prison is! It¡¯s good that we know exactly where Raishin is coz this place is bigger than Ainahs! The radius of this black hole is 4.4 km and the radius of the prison they built around it is 15 km. Yeah, this looks rough. I thought we were well prepared¡­ guess we were naive¡­ Hmm, we have another problem on top of that Agnis, we might have to deal with gravity and time dilation issues.

    Fortunately, we have someone whose racial specialty falls into that category. Well, I could fix the time dilation for us, I haven''t touched gravity related magic though so you would have to do that though Gregory. Is it even going to work though? My gravity isn¡¯t real gravity, just weight manipulation and pulling objects and people to the ground. It¡¯s just called gravity magic for convenience.

    That should be enough, they probably have some way to deal with it in there else that whole building would get broken down and collapse into the black hole but if that isn¡¯t the case, we need you to fix our weight. So, what you two are saying is that being in there is just going to be a constant drain on you 2? It seems so yes; it is not as if we were planning to stay there long but without Agnis keeping the flow of time constant and me making sure we can actually move a seemingly fast in-and-out trip could take up days or even weeks. This brings me to something I just realized and am worried about.

    And that is?

    If Raishin is in there that means he is probably under the influence of time dilation, for us he might be gone for a week but to him, depending on when he arrived there it might feel like weeks or maybe even months. What a pain in the ass prison, I can see why it is so secure. Besides having the security of a normal prison, they also have that black hole helping them¡­ Is there any chance you can shut that black hole down?

    Nope zero, maybe in 50 years or so but not now. It is a formidable force of nature; we should proceed with caution.

    Yeah¡­ I need to do some simulations before we come near that thing. We were at the foot of the mountains by now and put up another camp to do some emergency simulations. I can control the flow of time but that''s mainly in the pocket dimensions I make, I have never attempted this outside those. I also want to just place this on my allies and not a wide area because I will be separating from Ted and Greg, this also means that it has to dynamically adapt, what a pain in the ass. I guess Gregory has to do something similar. After half a day Gregory seemed done. He didn''t seem super happy with the results but had something that passed his requirements. I took up almost the whole day to get something that got the requirements. I swear my tails are getting lazy.

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    So, we might have a problem, I can put a modified shadow cloak on your ankles, I¡¯ll call it [Shadow Anklets] and they will correct for the ¡®gravity¡¯ but¡­ it only works when I¡¯m close¡­ so unfortunately it won¡¯t work that well on you Agnis¡­ Hmm, I have the feeling that will be fine, gravity never seemed to really work on me. I jumped up and my jumps seemed floaty as if gravity has no idea what to do with me.

    Hmm, yeah, you always seemed to be somewhat resistant to gravity, you always fall slower than us, and stuff. Let¡¯s hope that is strong enough to not hinder you. How did your simulations go? Hmm well I had to make something from scratch, I also made it small and compact, like a [time ring], I calibrated it to the current time flow, it does work it¡¯s just a bit slow in applying its effects, so don''t go towards the center of the black hole too fast because it might take a good 1 to 2 minutes to correct it.

    Well, I would say those are pretty good results for just a day of simulating, I don¡¯t think we can take too much extra time, we don¡¯t know at what rate time is flowing differently for Raishin, this one day could have been one week for him. I really hope this all goes well¡­ I created the [Time rings] on all of us and Gregory used his [Shadow Anklets].

    Hey, Greg a question, the gravity thing is earth magic right? Yeh

    So why are you using a shadow skill? I store the gravity energy in my shadow and send it to the anklets close by to exert its effect and cancel out the increased gravity, so I will have to keep checking and sending the energy out. Nice loophole, sounds like a pain though¡­

    Yeah, it is¡­ but as long as I have the energy this shouldn''t be too big of an issue. You want me to blast into your shadows?

    Nah it¡¯s fine, I might not have done many quests but I have a large amount of energy stored so I should be fine, moreover, any flashy move you make could probably be seen from quite a distance¡­ Yeah. I cast strong illusions on us, grabbed Ted and Gregory with my tails, and dashed toward our destination. I kept checking if there was any sign of something that might have detected us but so far nothing seemed to indicate such. After running for about 5 minutes we got within walking distance and I stopped.

    Ted went to barf again and Gregory and I looked at the prison. It seemed to have a small village near its entrance. I guess since it''s so far out it makes sense. It probably houses the families of the people working in the prison. It was getting dark. I decided to keep the illusion up because in a village this small there is a high likelihood that everyone knows each other here. I don¡¯t know if tourism is a thing here but I did not see any sign that could cater to tourists.

    Right, I¡¯m going to find out how to get inside, give me a minute. I headed over toward the prison and discovered that there is a public area in the prison. It seemed to act like a mall in the public area so getting inside was easy but getting into the part we¡¯re interested in would probably be more problematic. This area reminds me a bit of the inside of the adventurer¡¯s Association. This is still the area that looks modern. I identified the areas that connected to the prison and went back and got Ted and Gregory inside. I put a mild illusion on us so that we could walk around without issues.

    Hmm, I didn¡¯t expect this. We can look around to possibly locate anything we can use to break Raishin out. We looked around but there was nothing useful. It was nearing 20:00 and it seemed they were closing. I hid Ted and Gregory and the place closed to the public. Gregory and I checked if there was anything trying to monitor this place but it was surprisingly lax. We got to the door that would lead to the ¡®Unauthorized¡¯ section. The door seemed sturdy and it seemed to have some magic lock.

    Well because of all the stuff that went on in Boshi town, it will need to be quite intricate to stop us. Gregory picked the magic lock with ease and opened the door.

    At least we don''t have to worry about getting through doors even after splitting up since both Greg and I can pick these locks with ease. I guess our past experiences will come in quite handy. We got through the door and we got into a corridor that had some changing rooms to the side. I hid us with illusions again and we got into a big hall. There was a large pillar that had 10 rows of digital clocks. It seemed to have the time and days passed on different layers, the last row read: Time until reset. I don¡¯t know what this means but reset seemed in 3 hours and 47 minutes. I looked at layer 2 and it said that almost 21 days have passed, Meanwhile, day 4 was coming to an end.

    What are those clocks? They seem to give off different times and days per layer, maybe the time dilation is different per layer.

    Is that even possible? Normally no but if it''s ancient technology, who knows, it seems that layer 2, where Raishin is locked up has had almost 21 days pass since what I assume was the last reset, look! the layer 9 clock runs normally but the other ones run way faster.

    Interesting. Hmm, it seems time on layer 2 runs about 4.2 times faster than over here, we just wasted almost 40 minutes of time from Raishin¡¯s perspective. Well, this makes things easier for me, I will be able to fix those rings in a bit if this is accurate. We kept to the walls because there were people walking around. Gregory tried to find out what the deal was with the possible increase of gravity but we couldn''t find anything. We didn''t seem to be in the area yet that held any cells. That pillar with clocks made us realize that every second was valuable but on the other hand, we couldn''t rush.

    Ted, you heard that Raishin got sent to this place on day 2 after he got caught right? Did you know how long it would take for them to arrive here? Hmm, the document I found gave an arrival date of 2 September at 08:00. So, nearing 4 days that he has been there so for him about 17 days have passed, oof.

    I have a question for you Agnis, if we step into layer 2 for example and your ring works how would it affect the interactions there? Oh, that is easy, everything around you would move 4.2 times slower than you guys.

    Oh, that is quite cool. Hmm well, the more I think about it the more whatever security they have in place will work at the same speed as you guys will. Hmm yeah, I guess that makes sense.

    But how does that make sense? Nobody would want to break in or can break out. I know you mean well Ted but that is na?ve. If this place fails because of lax security the worst criminals in history will escape, better safe than sorry so we should expect the worst. I agree.

    Right, guys I think this is where we need to split up, I sensed some anti-shadow magic guards. I need to make sure Greg and I can move around with shadow magic so I¡¯m going to deal with them. I handed an extra [time ring] over to Ted.

    This is for Raishin when you rescue him. Do you guys need a [frost cloak]? I don¡¯t think so, be careful. Yeah, don¡¯t die or get caught.

    You too. Gregory and Ted disappeared into a corridor and I headed over toward the anti-shadow magic guards. I''m lucky that shadow users that can use illusions are so rare. Maybe that¡¯s why Ella could escape and stay escaped for so long. Shadow magic and illusions are a nasty combo to deal with.

    I disabled all the anti-shadow magic guards in the vicinity. It gave me room to create some shadow clones and slowly wipe out all anti-shadow magic guards. I left illusions of these guards behind. Nobody seemed to be adept at illusions here so this would cause no issues. I reduced the number of clones to 2 and started looking for a floor plan. I couldn''t find anything. I looked long enough through the area that didn''t contain any cells. I don''t know what this is called officially. I went to the area that was holding the cells. It was quite easy to find, every place we were at before was the modern part but the area that was holding the cells was the ancient part. I couldn''t look through the walls that were made out of ancient technology. I looked up and saw a large part of the black hole and the glass dome. It was quite dark outside but contrasted with the black hole¡­ It looked like there was a hole in the night that was even darker, no matter how many times I look at it its intimidating. I could see layer 8 from here but it was quite the distance from here.

    I didn''t see any bridges or anything. It seemed that layer 9 was the only layer that was on the ground. Layer 8 and I assume deeper layers used the black hole as its center of gravity and not our planet. I guess that¡¯s why this layer looks like it''s out in the open, it¡¯s the largest layer and least protected by ancient technology. The deeper layers seemed to just look like a huge shell covering the lower half of the black hole. I tried to archive the places where I and my clones have been. I saw a normal guard approaching and ignored him because I was in stealth. I pickpocketed him to check what useful things he has. Nothing interesting, just keys, some candy a map of layer 9¡­ wait this map is useful. I looked at the map. It seems this layer has 4 wings each for the cardinal direction which makes sense, and every wing has at least 300 sections.

    Yikes that¡¯s a lot. I guess the inner layers have less since they are smaller. I followed the guard while studying the map. I tried to identify where I was. Why are these guys using maps made out of old-school paper and not magical maps? It seems I''m at the northern wing sector 174, looking around me I saw cell numbers 146 and 148. These cells looked like small houses. Is it because they have enough space here or are all cells like this? This whole layer just looked like a city with neat residential city blocks, it surely was monotonous the other sectors seemed to have cells of a slightly different color. So, it was easy to see which cells belonged to which sectors.

    I archived it and updated the map and made one that would look like a magical map. Because of my eyes, I could easily follow this. I saw various weird markings on the map. I had no idea what these were but I had an idea. I reverse-pickpocketed the guard but kept the candy. Hmm, peppermints. I decided to look around how this layer worked to get a good idea of what to expect from the other layers. Suddenly I felt that my energy started to drain a bit. I assume this is because Ted and Gregory stepped into the layer that experiences time dilation. I spent an hour looking for any useful information but this layer seemed quite simple. Not much special. I headed over to the location of where the weird marking was on the map. It was some sort of device.

    Is this a teleporter? Talking about teleports is it possible to teleport around in here? I sent pings and they got distorted a lot but it is possible. I didn''t accept the returning pings. I tried to send pings outside, they were distorted also but they also returned. Hmm this is rough. I put my tails to work to make sure that after saving Raishin we can teleport out and that I don''t have to worry about distorted pings. Now another problem. They could shut down these teleporters and nobody could get from layer 8 to here.

    As far as I can see and know there is no physical means of getting back here, so I will have to hack some of these devices to make sure they can¡¯t be shut down. I have no idea how any of these work. I made a clone and sent him through the teleporter and checked what it did. I made the clone pass back and forth a couple of times to make sure the device did the same when something returned. I had the 3 clones I had active spread out and find devices similar to these. I inspected it closely and found its magic circuit. I¡¯m no electromagical engineer but I do know a thing or 2 about magic runes. I sent weak lightning pulses through the system to see how the device reacted and started to adjust the runes. I managed to figure out what sequence would shut the device down.

    This took me a good 45 minutes. I had to interrupt this several times because a guard was passing by. I should be fine but I don''t want to take unnecessary risks. It was 23: 09 and I was still messing with this device. I could only figure out one sequence that could shut it down. They can¡¯t be this stupid to only have one sequence to shut this down, they should have more. I¡¯m a complete noob and I found it relatively fast, there must be more. At midnight I found 4 more and decided that I wasted enough time. Me and my clones started to move the magic runes around and mess with them so that the devices I messed with couldn''t be shut down by the sequences that I discovered. I¡¯m hoping that I found all of them¡­ I tested them out and they stayed active.

    I added small lightning orbs in the electromagic circuit to allow these to keep running even when their mana supply was cut off from the outside. I thought of anything else the guards can do to disable these devices. I laid frost traps that would go off when someone would attempt to destroy these, I made sure that these won¡¯t drain the mana from these devices. Do I have everything now? I think so. My clones and I stepped into the teleport devices.

 Update on prologues and the flow of the story.

    So as you may or may not know. My prologues are long. Too long. They were sitting at around 20k words so I have addressed this issue. I have abridged them into Chapter 0. For older readers; you won''t miss out on anything by not reading Chapter 0. For newer readers. Ehh you also won''t miss out on anything but I have moved the prologues somewhere else in case you are curious.

    So it will be a separate from this story and it''s called Agnisotra: The Fall of Hourai.

    So I have also written a side story Ayaru Mistflower which is in the same universe. ''Agnisotra: The Fall of Hourai'' goes into the events of ''Agnisotra: Origin Tails''

    But the chronological order of events are:

    Ayaru Mistflower</a>

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    Agnistora: The Fall of Hourai</a>

    Agnisotra: Origin Tails</a>

    <hr>

    So! the long prologues are gone and replaced by an abridged version. The side story ''Ayaru Mistflower'' has close ties with the first volume ''Boshi Town'' and who knows maybe the ties will go beyond that. Who knows. None of these are a ''must read'' I try to make my side stories as a stand alone. I am not confident that I can pull off flashbacks well in my main story so I probably will have to write short stories or side stories instead.

    Which brings me to the next part. I have completed writing the current volume ''Escaped'' So here is a question. Is there any short story or side story you want to see. It has to be related to the main story since a completely new story will take a lot of planning. Although trying a spin off in another style can be possible but highly experimental so don''t shoot me if it fails D:

    Anyway! I hope you are all enjoying my story! or will enjoy it if you''re new. If the story has any rough patches, please let me know and I will attempt to address them.

 Vol 2 Ch 19: Prison Candy

    My energy started to drain slightly faster but it was still low enough to be of no issue. It seems the [Time ring] was working perfectly. My eyes told me that the gravity here was stronger but I didn''t feel anything. I walked and still had floaty jumps. Hmm weird. This layer looked completely different. While layer 9 looked like it was outside, even though it was covered by a huge glass dome, this layer was completely inside.

    I looked around but the ancient technology was slightly interfering with my eyes. I could only see what was happening on this layer, which was fine. I tried to locate Ted and Gregory but this place was enormous. Their location isn''t important at the moment. I gave one clone the task to find them. I hope this place has a system to jump to layer 2 without having to go through the other layers. Maybe I should have tried to get that transporter to teleport me there but I can only interfere with its basic functions. I¡¯m not an engineer or hacker.

    I tried sending pings out but they didn''t even return. Guess no teleporting on this floor. I tried moving around while [shadow melded]. This worked. It was slow though, well too slow for me, probably fast enough for Gregory. There was poor lighting in this area so moving around while shadow melded would be quite effective. If all layers are like this I won''t have to worry about Ted and Gregory since Gregory could easily get them to layer 2 like this. I passed by some guards that were moving slowly but they sped up on big areas. It seems the ancient technology was canceling out the time dilation at what looks like a public area. They really make this place seem like a city.

    Why do inmates need a shopping district? Maybe Raishin isn¡¯t having that bad time in here. It was 02:47 and this place seemed peaceful and quiet. Is this really a prison? I approached a house ehh I mean cell. I couldn''t look inside but the placard indicated that it was empty. My clones confirmed that occupied cells had the name of the prisoners on the placards and between what times they were allowed out of their cells. My clones haven''t found any cell yet that allows the prisoners outside at all times. Their curfew seems to be at 21:00 and they are allowed outside of their cells at 10:00. I wonder what happens to them if they miss the curfew. I made a clone and sent it inside this empty cell. It didn''t lock behind my clone so I guess I was worried for nothing but it wouldn''t be funny if I accidentally locked myself in a cell. The cell looked like a small house it had a bathroom and a living room connected to the kitchen. These prisoners even have a tv¡­

    This doesn''t suit my image of a prison, the second floor had a shower a laundry room, and a bedroom. That was it. It was quite minimalistic. There seemed to be nothing special besides that the house was made out of ancient technology and I couldn''t look through the walls. I made my clone close the door but it didn''t lock itself or anything. I assume a certain procedure is needed to assign someone to a cell and cause it to actually act like a cell. I still didn''t want to risk it. I made the clone rest in that cell just as an experiment and found myself a spot that was quite hidden away in a park nearby. I swear nobody would believe me if I would describe this place and said it''s a prison. It is just like a quiet monotone neat city. I¡¯m sure there must be something that gives it more of a prison vibe. I curled up in my tails and fell asleep.

    <hr>

    I woke up at 08:41. I checked with my clone but he was still sleeping. What a slacker! I made my clone wake up and check the state of the cell, the clone had a very nice rest in a comfy bed¡­ not as comfy as my tails though. The clone could leave the cell with no problems. I decided to let him chill in that cell and take care of some simulations for me. I wanted to know if anything would happen to the cell if it was occupied when the inmates were allowed to go outside. There seemed to be way more guards walking around now. Is it in preparation for when the inmates could go outside?

    I sneaked around and stole more candy from the guards. These guards surely like their candy. Where are they all getting this candy from? I tried to pickpocket another guard but he didn''t have any candy on him. Maybe this guard is new? I followed him and he seemed to head over to a plaza. It had Section 58 on the floor in different colored tiles. He seemed to head over to something that looked like a shop

    Several other guards also headed over to the shop. It''s a candy shop¡­ aren¡¯t they spoiling the inmates a bit too much here? This place seemed popular and was selling quite well. I got concerned.

    I stole a lot of candy but only ate the peppermint of yesterday, it wasn''t that special, are adults supposed to be this addicted to candy? I inspected some candy I swiped. It looked like normal candy although no matter what different candy it was it seemed to have 1 ingredient that they had in common and I had no clue what this ingredient meant. What does Ergon mean? I never heard about this substance. I decided that it was fishy and that I won¡¯t eat any more of this candy. Judging from this behavior it seems to be addicting. I put the composition of some candy through simulations and let the clone in the cell deal with this. Maybe something will come out that Gregory can use. If it is some drug or special substance, he might know something about it.

    I signaled to a clone that was sneaking around on this floor to pay attention to the behavior of these guards to try and figure out what the effect of this Ergon laced candy does. I incinerated the rest of the candy I swiped in a pocket dimension. I noticed that opening my pocket dimension went easier than ever the opening was also larger than normal. What is this place? I did a more thorough scan of this place and there seemed spatiotemporal mana mixed in with the ambient mana. I didn''t even know this was possible I thought that only the elemental mana was present in the ambient mana but this explains why this went so easily.

    Is it because of this black hole? I couldn''t look at it now but that was the only thing I could think of, a black hole is technically an enormous mass of spatiotemporal stuff. Just like a volcano would have a lot of extra fire and earth mana in the air I guess a black hole would do something similar although again ambient spatiotemporal mana isn''t normal¡­

    I saw something that looked like a control tower in the distance. I haven''t actually paid attention to these even though these might be the most important in getting information about this place. But first I want to see how the inmates act.

    I waited till 10:00 and saw the inmates leaving their cells. I followed some. Some went to do grocery shopping. They had some special currency here. They had their ID card with their names picture and their crime and used them to scan some device which seemed to subtract the cost of the balance they had as some virtual money. I''ve seen something like this in movies and games but never in real life. Outside of this place, we still use bronze, silver, and gold. Some returned to their cell, others started socializing. It just looked like a normal city¡­ But every inmate I followed stopped at the candy shop.

    The vendors in these shops didn''t seem to be inmates or guards. They gave me an uncomfortable feeling; they didn''t feel human either but my eyes couldn''t identify what race they belonged to. I swiped some candy and inspected these; these candy seemed quite different from the ones that the guards bought. These didn''t have any Ergon but these candies had a substance called Mauropaidi. Probably also an addictive substance. The clone chilling in the cell had more things to work out now.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    These words sound as if they come from an ancient language, they might be from the same language those skills my gramps taught me. I checked the status on them, and yup they still are difficult as fuck and my tails haven''t figured it out to the point where I can practice with them. Recently I checked how complicated [Tsunami] was and it¡¯s about as complicated as these skills my grandpa tried to teach me, the difference is that Azu directly transferred this to me as opposed to me having to learn it and figure it out. If I ever meet her again, I should ask her how to do that because learning complicated skills the normal way is rough yo! Anyways things went well till noon, the inmates suddenly started to act odd and dispersed and headed to certain buildings in this sector. My clones observed the same.

    This section seemed to do things like stone cutting and carpentry and assembly. Another sector was processing crops and meat. Another was doing textile. Another one seemed to be assembling electromagic parts for electromagical devices. They weren''t just working they were working hard. These seemed like things that society would normally use slaves for. Hmm, I guess it looks more like a prison now but I''m not sure what prison would be better, a stereotypical cell that''s small and you''re stuck in it like that with no freedom but you also do not have to work your ass off or this¡­ it looks like a peaceful city you have the illusion of freedom but you have to work your ass off. I guess they get paid in the credits they use to buy candy. But what if this candy makes them work like this, it¡¯s just a vicious cycle. I¡¯m not even sure if all these people are guilty.

    I swiped some ID cards. Most seemed to have crimes but I found some that are here because they were suspected of being involved in the disappearance of Ella, as far as I know, she escaped on her own so these people at least were innocent. The more I learn about this place the more unsettling it gets. I let one clone monitor the behavior of the inmates while another clone and I would head over to the nearest watch towers. Clone 3 was still chilling in the cell and running simulations, it seems he didn''t get restricted by the cell. He finished his simulations but I couldn''t do anything with this information, I achieved it and would get it to Gregory when I can.

    I decided to use this clone as a guinea pig. Clone 3 ate some of the inmate candy and I would wait and see how it would affect him. I looked up at what looked like a poor simulation of the sky, it was just the ceiling, this place tried to make it look like it was outside but it didn''t do a great job. It was also boring to watch them work in their slowed-down state. I wonder why there are so few watchtowers. I had to go through 7 sections before I reached it. My clone was still moving towards his. I sneaked inside and found a lot of guards eating donuts. I bet those are laced with drugs too. If this is the place where the guards rest why are there so few of these towers?

    I don¡¯t understand, although these guards seem to have a slightly different uniform, are these of higher rank? The higher ranks slack off while the lower-ranked ones work their ass off, can¡¯t say this is an unusual situation. Sounds about right. I pickpocketed these guards but they didn''t seem to have candy on them. No maps. I also listened to their conversations but they were only talking about stupid stuff. This is the shittiest watch tower ever! I listened to their bullshit but they really had nothing useful to say. The energy that was draining from me increased a little bit more. I assume they safely made it to Layer 7. My clone arrived at his watch tower but it was empty. it actually looked abandoned. I sent the clone to another watchtower. I also sent the clone watching the inmates to a watchtower. Clone 3 was acting strange he tried to outside even though his task was to stay inside. I went over to clone 3 and put an illusion on him and let him go outside. He headed toward the building where all the inmates were working their asses off and tried to work. I tried to make him resist this urge but he seemed to have difficulties.

    I shadow melded him and myself back to his cell and I tried to get him back in it but he was struggling. I dispelled him. This is interesting. It seems this candy makes them want to do all this shit. The information I got from this clone; it caused him to not even want to consider escaping. I did seem to have overdosed the clone but I guess this showed fast and clear results. Right, this might be a problem if Raishin is on this stuff, he is probably going to be weak to this stuff. Gregory might need to multitask and find something to counteract this. I tried to send him a Teleroad but it had static and didn''t really get through. Ugh, everything is trying to interfere here. I bet it''s this black hole¡¯s doing. What a pain. I made a new clone 3 and sent him to the next layer and try to send a Teleroad from there. I will probably have to keep the clone close to them to make sure the communication will go without any issues. I think I should move over to the next layer; I¡¯m wasting too much time here. This thing with these drugs still concerns me a bit. Since I was still in the north wing so I had to just head south to get to the next layer. I headed south and realized that this is a mistake.

    These layers use the black hole as the center of gravity which means I should go down; I need to find some stairs or an elevator. I went back to the watchtower. I¡¯m assuming the entrances to deeper floors won¡¯t be common and out in the open so they should be in these watchtowers. The clone that I want to send to Gregory and Ted for communication purposes didn''t find any stairs yet so he went to a watchtower too. I reached the watchtower and the guards were still talking shit. I sneaked around and looked for stairs but couldn''t find any. Also, no elevator. Maybe they use transporters? I had no idea what I was looking for. It was just a boring watchtower. I was convinced the method to go down was in this watchtower. This is such a pain. I bet Gregory and Ted found a discreet spot and just dug their way to the next layer. I looked down, there seemed to be a lot of dirt down and at a point ancient technology. Hmmm, how did they get to the next layer? Clone 3 didn''t have any luck either. This place sucks.

    I spent the rest of the day figuring out how to get to the next layer. I could really use Gregory¡¯s advice now. Ted would try to talk to people. Is that going to work? It was nearing 21:00 and the inmates started to head over to their cells. Clone 2 saw some inmates buy some candy before heading over to their cells. Clone 2 used [shadow bind] on an inmate since I was curious about what would happen if he would miss his curfew. The clone made sure that this inmate actually had a serious crime. Hmm, this guy is here for fraud, right let''s see what happens. 21:00 came and nothing happened. The inmate did seem to become restless. The closer it became to 21:15 the more restless he became. He started screaming at 21:15 and guards started to head over to the inmate. It was quite dark so it was impossible to see that he was bound by [Shadow bind].

    The guards tried to move the inmate but he started to scream louder and his face seemed like he was melting. The guards were acting odd too they didn''t seem to adapt but just started to pull harder on the inmate while the inmates'' whole body started to stretch out and started to become thin. Well, this was disturbing. The inmate kept stretching and getting thinner until he bifurcated at the waist and turned into countless thin strands of uhm, meat, and blood splattered everywhere. It got all over the guards but it was as if a switch flipped in their heads and they just calmly walked away as if nothing happened.

    Totally not disturbing. At least now I know why these guys keep their curfew. Right, now I still need to get to the next layer. Clone 2 noticed something else that was odd. All the stores closed besides the candy store. Right totally not suspicious. I headed towards the closest candy store to me and clone 2 and clone 3 also headed towards a candy store. None of them were closed but the candy sellers were still inside and they still gave me this strange feeling. We sneaked into the candy stores. We were in stealth but these things¡­ seemed to be looking at us but they didn''t react. I don¡¯t like this; I don¡¯t like this at all. The clones and I found stairs inside these candy stores. The things looked at us as we descended the stairs. It gave me goosebumps.

 Vol 2 Ch 20: Ancient Candyman?

    I went down the revolving staircase. I wanted to slide down but I didn''t know what would be waiting for me. It was quite a long staircase. I can''t imagine that guards take these. I reached the bottom of the stairwell and came out of a huge pillar. I looked around and saw some guards waiting to the side of the pillar. I observed them and it seemed that they were waiting for an elevator¡­ I hate this place, so there was an elevator! This layer didn''t seem to pretend it was outside, there was a proper ceiling and it did seem to be lower than the one on layer 8 but it was still high, I estimate it at 2 km high, layer 8 was twice as high. This layer at least used its verticality and it started to look a bit more like a stereotypical prison although instead of houses these looked like apartments stacked on each other. I pickpocketed more guards and again the candy and useless stuff.

    The radius and height of this layer should be smaller so the deeper I go the easier it should be to find out how to get to the lower layers. I still didn''t feel heavier. My jumps were less floaty though, I guess gravity does work on me although to a certain extent. I wonder how Gregory is doing. The guards seemed to be waiting for an eternity for the elevator but that looks like it from my perception. I saw some walking up to them in slow motion and they seemed to struggle against gravity. I wonder how fast I would need to run to become imperceptible to them. I¡¯m not sure how the physics works out here but if I run at full speed like this to them, I seem way faster than I already am. Could I reach the speed of light from their point of reference? Since I don''t know how this all will work, I just decided to stay in stealth. I sneaked around some more. I noticed that it was still dark everything was moving so slow, it was kind of interesting. I spotted more candy shops. I was wondering what was going on with the candy shops. These things were uncomfortable but I really wanted to know what the deal was with them. If they are an adversary, I want to know about it now and not when we are trying to escape. No guards nearby.

    I stepped into the candy shop. I looked around. There were shelves filled with different types of candy even a cotton candy machine at the side. It was quite a colorful array. The smell of all this candy gave me the feeling that just smelling them would give me diabetes. The thing was looking directly at me even though I was still in stealth. I had a clone on standby to [shadow swap] to. I looked at it and it really did look like a human but even without inspecting it with my Elgards eyes, I could tell it wasn''t. What other race could this be? Not a shapeshifter, they don''t give off this uncanny feeling, and they also can''t see through stealth. Some race that can mimic humans and can see through stealth and illusions. I could only come up with nine-tail spirit foxes and a four-fingered Ray Chameleon. This thing had 5 fingers though, these chameleons can mimic humans but they can¡¯t make hands with 5 fingers. They also do a better job of mimicking the feel of a human. I was out of ideas. I dropped out of stealth and the vibe of this thing changed.

    Maybe I was wrong, maybe it didn''t see me while I was in stealth but something else gave away that I was standing here. We had a stare-off. The thing seemed to become hostile but didn''t act. Maybe it was trying to intimidate me. I got an ID card I swiped from a guard a while ago. And attempted to buy candy. It didn''t let me buy the candy.

    Interesting. Well since it was intimidating me, I think it''s fair if I intimidate it back. The thing grew another pair of arms and spewed fire at me out of its mouth. Well, that was unexpected. It crawled over the counter on all fours, excuse me all six, in a creepy manner. I was resistant to the fire but I realized why this thing was so unsettling. This fire wasn''t magic. I could smell some type of fuel. I got an inkling of what this thing is. It started chopping at me. These chops were lightning infused but this wasn''t magic either. I couldn''t see what was going on inside its body and I realized why.

    This thing was an artificial lifeform made out of ancient technology. The more it went into its battle mode the less human it appeared. I evaded its lightning chops and ignored the fire it kept spitting. The chops seemed to pack a punch and this thing was torching its own store. The store was ablaze and the diabetes smell of melting candy together with the smell of burnt sugar and fuel started to permeate the shop. I wonder if there is any chance that this goes by unnoticed. I then realized something obvious that I missed. These things move at the same rate as me! Aren¡¯t these things affected by gravity or time dilation? I noticed that the fire seemed to be burning in slow motion but the fire the thing was spitting out, seemed to be at normal speed. How was something like this called again? I tried thinking back to movies and games but I was too busy dodging the lightning chops, these were fast and precise. My eyes couldn''t help with spotting its preliminary movements so I had to use my dynamic vision to evade these. This is actually harder than dealing with living creatures. Nothing about its posture or muscles give away what it¡¯s going to do. It also wasn''t using magic so I couldn''t interrupt or cancel out anything. Why does life keep throwing enemies at me that are a pain in the ass! I decided to leave the shop.

    Android, yes that''s the word! Android! The android followed me on all six and kept spitting fire at me. Can it at least pretend to be human and follow me on its legs?! I then realized that that candy shop might be able to bring me to the lower layer. I ran back into the burning candy shop while narrowly evading the lightning chops. I looked around but couldn''t find any sign of an elevator or a staircase. I sent the clone that was on standby to another shop to check it out. Clone 3 was still looking for Ted and Gregory. I threw an illusion on the small plaza since nobody seemed to have noticed this chaos yet. I don¡¯t want to be caught yet. Now that I have a better idea of what this android is I have a better chance of undoing everything that happened here. The only issue is this android. I can undo this area with the shop fixed. I would probably pick this thing apart and hope I understand it enough to return the shop owner. I took out potato peeler 3.0 and tried to parry a chop but it got shattered. ¡­ You got to be kidding me!

    I dodged a follow-up chop and ignored the fire it shot at me. This thing is extremely sturdy and strong. I guess I can¡¯t cut it. I took out another sword and tried to figure out what wavelength I needed to cut it. Well, ancient technology is cheating! It keeps changing! These guys really knew how to build shit! I evaded the chops that became faster and faster. It seemed to have adapted and stopped shooting fire at me. These things can learn?! This is a problem, the longer I fight it the higher the chance gets that it will kill me. I focused and kept evading the chops. The wavelength has a certain pattern it repeats. It is quite a long pattern but nothing I can''t deal with.

    I imbued my random nameless sword with lightning and cut off 2 of its arms. The blade chipped and had cracks running through it. My hand hurt a bit because even with matching wavelengths this was tough to cut. This sword could take one more slash. I wonder if it would stop moving after I cut off its head, it is not a real human so there should be no reason it would have a weakness as obvious as that. I needed to position myself so I could cut off both of its arms and head in one slash. The easiest way would be if it would try a 2 handed smash on me. How do I get this android to do that? I have to make it run out of lightning. Raishin has a skill that could act as a lightning rod but I don¡¯t know it. I looked at the arms laying on the ground. They should conduct lightning if they are using lightning. I picked up the 2 arms and used [accel step] it made it easier for me to dodge the chops. It seemed to have issues adapting to my new speed. Good! I realize that without the [time ring] these things would destroy anything that comes here and tries to break out inmates. It moves as if it''s in a normal time flow but any normal person would be slowed down. These ancients surely don''t mess around.

    I ran dark blue lightning through the arms and zapped the android. Because of these arms, I had a longer range and didn''t have to come close to it. I tried to fry its circuits if they have any. I could also be charging it, in that case, I will have to go back to try and short-circuit it. It would shift to hand-to-hand combat then. I think. It didn''t seem to work. I tried to make it a short circuit but this was quite hard to do. I did some extra [accel steps]. I imbued the arm I was holding with purple lightning, matched the wavelength, and disarmed it by chopping off its right arm. Maybe I should quit being a sword master and become an arm master.

    I am armed and ready! Ted would love this pun. I gave the android a purple lightning slap but it didn''t seem to do much. I guess that was to be expected, these things are tanky. I went for another chop to get rid of its remaining arm but it dodged. It seemed to be accustomed to my speed. I used 3 more [accel steps] and it couldn''t keep up anymore. I¡¯m so glad that I¡¯m wearing high-quality shoes. But for the sake of my shoes, I should wrap this up. I used [Shadow bind] and chopped off its arm, its legs, and its head. I circulated some nature magic. I wasn¡¯t getting nauseous yet but just in case. I looked at the parts that I laid out on the ground. I had slung one arm over my left shoulder but the others were laid down on the ground. I tried to pry the parts open but they were quite tough. I don''t know how to get these open without destroying what''s inside.

    When I thought that I should give up on figuring this android out I heard a weird beep. It was in a frequency humans normally can''t hear but since I¡¯m a fox I could hear it. Yes, this is bad. I jumped back and the torso exploded in some weird green cartoonish-looking fire and it took out all its parts except for the arm I had slung over my shoulder. The fire went out by itself after 2 seconds and left nothing behind besides a crater. Well, this sucks. I looked at the arm that survived. It didn''t show any sign of exploding. I decided to store this since this was quite a useful weapon.

    I guess this section will have to do without its candy vendor. This is sure to cause problems so I will have to get out of here after I fix this with my illusion. I shattered the illusion and everything turned back to normal except for the android. Time to get out of here! I used [Shadow swap] with clone 2 and went to look for a way to move to the next layer. I decided to check out the watchtowers on this layer but decided to sleep in an empty cell. Only one floor in these and the bed was less comfy as those on layer 8 which makes sense because the crimes the inmates committed here are probably more severe.

    I wonder though how they determined this, this layer had someone here for fraud and Raishin is on layer 2 for chilling with Ella. I don''t think anything makes sense, he should probably be in layer 9 or 8. Things would have been so much easier if he was on layer 9 or 8¡­ these androids worry me though, I¡¯m sure this is not the last of them, these are just candy vendors. Why do candy vendors need to be so strong¡­ I couldn''t feel comfortable in this bed so I just curled up in my tails. I know I''m supposed to find information but I still feel like I¡¯m going too slow, this is my second night here, and time keeps ticking for Raishin. I don¡¯t feel like I had enough information. Determined to find out more about this place I fell asleep.

    <hr>

    I woke up and headed outside. My clone was being lazy again. I also felt that more energy was draining from me. I guess Ted and Gregory made it to the next layer. Hmm, this is a problem in one or 2 more layers my energy will get drained at a rate that will be problematic over a large period of time. I think we grossly underestimated how difficult this would be. I thought: get in, fetch him in perhaps 4-5 hours and get out. Clone 3 reached a watchtower. It found some interesting information. It had the map of this layer. It was a magical map and it had several types of markings on them that I couldn''t identify. From this map, I knew where the nearest watchtower to me was.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    All the candy shops were marked but also places that I assume where the inmates are doing hard labor. And also, other facilities. I saw an icon that I recognized, it''s the icon that''s used to represent electronium. Ugh, I bet they¡¯re also enslaving spirits. I guess I¡¯ll hop by that place, maybe the spirits know more about this place. Clone 3 wasn''t alone in the watchtower. There was 1 higher-ranking guard in the watchtower but he was slacking off.

    Clone 3 found some information about the inmates in its section. I wasn¡¯t interested in the details of the inmates. They seemed to have an extensive registry of inmates it even included their race and magic affinities. Clone 3 sorted the inmates by race, only humans, hmm, sorted by magic affinity. None had spatiotemporal affinity or frost magic, meh useless. Clone 3 did find something that looked like an elevator. It took the elevator down to layer 6. Now that I know how to get to the next layer, I need to save some spirits. Society needs to find another way to power its devices.

    I arrived there just before 10:00, so when all the inmates would leave their cells. One thing I did notice was that on this floor there was an odd mix of modern and ancient technology. It was difficult to see but it seemed that the ancient technology was running on a different energy than the modern parts. I assume the scientists couldn''t figure out what energy this prison was running on or how to use it so they added their spirit slavery plant to it. I''m wondering if doing this right now is a good idea, this certainly will have a large impact. And as I''ve learned from Ainahs¡¯ blackout it¡¯s going to take a while for them to fix this. Maybe this place was powering the teleporters I messed with on layer 9. If I take this plant down now the lightning orbs, I placed in it, might run out before we escape. Ugh, this sucks. If I knew how long it would take to save Raishin I could leave an appropriate lightning orb behind. I decided to make another clone and this one would stay hidden here and refresh the lightning orbs when they ran out. Humans can¡¯t see spirits so as long as the system is working, they won¡¯t notice anything. I sneaked in but I got met with a nasty surprise.

    This whole place was run by androids. Yeah, this is a problem. My clone and I were in stealth but they again seemed to notice that we were there. I know now they don¡¯t see us but something is tipping them off about our location. There seemed to be some real humans that seemed to manage the androids. The humans didn''t seem to notice that the androids were reacting to us. I had to find out what the problem was. I suddenly remembered my time in the Corund dungeon, the golems reacted to magic. At this moment I¡¯m giving off slight traces of mana because mana is leaking out of me to feed the rings of Gregory and Ted. I masked this trail with shadow magic and the androids went back to their normal behavior. So, the thing with shadow magic is, just like Gregory uses it to absorb magic, I can do that too with shadow magic, the only difference is that once I mask or absorb mana with shadow magic it''s gone, I can¡¯t use it. Only shadowcats can use the energy stored in the shadows. So, in theory, if I absorb a mana blast with a shadow and I hand the shadow over to Gregory he can unleash the energy. The reason why shadow magic is so useful for assassins is mainly because of this trait of shadow magic.

    I could use frost magic to do the same but frost magic can''t mask mana trails it just slurps it up. Shadow magic is a bit more flexible in this. This is the first time I had to mask mana with shadow magic because normally I can use frost magic for this. If I use frost magic, Gregory and Ted will get subjected to the time dilation. I saved this in my archive. It is good that the androids don¡¯t attack the moment they noticed me. I¡¯m pretty sure I would have died right here if that was the case, 1 android is fine, but over 300 androids? Yeah, that¡¯s not gonna happen. It was still interesting to see how the androids were moving way faster than the slow-motion humans. Clone 4 and I went over to the area that had the generator. The problem here was that it was guarded by 5 androids. These seemed made for combat. This¡­ is a problem. A candy vendor android almost made me sweat, a combat android is probably going to kick my ass. I only have 1 android arm. Maybe I should try to chop off an arm of these androids so my clone could fight too.

    I inspected the large room that had the generator, the pods that imprisoned the spirits, and the androids. My clone and I sneaked over to one android. This android was relatively isolated from the other androids. I took out the android arm, imbued it with purple lightning, and chopped off the androids right arm, I handed over the arm to my clone and cast a 7-layer illusion over the whole room. The other androids got put on alert and I followed up by chopping off the head of the android. It still moved but it seemed to be unable to locate me and my clone. Clone 4 distracted the 2 android furthest away from me while I would take on the 2 closest to me. The half-defeated android was trying to chop at something but it wasn¡¯t hitting anything. These androids didn''t spawn 2 extra arms but they did seem to be pulling out swords. I flicked a frost marble next to an android and used [turning leaf] on it and swapped the marble with the one-armed android that was chopping and the android with the swords got hit by the chop.

    The sword android started to fight the one-armed android but the one-armed android couldn''t defend itself and got chopped into pieces. I guess that could be me if I¡¯m not careful. I went up to the chopped-up android and took its other arm. I am dual-wielding ancient arms now! Jokes aside, I think these arms are the only things able to have a chance of blocking these swords. I used [accel step] and tried to chop off the androids arm but it almost chopped off mine. This thing was fast! I dodged another sword slash. But it left a shallow cut on my cheek. I got a blow in but it didn''t seem to do much. The other android was also putting pressure on me. I used [Shadow bind] on both of them. It didn''t seem to hold them for too long but this gave me enough time for me to chop off an arm of the android closest to me. I picked up the sword and inspected it. It seemed to be made out of ancient technology. It should be sturdier than the swords I use.

    I tried to parry another sword slash and the sword got cut in half. I got a shallow cut on my chest. Maybe I should imbue it with mana¡­ I dodged the second android and went into stealth and masked myself with shadow magic. The androids seemed confused and I chopped off the arm and head of the android with one arm. One of the arms I was using as a weapon got its hand shattered. I threw the broken arm at the other android. I looked over at my clone and it also defeated an android but it got its arm chopped off. I can¡¯t blame him. Another narrow dodge and another shallow cut on me. I used 3 more [accel steps] and shattered the other arm weapon on this android. It put a deep dent in the head of the android and its accuracy dropped. I jumped back and picked up the other sword of the android I defeated earlier. I imbued the sword with purple lightning and started parrying the sword slashes of the android.

    This was an educational exchange. I thought I was pretty decent at sword fighting but this exchange taught me a lot. I¡¯m not that great, although reading the body language and position of the opponent is important, it seems that it was carrying me quite hard. Against this android, which doesn''t have all these I was doing quite poorly, I was still holding out because I busted its accuracy by denting its head. It was still adapting to my fighting style and speed.

    My clone chopped off the arm of the last android it was fighting but its weapon arm also shattered and the android used this short surprise that my clone had to pierce its heart. Yikes, I dodged a sword lunge that was aimed at my heart and it pierced my shoulder. The other android headed over to me. I covered my hands in frost, grabbed the sword and pulled it out of my shoulder, and flipped to the side with my hands still on the sword to evade the sword slash of the other android. It followed up but hit the android I was fighting the whole time after I landed behind it. I took a sword out of my dimensional pocket, charged it with purple lightning, and delivered a strong slash at the back of the android. After taking those 2 slashes the android seemed to act oddly and I heard that high beep again, by blade shattered as usual. I jumped back and it exploded in green cartoonish flames and took the other android with it.

    I froze my wounds and looked at the fighting scene. My clone got defeated and the 5 security androids were defeated. I feel like these weren''t even the strongest kinds. I circulated natural energy through my system to speed up my recovery. It didn''t help against the pain in my shoulder though. I made another clone 4. I heard more beeps and the remaining androids exploded. I guess the creator wanted to make sure it was impossible to take it apart and recreate it. I shattered the illusions and returned the area to normal. It didn''t have the security androids but I can just drop an illusion that makes it look like they are here, I will just have to hope that they wouldn''t have to perform their function else the illusion will be easy to see through. I found a control panel and opened the pods. My clone put some [lightning orbs] in some pods and hid them with illusions.

    The escaped lightning spirits thanked me. I asked them if they knew anything about this place. They got captured and brought here about 250 years ago from their power spots. The modern parts were still being constructed then. It was hard to converse with them because they were under the time dilation effect. I briefly deactivated the [time ring] to have a proper conversation with them. They didn''t know much but what they did know was that they saw some strong individuals that seemed to be quite important. They were humans but seemed abnormally strong, their names seemed to be Cygnus, Geminga, Vela, and Cassiopeia they had some interesting characteristics, Cygnus had a suit and looked like a duck or a swan, he has wings too, Geminga had red hair and a beard, an enormous axe made out of ruby and was adorned with gold and other jewels and he wore a lot of bling. Vela was a middle-aged guy that looked like he was wearing curtains and Cassiopeia was a dazzling brunette woman who smelled like cinnamon and talked quite melodically.

    I scratched my head, what is this, a circus? And I didn''t know spirits could smell. According to these spirits, it was memorable because in general humans smell like dirt to them. I asked them what I smelled like to them and they told me that I smelled similar to fresh rainfall. I smelled myself, I didn''t smell anything. I asked them if it was because I use water magic a lot but they didn''t think it was related to that.

    I asked them if they wanted to return to the spirit world or if I needed to bring them to a power spot. They told me it was too much of a pain for me to bring them to a power spot so they wanted to return to the spirit world. How can these spirits be so considerate after being locked up for 250 years? I sent more nature energy to my shoulder and drained their spirit energy and made them return to the spirit world.

    I left the electronium powerplant and headed over to the watchtower but I started to feel a bit weak. I realized that I haven''t eaten anything since we snuck into this prison. I found an empty cell and had some lunch. I ate quite a lot. I haven''t eaten anything for the last 2 days so this is only normal! I rested for half an hour after completely stuffing myself and resumed my journey to the watchtower. Everything was still ok at the electronium power plant. I sneaked inside the watchtower but there didn''t seem to be many higher-ranked guards there. I suddenly realized something. These spirits talked about coming here 250 years ago, is this from their reference frame or mine? I don''t know how slow time moves here; their 250 years could be 120 for the outside world. Maybe these powerful people aren''t around anymore. I don''t think this wishful thinking would do me any good.

    I tried to find information about the employees working here but I could only find information about low-ranked guards. I did find those 4 familiar names though. Vela was in charge of layer 1, Cygnus of layer 2, Geminga on layer 3, and Cassiopeia of layer 4. Layer 5 and higher had a small group of high-ranking guards in charge. The guards in charge of layer 7 seemed to hang out at section 15 in the west wing. Luckily quite far from here but I couldn''t find where these guards were chilling out on other layers. At least I know now that from layer 4 and onward I need to be very careful I don¡¯t feel like running into them. I saw nothing about androids which is currently my biggest problem.

    I think Ted and Gregory won¡¯t have issues with them because they are way more defensive than I am, they''re fast though¡­ maybe they will struggle too. So far, I don¡¯t think there is any reason why they should have encountered any unless they are raiding candy shops or sabotaging power plants. I wonder what their function is, why hire human guards when they can use these androids? Then again, this whole place doesn''t make any sense. As I decided to head over to layer 6, I felt the energy feeding the [time rings] increase. This means they got to layer 5. I hope my clone catches up with them on time to warn them about Casi on layer 4. I took the elevator down. In stealth of course. It was nearing 15:00. I dispelled the clone responsible for monitoring the inmates on layer 8. Clone 4, now clone 3 was lurking in the powerplant, clone 3, now clone 2 was heading over to Ted and Gregory, and clone 1 was ehh. What was it doing? I forgot. I checked on him and he was napping¡­ I sent it to go through watchtowers and find more information.

 Vol 2 Ch 21: Magma Vortex

    I arrived at layer 6 and left the elevator. There were guards waiting in front of the elevator door but I was in stealth and they moved super slow. This layer actually looked like a prison, it was quite dark here. I headed over to the closest watchtower because I didn''t want to waste time but I passed by a big hole in the ground. Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s this easy to get to the next layer? And if that''s the case, why did it take Ted and Gregory so long to get down? I jumped into the hole without thought. It was quite a long fall, especially for me since gravity seems to have no idea what to do with me.

    I finally got out of the hole and was now falling down to the surface of layer 5. I could see why this hole was a problem because directly below me was a large magma pool. Does this mean I can use Ignis again? I used shadow magic to break my fall and landed on the magma. I used [Magma snake] and got my buddy Ignis back. He curled around my neck acting like a magma scarf and I went over to the part of this layer that wasn''t magma. I can imagine that it¡¯s quite hot here.

    This layer was smaller and the ceiling was lower. It should be relatively easy to find Gregory and Ted right now. I might have to give them a frost cloak. I think from layer 4 and onwards we should try to speed this up, the constant drain to feed the [time ring] was becoming quite noticeable. I made some frost balls and chucked them in the magma so that they could absorb some energy for me. This won¡¯t be enough but it¡¯s something. My clone finally found them, they seemed tired but they were doing well. My clone told them the information I found and told them to pick up the pace when they reach layer 4, it also gave them a weak [frost cloak] to help them against the heat.

    I briefly linked up my vision with Gregory so that he could get the information I got from those drugs that I found. They told me that they have no idea how to get to layer 4. I told them that I would try and figure that out and that they should rest a bit, my clone took some food out of my dimensional pocket and gave them some. I tried to look around but it was quite hard to look around. Too much ancient technology everywhere. I located the nearest high point and got on it to scout out the surroundings. I could spot several lava pools. It seems that layer 6 had multiple holes and they all opened up above the lava pools on this layer. They all seemed to be connected. They must have something in common. Several magma rivers were connecting these pools. one magma pool seemed to have an isolated island in the middle of it. Well, if this isn''t suspicious. I headed over towards this suspicious island but I noticed something strange. It seems a lone lightning spirit followed me.

    Oh, hey there, I might have missed you, I will send you back.

    What? You want to help out? That is kind of you but out of experience I know this won¡¯t end up well for you. The spirit seemed to prefer getting sent back to the spirit world after helping me and running out of spirit energy. I asked it what abilities it has but it seemed to be supportive and said it was weak. I don¡¯t know these spirits have a weird perspective on what¡¯s weak. Cee Horze was also a support spirit that said he was weak but depending on the situation his skills are quite overpowered.

    Aha, so you can enhance somethings speed, is this why you don¡¯t seem to be affected by the time dilation? See this is what I mean these spirits are overpowered, now sure this is extra overpowered for me but that¡¯s not the point. These humans are luckily missing the mark here by just using them as batteries. Besides that, he could produce weak shocks that numb and disorient. Well, that¡¯s perfect! The spirit looked a bit like a wisp or a star made out of lightning so I called him Starbolt. Not very creative I know but I don¡¯t have time for this! Starbolt seemed to be happy to just get a name. Spirits seem to be very attached to their names somehow. Even when I gave Horze a half-assed name he wore it with pride.

    I was now walking around with a magma snake on my neck and a floating wisp of lightning. It reminds me of those pet classes in games or real-life summoners that walk around with a zoo following them. Is this my future? Fighting like this isn''t my style, especially not since things always seem to happen to them. I wanted to hide Starbolt too but I remembered that only spirits can interact with spirits. He will need to rest on my head when I go into stealth though else, he will lose sight of me. I went into stealth after he rested on my head and I jumped from cell to cell. It was still early so the guards and inmates were still inactive. It seemed that every magma pool connected to the one I was headed for and those that were the farthest from this special pool were connected to other pools which then connected to this one. So, in short, this magma pool was the only magma pool that had a high number of connections while the others had 3 or 4 at most. Now the magma was flowing extremely slow so I couldn''t see where it was flowing to. I let Ignis jump into the magma pool and I wanted to surf on him to the suspicious island but he was going at a snail''s pace.

    Hey Ignis? What is wrong? I stepped off Ignis and I could outwalk him. Oh, time dilation, does he only get the effect of my [time ring] if he¡¯s on my neck? Is it proximity to my hand or surface or the surface area that¡¯s touching me? I pulled him out of the magma which was quite hard, my shoulder still hurt and magma is heavy. I finally got him out but he was still moving quite slow. I wrapped him around my neck again and he seemed to turn to normal speed. Surface area it is. This all made cracks appear in his body. I guess to him I handled him quite rough coz everything went super-fast for him. I scooped up some magma and repaired him. I guess no Ignis surfing.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    I walked over to the suspicious island. It was about the size of a city block and had a spiral cylinder-shaped rock the size of a house on it. I got a bad feeling about this. This prison is made out of ancient technology, after all, I haven''t seen an obnoxious puzzle or the like yet. But it can''t be too hard because it would be a pain to bring prisoners to the lower levels so I shouldn''t overthink this. I stood in front of the rock. It looks like it was made out of volcanic rock. I could look through it with my Elgards eyes, it looked like it is hollow. How strange. I climbed on top of it and looked down the hole in the middle of this rock. It didn''t seem to be connecting to the lower floor.

    I guess that would have been too easy. It bothered me that this rock wasn''t in the middle of the island but quite to the edge. It seemed to have a large circle in the middle of the island. It wasn''t that noticeable but I could see it with my eyes. I think I figured something out but I don¡¯t know how to test this. I need Gregory and Ted for this. This whole thing looks like some odd crank. I went back to where Gregory and Ted were resting.

    Yoo slackers wake up I need your help! Gregory seemed to be waking up but Ted was still sleeping.

    Starbolt get him! Starbolt zapped Ted and he woke up.

    Huh what? What¡¯s going on? And why does my body feel numb? Dunno. Did you find anything?

    I told Ted and Gregory about the suspicious island I found and that it probably requires skilled earth users to move the island which reminded me of a crank. I covered Ted and Gregory in illusions and headed over to the suspicious island. Ted grabbed my shoulder.

    Hold on a minute! We can''t just waltz over lava like you! Isn¡¯t there anything like a bridge or a boat? Boats don''t work on lava¡­ Uhh. I think we would need a bridge because a boat would move too slow.

    Hey, what''s that? We looked over to where Gregory pointed and I saw a big man covered in gemstones and carrying a huge axe made out of ruby with some gold and other gemstone ornaments. He was accompanied by 3 guards and what seemed some prisoners. What was odd is that they were moving at the same speed as we were. He swiped some card through a device and inserted some mana in it. The ground started to rumble and a bridge made out of rock slowly rose out of the lava and created a path for them to the island. I grabbed Ted and Gregory with my tails and ran over the lava toward the island.

    Hey! This is hot! Shut it! I think we got lucky; this guy might bring us to the next layer! We were waiting on the suspicious island in the hard-to-see circle in the middle.

    Hey, isn''t that the guy you told us about? Geminga? Hehe, nice pun! It¡¯s not a pun he just happens to be named Geminga and wears gems! Now hush stop making my illusions uncertain!

    Hey, no need to get cranky! ¡­ ¡­ come on that was a good one! Geminga and his group arrived at the island and ordered everyone to stand in the middle. Luckily there weren''t many prisoners so there was still room for us to stand. Geminga also stood in the middle and started to channel an insane amount of earth magic.

    Psst Greg, do you think you could gather up that much earth magic in such a short amount of time? Don¡¯t be crazy! Agnis are you sure this guy is human? Nope, the spirits told me he¡¯s human, hmm let''s see, oh he''s not human he¡¯s a dwarf giant. What even is that?

    I guess a small giant¡­

    I guess that explains his size and strong earth affinity. Geminga roared and moved the outer circle with the rock on it around. It was rotating around the circle we were standing on and it caused the whole island to slowly sink. Magma from all the magma pools got sucked into this magma pool and started to create a vortex with the island in the middle. We kept descending and sinking inside this funnel of swirling magma.

    So Agnis, were you by any chance expecting us to be able and pull off this herculean feat? What? You can¡¯t?

    Of course not! After 10 minutes we seemed to have reached the bottom. We were at the bottom of a swirling magma funnel. The mana draining out of me started to increase noticeably. Geminga kicked the rock and it toppled over and created a tunnel through the swirling magma.

    Fascinating! I hope you paid attention Ted and Greg because you 2 would probably have to reverse this when we want to go up. I¡¯m not looking forward to that¡­ We followed Geminga and the prisoners.

    ¡°Welcome to Lay¡¯r 4 you scoundrels! This is the domain of Casi, but don¡¯t call ¡®er that if you want to stay alive and keep your sanity, you shall ref¡¯r to ¡®er as Cassiopeia, don¡¯t piss ¡®er off by skipping ¡®er cooking frenzies and make sure to run away when she starts singing¡± Hehe he talks odd. I think we should follow them; we got some useful information here.

    Leave that to me, I¡¯m the information guy, you 2 make sure to get out of this layer as fast as possible, and I will send a clone with you to relay the information. Ok, one thing Agnis, don¡¯t be reckless.

    I¡¯ll try my best. Gregory grabbed Ted and [shadow melded] away.

 Vol 2 Ch 22: Cinnamon Swirl canteen

    This floor was very strange. Besides the floors being quite bright and there not being much light above a certain height, the prisons looked like a wall you can take snacks out. It was something that seemed to be quite popular lately in Ainahs where they had snack bars and they had this wall with compartments that were heated and if you dropped some bronze in the wall, you could pull a warm snack out of the wall. But this was with prisoners. They didn''t seem to have a lot of privacy because the cell doors seemed to be made out of glass. They seemed to have some private corner which I assume is their toilet. The vortex we got out of kept going. It seemed that this would stay like this as long as Geminga is on the lower floors. I left Ignis behind in the magma vortex with the order to harass anyone that tried to go up. I decided to make a [time ring] for him too.

    The constant drain on my mana was quite noticeable now. I might have to stay on this floor to make sure this doesn''t get to a point where I can¡¯t handle it. I followed the prisoners and Geminga and he seemed to be giving them a tour. There were various food stands. Most of them were selling pastries. These tough-looking inmates were making pastries and baking bread. I¡¯m not sure if that Casi has a good sense of humor or is extremely cruel.

    ¡°In 10 minutes, it''s time for ev¡¯ryone to get out, y¡¯all will have some time to get and prepare supplies. Those that have been ¡®ere for a while will start producing baked goods and pastries for the 5-day reset, for ye newbies, y¡¯all will follow Casi¡¯s baking workshops. The faster y¡¯all learn the craft the bet¡¯r, take too long and y¡¯all will end up as one of ¡®er ingredients bwahahaha!¡± The inmates seemed shocked and I don¡¯t blame them. Geminga explained the house rules which didn''t seem to be anything special.

    ¡°At 12:00 the Cinnamon Swirl canteen opens! This lay¡¯r ain''t big so make sure to pay it a visit if y¡¯all like good food, It isn''t run by Casi ¡®erself but it is by guards and inmates she handpicked. She can cook but pref¡¯rs baking.¡° A canteen?! I can¡¯t miss this! I wonder what food they have. For research purposes of course! I think this is the best layer. I just have to avoid that Casi.

    I wonder if Ted and Gregory should know about this, I¡¯m sure they are going to be party poopers. Geminga said that layers 4,3,2 and 1 were dependent on each other because they were so deep in and that the food produced by the canteen will get shared with layers 3,2 and 1 because they don''t produce food. Hmm, wait does that mean I can paralyze all the layers if I sabotage the food? I got poison from Gregory.

    Hmm, I¡¯m not that na?ve to think we can get Raishin and escape without anyone noticing. I think it¡¯s time to do some groundwork. In this case, I probably need to warn Ted and Gregory. I sent them my plan through my clone and Gregory suggested a certain mixture of 2 poisons. They will act slowly and have staggered effects between individuals so it might be hard to trace it back to lunchtime. Perfect! Ted said something stupid about making sure I don¡¯t kill anyone but that¡¯s too much to ask. The inmates got out of their cells and started to buy supplies. I didn''t see any candy stores; I also didn''t spot any androids. Is this a good or bad thing?

    The guards that I did spot seemed to be way stronger than those on higher layers. It was quite boring to observe the inmates. They were moving very slowly. Only the main plaza on the sector canceled out the time dilation and it was quite well-lit. Light seemed to behave strangely here as if it was a heavy gas, they seemed to have solved this problem by just dumping a lot of light from a height on the plaza and it seemed to slowly flow into the corridors. How odd. Is this how light behaves this close to a black hole? I saw Geminga walking in the distance. I still had to figure out how he can move at normal speed. I upped my stealth and started tailing him. He might show me how to go to the next floor. He bought some pastries and headed over to section 1 in the north wing. And there¡­ he took the elevator down¡­ there was just a row of easy-to-spot elevators here¡­ well that was anticlimactic and easy. I dispelled all my active clones besides the one that I left behind at the electronium powerplant and the one that was with Ted and Gregory. I needed to conserve mana so just 2 active clones will do.

    I needed to kill time before it was lunchtime. I mean time to sabotage. Maybe I should go and find it now. It was almost 11:00 and my clone escorted Gregory and Ted to the elevators by hiding them in illusions. I told them that the clone will only be able to follow them in the next layer, the mana consumption would get too much for me if it also went to layer 2. They took the elevator down as I headed for the canteen. I say that but I have no idea where it is. I felt the drain on my mana spike and I regret sending my clone down. Nothing I can do against it now.

    Starbolt tried to share some spirit energy but I refused. I asked if he could boost my speed. I felt invigorated and moved around at a speed unfamiliar to me. It was almost as fast as the fastest I''ve ever gone in the past. It took me no time to get used to it and I found the canteen after looking for 20 minutes. There was no mistaken, this was it, it smelled like cinnamon and had a huge swirl on the building. It seemed that this building was free from time dilation and gravity. I disguised myself as a guard and stepped inside. I expected more cinnamon smell but I could identify smells of different types of food. I looked around, it was empty but I could see people frantically working behind the counter. This canteen was quite spacious and had some devices that I guess are for entertainment purposes.

    ¡°Oh, there you are Damian!¡± A short chunky man in a white outfit and a chef¡¯s hat approached me. ¡°You¡¯re late! We already started preparing for the lunch rush!¡± Oh, I¡¯m sorry this time dilation got to me.

    ¡°Understandable, happens to all the newcomers, come and show us why you got a special accolade from Cassiopeia!¡± Hoo boi, they think I¡¯m some prodigy chef. I can cook but I don¡¯t think I¡¯m anything special. ¡°What is your specialty?¡± Hmm, maybe this isn¡¯t so bad after all. Fish is my specialty. I¡¯m not bluffing I might be mediocre at best in cooking but if it has to do with fish, I think I could call myself a specialist.

    Show me the kitchen. I looked around and it seemed like a basic kitchen with some extras here and there.

    I don¡¯t know how things are run here, I could use water magic back there, can I do that here?

    ¡°Uh only the top chefs are allowed to use magic and only if it''s water or fire element but I think we could make an exception for you!¡± Perfect! I had to pretend; I have no idea how things are getting run over here to not make a dumb mistake. I¡¯m confident in my ability to cook fish to perfection because of my fire affinity. 3 people carried a huge fish out of the walk-in freezer and lifted it onto a big counter.

    Oh, look at that beauty!

    ¡°Give us a moment and we will cut it up for you.¡± No need. I opened the tap and collected water around me.

    I need 3 buckets, half filled with salt in here. The same 3 men obeyed, filled 3 buckets with salt, and threw it in the water that I collected around myself.

    Step back. They stepped back and I made sharp blades out of the salt water and moved them around and cut the fish. I also made hands made out of water that would hold up the fish. I skinned the fish and cleaned it with the salt water. The grimy, oily parts and those that had the organs got crushed in the water, frozen into small balls, and dropped into those in one of the buckets, keeping the water clean. I separated bone from the flesh with precision and dropped these in another bucket.

    4 small water hands were going through the completely filleted fish to pick out any small fishbones I missed. And then cut the fish into sizes that were easy to work with. While I was doing that, I went through all the spices the kitchen had. I pinched off several balls of salt water and chucked the spices I fancied into them. I made sure each of the 5 water balls I had floating next to me had a different mix of spices.

    Everyone here was looking at me awestruck as if they never saw anyone prepare fish. I fancied some sushi so the fillets I cut out of the back would stay like this, it was already lightly salted so I created an extra water ball and threw rice vinegar in it, and slowly pulled out water to make sure the vinegar replaced the water. I ordered some chef to prepare rice how I want it for the sushi. For some fillets that were close to the tail, I would make soup. I don¡¯t like soup but I assume others do. I dropped the fillets meant for soup into one of the water balls that held blends of spice and made the water ball boil.

    After this water ball is finished boiling catch its contents in a pot, you can make a soup out of this. I don¡¯t know how you guys make your soup nor is it my specialty but I provided a base. I would bake the parts that belong to the belly so I merged another waterball holding blends of spices with the water that was holding the fillets from the belly of the fish. I slowly removed water from it so that the concentration of spices got higher and higher until there was hardly any water left and all the fillets were covered with spices. I picked them up with hands made of salty water and filled a tray with oil and placed them in the tray. I covered the pieces with a layer of oil. My method is baking and frying them at the same time. I told some other chefs to check on it so it doesn''t burn. I did similar things to the other parts of the fillets. I merged the water balls holding spices with them and made them suitable for their method of preparation and let the staff here take care of it to add their own touch. I did the sushi myself though.

    ¡°This is fascinating! So fast and efficient! I never saw someone prepare fish this fast!¡± Don¡¯t thank me yet, we don¡¯t know if it tastes good or bad. And I would warn you, I only got the accolade for being great with fish, I¡¯m just a mediocre chef if it comes to anything else.

    ¡°Oh! Don¡¯t worry about that! With these skills, I can hardly imagine the fish tasting bad!¡± I saw a chef who was frying the fish the way I instructed him to taste a piece of the first batch that he made and called over others to taste. They seemed to love it.

    ¡°Damian! This is the best fish I¡¯ve ever had!¡±

    ¡±Yeah, I¡¯m not a big fan of fish but you convinced me!¡± The chunky chef went over and tasted some of the fish and he acted all dramatic.

    ¡°This is wonderful! I was sceptical but we¡¯re glad to have you! And we still have enough time to make other dishes!¡±

    It was 11:50 and the canteen rush¡¯ would almost start. I thought it would start at 12:00 but it actually starts at 12:30 so we still had some time. I finished my sushi and started to eat it. Some other chefs also ate some because I made a lot and we couldn''t stop eating. We got scolded by the chunky chef and since all the fish-related dishes were finished or would finish in time we got put to make some side dishes or other general dishes. Nobody seemed to care at this point that I¡¯m just a mediocre chef on dishes unrelated to fish. I got some good tips, gave out some good tips, and sneaked in some poison and laxatives in the food here and there. I refused to poison my fish dishes though. My water magic got requested a lot and it was appreciated a lot. I saw someone with an enormous wok pan setting his food ablaze on the opposite side of the kitchen. Everyone was working in harmony and we finished just in time.

    Guards and inmates started to walk into the canteen at 12:00 but at 12:30 they could come and get their food. Half of the chefs here started dealing with those while the other half, including me, started preparing food for dinner. Gregory told me that the minimum time it takes for the poison to work would be 2 hours and the maximum was 5.5 hours. Chunky chef showed me a smaller kitchen in the back and asked me how good I was at baking and making pastry. I said that fish and pastry don''t go well together, he chuckled, agreed, and told me it was fine and called another chef to start making desserts. I looked at the guards and inmates who were eating their food the fish seemed popular. I hope they combine it with other food because else they won¡¯t get poisoned. I told Ted and Gregory via my clone that the ¡®canteen rush¡¯ has started.

    They confirmed that most of the guards and inmates were heading up to Layer 4 and about hearing a rumor that the fish tastes exceptional today. I guess inmates can move freely between these 4 floors during their breaks. I had to deal with some more fish but these were all smaller. Hand size or bigger than hand size. The canteen seemed extremely crowded. I got a compliment from some chefs, saying that the fish was extremely popular and that they hadn''t had a day as busy as this in a long time. That was cool and all but I wanted to rest, which I got at 13:30. I looked at the people eating in the canteen.

    One person caught my eye. He ate his fish but when he got to the other food, he spat it out after one bite. He stood out because he wasn''t wearing a guard uniform nor any of the honey-yellow overalls the inmates were wearing he was all dressed in black, had long black hair in a ponytail, and had quite a pale complexion and sharp eyes. He shot a nasty glare at the kitchen. Something tells me he noticed the poison. He got up and approached me who was resting and looking into the crowd from the counter.

    ¡°Excuse me, can I talk to the chef that prepared the fish? It was exceptional!¡± Oh, you¡¯re talking to him, I¡¯m new here, the name is A... Damian. He shook my hand and seemed to give me a judging glare. I glared back at him.

    ¡°I have a very specific question, you see, this is the first time I visit this canteen so I¡¯m unfamiliar with the procedures, and maybe you aren''t either since you said you are new but are there certain checks the food goes through before getting served?¡± I honestly don¡¯t know, I just make sure that I personally check all the dishes I¡¯m responsible for. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have enough knowledge about the other dishes. Why do you ask?

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Hmm, I have a very sensitive tongue, and all the other dishes seem to be hmmmm contaminated with something. Oddly enough your dishes weren¡¯t I just wanted to find out if this was a coincidence or intentional.¡± Contaminated? With hair? Bugs? Allergens? Hey Larry! We need to check I the food contains any weird stuff!

    ¡°Huh? Ehh ok, we haven¡¯t had any complaints about weird stuff in the food though.¡± This shady person pulled me closer to him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mean any of that, don¡¯t think you can fool me! You might fool my eyes but my intuition tells me that you¡¯re hiding something behind an illusion or the sort.¡± Hmm, it seems I got found out, I can already guess what this guy¡¯s profession is. He was probably a professional assassin. Well, I guess not so professional if he got caught but well, I got caught too just now. And do you know the nature of the illusion?

    ¡°I do not and I don¡¯t care, are you responsible for poisoning the food or not? Don¡¯t lie to me! I will be able to tell if you do!¡± He was paying close attention to me and he had grabbed my wrist a while ago so I guess he can actually tell if I¡¯m lying. Unfortunately for him, I¡¯m not a complete noob in illusions. The fish that I used didn''t contain any poison nor did I poison any other food, I¡¯m sorry but if what you¡¯re saying is true and the food is poisoned, I have to tell the chefs! He strengthened his grip.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to be lying but I want to see your real appearance before I fully believe you!¡± Ugh, you¡¯re wasting my break, and I don¡¯t want others to know!

    ¡°How about there? I don¡¯t think people will go in there, I¡¯ve been observing and it seemed everything they needed from there has been taken out already.¡± He pointed to the walk-in freezer door in the back. Fine, have it your way. This is convenient for me; the moment he realized I poisoned the food was the moment I had to get rid of him. I¡¯m sure he is planning on getting rid of me too. This is just how assassins think. I started circulating nature energy through my system. And notified Starbolt that we might have a difficult battle in a bit. I told some chefs that this suspicious guy was here for quality control and led him into the walk-in freezer. It was quite spacious, there was a lot of space in this freezer. He closed the door behind him.

    ¡°Alright reveal yourself! And no tricks! I don¡¯t know what¡¯s behind that illusion but I can feel if you still have one up!¡± I guess I still have long ways to go with my illusions. I dropped my illusion and revealed my 13-year-old self.

    ¡°A kid? I surely didn¡¯t expect that! Unfortunately for you, I don''t care if you''re a child or an old man, you will die here!¡± He took out 2 daggers out of his pockets and I saw his shadow flicker. An inmate with weapons and being able to use magic. This wasn''t an ordinary inmate. May I at least hear your name before I die?

    ¡°You must have probably heard about me; the name is Arby also known as the ¡®Silent Night¡¯ be grateful to have the honor of dying by my hands.¡± Ooh! That is familiar yes! So, if you¡¯re a prisoner why can you move around and do what you want without restrictions?

    ¡°You sure are talkative for someone who is about to die, but it doesn''t matter if I tell you, I¡¯m part of a secret program that uses Event Horizon prisoners as test subjects to turn them into the perfect soldier! And they choose me to be the leader of those soldiers! Hahaha!¡± Arby let out an overdramatic edgy laugh. He really acted like a stereotypical villain. While this guy was talking, I had Starbolt draw a magic circle made out of spirit energy. Isn''t that illegal?

    ¡°Ha! So what? We get funding from Igrini kingdom and the Jarn Kingdom! And none of them know about the other! Anyways we get free reign here and will get released in 3 years! The first people ever that get released from Event Horizon! I can¡¯t wait to be outside and kill people!¡± Ehh, cool story, so what does that have to do with me?

    ¡°Nobody is supposed to know this, so you have to die!¡± How unreasonable! You were planning to kill me before that though!

    ¡°Correct, you might not have poisoned my food but I don¡¯t trust illusionists so you need to die!¡± No thanks. Starbolt finished the circle and it zapped Arby causing him to be paralyzed. I froze the door of the freezer shut and covered the small window in the door over and got 3 tails out and sent [Ice disks] at him. He was surprised and dodged by shadow melding into his own shadow and popping back out. This freezer was well lit so he couldn''t so much with shadows.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen this race before! I wonder what your insides look like!¡± He broke out of the paralyze and dashed at me. He was insanely fast, probably almost as fast as I am. I dodged and had Starbolt boost my speed. It looks the same as a human so nothing special! I parried a dagger swipe with a dagger I pulled out and we had an exchange of dagger slashes, evades, feints, and other assassin stuff.

    ¡°Same profession, eh? Can¡¯t say I¡¯m surprised! Are you here to assassinate me?!¡± Don¡¯t be stupid! Why would they send a kid to assassinate you! Our meeting was a coincidence! I made him miss by making him slip. It failed but it threw his aim off so that I could successfully dodge. He wasn''t as troublesome as the androids speed wise but he had good control over his body. I might lose this fight if I¡¯m not careful. I dodged and left a shadow clone behind after which I dove behind a box of frozen fish. I have to make sure I can get 5 layers of [frozen skin] up before he lands a hit on me. I currently have 1.

    He knew he was fighting a clone but my clone was still putting pressure on him. I formed icicles on the ceiling and made them drop on him. He effortlessly evaded them but my main objective was to get my [Frozen skin] stacks up. I chucked more [ice disks] at him. He evaded them too but he got zapped by Starbolt and became numb. I dropped more icicles on him and went at him from the side with a blade made out of frost. He tried to turn around to block my strike but I froze his feet to the floor.

    ¡°Ugh!¡± I slashed at him but he partially blocked it with [Shadow cloak] ¡°Ouch! What is that? That¡¯s not normal ice, is it?!¡± He could say that because the mana would be absorbed by the shadow cloak if it was water magic and protect him from the damage it would do but because I used frost magic this didn''t work. It lessened the blow but most of it still went through.

    His feet broke free and he wanted to turn toward me but my clone made a [steam cannon v2.0] and shot an [Ice ball] at him. He evaded and I used [Mirror] on myself and reflected the [Ice ball] to Arby. I dealt with the minor inconvenience of [mirror] which also has the effect of flipping my body so it will turn me into a lefty every odd uses. He got hit by the attack and flew into some boxes with more frozen fish. [Shadow tendrils] extended toward me. I tried to react but Arby appeared out of nowhere and drove a dagger through my heart. At least so he thought. 1 of my 5 [Frozen skin] layers shattered. I reacted by freezing the dagger and his hand. He pulled away before I could freeze his whole arm.

    ¡°How vexing¡± He tried to thaw his hand by sending mana through it but because it was very cold in here it went quite slowly. So, what stunt did you pull? Assassins rarely get imprisoned; they either never get caught or killed.

    ¡°They got na?ve and tried to set an example, they couldn¡¯t just kill the ¡®Silent Night'' so they just locked me away.¡± I deflected a thrown dagger by throwing a dagger at it. They made a ¡®Tink¡¯ sound and flew off in completely different directions. We started throwing daggers at each other which hit each other in midair and hit everything besides their target. I attached wires to some of them and managed to catch Arby by surprise with the unusual trajectories and gave him 1 deep cut in his leg and 2 shallow cuts on his arm and side.

    ¡°Who trained you? You are inferior to me in experience but you have a wider and more effective skillset.¡± I don¡¯t owe you an explanation! I ran lightning magic through the wires while making a magic circle on the floor with the wires. Arby cut some wires with a [Shadow slash].

    ¡°I won¡¯t fall for that again!¡± Are you sure? Arby was standing relatively still during all this so I had Starbolt draw a magic circle on his back. He got zapped again and numbed. I dropped the temperature in this freezer when that happened.

    ¡°What! When did you!¡± I moved behind him to pierce his heart but he threw out daggers in all directions. It was sloppy but one grazed me and took another layer of [Frozen skin]. [Frozen skin] is a very strong skill but it doesn''t matter how strong the attack I receive is, if I get hit, I will lose a layer. He sent a [Dark pulse] at me and I used [Mirror] on myself again and reflected it back at him. I threw some daggers to follow up on the [Dark pulse]. He evaded the [Dark pulse], evaded one dagger, and caught the other. He went into stealth and I threw [ice disks] at him. He got grazed by one which dropped him out of stealth and I closed the wires around him and bound him. He used [Dark nova] which blasted the wires off him and he was covered in a shadowy mass.

    ¡°I¡¯ve had enough of you!¡± He used [Dark grasp] which sent a dark shadowy hand at me. I evaded the tracking hand and threw boxes of fish at it. It grasped the fish and crushed them. Well, it didn''t crush the fish but the hearts of the fish. ¡°Ugh, I forgot that this place has organic bait with hearts!¡±

    This skill tracks its target until it hits something organic and crushes its heart. It only works if it¡¯s organic and has a heart. So, I will have to use these fish as decoys when he uses it. I went into stealth. Arby started pulsing [Dark pulses] around him to knock me out of stealth if I got close. Too bad for him I excel at timing attacks. This skill pulsed every 2 seconds. Does he seriously think an assassin can¡¯t deal meaningful damage in that interval?

    The pulses had quite a large radius so I don¡¯t blame him for this. I charged my dagger with purple lightning. I circulated more nature energy through my system. I dropped an ice cube in front of me with my other hand and used [Turning leaf] on Arby the moment a pulse went out.

    He appeared in front of me and I stabbed the purple lightning-imbued dagger at his heart. Unfortunately for me, he had lightning-fast reflexes and I missed his heart. He took a lot of damage though. I tried to follow up but his next [dark pulse] was coming. I had to gamble between losing a layer of [Frozen skin] and possibly sealing the deal or to move away from the [Dark pulse]. I decided to push for more damage. And I vibrated the dagger and twisted it. Arby winced and I got hit by a [Dark pulse]. I had 2 more layers left. He jumped back and was still alive. He tried to close the wound with some shadows but I tried to prevent it by freezing him. He chose to prioritize his wound and allowed his feet to get frozen. He sent another [Dark grasp] at me so I was forced to run away and grab fish as bait. I was still in range of his [Dark pulse] so I had to move anyways.

    While I was dodging the [Dark pulse] and baiting the [Dark grasp] he broke his feet out of the ice. The cold was making him noticeably slower. I threw more daggers at him. He tried to knock them off their trajectory by throwing daggers at them but I changed the trajectory with my wires. He used [Dark nova] again and the shadowy mass around him became bigger. A large arm made out of shadow appeared from the mass and swiped at me. I [shadow melded] into my own shadow to dodge it. It smacked everything it hit to the side of the freezer.

    I used [Mirror] on myself to reflect a [Dark bolt] back. I sent [Ice disks] after them and some [Frost disks]. Arby seemed to have anticipated that I would follow the attack that I sent instead of using ranged attacks. My clone who was hiding in stealth the whole time and got buffed by Starbolt landed some slashes at Arby¡¯s back. It was supposed to be lethal but his reflexes saved him again. Another arm with a scythe appeared from the shadowy mass around him and cut my clone in half. The arm kept swinging and the scythe got swung at me. I tried to move but he simultaneously cast [Shadow bind] on me. I blocked the scythe with a [Frost wall] while trying to break out the shadow bind. But I was too occupied with the shadow bind and the scythe that I didn''t notice that the other hand was about to slam me. I got slammed and was down to my last layer.

    It slammed down on me again and I surrounded myself with my multi-layered frost and water shell. I swapped myself with a frozen fish to get out. More daggers and I responded in kind while evading the arms and scythe.

    This exchange of throwing daggers went on for half an hour. I really needed to get out of here fast! I need to set up more preparations! During this last half hour, my mana started to drain way faster. This means Ted and Gregory are at their destination, Layer 2. I was running out of steam quite swiftly here. Frost magic would have worked well here if this guy didn''t stick to shadow and dark magic. Because they also absorb mana it''s a terrible matchup for frost magic if I want to absorb mana. I got [shadow bound] and I [shadow bound] Arby in response. Arby wasn''t trying to break out and was just sending attacks at me. Here is where he had the advantage because my defensive options aren¡¯t as good as his. I swapped myself with a fish and broke out but got boxed in by an arm and the scythe. The range of this thing is insane.

    I jumped on the scythe but got grazed taking away my last [Frozen skin] layer. I froze the scythe and tried to shatter it but I got another [Dark grasp] thrown at me. I swapped an ice cube I made with a fish which got hit by [Dark grasp] and I shattered the scythe.

    ¡°Ugh, I got to hand it to you only very experienced assassins and fighters have ever managed to survive this long against me.¡± He smiled after a shard of the shattered scythe made a shallow cut on my cheek. ¡°I will grant you the highest honor of showing why I was called ¡®Silent Night¡¯, rejoice and die!¡± He used another [Dark Nova] and the shadowy mass gained a head and it exhaled black fog.

    ¡°[Silent Night]¡± I lost sight of him.

    I went through filters to find him. All the sound died out, no smell all my senses were shut off. Except. A piercing pain in my chest. The fog lifted and I saw a dagger sticking out of my chest.

    ¡°You have done well; I will remember this fight.¡± Is what I heard from behind. This skill is terrifying but¡­ Unfortunately for you, my race has its heart on the right side of our body. This was bullshit but the skill [mirror] flips my body as if I¡¯m looking in a mirror. My heart was currently on my right and I was currently left-handed. I didn¡¯t let him react and I used the ice version of [Eternal Winter] and froze him solid. I moved forward to get the frozen dagger out of my chest. It did miss my heart but it still did a lot of damage.

    I froze the wound and circulated nature energy to the wound. He punctured my lung which was a big problem. I used the nature energy to get the blood and fluid out of my lung. It was uncomfortable and excruciating. I used [Mirror] to turn back to normal. I didn''t do this on purpose but maybe using [mirror] to fight assassins is something I should do more often. They either go for the heart or the head if it''s standard assassination.

    I tried to recover for 10 minutes but it went quite slow. My mana was draining and now my left shoulder and right side of my chest hurt. Everything seems to be aiming for my heart lately. I went into stealth and left the freezer. It was almost 15:00. The kitchen seemed to be in an uproar. It seemed the real Damian appeared. But he doesn''t seem to be great at dealing with fish and he''s getting shit on by the other chefs. Not my problem. I got quite careless in that fight there. But at least I came out of that battle with all my lives. The dagger strike didn''t contain any poison so I don¡¯t have to worry about that. I didn''t see much of what happened with that skill [Silent Night] but if Gregory could learn that, it would be quite helpful. It probably is one of those skills that are hard to learn¡­ I left the canteen and hid nearby trying to recover. I saw a brunette woman who had an air of importance walk into the canteen. I bet that''s Casi, it seems that I dodged a problematic situation. I noticed inmates running out of the canteen. I circulated more nature energy through my body and decided to rest for a bit longer.

 Vol 2 Ch 23: Lost

    I am frustrated. We are lost. And this isn¡¯t anyone''s fault. It just so happens that the only floor we can¡¯t get Agnis¡¯ assistance on, is a maze. We needed to go to the East wing, Section 6, cell 4. We are currently in the north wing section 8 and we¡¯ve been heading east the whole time but we can¡¯t seem to get out of this section because there are no logical paths going east. It was hard to see what was going on.

    A thick layer of light could be seen on the floor and it was pitch black besides that. I made a small flame but the light of it just dropped to the floor and didn''t illuminate anything in front of us. Luckily Greg can see through the darkness but this is limited. He is using his shadow magic to feel out where to go but he is directionally challenged so this isn''t helping a lot. He tried to shadowmeld us before, but unfortunately, there seem to be creatures sealed away in this darkness so we are forced to walk.

    We need to hurry up Agnis'' mana is draining quite fast, I can tell by how much is flowing into these rings. It will only get worse for him once we find Raishin. I understand that but how are we supposed to navigate this maze? We can¡¯t even see anything!

    I know! But what do you suggest we do in this situation? It is not like we have a map or anything! Ugh, I can''t believe that I''m saying this but maybe we need to find a guard and steal his map.

    That is the thing, I haven''t detected any guard or living being since we arrived on this floor. I hope we can find our way back after we free Raishin.

    We will, I drew a map! Hand it over to me after you finish it, for some reason you can draw maps quite well but you can''t follow them.

    Rude! I made sure to periodically check Greg¡¯s map to make sure we didn''t take a route we had taken before.

    I think we have to have a chat after all this. Hmm? What¡¯s wrong?

    This whole situation. It is good and all that we all have our specialties but this is currently our problem. Agnis needs to be extra careful because we aren''t there to bail him out when he gets into trouble, same for us, without his sensory input we¡¯re just lost in here. And I¡¯m sure this applies to other aspects too. Or strengths and weaknesses get compensated for if we are all together but the moment, we get split up we run into these issues. Hmm, I see your point, what do you suggest we do about it?

    I don¡¯t know that¡¯s why we need a good long chat with the 4 of us and make a concrete plan for alleviating this issue. Hmm fair, personally, I would like Agnis to teach me a bit more about assassin-type stuff. Besides being slow, I do have an affinity for it.

    We haven''t really split up in a long time and when we did it was mostly for quests and adventures with other adventurers or we split up because our specialties were needed. This applied to Boshi town too, we didn''t get much into trouble because we only split up when certain specialties were needed but this isn¡¯t going to always be the case. It would be a bad situation if it was forced. Similar to our current situation. We discussed this issue further and finally made it into the east wing. Greg pulled me to the side. We saw some inmates approaching. These were also talking about the awesome fish from the canteen. I tried to figure out how they knew exactly how to navigate this maze.

    Hey Greg, can you use [Shadowform] and impersonate a prisoner and ask them? Unfortunately, I cannot. I can kidnap one and put a curse on him which makes it likely that he¡¯s going to tell the truth. I sighed.

    Is there any method that¡¯s more peaceful? You do realize we¡¯re in a life-and-death situation in the middle of the most secure prison on the continent, right?

    Ugh, fine, do your thing. Gregory snatched a random prisoner and dropped some curses on him. Apparently, every inmate gets a small luminous bell that creates a map of the area in their head since the layout changes every reset which happens every 21 days on layer 2. We did have to drag him to a public spot in this section to make out what he was saying. Greg stole his bell and handed it over to me. We don¡¯t have time for me to get ourselves lost. We need to get Raishin out of here as soon as possible. I accepted the small bell and saw a map in my head. I guided Greg toward section 5.

    Hold on a bit, we¡¯re being followed. Followed? How?

    Something is following us through the shadows and it¡¯s quite strong, can you bring us to a deserted area? I got us to a small plaza. Greg told me that nobody was near it. I guess he was using the shadows to feel out if there was anyone nearby, I did remember that these sections should be quite empty.

    Is this the place? Yeh. Gregory made the shadow swell and forced something out of the darkness. A dark shadowy silhouette covered in dark purple armor with 4 arms appeared. Each of them held a hand axe.

    Four-armed tribe eh, this is problematic. Is this a prisoner?

    I think so, I don¡¯t know how they got banished in the darkness here, it¡¯s not a shadowcat only skill but our race more or less has a monopoly on it. This one seems quite old though, I need Agnis for a more accurate estimate but this guy has been stuck in the shadows for at least over 1000 years. More of these old overpowered creatures, great! I took a stance and Greg enclosed the area with a [Shadow wall].

    You will have to do most of the fighting, correcting against the gravity here doesn''t leave me with much mana to spare. That¡¯s fine. I got out my [Bear avatar]. The 4 arm didn''t seem to be taking any action but it was showing hostility.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    I don¡¯t remember these guys having any weaknesses. They are over-reliant on their arms.

    No shit captain obvious! Besides that, I mean!

    They aren¡¯t very intelligent but they make up for it with their strength. I don''t see how that is a disadvantage if he can probably cleave me in 2 with one hit!

    That¡¯s fine! You can regenerate. Not if he hits my head and heart in one strike!

    Then just dodge? Ugh, you¡¯re starting to sound like Agnis. Alright here goes nothing! I swiped with my [Bear avatar] and the 4 arm blocked it with its 2 right arms. I swiped with my left paw and this got blocked too. I rushed at it and hit it with a [Mountain buster] in its chest. The force moved it back by 4 meters but it seemed quite unh-armed.

    Are you thinking of dumb puns again?! What? How the¡­ no! It pushed the arms of my bear avatars away and rushed at me ready to swing 2 axes at me. Greg, [Shadow bound] it, and I hit its chin with a fire-augmented palm strike and followed up with an earth-augmented shoulder bash. It got pushed back by the force and threw an [Aurora Bearealis] at it. It tried to parry all the hits but quickly got overwhelmed and pelted by the attack. Greg threw his hammer at the four arm which it dodged. I grabbed the hammer with the [bear avatar] and lifted it high in the air and brought it down on the 4 arm. Gregory increased the gravity on it so the hammer strike was packing quite the punch. The four arm blocked the slam with all 4 of its arms but seemed to struggle against the force.

    It got brought down to one knee. I went into big bear form and stood in front of the 4 arm that was down on one knee still blocking the hammer strike. I charged up a fully charged [Mountain buster] which was also infused with a little bit of fire and hit it full on its chest. It flew away and crashed into the [shadow wall] Greg had made prior. Its armor melted and it was burning into its body but the 4 arm didn''t seem to react to it. This combination of attacks seemed to have greatly injured one of its arms. Greg used some curses and used [Shadow tendrils] to restrict the 4 arms movement. It got out of Greg¡¯s attack but still took a curse that seemed to make it lose control over its limbs.

    I rushed at the four arm and attacked its elbow and shoulder joints. Greg¡¯s curse didn''t last long but I managed to disable all of its arms. I only got a gash in my right shoulder and my left hand chopped off by the axes that got flailed around. The gash closed after a couple of seconds but I had to wait a bit longer till my hand would regenerate. The four-arm looked quite creepy with its joints dislocated. It still tried to move its arms but to no avail. I walked over to the four arm and looked at Greg.

    It should be quite harmless unless you¡¯re afraid of headbutts and kicks. I feel that this guy was strong but had a poor matchup against us, I will give you the honor of getting finished off by my new attack. I bumped my fists together and imbued them with earth magic. Some hard crystals grew on my skin and created something akin to a crystal exoskeleton for my paws. I cracked my neck and clenched my fists.

    [Bar-bear-ian Pun-ches]! I started sending barrages of punches at the defenseless four-arm. I kept punching and punching and punching and eventually, it started leaking shadow and eventually dissipated into a shadowy mist.

    You¡¯re right, that was quite barbaric. It¡¯s bar-bear-ic!

    Yes, yes, whatever, it seems that nothing is following us now. Let''s free Raishin before we attract any more attention. Greg dropped the shadow walls surrounding the area and dropped to one knee.

    Ugh, this is so draining, let''s hurry. I helped him up and we started heading over to Raishin¡¯s cell.

    So, we¡¯re heading over to his cell but how do we know he is there? We don¡¯t, we have to wait till he comes back to it or if we¡¯re lucky we might find him.

    Look is that a prisoner? He¡¯s acting weird! Hmm, that would probably be one of the poisons I gave Agnis, he seems to be wildly hallucinating.

    What poisons did you give him? Some hallucinogens, some could have similar effects to laxatives and one can give random effects like causing extreme itches and stuff. They are all deadly but if he mixed it with the food, it¡¯s quite diluted and will lose its lethality.

    Both of you are demons. You don''t suppose Raishin ate that food, right? I¡¯m sure Agnis would have spotted him and somehow stopped him.

    Would he though? He would probably allow him to get a laugh out of it. That is a possibility yes¡­ We continued to head over to section 6 and saw some more prisoners who were acting weird. We even saw 1 guard who had warts all over his body.

    Yeah, there is no way that this goes by unnoticed.

    We finally made it to section 6 and before we reached Raishin¡¯s cell we saw him sitting in a corner that had no time dilation. He seemed to be sulking. I wanted that food too, and I miss my friends¡­ Trust me you don''t want that food, you would''ve been poisoned by Agnis. Sorry, it took us so long.

    See, now I¡¯m even hearing things. There is no way my friends would be here, they would do anything for me but getting in here is impossible¡­ Wow what happened to him, did they really break them? Well, he got taken away from his girlfriend, he probably thinks he spent his birthday in here since I think a month has passed for him, he also got taken away from us and locked up in this depressing place, I think it¡¯s not surprising.

    Yeah, I know right that. Wait! You guys are real! Raishin finally looked up and looked at us. He jumped at us and we gave him a group hug. He started crying. He told us how much he missed us. I handed over the [Time ring] and Greg used [Shadow Anklets] on Raishin. We interrogated Raishin about any candy or drugs. According to Agnis, it could become a big problem but luckily Raishin¡¯s intuition told him to stay away from that candy.

    I would like to hear more but unfortunately, we are short on time, Agnis and my mana are draining fast to cancel out the time dilation and gravity and we still need to make it back out. Also, Agnis has started sowing chaos because there is a likelihood we would get discovered before we make it outside so he pre-emptively started to wreak havoc. But won''t that tell them that something weird is up?

    Do they do regular checks on the prisoners? Uhh, dunno but I do have to be at some boring workshop in 15 minutes. I think that''s what he means they will probably find out that you¡¯re missing in 15 minutes. How long does it take?

    Uhh, I don''t know I think 4 or 5 hours? Yeah, we can¡¯t wait that long, this means we have 15 minutes to get as far as possible. Agnis isn''t going to like this. We decided to stop wasting time and tried to head back to the elevator that we took to get down here. But we got lost because, for some dumb reason, I let Greg lead.

 Vol 2 Ch 24: Cassiopeia

    I had to move from the spot I was recovering because Casi made quite the ruckus in the canteen and it got worse when all the guards and inmates started to show odd symptoms. It was utter chaos.

    10 minutes ago, my mana started to drain even faster. I don''t think Ted and Gregory are stupid enough to go to layer 1 so I assume they got a [Time ring] on Raishin which is good news. The bad news is that my mana is draining so fast that I will be relatively useless until we get to layer 6 or higher. My shoulder, chest, and back were still hurting but it was way more manageable now. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea for me to fight anything or anyone in this state.

    Starbolt was not doing so hot either, he was low on spirit energy . The clone that went with Gregory and Ted to layer 3 was now keeping an eye out on our way up to layer 5 and was setting frost traps. After that, he ascended the magma vortex and waited on layer 5.

    I sat down on top of a cell looking out on the main plaza of section 9 and ate popcorn while enjoying the chaos. It was free of time dilation so I could watch the chaos in real time. I needed to recover so it¡¯s not like I could do much anyways. The inmates tried the weirdest and funniest ways to alleviate their condition. Some even got irritated and fought each other. They didn''t seem to fight with the intent to kill though. The guards weren''t off any better and it seems in this situation the inmates and the guards were equal. I finished a bag of popcorn and got another one out of my dimensional pocket when I smelled cinnamon and apples.

    ¡°Are you responsible for all this?¡± A tall beautiful brunette with short wavy hair sat down next to me. She wore a dress that seemed to be themed after autumn, I recognized her as Casi. Yeah

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem to be alarmed or surprised that I located you.¡± I can¡¯t sense ill intent from you so I didn''t feel the need to hide.

    ¡°My precious chefs from the canteen were talking about this ¡®fake Damian¡¯ who ended up being a nicer person and a better cook than the real Damian, someone I personally sent to them, was that you too?¡± They loved my fish that much, eh?

    ¡°So, it was you, listen, I know this is a strange situation but would you like to become a chef in the canteen? I value good food over who or what, I don¡¯t care if you¡¯re a criminal or broke in the prison to free someone, I value people that can put good food on the table.¡± Uh, as I told the chefs I¡¯m a mediocre chef at best, I can only do fish and even still I decline. What makes you think I broke in here to save someone?

    ¡°Well, you are quite young so you wouldn''t be a guard, we don''t take visitors and I only know one person that¡¯s your age in this prison and he got here recently. So, I know that you¡¯re not a prisoner or guard which leaves the option that you broke in. I don¡¯t know how you did it but judging by your clothes I¡¯m fairly certain that¡¯s the case.¡± You don¡¯t seem to have a problem with this though, aren¡¯t you supposed to kick me out, kill me or imprison me?

    ¡°Well yes but my intuition tells me that the boy who got here recently is your friend and that he is the reason you¡¯re here, I don''t care what he did but layer 2 is way too harsh, he shouldn''t even be in this prison in the first place. Personally, I can¡¯t do anything about it but if you could manage to free him, I am willing to turn a blind eye for as much as I¡¯m able to.¡± Hmm, quite surprising.

    ¡°Unfortunately, I can''t help you save him and I¡¯ll probably be forced to attempt to capture you the next time we meet but for now I just want to have a chat and possibly persuade you to work in my canteen.¡± I¡¯m sorry, nothing would convince me to work in the canteen, I do have a question though, how old are you?

    ¡°Wow, going for the rude questions, you can¡¯t ask a woman for her age!¡± Well, a reliable source stated that there have been sightings of you that date to 250 years ago.

    ¡°Interesting, well that might be true, it doesn''t mean that I¡¯m over 250 years old. You see I¡¯m the boss of this layer, Cassiopeia, but this isn¡¯t my real name, it''s a title. I¡¯m a 34-year-old guard that gained enough rank and reputation to be eligible for this position. There aren¡¯t many female guards in this prison and I¡¯m the first person to gain the Cassiopeia title in over 100 years.¡± She showed me a trinket. ¡°When we gain the title, we get a trinket like this which transforms our bodies and makes us more powerful. It is said that we take the form of the first head guards that have managed the layers in this prison in ancient times. These trinkets also make us immune to time dilation and increased gravity. There are rumors that there was a trinket for every layer but only 4 trinkets have been found in this ancient structure so far.¡± I appreciate the useful information but why would you tell me this?

    ¡°Well, as I said I secretly hope you succeed in rescuing your friend and it also serves as a warning. The other layer bosses will do their job and even go as far as kill you when they find out.¡± At that moment I heard something that sounded like telepathy but it seemed that everyone on the layer could hear it.

    ¡°Ok, I''m going to only say this once! Cygnus here, quack! We have an escapee from Layer 2, I suspect that he got help from outside, the escaped prisoner is number 781326354 Raishin Torai, race: human. Guards and inmates alike on layer 1 through layer 4 are acting weird. I can¡¯t get rid of this itch quack! Everyone who is able, look for, and capture the escapee and his associates! Lethal force is allowed, ugh this itch! Quack! Geminga and Cassiopeia what the fuck are you doing?! Get into action, quack!¡± So far for being discreet¡­

    ¡°Oh, it seems you¡¯re not alone, but unfortunately you seem to have drawn the attention of Cygnus and Geminga.¡± Well unfortunately this is quite normal for us. I took more popcorn out of my dimensional pocket and offered some to Casi. She looked at me and took the popcorn with a puzzled look on her face.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem alarmed, aren¡¯t you supposed to get out of here immediately? They found out you know.¡± Yeah, I know, but now they did, there¡¯s nothing I can do about it, I¡¯ll just rest here till my friends reach this layer.

    ¡°I see, so this is the mentality required to break into Event Horizon¡­¡± I continued chatting with Casi and learned some more about this prison and a bit of its history. It seemed there are a lot of ancient sections in the south wing of layers 1 through 5 that have individuals imprisoned in there from even before the Great Eraser. The south wings seem to have one thing in common and that is to hold races that live long or have a near-infinite lifespan.

    Apparently, Cygnus is supposed to be swan themed but he looks like a duck and talks like a duck. I¡¯d say if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and talks like a duck it''s a duck. Apparently, this will piss him off if I would tell him that. Casi seemed confused when I asked her if he¡¯s made out of metal and if his weakness is crystal chairs. I guess only my buddies would get that reference. I felt quite healthy after a 2-hour chat and recovery but I had to get moving when I sensed that Gregory, Ted, and Raishin had appeared on this layer. Well, it was great having a chat with you but I have to get to work and I assume you have to do so too.

    ¡°Well, I do have to calm down the other sections so I won¡¯t be in your way, I¡¯ll try to take my time.¡± Casi got up. ¡°I will repeat my warning. Everything from now on is trying to catch or kill you, I will be forced to do the same when we meet again, it was a nice chat but¡­ I hope we won¡¯t meet again.¡±

    Thank you Casi, it might not have been much to you but you restored some of my faith in humanity. I smelled a wave of cinnamon and apples as she jumped down and went to calm everyone causing mayhem. I do have to say, this poison Gregory gave me seems to slowly increase its effect over time. I went over to another section, raided an abandoned food stall, and tested it for those weird drugs. It seemed to just be normal baked goods and pastries. I raided more abandoned food stalls on my way to meet my buddies. I was standing on a cell eating a cinnamon roll and saw my buddies sneaking around an alley. I threw some baguettes with garlic butter at them while eating some. I love garlic butter.

    What the?! baguettes? And why didn''t I sense anyone?! Hmm, these taste very good! Only one person would do this. Yo Agnis! Sup, I guess you guys are in a hurry, this way!

    I¡¯m so happy to see you! I dodged Raishin.

    I¡¯m happy to see you too but let''s leave this until after we escape, I had the golden opportunity to talk with Casi, she¡¯s hoping we can safely escape but will be forced to assist in capturing us next time we meet. Oh yeah, I met her once she¡¯s quite nice she seemed to be upset that they locked me up in this prison. Ehh, I don¡¯t want to give you more stress Agnis but we kind of managed to draw Cygnus and Geminga¡¯s attention.

    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    I would expect nothing less from you 3. Hey! Normally you¡¯re involved in things like this as well!

    Hmm, what is it Starbolt? Oh, guys, I think playtime is over. We were still heading over toward the exit going to layer 5 when we heard a loud ¡®Quack¡¯

    Shit it¡¯s that duck again! Ugh, this Ducker again! You just had to make a duck pun¡­

    Duck! Yes, yes, we get it, Ted!

    No seriously duck! Ted grabbed our heads and made us duck. Sharp feathers flew over us and punched holes in walls up ahead.

    Phew that was close. How did he find us so fast? You¡¯re not wearing a tracker by any chance?

    What? No of course not! I went through Raishin¡¯s prison clothes and swiped his prison ID card.

    Hey, give that back! I won''t be able to get food without it! If this doesn''t scream tracker then I don¡¯t know what does. You don¡¯t need the food here anyway! I burnt the ID to a crisp and started laying frost traps.

    ¡°Quack!¡± Do we have any crystal chairs here? Funny that you say that I was thinking the same. The frost traps went off but I didn''t get any mana out of it.

    Hmm, that¡¯s weird, my frost traps didn''t gain me any mana, I could use some. Well about that, you probably won¡¯t like this and this is the reason we don''t want to mess with that guy. Yeh, this Cygnus guy is a frost user.

    Perfect¡­ so there is nothing we can do to him¡­ This duck sucks! Hehe you get it? He sucks mana? Oh, thank you for volunteering to distract him, Ted!

    Nonono! Wait I''m sorry! I will distract him. If I can¡¯t do anything to him with frost magic, he probably can¡¯t do anything to me. Just be careful that he doesn¡¯t drain the mana out of your [Time ring].

    Right... Good call, that would be quite nasty if that happened. Don¡¯t you mean that would suck?

    Raishin, smack him. Raishin smacked him while Gregory blocked some feathers that seemed to home in from a large distance. I haven''t seen what this Cygnus looks like but he has deadly accuracy, don¡¯t tell me he¡¯s a nine-tailed fox too, wait they told me he¡¯s a duck. I made a clone to escort them toward the magma elevator or whatever it¡¯s called. Ted and Gregory would have to figure out how to get it moving to go up. I have a clone on layer 5 so I can just [Shadow swap] to it.

    Teleports get distorted a lot down here but [Shadow swap] works just fine. I activated my Elgards eyes and tried to look for this duck. I found him but couldn''t see him. I remembered that frost magic interferes with my eyes. It seems that frost users will prove to be my worst enemies. But observing an area that I can¡¯t observe tells me exactly where he is but that¡¯s all, nothing about his appearance, not what he¡¯s casting, nothing. But since I''m still quite far I can assault him with ranged attacks.

    I made my frost bow and start shooting [Frost arrows] at him. I heard a loud ¡®Quack¡¯ and saw how my arrows got shot down by feathers. The first batch destroyed the feathers but after that, the duck coated them in frost so they canceled each other out. With my fight against Arby, I realized that dark and shadow magic also can be used against frost magic. I created a [Frost walls] to attempt and slow the Duck down. It worked, not by much but between shooting at him from afar and blocking his advance he seemed to slow down.

    ¡°Quack! Stop being obnoxious and show yourself!¡± Whoa that¡¯s loud, does he have a megaphone? But this was extremely loud, maybe it''s a gigaphone. I wondered if sending a shadow clone at him would be effective, it will resist getting its mana sucked out and disappearing but that might be wishful thinking. I decided to continue sniping the Duck while staying relatively hidden. I slowed him down for about 10 minutes. Ted and Gregory seemed to have gotten the magma elevator going.

    - We got this thing working, are you coming? - - I can [Shadow swap] myself up, go on without me, it will take me 5 minutes to get there so don¡¯t bother waiting. ¨C

    - Ok, be careful. ¨C

    I looked back and saw them slowly ascend. Ignis was fighting off some random guards that I assume tried to hinder them. It is a good thing I left him there. I continued to head over toward the magma elevator because Ignis was getting overwhelmed and I didn¡¯t know what they could do to mess with Ted and Gregory while they were still working hard to go up.

    They were already halfway up. When I arrived to help Ignis, a breeze of apples and cinnamon wafted through, and Cassiopeia appeared.

    Uh oh. She easily dealt with Ignis and focused on me.

    ¡°It¡¯s a shame that we have to meet again like this¡­¡± She attempted to sing but I pulled the moisture out of her mouth causing her to cough. This is how I deal with opponents that vocally cast magic or this case a singer who probably imbues her voice with some magic. I don¡¯t think this kind of magic is easy to learn but it is quite overpowered if you can¡¯t manage to block out the sound.

    She tried again and I filled her mouth with water. I can¡¯t continue doing this because it requires a lot of concentration and precision and I''m still a bit tired. I tried to slip her by using [Frozen Ground] but she resisted. I created earplugs made out of snow and plugged my ears. She started singing and the guards started to act weird but I couldn¡¯t hear anything. Unfortunately, the Duck arrived. He wore a strange yellow suit. It looked very weird.

    What the duck? This seemed to annoy the duck and he seemed to be giving me a lecture but again I was wearing earplugs. The guards suddenly started acting differently and seemed to get buffed up and headed over toward me. Meanwhile, the duck seemed to start freezing the magma elevator. Yikes, this is bad. I threw a [Frost disk] at him but he dispelled it without issues. I threw another one that was slightly different and it crashed into him. This grabbed his attention but I was becoming more and more occupied with these guards. They were fast, and their movements were fast but they weren''t using magic.

    I realize that nobody in this prison has been using magic except for these strong bosses and some cooks and Arby. I moved to an area that had time dilation and increased gravity and the guards got slowed down. It didn''t accomplish my goal because the Duck started to freeze the magma elevator again. I kept unfreezing it while throwing [Frost disks] at him. I have actually never thought of how to actually fight a frost user, the only thing I can think of is overloading him with mana but I''m not doing so great mana wise and there''s no guarantee I can make him freeze over with what I throw at him. Besides that, using lost magic, maybe my illusions work on him? I created some layers and used [Confusion] and it seemed to hurt him.

    Unfortunately, the other shatters I have, require too many layers, more than I can lay down at the moment. I seemed to have gained his attention though. I used a 5-layered [Confusion] on him but it didn''t seem to do anything after he shot feathers at me. I shot them down with [Frost arrows]. He made a [Frost wall] and made it hard for me to shoot at him from this position. I was quite far and I didn¡¯t see Casi anymore so I assume she went to do something against the magma elevator. Ted and Greg were 3 quarters up but if I gave this duck breathing room, he would stop the elevator. I formed blades out of frost and dashed toward him.

    This drain on my mana was beginning to take a toll on me so I would have to try and stick to sword fighting and frost magic. I tried to clip the wings of this duck with swords made out of frost but he parried with a chop. His body was covered in frost so I couldn''t see him. I deactivated my Elgards eyes. Never did I think there would be a situation where it would be better to not use them. He was slower than Arby and the androids and his posture gave away what he was doing. I kept parrying his chops and he kept parrying my sword strikes and any attempt to cut his wings off. I realized too late that there was more than one floor boss present. Out of nowhere I felt a kick to my side and got sent flying into the magma. I sent natural energy to my side before I crashed into the small magma pool.

    I activated my eyes again and inspected myself. It seems I broke some ribs. I saw various swans made out of frost approach me. Ignis was nice enough to block them for me while I was getting up but he got destroyed by these [Frost swans]. I jumped away and made a bat out of frost and batted the swans down when they got close to me. The magma rearranged itself and solidified into a fancy bridge that made a path in the magma pool as Casi approached.

    It didn''t seem like she was directly manipulating the magma with magic. I dodged another kick and threw the bat at her. She seemed extremely agile. She missed her kick. I jumped on her leg and tried to kick back but she blocked it with¡­ I don¡¯t know how she blocked it. There is like an air barrier, maybe her voice? I jumped over her and headed over toward the duck on solid ground because he tried to freeze the elevator again. It almost disappeared into the ceiling so I just had to stall for longer. I covered myself in frost and landed a flying kick on the ducks head. He tried to grab me but I left a frost clone in my place. I barely dodged a pressure wave but it did hit the duck.

    The duck seemed to yell at Casi. I don¡¯t think the duck is a big problem at least for me but Casi is a problem, I don''t think I can keep up with this for much longer. My side still hurt. Casi dashed at me the moment I thought about how to deal with her. I made a floaty jump and pulled something out my dimensional pocket. It was one of the books I swiped together with the one that had my gramps in it. I made sure that I didn''t have gramps¡¯ book and threw it at Casi so that it would open up in front of her. It opened and Casi got temporarily trapped inside of the book.

    Phew.

    The duck was shocked and I used this opportunity to take out some Cnidaria seeds and threw it at him. A successful hit! I made 3 [Magma snakes] and sent them to the duck who was fighting to get the jellyfish off his face. I made sure that the magma snakes were quite evasive. The duck was still trying to recover from what just happened. I confirmed that the magma elevator disappeared into the ceiling and used [Shadow swap].

 Vol 2 Ch 25 Cygnus

    I arrived on layer 5 and instantly jumped on a building. The area was covered in a poison mist and I saw a big golem fighting off guards. It seems that Gregory got serious. I inspected the poison mist and took the appropriate antidote that Gregory gave me when he gave me these poisons. I shouldn''t have issues with this poison mist now but I don¡¯t want to push my luck here. I couldn''t see my buddies anywhere but I saw shadows coming out of the big golem that assisted it in fighting off the guards.

    The golem seemed to have been originally made out of magma, most of it had solidified to rock but its limbs were still covered with magma. I assume Gregory did this deliberately since it was giving the guards a hard time. The poison gas also seemed to affect their performance. Gregory mostly takes a passive role but I forget how troublesome he could be if he got serious. I felt a shadow creeping up on me. It got into my shadow and forcefully [shadow melded] me. I appeared in a relatively small enclosed space.

    Yoo, I made a small room on the bottom of the magma lake for us but it''s extremely hot here could you help us out? I inspected the area and we were indeed in a bubble under the magma lake and Ted and Raishin looked like they were about to pass out from a heat stroke. I covered the outside of this room with frost and started to cool off the area.

    Thank Hourai! Any longer and I would turn into a baked tiger. How long have you guys been in here? 5 minutes, which is 5 minutes too long. It¡¯s getting late and this is the only method I could think of to keep us safe. The whole prison seems to be on full alert now. It won¡¯t be easy to move around like we did before. We got caught by some anti-shadow magic guards.

    Ahh, that explains a lot, I was wondering how you got into a situation where you had to turn this layer into more of a hell than it already is, nice golem by the way. Thanks, but I''m getting at the end of my rope here. Supplying mana so that these guys don''t get slowed down by gravity is taking a toll on me, I assume that goes for you too. You seem injured, are you alright?

    I¡¯m fine, just some broken ribs. ¡­ come here let me look at that!

    No wait I¡¯m fine! Owowow! Hey, back off that hurts! Raishin help me here! Aight! Ted and Raishin held me down and took off my shirt to assess the damage.

    Ok, Mr. tough guy why is it all purple and why does your shoulder look busted too? This scar... Did something pierce your heart? Did you lose a life again? So overprotective! I didn''t lose a life! I explained what happened and Gregory used some healing potions while Ted bandaged me up.

    Those bosses seem like a problem yeh, but disabling one by throwing a book at her, that surely is up there in creativity. Well, I don¡¯t have enough books to repeat that trick nor am I willing to sacrifice potentially useful information. We have to get out of here as soon as possible for multiple reasons, ouch that hurts! Be gentle! That assassin is concerning but at least he¡¯s not a threat anymore. I can¡¯t believe you beat those things! I didn''t know they were androids! I could tell something was off about them though. No wonder they caught me so easily when I tried to escape!

    Yeah, fighting those things isn''t funny at all, luckily, I haven''t seen many on this floor but when we go to layer 6 and higher, we might encounter a lot of them. Greg¡¯s golems will take care of them! Uhh, I''m not so sure about that, my golems are slow, if they can give Agnis a run for his money then my golems will stand no chance. Anyways, we have to be more careful, you need to be more careful Agnis!

    Yes, yes, I''m still alive that¡¯s what matters. The problem is those bosses will probably follow us, I can effectively stall the Duck but I don¡¯t think I can beat him, frost magic is so overpowered. Hmm, yeah if he catches us there''s nothing we can do against him so we have to make sure we don''t get caught. How long will that other one be stuck in that book? When we were stuck in those books, we were in the first one for about 2 hours, it felt the same inside the book and how it was outside but in the second one we spent almost 2 days but only an hour passed in the real world so I think it¡¯s safe to say an hour minimum. The challenges were not directly tied to strength so I think that''s a fair assessment. So, we have an hour to escape before we get her on our ass? That''s quite short.

    Well, we won¡¯t be able to escape before she gets out so this is my question, do we make as much of this hour as we can, or do we rest here? To be honest I¡¯m quite exhausted. A question, does anyone know we¡¯re here under the magma pool? I don¡¯t think so.

    How about this, we get a good rest. Raishin can you generate some energy for Greg and me? I don¡¯t think we can last like this without your assistance. We will just hide here and maybe they will think we moved on to higher floors, it might not be a good idea for the long term but if we get killed in the short term it won¡¯t matter anyway. Ooh, I like that careful approach! I agree let¡¯s rest. I don¡¯t care, I¡¯m already happy that you guys rescued me. Ok then let''s rest.

    We decided to spend the night in this bubble under the magma lake. Raishin generated some energy and fed it to us so that we weren¡¯t at risk to run out of mana. Running out of mana is lethal but indirectly. When people run out of mana or it hits 0, they mean that they can¡¯t spend any more as it puts their life in danger. Mana is still responsible for toughening up the body in response to harmful effects, whether physical, magical, or ambient. Normally high temperatures can kill a person but the mana that the body passively uses can mitigate this.

    When mana hits 0 these things can still occur, the problem is when mana gets drained beyond that point. The kick I received earlier wasn''t actively mitigated, that''s why it broke my ribs but without the passive mana protection everyone has, that would have outright killed me. And it just so happens that the environment in this prison is hostile overall so death will be unavoidable when we run out of mana. Besides that, we won¡¯t be able to do anything without mana anyways so running out of mana is always a bad idea. It was important to save Raishin, but failing to do so would most likely end up in our demise without his ability to create free energy. Gregory and I would run out of steam if we took too long or failed and that would be game over. I tried to give Starbolt some spirit energy but I was quite bad at this so I don¡¯t think I was much of a help.

    We woke up the next morning and discussed the plan while Raishin fed us more energy. I would send a clone up ahead to get a feel of what''s happening on the other layers while the real me is going to attempt to stall the Duck when he appears. Because of how Gregory¡¯s [Shadow anklets] work, Ted and Raishin can¡¯t get too far from Gregory so they would have to stick together, at least until layers 9 and 8. This layer seemed to be relatively calm.

    The poison gas was gone and the guards finally managed to beat the golem. 3 more hours are left before the inmates can leave their cells so we want to make as much progress as possible. There seemed to be more guards on this layer than before but besides that, nothing seemed off. I covered ourselves in illusions while Ted and Gregory moved the magma around us so that we could get out.

    I said goodbye to them, tracked down the anti-shadow magic guards, and assassinated them. I was overflowing with energy thanks to Raishin so this should be enough to make it till the escape. Hmm, is that correct though? There is still the issue with that duck. Depending on the situation I would have to expend all of this to either get away from him or to defeat him. According to Casi, all these bosses are high-status guards that inherit an item that changes their appearance and skillset that matches the first layer bosses even down to personality. However, some of the guards'' personality still gets through. Isn¡¯t this basically a form of possession? But either way, this is a problem which means that these are of almost as strong as those individuals of ancient times. There is a 99% chance that I would lose. The only shot I got is to overwhelm him with magic and make sure that he freezes himself like I did when I absorbed too much energy.

    He would probably be one if not the strongest boss here because magic means nothing to him but precisely because I can use frost magic too, I have a shot. Dark magic has a decent shot against him but I have a feeling that he knows that, it would be foolish to not cover your weak points. I didn''t notice any danger or problems on this layer. The mana constantly draining from me decreased a bit, which means my buddies made it up. I decided to head up too. I spent an hour looking for how to get up but I couldn''t find any. I got to this floor by jumping through those holes in the ceiling.

    I looked up. It was quite the distance but not impossible. I decided to reach the upper floor by going through a hole like this. I pondered for a bit. Anything I throw to swap myself with [Turning leaf] will fall into the magma pool and get destroyed. I should use disposable objects. I went through the catalog of items I had stored and found out that I had over a thousand potatoes stored. Oh, hell no! Not in my dimensional pocket! Time to make some roasted potatoes! I threw a potato in the air and swapped myself with it and saw how it fell to its toasty demise. I kept repeating this and got closer to my destination.

    542 potatoes later, I reached the lower edge of the hole so I could walk up by freezing my feet to the wall. I might or might not have used more potatoes than needed to get here, but hey who is going to miss them?! As I arrived on Layer 6, I saw how the power got cut from the whole area. Oh right, I did sabotage the power plant on this layer or was it layer 7? Anyways, all is going according to plan! It was relatively dark but not pitch black. Gregory would have no issues with this so I¡¯m not sabotaging my friends with this. It gives him more opportunity to shadow meld. Surprisingly the guards close by didn''t seem to panic. For as far as I could see guards were panicking but those in this section and the next one over weren¡¯t. After 10 minutes I saw the cause of this, or more so, I didn¡¯t see it. There was a hazy figure I couldn''t look at. So, Mr. Duck is here I see. It seems he is harassing my buddies.

    A lot of disruption in that area, probably frost magic. Ted was trying to drag Raishin with him while Gregory was holding him off. I guess Gregory discovered that dark magic works decently well against frost magic but that''s all. I asked Starbolt to buff my speed. I rushed to my buddies aid. I got within range and dispelled a [Frost wave] that the duck was about to hit Gregory with and tried again to clip one of his wings with a [Frost blade]. He met the slash with a chop of his wings and pushed me back. Leave this to me, Greg! Get out of here!

    ¡°Ooh, I remember you Quack! The deaf boy!¡± Gregory nodded and ran away. I had earplugs in but it seems that was a good thing because holy shit your voice is annoying!

    ¡°I assume that was a countermeasure to Cassiopeia¡¯s Words of Motion. Not bad Quack!¡± I don¡¯t know what that is but it sounds OP and stop quacking like a duck!

    ¡°How rude! I¡¯m not a duck! I¡¯m a swan!¡± I carefully inspected him; he looked like a duck to me or well more of a duck guy. You look like a duck guy to me. This seemed to anger him. He gestured to some guards and they brought him a baseball bat and a cool sword. The guards ran away as Duckguy started to slowly freeze the area.

    ¡°I could use this golden opportunity to vent! I hope you are better prepared this time around, Quack!¡±

    It was quite a ridiculous sight but unfortunately, this guy could seriously kick my ass if I didn¡¯t pay attention. At least I caught his attention so he probably won''t go after my buddies, yet¡­ He sent a [Frost wave] at me and I covered myself in frost magic to stay unaffected. I attempted to dash in and slash at him but it seems he had the same idea. I parried his sword slash and jumped up to avoid getting my kneecaps shattered by a baseball bat. Hey! Stop hitting below the belt!

    ¡°Your kneecaps are mine! Quack!¡± A chop from his wings and I swapped with some rubble created in the battle he had earlier with my buddies. It is as if this guy has 2 extra limbs, I bet he can fly too, what a pain in the ass. I deactivated my eyes because they were more of a liability against this guy than any help. As long as he was covered in frost magic, I would be better off with normal vision. It was tough to deal with this guy, he was skilled with the sword and the baseball bat, besides that he kept chopping me with his wings and throwing around frost magic when I created distance. His accuracy seemed low but most of his attacks were very wide so I don¡¯t think accuracy is normally an issue for this guy, however¡­ Why are you wearing sunglasses indoors? Wouldn''t it be hard to see when it''s this dark here?

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°It''s a fashion statement, Quack! And be happy! It works in your favor!¡± What a weirdo¡­ We started clashing with frost magic but I was slowly losing out in this exchange.

    ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve ever fought against anyone who could use ice magic! Quack! I thought this magic form was extinct!¡± I call it frost magic because ¡®ice magic¡¯ is quite confusing.

    ¡°Ooh, I like the sound of that, Frost magic, yes! Unfortunately, I will become the only user of this type of magic, under other circumstances I would have loved to nerd out and spar with frost magic.¡± He sent out more [Frost swans] and these were quite tough. I couldn''t do much to them so I had to avoid them and the area that Duckguy was freezing over. Starbolt tried to zap him and cc him but nothing worked.

    Staying close to Duckguy was draining Starbolt of his spirit energy so he had to stay away from the frost magic.

    ¡°So, tell me, how did you guys get inside? This prison is supposed to be impregnable. Quack¡±. Someone left the backdoor open. I dodged another [Frost Swan] and used [Confusion 5x] on Duckguy.

    ¡°If you won¡¯t tell me I will have to beat it out of you! Quack!¡± Hey! That¡¯s child abuse! Duckguy formed various floating [frost balls] around him and batted them at me. They were all curveballs and seemed to pack quite a punch. I created a bat with frost magic and batted the [frost balls] that I couldn''t dodge. He used his wings to fly and kept sending the barrage of [Frost balls]. I¡¯d like to steal this technique but at the moment I¡¯m too busy trying to evade this rain of frost balls. I dove behind a wall and left a shadow clone behind while I [Shadow melded] and attempted to [Shadow sneak] the Duckguy. Hmm is this even a good idea? I won''t be able to defeat this guy, maybe I should use this opportunity to just run away.

    ¡°Hmm I guess my infrared shades are useless against a fellow frost magic user, Quack!¡± Is this guy for real? I send my shadow clone at him while I escaped. I kidnapped Starbolt because he didn''t notice that I swapped myself out with a shadow clone.

    My buddies managed to get quite far so I achieved my objective. Since he seemed to have infrared shades, it would probably be a matter of time before he finds them again. In over an hour, the prisoners will get out so we will have to evade him for that long. I assume he knows that too so I hope my shadow clone can stall him for a bit longer. I will have to seriously find a way of how to deal with him. I can use [Confusion] and probably other skills that use up illusion layers but at the moment they are inaccessible¡­ There is a way to fix that but I want to keep that as a last resort.

    What else? Overload him with magic so he freezes himself and lost magic. Hmm, I asked Starbolt if he knows some strong skills but he was mainly support focused. I tried to learn a simple lightning spell from the spirit magic branch from him but it seemed quite different and quite complicated compared to the [Spirit bolt] I knew. I guess I can try and juice up my [Spirit bolt] and hope it hurts him, it probably won¡¯t¡­ I also don¡¯t want to get too close to him because he has a lot of range and options so my speed is less effective against him. And he uses all his limbs and his wings to fight which isn''t something I¡¯m used to. This guy is a nightmare to fight and I''m sure he was just messing around. I get closer to my buddies but they seemed to have encountered a¡­ thing, and are fighting it. It seems quite strong but they seem to be close to beating it. I can''t describe what it looks like, it looks similar to the abomination we fought against in Boshi town but this looks more¡­ human¡­ don¡¯t tell me they do experiments on the prisoners here¡­

    I remember that Arby guy saying something about him being a leader of something and also that Gregory eavesdropped on some ministers in the palace and heard something similar. Maybe these are the failed version of the super soldiers Arby was bragging about. I sensed that one of my traps went off. I make it a point to make traps in triplets, one is obvious to a careful observer, the next one will most likely go off if the first one gets avoided and the third one is near undetectable. Sometimes I make the first trap painfully obvious so that my targets fall for the other 2 traps. Duckguy is one of those cases, there is no point in trying to make my first trap work because he will never fall for that, so I¡¯ll have him fall for one of the other 2. It will make him wary but it will also slow him down. Starbolt notified me about something when I was getting close to my buddies. Another floor boss has appeared and is heading toward us. I arrived too late to land a final blow on the abomination and get a kill steal.

    Guys we need to pick up the pace, another floor boss is coming at us. I don¡¯t think I can stall both of them. We would like to but these abominations aren''t pushovers. And they are creepy as fuck! They even said some words to trick us into being human like: it hurts, help me! And kill me! I don''t think I will be able to sleep well tonight¡­ I don''t think they were trying to convince us that they¡¯re human I think that they actually are human, or well were.

    Yeh, they were probably failed experiments, just ignore them, these aren''t the worst things that you can encounter. How so?

    Because the androids surely will lock you guys in combat for way longer if not kick your asses, they are very precise and fast. Ahh shit! I forgot about those! We''re doomed! Ted smacked Raishin.

    Shut up and try to figure out how to teleport short distances in this place, it will help us immensely, even if it''s just 10 meters! But this place is impossible to teleport in! And Agnis is here now he can solve it! Agnis is doing his best to stall our pursuers so that we don''t get caught in a pincer attack. During this exchange, we were running toward a place where we could hide. I was also putting down some traps. The inmates would get released soon so hopefully; the movements of the floor bosses would be restricted. Gregory put up a [Shadow wall] and blocked several frost feathers that were aimed at us.

    Hey, that guy is flying! Isn''t that cheating?! I''m surprised that it took him this long to start flying. Duckguy dove at us. I threw a dagger at him which he evaded and I swapped him with the dagger I threw sending him in the opposite direction.

    ¡°How annoying! Quack!¡± Right guys, I don''t mean this in a bad way but get the fuck out of here! Will do, good luck! Don¡¯t die! Turn him into a fried duck!

    ¡°I heard that! I¡¯m not a duck! I¡¯m a swan! Quack!¡± If it talks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck it''s a duck. I shot his frost feathers down with frost arrows. He went on a long tirade about me not knowing what the qualities of a swan are and other stuff I didn''t listen to. Even though this situation sucked, letting him vent was buying me time. Starbolt was setting up some spirit magic circle around him but because he¡¯s a minor spirit and not very strong it takes a while. I hope this skill does decent damage to him because I currently don''t have many options in dealing with him. But man, this guy has a lot to say, I guess he doesn''t get the chance to vent in this occupation.

    Starbolt finished his spirit magic circle and put a nasty stun on Duckguy with an added damage over time (DoT) effect. He was unable to stay airborne and crashed into a cell. According to Starbolt, the stun will reapply whenever the DoT does damage. I need to learn this skill it sounds really strong! I will figure out something about the setup though. Unless the Duckguy has some special skills against this we have 3 minutes to get out of here. I hope he will leave us alone after we get out, in 10 minutes the inmates will get released, we could use a break.

    Even though this was Raishin¡¯s responsibility, I started to try and work out how to teleport short distances in this teleport unfriendly prison. Every teleport ping I sent out got greatly distorted, probably because of the black hole, it wouldn''t be a problem if the destination isn''t important but the pings had a tendency to go toward the black hole so this would have only been useful while infiltrating, and not escaping, how bothersome. The best I could do is 2 meters, anything beyond that was unreliable. I can''t think of a situation where a 2-meter teleport would be an advantage for me over just using my speed. Maybe if my movement was restricted? I caught up with my buddies and dropped a 5 layered illusion to hide.

    Duckguy is CCed for 2 more minutes let''s try and find an empty cell or a watchtower to hide and rest. How is the teleport going Raishin? Uhm, I can brute force it but I have no idea where we will end up if I do that. Yeah, let''s not do that. My shadow clone found an area that has a lot of shadows, if we can get there I can [shadowmeld] us or we could even possibly hide in some shadows.

    There is no possibility that these guys also imprison criminals within the shadows, right? Well, we had that one encounter but I don''t think he got imprisoned like that, he somehow got trapped in the shadows. Yeah, so far there is no reason to believe that shadow imprisonment is practiced in this prison.

    We managed to safely arrive at section 121 which had a multitude of dark shadows to sneak around and hide in. Gregory melded us into the shadows and we were hiding in the shadows in a small well.

    So how was your interaction with Cygnus? Cygnus? The Duckguy,

    Oh that guy, yeh he¡¯s quite OP, Starbolt was of great help but I can¡¯t keep relying on him because his spirit energy is getting quite low and I suck at helping him replenish it. So, is your plan to make himself freeze over?

    I don¡¯t know if I have skills that are mana efficient enough to do that, I don¡¯t want to bring a [Meteor] down on this place or use skills that have similar destructive capabilities because destroying this building might send that blackhole loose and I think getting stuck in orbit around a blackhole is worse than dying. Hmm, that does indeed sound worse than dying. I¡¯m already happy that you realized this and aren''t recklessly blowing things up.

    Hey! Raishin is Mr. Reckless Explosions! I at least give some thought to things before I blow them up! But the result is still the same¡­ Anyway we have time to rest but I would prefer to try and escape before the curfew because the floor bosses will have more time and energy to chase us if we wait till then. Well, we need a plan for when we encounter those androids.

    Quite easy, just run, they might be faster than you guys but at least you¡¯ll not be wasting time staying at the same spot. Also, Greg can you cast a [Shadow cloak] on me before we split up, I don''t think I will be able to avoid hits as well as I did previously. Sure. Why wouldn''t you be able to avoid hits as well?

    It might be related to the fact that since 10 minutes ago I need to supply more mana to those [Shadow anklets] to cancel out the increased gravity. The rate of mana that flows out of Agnis to our rings increased at that same moment. Yeah, the drain is slightly higher than when you guys were on floor 2, I think I would have to ask you to feed me energy till we split up Raishin. Roger! I guess they got serious in trying to catch us, but won¡¯t this affect the inmates?

    Something tells me they don¡¯t care¡­ Yeah, don¡¯t forget that we have the potential to free inmates and make things way worse for them. I didn¡¯t want to resort to this but I think I might.

    Yeah, at this point we won''t be able to escape unless you create more chaos. Guys, they are criminals! You can¡¯t set them free! Well, technically they''re still in prison so they aren''t really free.

    Listen, Ted, you have a point but firstly their movements will be severely restricted by time dilation and the increased gravity, and second, if we lose, we die, or worse we get imprisoned here for life. If we were humans that would suck but it would be acceptable but all of us are more or less crucial to the well-being of this planet so I don''t think we can afford to die or get captured because of some sort of morality. Moreover, there is an extremely low chance that any of them can even use this chance to break out of this prison.

    Ted had a difficult look on his face as if he couldn''t accept this. I didn''t feel like jumping in here, I was just receiving energy from Raishin, who was also quiet and tried to give some energy to Starbolt. In this situation, we¡¯re all running on a time limit and what¡¯s worse, the time limit is unclear. If I run out of mana then it¡¯s game over but how soon that will happen depends on the situation. We can¡¯t afford to make things difficult for ourselves. I realized something very important about this situation. You could argue that it¡¯s quite logical but some things just become more logical and clearer after it has been reinforced by an event. And this logic is: don''t go to jail.

    Jail sucks. I used some energy I got from Raishin to charge frost marbles. With these, I can use magic without using mana. We had rested for about 2 hours and decided it was time to get out of here.

    Ok, guys, I doubt that we will meet again until we get to layer 8. I messed with some teleports so we should be able to make it to layer 9 from which I already prepared a long-distance teleport to get us out. Depending on the situation I will need you to give me energy for that Raishin. Don¡¯t get caught up in unnecessary fights, fighting normal guards is fine, just don''t bother with the androids. Here is a [Shadow cloak] I can¡¯t keep it up for too long because of the draining of my mana but you should at least be fine for 30 or 40 minutes.

    Let''s hope we can escape within that timeframe. Did you finish the analysis on that drug I found in the prisoner¡¯s food? Yeah, give me 20 minutes and I will be able to make an antidote. It will be highly concentrated so you need to dilute it 100x to get a safe dose of 5 ml. Don¡¯t forget! It won¡¯t be a problem if they end up dying but it will severely limit the chaos you can cause. I stored this information in my archive and started preparing to cause mass chaos eh I mean a mass diversion. We also used this time to have some good food. Some things we ate were stuff I swiped from the canteen. It is important to enjoy the local specialties!

    Oh, Agnis you said that another layer boss appeared right? That is Probably Geminga, I would recommend staying away from him, he¡¯s the type of opponent you hate the most, he''s like the Mountain but smaller, faster, smarter, stronger, and less naked. So, he¡¯s nothing like the Mountain¡­

    Well, uh yeah but he¡¯s super tanky and uses earth magic but with gems and nothing you throw at him really works. Hmm, yeah, I hate those kinds of opponents, I¡¯ll try to heed that advice. I got Gregory¡¯s concoction and another set of instructions to make sure I remember.

 Vol 2 Ch 25.1: Cygnus Part 2

    Gregory [shadow melded] us toward the entrance of floor 7. So far everything is going well. The only concerning factor is that the higher numbered floors have more area. It could be an advantage since the bosses won''t be able to find us easily but since we are on a time limit and have to cover more area, we¡¯re more prone to mistakes. The only mistake the bosses can make is allowing us to escape the prison. I¡¯m wondering if there¡¯s a point in laying traps here since this isn''t the only way to go up to layer 7. Maybe I should sabotage all the entrances in this area so that the bosses are forced to appear quite far from us on the next layer. I decided that this would be my game plan.

    I made 2 shadow clones and started to head out and sabotage the staircases and elevators. The only problem is that these traps would tell them exactly in what area we are on the upper floor. I have to make sure I get as many as possible to make it less obvious. Starbolt made a useful skill that zaps the memory of those caught by the traps causing them temporary amnesia. It¡¯s only for 30 minutes but good enough. He could only put it on 5 traps so I put those in the traps closest to where my buddies went up. These support spirits are quite overpowered.

    I am curious though; I haven''t encountered any minor or medium spirits that are focused on dealing damage or preventing damage. Only Isi, Ira, and the spirits guarding that temple but those were all major spirits or higher rank. I asked Starbolt and he said that I just probably got unlucky and didn''t encounter offensive or defensive spirits.

    According to Starbolt, there is about a 40%-40%-20% split with support spirits occupying the 20%. I¡¯m starting to wonder if I¡¯m unlucky, in the situations these spirits helped me out, I don¡¯t think offensive or defensive spirits would be of much use. My mana hit a certain point and I decided to head up.

    ¡°Oh, look who we have here Quack! It¡¯s time for payback! How dare you trick me into that trap! Using a tuna sandwich is unfair, quack!¡± Ok, maybe I am unlucky. I dodged a swing of a baseball bat but my right arm got grabbed by one of his wings.

    Hey! That¡¯s cheating! Wings are for flying not for grabbing! He started to freeze my arm and I countered it with frost magic and managed to break free but not without consequences. My right arm hurt from some frost burn. I could still use my arm but it hurt enough for it to cause my arm to lose dexterity which is a problem because I¡¯m right-handed. I dodged a [Frost blast] and teleported for 2 meters to dodge another grab from his cheat wings. I used [Mirror] to reflect a [Frost ball] and turn myself into a leftie. I made a sword with frost and clipped Cygnus¡¯ left wing. I tried to go for the other wing but he jumped back and used [Frost nova]. I protected myself with my multilayered barrier but it seems he aimed to freeze the whole area.

    ¡°I will go easy on you if you apologize for using a tuna sandwich as bait for your trap!¡± Why do I need to apologize? It¡¯s your fault that you fell for that simple trap!

    ¡°So, you have chosen, violence¡­ I see, then here take one of my ultimate attacks Quack!¡± Uhh, is it too late to apologize?

    ¡°Yes, Quack!¡± He created a small frost ball that started sucking everything in. All the mana in the surroundings was getting absorbed by it and the ball started to grow slowly in response. I covered myself in frost and shadow magic to prevent my mana from getting sucked in too. I wanted to get away from this skill but I was also curious to see if I could copy this skill. This ball was acting like a black hole.

    Every physical object that got absorbed by it got turned into mana. It was a mana black hole. I got to admire sticking to the prison¡¯s theme. The problem was that my options were shrinking because it was pulling me as fast as I could move away from it and any other method that relies on magic wouldn''t work because the mana would get slurped by this skill. I started throwing more frost and water magic around to get 5 stacks of [Frozen skin] because I¡¯m not sure I can get out of this.

    ¡°A special treat for you! Eat my special attack! [X-I]! Quack!¡± He readied his baseball bat and hit the ball of frost which was slightly bigger than a baseball at this point. So that¡¯s what the baseball bat was for¡­ The moment the bat hit the ball it shot out a frost laser at me. Oh, hell no! Not another laser! It ate through my [Frozen skin] like it was nothing.

    Note to self: [Frozen skin] is useless against lasers which are continuous attacks. It makes sense but it still sucks. I managed to deflect some of it with [Mirror] and I blocked the remainder with my already messed up right arm.

    I had myself imbued with frost magic all the time but since his frost magic is way stronger than mine it only helped to a certain extent. I survived but I don¡¯t think I can use my right arm anymore. I used [Mirror] to become a leftie again and parried a sword slash aimed at my neck.

    ¡°I gotta admit, you might be inexperienced but you do know how to get the best out of bad situations, Quack!¡± I parried another sword slash and blocked a baseball bat swing with my right arm that was almost frozen solid. This caught him off guard and I clipped his other wing. I kicked him away and trapped him in a [Frost cage]. This won''t keep him for long but I have to get out of here. I tried to fix my arm while running away. Nature energy won¡¯t do anything if it¡¯s frozen like this. But it would also take a very long time for nature energy to fix this after I thaw it. Cutting my arm off and trying to regrow it with nature energy might be faster.

    This would allow me to use a skill that normally can''t be used. It is very easy to use so Viridian taught me this skill, it¡¯s way easier to learn and use than [shadow clone]. This skill is called [Blood clone] the issue with this skill requires a lot of blood or a dismembered body part. This clone will be indistinguishable from the real me and will only disappear if it gets hit by something that would kill the real me. It is very good at making sure you can escape deadly situations. I could make 2 clones out of my arm but that would also mean double the mana cost.

    I found an area with few inmates walking around and found an alley. I took my right arm out of my shirt. I formed a double-layered water bubble around my head to make sure to dampen the sound. I held my sword to my shoulder. The more I thought about it the more I considered backing down but the benefits of having a blood clone act as a diversion made me push through. There is no point in chickening out and ending up dead later on. I gritted my teeth and cut off my arm.

    It is a good thing I formed the bubble around my head because I tried to hold back but I still ended up screaming in pain. The pain was making me nauseous. I formed the blood clone and circulated nature energy to my right shoulder. It took quite a bit of mana but the blood clone now has as much mana as I had before I formed it, and its mana doesn''t get drained by feeding those rings so it might actually do better than myself.

    The blood clone injected me with some nature energy to combat the pain and nausea, placed some traps in the area I was resting, and started its mission to still stay hidden but distract Cygnus when needed. I continued sending nature magic to my right arm and passed out a couple of times.

    I stabilized after 2 hours. My arm didn''t regrow yet but the pain is bearable now. This is the reason why [Blood clone] doesn''t get used often. I got up but felt dizzy and sat back down. I lost a lot of blood, duh! I got some food out of my dimensional pocket and started to eat raw fish.

    Now before you say that''s disgusting don''t forget! I¡¯m a beast kin or however the humans call us, so eating raw meat isn''t an issue for us, and also, I need that iron! Not a big fan of the taste of blood but it¡¯s not like I can be picky in this situation. As I devour the fish which is still tasty, I start thinking of what would happen if I never used nature energy so often to the point that I started to get a decent proficiency in it.

    The situation just now would have probably ended up in passing out and bleeding to death and losing some lives, also other situations might have ended up poorly. Nature energy is overpowered! But on a serious note, something needs to be done about this situation. I always make fun of opponents that get rekt and then say they¡¯re going to use their full power, but I do the same thing, I can¡¯t seriously say that I 100% did my best lately.

    I should approach these situations as if I''m out for the kill. I can¡¯t seem to strike a good balance between being careful and being serious. I have quite the skills that are very effective but they don¡¯t overlap with being ¡®careful¡¯. My buddies do say that I should be more serious but they don''t like what comes with it. I don¡¯t blame them but it''s not something I can change. I got up and created an arm out of frost magic. I tested its functionality.

    After redoing this 4 times I got a satisfying result. I will have to work with this while my arm is regrowing. I layered illusions on it to make it look and feel like a real arm. I took out Gregory¡¯s concoction and diluted it properly and took a dose while I inspected myself, I also made some shadow clones and kidnapped 100 prisoners, put them into a small domain made of illusions, gave them a dose, and forced a timelapse on them while carefully observing through different filters what happened to them. 87 of the prisoners reacted to it in the same way, 8 reacted very strongly to it and would have effectively needed a lower dose and the rest reacted poorly which would mean they needed a higher dose.

    I let my tail crunch the numbers and devise a way to create a widespread illusion that forces the effect of Gregory¡¯s concoction on anyone who gets trapped within the range of that illusion. I don¡¯t have time to administer these manually. Since I have a very good idea of how this stuff works, I can force its effect on others with my illusions. It would work on 95% of the prisoners but that would be enough. It might not be completely accurate but as long as it works on the vast majority then my goal will be reached.

    Since I was still in my illusion domain, I could wipe their memories. Would it be a problem if it gets known that I''m a 9t? Hmm probably, it''s not like I can silence a whole prison after I leave here. I guess I¡¯ll have to get serious without revealing my tails.

    I brushed my tails before wiping the memories of the prisoners and kicking them out of my illusion. I had a mountain of fur that got stuck in my brush from brushing my tails over the years, I kept stashing it but I should do something about it. I can¡¯t just throw it away since it could be considered as legendary material to make who knows what. But I could make a scarf out of it¡­ well, more like 12 scarves. At least they will be soft, but I don¡¯t need 12 scarves¡­

    I cleaned up and reappeared in the alley I started at. My blood clone seemed to have encountered ehh what was his name? I consulted my archive, ah Geminga, the guy Raishin was talking about. Cygnus seemed to be looking for my buddies, he didn''t find them yet but he was awfully close. I headed toward Cygnus as information about Geminga¡¯s battle style flowed into my head from my blood clone. Geminga had a huge axe made out of ruby and it was crafted with ancient technology so unfortunately this axe could cut through frost magic.

    What a pain in the ass. He wasn''t as fast or versatile as Cygnus but at least I could land hits on Cygnus. Geminga seems like a walking rock. Well, his armor is covered in shiny rocks, and the rock I actually mean are the kinds that are actually hard, like rubies and shit. He had a calm and careful personality so it was hard to provoke him or to easily force him to make mistakes. The ground rumbled. Geminga used [Earthquake]. Is it really ok to use a powerful skill like that here?

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    Talking about [Earthquake] didn''t Ted get that skill from Azu? Why has he never used it? My blood clone had 0 issues evading that but he wasn''t doing any damage. He just continued to stall for time. It seems Geminga didn''t notice that was its goal so I guess that works out. I don¡¯t think Geminga can land a hit on the blood clone but that works out for me because the power behind his attacks is no laughing matter. I decided to leave this to my blood clone and started to devise a plan to deal with Cygnus. Starbolt already started preparing some spells so we got spirit magic covered.

    I might have to overload him with mana. That is, I think the only way to deal with him. My buddies seem to be getting harassed by some guards and 3 androids. The prisoners seem to be standing on the sidelines. This is the perfect time to drop my illusion. I sent nature energy to my eyes and created a large illusion domain in which every prisoner will have the effect of Gregory¡¯s drug. I created a domain as large as the barrier in Boshi town. This should be enough. The prisoners seemed to be in some kind of daze for 2-3 seconds but after that, they started rebelling and attempting to escape.

    This gave my buddies the chance to get away from the area where gravity and time dilation was lifted. Unfortunately, the androids don¡¯t care about gravity and the time dilation but at least they only have to deal with 3 pursuers now. Geminga and Cygnus seemed to react to the sudden commotion. Geminga broke away from the fight with my blood clone and started to help the guards in getting the situation under control. Cygnus didn''t seem to do so. He froze any prisoner he met but still seemed to be looking for my buddies. I created illusions of them and made the illusions head toward me.

    I made sure that Cygnus caught a glimpse of them. Starbolt presented the spirit magic circles he prepared to me. I archived them in the hope of replicating them someday. I used [Mirror] to become right-handed and went into stealth. I took a handful of frost orbs charged with Raishin¡¯s red lightning in my right hand, which was still made out of frost magic. I sneaked up to Cygnus from the back and hit him with a palm strike in his back. The frost orbs exploded and created a red lightning blast and sent him flying.

    I got quite some energy absorbed from that but since this was a sneak attack Cygnus had to take the full blow. Unfortunately, this didn''t one-shot him. I probably wouldn''t have any issues if he could be one-shot by that. Starbolt dropped that nasty stun DoT attack on Cygnus before he could get up, to which I followed up by throwing more lightning-charged frost orbs at him. He got hit by the stun but he protected himself with frost magic so the frost orbs did 0 damage.

    ¡°You again! Quack!¡± I made the illusions of my buddies also do some attacks but they were just throwing frost orbs charged with different elements. My illusion just made it look like they were actually attacking. After that I made them run away because I won¡¯t be able to keep up illusions of them while still keeping them convincing. ¡°Hey stop running away! Quack!¡± Cygnus was struggling to get out of the stun lock. So, this is what they call a ¡®Sitting duck¡¯ is it?

    ¡°Haha, real funny¡­ Just wait till I get out of this! And I''m a swan, Quack!¡± I continued chucking frost orbs at him while he was trying to break out. Starbolt cast a spirit lightning cage which did the same as the skill he used before but the stun would only kick in if he would touch the cage. Unfortunately, it was quite a large cage so Cygnus would have no problem avoiding contact with it. I

    kept chucking frost marbles at him until I ran out. I couldn''t see his internal temperature but that must have cooled him off a bit. It seems he was fed up with being cc locked and broke out by charging up his ultimate skill again. I made an ice cube in my right hand and swapped the frost ball with the ice cube. I curbed the pulling force of it. My arm which was made out of frost magic seemed to have no issues containing and being in contact with frost magic this strong. Cygnus seemed baffled and I threw the ball at him. Well, it turned into a laser but you know what I mean!

    Take this! Starbolt dropped another [Spirit Lightning cage] on Cygnus and he partially got blasted by his own frost laser. He also got into contact with the cage and ate a stun.

    ¡°Ugh, I thought your right arm was injured, Quack!¡± I showed him my arm. Does this look injured to you? You must have fallen for my trick! Cygnus seemed confused but that wasn¡¯t my problem. I started using some [Accel steps] and Starbolt boosted my speed. I forgot to take off my shoes again and shredded them after 5 [accel steps]. I decided to deal with that problem later and dropped several purple [Lightning bolts] on Cygnus.

    Cygnus broke out of his CC chain. He looked very angry. He broke out by spiking in power and using a lot of frost magic but out of experience, I know that must have put a dent in his internal temperature. Frost magic isn''t bursty in nature and if someone does do that it either requires some setup, like his [X-1] or it lowers his internal temperature. He sent a [frost wave] at me and I evaded it and sent a [frost wave] back.

    The surrounding temperature started to drop. The surroundings started to freeze over and frost spikes shot at me from nearby frozen buildings and from the frozen ground. I didn¡¯t know this was a possibility. I¡¯m learning a lot in this fight but unfortunately, I can¡¯t allow him to do too much else I might get close to death just like when he shot that laser at me. Starbolt tried to stun him again but the frost magic around him absorbed it.

    I kept throwing various lightning attacks at him while continuing to use [accel step]. He tried using his [X-1] attack again but this time I was fast enough to escape the pull and evade the laser. I can¡¯t dodge lasers that come at me at near-lightspeed but I have a good feeling for timing and he still needs to hit that ball with his baseball bat to send out the laser. It wasn¡¯t a comfortable dodge so I will have to attempt to interrupt his next laser.

    Everything in a line behind me was frozen solid. He wasn¡¯t as talkative as he was before, it seems he also got serious. I saw some frost crystals growing on his legs. Time to put more pressure on him, but first some [Boss music]!

    Now that I set the mood, I made 3 shadow clones and made them disperse. They needed to draw magic circles while I harassed Cygnus. My blood clone seemed to be monitoring my situation and Geminga¡¯s activity. I don¡¯t have to worry too much about Geminga because my buddies at least have a chance against him. A frost magic user is a no-go for them.

    I tried to catch him in a wire trap but the wires froze, became brittle, and shattered like glass. Well, this sucks¡­ Starbolt threw a weak [Spirit lightning bolt] at Cygnus but I don¡¯t think it would have done damage even if he wasn''t covered in frost magic. I told Starbolt to stick to support skills but that I appreciated him trying. I moved him further away from Cygnus because at this range his spirit energy was slowly getting sapped by just being too close to Cygnus. I wanted to check what his internal temperature was but my eyes could tell me nothing with all that frost.

    Starbolt went to help my clones set up some magic circles. I started up [Dagger torrent] and drank an anti-nausea potion as a precaution and started to circulate nature energy. It was quite a challenge to keep it up in the early stages because I couldn''t get the lightning to stay purple because it was all getting sapped.

    ¡°You do know that you are just making me stronger right Quack?¡± That doesn''t matter if you can¡¯t even hit me! Cygnus started to become agitated and sent out a dozen [frost swans] at me which missed their target. I used some [accel turns] to increase the lightning generation. I sent some daggers at Cygnus and they seemed to do minor damage to him. It seems he didn''t expect it to pack that much of a punch. Unfortunately, it didn''t do as much damage as I hoped.

    The temperature dropped more and he used [Blizzard]. My [dagger torrent] that just turned red, dropped all the way to blue lightning. I also got hit but I covered myself with frost magic to limit the damage. It''s one of those skills that is almost impossible to evade without teleports.

    I don¡¯t need this skill because I don''t miss it on a regular basis. I didn''t mind this minor damage but setting back my [dagger torrent] pissed me off. I guess I will have to wreck my feet a bit. I chained [accel turns] and [accel steps] in rapid succession and got the lightning back to red to which I used [accel stop]. The lightning collapsed into myself and I turned into pure red lightning.

    Now normally I would be overpowered in this state but frost magic doesn''t care much about this state. But for 3 minutes I can freely control lightning with minimal mana use. Now I can¡¯t use [God of thunder] yet because that forcibly ends this state. I started to make it rain red lightning like Raishin likes to do and throw enormous masses of red lightning at Cygnus. He seemed to do a genuine effort to dodge those. I didn¡¯t get as many good hits in as I liked because I wasn¡¯t in a wonderful state myself. Even without his wings, he was quite fast. But that¡¯s fine.

    My clones and Starbolt finished their magic circles. It¡¯s nothing fancy, just a magic circle that returns and amplifies lightning magic when it gets hit by a lightning attack. He may dodge [God of lightning], but if he does, I¡¯ll force him to dodge into the range of this magic circle. Best case scenario he gets hit by both. I threw some more attacks that ¡®missed¡¯ so that he was exactly where I need him to be.

    The [boss music] started to become more intense and I bound his feet with wires. This wouldn''t stop him but it would buy me enough time to fire off my [God of thunder]. He fell for it and got hit by the enormous red lightning pillar. I got an invigorating feeling and my body burst into some strange orange light. I grinned. I entered a critical rush, how lucky. I changed the boss music to reflect my critical rush. Lots of electronium guitar sounds to drive the point home that he¡¯s fucked.

    The magic circle also hit him full-on. No critical hit but that is fine, the initial hit did more than the magic circle echo anyways¡­ He dashed at me covered in frost but I could see that he already started to slowly freeze over. My body and feet hurt but I couldn''t stop here. I started another [dagger torrent] It seems Cygnus caught on to what I was attempting but I don¡¯t think he can prevent it now. He was caught in my [dagger torrent] and he got an insane amount of small hits and some did critical hits that prolonged my critical rush state.

    Hmm, [dagger torrent] and critical rush seems like quite an overpowered combo. I already landed 5 critical hits on him and Cygnus seemed to realize something was different about my critical rush. He used [X-1] but canceled it after it sucked up all my lightning and broke out. He put a [frost wall] between us but the wall was only 1 m thick so I teleported behind him, imbued a random sword with purple lightning, and started slashing at him. I didn''t get to land any more critical hits and the orange glow disappeared.

    ¡°You are not a human, are you? Quack!¡± I didn¡¯t answer him and tried to land more damage but my momentum dipped when the critical rush disappeared, also my sword shattered, again. Cygnus seemed to have a method to regulate his internal temperature but it didn''t seem to work that well. I had slight nausea and I still had some mana over but I shouldn''t be greedy, I will just continue blasting him. I used 3 mana friendly [foxfire: summer heat]. Cygnus evaded 2 and took the last one full-on. Starbolt used his [Spirit lightning cage] again.

    This time Cygnus was prepared and dodged it but came in contact with the cage so ate a 2-second stun. I charged another sword with blue flames and cut him with a [Iai: foxfire rend]. I heard the familiar sound of a shattering sword. I expected this to happen. Cygnus screamed and tried to freeze the flames, which was unsuccessful. The fire went out because the mana got sucked out of it but it did leave him with some scorch marks. I decided to double down and use an [accel step] and foxire-imbued kicks.

    As long as there was enough mana in my foxfire it seemed to at least have some effect on him. I chugged another anti-nausea potion because the nausea reared its ugly head again. I haven¡¯t noticed the passive, that Azu gave me, kick in yet. After several kicks his feet froze over and his movement got restricted which meant game over for him. He did land some hits on me but I managed to block most of them with my right arm. Some parts of my right shoulder that was still flesh got some minor frostbite though.

    After completely immobilizing Cygnus I dropped 3 [foxfire: summer heat] on him causing him to completely freeze over I got lucky and the last one got rid of my nausea. My frost magic prosthetic fell off and I let nature do its job and fix my arm. This problem was solved, temporarily, but now I had another problem. I was very low on mana. And even though I didn''t take that much damage I was quite beat up and my whole body and especially my feet hurt.

    A shadow clone dragged me to a dark alley to rest. The blood clone was heading toward me to help out. Geminga seemed to be heading in a different direction than my buddies were at so that wasn¡¯t a problem for now. I don¡¯t know for how long Cygnus will be frozen. If it was me in that situation, I¡¯d probably be stuck in there for 2-3 hours but he is way stronger than me so I don¡¯t think that¡¯s very realistic. My blood clone arrived and brought me to an empty cell and injected me with some more nature magic. I wanted to take a short nap but I don¡¯t think I can afford to.

 Vol 2 Ch 26: Geminga

    I woke up and panicked a bit because I didn''t mean to take a nap. I didn''t sleep for long luckily. It has been 50 minutes since I froze Cygnus. I need to get out of here and get to the 8th layer. I managed to get up there easily. I looked around and spotted a burning forest. The fire had spread to the nearby cells and it seemed to have created quite some chaos. I cast the illusion also on this area and the prisoners got freed from the influence of the drugs. My mana was at a level now that I had to be very careful. My physical fatigue was also building up. A night''s rest wouldn''t do anymore, I would probably need a day or 2 days of sleep.

    This layer was enormous. For some reason, it seemed that the androids had left the candy shops. I hope they aren''t all chasing my buddies. The burning forest must be their doing. Either a strategic idea of Gregory or Raishin did something funny. I couldn''t find them though. Strange. Are my eyes getting tired? I tried to look for my blood clone but I couldn¡¯t find him. I moved my fully regenerated right arm around. It felt weird. I wouldn''t say my left arm is unresponsive but my new right arm feels way more responsive than my left arm. I was still wondering where my buddies were. Did they get lucky and picked a teleporter that worked? There weren''t any teleporters close by that worked. So, does this mean this forest fire isn''t their doing? I made 3 shadow clones and sent them to test out nearby teleporters. Maybe they found one that worked or fixed one.

    I started looking for my buddies close to the burning forest when I saw a burst of frost in the distance and an angry yell from afar. 71 minutes, it took 71 minutes for Cygnus to break out. I changed my body temperature to match the ambient temperature and continued looking for them. Where could they be? I took some cake out of my dimensional pocket and scanned the area. I looked for 20 minutes but I couldn''t find them, did they get to the next layer? Or are they in a different section? Both of them seem unlikely.

    The ground trembled and an enormous earth pillar rose out of the ground and it launched something. Is that a person? I focused on the person that was getting launched and it was Geminga. I might have found my buddies. I saw them emerge from underground near the pillar. Gregory seemed exhausted. I¡¯m glad that they are ok but¡­ I looked back. Cygnus certainly noticed it. Luckily, I got rid of his wings so he needed to run. I headed over to my buddies. Geminga was throwing weapons made out of rubies and other gems around. Gregory had a hard time dealing with them but oddly enough he couldn''t manage to break them. I inspected the weapons. They were made with ancient technology.

    He swung his ruby axe and Gregory blocked it with an [Earth wall], the axe was slowly but surely cutting through the wall. Raishin and Ted were dealing with wannabe Bunai¡¯s. I wonder if this guy¡¯s magic is based on the Corund dungeon I found in Boshi town, if so¡­ this is going to suck. I got in range and created a [Frost wall] to protect Gregory because the axe sliced through the [Earth wall], the axe didn''t seem to care that I placed a [Frost wall] but it gave Gregory enough time to launch himself away. I guess weapons made out of ancient technology don''t care about frost magic.

    ¡°Cygnus! Stop messin¡¯ around! Why did ye block me axe?!¡± I used [Frozen Ground] to cause him to slip. Hope I¡¯m not late, are you alright Gregory? You look beat up. Gregory had some cuts and bruises and it seemed like he needed some rest.

    Thanks, you came at the right moment, I got close to losing another life. You didn''t lose any, did you? It was hard but I still have all my lives, how many did you lose?

    Only 3, none of my defensive skills work well against him. It also seems your [Frost wall] is relatively ineffective. I ordered the golems to aim at Geminga and shoot their lasers in the Corund language. Most resisted but the others obeyed.

    ¡°Ahh, so it¡¯s not Cygnus, yer that fella that pissed ¡®im off! I thought I killed ya not too long ago¡± Ah so that¡¯s what happened to my bloodclone. Anyways fighting this guy is pointless, Cygnus is coming over here we need to run!

    ¡°I¡¯ll use me special diamond-edged axe fer ye fellas.¡± He took out a different axe, the blade was made out of ruby but the edges were made out of diamond. The ruby seemed to smoothly transition into diamond. The only reason this impossibility is made possible must be ancient technology. Guys, this is bad! That''s a magical weapon of ancient origin! If we weren''t planning to run, we surely should now! Ted punched some ruby golems aside and we started to run. We fled to an area that had cells and we hid in a corridor.

    Did we lose him? I don¡¯t know. He is talking to Cygnus. Agnis are you alright? The mana flowing to our time rings continues to drop.

    I¡¯m exhausted. I don¡¯t think I can stall them anymore. We need to get out of here now! But I need to rest. Sorry for being so slow¡­ must have been rough for you to carry me in this state. The reason we were resting was because I had to carry Gregory and Raishin carried Ted.

    I¡¯ll make some energy for you guys. At some point, their physical fatigue is going to get to them. Unfortunately, the closest teleport point is quite far.

    How about I distract them a bit? Do you want to fight against frost magic?

    Uhh, never mind. Geminga is also a problem he just outclasses us in everything, with experience being the biggest contributor. Yeah, I feel like I got lucky freezing Cygnus. Unfortunately, he is angrier than ever and I don¡¯t think I can stall him anymore. How about teleports?

    5 meters on this layer, but I do have the teleport ready to get out when we reach layer 9. It might require a stupid amount of energy though¡­ We will deal with that after getting out of this situation. Speaking of which¡­ They launched themselves to us. What?! How did they find us?!

    Cygnus probably found us because of your body temperature. I changed mine to ambient temperature, I forgot to give you guys a [Frost cloak]. We heard a big crash.

    ¡°I know where you are brat! Give up you''re trapped, Quack!¡± The area started to freeze and we had to run again. Gemstones started growing out of the ground and walls.

    ¡°Hide and seek is ov¡¯r¡± Geminga was blocking our path.

    I have to say, you look cool and I admire your beard but how about this? We will give you some fish and you let us go? Geminga roared and swung his axe, sending out a shockwave that caused crystals to grow out of the ground.

    This looks nasty! Gregory blocked the shockwave in the front while I shot down [Frost swans] in the back.

    Ted roared and got his beat avatar out. Agnis, which direction do we need to go? I pointed southwest while shooting the swans down and creating [Frost walls] Starbolt tried to assist but he was too weakened to do anything.

    It¡¯s ok Starbolt, you were a great help, you can go now, any longer and all this frost magic might send you back to the spirit world. Ted picked all of us up, including himself with the bear avatar, and threw us in the direction I pointed at.

    Agnis is too busy shooting attacks down, can you take care of the landing Ted? Raishin and I were trying to block and deflect attacks by blasting whatever we could at them. Gregory was defending us with [Shadow walls] and [Shadow cloaks] but these were quite ineffective against frost magic and whatever Geminga does. Cygnus made wings out of frost so he could fly again although he was way slower with these wings. Ted¡¯s bear avatar caught us and threw us again.

    Ooh, how about we call this the Bear Express? It¡¯s a good thing Ted¡¯s aim isn''t as bad as yours, we¡¯d never reach our destination if that was the case. Gregory¡¯s arm got frozen but it wasn¡¯t so bad so I could reverse it. Both of us had cuts of sharp weapons made of ancient technology slicing through our defenses and grazing us. I started throwing water attacks around because I could receive [Frozen Skin] layers now.

    One upside of these weapons he keeps throwing, getting hit by them would probably one-shot you and be painless. Not very reassuring¡­ Geminga tried to cut Ted¡¯s arm off. Ted¡¯s bear avatar would throw us with its right arm so he cut off Ted¡¯s right arm but it fully regrew after 7 seconds and he could still throw us.

    Ted¡¯s regeneration is slowing down, how much damage did you guys take? More than we¡¯d like to admit.

    Did you at least keep it subtle that you have multiple lives? Yeah. Raishin got one shot and lost a life.

    I guess the subtlety is gone now¡­ Hey Raishin, stop messing around and be more careful! You only have 2 lives left now¡­ I¡¯m sorry! I body-blocked an axe going for Gregory and lost a layer of [Frozen skin].

    Thanks, don''t make this a habit, you can only do this 4 more times. Unless it''s a laser.

    Ah right, your archnemesis. Speaking of lasers, what''s that? Oh, that¡¯s [X-I] a frost laser.

    You know how to counter it right? You wouldn''t be alive if you didn¡¯t, right?

    Well, here¡¯s the funny thing, you see I lost my arm and replaced it with an arm made of frost which allowed me to swap it, hold it, and send it back. And now you have regrown your arm and you can''t do that?

    Pretty much¡­ Raishin used [Tornado] and caused enough turbulence to cause Cygnus to miss his laser.

    Thanks, Raishin. Ted, you¡¯re a bit off, we need to go a bit more that way! I pointed and Ted prepared to throw us in that direction. I created a 4 layered illusion that made it look like we would continue straight ahead.

    Your illusion seems to work. Oh, the illusions got wiped out¡­ Holy shit what were those attacks? Well, that could''ve been us if not for the illusions. Well, at least now we know they could destroy us the moment they catch us¡­

    How much longer? I¡¯m getting tired¡­ 1507 meters. Maaan, why did you put this so far?! Judging by the size of this layer that is actually very close.

    It sucks but Greg is right¡­ Hey Starbolt! That¡¯s enough! You can go back! You can barely maintain your form! Starbolt made a shoddy lightning clone. I think it was supposed to resemble me but it was quite transparent, it was clear that it was made out of lightning and it didn''t look like me.

    The spirits really like you, eh? I created a water bubble around Starbolt.

    Raishin, can you send energy to that water bubble? Maybe it will help Starbolt. Ok! A lot of energy got wasted but it strengthened Starbolt a little bit. The shoddy clone got a bit better and dashed at Cygnus. It smashed into him breaking his frost armor and zapping him. It didn''t do much damage but it did paralyze him.

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    ¡°Motherducker! I will get you! Just wait, Quack!¡± He¡¯s a sitting duck! Blast him Raishin! Raishin threw a [Supernova Blast] at him but an enormous ruby wall appeared and blocked it.

    I started to become dizzy. Are you alright? Still aftereffects from blood loss. Gregory chugged an anti-nausea potion.

    Seems you¡¯re not doing so great either. Ted¡¯s bear avatar is getting smaller and smaller, we might have to run the last bits. I body-blocked a great sword made out of diamond flying at Gregory and used it to send slashes at them.

    Holy shit this sword is heavy! Was that your last [Frozen skin] stack? I nodded. Unfortunately, most of my [Frozen Skin] stacks got eaten up by getting grazed by attacks. I blocked another attack with the diamond sword but it sent me flying.

    Agnis! Don¡¯t worry about me! I got separated from my buddies because I got sent flying. Cygnus seemed to be going after me while Geminga continued to go after my buddies. This is the first time I have had to engage in an aerial battle. The problem is¡­ I can¡¯t fly¡­ I got an idea and used [Lightning Umbrella], I tied myself to the bottom of the umbrella with wires. The umbrella was slowly ascending while sending electric bolts to the side while spinning. Cygnus seemed to not care about these and flew at me. I left a string with 12 ice cubes on the umbrella and jumped off the umbrella and shot frost arrows at him and then threw the diamond sword at him.

    ¡°Challenging a bird in aerial combat while you are unable to fly is suicide but I admire your courage, Quack!¡¯ Cygnus tried to cut me with his sword or smack me with his baseball bat. I created an ice cube and swapped the falling diamond sword with it to block his strike. It sent me flying again. I swapped myself with one of the ice cubes I attached to the ascending umbrella and jumped off again.

    ¡°I see, so that¡¯s how you¡¯re going to do this, Quack!¡± He flew after the umbrella. I pointed the diamond sword forward and swapped myself with the umbrella. ¡°Whoa!¡± Cygnus almost flew into the tip of the sword; he narrowly evaded it but got a cut on his cheek. Shit almost had you. I swapped with an umbrella ice cube to dodge a wide frost attack and jumped off the umbrella again.

    ¡°So annoying! You can¡¯t even fly, Quack!¡± We were quite high up. I shot some frost arrows to harass Geminga. Cygnus rushed at me and I threw the sword at him. Because I wasn''t weighed down by the sword anymore, I started falling like I normally do, quite slowly and gravity-defying. ¡°What the?!¡° I used this opportunity to zap him and cut a deep gash in his frost wing with a sword I made with frost magic. ¡°What the fuck are you? Quack! I am convinced that you aren''t a human!¡± Cygnus was still flying but he was slowly using altitude because his wing was damaged.

    I threw a dagger at him which he dodged. I swapped the dagger, which was now below him, with the [Lightning Umbrella] and he got hit by the tip of the umbrella and got continually zapped and comboed by the [Lightning Umbrella]. I swapped with an umbrella ice cube and rested a bit and threw Cnidaria seeds at him. I looked at how Cygnus was getting chain CCed by the [Lightning Umbrella] and got screwed over by the jellyfish teargas seeds. I almost fell off the umbrella because of the dizziness.

    Cygnus started to build frost magic and sap the mana out of my [Lightning Umbrella] so I threw another dagger and swapped him with it. He fell a bit before he realized he was free. I fed the [Lightning Umbrella] more lightning because it was descending because of the lack of mana. ¡°That¡¯s one crafty skill you have there, I''m honestly impressed, I like a good fight and this makes it hard to stay pissed at you, Quack. Surrender, I won¡¯t have to kill you if you do¡± I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m leaving this place, preferably alive.

    ¡°I see, Quack!¡± Cygnus spread his wings and he was not casting 1 [X-I] but 6. Oh shit. I looked down. Ted ran out of juice so they had to run away from Geminga. Greg was quite bloodied and Ted was limping a bit.

    -Ted, I know I¡¯m asking a lot from you but can you catch me in a bit? - Ted looked up and around and I made a [flare] to show where I was. I had to chug an anti-nausea potion.

    - I can¡¯t promise anything but I will do my best, just make sure I won¡¯t be catching a corpse. - I made some calculations of how to plan my fall trajectory and wrote the details of this. Also how and what to do to teleport out of here on a paper and tied it in my hair and covered it with frost magic so it wouldn''t burn up or anything.

    Alright, cya! I continued to throw daggers and swap myself to them to create distance and to get to a certain point in the sky where I would be safe to fall down and land on a spot where Ted could catch me.

    ¡°Oy! Come here, coward! Quack!¡± What I was planning to do was extremely risky but I had no choice. I¡¯m going to overload my Elgards eyes, it will allow me to create near-infinite layers of illusions and control reality for 8 minutes. It sounds strong but there are only 2 short windows in those 8 minutes where I truly can control reality and it also depends on my proficiency with my Elgards eyes.

    The rest of those 8 minutes are preparation for those 2 windows and getting rid of all potential negative effects it will have on me. Like for example using a lot of frost magic will cause me to freeze over, and I will be assigning quite some time to kick that fact out of reality. This skill doesn''t have many downsides, it¡¯s just energy draining and after using it I won¡¯t be able to use my Elgards eyes. 10 minutes of normal sight for every minute I use this overload. It is risky because this can cause me to die after I use it. After all, I¡¯m quite reliant on my eyes, however. I looked at Cygnus who was covered in frost magic and making my Elgards eyes quite useless. In this case, it might be less risky.

    My left pupil gained 3 more pupils and my right pupil gained 4 more. Near infinite illusion layers started to form and the first thing I did was to get rid of those [X-I] x6 Cygnus was charging up.

    ¡°What the quack?¡± I compressed the air around him and attempted to crush him but he released a [Frozen Burst] and broke out of it and flew at me while I was in freefall. I flared up and chucked [Foxfire: summer heats] at him I also shot a [Fire beam] at him. He evaded it but some hits grazed him caused some parts of his body to freeze. My window of unlimited mana use disappeared and I had to get rid of all the negative effects it would bring. I had to kick out multiple instances of nausea, running out of mana, etc. I was still throwing attacks at Cygnus but their intensity and power dropped considerably.

    I temporarily turned him into a real duck to get some breathing room. I read the note I tied into my hair and corrected my fall trajectory a bit. I tied it back in and tried to fry him while he was a real duck but he turned back to normal. I had to find something that would be a real threat, nothing I threw at him did enough. The strength of this [Elgard Overload] is my imagination. What would defeat him? Azu would. I tried to make preparations to create Azu but my proficiency didn''t allow for it, someone who is strong but not as strong? How about my sisters? Xelia seemed to also need a higher proficiency, how about Yuna? It would be rough but I could go for Yuna.

    I''ll show you the kings and queens of the sky! I was reaching the 7-minute mark so I had to wrap this up. I folded most of the layers together and created an image of Yuna. Yuna flared and created an enormous [steam explosion]. Cygnus got sent flying and Yuna used [Phoenix Rush] and [Eternal Flame]. Cygnus got blasted out of the sky and Yuna¡¯s [Steam Pillar] sent him flying downward and made him crash into the ground.

    My eyes started to bleed and the layers folded into themselves and Yuna disappeared as the overload was getting to an end. All my filters shut down. I was back to normal vision, although a bit bloodied. I would get my Elgards eyes back in 79 minutes but I hope we would have escaped by then. I don''t think that killed Cygnus but that certainly put him out of commission.

    <hr>

    That was marvellous! Ted caught me several minutes later.

    You¡¯re not going to die now, are you? This thing locked me out of my Elgards eyes for 80 minutes, I will get it back in 72 minutes. Let¡¯s hope we can escape before that. I lost more lives than I feel comfortable with. I threw a bottle of liquid shadow vodka at Greg who was getting carried by Raishin. I missed and it fell on the floor.

    Ha! I¡¯m not the only one that misses! Have you seen how his eyes look? It wouldn''t be surprising if he couldn''t see anything at all and still, his accuracy was higher than yours!

    ¡°What did ye do to my best Friend!¡± An enormous ruby axe with diamond edges flew at us. I used a [Frost wall] and Gregory used an [Earth Wall].

    Agnis, can you melt some patches on the ground? [Magma Wall] works a bit better against those axes. I think he¡¯s running low on mana and stamina. I got this. I dropped some [Fireballs] on the floor and vomited. The axe that cut through the walls like they were made out of butter returned to Geminga and he threw it again together with other weapons made out of hard gemstones. I think this guy might be richer than me. Gregory made a [Magma wall] and it seemed to work better indeed but it only slowed the axe down a bit. Gregory asked Raishin to drop him, he covered himself in magma and physically blocked it.

    Greg! He managed to deflect it, got his hammer out, and smacked the other weapons back. I was running low on almost anything that was needed to have a battle. It seemed like Geminga was getting faster but that was because I was slowly losing grip on the [time rings]. I used [Frozen Ground] to slow him down. Raishin grabbed Gregory and made sloppy 4-meter teleports away from Geminga.

    How much further?! I took the note out of my hair and asked Ted to throw it at Gregory.

    He read it. That pillar over there, this note has instructions on the coordinates and energy requirements for the teleport, Raishin if you would? It seems it¡¯s corrected for the slight disturbances this place forces on teleporters. Hmm, ok, oh that is a lot of energy, I¡¯m not sure if I can make that much in time but I will do my best. We got surrounded by crystal formations and Gregory created a path but this seemed to push him far enough to where his anti-gravity anklets fell off.

    Ugh, we¡¯re so close! Ted drop me, I¡¯m not affected by this gravity.

    Stop this bullshit and you¡¯re so light that there is no guarantee that I can move much faster than this after I drop you. If you can get within 5 meters of that pillar, I can teleport us to it.

    I will do my best. Ted went into big bear mode and this boosted his speed a bit. An enormous frost pillar rose in the distance.

    Really? That didn''t knock him out? Ted started to knock flying crystals and flying weapons away while Gregory was making sure our path didn''t get blocked, he also had to counter an [Earthquake].

    Guys! What is that? An enormous wave of cold seemed to be rushing at us at a high speed.

    It seems Agnis couldn''t fully knock him out. What a pain in the ass. I made a weak 2 layered illusion. But I couldn''t see what it exactly did or if it was effective because I didn''t have access to my Elgards eyes.

    Come on Ted! Gregory and Raishin were already 5 meters away from the pillar. Ted and I were 10 meters away from it.

    ¡°Not so fast yer fekkers!¡± He used [Gravity] on all of us which caused everyone to slow down beside me, but I was in no state to move around. His special axe grew in size and he threw it at us. I created an extra thick [Frost wall].

    Raishin Catch! Hey, what?! Ted threw me to Raishin.

    Ted watch out! I¡¯m coming, I¡¯m going to use [Bear Rush] But I need all fours for it.

    No not that! Ted! The axe! I tried to hold the axe back with my [Frost wall] but it went through it and cleaved Ted in half.

    Ted! Noo! Regenerate and come! It¡­ it cut through his heart and separated his head from his body¡­

    Shit, I can''t control my illusions that well, Please shatter! Ted¡¯s body glowed and it went [Berserk] and grew in size. The increased gravity made it hard for Greg to interfere and help out and I was trying my best to create a proper illusion to undo what just happened but without my Elgards eyes and my current state, I kept failing.

    I¡¯m sorry guys, I think this is it for me, thank you for trying Agnis, My vitality will give me 2 more minutes, I can¡¯t control my body this well without a head but I can send it to stop them, Greg make sure to get them out alive. Stop with this bullshit! You can''t be brought back when you die! Let me hold them off, we might be able to get you fixed up¡­ I knew that there was no way we could fix him up within 2 minutes. I regretted using [Elgard Overload].

    Raishin started to cry.

    This is my fault, if I had just listened to you guys, it should''ve been me! Ted¡¯s body was assaulting Geminga and it kept being cut but it kept regenerating and it physically pushed Geminga back. Cygnus caught up and the huge bear body slammed Geminga into Cygnus.

    ¡°What the quack?!¡± Greg, Please¡­ I can¡¯t hold¡­ much longer¡­ Gregory wiped his tears.

    Agnis, Please. I wiped my tears and looked one more time at Ted.

    Thank you, Ted, for being a brother to us. I mustered all my strength and teleported us to the pillar which brought us to the 9th layer. I felt as if i was losing consciousness.

    Raishin, please¡­ Raishin wiped his tears.

    One day we will avenge you, Brother. Do you have enough energy?

    No, but since this is all my fault, I will use one life in exchange for the required energy. Raishin briefly released all his tails, glowed, and teleported to our destination. We fell to the floor at a familiar place. It was the hut we stumbled upon in the Cnidaria forest. I was struggling to stay conscious. Gregory was trying his best to tend to his wounds to prevent him from dying of blood loss and Raishin looked quite depressed.

    I... I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ve failed all of you¡­ This is my fault, none of this would have happened if I had listened to you all... We all failed, nobody specific has the blame, we all have failed, let¡¯s just agree on that¡­

    But! That sounds good, we all suck¡­ An awkward silence fell. The only sounds that could be heard were the wind, the rain, and the forest animals outside. I tried to stay conscious but I passed out shortly after.

    <hr>

    Meanwhile. An ice block in a certain freezer started to shake and it shattered.

    ¡°That stupid brat, he got lucky that I¡¯m weak to the cold. I will hunt him down and kill him, nobody messes with the Silent Night!¡±

    Ted Barrington

 Vol 2 Ch 27: Escaped

    9 September Year 574 of the New Kaledonian calendar. It was a sunny warm day on an otherwise bleak day. None of us felt like talking. Gregory made a memorial stone for Ted. We tried to hold a funeral but each of us had conflicting ideas stemming from how our races treat this so we just decided to make a memorial stone and that we would think of the good times we had with him, but this just made us more depressed and we were just sitting in the hut not doing anything. It has been a day since we got here and it had been almost half a day since anyone said something.

    I was killing time outside by throwing jellyfish teargas seeds at animals and monsters that attempted to mess with us. Raishin was sitting depressed in a corner and Gregory was distracting himself by making an obscene amount of potions. I enabled him by dropping ingredients in a corner. Gregory and I were still recovering and Gregory was leaving potions behind to help us speed up our recovery. I tried to check out what was going on at the prison now I can use Elgards eyes again but it was quite far and extremely tiring, and the ancient technology made it impossible to see anything past the 9th layer so I stopped trying. We spent our days like this till Raishin¡¯s 15th birthday during which we did a small celebration. It was also the first time we said more than a couple of sentences to each other. All this time I was thinking.

    Was there nothing I could¡¯ve done? If I was more mana efficient in my fights against Cygnus would I have been able to prevent this? What if I never used [Elgard Overload]? My brain kept telling me that I most certainly would have died if I had played it safer but I didn¡¯t want to buy it. There must have been something I could¡¯ve done to prevent Ted from dying. I just¡­ I don¡¯t think I can do this¡­ not at my current state or alone. I need to get stronger. It was very hard but I tried to focus on what I still had left to prevent something like this would happen again. I was wondering if I wasn¡¯t turning into a sociopath. Is this how I should think and act after my friend, my brother died? I didn¡¯t cry, I wanted to but I didn¡¯t manage to. I replayed the scene in my head countless times, trying to find where I could¡¯ve done better but I couldn¡¯t find anything. The problem started too far back for me to be able to be able to do anything there¡­

    <hr>

    8 October year 574 of the New Kaledonian calendar, a month after Ted passed away. Gregory spoke up. We need to make sure something like this never happens again. How?

    Our teamwork needs more work, we need to expand our move pool and you need more lives. Yeah, 1 isn¡¯t enough.

    Besides improving our teamwork¡­ I think we are also too reliant on each other. I know I sound like I¡¯m contradicting myself. But each of us relies on someone else for something, It is similar to what Paula told us. But I don''t think we¡¯re independent enough. If we were, it wouldn''t have mattered who we sent to distract Cygnus, if we were, Agnis and I wouldn''t have had our mana constantly drained to fight time dilation and gravity. We wouldn''t have to rely on Raishin to land decisive finishing blows. We wouldn''t have to rely on Ted to deal with physical threats if we were. Our team crumbles if one of us is absent. We also need to fill the hole that Ted left¡­ Although I hate the idea of replacing him, not filling that role will get us killed sooner or later¡­ I know¡­ I know! But it still feels wrong, Ted isn''t replaceable¡­

    He would want us to survive at any cost, If Ted was here, he¡¯d tell us to fill the gap. This is going to be hard¡­ We can''t just find a random human to do this¡­ something similar might happen.

    I... I hadn''t even thought about that. This sounds impossible¡­ Maybe Raishin and I should just get some more methods for defence, will be a good compromise, not finding someone to fill that spot won''t be a big problem then.

    Raishin stood up. Let¡¯s do that! I¡¯m getting sick at being unable to do something during defensive maneuvers. How about we start polishing our teamwork tomorrow and decide on improving our individual skills later on? We will have to adjust to our new team size¡­ I think that¡¯s a good idea.

    I miss Ted, even his stupid puns. A brief silence fell, a heavy uncomfortable silence.

    We ended up talking about how shit we were for the rest of the day and started working on our teamwork the day after.

    We stayed and trained in Cnidaria forest for more than a year. I took some trips outside the forest to locate some dynamo beans for Raishin.

    I found some after almost a year of searching and he got to 14 lives.

    Raishin had 14 lives, I had 9 and Greg had 31. I kept dumping shadow liquid vodka on him. So much that it slightly cured him of his alcoholic tendencies. Raishin got better at hunting because of our environment and he became more aware of his surroundings. I Improved my agility due to the countless obstacles in the forest. We became closer and needed less and less Teleroad communication to get things done. We had decided we would split up and gain individual experience shortly after my 16th birthday. We would train for over 3 years to reduce our reliance on each other and to round out our move pool. We would meet back up here at the hut for Ted¡¯s 5th death anniversary.

    So, what are you going to focus on Raishin? My defence, intuition, and safer and more accurate attack skills!

    Sounds good on paper but do you have a plan on how to do this? Hunting small and big animals that need to be caught alive! I think I¡¯m going to continue being a hunter and learn these. For defense uhm I have no idea, I will just ask some people I meet for advice.

    That sounds good enough, how about you Agnis? Firstly, I want to move away from my reliance on magic because this nausea is annoying, I want to also take the assassin and sneaky role more seriously and I want to improve my skill with the blade and create better weapons with blacksmithing. Nothing defensive?

    I will focus on mastering this leyline energy and create defensive skills. Taking up a lot of things as usual, I hope you are successful, Me myself I will focus more on offensive techniques and a wider variety of potions.

    Also, try to fix that speed of yours if you can. I will do my best! Let''s focus on these things and get back together stronger than before!

    Yeah! Yes!

    It was August so we had till December to give each other tips.

    <hr>

    We went to Ainahs city for my birthday. In disguise of course. We went to the sushi restaurant Ted introduced me to more than 2 years ago. We picked another hotel to stay at afterward.

    I wonder how the Adventurer¡¯s Association is doing. Hey, I actually have an idea! Why don''t we form an adventurer group before we split up? We can be like be mysterious make a team, then disappear for 3 years, then come back after 3 years and turn the world upside down with our awesomeness! That is a terrible idea.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Hmm, so what are we going to name our group then? What? How about Raishin¡¯s Hero party?

    That is a terrible name, I think this idea is stupid. I think it¡¯s one of Raishin¡¯s brightest ideas! Only his party name sucks, rejected! Oh, then why don''t you come up with a cool name?

    Sashimi warriors! You and your food, rejected! How about team Hourai?

    Eh? I know it''s where we came from but it''s also my last name it''s a bit meh. Yes, let''s go with that! Raishin seemed to like that name.

    Wait what? If I¡¯m getting dragged into this idea, I at least want our team to have a good name! And I will be the leader!

    Oh, hell no! Greg will be the leader! Oh hell, no Agnis will be the leader! Deal! Agnis be the leader!

    Why me?! Greg is a better leader! You might become a bit more responsible if you have the leader role, Raishin agrees. Oh uh, yeah that but I also rather have Agnis as leader over Greg!

    That¡¯s fine that means it¡¯s your responsibility to deal with Raishin when he does something dumb hehe, good luck. Nooo!

    See it as your birthday gift! I reject this birthday gift!

    We appeared at the Adventurer¡¯s Association the day after. Wow, it¡¯s still the same. We want to register as a team!

    ¡°How many members?¡± 4! We fell silent.

    Uhm sorry, that was a mistake we¡¯re with 3.

    ¡°Can I see your adventurer''s ID and the name of your group?¡± The group name is Hourai and I am the group leader. The clerk finished the procedures.

    ¡°Alright, it might take 2 days for it to get approved, please stay in the city till then.¡± Gregory visited the shop where he used to work. Raishin went into the city to pick up chicks and I went upstairs to look at the spars and duels the adventurers were having. I saw a familiar face. The healer chick had a duel and she was considerately more skilled in attacking with water magic. She had an enormous male fanbase cheering her on.

    I left the building and walked around the city to reminisce. It all started here and one mistake led to us losing our friend and brother. I hopped on a colored floating platform and rode it to near the shop where I could buy supplies for blacksmithing. I decided to go on a shopping spree and get as much stuff as possible so that I wouldn''t have to shop much during my training period. I arrived at my hotel room exhausted. Why can I fight for hours on end but a simple 2-hour shopping spree wears me out? I was content with the results though, I got everything I needed. I sat on my bed and brushed my tails. I just needed one more tail to be complete. I made a frost mirror and looked at my ears which were black because of my cosmetic illusion. I lifted it and they turned silver. These would turn blue after I get my 9th tail. I stored the fur that stuck to the brush and went to sleep.

    I had a wonderful sleep and went to the Adventurers Association the next day.

    <hr>

    A familiar face approached me. ¡°Oh, I haven''t seen you in over 2 years, How are you Agnis?¡± Oh hey, Da¡­Vice president. What are you doing here?

    ¡°I saw the request you put up to create a party and I wanted to personally notify you that it¡¯s approved.¡± Oh thanks, but why go through all this trouble?

    ¡°Well, you are still our strongest water user so I think it¡¯s important to show some respect.¡±

    ¡°Vice President that¡¯s called favoritism¡­¡±

    Vice Daddy looked at his lackey quite annoyed. ¡°I don¡¯t pay you to be a smartass!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sir!¡± The lackey backed off.

    ¡°So have you met up with Tania yet?¡± Who?

    The vice president sighed. ¡°My daughter, you surely remember her, right?¡± Didn¡¯t you have a son?

    ¡°It¡¯s no use vice president, his bad memory is notorious.¡± Vice Daddy looked at his lackey with a face that told him ''I don''t pay you to be a smartass.''

    ¡°Anyways, she will be glad to see you, she got quite bored since you disappeared, nobody around her age can rival her, she already reached A-rank. I really hope her ego won¡¯t grow with each rank she gains¡­¡± Do you need me to kick her ass? The vice president made a difficult face.

    ¡°You know what? Maybe that¡¯s what she needs but please don''t go looking for a fight.¡± Don¡¯t worry, I will get to it, somewhere in the next 3-4 years¡­

    ¡°What?¡± Ah right, so I know we just made a group but we may or may not disappear for a good 3-4 years. Just so you know.

    ¡°Ah, well we have branches in almost every big city so when you¡¯re in need of adventure or gold just hop by one and you will always be welcome wherever you are." Such kindness, thanks. I spent the rest of the day looking at adventurers duelling again and met up with Greg and Raishin at the hotel.

    Our group got approved, we can safely disappear now! So where are you guys heading to? I will go to the wilderness of Lopahz which is more to the southeast.

    I will go to the country of Zanyr to the west of Hjuva, it has a lot of dungeons and an interesting and wide variety of biomes. Where are you going, Greg? I¡¯m going to Hjuva, I will probably stick close to Gittrian. So, we will all be separated with a lot of distance in between and nobody is staying in Igrini.

    Igrini sucks. We talked about what we would expect to see and went to bed. Raishin and I would leave early in the morning and Greg would stay in Ainahs for a while since he didn''t need to travel as far as us.

    <hr>

    I woke up at 5:30 and paid for Raishin and my room. I didn''t see Raishin anywhere. I looked around and it seemed he was still asleep. It seems I would be leaving first. I walked through the deserted streets of Ainahs. I took in the morning air and reached the outside of the city. I looked around and covered myself in illusions when I noticed that there was nobody. This would hide my presence. I took my shoes off and started running. I circulated nature energy through my body and kept using [Accel step]. I would be going for a speed of Mach 3 and at that speed it would take me a total of 50 minutes to reach the border between Zanyr and Hjuva and I would walk from there.

    I had to make some slight detours to not run through settlements and the like. It feels so weird. I left the hotel a bit over an hour ago. I spent longer walking through the city than actually getting here. My first step into Zanyr felt like freedom. I walked toward a close by settlement to ask what places would be best to be around nature and train. This area looked a bit like a desert but it wasn''t. I don''t know what this is called maybe my knowledge about deserts is limited. To me it¡¯s an area of just sand but I''m aware that things like an oasis exist. I entered a village and started asking around. After talking to some people, I met a traveler. He stated that there was some kind of wilderness to the northwest about a 2-week walk. He warned me to prepare because the heat might kill me before I get far.

    He suggested visiting a bigger city to the southwest first. I thanked him. I was wondering if I should dash to my destination or visit that city. I had a lot to do so I didn''t feel like wasting time going to that city. I¡¯m quite resistant to heat anyways. I located my destination with my eyes. I could be there in an instant and teleported to the southern part of the jungle. I was close to a water basin and an enormous waterfall. This place was gorgeous.

    This jungle was enormous and there was hardly any civilization here only some native tribes. I lifted my cosmetic illusion and got all my 8 tails out. I could completely be myself here and decided to create a hideout near the waterfall and I would start training the day after tomorrow. I spent the rest of the day exploring the area which would become my new neighbourhood. I spotted some animals that I''d never seen before. There were a lot of fierce animals but some fled after seeing my tails and others showed respect which was something I had never experienced before. There were only a few that actually attacked me and they got shown their place quite fast. I decided to not kill them but to just give them a scare. I need them later on. I will stop using magic for my training so I need them as training dummies.

    I rested for the whole of the next day and woke up early on day 3 in my new home. Let the training begin!

 Vol 2 Ch 28: Dragonvein

    I wanted to use the first year to master or at least get the basics down of leyline energy or Dragonvein as Tero calls it. I sat under the waterfall and focused and connected with the Dragonvein. I heard the voice again which shortly disappeared. I tried to move the water around me but it was so heavy that it exhausted me after 20 minutes of trying. Maybe I should try something simple and move a small volume. I tried to but the Dragonvein energy got converted into water and the volume ballooned to a point where moving all the water would become too heavy.

    I spent a whole day trying to just move the little bit of water but always ended up turning all the leyline energy around me into water and getting exhausted and failing. I stepped away from the water basin. I could create water out of the leyline energy without water being near. I made more movements and I could hold on longer but I got the same problem. It seems I need to do something else. By just doing what I do, I constantly convert leyline energy into water so I need to do something to stop that. I made various movements but nothing seemed to work. I tried disconnecting with the leyline energy to make it stop creating water but it just dropped everything I was moving beforehand so that was not a viable solution. I also noticed that I wasn''t physically fit enough for all this.

    Even if I could figure it out, it would still feel as if I was physically moving the water around which seemed to be its biggest downside so far. Night fell and I dropped myself into the water basin exhausted. 0 progress was made today but at least I know what movements don''t work. Some movements did interesting stuff but I have yet to find out how to stop the constant creation of water. This would be extremely useful in the desert. After leyline energy gets converted into water it stays like that. I don''t know yet how to return it back to energy. I came to a realization. Is it possible to control the energy without turning it into water? That would surely be the basics, right? Maybe turning it into water is something a bit more advanced but also easy to do. I decided to try and start with the basics and manipulate only the energy. Maybe it will make controlling water dragon vein better.

    <hr>

    I finally managed to control only the energy on day 7. Apparently, the position my fingers have plays a huge role in what this energy does. Just moving my arms around with my fingers relaxed turns it into water. I managed some wind skills when I completely extended my fingers. Folding my thumbs into my palms allowed me to use just the energy. This energy didn''t just work on the movement of my hands and the position of my fingers alone. It seems my whole body decided the outcome of my movements. Just waving my arm had a large difference from waving my hand and stepping in while shifting my balance. It¡¯s as if this is a dance¡­ This made everything way more complex. Using this energy was still exhausting. I didn''t have to move the weight of water but it was just all the physical movements.

    By day 9 I figured out certain patterns that work between zero element, water element, and wind element ley line. They follow similar movements but it depends all on my fingers. As long as I kept my fingers extended, I could fold my thumb inward and it would still stay wind. Wind is lighter than water so it was easier to practice, it just seemed a bit less responsive to my movements than water. As if it liked to overshoot certain movements. I had to battle against constant muscle aches.

    On day 12 I discovered the secret behind this and decided to rest. An example to illustrate, Imagine if I made an ¡®S¡¯ movement with my hand. Zero element and water element would follow this ¡®S¡¯ neatly, wind would slightly overshoot on the bends. It would still create an S shape but a sloppy one. I let my tails run simulations on this during my rest day. I practiced more on day 13 and the simulation bore fruit. Besides the fatigue, I could control wind and water quite well. There were still inconsistencies in the results of most of my movements but I already corrected for the behavior of wind leyline.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    I practiced till day 18 and then decided to rest for 2 days and run more simulations. Because I was so light I could kind of fly with wind leyline. By doing this I discovered that controlling the leyline with my legs was way more important while airborne. It was even possible to control the wind with only my legs and I could use my arms and upper body for another element. I will try to see if I can do the same with water after my break. I slept for almost the entirety of day 19 and explored some on day 20.

    More arrogant jungle dwellers. An enormous boar was trying to steal the mushrooms I collected. I had a long and epic battle against him. I limited myself to only using water leyline. It was exhausting and I took some ugly blows but this thing isn''t strong enough to kill me. I am squishy yes but this is more in a mythical beast context, against humans or normal creatures I would probably fall in a toughness range far above the regular human. Then again very strong attacks would still hurt me but an unaugmented boar tackle? I can tank it, not ideal but it won¡¯t put me in danger. Now I wasn''t trying to test this out but practicing and actual combat is completely different so I made a lot of mistakes. I could recreate most of the skills that I would use with magic. So [Frozen Ground] and [Water ball] made their appearance again. But instead of being a skill, it¡¯s more a technique.

    I have to keep moving and those skills are more a product of something bigger I''m doing. Like I can move a mass of water around and shoot a [Water ball] from it, some water that falls to the floor can then turn into [Frozen Ground] and I will still be moving the mass of water around to defend myself from attacks or use it for some sort of offense. It makes use of both efficient and sloppy use of Dragonvein. So, I will name certain groups of movement techniques because they are quite fluid. There was so much diversity and possibilities that I needed my tails to help me pull this off remotely competently during combat.

    Day 30 was a milestone because I only needed 1 tail instead of 8 to pull off complex moves in combat. Another discovery was made during this; I can use leyline energy with 3 different methods that compliment each other, using all 3 is most optimal, 2 will work and 1 will become extremely sloppy or will cause some techniques to become impossible.

    The main one I¡¯m using is just sight. I can see the flow of leyline energy with my Elgards eyes, so it¡¯s easy to use this to follow the flow. The second one is by feel. When I connect with leyline energy I can feel it. I¡¯ve been using these 2 predominantly. The third one is one I discovered accidentally. Calculating the flow and the effect my movements will have on its flow to predict what the next best move is. I can only do this with my tails out though. What this means is that I can only draw out maximum potential with my tails and Elgards eyes. The calculations help me finetune my movements which led to a discovery made on day 31. The leylines mostly respond to the movements and position of my joints. It reacting to the orientation of my fingers should have been a dead giveaway but at least now I know for sure. There was one exception though. It reacted also to the movements of my tails, it seemed to think they had infinite joints. This was too complex for me to bother with now but this meant that I could potentially let my tails do all the movements but this sounds like it¡¯s too advanced for me. I refined this until day 40 and then decided to take a week off and explore the jungle some more.

 Vol 2 Ch 29: Jungle Dragon

    I had explored the jungle to the south of my hideout and on day 45 I decided to go north. A river coiled through the wilderness and acted as my guide. I was swinging around from branch to branch with my tails like a monkey when I messed up and fell down. It looked like there was jungle floor below me but it was just a lot of plants growing over a hole and I fell into a jungle cave. This was completely avoidable but it¡¯s not like I will take a lot of fall damage so I let gravity do its thing, although a bit slow. Did I get lighter again? This cave was quite dark and humid. I spotted some cool mushrooms and something that wasn''t so cool.

    Oh, good morning Mr. Dragon, I will just leave and let you rest. The dragon growled. It was a two-winged dragon. I don¡¯t know much about them, I¡¯m only accustomed to no winged dragons. It didn''t seem like he could understand me. I tried Hourai and Draconian. It roared and swiped at me.

    What the fuck! What dragon can¡¯t understand draconian? Are you messing with me?! It slammed its tail at me but missed because I was so light and the wind pressure it created, blew me away.

    Hey, asshole! I¡¯m just here for sightseeing! I will leave if you let me be! I dodged a [Nature Dragonbreath]. I tried to convince it to stop in draconian and ancient draconian. Nothing. What language do 2 winged dragons speak? It flapped its wings and blew me away.

    Screw you too! I pedalled on the air and moved the wind leylines and it looked like I was pedalling through the air. I tried to create a wind tunnel but this wasn''t something I practiced so I was fighting against the [Wind blast] until I could figure out what movement to make to cancel this wind blast out in a small area. I touched down on the ground and ran at the dragon. It made thick vines grow out of the ground to impale me. I dodged by making acrobatic flips and sending [Wind scythes] out of my feet whenever I did to cut these down. Wind gathered at my feet and I sped up. I had to keep flipping and rotating to keep the wind swirling around me and soon every movement I did sent a sharp [Wind blade] out from either my legs or arms. I aimed these at the vines to cut them down. My tails also helped out. I covered 3 tails with swirling winds because they were slowly starting to overheat from all the processing they needed to do. I needed to name this technique. I performed a tornado kick and it sent a tornado out that shot wind blades out as it spun. I decided to go for [Tempest step], I kept backflipping to send [wind blades] at another [Dragonbreath] the dragon spat at me. It then roared and green spheres grew next to it and they shot at me. I did another tornado kick and sent the tornado out to catch the green spheres.

    They exploded and multiple briar vines shot out from them in every direction. I shot a [Windblast] downward to launch myself. My tails grabbed some roots sticking out from the ceiling and as I hung upside down. These spheres were reacting to the tornado and covering the whole floor with nasty briars. It seems those briars were poisonous. Some fire would be nice now but I didn''t figure out how to do that yet. But do I need fire to set this place ablaze? The dragon spotted me and flew up and tried to claw me. I dropped down and kept making movements to compress the air. It turned into a concentrated sphere of air that slowly heated up due to the pressure. It ignited and I shot it at the floor turning the whole cave into an inferno. Luckily, I have heat resistance so this is fine. I did another tornado kick to create another tornado because the vines seemed to release toxic fumes. The dragon caught fire too and it wasn''t happy at all. It tried to swoop down from above me and I did an upward split kick and sent a large wind blade to it. It hit his face but that didn''t make him stop. I ducked and dodged him but the wind pressure sent me flying again. I pedalled in the air to slow down and stabilize in the air.

    I was wondering if I could defeat him by just using Dragonvein. Wait, didn''t Tero say that I could ride dragons with this? But this dragon is a nature dragon, I don¡¯t know how to control nature energy, does dragon vein even work on nature energy? I tried but he might have meant that it worked on no-winged dragons, while those fly somewhat graceful this one doesn''t at all. It roared and used another [Dragonbreath]. This is exhausting. This dragon has quite a limited move set though. It then burrowed its tail and the whole place started to shake. He got covered in thick bark and put out the fire that was still dealing damage to him. Various strange plants started to grow in the cave. I don''t like this at all. I gathered more wind and sent myself upward to escape this cave. I got back to the jungle floor but the dragon didn''t seem to want to let me go. He burst out of its cave and roared and shot green beams at me. Not quite lasers but still annoying. I stopped using Dragonvein and got all my tails out and went monkey mode to try and get away from this asshole.

    Hey dragon I concede, you win! Are you happy now?! You can let me go now! It created numerous green orbs around it and divebombed at me while sending the orbs all over the place that exploded and shot briars in every direction. I had to launch myself into the air and pedal in the air and start [Tempest Step] again. I sent numerous kicks at it that turned into wind blades but they did nothing to the thick bark it surrounded itself with. It roared and flew up in the sky and started to fly in circles.

    Oh, fuck is this the two-winged version of [Dragon dance]? Dragon dance is as the name suggests a sequence of movements dragons do that strengthen them and then a series of high-damage attacks that hit a wide area. The flora in the immediate area started to grow faster and create an enormous thicket. The thicket seemed to become sentient and all the plants started to attack me.

    You got to be kidding me! I kept creating wind blasts to push me away from all this bullshit. I tried to also move the air directly in front of me so that I would experience less air resistance.

    <hr>

    I plunged into the water basin 15 minutes later, utterly exhausted. I would probably get some nasty muscle aches tomorrow. I looked back and it seems the dragon lost sight of me. It was still rampaging but it was far from my hideout. One day I will go back and take revenge on that asshole. It was time to rest.

    Day 48. I created 2 more wind techniques [Howling Updraft] and [Pressure]. The first technique let me create a continuous updraft that can keep me in the air. It''s an easier and cheaper way of flight. [Pressure] allows me to more easily control pressure and also possibly keep me on the ground when some asshole tries to blow me away. I was practicing to create some water moves on day 49 when I heard a familiar roar. I hid in my hideout and saw the asshole fly over. I hope he¡¯s not looking for me I don¡¯t want him to turn this nice place into one big blob of plants. I had to halt my practice for 2 days because he kept flying over from time to time.

    At day 52 I was starting to become tired of his bullshit. But I had no idea what I could do against him. Magic defeats the purpose of my training. The shadow disappeared and I got out of my hideout. If he¡¯s flying around here that means he must not be in his own cave. I went into stealth and went monkey mode and arrived at his cave. It looked different because he blew the ceiling off when he flew up to attack me earlier this week. I wonder if I could place traps here. I tried to force some wind into the ground when I noticed something. There seems to be a difference between leylines that go through the air and those that go through the ground. I inspected it more closely. Leylines in the air have a higher tendency toward water wind and lightning, and those in the earth have a higher tendency toward earth and fire. I looked up and saw that very high up there was something that I would call a celestial current and they had a tendency toward dark and light. That¡¯s cool and all but what does that mean? I connected with the underground leyline currents and started [Tempest step] technique and while my arms were still creating wind, my feet started with wind but it slowly became hotter and ignited.

    I tested some stuff out and the fire was more explosive in nature. The more underground leyline currents I used the more it forced me into certain movements. I applied what I¡¯ve learned to my hands and arms. After a lot of blood, sweat and tears, I figured out how to use fire. It needs that I fold at least 2 fingers inward per hand to create fire. But they still need to be relaxed if I squeeze the 2 fingers inward it doesn''t work so well. Also, the movements can follow those similar to water I have to adapt how much leyline energy I take in and let out. With zero elements, water, and wind the flow is constant, what goes in, goes out. With fire this is more in bursts, take a lot in, hold it, and then get it all out, or even keep some in and don''t expel it. So back to the illustration of forming an S, With zero element and water it''s just a neat S, with wind, it overshoots a bit at every bend, but with fire, it''s an S made of dotted lines, the more closely the dots are packed together the more the temperature increases. And the size of the dots increases its raw power such as explosive force. I tried to apply this method of taking in leyline energy to water and wind and this seemed to somewhat work, I could change water easier to extremely strong ice or extremely hot vapor and the wind seemed to become denser in reaction to it. It did limit flexibility though.

    I tried to make a firetrap but I couldn''t figure out how to do this. I connected to the air leyline currents and got out of this place and went monkey mode and continued the exploration. A lot of interesting fruits grew in this jungle and I decided to head home because it was getting late when I noticed something. I was quite far from my hideout and from the asshole''s hideout so I decided to check it out quick and get back home. It was some sort of rock but I couldn''t look through it. It was ancient technology! It seemed to have a similar shape as the one I found close to Boshi town but 70% was buried and the rest was covered with plants to the point that it was almost impossible to see what it was. I took a mental note of its location and headed back. I had to hide because it seemed the asshole was going home. I arrived home too at close to midnight. It was a very tiring day.

    I rested on days 53 and 54. The asshole didn''t seem to be checking this area out anymore. I practiced with fire until day 60 but I couldn''t go too hard on it because it would burn the place down. The last time it rained was at day 37 so I needed to be careful.

    Day 61 was the day I would try to investigate the dungeon. Unfortunately, things didn''t go as planned because a giant tiger decided that I would make a good snack. I first tried to get away but he was persistent so I had to tornado-kick him and rip him to shreds. Well, there were ways that involved less gore but it had some friends lurking and I needed to send a message. I ducked into a bush as asshole flew over. I hope I didn''t cause too much of a ruckus to attract his attention. The coast was clear and I arrived at the buried dungeon. This is all cool and all but how do I dig this thing out? Don¡¯t tell me I need to learn earth Dragonvein. I¡¯m notoriously bad at using earth magic so this is certainly going to suck.

    I burnt away the plants covering the part I could see. I only saw 1 symbol. Is it draconian or ancient draconian? I can''t tell, I need more. I shifted stance and used one of the water techniques I created called [Drowning Pulse]. I covered the area and water and shifted to [Churning waves] and tried to erode the earth away. I rested after 2 hours of wasting energy and time. It didn''t go as I would have hoped. I put my tails to work, I had 2 more elements I needed to figure out and earth will most likely be a pain in the ass. I heard a roar. I turned around and saw asshole preparing a [Dragonbreath].

    Ugh, itching for a round 2? I shifted stance and used [Howling Updraft] Now that I could ¡®Fly¡¯ I wouldn''t have problems with the jungle attacking me. I continued [Howling Updraft] with my feet and started [Flame Wave] with my upper body and sent a heatwave out and some fireballs to the asshole. He caught fire and roared. He used [Dragon Dance] again. I had to stop using [Flame Wave] and use [Pressure] because he was flapping his wings again. I launched myself and landed on his back. I planted my feet on his back and started the second fire technique I made. I couldn''t fully test it before but since I had enough of this guy, I could crank up the temperature. I started [Phoenix dance].

    The asshole took a lot of damage as I kept driving up the heat. Its bark armor turned into charcoal. I kept up the technique and its flesh started to burn. It thrashed and threw me off. I had to transition to [Howling Updraft] else I would torch the jungle. I went back to [Tempest Step] and used a tornado kick. The tornado fed the flames and the asshole was now getting burnt by blue flames. I wonder if I could change the color of the flames. It seemed that doing this wasn''t magic. Is it some racial skill? I had no clue but I could freely change the color of the fire and thus its properties. I created a mass of fire that looked similar to my [Foxfire: Summer heat] and dropped it on the asshole. I dropped all my leyline techniques because I ran out of stamina. The dragon was still burning but he didn''t seem defeated yet. This was disappointing but I would have to retreat for the day. I tried to drag myself home but it was too far and I was too exhausted so I found a good spot and made it my temporary hideout.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    I had to rest till day 65. I don''t think I rest enough so I had to rest extra-long. I had to find a way around this stamina problem, can I make this more efficient? Or do I just have to gain more muscles and gain stamina over time? I¡¯m not even 2 months in so it might be that. I can do way more than when I started out. I had to lay low because the asshole was quite angry and seemed determined to find me and kill me. I had to move twice because he brought the plants to life close to me and I had to flee. Maybe I should give up on that dungeon for now, I can¡¯t unearth it anyways. And I doubt there is a convenient mechanism anywhere that just digs it out. There was the option of going home directly but I took the long scenic route. I have been running around a lot lately but missed the beauty of this jungle by doing so.

    I arrived home after 3 days and decided to take a break till day 80. I wondered how long it would take before I could turn that asshole into fertilizer. I refined every technique I knew and added some optional moves to them. It might be impossible to use all the movements of a technique because things could interrupt me so I need to come up with moves that don''t interrupt the technique because using the wrong movements could drop the technique which sucks. So, I figured out what would work and added them as backup moves in case something forces me to move differently. It was still exhausting so I took breaks regularly.

    I started to get bored on day 100. I feel like I mastered the techniques that I made. I still didn''t find out how to use earth or lightning.

    What obscure movements do I need to use them? I wanted to explore that dungeon! A fish jumped out of the lake and I tried to fry it and get some style points. I snapped my finger and pointed at it. Fire shot at it after hitting the fish it crackled and turned into lightning and zapped the fish. I got excited. I repeated it and it was consistent. It seems pointing with my index finger was key. Lightning behaved like how to create fire but pointing with the index finger was mandatory, adding the middle finger worked but anything else shifted it back to fire. Although spreading my fingers out like claws also allowed me to use lightning. I played... I mean practiced lightning for 5 days. The more I played the less it resembled fire. This was the only element whose effectiveness depended on how fast I could move.

    Back to the comparisons because I like this one, it is now clear how zero element, wind, water and fire work. Lightning works like fire with dotted lines and the size of the dots also has an impact but with lightning, it''s possible to go back and forth between 2 points multiple times and in this fashion finish the movement. Whereas in fire element every point well gets used only once. The lightning ones could get used tens if not hundreds of times. This of course has to be completed in a similar time frame that¡¯s why it depends on how fast I can move. My lightning movements look blurry because I¡¯m moving my hands and arms extremely fast. It causes lightning to be stupidly strong though. I could reach orange lightning relatively easily. But since I wasn''t used to moving like this and I was basically vibrating my arms and parts of my body very fast it ate a considerable amount of stamina. It seemed to regain some after I successfully finished a technique though. I probably have to work on its efficiency to make sure I don¡¯t look blurry and it looks like I¡¯m moving normally. True strength lies in doing something extremely difficult but making it seem like I¡¯m not doing anything at all. Getting this under control was uhm rough. I spent the next 50 days extremely exhausted getting to make this look clean and efficient. I did my best to avoid asshole all this time because I was tired at all times.

    I took the stance for [High Voltage] and vaporized a rock. According to my Elgards eyes this looked very clean. It was still tiring but not as much as when I discovered it. Lightning was by far my favorite. At this point, it was less tiring than controlling water because water is heavy as fuck. It still had room for improvement but this was good enough. I decided this was cause for celebration and I slacked and feasted for 10 days. I was here for 4 months now. I had achieved a lot I just need to get to learn earth and kill the asshole. This went faster than expected but I had a lot of things I could improve. I looked to the sky. I might be able to find out how to use dark and light by getting up to the celestial currents. It gave me an idea. I should visit places where the leyline elements are strongest, some places underground where earth and fire are the strongest, and hone those elements there, not looking forward to earth, might skip that one. Somewhere where water lightning and wind leyline are stronger and hone those elements there. Then somehow get high enough to get to learn those 2 because I have no idea how to use those elements. I planned a day and I decided that day 165 would be the day the asshole dies. I had 5 days to prepare for this. I would have to rest up and gather fruits that boost my stamina. I can''t cheat and use nature energy. Although¡­ it would be fine if I used it right? I will try to not use it but if I need it I will.

    The day arrived. I already made a tombstone for the Asshole. I would place it in his hideout after he would be turned into fertilizer. This is probably one of my worst metrics so far, 120 days needed to kill a dragon¡­ Then again there are more than enough people that never killed a dragon before or encounter one. This is my first dragon that I kill but I¡¯m sure this one would''ve been long dead if I used magic on him and certainly if I went full 9t on him. He isn''t that strong I¡¯m just handicapping myself. But today I will surpass the version of me that uses magic and turn this asshole into a pile of ash! I was quite excited. If I got better at this I could move away from magic and just use it when it was truly needed so I wouldn''t have to deal with the nausea and the feeling of bugs crawling through my veins whenever I use too much of it.

    I was thinking of how to finish him off when I realized something crucial. I don¡¯t have any ultimate skills! Do I delay Asshole¡¯s funeral? Ultimate skills are important though. I don¡¯t have any good ideas though besides just a stronger bigger version of what I already know. I guess I¡¯ll go with that for now and pretend they''re ultimate skills and try and think of some after Asshole¡¯s funeral. He doesn''t deserve a proper ultimate skill. I used [High Voltage] and created my trusted [Lightning Umbrella] and hung from it as it ascended. I waited for 5 minutes before Asshole noticed me. He still had burn marks. And he looked pissed. I created 5 more [Lightning Umbrellas] with 12 ice cubes attached to them and spread them out in a formation. Asshole flew right into it. Now with control over leyline energy, I can do something I could never do before, create magic circles using energy that''s not magic. Magic circles created with non-magic will have its full power. I connected the umbrellas with wires and the umbrellas in the formation formed a magic circle and blasted it with blue lightning. I need to figure out how to make this stronger but it¡¯s enough for now. Asshole flapped its wings and tried to blow the umbrellas away but I countered it with [Pressure]. An umbrella discharged and took out one of the dragon''s wings. He fell down and I used [Turning leaf] to swap an umbrella under him but the umbrella got crushed. Doesn¡¯t work on heavy opponents, noted.

    The dragon roared and trashed as it hit the floor. The wind blew me toward him and I floated above him and changed all the [Lightning umbrellas] by starting [Phoenix dance]. All the umbrellas started to fold and fell down like spears. They rained down on the Asshole and set the jungle on fire. I shifted to [Drowning Pulse] to put out the fire but I continued to let the asshole burn. The water moved close to the Asshole and I went back to [Phoenix Dance] and created a controlled fire, slowly turning the dragon into a pyre. I sneaked in some movements of [Tempest Step] and made the flames intensify with the aid of some wind. One final roar and the thrashing and noise stopped. I kept [Phoenix dance] up till I got tired. I had to make sure this Asshole is dead. I inspected the area, and only ash and bones were left. Dragon parts are quite valuable for crafting various things and I just turned most of it to ash¡­

    I chucked some dragon bones in my dimensional pocket and found some bark scales. Revenge complete! But this [Phoenix dance] surely is powerful almost strong enough to be an ultimate technique. Then again, my fire skills were always extremely strong. I decided to store some Asshole ash, I mean dragon ash too, who knows maybe it will be useful someday. I sat down and rested. What now? The dungeon is still inaccessible. This revenge didn''t feel as good as I thought it would, I just eliminated one of my goals and I still had about 8 months planned out to hang around here. Is this truly all Dragonvein has to offer? Or am I missing something crucial here? It certainly is strong and it doesn''t mix well with magic and thus is quite strong against it but is this all to it? There is no way a teenage random guy can figure out all this has to offer in 4 months.

    On surface value, I would have completed my training the moment I figure earth dragon vein out and light and dark to a certain extent. But at this rate, I won''t need 8 more months. My physical condition might need that long, maybe I should go for that? I decided to call it a day and return to my hideout. Some monkeys were raiding my food stash and I kicked their asses.

    They reminded me a bit of Raishin. I wonder how Raishin and Greg are doing. Greg is probably working his ass off and Raishin is probably fooling around. Maybe he will find a chick and settle down. I¡¯m not sure how I would feel about that but I would wish him happiness and continue on with Greg. Or what if both of them settle down? I have never considered settling down. I¡¯m quite enjoying my life in the jungle here and could do it for a very long time but¡­ what about Hourai? I miss everyone from Hourai but do they really need the help of 3 brats? Is it arrogant of us to think they need our help? And if they don¡¯t need our help, what do we do? We still want to meet up with them but what if they''re completely fine and we wasted our youth trying to find our homeplace that was completely fine? Two monkeys tried to sneak up on me and steal my food and I knocked them out. And what about the eight-tailed monkey? I looked at the passed-out monkeys. If he can truly ¡®Evict¡¯ individuals or Hourai out of dimensions, how to find them if that¡¯s the case, do we need to kick his ass too? He held off against our mothers¡­ there is no way we stand a chance against him anytime soon. How many years do we need to get to that level? Xelia should be 398 years by now but she wasn''t close to mom¡¯s strength. Do we really need 2 or 3 millennia to have a shot at dealing with him? If so, aren¡¯t we rushing into something we can¡¯t deal with? We will have to avoid fighting him then if we want to continue our plan. Is settling down the best thing we can do for now? We got a bit arrogant before, thinking we could deal with anything and it cost Ted his life. I¡¯m not rushing to repeat a mistake like that.

    Which reminds me¡­ I need defensive skills. Most of my techniques can shift to some form of defense but I need something to protect allies. I¡¯m not great at defensive skills, how about more control? I could knock enemies around with water, they can¡¯t attack if they¡¯re getting knocked around. But what if they can¡¯t get knocked around? My [Drowning Pulse] keeps creating water to the point the whole area floods. If I just keep it up and actually add some things in to make opponents sink and drown. I jumped in the lake but I needed something to test this out on. I remembered that there were some Running Frogs not too far from here. These funny frogs could walk and run on the water. I need to lure some here. What do frogs eat? Bugs? But If I use bugs as bait, I will also attract lots of fish. I decided to just go over there and piss them off. I located the running frogs who were having some kind of running race on this part of the river. I felt a bit sorry for them but I care more about my buddies than some random frogs. I started [Drowning Pulse]. Creating more water was unneeded so I would work on the part where things would actually drown. The river got rowdy but the frogs had no issues continuing their race in this environment. I was quite impressed. This was some good practice. Imagine if these frogs were real enemies, my attempts of drowning them would have failed and they might have been able to injure me or my allies. I tried to create waves that would swallow the frogs but they could identify which parts of the water were the safest. I tried to create currents to pull them under but they just jumped over them¡­

    Of course, they can jump they are frogs, what was I thinking? I need something they can¡¯t jump over to. Do I need to create something similar to [Sink]? But it''s hard to sink living creatures because water is denser¡­ I need something else. I got some frogs to slip and faceplant on the water surface but they didn''t sink. What if I mess with the surface? I harassed the frogs for half an hour before I saw the results. I managed to create a technique that puts anything on the water''s surface below it. I called it [Surface flip], from there on I could pull them under with currents and increase the volume of water above them. I didn¡¯t harm any frogs, I returned them to the surface with another [Surface flip] when they were close to drowning. They seemed wary and were scanning where this all came from. I threw some small fish at them as thanks and went back to my hiding spot to think. I can now flood the whole place and forcefully drown opponents. Pulling them underwater is already quite defensive. I don''t think many people know how to fight underwater. Including myself¡­ I guess I need to practice that too then. This lake doesn''t seem like a good candidate. I will have to visit the ocean for this. I could however try to climb the waterfall. I looked at the enormous waterfall. It was quite intimidating. But I was happy that I found another sub goal.

 Vol 2 Ch 30: Waterfall

    I woke up and jumped into the waterfall basin to refresh myself. I inspected the waterfall while floating around. The highest point was 712m and the lowest point of the waterfall was 476m. It would make sense to start at the easier 476m first. I would practice with my tails out first because there''s no point in trying without and then drowning and dying. 12 coconuts were put at the edge of the basin so that I could swap with them when I mess up. I blasted some rocks that I might crash into and spent half of my day blasting rocks away to make sure I don''t crack my head open on any. I had to rest because removing rocks is tiring without being able to use earth leyline energy. It might be my imagination but the waterfall kept becoming more and more intimidating. Was this a good idea? I have nobody around me now to tell me that this is stupid or to bail me out. I jumped in the water and spun my tails like propellers and tried to move myself forward through the water with water Dragonvein.

    Aaand, I got washed away. I didn''t even get close to the waterfall itself. I severely underestimated the power of water. I was completely drained of energy and decided to try again the next day.

    I tried and I tried and tried. And reached the base of the waterfall on day 183. I got way better in controlling water now but I was nowhere near my goal. I also became a great swimmer. Makes sense if you¡¯re trying to approach a violent waterfall you either drown or become a great swimmer. I got out of the water, dried my tails off, and brushed them. My tails had to take in a lot of water to make myself heavy enough to stay underwater. I¡¯m not sure how to solve this problem without my tails. It might actually become exponentially harder without my tails.

    Its time for a holiday! Destination: the desert. A change of scenery. It took 30 minutes walking through the desert to think I¡¯ve seen enough sand. I wondered how effective water leyline would be here and created water and dropped it but the sand sucked it up. I tried to pull the water out of the sand but it didn''t want to listen. The sand just moved with it. I also got sand that wasn''t wet.

    Hmm, what is this? Did I finally master earth? It was slightly different but I could control sand with similar movements as water it¡¯s just¡­

    Holy shit this stuff is heavy! It was to be expected, earth and sand are way heavier than water. So, I can control sand but I still don¡¯t know how to do earth. And it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll be hanging around in deserts often. I had to run because some enormous sandworms detected my presence and I didn''t want to deal with them. I arrived at a village that was near a big excavation site.

    Good day mister, I¡¯m a tourist, what are they digging u over there? This man with big bushy eyebrows raised one of his brows.

    ¡°A tourist you say? Here in the middle of nowhere? Are you lost, lad?¡± Ehh, yeah, I have a terrible sense of direction, so what are they digging here?

    ¡°They found traces of ancient structures here. It seems to be quite old and it has symbols never seen before. It seems to have a different significance than other structures that have been found. This one looks like some sort of a temple.¡± I got excited because maybe these guys were digging up a dungeon. Thanks! I gave him 1 silver for the useful information. His sour expression changed to a grateful expression.

    ¡°If you get lost again find me, I will help you out!¡± I¡¯m sorry mister brow but I¡¯m not lost. I hopped into the excavation site. A lot of men were moving rocks sand and dirt away with earth magic. Others were studying what was already unearthed and another group was carefully digging out more. My excitement died; this wasn''t a dungeon I wanted to head back home when something caught my attention. I could read the symbols on this structure. It was in ancient draconian. This thing must be extra ancient. What caught my attention, even more, was the word ¡®Isi¡¯. Isi was a spirit but she did say she was named after the planet. Is this temple dedicated to worshiping the planet? There was one thing clear though, the underground leyline currents converged here. This can''t be a coincidence. I approached the front door. It was tightly shut tight but it wasn''t locked with obnoxious puzzles.

    ¡°Hey! You, what are you doing there?¡± Hey, do you know who or what Isi is?

    ¡°What? No, maybe Melissa knows but she is away for a bit, are you part of her team? I haven¡¯t seen you here before. We have been trying to figure out where this structure fits in history or even which civilization built it, we have 0 leads.¡± I placed my hand on the fort door and said the ancient draconian word for ¡®Open.¡¯ The doors made a grinding sound and opened. No boobytraps inside so I stepped inside.

    ¡°Hey! W...wait! Hey Larry! This is great news! I don''t know who this is but he opened the door!¡± I walked to the centre of the building. It wasn''t a large building but something was glowing in the centre. I could feel the leyline energy becoming more intense with every step. I looked at an orb of crystallized leyline energy. I haven''t seen crystallized leyline energy since Boshi town. I turned my leyline filter off in my eyes and suddenly the room seemed empty.

    Interesting. I turned the filter back on and the orb appeared again. I connected to the leyline energy here and saw a bright flash. Oddly enough I didn''t hear the voice that I always hear when I connect to leyline energy. The flash disappeared. I was surprised because I should be immune to flashes. I soon found out that I wasn''t in the building anymore. What the?

    ¡°I finally get to talk to you.¡± I know that voice! I looked around and saw a young woman with white long hair and 4 arms sitting on some kind of stone chair. It could pass for a throne but it wasn''t as fancy. Uhm, do I know you? And where am I? It should be impossible to force me to a different subdimension due to my [Spatial Anchor].

    ¡°Don''t worry, this is a mental plane.¡° She stretched one of her hands out and created a mirror that showed that I was still standing in front of the crystalized leyline energy. ¡°And you might be familiar with my voice and name, I''m the one who has been crying for help and you might recognize the name ¡®Isi¡¯ that is my name.¡± Wait? So, you¡¯re telling me that you¡¯re our planet and that you have been crying for help all this time? I hope you know how ridiculous that sounds.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I know it¡¯s hard for you to believe" Nah, I believe you, my eyes can¡¯t make a distinction between you and the spatial fabric I have seen before, as if you¡¯re made out of the same stuff as that or that stuff is made out of the same stuff as you. So why would someone important like you bother with a random brat like me?

    ¡°A male nine tailed spirit fox is not a random brat at all. Moreover, the first one that is able to use the true energy this world has to offer.¡± Wait, nobody ever bothered to use this?

    ¡°Not to the extent you do, there are many forces on me but my lifeblood, or ¡®Dragonvein¡¯ or ¡®Leyline energy¡¯ as you call it is the only force that reflects and embodies my will.¡± Oh, eh, I¡¯m sorry I didn''t know and I just randomly used it left and right, I¡¯ll try to find something else.

    ¡°Oh, no I¡¯m glad that you¡¯re using it, I want you to continue to use this, just like you need a planet to live on, I need the tailed beasts to help me maintain my body. What you are seeing here in front of you is a mere simulacrum and not representative of my current state since I created this simulacrum way before I started to deteriorate. But it pains me to say that I¡¯m in bad shape.¡± I see, and using Dragonvein, I mean your lifeblood fixes that?

    ¡°In some cases, it will help but that is not the reason why I want you to continue, The reason is to keep you alive.¡± Huh?

    ¡°As I said, the energy you¡¯re using is my will and I also need the tailed beasts to keep existing. I¡¯m fully aware that your race is nearing extinction.¡± Isi¡¯s eyes glowed golden. ¡°Currently there are 104 nine tailed spirit foxes alive on me. Of which you are one out of 5 males.¡± Oof, wait do you know if our home Hourai is still ehh on you? And if not where it is?

    ¡°I apologize, I possess more than 1.2 million sub-dimensions I don''t notice when one disappears nor do I know all their names.¡± Ugh, unfortunate.

    ¡°I would love to answer more of your questions but we don¡¯t have enough time, I don¡¯t have enough time¡­ Listen, there are 3 things I want you to take with you from this meeting. Firstly, continue what you want to do and what you are supposed to do, I have no intention of bending your will or inconvenience you. By the nature of your race¡¯s being, when left on their own, they will be of great assistance, you have assisted me more than you might realize so I have no complaints there. Secondly¡­¡± One of Isi¡¯s arms gestured for me to come closer. I walked toward her and her 3rd arm touched my forehead.

    ¡°I will impart [Isi¡¯s Will] upon you. This is a token of me giving you authority to use my lifeblood, err Dragonvein. Depending on my strength at the moment I can give you more or less authority whenever you reattune and calibrate to my will. I do have to take the state of your body into consideration so I can''t give you a lot. 1.9% authority is the best you can handle now, it will increase the potency of your skills greatly though, besides that, your affinity to my will, will also determine its strength. Thirdly. You need to set an avatar, giving your attacks a certain form is the norm, right? The avatar will represent you and your use in using my will, it can be anything, so what will it be?¡± Hmm, an avatar for Dragonvein?

    ¡°I see, a dragon is a fitting avatar.¡± Wait what? Ehh well that seems cool enough.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for rushing this but I¡¯m running out of time and energy, I will give you a chance to change your avatar on our next meeting, which I hope will come¡­¡± The area started to blur and another white flash and I was back in the room. The crystalized orb started to crack and shattered.

    ¡°Hey, are you alright? You were just standing there.¡± Yeah, sorry, I¡¯ll let you guys do your work. Oh, and you should check out the floor. The random archeologist got too distracted by the symbols on the floor to question me any further. I left the archeology site and went back home. I thought about the encounter I just had. Nobody is going to believe me if I said I had a brief chat with the planet. I don''t have reason to believe that was fake or there were any lies. So, this planet is really called Isi. She looked quite sad. Could she be seen as a goddess? I have no idea. Her appearance looked quite normal besides the 4 arms. I thought I saw a glimpse of a 5th arm but it looked quite bad. She tried to keep it hidden but I caught a glimpse of it. Is there any significance to this?

    I reconnected with the leyline. Information flooded my head. My leyline avatar is a no-winged dragon and currently, I have a 1.3% affinity and a 1.9% authority. This seemed to mean that I could use 1.9% of all the leyline energy available here and that my efficiency at using that is 1.3%. Oof that doesn''t sound like a lot. I used [Drowning Pulse] and the area started to flood rapidly.

    Holy shit! I stopped because I didn''t expect to get this big of a boost. Right, I take all that back this already seems strong enough. So, if I can only use 1.3% of the 1.9%, she gave me¡­ how strong would I become if I one day hit 100/100? I tried to imagine but it was hard to. I followed the instructions of the information I got from reconnecting. The movements were quite easy. I formed a no-winged dragon out of water. It seemed as if it was sentient. The water also seemed lighter than before I got Isi¡¯s blessing.

    This [Dragon] is stupidly strong. I tested it out in the other elements and it was consistent in becoming sentient and following my will after a while which allowed me to use other techniques. I already knocked a lot of trees down with the water [Dragon] and had to be extra careful with the fire, lightning, and wind variants. The power of these things terrified me. I decided to make a friendlier version. I spent the rest of the day creating battle-friendly ones, they were simple to execute but wouldn''t instantly kill any humans, I could also sneak other techniques in between. That is how I created [Water dragon dance], [Fire dragon dance], and so on. These would make me create 2-5 smaller dragons. I made a more intense version and called them [Water Dragon Festival] and so forth which created way more dragons and had more power. I wondered if my waterfall challenge would go way better now. I decided to sleep for the day and try tomorrow. I was supposed to take a holiday but I got curious so on day 185 I restarted my waterfall challenge. I used [Water Dragon dance] and I made it halfway through the waterfall before I got flushed down.

    The water dragons greatly boosted my maneuverability and speed in the water I also noticed that because Isi¡¯s blessing I was strong enough with Dragonvein to not need my tails. I reached the top of the waterfall at the end of the day. I was exhausted but I reached the first step of my sub goal. The 712m waterfall was next but I would take a holiday for real now. I slept for 3 days and slacked for 4 more. I was starting to feel the effects of using leylines which was some kind of nonstop workout. I tested out my agility and I felt lighter, faster, and more in control of my body. And yes, I got lighter again. I hope I won''t poof out of existence like this.

    I made a water [Dragon] and made it attack me on the water basin and the moves I could pull off to evade it seemed like I was defying physics. It reminded me of the battle I had with Paul, he seemed quite annoyed that I seemed to defy physics. I canceled [Dragon] because it flew into the 712m waterfall and almost destroyed it. Can''t have my attacks destroy my sub goals. I decided to create a technique called [Waterfall] after I cleared this challenge. Rushing at something with water around me with this speed and force is certainly going to deal a lot of damage. I almost made it after 4 tries and on the 7th try, I cleared the waterfall. I roared in victory. On day 193 I created [Waterfall] and [7th Waterfall] this was just [Waterfall] but with 6 clones. I needed something special for this occasion. I decided to set a new subgoal and I would start that on day 200.

 Vol 2 Ch 31: Vinny

    I kept running simulations and racked my brain till day 200 but I had no idea how to use earth leyline. Maybe I should just try something. Just sitting here and doing nothing will not get me there. I went to the empty hideout of Asshole and connected to the underground leyline currents and tried to figure something out. I remembered how to control sand and I tried something similar but nothing. Ugh so frustrating! I stomped and I felt a surge of earth leyline energy.

    Come on it can''t be this easy right? Stomping did bring forth earth leyline but it was limited in what I could do. I did slowly dig myself into a ditch by doing this. Hey, this counts as unlocking earth leyline right? I can use this to dig the dungeon out, I mastered earth now, right? I kept trying stuff but stomping while attuned to the underground currents was the only thing that worked, it didn''t work when I was attuned to the air leyline currents. How hard do I need earth? I came to the conclusion that earth wasn''t my style and that this stomp was enough. I finally mastered all the elements! I went to the buried dungeon and started stomping.

    I fell to the gourd exhausted 2 hours later. I didn''t make much progress and stomping for 2 hours is exhausting. I did some rough calculations and at this pace, I would be able to get into this dungeon on day 283. Yeah, that is unacceptable. I don''t know what I¡¯d rather have, remastering earth or stomping for 83 days. Maybe remastering earth would be for the best. I had to think of what kind of movement stomping was. Elements have certain type of movements in common. I had a constant flow of leyline going in and out so it fell in the same category as water and wind. Maybe simple straight forward movements? I threw a straight punch and it felt like my arm was getting ripped off but a long line of rocks jutted out of the ground that followed the direction of my punch.

    Strong, relatively slow, and linear movements¡­ Why am I not surprised¡­ The most unnatural pain in the ass movements for someone as flexible and agile as me. The weight of the earth was the biggest problem. Water was somewhat bearable but earth was just impossible. This needed me to make fists and make straight lines in my movements. In the example where I would make an S shape¡­ I can''t do that with earth it would look more like a 5 made out of straight lines. Totally doesn''t feel natural. No wonder I couldn''t figure this out. Figuring most of the moves wasn''t so hard now, the problem was moving all that weight, what¡¯s worse is that the roots of the plants made it even harder to move the earth. I finally figured out how this works but I can''t use it at all. Wait! How about earth [Dragon]? As long as I use my leyline avatar everything seems to go easier and become lighter.

    I managed to create a shitty earth [Dragon] This was still energy-draining but it was easier than the alternative. I dug out a quarter of the dungeon before I got exhausted. I can''t ever see myself using earth leyline in battle. Maybe earth [Dragon] when really needed. I made a temporary hideout close by. I tried to hide from some giant tigers because I didn''t feel like dealing with them while being exhausted. One decided to chill on the dungeon I partly unearthed. As long as he¡¯s gone tomorrow. The next morning came and he was chilling there with friends this time. I got a bit annoyed but I just waited till they would change location. On day 207 I got tired of their bullshit and tried to shoo them away. They attacked me and they fell to my [Tempest step] and [Waterfall]. I continued digging and half of the dungeon was dug out when I stopped for the day. I disliked using earth leyline energy. It made me uselessly tired quite fast. The dungeon was almost fully unearthed on day 209 when I got harassed by more giant tigers.

    Couldn''t you guys have picked a different time? I¡¯m exhausted. I buried half the group under a pile of rocks with [Dragon] but I got sent flying by a tiger that swiped its paw at me. Earth leyline makes me so sluggish, I hate it. I got up and my chest hurt, might have some broken ribs. Maybe I should delay the unearthing and toast these jerks. I wanted to shift my stance to use [Phoenix dance] when I heard a roar that sent the tigers packing. That¡¯s good news because I don''t have to deal with these tigers, it¡¯s bad news because anything that sends these tigers packing is probably going to be a bigger pain in the ass. I decided to call it a day and hide in stealth.

    Oh, hell no! I saw another jungle dragon appear. This one was way smaller, was this the kid of Asshole? It sniffed at the dungeon and looked around as if it was searching for something. I don¡¯t know much about this one but it seems way more intelligent than its parent. It shouldn''t have anything against me besides that I might have turned its parent into ash but I didn''t notice any dragons nearby when I got my revenge so he isn''t supposed to know that. Something very surprising happened. It started talking in draconian. It asked if the one who killed Murgulotyr is nearby. Do I respond? What if he wants to kill me? I¡¯m not in a state to deal with this even though he is smaller. Maybe I can go for an intimidation factor since I¡¯m curious, why is this dragon way smarter than the other one? I got out of stealth and showed off my tails in an imposing manner. The dragon got startled and backed off a bit.

    ¡°A male nine tailed spirit fox? I never thought I would encounter one.¡± I¡¯m the one who killed uhm whatshisname, I tried to reason with him but he kept attacking me, and even after escaping and leaving him alone he continued to hunt him down so I had to turn him into a pile of ash.

    ¡°Well, that seems to make a lot of sense.¡± He looked at my tails. ¡°Please don''t misunderstand, I¡¯m not here to exact revenge for my stepfather I¡¯m only here to assess whether his killer is a threat and to possibly thank the one responsible.¡± I sat down. You would thank me for turning your stepfather into a pile of ash? Although maybe he was an asshole to you too.

    ¡°He killed my father a year ago and claimed my mother as his concubine. He was a brute and an ass, he treated only his own spawn as real dragons.¡± Hmm, that sounds rough, hey, I¡¯m not familiar with what a year means to you two winged dragons. A year for us foxes constantly changes and the human system is better at this so we use them too.

    ¡°Oh, I apologize, we¡¯re also familiar with human years, 1 year is about 100 human years, I would like to ask though, what do you mean with two winged dragons?¡± Wow, the first time I meet an intelligent dragon! Uh sorry about that, most dragons I¡¯ve met before are quite ehhm stupid or self-centered. Where I come from no-winged dragons are common, they look like this. I shifted my stance and used water [Dragon].

    ¡°Ooh, I¡¯ve never seen those before, shows how wide the world is and how ignorant I am.¡± Hmm, I don''t blame you, you are fighting against your nature as a dragon and are also living in a quite isolated part of the world, what is your name and age if I may ask?

    ¡°I am Vinyr and I am 4 years old, err I mean 420 years.¡° Quite young, I¡¯m Agnis 1 year old, 16 years in human years.

    ¡°Wow! You¡¯re even younger than me!¡± Yeah, a lot of individuals I meet are older than me¡­

    ¡°Interesting, but what is a spirit fox this young doing here actually? I don¡¯t know much about your race only that you are very rare and are very protective of your youngsters because of this.¡± Well, ehh this and that happened and I got separated from my kin¡­ Anyways how come that you¡¯re so well educated?

    ¡°My late father was interested in the races of the world, he was what you could call a scholar and I was very much interested in his work, unfortunately, that brute ended his life¡­¡± I¡¯m sorry to hear that¡­ I have one question though, I don''t want to sound like an asshole but ehm he was kind of weak, aren¡¯t dragons supposed to be stronger?

    ¡°Hmm, I get what you mean but we are the strongest things living in this jungle, it¡¯s just¡­ We can¡¯t compete with spirit foxes unless we have at least 7 or 8 years behind us and none of us are close to that, my stepfather was nearing 6 years. My mother is the second eldest dragon here at 9 years old, and my stepfather''s main wife was the eldest at almost 11 years¡± Huh that¡¯s weird, why are you all so young?

    ¡°I have no idea; it is said that a group of young dragons migrated to this jungle a good 15 years ago but that they were met with some problems which thinned out their numbers.¡° I see¡­

    ¡°Do you mind coming with me? I¡¯m sure my mother would be happy to meet you!¡± Uhm, I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s a good idea¡­

    ¡°Of course, it is! Your draconian is very good, you don¡¯t need to worry!¡± I guess it¡¯s only polite to greet the rulers of the jungle¡­

    ¡°Hop on my back! We¡¯ll be there in no time!¡± I hopped on this friendly dragon¡¯s back. I was expecting him to fly but he ran very fast and all the plants moved away from him. I wonder why Asshole never used this, it would have certainly made fighting him a lot harder, but Vinny¡¯s words suggest that he was a moron to which I would agree. Hey Vinny, they won''t just suddenly attack me, right?

    ¡°My mother won¡¯t at least, she knows from my dad''s records what carnage spirit foxes can cause, I¡¯m not sure about Huranivyra, that¡¯s the name of the eldest dragon.¡± Ugh, I hope they will behave, I like this jungle, I don''t want to torch it.

    ¡°I hope it won¡¯t get to that¡­¡± Vinny rushed and dashed into an enormous hollow tree. The enormous spacious area was full of jungle dragons. I felt a bit uncomfortable. Vinny let out a strange dragon shriek and a big jungle dragon appeared.

    ¡°What did you bring home this time Vinny? I hope it¡¯s not another human!¡± Sup Vinny¡¯s mom, I¡¯m Agnis.

    ¡°And it speaks draconian, wait this is not a human!¡±

    ¡°This is Agnis a nine-tailed spirit fox he¡¯s the one responsible for turning Murgulotyr into a pile of ash!¡± All the other jungle dragons reacted and gathered around us.

    ¡°Wow really? Even as a mythical beast, they are rare!¡±

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    ¡°A race of legends!¡±

    ¡°Thank you for killing that brute!¡± It seemed that everyone seemed to be happy that the Asshole is dead.

    ¡°So, you are the one who took revenge for the death of my husband, thank you Agnis.¡± Uhh, no need he was a thorn in my side so I had to kill him, I also am here to greet the rulers of the jungle. The dragons stepped aside and a bigger dragon approached.

    ¡°I am the one named Huranivyra, I thank thee for freeing us from that tyrant.¡± Hey, you said she was 11 years old right? She shouldn''t be old enough to speak like that right?

    ¡°Psst! She does it to get an air of importance!¡±

    ¡°Vinyr! Have some respect¡± Haha you''re getting scolded!

    ¡°I would like to request thee to be respectful as well but I know that this is thy nature.¡± Thank you for allowing me to live in your jungle, I won¡¯t stay for long though I will stay for another 271 days for one year total.

    ¡°Thou hast been here for over half a year?¡± The elder dragon looked around to the others and they all shook to indicate they had no idea. Did I do something wrong?

    ¡°Well, as jungle dragons we know where and when something steps into our territory, which is the whole jungle but nobody seemed to have noticed that you¡¯ve been living here for quite some time.¡± Is it my weight?

    ¡°I don''t think so¡­ It¡¯s probably because it¡¯s hard to detect most things your race does, including their presence. Also, you don''t seem to give off any mana which is weird now that I think of it.¡± Oh that, hehe yeah, I¡¯m currently training to be useful without mana. This seemed to shock the elder dragon.

    ¡°Thou must not! This world needs thee alive! Please reconsider!¡± Uhh, I appreciate the concern but I know what I¡¯m doing, for the most part. I shifted my stance and used water [Dragon]. The jungle dragons seemed in awe and acknowledged its power.

    ¡°This seems strong indeed, I guess this works.¡± Hey, elder dragon, you dropped your act.

    ¡°Silence! I didst not!¡± So far, this dragon seemed more in line with what I know about dragons. I was relieved to see that there was some form of consistency. It was just Vinny who was a bit different. It was nice meeting you guys but I have a dungeon to dig up.

    ¡°Wait, that thing there where we met is a dungeon?!¡± Looks like it.

    ¡°Do you mind if I accompany you?¡± Can you dig? Because I¡¯m tired of using earth leyline energy.

    ¡°I can dig, let¡¯s go! Cya mom!¡± Vinny dashed off with me on his back before any of the other dragons could object. It might be my imagination but getting back to the dungeon seemed to take less time than it took him to get to the enormous hollow tree trunk.

    <hr>

    ¡°This is it right? Why does it smell like you?¡± How does it smell like me?

    ¡°Both you and this dungeon smell like fresh rain, smells quite pleasant actually, it¡¯s just weird because it hasn''t rained for a while.¡± I smelled myself. That¡¯s weird, I don''t smell anything but it must be true, I¡¯ve had spirits tell me I smell like rain too.

    ¡°Let''s get this dungeon fully unearthed, shall we?!¡± Vinny created roots that dug out the rest of the dungeon. The dungeon was tilted by 30 degrees but it was fully visible now.

    ¡°Something might have caused parts of this dungeon to sink into the ground.¡° Do you have any idea if there are more like these in the jungle? It was only visible for 30% when I discovered it and even then, it was covered by greenery, without my eyes I would have probably missed it.

    ¡°Uhh, I don''t know, we can only detect living beings in this jungle, there could be 12 of these and we wouldn''t know.¡± I see, that sounds more like the dragons I know. Only situationally useful, no offense to you! You break the dragon stereotype.

    ¡°So how do we get in? Do we just break in?¡± Ancient technology is sturdy as fuck we would waste less time and energy to open it properly, unfortunately. Can you read the words on this dungeon?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I can only speak draconian and ancient Kaledonian, I¡¯m working on my modern Kaledonian but I need to interact with more humans for this." Wait, you can speak ancient Kaledonian and Modern Kaledonian?! I almost cried and switched to talking in Kaledonian.

    ¡°Hey, why are you tearing up? And forgave me but my Kaledonian needed work¡± Your Kaledonian isn''t that bad and I¡¯m just so happy to see a dragon trying. Reproduce and teach other dragons your way! And please don¡¯t die! You¡¯re doing great!

    ¡°Thanks! I would try!¡± But back to the topic at hand¡­ I can''t read this shit either¡­ we might have to brute force our way in after all¡­

    ¡°My knowledge of dungeons was limited; I didn''t have an idea how to approach this.¡± Hmm, also you¡¯re doing great but you¡¯re using the past tense, do you know the present tense?

    ¡°Oh, ok Uhm, how about this, My knowledge of dungeons is limited, I don''t have an idea how to approach this. Do I did that correctly?¡± Uhm mostly, keep practicing. I tried whatever worked on opening the Corundum dungeon but nothing worked.

    ¡°If we only have¡­ had a dictionary.¡± Yeah, hmm can you step back for a bit? Vinny made space and I dropped the big paparazzi stone I swiped from the Corundum dungeon.

    ¡°Whoa! What is that?¡± A pretty and expensive rock but more than that, it has 7 languages inscribed on it. I can¡¯t read all of them but the ones I can read all say the same line.

    ¡°Look the 6th line had¡­ has symbols similar to this dungeon!¡± Yes, now this sentence is quite long but it obviously doesn''t cover all the words. Let¡¯s try to see if we can find similar words and place them in context. We studied the rock for 10 minutes and only found 2 symbols that matched what we found in the dungeon. So, there is a lot of gibberish we can''t understand, the word ¡®Night¡¯, more stuff we don''t understand, and the word ¡®Vow¡± and then more gibberish.

    ¡°Maybe the dungeon can only be open at night.¡± Worth a shot. We¡¯re still missing a lot of details but let¡¯s proceed based on that. We talked about our experience with humans until the sun started to set.

    ¡°Look it¡¯s starting to glow!¡± As it became darker, the dungeon had markings that lit up. They weren''t symbols that represented words or letters. Are we supposed to match the shapes? A jungle dragon flew over us it circled over us, noticed that it was just a spirit fox and another jungle dragon, and continued on.

    ¡°We like to patrol during the night.¡± Hmm, I think I see the picture here.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Well, this dungeon obviously does something different at night, and you jungle dragons like to patrol at night, this dungeon is attracting attention so maybe its biggest challenge is to not get detected by you guys.

    ¡°But as I said we have only come here quite recently¡­¡± Hmm, fair point, but the jungle dragon subcategory has existed for a long time so maybe it was still built with this interaction in mind.

    ¡°This marking does resemble a jungle dragon.¡± What does the word ¡®Vow¡¯ mean to a jungle dragon?

    ¡°Uhm not much but when translated to draconian it means something similar to a [Dragon rush].¡± Quite random, why is that?

    ¡°We [Dragon Rush] at each other when we partner up and whoever wins this exchange becomes the leader of the relationship.¡± Hmm, better start practicing that [Dragon Rush] then because you need to perpetuate your ideals and legacy! Now back to this could it be as simple as rushing at the door? I started up the movements for [Waterfall] and rushed into the door. Ouch! That hurt!

    ¡°Let me try!¡± Vinny [Dragon Rushed] into the door and nothing happened. ¡°Ow! What is this thing made of?!¡± Ok, let''s not write that idea off yet maybe we¡¯re rushing wrong.

    ¡°Maybe we need to put nature energy into it. You said that part of this dungeon is that attempting to open it will draw our attention, right?¡± Yeah. because having a dragon guard your property is some pretty good security. Another nature dragon spotted the glowing dungeon and checked out what was going on and went on its way once it saw us.

    ¡°Well using nature energy most certainly attracts our attention.¡± I circulated nature energy and I felt several dragons in the area lock on to me and then ignore me after they noticed it was me. So basically, to open this dungeon you will end up getting swarmed by jungle dragons? Quite a nasty mechanism. I can only really use this to heal myself and create a jungle, could you use a [Dragon Rush] with nature energy?

    ¡°Sure.¡± Vinny charged at the dungeon with nature energy and the markings reacted. They grew and intensified in their glow but still stayed closed and then returned to their original size and glow. Hey, try again, but make it stronger. I might have an idea. Vinny created more distance and [Dragon Rushed] into the door. The markings grew again and the glow became stronger. This time the markings became larger than the last rush and it seemed that the different markings would interlock with each other if they could get to a certain size. 4 jungle dragons landed and observed what we were doing.

    ¡°I see if we were troublesome humans, they would certainly be dead by now.¡±

    Vinny explained to the curious dragons what we were doing and they wanted to give it a try too. One bulky dragon got the markings the biggest. This looks like a power meter or something¡­ You either bring enough power to open this or you bait a jungle dragon to rush into this¡­ quite a nasty mechanism. Most of the dragons got tired but the bulky dragon and another one were prideful and kept competing.

    ¡°Hmm, it is possible that this door is calibrated on possible jungle dragons that lived back then and were older on average. Most of us don''t have the power to open this.¡± The bulky dragon roared and gathered a lot of nature energy and started a [Dragon Rush] that looked extremely powerful. The impact was the best yet, the markings got 9/10th of the size they needed to be to open the door. A question, dragons eat magic right? If I can feed you a lot of mana, would you be able to beat Mr. Bulk there?

    ¡°Possibly.¡± I took out a mountain of elementally charged frost marbles. It''s time to feed the dragon! Let''s show these dragons that you''re the man! Ehh dragon! I hopped on Vinny¡¯s head and Vinny took his distance. I don''t know much about dragon expressions but it seems the bulky dragon was scoffing at Vinny. Do I shove all of them in your mouth at once or do I have to keep feeding you?

    ¡°Uhh, Just give me everything at once about halfway through my dash.¡± I grabbed the marbles with my tails and Vinny started dashing, halfway I shoved all the marbles in his mouth and he gained an enormous burst and doubled his speed. I jumped off because I had the feeling the impact would send me flying. Vinny crashed into the dungeon door and the whole dungeon lit up and the door slowly opened. The dragons roared or were they cheering? They flocked around Vinny and he seemed to be getting a lot of acknowledgment.

    ¡°That was amazing Vinny! I should''ve thought about that too!¡±

    ¡°Hey, this was actually quite cool! How about we make this a sport?!¡±

    ¡°Vinny! Vinny!¡± I guess dragons also have their own personalities and wants, not that much different from 9t or humans.

    ¡°Hmpf! I will beat you next time Vinny! I will keep an eye on you!¡± Bulky dragon flew off. The others flew off too and only Vinny and I were left behind.

    ¡°That was unexpectedly fun.¡± It seems they want to make it a new sport, I don''t know if it¡¯s possible to mimic the mechanism of this dungeon.

    ¡°I will see if I can figure something out, I¡¯m curious about what¡¯s inside.¡± Yeah, me too.

 Vol 2 Ch 32: Total Darkness

    We stepped inside the dungeon and the door closed behind us. This was normal, what isn''t is that it was pitch dark in here. My eyes had limited usefulness here. Hmm, that¡¯s odd, I don¡¯t have any issues seeing in the dark but this is different, I wonder if Greg could see through this.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see a thing! Who is Greg?¡± A good friend of mine. I wonder how we¡¯re supposed to get through this. I saw some orbs that gave off light. We headed over toward it. Well, I did, Vinny was walking around very carefully because there was not much he could see. I ignited the tips of my tails with foxfire but this only seemed to create enough light around me to see 3 meters in the darkness but it was enough for Vinny to follow me.

    ¡°What could cause such darkness?¡± Some shadow magic or some ancient or mythical creature, 3t shadowcats could do this too.

    ¡°You know any shadowcats?¡± Yeah, Greg the friend I talked about is one.

    I made an orb of fire and threw it in a random direction. The darkness seemed to choke out the light so we couldn''t see it after a certain distance. It is simple yet very effective, this darkness. There is not much we can do against this. I¡¯m tuning the filters in my eyes and I can see a bit better in this darkness but it''s still far from perfect.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure they didn''t expect a dragon to enter this dungeon!¡± Vinny grabbed me with his tail, put me on his back, and flew up. We flew for a good 100 meters before we crashed into a wall and fell. I saw an empty space and used [Howling Updraft] to get there. They could put any nasty traps anywhere; I only trust the floor I can see. Vinny crash-landed and I landed safely almost 2 minutes after.

    ¡°Ah right, you guys fall funny.¡± Do you know anything about it?

    ¡°Nope sorry, I only know that for dragons it''s easier to blow spirit foxes away than it is to blow dandelions away.¡± Come on, that¡¯s an exaggeration, we don''t get lighter than dandelions, we don¡¯t, right?

    ¡°Dunno, I''m a dragon¡± Right, I¡¯m tired of this darkness, back up a bit. I shifted my stance and used [Fire dragon festival] and changed the property and colors to yellow-white which are known for their luminosity.

    ¡°Oooh, that seems to work. Whoa! What is that!¡±  Great¡­ a shadow behemoth is exactly what we needed. This colossal creature made Vinny look like a fly and the behemoth wasn''t happy with me lighting up the place.

    ¡°Is this guy responsible for this darkness?¡± There''s a high chance but he seems already at the last boss level, did the ancients get lazy again? Vinny swooped me up because [shadow spikes] the size of towers shot out of the ground.

    ¡°Owowow that thing you¡¯re doing is extremely hot.¡± I¡¯m sorry, you have poor compatibility with fire. I jumped off Vinny and rode one of the fire dragons I was keeping up. We could only see a small part of the shadow behemoth because my dragons weren''t illuminating this place as much as I wanted. I also had to watch out to not turn Vinny into a pile of flying ash.

    So, Vinny, we have one problem. These flames aren¡¯t offense-oriented, so if I want to attack, I will have to use different colors and this will take away a lot of visibility.

    ¡°I think that we¡¯re toast the moment the visibility drops.¡± Vinny wasn''t wrong, we were having this conversation while evading enormous widespread shadow attacks. Not sure that they would one-shot me but I surely didn''t want to find out. Well then, I guess I¡¯m the lightbulb and you¡¯re the attacker, show him what you got!

    ¡°Can you light up the floor so I can see it?¡± As long as it¡¯s not covered in shadows I can. I sent a dragon down but there didn''t seem to be a floor.

    ¡°Hmm, that is odd, your fire dragon should have reached the floor by now.¡± Yeah, not even shadows, just nothing. I spread the dragons out and created many more.

    Ok, so we¡¯re lucky that we¡¯re flying. It seems the walls are still there but the walls are moving and revolving around us. There are probably some parts that just end up in an endless abyss, I don¡¯t know how this works but its ancient magic after all¡­

    ¡°So, anything that can''t fly will get the floor pulled out under them and won''t even get to fight this behemoth?¡± Pretty much. I made a network of yellow-white luminescent dragons because the light would fade after a certain distance but as long as the dragons bit each other''s tails the light wouldn''t fade. Moving walls could be seen on the side and occasionally an empty hole.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, what if the walls and floors aren''t moving but we are¡­¡± Hmm, we¡¯re flying so we still wouldn''t notice if that¡¯s the case but then it''s messing with our spatial coordinates and I would know if that was the case.

    ¡°Oh ok, that''s a relief then, if something was messing with our spatial coordinates it would be capable of much more.¡± The behemoth started throwing [Shadow Tendrils] around that had the diameter of a house. "But since the walls are moving this plays to my advantage!¡± Vinny flew to the east wall and waited till a large patch of the wall appeared and landed on it. He roared and it started growing plants that started to spread. He then took off and used [Dragon Dance].

    ¡°Can you move the light a bit further away so you don''t burn my attack?¡± I decreased the temperature of the dragons.

    ¡°That works too.¡± The small jungle on the wall that kept moving with the wall kept growing and started acting as if it was alive and attacked the shadow behemoth. Vinny repeated this multiple times and created countless mini jungles on different parts of the wall and turning them alive. Because the walls were moving all around there was always a jungle patch attacking the behemoth. Whoa, that was genius, do you by any chance have any plants that become stronger depending on how much light they get?

    ¡°Oh, that''s a good idea! I will plant some Dawnlights!¡± Oh, those things still exist?

    ¡°You know about them?¡± I heard about them from my friend Greg, Don''t they store sunlight and convert it into a powerful mana blast to defend themselves?

    ¡°Correct, they also give off light so it could help out with illuminating this darkness.¡± Can you leave me some seeds after all this is over and tell me how to grow them? They could be useful one day.

    ¡°Sure, can you increase the light intensity but keep the temperature low?¡± I will try. The dragons became brighter and slightly hotter and Vinny went around planting Dawnlights. The place seemed to really light up but the moment light hit the eyes of the shadow behemoth, things changed. You don¡¯t want a 200m tall creature to go berserk but that''s exactly what this thing did.

    ¡°So ehh what¡¯s the plan?¡± Stay alive? The first Dawnlights bloomed and burst and sent beams of light elemental mana at the behemoth. Shadow behemoths should be weak to light magic it''s just¡­ this thing is huge, and it will take a while before it will get any meaningful damage.

    Any chance that you know of any light attacks? Vinny shook his head and we dodged some [Dark Waves] and [Shadow bolts] the size of houses. I had no light skills in my arsenal either. I looked up, no celestial dragon vein currents here so nothing I could try. What else works well against these things besides light? I had to put in more effort because I needed to take a big evasive maneuver. Gravity always works on huge creatures but I don¡¯t know how to use that and certainly not with Dragonvein. Can I use [Pressure]? I¡¯m not sure if I can sneak those movements in because I¡¯m already sneaking in movements to not get hit by all this stuff flying around. Vinny, can you attempt to trip him? Like bind its legs with vines or something, and maybe throw some poisonous briars in too.

    ¡°Are you insane? You want me to trip that colossus?¡± It¡¯s not a colossus just a behemoth.

    ¡°... You know what I meant¡­ mean!¡± The Dawnlights kept shooting light blasts at the behemoth but as far as I could see it wasn''t doing any meaningful damage. I sent a shadow clone in one of those blasts. ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Just checking if those things are doing damage. My shadow clone ate 2 blasts and got poofed out of existence.

    ¡°Does that answer your question? And I thought you made a rule to not use magic?¡± Yes¡­ and well ehh I¡¯m cheating, I do use it for utility like swapping stuff, my dimensional pocket, and clones, it¡¯s not hindering my training if I use those.

    ¡°I see¡­ if you could use magic how would you deal with this?¡± I blocked a [Shadow Tendril] with 4 dragons. To be honest, I have no clue, I would probably use frost magic since I can''t use light or gravity magic. But of all elements, dark magic is the least affected by frost magic properties. Watch out! Vinny and I were in a stalemate. This was good because if the behemoth actually did something besides throwing random attacks around, we would''ve been in deep shit.

    Come on Vinny, you''re a member of the legendary dragon race do something!

    ¡°What? I¡¯m just a brat and what does being a dragon have to do with being able to do something? And how about you?! You¡¯re a member of the strongest mythical beast race! Why don''t you do something?¡± I¡¯m fresh out of my diapers. Do you want me to do something? Shouldn''t you as the elder here show how it''s done?! Vinny used [Dragon Dance] to make a mass of living jungle take a [Shadow blast] for us.

    ¡°I don''t even know what this thing''s weaknesses are. I didn''t even knew it existed before today!¡± Wait, is this thing standing on the floor?

    ¡°Duh, of course, he is¡­¡± No, I mean if that¡¯s the case all we have to do is drop him into the abyss.

    ¡°And how heavy do you think that thing is? It¡¯s surely heavier than my mom.¡± Wait was that a ¡®Yo momma¡¯ joke?

    ¡°What?¡± Never mind. I sent some dragons to where I assumed the behemoth¡¯s feet were.

    ¡°Seems your idea isn''t going to work.¡± Apparently, these things don''t have feet when they touch the ground, they create an abyss. So, wait the abyss we see around us is actually part of its body? Talking about creepy.

    ¡°Does that mean we¡¯re inside its body? What if this dungeon is its stomach?!¡± A stomach with revolving walls?

    ¡°Ok, Mr. smartass do you have better ideas?¡± Uhh, let¡¯s go with the stomach idea then. So how do we cause this behemoth indigestion then?

    ¡°What does it normally eat?¡±  No clue.

    ¡°....¡± Probably unaware adventurers or something, let''s see, if your diet is normally random humans what would disgust you?

    ¡°Cheese?¡± You don''t like cheese? What is wrong with you? But let¡¯s try. I took all the cheese I had stored and chucked it into the abyss. The behemoth made a sound but nothing seemed to happen. I got it! It must hate poison!

    ¡°You have poison on you?¡± Yes, a lot actually time to get rid of all of it! Greg is crazy about it and kept harassing cows.

    ¡°Wait what do cows have to do with poison?¡± I took over 1000 litres of poison out and poured it all into the abyss. ¡°Wait that¡¯s not poison that''s milk!¡± Same thing. Look he¡¯s reacting! Poison never fails me!

    ¡°You are joking, right? This behemoth is lactose intolerant?¡± Ooh sensitive to poison! Greg is not going to like this but I¡¯m getting rid of all the poison! I dumped the rest of the poison I had into the abyss; I also chucked some yogurt in but also ate some.

    Want some yogurt?

    ¡°Isn''t that ¡®Poison¡¯ a component of yogurt?¡± Just like some poisons can be made into medicine so can this one.

    ¡°You make no sense¡­¡± Doesn¡¯t matter, look it''s working!

    ¡°I can''t believe that a creature that can give a dragon and a spirit fox a run for its money is weak to milk¡­¡± It makes perfect sense even the strongest things have weaknesses! It can be as simple as being weak to poison or as complicated as being weak to lasers! Now let those Dawnlights bloom!

    ¡°I think you have it backward¡­ more individuals are weak to lasers, if not all, while lactose intolerance is¡­ who even tests that out as a weakness?!¡± Worked twice!

    ¡°Twice? It worked before?¡± Yup, I fed a god poison and it wrecked him and we could escape!

    ¡°A god¡­ lactose intolerant? You know what let''s just defeat this behemoth¡­¡± I must be imagining things but it looks like the area is getting smaller.

    ¡°It''s working! He''s getting weaker! The walls are closing in on us! Oh, wait nooo the walls are closing in on us!¡± At least this pace is getting brighter.

    ¡°That''s some misplaced optimism, what do we do?!¡± What do you mean by ¡®We¡¯? I''ve been in charge of illuminating this area, you''re the damage dealer here!

    ¡°And yet your milk did more damage! You must have another trick!¡± You know what''s worse than poison?

    ¡°Uhh no?¡± Boiled poison!

    ¡°Oh Kaledon have mercy on me¡­¡± I turned some fire dragons back to normal and sent them into the abyss. Nothing happened for a while and then the whole room started to shake and convulse. ¡°I should procure some milk if we ever make it out of this¡­¡± The behemoth was shrinking and vomiting some black fog. The exploding Dawnlights did visible damage to it. The surroundings slowly started to become more visible and light started to work like it normally does. The floor returned to normal and I stopped using [Fire dragon dance]. The room was the normal size of that of a boss room. Get ready for phase 2!

    ¡°What?" I shifted my stance and used water [Dragon] to block a dark cleave aimed at Vinny. ¡°There is more?¡± There is always more. I shifted to [Lightning Dragon dance] and intercepted another dark cleave. The behemoth shrunk to some 3-meter-tall humanoid covered in black armor and shadows. It was holding a black katana and black fog was surrounding it.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Where did your jungle go? I looked around and the jungle and Dawnlights Vinny made were all gone, it was just a boring room.

    ¡°All the mana got sucked out of it and they disappeared¡­¡± Well, go attack him then!

    ¡°Uhh ok, what about you?¡± I¡¯m support!

    ¡°You? A spirit fox as support? What kind of joke is that? It''s like using a sword to heal, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re going to heal too?¡± A 9t as a healer? Are you crazy? What a waste of your skillset!

    ¡°How is this different?!¡± I pushed Vinny aside with [Dragon] because another dark cleave was aimed at him. Hey, behemoth can''t you see we''re talking?! Vinny used [Dragon Dance] and created more plants.

    I will try to make sure this guy doesn''t cut you in 2, I need to practice.

    ¡°Practicing with my life on the line?¡± You¡¯re a dragon, if you guys were pushovers, you''d not be this high up the food chain.

    ¡°Right right, I¡¯ll do my best.¡± Behemoth kept cutting down the greenery that was coming from Vinny. His katana intrigued me, it seemed to be made with ancient technology. I wonder if I could steal it and examine it. The behemoth took a specific stance. Yoo Vinny this is bad, get out of there!

    ¡°Why? He sheathed his sword it''s time to press the attack!¡± Yes, and that¡¯s the problem! I used [Dragon] to scoop Vinny up and launch him in the air. I jumped up and dodged the quickdraw the behemoth did. All the plants in a straight line in front of him got cut by a black cleave.

    ¡°What was that?!¡± That¡¯s called an ''Iai'', it''s an extremely fast cut that packs a lot of damage, you don''t want to get hit with those. I sent [Dragon] at him and he tried to cut it but he was getting pushed back. Vinny used [Dragonbreath] and the behemoth just took it. Plants started to grow on him and sap his mana. He ignored the attack and prepared to cut Vinny down.

    An attack is incoming. Vinny covered himself in some bark armor and took the attack. I made water split off the [Dragon] and used [Frozen Ground] and froze the behemoth''s legs so he couldn''t take the correct stance to do most of his sword slashes. Because of this I also took a look at myself, I need to make sure that I can still do my stuff if someone wants to break my stance. Behemoth¡¯s attacks stopped because it was busy trying to break free. Vinny continued bringing down the hurt. I didn''t need to do many defensive maneuvers because the behemoth¡¯s attacks dropped in frequency, it was just the occasional [Dark wave] and [Shadow spikes]. Suddenly he broke free and lunged for me.

    ¡°Watch out!¡± I wanted to evade but Vinny blocked the behemoth with his tail. ¡°Ow! Oof, that might leave a scar.'' I created an [Ice wall] between Vinny and the behemoth. I created swords out of ice and took some real swords out of my dimensional pocket. I had some exchanges with the behemoth but he cut all of them in half, Noo! My swords!

    ¡°So dramatic!¡± Vinny picked me up and flew up to evade another [Dark Slash]. I had to recover from the fact that all my swords had been destroyed. Why am I such a shit blacksmith¡­

    ¡°You''re a blacksmith also?¡± Apparently not, I can¡¯t even make swords that don''t break¡­ Vinny looked at the gash on his tail.

    ¡°He did cut through my [Bark Skin] and dragon scales¡­ I don¡¯t think your swords are the issue here¡­¡± I need to step up my game!

    ¡°Are you even listening?¡± Huh no, what were you saying?

    ¡°Can you do something about those slashes?¡± Don¡¯t you have an ultimate skill? How about that [Dragon Rush], I have more marbles.

    ¡°Is he even going to stand still to get hit?¡± I froze his feet again. ¡°That works.¡± Just one thing¡­ he is frozen in a stance where he can use his Iai.

    ¡°And why would you freeze him in that stance?¡± Hey, I¡¯ve been using leylines for a long time I¡¯m starting to become tired and a bit sloppy! Just do the rush I will deal with whatever he¡¯s going to do.

    ¡°All right, give me the marbles halfway through the rush just like the last time.¡± Just remember, drugs are bad!

    ¡°What are you talking about¡­¡± Just rush! Vinny started rushing and the behemoth readied an Iai. I reformed [Dragon] again and sent it to block the Iai. There was a slight clash but my [Dragon] cancelled out the Iai and disappeared. So exhausting¡­ I shoved the frost marbles in Vinny¡¯s maws and jumped off. Vinny powered up and sped up and crashed into the behemoth. A black mass got launched into the wall and didn''t move.

    ¡°Is he dead?¡± Dunno, you rammed into him, shouldn''t you know? We approached the hole in the wall and a black mass was slowly disintegrating. Nooo not the katana too! Couldn''t you hold back a bit?!

    ¡°So unreasonable¡­¡± A pedestal rose out of the ground and it had 3 items. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± I picked up a pile of ancient-looking paper. Yesss! Finally! Katana magic relic weapon manuals! I can''t read it but it¡¯s something! This other thing hmm a magic circle, probably some super strong skill, I can''t read this either but judging from the rune arrangement it''s some dark magic skill. I will save this for my friend Greg.

    ¡°And what is that? A key?¡± Hmm, well there should be treasure somewhere, right? It¡¯s probably to unlock the treasure room! I scanned the area to find the hidden room but all the ancient technology was blocking my sight. Actually, It wasn''t that, it was just that this dungeon was just this room it seems.

    ¡°Look there''s a keyhole in this pedestal.¡± I looked at where Vinny was pointing with its claw. Nice catch, are you going to address that deep cut in your tail by the way?

    ¡°Oh, right haha!¡± Vinny circulated nature energy and the cut slowly closed up, it didn''t go back to how it was, it left a dark green scar that contrasted with his light green scales. ¡°Hmm a scar, I guess there was still some dark residual magic left in the wound but I will take this as a proud battle scar!¡± Just make sure it''s not going to rot or anything.

    ¡°It was dark element, not rot element!¡± Does rot element even still exist or wasn''t it called Decay element?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know it is a branch of black magic after all so it''s either highly illegal or went extinct.¡± I don¡¯t understand why humans and witches banned black magic, it¡¯s ok to burn someone to ash but not decay them or put tortuous curses on them? Who decided on that logic?

    ¡°Humans don''t make any sense. Now open the treasure room! I¡¯m curious!¡± I placed the key in the keyhole and turned it. I swear if something is guarding the treasure room, I¡¯m going to lose it, I had enough bullshit for today. The pedestal sucked the key in and sunk in the floor and left a revolving staircase behind that went underground.

    ¡°This is dragon discrimination! I don''t fit through that!¡± Don¡¯t worry, I will rob this place clean and give you your fair share. I descended the staircase. It went down and down. I decided that I got tired of this bullshit and froze the staircase and turned it into a slide. I arrived at the bottom. I certainly didn''t enjoy the slide more than I should have. I looked at a room that had shelves with some unimpressive treasures. It was just the normal gold and silver artifacts. I didn''t find anything that stood out. Sure, having all this in your possession will make you rich but if you¡¯re not interested in becoming rich this is quite boring.

    The manual and magic skills were way more valuable to me. I scanned the whole room to see any symbols of ancient languages but I found nothing. How disappointing. I¡¯m not sure if Vinny would be happy with all this but I don¡¯t need it. Moreover, he did most of the heavy lifting. I will ask him if he''s interested in the magic skill and manual but I really hope he isn''t. I stored all this trash, ehm treasure and headed back up. It took a while but I finally made it. I think these stairs were the real end boss¡­

    ¡°Anything interesting?¡± Not really, just this. I took out all the treasure I found down below and I even sneaked in some treasure I got from the Corund dungeon that I find quite useless.

    ¡°Whoa, that¡¯s a lot! How are we going to split it?¡± How about I get the manual and magic skills and you get this?

    ¡°Uh, really? I don''t think that¡¯s fair.¡± Do you want the magic skill too?

    ¡°No, I mean you get only that and I get all this.¡± Oh, don''t worry the magic skill and manual are more than enough for me, you can have all this.

    ¡°Uhh, ok, if you insist, can you drop this off in my room? I don¡¯t want to make other dragons jealous.¡± I can understand, hey is it true or is it a myth that dragons like to hoard treasure?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know about other types of dragons but we like to hoard treasure although for us jungle dragons it also includes rare plants and fruits.¡± Like rare medicinal plants or plants like those Dawnlights?

    ¡°Yeah, oh right, since I still think you got the short end of the stick, I will give you some rare plants and fruits from my hoard, I don¡¯t have anything like gold and metals yet so I think this is a fair exchange.¡± Deal!

    ¡°Nice! So how do we get out of here?¡± Dunno, I can''t really use the method I used to get out of a dungeon the last time.

    ¡°What did you use last time?¡± Uhh, lose control and vaporize the whole dungeon and the mountain around it.

    ¡°Right¡­ let¡¯s not do that, hey what¡¯s that?¡± Vinny pointed at a white floating orb that was leaking some white energy that fell to the floor. Phase 3? No hmm, it might be our way out, come. We approached the orb and I could see that it was some sort of ancient device or something that would function as a teleporter. This is a teleporter. I grabbed Vinny¡¯s claw with one of my tails and touched the teleporter. It felt exactly like a short-range lightning teleport but¡­ better and before we knew it, we were in front of the entrance of the dungeon.

    ¡°That was quite the unique experience. Hop on let''s go to my home.¡± Wait, I need your input on this, how long did you think we were in there?

    ¡°Uhh, maybe 3-4 hours?¡± So, it should be around 7-8 in the morning, right?

    ¡°Yeah.¡± Does it look like it¡¯s morning? We looked at what looked like a sunset.

    ¡°So how long were we inside?¡± Well, you were not wrong we were down there for 4 hours and 23 minutes but¡­ out here 2 days have passed.

    ¡°What?! Oh no mom is going to kill me!¡± Just defeat her with some poison.

    ¡°She is not a shadow behemoth! And I¡¯m not going to fight my mom!¡± Look at him a full-grown dragon afraid of his mommy.

    ¡°And what¡¯s wrong with him being afraid of his own mother?¡± She¡¯s standing right behind me, isn''t she? Vinny nodded nervously. I turned around. Ehm, so your son has protected me from dying a pathetic death, he truly is a dragon of dragons, he deserves autonomy!

    ¡°Oh really?¡± Vinny¡¯s mother looked at him and he tried to avoid his mother¡¯s gaze. Hey, Vinny dragon up will ya!

    ¡°Yes! I did! I [Dragon Rushed] that shadow behemoth and now he¡¯s a black splat on the wall!¡±

    ¡°A shadow behemoth?! Really? It isn''t one of those tricks nine-tailed spirit foxes play?¡± It sounds like a funny prank but not this time!

    ¡°Hmm, ok, I will let you off the hook Vinny, your friends had good things to say, something about you finally acting like a dragon. Let¡¯s go home.¡± I got a dragon ride to the hollow tree and the dragons seemed to be happy to be finally back. That¡¯s where his mother noticed the scar on his tail and he told the story about our adventure. I could see that the dragons were getting more and more respect for him. I guess he was kind of the nerd under the dragons but now he had an adventure none of these dragons have ever experienced. I sat in a corner trying to decipher this ancient language.

    Vinny was giving me a bit too much credit though, all I did was make sure we didn''t get screwed over in the darkness and assist him a bit in landing some blows. But at least it seemed he wasn''t trying to make himself look good with this story which drew more dragons into his story. I could even see a dragon chick getting interested in him. This dragon will go far in life.

    ¡°So Agnis was it? Why didn''t you do spirit fox things?¡± I was still focused on these symbols so I didn''t notice that I was getting addressed by a random dragon. Huh, what? Oh, I¡¯m training so I set certain limitations on myself, also to be honest I didn''t have skills that could really deal with the situation anyways and those that would work would blow up everything Vinny included so it was for the better.

    ¡°I didst never know what spirit foxes were thinking. This seemeth to be quite normal for their race.¡± Ah elder dragon, can you by any chance read this stuff? I showed her the symbols of the ancient language. She looked at it and shook her head.

    ¡°Imst sorry I canst.¡± I¡¯m not sure that you have mastered the vocabulary of the persona you''re trying to mimic but at least thanks for trying. Right Vinny, we still need to finish our exchange.

    ¡°Right, sorry guys I need to do some business with Agnis. I will be back soon!¡± Quite popular, are we?

    ¡°Hehe, thanks to you.¡± I don''t know, I don''t think I did much here. We arrived at Vinny¡¯s lair and¡­ Are you sure there''s nothing wrong with you? I¡¯m somewhat familiar with lairs but aren''t they supposed to be messy? Why is everything so orderly, wait did you even catalog this shit? Are you sure you¡¯re a dragon?!

    ¡°I like to know what items I have in my possession and where they are.¡± I¡¯m so happy to see the birth of a new race.

    ¡°Hey! That¡¯s rude I¡¯m a normal jungle dragon!¡± Doubt¡­ I¡¯m just going to dump your stuff in that corner there. I dumped the treasure in a corner that had no business being that clean, it pissed me off so I dumped all his treasure there.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, I prefer to catalogue the items myself anyways, so you were interested in Dawnlights right?¡± Yes, any plants that can create light or earth elemental effects are welcome, maybe also things that restore stamina and can make my body tougher.

    ¡°Hmm, let''s see, Dawnlight seeds, instructions on how to grow them are attached but just hitting them with nature energy from time to time will do enough. How about Stoneroot, Phoenix flower, and uhh I don''t have anything to make your body tougher sorry.¡± Wait, what in the Hourai? Do you have Phoenix flowers?

    ¡°Yeah, I actually have a lot, do you want them?" Hell yeah! Oh, just curious do you have dynamo beans, red sky mangoes, and blue ghost truffles?

    ¡°Ohh, for the lightning tigers, phoenixes, and spirit foxes, how do phoenixes fit in the mix though? Let¡¯s see, I got a couple of dynamo beans, they are very hard to grow for us because they need to be grown under the constant influence of purple lightning or above so I can''t give you a lot of them only 4, I have 12 red sky mangoes to give you but unfortunately no blue ghost truffles, I¡¯m sorry to say but there is a big chance they have gone extinct¡­ sorry.¡± Don''t be sorry, that was to be expected, 4 beans hmm that will not even give Raishin 1 life¡­ it¡¯s better than nothing though.

    ¡°Didn''t you have a shadowcat friend? Don¡¯t you need liquid shadow potatoes?¡± Uhh, I have thousands of liters of liquid shadow vodka stored up so that¡¯s not an issue. And I dislike potatoes so I¡¯d rather not get near them. I ate the sky mangoes while Vinny was proudly showing his collection.

    ¡°Hey, don''t you need them for your Phoenix friend?¡± I¡¯m the phoenix friend.

    ¡°Huh, I thought you were a spirit fox, hmm spirit fox and phoenix.¡± Vinny froze. Oh shit, here we go.

    ¡°Wait are you related to that legend? Edea Hourai?¡± Uhm, would you believe me if I said no?

    ¡°Well phoenix-spirit fox hybrids are rare so I would say that you¡¯re either lying or related to her.¡± Well, I guess the fox is out of the bag, I¡¯m Agnis Hourai, Edea Hourai¡¯s third child and first son.

    ¡°I¡¯m in the presence of a legend!¡± No, you¡¯re not I have done fuckall with my life, I¡¯m just a random kid that has an amazing parent.

    ¡°Hmm, if you say so, how many lives did you gain from those mangoes?¡± 36, I¡¯m at 45 at the moment.

    ¡°Right, how about you take all my sky mangoes!¡± Nono, it¡¯s fine, I need you to keep growing them because these things are near impossible to find, if there''s at least a consistent source I should be fine¡­ I think.

    ¡°Please be careful, I¡¯m saying this as a friend, and as an inhabitant of this planet, I¡¯m aware that your race is crucial.¡± I will do my best, thanks for all the stuff. What does this stoneroot do actually?

    ¡°If you grind it up, mix it with water and something that''s volatile you can create a substance or gas that petrifies whatever organic material it comes into contact with. You also need to add a specific component to it to make sure you become immune to its effects but you won¡¯t have problems with it. As a dragon, you would grind some of your broken-off claws or shed scales into it to make sure you¡¯re immune to it. You can grind some of your fur in it. For a human, he would need something from a mythical or legendary creature, grind those in it but also wear a talisman made out of the same component that''s mixed up in the stoneroot powder up to protect himself.¡± So basically, while it¡¯s accessible for normal races to use, they would need access to materials of mythical or legendary creatures to become immune to the effects?

    ¡°Exactly, that¡¯s why this is quite useless in the eyes of most races but for us, it¡¯s quite valuable.¡± Very useful indeed is it deadly or temporary?

    ¡°When imbued with earth magic it becomes permanent and deadly, without it, it will wear off after a while so you can use it to run away or just deal more damage to him. It will deal a lot of earth damage to the victim if you decide to attack him when the effect wears off. ¡±

    Oh, this is useful. Thank you. Vinny showed me more of his collection and then went back out to socialize with the other dragons. I decided to thank him and leave. I went back to my hideout near the waterfall. It feels like I haven''t been here since forever.

    I relaxed till day 214 and then tried to decipher this ancient language. I kept running simulations and racking my brain and on day 230 I had enough and decided to visit the archaeological site again. Maybe some archaeologists there would be able to read this. I wrote some of the text on paper because I didn''t want to show them the real thing. They would probably get interested in it and harass me and get their hands on it.

 Vol 2 Ch 33: Vicas Curse

    I arrived at the archaeological dig site. Well, I think I arrived at a different one. I didn''t bother remembering where I found the last one. This dig site was actually inside an actual village. These people do crazy stuff just to dig in the sand. I used some dragon vein to create some water for me to drink, which was a mistake.

    ¡°A water user!¡± Oh shit! I spent the rest of my day evading thirsty people. I¡¯m not a living tap! I escaped and found a small inn. I wasted a whole day running around. But lucky for me I¡¯m skilled in illusions so by now they have no clue anymore how I look like so I should be fine tomorrow.

    ¡°Hey, did you hear about those archaeologists? It seems half of them got struck by some mysterious illness.¡±

    ¡°Those are just rumors.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen it myself! 2 of them slowly turned into water and evaporated in the midday sun!¡±

    ¡°Does that have anything to do with that water user that was spotted today?¡±

    ¡°No of course not! But he might be able to help!¡± I didn''t feel obliged to help random people but I was curious, and if the archaeologists were evaporating then I couldn''t ask them about this ancient language. I approached the 4 men who were talking. Excuse me, I¡¯m new in town, and I overheard what you were saying, is it true that the archaeologists are turning into water and evaporating?

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen it with my own eyes! But who are you? Quite young to be traveling alone.¡± I showed him my adventurer ID. ¡°Whoa C-rank that¡¯s quite an achievement, wait you¡¯re a water user?¡± Yeah, I was wondering how I could assist, I might need an archaeologist for something so I can¡¯t have them poof out of existence on me.

    ¡°I see, I¡¯m quite curious too, I¡¯m Alfredo, do you mind meeting up with me tomorrow at 9 in front of the dig site?¡±

    ¡°Hey, I wanna come too! I¡¯m Gilbert¡±

    ¡°Count me in I''m Timmy¡±

    ¡°Ehh, I¡¯m out! I don''t want to get cursed!¡± Random dude number 4 ran away. Aha, I''m Agnis. Cya tomorrow then! I waved at these 3 weak-looking guys and went to my room. The bed seemed quite uncomfortable. I can''t believe they''re asking for 3 silver per night for this garbage¡­ I created an illusion and rolled up in my fluffy tails.

    The morning of day 231 was nothing special. I brushed my tails, broke the illusion, and headed to the dig site. There was nobody there yet so I waited while inspecting what they were trying to dig up. It didn''t seem to be something ancient that they were digging up just something old, something from within the last 3600-3700ish years. Anything that recent wasn''t of immediate importance to me.

    ¡°Yo, seen anything interesting happen yet?¡± One of the guys appeared, I had already forgotten his name. I shook my head at his question.

    ¡°Because the ¡®Curse¡¯, the excavation has stopped.¡± Is it really a curse or just some exotic disease they dug up and that''s killing them?

    ¡°A disease that turns you into water?¡± While it sounds unrealistic it could be a disease that awakens water affinity and forces the user to use [Water Body].

    ¡°Hmm, that''s interesting but it could also be a curse that does the same.¡± Fair point. I saw someone who looked like he could be an archeologist and he was walking weirdly and he seemed in despair.

    ¡°H¡­help!¡± I inspected him and there didn''t seem to be magic at work. His molecular structure seemed to be turning into that of water. I checked him for curses. Vica¡¯s curse eh, never heard of it.

    ¡°What?¡± I needed to come up with something because this guy would soon turn into a puddle of water. I didn''t have any techniques to deal with this so I just started to freeze him.

    ¡°T¡­t¡­thank you!¡± Don¡¯t thank me yet, you will melt eventually. What can you tell me about how you got this curse? He told us some stereotypical story of digging for stuff and hitting the structure they dug up. Despite the warnings that were clearly written in Kaledonian they ignored them and swiped some treasure hidden there. The first one that touched something instantly turned into water and got soaked up by the sand, after that someone turned into water every day. He is the 5th person and there are 3 more after him waiting for their demise. So how about you like, I don''t know, heed the warnings?

    ¡°For science!¡± Yes yes, then you should accept dying for science then.

    Random adventurer #1 shook his head. ¡°Hey come on don¡¯t be so cold, was there anything that indicated on how to reverse the curse?¡± Why would whoever made this structure put down how to counter the curse if the point of the curse is to ward people off?

    ¡°Hey kiddo can you stop making sense so much, there must be something!¡±

    The other 2 adventurers arrived. ¡°Sup are we late? Whoa?! Did the curse change and is it turning people into ice pillars?!¡±

    ¡°Nah, this kiddo froze him so that he wouldn''t turn into vapor.¡± Adventurer #1 said.

    Hey does someone here know the skill [Transmute]?

    Adventurer #1 looked at me as if I was insane. ¡°And why would someone with a skill so rare be here? Moreover, that person would need to know what this guy was made off of before he ehhh turned into a popsicle.¡± He doesn''t need to return him to normal just to turn him into a stable compound that doesn''t disappear in the sun.

    ¡°Hey! Don''t I have something to say about this?! I want to go back to normal!¡± The archeologist protested.

    I understand that but here''s the thing, if you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. I can dispel curses but this is way above my level.

    Adventurer #2 raised an eyebrow. ¡°You can also dispel curses? At your age?¡± Very limited, only 6th and 7th-grade curses, this is a 3rd-grade curse, you would need an expert or a witch to deal with this. Or the one that cast the curse but judging by this guy''s profession, the guy that cast the curse is most likely dead and in one of those coffins down there.

    ¡°Who are you? C-rank, skilled water user, and can dispel 6th and 7th-grade curses, why have I never heard of you?¡± I¡¯m just a privileged brat, I¡¯m not that important, now back to this guy¡¯s problem. I can¡¯t think of a way to realistically deal with this. I can''t even sense any magic at work here, whether the curse is weaved expertly or something else is going on, that¡¯s why I was wondering if it was a disease.

    ¡°But you said that before you met this guy, and they are dying one by one with a day apart, how can that be a disease? And didn''t you say yourself it was a curse?¡± Adventurer #1 said but I ignored him and directed my attitention to the archeologist.

    Say can you be more specific, did you all touch the treasure or did just one touch the treasure, where were you standing when it happened, was there a flash? A magic pulse? Anything? There are so many details missing from your story.

    ¡°Hey, can you refreeze me? I feel like I¡¯m melting.¡± I will consider it after you start remembering and give more details.

    ¡°Hey, I asked a question Don''t ignore me!¡± Adventurer #1 said impatiently.

    Well, if it was really a curse it would have some mana signatures which they don''t have, I''ve been here since yesterday and I¡¯m quite observant if it''s about mana. I wasn''t looking for curses but if someone had a powerful curse on them, I would''ve probably noticed. And about me calling it a curse. You know what [Appraisal] does right?

    ¡°Yeah, did you use it?¡± Doesn¡¯t matter, assume I make a disease that gives you a special status condition, the flu would give you [Influenza] condition for example. But what if the creator names the status condition [Something something Curse]?

    Adventurer #1, whose name I slowly started to remember, looked as if he had a revelation. ¡°Everyone who would use [Appraisal] would think that person is under a curse. I see your point.¡± Now I¡¯m starting to have doubts about it being a disease, it would have to be extremely contagious for one of the guys to get hit and die on the spot, all of us and most of the people here would''ve been infected if that was the case. This startled everyone.

    ¡°So, what do I have then? If it''s not a curse and not a disease?¡± I have no clue, maybe you should just embrace your fate and turn into a puddle.

    ¡°Nooo!¡±

    ¡°Hey, come on be a bit nicer to him.¡± Adventurer #1 said, whose name should be something like Alburto. What is in it for me?

    ¡°Uhm, well nothing really but can''t you do that for someone who¡¯s about to die?¡±

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°I¡¯m dying? Noo! Save me!¡± I held the paper on which I wrote the symbols on, in front of the archeologist''s face. Can you read this?

    ¡°Huh, what¡¯s this? Where did you find these symbols? I¡¯ve never seen them before! If you save me, I will find out I promise!¡± So, you don''t know¡­ I walked away.

    Abuerto stopped me. ¡°Hey! Wait! You can''t just leave him here all frozen!¡± Do you want me to thaw him?

    ¡°Noo! I want you to try and help us to see if we can save them!¡± Ugh, how bothersome, fine, so what¡¯s your plan?

    ¡°Uh, I was hoping you could come up with one.¡± ¡­Unbelievable, listen here, you will bear responsibility for anything that happens, I¡¯m a minor anyways. What self-respecting adult asks a 16-year-old to deal with a mess like this¡­ Well then, you¡¯re melting! Fess up give us more details! The more you remember the more you get closer to having a 0.005% of making it out alive.

    ¡°Hey come on why are you like this?¡± Alburto said. He was slowly and successfully pissing me off.

    Unrealistic promises breed unrealistic expectations. I don¡¯t want to give him hope because as I see it in this situation, he¡¯s toast.

    ¡°You must have no friends¡­¡±

    ¡°Uhm we got in the treasure room and that''s where we read the warning but Romy ignored it and touched the golden casket, we heard something click and no magic wave or pulse or anything but it felt more like a heat pulse and Romy instantly turned into water and got sucked up in the sand.¡± The archeologist recalled.

    Hmm, heat? So, in what order did it hit you? The archeologist thought deeply and then seemed to realize something.

    ¡°I got hit by it after 4 others! Because I was the 5th closest!¡± There we have it, it¡¯s proximity-based and you got hit 5th, which lines up.

    ¡°So, if we stop him from turning into a puddle, we save the rest?¡± Adventurer #3 asked.

    ¡°Won¡¯t it just skip him and continue with the other?¡± Abuerto theorised.

    ¡°Why would a heat flash do this?¡± Adventurer #2 asked. At least someone is asking the correct question.

    ¡°Oh, do you have an answer?¡± Alburto inquired. Nope, go figure it out.

    ¡°How?!¡± I don''t know, go poke the casket or something!

    ¡°Kiddo, are you sure your head is alright? You seem bright in some points but on other points¡­¡± Alburto seems to want solutions but not put in the work to get there.

    Well, you want me to help them against my will so not sure what you¡¯re expecting, if you want to save them you will have to risk dying to find out the secret.

    ¡°I¡­ I don''t want to!¡± Adventurer #2 panicked

    ¡°Uhh, I¡¯m sorry I think my goldfish caught on fire, I need to go!¡± The 2 others ran away and onlybAlburto was left. I guess it¡¯s only you left, don¡¯t tell me you want to send a 16-year-old to poke a casket and possibly die?

    ¡°There must be another way!¡± I sighed and wrote a letter. I signed it and gave it to him. ¡°What is this? Give this to the Adventurer¡¯s Association and explain how you let a 16-year-old C-rank adventurer risk his life because of your selfishness. Let¡¯s go, just stay far from the casket. It¡¯s time to solve this mystery. I refroze the archaeologist and jumped down to the dig site.

    ¡°Wait! There must be another way!¡± I¡¯m open for ideas, I can''t keep refreezing this archaeologist for the rest of his life and tomorrow another archaeologist will turn into water, you want me to keep freezing them too? You want me to spend days of my life to do with that in the event that someone finally figures it out? I have things I want to achieve too! Do you know how long research into new curses takes?

    ¡°5 to 10 years¡­¡± Yes, and I don''t have the luxury of spending that much time waiting until they figure something out. I walked into the structure they dug out.

    ¡°Wait ok, I was wrong, come back outside!¡± I know you mean well but people need to realize actions have consequences, these archaeologists ignored the warnings and are dealing with the consequences, I told you multiple times I didn''t want to deal with this and you kept insisting, so you need to deal with the consequences too. Is this the casket?

    ¡°Okok! I get your point! I was wrong! Now come out of there!¡± I looked around. I saw the text that warned anyone who read it that if they touch anything they would get hit by a powerful curse. I inspected the casket with my eyes. Nothing seems to be wrong with it. Does this mean there is nothing mana related at play here? I did find a secret passage. I decided to mess with the casket later and covered my hand with ice and activated the secret passage. Nothing seemed to happen, no blast or wave of heat. And I went into the secret passage.

    ¡°Hey, kiddo? Kiddo? Where did you go? Oh no, don''t tell me you turned into water too! Nooo!¡± It seems the guy freaked out and ran away. The secret passage brought me to a large dark room. It was quite suspicious it reminds me of a room where cultists would do their shady shit and something seemed to be sealed in the middle of the room. I inspected it but my eyes told me that it shouldn''t exist. Great, just what I need. What even is this thing? After a more thorough inspection, it seemed to be of a similar makeup as the dimensional fabric and Isi.

    Does this belong to her? What even is this and why is it sealed? I read some text and it seemed this thing was a Dimsha. It sounded familiar. I went through my archive and took a step back. Items that directly interfere with reality¡­ Is this the cause of the so-called curse? It¡¯s in no way connected to the casket though, maybe its effect gets linked to the casket.

    The seals on this thing suggest that it shouldn''t be active though¡­ and then I saw it. A strange creature glaring at me. I didn''t notice it and my eyes didn''t notify me. It was completely black and blurry and had 2 round yellow eyes and was looking at me.

    And what the fuck are you supposed to be? I inspected it but it didn''t seem to be any creature that I know of. So, this is probably similar to that giant lobster Raishin and I fought. It only reacted when I approached the Dimsha. I didn''t feel like fighting so I kept my distance. This thing was honestly creepy. It didn''t possess mana and it didn''t seem to be alive as far as my eyes could tell me. I kept my distance from the thing and the Dimsha and tried to read what was written on the wall. Some of it had broken off but most of it could be read.

    Apparently, this Dimsha could turn anything into water. There was one problem; it doesn''t discriminate. It got sealed away because it was uncontrollable and randomly turned houses into water, animals, people you name it. It had turned a large part of the desert into a lake. The part that got turned into a lake eventually turned into a jungle.

    Oh, so that''s where the jungle came from.

    Whenever it got turned off, it took more water away than it produced. This area was quite dry but not a desert. Misuse caused floods, people dying, and all kinds of problems, and then when it got turned off the area got dryer and dryer. But water is valuable and human greed kept causing history to repeat. It only took 120 years of this happening for the creators of this temple or whatever it is, to seal it away as is found here. Nothing is talking about this creature here and there are some details missing but I think I¡¯m starting to get the idea here.

    Since this Dimsha is similar to the dimensional fabric I should try observing it with the correct filter. I¡¯m hoping there isn''t some dimensional tear here and those disgusting maggots and stuff.

    I opened the dimensional filter and saw nothing special, just that the Dimsha was leaking energy and for some reason, the casket was collecting it. Touching the casket would probably release it. It didn''t seem the casket was holding on to a lot of energy at the moment, probably because those idiots released its energy.

    Is this something I¡¯m supposed to fix? I don¡¯t think I can counter the effects of a Dimsha. If the information I have about them is correct, only a god or another Dimsha can counter its effects. I might be able to reverse its effects if I wield it but turning it off might make this desert an even shittier place. I approached the Dimsha and noticed some text on the ground under it.

    Ha! The Dimsha¡¯s name is Vica, named after the person who found it and thought he could bring prosperity to this area. The creature was on edge. I am not skilled in lifting curses but I do know things about sealing individuals and objects. Azu¡¯s crash course made us skilled in deciphering barriers and seals but this can be reversed to create barriers and seals.

    I got my tails out. This would be the first time I would actually seal something. I know the theory but I have 0 practical experience. I ran simulations in my tails first. This thing is dangerous so I don''t want to cut corners and do a good job sealing this thing. I read the runic structures of the seals already in effect. Quite simple and effective but because of its simplicity it was failing now.

    I spent 2 days sitting on the floor opposite of the Dimsha simulating the best way to seal this thing, all while keeping an eye out for this creature. Normally I take sleep seriously but as a mythical beast I don''t need to sleep every night, it¡¯s just boring to stay awake during the night and mostly I wear myself out. I would have to break my rule of not using magic but it can''t be helped in this situation as I don''t know if it''s possible to seal things with leyline energy.

    I came up with a seal that would encase it frost magic and has a thin layer of fire inside, the frost would absorb all the energy this thing would be leaking and pass it on to the fire which would radiate the energy back into the Dimsha. It would be unbreakable for anyone that''s unable to use lost magic. I would then cover it in a seal that would cause the frost-encasing seal to be unable to be found by individuals that have access to lost magic. Similar to the illusion I put on me and my buddies but this is very specific. And the seal I would place on top of that would be a seal that can only be broken by individuals that are of the age of 16 years or younger in human years.

    The last seal would be more of an invisibility spell. The deal with seals is to make them extremely weak to something so that they are extremely strong against anything else. The frost encasing has as only weakness that anyone with lost magic can break it so the following seal needs to cover that weakness so people possessing this trait will be unable to find it but normal people will be able to find it, but they won''t be able to break through the frost seal so that helps. To add on to that I put a seal that''s extremely easy to break if your age is 16 or lower.

    Why I am doing this is¡­ there are hardly any if no humans of the age of 16 or younger that can break this seal. Meeting the requirements and having the skill to lift them are 2 different things. And just an invisibility spell for safe measure. It''s a basic principle of seals, barriers, and defensive skills that to make them strong you need to give it an obvious weakness. A block-all-element shield will block everything but won''t be sturdy, it could block 10 damage from every element and break if anything exceeds 10, a shield that only blocks fire will be useless against any element but it could very well block fire attacks that do 80 damage. I just used random numbers here but that''s the principle.

    Making the [Frost Encasing seal] was easy, the other 2 were quite challenging but because of my simulations, I succeeded. It just took longer than a skilled person would take.

    All seals were in place after 4 hours. I sat down and looked at the creature. It was still looking at me but its glare turned into something softer. As if it was thanking me. It still creeped me out though. Now that I had no business here, I got out as fast as possible.

    Ugh, that was tiring, I should stop doing things I¡¯m not used to¡­ I hid my tails and reached the room with the casket and inspected it. It was still holding some of that energy. I touched it but nothing happened. Heh, thought so. I walked out and went to the inn.

    ¡°He would''ve been still alive If I didn''t insist on him helping the archaeologists! His death is my fault!¡± Abuerto was crying on a table with some ale in his cup. The 3 other weak dudes were sitting next to him. Did someone die?

    ¡°Yeah! You did! Eh? Wait what? You''re still alive!¡± Am I now? The curse claimed my life and now I¡¯m going to haunt you! I talked a bit spooky and it freaked out the 4 men and they ran off.

    I asked the innkeeper what happened to the archeologists and it seemed they all evaporated. I went to my room and fell asleep. I lazed around till day 238 and decided to continue looking for someone who could read these symbols.

 Vol 2 Ch 34: Sand Everywhere!

    I think I messed up. I was in the middle of the desert and physically exhausted. Why? Well, I located a structure deep under the sand and was trying to dig it out. But sand is heavy as fuck so here I am extremely exhausted in the middle of nowhere.

    The heat isn''t the issue, I can also create water when I need to, it¡¯s just that I can''t go home or to a city to relax because I¡¯m too exhausted. And there were some giant lizards that tried to snack on me. Somehow the snakes were ok with me, some even seemed to help me out. I laid on my back on the sand. It felt like the sun was mocking me.

    The problem is, if I fall asleep, I will die due to dehydration. My heat resistance doesn''t protect me from dehydration. Deserts suck. I took a Phoenix flower out of my dimensional pocket, ignited it inhaled the fiery pollen. All my stamina got restored. Normally just the pollen is enough but this is just a short temporary effect, the full effect is breathing the pollen when they''re ignited. Of course, this is only possible if you have heat resistance. If I remember correctly what Greg once told me is that human clans that specialized in fire magic almost brought this plant to extinction because they could do exactly what I just did and continue fighting while others would be incapacitated due to exhaustion. And using fire on them keeps the flowers useful for longer.

    I returned the flower to my dimensional pocket and continued digging. I''ve started to hate digging. I had made a huge pit of sand but sand kept falling into the pit and not making this process very efficient. If I didn''t hate earth-related magic and leyline I certainly do now. Is there a way I can cheat this? I have dug holes before without earth magic before.

    I jumped out of the hole and started lightning [Dragon]. I sent it up and then made it crash into the hole I dug. A heat flash and the [Dragon] disappeared. It was a blue lightning dragon but¡­ it didn''t do anything! It just created some funny-looking rocks. I need to blast a hole with something stronger. I need to boost this [Dragon] or find something stronger. I wonder if I could use my [Tail Dynamo] with leyline energy. I started it up and it created threads of leyline energy that got spun into a spool of electrocharged energy.

    This¡­ this is way more efficient with leyline than magic, what the hell... My tails were glowing purple and shifted to red. Well, isn''t this easy¡­ with magic, the best I could realistically do was purple. Any higher and I would be hurling my stomach contents. Since lightning leyline energy relies on fast movements this is perfect. I kept my tails spinning and dropped a red [lightning pillar] into the hole. This was way more effective; I didn''t get to my destination yet but nothing 2 or 3 more [Lightning Pillars] won''t fix I also felt tingly. The only problem is that anyone with eyes can see this from kilometres away but it''s either that or earth leyline and I know what I prefer!

    I had made quite a deep hole; I might have damaged the ancient structure down below. It wasn''t fully made out of the ancient technology that normally makes it so tough which was quite weird.

    I jumped in and landed in a strange room. Well, it was not strange it was upside down. This is useless. Can¡¯t these ancients do anything normal? Although, everything is slanted, did this structure sink and flip? The dungeon in the jungle was also on an angle. I heard the sound of giant sandworms closeby and heaps of sand fell from the hole.

    Hey, assholes! Zip it! Do you want to bury me alive?! They kept going at it. I probably attracted them by blasting holes through the sand. I might be on a time limit because they probably will continue doing sandworm stuff. There was sand everywhere! I even got sand in my underwear. Earth really isn''t my element.

    I looked around but nothing made sense because everything that was loose was now scattered on the ceiling. Why is everything a pain in the ass? I saw some ancient Kaledonian which was surprising. Nothing interesting though. I found so many useless items here. Was this some kind of residence? If that''s the case I won''t find convenient big writing on the walls. Or who knows maybe that was the cool thing to do back then.

    I wanted to move to the next room but the door was up there. Why did they need floors so high? I could bust down this wall but I''m not sure that''s smart. I looked up and more sand was falling down the hole. I heated up my hands and feet and climbed up by melting the stone. I climbed to the door and opened it and did not like what I found.

    A tidal wave of sand flowed out and knocked me down. I had to dig myself out of a pile of sand and I had to spit out some sand too. I was getting tired of all this sand. There must be something I could do. There is no way a mythical beast needs to deal with all this sand, right? The problem is that I need this place intact¡­ I used sand Dragonvein to get all the sand out of the room I wanted to enter.

    I was moving sand for 10 minutes¡­ 20 minutes¡­30 minutes. I stomped and the whole place shook and a lot of sand fell through the hole. I tried hard to not lose it.

    Calm down Agnis, It¡¯s just sand. I rested and was contemplating what was worth more, information about this ancient language or my sanity and decided that I was never sane to begin with so I could try for a bit longer. I got up to continue digging out the next room when a large amount of sand fell from the hole.

    What the? And then a giant sandworm fell down.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    A sandworm, I swear, I¡¯m not in the mood, if he wants to get vaporized, he can go and harass another 9t! The sandworm continued doing sandworm things and eating sand. I forgot that these things are blind and react to mana or sound and I¡¯m not giving off mana and I¡¯m just quietly fuming. I wonder if I can abuse this jerk.

    He doesn''t seem like he eats enough sand to make it worthwhile though¡­ It just looks like he''s snacking on the sand here. I should try and locate a scroll or a book to learn [Transmute] because this sand is bullshit. If I could turn this all into water it would''ve been a piece of cake. Cee Horze flashed into my mind. I wonder what he''s up to and where he is. I could''ve really used his help here. Do I just give up?

    This room which was originally quite empty was now half full with sand. Maybe I should be a pessimist and say it''s half empty. I looked below me. The room below me didn''t have much sand but the sand that was in this room would fall down there. Unless¡­

    I used sand leyline to create a tube of sand that had its base on the floor. I wet it by shifting to use water leyline and wet it and then baked this budget clay with fire. This tube stuck out from all the sand. I jumped into the tube and melted a hole in the floor.

    I reached the relatively sandless new room. Still upside down. There was a lot of stuff on the ground, ehh ceiling. Most of them were books. Half of them were ancient Kaledonian and the other half were in the mystery language I''ve been trying to learn.

    As far as I can tell from the ancient Kaledonian, which I¡¯m going to call Hourai for simplicity, whoever lived here was probably a scholar and was trying to learn this language. How convenient. Well, being buried under meters of sand in the desert isn''t really convenient but I can use this. I collected everything I could find and chucked them into my dimensional pocket. It opened again and kicked out all the sand that was on those items.

    I¡¯m wondering though¡­ would I ever need sand in the future¡­ I make it a habit to store a lot of stuff. I still have an enormous volume of river water stored. Maybe I should store sand¡­ I don¡¯t want to but maybe some creature can''t take it when I throw sand in his stomach.

    I took a mental note of this place. Normally I would explore this place more but I¡¯ve had it. I went back through the tube and the sandworm was still snacking.

    I stole all its food and stored the sand in my dimensional pocket. It seemed confused and started munching on a wall.

    Wait! Don¡¯t! The wall collapsed and the sand above us was starting to fall down at a rapid rate.

    You greedy worm! The sandworm reacted but it was too late. I fired up [Tail Dynamo] and vaporized it with a red [Lightning pillar]. I formed a red lightning [Dragon] that carried me up to the surface. Just in time before all the sand collapsed into the underground residency.

    I almost got assassinated by a sandworm. I don''t think Isi would forgive me if I kicked the bucket like that. I sat down on the sand and rested. There was more sand in my underwear¡­ Is this how Greg thinks about water?

    Some sandworms were messing around close by so I moved away and I walked into a sandpit.

    Oh, a dragon antlion pit. Because I was so light, I didn''t trigger the trap.

    That''s some oversight buddy, might want to adjust your trap to also catch lighter prey.  The dragon antlion looked at me confused as I walked out of its trap. And then I was wondering, why am I walking? I teleported back to my hideout, took off my clothes, and threw them into the basin after which I dove in. I had to get all this sand off me!

    There was sand in my ears. The worst thing was that there was sand in my tails. It took me 4 hours to get every grain of sand out of my tails.

    Day 239 was the day to finally learn this new language. I went into what I call ¡®Library Mode¡¯ I put my eyes and tails to work and read multiple books at once and flipping through the pages rapidly. This is 9t exclusive because you need Elgards eyes to read all this superfast and store it and you need a lot of tails to flip through all these books.

    It only took me 2 hours to read through all these books, notes, and other stuff. I then put my tails to work to process all this information so I could learn the language.

    Learning stuff as a tailed beast is kind of cheating but that''s just the nature of our tails. Greg uses it a lot too and Raishin doesn''t use it enough. Now I just have to wait till my tails are done. I decided to rest and visit Vinny the next day.

    Tomorrow would mark the halfway point of my first training year. I was wondering what I wanted to do for the rest of this year, I might have to go with the idea of finding spots that are close to the underground, sky or celestial leyline currents, and master the element there, earth however¡­ I¡¯m totally going to skip that one. I don¡¯t need it. I still have the feeling that there is sand somewhere.

    I went to Vinny¡¯s place on day 240 and told him that I would be leaving. I told him about my run-in with Vica¡¯s curse and that stupid buried house and all the sand.

    ¡°And here I was telling you to be careful and you almost get yourself killed twice¡­¡±

    Well, that guy needs to learn that not everyone can be saved and that actions have consequences! And that place with the sand just sucked¡­ Anyways what have you been up to?

    ¡°Well, uhh, you see¡­ I got a girlfriend.¡± Wow, congrats! When is the wedding?

    ¡°Hey come on that¡¯s going to be in at least 4 or 5 years!¡± zzz, I¡¯ll be dead by then.

    ¡°Spirit foxes are also immortal!¡± Nobody has time to wait that long!

    ¡°You¡¯re just impatient! How about you find a girlfriend? Might make you less reckless!¡± Don¡¯t need one, I¡¯ll just be fine, say hi for me to her, I need to prepare to go. I don''t know where yet but I need to get my hideout in order. Oh, and by the way pick a random element.

    ¡°Earth.¡± A random element that¡¯s not earth.

    ¡°... how about fire.¡± Alright! I will find a place to train fire first! Thanks Vinny! I don¡¯t know when I will see you again but in case this is the last time, you¡¯re a good friend and a great dragon!

    ¡°Don''t say it like that¡­ Just call me when you need me, I¡¯ll do my best to help out!¡± I¡¯ll try but people tell me I have a bad memory! Cya!

    ¡°Oh god¡­¡± I went back to my hideout and packed my stuff. I looked out over the basin and at the waterfalls. I had called this place my home for half a year. Now I would be going from place to place to master all the basic elements, besides earth of course. Who needs more sand?

 Vol 2 Ch 35: Fernys

    I headed north and crossed the jungle. There was a little bit of desert north of the jungle before the area turned into something more habitable.

    Finally! No more sand! I had the idea to find a place that has elevated levels of fire-charged leyline energy but I had no clue where to find it. Finding a volcano would probably work but I have no idea where to find one.

    For water it would be simple just go to the ocean, for wind maybe a windy mountaintop? Lightning is going to be tough.

    And about light and dark. I looked up at the night sky. Don''t tell me I have to do something stupid like going to the moon or something. How would I even get there? I will leave light and dark as last because I might not be successful in figuring out how to reach it.

    I found a road and a caravan carrying supplies. I managed to hitch a ride to the closest city, we would pass by 2 villages first though. I shared this particular carriage with a small family, a woman who looked like a mercenary and some kind of scholar.

    This might sound random but does anyone know where I can find a volcano?

    Everyone looked up at me and seemed to try and make sense of my question. ¡°Pardon my rudeness but for what does a teenager like you need to find a volcano for?¡±

    I have to remember that most humans my age are fairly incompetent, I need to find a good excuse. The mercenary leaned in showing her curiosity. What would be a good excuse?

    I lost my dog. I blew it¡­

    ¡°A fire hound?¡± That works.

    ¡°What? Is it a fire hound or not?¡± Yeah, Raishin loves to run off and chase bitches.

    ¡°Sounds like a very energetic dog.¡± I apologized to Raishin in my head.

    ¡°Well, they do love to run large distances and are attracted to fire.¡± The mercenary looked outside. ¡°But there isn''t a volcano anywhere near here, there is a magma pit though. Where did you lose him?¡±

    Uhm I can¡¯t remember I was distracted.

    The mercenary looked at me sceptically. ¡°You¡¯re not a runaway, are you?¡± Oh, nono! I would never run away!

    ¡°So where do you live? I will bring you back home and discuss the terms with your parents, I will help you out finding your Raishin.¡±

    ¡°He must be a runaway, he looks like he¡¯s about 15 or 16 years old, he should be attending a magic school.¡± The scholar made an unnecessary comment.

    I also forgot that humans my age waste their time learning magic that''s not very applicable to both dangerous lifestyles and boring safe lifestyles. Who needs to learn how to levitate stuff when you''re hardly ever going to use that in both a quiet or adventurous lifestyles?

    ¡°Oh, you have a point! You weren''t lying, were you?¡± I guess I will have to use my adventurer''s ID so I showed it. ¡°Oh, my C-rank? The same rank as me and a water user nonetheless.¡±

    ¡°What? Let me see that! Hmm, it¡¯s authentic, you look way younger in this image.¡± The nosy scholar was inspecting my ID and my body very closely. Well, I have been doing this for a while, do you believe me now?

    ¡°Being an adventurer doesn''t excuse you from skipping out on school!¡± I don''t need a crappy magic school¡­

    ¡°Oh really, Lia, do you mind testing this guy out on our next stop? I want to assess his magic skills for myself. I used to be a teacher you see!¡± And why aren''t you teaching now? Did your nosiness get you kicked out?

    ¡°Pff I won''t fall for your cheap provocation!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m curious how a C-rank water user fights so I apologize but I will take up Etienne¡¯s suggestion.¡± Uhm and what if I don''t use magic?

    ¡°Nonsense! It¡¯s extremely hard to reach C-rank without magic! You need a lot of skill or be a genius like Lia to even get that far!¡± And here I thought getting C-rank was easy because it didn''t take much for me to get here. But this is a problem, I made a rule to not use magic offensively.

    The nosy scholar adjusted his glasses while inspecting me. ¡°You don¡¯t seem to give off mana, are you sure you¡¯re not a fraud?¡± I have good mana control.

    ¡°Ha!? At 16 years old? At least think of a more believable lie!¡± This guy is starting to piss me off.

    We stopped by a village 2 hours later. I had to suffer through the scholars questioning. Testing my magic knowledge and all kinds of stuff. I gave him vague bullshit answers. He got annoyed that I wasn''t cooperating.

    ¡°Right get out Agnis! Show us what you''ve got!¡± Easy for you to say since you¡¯re not fighting but Lia is.

    ¡°Why do you remember her name and not mine?!¡± Her name is short and she¡¯s not a pain in the ass like you are.

    ¡°I know some healing spells, after Lia kicks your ass, I¡¯ll heal you up and then I will personally kick your ass!¡± Isn''t it illegal for teachers to bully kids and kick their asses?

    ¡°I¡¯m not a teacher anymore!¡± Oh right, you got kicked out, my bad. I held my hand in front of my mouth and let out a mischievous chuckle.

    ¡°Lia have no mercy on him!¡± The merchants did their merchant stuff and told us they would be leaving in 3 hours. So, I had to deal with this for 3 hours.

    ¡°Good luck mister¡± One of the small kids of the family that was traveling was cheering me on. Shit now I can¡¯t run. Ugh, fine, can you promise me one thing, Lia?

    ¡°Uh, depends on what it is.¡± She got ready and took a stance with her great sword. Don¡¯t hold back at any cost.

    ¡°Uhh, ok.¡± I mean it, I haven''t used this on humans yet so don¡¯t die.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°Yes yes, stop blabbering, start!¡±

    Lia dashed at me. She was surprisingly fast for someone carrying something that heavy. She also put a very strong earth augmentation on the great sword. I sidestepped the swing and I used the momentum of her movements to flip her up in the air. I shifted my stance and started [Water Dragon Dance] and sent 2 dragons at her while keeping one near me.

    ¡°W¡­what is this? No magic circle activation? No mana? What is this?!!!¡± The scholar was going crazy.

    Lia blocked the first water dragon but got hit by the second one. It seemed to do quite the damage. She landed on the ground and planted her sword in the ground which caused large rocks and boulders to come out of the ground. Probably to break my line of sight.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    I continued my movements and weaved the 2 dragons between the rocks and boulders and sent them after her with perfect precision.

    Lia was too busy dealing with evading and blocking the water dragons to attack me. The scholar dude started observing and writing. Lia got sent flying into one of the big boulders after getting hit by a water dragon. She smirked and her mana spiked.

    And¡­ she made her sword bigger¡­ She did swing it around like it had no weight but I knew better. She was using her sword like Greg uses his hammer.

    Using gravity magic to make it lighter and heavier at the moment she doesn''t need strength to swing it around. The dragons didn''t have the power anymore to deal with her so I looped the movements to increase the volume of water in the dragons. She jumped back and prepared for a big swing.

    It¡¯s very obvious if someone prepares for a big attack while obviously being out of range. It¡¯s either a stupid sword beam or laser, or that sword is going to grow to the point it¡¯s going to hit me. I jumped up and dodged a slash. As I expected the sword became enormous.

    I landed on the blade of the sword and shifted my stance and used [Waterfall] and rushed over the blade toward her. This surprised Lia, she took the attack and got knocked out. Hmm, I already held back on that [Waterfall] and still knocked her out, I need some tuning.

    ¡°Wh...what was that? This isn''t magic, is it?! What''s it called? Where did you learn it? Who did you learn it from? Can you teach¡­¡± I drenched the scholar to make him stop talking.

    Stop talking and check up on Lia, you said you could use some healing skills, right? The scholar tended to Lia and she woke up. While all the effects of her earth magic disappeared, the water that I used still lingered and the scholar noticed this.

    ¡°Ugh, that hurt, You wouldn''t believe my surprise when I found out that you''re not using magic.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I think I understand now, going to a magic school would indeed be useless if you can''t use magic.¡± I didn''t bother to tell him that I can use magic. ¡°So, what was that?¡± Something I¡¯m testing out and also the reason I need to find my dog Raishin.

    ¡°So, you didn''t lie about your dog?¡± Sorry I did, I just need to go to a volcano or a magma pit is also fine.

    ¡°Kids these days¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, hire me! I¡¯m not letting a kid go alone to a spot that dangerous! Even if you are strong!¡±

    ¡°Hire me too, no wait I will pay you to show and tell me more about this new power!¡± The nosy scholar said. He did say it in a creepy tone though. I hope he doesnt want to probe me.

    Guys, it¡¯s ok I can do this alone!

    ¡°Ooh, are we going to visit a fullcano?¡± The kid seemed to be excited. Really kid? Can you at least try to make it easy for me?

    ¡°Then it¡¯s decided!¡± Hey don''t decide this for me and we obviously can''t let a kid near a volcano! I pointed at the 5 or 6-year-old kid.

    ¡°Heh, so you agree that we can''t let a kid near a volcano.¡± The scholar looked at me. Ugh, these selfish adults.

    ¡±I will go even if you don¡¯t pay me!¡± I should''ve walked and never hopped on this carriage¡­

    ¡°Yay! Mom, Dad! We¡¯re going to a fullcano!¡± Look at what you¡¯ve done¡­ The parents of the kid looked in shock as their kid told them we would visit a volcano and shot a disappointed look at the scholar.

    ¡°Hey! It was his idea!¡± A teacher shifting the blame on a teenager, tssk tssk, I can see why you got kicked out.

    ¡°I didn''t get kicked out! I left!¡±

    I went into the village to get a change of pace and Lia followed me. Stop following me!

    ¡°I¡¯m your bodyguard!¡± How? I¡¯m not paying you!

    ¡°Doesn''t matter I won¡¯t be able to sleep at night knowing I let a teenager go off alone by himself to a magma pit.¡± I appreciate the sentiment but this chick has only 1 life I have 45, wait what?

    I only have 44, when did I die? I did a self-diagnosis but nothing seemed off, except¡­ [Vica¡¯s Curse]. You gotta be kidding me¡­ I thought I fixed that. I ran a self-diagnosis and it seemed it killed me the moment I touched the casket but hasn''t done anything so far after that.

    Greg¡¯s passive is probably kicking in which is odd because this is not a real curse. Anyway, if it¡¯s not killing me anymore, I might as well ignore it.

    We walked around and talked to some villagers. It seemed that we looked like a mother and son hanging out together¡­ Hey, Lia, you¡¯re making this awkward, they think you¡¯re my mother¡­

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind, where¡¯s your real mother actually?¡± Uhh, somewhere far away¡­

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry for your loss¡­ I didn''t know.¡± Even though I made it accidentally sound like she passed away, it is a fact that she¡¯s far away and possibly dead¡­ I stopped a bit.

    ¡°I¡¯m so sorry!¡± No, don¡¯t worry I¡¯m fine. We bought some local stuff. I refused to buy poison at first but it was very useful in the fight against the behemoth so I bought a realistic amount for a human. Which I apparently messed up.

    ¡°You must really love milk; you bought 60 liters!¡±

    Note to self, I need to learn more about human common sense.

    ¡°I know how to make a delicious stew!¡±

    Oh, hell no mixing my arch nemesis, Poison, and turning it into another, soup, is something I have to absolutely avoid! Uh, I bought this for ehh, my dog Raishin.

    ¡°Didn''t you say that you lied about having a dog?¡° Well, yeh uhm the thing is I bought this for something that''s not for consumption, I can''t stand poison.

    ¡°Poison? Oh milk, that¡¯s unfortunate, how about I make you some vegetable soup then?¡± I started sweating and thinking of how to get out of this situation. Uhm, I got my own food.

    ¡°Really? I didn''t see you bring any baggage when you got on the carriage.¡± Is being a 9t seriously backfiring on me now? I... I''m allergic to soup.

    ¡°Oh, so what ingredient are you allergic to?¡± Soup.

    ¡°So, you don''t like soup?¡± You know what? Since you seem to easily find the things I don¡¯t like, how about I make food, you were probably going to suggest something with potatoes next¡­

    ¡°Such a picky eater¡­ ¡° I will turn any potato into ash!

    I wanted to buy fish so I could make food but since we¡¯re far from the sea there was no fish in sight.

    This is hell¡­

    ¡°What were you looking for?¡± You know what? Give me a moment I will be back before the 3 hours are up!

    I ran off in the direction of a nearby lake. I wasn''t going to fish but pretend to. I would return with fish from my dimensional pocket and cook it. I relaxed at the lakeside and returned with some fish.

    ¡°Whoa, that¡¯s a lot of fish!¡± I started preparing it like I always do. ¡°Hey, Agnis, where did you get these fish, they don''t seem to be from around here.¡± You must be imagining things! I finished and gave everyone some.

    ¡°Just fish? Nothing else?¡± Hmm? Is anything wrong with that? I only caught fish.

    ¡°Well, normally you would eat other stuff with it right?¡± Lia commented as I devoured 2 whole fish in 10 minutes.

    Will take too long. The merchants came back and got attracted to the smell of the food. Some quickly cooked some other stuff to add to it and we all ate together. They had strange looking bread and dried meat. They also had a strange powder that turned into soup after adding water. Why are humans so crazy about soup?

    The scholar approaching. ¡°So, tell me what is that strange power you have.¡± The will of a white-haired chick with 5 arms.

    ¡°Come on tell me!¡± It¡¯s the lifeblood of the planet.

    ¡°You don''t lose anything by telling me!¡± I was quite enjoying this; I was telling him the truth but he thinks I¡¯m making fun of him.

    ¡°Ok then don''t tell me what it is, how do you use it? Is it related to those movements you make?¡± The scholar got up and started flailing. ¡°Like this?¡± If that worked, you would have found out by now¡­

    ¡°How about this? Or this?¡± I enjoyed this guy making a fool out of himself and everyone else did too. ¡°Show me!¡±

    ¡°Calm down Etienne it¡¯s time to leave.¡± Yeh, we need to clean up and get ready to leave. We cleaned up and continued the journey. Besides everyone nagging me, nothing special happened. We stopped at the next village to spend the night. The small family managed to gain the hospitality of some farmers. The scholar did so too.

    It was just me, Lia and some merchants left. Lia was being annoying. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to ask around to gain hospitality from some farmers too?¡± I don''t like people, I will be fine out here.

    ¡°You should take care of your health, you''re still young so make sure you get enough sleep.¡± I''ll be fine, oh that tree looks comfy!

    I found a tree that had a wide branch and would provide cover. I climbed up and went to sit and rest on the branch.

    ¡°So agile¡­ hey you can''t possibly sleep well in a tree!¡± Don¡¯t worry this place is safer than a jungle!

    ¡°What? I don''t understand half of what this kid says¡­¡±

    <hr>

    I heard rustling and it wasn''t the tree. It was past midnight and I saw 40 individuals in shady attire approach the small village. Well, they were approaching the caravan we parked just outside the village. Village is actually a big word for this place, it had like 1000 inhabitants at most. I assumed these guys were bandits raiding this village and stealing the merchant supplies as a bonus would be a great deal for them. I yawned and made a few movements and made an ice bow and shot small ice dragons at them. After successfully turning the bandits into ice statues I went back to sleep.

 Vol 2 Ch 35.1: Fernys part 2

    The morning was quite noisy. I guess the ice statues got discovered. It wasn''t that warm here so they persisted through the night. The villagers thanked the mercenaries but they insisted that they didn''t do anything.

    ¡°Hmm they got frozen but no traces of magic being used.¡± Scholar looked over at me. Maybe a natural phenomenon.

    ¡°Right¡­¡±

    We continued our journey to Fernys after accepting a stupid amount of poison from the farmers as thanks.

    ¡°Hey, didn''t you buy 60 liters of milk yesterday? Where did it all go?¡± It¡¯s in a different dimension.

    ¡°Come on, you can tell me!¡± I¡¯m quite enjoying this; I can just tell the truth and nobody believes me. ¡°Why are you like this?¡± That''s just how mythical creatures are.

    ¡°I think this kid¡¯s lost his mind; we need to keep an eye on him.¡± Scholar said while shaking his head.

    The scenery slowly transitioned to become quite rocky.

    ¡°Seems we¡¯re almost there.¡±

    I spotted some magma pits in the distance and a very big one close to the city we were heading to. Hey, isn''t it a bad idea to build a city that close to a magma pit?

    ¡°Huh? Have you been here before? What magma pit?¡± I have very good eyes.

    ¡°You must have been here before else there is no way you know that there''s a big magma pit in the middle of the city. The inhabitants have adjusted to it and it¡¯s perfectly safe.¡± The scholar was being a smartass again.

    We slowly approached the city and everyone was feeling the heat and started to sweat. I was perfectly fine. I had to try and emulate human behaviour. How do I fake sweat? Magic is easy but that''s banned, illusions? Do I want to use illusions on something this silly? I decided to use it as a cosmetic illusion.

    Oof, yeh very hot indeed whoa! We passed by a magma pit and I took out some raw chicken, attached it to a wire and fried it over the magma pit.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Lia asked as I reeled in the fried chicken. Frying chicken?

    ¡°You really are an odd one, are you sure you¡¯re not an alien or something?¡± Hmm, some people in Boshi Town used to say that too.

    ¡°Ooh, you¡¯re from Boshi town?! I heard that the barrier was lifted almost 5 years ago, so that''s where you''re from!¡±

    ¡°Boshi Town? I¡¯ve never heard about it.¡±

    The scholar started to give her a lecture about Boshi Town and how apparently, it''s Hjuva¡¯s second largest producer of most types of ore and also high up in leather and lumber.

    Apparently, that''s what Boshi Town needed to stay afloat due to its unfortunate circumstances and remoteness.

    Scholar started to interrogate me.

    ¡°How was living inside that barrier?¡±  Quite shit.

    ¡°So, wait you were about 11 or 12 when the barrier got lifted.¡± Yes, I remember it very well¡­ Anyways it seems we''re here!

    ¡°We have to wait for the ID check.¡±

    We deviated from the main road leading toward the town and took what¡¯s apparently called a ¡®Merchants Entrance¡¯ Unless there is a special occasion, only merchants get checked for their identity when entering a city.

    This is because traveling with merchants is the most efficient way to travel long distances unless you have a vehicle by yourself or can teleport. And merchants won''t allow passengers to leave the caravan within a certain radius from cities to make sure that shady characters can¡¯t take advantage of this. That''s why most assassins tend to walk and run even though joining a merchant caravan might be more efficient overall. You''d need to be gutsy or know what you''re doing to take a caravan as an assassin or spy.

    It was our turn, I showed my adventurers ID and the guards gave me a short look before letting me in.

    ¡°Be careful lad, water magic is quite useless here.¡± I know thank you.

    The humidity here was almost 0, using water magic here would be extremely hard indeed.

    Luckily Dragonvein doesn''t care. The ambient mana had elevated levels of fire in it and the air and underground leyline currents had a high tendency toward fire. The underground current also had a tendency toward earth but I don''t care about that.

    Alright, thank you guys cya! I dashed off toward the magma pit.

    ¡°Hey wait!¡± Lia and scholar ran after me.

    I reached the magma pit and looked down at the magnificence of the magma falls. It looked similar to the waterfall basin near my home in the jungle but this one was made out of magma. Oh, this looks perfect!

    ¡°Hey! Not so fast, oof you sure can run!¡± Scholar said while draging his feet. ¡°Huff, puff, I¡¯m dying¡­. Huff puff, I need¡­ water!¡±

    I got closer and wanted to jump in when I got grabbed. ¡°No, you mustn''t! You¡¯re too young to die! Is this why you wanted to find a magma pit?! I won¡¯t allow this!¡± Wait! Hey, what are you talking about? I just want to check the magma out up close!

    ¡°Huff, this guy is insane! Stop him, Lia!¡± I tried to fight back but Lia easily picked me up.

    ¡°Whoa Lia you really have monstrous strength!¡±

    ¡°No... this guy is very light¡­¡± Hey, I''m not a pet let me down!

    ¡°Do you even eat enough?¡±

    ¡°Lia, you¡¯ve seen how much he eats, you¡¯re just too strong¡­¡±

    ¡°Here, feel for yourself!¡± She tossed me at the scholar.

    Hey, I¡¯m not an object! The scholar did a catching movement but missed, because he didn''t expect me to lose altitude so slowly.

    ¡°What is going on with you? Are you cursed?¡± Well, yes, but that''s not causing this.

    ¡°You are cursed?! We need to fix this! Let''s bring him to the Adventurer¡¯s Association here! They might be able to help!¡±

    ¡°Does anything this guy even make sense? In my 12 years of teaching, I¡¯ve never been so confused!¡± Heh, so you got kicked out because you''re ignorant?!

    ¡°I didn''t get kicked out! Lia let¡¯s bring this guy to the Adventurers Association! Maybe we can find out if he¡¯s really an alien!¡±

    ¡°Maybe he¡¯s from a different race.¡±

    Scholar looked at me. ¡°He looks pretty human to me.¡±

    Lia carried me to the Adventurer¡¯s Association. Just like the one in Ainahs, it looked like its interior was a different city on itself.

    The air inside here was cool, the humidity wasn''t 0 and the scholar reacted favorably to this. ¡°Finally, some cool air.¡±

    ¡°Hello, we picked up a C-rank adventurer Agnis, ehh what was your surname? I think he¡¯s ill, can you do a check-up?¡±

    The clerk looked at me and went through her electromagical device called a tablet. ¡°Hmm, let me see, ah Agnis Hourai, sure we¡¯ll do a check-up, where and how did he get injured?¡±

    ¡°He tried to jump into the magma pit and weighs almost nothing, show her, Lia!¡± Hey put me down, there¡¯s nothing wrong with me!

    ¡°He also said something about a curse.¡±

    The clerk dropped her tablet. She ran to the back. 2 men arrived 2 minutes later and dragged me to the 3rd floor. I say dragged but it wasn''t that dramatic, they could easily lift me¡­ I should consider gravity magic¡­

    ¡°The main healer from this city will be with you soon. Please¡­ don¡¯t leave, we find it important that our adventurers get the best healthcare.¡± The clerk said as she left the sickbay.  I¡¯m not ill¡­

    A middle-aged lady appeared shortly after. ¡°Good afternoon, I¡¯m Sila, nice to meet a fellow water user.¡± Hello Sila, I¡¯m Agnis, I¡¯m not ill¡­

    ¡°Let me decide that.¡± She did various tests, hit me with various water support skills, and wrote stuff down.

    ¡°Hmm, your body has unusual properties but it seems fine besides the¡­¡± Sila looked down on her notes. ¡°2618 curses you have on you¡­ I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re still alive¡­¡±

    ¡°So, he is cursed!¡± The scholar said as he crossed his arms.

    ¡°Wait here for a bit while we prepare to remove as many as we can...¡± Look I know it''s hard to believe but I¡¯m fine!

    Sila returned with 2 guys, one of the guys had a strange and annoying look on his face, as if I was his new test subject.

    ¡°How did this guy even get this many curses on him? The most I''ve seen on someone is 5 and he was on the brink of death, this guy has the energy to snap back.¡±

    Nosy scholar pointed at me. ¡°Hey, healers is it possible that this guy is an alien?¡± Scholar? Really?

    The newcomer male healer looked on his tablet. ¡°Well from my tests he seems human, no matter how unbelievable that sounds¡­ Maybe we should re-evaluate what makes a human¡­¡±

    Hey, rude! The healers spent an hour wasting time and attempting to get the curses off me, they only managed to get 3 curses off me

    ¡°These are no ordinary curses, I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t think we can be of any help, we can only dispel up to 4th and 5th level curses, most of these are higher¡­ How are you even alive?¡± The male healer said while shaking his head. If I¡¯m not suffering under them then it''s all fine! I got up.

    Thanks for trying though.

    ¡°I will open a record just in case.¡± Uhh, what does that mean?

    ¡°That if you have problems and appear at different Adventurers Association branches the healers will know what state you¡¯re in. Springing this on some healers might give them a heart attack¡­ Also, it makes us aware of some high-risk adventurers.¡± I¡¯m not high-risk!

    ¡°Hmm let''s see.¡± The male healer with the annoying look pulled up something different. What¡¯s that?

    ¡°Your adventure log.¡± Uh oh. He listed all the events out of my reports that indicated risky and reckless behaviour.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°So, as you can see, in our system you¡¯re flagged as the second most likely adventurer to die next.¡± Oh, so I¡¯m not number one! Who is number one?

    ¡°Your teammate Raishin Torai¡­¡± Ah, I can''t say I¡¯m surprised¡­

    ¡°I would advise you to exercise caution, it always leaves a bad taste in our mouth if adventurers return with their dead allies, or even worse if we have to recover the bodies of dead adventurers, this will only get worse if we have to fetch the corpse of a teen¡­¡± I¡­ I¡¯ll try to be more careful.

    ¡°Good, you¡¯re dismissed, Don''t let me see you here in the sickbay again!¡±

    Don''t worry I¡¯m immortal!

    Nobody seemed to believe me and we were back in the main hall of the adventurer¡¯s association.

    I was looking for applications that requested water users. I guess most people here aren¡¯t unreasonable. I found 2 unreasonable ones though they paid a lot but I¡¯m not interested in gold. So, one that had gold as a reward was useless to me.

    This other one though, is a guide through the sewer system? I can see why nobody would pick this up even if they could fulfill this quest. But I¡¯m curious, how does the sewer system work here where every drop of water instantly evaporates? Also, the sewer system will put me closer to the magma pits.

    It¡¯s as if this quest was made for me! This brings another question. Is this a trap? But who would set a trap for me? I don''t have enemies¡­ those that attacked Hourai flashed by. I took the request and the people at the register looked at me like I was mad. The person at the registry was trying to convince me to not take it.

    The elevator door opened and the male healer rushed out. ¡°What did I tell you about being careful? And here you are 5 minutes later taking up this request! Mila, take the request down!¡±

    ¡°Yes sir!¡±

    Healerguy frowned his brow. ¡°Listen here, I know you¡¯re a water user but water magic is very limited once you go outside this building. You may not know this, and even still it¡¯s too risky to take alone.¡± So, it¡¯s fine if I bring more people?

    ¡°... that¡¯s not the point¡­ Anyway the request got taken down because it''s unreasonable and dangerous.¡± The Healerguy gestured to some woman cloaked in black. ¡°Can you keep an eye out on this kid? He¡¯s number 2 on our high-risk list, I will not charge you for your next 10 medical visits if you take this up.¡±

    ¡°Is he that difficult?¡± This tall young woman looked at me with her pink purple eyes. I backed off a bit. Eyes of this color remind me of Hisui when her charm magic went out of control. It seems this is just the natural eye color of this chick. ¡°Hmm interesting, you¡¯re not a human either are you?¡±

    ¡°Huh? All our tests confirmed that he is a human.¡± Healerguy said as he gave me another inspection.

    ¡°Interesting, I¡¯m sure he isn''t, I will take up the assignment.¡±

    The Healerguy nodded and walked away. I was stuck with another bodyguard...

    ¡°My name is Sylvana.¡± She gestured me to come closer and widened her hood a bit and revealed her pointy ears. There didn¡¯t seem many adventurers near or paying attention to her. It seemed like she wanted to keep this secret, I was wondering why she showed her ears to me though. Ah an elf, I thought they didn''t like to associate with humans.

    ¡°Correct they don¡¯t, I don''t particularly hate them but I also don¡¯t like them either, that''s why I move solo, as you might have noticed I take a Silent Night role. But precisely because I don''t like humans, I can tell that you aren''t one.¡± I see but is that the reason you agreed to help me?

    ¡°Hmm, not really but something else piqued my interest, you smell like fresh rain.¡± Hey, I keep hearing that, I don''t smell it, what does it mean? And can I hide it?

    ¡°So, tell me who told you that?¡± Sylvana seemed quite interested. Uhh, just some people, my friend Vinny and ehh another friend Starbolt.

    ¡°Ooh tell me were they human?¡± Uhm of course! Why wouldn''t they be human?

    ¡°You do realize that you¡¯re a terrible liar, right? Let''s go somewhere more private because this is not something for human ears.¡± We got into a private arena used for duels or practice battles but these couldn''t be spectated. She removed her hood and revealed her long blonde hair.

    ¡°You look young and you probably are young so there is a chance that you don''t know this. There are certain traits specific races possess that aren''t noticeable by a wide variety of other races. For example, you backed off when you made eye contact with me, why was that?¡± Uh, because of your unusual eye color.

    ¡°But blue eyes are quite common.¡° I looked at her eyes and they were indeed blue.

    ¡°Certain groups of races will see the eye color of elves as the color associated with the type of magic, they''re the weakest against. The types of races that this applies to are those that are either deeply connected to the planet or are aware of certain aspects of them and maintain them. Most of these races are very rare. Us elves are probably the least rare of them. So, since you saw my eye color differently means that you fall in that category. And you smell like fresh rain exactly because of this reason, that is why I asked what races your friends were because humans don''t fall in this category.¡± Uhm a dragon and a spirit.

    ¡°A dragon and a spirit?¡± Sylvana paused. ¡°Spirit?¡±

    Uhh, wait maybe he wasn''t a spirit! Sylvana got closer and activated something that looked like spirit magic. It was just a hand moving quite slowly but Sylvana already saw that I could see the hand.

    Ugh, I guess the fox is out of the bag.

    ¡°I see so they still exist, that¡¯s nice to know¡­¡± So, uh does me smelling like rain mean something?

    ¡°Hmm the tailed beasts have some complicated things going on for them they either have a smell or sound to them but nothing is consistent. It does seem to indicate something about their personality but nobody knows for sure, in general, it¡¯s more like if it''s a pleasant smell or sound they are generally good individuals.¡± So, is this mechanism in place to identify those races that are tied to the planet? And why haven¡¯t I noticed them on some of my family or friends?

    ¡°Yeah, you might not have noticed but most of the races in this category are either neutral or friendly with each other, also if you¡¯re with them all the time you won¡¯t notice it just as you don¡¯t notice you¡¯re wearing clothes as you¡¯re so used to it¡±. Hmm, I guess that''s true.

    ¡°I know your role but the role of the elves is maintaining the balance of the flora on the planet, we are quite friendly with the 4 tailed forest rabbits.¡± Hmm well, I can imagine not being fond of humans that keep chopping trees if that''s the case.

    ¡°Besides that, they used to or still hunt whatever is different than them. Not realizing that there are some races that even the most aggressive races don''t mess with because they know the planet would be in trouble if they got killed off.¡± Hmm, I¡¯m more shocked that dragons are also crucial.

    ¡°They''re a weird bunch. They eat excess mana but their numbers are also getting close to the point where it''s hard for them to keep it up, the three-tailed shadow cats are also low in numbers.¡± This planet is doomed, no wonder Isi was crying for help.

    Syl was surprised and grabbed my shoulders. ¡°You know about Isi?!¡± Uhh, 4-5 meters tall, 5 arms, white hair with braids, Only seen her once.

    ¡°Wait what are you talking about? You saw her?¡± Can I trust you?

    I looked at Syl, an assassin and an elf, it¡¯s quite hard to find a combination that''s more trustworthy than this.

    Never mind, of course, I can. I told her about what happened in the mental plane and about Dragonvein.

    Her face showed concern. ¡°Hmm, I see unfortunately there is not much that can be done, besides the elves, six-tailed lightning tigers, and four-tailed forest rabbits, the other races are struggling hard with their numbers, your race being the most dire. This problem needs to be solved first because attempting to fix the current state of the planet. Otherwise it will just cause the few numbers they have to die out.¡± Yup, elves are way more useful than dragons.

    ¡°Anyways, to hide this you just need to be aware of it. I would suggest turning it on when you meet another race like yours or mine. Could save a lot of trouble. Anyways your race explains a lot.¡± Hmm, right, did my smell disappear?

    ¡°Yes.¡± Good so now that you know what I am you don''t need to babysit me any longer.

    ¡°Now that I know what you are it became even more important¡­¡± Any chance I can convince you I''m a human?

    ¡°Not a chance¡± Then want to jump in the magma pit with me?

    ¡°I don''t have heat resistance like you do¡­¡± Then give up on bodyguarding me!

    ¡°I will find a way, why do you need to jump in the magma pit? I knew you foxes were reckless but this¡­¡± It''s so I can get better at this. I connected with the underground currents and used [Fire dragon dance].

    ¡°Looks pretty powerful to me, why do you need to practice this? It would turn an average human into ash.¡± Yes, but I most likely won''t be concerned with fighting humans, will I?

    ¡°Hmm, I see. Alright, we¡¯ll jump in the pit tomorrow, I need some preparations.¡± I''m starting to like elves more and more.

    We left the private practice room and encountered Lia and the scholar, ¡°Hey who is this!¡± She¡¯s my new mommy, at least she lets me jump into the firepit.

    ¡°... do you not have a sense of responsibility?! You both will burn up!¡± Lia said while pointing at syl and displaying an accusing glare.

    Syl had her hood on again so she just looked like a regular human, albeit a bit tall, Silent Night. ¡°Do you know these two?¡± I know that one, that¡¯s Lia, I don¡¯t know that other dude though.

    ¡°Hey come on! It''s me Etienne!¡± Who? I have never called anyone that before in my life.

    ¡°Wha?!¡±

    ¡°He did always call you ''Scholar'' so he¡¯s not wrong¡­¡±

    ¡°Well, Agnis and I are jumping in the magma pit tomorrow. Now excuse me I have preparations to make.¡± Syl walked off and the scholar followed her with his eyes.

    Lia put her hands on her hips and sighed. ¡°Who was that, you didn''t get into trouble again did you?¡± Oh no, she¡¯s making sure I stay out of trouble. The healer assigned her as my bodyguard for some reason.

    ¡°Oh, so you have 2 bodyguards now!¡± You don''t want to jump into the magma pit!

    ¡°Why are you so obsessed with that magma pit?! How about... a hot spring?¡± ¡­ What if I told you that I have a very high heat resistance and I need to practice something in that pit?

    ¡°Don¡¯t be absurd! Nobody can survive a magma pit like that! Especially not a kid!¡± I appreciate that Lia tries to look out for me but this is unnecessary. How do I escape this...

    ¡°So, who was that chick?¡± Oh, finally asking the correct question Scholar, that was Syl, her name was longer than that but I forgot. If you''re nice I can put in a word for you.

    ¡°Oooh! So, when are we jumping in the magma pit?!¡± Uhh, maybe you should sit this one out I¡¯m not sure you¡¯ll be fine down there¡­

    ¡°But I need to protect Syl!¡± I¡¯m sure she could kick your ass with her eyes closed¡­

    Lia and the scholar kept being annoying. We got some rooms in the Adventurers Association to spend the night. Lia was trying to get to share a room with me to keep an eye out on me but a clerk helped me intervene and get my own room.

    I laid down in bed. These beds were super comfy and the rooms were extremely cheap only 50 bronze¡­ how does this place even still stay standing. Almost any service or item acquired here is way cheaper than any alternative. Are the president and vice daddy that rich? Maybe they get sponsored.

    <hr>

    I woke up and brushed my tails. I found some grains of sand.

    Stupid sand¡­ I left my room and went outside. I got met with the hot air. And walked to the magma pit.

    ¡°Wait! Don''t jump yet!¡± Lia came running wearing protective gear against the heat.

    ¡°Here, I bought some potions to boost heat resistance, why aren''t you wearing any protective clothing? here!¡± I chugged one of the potions but I refused to put on this uncomfy-looking magic vest. Look, I¡¯m not sweating, does it look like I can¡¯t take the heat?

    ¡°Magma is different!¡±

    ¡°So noisy early in the morning, are you ready?¡± Syl appeared out of nowhere and was wearing a dark red cloak instead of a black one. She also chugged one of those potions.

    ¡°Show the way¡± I jumped and so did Syl.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Lia took the long and safe route. I shifted stance and started [Tempest Step], I grabbed Syl and blew us onto a rock sticking out of the magma.

    ¡°Have you mastered all the basic elements?¡± Ehh, besides earth, kinda. I¡¯m here to master fire. Lia was stuck on the other side of the magma pool and couldn''t reach our rock.

    Be careful I might knock you over.

    ¡°With your weight? I would fail as an elf if you could knock me over¡± Fair point. I shifted stance and used [Water dragon dance] and cooled off the magma between Lia and us, creating a rock bridge.

    Syl kept moving to the spot on the rock that had the most space while I was doing these movements while letting the leyline energy flow through my joints and in the correct sequence.

    ¡°Those are quite elegant movements.¡± Not by choice¡­

    Lia came over after the path made of rock was made. ¡°Thank you, you can even use water here? And you seem fine! What other secrets do you have?!¡± I can one-shot this whole city.

    ¡°Haha, there you go again with your jokes.¡±

    Syl noticed what I was doing and flashed a subtle smile. ¡°Interesting¡­ I should try that too sometimes.¡±

    We walked into a magma cave and I kept creating a path by turning magma into rock with [Water Dragon Dance]. The weight of the water was still an issue and some movements are uncomfortable while hurling a massive body of water around. I will get used to this someday... My muscle aches are getting milder and more infrequent.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t you get tired?¡± Lia asked as if she noticed that I was thinking about how much of a pain in the ass Dragonvein is.

    I¡¯ve been doing this for a while but I will eventually. We arrived at a magma chamber. I spotted some magma snakes and some other magma monsters. I located the coolest spot in the magma chamber and started [Drowning Pulse] and created a large spot where we could chill. Syl was using wind magic to get rid of the toxic gasses.

    ¡°Give me 3 minutes and the whole magma chamber will be safe.¡±

    I created an enormous ice pillar to keep the safe spot a little bit cooler.

    ¡°So, we¡¯re here, what now?¡± I wait till Syl has cleared out all the toxic gasses and then I¡¯m going to practice.

    ¡°Practice what?¡± You¡¯ll see. The only downside with Lia being here is that I can¡¯t bring my tails out.

    ¡°It is done¡± Thanks.

    I connected to the underground current and started [Fire Dragon Festival] and ran over the magma. Underground leyline currents respond better to the movements of my legs.

    I will have to pay attention to this. I prefer kicking over palm strikes or punching so this works for me. There is one problem though... leg muscle aches suck as it greatly hinders my mobility...

    It was time to practise, so I jumped on the magma and ran towards the nearest Magma Snake.

    ¡°Wait! Oh, he can run over magma¡­¡± I spent the rest of the day trying different things with fire Dragonvein.

 Vol 2 Ch 36: Sylvana

    I have been practicing fire Dragonvein for several weeks now. It''s day 268 and I feel like I¡¯ve mastered it by now. Lia gave up coming with us halfway because it was too hot and draining on her wallet to keep buying potions which meant I could use my tails for the latter half of my training.

    ¡°You seem content with your results.¡± You too, you seem to have nailed down how to fight these magma monsters.

    ¡°At first it was to kill time but I realized that I have no idea how to fight these things so it made for good practice, I sincerely hope I will never have to fight in a hostile environment like this but it¡¯s good to have practiced it.¡± We were done for the day and climbed out of the pit. Lia didn''t join us but always made it a point to wait with refreshments together with the Scholar who I promoted to Creep. He was making it clear he was interested in Sylvana and being creepy about it. He didn''t even know she is an elf.

    Thanks, Lia, that was our last magma pit visit. I paid Sylvana, she seemed confused but still accepted the 1 gold. I wanted to give Lia 1 gold too but she refused.

    ¡°Nono! I did this because I wanted to!¡± Just take it! That stuff you kept buying wasn''t cheap!

    ¡°You can pay me!¡± I looked at Creep with a disgusted face. You? You should pay Sylvana for the distress you caused her!

    ¡°You said that you would put in a good word for me!¡± Then be worthy of them!

    ¡°Sylvana! Help me!¡±

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t come so close!¡± Creep grabbed at Sylvana, she tried to dodge but he managed to grab her cloak and pull it off.

    Ugh, Creep, you idiot. Sylvana¡¯s ears got exposed and I pulled her into an alley.

    ¡°Did anyone see them?¡± I don¡¯t know but I¡¯m going to wipe everyone''s memory. My eyes glowed.

    ¡°No don''t! An effect that is powerful has side effects. Maybe nobody saw them¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey, Agnis what¡¯s going on?¡± Lia came to us and saw Sylvana¡¯s ears before she covered them up.

    ¡°Oh, an elf¡­ I didn''t know... Why do you always need to be so forceful Etienne!¡±

    ¡°H...how was I supposed to know she was an elf! She¡¯s pretty though¡­¡± I flicked a pebble at his forehead.

    ¡°Ow!¡±

    ¡°She is not going to get hunted down now, is she?¡± If someone with bad intentions saw her, she might¡­ unfortunately I don¡¯t know if the Adventurers Association is safe. Who all knows that you¡¯re an elf?

    ¡°Only Rubert, the healer that made me bodyguard you. He told me not to show or tell anyone because apparently elves sell for a lot on the slave market.¡± Ugh, the slave market, that place sucks.

    ¡°You¡­ you¡¯ve been a slave before?¡± I got lucky and got treated nicely but it''s unpleasant nonetheless. I think we need to get you out of here.

    ¡°I''m so sorry¡­¡± Creep bowed his head.

    ¡°Go reflect Etienne!¡±

    ¡°Yes, sis¡­¡± Wait? Creep is your brother?

    ¡°Younger half-brother yes.¡± You have it hard.

    ¡°I will gather my belongings and say goodbye to Rubert, can you meet me at the south gate in 30 minutes?¡± Sure, I will attempt to find out who saw and sow chaos if needed. Sylvana disappeared.

    ¡°Let me help!¡± I appreciate it but I think that this is where we say goodbye. I¡¯m going to help her escape. I don''t think you will be able to keep up. Thank you for your help and kindness. I pressed another gold coin in her hand.

    Please don¡¯t come and look for us. I disappeared using some illusions and tried to find out who saw Sylvana. It seems Creep was attracting quite the attention with his behavior so a lot of people caught the moment when he pulled off her cloak. A lot of people seemed to be talking about it. I used some illusions to cause confusion but the word was already out that an elf was spotted. Even if it remained as a rumor, those with bad intentions would attempt to find out how what and why. That¡¯s why I wanted to wipe their memories but it''s too late now. The rumor was spreading like wildfire. I haven''t heard any names dropping but the speculation started and the first that were targeted were the ones that were always hooded in public. This is exactly the reason why I don''t walk around with my tails out. I started hearing tasteless comments, some even of discrimination. The relationship between elves and humans is neutral yet¡­

    ¡°Let¡¯s go catch her! I bet she¡¯s pretty! We can become rich¡±

    ¡°I want to have fun with her first!¡± Comments like that, at least they would only try to kill me if they discovered and caught me, unfortunately, Sylvana wouldn''t be that lucky if she ever got caught. It reminded me vaguely of something that happened before we got captured in Hourai.

    I assassinated some scumbags but the number of these guys started to increase. I headed over to the gate and waited for Sylvana. I waited 5 minutes; I waited 10 minutes. Shit!

    I entered the Adventurer¡¯s Association and there was a big battle going on. Some adventurers were defending Sylvana, a large group was trying to capture her but the largest group was just watching and not doing anything. Either because they were non-combatants or too afraid to stand up for what they believed in. A large part of those trying to capture Sylvana, were Silent Nights so I couldn''t sneak her out. Lia was in the group trying to defend Sylvana.

    All right assholes you have 5 seconds to clear away and let Sylvana through. Lots of of laughter and mocking. I nodded to Sylvana and she blew all the allies to the side and made an evasive maneuver. I took my stance and used a skill I created as a memory for this training. I used [Fernys¡¯ Magma pit], which creates a magma pit as its name suggests. Easiest win of my life. Maybe went a bit overboard because everything was on fire and created a huge molten pit in the middle of the hall and anything close to my attack had melted. Anyone caught up in it got turned into a human torch and the familiar smell of burnt flesh and the familiar sound of screams of agony started to fill the hall. I am no stranger to burning people to death. Lia had protected the friendlies with an [Earth wall] which was now a magma puddle.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Woops, and here I thought I was holding back, come on Sylvana let''s go! Lia gave a gesture that she would take care of the situation and we ran off. Sorry, I was late

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you were probably waiting for me¡­¡± We slipped into stealth and avoided some shady characters. Where did these guys come from?

    ¡°This city has a large zone that''s a lawless area. I see that you have some Silent Night skills¡± Yeah, I want to get more into it after I finish my Dragonvein training. We left the city and I lowered us into a nearby magma pit and kept Sylvana cool with ice.

    ¡°In that case, whenever you want to hone those skills, show this at the counter in the Loud Sun bar in Daggerfall a town west of the Penumbra mountain range and close to the Zanyr river.¡± She handed me some weird black trinket. Penumbra mountain range as in the one to the south of the Umbra mountain range?

    ¡°Exactly.¡± Thanks, but let''s escape first. Do you have any destinations?

    ¡°I think I should visit home for once but that''s too far, all the way in the Igrini Kingdom.¡± Ah right, it has one of the 4 elven forests. That''s indeed far.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s best if I take a ship to Igrini Kingdom.¡± We have to go quite south for that but that works I could practice water in the ocean. But a boat ride to Igrini, that¡¯s going to take very long.

    ¡°It does decrease the chances of some of the people after me finding me. I just have to deal with those on the ship.¡± I will accompany you till you reach the port.

    ¡°And then you''ll jump into the ocean?¡± Yup. The coast was clear and I grabbed Sylvana and teleported as far south as I could without preparations. Hmm only 2 km then again it is called a short-range teleport.

    ¡°This will give us a good head start, thank you.¡±

    I asked if she knew how far the ocean was and judging by her description the ocean was almost as far as the distance, I ran to get from Ainahs to the border. Ugh, nobody has time for that! Do you mind if I cheat a bit?

    ¡°Another teleport?¡± Don¡¯t be silly I can¡¯t teleport that far unless my tails run simulations for, I don''t know how long. I hope you don''t have motion sickness.

    ¡°Huh?¡± I covered us in a 7 layered illusion and got out my tails.

    ¡°Oh, they look so fluffy!¡± Hey Sylvana focus! I¡¯m going to run.

    ¡°Ehh, ok, I think it¡¯s a waste of energy though¡­¡± You¡¯ll see. I picked her up with my 5th tail and took off my shoes.

    ¡°Why are you taking off your shoes?¡± I like these shoes. I connected to the air leyline currents and went for the modified [Accel step]. No mana needed! Dragonvein builds lightning faster than the mana version though so I need to store the excess into my tails else I would become a dangerous ball of lightning. I sped up and I could notice that Sylvana was freaking out. I didn''t go as fast as last time so we came close enough to the ocean to smell it after 20 minutes. I stopped and we could see a port city in the distance.

    ¡°Whoa! That surprised me! Were you foxes always this fast?¡± Nope, it seems that I¡¯m an anomaly.

    ¡°We are a bit off course but still close enough to Gavin, the port city I was aiming for, thanks.¡± There shouldn''t be any assholes trying to catch you here. We walked toward the port town.

    So, what brought you this far from home by the way?

    ¡°The elves as a race are quite stuck up on traditions, I also just got tired of being stuck in the same village and forest so after 1400 years I decided to head out.¡± Is that as in 1400 years ago or at 1400 years old did you leave?

    ¡°On my 1400th birthday, which was 4 years ago. At first, I stayed near the forest but as I got bolder and bolder, I got further and further away and before I knew it, I ended up in Fernys I¡¯m still unfamiliar with most of the human customs so excuse me if I come off as a bit ignorant.¡± Oh no, I¡¯m quite ignorant too. So, what was it that you set out to do or was it just an adventure?

    ¡°I told you elves are the managers of the flora, right?¡± Yes.

    ¡°Then why are there only 4 forests that are inhabited by elves?¡± Uhh, I never thought about that, why is that?

    ¡°I don''t know either. It is one of the reasons I set out to find out why. Also, how can we manage the flora if we sit on our asses in the same spot for millennia? Aren¡¯t we supposed to go around and assess the status of the flora all around the continent? Why are we sitting still with our strict traditions and customs to not interfere with other races while we¡¯re supposed to help them?! All the other races that are worse off than us are doing their best and dropping in numbers but we who aren''t doing our job properly have a population larger than ever before! Isn''t this wrong? Maybe I¡¯m biased, can you tell me as an outsider but still in a similar situation, what do you think?!¡± Personally, I think if you have a duty as a race, you should do it, now if this causes your population to diminish¡­ that I don''t know¡­ If I don''t fulfil my role, there is no world to live on so dammed if I do and damned if I don''t. So might as well do my best to hold out as long as possible. Although it''s the worst for us 9t is not as if we''re the only one suffering and dying, all of us are doing our best at the cost of our lives to keep the world going. So, on a macro scale, I think what the elves do is wrong and I agree with you, but on an individual scale, I wouldn''t want you to die because your race stopped bothering you.

    ¡°Hmm, well I have seen some things in these 4 years and I have a lot to say to the elders of my forest. I will try to persuade them but I¡¯m expecting to fail. I''ve seen so many sick forests, so many plants that went extinct and we didn''t do anything.¡± Hey, just a question do you know the state of blue ghost truffles? They¡¯re not plants but they fall under your jurisdiction, right?

    ¡°They, do, and as far as I know they¡¯re extinct, probably a contributing factor to why you foxes are doing so poorly¡­ I¡¯d like to apologize but I really don¡¯t know how to fix this¡­ if there is just 1 specimen alive there might be something we could do but they have always been rare finding it won''t be easy if it still exists.¡± You don''t need to apologize, if you have time there''s a jungle close to the north side of the desert, a jungle dragon named Vinny lives there, he has a dark green scar on his tail, tell him you know Agnis Hourai. He has some rare plants stored; you might be able to help each other. You can attract their attention by blasting nature energy, I¡¯m sure they won''t randomly attack an elf.

    ¡°Thanks, I will remember that. May I ask what you¡¯re doing here on the green floor? Didn''t the nine-tailed spirit foxes retreat into their own subdimension?¡± Oh, the elves call this the green floor, well uhh, this and that happened. I explained what happened to Hourai. Sylvana started to shake.

    ¡°This is bad, this is very bad! Why isn''t this known?!¡± Uh, well we¡¯re just with 4¡­ 3 survivors and we have mainly encountered humans and we surely aint telling them.

    ¡°Fair point. Most of the tailed beasts are gone¡­ I have more ammo now to confront my elders, thank you.¡± We talked a bit more. It seems there is a thing called Elvish magic. There is no such thing as nature magic but elvish magic comes very close to it. I decided to lift my ban temporarily and I learned 3 Elvish magic skills. I had nothing to teach her unfortunately because none of my specialties align with her. Although I did give her tips on stealth. I advised her to make sure the stealth also removes her weight and that wind magic can''t detect her. She had the wind magic covered but she acknowledged that erasing weight might be useful although a bit tricky. But elves aren''t heavy either so it¡¯s not an immediate concern for her. The smell of the ocean became stronger and stronger and we reached the city several hours after nightfall. She got lucky and there was one more ship that was heading toward Igrini kingdom. She got on and waved.

    ¡°Don¡¯t die before we get to meet again!¡± You don¡¯t get caught before we meet again! The ship left and I located the Adventurers Association building in this city which was called Gavin and got a room.

 Vol 2 Ch 37: Subaquatic Headache

    I spent 2 days familiarizing myself with the city. It was day 271 and I was ready to master my water skills. I couldn''t just jump in the ocean as I wanted to though. There was nothing interesting directly near the shore. I would need someone to take me on a boat and bring me to a place that''s quite interesting underwater, preferably with strong monsters. In those 2 days, I also mixed the stoneroot powder and now have a mixture that can petrify opponents. The hardest part is to remember that I have stoneroot.

    Simulations were run on how to create better and stronger bubbles while being underwater. I would also need a bit of wind Dragonvein to fill the bubbles with air. This would never work with magic but since I can change the energy into whatever element. I can theoretically stay underwater indefinitely. I can also pull air out of my dimensional pocket, which is the only thing I unintentionally store. I was wondering if I should take a very long break as I was a bit tired. I would be spending a lot of time underwater and it will be rough.

    Safety goes first so I relaxed and tried out multiple specialties of seafood cuisine in Gavin.

    Day 281, I wanted to start my training yesterday but I got lazy and I ended up just practicing some wind Dragonvein. I started to develop the habit of practicing at least one or two elements early in the morning.

    I had gathered some tips for underwater combat. Firstly, don''t underestimate the water pressure, besides that, it gets very cold and dark down there. Things I can deal with. Another tip was to make sure I don¡¯t ascend too fast else I will get decompression sickness or the bends. A small test revealed that I¡¯m immune to that, so that fine. The rest was just paying attention to the air supply and dangerous creatures, I think.

    I found a fishing boat that would be going quite far out. They warned me about the dangers of the ocean. I know it¡¯s dangerous but I¡¯m sure I''m still underestimating it. If I get knocked out underwater, the pressure will keep killing me until I run out of lives¡­ I need to avoid passing out at all costs. I could have my tails coil around me if that happens but that will only protect me temporarily. I thought of the people that keep telling me to be careful, I¡¯m so sorry but this is important! I paid the fishermen and got on their boat. The weather was clear and there was a nice breeze, perfect for diving! Even though the weather doesn''t matter when I¡¯m underwater.

    ¡°It''s not too late to reconsider, the ocean is brutal even with calm weather like this.¡± Thank you for the warning but I have to do this.

    ¡°Here, take it for good luck.¡± The old man gave me a small bell made out of a shell. ¡°May Ardella keep you safe.¡± The shell bell had a small symbol on it. Ardella?

    ¡°Sarian goddess of the ocean and water.¡± Ah right, thanks. I jumped in the water and got accustomed to moving in the water with Dragonvein. It seemed like these movements were made for moving through the water. I helped the fishermen a bit with catching fish and almost drowned 4 times at the start but slowly and surely, I got the hang of it.

    ¡°We caught enough fish, are you sure you want to stay behind?¡± The old man asked, making sure that I wanted to stay behind. Yes, thank you!

    ¡°Are you 100% sure?¡± Yes!

    ¡°May Ardella guide you!¡± The fishermen returned to shore. They kept looking back with uncomfortable looks on their faces.

    I put what I learned during the fishing into practice and dove down. I popped out all my tails and made a thin veil of air around me that would protect me from the pressure. I stayed below the surface for 10 minutes to make my tails absorb enough seawater. Using tails is ''easy mode'' but ''hard mode'' will cause ''dead mode'' so I will keep using my tails until I¡¯m completely confident. I started to sink and used 3 of my tails as propellers, and 2 more as fins the other 3 were in charge of keeping the air veil in check, scanning the area for threats, and possibly automating some Dragonvein techniques when I''m too occupied with something like fleeing from sea monsters or fighting monsters. If I make a mistake I will die. I wasn''t descending as fast as I hoped. It seems my body isn''t made for diving. I created a water veil around the air veil and it weighed me down enough to descend faster. My free 3 tails were recording and processing everything I do and will remember the things that work and reject what doesn''t.

    One of the biggest reasons the tailed beasts are so strong is because our tails can do all this stuff. It doesn''t seem to help keep us alive most of the time though.

    I encountered a pod of orcas. They seemed to be curious about what I was doing down here. I inhaled some air which had been pulled from my dimensional pocket and went to play with the orcas. They were way faster than me. I studied how they moved through the water and mimicked them. After 15 minutes they all started to surface to breathe. I struggled to get myself to ascend. The orcas were kind and waited for me. I took a deep breath and dove down again with the orcas. 3 hours were spent swimming and learning from them. I didn''t realize how often they needed to go up and breathe. I always thought they could stay under for half an hour or an hour but they resurfaced 4 to 5 times per hour.

    The orcas headed toward the shore and I had to say goodbye to them. I took some fish I had stored in my dimensional pocket, gave them some, and dove to about 3 km down. Everything was going good so far but I was beginning to tire. I shifted my stance and used wind Dragonvein to create a bubble of air in which I could rest. It needed a thick heavy water veil around to make sure I wouldn''t float up.

    I never knew that staying underwater was such a pain in the ass. I did a slightly risky test to see how thin I could make it before it was about to fail. I figured out what this was and made sure to always have at least twice the thickness of that. I was chilling in my bubble when I noticed that I was moving. It took a while but my tails picked up that I got caught in an ocean current. It slowly sped up and brought me deeper and deeper. I monitored the bubble but it was keeping up with the increasing pressure, my tails were doing a great job. The leyline energy was looping perfectly and keeping its shape. It became darker and darker and I started seeing strange creatures.

    Are these monsters or animals? I can''t tell. I wonder how they taste. I surely hope they taste better than they are handsome because these things are ugly! How would I catch these things from my bubble though? My go-to method is to zap them. Wouldn¡¯t I zap myself too? What if I turn the water veil into pure water? That doesn''t conduct lightning, as long as I can send it outside the bubble, I¡¯ll be fine.

    My hard-working tails started to work out how to do this. If this was magic it would be simple, leyline energy works a bit differently. I tried a couple of things and created small sparks to test out. I need movements that I can¡¯t make in this bubble. I went back to the veil around me so I could move freely around. I created a [Pure Water Veil] and zapped the ugly fish, collected them, reformed my bubble and started snacking on them.

    Yuck this one tastes as bad as it''s ugly! I burnt my first catch to ash. The next 2 didn''t taste bad but not great either. The last ugly fish though¡­ It had soft flesh and tasted very good. I decided to farm these ugly fish.

    I went a bit overboard and had a great catch. My tails notified me that the currents had pulled me to a depth of 4732m. I saw a lot of funny and ugly creatures but even so, it was quite empty. It was full of life closer to the surface. It felt a bit lonely down here and most of the ugly fish were bad company. There was an ugly shark with a pointy nose that wanted to pop my bubble. I have never eaten a shark but if this guy keeps this up, he will be the first one!

    He gave up and left. I had to get back in my veil and zap him to scare him off. Although I have the feeling that was not the reason he left. I looked around because I feel like this was one of those moments where something big and scary scared him off and not me. Compared to what lives down here, I''m not that scary. An enormous eel-like fish approached. It looked normal, maybe even a bit cute. Until it electrified the area with red lightning and attacked me.

    I was safe because of my [Pure water veil] but it turned a good chunk into steam. I don''t think I can fight this so I put everything into getting away from this monster. It created downward currents to make my life hard and kept assaulting me with red lightning. It killed and snacked on the ugly fish that got hit. Did I attract its attention by throwing lightning attacks around? Something tells me that lightning does nothing against this thing. I turned around and used [Lightning dragon dance]. This lightning eel didn''t care. He got hit by everything and discharged orange lightning. I think I made him stronger¡­ His attacks were starting to punch through my [pure water veil]. I tried to control my body through all the zaps and numbness. A [Tempest Step] should be able to send me up.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    The eel tried to eat me but I turned a [Wind Dragon Dance] dragon into ice for him to chomp on. Its mouth froze and it started to rampage and shot orange [lightning orbs] at me that kept following me while spamming [Discharges]. I realized a problem. As long as I was in this bubble, I was relatively safe from the lightning attacks but I would be slow.

    The veil was used to attack and allowed me to move freely so its defensive capabilities were poor. I had to switch back to the bubble to make sure I stayed alive. But I could only get away from him if I ditched the bubble. All this lightning was heating up the ocean water¡­ I''m toast if I take a direct hit of that, quite literally¡­ I gambled and ditched the bubble and swam away at full speed. I left it far behind but it still managed to zap me. I felt my consciousness slipping and everything went black.

    I woke up coughing on an empty beach and had to move seawater out of my lungs which was an unpleasant, salty and painful experience. I had no energy left.

    I laid on my back in the surf. There was sand in my pants again¡­ I did a self-diagnosis. Still, 44 lives left. How the fuck did I not die there? I still had the 3 tails out that I had tasked to make sure I didn''t die. The beach seemed empty. It was also 2:23 in the morning. Time to find out what my tails were up to.

    After I lost consciousness all my tails disappeared besides these 3. The veil around me dropped briefly but my tails reactivated it shortly after. After that, they propelled me to a current that would bring me to shore. But since I didn''t pay attention to the currents this didn''t go well. My orca friends appeared and carried me to shore. I got so lucky this time. I dragged myself away from the water and rested near a dune. I hid my tails and fell asleep.

    <hr>

    Someone is noisy... I woke up to the sound of noisy kids. My mood was terrible. My head and chest hurt, it was noisy and there was sand everywhere! I tried getting the sand out of my ears. I need a bath and more sleep. I tried to get up but I was still feeling weak. Maybe I need to rest more, but this is not a great spot.

    "Hey, Mom! I found a homeless person!" Hey come on kid I¡¯m not homeless, well technically I am but that''s all I have in common with homeless people! I didn''t have the energy to voice my opinion to this kid though.

    "That''s not a homeless person, he got stranded." At least this woman understands.

    "Do you think he''s a sea monster? Or the god of the sea?" Hey come on kid you''re giving me too much credit.

    "Maybe he is, he looks tired, go get Dad and tell him we''re bringing him home."

    "Yay, we''re having a sea monster over as a guest! Daaaad!"

    "Hey, are you alright, we will help you out in a bit, hang on, ok?" And at that moment I lost consciousness again.

    <hr>

    More noise. My chest didn''t hurt anymore and I had fresh clothes on. These weren''t mine. Well, this is awkward. Also, no sand, except for¡­ I got more sand out of my ears. I got up and sat back down. I didn''t have as much energy as I expected and my hands were shaking a bit. Did getting zapped so badly affect my nervous system? I circulated nature energy and felt better after 15 minutes. I got up and opened the door a bit and took a look through the opening.

    2 kids were playing and throwing wind magic around. The mother was nowhere to be seen. My Elgards eyes revealed that she was cooking in the kitchen. The father was reading and cancelling some magic skills, the kids were throwing around here and there, to make sure they didn''t bring the house down. What he did was quite impressive.

    ¡°Oh, seems you¡¯re awake, no need to be shy, you can come on in.¡± This father was something else, he never looked up from his book, he was still cancelling the magic of these kids and he noticed that I was spying on them. Granted I didn''t put any effort into spying. Uh, thank you for helping me and providing me with a new set of clothes.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about it, we have to look out for each other.¡±

    One of the kids approached me. He seemed to be about 9 years old. ¡°Hey, mister! Are you a sea monster?!¡± Uhm, no? Why would I be a sea monster?

    ¡°Then, then are you a sea god?!¡± His sister seemed to be younger. I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m not that interesting.

    ¡°But you must be! The Gcehaio Ocean is super-duper dangerous, especially these parts! So, if you stranded alive it must mean you¡¯re a god or a sea monster!¡± I looked at their father.

    "He could also be very lucky; a sea monster would die if he stayed out of the water for this long." The father never looked up from his book. Is this Greg''s future?

    "So, he''s a sea god then!" A sea god wouldn''t drown and almost die¡­ I would make for a shitty sea god¡­

    "That''s exactly what a sea god would say! He needs to stay undercover so he can study the humans!" The boy seemed proud of his conclusion.

    "All right Jeremy, I think you''ve watched too much tv!" The father closed his book and got up.

    "The name is Richard, this is my son Jeremy and my daughter Lisa, my wife''s name is Yra." Nice to meet you, I''m Agnis.

    "Nice to meet you Agnis, may I ask what happened?" Uhm well, I went to practice underwater combat and it went well until a giant lightning eel zapped me.

    "Hmm, that¡¯s a strange and interesting story, why would you do such a thing though, there is a school here that teaches underwater combat." Uhh, I''m not from here and not a fan of schools

    "Yeah! Schools suck!" Jeremy gave a thumbs down.

    "Boo to school!" The kids started making noise again.

    "Dinner is ready! Richard, can you get the kids to the table?"

    "Hey kids, the first one to be seated on the table can sit next to the sea monster!" I''ve never seen kids move this fast in an orderly fashion.

    "I was first!"

    "No, I was first!" Looked like both of you were tied.

    "Hmm, you think so too, eh? Well, then both can sit next to the sea monster!" Richard said with a warm smile.

    "Yaay!"

    "Dad, you''re the best!" I got surrounded by giggling kids.

    "Here is some soup to warm you up." Yra put plates on the table. Everyone got a huge bowl of soup.

    "But mom, I hate soup!" Lisa said while sticking out her tongue in disgust.

    "Come on Lisa, look at the sea monster, he''s not complaining about soup." I was trying my best to stay mannered, I agree with Lisa, soup sucks¡­ I don''t feel comfortable also extracting food from you, you already saved me, cleaned me up, and let me rest.

    Yra sat down. "Don''t be like that! We¡¯re not losing a lot by making an extra bowl. Eat up!"

    Lisa noticed that I was trying to avoid eating the soup. "Hey mom, maybe sea monsters don''t eat soup!"

    "But Lisa, isn''t the ocean kind of like a big soup? If he eats something he''s eating soup."

    The father lost his composure, laughed and spat out some soup. "Dear son of mine, the ocean is not a soup."

    Lisa lifted her spoon and dropped the soup in her bowl. "But it''s a liquid and has ingredients, like this here, isn''t that a soup?"

    Richard shook his head. "But mom''s soup is hot, the ocean is cold."

    But once it cools off it''s still soup, right? Lisa looked at me happily and the father facepalmed. We continued the soup debate till my soup got cold and I faked being tired. I never got to eat the soup. Mission successful!

    <hr>

    I woke up the next morning. Everyone was still sleeping. I got my clothes, which were clean but more importantly, sand-less, and put them on. I took the ugly tasty fish out of my dimensional pocket and cooked a delicious ugly fish menu. I covered it up and left a note saying: ''This is real sea monster food and thanks for the hospitality''. And left 10 silver behind.

    The port was my next destination and I tried to find another boat after arriving.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you again, you made it back safely.¡± Uhm well about that. I briefly told the old man what had happened without going into much detail about how I survived.

    ¡°Hm, I¡¯m surprised you survived that, it seems the good luck charm worked.¡± He looked at the shell bell around my wrist.

    ¡°So, what you¡¯re going back to get your ass kicked again?¡± Well, I know better now to attract the attention of that lightning eel.

    ¡°Just so you know there are a lot of sea creatures that are as strong or stronger than that eel, do you still want to go there? It feels very uncomfortable leaving someone behind in the ocean knowing that might be the last time someone sees them alive.¡± I¡¯m sorry, I will be more careful, can you bring me to the ocean again?

    ¡°Only if you come back alive, it feels refreshing to see youngsters being interested in the ocean but that¡¯s useless if you don''t make it out alive.¡± I will fight to stay alive, even if I have to boil the ocean to get out alive.

    ¡°That¡¯s more like it! We¡¯re heading to a different part today, it has a beautiful coral reef and beautiful fish, it only gets as deep as 2500 meters so there shouldn''t be many strange creatures there, that is strange by the ocean''s standards.¡± Yeah, there are some wacky creatures down there, have you ever tried these? I tossed a delicious ugly fish at the old man.

    ¡°This thing looks hideous, what is it?¡± I have no clue but it tastes great, you should try it. The old man put the tasty ugly fish in his magically cooled box.

    ¡°I will try it for dinner. The rest of the crew should arrive in 10 minutes, get ready.¡± The rest of the fishermen crew arrived and they were happy to see me alive and got a conflicted feeling when I told them I would be going back to the ocean. I told them about the wacky and ugly fish I found down there. The old man showed the ugly fish I gave him to the others. They took off a chunk, fried it with fire magic, and tasted it.

    ¡°Holy shit this thing tastes amazing!¡± They asked me where I found it but they got disappointed when I told them. These fish were far out of reach for them. I told them I will get more for them if I could get to it. More complicated expressions. We arrived at the coral reef 2 hours after departure and I helped them again with fishing. They stayed on their boat while I dove down. I got some fish for them that was normally hard for them to catch as well as some strange-looking squids and crustaceans. They got more than they set out to get and they had to stop because their boat was getting too heavy. They offered to throw some fish overboard to bring me back with them but I declined.

    The old man waved. ¡°Make sure you make it back alive so we can share the profits!¡± Eh, that¡¯s not needed but thank you!

    ¡°Too bad, we¡¯ll make sure you get your share!¡± The fishermen waved and went back to shore.

 Vol 2 Ch 37.1: Subaquatic Headache part 2

    I dove down and swam between the colorful coral reefs. I had all my tails out again and the 3 that kept me alive were also tracking ocean currents this time. So, I need to find a solution to the eel problem. I¡¯m not going to find it and try fighting it but if I can¡¯t use lightning I will be at an offensive disadvantage. Fire is obviously a no-go. Wind and water are left. I used [Tempest step] and started to float toward the surface. I sent out a kick and it sent out a wind blade that didn''t go very far. I cancelled [Tempest Step] and went back to my original depth.

    So that doesn''t work. I went for [Wind Dragon Dance] and this worked quite well. It took a lot of effort to keep it in my desired trajectory because it had a tendency to float up. So as long as I¡¯m ascending wind works quite well, for descending I probably need to use water. [Waterfall] worked surprisingly well, not just for attacking but also movement. I accidentally knocked out a giant squid, which was going to be my snack. I go in my bubble, cut it to pieces with [water blades] and fried what I would eat and then it dawned on me. Why don''t I use water blades, I only use them to prepare fish¡­ I can even make the water dragons shoot out water blades or make their claws more water-blade-like. And I can apply it to the water [Dragon] if I really need it. One of my 3 tails picked up a change in the current. It seemed quite artificial so I dove down and followed the disturbance.

    Was I acting like a fish now? Reacting to the smallest disturbance. My tails were also paying attention to electrical signals so that I don''t get ambushed by that stupid eel again and I¡¯m picking up a lot of weak signals. All the fish and creatures here are sending out weak signals but these are a bit stronger.

    I found the source. I was witnessing a very strange battle. A group of mermen and mermaids were fighting against a group of water nymphs. The mermaids and mermen were the ones giving off the weak electrical signals. I observed while hiding behind some coral. I could learn a lot from how they moved and fought underwater. One merman seemed very strong, he threw super-fast punches and this created bubbles that popped fractions of a second later and did a stupid amount of damage. The nymphs that got hit by it instantly got disintegrated but they reformed later.

    I tasked a tail to start simulating that. I have the speed to pull that off.

    The rest was mostly fighting with weapons made out of ice or dense water. And relatively strong water attacks. Neither side seemed to be making progress. These nymphs and merfolk used evasive maneuvers to counterattack.

    The water they displaced while moving around got sent to their attacker. Who needs an underwater combat school when you can learn from deep see residents?! I saw some lightning attacks but most were water-based and they were effective on each other, it was just that the nymphs could reform and the merfolk had 3 healers. I always thought that sea creatures would have a high-water resistance but it seems I was wrong. It made sense as no water creature could defeat another water creature if that was teh case.

    I slowly started to pay less attention to their battle and started to wonder why they are fighting anyways. Nothing I can see here was worth fighting for, was it a territorial dispute? The nymphs got reinforcements but they didn''t seem to help much. Until some started to sing. The song rang in my head and my tails warned me. I created 5 illusion layers and shattered them to get rid of the effect. I made my bubble extra thick to block out the sound.

    Most of the mermen and some mermaids got captivated by the song and mindlessly swam to the nymphs that sang this song and got slaughtered. Oof this is brutal. It seemed to be a charm-based attack. No wonder my tails warned me. Even though its effect was supposed to be weak at this distance, I still almost took the full effect of it. The merfolk found a way to counter it but their numbers were severely reduced so they retreated. The nymphs seemed to be happy with their victory. My tails sent out another warning. It seems some nymphs have discovered that I was spying on them. I decided to do nothing stupid and just stay still and not make any suspicious movements. I¡¯m completely defenceless against charm attacks.

    3 nymphs came close and inspected me. Their hostility dropped when they saw my tails. Do I get a free get-out-of-jail card because of my race? They communicated with each other but I couldn''t hear what they were saying. I made the bubble thinner and found out they used weird sounds to communicate. One of the 3 nymphs approached me and made some vaguely recognizable sounds. Was that Kaledonian? The water surely didn''t help much. I heard a ring in my head.

    -¡±Are you lost? Shall we bring you to the surface?¡±- I tried to send a telepathic message back but this is hard to do to people you don''t know. I tried to communicate with gestures. One nymph touched the bubble and passed through it and got into my bubble. Whoa!

    ¡°We will take you up to the surface, don''t worry!¡± Oh, that''s nice of you but I''m here by choice. The nymph looked very confused. I seem to be confusing a lot of people lately.

    ¡°But isn''t this environment unsuited for you?¡± I looked at her dark blue watery body. Well, yes, but that''s why it''s perfect for mastering my water techniques. The nymph was making weird noises again, probably communicating with those outside the bubble.

    ¡°Do you mind coming to our settlement then? We are quite curious about those that live above,¡± Uhm sure, I have a question though¡­

    ¡°Ooh you have a question for us?!¡± She made more clicking sounds and the other 2 also invaded my bubble. Hey! Easy! There is no point in making a bubble if you¡¯re all going to fill it with water!

    ¡°What question do you have for us?!¡± They all spoke together and I started to become dizzy. I wanted to ask if you could tone down lacing your voice with charm magic¡­

    ¡°Oh! Sorry!¡± the nymphs giggled and I had to shatter more illusions to get rid of these charm effects. Maybe I should''ve just run away. Why do I keep finding bad matchups? I knew the ocean was dangerous but this is ridiculous. This just proves that I shouldn''t attempt to get better at earth Dragonvein.

    My biggest weaknesses are Charm and Earth magic. If I get unlucky and I need to fight an earth dragon it¡¯s game over. The only worse thing is a charm dragon. I don''t know if those exist but its a good thing if they don''t exist. I do have to watch out for races similar to mine or these nymphs. These like to lure in humans or other races living on land because they are curious but most don''t seem to be as knowledgeable as these and causing them to drown.

    They brought me to a colorful reef. A lot of other nymphs joined them while going to their home. They all seemed curious and tried to squeeze into the bubble.

    Hey come on can you not see that this isn''t going to work?! I went into veil mode and they all got kicked out of the bubble. They seemed disappointed but were now curious about the water veil around me. They could poke it all they want because this was sturdy enough.

    One got close to my spinning tails and got sucked up and flung away. She seemed to enjoy it and other nymphs started to do the same. I wanted to complain that I¡¯m not an attraction but I couldn''t communicate in this state. We neared a very small opening in the coral and they all went in and squeezed inside. I hope they realize they can do that because they¡¯re made out of liquid and I hope that they understand that I¡¯m quite solid. The nymphs gestured for me to enter. I made gestures that this isn''t going to work. They tried to push me through the small hole. These nymphs might mean well and be innocent but they must have killed a lot of humans. I saw crushed bones close to the entrance and I shuddered. I located a space behind the coral walls and teleported to it.

    I found myself in a completely enclosed cave which only seemed to have 3 extremely small entrances that only they could squeeze through. The cave was spacious and it contained an underwater village made out of coral and other ocean stuff. The nymphs seemed to be extremely happy to see that they finally got someone inside. I could already feel myself getting tired, anticipating the conversations I would have with these creatures. I got pulled through a big hollow coral and got introduced to what I guess is the nymph queen? Of course, she was radiating charm magic. This place is so Agnis unfriendly! I had to keep shattering illusions and try to keep a straight face to try and be polite. A nymph probably told her that I need a bubble to communicate. I can''t tell these apart from each other, they all look slightly different but it¡¯s subtle, the only one I could identify was the queen because she was a bit bigger and ehh quite beautiful.

    -¡±Can you make the bubble again so we can squeeze in? The queen is curious!¡±- I recognized that voice though. Since I was in an enclosed space, I could use wind leyline here. I made myself sink to the floor of this space and took up my stance and used an improvised technique that I had to name but I made air swirl around me and expand. It pushed the water out of the structure. The coral trapped this big bubble and I could finally move around and breathe normally. I accidentally pushed some nymphs out of the building but they seemed to enjoy it and they all entered the bubble.

    ¡°Oh my gosh, I can finally communicate with a two-footer! Wait how do I talk to him? How do I address him? It is a him, right? They aren''t limited to one gender, right?¡± The queen seems a scatterbrain. Uhm, I¡¯m Agnis, I am a ¡®He¡¯ indeed. I guess I¡¯m what you call a two-footer but ehhm, you guys also have 2 feet. I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯re referring to a race, multiple races look similar.

    ¡°Ooh, what is your race then? Or wait is that rude to ask? I didn''t know your ehh race could do all these things!¡± Well, I¡¯m not of the same race as those you see often.

    ¡°Oh, you do look alike though although maybe not.¡± The queen got awfully close.

    ¡°You smell nice! The others stink!¡± Wow so blunt, so what do I smell like then? Is it another race that¡¯s responsible for maintaining the world? I guess something has to maintain the ocean, I¡¯m actually not sure if there is a tailed beast that deals with water and I¡¯m not sure which other race helps out.

    ¡°You smell like fish!¡± I guess I was wrong. I did eat fish quite recently so that makes sense. Right, so most of the creatures you encounter are humans.

    ¡°Oooh! Yes! I remember they are called humans! So, you''re a human too?¡± No, I¡¯m a nine-tailed spirit fox.

    ¡°Nine... tails, but you only have eight tails, so aren''t you an eight-tailed spirit fox?¡± Uhm well, I¡¯m still young and inexperienced so I have yet to get my 9th tail.

    ¡°Ooh, I see so eight-tailed spirit foxes turn into nine-tailed spirit foxes!¡± No, no look, we can control how many tails we show! I hid 5 tails and only left my hard-working tails out.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Ooh, you changed race! You turned into a three-tailed spirit fox!¡± I started to get a headache. No, listen, only the maximum amount of tails we can use decides our race, I¡¯m still a nine-tailed spirit fox!

    ¡°So, there are no three-tailed and eight-tailed spirit foxes?¡± Nope.

    ¡°So, humans aren''t zero-tailed spirit foxes?¡± No, they are just humans, completely different.

    ¡°Ooh, thank you!¡± The nymphs seemed to be excited to learn the difference between a human and a nine-tailed spirit fox. Right, I have a question for you.

    They became excited again. Can you tone down the charm magic?

    ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t find us charming?¡± I do and that''s the problem the charm magic flying around is doing a number on me¡­

    ¡°Ooh, how do we turn it off?¡± That! That¡¯s a good question, just not use it, I guess? I surely hope it isn''t a passive effect because if that¡¯s the case I will die here.

    ¡°Noo don''t die! We finally got someone here!¡± They started making the weird sounds again. And the nymph that I think met first seemed to instruct them how to turn down their passive charm. I could finally stop shattering illusions to prevent myself from becoming a mindless lovestruck zombie or slave. Thanks, also another thing, those entrances to this city¡­ unlike you, we¡¯re not made out of liquid, we can''t pass through there.

    The queen looked at me as if i spoke Hourai. ¡°What do you mean? You got here, right?¡± I teleported¡­ come here. Poke me.

    The queen poked me and seemed surprised that I was solid. Now look what happens when I poke you.

    My finger went into her body. See the difference?

    ¡°Ooh so if we poke them, they can get here?¡± I facepalmed. This queen doesn''t seem so bright but I can understand that they are not used to how most other species work. Ok, let me ask you, why do you live here where it¡¯s almost impossible to get to unless you''re a nymph?

    ¡°To stay safe from those merfolk!¡± Right and why are you safe here from Merfolk?

    ¡°They are too fat to get here!¡± I tried to hold in my laugh. Well, humans and nine-tailed spirit foxes are also too fat to get here, most other races are actually.

    ¡°Ooh.¡± The queen kept poking me.

    The smart nymph approached me and poked me too. ¡°Ooh, I understand.¡± she made the weird noises again and all the nymphs started to come to a realization, the queen too even though she indicated that she understood. Why isn''t the smart nymph the queen?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry there are many things that are easier to explain in our native language than in Kaledonian.¡± Uh, that''s fine, can you be my tolk?

    The smart nymph nodded. ¡°Sure!¡±

    The queen posed a question while still poking me. ¡°Hey, why are your bodies made mostly out of water but you live on the land?¡± Uhm¡­ we like adventure? Questions to which I didn''t know the answer started to roll in. Most seemed to stem from curiosity but seemed quite philosophical or existential.

    ¡°Why do you spend years learning to walk to then avoid walking with those surface floaters and those boxes that carry you all over the place?¡± Uhm walking is still important besides those forms of transportation.

    ¡°Hey, why do humans throw so much junk in the ocean.¡± Ehh, because a lot of humans are assholes, not all of them though!

    ¡°Hey, why are you down here if you can''t breathe underwater or can''t take the pressure?¡± To get better at this! I showed off some water leyline skills.

    ¡°Ooh, can we help?¡± Uhh, I don¡¯t know but I¡¯ll be fine, just continue doing your ehh nymph things.

    ¡°My name is Jhea, not nymph!¡± No, I mean your race, not your name. The smart nymph translated.

    ¡°Oh, but we''re curious! We want to help!¡± all the other nymphs chimed in. This whole exchange drained my energy. Uhm then can you save me if I drown and show me a place with not-too-fierce creatures that I can fight? I shouldn''t have said that¡­

    ¡°Ooh! Yes! You can fight the merfolk! Let''s go!¡± No wait! I don¡¯t have anything against the merfolk!

    The nymphs cheered and started to get ready for battle. ¡°We made a special entrance for you! Your 9 tails will fit through it too!¡± Huh? The queen picked me up and went out of the bubble.

    Wait! Are you trying to kill me?! I made a water veil just in time as the queen brought me outside of the bubble. I couldn''t talk to them anymore because we were underwater¡­ These nymphs¡­ made an opening that matched my silhouette with 8 tails, they had added another tail to the hole but it looked quite shitty. I wanted to tell them that I don''t need something shaped like me to pass through but wasn''t sure they would get it. They started to gather more nymphs. I created a bubble and was looking for the smart nymph. A nymph invaded my bubble.

    ¡°Hi!¡± Can you tell everyone that this is a misunderstanding? I didn''t mean to fight the merfolk.

    ¡°Ehh, I would like to but I already tried telling them that you probably didn''t mean that but they¡¯re too excited, they want to see how you fight them.¡± How come you are way smarter than the others?

    ¡°Smarter? I got zapped when I was young, I¡¯m not as smart as the others.¡± ¡­ I give up I have no idea how you guys work.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but we''re just so excited to finally drive them out of our old city!¡± They took over your city?

    ¡°Yes! And they killed a lot of our sisters!¡± And what did you guys do to piss them off?

    ¡°We didn''t piss them off! I think¡­ maybe we tried to get 2 or 3 of them into our city and turned them into paste trying¡­¡± So, they busted your city open and took revenge? Not sure who is at fault, you guys for being ignorant or for them to be unable to read your nature. Ugh, don''t tell me I have to mediate¡­ At least I appreciate your intelligence, dealing with nymphs would be a royal pain in the ass otherwise. 2 other nymphs squeezed into the bubble.

    Hey, come on what did I tell you about this? I kicked them all out and made the bubble thicker. They found a group of merfolk and started harassing them.

    Bring me to your leader! I struck a cool pose but I don''t think anyone heard me¡­ The queen was giggling like a maniac though¡­ The merfolk spotted me and seemed to become quite upset.

    Uh oh, do they think I got kidnapped? Contrary to nymphs, merfolk help humans whenever they''re lost at sea. They probably think they''re planning to drown me or something. I broke loose from the giggling queen, went veil mode, and swam to the merfolk. I created a bubble around us so we could talk.

    Right, you guys might be as surprised as I am but you need to run, these nymphs are going crazy and want to wipe you out. I think there is a misunderstanding between your races and I might be able to help but that''s not going to help if they kill more of you.

    ¡°Whoa, you¡¯re a weird and interesting human how about you visit our ci¡­¡± Not now! Get out of here! Bring back an army or something but don''t attack yet and bring your leader, I might calm them down, please don''t make this harder for me¡­ The merfolk seemed understanding and I kicked them out of my bubble and they swam off. I made another huge bubble to talk to the queen.

    Alright, stop! We¡¯re going to play a game!

    ¡°Ooh, a game!¡± The other nymphs started to make noise.

    ¡°Ooh, what are we going to play?!¡± The nymph queen said while getting excited like a child. It¡¯s a staring contest! We¡¯re having a staring contest against the merfolk!

    ¡°Ooh! We have to win!¡± So, I¡¯m the judge. The game starts when the merfolk arrive but! They might not know the rules so I have to explain the rules to them but that doesn''t mean that the game hasn''t started yet! So, can you guys stay here and stare at them when they appear?

    ¡°Ha! They''re fat and also dumb! They don''t even know the rules to a stare contest!¡± Yes, show them who¡¯s better!

    ¡°We will destroy them!¡± Well, that was easy¡­ I hope they keep their promise. I¡¯m so tired¡­ I came here to train and here am I mediating between 2 races. I connected with the smart nymph and she made sure everyone understood. Now to wait for the merfolk. I think I will just go to the surface after this and rest, I¡¯m too tired to train after all this bullshit.

    The merfolk came ready to fight and they had their merman king with them. I moved to them with the bubble. Good morning, sir ehh merman king.

    ¡°Hey, guys, this isn''t a funny human, it¡¯s a nine-tailed spirit fox! Ugh, it seems our education system is failing¡­ I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m Shidar the Third.¡± I¡¯m Agnis, the uhm first? What happened with numbers 1 and 2?

    ¡°The first stepped down and the Second got turned into paste¡­¡± He looked over at the nymphs who had started the staring contest. I refrained from making a fish-paste joke. Right, I think I understand why you¡¯re upset with the nymphs but hear me out. I explained their nature to them.

    ¡°Hmm, so the average nymph is dumber than Billy?¡± Who¡¯s Billy? The merman king pointed his spear at a big bulky merman that just ate a rock and was choking on it. ¡­ I¡¯m sorry some might be smarter than him.

    ¡°I see, then we might have indeed overreacted. It doesn¡¯t change the fact that they turned some of us including the previous king into paste but it makes more sense now.¡± The humans have a saying that goes something like: don''t attribute an action to malice when it can also be attributed to stupidity, or something similar. I¡¯m not a human after all.

    ¡°Hmm, I will take it to heart. Thank you.¡± So, I need you guys to help me with a problem¡­ I convinced them that you''re holding a staring contest because I didn''t want them to attack before I could talk to you.

    ¡°Are you sure it''s a staring contest and not a glaring contest? But that explains why they¡¯re quite behaved.¡± So, I want you to talk to the queen, just a warning, she¡¯s extremely dumb but I have a nymph that can translate. I hope you can work out this misunderstanding. The king gestured and 2 mermaids joined him and 2 mermen went to help Billy because he was still choking on a rock.

    ¡°We have to be careful about their charm attacks. These 2 are experts in charm magic, they will protect us.¡± Right¡­ let¡¯s go! I moved the bubble and kicked out the nymphs we didn''t need out of the bubble. It was just the merman king the 2 mermaids, me, the nymph queen, and the smart nymph in the bubble. I again explained the situation and how and what. The smart nymph translated and we had to tell the queen the same thing in different ways till she got it.

    ¡°Ohh! Then why didn''t you say up front that you were fat!¡± I facepalmed.

    ¡°We are more aware of your race''s¡­ ehhm quirks now, so we will keep that into consideration. Thank you, Agnis. Is there anything we can do for you?¡± Can you bring me to the surface? I need a bed¡­

    ¡°Oh, how about you rest in our village?¡±

    The nymph queen got upset. ¡°Hey! We found him first!¡± You got to be kidding me.

    ¡°We don¡¯t want him to turn into paste, our village is more hospitable¡­¡± The merman king explained.

    ¡°Ha! Fat and stupid! We made a hole shaped after him so only he can enter our village!¡± I facepalmed and circulated nature energy to combat my headache. The merman king looked at me and understood the stupidity.

    ¡°Uhm excuse me, why doesn''t he spend one day at our village and then a day at the nymph village?¡± A mermaid spoke up. Ugh, fine, can I spend a day with the nymphs first? I have a feeling I can rest at your place so I want to rest after dealing with these¡­

    ¡°Haha! Yes, he wants to go to us first! He likes us more!¡± the nymph queen said, not understanding that I want to get past the pain-in-the-ass encounter first.

    ¡°Did you not hear what he just said¡­ you know what never mind, we will be awaiting your visit Agnis and uhh don''t turn into a paste.¡± The merman king left and took his army with him. Why was Billy swimming upside down and backward?

    ¡°Yes! Let''s go back!¡± the nymph queen grabbed me again and was about to leave the bubble. Oh, for fucks sake not again! I made my water veil on time before getting dragged away.

 Vol 2 Ch 38: Shidar

    I got dragged to the nymph village and had to answer a lot of questions and also had to play a lot of games. I just wanted to sleep¡­ They finally left me alone after 5 hours. I found a corner on the ceiling of the cave and created a big bubble there and curled up in my tails and fell asleep.

    I had a terrible nightmare. Luckily it was short, unfortunately, I woke up because I felt like I was suffocating. My try hard tail told me my altitude was different and I heard giggling. I uncurled and got a nymph butt in my face.

    Get out! I kicked all the nymphs out of my bubble and reformed it. Some got back in.

    ¡°We want to play!¡± I checked how long I was asleep. I played with you 2 hours ago¡­

    ¡°We want more!¡± I sighed, went water veil mode, used [Water Dragon Festival], and sent the 12 dragons out to follow some random leyline currents. Wait for 10 minutes and go catch them. But! Only come back to me after you caught all 13 of them!

    ¡°Ooh! ¡° Don¡¯t forget! Only after you caught all 13 understood?!

    ¡°Only come back for more games after we caught 13, yes!¡± The nymphs went off to play their game after 10 minutes and I curled up again. I should get a good rest now.

    <hr>

    I woke up to a lot of noise. My bubble had a different altitude again. I uncurled and there were 3 nymphs in my bubble.

    ¡°Help! One of your dragons is destroying our home!¡± Huh? It wouldn''t¡­ I witnessed a large water snake rampaging and trying to escape the nymphs trying to pull it through the hole they made for me. A large part of its tail was already inside and was flailing around and throwing the nymphs off that were trying to pull it in and turn it into a paste.

    I should have known¡­ As, much as I wanted to blame the nymphs this was also my fault. Wondering if I would ever get a good rest I went and assessed the situation. I wondered something. I shifted stance and used [High Voltage] hitting the snake''s tail and some nymphs. The nymphs grabbed their head and the snake made a weird sound and dashed off to come back later and try to get in via the hole. The nymphs that got zapped seemed to display a bit more order and organized the other nymphs to help defend. Does zapping them make them smarter? I looked at the nymph queen who was being quite useless and zapped her too. The queen got into action, she seemed to be giving orders. I reformed my bubble and went to sleep.

    <hr>

    I couldn''t sleep well so I woke up and everything seemed normal, the village was still here. The nymphs were cleaning up and had shoved the dead sea snake into a corner as a trophy. Some nymphs invaded my bubble again

    ¡°That was a fun game!¡±

    ¡°But that wasn''t a game! We made a mistake and mistook a sea snake for his game!¡± Some nymphs tried to convince the others that they might have made a mistake. There seems a big difference between those who got zapped and those who didn''t.

    ¡°Oh, the queen wants to see you!¡± Before I could react, I got dragged to the queen''s place. The big bubble was still trapped there.

    ¡°Ugh, my head hurts, I want to apologize for my behaviour, I get so embarrassed thinking back to it¡­¡± Uhh, it¡¯s ok as long as you realize.

    ¡°Anyways, thanks for playing with us and answering our questions. I will try to maintain a good relationship with the merfolk but if they destroy our home again, we¡¯ll turn them all to paste!¡±

    ¡°Yeah!!!¡± All the nymphs agreed. It seems that some things don''t change even after getting zapped. Right, so I can go over to the merfolk now without you guys throwing a tantrum?

    ¡°We¡¯ll try. Go before we change our minds! Shoo shoo!¡± Uh, ok, cya! I left the bubble with a water veil and headed toward the merfolk¡¯s place. Some nymphs followed me. Ugh, don''t tell me they instantly changed their minds. I saw some mermen waving at me. The nymphs started their glare contest.

    I followed the mermen to their city. It looked similar to the nymph village but the top was blown off and most of the residences were changed for merfolk to live in. There was a big plaza in the middle. The king was chilling there enjoying a snack and surrounded by mermaids. He snapped his fingers and some mermen brought some weird device that produced a large bubble. They used some magic to keep it on the plaza. It seems they are used to inviting humans. I entered the bubble and the king got up. I looked around. Nice bubble magic.

    ¡°We are accustomed to bringing humans here after they get shipwrecked or almost get drowned by those nymphs, we nurse them back to health and bring them to shore afterward." How nice of you, I just hope they aren''t taking advantage of you.

    ¡°Oh, some try and we show them who¡¯s boss!¡± He flexed his muscles. ¡°I see you¡¯re not a paste, you must be tired.¡± You have no idea! I told them about the game that ended up in a battle against a water snake.

    ¡°Incredible, maybe we should give Billy more credit¡­ Anyways, Lashi, show him his room. He spent a whole day with the nymphs he needs all the rest he can get!¡± The mermaid was looking at me with pity in her eyes and led me to a place where I could finally rest. Thanks. It was early in the morning but I still went to sleep.

    Finally, some good rest.

    <hr>

    I woke up on day 275 and felt quite refreshed. I got out of the small bubble that was in my room and swam to the big bubble on the plaza. There seemed to be a commotion. A merman was arguing with the merman king.

    ¡°Brother! I told you to stop bringing humans here! They¡¯re a bad influence!¡±

    ¡°And I told you that this is what we do we can¡¯t just stop because of your personal prejudice!¡± I sat down and started to snack while listening to the argument.

    The newcomer noticed me and pointed his fishfinger at me. ¡°Hey! What the fuck is that thing doing here!¡± Sup! I¡¯m not a thing, I¡¯m Agnis.

    ¡°How long have you been here?!¡±  I¡¯ve always been here.

    ¡°Are you messing with me?!¡± I certainly am! The aggressive merman and his 2 lackeys hopped toward me and grabbed me by my collar and lifted me up.

    ¡°You humans disgust me!¡± Yeah, humans suck.

    ¡°I think he''s pulling your tail, Gibo!¡± Oh, pulling your tail, I like that one can I use that too?

    ¡°Gibo! Are you out of your mind?! That is our guest!¡± Shidar grabbed his spear.

    ¡°And I told you that I don''t consider humans as our guests!¡± Gibo snapped back.

    ¡°Are those things in your head decorations? Can¡¯t you see that¡¯s not a human?!¡± Shidar pointed at my tails.

    ¡°So, what he has some accessories on him? That won''t fool me!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, Lashi, write down that we have to have a discussion about addressing the efficiency of our education system¡­¡± Shidar said while shaking his head.

    ¡°Yessir!¡±

    So, by not looking like a human, I¡¯m not fooling you? So, what will fool you then?

    ¡°Anything.¡± I looked at the king who seemed to have blurted something out but pretended to have said nothing. Right, I appreciate that you care about your race but I¡¯m here as a guest not execute a devious plot or whatever you think I¡¯m doing here.

    ¡°So, you are here for a devious plot! I knew it!¡± Hey, king, I thought Billy was the dumbest merman here.

    ¡°How dare you compare me to that dunce!¡± Gibo tried to punch me but it had a lot of force behind it. It created an air pressure wave that blew me to the side. I call this [Auto-Dodge]. The only advantage I could find in being so light. I still have to make sure I don''t get blown back though, It¡¯s best if I get blown to the side. I kept [Auto-dodging] his blows.

    ¡°Are you making fun of me?!¡± Oh no, you''re perfectly capable of doing that by yourself.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna kill you!¡± Good luck achieving that 44 times.

    ¡°Aaagh!¡± Water came into the bubble and filled it up to 5 meters. I can walk on water so that''s not an issue.

    ¡°Gibo stop this madness!¡± Don¡¯t worry King I came down here to practice my water techniques and I guess I finally can. I took my stance to start using [Water Dragon dance] Gibo jumped out of the water and aimed a spear at me. I started the movements and sent 2 dragons at him.

    ¡°Guooh!¡± This guy is making some cartoon noises. I kept sending the dragons after him and he had a bad time dodging most of them. He decided to dive under and I [Surface Flipped] him.

    ¡°Whoa?!¡± And hit him with more dragons. I was a bit disappointed, he wasn''t really impressive. Whenever he dove under I [Surface flipped] him back up and hit him with the dragons. Maybe I should stop abusing [Surface Flip] but it excels in moments like these. He sent a [Water blast] at me and I [Surface Flipped] myself. I covered myself in the water veil and used [Waterfall].

    Apparently, I¡¯m almost as fast as a merman underwater while using this. Whenever I made evasive maneuvers, I condensed the water I displaced and formed them into [Water blades]. I managed to [Blindside] him underwater and used whatever I saw the bulky merman use 2 days ago. I named it [Vacuum Punch]. This punch did a lot of damage and it stunned him. Causing him to sink. My reflex was to use [Drowning Pulse] now but I can''t drown a merman. I rammed into him using [Waterfall] and brought him close to the surface and shifted to [Dragon] and launched him into the air. He flew through the bubble into the ocean.

    Woops. He got knocked out by [Dragon] though. I keep forgetting how strong this thing is. He¡¯s not dead, right?

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Shidar approached me and looked at the knocked out Gibo. ¡°You defeated a merman in the water?¡± I don''t feel like it¡¯s an achievement though¡­ He wasn''t that strong. The king snapped his fingers and pointed to Gibo. 5 mermen came and escorted his lackeys and the unconscious Gibo away.

    ¡°How about we have a spar? You probably need to fight something or someone you can learn from. Gibo might be an idiot but he is part of the elite as much as I¡¯d hate to admit." Ooh, I get to beat up a king! That certainly is something on my bucket list!

    ¡°Always so troublesome your race.¡± Oh, you know more than 9t?

    ¡°I met one when I was young. She fell into the ocean after a fight with a goddess or something. We spent some time together but she had to leave because the goddess was as she said ¡®A massive bitch¡¯ and went back up. I have never heard of her afterward.¡± Did you catch her name? Wait you said she referred to the goddess as a massive bitch? I grabbed my tail.

    ¡°My friend was called Norya.¡± Hmm, doesn''t ring a bell, do you remember her last name?

    ¡°Mikazuki, Norya Mikazuki.¡± I dropped my tail. Family of Viridian and Hisui? Hisui¡¯s mother? Not Viridian¡¯s sister, her name was uhh Neia I think, maybe Hisui has a sister? How long ago was that?

    ¡°Uhh like 900ish years ago.¡± I couldn''t figure out how they were related. But there is no mistake, a 9t with the last name of Mikazuki is a family member of Viridian and Hisui. So Hisui¡¯s relative was fighting that bitch goddess too¡­ Wait! Don''t tell me her tails are hanging in that trophy room!

    Shidar noticed that I was deep in thought. ¡°Is something wrong?¡± Uh, I know 2 9t named Hisui Mikazuki and Viridian Mikazuki, they might be related but I don''t know where they are¡­ The king rummaged and gave me something.

    ¡°If you ever meet Norya or her family members, can you give them this? She left it behind. It¡¯s a tail ring.¡± A tail ring? Never heard about anything like that.

    ¡°I don''t know the specifics but she said something about it greatly increasing the power of her 3rd tail.¡± I inspected it and it said 3 in Hourai. Interesting, thanks, I will pass it on.

    ¡°Also, if you meet Norya, can you say that Shidar is waiting for her?¡± Ooh, you got the hots for her! I will.

    ¡°Thank you, now prepare for battle!¡± Shidar readied his spear and the big bubble filled halfway with water. ¡°I won¡¯t hold back!¡±

    He thrust his spear several times and they shot water jets at me; he dove down afterwards. I evaded them and used [Surface Flip]. He got flipped out of the water near to me and aimed his spear at me. It seemed he anticipated that. I [Surface flipped] myself and instantly used [Waterfall] and dashed out of the water. The king got knocked away but recovered and sent more waterjets at me from his spear and dove down. I continued the [Waterfall] and dove down too. I intentionally got close to him so that I could avoid his attacks and counter with [Water blades]. He tried to keep a certain distance from me. He created a current that pulled me under.

    I shifted to [Tempest step] and used a tornado kick which created a whirlpool that shot out [water blades] and [wind blades]. I kept ascending with [Tempest step] and all my evades sent out wind and water blades. King found this quite annoying so he again kept his distance. He decided to stay below me because I could only ascend with [Tempest step], I shifted to [Water Dragon Dance] and rode a dragon downward, and sent more at him. He sent some fast-moving air bullets at me which I caught by creating a large bubble around me. I made the air in the bubble swirl and pushed the air out of the bubble and sent pockets of air back at him. He responded by sending a large [water blade] at me to cut my bubble.

    [Waterfall] would be able to deal with this so I dashed straight through it and approached him. He readied his spear to impale me but I froze my [Waterfall] and turned more into an [Ice comet] and knocked him out of the water. I shifted my stance and used [Ice Dragon dance] and sent the dragons after him. I had some room for other movements so I used [Waterfall] and dashed over the ice dragons at him. He sent more water jets at me by thrusting his spear. I turned the ice dragons into water and submerged into the water dragons and kept using [Waterfall] inside it.

    Both the head of the dragon and my [Waterfall] hit him at the same time. He got launched out of the big bubble, into the ocean. He gathered a large mass and sent an enormous [Water blast] at me. I stopped using [Waterfall] and started spinning around my axis and turning the water dragons into ice [Dragon] and made the [Dragon] coil around me to block the big [Water blast]. The ice [Dragon] flew at Shidar who was now just using the ocean as his arena. I ran up the [Dragon] with [Waterfall] and left the bubble to go into the ocean. The [Dragon] locked on to the king. If I kept [Dragon] up for a bit longer it would become somewhat sentient and I could will it to do what I want and use other techniques. Shidar kept throwing strong attacks at me but my ice [Dragon] didn''t care.

    It used ice [Dragonbreath] and it almost caught the merman king. Shidar got a speed boost and came at me with his spear. I got [Dragon] to go on autopilot before I blocked the spear dash with my multi-layered barrier. He broke through it and 1 [Frozen skin] layer. I grabbed his spear with my right hand and made some movements with my right arm and used [Boil]. He backed off but he was too focused on me to notice that the [Dragon] turned around and was coming for him. I wanted to pincer him with [Water blade] but he used [Sink] on me. It wasn''t very effective but it threw off my aim.

    [Ice dragon festival] failed to catch him as he was quite agile. He deliberately took some attacks from the [Ice dragon festival] to avoid getting hit by [Dragon]. I think that is a good assessment but annoying for me. He probably knows that it''s over for him if he gets hit by that [Dragon].

    I realized that I don''t have many cc skills underwater. I kept trying to hit him while coming up with a new skill. It took some trial and error but I succeeded in creating a spiky ball of ice which I will call [Ice mine], the small dragons came and picked up all the [Ice Mines] I made and started spreading them around. He probably didn''t need to know what it would do if he got hit by that. I kept churning out dragons. This part of the ocean was now full of ice dragons and ice mines and one huge ice [Dragon].

    The merman king who was at first trying to keep his distance tried to close in. I refreshed the air in my veil and used [Waterfall]. He seemed to be surprised that I would come to him. He spun around with his spear and made a current swirl around him. Unfortunately for him, I can climb a waterfall with this skill so he would need something stronger! I crashed into him but he took a [Frozen skin] stack off me with a counter. He created [Ice shackles] on my limbs that caused me to [Sink].

    His counter must have been a setup for that. I couldn''t use my limbs that well but he forgot something. [Dragon] reacted to my will. It drove him off before he could follow up and [Dragon] picked me up. I broke out of the shackles and thought of a new plan. It was time for a [Vacuum Punch]!

    [Tempest step] made me ascend while creating air pockets that swirled around me. [Waterfall] made me descend after I ascending enough and the air turned into water swirling around me. I fired up my [Tail dynamo] and I sped up as my [Waterfall] became electrified with red lightning. The merman king held the spear in front of him and spun it and 12 layers of water barriers appeared before him. He then started up a long cast and something akin to a turtle made out of water appeared around him.

    I ripped through all the barriers but the water turtle was blocking me. [Vacuum Punch] debutted and shattered the turtle defensive skill and stunned Shidar. I used [Waterspout] which would just send a large mass of water upwards when underwater but that pushed him into [Dragon]. The impact caused the king to freeze over and the shockwave sent all the ice mines off freezing the whole area we were fighting at. I changed stance and used [Boil] to melt all the ice.

    It took 3 minutes before Shidar was free. I dragged him back to the village because our fight brought us almost 600m away from the village. We got back into the bubble which was drained of its water.

    ¡°Oof, that was brutal, your fighting style is completely different from Norya''s.¡± How did she fight?

    ¡°She boiled everything with blue fire¡­ I didn''t know that fire worked underwater¡­¡± Hmm yeah, that¡¯s also an option. 5 mermaids tended to him and he sent 1 to tend to me but I took no damage.

    ¡°You don''t seem to need much practice in underwater combat though, you seem to be doing fine." I¡¯m still not satisfied; do you mind if I stay here for longer and continue sparring with you and your strong fighters?

    ¡°I don''t mind they might be able to learn something from you. I have never seen a two-footer fight like that.¡± I¡¯m trying my best to not be shit.

    <hr>

    I stayed 3 weeks fighting against merfolk. I had a 40%-win rate against the king. As long as he could prevent me from finishing [Dragon] to the point it becomes automated he had a big chance of winning. Whenever I could get ice [Dragon] off completely he would always lose sooner or later. I had also developed another technique that he had to make sure I didn''t complete and that was [Ocean¡¯s wrath].

    It made various currents swirl around me and they absorbed attacks to make the currents stronger. It''s the type of technique that the more you hit into it the stronger it gets and the more you will get screwed over by, if you let me complete it. It also pushed opponents away from me in pulses so the only method of hitting me, physical attacks, were quite hard to land. I also had [Frozen skin], [Ocean''s Wrath] would break if I took too much damage. Which I hardly do. When all the currents were powered up enough, they can be sent them out in a force that makes each current rival [Dragon]. I can also combine them into one big nuke but I¡¯m not here to kill the king.

    Just one of the many currents would knock him out. He told me that I was a monster for coming up with a skill like that. He asked me how he could counter it and well the answer was, to make sure I can¡¯t start it, to make sure I don''t finish it, or don¡¯t attack me and ignore me when I¡¯m using it. I can still send some currents out to attack so ignoring me might not be the best idea, especially not in a 1v1. I had a 90%-win rate against the other mermen. And well a 20%-win rate against the mermaids because they would just abuse charm magic and destroy me.

    I almost drowned multiple times in the first week because I was too busy attacking and defending to refresh my air but I quickly got used to doing that while doing a million other things. Also! I got my 9th tail! It was in my last battle against the king. My ears suddenly turned blue and I created a magic shockwave that was completely unintended.

    I was sitting in a bubble brushing my 9th tail and looking into an ice mirror at my blue ears. The nymph queen came to visit because she somehow heard that I got my 9th tail. There was some noise but she got let into the merfolk village.

    ¡°Ohh, I like what they did to our old village!¡± This is the first thing you say after they let you in? Are you looking for a fight or something?

    ¡°No, I came to congratulate you for becoming a nine-tailed spirit fox!¡± I always was one¡­ you know what? Never mind, thank you!

    She leaned over. ¡°So, I heard you kicked their asses, any tips?¡± Use your brain.

    ¡°Ooh, where can I get that weapon?¡± I¡¯m not sure but it seems the effects of that zap have subsided although she does still seem smarter than before. ¡°I also heard that you were making another ¡®pain in the ass¡¯ skill. Shubo told me about the other 2, [Sea snake] and [Ocean] was it?¡±

    ¡°My name is Shidar and it was [Dragon] and [Ocean¡¯s Wrath]. So, what''s this new skill of yours going to do? Make it so the opponent has 0 chance of winning?¡± Uhh, kinda, I was planning to make something like this before but I couldn''t, now that I have my 9th tail I can but it''s extremely heavy on the execution so I might not be able to come even close to using it yet, I also need to run a lot of simulations for it. But it will at least have orcas in it! They saved my life!

    The nymph queen got uncomfortably close. ¡°How about me? Am I in it?¡± Why would I do that? You almost killed me multiple times!

    ¡°Not on purpose!¡± It would''ve actually been better for me if it was on purpose!

    Shidar placed himself between the nymph queen and me to make her back off. ¡°Anyways, I¡¯m happy I don¡¯t have to test your new skill out, I do have a 60%-win rate against you but I surely had to work hard for them and those fights weren''t very pleasant to me, I always felt like I was boxed in. I would be happy to know that I will never have to fight you again.¡± At least you have enough experience to fight a real dragon now.

    ¡°That [Dragon] skill of you is insane¡­ It might indeed be similar to fighting the real deal, I hope I will ever find out." Let''s see, day 296, at this rate I will finish the main elements in no time just wind and lightning left.

    ¡°Hmm, I don¡¯t know anything about a place that has a lot of lightning but I do know there is a certain part of the ocean that''s constantly stormy and is called Hurricane Path. It¡¯s a good thing you mastered water because you would get thrown into the ocean and wild currents if you get picked up by hurricanes". Are there any strong creatures there or people to help me train there?

    ¡°No clue, I¡¯ve never been there but we teach our fellow merfolk to stay away from it because it doesn''t matter how good you can swim if a hurricane plucks you up and sends you thousands of meters into the sky.¡± Fair point. And thanks!

    ¡°Be careful! I don¡¯t know if you have other friends but don''t disappear and make them wait over 900 years to meet you again." Thanks, I will do my best! I said goodbye to the nymph queen who didn''t understand that I probably wasn''t coming back and to the merfolk who had been very helpful. I swam off alone, into the cold dark ocean.

 Vol 2 Ch 39: Hurricane Path

    Shidar gave me clear instructions on how to find hurricane path but I first needed to do something. I swam northwest and descended. I caught more yummy ugly fish with lightning. I waited till my tails picked up a strong electrical signal.

    He¡¯s here. I started [Ocean¡¯s Wrath]. The eel kept sending red lightning [Discharges] at me but the currents absorbed them and kept getting stronger and stronger. It tried to slam me with its electrified tail but I easily dodged it. It kept feeding [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] until it was done after 10 minutes of continuously absorbing attacks. I combined it into one big attack that would give [Dragon] a run for its money and one-shot the eel. I cut the parts of the eel that were leftover with [Water Blade] and stored them in my dimensional pocket. The fight was a bit anticlimactic but [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] is very strong when used well. My 9th tail became part of the try hard trio of tails. Now the ''tryhard trio'' has 4 tails but the try hard trio sounds better than the try hard quartet. I couldn''t just kick my 6th tail out of it because it was putting in a lot of work. Is this how some adventurers gain skills that make no sense? They figure out a skill name it and then later improve on it that invalidates the name.

    Well, this isn''t a skill but¡­ Anyways now I can go and get blown away by the hurricanes! I wonder if I will ever see the surface again because it¡¯s unlikely that I will get down by natural means. I had to swim for an awfully long time. I got close to the surface and tried doing this without my tails. I almost drowned 12 times. I had to get my tails out every time to save myself. The ocean is brutal; But after almost drowning well ehh actually drowning on the 12th time I was 1 life poorer but an ocean of experience richer and could do all this stuff without my tails.

    I fought some minor sea monsters without tails and only made 2 small errors. After getting halfway to hurricane path without my tails I got them out again. Swimming just goes way faster with them.

    Day 308 was whem I started to see enormous pillars of water and air.

    And at day 309 I got close enough to feel the wind. I sat down on the surface which was rocking wildly. Do I just go in and get swept up? It looked extremely hostile but the place was filled with wind leyline energy. I looked up.

    Maybe these hurricanes can send me up high enough for me to connect with the celestial currents. I saw some lightning flashes in the clouds but it wasn''t enough to also catch my lightning training here. I still didn''t know what to do. I had no plan on how to get back down. Just falling like most other creatures would do is not an option for me. The farthest I can teleport is 2 km. These hurricanes would bring me up way further than that. I can''t use the method of descending as I do underwater. Would [Pressure] work? Maybe if I get better at using it, and the only way to get better at it is by jumping in there¡­

    How would Greg fix this problem? Probably just by falling or making his hammer heavier¡­ How would Raishin solve this?

    Just falling or continuing teleporting down with his infinite energy¡­ This is useless. I guess this is a good time to start simulating my dimensional teleport and actually become good at it. I put my tails to work to make something that I can work with.

    Ikept simulating but my tails told me that I could teleport all I want but if I was still anywhere close to the hurricanes there would be no point. My 9th tail made a great contribution and started to work out how I can use my [Dimensional Anchor] to return to a fixed spot in space. I hugged my 9th tail because this was probably the best option. The higher the number of the tail, the smarter and more efficient it is. While the lower tails have higher familiarity and thus higher dexterity the higher ones make up for it with processing power.

    I can use my first 3 tails almost better than my own hands. Meanwhile, my last 3 are quite clumsy especially the 9th because I got it recently. My 9th tail was done in no time and I could set my anchored point. It even included a place I''ve been to before recently. I put it to Gavin, the port city and ran toward the hurricanes. After 15 minutes of running on the ocean¡¯s surface, the wind picked me up and sucked me into the hurricane.

    Now this is cool and all but what now? My only plan was to get sucked up. Do I start fighting against the hurricane like how I practiced to learn [Waterfall]? How would I even call this skill if I somehow succeed to go against a hurricane? Naming it [Hurricane] would surely be confusing as hell. I decided to stabilize myself first because I was tumbling all over the place and it was annoying me. I had to work against the hurricane for some parts but I eventually figured out how to stabilize myself. There wasn''t as much water in here as I expected. Probably because I got sucked up in the part of the hurricane that was mainly wind.

    The lower parts were saturated with water. I noticed that the hurricane started to move southeast. It seemed like it was following the hurricane that was in front of it. A hurricane seemed to be forming slowly behind this one. Is this why it''s called hurricane path? The hurricanes are wandering on some invisible path. I got close to the clouds where lightning was going crazy. A [Pure water veil] got made to protect myself from all these lightning flashes. I was bored so I tried to see if I could redirect the lightning. It seemed unexpectedly easy. Because I had no mana in my body the lightning moved through me with no resistance. I had to redirect it as soon as possible before it could actually deal damage to my body. This might come in useful when I have to practice lightning. I could drop my [Pure water veil] and just relax in the hurricane until a lightning bolt came my way and redirect it.

    I wonder, where would the stuff end up that gets sucked up by these hurricanes? Would they get crushed, stuck in here forever, or end up somewhere else? I¡¯m not getting crushed, although, these lightning bolts might fry stuff or turn them into ash. Maybe the water on the lower part of the hurricane crushes. No debris or big objects were getting tossed around up here.

    The eye of the storm was something that intrigued me. I tried to get to it but it was quite difficult. If only I had a wind version of [Waterfall]. Wait won¡¯t [Waterfall] work just fine? I used [Waterfall] and reached the eye of the storm. I started my slow descent. It looked like some giant was walking in the eye of the storm. I was looking at the back at its head. This might have ended up differently if i ended up right in its face.

    I inspected it. What the fuck is a Hurricane Cyclops? Is this some joke? Hurricanes have 1 eye and so do cyclops. It didn''t seem to have noticed me. The odd thing is that I shouldn''t be able to recognize what this is. Have I read it somewhere and is it in my archive? It seemed to be there but I had no idea where I got it from. It''s not a common creature not mythical or legendary. I¡¯m sure they don''t pop up everywhere though. It¡¯s just walking. And the hurricane is following it. Where is it going? I looked at the hurricane behind this one. It was hard to see but it seems that one also has a hurricane cyclops. I saw the hurricane forming but I didn''t see the Cyclops.

    Where did it come from? Do I fight these? And then what? A new hurricane will form and spawn a cyclops. Or does the cyclops spawn and bring a hurricane with it? This one seems to be getting bigger. Do they start super small and grow bigger? It was hard to look into the hurricane in front of me. I saw an enormous shadow. I¡¯m assuming that''s the cyclops? How big do these things get? So many questions. I wonder if these things are friendly. I wanted to go ask but I stopped myself. I will only have some questions if I don''t go. If I go, I might get a lot more questions, get attacked, or worse, both.

    Nothing good might come from asking the Cyclops. So, I have the option of landing on the Cyclops'' head or going back into the hurricane. Going back into the hurricane was arguably the safest option, although a lot of people I know would disagree. I don¡¯t know if I can fight this thing. But¡­ this thing must be slow right? Look how big it is. Then again, I don''t think my aerial combat is on point. I decided that everything would be ok and landed on the Cyclops'' head several minutes later. I expected a reaction but nothing happened. Maybe he didn''t notice that I landed on him. I then remembered that I weigh next to nothing¡­ Yeah, he definitely didn''t notice¡­ I rested on his head.

    Day 310 came and nothing had happened. The cyclops was still walking and the hurricane followed. I wonder what these things eat. I practiced some wind leyline techniques on the Cyclops bald scalp, not to gain his attention but I''m trying to develop a habit of practicing every day. I also practiced [Boss music], I had to get away from using magic to use it. The sound was terrible when using leyline energy. I couldn''t fix it for now so I would leave that for later.

    I also did some laundry as I''ve been wearing the same clothing for the past few days and got some fresh clothing out of my dimensional pocket. I wanted to return my old clothing but they were torn and beat up. I know how to fix this because Hera taught me how to sew but I didn''t feel like fixing this, moreover I found more sand in it. Where does this sand keep coming from? I burnt the clothes and the sand and spent the whole day doing stuff I haven''t done in a while.

    I maintained whatever was left from my weapon stash. All my swords broke a while ago. Only daggers and wires were left, and some other weapons I hardly use. I practiced dagger and wires with lightning leyline energy and this isn''t much different than using magic. The day crept by slowly and for once I had no idea what to do. Do I just continue practicing wind leyline here until I master it or do I go back into the hurricane? Am I supposed to challenge this Cyclops? For the fire element, I just kept training in the magma pit, for the water element I had help after a series of headache-inducing events. So next up is being confused until something falls into my lap? I looked up at the clear sky. At least that is what I expected. There was something above the storm but only the edge could be seen. This might be the answer! Find out what that thing is! But first I have to rest. It certainly is going to have some sort of problem or headache-inducing individuals.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    The next morning was quite stormy. The lightning went crazy inside the hurricane. Of all days it had to pick today¡­ I protected myself with my water veil and jumped into the hurricane. Some zaps here and there but I was safe. The clouds came closer and I got catapulted out and above the storm. It was clear and sunny, only when ignoring the mean looking cloud blanket with various eyes in them. How many hurricanes were there in Hurricane Path? I counted at least 40 and it kept going. But something else was way more interesting. An enormous floating fortress was following the storms. One thing came to my mind immediately.

    Ancient technology. I''m not sure if this is well hidden or not. No sane person would do what I do but what about accidents or research? Wouldn''t those interested in this phenomenon find this quite easily? Anyways, not my problem, all its secrets are mine! That is assuming I can read its writings¡­ [Tempest Step] brought me to the floating fortress.

    The first thing I noticed was that there was no soul here, not even monsters. I scanned for androids, but absolutely nothing. I was the only living and moving creature here. It was completely abandoned. I did detect several skeletons but it seemed like these died either before they got here or died due to falling damage. Most of the bones were shattered. Most skeletons were human but some were from other species.

    Nooo! Is that an orca skeleton? I guess nothing is safe from these hurricanes. I walked around the fortress to find the front door and was thinking of what kind of nonsense challenge I needed to get inside. To my surprise I didn''t need to do anything, moreover, it was already open. Is this a trap? I inspected the fortress again. All the places my eyes could reach had no living beings or artificial beings. Maybe this place is filled with mechanical traps? I spotted some but not enough to be a threat.

    I was reluctant. It still feels like a trap. Nothing ever comes easy to me. Maybe arriving here alive is already a feat? I don''t feel like I had to do anything special though¡­ But I can see how this might be different for other races. I stepped inside and nothing happened.

    This fortress was quite interesting although maybe this is normal. This is the first time I visited one. So, I just passed through the front gate but I''m still outside. The area inside the walls had 5 large buildings. The one right in front of me looks the most important so I will investigate that one as last. I wonder what this fortress was protecting. It didn''t seem to be made to protect people, there were no residences. Well, there were a few but it seemed to be enough to house the possible staff. I entered the building to my left. I got excited. It had a wide array of mural copies. It smelled dusty though.

    A collection of ancient language murals and writings. The place smelled like old rocks. I recognized several languages, even the one I recently learned. It was some kind of dictionary but in building format. I struck gold. I walked around. No recent languages could be found. No ancient Kaledonian, also nothing from the 2 centuries in which there still were other languages before ancient Kaledonian became the main language.

    Makes sense but that means this place is useless to archaeologists or linguists, there was absolutely nothing they could read here or base anything off. I counted 53 different ancient languages and could only read 17 of them. There was even ancient draconian but no modern draconian obviously. Tero''s fuckup is finally becoming useful.

    One language seemed to be odd. Judging by the translations I could read; this language was unable to be deciphered by the ancients. Only some words. I looked at the symbols and got a familiar feeling. They gave off some sort of primal energy, similar to the symbol I found in the Corundum dungeon, the feeling was weird to describe. All other languages had translations in every other language besides this one which only had limited translations in ancient draconian and 2 other languages I don''t know.

    This brought me to a question. If the ancients made these languages, who made this one? It makes no sense to make a language you don''t understand yourself. And about the energy this symbol gave off. I took a piece of paper and drew the complicated symbol. It started giving off this primal energy before disappearing moments later. Some of the comments in ancient Draconian said something about this. Most symbols tend to disappear when drawn without conveying their meaning. What does this mean? I decided to ignore this pain-in-the-ass language for now and study the other ancient languages that do have translations.

    I got all my tails out and got to work. There are 4 other buildings that need to be explored and I also need to practice wind leyline techniques. I went into ''Library Mode'' and read all the texts about different topics and translations. Oddly enough nothing related to historical events. There were some ordinary diaries. Cooking recipes, some about research into certain types of magic but nothing that could indicate what might have really happened. The only thing was something mentioning a war between the gods and tailed creatures but I already knew about that.

    It took me 3 weeks to master every ancient language, besides the primal language. Some were similar to others as if 2 groups came together and blended their languages. I certainly rushed learning these and my head hurt and I was keeping my tails in an ice bath because they were overheating a bit. I had covered my head in ice too because my head also felt like overheating. All this studying took a large chunk out of my food supply because it makes me so hungry.

    The only language that was left was this primal language. I gave a crack at it but the ancients were right, this language is a pain in the ass. I tried to draw the symbols I saw in the Corundum dungeon but they didn''t want to stick. What am I missing? I tried to faithfully recreate the conditions I found it in. I created an illusion to create a treasure room. I dumped the treasure in that room and carved the symbol on the ruby floor. It took quite a while and broke some daggers because I messed up the wavelength. I finished and the symbol gave off its primal energy indicating I didn''t mess up. I looked at the 13 failed attempts of carving the rune. All carvings were still there; this one gave off that energy and stuck around. I started to recreate the room multiple times and remove variables to find out what caused this phenomenon.

    A week later and the only consistency is that it''s extremely hard to get these runes correct in one try. I sighed. I don''t get it, I changed everything but this rune works perfectly but if I just write it on paper it doesn''t work. I thought for a bit. It can''t be that right? I took 7 different materials and carved or wrote the same symbol on them. Only the one in ruby lingered. I used a rune I saw in this place and did the same test. They only lingered on the materials they appeared on.

    I dropped on the floor and threw a tantrum. Which sadist makes a language that can only appear on certain materials. Are these people out of their minds?! I tested this with other primal runes but this fact was consistent. Nowhere could I find the other languages mentioning this fact. On closer inspection all the runes here were on the same material so by default this language is incomplete¡­ I threw another tantrum and made some ice cream to calm down. So, there are some runes of which they knew the meaning of and others they didn''t. I also now know certain runes have a material they prefer. Is this really their secret? Isn¡¯t this awfully inconvenient? What if you want to write a message but you need to write different parts on different materials? I put my tails to work because this is probably not the real picture.

    The ancients might not have come to this realization. My 9th tail reminded me that I have a big rock with 7 ancient languages on it of which one is that primal language. I took out the paparazzi stone and studied the 7 languages on it. I could read all of them some took more liberty in their translation than others but the message was the same. My favorite translation read this: In the pitch-black night, beneath a starry canopy, a solemn vow was made, sealing their fates. But little did they know, their pact would awaken a haunting nightmare, shrouded in an enigmatic mystery that engulfed their every thought, their every breath, forever haunting their sleepless nights.

    I didn''t know what this was about but it surely didn''t seem like a good message. I compared the symbols with their meaning and realized something. The symbol for ¡®Awaken¡¯ was different on this marble wall than it was on this paparazzi stone. Same with the word ¡®Breath¡¯.

    Does this mean that this language can be written on any material but the symbol changes? The symbol doesn''t look that much different, it can be recognized as similar but it¡¯s still different. My 9th tail was working hard and suggesting attuning to the primal energy. Greg did say back in Hourai that attuning to certain types of energies might give you information about them, just like what happened when I attuned to leyline energy.

    I attuned to the primal energy and I didn''t get much information. I did know how to pronounce these runes though. And it gave me more understanding about it so that I could recognize symbols that were similar to the ones I already know. So, any symbol that means ''awaken'' will be recognized. I guess that''s helpful enough. I tried to pronounce the word ¡®Breath¡¯, but I butchered the pronunciation several times before I got it correct.

    Svasare The runes that meant ¡®breath¡¯ glowed and started creating gusts.

    What the? The runes stopped glowing and the gusts stopped. The paparazzi stone was fine but the marble around the rune on the wall became porous and crumbled. It was like activating a magic circle or more like an incantation. But no mana was used up. This is another non-magic occurrence. Although. I looked through the filter that gave data about the ambient mana. It did change the composition of the ambient mana. The portion of unusable mana decreased and was replaced by wind mana. I stored the paparazzi stone because I didn''t want anything to happen to it. I stood in front of the marble slab that contained the symbol for awaken and its 2 translations. I butchered the translation several times and it caused the marble to move but when I succeeded¡­

    Jagrisc The marble turned into a golem. It was a weird-looking golem but it was a golem nonetheless. A living rock with ¡®Living¡¯ used loosely. It seemed the rune was its core. Is it because the marble is following the instruction to ¡®Awaken¡¯? When I said ¡®Breathe¡¯ it was as if the paparazzi stone and the marble were exhaling. I sat down and thought about it. Is this the reason it has different symbols for different materials?

    If it can make anything obey its instructions it surely must depend on what material you want to instruct. Is this like the language of truth? Whatever is said happens? Although. It probably won''t turn into night if I scribbled its inscription on a ruby. This was probably a stronger argument for why there were different runes for different materials.

    I can''t turn day into night by scribbling it on a ruby but if I could scribble it in the air I might.

    I circulated nature energy to combat my headache and got up. I spent more than enough time here. I didn''t think I would get much further because the range of materials was very limited. I would probably have to hunt dungeons down to learn the different symbols and what materials they were relevant to. I started to wonder what the other 4 buildings had in store. This one set the bar very high.

 Vol 2 Ch 40: Time Capsule

    The next building seemed quite large; it was the second-largest building in this fortress. I stepped inside and got met with cool air. The inside looked... Strange. I¡¯ve never seen anything like this before. It was white and tidy; the air was cool and everything was orderly in contrast to the other building. The insides surely didn''t match the outside. It gave the feeling of a hospital but there were no patients. I arrived at an enormous door made out of metal. The text read ¡®Seed vault¡¯ in 3 ancient languages. I guess no room to misinterpret it. I tried opening the door but it was heavy as fuck. I saw no structures that needed to get hit by magic to open it. Maybe it works like those newer buildings that are based on ancient technology. Aaand I found it a panel with buttons.

    This stuff was old but I didn''t see dust anywhere. I looked around and the air was kept super clean. What kind of crazy stuff did these ancients come up with? I probably have to press these buttons in a certain order. I inspected the buttons and noticed that some buttons were worn down more than others. I tested various combinations of these buttons and got in after 3 tries. Too easy! I arrived in an enormous room that was quite cold and shelves full of cooled boxes reaching further than the eyes could see. I looked around and opened some of these boxes. They all had various stages of the plant''s life preserved and a large number of their seeds. I spotted plants I¡¯d never heard of and also some that have gone extinct quite a while ago. I started to realize something. This fortress is a time capsule. Preserving languages, preserving plants.

    They knew something might go wrong so they put in action to preserve what they could. I swiped some seeds of interesting-looking plants and those that had great culinary value. I just walked around in awe of the place and the massive undertaking it must have been to get this all going. Greg would have loved this place. I would like to bring him here sometime but getting here is a pain and this place is constantly moving¡­ moreover it¡¯s above the ocean¡­

    I spent 2 hours exploring this place. I was about to leave when I got an idea. Blue ghost truffles! I ran around trying to find the area where they stored fungi. There was a chance they called it something different but it¡¯s properties are quite unique! I spent 2 more hours searching and found them. Their name hadn''t changed. I opened the box and was disappointed. There were only 4 spores. Not a bag or anything. 4 individual spores and 1 whole ghost truffle in the box. Were these things almost extinct even back then? The chance of growing anything out of 4 spores is¡­ extremely low. This whole truffle might as well be the last one left on the planet. It also didn''t seem in a great state. What do I do? I know nothing about these things, they didn''t include its habitat and growing conditions as they do with most things. I might make this worse if I just take this, now their population is in limbo, if I take it, I might finish them off due to ignorance¡­

    I put them back carefully. I tried looking for red sky mangoes but nothing of that name exists here so they might have had a different name but finding out might take forever. I did find dynamo beans under the lightning bean name. I stored some hoped that Raishin doesn''t kick the bucket before I can get them to him. I looked for the liquid shadow potatoes but according to the ancients, those went extinct¡­ I¡¯m glad they were wrong on at least that. I didn''t have any liquid shadow potatoes on me but I placed 2 bottles of liquid shadow vodka inside. It¡¯s not the same but if a shadowcat ever comes here in need, at least he has something.

    I left the seed vault with mixed feelings when I saw another door. Cultivation room? This can¡¯t be good¡­ I did the same trick and entered this room. It had a lot of shelves with cooled boxes too but also a part with some large containers with fluid and weird things in them. What is all this technology? It beats out the most modern technology I''ve ever seen on Kaledon by a long shot. There was a lot of white and metallic in this space.

    I looked in the boxes and these seemed to be samples of different races and procedures to take to... Huh, revive the species? What does that mean? Only certain species can revive. Humans had a lot of samples while most other races didn''t have that many. I looked at the strange ancient technology. There weren''t many moving parts but some things were moving but they were using the ambient mana as fuel. It was extremely efficient.

    I tried to figure out what it was doing but it was moving so few and infrequent that I couldn''t figure it out. I guess I didn''t pick up movement in this place because this barely registers as movement. Everything was so white and clean even after so many years of nobody attending to this place. I assumed this place had the same function as the seed vault if certain species go extinct this is the place to revive them. It made me uncomfortable though¡­ I located the box for the nine-tailed spirit foxes. I opened it and It had 3 samples, 1 male and 2 female. I opened the boxes of other tailed beasts and other legendary and mythological creatures. The highest number of samples was 6. Some were incomplete because they were only from 1 gender. A certain machine caught my interest. It even had instructions on how to add samples.

    Insert bodily fluid here? What the hell? I read the instructions and it even ranked the types of bodily fluids in order of effectiveness. ''Blood'' ranked as second effective so I bit my finger and dropped some blood in the opening to the instructions. Suddenly the machine began to move. I healed my finger with nature energy and watched the machine do its thing. A screen popped up asking for details. What race. gender. age and name of specimen, etc. I filled it out in curiosity and a vial popped out labelled with the stuff I put in. It looked identical to the vials I saw in the boxes. Does this mean I just contributed to reviving the 9t? I went to the 9t box and placed it inside. Was this a good idea? But in case I die I have at least done something to prevent us from going extinct. It feels uncomfortable to have someone revive our species from my blood but it beats extinction, I guess.

    I placed the vial on the side of the males and closed the box. I wanted to check out what they would do for phoenixes when I realized something. I¡¯m not a pure 9t. I¡¯m also half phoenix, but in what box would my vial need to go then? There was no phoenix box but it had directions to a certain machine. I arrived and I couldn''t believe my eyes. This machine was holding a phoenix egg! I sat down on the floor and thought deeply.

    There are no phoenixes on the main floor currently because they were all in Hourai. So technically this is the only phoenix here. One thing isn''t clear though. Phoenixes and dragons have 2 subcategories. Those that look humanlike and can turn into their real form like my mother and sisters and those that are only in their real form. There is a big difference between them. In the end, it doesn''t matter regarding their role. But a true phoenix, like my mom and sisters, is less likely to kick the bucket in their early years.

    My mom was born from an egg, my sisters were too but I wasn''t. That''s how they knew I would be different, so looking at this egg won''t tell me anything. It only needs a lot of heat to eventually hatch. Do I take this egg with me? This machine has the right idea but it''s nowhere hot enough to keep this egg viable for long. It¡¯s already quite weak. If I leave it here the egg might die and rot.

    I sighed. I¡¯m too young to become a dad and even if it''s not a true phoenix, I seem to be terrible with pets, Bunai, Ignis, and all the spirits sacrificed themselves for me. A phoenix is sturdier than this but¡­ I concluded that I had no choice, at least the phoenix would have lived if I take it, it would never get born if I leave it here. I carefully took the egg out of the machine. It warned me that the egg needs at least 200 ¡æ to keep it viable. I guess this is why the egg is so weak because a phoenix egg needs at least 650 ¡æ.

    I made a separate part in my pocket dimension and made the temperature about 1127 ¡æ. This is the temperature my mother said she hatched Xelia at. Yuna had a colder temperature and it might have come with some... problematic traits.

    Then again Xelia had some too. I don¡¯t know at what temperature my mother got hatched. I raised the temperature to 1500¡æ and checked on the egg. It seemed to recover quite fast. I slowed down time because I¡¯m still too young and busy to look after another living being. I put this in my archive because it would suck if I forgot this.

    I left the room. This was so mentally and emotionally draining. Even the ancients were struggling to keep our numbers high. Phoenixes are way more common than tailed beasts. Their numbers should be similar to dragons in numbers but this place had only 1 phoenix egg.

    I had caught a glimpse of 5 dragon eggs but I don''t know about the conditions needed to hatch them and I¡¯m not an orphanage. Running around with a bunch of brats behind me isn''t anything I want to deal with for a long time. I located a suitable spot to rest, curled up in my tails and went to recover from all the stuff I learned today. Tomorrow might be just as bad.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Day 339 came and I was ready for the next building on this time capsule fortress. I barged in ready for anything yet still got surprised. This place looked like an enormous workshop. I looked around and various weapons and armor pieces were displayed. Jackpot! This place is the best. It had weapons and armor from different ancient civilizations. I inspected many of them but they weren''t super interesting.

    I did swipe manuals on how to make relic magic weapons. I had a blast. I tried out some weapons but they were either too heavy, not to my taste, or had vague methods of activating the magic within. Also, some were just old and didn''t work. I didn''t pay much attention to the armor but one thing caught my attention. It was a small piece of fabric but its properties were insane. And it was super soft. I read what it was about and understood why there was only a small piece of cloth and not a whole armor set. It was made out of 9t fur. Some 9t donated some fur to the maker to create this. There was an enormous manual on it. I thought about the mountain of fur I had stored up and decided that maybe this will come in useful. I know some weaving techniques but I¡¯m rusty on that. Maybe I should have paid more attention to when Hera tried to teach me. There was also dragon scale armor and all kinds of things using exotic materials.

    I spotted a phoenix dress. It looked very pretty but I¡¯m not into dresses. It reminded me a bit of the dresses my mother and Xelia used to wear. They were sexy and elegant yet provided a lot of crazy strong effects. I got hit by nostalgia and decided to swipe the manual of this too. I might have to pick up skills to make this or find someone who could. There was something made out of 6t fur that when spun in threads could be used to conduct lightning better. Seems quite pointless.

    Nothing about shadowcat fur because it turns into a shadow when it separates from them so nothing could be made out of it. These things all looked cool but this was not my expertise. I could make some of these armor sets made out of chainmail or metal but none of us would wear these. I left this building quite happily. What would the next building have in store?

    It smelled quite stuffy. It looked like an old study room and there was a large round table in this building that seemed to consist of just 1 room. It had a map of the continent. A quite old one. It marked major cities of which most are gone by now. I saw an icon indicating the location of Event Horizon. And one that indicates the location of the fortress. It seemed to be moving on the map. It also indicated where the primal runes were found. It marked other stuff too but I wasn''t interested in these. I remembered the locations by putting it in my archive. I couldn''t find any more interesting things so I left.

    So, a room where they tracked where they found everything. Not everything was marked but the important things were marked. For example, they marked where they found one of the dragon eggs but the location where they found the phoenix egg was missing. They indicated the areas certain groups of civilizations lived, where the primal runes were found, where important plants or seeds were found etc. So far everything just points to this place being a time capsule. Maybe that''s part of the reason it''s flying. One nasty earthquake could mess things up. Or nosy archaeologists might dig it up and mess with it. The problem is that it might be a bit too inaccessible. Especially if the location is unknown. There is no point in all this when nobody can find it to revive whatever went extinct. I went back inside because I didn''t check if this fortress had a set route or if it was random. I also didn''t get any answers about those cyclops.

    I found another map that pathed out the fortress trajectory. It would arrive 78 km from the port town I was about once every 310 years. The rest would be over the open ocean. Passing nearby some islands but that''s it. The whole trajectory is called the Hurricane Path but I still don''t know what the cyclops have to do with it. I kept flipping pages but no answers. How vexing.

    I gave up and went to the largest building. I got met with a gust that almost blew me away. I used [Pressure] to stand my ground. This was some sort of deck. I walked forward and gasped. There was a miniature version of the Hurricane path over the ocean. It was miniature but the hurricanes were still 50 meters tall. They even had the cyclops in it. The whole room was quite windy. I guess this is a simulation room? But for what? I found a panel that allowed me to change the path.

    You can''t be serious right? I started to track the direction of the floating fortress, the real one not the model one. I drastically changed the Hurricane Path in the model. It took 10 seconds but the model started to change to match how I tinkered with it. Some moments later I noticed that this whole fortress changed direction. This is crazy¡­ Are these cyclops artificial? If that''s the case then that''s insane, the ancients were so far ahead of us in engineering and whatever, that there''s no way we can catch up in a reasonable timeframe.

    Because of this model, I could see the effect it had on its surroundings. I might have drowned some islands by messing with this. I changed the path to how I remember how it looked like. I think I got it but it looks a bit different. But as it looks like the current path, I mean the path before I messed with it, was the most optimal route where no islands get screwed over and the landmasses were relatively unaffected. I had a slight temptation to send it over Event Horizon but it might set the black hole loose and that would be a very bad idea. I noticed a button that read ''test mode''. Apparently, I can test changes that don''t affect the current path but just to see what would happen¡­ Why isn''t this the default setting?! I hit the button and the simulation was in test mode. I dialled up the hurricane strength and jumped in. I would use this place for training. I could freely alter the size and strength of these hurricanes.

    Day 345. My body was covered in bruises. I kept getting flung into the walls by the strong winds. This only happened when I lost focus but it still hurt. It was the same problem as when I went to train underwater. Except, I would drown in the ocean when I lost focus and here, I will get launched into a wall. I spent a day circulating nature energy to make my body hurt less and practiced the pronunciation of that primal language.

    I couldn''t continue cheating with [Waterfall] so I made a wind equivalent that I named [Hurricane Path]. Not very original I know. But instead of a path followed by hurricanes, it was a path made through hurricanes. I also developed [Counter Swirl], it could destroy weaker hurricanes by turning the wind in the opposite direction, it was very intensive and stamina draining and I couldn''t do this on the stronger ones yet. I also got better at using [Pressure]. I also created a wind version of [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] and just named it [Hurricane''s Fury], its only weakness was that I couldn''t get [Frozen Skin] stacks from it. Mastering wind wasn''t as hard as mastering water, wind had a lot of things in common with water.

    Only 5 more days were needed. This might be because I''ve learned a lot from fighting underwater. My experiences with previous elements were speeding up the ones to come. I spent another day just processing and organizing the new techniques I had created, added some filler movements into most of my new and existing techniques to make it easier to sneak in movements of other techniques. It would make me more flexible.

    In my sparring matches against Shidar, it became clear that leyline energy has an easy time punching through mana. Probably because these don¡¯t like to interact. His turtle defense was the only attack that stood a chance. But even so, I could carry mana-based attacks with my [Oceans Wrath]. The mana didn''t mix with the leyline energy but got carried and then shot out as something that was both. It was a very strange interaction. Maybe it was possible to mix them but it was quite hard and the default state is that they don''t mix. Leyline energy is Isi¡¯s will, does that mean she doesn''t agree with mana but tolerates it? I stepped out of the hurricane simulator. It was strange to feel hardly any wind. I looked at every building in this fortress, each was important in its own way.

    I wonder if I should report this to the Adventurers Association but I don''t know how trustworthy they are. I trust the president and Vice Daddy but I don''t know if there are other important figures that might abuse this. I would trust Vinny and Sylvana more in this. Maybe I should tell them about this. Sylvana is going to be tough to locate but Vinny is probably fooling around with his new girlfriend where I last left him.

    Just lightning was left, however... I looked up. I was quite close to the celestial currents. I reached out and managed to connect to the celestial currents. A bit of information came in. To use light or dark elemental Dragonvein was easy; it used the movements of teh base elements. This was easier than I thought, however... I tried other moves. I seem to be unable to use the base elements when attuned to the celestial currents, its light and dark strictly. I guess it needs a tradeoff for being this easy.

    So, all that was left was just lightning, eh? Where to go? I guess I should return to port, relax a bit, maybe visit Vinny¡­ Vinny lives so far from here¡­

    Or I could locate some spots that had primal runes and find a spot to practice lightning. Let''s see it''s day 351 so I have 129 days left before my first year is over. I have more than enough time. Maybe I should take 29 days off.

    Most of my breaks were mandatory to make sure I wouldn''t collapse during rough moments. I wanted to drop a [Dimensional Anchor] here but my 9th tail reminded me that this only works on locations fixed in space, so any place that¡¯s not constantly moving¡­ wonderful. I tugged on the [Dimensional Anchor] and got to Gavin with a [Dimensional Teleport]. I tried to locate the fishermen but it was quite late so it was hard to find them. I would try the next morning so I returned to the Adventurers Association and got a room. The plan was to wake up early the next morning but I ended up sleeping till the morning after.

 Vol 2 Ch 41: Home Sweet Home

    The fishermen were happy to see me. They were afraid that I had died because I never returned. I shared the ugly fish with them. They told me that they left my share behind at the Adventurer¡¯s Association because they discovered that I was an adventurer. We had a feast and the ugly fish became the old man''s new favorite fish. They kept asking me what I''d been up to but I couldn''t tell them much because the majority would be impossible to do as a human.

    I spent 2 more days in Gavin and then headed north. I could go full speed but I had more than enough time. I would run out of time if I walked the whole way though. I spotted some assassins that were still looking for us or Sylvana and I got rid of them. Got harassed by some bandits here and there. Had to do errands in exchange for hospitality. I got tired of this after 10 days of trying to travel like a normal human and just ran at Mach 2 and returned to the jungle. I fixed up my hideout and relaxed.

    Finally, home! I slacked off for the rest of the day and decided to visit Vinny the next morning.

    The hollow tree was as unguarded as ever as I easily sneaked in. The jungle dragons surely are careless. Then again who would sneak into a dragon lair? You¡¯d either have balls of steel or you¡¯re Nymph Queen or Billy tier stupid. I sneaked into Vinny¡¯s lair.

    Guess who¡¯s back¡­ I should have knocked. Vinny was pounding his girlfriend. Right, I¡¯ll be outside if you need me¡­

    ¡°Whoa, Agnis! You''re back! Wait give me a second to finish.¡± Just¡­ take your time¡­ I wish I never saw that¡­ I waited for 10 minutes and the 2 came out of Vinny¡¯s lair. They didn''t seem to have minded me catching in the act.

    ¡°I can''t believe it! You''re still alive!¡± You really thought I would kick the bucket, eh?

    ¡°Ok then tell me how many lives you have left!¡± Anyways! What have you been doing all this time? He gestured to his girlfriend. Inappropriate but fair.

    ¡°I¡¯m more interested in what you have been up to!¡± I told him about my adventures and specifically about the time capsule. I think you really should visit that place; it isn''t made for dragon size though so you might want to work on your human form.

    ¡°Hmm, that is very interesting indeed. It is worth a look; it is very far though. I¡¯m a bit scared to leave the jungle.¡± Come on it''s not that bad outside the jungle look! I¡¯m still fine!

    ¡°I don¡¯t have multiple lives as you do though.¡± Well, but you also don''t die as easily as I do.

    ¡°True, but well my human form needs a lot of work.¡± Alright, show me!

    ¡°Are you crazy? Not here! Let''s go where nobody can see us!¡± Is it that embarrassing?

    ¡°I¡¯m going to hang out with Agnis, I will be back ehh, you never know with him but I¡¯ll let you know when I¡¯m back!¡± His girlfriend went to socialize while we headed into the jungle.

    Alright, show me!

    ¡°Ok here it goes! What do you think?¡± Vinny showed off his ''Human'' form which was humanlike but all green and with a dragon head. Nobody would be fooled by his ''Human'' form.

    Ehh, very cool, you''re not fooling any human with that though. Keep practicing. Want to see my human form?

    ¡°It¡¯s not that different than how you look now¡­¡± Am I not great?!

    Vinny turned back into a full dragon. Anyways that form is enough to enter the time capsule so as long as you don''t stop in any human settlements you should be fine but well¡­ it''s far and I don''t think you can fly there in one go.

    ¡°I will visit when I get better at mastering it!¡± Vinny said as he collected fruits and plants.  Right, and don''t forget to take care of the blue ghost truffles.

    ¡°Yeah, at least we know there''s at least hope. I will also try to visit Sylvana when I master my human form.¡± Look at this dragon being all responsible and stuff!

    ¡°So, you just need to master lightning and find places with these primal runes? After our adventure in that dungeon, we became more aware of them and we might have found another dungeon.¡± Ooh, show me! I hopped on Vinny¡¯s back and he brought me to the location. It was already half dugout.

    Hmm, this is not a dungeon but it''s not functionally different from one. Go my green scaled digging machine!

    ¡°Ugh, I wish you¡¯d at least picked up a bit of earth Dragonvein!¡± Vinny dug out the ancient building. ¡°How do we open it?¡± It''s already open. The door opened and I looked at Vinny who was too big and smirked.

    ¡°Ugh, really?!¡± He changed into his not-so-human form and we stepped inside. ¡°Whoa, what is this?¡± No clue but I have seen something similar at least there''s no extremely dangerous item sealed here only a person.

    Vinny looked around. There was nothing to see. ¡°Huh, what? Where?¡± The text on the wall says so. I appreciate that it also has the primal language. Time to study!

    ¡°Wait what about the person who¡¯s sealed away here?¡± If he has been sealed here for many years, he can wait a couple of hours maybe several days.

    ¡°I guess, is the person dangerous?¡± Vinny said as he inspected teh writings on the wall.  Hmm, seems so. This place is supposed to have a barrier but it must have failed. Judging by what¡¯s described the barrier wasn''t strong anyways.

    ¡°Maybe we should leave this alone¡­¡± Where is your sense of adventure?!

    ¡°I¡¯d rather try to stay alive, I have a girlfriend now, maybe you should get one too!¡± Hmm, adventuring with 2 has a lot of benefits yeah.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t mean that! Maybe that will make you more careful¡± Vinny said while crossing his muscular arms. I doubt that. So, the good part of this place is that the text is written on 2 types of materials.

    ¡°And that''s interesting because?¡± I explained Vinny some of the mechanics of this pain-in-the-ass language. ¡°I see, can''t you just brute force different variations of the runes on different types of material to find out in what forms it comes? I¡¯m sure your tails could work this out relatively fast.¡± Hmm, that is a good idea, I will put them to work. Vinny and I spent the whole day in this place. I managed to get more knowledge of the primal language.

    Alright, now that I got everything let''s see who¡¯s sealed here.

    ¡°Is that even a good idea? And there''s only this room, right? I don''t see anyone here." Well, I don''t see him either but I do see that there''s something shady here in the middle probably an invisibility spell, back up a bit. This is going to be fun! What types of seals do you have under this invisibility spell? It took me 3 minutes to crack this, it helps that I have experience and affinity for this. The invisibility lifted and we were looking at a strange yet familiar pink barrier.

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    You gotta be kidding me! This bitch again? I¡¯m totally setting this person free!

    ¡°Huh? What? You know who¡¯s sealed here?¡± No, but I recognize this handiwork, seriously can she just stay up there and leave people down here alone? I tried to find out what the easiest condition was to lift this barrier. ''Be a god¡­'' I guess I¡¯m going to go for the hard route. I opened up the runic structure of the barrier and started to slowly dispel the barrier.

    Vinny looked over my shoulder. ¡°Uhh, this looks complicated, can I help?¡± Can you keep a lookout? If you detect divine activity, run and pretend you don''t know me.

    ¡°Uhm why would I do that?¡± The person who put down this barrier is a deity and I might have messed with her work before, if she finds me, I¡¯m toast so you should escape and pretend to be an innocent bystander.

    Vinny sighed. ¡°I will try to keep her busy as long as possible, there must be a reason why a god sealed this person, maybe he can help if you can manage to break all the seals.¡± Just a warning the goddess only needs to sneeze and you''ll become her next purse.

    ¡°I am well aware that I¡¯m outmatched.¡± Vinny went to the doorway and sat down.

    This barrier was strong but lazily constructed. Probably expecting that nobody would attempt to break it like this. After a day I broke the barrier and got met with a light elemental seal the easy requirement to break it was to have died at least once. Easy. I suppose this is to counter the requirement of being a god of the previous one. Next seal, the requirement is to be more beautiful than the caster. What a narcissist, I guess the hard route it is again.

    This stupid seal took me almost 4 days to break. Why is this one so strong? The next one was another weird barrier. The requirement is that it needs abyss or frost magic to open it. I remember that she was responsible for wiping out anyone who could use this so it is a very good condition. Unfortunately for her, she let some slip. I really started to wonder who was sealed in here. The barrier lifted and I could see who was sealed. I took a step back. Whoa.

    ¡°What¡¯s up? Whoa?! Another one?¡± A woman was sealed away, there were 3 more seals but some things stuck out like a sore thumb. She had blue ears, long pink hair, and 9 tails. Well, this explains a lot¡­ if you can''t beat them just seal them away¡­

    ¡°This is good news, right?!¡± For my race yes, for us 2 individually it¡¯s bad. Vinny go home.

    ¡°Huh why?¡± Vinny said, visibly confused. There is a big chance she will unconsciously create an enormous mana wave when she gets freed from her seal. I think there is a very small chance that the goddess that sealed her will miss it. I will try to keep it controlled but there is a chance we might die here if this 9t doesn''t wake up on time.

    ¡°Is there nothing you can do?¡¯ I¡¯ll do my best but I¡¯m just a brat, I don''t think I can hide from a god when this chick sets up a huge flare.

    ¡°I... I will stay!¡± Didn''t you say you had a girlfriend? Don''t waste your life here, the dragons need you!

    ¡°But!¡± Go!

    ¡°I¡­ I will call for everyone to help out! Hang on!¡± Vinny turned into his dragon form and flew off.

    The next seals weren''t that hard to break. I broke 2 and looked at the last seal.

    Ha! Needs a male 9t. This sadistic bitch. There are only 5 of us, did she want this chick to be sealed here forever? I started [Elgard Overload] the moment I broke the seal. An enormous mana wave burst out and the 9t chick was freed. I picked her up, light as me. I used [Elgard Overload] to hide us and make it seem as if nothing happened to this seal. I walked out of the dungeon and the sky glowed gold. A figure that I have seen before and never wanted to see appeared. She had a lot of golden stuff around her. As if she had her own world she lived in

    ¡°Where is that bitch?!¡± She looked inside the place where this 9t chick was sealed. I tried to keep the illusions up while trying to slowly move away. I had to get her to get away within the next 7 minutes else we¡¯re toast.

    ¡°It should be impossible for this seal to break! Nobody would be able to break my masterpiece!¡± She went inside with all her golden shit. I got into the window where my technique was the strongest. And I ran away. I heard her say something about that nothing seemed to be wrong. Does this crazy bitch always talk to herself? She probably thinks she¡¯s the most important being on the planet. The 9t chick was still unconscious.

    This is bad. I¡¯m halfway and I don¡¯t think that bitch is gone yet. I saw a group of jungle dragons flying over. I sent some illusions to them telling them to pretend to be patrolling. The thing is I couldn''t feel how strong that bitch was and that means 2 things. She either is super weak, which I hardly doubt. Or she''s extremely strong, more likely.

    [Elgard Overload] is probably the only skill I possess that can deal with a goddess at this point. The dragons listened. I jumped up because a very strong light wave traveled through the jungle. Something tells me she¡¯s not buying it. I got my tails running and used [Tail Dynamo]. I would love to use my [dimensional teleport] but my eyes are occupied. I pushed off the ground and dashed south.

    Something golden was following me. I was getting close to the last window of where [Elgard Overload] was the strongest. I used [Transform] and turned into a chick because if she finds out I¡¯m a guy 9t I¡¯m extra screwed. She caught up the moment my second window came up. I created Yuna and she assaulted the bitch to almost get defeated moments later. I threw Vinny¡¯s stepfather at her and he got defeated faster than Yuna.

    ¡°Come here little furball!¡± I sped up and my body was filled with orange lightning. I threw a last attack at her while I rewrote reality to make the 9t chicks body temporarily act like it was made out of marble and wrote the primal rune of ''Awaken¡¯ on her.

    Jagrisc The rune glowed and my [Elgard Overload] dropped and the illusion layers folded back in themselves.

    ¡°Ugh, that stupid skill [Elgard Overload] At least you¡¯re useless now!¡± The primal rune had its effect because the 9t chick woke up and blocked the [Light wave] that was about to one-shot me. Ugh, way too close for comfort.

    All my skills dropped but the 9t chick picked me up and teleported us out of the next attack. ¡°Are you the one who freed me and woke me up?¡± Yeah, I hope it was worth it¡­

    She looked at me with blue green eyes. ¡°That is one messy [Transform] but I can see why you did so.¡± Is anything wrong with my [transform]?

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s enough to fool humans and probably this dumb bitch so I guess you pass, but there are still men left of our race, I¡¯m relieved. The name is Norya, Norya Mikazuki.¡± Ahh, that makes sense, My name is Agnis Hourai, and I met your friend Shidar Fishfingers, I¡¯d like to give you your tail ring but I¡¯m quite useless at the moment.

    ¡°Ooh, Shidar! Is he still alive?!¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Hey, bitch stop ignoring me! And you blonde bitch! How did you break her out?!¡± The goddes ssaid while throwing light based skills around.

    Norya kept making dimensional portals to make the bitch goddess attacks useless. This seems quite high level, I don''t think I can do this yet. I used some spit and elbow grease.

    Norya laughed and the goddess became even angrier. So, there is a tomato goddess?

    ¡°Hahaha! Tomato goddess because her face is so red! I like that one! It''s funnier than Massive Bitch goddess!¡± Norya said whole creating an enormous pink lotus which blocked a laser.

    ¡°Ugh, all you 9 tailed furballs are all the same, so annoying! I will kill you this time! Be obedient savages and become part of my coat, I was needing for some extra fur.¡±

    ¡°Hey, you used [Elgard Overload] to save me, right? How long till you can use your eyes again?" Uh, 68 minutes.

    ¡°Ok, I¡¯m going to mess with time so you can use it now, I¡¯m going to link my vision with yours and force collaboration magic. Do you know how to use [Temporal Severance]?¡± Nope, no clue.

    ¡°How old are you actually?¡± Turned 1, 7 human years ago.

    Norya almost fell. ¡°Wait, you¡¯re just a baby? What are you doing getting yourself into trouble like is?¡± No clue, I¡¯d like to know that myself too.

    ¡°This might put a toll on you but 18 tails are better than 9.¡± My eyes got restored and Norya linked her vision with mine. I saw so many filters I had no clue what was going on. It did guide me on how to start up the collaboration magic though. It was quite complicated but not as complicated as calculating the trajectory and behavior of the leyline currents.

    ¡°That was quite fast¡­ I guess life hasn''t been kind to you¡­ Right, how this works is that both of us and Tomato Goddess will get decoupled from this event. I will get freed from my seal but you weren''t here, and neither was the tomato goddess. None of us would remember when this event happened, we might remember in 300 years or so, we might think it was 500ish years ago. At that point, at least for tomato goddess, it might be unclear the exact details so you should be safe for a long time. For us nine tails, we will probably remember the moment we meet each other or use a similar skill. I wish you the best, I will probably be unable to help you because I will forget about all this but I hope you stay alive till we can meet up and I can properly thank you.¡± Thank you, a lot, I hope you stay unsealed till we meet again but even besides this skill I have a bad memory so I might still not remember.

    Tomato goddess tried something but I mustered all my strength and sent a fire [Dragon] at her. ¡°What is this?!¡±

    We completed the collaboration magic and it took all the mana I had stored in my tails.

 Vol 2 Ch 42: Leaving Home

    My head hurt. I rubbed my head as I woke up. I had no idea where I was, nor do I remember how I got here. My tails told me something was off but they couldn''t come up with anything. It was day 372.

    There seemed to be a gap in my memory. I started heading for the jungle but my body felt weird. I did a self-diagnosis and I was a chick.

    Hmm, this is unexpected. When did I [Transform] or did I get another curse? I tried to [Transform] back but transforming back to male is notoriously hard. I failed and I failed again. Ugh, this was the same situation after infiltrating that party all over again. I inspected myself, I looked different than the last time I was a chick.

    I quite resembled Xelia. Anyways this isn''t important, time to go home! I tried to figure out if there were differences in how to use Dragonvein as a chick. And there seemed to be¡­ what a pain in the ass. I wondered if it was sexist or something. It required more input from the hips in the movements. Do I relearn this or try again to [Transform] back? I tried 6 times again and failed again. I sighed and reached the jungle. I was extremely fatigued for some reason and I was also almost out of mana. Failing all those [Transforms] didn''t help either. The next morning came and I dove into the basin.

    All that I needed to do was gain more knowledge about those primal runes and master lightning. My head hurt and information about primal runes from some kind of location flowed into my head. I was curious where this came from but I was too tired. I kept floating on the water and then got out and went to sleep. My hair went into a ponytail and I would try to get back to male tomorrow.

    I woke up and the first thing I did was use [Transform], I got it right after the 6th try. I visited Vinny but he was doing funky stuff with his girlfriend.

    ¡°Agnis, you¡¯re back!¡± He said as ne finished. I see you¡¯ve been busy!

    ¡°Hehe! Yeah, so what have you been up to?!¡± I gave him some privacy but told him afterwards about my adventures, about the time capsule, and about my random amnesia.

    ¡°I didn''t know spirit foxes could get amnesia.¡± Vinny said as he saw his girlfriend off to the exit of his lair. It¡¯s fine I forget things all the time.

    ¡°That''s not ok¡­¡± Anyways I came here to slack and then practice some lightning Dragonvein.

    ¡°Hmm, do you think I should visit that time capsule?¡± I think you should. Not like that though.

    ¡°I think I will work on my human form.¡± I wanted him to show it to me but I had a feeling it looked shoddy. I¡¯m sure it looks like crap, practice more!

    ¡°Yes, yes do the others know you''re back?¡± No, I snuck inside.

    ¡°Of course, you did¡­ Let''s go tell them you''re back and maybe throw a party¡± Ooh a party! Good idea!

    I rested in a corner while the dragons were preparing a party. I still needed to shake off this fatigue. Vinny woke me up when the party was set up. There were lots of fruits. No meat but that was fine. They also had me talk about my adventures. The younger dragons got excited and decided to prepare to go on adventures of their own in several months. I advised them to work on their human form. They all showed off their shitty human forms.

    Vinny¡¯s human form was by far the best but still bad. The elder then came to show off and turned into a total babe, she still had a green tail though. The day passed and I fell asleep in a corner. I had a strange nightmare. It was vague but it involved all the dragons here getting wiped out. I woke up and everything seemed fine. The dragons were all sleeping. I went outside and looked up at the full moon. I felt a tug as if the moon was telling me to come over. Moonlight makes me slightly stronger but I never felt this tug. I stretched my hand out to the moon.

    ¡°Can¡¯t sleep?¡± Vinny joined me. My sleep is never enough.

    ¡°A lot has changed since you arrived, the jungle dragons were never this close.¡± Stop giving me credit for things I didn''t do. All I did was just a bit disruptive.

    ¡°You killed that asshole¡­¡± He said as he joined me in gazing at the moon. Ah right, that happened yah.

    ¡°Was he that unremarkable that you forgot?¡± Uhm, kinda, he was annoying, yes but I had humans or well maybe humans give me a harder time than this guy. I think you could easily surpass him.

    ¡°Ha, no way!¡± Strength isn''t everything, you can make up for strength in other ways.

    ¡°Hmm like how you fight?¡± Yeah, make fighting you as much a pain in the ass as possible and they will get annoyed and make mistakes or give up! And you have the added benefit that they¡¯d rather not fight you again!

    ¡°Sounds hard, I will stick to what I know. Hey, do you think it¡¯s possible for us to set the world straight or will it eventually collapse?¡± He said as he extended his green hand/claw toward the moon. Dunno, I like this world so far so I want it to stick around.

    ¡°Do you think our contribution matters?¡± Yours? Certainly, mine? Not so sure.

    ¡°Why is that?¡± Vinny said as he looked at me with his light yellow reptilian eyes. I know what I''m supposed to do but I don''t know how, it''s not like I can go home and ask a random 9t that''s chilling there.

    ¡°That''s tricky yeh, I¡¯m sure you will find out. Anyways I have an appointment with my girlfriend so I will have to leave, have a nice rest.¡± Damn, at least the dragons don''t need to be afraid of going extinct¡­

    Vinny retreated for the night. I looked up to the moon again but it was covered by clouds. It was time to go back home, chill in the waterfall basin a bit, and sleep.

    The next day was nothing special. I was doing my best to slack and not do anything besides my basic practice in the morning. Almost a month passed and the temperature dropped a bit. It was time to go north and gather information to find a location that met the requirements for my lightning training. I said goodbye to Vinny and the dragons as I would probably not return after I finished my lightning training.

    I reached a small village on day 407 and tried to get some information. There was a city nearby named Itris and there was a high possibility I could find the information I needed there. The farmer gave me some cheese for my journey. I had to restock. I completely forgot but I put a huge dent in my stash on the time capsule. I will have to clear out some stores in this city.

    <hr>

    The city was extremely busy. It looked different from the other cities I''ve visited. It had these strange metal boxes on wheels driving around. They looked quite dangerous. The people living here seemed to be used to them. I saw people stepping out of the boxes. I inspected these things.

    They seemed purely mechanical and didn''t need mana to run. They were running on some highly combustible liquid. Quite interesting. I noticed that this city wasn''t relying much on mana to get things done. But it still had an enormous electronium plant nearby. I decided to ignore it for now and headed toward the stores. Well, there was 1 store. It was gigantic. I felt so out of place. It was as if I was in a different world or something.

    I approached a clerk at a counter. Good afternoon, where can I get fish?

    ¡°Ooh, you take the left there then go all the way to the back then take the escalator up till the 4th floor then you go right through the food court, and then it¡¯s on your left.¡± She said as she kept ointing in random directions. What? Escalator? I already forgot where to go.

    ¡°Oh, you are a tourist. I apologize! We here in Itris are very technologically advanced and have many things that aren''t seen in other places, it''s a stair that goes up automatically.¡± So why not take an elevator then?

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Escalators are more efficient.¡± So instead of making elevators more efficient, you made moving stairs?

    ¡°Ehh, yes.¡± Thank you, I will just jump up.

    ¡°Ehh mister wait!¡±

    I hopped from floor to floor and arrived at the 4th floor. Where did she say I needed to go? Was it left? Or right? I activated my Elgards eyes and spotted a large section that had fish. I took a dozen of everything. And went to pay for it.

    ¡°Do you have a card?¡± I placed my adventurers'' ID card on the counter.

    ¡°No not the adventurers ID¡¯. I put my normal ID on the counter.

    ¡°No, I mean a member card.¡± What¡¯s that?

    I shouldn''t have asked, the clerk gave me a long-ass explanation and tried to convince me to get some random service that cost me 1 silver and 99 bronze per month. Why not just 2 silver per month? What is this pain in the ass system?

    ¡°You will save money in the long run!¡± And lose time by having to mess around with the change! Stop wasting your client''s time!

    ¡°Oh no, you don¡¯t understand it will get subtracted from your credit card.¡± And what the fuck is that supposed to be? Card this card that! I just want to buy fish! Give me my fish!

    ¡°Do you want to pay with a card or cash?¡± You look like a smart guy, what do you think¡­

    ¡°Ehh, you get points when paying with a card which you can exchange for a discou¡­¡± Please shut the fuck up!

    I put 41 silver and 50 bronze on the counter and took my fish with me. What a bunch of scammers. I don¡¯t know what they were trying but it sounded like bullshit.

    I hauled my stuff to a corner where nobody could see me and stored it in my dimensional pocket. I then went over to the next section. I got all kinds of bread. Then had to go to another section for fruits and vegetables. This place was a pain in the ass, why isn''t everything together at one spot like any other store. I got another mountain of food and some woman was paying in bronze coins even though she needed to pay 6 silver. The cashier and everyone in the line were starting to get impatient. She was halfway and I flicked 3 silver to the counter. Please stop wasting other people''s valuable time.

    The line sped up and I could finally pay for my stuff.

    ¡°That is 9s40b.¡± Excuse me?

    ¡°9 silver and 40 bronze.¡± Ah, here you go.

    I found another corner and stashed it in my dimensional pocket. I had most basics now. A line for some weird-looking food caught my attention. I decided to try it out and stood in line.

    ¡°Good day sir, how can I help?¡± What can you recommend for a first-timer?

    Another waterfall of words and I didn''t understand what he was saying. Am I dumb? I looked over at other people in other lines and they seem to understand what these people were saying. Maybe it sounds like Kaledonian but it¡¯s actually a different language.

    ¡°So, which will it be?¡± I totally forgot to pay attention. Uhh, that last one sounded good.

    ¡°To eat or to go?¡± I will eat it and then go, I guess?

    ¡°Are you going to eat it here or take it with you?¡± I will eat it here.

    I got my food and sat at a table. All this was weird. I got an almost spherical sandwich and what''s this? I ate some light brown salty sticks and I spat it out. Are these jerks trying to poison me? They didn''t tell me they would give me potatoes!

    People looked at me.

    Calm down Agnis, you will make a scene if you turn the potatoes to ash, just ignore them.

    I decided to leave the potatoes be. I was wary, who knows what these assholes would try next. I tried to flush the potatoes away and spat out my drink. It was all fizzy and I detected acid in my drink. I was clearly the center of attention by now. What happened to normal food? I created an illusion of me eating all this junk and left. I will never go back to that place again!

    Something interesting caught my attention on the 3rd floor. It had a lot of mechanical devices. I admired the technology and it kind of reminded me of the technology in the time capsule. It wasn''t there yet but getting close. They had TVs but also other stuff. None of them seemed to be running on electronium though.

    I approached an employee of this store. Excuse me what do these things run on? I don''t see any electronium connection.

    ¡°Oh, you must not be from here, they run off the power grid, just on electricity.¡± Aha, isn''t that quite outdated?

    ¡°Not really, it reduces the reliance on electronium and frees up a lot of money to spend on other things. Moreover, the powerplant can switch between generating mana with electronium or just providing electricity." Aha, and how does the power get generated?

    "Well with lightning spirits of course, running on electricity puts a bigger strain on them though so we need to keep up a steady supply of them from Mount Thunderpeak." Spirits¡­ hey isn''t there another way to generate electricity?

    ¡°Ha! Of course not! Unless you want to put people with a lightning affinity to work.¡± I see¡­ so where is Mount Thunderpeak exactly?

    The employee walked behind his counter and took out a map. ¡°Trying to earn some extra by helping transport, eh? I¡¯ve done it before, it pays well but it¡¯s dangerous, See here is Itris, and this is Mount Thunderpeak here in the Penumbra mountain range. I would advise you to go to the 5th floor and get some gear that protects you from the lightning.¡± Thanks.

    I saved the location of the mountain in my archive and left this cursed place. The desire to burn this place started to come up but I controlled myself. I heard a loud sound and almost got hit by a tin can on wheels.

    "Hey watch where you''re going!"

    These things are dangerous, they''re like coffins on wheels. People were waiting on the side to let a stream of wheeled coffins pass. What is going on here? I don''t like this city. It started to become dark and I tried to look for an Adventurer¡¯s Association but I couldn''t find one.

    "Hey look what we have here, are you lost kiddo?" I got surrounded by 3 tough-looking guys. I''m looking for the Adventurer¡¯s Association. Can you show me where it is?

    They looked at each other and laughed. "You must be new here, there is none here, magic gets frowned upon here so it only makes sense that there is no Adventurer¡¯s Association. Go and take your magic bullshit somewhere else!" Ah, that explains a lot. Thanks!

    "Hey not so fast kiddo, are you mocking us, don''t you see you''re getting robbed?!"

    I checked myself but I still had everything. Nope I still have everything but thanks for the warning.

    "He is trolling us, get him!" Oh! You''re the ones robbing! Two guys ran at me, they were fast for humans but slow for me. I easily evaded them.

    "Checkmate kiddo!" The third guy pulled a weird metal rod out of his pants. It looked similar to that "Desert Eagle" thing and the weapon that guy in Cnidaria forest had. It made a loud noise and shot something small at me. I caught it and inspected it. Why are you shooting junk at me?

    "What?! A magic user! Get him!" They all got their sticks out and kept shooting metal junk at me. I got the message that I wasn''t welcome so I dashed away.

    "Hey come back!" I''m clearly not welcome here so I''ll pass!

    I sat down on a tall building and looked out over the city. It looked like this city was from a fantasy. Nothing here seems to abide by common sense. It seemed that the coffins on wheels had more importance than the people. A lot of people similar to those 3 guys were attacking others with their metal junk shooters in this city. Humans in obnoxiously loud and flashy coffins were everywhere. they were wearing strange uniforms and all had junkshooters. There was probably more that I don''t know about. Is this how the world would look like without magic? A minimal amount of magic was used in this city. I wondered what would happen if people got injured here.

    At that moment some coffins on wheels collided as if I spoke it into existence. People freaked out. The coffins did their name justice and 2 people instantly died but 2 others were still alive and injured. I observed and nobody seemed to go and help. Normally someone who knew healing spells would assist or at least people would attempt to get them out but I guess that doesn''t happen here where magic gets looked down upon.

    10 minutes passed and some extremely loud flashy coffin on wheels appeared. Funny clothed people got out and helped the victims. Because it took so long, one of them seemed close to kicking the bucket. They got loaded in the flashy coffin on wheels and it drove off. It reminded me of something, didn''t those guys with Rock also have one? It looked different though, what did they call it? That one didn''t look as dangerous though maybe it was an older model and it still needed mana to run.

    The victims got brought to what I assume is a hospital. And they got subjected to a series of procedures that were too complicated for me to understand. All this took so long that one of the victims passed away. I have seen enough. In their pride and hate for mana they intentionally inconvenience themselves in more than one way and somewhere in this their coherence as a race falls apart. Normally members of the same race have some form of solidarity, ignoring assassins and bandits of course, but mostly they would care for those of the same race. This seems to be lacking here.

    They even prioritize inanimate objects like these coffins on wheels over their own race. It annoyed me a bit, the 9t would never do something like this. I decided that if I had to choose to nuke 1 city it would be this one. This brought my attention to the electronium plant. A normal city would be inconvenienced if it fell out. Ainahs got crippled for several days when I sabotaged it but it still worked fine. People had to rely on their own mana to get stuff going and the efficiency went down but they still did ok.

    This city however would be screwed. I could see they know that because this plant is guarded as the king lives here. So many anti-shadow magic guards. It was also a very complex building. It took me a while but I found out where the spirits were held. There were a lot and every 10 minutes a spirit got completely drained of its energy and returned to the spirit world. They even had 4 medium lighting spirits. They looked exhausted. The humans in that room all had special thick goggles on. I assume this allows them to see the spirits. They tortured a medium spirit to create more lightning¡­ I''ve seen enough. This plant is going down.

 Vol 2 Ch 43: [God of Thunder]

    The security was tight. Every anti-shadow magic guard was keeping an eye on one another. Some sort of buddy system. And the buddies were in sight of another group of buddies. So, I couldn''t assassinate them one by one or buddy by buddies. Unfortunately for them, I''m also an illusionist. I played some pranks on them and slipped into the building. One of the guards had to take a leak. His last leak ever. He did get me inside so I at least made him finish his leak. I was quite far from my destination.

    So many useless corridors. I casually walked through the corridors covered in 8 layers of illusions. I noticed some strange boxes attached to the ceiling. I got curious but I ignored them. Getting near my destination was easy, however¡­ I got met by a large metal door and I seem to have spotted a mana detector. The more I sneak around and do this stuff the more I realize how perfect I am for being an assassin. The mana detector had 4 anti-shadow magic guards next to it. But if I cover myself in frost magic I could easily pass. I shouldn''t give off mana in my current state but better safe than sorry.

    I strolled through the mana detector covered in frost magic. To those guards, it seemed like nothing happened. Now for this metal door. It seems to have magic weaved in it, it''s impossible to teleport through it. I looked at the ceiling. I can teleport through that, what stops me from teleporting around this door? I teleported up and back down and looked at the door at my back. These humans are morons.

    I found myself in a big hall and everyone here was wearing orange rubber suits. I have no idea what they are doing nor am I interested. A pair of thick goggles on a desk drew my attention. This however was interesting. I inspected it. The lens consisted of many layers of a thin crystal. These seem to allow the wearer to see spirits. But how can they interact with them? I almost dropped them. I recognize the energy these crystal layers give off. It''s similar to the 7t crystal wolves. I really hope they didn''t hurt any 7t else these guys have a huge problem.

    I scanned the building again but I didn''t detect any 7t. What did the 7t do again? Stabilize, maintain, and uhh solidify? Explains why these crystals work on spirits. Unfortunately, I can''t mess with these things. I also have to be careful because these goggles might be able to see through stealth and possibly my illusions. It didn''t seem that the people wearing the goggles could see me but added another layer just in case. 9 layers was my maximum for now. The appearance of my 9th tail boosted me a lot.

    I moved extra carefully and finally got to the room where it all happened. I¡¯m sure these goggles don''t allow the humans to hear the spirits because they were in agony and crying for help. It was hard to bear so I plugged my ears with snow. I dropped the illusions, shifted my stance, and used [Fernys Magma pit] and melted all the suits, one-shot some humans, and added the agony and screams of the humans to the mix.

    The devices that were holding the spirits captive melted. The spirits seemed very thankful but I couldn''t hear them.

    A human took a box out of his pocket and talked to it. I burnt him to a crisp because something told me he was calling for backup. I spent 10 minutes freeing the spirits. That''s how many there were.

    The medium spirit tried to tell me something. I took the snow out of my ears. Apparently, there was another room similar to this one in the back. I followed them and used another [Fernys Magma pit] and set the humans ablaze. The spirits started attacking the humans while I set the others free. These seemed to be weaker. They were getting experimented on to make sure they didn''t return to the spirit world to provide more lightning. The experiments weren''t successful yet. I helped those that were too weak to return to the spirit world. The whole place was chaotic by now. Men in red suits came to spray water on the fire but it didn''t help much. And then I got hit by a purple [Lightning bolt]. I redirected it back before I took damage from it.

    "Well, well, what do we have here, a brat freeing the spirits, do you have any idea how much trouble you caused?! The whole city is without power because of you and it is going to take months to get this place running again!" You''re quite skilled in magic in a city that looks down on it.

    A man wearing a strange jumpsuit carrying a junkshooter had appeared. he had a salt and pepper beard and was wearing those crystal goggles.

    "It''s because they''re morons but as long as it generates me money then all the better!" So, you tricked them? I gotta say it''s quite impressive.

    "I tricked them? Nono, they came to me with these ideas 10 years ago, I don''t know why they wanted it but I don''t mind. They made me the 11th richest man in Zanyr because of that wahahaha. Now a question kiddo, making these goggles was quite expensive and I''m sure there''s no technology similar to this, how are you able to interact with these spirits?" I''m a spirit mage.

    "I see then now it''s time to become a dead mage!" The guy aimed it at me. Instead of junk it shot a concentrated beam of purple lightning at me. It was almost a laser. I shifted to [Water Dragon dance] and caught the lightning and sent the electrified dragons at him. He kept running and shooting at the dragons. The amount of lightning was evaporating the dragons. He got hit by one and evaporated the other 2. He took out a second junk shooter and started dual wielding.

    I gotta say, it looks cool. And way more practical than those junk shooters that shoot metal pellets.

    "Heh, like my guns? I''m sure you''ve never seen one." Oh, so they''re not called junk shooters, well I''ve seen several before, 3 guys that tried to rob me 2 in a strange forest and I guess a god was also carrying one.

    "What? Not sure if you''re serious or pulling my leg." I was shepherding the spirits away while evading and this started to piss off Mr. Gun. "Are you really a spirit mage? Where is your spirit? And why are you not capturing or absorbing their spirit energy to become stronger?" I don''t need all that to kick your ass.

    Some spirits notified me that it''s hard to escape from this room because they couldn''t pass through the walls for some reason. I shifted my stance and used [Flame Pillar] and blasted a hole through the ceiling revealing the night sky. Mr. Gun tried to shoot them down as they were escaping through the ceiling. I used [Fernys Magma pit] and all the remaining humans in the room got toasted, besides Mr. Gun.

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    "Heh, I was an A-rank adventurer in my time, I''ve fought stronger opponents than you. Are you from the dragon folk race? This heat doesn''t seem to bother you!" He kept shooting at me while he was circulating mana to combat the heat. I decided to start my lightning training here, changed my stance and used [High Voltage] and [Lightning Dragon dance]. I occasionally took some attacks to redirect back to him or into my other attacks to make them stronger. I got zapped a lot because it''s not easy to nail the timing when so much is going on.

    Then he used [Lightning Tiger] and a huge yellow [Lightning Tiger] pounced on me. I felt like he was mocking me and Raishin. But this isn''t an unusual but not unsurprisingly to find on a lightning user. The tiger was keeping up the pressure at close range while he was ''pewpewing'' from far. He had to keep moving to avoid my lightning dragons.

    ¡±Ha! Is this what they call a stalemate?!¡± I didn''t see how this was a stalemate, I could break this stalemate whenever I want to. I just need to think of a skill that can deal with this situation as I can''t grow if I cheat my way through everything. This tiger wasn''t the problem, I could avoid it for days, the pewpew was annoying but not threatening.

    All I needed was something to break this annoying combo. [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] would make quick work of this situation but I¡¯m training lightning at the moment. What could I do?

    I don¡¯t think I can make a lightning equivalent of it. Wait I actually already have one! My [Dagger Torrent]!

    I started to use [Accel step] and got the setup out for [Dagger Torrent], no [Boss music] this time because I haven''t mastered that yet. The wires caught the [Lightning Shots] of Mr. Gun and used them to speed up the process.

    ¡°Ugh, how troublesome!¡± He took something purple out of his guns and replaced it with something that looked like a red cartridge. He suddenly started firing red [Lightning shots]. I think I know how this gun thing works. I needed to be careful because these red [Lightning shots] could melt my wires.

    The [Lightning Tiger] got obliterated even though I was still in the blue lightning stage. I always moved around a lot during [Dagger Torrent] so the conversion to leyline energy wasn''t that hard. I could easily evade the [Lightning shots] and send wires or daggers his way during my evasion. My underwater adventures taught me that every evade is an opportunity for a counter-attack and most opponents won¡¯t see this coming. This also covers one of my previous weaknesses; in situations where I have to evade a lot, I tend to do no damage. The lighting around me ramped up very fast and went from purple to red.

    ¡°Ugh, what is this skill, do you have any idea how long it takes to make these red lightning cartridges? And you just throw around red lightning like it¡¯s nothing!¡± He started to mix up his shooting pattern and mixed some very large red blasts in between his regular [Lightning shots]. I sent a red lightning-imbued dagger at one of his guns and destroyed the gun. ¡°Noo! Masha! How dare you destroy her!¡± He took out another one and took an orange-colored cartridge and loaded it.

    Uh oh, this doesn''t look good.

    ¡°I only have 2 of these orange ones so be kind and die!¡± An orange blast akin to a laser blew a hole in my [Dagger Torrent]. The red lightning filled up the hole but I had to replace the wires. The wires aren''t that much needed but they increase the control I have over this. I could deflect the red lightning attacks but the orange blasts were giving me trouble. The problem was that this guy wasn''t expending any mana. He had stored this beforehand similar to my frost marbles.

    His red cartridge seemed to be empty and he replaced it with his 2nd orange one. He kept blowing holes into my [Dagger torrent] which made it hard for me to catch him in it. I also couldn''t try and get to orange lightning myself because I kept losing a lot of energy because he kept blasting holes in my skill. I sneaked in some [Lightning dragon dance] movements and sent 2 dragons at him. He blew their heads off but I could close in and catch him.

    ¡°Aaaargh!¡± He kept randomly shooting orange blasts to get out of it. My [Dagger Torrent] was losing a lot of lightning. I dashed toward him and as I landed a palm strike on his chest, I used [Accel Stop]. I didn''t send all this lightning to collapse into myself but into my target.

    Hasta la vista noob. My palm crackled and all the red lightning rushed into me, through my arm, into my palm, and into Mr. Gun and turned him into a red explosion, red from the lightning but also from all the gore. I did hurt myself doing that though.

    Yuck, this [Lightning palm] makes a huge mess. Maybe I should call it [Crimson Palm]. [Crimson palm] sounds cooler.

    I would run into problems when I would use a different color of lightning for this skill but as long as my targets have red blood it should still be accurate. It had one big flaw though¡­

    I was covered in gore¡­ Maybe I should cover myself in a [Thunder cloak] first. I made sure that all the spirits had escaped and cleaned myself thoroughly with water and fire. I first burned everything off me with an amped-up [Phoenix Dance]. Several thousands of degrees would do. Might have turned the whole room into a molten mess. And then I cleaned myself with water. I had to burn my clothes too so I had to take a new set out of my dimensional pocket.

    A strange smell lingered, I couldn''t tell if it was me or this room. I did a self-diagnosis. I took quite some damage from failing to properly redirect lightning. Besides that, I was fine. I looked at the broken gun. So other people also store magic and release it in bursts. I can see how this gives them an advantage over normal magic users. It requires preparation but after their cartridges run out, they can use their own mana.

    Their opponents will by then be exhausted from using their own mana. I know how much of a pain it was to make my frost marbles so I assume this doesn''t get used all over the place because of that reason.

    I melted the already half-molten gun. I hope I never see this troublesome weapon again. I jumped through the hole and stood on the roof. It was another full moon. I felt the tug again and this time it was stronger. I stared at the moon for 30 minutes as if hypnotized and then got a hold of myself. I need to get to that mountain. A trail of spirits lead toward the mountain. That mountain might be a good power spot for lightning spirits but the humans know this of course.

    I needed to do something about this powerplant though. They can always rebuild those rooms because that¡¯s the only thing I destroyed. It might take longer if I destroy the whole building. I took some distance and got my tails out and started my [Tail Dynamo], my tails spun lightning threads of lightning ley line energy and created a purple electrified field around them which shifted to red.

    I made sure that I could catch the whole building in my next attack. They also had it going deep underground. My tails kept spinning and a mass of orange lightning began to crackle behind me. I let all the lightning flow through me and selected my target. I used my reworked skill [God of Thunder] and dropped a massive orange lightning blast on the powerplant that shot into the sky and created a big hole in the ground. I was impressed by its power, It sent out electrical waves that fried every machine that relied on electricity in the city. My tails stopped spinning and I stored the excess lightning energy in my tails. I don¡¯t think they can come back from this. I have to be careful with this it seemed that using this skill also did lightning damage to myself which means I haven''t fully mastered lightning yet. My arms felt tingly and I circulated nature energy as I headed towards thunder mountain or however, it was called.

 Vol 2 Ch 44: Mount Thunderpeak

    It was a long climb but I made it. I talked to some spirits and it seems the humans have been abducting spirits from this spot for almost 3 centuries and that it only increased in the last 2 years. I asked if they knew why this was but they thought it had something to do with those goggles. I started thinking, so about 2 years ago they got their hands on a 7t then. I don¡¯t know much about 7t and I don''t think I''ve ever met one. I got hit by a random lightning bolt and fell down.

    Ouch! I circulated nature magic and looked around. A random lightning bolt hit me but that was unsurprising since lightning was raining down on this place, it reminded me of Raishin. I wonder what that guy is up to. Did he vaporize anything yet?

    I paid more attention and dodged some lightning bolts and arrived at the top. The top of this mountain wasn''t a peak¡­ why do they call it Thunderpeak. It was a huge plateau with a large electrified lake and an insane amount of lightning spirits. This lake was larger than Boshi lake Major. This place was massive. I did notice that there didn''t seem to be many medium spirits or higher. Which was odd.

    The spirits seemed to notice me and were happy to see me. I asked them if they knew a spirit named Starbolt but they had no clue. The reason this place was filled with minor spirits was that all the stronger spirits moved away about a century ago when the need for lightning spirits increased. Where they went nobody knows but the minor spirits didn''t have that luxury. The few that were medium spirits have been here since they were minor spirits.

    I told them that I didn''t know how to help them, the best I could do was nuke that power plant. I dodged more lightning bolts and covered myself in [Pure water veil] but it got zapped to oblivion. I asked the spirits how they don''t get zapped constantly. Something about having the same or similar charge to the lightning. That''s very cool and easy to do with magic but how do I do that with leyline energy? Using the leyline version of [Thundercloak] helped but this version dealt damage to me¡­ They basically told me to become lightning. It''s not impossible but difficult without magic. Most of my strong lightning attacks also dealt damage to my body so becoming lightning certainly would alleviate that problem.

    The training went pretty well until I got interrupted 2 weeks later by a group of humans.

    "Huh, what are you doing here? This place is dangerous, go home!" I''m training.

    "Can you do that somewhere else?" The humans were all suited up and were wearing goggles and had strange devices with them. This is a public place, right? I have as much of a right to be here as you guys.

    "You being here will interfere with our business!" Is your business so fragile that the presence of a kid interferes with it? I don''t think that''s my problem. The spirits had time to run away and hide because of this conversation.

    "Look, we only need 3 hours, you can come back afterward." What do you need 3 hours for?

    "How much?" How much, what?

    "For how much money will you leave?" Now it sounds like you guys are doing something suspicious. Hmm, either the same amount of money I possess or more.

    "Alright, how much is that?" 3.5 billion gold give or take.

    "Oh, come on that is bullshit, you know that, how much do you really want?" Well, I wasn''t wrong, I got 700 million gold per time loop in Boshi Town for 5 time loops. I was stinkin'' rich but these guys don''t know that. How about this, you leave the spirits alone and I will leave.

    "Shit, he knows! Is he a spirit mage?"

    "Doesn¡¯t matter there is just 1 of him!" Just a question. It is well known that spirits get used for electricity or electronium mana, but does the general public know how the energy gets extracted and how the spirits get treated?

    Judging by their reaction most people don''t know how the spirits get treated, for all they know it could''ve been a contract or that the spirits got treated well. It seems that they don''t. That probably explains why you want me gone from here. You have 2 options. Disappear or I make you disappear.

    "Cool story kid, it''s 7 against 1, what are you going to do?" I looked up. It''s 6.

    "What?" They followed my gaze.

    A lightning bolt dropped on a guy who took off his rubber mask to scratch his head. He got fried and his head exploded as whatever what was in his head expanded and forcefully burst out of his skull.

    "Ugh, that idiot! We told him to keep the rubber masks on." Oh really? I dashed past and stole all the rubber masks.

    ¡°Give it back!¡± I threw the masks off the mountain.

    Go for it. The humans hesitated. I sidestepped a lightning bolt and the humans dove away from another lightning bolt. We spent more time dealing with the random lightning bolts than dealing with each other. I just sidestepped the lightning bolts while the humans were putting all their effort into dodging them.

    Do I even need to do anything?

    I kicked a rock toward a human. He tripped and was unable to dodge the lightning bolt. He got fried but didn''t die instantly though.

    ¡°We need to get out of here! We will be back and if you¡¯re still here we will forcefully remove you!¡± They took their injured friend and left. They would certainly return with deadly force. I had mastered lightning in the last 2 weeks except for one important thing, which was becoming lightning. The damage I did to myself grew proportionally to my proficiency. I could do the thing where I used [Dagger Torrent], then [Accel Stop] and collapse the lightning into my body and become lightning like that but that also does damage to myself. I looked at my hands that I had to bandage up.

    This isn''t good, I might self-destruct before I figure this out. The upside is that I got some sort of minor resistance to shocks but it''s nothing to be proud of. I sat down and redirected a random lightning bolt. Bringing the lightning into my body and augmenting myself with it wasn''t doing the trick because the leyline variant hurts my body. Making it move outside my body also hurt me but only externally.

    What other options do I have?

    I asked the spirits for tips but they were out of ideas. One suggested to separate my spirit from my body but I had no clue how to do that and if I could reverse it even if I managed to. I couldn''t get an answer so I just went to sit down in a corner. Getting zapped so often had an unintended effect.

    I developed insomnia. It might be temporary but I¡¯ve hardly slept the last week. I didn''t necessarily need sleep on a regular basis as humans do but the nights are quite boring when there¡¯s nothing to do. And I couldn''t keep on training because I would get fatigued and that would certainly suck if I was unable to sleep. At least getting zapped this often energized me and restored my stamina for some reason. My tails were doing overtime trying to find out how to solve this problem.

    My insomnia made me try something. I had my eyes closed and tried to feel the changes in electrical charges around me. I could feel charges building and driving away something before it dropped down. It felt like a charge was building up in the sky and the place that would get hit got its charge driven away to create a charge difference.

    My attempts to aim the random lightning bolts, by driving the charge away from certain spots, worked like a charm. I tried it out on myself thinking that this might be the answer to my problem but I either got zapped from lightning jumping to me or I discharged lightning randomly because of the charge buildup. This hurt too but not as much. I circulated nature energy to stop my fingers from bleeding and combat the numbness and tingling. I was more beat up from something I did to myself than any other enemy I¡¯ve fought in this last year. The electric eel came the closest. And not a real enemy but the hurricane room probably hurt me the second most I ended up with so many bruises.

    I played around with moving the charge around when I started hearing a lot of noise. 12 humans in super sturdy rubber suits were scaling the mountain and 2 groups of 4 were carrying some weird machine. It seemed like a pain to carry so it must be very important. I told the spirits to go and hide. That was easier said than done. It was hard for over 200 000 lightning spirits to hide just like that.

    I greeted the humans with some lightning bolts by moving the charge around. The humans were getting sniped by lightning bolts that were supposed to be random. They were well prepared so that did nothing to them until I decided to focus multiple lightning bolts on a spot in their path and created a crater. This didn''t stop them however and they finally arrived at the peak.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°As I said! Huff puff! We are back!¡± Rubber suit #1 said. Came to pay me my 3.5 billion gold?

    ¡°Not a chance! Guys, let''s do it!¡± They put the devices down.

    "It''s a shame Joe Vegghian disappeared; we could have used his expertise in guns."

    "Do you think he got caught in the judgment bolt?" Rubber suit #2 asked. Judgment bolt?

    "Yes, something must have pissed off a god and he delivered judgment, it has to be, no mortal can use orange lightning like that. Joe could but only after storing and amplifying it for 2 months." Rubber suit #1 replied.

    "Well, he went to investigate something and never returned, he was the only one who could help Itris out of this mess¡­" Rubber suit #3 explained.

    I got close to the device in the meantime and was inspecting it.

    Eubber suit # 1 noticed me. "Dafuq, do you think you''re doing?" Don''t worry I won¡¯t touch it. Oh, what does this do?

    "I thought you said you wouldn''t touch anything!" Do you always listen to your opponents? The battle has already started. Lightning bolts were targeting the humans in their rubber suits.

    "We have to do it!" Rubber suit #1 commanded.

    Some attacks got flung my way and I jumped back. They all gathered around the devices they brought and did something. It started unfolding and revealing its true form.

    Hey come on that''s not fair you can''t fight me with something that cool! The devices unfolded into halves of a metal golem, no wait not a metal golem a mechanical robot. The humans entered it and the 2 parts combined and made a 30 m tall metal robot. It reminded me of the last boss in the Corundum dungeon but this one is less advanced.

    "This is Joe''s last invention! Die brat!" The robot aimed its palm at me and charged something that I assumed was a laser. I dashed toward the robot''s feet and started using [High Voltage]. The robot couldn''t hit me when I was this close but [High Voltage] did absolutely nothing.

    "Hahaha do you really think lightning works against this masterpiece?!" Well, this thing runs on electricity so it should be sensitive to lightning somehow.

    "Fair point but it''s well protected so don''t bother!" I redirected some [Discharges] it sent at me and dodged lasers and punches. It had all kinds of weapons but none could hit me. The only attacks that were doing damage to me were my own attacks that were not [High Voltage], [Lightning Dragon Dance], [Lightning Umbrella] and of course [Dragon]. I used [Lightning pillar] but it hurt, it didn''t hurt before. What changed? [High Voltage], [Lightning Umbrella] and [Lightning pillar] were useless against this metal robot. I had to rely on red [Lightning Dragon dance] to put pressure on this thing but it was mostly ineffective. I tried to figure out what I''m doing differently with these techniques that don''t hurt me. Is it because I converted these from mana to leyline? But what about the dragon skills? And I converted [Lightning pillar] too but it hurts. I got hit by a purple laser. I could redirect some but still took most of it.

    "Ha! We finally hit you! So, you''re not invincible after all! Look at how much damage you took! Let''s shift to red lasers guys!" I hate lasers¡­

    The circulation of nature energy became the norm after I got hit by something, especially against lightning because its nature makes moving and executing precise movements difficult. The tingling and temporary paralysis wore off and I evaded a heavy punch. Some of the dragons assaulted the robot''s joints.

    I might have to use [Dragon] here. But will it do enough? I don''t think I can set up its full effect here. Lasers make using Dragonvein quite risky because those are one of the few things that are faster than me.

    A red laser got charged and I ducked away, breaking my stances. One of the dragons was dancing on the ambient leyline energy but the others disappeared. I looked at the lone dragon that wasn''t quite sentient but following the leyline flow. I had done this before when I let the nymphs find the dragons, why didn''t I use this earlier? I tried to start another [Lightning Dragon dance] but got interrupted by another red laser. Hey! Give it a rest! Those lasers are annoying.

    "You hear that guys? More lasers!" I heard cheering and the robot made noise and changed and grew 2 more arms. I got annoyed, I could use fire and melt these assholes but that won¡¯t help me, I need to solve this with lightning. Melt them, eh? I inspected the robot to find out if it has a heatsink. I smiled; these assholes didn''t build a heatsink.

    Ok guys, playtime is over, this is your last chance to flee and go home!

    "Flee when we''re winning? You must be desperate!"

    "Yah! Let''s kill him and grab those spirits! I can¡¯t believe the concert of Tails of Symphony got cancelled because of this guy!"

    "We can always catch their next concert, focus guys!" I had no idea what they were talking about but they gave me some breathing room by bickering. I had enough of this robot. I got my tails out and started [Tail Dynamo].

    "Hey guys¡­ this looks bad¡­ there are no races I know that have nine tails!"

    "Those glowing eyes, is it a vampire?"

    "Really? Since when do vampires have 9 tails and fox ears?" My tails were generating red lightning and I targeted the robot for a [God of Thunder]. I will just blast it with enough lightning to melt it. They stopped bickering and continued shooting lasers at me but the lasers got unraveled by the highly turbulent leyline energy around me.

    I can''t believe I''m using this again¡­ My whole body was crackling and filled with red lightning. I dropped the [God of Thunder] on the robot. It took the blast for 10 seconds after which the lightning dissipated. I took a lot of damage from that and I had to yet again circulate nature energy. The robot was still fine¡­ well not fine it seems to be powered down and the humans are yelling at each other to fix things. Only some parts of the robot worked. One part was its stupid laser but it''s aiming was off and it was shooting randomly.

    I guess it''s on its last legs.

    I started manipulating the charge on the top of the mountain. I was removing it all so the whole mountaintop will become the target of my next [God of Thunder]. I let some [Lightning Dragon dance] dragons dance on the ambient ley lines near the ground to distract the humans from how ugly the sky was starting to look. Defensive skills started to pile up, my multi-layer barrier, frost magic and [pure Water Veil] covered me because this is gonna hurt a lot. The humans slowly got more parts of their robot working. I fired up my [Tail Dynamo] again and I was going for orange lightning this time.

    "Guys, I think our sensors are broken. It indicates that the whole mountain top is a danger zone."

    "Hey guys I was thinking, didn''t that just now look like that judgment bolt from 2 weeks ago?"

    "Uh oh" Congratulations you found the culprit. Orange lightning surrounded my tails and I unleashed the strongest attack I''ve ever fired off. Orange lightning fell down from the sky like a laser and hit the whole mountain top. My defences got obliterated. So did the robot. It turned into a molten metal blob. The attack dissipated after 15 seconds. I coughed and circulated nature energy.

    I don''t think I should use this skill often. I lost 5 lives during this attack¡­ It seems that I am my own worst enemy.

    The lake was obviously gone now. Just a deep hole. Some spirits got hit by that attack and were instantly sent back to the spirit world. Those that didn''t get hit started to feed off the residual energy. My body was all tingly so I watched as the spirits returned from their hiding spots. My body was in a bad shape, I might lose another life at this point. For the first time in 2 weeks, I felt extremely sleepy, I curled up in my tails and fell asleep.

    <hr>

    It was noisy. I woke up and the spirits were fighting off some humans. I saw a lot of medium spirits. Where did they come from? I seemed to have lost another life in my sleep but at least I felt better now.

    Down to 36 lives. The spirits drove the humans off successfully. They can defend themselves a bit better now. This hole bothered me so I shifted stance and used [Drowning Pulse] to fill it with water. Nothing was wrong with my stance but I made a mistake somewhere. I filled the hole with blue lightning instead of water. I also didn¡¯t take damage. I looked at my hands.

    I was sure that I used the movements for water also the flow of leyline energy in my body was as how I would manipulate water although it was a continuous flow with bursts instead of just continuous bursts.

    I reconnected with the air leyline currents and used [Drowning pulse] again. This time the hole started to fill with water. I replicated the same mistake I did earlier. I let the leyline energy in my body flow like water but with bursts like how I use lightning. The hole started filling with blue lightning again. I sat down.

    The problem was how I moved the energy inside me and not my technique? I completely filled the hole with water and used my discovery to test out the lightning skills that used to hurt me. I didn''t test [God of Thunder] for obvious reasons but I didn''t hurt myself with the others. This did make my lightning weaker though. It was hard to reach purple like this and red was out of the question.

    A week was spent finding the perfect mix between power and not hurting myself. Red lightning was possible but with a lot of effort. Whenever I made the energy flow more like water inside me, I could manipulate lightning as if it was water. It was quite cool but also very weak at the moment. I had ideas for very cool and strong attacks but they were currently unviable because the lightning was yet too weak. Just like the very strong, potentially ultimate skill I came up with for water leyline, this one would need a lot more time and mastery to complete.

    At least I have another lightning ultimate skill¡­ [God of Thunder], not sure if I want to rely too much on that though, I can¡¯t use it without my tails.

    The spirits organized themselves into a community that would pay more attention to when humans approach and fight them off with their new medium spirit members. Apparently, some of them evolved into medium spirits after feeding off the energy that was left after my [God of Thunder]. Feels good that I was helpful because I blasted their home and sent some of their friends to the spirit world.

    I hung around with the spirits for 2 more weeks. I managed to learn some simple spirit magic. I only learned the skills I once saw Starbolt use though, because I remembered everything about how they worked. I learned [Spirit Spark: Electrocute] which was the damage over time that stunned whenever the damage ticked. And [Spirit Lightning Cage], again a skill that stuns when you get hit but at least the opponent can avoid this by behaving and staying in the cage. Any attempts of learning other spirit magic seemed to be quite difficult and I didn''t understand why. Now that I ¡®Mastered¡¯ Dragonvein, my ban on offensive magic was lifted. I still wanted to spend the rest of the year using it though, it¡¯s not as if I want to use magic. I prefer Dragonvein but magic is more convenient from time to time, luckily I won''t have to rely on it now and end up getting nauseous. It has been a while since I have been nausea free like this. It feels liberating!

    The shitty city was in a mess. Their supply of electricity was cut off and it was anarchy. There seemed to be a faction that returned to using magic but they were inexperienced. I was watching from afar because I didn''t want to set foot in that place again. The people that gravitated towards using magic again seemed to form a tight community while those that didn''t were violent and didn''t group up nor tried helping others that were in the same situation. It was weird it¡¯s as if magic brought people together. I might be misinterpreting things.

    I left the shit hole behind and wondered what I would do with my last month. 34 more days until my birthday and 36 more days before my first year is over. This sure was a busy year.

 Vol 2 Ch 45: Io

    An investigation was launched to find out what exactly happened to Itris but since no traces of mana were found the cause of the ¡®Judgement Bolt Incident¡¯ stayed unresolved. Moreover, the acquisition of lightning spirits became harder and riskier and the costs of electronium technology rose in price as a response. Magical engineers had to re-evaluate the efficiency and sustainability of the electronium technology as a whole. They also seemed to have started to hire more engineers and experts in the field of lightning magic, spirit magic, and electronium engineers. At least that''s what the news is saying on tv. I was sitting in a bar sipping some juice and listening to the news.

    The bar was quite crowded. It was refreshing to see the people treating each other here as people. I arrived at this village after 2 days of walking. They had the normal stance toward magic here and everything here was as it''s supposed to be.

    They started to talk about other news bits. The orange pillar of light was seen from across the country and other countries. The idol group relocated to another city because of this incident, an update on a rescue mission because some islands drowned due to the slight trajectory change of the Hurricane path. Wait isn''t all this stuff all my fault? Oh, wait there¡¯s stuff that''s not my fault, some mine collapsed, the national animal of Lopahz disappeared¡­ Wait isn''t that where Raishin went to?... Nah he wouldn''t, would he? He did say he''d go hunting¡­ More drama in the world, some political bullshit.

    Oh, the Igrini kingdom is in the middle of a dispute. Also, Yzs is stoking up problems again. It''s the country bordering Hjuva that was quite close to Boshi town. They love stoking trouble and warring but apparently, this is because they provide 70% of the continent''s electronium and they''re tired of being the continent''s ¡®battery¡¯ for relatively low gain. Anyways this has nothing to do with me, if they keep their problems away from me that''s fine.

    I stopped listening to the news and watched how rowdy the men in this bar were. They started a bar fight. Ted would''ve loved this¡­

    I continued sipping my juice while spectating the barfight and thinking about what we might be doing if Raishin never got caught and Ted was still alive. The guys were having fun in their barfights. The owner of the bar was also participating. What a lively bunch.

    There was an unspoken rule to not use magic. People got punched and hit with stools left and right. The bartender and I were looking at how every part besides this part of the bar got destroyed. The guys knew better than to destroy the part that provided them with more alcohol. Some half-bloodied guys came over to order some liquor to then jump back into the fight.

    ¡°Are you not joining?¡± The barman said while he cleaned some glasses. Are you crazy? And do I look strong enough to participate?

    ¡°Fair point, what are you doing in a bar anyways?¡± For the interesting atmosphere, hey do you have more of this juice?

    ¡°One more Mango Punch incoming.¡± Did you really have to give it a violent name? The bartender shrugged and gave me more juice.

    ¡°I can put it on the owner''s tab if you want.¡± the bartender smirked. He creates problems for you and you create problems for him?

    ¡°That¡¯s how it''s been for years.¡± Sure, why not, it doesn''t put me at a disadvantage.

    ¡°So how about taking 10 mango punches to take with you?¡± Deal! The bartender handed me 10 bottles that I sneakily put away in my dimensional pocket.

    Suddenly the door got flung open. ¡°Someone in here smells real gooood!¡±

    ¡°Have you finally gone crazy Io? Who here would smell good?¡± The bartender pointed at the sweaty and bloody men fighting.

    ¡°Hmm, strange, it¡¯s gone now, I¡¯m sure the smell of fresh rain came from here." I slowly moved towards the back trying to not draw attention. A chick of about the age of 20 had barged in. Her attire suggested something that conflicted with her behaviour. She was quite loud but she seemed to be of the Silent Night category. What stood out were her horns.

    ¡°Hey, I haven''t seen you around!¡± She approached me and sat next to me. I looked at this chick who was clearly from the dragon race. I assume she smelled me; I don¡¯t know what special trait dragons have that I can instantly detect them by. Maybe it''s not needed because it''s extremely easy to tell if someone is a dragon, it doesn''t matter how good their human form is. She looked at me with her lizard eyes.

    I¡¯m just passing by. I racked my brain; how would it make sense for a dragon to be an assassin? This just makes no sense. Maybe this one is like Vinny, different from the other dragons but so far, she seems just like any normal dragon, just very skilled in her human form.

    This is the first time I met a dragon. Well, I had to lie here, I can''t say that I meet dragons regularly.

    ¡°Hey, glad to be your first!¡± She said proudly.

    ¡°Io, you should be careful with how you word things¡­¡± The bartender shook his head.

    ¡°Well, you humans make things too complicated, my name is Io Syr.¡± She reached out her hand.

    Agnis Hourai. I shook her hand.

    ¡°Hourai? Wait like the rubies?!¡± Ah right, I did name them after myself.

    ¡°Ooh! So, you sold them! They¡¯re so pretty! So, you must be very rich! You must have a lot of meat then!¡± When she said that the barfight stopped and everyone looked at me. Uhm not really.

    ¡°Come on! No need to be shy!¡± She shook me with her brute strength and I was starting to see stars. Is this chick really an assassin? Where is the delicacy, the subtleness? I put it toward charity.

    ¡°Ooh, how nice of you! Go back to your fight guys! He¡¯s broke!¡± The guys continued their fight. ¡°So, are you the one who smelled that nice? I love the smell of rain!¡± I have no idea what you''re talking about.

    ¡°Hey guys any of you encountered someone that smells like rain?¡± The guys ignored her and kept fighting. ¡°See nobody did! My nose is never wrong!¡± I don''t know. I hope you find your rain man; I have to go. I got up but Io stopped me.

    ¡°Wait! What is that?¡± She pointed at the trinket Sylvana gave me. Something a friend gave me.

    She grinned. ¡°Ooh, I see! You want to join us! Today is your lucky day!¡± She showed a similar trinket. Oh god, Sylvana what did you get me into¡­

    ¡°Ooh, you know Sylvana?! Even better! Why would she give this to you though? Anyways, doesn''t matter! Come come!¡± She grabbed my wrist and pulled. I couldn''t fight this brutish strength. ¡°You are very light for a human!¡± Bartender¡­ help!

    ¡°Have fun!¡± Traitor! I got dragged out of the bar and the villagers were looking at us.

    ¡°So, the Loud Sun is quite far from here so it will take a while before we get there but I have to finish an assignment first, how about you watch and help to see how the pros do it, maybe I will even take you on as my apprentice!" But I still have 30 days!

    ¡°What? What nonsense are you talking about? Let''s go now!¡± So forceful. Hey, don''t you get into trouble with it being known you''re a dragon and all?

    ¡°Hmm? Not really, I burn anyone who has a problem with that.¡± I see¡­ So why did you become a Silent Night?

    ¡°I love sneaking around!¡± But you''re so loud!

    ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m still in training!¡± Also¡­ isn''t it quite clear that you¡¯re a Silent Night if you walk around like this? Shouldn''t you only wear this on actual infiltration or assassination assignments?

    ¡°Ooh! You know your stuff! Well, I can pummel anyone who messes with me so I can wear it whenever!¡± But¡­ then you¡¯re not sneaky¡­

    ¡°I am! If not for my horns nobody could tell that I was a dragon!¡± I think you¡¯re focusing on the wrong thing here¡­

    I was wondering who would have the godlike patience to teach her the ways of an assassin.

    ¡°Right, I was heading over to the next village when I got distracted by that nice smell! Let''s go!¡± Wait! This stubborn dragon kept dragging me without listening. It wasn''t much of a dragging because even if I was a human, she could easily lift me. She ran at inhuman speed while carrying me and we arrived at the next village 3 hours later.

    ¡°We''re here! Some important guy is going to spend the night here and he''s carrying an important document, we need to steal that." With ¡®We¡¯ you mean you!

    ¡°Oh, don''t be like that! You can see a pro! Well almost pro in action! I forgot what he looked like but it will all work out!¡± Io said proudly.

    I¡¯m convinced that assassin and dragon is the worst combination possible. She should become an Iron Wall because dragons are sturdy or more like an Unstoppable Beast that are more like warriors. I wanted to have nothing to do with her but now I''m interested in how she¡¯s going to tackle this assignment. She probably can¡¯t use stealth and she probably can¡¯t use illusions either. You can let me go now; you''ve caught my attention.

    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Ooh, so you¡¯re gonna help! We¡¯ll become the best assassin duo ever!¡± You might want to start out by not yelling this out loud¡­

    ¡°Oh sorry.¡± My old friend, headache, has returned. Io was boldly walking through the street in her obvious assassin outfit and pointed. ¡°Let''s go eat there!¡± Shouldn''t you scout out the place where that guy is going to spend the night and lay an ambush?

    ¡°I think that place has good food!¡± There was a small stall that sold fried meat. ¡°I want 4 kilos!¡±

    ¡°Uhm are you sure miss?¡± The vendor said confused.

    ¡°Yes!¡± This chick seems to do anything to stand out¡­ Maybe they keep her around to show what to not turn into. ¡°This tastes good, here taste my meat!¡± Io shoved a piece of meat in my mouth. Hmff??

    ¡°Tastes good, eh?¡± I took the meat out of my mouth and cut it into ribbons with a dagger and snacked on it. Not bad no.

    ¡°Ok let''s go ambush that guy! So where is his place?¡± I almost choked on my food and coughed.  You don¡¯t know where it is?

    ¡°Haha silly! I¡¯m an assassin, not a fortuneteller!¡± She said, yet again, proudly.

    I was at a loss for words. This must be the worst assassin in history. ¡°Heey! Can you tell me where I can find this building?¡± I spectated as Io asked around loudly and to anyone who came past.

    They should ban certain professions for certain races¡­ ¡°I got it! Come come!¡± At this point, everyone here could figure out that someone is either going to get robbed or assassinated soon¡­

    Even if she pulls it off successfully, everyone would know it was her¡­ I can let her be or help her out. What will happen if she gets found out? Death? Jail? Persecution? What are even the laws here? If it was a human, I wouldn¡¯t bother but I at least owe it to Vinny and somewhat to Tero to help a dragon out here. They both have helped me. I sighed and talked to the guy Io bought meat from several minutes ago. Hey, my friend is in a rough spot, she needs a job but as you can see, she is a bit¡­ special. Is there a possibility you can give her a job for at least tonight? I¡¯m sure she will work hard for some meat.

    ¡°Hmm, she looks like a nice gal, quite loud, I could use that to attract tourists I¡¯m just afraid she will eat all my stuff.¡± Here is 10 silver for the trouble.

    The guy looked at me and accepted the money. ¡°You really are a good friend. Hey, missy come here!¡±

    I tapped Io on her shoulder and told her that she could be undercover by selling meat. Nobody would believe that the girl who sold meat would steal important documents. I don''t think she bought it but selling meat excited her so she went for it. I just had to make sure she had an alibi.

    A clone of mine wandered close by while I dropped into stealth and investigated. There seemed to be a family that had a big house and they used it to welcome tourists for a night''s rest. Like a family-run inn or something. I sneaked inside. 2 males had reserved for only this night. One was a bit older and one was younger, the younger guy had a woman with him, his wife I assume. Probably not him. So that leaves just the older man.

    I [shadow melded] inside his room and spied on him. He didn''t seem to carry anything on him¡­ except. He had a small purple cube on him. I guess that''s a magic item that works like my dimensional pocket. It''s extremely expensive but perfect if you need to move important items. So here is the problem, it could be hard to find the desired item inside this. They surely did their homework. Another option is to steal the box but since they''re so expensive and rare it will be obvious that it was stolen if it pops up somewhere else, these things are registered to individuals. I don''t see how Io could succeed in this mission. Either it was to make her give up or to put her behind bars or in the ground.

    And this is where I come in. This is why I¡¯m perfect for this job. I don¡¯t have issues finding stuff in dimensional pockets because I have Elgards eyes and I do this stuff all the time.

    I hacked into the cube with my eyes, located a document between some trash that looked similar but weren¡¯t authentic, and made the cube spit out what I needed. I made a copy of it with illusions, chucked it back in and took the original with me. This illusion will disappear once this guy arrives at his location and goes through a check. It would be funny if he gets asked if he has it, shows it, gets verified as real to then lose it afterward. No blame could ever fall on Io if that happens. I [Shadow swapped] with my shadow clone and dispelled it. Io was attracting a lot of customers with her energy while munching on some meat. Yo, how¡¯s it going?

    ¡°It''s Io! Eye-yo, not Yo!" I know¡­ I used ¡®Yo¡¯ as a greeting¡­

    ¡°Oh... look! I sold a lot of meat!¡±  I see, it looks like you''re having fun. She kept talking to people and selling meat till 2 am when we had to clean up.

    ¡°I¡¯m so tired! Let''s go find a barn to sleep in!" She grabbed me and dragged me to a random barn and just crashed there without notifying the farmers. I sent a clone to talk to the farmers because she wouldn''t shut up. Is this chick going to be, ok? She totally forgot about her mission¡­

    <hr>

    The next morning came and Io was loud. ¡°I can''t believe I forgot! Noo what am I going to do? I know what! He was never there! I can''t do my mission if there was no target!¡± And people will believe that because?

    ¡°Because I¡¯m cute?¡± Io winked and made a pose and I facepalmed. Don''t worry about it. I worked something out.

    ¡°Really? You deserve a hug!¡± I dodged a dragon jumping at me and she crashed into a wall.

    ¡°Ehehe don''t be shy!¡± I think this was a mistake maybe I should just leave.

    ¡°Nono! I apologize! I will repent! I see the error in my ways!¡± I don''t think you do but I will play along for a bit now where do you need to deliver the document?

    ¡°Uhh the forest 5 days southeast from here.¡± Isn''t that a super shady forest?

    ¡°What does that have to do with anything? We¡¯re assassins we deal with shady stuff!¡± Right¡­ are these people from the what was it called? Lazy Sun?

    ¡°Loud sun! And no, I got these from some people I beat up some time ago, they wanted to show their goodwill by giving me a high-paying mission, isn''t that great?!¡± I couldn''t decide if she is just na?ve or stupid. I¡¯m leaning toward na?ve. I made an illusion of the document Io needed to steal. Here, go bring that to them. As you''ve said before, I¡¯m shy so I will be hiding but I will be nearby.

    ¡°Ooh, ok! Don''t sneak off in the meantime!¡± We went to the shady forest to complete Io¡¯s mission. She got distracted a lot in the beginning and we spent 3 days helping out some farmers. After that, she realized the urgency and grabbed me and ran at full speed to still make it on time to the shady forest.

    Day 452 and we arrived at the shady forest. She was supposed to meet them in the morning but it was already noon. She went ahead and I followed in stealth. I added some illusion layers on top because I didn¡¯t know how good these assassins were.

    ¡°I¡¯m a bit late but I got it!¡± She ran at a group of 4 cloaked men who were sitting on a big boulder. Each of them was sitting in some edgy pose.

    ¡°It took you long enough!" The guys seemed to be quite pissed off. I was glad that I came with her. Besides these 4 guys about 30 more guys are hiding around in stealth. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you actually managed to grab this, we were convinced that you would get caught but I¡¯m glad you managed, you¡¯re not a lost cause after all!¡±

    ¡°Hehe, I had some help!¡± Ugh, Io you idiot you''re not supposed to say that!

    ¡°Yeah sure, now we have a very suitable payment for you.¡± The 4 edgy guys jumped off the boulder and approached her. ¡°You see, we always wanted to settle the score with you but to be honest you¡¯re freakishly strong.¡±

    ¡°Oh, jealous of my skill and charm?¡± Io made another dumb pose and it seemed to piss these guys off.

    ¡°No, we just can''t stand you, your personality, your lack of skill, and your race! Go back to your lair and sit on some gold you stole from burning a palace or something!¡± Edgy Assassin #1 said while pointing his dagger at Io.

    ¡°How rude! We dragons don''t do that anymore!¡± Io said while also trying to point her dagger but she clumsily dropped it. I facepalmed.

    ¡°Doesn''t matter we humans have suffered enough under your race now it''s time for revenge!¡± All the people that were hidden got out. There were some half-breeds between them too. Bunch of hypocrites¡­

    ¡°Maybe this will remove the humiliation of being beaten up by a girl, guys get her!¡± Said Edgy Assassin #2.

    So, what is it? Are they upset because she''s a dragon or because they got your ass kicked by her? Io started punching, grabbing, and slamming the people coming at her. She didn''t even fight like an assassin¡­ not that I do either. I snuck around and assassinated the guys that were the furthest out, pulled them into my dimensional pocket, and incinerated their bodies.

    ¡°Hey, Harold, something is off, I¡¯m sure we had more people than this.¡± Edgy Assasin #3 reported.

    ¡°Hey bitch! You didn''t come alone, did you?¡± Edgy Harold #1... I mean Harold said while flinging daggers at Io.

    Io kept punching and slamming the people going at her.

    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m talking to you!¡± Harold said while flinging more daggers at Io. Io was a dragon so the daggers bounced off the red dragon scales that had appeared on Io''s body.

    Io pointed at herself. ¡°Oh, I thought you were talking to Bitch, I didn''t know you were talking to me.¡±

    I held my dagger at Harold''s throat before he could say something back. Good afternoon, sir, I would recommend that you call your lackeys off.

    ¡°Who the fuck are you?¡± And off flew his head.

    ¡°Harold! Who are you?!¡± Edgy Assasin #4 yelled.

    ¡°Ohh, it''s that nice smell again, I knew it was you!¡± Io, focus, please¡­

    The 3 edgy dudes ran at me but they fell because their feet got cut off by the wires, I had placed prior.

    Right, I would recommend you all to refrain from moving unless you want to end up like any of these idiots here. I took the liberty of assassinating your buddies and planting thin wires everywhere. This will happen if you do move. I tapped on a wire near me. It vibrated and it set some other wires off that constricted around a random lackey and cut him into pieces.

    ¡°Ooh! So cool!¡± Io wanted to run over.  Io... please... Stop, this also means this can happen to you¡­

    ¡°Who sent you!? Did Ben send you?¡± Edgy Assassin #2 said as he was litching his dismembered foot. Yes.

    ¡°Really? Why didn''t you tell me? I thought Sylvana sent you!¡± Io... please be quiet¡­

    ¡°So, you were bluffing! Ha nice try! We¡¯re not afraid of you, we¡­¡± I tapped another wire and Edgy Assasin #3''s head flew off. Right, anyone else has useless comments?

    They all shook their heads which was stupid because it made the wires around their necks constrict more and this sent all their heads rolling. Ugh, idiots, I told them to not move¡­ The wires became visible because of all the blood.

    Great, how do I clean all this mess?

    ¡°That was so cool!¡± Io ran toward me snapping all the wires. 2 wires refused to snap and pulled me toward a tree. I guess this works too as an evade. I melted the wires so I got loose and didn''t go splat on the tree. ¡°Come on not even a friendly hug?¡± Please no, you will crush me like I¡¯m a bug, I¡¯d like myself uncrushed.

    ¡°I will be gentle!¡± I¡¯ll pass.

    ¡°Aww, maybe another time, how are we going to clean up this mess? This is hard to hide¡­¡± Just burn it.

    ¡°But they will find out by mana tracing!¡± Then just don''t use mana.

    I pulled all the bodies together with my wires. Shifted my stance and collected the dirt that had blood on it with [Water Dragon Dance], created a pile, surrounded it with the dragons and turn it into ice, then torched the pile with a weak [Phoenix Dance] and created a mountain of ash. Some [Wind Dragon Dance] to spread all the ashes and it almost looked like nothing happened here.

    ¡°Wait are you a dragon too?! How did you learn that?!¡± No, I¡¯m not a dragon¡­

    ¡°True, dragons don''t smell this nice, what cologne is it, wait this doesn''t smell artificial, is it natural? And how come you can turn it off?¡± Io was being a typical dragon and being clueless. I guess I can''t blame her because I didn''t know about this either but I don''t think I should tell her. I can''t tell you what this smell is but please don''t tell anyone else, also if you find someone who smells like me, please keep it to yourself.

    ¡°Can I tell you if I do? You can become smell buddies!¡± Eh? I don''t think we will hang out enough for that to happen.

    ¡°Why not!¡± Let¡¯s just get out of this shady forest first.

    ¡°Let''s go to the Loud Sun! the guys will like you!¡± Hey, wait let''s just talk over this! She picked me up and started running again. She kept talking and talking and talking and I just fell asleep. She was still running and talking when I woke up. I was wondering how long she would keep running and talking and I decided that I didn''t want to deal with her talking so I decided to sleep till she reached her destination.

 Vol 2 Ch 46: The Loud Sun

    This rest was the best one I had in a very long time. Io woke me up saying that we arrived and she didn''t notice when I fell asleep. It seems I have been sleeping for a whole week. Did this chick run and talk for a week straight? What¡¯s wrong with this race?

    ¡°Welcome to the loud Sun!¡± She made it look like a big deal but it just looked like just another bar, although... I looked down. I don¡¯t know what it is but something about this place¡¯s shadow seems fishy.

    I got dragged inside by Io. ¡°Bernard! It¡¯s so Noisy in here! 2 half-empty Shadow cocktails!¡±

    ¡°Can you keep it Silent? How do you want it mixed?¡± Bernard responded.

    ¡°I need it properly Melded!¡± Io said. It seemed to be some sort of code.

    ¡°I might have run out, can you come with me?¡± Bernie went to the back and we followed. The door closed behind us. ¡°So, who was unlucky enough to be dragged in by you this time Io?¡±

    ¡°Hehe! He¡¯s not unlucky! He¡¯s super lucky!¡± I disagree, I¡¯m extremely unlucky.

    Bernie looked at the trinket I got from Sylvana. ¡°Oh, I see you have the umbral pendant. Who gave it to you?¡± What¡¯s with that edgy name? Who came up with that name?

    ¡°The founder did, now who did you get that from?¡± Sylvana.

    ¡°Oooh, I see, so she finally trusted someone, that¡¯s quite a rare feat, you must be very special then.¡±

    ¡°Yes! He smells nice!¡± Io said excitedly.

    ¡°Well then, welcome to the Silent Night, this bar is our front, our real base is there.¡± Bernie pointed down. Underground? Wait no¡­ the shadow?

    ¡°Ooh, very sharp, we have developed a special kind of [Shadow Meld] that melds us in the shadow and allows us to create a small world inside of it. Well, only the founder could do that. A few of us can use the special [Shadow Meld] to access that special place but nobody has been able to make something similar. We call this skill [Silent Meld]. For those that can use it can come and go into that space however they want.¡± And those that can''t?

    ¡°I will ferry them over there by [Silent Melding] them there.¡± Just one question, shouldn''t you screen me first or something? Isn''t bringing a random guy into your hideout risky?

    Bernie smiled and shook is head. ¡°Not really, it¡¯s not like you can leave from there and most of us are skilled assassins so it¡¯s not like they don''t know what to do with you if you have ill intentions.¡± Fair point, this would probably be the worst place to pull something funny.

    ¡°Anyways, Io might be a strange gal but she has a good eye for people¡­ most of the time¡­¡± Yeah, You need to know about her walking into an obvious trap¡­

    ¡°I see, you must have had it hard¡­ come on in.¡± Bernie put his hands on our shoulders and I felt the familiar feeling of turning into liquid shadow and dropping into the shadows. We got pulled down and into a dark space that was holding a building that looked identical to the Loud Sun but just used all the dark shades and black you could possibly use. This process of [Silent melding] didn''t seem so hard. It was just [Shadow melding] but being extra aware of how to move around in the shadow. It wasn''t something that could be taught, it required you to be overly familiar with shadow melding.

    I bet Greg could pull this create-a-world-in-the-shadows trick off in a heartbeat. I probably can¡¯t but I can at least [Silent meld] which means I can get out of here whenever I want. This changes everything!

    ¡°We''re here! The Silent Night!" Io barged in and a lot of shady and edgy characters looked at us. There was one guy that looked out of place because he looked¡­ normal. I guess that''s the first person I will try to befriend.

    ¡°I brought a new guy! He smells nice! So be nice to him!¡± Io said loudly as she pointed at me.

    ¡°So loud, Io, shut up, what¡¯s this guy''s name?¡±

    ¡°Ehh, what was your name again?¡± I¡¯m Agnis Hourai, nice to meet you. Everyone seemed to react to my name.

    ¡°Hourai, as in the rubies? Are you filthy rich? We could use some financial support.¡± A friendly looking assassin said.

    ¡°We can finally have good food?! Hey, can we not do our regular stuff and just accept him?¡±

    ¡°Hey, hold on he doesn''t seem to have anything on him, he might be broke for all we know, moreover he is just a kid.¡± A thin woman in black commented.

    I threw 2 gold on the floor and 4 assassins dove at it and fought to get it.

    ¡°You pass!¡± A random assassin declared.

    ¡°Hey! You can¡¯t just decide that, don''t get swayed by money!¡± The friendly-looking assassin said but he was also fighting hard to procure the gold.

    ¡°Then let go of that coin if you think so!¡± This was not what I expected, they seemed serious and intimidating until I threw the gold on the floor. I might be able to manipulate these guys.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think you got us to accept you because of this.¡± The thin edgy woman with pale skin, black lipstick and eyeliner snuck up on me and tried to steal my wallet but I don''t have any.

    Nice try. I dangled her wallet.

    ¡°Fast fingers.¡± She grabbed her wallet and walked away.

    ¡°Right, ahum we need to test if he¡¯s suited to be here.¡± The friendly looking assassin said while he casually punched another guy away trying to snatch the gold coin out of his hand. ¡°However, we will take your kind donation into account in case you fail.¡± He started evading the other assassins that were going for the gold. It was quite amusing.

    ¡°You¡¯re enjoying this aren''t you, it seems your personality is as screwed up as the other people here.¡± The woman with black lipstick commented on this as she sat down in the corner and looked at the guys fighting for the gold coin. She then noticed that I returned her an empty wallet. She threw her wallet to the side, smiled at me, and joined the fight to grab the last coin which was still unclaimed. The guy that had claimed the first coin approached me.

    ¡°The name is Esher. You could call me the leader of this sorry bunch. I saw how you stole and emptied Willow¡¯s wallet. I can acknowledge that you have some basic skills. You also seem to have a knack for manipulation, all good so far." The friendly looking assassin said.

    ¡°Hey Esher, can he be my disciple?¡± Io said while she stared at the assassin''s brawl.

    ¡°Ehh, we¡¯ll see about that, he seems quite calm even though everyone has locked on to him and is sending bloodlust at him. He might not look like it but he¡¯s no pushover. Tell me kiddo. What has life thrown your way to become like this?¡± Why does everyone ask something similar to this? Just the standard tragic backstory, nothing more.

    ¡°Uhh, I don''t think a standard sad backstory does that but it¡¯s ok if you don¡¯t want to talk about it, anyways one of our trials would be to steal from one of us but it seems you already accomplished that¡­ and well it also seems you''re decent at distraction so it seems we can cut to the best part!¡± Esher said while palming his fist. Combat I assume.

    ¡°Glad you catch on so fast now since most of us are ehh, occupied it''s either Bernard, me, or Io you¡¯re fighting, Jimmy is a bit too timid for that.¡± He gestured to the normal-looking guy sitting in the corner looking at us.  Well, you seem to have been probing me the whole time so I assume you want to test me out.

    ¡°Heh, please don''t disappoint me, kid, I think we¡¯d get along.¡± Esher took his stance and I observed.

    I wondered how I should tackle this. Do I do my normal assassin stuff? I¡¯m sure he would be able to see through most of it because I¡¯m mostly self-taught. Fighting like I normally would¡­ would that be acceptable? I looked at Io. They accepted her, somehow and she doesn''t fight like an assassin so I assume that shouldn''t be an issue. I also took a stance and had a stare-off with Esher. I slowly but surely layered illusions and entered stealth. He didn''t seem to have noticed anything so far. He was still looking at an illusion of me. I swung my dagger at him but something in his shadow seemed to tell on me and he narrowly dodged.

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    ¡°Whoa! That was close¡± I threw daggers at him that had thin wires attached and changed their trajectory by manipulating the wires. I tried to catch him in a net but he was aware of it. His shadow seemed to be moving independently of him which intrigued me but it did nothing funny yet. I was curious. I tried to [Shadow bind] him but his shadow cut this loose, freeing him up.

    What the? I evaded a flurry of attacks and while evading sent out daggers flying in all directions.

    ¡°Who the hell taught you to fight like this?¡± Esher seemed to be struggling with my evasive maneuvers but he didn''t get hit by anything even though he should have. He only blocked half of the daggers that would''ve hit him. I stopped attacking and sized him up, trying to figure out what he would do and he did the same. ¡°Hey, how old are you?¡± 16, almost 17.

    ¡°Have you ever killed anyone?¡± Possibly I jumped away. His shadow threw a dagger. But not a normal dagger, it was a shadow of a dagger. It didnt fool me so another evade went out that sent daggers flying in every direction.

    ¡°Tss, didn''t work I guess.¡±

    I pulled on some wires and sent them toward him. He made a [Shadow Dome] to protect himself. I¡¯m sure he [Shadow Melded] while inside. I jumped up and stood on my wires, making it seem like I was floating and intercepted some daggers flying from a random direction and saw [Shadow Tendrils] appear from another. A [Shadow bind] immobolized me, making evading impossible. I responded by melting the wire with my feet causing me fall down, although slowly, but it did cause me to dodge the pincer attack. I broke out of the [Shadow bind] and started [Fire dragon dance] and made them very bright to eliminate the shadows closing in on me.

    ¡°What, the?¡± This can light up a room that contains a Shadow Behemoth, your shadow tricks are useless!

    I abused my speed and kicked his legs from beneath him and slammed him to the ground. I let the fire dragon dance on the ambient leyline near me to keep the area well-lit and minimize shadows.

    ¡°This didn''t go as I expected... I concede.¡± I didn''t move.

    ¡°Haha ok, you got me, no tricks you passed.¡± I still didn''t move.

    ¡°I really mean it. I¡¯m not gonna do anything!¡± I let go and held a dagger to his neck.

    ¡°Shit, you really don''t trust anything do you?¡± I¡¯m good at detecting deception.

    I let him go and he got up. The other assassins had stopped fighting and seemed to have been watching the whole time. I canceled my [Fire dragon dance]. I don¡¯t know what the deal was with your shadow but I didn''t feel like finding out.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s the correct method of fighting an assassin, either that or run. You might already know it but there are 4 types of assassins, shadow fighters like me, stealth fighters like Willow over there, freestyle fighters like Io, and technical fighters like Jimmy. You seem to be a technical fighter too." Eh, I think, I¡¯m quite freestyle myself too.

    ¡°Anyways anyone have comments on Agnis¡¯ performance?¡± Esher asked the spectators.

    ¡°Can I get gold if I kick his ass?¡± A tall lean guy asked.

    ¡°Uhh, I don''t know.¡± Esher said as he rubbed his shoulder as it seemed to get injured when I slammed him into the ground.

    ¡°I got pummeled by Io the last time I want redemption and gold, the name is Hugo, your gold is mine¡± The tall lean guy said and I looked over at Esher.

    ¡°You already passed, it doesn''t matter if you win or lose this, just¡­ if you lose you will lose some gold.¡±

    I got ready and Hugo disappeared. I shifted stance and used [Fernys Magma pit].

    ¡°Owowow!" I dashed towards the sound and used a [Flame wave] and Hugo got sent flying while on fire. ¡°Hothothot!¡± Well, that was easy¡­

    "Interesting, no mana, eh? Quite useful where did you learn that?" Esher asked out of curiosity. He seemed to be mixing something. Is that poison?

    Its self-taught.

    "Interesting, it looks useful but also difficult, I have the feeling that you make it look easy." It''s a pain in the ass and a lot of work went into it.

    "Well, I don''t see a reason why you shouldn''t join. We don''t care much about the other assassins opinions besides these present." Esher said as he pointed at the few assassins that were visible. So, they''re just here to watch?

    "I guess they couldn''t hide from you¡­" This situation was similar to the shady forest, a large group of assassins were hiding nearby. "Welcome to Silent Night, your first assignment is to assassinate this man." Esher was about to show me something but the other assassins were being a nuisance. I flicked 6 gold coins far away and saw everyone jump on it.

    "I think you will fit in just fine here¡­ Anyways, this man here needs to be assassinated before the new year. Our sources confirmed that he was developing a new magical weapon. Our source is confident that this weapon can force a state of mana incompatibility on those it hits. The state is temporary but research is done to make this more permanent. Luckily, he is the only one researching this so this problem is easily solved with assassination. He doesn''t trust anyone and keeps all his research in his memory. He did write a document once but we missed our window to claim it." A weapon? That forces mana incompatibility?

    I thought about all the mana-induced nausea and how much trouble it gave Greg and me. I started to get a bit mad. Unacceptable! Is this the document you need by any chance? Can I have more details? This feels personal.

    "Wait, where¡­ yes this is it, you seem to feel strongly about this. Well, this researcher will share his findings at a New Year¡¯s party to get a patent, which he will probably receive but we want him gone before the specifics get out. We don''t need more people to get the same idea. It''s not an easy first mission but it seems you''re qualified and willing to do it." This guy is so dead¡­

    "Good, we have some rules, most don''t have to be said but I will for clarity. We''re assassins, behave like one. Io is a special case and we''re working on it. We will help out if situations become a mess but expect to solve your problems by yourself. We mainly help out with aftermaths, not with the actual assignments. And don''t show your Umbral Pendant to anyone and especially not other assassins. That''s it, the other rules are those that assassins abide by regardless so there''s no point in telling you those." I tucked the pendant away.

    "We will deal with this document. Your target''s current location is in Texiha near the border of Hjuva. His destination is Gittrian. He will probably stay there until after the meeting, I would suggest assassinating him before he reaches Gittrian. He might have crossed the border by now.¡± Any additional hazards? Like is he proficient in combat or does he have guards?

    "No noteworthy combat proficiency and he hired 2 adventurers. You''re free to decide how to handle them but I would recommend keeping them alive if possible. We might be assassins but we don''t enjoy killing those that are doing their jobs and are unrelated to the reason we target someone." Agreed, I will accept this assignment.

    I got the mission details from Esher and looked over them. The other assassins were still fighting to get the gold coins. I evaded a dagger strike from stealth and wrapped the attacker in wires during my evasive maneuver.

    "Ahh! I apologize!" Attempting to assassinate me to get my gold, eh? I wonder, why don''t the other assassins try this? I used [High Voltage] on the wires but kept the lightning weak.

    "They don''t do this because we don''t attack our brethren for reasons like this." Esher walked toward this random assassin and skewered him with [Shadow Spikes]. "You know the rules, the next time you attempt this you will become our next assassination target, understood?"

    I released the wires and Esher picked up the bloodied random assassin. "I''m sorry for that, please forget this fool''s actions, I will bring him to the sickbay and then [Silent Meld] you outside." Oh no worries, I''ll see myself out.

    "What the?"

    I [Silent Melded] and returned to the real world. I looked at the shadow of the Loud Sun, quite the crafty way to hide a base. I had till New Year to find this guy and get rid of him. I had a lot of time. It wouldn''t take almost 1.5 months to get from his location to Gittrian so he was probably going to be there for several weeks before his meeting. Assassinating him in the capital of Hjuva, Gittrian, would indeed make this harder.

    I left the Loud Sun village, I never caught this village''s name but found a signpost shortly after.

    So, this place is called Daggerfall eh? Interesting.

    I headed southeast toward the border and tried my best to avoid that stupid desert but I still had to go through some of it. I reached Texiha 9 days after I left.

    Texiha was a small city. It did have an Adventurer¡¯s Association here. I needed to visit it to find out which adventurers were guarding this guy. This information was not public but as a C-rank adventurer or higher, it was possible to find out, because in cases of emergency, C-rank or higher acted as rescue teams. I went to the second floor of the area where the higher-ranked adventurers hang out.

    I found out that a very defensive B-rank Iron Wall and a D-rank healer ehh Golden Angel were put on the job. Trying to keep himself alive, I guess. I still have to get used to these special names. I looked at my own adventures ID. Its role slot was empty but I would probably get Silent Night on this. I went back to the main floor and looked at the posters to help new adventurers out.

    Iron Wall: have high physical defensive capabilities and are able to protect themselves and others very well.

    Unstoppable Beast: high physical offense and relatively sturdy fighters, can temporarily act as an Iron Wall but preferred fighting style is to keep attacking.

    Hard Light: the Iron Wall for magical damage, has high magical defensive capabilities.

    Grumpy Blowfish: Have great supportive skills that aid in boosting and augmenting magical and physical damage.

    Golden Angel: Has great defensive support skills and has the ability to heal and dispel curses and negative status effects.

    Crimson Eagle: high magical offense, occasionally proficient in status effects

    Hawkeye: proficient in skills or weapons that require knowledge of the surrounding area and its conditions.

    Silent Night: proficient in stealth, assassination, and subterfuge

    The poster then goes on to advise you to determine where your specialty is and focus on that.

    I guess Greg would be a Hard Light and Raishin a Crimson Eagle. I would fit in Silent Night or Crimson Eagle. I guess they made this system to set up groups easier. My target just had to say he needed an Iron Wall and a Golden Angel and thus didn''t have to specify what qualities he needed in his guards. I wondered how much this cost him. Golden Angels are quite expensive because they are quite uncommon and it''s hard to get into that role. I committed these terms to memory and headed toward Gittrian. According to the information in the Adventurer¡¯s Association, they left Texiha the day I left Daggerfall. I wanted to wrap this up before my birthday.

 Vol 2 Ch 47: Gittrian

    There he was, my target. He was flirting with the Golden Angel while walking through the plains. It had taken me 3 days to catch up to them. I was a bit nervous, I had assassinated people before but more out of direct necessity, this is different, I won''t be put in direct danger if I let this guy walk. It makes it harder for me to steel my heart. He seems like a nice guy but everyone has someone they''re nice to, even the worst villains are nice to their family, at least most of them¡­ I also feel a bit bad to make these adventurers fail their mission. Failing won''t affect them as an adventurer, it might affect them mentally though.

    I¡¯m starting to see the value of being silent, efficient, and deadly more and more. I could easily kill this guy in multiple ways which will nuke the whole area or create blood splatters or leave a disturbing body behind. But it''s certainly going to leave a mark on those adventurers. I had to rethink my approach, I planned on just dropping a [Fire Dragon dance] on him but maybe I should find something more assassin-like. My leyline training is over so I don''t have to stick to them.

    I followed them for 2 days. The adventurers didn''t leave his side. Any attempt to assassinate him would have to be fast and potentially sloppy. I had no poisons left from Greg. Only¡­ my stoneroot solution. But I need an earth attack to turn him into real stone. I will use this in case I can''t find out a better way. I could freeze him solid and shatter him into dust. I connected to the air leyline currents and created a bow made out of ice and climbed a tree that was perfect to shoot from. I aimed at my target.

    I waited till both the adventurers would take their eyes off him and shoot him, freeze him solid, and shatter it in an instant. They were getting quite far when the moment came. The ice arrow flew and¡­ it hit a small barrier that was surrounding my target. It was a barrier that protected against 3 hits but my arrow destroyed all 3 of them. The arrow did however fail to hit my target. I upped my stealth and got out of the tree. The target freaked out and the adventurers were on full alert. I can¡¯t believe that I forgot to check if there were any barriers to him! The target was a mess and the adventurers tried to calm him down. The Golden Angel placed another of that barrier around him and the Iron Wall reinforced it. I guess this isn''t going to be as easy as I thought.

    They stopped in a village the day after which would make it a bit harder for me to assassinate my target.

    I had a new idea. I am going to attempt to shadowmeld him into a shadow and make the shadow disappear. I¡¯m sloppy in shadow melding other people but as long as I succeed it should work. I [shadow melded] into the farm they were spending the night at, covered myself in illusions and [Transformed] myself as a dog.

    [Transform] only worked well on objects and animals for me. The only person I could [Transform] into is my female self.

    The adventurers were talking about their day and I approached my target with a small ball. [Shadow Meld] doesn''t care if the target has barriers on and making the shadow disappear will instantly delete anything that was in it and that also doesn''t care about barriers. The problem was that removing the shadow will be very noticeable.

    My target would be [Shadow melded] into the shadow of this ball. This ball was actually a [Fireball] that I covered with illusions. The illusion would be dispelled after he got into the shadow of the ball, eliminating the shadow altogether. I would keep my identity as a dog, act shocked and run away.

    The adventurers had their guard up but weren''t wary of me as a dog. My target petted me and reached for the ball, he got [Shadow melded] into the shadow of the ball when the adventurers were distracted. The illusion got cancelled and the ball turned into a fireball, eliminating the shadow. I barked and acted shocked and ran away.

    The adventurers ran to see what happened but they seemed to be confused. I heard them calling for the target as I ran into a cornfield and undid my [Transform]. I succeeded in my mission! It was past midnight so I succeeded 4 days before my birthday. Talking about cutting it close. I found a nearby tree, climbed into it, and fell asleep after covering myself up in illusions.

    The next morning came or well it was the same morning and I went to find out what the adventurers were doing. They were frantically looking for their target but it is unlikely that they will find him. I wonder what their report would look like. Since I was close to Gittrian I decided to give it a visit. It might also be a good place to celebrate my birthday. I walked to find out how much time more I had for the assassination in case that attempt had failed.

    It took 3 days. Really cutting it close there. Gittrian was huge. It wasn''t as technologically advanced as that shitty city that kidnapped the spirits but it was quite up there. It did however show off that it relied on both technology and magic. The people here seemed to be very accepting of other races. I saw something I¡¯d never seen before. Different races walking next to each other and interacting like it¡¯s normal. I wish every place could be like this!

    I wandered through the city and admired almost everything about it and stopped in front of a sign that I recognized. It read ¡®Yttroz Industries Headquarters¡¯ I wasn''t clothed like an assassin, unlike a certain dragon, so I could go everywhere I wanted.

    I decided to take a look around this place but I got stopped by 2 guards. ¡°Do you have an appointment? State your business!¡± I want to look around.

    ¡°This is not a tourist attraction, I would suggest visiting Aurum, it¡¯s a city block made out of gold, it is 5 blocks to the east.¡± The guard pointed east. Oh, wait! I have something! Give me a second! I took out the business card that¡­ I looked at the card. Jeremiah? Gave to me. Was that his name? I swear it was something else.

    I showed the card to the guards. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re an acquaintance of Jeremiah? Then why didn''t you say so?!¡±

    ¡°Rick, do you bring him to the VIP entrance? I will keep watch here.¡±

    ¡°Okay, follow me ehm I didn''t catch your name.¡± Agnis Hourai. Both guards were surprised.

    ¡°Uhm, can I see your ID?¡± I showed them my adventurer''s ID and my fancy noble ID because I didn''t know which one would be the best for this situation.

    ¡°Oh, shit it''s really him! We apologize for not recognizing you! Our company owes its recent surge in popularity to you! Hey, Chris send a Teleroad to the reception!¡±

    ¡°Right!¡± the other guard named Chris took out a device and started a Teleroad message.

    ¡°Please follow me, we didn''t expect your arrival.¡± Uh, it¡¯s fine, I¡¯m just a random guy and I came here by chance, you don''t need to treat me like a celebrity.

    ¡°Yeah, sorry about that but society decides whether you¡¯re a celebrity or not so whether you like it or not you¡¯re an important individual, at least to Yttroz Industries.¡± I guess I can¡¯t argue against that¡­ I got shown into a very luxurious part of the building. I just came to take a look¡­ Some important-looking people came running.

    ¡°What made you honor us with your visit sir?¡± A guy in a neat suit asked. Uhm, a whim?

    ¡°Are you interested in how we put the precious Hourai rubies to use?¡± Uh, sure why not, I would like to know why they''re such a big deal.

    ¡°One moment please.¡± I got led toward a hall that had some items on display. ¡°As you might be aware we have split the rubies in functions. The more popular ¡®Hourai Ruby¡¯ is a currency that uses 1-carat rubies as currency. Currently, 1 Hourai Ruby has the value of 1261 gold.¡± Wait, I knew that but the last time I heard about them they were worth about 1010 gold.

    ¡°That was about 3 years ago, their worth has been steadily increasing because more and more individuals use them as collector''s items and not as currency, so this only makes those in circulation more valuable. The rest of the Hourai rubies have been used to craft various objects such as seen here.¡± I saw a scepter that had an enormous ruby on it. Armor with a ruby breastplate, all kinds of items that used them. A pan made out of ruby? Really? Isn''t that a waste?

    ¡°It won¡¯t be used for cooking don''t worry.¡± The man in teh suit said proudly. Yes, but then why create a pan? Not because you can means you should¡­ I got ignored and showed all the stuff that was made.

    ¡°Several items have already been sold but most of these items are too expensive to find consistent buyers.¡± I see¡­ it surely must have made you guys rich.

    ¡°Oh, you have no idea! Yttroz Industries became so rich that it doubled the wages of everyone because they just didn''t know what to do with all that gold! I¡¯m truly thankful for your contribution and glad I decided to work here.¡± The man said happily while shaking my hand in gratitude. Wait you¡¯re not treating me like this because of that right? I had nothing to do with it!

    ¡°How humble but everyone who works for Yttroz Industries deems you as an important figure!¡± Ugh, what a headache. I just sold some rubies¡­ A door opened.

    ¡°Is he here? How do I look?¡± A dwarf and a familiar face appeared. Oh! I remember you! You''re Terry!

    ¡°The name is and always was Jeremiah¡­ good to see that you¡¯re still the same although¡­ you look like you¡¯re hurting for money, did you blow all your gold?¡± Terry said as he inspected me. I was just wearing casual clothnig, although I had gone through quite a bit since I got into these so they were a bit worn and dirty. Eh? Not really, hardly touched it, I just like this clothing although getting something sand-repelling would be quite nice.

    ¡°Still a jokester, this is the CEO of Yttroz Industries, Barusu Onyxbeard.¡±

    ¡°Nice to finally meet you. I want to personally thank you for your transaction. It had a tremendous impact on our company!¡± The dwarf said as he shook my hand. I just sold rubies¡­

    ¡°And wonderful rubies they were! We are currently in the process of rebuilding Gittrian to be better, more efficient, and friendlier to all types of races! We have just started and it will probably take 15 years to finish but this will be the biggest project we¡¯ve ever started. As thanks to Gittrian for taking care of us when we were still young and broke. I want to give back to the city that gave me this much. And I would like to do the same to you although, I don''t know what you might want, gold is not an issue for you so I¡¯d like to hear how we might be able to help.¡± Uh well I have a lot of problems but I don''t think you can help me with that, although making this place better for all races is something I think is very important so I guess you could say you¡¯re already helping in doing that. Hmm oh, you guys are pro¡¯s in rocks, right?

    ¡°I told you when we met right, it¡¯s not just rocks but also construction.¡± Are you sure you did Terry?

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure¡­¡± Anyways, have you guys dug up ruins that had strange symbols? Has anyone recorded what they said and where they found it?

    ¡°Hmm, do you mean those that possess some form of ancient technology? We do yes, we even moved a whole structure to Gittrian, it¡¯s on the 5th floor underground.¡± Terry said after taping on his tablet. Wow, that¡¯s crazy, may I take a look?

    ¡°Sure, give us a moment.¡± Dwarfbeard walked away and talked to some other important-looking people.

    ¡°I just remembered that you wanted to start something with blacksmithing. How is that going?¡± Terry said as he offered me to sit down and sat down himself. Uuh, not so great but I will probably start next year after I turn 18.

    ¡°Ohh, I see, has it already been this long? Have you returned to Boshi town after the barrier lifted? I don''t suppose you know how that happened. Someone was looking for you too¡± I don''t know what happened and I haven''t gone back there since and who was looking for me?

    ¡°An assassin most likely but you''re alive so that means that the attempt failed, although he or she did mention that the goal was to keep you safe and not harm you. What was that about?¡± An assassin trying to protect us? Strange, I don¡¯t know what that¡¯s about sorry.

    ¡°Hmm, well whenever you get into trouble don''t hesitate to ask us for help.¡± I¡¯ll try to remember and if you guys need more rubies just ask. The whole room got silent. Terry seemed to try and process my words. ¡°Wait, you have more of these things?¡± Uhh, didn''t I tell you?

    ¡°I thought you were joking¡­¡± Uhh yeah let''s go with that!

    ¡°Do you have more?¡± Yea, but from what I hear the world might not be ready for the yet¡­

    ¡°Yeah, you might be right¡­¡±

    ¡°We will have more than enough to buy them this time!¡± The dwarf came running. Uh, it¡¯s fine I will check if you need more rubies after you¡¯ve rebuilt Gittrian.

    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ¡°Deal! Now come, the preparations are done! We can go down!¡± Dwarfbeard said excitedly.

    I started to think while I was being escorted by Dwarfbeard, Terry and more important looking people. I thought I was just a random nobody brat. But apparently, the most influential and wealthy company sees me as a very important person and all I did was sell some rubies¡­ Does this make no sense or is my understanding about how this world works flawed? Are there other things that make me more important than I think? Hmm the Adventurers Association seems me as important because I¡¯m of the few adventurers that reached C-rank with water magic as a focus¡­ Uh oh. Maybe I¡¯m not just a random dude anymore¡­ Hey, Terry, what do you know about me and how does the general public think of me?

    ¡°Hmm, well we recently discovered that you made a name for yourself as a C-rank water magic adventurer. It''s not much but people are starting to doubt if water is as useless as many think after all. About how you made Yttroz almost the richest company on the continent¡­ obviously those working here are very grateful to you and the places we have strong ties with are quite similar. We try to keep construction cheap but durable and many places have profited from our boost. So, I would say that a lot are aware that the name ¡®Hourai¡¯ carries a lot of importance so I suggest that you might want to take up a different name. We apologize for the inconvenience¡­¡± Yeah, I noticed¡­ at least now I know.

    ¡°Well, this should be easy for you since you''re an adventurer. Make a name for yourself and get an adventurer''s name. Not many people know that the strongest magical caster and ¡®Mage Hero¡¯ Beatrice Manarune¡¯s adventurer name is Crimson Eagle. Most people don''t know that they¡¯re the same person. Granted she hasn''t stepped a foot in an Adventurers Association for over 40 years but she still holds that adventurer¡¯s name. This goes for many noteworthy adventurers in history, their adventurer names are remembered while their real names tend to get forgotten. Or people forget that they''re one and the same.¡± I see, that¡¯s some very good information, thank you Jerry!

    ¡°It¡¯s Jeremiah, and glad to be of help.¡±

    We stepped into an elevator and 2 people joined us. I recognized them as the Iron Wall and Golden Angel who were supposed to protect my target.

    Dwarfbeard pointed at the adventurers. ¡°We hired them to protect you just in case, some weird things happen around this structure." What is this twist of fate?

    ¡°We won¡¯t fail this time!¡± The Golden Angel said confidently.

    I decided that under no circumstance should my identity be discovered when doing assassin missions. I seem to have developed different faces. I have an innocent blacksmith benefactor face, an adventurer''s face, and now an assassin face. The blacksmith and adventurer faces can mix. The assassin''s face doesn''t mix with anything at all. When did my life become so complicated?

    ¡°I will cast a barrier on you just in case.¡± The Golden Angel cast the 3-hit barrier on me and the Iron Wall reinforced it. We arrived and it was an empty floor with just the dungeon in it, although, it didn''t look like a dungeon. It reminded me a bit of that place I encountered Isi or where that Dimsha was sealed. Don¡¯t tell me something dangerous as a world-changing item is sealed here.

    ¡°Whoa, this is fascinating!¡±

    This place also had markings on it and they pulsed in the dark.

    ¡°What are these markings?¡± The Golden Angel tried to touch them but I pulled her away.

    Something is wrong with this building. Only 2 languages had their symbols on the exterior, the primal language and an ancient language that I could read.

    Something dangerous is sealed in here. I might mistranslate this but Scratching Demon? What even is that?

    ¡°Demon? Didn''t they disappear before the Great Eraser?¡± The Golden Angel rested her hand on a symbol and her hand got scratch marks on it.

    ¡°Aah!¡± I don¡¯t know, that''s what this text is saying.

    ¡°I thought you were just a blacksmith; how come you can read this? We hired scholars and nobody could decipher this!¡± Jerry said as he and other important looking people backed off. It seems I picked up another unnecessary skill. Uhm, all I did was sell rubies?

    ¡°You can''t use that excuse for everything!¡±

    The golden Angel tried to heal her wounds but it didn''t seem to work very well.

    ¡°Ugh, it''s [Spite], I can¡¯t heal this. I need to dispel this.¡± The Golden Angel tried her best to dispel [Spite] which blocks healing but it seemed to be quite potent. She lost a lot of blood before she could dispel it and she seemed exhausted. Seems that we shouldn''t get hit by anything that inflicts [Spite].

    The Iron Wall pulled the Golden Angel in. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here, Karina is exhausted, we had a rough couple of days.¡± Go, I¡¯m staying here, it seems that whoever sealed something in here didn''t do a good job.

    ¡°Wait, what do you mean?¡± Dwarfbeard asked confused. He started to stroke his beard.  I have encountered something similar before. I think a lot of things got sealed away in the same timeframe and they have all deteriorated and are starting to fail. Most likely they will fail at around the same time.

    Jerry frowned. ¡°That¡¯s not good, what should we do Barusu?¡±

    ¡°We need to hire a team to fortify the seal.¡±

    Jerry shook his head and pointed at the symbols. ¡°But nobody can read what it says?¡±

    ¡°He can.¡± Dwarfbeard said as he pointed at me. I don¡¯t think you have much time though; this thing will probably break out within 4 days or so. Look at all the scratches on the ground. If this thing is sealed it shouldn''t have an influence on anything outside its seal.

    ¡°Shit, the fastest and best team we can get here takes at least a week to get here.¡±

    I walked around this building while keeping a safe distance. The adventurers never left. So ehh do any of those seal guys know how to read ancient runes? I asked, directed at Jerry.

    ¡°I don''t think so.¡± So how do they want to reseal this then?

    ¡°...¡± As far as I know in this situation, you would have to break all the seals and seal it with your own seals¡­

    ¡°You are full of surprised you know?¡± Ugh, why does this have to happen now, I just wanted to eat some good food on my birthday¡­

    Jerry raised his eyebrow. ¡°Is it your birthday?¡± No, it¡¯s tomorrow but judging by the state of this mess I¡¯ll probably still be busy tomorrow.

    I took a piece of meat out of my dimensional pocket and threw it on the floor. Nothing happened, I threw more pieces and made a line going from me toward the building. At a certain distance from the building, the meat got all scratched up. Those very close ones got scratched into extremely small pieces.

    Right, this is the Meat line! Get closer than that piece of meat there and you will, well, end up like that piece of meat! This Meat line will also indicate if the unsafe area increases, like it just did. The golden angel could get quite close to the building after we arrived here but now the safe distance was at least 1.5 meat. The pieces of meat I threw were 15 cm long each.

    ¡°I get why you do this though but why meat¡­¡± To illustrate what happens to you if you get close. I threw another piece of meat at the building and it got scratched till it turned into a red-pink paste.

    ¡°What could even do all this?¡± The Golden Angel inquired.

    A scratching demon I suppose that''s what it says on the building. I walked to the front of the building and since it already had the primal rune of ¡®Open¡¯ on it. I just needed to order it to listen.

    Apeyada The marble doors opened and miasma flowed out. I shifted stance and used [Counter Swirl] to prevent it from spreading and made it rise in a column. I threw a piece of meat toward the entrance but it didn''t get scratched. Right, let''s see what¡¯s inside.

    I got pulled back by Dwarf hands. ¡°Hey! Wait! Are you insane? Look at the meat line! And that black-purple fog! You can¡¯t go in there!¡± I threw another piece of meat to the entrance and pointed at it gesturing that it was fine. ¡°Why are youngsters these days so reckless?¡± Who knows what happens if we let this be. There is no reason for you guys to stick around. This might become very risky. I need one of you to go outside and get some form of expert team here ASAP because I have no clue what I¡¯m doing but at least I can read this stuff.

    "I will go, I¡¯ll be back as soon as I have the situation sorted!"

    "Jeremiah, make sure to also notify the Adventurer¡¯s Association." Jerry nodded and ran off. I would recommend you guys leaving too, we can¡¯t have something happen to the CEO and ehh who are you guys?

    "We are advisors and stockholders." Dunno what that means but you guys seem important better get to safety. Most of them left besides 2 guys and the CEO. The adventurers also stayed.

    "You might not realize this Mr. Hourai but you are just as important to this company as those guys that just left, moreover I can¡¯t leave when someone that¡¯s as old as my son stay behind while I run." That is cool Mr. stickholder but you have a family to care for, I don¡¯t. If something happens to me that''s that, if something happens to you your family suffers.

    The stockholders thought about my words and left reluctantly and dragged the CEO with them.

    "Hey let me go! This is not how you treat a dwarf!"

    I looked at the adventurers that stayed behind. "Don¡¯t try to persuade us, were staying!"

    I feel sorry for them, they probably feel obligated to see this through because I made them fail their last mission. Alright don¡¯t say I didn''t warn you.

    The meat line indicated that the danger zone had expanded to 3 meat. I threw more meat toward the entrance and it was still safe. I was about to step inside but something bursted and a loud screech filled the room.

    Guys! Pay attention the seals just broke! I jumped away from the entrance and something big and black rushed out of the building. It was about 3m tall and looked like a tall human but completely black with red markings on its body and big red eyes. It also had some strange black fog emanating from it. It screeched again and showed off its large claws with sharp fingers the size of my arm. The Golden Angel screamed and this seemed to catch its attention.

    Get her out of there! I used [Spirit Lightning cage] but it broke straight through it. It did take a stun but then dashed toward the Golden Angel. The stun gave the Iron Wall enough time to put himself between the Golden Angel and the demon.

    What are you doing? I said get her out of here not block him! I used [Accel Step] to close the distance. The demon swiped and broke the Iron Wall''s defences and grabbed his head.

    "Aagh!" I took the correct stance and used [High Voltage] on the demon. It seemed to be just annoyed by it and opened the mouth of the Iron Wall and climbed inside. Shock and surprise caught me off guard as I saw the demon climb inside the Iron Wall through his mouth. The Iron Wall was gagging and tried to stop the demon while tears flowed from his eyes. The Golden Angel was paralyzed with fear and I was too. I got my wits together and wrapped the demon in wires and tried to pull him out of the Iron Wall but it gripped the wires and flung me into a wall.

    I heard the Iron Wall scream as the last bit of the demon disappeared into his mouth. Black energy burst from him, his eyes started to glow red and multiple scratches appeared on his skin. The Golden Angel got her shit together and tried to heal the Iron Wall but [Spite] was blocking it. My Elgards eyes revealed that the Iron Wall¡¯s mana got kicked out of his body to make sure to make a place for the demon''s mana. I used several [Accel steps] and closed in on Iron Wall Demon. I placed my palm on his chest and blasted zero-element leyline through him. Because mana and leyline energy don''t mix, it blasted the demon out of Iron Walls'' body. The Iron Wall collapsed; he wasn''t dead but soon would be if he doesn''t get help.

    Take him and leave! The Golden Angel screamed as the demon set his sights on her. Why isn''t it targeting me? Is it because I have no mana in my system? He was aware of my presence though. I pulled the Golden Angel toward me with wires because the demon swiped at her.

    Take your friend and leave! I will figure something out! She nodded and ran toward Iron Wall. I sent a lightning [Dragon] at the demon and landed a direct hit. The demon screeched and clawed at it. It gave off some strange energy I had never saw before. I was pushing it back for a bit but I needed a long time to make [Dragon] sentient. Suddenly it started to calm down.

    ¡°Quah asti?¡± It said in a slow, deep intimidating voice

    I created 7 illusion layers and shattered them to cancel this effect. This demon suddenly started to show intelligence and asked me ''who I am'' in primal language. Because of the language''s nature I was compelled to answer, that''s why I had to shatter those illusions. I started layering more illusions because this demon probably has a mountain of vocabulary ready for me.

    ¡°I am Karina Geis, a human, I am a D-rank Golden Angel. Huh, why did I feel the need to say that?¡± It seems it had its effect on the Golden Angel.

    ¡°Quah asti?¡±

    Abghare-hadi. I denied his question in the same language and this seemed to also cancel the effect. Golden Angel replied again. I pushed him more with [Dragon] but it didn''t seem it was doing a lot of damage to him.

    ¡°Quim asti?¡± Abghare-hadi Golden angel replied to what she is but this demon is probably trying to find out who or what I am.

    ¡°Mri!¡± Abghare-hadi I shattered the illusions on the Golden Angel and Iron Wall to protect them from instant death.

    This guy needs to get silenced, but I don''t know [Silence]. I turned the lightning [Dragon] into a water [Dragon] and tried to submerge him.

    I turned to the adventurers. What are you doing? Run!

    The golden Angel collected herself and tried to heal Iron Wall. I don''t blame her for prioritizing that but this guy can order her to die at any moment. I formed more illusion layers and drowned out the demon''s attempts to say something but he clawed through it and closed in. I tried to evade but¡­

    ¡°Cessanam!¡± I got caught off guard by him ''stopping'' me and he grabbed me by the throat so I couldn''t deny his words.

    I shattered the illusions but he grabbed me again and began seeping into me.

    Golden angel get out of here now! Abghabb-hadi! I butchered the pronunciation and it only slowed him down. I felt a feeling that wasn''t overly unfamiliar. The feeling of bugs crawling into my veins as this demon tried to get inside me although this felt more as if they were clawing their way into me.

    I blacked out but shortly woke up with the worst headache I ever had. I clutched my head and rolled around as scratches started to appear all over my body. The Golden Angel was crying and yelling something but I couldn''t hear her. I tried to push this demon out but I started hearing voices and knowledge of this primal language flooded into my head as well as memories of the demon from when he got sealed away.

    ¡°Ankrabi-shawi idac deha ii mymasum¡± I tried to fight the possession. I rolled around and tried to gather leyline energy and push him out. It was partly successful as the possession slowed down. A memory of this demon showed how he got sealed. Someone let himself get possessed and then he got killed before the possession was complete rendering the demon powerless for several minutes.

    He noticed what I was thinking. ¡°Asti me¡¯m¡±

    Oh hell no! I won''t become yours! that''s reserved for a hot chick! get the fuck out of my body! I said as I rolled around and gathered more leyline energy to fight the possession.

    Golden Angel, get the fuck out of here unless you want to die!

    The Golden angel had left the area. I got all my tails out and started [Tail Dynamo] while rolling around. The leyline energy surging through me started to weaken him.

    You need me to die to get out? Let¡¯s make it painful for you too! I started charging up [God of Thunder] the incorrect way and the demon and I started to get zapped. He tried to order me to stop or to become his body but his pronunciation got butchered by all the lightning surging through us. He made more and more scratches appear on my body. I couldn''t close the wounds because of the [Spite] but I could slow down my blood flow. He was looking for mana to feed on but he couldn''t find it anywhere.

    Memories of this demon merged with mine, including anything related to this primal language. the word ''Silence'' and ''Die'' were included. It is a silver lining but this attempt on possessing me made me proficient in the primal language.

    Don''t mess with a 9t! Silenam! With the asshole now silenced, I could roll around faster and was getting zapped by orange lightning.

    Mri! I called forth [God of Thunder] on myself and ordered the demon to die.

 Vol 2 Ch 48: Protia

    I woke up in a white room. Am I dead? Is this heaven? I looked to the side and saw Iron Wall.

    Padet, tve mrit etam. I covered my mouth. I tried to find the Kaledonian words for what I wanted to say. I counted 21 lives, I¡¯m not quite dead yet. My tails are gone, I assume they disappeared when I zapped myself. My mind was full with the primal language that apparently is called Protia. Its full name is Pronam Astentia and It means something similar to the original or the first language. I also seem to know all the runes now. I guess getting possessed by a strong demon had its merits¡­ I finally found the Kaledonian words.

    I see, so you died too.

    ¡°Ugh, don''t kill me off yet!¡±

    I wanted to say something again but only the Protia words came to mind. I decided to shut up because the pronunciation of the words I wanted to say were quite easy and it might have some unintended effects. The better I pronounce this the stronger its effects are but depending on the situation it might just be a spoken language, to truly bring out its power it needed to be accompanied by the corresponding runes. I inspected my body which was bandaged up and still very much covered in scratches with [Spite]. I drew 2 runes on myself and I redrew it multiple times.

    These runes with living beings as material are insanely difficult to draw especially since I fall in an ¡®Immortal¡¯ category. This demon knew how to draw runes on 63 different materials so I know that too now. I did a self-diagnosis and I¡¯m 100% myself. 0% demon. I probably died, rendering him useless, and then he got zapped and my order for him to die went through and I assume I died many times after that. 0/10 would recommend doing that again. I finally managed to get the correct runes after 10 minutes.

    Chinare-Saroti All my wounds healed and it didn''t care about [Spite], I still had [Spite] on me though¡­ I then spent half an hour getting the runes correctly for Iron Wall and healed him.

    Ugh¡­ this¡­ is a pain in the ass. I sat down in a corner as I slowly regained my ability to talk in Kaledonian. I checked the date and my birthday was almost over. What a day¡­ I spent my whole birthday knocked out and injured¡­ 0/10 would recommend this again.

    ¡°Huh, I¡¯m healed? How?!¡± Iron Wall got up and danced around. I still had a headache but besides that I was fine. My diagnosis seemed to have many asterisks though. A lot of uncertainties. Hmm, my soul might be a bit damaged but it has no adverse effects? What does that even mean? More prone to possession? Sensitive to demonic presence? Did I inherit more than just this language and some memories from this demon? The only memories I got from him were how he got sealed and terrorized cities before he got caught, a lot of violence, and nothing else of substance.

    Demons are known to exist but have never been spotted. Some ancient technology hints to their existence so the conclusion is that they ran around before the Great Eraser. Where they are now was unknown. Are they all sealed away like this guy or are they in the underworld? Spirit Isi told us that there is a Basement and that''s where the demons and devils live. I don¡¯t know what the difference is between those 2 but it''s probably important.

    The door flung open.

    ¡°You''re alright!¡± Golden angel flew into the arms of Iron Wall.

    ¡°And you! Wait you¡¯re moving and even healed?! The doctors said that you might never wake up again and possibly die! What happened?!¡± I got lucky. I am not wrong though, I got lucky that I was born a 9t else I¡¯d have been dead a long time ago.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think luck can even describe this, what even happened down there, the whole floor collapsed. Luckily, we take pride in the sturdiness of our buildings but to destroy a whole room¡­ that demon must have been something else.¡± The dwarf seemed very curious about what happened.

    ¡°It took us 4 hours to dig you out, we were surprised that you were even alive. And Karina even confirmed that you weren''t possessed anymore, so you must have fought the demon and won right?! Also, we got a very strange blackout.¡± Uhh, well I self-destructed and it paid off and I got lucky to survive.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I feel so useless! I was there but I couldn''t do anything for you or Ned!" Quah is Ned, I mean who is Ned?

    ¡°Ah right, you were mumbling some gibberish in your sleep are you alright? This is Ned.¡± Golden Angel pointed at Iron Wall. Ah, that makes sense, did you guys dig up parts of that building?

    ¡°Are you serious? We were too busy trying to find you to bother! But I gotta say, you have spirit! I knew you were a C-rank adventurer but to think you could fight off a demon and you even managed to destroy our highly rated materials you must be truly the next Beatrice Manarune!¡± The dwarf was boasting about me as if I were his son. Right, I know this might sound ungrateful, but can I leave, I want to find a good restaurant before the day ends.

    ¡°Oh right, I almost forgot, it¡¯s your birthday! How about I treat you? I will make today worth it, I promise, or my name isn''t Barusu Onyxbeard! Hahaha! JEREMIAH WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?! WE HAVE A BIRTHDAY TO PLAN!¡± The dwarf stormed off while shouting through the building.

    ¡°Oh, it''s your birthday? I¡¯m sorry for almost getting you killed on your birthday and happy birthday! How old did you get?¡± You mean how old I almost didn''t get?

    ¡°Hey come on Agnis, we tried our best even though it was lacking¡­¡± As of today, I¡¯m 17 years old, and no need to apologize you did what you could¡­ I think¡­

    The dwarf returned with Jerry and dragged me onto a private floating platform and brought me, the two adventurers, Jerry, and some stockholders to a fancy restaurant.

    ¡°I apologize but I did some digging, it seems you love fish, is that correct?¡± Itm! I mean yes!

    Jerry raised an eyebrow. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re alright? You seem weirder than before and tell us how you healed up after dinner I¡¯m interested.¡±

    ¡°Oh yea! I want to know too! I did my best to dispel that [Spite] but I just couldn''t manage! How did you get rid of it?¡± The Golden Angel said while she checked my status.

    Uhh, bad news, the [Spite] is still there¡­

    Jerry put his hand on his forehead. ¡°Right, I forgot, you never made any sense, why would you suddenly start to make sense¡­¡±

    We entered the extravagant restaurant and the dwarf, who apparently was called Barusu, told us to order anything we wanted. This restaurant''s specialty was seafood but it also had other things. Jerry and I were crazy about salmon so we kept ordering anything that had it in the menu. Barusu just ordered almost any alcoholic beverage on the menu. Does this guy not need to eat? Can dwarves live off alcohol alone?

    <hr>

    ¡°Uhh, our excuses dear customers, we ran out of salmon.¡± Boo!

    ¡°Boo!¡±

    ¡°Hey, Jeremiah, I think you had too much to drink, you''re starting to act like Agnis.¡± Just bring us any other fish! Hey guys want to see something cool?!

    ¡°Yes!¡± Only Jerry seemed excited but he was hammered. Golden Angel and Iron Wall were keeping it down and were acting odd. Hey, are you 2 perhaps a couple? Their reaction confirmed it.

    ¡°Boo! No couples!¡± Whoa, Jerry, you''re starting to sound like my friend Raishin now!

    ¡°My name isn''t Ttterryyy it''s Zheremiyaaa.¡±

    ¡°Here is the full lightning cod buffet.¡± Alright nobody touch the fish, look at this!

    I drew a rune on the fish, I only had to redraw them once. Salmo! All the fish obeyed and turned into salmon.

    How about that! Infinite salmon! Jerry cheered and we started to eat again. I answered their question about the healing and this party trick and told them about this pain-in-the-ass language that has a slightly different symbol for different materials, at least the pronunciation is consistent. I had a short but still great birthday. Barusu made a photograph to commemorate the occasion even though it was my birthday. He also fixed a nice room for me in the Yttroz Industries Headquarters.

    It seems they had everything in that building, it was like an Adventurers Association but bigger and more complete. He says he only gets out of the building if he really needs to, like today. I got an enormous luxurious room. What am I supposed to do with all this space? This room is bigger than small houses! It had had a bath that produced bubbles. I relaxed in this bath and practiced writing the Protia runes. I¡¯m not a big fan of this name, I will just call them primal runes. Sounds way cooler! I got out, dried myself, and brushed my tails.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Earlier this year I had 45 lives now I have 21. I should try to poke my nose into less stuff. And I was doing so well after the escape from Boshi Town.

    <hr>

    The sky was red, there was fire everywhere, people were screaming everywhere. I saw a man stuck under rubble. I walked toward him, pulled him out of the rubble while he was screaming and entered his body through his mouth. I got up sweating. I looked around. All I could see was the super luxurious room. Another nightmare, this time it came from the memory of that demon.

    I tried to calm myself. I drank some Mango Punch and brushed my tails again. Maybe I should practice writing these runes again, they are a pain in the ass to draw. I drew the runes on the wrong materials so that I could practice but make sure they wouldn''t linger. I dug into the memories I got from the demon that was related to this language. This language only seems to work directly on demons, against other creatures a combination of runes and the spoken word is needed. Also, this isn''t the demon''s native language, they had to learn this language to counter its effects. The demon couldn''t remember who they were supposed to counter. Did their enemies disappear?

    What else? Effectiveness depends on how well the rune is drawn and how good the pronunciation is? I already knew that. Different materials need different runes, I also knew that. According to this demon, its most potent phrase is ¡±Quim asti?¡± which means ¡®Who are you?¡¯ Why is this so potent? He did repeat this question and it was also his first question. Why is knowing who I am so important, what would he learn if he knew my name?

    Golden Angel did say her name and race, maybe he was after my race? But I looked like a human, why would he want to know my race if I¡¯m a human? Is it because I know this language? Maybe the identity of someone is important for the demons. He did want to possess me, maybe he needs to know so he knows who to possess. But he never asked Iron Wall but he possessed him too. I couldn''t find the answer so I tried to sleep again but failed to. I looked outside. Another full moon. Was it me or did it seem to always be a full moon when I looked up at the night sky. I felt a very strong tug towards the moon this time. What is happening to me? I tried to look away but it was as if I was hypnotized.

    I woke up. I don''t remember when I fell asleep. I noticed that my tails were out and that they were silver. When did I drop my cosmetic illusions? I reapplied them and hid my tails and stretched some and went outside to find a spot to practice some more leyline movements. I found a park 3 blocks south and practiced there. All types of people from different races and walks of life passed by the park. A small girl from the cat beast kin looked at me in awe. I wondered where her mother was. Minutes later her mother found her. She watched me move the water around for a bit and then left with her kid. I tried to draw some runes in my techniques while performing them but this failed miserably.

    I¡¯m still relatively new to these leyline movements and super new to these runes, there is no way I can effectively pull that off at this point. I¡¯m wondering if I''m taking too much on my plate. Getting better at assassination techniques was on the menu for the next year. I¡¯m interested in the weird things Esher tried. For the rest I just need to polish my skills. I won''t have to start from 0 like I had to with leyline energy so this should be easier. The year after I would focus on improving my blacksmithing skills and make cool weapons and become less shit in using swords. I haven''t held a sword or hammer in such a long time. It feels weird.

    I hope I didn''t forget how to do all that stuff. The last time I crafted something was when I was 14¡­ No point in worrying about that now. I have to survive the upcoming year. Someone contacted me and told me that Barusu had recovered the pieces of the ancient building. Barusu had arranged for it to be reconstructed in an empty room but this time with preventive measures. How fast can these people build?

    I stepped into the large room and met Jerry again. "Nothing seems off with this building now but you can''t be sure¡­"

    Barusu was surrounded by guards and even some adventurers. "Oh, you guys are finally here, ugh give a dwarf some space, I''m not the one that almost died, go guard him!" It seems he had problems with the extra security trying to keep him safe. "Oh, by the way Agnis, a healer wants to see you, he said you''ve met before in Fernys."

    Oh, shit that guy, tell him I''m out of town! A familiar face appeared from the crowd of people and smiled at me.

    "Nice try, this is the reason I decided to come and take a look." Ugh, what is he doing here?!

    "I''m here to take a look at this infamous [Spite] that even my daughter can''t dispel." Ugh, what a small world, how did you even get here so fast?

    "Agnis, you''re an adventurer¡­" Yes, Jerry I know, what does that have to do with anything?

    "Don''t you know that Golden Angels can use the teleport gate for free?" Hmm, that makes sense, wait I totally forgot that most Adventurer¡¯s Associations have teleport gates.

    "Anyways I''m also here to thank you for saving my daughter and Sylvana but that can come later." Healerguy said and continued doing healer things.

    I approached the reconstructed building. Someone even put down a meat line. Everything seemed safe. I saw Barusu throw some meat into the entrance. "Yup seems fine, we had some concerns when it glowed after we reconstructed it."

    He went inside and I followed. "So, this is where the demon was sealed, it looks a bit¡­ normal." The seal is gone so it should be a normal room now.

    The text on the walls described the violence this demon committed. This text had some words that weren''t in my vocabulary but they were not that hard to learn. The rune counterparts for other materials would be an issue but I have a good idea how the runes tend to vary between different materials so I should be able to figure them out if I put my tails to work. Nothing interesting was written in this building. Some parts were missing because the reconstruction didn''t restore everything but I doubt it would have any importance. I explained what was written to Barusu.

    "Hmm we''re lucky that this thing didn''t get unleashed into the world" Yeah, If it wasn''t obsessed with possessing others It might have been able to escape and nothing we could have done about it.

    "Surely this was the only one sealed away, right?" An uncomfortable long silence followed. "I guess we need to be careful in unearthing these things, they must be hidden for a reason¡­" Not all these ancient structures have something sealed within but it''s hard to know if you can''t read what it says¡­

    "And I assume you''re too busy to go about and translate whenever one is found?" Yup, I have my own life to live. I can however give you a small list of symbols that you should look out for. Now I am assuming every ancient structure that has a demon sealed away has these primal runes on them.

    I walked toward a chunk of marble. Remember these runes are only valid on marble, you can''t copy them on paper or anything else besides marble. If you find a structure that doesn''t have writing on marble¡­ I suggest that you abandon it, I''m not going to make 63 lists¡­ The symbols that I would expect to be on those structures got melted into the marble by heating up my finger. I was very careful because it will be hard to redraw these. The most important runes were "Demon", "Danger" and "Warning". This building was very clear in the danger that was within, I would assume the others will too.

    "You said you would make a list but these are 5 symbols." I changed my mind, these structures are very clear if there''s danger, if you don''t see these runes, you will probably be fine. Do note that it needs to be exactly these runes, I made sure to make no mistakes. A lot of runes look similar so make sure that they look exactly like these.

    "Thanks, we will attempt to copy these on portable marble slabs with the utmost accuracy and spread these to our excavators. I''m sure our craftsmen will have a blast with these!" I looked at the runes I drew. They were giving off primal energy. I don''t know much about how they will get these runes into marble slabs but it is not going to be easy if they are going to carve them. Barusu talked to some important people and tried to shoo some guards and adventurers away. "Get out of my beard! I''m trying to work!"

    My work here was done and I tried to leave.

    "And where do you think you''re going?" Healerguy and his daughter were standing near the exit as if they expected this. Uhm, home?

    "Guys, get him, we need to give him a check up, bring him to the Adventurer¡¯s Association." Two adventurers grabbed me and effortlessly carried me to the Adventurer¡¯s Association. Hey, this is abduction, kidnapping, murder!

    "So dramatic!"

    People looked at me as I was carried into the Adventurer¡¯s Association and brought to the check up room. Only Healerguy and his daughter were in the room. "Let me again thank you for saving my daughter and helping Sylvana. I got a message from her saying that she arrived home safely and that she failed to convince her elders. She told me to send her thanks if I encountered you and also told me to keep an eye on you. Something about you being unable to be careful and stay out of trouble. I see now what she means¡­ Who even gets to find a demon and gains 27 stacks of [Spite]..." Wait [Spite] stacks?

    "Normally it doesn''t¡­ It is going to take a while but I''m going to get rid of those for you. Karina told me to deal with your [Spite] first because Ned isn''t going anywhere and he certainly isn''t as reckless as you and number 2 on the high-risk list¡­ I did tell you about that didn¡¯t I?" Uhh, I''m sorry¡­

    "I''m starting to wonder if Sylvana got close to you because you''re not a human, she doesn''t interact with humans a lot besides me, you fight as if you have nine lives, it surely could explain a lot but the tests in Fernys confirmed that you''re a human, a very weird one¡­" Uhh, yeah, I''m just a very likable human.

    "Karina let¡¯s get rid of his [Spite] before he gets impatient and runs off."

    "I''ll do my best!"

    They spent 2 hours getting rid of my [Spite]. Healerguy is extremely skilled. He''s a bit annoying but I think I should stay on his good side. Thanks a lot, what do I owe you?

    "Stay alive, saving my daughter more than paid for that, if you ever get into trouble, which you will, hop by and I will fix you up free of charge. Gittrian is where I''m based. I also should study a bit¡­ I have the feeling you will have some never-seen-before exotic status effect or curse the next time I see you" Hey! I''m not that reckless!

    "[Vica''s curse]? 27 stacks of [Spite]? Sure¡­" I had no counter for that.

    They finally released me after checking if something else was wrong with me. They couldn''t find anything but they were convinced that something was wrong with me so they checked and rechecked for way too long. Brain damage? Pff how rude. I returned to the fancy room in the Yttroz Industries Headquarters and found a lot of people there. What the?!

    "He''s here! It''s Mr. Hourai!" I saw Jerry doing his best to get these people out.

    "I''m sorry, I couldn''t keep the press and paparazzi''s away¡­" Oh hell no! I fled the scene avoiding the press and paparazzi''s that had invaded the building. My assassin skills came in very handy. They were everywhere. And this is how my night ended in Gittrian on the last day of my first year.

 Vol 2 Ch 49: Poison

    The Loud Sun, a noisy bar just like any other. I was currently hiding in a shadow. Why you might ask? Well, Io is looking for me and I don''t feel like dealing with her.

    I returned from Gittrian just yesterday and she wants to hang out. Give me a break.

    Esher got through with the documents and every trace of the research got wiped out. Surgically removed from society. The Silent Night was quiet, most assassins were on missions so that¡¯s why I¡¯m hanging around in the Loud Sun, the only one who doesn''t seem to be occupied is Io. I still have to ask Esher how she even got accepted. I am a week into my second year of training and I have done absolutely nothing. I guess that means I¡¯m also not getting into trouble. I also need to remember that the other assassins don''t have the luxury of moving around as fast as I can so Esher, who left for a mission today, might not be back for several months. I sighed and moved to a different shadow.

    I decided to spend more time using shadow skills. There might be some secrets about shadow magic laying around here that Greg can¡¯t teach me.

    This place didn''t have a mission board or something similar to the Adventurer¡¯s Association. The missions got handed to me by Esher, a guy named Shade or Willow and they were all gone.

    I suppose Io is bored because she had the same problem as I have and has no assignments. Jimmy was here too but he wasn''t very sociable. Bernie was here but he was too busy dealing with the normal customers that have no idea that there''s an assassin headquarters below their feet. He seemed to be wary of me staying [Shadow Melded] here at the beginning, afraid that a sharp customer might detect me but he noticed that my [Shadow meld] was good enough that only assassins might pick up on my presence.

    I decided to [Silent Meld] to Silent Night. Io can¡¯t [Silent Meld] so I will be safe here.

    I walked around in the empty base. Shade used some form of shadow magic to create shades. I think that''s why they call him Shade. The shades were like guards in case someone unwanted ended up here somehow. They were quite creepy but harmless if you have an umbral pendant. I found a workshop.

    I made sure to check if this was one meant for everyone or if this was a personal workshop. Bernie explained some of this stuff to me after I returned. Since I was bored I might as well research some poisons. I had the ingredients to make some because I¡¯m Greg¡¯s storage but I have no idea how to make some or how they work. I had only some slight experience watching and Greg explaining things to me.

    I recognized most of the equipment and looked through my archive to find some books I flipped through when in Boshi town. Some were focused on poisons and medicine. What stood out was that the book advised to gain poison resistance first before messing around too much with them.

    Ingest a small dose of the poison you want to mess around with your food every day for 30 days before attempting anything more advanced with it, only do this with 1 poison at a time. Each poison recipe will state the safe dose to ingest. Also, after having completed this time period, I will need to use my own blood to create an antidote for it.

    Ahh, I see now this makes sense! It will have a reduced effect on other individuals but it will work perfectly for me. I¡¯ll take it. Ugh, this shit takes long but I will abide by these rules.

    Poison is one of the few things that don''t care about how many lives a mythical or legendary being has so I needed to tread very carefully here. Poison is one of the few branches of alchemy that still get widely used. Most other forms besides ''potion making'' were quite endangered. There are 3 types of poisons. Those that corrode, those that actually poison and those that are mutagens. The last type often also had properties that were mostly quite difficult to link to something called a ''poison''. The first and last category scared me so I  would only synthesize and use conventional poisons.

    I started with the most basic of poisons; only need to ingest this for 2 weeks before I can mess around with it.

    I augmented my hands with mana to make sure any toxic compounds won''t get through my skin. This was what Greg always did so I was just copying him here. I moved the leyline energy around a bit to move the air and ventilate the workshop before I began.

    The next step was to start mixing and grinding substances to make this simple poison. It was fun and therapeutic. I could understand now why Greg loved to do this.

    I finished a batch of 50 ml after an hour. I was done but there was one last step. I needed to test it on some creatures. It was known for its weakness to poison and its reaction to the poison and how long for it to die indicated how well made the poison was.

    ''The Clear Frog will show no reaction and should die in a maximum of 2 minutes and 16 seconds for the poison to be successful. No application should exceed 1 drop.'' That is pretty clear, no room for misunderstanding.

    I looked around in the workshop. No clear frogs. I looked through what I had archived from this book and nowhere was mentioned to find these frogs. I looked everywhere and found something in the small assassin library.

    ''Clear frogs live in clear and clean water. Mostly spotted in mountain lakes because these tend to be the cleanest.'' I looked for close locations. Apparently, some of these frogs also appear in the jungle I call my home. The water there was indeed very clean but I didn''t remember seeing any clear frogs there. Then again, I wasn''t paying attention to any frogs besides the running frogs.

    It was time to go back home! I made a spot in my dimensional pocket that could hold those clear frogs because I will probably need a lot of them. I didn''t put in the water yet because I don''t know if the water that I store and took from the Aurelia river is clean enough. I [Silent Melded] back to the normal world and avoided Io and headed back home.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    Daggerfall wasn''t actually that far from the jungle. In 4 days of walking a human could reach it but I was impatient so I ran there and arrived at my hideout on the same day. My tail reminded that I needed to do something, which was dropping an [Dimensional Anchor] here so that I could teleport back home whenever I wanted to. I should have dropped one in Gittrian but it¡¯s too late now, maybe next time. Visiting Vinny would probably be pointless because he was probably doing his girlfriend so I will just rest here and go hunting for frogs tomorrow.

    A loud noise woke me up. It sounded like jungle dragons patrolling. It was 9 in the morning; don¡¯t they usually patrol during the night? Please I¡¯m being a good fox, I¡¯m trying to stay out of trouble!

    I decided to ignore it because anything that has to do with dragons meant trouble. I used [waterfall] to climb the waterfall and went upstream. A lot of different kinds of frogs inhabited this area but not the ones I needed.

    I spent 3 hours looking through the water and the mud. I tried to find these frogs like any human would but this didn''t seem work. It was time for my Elgards eyes and located these clear frogs and giant jungle snake not far from here, it was snacking on frogs. Some of these frogs were clear frogs.

    I can''t find frogs in a peaceful situation, of course, they are getting snacked on by a giant jungle snake¡­ I decided to approach this as an assassin and grabbed a handful of pebbles from the river and used [Turning Leaf] on every clear frog in sight, storing them in my dimensional pocket one by one. I remembered to also store some river water. The jungle snake was confused. It was sure it went after frogs. Why was its mouth filled with pebbles? Other types of frogs weren''t as lucky and ended up as a snack.

    I caught 123 clear frogs. There were still more than enough frogs left.

    I can see why this snake came here; this is like frog heaven.

    I made a mental note of this place in case I ever need frogs again. Another jungle snake appeared and also started to feast on frogs. These frogs sure have it rough. I wanted to teleport back to Daggerfall but I didn''t drop a dimensional anchor there. I was about to start running but decided that I should pay Vinny a visit. Destination: the hollow tree!

    Not many dragons were home. They didn''t notice me sneak in. I was about to sneak into Vinny¡¯s lair when I remembered what happened the last time. I sent a small burst of nature energy to notify him that someone was here.

    ¡°Hmm? Who¡¯s there?¡± It is me.

    ¡°Oh Agnis!¡± Wait how did you know?

    ¡°Only you would answer like that come in.¡± I entered his lair and he was organizing some items in his collection. You are alone? Where is your girlfriend?

    ¡°Oh her¡­ we broke up.¡± Oh, but you got along so well, maybe a bit too well.

    ¡°She found that I spent too much time doing stuff that didn''t matter. I visited that place you told me about by the way. Mastering my human form was rough but I just had to hide my horns. Look.¡± He pointed and I saw a single blue ghost truffle. It was the one that looked very old the last time I saw it. It seemed quite healthy now. ¡°The spores are doing fine but I¡¯m afraid I can only grow 1 truffle out of it, it will take a long time before they grow in numbers where I can give you some, sorry.¡± No don¡¯t apologize! This is good news!

    ¡°I also returned from the northeast elven forest 4 days ago, I met your friend Sylvana and had a productive chat, unfortunately, her elders refused to budge but she promised to visit here in the near future.¡± Wow, how much did you even do in the time I was away? You really are improving the image of dragons!

    ¡°Well unfortunately that drove my girlfriend away¡­ she didn''t seem to find those issues important. And that I should do more whatever I want. I tried to explain to her that I wanted to do this but she didn''t believe me¡­¡± Oh... I¡¯m sorry to hear that¡­

    ¡°Maybe you were right, maybe I¡¯m a new race, after all those comments you made about dragons, I started to pay more attention to the dragons around me and you¡¯re right, they are a difficult bunch. I might end up single the rest of my life¡­¡± Hey come on, there must be some dragon chick that accepts you, oh how about this? I met one, she is a bit weird but maybe you can hit it off with her! She is an assassin though¡­

    ¡°A dragon as an assassin? You must be joking.¡± I wish I was¡­ she¡¯s only an assassin in name.

    ¡°I guess that falls more in line with what most dragons would do. I guess it won¡¯t hurt to meet her but I am also taking my role as a dragon seriously so that will have to wait. How about you have you found a girlfriend yet, more importantly¡­¡± He picked up a handful of red sky mangoes. ¡°Tell me Agnis, how many lives do you have left?¡± Hey come on we don''t need to do this every time I visit you!

    ¡°Well, this will be the last batch I can give you for a while so it¡¯s important for you to know that you might not be able to get more lives for the foreseeable future. So, fess up!¡± So how was your experience on the time capsule?

    ¡°Don¡¯t change the subject now!¡± Uhh, I might have only 21 lives left.

    ¡°I knew it!¡± Vinny changed into his human form pounced on me and shoved the sky mangoes through my throat.

    Hey! Not so fast! I could finally breathe properly after Vinny made me eat the last red sky mango.

    Ugh, you¡¯re a monster.

    ¡°This is the only way. You should be at 42 lives now. This is all you will have for the next 5-6 years. The sky mangoes need to recover for this long, the truffles might be ready in about 2-3 years. You better not die before that!¡± Thank you, Mr. Botanist.

    ¡°Right, let me hear about your adventures but keep it short, I¡¯m going to check out some forests tomorrow and might have to eat a lot of mana in case there is some mana corruption going on.¡± I will make sure to find someone suitable for you! We can''t let this new kind of dragon die out!

    ¡°Stop making fun of me! Now tell me what could possibly get you killed this many times!¡± I told Vinny about my adventures and he told me about his time on the time capsule, how dealing with the Hurricane path had improved his ability to fly and that he went to the elven forest. ¡°So, you self-destructed¡­ can¡¯t say I¡¯m surprised.¡± I had no choice¡­

    ¡°We¡¯ll be careful next time. I have a long flight in front of me so I have to get ready.¡± That¡¯s fine, I was planning to head off soon.

    ¡°Also, be careful it seems that a lot of strange creatures have popped up lately.¡± Vinny went to the back of his lair to get ready. I left and thought about those words. Does he mean that demons are running loose? But I told him my story he surely must have then recognized them as demons, or do they all look different? Maybe something else is going on. This planet does seem in a poor state so it shouldn''t be surprising that more and more weird shit is going to pop up. I went home. I wondered if I should spend one more night here or head to Daggerfall. I wasn''t in any rush so I decided to spend another night here.

 Vol 2 Ch 50: Sand Again?

    Io was still loafing around in and near the Loud Sun. I''ve been gone for 2 days and she''s still here being loud?

    ¡°Hey, Agnis where have you been? Want to hang out? I¡¯m bored! Let''s burn something!¡± I¡¯m sorry but I''m busy.

    ¡°Then can you be busy with me?¡± You need to work on your wording¡­ and I¡¯ll be fine by myself, bye!

    I [Silent melded] and went to the workshop. I dripped a drop of poison on a clear frog and timed it. 2 minutes and 13 seconds later the frog croaked. That worked well enough. When alive the frog was almost perfectly transparent but now it was dead it had a milky color and all its organs were visible. What a weird creature. My first poison was successful. It was a simple and basic poison but it¡¯s something. Now I need to mix 2 drops per meal if I¡¯m an adult and 1 drop if I¡¯m not or of a smaller statured race. 3 drops if I¡¯m of a more robust race. Size and constitution clearly played a role here I¡¯m certainly not suited for 3 drops but it''s between 1 and 2.

    I¡¯m as tall as most human adults, now about the constitution. I don''t know if we¡¯re more susceptible to poison than humans¡­ Probably not, 2 drops it is. In 2 weeks, I can make an antidote and have some sort of resistance against this poison. Since I am trying to get resistance against the most basic poison, I can''t mess around with it. I could however make other easy poisons and make 5 more poisons during the 2 weeks I was getting immunity against the basic poison. Most weren''t hard to make just risky. I had to make sure this workshop was well-ventilated.

    The fumes forced me outside because I was getting a bit dizzy.

    ¡°Wow I haven''t seen you for a while, what have you been up to?¡± Bernie was mixing drinks. The bar was relatively empty.

    What happened to her? I pointed at Io who sat slumped in her chair seemingly lifeless.

    ¡°I don''t know maybe she died of boredom; you smell funny.¡± Oh, I¡¯ve been cooking up some poisons, wanna try?

    ¡°Is this an assassin joke? Of course not!¡± I came to get some fresh air.

    I heard a dragon groan. ¡°So bored¡­ send help¡± Ugh fine, what do you want to do?

    ¡°Really?!¡± Io jumped up full of energy as if she never looked bored to death.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go spy on someone!¡± Anyone specific in mind?

    ¡°Let''s go to that fancy desert city and spy on some important-looking people!¡± How about somewhere that has less sand? How about¡­

    Io picked me up and started dashing toward the desert. Noo! Not more sand!

    <hr>

    We arrived at the desert city Saluk. Well desert city... it was in the desert part northwest of the jungle but it was quite close to the jungle near the Jurna river. I learned that the jungle is called Jurna and that the river is named after the jungle. I don''t like this city¡­

    ¡°Why not? It¡¯s so beautiful! Look at all these people! You can hear music everywhere and is that a palace?!¡± Yes, but there¡¯s sand everywhere¡­

    Io sniffed and pointed at a stand. ¡°Ooh they''re selling fruit let''s get some!¡± Didn''t we come here to spy on people?

    ¡°Hmm?¡± Io already bit into a fruit and was looking around to find more. I paid the merchant because it didn''t seem like Io intended to pay up. Ugh, I should''ve stayed in the workshop¡­

    ¡°Meat!¡± Io abandoned her fruit and ran at a meat stand further down the road. This merchant might be the luckiest merchant in this city, his whole stock would probably be bought up, probably by me¡­

    ¡°Give me all of it!¡± I knew it! The merchant was arguing with Io saying she can''t pay for it.

    It¡¯s fine¡­ I will pay¡­ The merchant looked at me and gave me a sympathetic look, he tried to give me a discount but I told him that it was fine. It got all put on a huge cart. At least she was carrying it. She wouldn''t let anyone come near her meat.

    ¡°You¡¯re a good friend you know!¡± she said with her mouth full.

    I feel more like a wallet than a friend¡­

    ¡°Hey back off this is my meat!¡± She spat fire at whoever came close to her cart.

    I took some meat from the cart and gave it to some poor kids who get referred to as street rats. This was probably one of those cities where the rich are extremely rich and the poor are extremely poor.

    ¡°Hey you can''t just give away my meat!¡± And who paid for it?

    ¡°... Can you leave enough for me? Please?¡± Io struck another dumb pose and I ignored her. So, tell me how do you want to sneak up on people with this big ass cart?

    ¡°Uhh, I¡¯ll leave that up to you!¡± Unbelievable¡­

    This might be one the worst situation I''ve ever been in. There¡¯s sand anywhere and I¡¯m almost 50 silver lighter and I¡¯m stuck with a dragon. Hey, Io do you come in contact with other dragons?

    ¡°Hmm not really, they don''t like that I hang out with humans that much, I don''t feel like I truly belong between them.¡± Hmm, and why is that exactly?

    ¡°Something of keeping up the mystique around being a dragon or something.¡± That sounds like an answer a dragon would give yeah¡­

    ¡°Oh, do you know other fire dragons?!¡± I leaned back. You¡¯re too close! And fire dragon oof that''s some bad compatibility, I might know a dragon yeah just not sure if you might be a good match.

    ¡°Really?!¡± Io was really close and I had to back off. ¡°Finally, someone that shares a similar lifespan! I never listened to my parents and their friends but there was one thing that kept bugging me, any human friends I make will turn to dust before I know it because I live way longer. I wasn''t sure if I should become your friend because of this but you''re just so fun!¡± Me? Fun? Where did you get that from?

    ¡°Dunno, I don''t worry as much about this when hanging with you!¡± Doesn''t that mean you just don''t care about me?

    ¡°That''s not true!¡± Io grabbed me and I felt like I was getting squeezed to a pulp. You¡¯re too strong to do this please be careful or I might not even be able to die from old age¡­

    ¡°Oh sorry! So, what''s this about this dragon friend?¡± I can''t believe I''m playing the wingman here, although the more I think about it the worst of a matchup they are. I¡¯m not sure if I want to subject Vinny to this torture, that guy is seriously doing his best. I might tell you if you behave and we finish this spying thing.

    ¡°Ugh fine! Give me 5 minutes!¡± Huh?

    She ran with her cart of meat and looked for an empty area in the city. She briefly turned into a full 2-winged dragon and chomped the cart meat and all in one go and turned back to human form. I stood there shocked.

    You must be the biggest idiot I know, let''s assume nobody saw or noticed that, how are you going to address your wardrobe problem?! Io stood there butt naked. Whatever she was wearing before couldn''t stand her turning into a dragon.

    ¡°Dragons are always naked it''s you humans that always wear clothes!¡° She wanted to head back out but I stopped her.

    You are going to stick out if you walk around like that¡­ I went through my catalogue to see if I had clothes that could fit her. I didn''t have any¡­ I took out a large cloak.

    Wear this, I¡¯m gonna put you into stealth, follow me without causing commotion we¡¯re going to buy you some clothes¡­

    ¡°This really isn''t nec¡­¡± I will go back to Daggerfall alone if you don''t.

    ¡°Ugh, fine¡­¡± How old are you actually?

    ¡°2!¡± 200 years and you behave like this? Hourai have mercy on my soul.

    ¡°Hey, how do you know so much about dragons? And I¡¯m 203 in human years if that counts!¡± As I said I have a dragon friend¡­

    ¡°But didn''t you say I was the first dragon you met?¡± Ehh, stay quiet You''re in stealth!

    ¡°Hey, not fair!¡± I found a place where they sold clothing and subtly asked her what she liked.

    The shopkeeper gave me a look that I didn''t like. ¡°Hey there mister, shopping for a girlfriend?¡±

    No stupid jokes please, I just want to buy this. I bought the clothes and gave them to Io, shoved her into an empty alley, and covered the area with illusions so she could change. I circulated nature energy to fight my headache. One day I will befriend someone who isn''t difficult. Vinny and Greg are my only friends that aren''t difficult. I think Io would drive Vinny insane, I can''t do this to him¡­

    ¡°Done! Let''s go sneak!¡± I think I found your method of assassination you just hang out with them until they run out of energy.

    ¡°Huh, no! I punch them!¡± She did some shadowboxing and flames erupted from her fists. Yes, yes now stop drawing attention, let''s go to that palace wannabe. I¡¯m sure there are important people in there. I was quite curious now about what the important people in this city had as secrets. We approached the wannabe palace but it seemed closely guarded. Moreover it was protected by an invincible substance named ''sand''.

    Ugh what a formidable defense system, Who needs all those magic barriers and guards when you can just repel spies and assassins with sand!

    ¡°You are the only one I know that dislikes sand this much¡­¡± It''s not a dislike it''s just a strong preference to not want to deal with it, it goes everywhere!

    ¡°Isn''t that the same as disliking it? Let¡¯s hide some guards are coming this way!¡± Io dove to the side behind some rocks but I was still getting rid of sand in my clothes.

    Random Guard #1 drew his scimitar. ¡°Hey, who are you? What are you doing here?¡± Give me a second, I¡¯m getting rid of all this sand.

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    Random Guard #1 dropped his sword. ¡°Yeah, it gets everywhere, eh? I¡¯m doing this guard job to get enough money so I can get out of this sandy place.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I could bear to see some green or maybe the ocean!¡± Random Guard #2 seems to share our dislike of sand. These must be the most down to earth people I have met in a long time.

    Yeah, any of those beat this sandbox! I really don''t want to be here either¡­

    ¡°Oh, maybe we can help you to get a guard job here too, it is extremely boring but it pays decently let us show you to our boss!¡± Random Guard #1 led me to the entrance.

    I winked at Io and I read her lips, she was saying something like ¡®How did that even work?!¡¯ I got led inside and it was truly fancy. Whoever lives here probably thinks he is the king. This isn''t the capital of Zanyr so the king doesn''t live here, I think. Who would want to live in this sandy dusty place?

    I made a shadow clone that took my place talking to the guards and split off from them.

    It seems that there is a lot of security preventing from getting in but once inside¡­

    I dropped out of stealth and just walked around and made wide movements. Nothing was going off, no mana security systems, nothing.

    This rich guy either has balls of steel or is a moron. Since he is so confident that he won''t get robbed or anything, it is time to get a point across and rob this idiot clean.

    I replaced anything that looked valuable with an illusion. This felt like my very first dungeon, just grab anything while making sure I didn''t get caught.

    I had to calm down because I could hear some guards approach. I dropped into stealth and hid behind a stupidly long couch. 4 guards appeared with a horde of scantily clad chicks and they sat down on the couch.

    Is this their break? Or are they supposed to guard these chicks or¡­ The chicks continued giggling and the guards were fooling around. I guess it''s the third option. I pickpocketed the guards and I tried to pickpocket the chicks but they were hardly wearing anything¡­ I wasn''t kidding in robbing this place clean. ''What is thine, is now mine! Confiscate!''

    I passed some more guards and pickpocketed them. I had no idea what to do with all this stuff but it¡¯s fun. Maybe donate some of this stuff to a museum or something.

    I entered a poorly lit area of the wannabe palace, or was this a mansion? More giggling and laughing women. I then found myself in some kind of bathhouse room. The bath was enormous. I could use some relaxation so I sent a shadow clone to watch the entrance and decided to bathe and get all this sand off me. It washed the sand off me and was also scented.

    ¡°Oh hello, I have never seen you before.¡± This voice scared the living shit out of me. Who¡¯s there? Show yourself!

    ¡°I¡¯m right here¡­¡± A dark-skinned woman with nice proportions and brown hair stood to the side of the bath and was about to come in. I saw a door behind her. I looked over to where I entered the room and saw my shadow clone shrug and gesture that this wasn''t his fault. I facepalmed. What a rookie mistake. Wait why are you naked?

    The woman showed signs of confusion. ¡°This is a bath¡­¡± Fair point, alright the sand is gone I will not disturb you!

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to leave; you don''t seem like a guard¡­ did you sneak in?¡± I can tell you but then I would have to kill you!

    ¡°I don¡¯t really care what happens to this place I¡¯m just here for the money.¡± Hmm quite honest. Anyways I still need to do ehh sneaky stuff, enjoy your bath.

    ¡°Good luck Mr. reckless intruder!¡± She waved and her chest jiggled. Focus Agnis!

    I put my clothes back on and realized that bathing is useless if your clothes are still full of sand. Shiiit! There¡¯s still sand!

    ¡°Haha, you''re quite funny do you need help?¡± No thanks, I got this but don''t forget! You can bathe all you want but it doesn''t remove sand from your clothes!

    ¡°I am well aware but thanks for the warning¡­¡±

    I left the bathhouse and went upstairs. The sand was annoying because my skin was still moist. Some men were talking loudly. I took a peek and saw people in fancy desert clothing having the time of their life messing with more chicks. Is this place a brothel or something? This place was also scented but differently from the baths. Was this perfume or incense?

    ¡°Hey, Sayid did you hear about that item I bought last week?! Some guy said that it is a replica of some long-lost item that can create endless water!¡± A guy wearing a turban was talking to a bald guy.

    ¡°For real? We can become even richer with that! We can turn this desert into an oasis!¡± The bald guy said while his shiny scalp was reflecting the light in the room. Is that magic? How shiny is his head?

    ¡°Yaaah! And we can get all the women we want maybe even those hot adventurers!¡±

    ¡°Ooh yeah, they surely have nice bodies.¡± Now where have I heard a similar scenario before? Hmm, there was that Dimsha, there is no way they broke the seals, were there 2? A copy? Either way, there is a chance this will make this shitty desert even sandier. That''s a ''no'' for me.

    ¡°Oh, Achmedi I finally got some, look!¡± One of the rich guys opened a suitcase and showed off 3 small red stones. ¡°The famous Hourai Rubies! We finally got them too.¡±

    ¡°For real? It must have been hard to get your hands on them?¡± Turban guy, whose name seems to be Achmedi got excited.

    ¡°You have no idea, my friend, these things are in high demand and their worth keeps increasing. I¡¯m thinking of selling one at the auction tomorrow. Maybe I can get a profit on them.¡±

    ¡°Wow, look how clear these rubies are, truly a wonder of nature.¡± Achmedi was looking at the rubies that were almost as shiny as the head of the bald guy. How did a ruby lose to a bald scalp...

    ¡°This one is yours Achmedi.¡±

    ¡°Appreciated, you aren''t going to give one to Jicef?¡±

    ¡°No man, he fucked my favourite chick behind my back, he can have 20 gold or something.¡± The rich guys laughed. 20 gold is a lot but nothing compared to the Hourai rubies.

    I learned some crazy things here. I need to swipe that item and I¡¯m interested in that auction, there might be some cool items there.

    I heard talking behind me and I hid. It was the guards that I met at the entrance. They were still talking to my shadow clone. How did they even take this long to get here?

    Random Guard #2 drew the attention of turban guy and bald guy. ¡°Hey boss we found someone who wants to work as a guard for you!¡± I got a bad feeling. The 2 guys dropped their rubies.

    ¡°You imbeciles! Don¡¯t you realize who that is?!¡± Ahh shit here we go¡­ The Sayid bald guy picked up the ruby he dropped and pointed at it.

    ¡°Do you know what this is?¡±

    Random Guard #2 scratched his head. ¡°Uhm a ruby... Wait? Is that a Hourai ruby?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, and do you know why they have this name?¡± Baldies scalp was blinding.

    ¡°Uhm it''s the name of the guy that brought these to the market?¡±

    ¡°And have you asked our guest his name?¡± Baldie pointed at my clone.

    Random Guard #1 seemed to have caught on but was trying to be polite. ¡°Uhh, I apologize I didn''t ask for your name, could you tell us?¡± My shadow clone shot a subtle glance at me and I shook my head indicating that he should come up with a lie.

    Uhm my name is ehh Sandy! I facepalmed, I need to work on my ''spontaneous lie'' techniques.

    ¡°No need to be so humble honored guest, I know who you are, we didn''t meet but I saw you dining with Barusu the CEO of Yttroz Industries, it was quite the feast!¡± It seems turban guy and bald guy have seen me before. This is bad.

    My clone shot me another subtle glance with the expression that said ¡®Help me¡¯, I had nothing. Come on shadow clone you are me! You got this! Even though I have no ideas. Oh really? Ehm well, I just came here on a whim

    ¡°Come, come sit with us! Do you want to enjoy the company of some women too? We have some with very large chests and wide hips." Sayid said and made a friendly gesture.

    Uhm, I need to focus on my goal so I shall do without.

    I sighed, my clone fell for the trap, he got tricked into answering the part of the question that would bring inconvenience when left unanswered but with this he basically agreed to stay. He¡¯s stuck now, you did this to yourself shadow clone! Would I have fallen for that same trap? Of course! But the best solution is sometimes to not get into that situation in the first place, so I won!

    Anyways my clone can now gain information from them without me having to spy on them so I can focus on finding that item. I let my shadow clone complain about the sand and dryness and they took the bait and talked about that item. I looked through the rooms on this floor while my shadow clone was milking them for information. My shadow clone finally got the location, the guys offered to show it to me but my shadow clone declined. They started talking about how rich they were.

    I headed back down. These geniuses were using it temporarily to create more water for the baths. It was meant literally but also sarcastically. It''s a good hiding place but it''s such a waste to use it for that. I snuck back to the bathhouse and looked around carefully. Nobody here. I shallowly scanned the area. Never mind there are 57 bathhouse rooms here. Who needs this many baths¡­ Someone really hates sand. I snuck into the first one and looked around. I checked the faucets and places where the water came out. Nothing here. I heard voices so I dashed out of the bathroom into another one.

    ¡°Oh, hello there again.¡± The dark skin chick siad while showing a smile of amusement. Wha! You again? Are you a stalker?!

    ¡°All I¡¯ve been doing is just bathing... You seem in a hurry.¡± Ugh, why do I suck this much in prolonged sneaking?

    ¡°Do you want to take a bath with me?¡± she beckoned me. I had to shatter some illusions. When did the human race gain affinity for charm magic? I surely hope it doesn''t start to pop up everywhere.

    No thanks, I was raised with modesty¡­ I thought about my mom and sisters and realized that they too lacked modesty.

    Right never mind that, I¡¯m a bit uncomfortable so I will be leaving and stop stalking me! I went for the door.

    ¡°You just came from that door, you seem confused.¡± Is this place a maze? Why does everything look the same? I reached for the other door and entered a changing room. I need to get out of this place before things get awkward. I entered another bathroom which was empty. I inspected these and found nothing, another door and found myself in a hall. I went into stealth just in time because some guys were heading over to a bath room. I avoided that one and entered another door. The changing room was empty but the bath was occupied. I took another door that connected to another bath.

    ¡°Do you really not need help?¡± it was the same dark-skinned woman sitting in the bath. I looked at the doors confused. You¡¯re not pranking me, are you? These rooms don''t move around or something.

    ¡°The guys that built this bathing section intentionally made it confusing to have a laugh at people, look this room has 3 visible doors but that one there is quite camouflaged. If you enter this room through that door, it will seem like you came out of nowhere and unlikely to take the same door back. I assume that''s why you returned here for the 3rd time confused.¡± She seemed amused.

    Ugh, this place is a pain in the ass, I could get through this with better accuracy but I am not interested in seeing hundreds of people naked¡­ I guess these rich guys have found another weakness in my Elgards eyes.

    ¡°Here let me help.¡± She got up from the bath got a fresh set of clothes and started to dress. Ehh there is really no need and ehh¡­ what¡¯s the point of dressing up if there is hardly any difference¡­

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m a belly dancer so this is my attire, it becomes more alluring if it gets away slightly from nudity. My eyes are up here sweetheart.¡± Right¡­ can you please keep that to a minimum? I¡¯m bad with charm attacks, do you know where this item that creates water and is hidden in the bath area is?

    ¡°Hmm, no but I do know that there is one bathroom that has been running over a lot lately, it¡¯s one of the 5 greater baths, let''s go.¡° This nice sexy lady grabbed my hand and led me through this maze. She checked first if there were any people in it and after 10 minutes, we reached the bath that seemed like an enormous pool. Do you guys call this a bath? You could drown half a village with it¡­

    ¡°Rich people privilege.¡± I spotted a shady area and ran toward it over the water. I busted some tiles and found an item that looked like a yellow duck spitting water from its beak. What the hell is this¡­ Cygnus what have they done to you? You were an asshole but you don''t deserve this!

    ¡°Haha, are you a comedian? Who is Cygnus?¡± The sexy lady said after she followed me over the water.  A duck! I held the duck up towards the sexy belly dancer and it sprayed water over her.

    Woops sorry.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry I can dry off quickly." She did some belly dancing and activated water magic and moved the water around while dancing. It looked a bit like how I use my leylines but this was just magic, it seemed this was created as an art form and not necessarily for offensive purposes.

    ¡°Beautiful, eh?¡± Charm users are my bane. I need to get out of here.

    Right... You won''t seduce me! Thank you for the help! And ehh can you help me get out? She pointed at the window that lead outside.

    That works, thanks a lot ehh, what was your name?

    ¡°Thalia Resha, by what name can I remember my funny lost companion by?¡± Agnis Hourai, oh wait I shouldn''t throw my name around like this¡­

    ¡°Ooh, lost, handsome, funny, and rich, if you ever need a belly dancer, you can find me at the Adventurers Association in this city.¡± Uhh, not sure what I will need a belly dancer for but thanks! I ran to the window and jumped out.

    ¡°Wait! This mansion is built next to the river¡­¡± As Thalia said there was indeed a river¡­ I landed safely on the surface but not before doing some flips to get some style points.

    ¡°Oooh that was cool!¡± for some reason Io was sitting at the bank of the river eating fish she had caught and fried. She waved her fish at me. What are you doing here?

    ¡°Waiting for you! They wouldn''t let me in¡­¡± But you''re an assassin you can just sneak in¡­

    ¡°They kicked me out when I did¡­¡± Then don''t get caught¡­ you know what you did well. We need to invade an auction that''s held tomorrow and ehh get rid of this duck. I showed it to Io and sprayed water on her.

    Woops sorry.

    ¡°Don''t worry I can just evaporate the water!¡± Io stood up and heated up. I was fearing for her new clothing.

    Nono! Don''t do that! You will probably burn your clothing and I will need to buy you more! I''ve seen enough naked chicks for today! I connected to the air leyline currents and pulled the water out of Io¡¯s clothing. I also froze the duck that liked to make chicks wet.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, want to find a bathhouse? I got sand everywhere¡­¡± I will freshen myself up in this river, I don¡¯t want to find a guide to go through the bathhouse.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

 Vol 2 Ch 51: The Auction

    I had to remind Io that there might be people watching and that she should stay covered while bathing in the river. I had to stop her from going full dragon mode. I was supposed to get out of this relaxed but I just was even more stressed. At least I was sandless. I wanted to head over to the Adventurers Association to fix lodging but I realized that Io might not be an adventurer. Hey Io, are you an adventurer?

    ¡°I¡¯m a dragon assassin!¡± Yes, I know but are you registered at the Adventurers Association?

    ¡°Isn''t that just for humans?¡± Uhh, good point, I don''t think so but I can see why you would think that, alright a normal hotel is gonna be.

    ¡°What with that human association?¡± They provide lodging for adventurers for cheap but since you¡¯re not one you can''t get a room there unless you share a room with me but that''s absolutely not happening so we need to go to a hotel.

    ¡°Why not? It''s gonna be fun! Like a sleepover party! We can tell each other stories!¡± I don''t want to sacrifice the little peace and quiet I have left¡­

    ¡°Aww, maybe next time.¡± There is no next time! We found the place where the auctions were going to be held while looking for a hotel. My energy was continuously getting drained by Io and I reached the hotel completely exhausted.

    2¡­ rooms without sand, please¡­

    ¡°Hey dude are you alright? You look exhausted.¡± I got a look of pity. Please¡­ no more dragons or sand¡­

    ¡°Hang on! We will get you and your girlfriend a room¡± I grabbed the receptionist by his sleeve.

    Noo! I want a room far away from her! I said as I pointed at Io.

    ¡°Aww come on Agnis, we had a fun day!¡± Save me, please¡­ They finally got the message and got separate rooms for me and Io. I dove into bed and went to sleep.

    <hr>

    A lot of noise. Can I never have some peace and quiet? I turned around and pulled the sheets over my head. Someone was pounding on my door and I heard people trying to stop whoever was doing that. I curled up under the sheets and hoped I would soon wake up from this nightmare. It soon got silent. It was almost noon but I didn''t feel like getting up. I had 20 minutes of quiet before I heard people screaming outside.

    Ugh, what is it this time?

    Suddenly a red dragon appeared in front of my window, busted down the wall and grabbed me. ¡°Oh, you''re still alive! I thought you died!¡± Please let this be a dream¡­

    ¡°I saw a meat stall not too far from here!¡± I got carried to the plaza in the centre of the city where Io landed and turned back into her human form and dragged me toward a stall she saw. She was of course naked and everyone either was curious or scared. I had lost all energy to resist. I need to file a complaint toward Esher. I¡¯m going to make it as long and hard to read as possible and threaten to write more of them until the problem named ¡®Io¡¯ got addressed. Io somehow found the same merchant as yesterday and demanded he hand over all his meat again. He looked at me and this time in pity as he saw I lost all energy to resist.

    ¡°Hey, I can give you a discount you know?¡± It¡¯s fine, here just take the money, if possible, send someone to save me¡­ Io continued walking around naked and dragging me and the cart of meat around.

    Please, wear some clothes, you''re attracting even more attention than you normally do¡­

    ¡°They will just get destroyed anyways! It¡¯s better to go without¡­¡± She chomped down on more meat and spat fire at the street rats trying to steal some.

    I might need to visit Healerguy I might have picked up a very persistent and dangerous curse¡­

    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m not a curse! I¡¯m a dragon!¡±

    Suddenly a lot of people ran at us and started dressing Io in fancy clothes. ¡°Welcome dragon goddess!¡± Oh really?! Noo, I don''t want to deal with this¡­

    ¡°Yes! Hahaha I am a dragon! But I can also be your goddess!¡± Some guys started worshipping Io while others seemed to be afraid of her.

    ¡°Is this guy bothering you dragon goddess?¡± They pointed at me.

    ¡°No! He¡¯s my best friend you can call him the ¡®Nice smell god¡¯¡± I don''t want such a lame name and I''m not a god!

    ¡°Oh, I see you''re her head priest! Show us the way!¡± the newly formed cult seemed to be convinced that I was some sort of important figure.

    No guys, please were just normal¡­ we¡¯re not normal, are we¡­. Ahhh! Guys, we¡¯re not a goddess or a head priest! Were just tourists!

    ¡°So humble! Truly worthy of a head priest! Let''s bring them to the temple!¡± Wait? You guys have a temple? Hey! Don''t touch me!

    ¡°Guys look, the priest has reached enlightenment! Look at how light he is!¡± The crowd cheered as they picked me up and abducted me. Hey come on that pun isn''t even funny! Put me down!

    I got carried to a dilapidated temple against my will. Io seemed to enjoy the attention. I really just wanted to sleep and wake up when this was all over. Why did this have to happen to me? I showed her goodwill by hanging out with her and this happens¡­

    ¡°Dragon goddess show us your true form!¡± No guys wait! Listen when she does that her clothes¡­

    Io transformed, roared, and breathed fire into the air. The cultists dropped to their knees. They said some weird stuff and then looked at me.

    What?

    ¡°Show us your great power head priest!¡± I really wished that I learned how to use [Sleep]... Who even brainwashed them?

    ¡°Yeh Agnis! I mean head priest! Show them your power!¡± And I got even more annoyed at Io enabling them. I¡¯m sorry, I am not a head priest, I¡¯m just a mere mortal, I don''t want you guys to misunderstand. I swear someone is getting punched if they start saying that I''m too humble.

    ¡°Don''t bother with him my followers, he¡¯s quite shy!¡± I really feel that Io needs that punch but it''s not like she¡¯s gonna feel it¡­ I circulated nature energy through my body to combat this seemingly never-ending headache. It would be nice if I woke up from this nightmare right about now¡­ I waited. Nothing. I seem to be wide awake. So, reality can be stranger than fiction?

    ¡°Oh, dragon goddess can you get rid of the bandits that have been plaguing this area lately?¡±

    ¡°Sure!¡± Io hummed and breathed fire. ¡°Done!¡±

    ¡°Thank you, dragon goddess!¡± The cultists started to bow to her.

    I started to circulate more and more nature energy because the headache just kept getting worse, you can''t just breathe fire and tell them the bandits are gone! She kept doing similar things.

    ¡°Look! The head priest is showing his power!¡± I realized that circulating this much nature energy made plants grow around me and since we were in a desert it could be seen as a miracle¡­ No guys, listen, this is not what you think there is this thing called nature ener¡­

    ¡°Long live the dragon goddess and her head priest!¡± the cultists all cheered and more and more people started to join in. Where did I go wrong? What could I have done differently? Maybe I¡¯m indeed cursed. Io was loving it. I left a shadow clone behind and sneaked away. I needed a quiet place to think. Getting out of this mess isn''t going to be easy. Io is the worst assassin ever! There was a lot of gossip on the streets about the appearance of the dragon goddess and her head priest. I was seriously wondering why so many people believed in that bullshit.

    ¡°Look! A miracle!¡± I looked around and I noticed that I never reduced the circulating nature energy. I was in stealth but I left a path of growing plants behind. My headache got worse but I dropped the circulation to a level where this wouldn''t happen and retraced my steps and went for another route. The Adventurer¡¯s Association came in sight and I went inside, bought a drink and sat at the table with my hands in my hair.

    How am I going to get out of this mess? Maybe I should put in a request for adventurers to save me.

    "Already having a bad day? What interesting situation have you gotten yourself into?" I turned around and saw the sexy lady of yesterday, this time with more clothes but still sexy. Oh, it''s you, my friend is¡­ a pain in the ass and I¡¯m trying to come up with a plan to get out of this¡­

    She sat next to me. "What could possibly bother a man of your calibre?" Calibre? I''m not that impressive¡­ Do you know what the deal is with this dragon goddess thing?

    "It''s an old folklore from the time the dragons were more like guardians. And I just found out you''re a C-rank adventurer specialized in water magic, which is quite impressive and valuable in the desert." A right that¡­ but there''s no point if I can''t stop my crazy friend¡­

    A random guy stormed into the Adventurer¡¯s Association. "The Dragon Goddess and her high priest have appeared!" The adventurers who were not native to here seemed confused but those who were became interested and some left the building to check it out.

    The sexy lady seemed interested too. "Is this coincidence or do you know something about this? The more I talk to you the more interesting you become." Why does everyone make me out to be more than I am but well the dragon goddess, that would be my friend¡­ and apparently, I¡¯m the high priest¡­ I downed my drink and ordered another one.

    "Oh really? So, are you a dragon too? I heard rumors about a dragon appearing in this city but I didn''t believe it." She asked as she leaned in. I need to focus, her eyes are up there.

    My focus returned and I recalled her question as she probably wants an answer. Oh no I¡¯m just a human.

    "I see, you¡¯re certainly the most interesting human I¡¯ve met in a while." You sound like you¡¯re not a human yourself.

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    "I wish I wasn¡¯t but I''m unfortunately a human." What¡¯s the problem with that?

    "I value my beauty a lot, I¡¯m envious of the races that look young for almost forever." I took another sip. Well immortality has a price in exchange for being immortal, which is a questionable term but let¡¯s use it for simplicity. Immortal beings mostly have tasks that can''t be completed in a short lifespan and are too dangerous and uncomfortable for those that aren''t immortal. At least that''s what I think but what do I know, I¡¯m just a human.

    "Hmm that is an interesting perspective, I¡¯m interested, why is Immortal a questionable term?" You would count dragons or elves as immortal right?

    "I would yes." You do know that both elves and dragons have been killed in the past by harsh circumstances or even by humans?

    "I do, yes but I think what we humans did is unacceptable. Such beautiful creatures should be looked up to and we should strive to be more like them and not kill them. I''m ashamed to be a human¡­" Please don¡¯t become like dragons, you are pleasant to talk to, dragons are not. But back to my point, immortal is a questionable term because they can die. Sure, not of old age but why do none of those races have members that are old by their race''s standards? This could apply to all other ''Immortal'' races, if immortality was such a big deal why is the world ruled by the humans and not a group of immortal races? The combined life experience of those could easily invalidate the humans massive number advantage.

    "Hmm that Is a very good point, I had never considered that. So, what you¡¯re trying to say is that something is killing those races of which the humans are unaware of and immortality is more of a trait that¡¯s preventing them from going extinct?" Something like that yes. With great power comes great responsibility, if you were immortal, you might not have been able to live your life as you did. I don¡¯t know your past but you seem to be well off now, maybe it was hard, maybe it was easy but if you were an immortal race there is a high chance you would be targeted by whatever is killing the immortal races, there are just too few of them nowadays¡­ if they were truly immortal, they would be everywhere and the humans would worship them like they are doing now to Io. Aaah shit I still need to solve this problem!

    "You seem to be very wise for your age, I can sense that you had a rough youth. I can¡¯t relate unfortunately, I have been quite lucky to have been born beautiful and in a good family, I had to work to get here but I wouldn''t say it¡¯s something special. " She grabbed my hand. "Is there a possibility I could meet your dragon friend?" Ugh, sure why not I need to stop her from doing dragon things anyways I¡¯m sorry I have a bad memory what was your name again?

    "Thalia Resha, 18 years old, B-rank Grumpy Blowfish and I''m single.¡°

    I laughed. Grumpy Blowfish hahaha!

    "Stop! I can''t help it that my role is called like that! I am trying to make a name for myself and possibly change the role to my adventurer''s name." And what would that be?

    "Alluring Desertflower" Good luck, Grumpy Blowfish is hard to beat though hahaha!

    "Hmpf, you will see, I will succeed, why don''t you have an adventurer''s name?" Dunno never bothered with it.

    "You do know that it¡¯s either a name people know you by or a custom skill that makes an impact, right? Rarely do the adventurers choose it themselves, I was very lucky that they started calling me Alluring Desertflower. I love the name!" Well, I haven''t done much so it''s unsurprising that I don''t have one yet. As long as I don''t get a lame name, I''m fine.

    "How about Lost Bathrunner or Dragon Priest?" Stop, that''s not funny! Those are all accidents!

    Thalia laughed. "It has been a while since I had this much fun talking to a man, most are just interested in my body or my money. Say do you have a girlfriend?" I am sorry, I do think that you¡¯re sexy and pleasant to talk to but I¡¯m extremely busy and from what I know about girlfriends, is that they need a lot of time investment, something I can''t do.

    "Hmm an interesting answer, you do seem busy and in trouble constantly." Please don¡¯t remind me¡­ I still have to figure out this mess¡­

    Another random guy barged into the Adventurer¡¯s Association. "There! Found him! Guys the high priest is here! Let¡¯s bring him to the goddess!" Ahh shit my peace and quiet is over¡­

    "Do you mind if I tag along?" If you can handle headaches well, sure why not, I have nothing to lose. A group of natives came in and easily carried me away. I decided that resistance was futile.

    <hr>

    Io seemed to be happy to see me. "Ah there you are Agnis! I thought that you got kidnapped!" I did¡­ but not in a way you think¡­.

    Io looked at Thalia. "Whoa that chick is pretty who is she? Your friend?" Kinda.

    "Does she want to become the head priestess?" Hourai have mercy on my soul¡­ The cult of dragon worshippers now saw Thalia as the head priestess.

    The cultists gathered around Thalia, which made her uncomfortable. "Huh what is going on?!" Thalia, meet my pain in the ass friend Io. This is what an immortal being is like¡­ more than often a pain in the ass. Hey Io isn''t it time to stop fooling around? We were supposed to do something, remember?

    "What do you mean fooling around? I''m a goddess!" She spat fire into the air and the cult got excited and bowed. You don¡¯t want to be a god, trust me they are more trouble than you are, although maybe you might fit right in¡­ But you¡¯re not a god so stop turning this city into a cult!

    "But look! The people love me! They can¡¯t live without me!" Uhm, they did just fine before you showed up¡­

    "Ahh, emotional damage! Impressive as always being able to hurt a dragon." You make no sense¡­ tell them you¡¯re not a goddess. Please¡­

    "Ugh fine but you better buy me some ice cream!" Why do I¡­ you know what fine! Even better I will make you some ice cream, just dissolve this cult!

    "Ooh can I have some too?" Thalia seems to be an opportunist...  Yeah, sure why not¡­

    "Dear cult members! I am not a goddess!" I facepalmed and started to circulate nature energy again to deal with this headache. As expected, the crowd didn''t buy it. Hey Thalia this might be a very weird and uncomfortable question but could you get me a spare set of your clothes? This chick here will be naked when she returns to her human form¡­

    "Sure, sweetheart. " She took out a purple box and pulled out a set of clothes. Is that¡­ a dimensional storage box? Aren¡¯t those super expensive?

    "They are but it''s unbecoming of a beautiful Desertflower to walk around and carry my heavy stuff and didn''t I tell you that I was rich?" Uhh, I get told that I have a bad memory. Hey, Io how about turning into your human form?! Thalia, can you dress her up?

    "Sure! Coming through! Make way for the head priestess! You can look but can''t touch!" Thalia parted the cult as they all made sure to not touch her.

    Io returned to her human form and Thalia created an opaque water veil and I assumed that she started to dress Io. A water user in the desert, beautiful, and a dancer, I can see how she is successful here.

    "Look! I am just a dragon! Not a goddess!" Io appeared from behind the veil in sexy clothing. I assume this was to be expected after asking Thalia for help.

    "Ooh, how stunning!"

    "Her human form is just as beautiful!" Aaand it didn''t work. Hey Thalia, are you trying to sabotage me?

    "I''m sorry but I don''t have ugly clothes!" How about the in between? Normal clothing?

    Thalia looked at me as if I was speaking Hourai. Forget it¡­ Hey cultists!

    "Head priest, we would appreciate it if you stopped calling us cultists¡­" Shut up! What would it take to convince you that she''s not the dragon goddess and that we aren''t priests? The cult talked under each other and started holding debates. I patiently waited for an hour for them to finish. Io had procured another cart of meat and was eating. Thalia was belly dancing and it was soothing my mood a bit. Unfortunately for her I need a Golden Angel for this and not a Grumpy Blowfish to get soothed completely.

    "The council¡­" Cult "The council has decided that if she fails the trial in the head temple south to here that she is a false goddess and needs to be killed!" And how about we don''t do the killing?

    "Impossible!" So, you decide randomly that someone is a goddess to the point she starts to believe it but if she finally wants to prove she isn''t, she dies?

    "Well if you say it like that, you make us seem like assholes." So, you will reconsider?

    "Impossible!"

    "Agnis, calm down, how about this dance?" I tried to not flip a lid. Thalia tried to help but I''m not sure it was helping. How about this then? You stop worshiping Io and forget this all happened.

    "Forgetting and abandoning our goddess is blasphemy!" I formed a fist but relaxed. Fine¡­ if this is the path you''ve chosen, bring us to the temple.

    "Are you sure? She will fail if she''s not a goddess, you can''t just send your friend to die!" Thalia had taken out a fan. She was fanning me. I don''t get hot but maybe she was expecting to blow my headache away.

    Don''t worry she won''t die. I put my hands on Thalia''s shoulders.

    You are sweet and alluring, I don''t want you to get tangled in this mess, we don''t live here so we won''t be stuck with the consequences but you will. Please stay behind.

    "Wh¡­ what are you going to do?" Look, you might think I''m a good guy but I''m not. If I could destroy the world I would probably do so if someone pissed me off enough. Don''t associate with people like me.

    "But¡­" You have a dream to turn your role into Alluring Desertflower right? Don''t let a random guy that you just met ruin that for you. You can''t blemish your reputation.

    The cultists picked me up and carried Io and me toward the temple. I left a sad Thalia behind. I told the cultists to not touch Thalia or face the dragon goddess'' wrath so they left her alone. The only upside of this situation was that I was getting carried so I didn''t get sand everywhere. Even though the cultists were annoying, at least the trip to this temple was enjoyable. It all stopped when we arrived. It wasn''t a dungeon, just an old building.

    "Legend says that the desert will turn into fertile land when the dragon goddess finishes her ritual! Please commence!"

    Hey cultists there is a jungle right around the corner why don''t you just go live where the food grows and not stay in this sandbox¡­

    "You want us to sacrifice our culture? Our heritage, our property for that reason?"

    Culture: sand,

    Heritage: heat and poverty,

    Property: barren wasteland and more sand for lush fertile jungle, right around the corner by the way, rain and water and plenty to eat, right around the corner by the way and did I mention there is a lot of food and more importantly, no sand, just around the corner by the way.

    "Wow Agnis, I never saw it like that, living in the desert is indeed stupid when there is a jungle next to them. I will never understand humans¡­" Io shook her head at the lunacy of these cultists.

    "Just do the test and turn the desert into a utopia!" This sounds awfully similar to the story about that Dimsha. It''s not sealed here though. Maybe they think it is and have the location wrong? I looked around and there was only sand as far as the eye could see with the jungle starting several kilometres behind us. I can see why they messed up the location, how can you find something if everything looks the same¡­

    Io looked at me as if looking for answers on how to turn the desert into fertile land but I had no clue.

    Io walked up to a random cultist. "So how do I do that? Does your cult have instructions?"

    "Use your divine power!"

    Io used fire [Dragonbreath] on the temple and turned it into a molten heap. Nothing happened though¡­ I sent shadow clones out in stealth to set up traps. The cult was stunned for a bit and nothing happened. The only sound was the wind and the pile of molten stone bubbling.

    "Did I do it right?" For me you did, for them¡­ not so sure¡­

    Some cultists dropped to their knees in despair, realizing their goddess was fake. "Kill them!"

    As expected, they all stormed at us, shooting magic at us ready to kill. My shadow clones sprung the trap and held the wires I was controlling. Most of the cultists ran into them and got chopped into pieces. This counts as self-defense, right?! Io was taking attacks unsure what to do but she didn''t seem to be taking a lot of damage.

    Last warning, stop this madness, or else you all die! Nobody listened. Io started to attack back, punching and slamming the attackers to the ground.

    The area turned into a blood-soaked sandy hell after 10 minutes.

    "Ugh, this is one of the things I don''t like about humans, they ruined this nice dress." Io tried to save the dress but it seems permanently ruined. I will have to apologize to Thalia. If I remember that is.

    I connected to the leyline energy and cleaned her up with water. I had no speck of blood on me but Io looked like she committed murder, which she technically did.

    "How are we going to clean this up¡­" I connected to the underground leyline current and tried something new. It would be [Surface flip] but with the sand. If successful, I can send this mess 10 meters underground. I made the correct movements and got met with a lot of resistance but I succeeded. As usual, earth leyline makes me uselessly tired.

    Stupid sand¡­

 Vol 2 Ch 51.1: The Auction part 2

    We returned to the city. I sent Io to her hotel room and paid for the damage she did to my room and then snuck around with shadow clones to find out who else was part of the cult but didn''t go to that temple. I found a handful of them and assassinated them. I don''t need this cult to revive because there are some believers left. It was almost 18:00 and the auction would start at 20:00. It was advised to keep your identity hidden if you wanted to attend.

    This is perfect. I will enter disguised, get cool stuff, and then leave this sandy hell the next morning to hopefully never return.

    My shadow clone was entertaining Io, she was exhausting but at least she was behaving. I got a cool-looking fox mask and made sure I read through the etiquette.

    Hmm, a suit in the desert? Is this an assassination attempt? I¡¯m fine with the heat but humans will suffer in this. I will remember this though, maybe I will need to assassinate someone by putting him into a suit in the heat. You never know!

    I went through my dimensional pocket and found a suit. Greg gave it to me in the original timeline back to Boshi Town. It is way too small now though. I inspected it and it grew to my size. What is this sorcery? Well, it¡¯s magic, I guess. It seemed to be made out of special fabric. Now that I¡¯m thinking about it, Gregory has frequently been wearing the same suit, he never got one that looked different that seemed to grow with him. The label read ¡®Made in Jarn.¡¯ Never heard about that country. I went to a quiet area and put on the suit. It fit like a glove. This was some next-level stuff.

    I put my fox mask on and entered the auction house. The place was enormous and there was a lot of red and gold. And no sand! They seemed to separate the people going in into normal and wealthy people. They didn''t have to show their ID but they had a magic device scan it and send them to the left for normal and right for rich. A large fat man went before me and he went to the right. I wondered if I should just use my adventurers'' ID. I scanned it but it still sent me to the right.

    I hate this¡­ People looked at me and I took a right to not stand out. There was a bar and a lot of accommodation and it was quite luxe. The rich people started to socialize. I heard a lot of bragging. What was the point of having a mask if you''re going to brag about your personal accomplishments¡­ It was possible to go deeper into the building but nobody did this so I would stick out if I did. I sat in a corner and held my hands in my hair. What a terrible day.

    ¡°Is that your trademark pose?¡± A sexy lady in a tight golden dress and a fancy golden mask approached me. Are you stalking me?!

    ¡°Haha so it is you! This is the third time we meet, this must be fate!¡± She sat down next to me. It''s not fate if you''re stalking me¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m not stalking you, don¡¯t worry. I thought about your words and you¡¯re right, I let my emotions get the better of me. I will pursue my goal and after I succeed, I will make you mine!¡± Uhm is this a declaration of war?

    ¡°No silly! Not to you at least.¡± She looked at some women that were looking at us. Please don''t waste your time¡­

    ¡°I have set my goal and I won''t budge, now what interesting reason do you have to be here? I am also curious what happened to those cultists but I think I already know and if I¡¯m wrong, I don''t want to know.¡± Ah right, you''re not that interested in humans I forgot, and I¡¯m just here out of curiosity.

    ¡°It''s not that I''m not interested in humans¡­ Maybe I¡¯m ill but I don''t feel a particular attachment to being a human. I¡¯m not proud of it and if I could trade it, I would.¡± As long as you don''t get involved with cults. I talked with this sexy lady who was obviously Thalia when some fat dude approached us. I have watched enough tv to know where this is going.

    ¡°Well, well what a lovely lady, who is this? I have never seen him before.¡± Well, I¡¯m wearing a mask so¡­

    ¡°Silence! I¡¯m not talking to you!¡± I saw 2 dudes react in the background; they reminded me of the guys that I robbed clean.

    Thalia stood up. ¡°He is my friend; I will not accept your manner of speech!¡± She might have tried to intimidate him but this guy is way bigger than her in every dimension.

    ¡°Pff, what is so good about him, I can give you anything you want and even more!¡± The dude seemed to be undressing Thalia with his eyes. I don''t blame him but the trick is to be subtle. This guy wasn''t subtle.

    ¡°Well, you¡¯re demonstrating that is not true, I want respect and you¡¯re not showing any!¡± Oof Thalia is hitting him hard.

    ¡°You can get all the respect when you are with me!¡± Wow, dude and you got rich with that thought process? This city is doomed. I apologize, mister, I didn''t mean to offend you.

    ¡°This ignorant fool doesn''t even know who I am!¡± Well, you¡¯re wearing a mask¡­

    ¡°Stop making excuses! Anyone can recognize me by my unique features!¡± He took off his mask. Why is everyone here so unreasonable? I looked at this person''s big and round features. Hmm, you¡¯re correct nobody would mistake those ehh round features? Thalia giggled and this guy became red like a tomato. I felt a sting in my head. Tomato head? Where did that sting come from?

    ¡°Are you suggesting I¡¯m obese? I¡¯m perfectly in shape I will have you know!¡± I agree, round is a shape too.

    ¡°Insufferable fool! I will destroy you financially!¡± Uhm, good luck but you probably don¡¯t know who I am so good luck with that.

    ¡°But she must know!¡± He pointed at Thalia.

    ¡°And what makes you think I will tell you? I¡¯m richer than you are you can''t push me around!¡± Uhm judging by his size he can certainly push you around¡­

    ¡°Haha, please stop making me laugh I¡¯m trying to stay professional!¡± Thalia seemed to have no intention of stopping laughing though.

    Look here I¡¯m not here to stroke your fragile ego, you got rich for a reason, show off your toughness and intelligence, and stop making a fool out of yourself. I have a low tolerance for unreasonable fools. If you really insist on destroying me, be prepared to expect any attempts from my side in destroying you in retaliation. Understood? I added some intimidation and the annoying guy got offended but kept his dignity, whatever was left of it, and walked away.

    ¡°Ohh that was so hot!¡± Thalia started to leak charm magic. Why do I have so many things that I''m weak against?

    Give me a break, I have no energy for this bullshit. It seemed to be socially acceptable to head over to the other parts and I followed the rich people already drained of energy. I wanted to use a phoenix flower but I can''t do that here.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°Hey wait for me! If you want to look high status it will help you to have a beautiful lady at your side!¡± I guess a passive approach will just drain me even more, I guess I have to be more aggressive. I pulled Thalia closer to me.

    Let''s show these fools who they''re dealing with. I put up an air of confidence and walked in while Thalia had her arms locked with mine. It wasn''t misplaced confidence, I was confident I could easily wipe out any fool who attempted to pull any bullshit on me. We took a VIP seat and acted as if we owned the place. This feels pretty good actually. What are you looking for?

    ¡°A man.¡± She looked at me. I mean in this auction, stop trying to distract me.

    She looked at the auction hall. ¡°Some magical items that could help me achieve my goal faster.¡± I am just going to hope that you forget about me after you reach your goal¡­

    ¡°I might have if I didn''t witness what I just did.¡± So, I messed up again¡­ The auction started and a lot of useless junk started to get displayed. None of the rich guys were bothering with any of this but the normal people down below were going crazy for them. I spotted the round guy sending glares at me but I ignored him. I still acted as if I owned the place.

    I tried my best to not fall asleep for 2 hours.

    Then something interesting appeared. It was a purple storage box. I technically don''t need it but I can use it to fool people. I can pull shit out of my dimensional pocket by pretending I have that. The fat guy bid 5 gold for it. Now I wanted it even more just to mess with him. I bid 5 gold and 1 silver. This pissed him off to no end. Whenever another rich guy bid for it, I raised it by at least 1 gold but for this guy, 1 silver will do, that''s all he gets. Thalia seemed to enjoy it too.

    ¡°And it goes to the man in the fox mask for 17 gold and 1 silver!¡± I won the first round, let''s see how much gold this guy has. I might bid for things I don''t need to just make it more expensive for him. There were some items I didn''t need but that Thalia went for. Some things to augment water skills or accessories that either were for vanity reasons or adventuring.

    ¡°And now a special item!¡± they showed off the duck that was spewing water. I inspected myself and realized that I didn''t have it on me.

    Thalia pointed. ¡°Hey isn''t that?¡± Aagh! I can''t believe I lost it! So much shit happened.

    The 2 guys that I stole it from seemed to be shocked too. It was described as an item that can make infinite water. The water had to be constantly drained because the duck wouldn''t stop spitting water. I inspected it with my Elgards eyes. It didn''t seem to be the duck itself but a shard was lodged inside it. A shard that had the same makeup as the dimensional fabric¡­ Shit, so that thing had shards¡­ The possibility of there being more than 1 shard of this problematic item seemed to invade my mind.

    ¡°I will get it for you!¡± Don''t go broke over it, I will take over if it gets too much. The fat guy bid 50 gold for it and the room got silent. Unfortunately for him, I have deep pockets but I will let Thalia handle this.

    ¡°50 gold and 1 silver!¡± the rich dude threw a nasty look at Thalia. They went back and forth and the current bid was 250 gold and 1 silver. Isn''t this going to hurt your pockets, let me take over.

    ¡°Sure.¡± The 2 rich dudes bid 265 gold and the fat dude went for 500.

    500 gold 1 Silver! Nobody said anything. They wanted to confirm if there were any more bidders but nobody wanted to bid this much for infinite water. Honestly, I''m disappointed, this is priceless in the desert. I¡¯m sure these guys have more gold than that. I won the bet.

    Some rare desert plants passed by and the normal people started to bid again but most of these seemed interesting for creating poisons or other fancy effects so I bought most of those. The fat guy tried to mess with me and drive up the price for me but I let him have it and he became red like a tomato. Another sting in my head. Tomato goddess? Why am I remembering this? I was satisfied with what I got and Thalia was too.

    ¡°And now for the last item. It is sought after with its current value sitting at 1563 gold, we have! A Hourai ruby!¡± I almost fell out of my chair as they showed a small 1-carat ruby that had special magical engravings in it attesting to its authenticity. Why are these things getting more expensive whenever I hear about them? All I did was just sell some rubies¡­

    Thalia seemed to get serious. ¡°I need this! Don¡¯t help me! 2000 gold!¡± Hey, it''s just a ruby no need to go broke over it¡­

    ¡°It is the perfect symbol of beauty and now it has even more value to me.¡± Humans are so complicated¡­ I started to become dizzy at the numbers that were getting thrown around for this small red rock¡­ Is this an indication of the fall of humanity?

    ¡°3350 gold and 1 silver!¡± it was just a battle between Thalia and the fat guy. The 2 guys who I robbed clean were extremely excited. I guess they got the value back and more. If I knew this would happen, I would''ve stolen more stuff from them. Thalia was very passionate about it so I stopped trying to persuade her to stop. My gaze fell on the red stone. Was I greatly underestimating the worth of rubies? Thalia won the bet with 3840 gold and 1 silver and hugged me in happiness. The fat dude stormed out in anger. He was completely red. An image of that bitch goddess flashed through my head and my head stung. Ugh.

    ¡°Are you ok?¡± Yeah, just a headache nothing unusual.

    We walked out and went to the claim area for rich people. I got my stuff but more importantly, the duck which I instantly froze and chucked in my dimensional pocket to make sure I didn''t lose it this time. But now I could pretend to put it in my dimensional box! I saw the 2 dudes being extremely happy when they accepted the insane amount of gold, they got from Thalia but Thalia was almost glowing when she got the Hourai ruby. I will never understand humans.

    ¡°I requested that they make a necklace out of it, it only cost me 50 extra silver but it was worth it look!¡± The ruby was embedded in silver and she wore it quite well. Why a necklace? The ruby is almost disappearing in your cleavage¡­

    ¡°To have it close to my heart.¡± You''re not letting this go, are you?

    ¡°Nope! Can I ask you something?¡± If it¡¯s reasonable, sure. She held her pendant and turned it around and showed the empty silver back of it.

    ¡°Can you sign it for me?¡± I''ll do you one better, I will sign it and place a protection rune on it. I took out a very pointed dagger, heated the tip and carefully and delicately signed it with my name and drew the primal rune for ''protection'' on the silver. It started giving off primal energy so I knew it worked.

    ¡°Thank you! This item went from 3840 gold and 51 silver to priceless. I will carry this to my grave.¡± I figured, that''s why I wrote a protection rune on it to make sure that doesn¡¯t happen anytime soon. I would have suggested to reimburse you for the stupid amount of gold you spent but I think that would be highly inappropriate.

    ¡°You already reimbursed me don''t worry. Now come let''s drink!¡± No! I can¡¯t I''m only 17!

    ¡°So? Since when do you abide by the rules?¡± You got me there but no drinking I¡¯m sorry. I just want to rest.

    ¡°Ok, how about you stop by at my place?¡± I sense ulterior motives. I¡¯m sorry I will go back to my hotel room. It was fun but I will probably leave tomorrow morning. Don''t forget your goal.

    ¡°I won¡¯t! I will get this done in record time and then come for you!¡± Eh? Just take your time¡­

    She gave me a kiss on my cheek and stepped back. ¡°Thank you for showing that there is still hope for humanity.¡± Uhm, I think I demonstrated that humanity is doomed but if you think otherwise that¡¯s good.

    ¡°Now don''t go dying before I reach my goal!¡± Why does everyone keep saying that¡­

    Thalia stepped to her doorstep and blew a kiss at me. Somehow, we ended up near her house while talking. It looked quite deluxe. She surely isn''t hurting for money.

    ¡°Bye!¡± She disappeared in her house and I went back to the hotel by [Shadow swapping] with my shadow clone. Io was still talking¡­

    ¡°You smell a bit different suddenly!¡± No, I don''t! I ran off and locked myself in my room, jumped into bed and fell asleep.

    I had another nightmare. I dreamt that I found a 9t sealed away and broke her out of the seal. This triggered and summoned the bitch goddess and she started blasting us. I did something risky to escape when the 9t chick woke up. We made fun of her and called her tomato goddess after which the 9t chick saved me. I woke up after this realistic nightmare.

 Vol 2 Ch 52: Millennial Foxbite

    Io was well-behaved today. No strange stunts, obedient and focused. We paid for the hotel and she carried me to Daggerfall. Only Hugo was back but I didn''t talk to him. I went back to the workshop but couldn''t get anything done. Thalia is a nice chick but I would hit a problem Io painfully described. She would die of old age before I know it. I will stop physically aging after the age of 22-23 while she will continue to age. She places a high value on beauty and this is certainly going to hurt her a lot even if she will never mention it.

    I leaned backward on my chair and almost fell backward multiple times. No matter how hot or nice the chick is I¡¯m just not compatible with humans. I''ve demonstrated that time and time again. Io is another problem. Esher hasn''t returned yet. We need someone to keep Io in check. I''ve known her for almost 2 months now and I can''t do it, I just thought that this assassin thing would be relatively easy because I''m already quite decent at it but she is adding 14 layers of difficulty to this. I slapped my cheeks.

    Enough thinking about chicks! This made me lose balance and I fell backward. I climbed up my chair and sat down.

    I had 5 poisons of which 1 I was immune to and was making the antidote of. I could decide to start gaining immunity to another basic poison or attempt and make something fancy, gain immunity to that, and then mess around with it.

    But 30 days is a long time¡­ is there any way I can make a poison I¡¯m already immune to?

    I kept walking around and thinking about it for 2 days when I got an idea. Can¡¯t I make a poison out of my fur or blood? If it''s based off my body, I should be immune to it, right? I''m a mythical beast so this should somewhat make sense. I extracted some blood and did tests on it to check if it was poisonous. It seemed to be quite different from human blood but it wasn''t poisonous.

    I had to read several books about blood and how this differs between species which took me 2 more days. I was an expert on blood now! Kinda. Obviously, there''s no info on 9t blood but it might have similar properties to our close relative the normal fox beast kin which went extinct shortly after the Great Eraser¡­ Only 1 book had limited info on it but apparently, it has a de-aging effect ¡­ are you serious? No wonder they got hunted down and went extinct¡­ we just keep adding to reasons why we¡¯re going extinct.

    Dragon blood and phoenix blood does something similar but it''s more that it could grant immortality. Wait I¡¯m a phoenix too¡­ I looked at the vial of my blood and I got terrified. This is going to make people younger and immortal? I¡¯m so dead if this is known¡­ The dragon blood could cause some effects depending on its type. An earth dragon will make the body tough and a fire dragon''s blood could make you more proficient and immune to fire. The blood of a phoenix will cleanse the body and completely heal the body when ingested. Large quantities needed to be ingested for this. The blood of most mythical and legendary beings is regarded as elixirs.

    Terror and disgust overcame me as I archived everything and burnt the book to ashes. The world doesn''t need this. So, I can''t use my blood as a poison it will just make them immortal¡­ Thalia flashed through my mind. I put the thought aside. If I could reverse the effect and cause it to make the immortal into a mortal and kill them by aging them. Ooh, that sounds useful! Maybe it could work on a god. I first took a sip of my own blood and inspected myself to see what happened. 1 day went by and nothing happened, 2 days went by and nothing happened. I guess this is to be expected. Nothing indicated that I would live longer than normal. Which makes sense because I can''t die of old age.

    I had read 2 books that talked about reversing the effects of medicine and poisons because those are linked. A medicine can become a poison and vice versa. Another was more like what I needed. It didn''t talk about blood but to reverse the effect of phoenix fire. It can heal when applied to wounds but this lunatic tried to reverse it and create flames that caused something akin to [Spite]. I appreciated this lunacy because I could benefit from being able to inflict [Spite]. It didn''t recommend any of this because there wasn''t a lot of research on the process because the base materials were rare.

    I don''t have this problem so I will continue your lunacy and legacy!

    I cooked something up after 5 days and tested it on a clear frog and waited. It was still healthy after an hour. Don¡¯t tell me¡­ I dripped 1 drop of my strongest poison on it. This should kill the frog in 1 minute and 12 seconds. 2 minutes passed and the frogger was fine. I took out another frog and used the same poison and he croaked after 1 minute and 11 seconds. Great I made a frog immortal¡­ I don¡¯t know the extent of this immortality.

    I put the frog in a separate pocket dimension, placed a shadow clone inside, and sped up time to see how long he would live. These frogs get 5 years old at most and this frog is around 2 years old. I made sure this dimension had something like the perfect habitat for him, clear water, a nice jungle, big tasty bugs and more. I got something better the day after and tested this on another clear frog.

    This frogger also didn''t croak. I poisoned this frog like I did with the previous one and he was still alive and kicking. This frog also went to the immortality chamber. The immortality chamber, as I named the space for immortal frogs, counted 34 individuals a week later. Was I missing something? The first immortal frog I put inside was getting close to 34 years old. It started to show signs of aging though. I did archive the recipes and processes of these ¡®Immortality¡¯ potions. I took a break and observed the frogs. The first frog died after getting to the age of 43. He was huge, like 1.5m tall. It seemed content with its inevitable demise because this habitat was perfect for him.

    Same with the other frogs. The oldest frog reached a whopping 57 years old. This was quite scary to see. I made my tails make a mechanism that casts powerful illusions when I lose blood to disable these properties.

    So, the best or worst potion depending on the perspective stretched the lifespan to over 11 times the original is this frog specific or did it just add years and it¡¯s not a ratio? I didn''t feel like going outside so I sent some shadow clones to catch some animals and monsters that had longer lifespans. They returned with a funny-looking rat that could reach 60 years old and some lizards ranging from 12-32 years. I used the best potion on them.

    After enough time passed by, I discovered that the years get added. The rat got to about 111 years old this seemed consistent between all the different species I found. I guess this potion wasn''t as crazy as I thought. 11x the lifespan is insane, adding 50 ish years a bit less. I realized that it was 50 years for just 1 drop¡­ the oldest lizard got 84 years with 1 drop. I picked up another lizard of the same race. It seemed quite young. I gave him 10 drops and put him in the modified immortality room. And as expected this guy got to 539 years old.

    He almost looked like a dragon.

    Right, I go out to make a poison and I ended up making something stupid. I decided to never use this unless absolutely necessary. Most of my friends are immortal anyways so it doesn''t have much value to me.

    Day 63, a clear frog finally died. There was one problem though. I wanted to kill it by rapidly speeding up its aging and it turning to dust but this one got younger and younger and then poofed out of existence, I think. I didn''t see it turning into an egg. I still had an old lizard that was in its early 400¡¯s so I used it on him and kept my Elgards eyes on it.

    It just got 50 years younger, another drop 51 years. I kept going till it was a young lizard of 6 years old. I see why my mom found it important to separate us from the main floor¡­ this is just ridiculous. The problem is that this isn''t going to work on my target. I don''t know how old these gods are but I don''t think I can dunk them in a pool of this shit. What if they''re a million years old? I don''t have enough stuff for that!

    I started to think about my life choices, will I get tempted to use this for evil? Certainly, but how much collateral can I do with this? De-aging could be used to give nice people that had a rough life another chance but I''m not nice enough to just hand this out to anyone even if I like them. I destroyed all of my samples. Increasing lifespan though is something I think I should keep.

    I destroyed the shitty samples I had stored. I remade some to have more control over this. 1 year, 10 years, and 100 years per drop. I chucked them in my dimensional pocket and sealed them away so I wouldn''t use them on a whim. I could possibly become the most influential person on the continent now. But I¡¯m not interested, and this is what I meant when talking with Thalia. The immortal species would have had an easy time taking over if they wanted to or if they could.

    I could become even richer by selling these things, Io could burn down half the continent before something strong enough would appear to give her trouble. If the elves were serious, they could reclaim a lot of land and turn it into forests. Greg could go full 3t mode during the night and banish anyone that''s within range. Raishin could¡­ just nuke a whole country. I continued trying to make this stupid poison and I finally got the result I wanted. The frog aged rapidly and turned into dust only 32 seconds after the droplet hit him. I tested this out on other species and the same happened. I added 400 years to a lizard with some leftover of the lifespan potion and used my new poison. He only aged by 100 years. I worked for 23 days to make it age something by a millennium. I was about to test this out when Esher appeared.

    ¡°Whoa what have you been cooking? And it smells strange in here, why does it smell like this place got hit by a rainstorm?¡± I didn''t have anything I didn''t want him to see so I just told him I''ve spent the last 2 months trying to create a new poison. ¡°That''s some dedication. Is this going to be your special poison or are you going to share its recipe?¡± Uhh, it will be personal but I will be auctioning a vial once per 2 months as I can only make 2 vials per 2 months unfortunately, it will be suitable for extreme ''oh shit'' situations since it¡¯s very potent. I will show a demonstration once I finalize it. I also have some things I need to discuss with you.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    ¡°Ok cool, don¡¯t poison yourself, you could use some ventilation!¡± He left the workshop while breathing through his sleeve. I inspected myself and my age hasn''t changed, does this mean I¡¯m immune to its effects? I hopped into a pocket dimension and tested the poison on my shadow clone. Nothing happened. I covered myself in 9 layers of illusions and looked at the vial. I know exactly how this poison works; I know exactly what its ingredients are. I should be able to undo it if it does anything.

    I downed the vial and waited, and waited. If it would have an effect it should''ve worked by now. I put a time dilation on myself and made 3 days pass inside. I only got 3 days older. I¡¯m immune. I got out and only several seconds passed in the real world. Now how would I test this for the assassins in Silent Night. I need to use it on a troublesome creature. I stepped outside the Silent Night for the first time in 2 months. Ugh, the sun is so bright!

    ¡°You truly became a creature of the shadows.¡± Esher said with a smile on his face.

    Heh, I''m a better assassin than you now! One drop of this poison could kill all of you!

    He faced a group of assassins. ¡°We¡¯ll see about that, a giant lightning armadillo is terrorizing the next village to the northwest anyone care to lure it here so Agnis can demonstrate his poison?

    ¡°Oooh! Pick me!¡± A dragon waved wildly, trying to draw attention.

    ¡°Go for it Io.¡± Io dashed off and the interested assassins moved to the north-western part of Daggerfall. Say, Esher, what¡¯s the plan with Io? I explained what happened in Saluk.

    ¡°Ugh, yeah, we¡¯ve been trying to find a mentor for her, preferably a very patient one or a dragon mentor. It has been hard to track one down. As long as she doesn''t do something like that again¡­¡± A fire dragon flew over and dropped the Giant Lightning armadillo. See what I mean? Io landed and turned back to her human form, butt naked of course.

    ¡°Right¡­ I see what you mean. Let''s deal with this after you show off your poison.¡± This has no antidote so whoever wins this in the auction, if you get poisoned by this, you''re fucked. I carefully coated a dagger in the poison.

    ¡°What''s the name of your new poison?¡± Uhm, let''s see, how about Millennial Foxbite? I connected to the leyline currents and charged my feet with purple lightning and kicked the poison-coated dagger at the Giant Lightning Armadillo. It didn''t penetrate deep into its hide but that wasn''t a problem. The poison took effect 45 seconds later and it crumbled to dust.

    ¡°Whoa!¡± the assassins seemed impressed.

    ¡°Oh, that poison smells like you! Fresh rain!¡± Io said while sniffing around.  As I said there is no antidote so that happens when you poison yourself. It can poison on touch so I would suggest augmenting your hands or wearing protective gear when handling it. I sat down on the ground and put a 5 ml vial on the ground.

    Let the auction start! The assassins that weren''t confident didn''t bother but those skilled in handling poisons went crazy.

    23 silver to the guy with the red hood! He seemed quite happy and collected his prize. I grabbed his arm. Remember, it has no antidote, what happened to that armadillo will happen to you if it touches your skin. He nodded and I let him go.

    ¡°So why doesn''t this have an antidote?¡± Esher seemed to have scolded Io while I was auctioning the poison. 1 drop ages you by a millennium and turns you into dust.

    ¡°Ah yeah it would be hard to get immunity to that, it sure is a strange effect for a poison, I can see how it took you over 2 months to make.¡± I nodded. I don''t think I will make any more specialized poisons this was too tiring and intensive. Poison isn''t really my style but it¡¯s nice to have as an option.

    ¡°Yeah, you don''t really need a lot of types if you have one as strong as that one¡­¡± I agreed. I guess I can close that poison chapter. I will only create poisons to then gain immunity against them. I just realized this but fighting other assassins without several poison resistances could really screw you over. It¡¯s a miracle that I haven''t been poisoned badly in the past.

    <hr>

    I got a mission a week later. I was to assassinate an aristocrat living in Saluk. I got the details.

    Main offense: human trafficking. I recognized the image as the fat rich guy that I met at the auction house. Many attempts have been made to get rid of him legally but there was no point to those methods when he could just throw gold around and be a free man. I took my time going to Saluk because there was no time limit on this. It was just preferred that he got disposed of before he would attempt something again.

    I briefly hopped by Vinny¡¯s place but he didn''t seem to be home so I went to Saluk. It had been a bit over 2 months since I was last in Saluk. I remembered that I still had the frozen duck in my dimensional pocket. I need to take care to not forget about any important things. I will go throw this duck in the seal of the rest of that Dimsha later. The shard has similar properties to the Dimsha so having it near the seals should instantly seal this too. I was walking around on the market when I realized that I had no clue where to find this guy.

    ¡°Hey! You there! Want some free meat?¡± I looked at where the voice was coming from and it was the meat guy. He still remembered me but it seems his setup got some upgrades. Not just a bit. Don''t worry I will pay.

    ¡°Nono not this time my friend! You have helped me so much I want to at least pay you back a bit, look here.¡± He had an enormous fancy meat cart. He pulled a drawer and the inside was cooled with magic. He pulled out some extremely expensive-looking high-quality meat. He handed me 5 pieces. Wait, this looks expensive I can''t just accept this.

    ¡°Ohh yes, you can, just take it! My business has boomed since I was able to purchase this cart. I have 5 people working under me now and soon we will be able to open a real shop! I always dreamed of having my own shop! A wonderful alluring woman even helped me out becoming better at handling money! She seemed to be an acquaintance of yours¡± I will take this then, thank the sexy lady for me when you see her again.

    ¡°Come see me whenever you visit Saluk!¡± I stored this high-quality meat in my dimensional pocket. I guess I had some positive effect on this place after all. It was time to visit the mansion of the 2 dudes and possibly rob them clean again. It seems they were building an extra wing to their mansion. I got in quite easily as I walked up to the entrance causing the owners to spot me and let me in.

    ¡°Ahh you''re back my friend! What brings you here? You must have heard that we got quite the amount of money selling a Hourai ruby, you must be even richer now!¡± Hmm? You didn''t get all of the money?

    ¡°Haha, so funny this guy! Everyone knows that whenever a Hourai ruby gets sold, 10% of it goes to you! Maybe Yttroz Industries hasn''t told you yet because it seems you¡¯re not 18 years yet! Aren''t you curious how much richer you would get when you turn 18?¡±  Whud?

    ¡°I think it''s a standard thing that they put in the contracts; the Yttroz Industries doesn''t like their important sources of materials to fade into oblivion after they do business. I wish I could be that generous but I just love money too much hahahaha!¡± Bald guy said while laughing loudly.

    ¡°You might be able to ask around we hired some of their guys to build the rest of the mansion!¡± I think I¡¯ll pass¡­ Are you guys familiar with the person named Dominique Swolefield?

    ¡°Oh, that fatass?! How does one get fat in the desert hahahahaha!¡± Turban guy was also laughng loudly. I do agree that it was a bit funny.

    ¡°Hahaha! Yeah, we know him, he lives in the big purple house behind the auction house. The one with the huge balcony. There is a rumor he uses it to spy on Thalia¡¯s house, everyone knows how hot she is. The best we could do is to get her to dance here¡­ we¡¯re not rich enough to win her heart¡­¡± Right, thanks, is there anything I can do for you since you made this worthwhile?

    ¡°Uhm, yes but I don''t know if we should ask you this.¡± the 2 dudes looked at each other. ¡°Well, it¡¯s fine if you decline but you¡¯re a water magic user right, we kind of ehh have a water problem in our bath section.¡± No problem, you guys are probably seeing me as a rich guy and I get it but that''s not how I think, I¡¯m an adventurer at heart so I will take a look.

    ¡°Shit, he''s rich and cool, hey Sayid we need to step up our game, Thalia is an adventurer too maybe if we become one¡­¡± Achmedi said while rubbing his hands.

    ¡°Ohh, we could try that! But let¡¯s first show him to the bath area.¡± Oh no need, I''ve seen mansions similar to this one I know where to find it thank you, if you are trying adventuring, I would suggest that you think of what kind of role you want to fill. And advice. Don''t go looking like that, try to look and act like regular citizens, only use your money when you really need to.

    ¡°Hmm true, if you don''t know him you would think he¡¯s just a normal guy but secretly he¡¯s rich.¡± Bald guy petted his beard.

    ¡°Do you think that is what the chicks like?¡±

    ¡°They must be!¡± Right, you guys work that out I will go check the bathhouse.

    I went down and headed toward the bath area. But not before stealing some more stuff. They had replaced everything I stole and I stole them again. They are not going to expect that a rich guy stole from them. Some illusions got left behind which will disappear on random days.

    I opened the first door and nobody was inside. Nothing was wrong with this bath either. The next one seemed to have people so I skipped it. I went to the corridor and opened another door. Some guys were changing and I closed the door quickly. I went into another bath and had no water problems. I think I needed to go to the corridor here or to the next bath but I don''t remember how I got through this place teh last time. I walked around for 15 minutes and concluded that I was lost. There were supposed to be 5 bigger baths here but I haven''t reached one yet. I thought I had this; this can''t be that hard! I spent another hour being lost and got tired of it and teleported outside. That''s when I spotted a hole in the wall and river water was flowing in. I notified a Yttroz Industries worker about the hole and he said he would fix it.

    Mission completed! Now to assassinate the fatty. I sneaked into his house. He was on the Teleroad with someone. I hid in his house till nightfall. His house smelled a bit weird and sour, it smelled like old milk and it was nauseating. I circulated nature energy to not give myself away by vomiting. Is this his anti-assassination strategy?

    He finally went to bed. I dipped my finger in Millennial Foxbite and flicked a droplet on him and left. I licked my finger. It indeed smells like fresh rainfall. Coating my dagger with this poison would use up 1 ml, so it has 5 uses when doing this but a droplet was only 1/20th of a ml. I confirmed that he turned into dust and left and sat on a rooftop and looked at the night sky. No full moon this time. I got hit by a sandy breeze, coughed and spat out some sand.

    I hate this place. I returned to Daggerfall.

 Vol 2 Ch 53: Secret weapon

    I did some minor missions for 2 months. I had made another batch of Millennial Foxbite. I also made sure to not neglect my Dragonvein. I recalibrated and got a proficiency of 3.7% and 2.9% authority. Everything got a huge boost. But the most important one was my lightning. I liked using lightning for assassinations, it was quick and decisive and if could briefly paralyze or stun the target whenever it didn''t instantly kill. I could use red lightning again because of this boost. A bit more and I can go orange when I want.  Hey Esher, let''s spar!

    ¡°Huh, that''s sudden.¡±  I want to steal your shadow tricks, come on show me or I will torch you!

    ¡°You do know that I¡¯m the leader here and I can kick you out at any moment, right?¡±  Then do it.

    ¡°Ugh, fine, I won¡¯t go easy on you!¡±

    I pretended to coat a dagger with Millennial Foxbite.

    ¡°Wait! Are you insane?!¡±

    I [shadow bound] him and threw the dagger at him, he evaded but I swapped with the dagger and tried to kick him but it got blocked. I finally saw what his trick was. His shadow blocked it. But not my kick, the kick of my shadow. The shadow punched at me and I blocked it so my shadow would block it and I got sent flying backward.

    Well, this is interesting.  Esher¡¯s shadow split into 3 and he himself put in no effort in breaking out of the shadow bind. I could easily deal with these with the bright dragons but I won''t learn anything.

    ¡°You''re not going to use those bright dragons this time?¡±  I can beat you up with those after I figure out how this works.

    ¡°Good luck.¡± Esher started throwing hidden daggers at me while the shadows were moving as shadows do but without bodies.

    I had to pay attention to them on the floor and Esher as the real body. Esher threw another dagger except he didn''t. Only the shadow of a dagger flew at me. I dodged it. It didn''t feel like anything passed me but I knew it was thrown for a reason. I stopped moving because I got [Shadow bound]. Esher used [Shadow clone] and now there were 4 Eshers and 7 shadows, oh the shadows detached from his clones and himself. Now it was an 11 vs 1.

    I can see how this can be extremely strong. I¡¯m not used to tracking shadows on the floor. Tracking the real bodies was easy. I threw out some wires and they cut the shadows but that didn''t seem to hinder them. I bound the shadow clones but the shadows cut the shadows of the wires.  So, the shadows don''t care what the original material is made of¡­ if the shadow gets cut it breaks¡­

    ¡°Impressive, eh?¡± I managed to defeat 2 shadow clones but they turned into shadows when I defeated them.  Is this why you¡¯re the leader?

    ¡°No, it¡¯s because of my charisma and fast thinking but this might have contributed yes.¡±  I assume you avoid fire and light users like the plague.

    ¡°I can choose to not use it and just use standard assassination.¡±

    Fair point.  He kept sending more shadows at me and I jumped back. A cloud was passing over the sun and it cast a shadow. The shadows couldn''t do anything as I stayed in the cloud''s shadow. Esher started harassing me with dagger strikes and dagger throws together with his shadow clone to get me out of the shadow of the cloud. One of his shadows could move around in the shadow of the cloud. I assume this is the real shadow of Esher. I shadow bound it and Esher stopped moving.

    Oh, so these rules also apply to you.  I kicked Esher away; this broke the shadow bind but also sent the shadow flying as if it got kicked. It seems that no matter what happens the shadow is still linked to his body but that''s the same for me. He can make his shadow attack my shadow which will affect my real body. So, if I fight back and my shadow hits his shadow his real body should take damage.

    He could move separately from his shadow so fighting him was always at least a 2v1.

    This is very nasty if you¡¯re fighting him and you''re not aware of this. Esher started preparing something that looked like a poison mist. I took liquid shadow vodka out, and used [Shadow Vodka Blaze], destroying the poison mist.

    ¡°That is¡­ a very creative way of dealing with [Poison Mist]... mind if I steal that one?¡±  Sure, because soon I will steal your shadow tricks.

    Esher started to throw hundreds of hidden daggers and went into stealth. He also made his shadows split into 6. I couldn''t find the real shadow. I used [Shadow Tendril] and attempted to [Shadow Bind] all of them. I dodged the daggers and flung daggers in every direction as I dodged. I heard clanking noise to the side and sent some wires in that direction.

    Esher dropped out of stealth, jumped back and used [Poison Mist]. I didn''t have enough time to counter this so I had to create distance. I didn¡¯t know what poison he used but I was only immune to 1 and resistant to another. I wasn''t going to gamble with just 2 resistances. I narrowly parred a dagger strike from a shadow. It was hard to keep looking at the ground when I know Esher is lurking around and probably with another shadow clone. A shadow clone appeared from nowhere and 3 shadows were closing in on me. Jumping was useless because I would still have a shadow.  I concede. That was amazing.

    ¡°Well, I know you don''t normally fight like this but I will take the win.¡±  I¡¯m sure you don''t fight like this either, normally. I think I got the gist of how it works. When your shadow hits my shadow it is as if you physically it me right?

    ¡°Yeh, the shadow obeys the body and the body obeys the shadow. When you [Shadow bound] my real shadow, my body had to obey the state my shadow was in. You could have also kicked my shadow and I would have flown back the same. You also noted that my shadows didn''t care what material your wire is made out of, if they cut the shadow of the wires, the wire breaks. Now you were so kind to use the thick wires but the thin wires will not cast shadows, they won''t hit my shadows either but well... I still have a physical body.¡±  And it seems to be countered by dark shadows and light although your real shadow could move through it.

    ¡°Yeah, because it is the only real shadow.¡±  Some cool techniques you have.

    ¡°Thank you for thinking that but honestly anyone proficient in shadow magic can learn this. Just like you can freely move [Shadow Tendrils], you can freely move your own shadow, you do need [Shadow Split] though.¡±  Makes sense, so question, if I form my shadow in the form of a fish, what will happen to my real body?

    ¡°It will take the same shape, I wouldn''t recommend changing the shape of your own shadow, that would be an easy way to die¡­¡±  Hmm ok, thanks! This was educational. Do I have a mission or can I practice?

    ¡°We have a lot of assassins out of the field so we just ran out of missions. Good luck with practicing. You have a good basis so I expect to see results within 2 months!¡±  Long mission?

    ¡°Probably, Shade will give you your next mission.¡±  Alright, I¡¯ll try to get this down.  Esher and I went inside to rest a bit. Esher sat down on the couch.

    ¡°That was an interesting fight, unfortunately I have to leave tomorrow so you¡¯re on your own.¡±  That is fine.

    We talked a bit and Esher left. I rested for the day and started the next day. I did know [Shadow Split] but I never used it much. Whenever I used it, it just turned into a formless blob so I had to practice forming these. That was actually the only thing about it and controlling them. Controlling different shadows was like controlling my tails separately. I¡¯m cheating with my race again I guess, this was difficult for humans who don''t have multiple limbs or tails. Maybe all these assassin techniques were so easy to compensate for leylines being so hard. That would be nice. After mastering this I just needed to polish my skills. I couldn''t let these shadows control my wires because the wires wouldn''t be thin enough if they had shadows, that was unfortunate.

    I could make shapes into daggers but I couldn''t make functional shadows of myself like Esher could. I could only split my own shadow and make 1 extra. I might not be as talented as Esher in this but I have a wide range of skills so this isn''t that big of a deal.

    A month is all it took for me to master the basics it was possible to split off 3 shadows now. I wondered if it was possible to teleport with this. My shadow could snap to my body when I wanted to, does this work vice versa? I attempted to teleport behind a tree and... I crashed into the tree¡­ It works but it¡¯s not a teleport. I rolled on the floor while circulating nature energy to my face.

    Shade appeared. ¡°What are you doing?¡±  Teleporting into trees, a new mission?

    ¡°Yes, you are to go to Jarn Kingdom and assassinate the king who is plotting a large-scale war and is making the lives worse for its subjects. You are to go with Io, here is some medicine against headaches, good luck.¡± Shade left as suddenly as he came. I read the details of the document he gave me and I heard Io cheer in the distance¡­ Maybe I should consider retiring from this place¡­ They couldn''t find a mentor for her in the end. Almost half a year has passed since I¡¯m here and Io hasn''t been addressed, she is a nice chick just¡­ a dragon. Maybe she is the mascot of this place.

    And the mascot was currently dashing towards me.

    ¡°Hey! Did you know! We¡¯re on a mission together!¡± I took some of the medicine Shade gave me.

    ¡°Hey, what is that? Can I have too?¡±  It''s toxic to dragons.

    ¡°Oh, never mind! Hey, have you seen who we have to assassinate? Why do we have to do that if he''s so weak?!¡±  Hmm?  I read the details of our target.

    Taylor Schneider(m) is the king of the Jarn kingdom. It is a small yet wealthy and powerful kingdom. Taylor is so weak that he needs a magic suit that creates a sterile environment inside. It is said that salt in his food could kill him, all his food needs to be bland. The walls and floors are soft. No furniture has corners as they''re all round. There are no doors but veils. The only places where he doesn''t need a suit are in the dining hall and his bathhouse because the sterilizing magic covers those completely. He can only shower because he once almost drowned in a bath of 15 cm of water. All his rooms are cooled with wind magic to prevent any heat strokes. They are also not too chilly to prevent him from getting a cold.  Hmm, this sounds easy to kill him, the security must be top-tier.

    ¡°Let''s just go in and punch him! He will instantly die!¡±  Did you forget that we¡¯re assassins?

    ¡°Let¡¯s throw a dagger at him and then punch him!¡±  How have you not massively failed a mission yet?

    ¡°Because I''m a dragon!¡± All kinds of details indicated how weak he was. The walls are special because any decent magic wave will knock him unconscious. How is this guy still alive? He takes it out on his country and Zanyr because he¡¯s so weak and he wants to feel powerful. The country controls 80% of the continent''s textile industry.

    Why do they keep doing this? One small country has like 80% of the continent''s electronium, and another controls the textile. Are they not afraid that the whole continent gets crippled if something like an assassination of their king happens.

    I took more headache medicine. Humans make no sense.  Io, what is a good city to shop in, it can''t have sand.

    ¡°Hmm, Itris has a big department store.¡±  A what? And those guys are still alive? I don¡¯t like that place though, how about somewhere else? We need to buy a lot of clothes because it is gonna go to shit after our mission.

    ¡°Oh, I always wanted to go to Luja, it''s close to Zanyr, the city and Zanyr river and not too far from Jarn Kingdom!¡±  They called a river and a place both Zanyr?

    ¡°Yeah, humans are weird¡±  How far is it?

    ¡°2 days by flight and almost 3 weeks of running.¡±  Ugh, running it is.

    ¡°But that takes so long! Let''s go by air!¡±  No Io please¡­

    She turned into a dragon, picked me up, and flew away. I covered us in an illusion so nobody would notice a dragon flying over multiple cities. In hindsight this wasn''t such a bad idea, I had 2 days of peace and quiet.

    We landed close to the city and Io at least had sturdy underwear on.

    You really need to do something about that¡­  I gave her a robe because that was the only stuff, I had that she could wear and we went to the city. There was nothing special about this city. Io had been here before so she showed me the best place where to get clothes and I cleared out the place. Even stuff I can''t wear and women''s clothing because a certain dragon keeps destroying all her clothes. Io was finally in normal clothes again.

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    "Let''s find some meat!" I grabbed her by the back of her shirt to prevent her from running off. Lets find a hotel first and I swear, you''re paying if you destroy this one!

    "This early? It''s just past 15:00."  I''m going to make the weapon that''s gonna kill that weakling.

    "Is it dragon fire? How about a dragon claw? Or a dragontail!"  It''s as if you''re doing this on purpose¡­  We arrived at the hotel and got 2 rooms. I couldn''t get my room far from Io''s this time.

    Right, now you can go get meat, time to make this weapon!

    "I wanna watch! But also eat¡­"  Just go.  Io left and I started on my secret weapon.

    She came in 15 minutes later. "Ugh, what is this smell? My nose and eyes! Why are you wearing a gas mask?! Give me one too!"  I only have one, feel the wrath of my secret weapon!

    "Huh? It''s just mustard, wait why are you boiling mustard?!"  To make a concentrated mustard sauce of course.

    "I thought you would make a secret weapon!"  Here taste.  I pushed a spoonful into her mouth and she reacted strongly.

    "Aggh! It''s reaching for my brain! My nose is tingly!¡± She made weird faces in reaction to the strong mustard sauce I made.

    "Whoo that packs a punch! Are you trying to kill me?!"  Nope, but this certainly will kill that weakling. He will have his mind blown hehe.  Io took another spoon and was suffering from its effect.

    "Aaagh!"  Why did you take another spoon!  I made dinner and used the extra strong mustard sauce with it. Both Io and I got defeated by the might of this mustard sauce.

    <hr>

    It was time to head for Jarn kingdom and infiltrate the palace.

    "Hey, can I have more of that mustard?"  No! Stop eating my secret weapon! You already ate too much yesterday!

    ¡°But it gives me a kick and makes me feel truly alive!  That''s called addiction, you''re not getting any more.

    We reached the border and got in easily. It didn''t take long to reach the capital. Everyone was wearing interesting clothing in this city. I am bad at remembering names and faces but I would be able to remember people by their outfits here, everyone wore something unique. It looked a bit like a circus.

    "We need to do that too!"  I don''t like this idea but you''re right, we stick out like a sore thumb.

    We went to a clothing store but it looked more like a costume party. The people saw us come in and ran to us immediately helping us out of our ''hideous'' outfits.

    I can see why this king needs to be assassinated, normal clothing is seen as hideous. These people had a lot of fun making us try the weirdest outfits. I didn''t like most of them. I went for a fox onesie and Io wore something that made her look like a peacock. Why is it always something that draws attention¡­ Everyone was loving it and compliments how good it looks on her. My fox onesie had room for ears and 1 tail so I could technically walk around like the real deal. I looked if there was one with 9 tails but there was no such thing.

    I bought up most of the onesies and anything that could pass for being ''normal'' outside of Jarn.

    "You have that nice smell on you again. How do you switch it on and off?! Teach me!'' I ignored her and hid my smell. I guess getting my tail out will automatically activate that smell. I paid for our getup and we stepped on the streets. We used to get stares before but not anymore now. What a weird place. I did notice that this fabric was out of this world. It was light and soft but also flexible. Forget that were wearing silly outfits, getting clothes of this caliber would cost a fortune outside this country. We visited a place where they sold textiles and I did my best to not buy everything. We then found a store that sold clothing for people that go abroad. What this means is that they sell normal clothing there. Their taste was questionable but it had a lot of good stuff. This country would go to shit in several moments so I cleared out the store.

    "I didn''t know that you loved shopping!"  I don''t love it; this is a necessity. It''s always good to be prepared, especially if we don''t know what state this kingdom is going to be in the next several years.

    "So, is it time to feed the king?"  Yes, it''s time to feed the king.

    This city didn''t have a palace like most kingdoms have, this city had a big building made out of yarn.

    Jarn, yarn, is this country named after yarn? Who comes up with these names?! I don''t even know how a building made out of yarn is supposed to exist but my eyes tell me that the majority of the building is made out of yarn. Only this country can do something stupid like this¡­

    Io stood next to it and pulled out a string of yarn and kept pulling.

    "We can make the building collapse like this!"  If you want to pull for 37 more years, sure¡­  I hid because Io was loud and a guard was approaching.

    "Hey what are you doing?! Do you know that this is Sir Taylor''s residence?! Come here missy!"

    "What wait? Agnis, where did you go?!" Io got deported and I was left by myself.

    Perfect! There were anti-shadow magic guards everywhere. These also used a buddy system. Wait, all the guards are anti-shadow magic guards. Ah right, the richest country on the continent, almost forgot about that. Time to test my new skills and see who''s better, my skills or the guards. Taking down one or 2 will alert every guard. So, I have to sneak by unnoticed. I manipulated the shadow of one of the guards. It was hard doing this for shadows of living beings that are not my own but I caused him to slap the butt of another guard. They started to argue and everyone saw this because of their buddy system. My victim insisted it wasn''t him but the others told him they saw everything. It wasn''t perfect but the security dropped a bit. I moved into the blind spot this created. I tried to subtly control his shadow again. I started to sweat a bit. This shit aint easy. I made my victim trip and push down the same guy that got his butt slapped. This was enough.

    I slipped inside while I heard the guards causing a commotion. More guards here but no buddy system so they were easy to trick. I want this assassination to look like the chef made a mistake or the king just keeled over so I don''t want to make people disappear. I headed over to the kitchen, which was one of the few rooms that didn''t have yarn for walls. The chefs were making the same dishes twice. One for the king and the other for anyone who likes flavorful food. I stole some samples when the chefs weren''t looking. These chefs were very good. Is it possible that they became so good because they know very well what impact every type of seasoning has? They were making food here that I think is impossible to make bland. I tasted some and I was shocked.

    How does one make curry bland? And the curry that isn''t bland is so good. The spice control of these chefs is something else. I learned something new. To truly make good food you need to be able to make it super bland and learn the impact every spice has. It might take me years to learn. All these chefs were in their late 50s, some might have passed 60. This country might have the best chefs in the continent too.

    I now understood why this king wanted to wage war. I would also be super pissed if there was food this good around me and couldn''t eat it. I assume they taste test this before having the king eat it so I''m not sure if dropping my secret weapon here will work. I made sure to mask its smell as much as possible. I had an idea. I swiped some cutlery and followed the convoy of chefs bringing food to the dining hall.

    We entered a magic veil that sterilized everything that passed through. There he was. He looked small and weak but he had fire in his eyes, probably determined to bring the continent to its knees. The chefs told him what his first course was. It was a boring soup. It was just a liquid. Was it to prevent choking hazards? A person taste tested it and gave an ok. The king consumed it through a straw. I cringed as this was hard to watch.

    ¡°Ugh, I hate bland food!¡± The king shook his head.

    ¡°It can¡¯t be helped your majesty!¡±

    Next up was pasta ground to a mush¡­ it looked disgusting. The taste tester gave the ok. The king started to eat.

    This pasta mush had a similar color to my secret weapon. This is my chance!

    I went through the cutlery I stole and found the spoon that looked identical to the one the king was holding. I put my secret weapon on this spoon and held the spoon in the orientation that matched the king''s spoon. He took a scoop. Before the food entered his mouth, I swapped the spoons with [Turning leaf]. Nobody noticed, perfect.

    He took the bite and had an instant reaction. His eyes started to tear, his nose started to run and his body fell limp. He got his mind blown by some strong mustard sauce. It killed him almost instantly. I left as the chefs and attendants were causing a commotion. The food got tested again. Blame got thrown at the taste tester but also at the chefs. It was a mess. I was happy with my perfect assassination and could leave easily in this chaos. I had to get Io and get out of here but I couldn''t find her. I looked for 3 hours and decided that she must have been kicked out of the city.

    I found her 20 minutes later in her peacock outfit trying to get back into the city.  I''m sorry guards, she has ehh special needs, I will take over from here.

    "Oh finally! Thank you, kind stranger!" The guards seemed happy to be relieved their duty in dealing with Io.

    "Hey, I''m not done here!"  We are, let''s go back.  I tugged on my [Dimensional Anchor] and returned home.

    "Huh, a jungle? And since when could you teleport?"  Oof bringing someone with this teleport is a very bad idea. We¡¯re in the southern part of Jurna, take us to Daggerfall.

    "On it!" Io didn''t complain or didn¡¯t feel it but she took damage from that dimensional teleport. I''m not as good with this as I thought. It also took me 3 times the effort as I expected.  Hey, I¡¯m sorry I didn''t know this teleport would hurt you.

    "Hurt me? What are you talking about?" She didn''t notice¡­ why am I even surprised that she didn''t notice. I felt like a fool for the rest of the trip.

    Shade was surprised that we were back so quickly.

    "You can say what you want Agnis but you and Io have the fastest assassinations of anyone here. That''s why we put you together. "  I still prefer to move alone.

    "Aww, how about I make it up to you! You can ask me anything and I will do it!"  Really?

    "Yup! I wasn''t helpful this time so it''s only fair!"  Ooh good then go find a mentor!

    "But Esher is my mentor!"  Poor dude, anyways I''m going to rest, please leave me alone¡­

    I have ignored this for a while but I never got truly dangerous missions with Io. They know that doing this will probably leave Io as the sole survivor but this is a problem, what if a mission escalates and becomes truly dangerous? If the city became dangerous after the assassination, I could''ve been at risk looking for Io. She could''ve also been captured. At this point, I don''t think they¡¯re going to kick her out. She would be perfect as an Iron Wall or an Unstoppable Beast but a Silent Night? Not really. I guess if she doesn''t leave then I will have to leave.

    I heard that it''s possible to leave Silent Night. Sylvana left it when she gave me the umbral pendant. It has some magic on it that makes you forget the exact location of the Loud Sun if you lost it or gave it away. There was no reason for me to return here so that didn''t bother me.

    I have to find someone to give this to. I only heard it late but Willow left. Some new guy appeared and Hugo was showing him the ropes because this guy was a fresh Silent Night.

    Nobody I know might be interested though. Does this mean I need to socialize? Yuck. What if I put in a request for an assassination on myself? Hmm, but there is a chance people from Silent Night or other assassin guilds take it, and not necessarily some random Silent Night from the Adventurer¡¯s Association. Bernie might know!

    Hey Bernie, how does one make friends?

    "What mind games are you playing this time?"  I was just wondering, you guys are colleagues and not exactly friends, it could be easy to confuse those two but how do you make friends without this setting that creates the illusion of friends? I said as I sat down on a stool.

    "Uhh, you talk to them?"  Ugh, anything besides talking?

    "I think talking is all I got sorry, I don''t have many friends myself either."  Hmm, thanks for the input and ehh don''t tell anyone but I¡¯m planning on leaving soon.

    "To be honest I am surprised that you lasted this long, Io really took a liking to you and anyone in your situation survived 2 months tops, literally or figuratively¡­"  Oof, don''t get me wrong, I have nothing against her but she would be better off an Iron Wall or an Unstoppable Beast.

    "Yeah, I get it, make sure you find a replacement and send him to me."  Thanks Bernard.

    "Hey, you''re not dying or something are you? That''s the first time you called me by my name."  I don''t know what you¡¯re talking about Bernie, you must be getting old.

    "Heh don''t die out there."

    I won''t!  I [Silent Melded] and got all my stuff from the poison workshop. I had 3 vials of Millennial Foxbite.

    I located some books about improvising poison synthesis and archived it and [Silent Melded] out and went to look for a successor. I needed to decide where to find this individual. I needed to make sure I don''t get too attached because he would probably be at the mercy of Io, so it should be someone I don''t like but who has skills. Preferably someone arrogant so I can whoop his ass and vent a bit.

    It will make him build some character and he will be used to ass whooping. A lot of elves fit these categories but they wouldn''t set foot out of their forests most of the times. Hmm, arrogant young humans. Maybe fresh out of magic school? I had no idea where any are. Maybe I should just go to an Adventurers Association and get lucky.

    Can I put in a request to find one?

    I decided to go to Texiha and find out there. Saluk was closer but it had sand. I arrived in Texiha on day 209.

 Vol 2 Ch 54: Another cult

    It was a beautiful sand-less day and the Adventurers Association was full of adventurers from all over the place. There was 1 problem though, I couldn''t find any Silent Nights or any newcomers that would fit the bill. I sighed and sipped on some Mango Punch. Where are they? Is there some International Silent Night holiday or some party I don''t know about? I saw a familiar face and dove away. What is he doing here? It was Healerguy.

    ¡°Free treatment for whoever catches that guy over there!¡± Shit, he saw me.

    I ran out of the Adventurer¡¯s Association and went into stealth to hide from the horde of adventurers who wouldn''t pass up a free treatment, that would otherwise be quite expensive. Maybe this is a blessing in disguise, whoever can catch me would be suitable as my successor. Maybe I should be a bit nicer to Healerguy. That being said¡­

    All these adventurers were clueless¡­ I sat in front of the entrance of the Adventurers Association for an hour and nobody could find me. How disappointing. Healerguy finally got outside and was about to look for me when I appeared in front of him.  I know you mean well, I concede, none of these adventurers fit the bill.

    ¡°What are you talking about? But I¡¯m glad that you are cooperative.¡± He brought me to the sick bay to check on me.

    ¡°Hmm, I¡¯m surprised, no exotic status effects.¡±  See I told you!

    ¡°Well, I would like to know what this is.¡± He showed me some fancy tablet that acts like a tv. The technology in this world is so strangely distributed.  I don''t know what this is, I''m not a Golden Angel.

    ¡°This here is a tox screen, it says that you''ve been poisoned quite badly, quite frequently.¡±  Oh, that eh¡­  How do I tell him that this is to gain immunity to these poisons?

    ¡°At least it seems you got resistance or immunity to them so I guess that''s good news but¡­ At least you make sure my job stays interesting, it surely is something else than the standard injuries.¡±  I¡¯m glad that you''re entertained.

    ¡°The best-case situation is that my job is extremely boring, Don''t go out there trying to make it interesting for me!¡±  Yessir!

    ¡°Also why are your stress levels so high?¡±  Oh, that is the reason I¡¯m here, I¡¯m trying to get away from a very stressful situation so I need some kind of successor. I need a Silent Night that is a bit inexperienced.

    ¡°Does this have to do with your tox screen?¡±  Yah.

    ¡°Hmm this tox screen resembles a starting out Silent Night indeed, are you going for that role?¡±  No, I¡¯m quitting that''s why I need a successor.

    ¡°Uhh, I don¡¯t follow but if you are looking for someone there is this guy of about 15 years old that is very skilled at stealing in the slums of Texiha. He can effortlessly rob skilled adventurers clean with them hardly noticing.¡±  Ooh, that''s perfect! Those people always have an attitude! Exactly what I''m looking for! Hehe, he won''t know what''s coming!

    ¡°I don''t know why but I¡¯m starting to feel sorry for him now¡­¡±  Thanks, Healerguy! I will try to not run the next time I see you!  I dashed off and adventurers still tried to catch me.

    Oy, I already got caught! Leave me alone!

    ¡°You can let him leave, he¡¯s right¡¯ Healerguy backed me up and I was free to go. I headed straight for the slums and switched to some other clothing. Something rich people would wear and I had a fake wallet dangling in the open. I had put 3 silver in it so anyone who could swipe this from me would be rewarded. I walked around and the first thief appeared.

    What is with this shoddy stealth, I don''t need my Elgards eyes to spot him. 2/10! I kicked his ass and continued.

    Ohh this guy has a good form. His stealth could use some polish. Oh, he can use shadow magic! Some shitty execution but he has potential. Probably not who I was looking for.

    I acted like a clueless rich guy and let him steal the 3 silver. He deserved it. I replaced my stolen fake wallet with a new one and this one had 5 silver. The stakes were higher now! Anyone worse than the previous one won''t win a prize.

    Ooh, these 2 teamed up. Let''s see what they can do. One approached me attempting to distract me while the other would go for the purse. Good idea but sloppy execution. I ¡®Accidently¡¯ noticed the other guy and a fight broke out, they had good basics but that was it. They were slow and had a lot of wasted movements. I don''t think they deserve the 5 silver. I kicked their ass and continued on.

    The next guy actually almost caught me by surprise. I evaded out of reflex; he just went for the silver and not my life. If he can hide his intentions better, he will get somewhere. I let him steal the silver in his follow-up attack. He has a lot of potential but is probably not the guy I¡¯m looking for.

    And then I noticed him. He had been watching me the whole time. This skill, he¡¯s the one! He had short messy blonde hair and sharp eyes. Actually everything was messy as he is a street rat.

    ¡°What games are you playing here, you act like a fool but only let those steal from you that are skilled enough.¡±  Are you sure you should just reveal yourself?

    ¡°Pff, stop looking down on me, you had already noticed me, there was no point in staying hidden.¡± He had a bit of an attitude but it wasn''t that bad. This is bad, I already like the kid.  Are you the guy that keeps robbing the skilled adventurers?

    ¡°And what if I am? What will it do for you? I already realize that I can¡¯t rob you so there is no point to this, cya!¡± He was about to walk away when I started flipping a gold coin and playing with it.  How about this, if you show me what you can do you get this.

    ¡°Ha! I won''t fall for that there must be some sort of trap or something there is no way you would just give me 1 gold.¡± Several noob thieves thought differently and rushed at me and I easily kicked their ass assassin style. I sat on the pile of knocked-out thieves and flicked the coin up and down.

    ¡°Wait, you''re one of those Silent Nights I heard about, I could never steal from them!¡±  What if I told you that I¡¯m looking for applicants and I¡¯ve chosen you as a possibility?

    He got his daggers out. ¡°Heh, it¡¯s not as if I have anything to lose, I might as well try!¡±

    He came at me with a speed that I have never seen in a human. It was still slow by my standards. I parried his dagger strikes and dodged a relatively sloppy shadow skill thrown at me. I dodged another shadow blob thrown at me and he dropped into stealth. This seems to be his specialty, erasing his presence. Impressive, without these eyes I would have no clue where he would be, it was cleaner than any assassin in Silent Night. This kid¡¯s got talent. I blocked his strike from stealth by making my shadow block his when he dropped out for the strike.

    ¡°What? How!?¡± He was confused because it looked like his strike got blocked by something invisible. I flicked to coin to him.  You pass. There is more if you follow me. I started playing with 2 more golden coins.

    ¡°You... you are not playing a prank, are you?¡± He inspected the gold coin thinking it was fake. He realized it was real.

    ¡°This is real?! It¡¯s mine?!¡± He dropped to his knees. Come on kid you need to keep the arrogance up else I will feel sorry for leaving you behind with Io.  Come on, don''t show weakness, are you in or not?

    ¡°I will trust my instinct and trust you. I can¡¯t join you unfortunately, my brother is held by debt collectors. My parents racked up a huge debt before they discarded us and died. I¡¯m scraping by to stay alive. I send the rest to them to pay off the debt.¡±  Interesting, tell me more.

    I sat down on the pile of passed-out thieves and he was reluctant but he told his story. I could sense he was leaving a lot out though.  Your story doesn''t make any sense but I understand.

    ¡°Huh, where did I lie?!¡±  I never said that you lied just that it made no sense but thank you for confirming you were lying, I don¡¯t mind because I get the gist. You''re lying because the situation is more dangerous than you described, you make it seem like they¡¯re debt collectors so I would help but they¡¯re more like ehh how to describe it? Cult, I guess?  He wanted to protest but realized that he got seen through.

    ¡°Who are you? None of the Silent Nights were anything like you.¡±  Hmm, well I actually am not a Silent Night I don''t have a role yet, but I¡¯m looking for someone who wants to, you said you''re interested right? Let''s save your brother so I can get what I want.

    ¡°You''re a weirdo, you are going to help me to get what you want? Why not just kidnap me? That surely should be no problem for you.¡±  That is true but since you will be sticking with me for a bit you should know 2 things about me, I place value on doing anything to keep close family and friends safe, if I had a brother and he was in the same situation as your brother was, I would level this city no questions asked, secondly. I hate cults. They bring more harm than good so I¡¯m doing this place a favor for surgically removing them.

    ¡°Is this what a Silent night is about?¡±  Surgically removing threats? Yes, what do you think are you up for it?

    ¡°I would level this city to save my brother!¡±  Good! He can''t come with us after we save him though

    ¡°What?!¡±  Do you want your brother to know what you did to get him out?

    ¡°Ehhh.¡±  I know a Healerguy that likes to stick his nose in other businesses he can help your brother maybe even teach him to become a Golden Angel or something and after both of you have mastered your skills you can take over the world with your Silent Night and Golden Angel skills!

    ¡°You¡­ you are crazy¡­ but maybe you¡¯re right, it¡¯s time we learn to stand up for ourselves. Thank you ehh, what is your name?¡±  Right about my name, please don¡¯t throw it around a lot, I¡¯m Agnis Hourai.

    ¡°Rich guys are weird¡­ at least it seems you are not as ignorant as others, the name is Kyle,¡±  Kyle what?

    ¡°Just Kyle.¡±  Nice to meet you Just Kyle.

    ¡°Hey come on you know that''s not my name!¡±  Hahaha but at least you''re not so tense anymore, are you ready to burn down ehh infiltrate a cult, and save your brother?

    ¡°Sure.¡±  Your stealth is immaculate so let¡¯s use mainly that, follow me I think I found a cultist.

    We entered stealth and slipped through some alleyways. I followed someone who had a strange shirt on and an 8 that was laying on its side.

    Just Kyle pointed at the cultist. ¡°It¡¯s a cult member indeed, a member of Ouroboros.¡±  Hmm I¡¯ve heard that name before, isn¡¯t that mythology?

    ¡°They are striving for immortality and doing some weird stuff to get it, my parents were part of it but they stole something to sell it and that''s how they got killed and got the debt.¡°  Did they stole some sort of elixir or something?

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°No, a shard that was capable of producing endless water, they went to the desert to sell it.¡±  The world surely is small¡­

    ¡°Hmm?¡±  Why did the cult need this shard for?

    ¡°Something about it being a part of the world and discovering its properties might lead to immortality and eternity.¡±

    I hate to say it but these cult members are on to something. They sound dangerous though. Humans aren''t supposed to mess with this. I still had the shard on me since I had to yet seal it away. Although I could use it to easier infiltrate this cult. This could be a piece of cake to get in and save the brother. Getting out might not be but I was planning on destroying it anyways so I just have to wipe them out when things become rough.

    I am wondering. Is Isi doing this and putting these things on my path? There seem to be a lot of coincidences that it feels like someone is pulling the strings. I surely hope I¡¯m not being manipulated. I did sneak into that mansion on a whim though and Io wanting to spy on random rich guys was probably also a whim. I stood still.

    What if Io is secretly a mastermind and pretending to be like that and has been pulling the strings all the time? She certainly convinced me that she wouldn''t be a mastermind. Then again, she is a dragon and I didn''t detect deception. I don''t think Io is the mastermind. It wouldn''t be a good mastermind if I could guess this in several seconds.

    Listen, Kyle, this might be our lucky day. This might actually be quite easy.  I took the duck out of my dimensional pocket and it sprayed water on Kyle.

    ¡°Hey! Wait is that? My brother¡¯s ducky?! Where did you get it?¡±  Bought it for 500 gold and 1 silver but that''s not the point, this is the item they¡¯re looking for so you''re going to give it to them, get your brother back, and escape then I will wipe them out.

    ¡°Just like that?¡±  Luck is also important in life, let''s follow the cultist and make him tell us where their headquarters are.

    ¡°Hey, asshole!¡± The cultist turned around and Kyle decked him. ¡°Where is my brother!¡±  I don''t think he will tell you but maybe his friends will.  We got surrounded by guys in robes with the Ouroboros logo.

    I¡¯m here as protection for Just Kyle to deliver this item to your master.  I showed the duck and it made one of the cultists wet.  Woops sorry. Turning this thing off is a bad idea.

    ¡°It seems the real deal, guys the boss might want to see this." We got led through some alleys and then were led into the sewers.

    ¡°Yuck!¡± Kyle pulled a face of disgust. Which made me wonder, he is a street rat shouldn''t sewers be a part of his natural habitat?

    Ah of course, that makes perfect sense!

    Kyle looked at me as if he had no idea what I was talking about. They blindfolded us and led us to their base. Blindfolds don''t work on me so these guys were wasting time. They even made some wrong turns on purpose to confuse us. We finally arrived.

    This didn''t seem like a full-fledged cult. Maybe they were just starting out or this was a branch. Branch was more likely, to underestimate cults is a bad idea. We got brought to their leader and got our blindfolds taken off.  Are you the leader of this cul... Ouroboros?

    ¡°I am not the leader but I¡¯m in charge here, I heard that you found our item."  Let Just Kyle¡¯s brother go and we can have an exchange.

    ¡°Hey, my name is Kyle! Only Kyle!¡± Just Kyle...Only Kyle protested.

    ¡°And why would you give you what you want if we can just take it from you?¡° Because I can break it.  I took the shard out of the duck, augmented my hands with spatiotemporal magic, and pinched the shard causing it to bend.

    ¡°Whoa! Spatiotemporal magic, shit! Ok, we will get his brother, do you have any interest in joining us?¡±  Does that ever work? Of course not! Get Only Kyle¡¯s brother and let them go their debt should evaporate.

    They got Kyle''s brother and they were finally reunited.  Is their debt settled?

    ¡°The item has returned but their parents¡­¡±  Their parents are dead, are you truly so petty to dump the mistakes of the parents on their innocent kids?!

    ¡°Listen you might not understand but money is important and¡­¡±  You mean your ego is important, how you look to your cult members, you guys aren''t hurting for money because else you would do regular jobs even adventuring instead of sitting on your asses in the sewers walking around in robes and harassing children. Last warning let the kids go.

    ¡°Ha, what can you do by yourself.¡± I gave Only Kyle another gold coin and my adventurer''s ID. Only Kyle, you are excellent in stealth and sneaking around, bring your brother to the Adventurers Association and ask for ehh shit what''s his name. Call for Healerguy and show my ID which should be good enough. I hid a shadow clone in the shadow of my ID so if they think you stole it, he will help, now go!

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to get out of here though¡­ And my name is Kyle, there is no ''Only''... " The shadow clone jumped out of the shadow of the ID.  He does now go!  They went into stealth and disappeared.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let them escape!¡± The fake cult leader shouted as he pointed at Kyle.

    I shifted stance and blocked the entrance with [Water Dragon Festival].  Now that I have your attention. What do you guys plan to do with this thing?

    ¡°None of your business!¡±  Trying for immortality, eh? Humans have sought after this since the dawn of time, I know what you guys are after, I just wanted to see your response and it¡¯s unsatisfactory so let me ask again, what do you plan on doing with this?

    ¡°Ha you wouldn''t understand anyways!¡±  Try me.  The guy started his whole life story of how about how his life was hard and more bullshit I never asked for.

    Hey, asshole! Answer the question I don''t care for your life story! What are you planning to do with this?

    ¡°Become immortal of course!¡±  Yes, I get that, but why do you need this and how are you going to achieve this?

    ¡°It will make us more powerful to stand up against the world!¡±  You don''t know do you? You kill people and ruin families for a goal you don''t even know how to reach. Instead of finding out you''re here playing evil organization in the sewers and holding children hostage. You disgust me.  I sent shadow clones to find out if there were more prisoners.

    I will ask you again, what do you plan to do with this item, and how are you going to achieve immortality with this, give a clear and concise answer, I am going to kick your ass if you give an answer that doesn''t directly answer my question.

    ¡°It is as the lord and mistress Biian dictates!¡±  Wrong answer and for mentioning that name you deserve to get your ass kicked even more.

    My clones were evacuating all the children and adults held here against their will, probably to extract resources from their loved ones. They put haste behind the evacuation because I was losing patience and wanted to bring this place down. It reminded me a bit of the cult we found close to the root. I moved the [Water dragon festival] around and interfered with cult members that tried to stop the evacuation.

    ¡°You will regret this! Justice will prevail and come after you! Consider yourself marked by our goddess of immortality!¡±  And I should be afraid because? I am already marked by her.

    My head stung and my nightmare flashed through my head. Yes yes, I know that nightmare had her in it but that doesn''t mean anything, the fact that I''m a 9t means I am marked by her. It will only be a matter of time before she knows about my existence.  I don¡¯t remember the Sarian goddess Biian being a symbol of immortality.

    ¡°She is justice and justice is immortal!¡±  So is water, time, and other things, and gods in general are immortal so I don''t see how this only applies to her¡­

    ¡°Silence!¡± He took a cane out and cast something. I got hit by some light magic but it did nothing.  Hmm, I was expecting something.

    ¡°Impossible! It¡¯s supposed to instantly kill any human!¡±  Oh¡­ I might want to dodge this then the next time. I can''t have people think I¡¯m not a human.  The guy backed off. My shadow clones had completed the evacuation and were fighting the other cult members.

    ¡°Wha¡­ what are you?!¡± Ooh someone is asking the question, let''s try a line I like to say.

    I am currently your worst nightmare.  I shifted from [Water Dragon Festival] to [Drowning Pulse] and started to slowly flood the place.

    Let''s flush you like the pieces of shit you are.  I completely flooded the whole area and smashed everyone into the walls with strong currents or popped their lungs by sneaking in some [Pressure] and after everyone died, I flushed them through the sewer system.

    I have 0 tolerance for crazy cults. I decided to call this new technique [Flush].

    I teleported to the surface and went to the Adventurers Association. Some adventurers were accusing Kyle of being a thief, rightfully so, and Healerguy was defending him with some others.  Sup I¡¯m back, is Only Kyle¡¯s brother, ok?

    ¡°He is and the other people you sent over also, we¡¯re kind of full now. Can you help out? These guys have it out for Kyle.¡± Healerguy said as he pointed at the battle ready adventurers  Yoo guys chill, I gave him my ID.

    ¡°He¡¯s still a thief!¡±  And you''re an asshole! He¡¯s a kid just drop it.

    ¡°You''re just a kid too!¡±  And a kid is telling you to act like an adult, you should be ashamed.  The adventurers didn''t like it but this was enough to drive them off.

    Did you see that, Kyle? As long as you''re a kid you can use these lines, you got to come up with something better once you turn into an adult though.

    ¡°As usual you are up to something crazy. Kyle and the patients have already told me enough. You said you wanted to train Kyle and have me instruct his little brother? I can do that. Kyle listen, Agnis here is a bit crazy, he gets into a lot of trouble I want you to look after him.¡± I sighed as Healerguy said something unnecessary.

    ¡°Is he that crazy? He seems strong though.¡±  Come on Healerguy that''s unnecessary!

    ¡°Think about it Kyle what sane person would jump into an unknown cult to help a street thief and his brother?¡±

    ¡°Hmm, you have a point, I will keep an eye out.¡±  Hey guys really? I did something good here!

    Healerguy shook his head. ¡°For the wrong reasons but that''s fine. At least the situation in the slums might actually improve now. You¡¯ve been a lot of help.¡±  Are you ready Kyle? I¡¯m a stern teacher.

    ¡°Well, you came out alive with no injuries after jumping into a den of crazy cultists so I assume you¡¯re at least very strong.¡±  Hehe, praise me more!

    ¡°Don¡¯t stroke his ego, he might get even more reckless¡­¡± Healerguy warned.   You have a good basis so this won¡¯t take too long but you might want to gain a lot of experience afterwards because basics get you into the door but experience keeps you alive. And the best place where you can practice is what I call home! Cya Healerguy!  Kyle and I were at the front door when a guy ran in.

    ¡°Guys! We need help the sewers are clogged with bodies!¡±  Kyle let''s see first how hard you can run!

    Healerguy looked at me. ¡°Agnis!¡±

    ?

 Vol 2 Ch 55: Successor

    I had to stop running after 10 minutes because Kyle was slow as fuck and needed to catch a breath. We had left Texiha and were outside the influence of Healerguy.

    "Huff, so fast¡­ are you even human? You aren''t even breaking a sweat."  Well, this is far enough, we can rest and walk the rest, our destination is Jurna jungle.

    "The jungle? It''s going to take weeks to get there!"

    Hmm, I realize that I don¡¯t know what realistic travel times are for humans. I always run or get carried by Io. Do I tell this kid? Bad idea I guess, if a random guy told me he''s a mythical or legendary being I would¡­ hmm I would believe him. My perspective might be biased. I''m sure Kyle''s is not going to buy into this. How about I carry him. Let''s go for that!

    Nobody has time for that, I''ll show you something cool after you rest up.  I gave him some food and we ate in silence .

    "You aren''t just another kidnapper, right?"  Would I tell you if I really was one?

    "Probably not. Why do you need a successor?"  I do put value on the skills Silent Night has but I don''t necessarily want to be one. My skill set is so wide that sticking within that one will close off opportunities.

    I spouted some random stuff here to avoid telling him that I don''t want to deal with Io but there was some truth in it. Maybe Vice Daddy didn''t give me a role for that reason "Water user" was way more valuable than any role I would have back then. With no role adventurers would look for other things that could make me stand out. Normally they would see a role they didn''t need and skip it.

    What if there are still things added to my profile like cult destroyer or something¡­ I need to check this the next time I visit the Adventurer¡¯s Association. I haven''t checked my personal requests in years¡­

    "Hello? Are you listening?"  No sorry, could you repeat that?

    "What else do you have in your skillset?"  You wouldn''t believe me if I told you so I will show you when it''s time. And now is the time for one of them! Hop on my back unless you want to run more.

    "Uhh, ok"  Damn you''re light, you need to eat more.

    "I was a poor street rat moments ago, remember?"  Fair point.

    I started running and Kyle couldn''t believe how fast we were going. He kept reminding me that we were going fast. As if I didn''t know¡­

    <hr>

    We reached home on day 214.

    ¡°Whoa this place is amazing; did you really live here?¡± Kyle said as he admired this amazing spot I had claimed.

    Yeah, let me show you, my hideout.  I chased away some monkeys and fixed up my hideout.

    ¡°I never saw a waterfall, it''s magnificent.¡±  Hehe if this amazes you wait till you meet my friend Vinny but let''s rest up, I''m going to put you through the wringer tomorrow. There is something I did that''s keeping you undetectable now but I¡¯m going to remove it tomorrow and see how you will do hehe.

    ¡°I am confident in my stealth.¡±  I know I¡¯m just curious.

    I showed him the important parts of the hideout and we went to sleep early. The next day came and I brought him deep into the jungle and brought him to the dungeon where Vinny and I fought the behemoth. The plants were slowly reclaiming it.

    ¡°What is that?¡±  An ancient ruin. Now here is the first training. Find your way back to the hideout safely. Good luck.

    I went into stealth and shattered the illusions I made to hide him from the jungle dragons and returned to the hideout. He probably didn''t realize what the big deal was but I already noticed that the dragons reacted to Kyle¡¯s sudden appearance. He just casually retraced the steps to get back here. I got some popcorn out and watched from the roof of my hideout. Dragons making contact with Kyle in 3¡­2¡­1¡­ And! He freaked out! He went into stealth but since he was still in the jungle the dragons had no issue finding him.

    There were only 2 dragons but even 1 dragon is too hard to handle for a human. I wonder why they sent 2 dragons for 1 human. Was something weird happening here?

    He used various methods to shake off the dragons and found a spot to hide temporarily. He had 5 minutes of rest when a dragon found him. He responded by sending [Fireballs] at the dragons but it seems he didn''t have a fire affinity. [Fireball] is just a basic spell almost anyone knows.

    He shot some [Dark Bolts] and shadow blobs and while these had more power than his [Fireball] they didn''t do as much damage as the [Fireball], the dragons weren''t happy getting hit by fire though. Kyle was keeping his head relatively cool for the situation he was in but he was still panicking. I wondered if he would be able to make it or if I had to save him. He still was heading in the right direction despite his panic. He was 1/4th of the way here.

    He made it halfway before the dragons caught him and he could go nowhere. I decided to step in, got to him in no time and covered him in illusions. The dragons had no clue how he could disappear so suddenly.  You did well for the first time.

    ¡°Wha¡­ there are dragons here! Is this how you got so strong?¡±  Uhh let''s go with that, let¡¯s get you a fresh dip in the basin and some food.

    Even though he just went through a traumatic experience he took it well. He took his time relaxing and ate as many fruits as he could.  This training might seem harsh but do you think any human would be able to catch you if you can escape jungle dragons in their own habitat?

    ¡°You are insane, but then again normal methods don''t make legends.¡± He kept eating and looking around expecting a dragon to appear any moment. ¡°How come the dragons don''t come here?¡±  I will tell you but not now.

    ¡°You¡¯re enjoying this aren''t you?¡±  Of course, but I''m making sure it''s enjoyable and that it''s useful to you.

    ¡°I don''t see how scaring the shit out of me and making me run for my life is useful but I agree that if I can hide from them, a human will have no chance of finding me.¡±  And this is why you survived this long around that cult. You''re strong kid, let nobody tell you otherwise.

    ¡°But you''re a kid too, what''s your story?¡±  Just the standard tragic story of losing my hometown when I was young.

    ¡°I don''t think that¡¯s standard though¡­ I just lost my parents; you lost your town.¡±  Town and parents yeah, but nothing I can do about that now.

    ¡°You know my story, don''t blow me off here, tell me more.¡±  Well, I can''t go into all the details but I lost my home when I was 7, it got invaded by¡­ I don¡¯t know what exactly, me and my 3 friends survived it somehow, we don''t know where the rest is and we can''t find them, we¡¯re trying to find out but we¡¯re still nowhere closer 10 years later.

    ¡°Your friends? Where are they now?¡±  Well, you see we got sold into slavery, and that accounts for the first 5 years. We managed to escape and wandered around. A friend of mine got caught and imprisoned. Me and my 3 other friends went to break him out and¡­ we left 1 friend behind¡­ He was like a brother to us. This made us realize that we were weak and cocky. We split up 1.5 years ago to go out and train and become strong. We might have been holding each other back because each of us has a skillset to complement the other but once we got split up our weakness really did a number on us.

    ¡°Is that why you put so much importance on friends and those close to you?¡±  Yeah.

    ¡°So, you honed your skills as a Silent Night but want to expand your skill set?¡±  Uh, no I¡¯ve only been doing this Silent Night thing for half a year.

    Kyle dropped the passionfruit he was eating. ¡°Wait what? What did you do for the other year then?¡±  You will all find out. But now you know my story.

    ¡°You didn''t tell me how you got super-rich and quite well-known.  Ehh, I just sold some rubies¡­ I don¡¯t understand it either, everyone is making me to be more important than I am but I¡¯m just a random guy that lost his hometown and a friend.

    ¡°This doesn''t seem like random or a standard story to me, have you told Rubert this?¡±  Who is Rubert?

    ¡°Right, he told me that you''re known for your recklessness and forgetfulness, the guy that you call Healerguy his name is Rubert.¡°  Oh, so he had a name! And no why would I tell him this?

    ¡°No clue, but I guess I have no right to complain your life has been worse than mine.¡± I grabbed him by his shoulders.  You have a right to complain! Your life sucks too! Now go get powerful and make sure this never happens to you again and maybe one day you could help people in similar situations or destroy the world, call me when you feel like destroying the world, I have great ideas!

    ¡°You sound like a villain¡­¡±  Anything wrong with that? Every story needs a villain.

    ¡°Don¡¯t villains always lose?¡±  Only in shitty stories. Villains have been winning in real life for the longest of time. If you ever have the chance to, check out Itris. Although it might still be a mess after what I did there. And your situation also proves it, how many people must that cult have killed? They had many wins, their only loss was when they encountered me. 1 loss versus how many wins?

    ¡°That¡¯s an interesting perspective, now I¡¯m curious what did you do to Itris?¡±  That''s a story for another time go rest, you will need it for tomorrow hehe.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°Oh no¡­¡±

    <hr>

    Kyle spent 9 days getting chased by dragons till he managed to reach the hideout and 4 more days to create long periods of time where the dragons had no clue where he was.  Well, that was impressive, you must be tired, go rest up we¡¯re going to meet my friend Vinny tomorrow. Hehe, this is going to be fun.

    ¡°Ugh, there you go again.¡± Kyle collapsed on the floor exhausted and fell asleep. I made sure to put him in the comfy budget bed I made for him.

    The next day came and we walked toward the trunk in stealth.

    Kyle looked around in horror. ¡°Hey, what the fuck are we doing here? This is the lair of the jungle dragons! Are you crazy?!¡±  It took you this long to realize I was crazy? Come.

    I dropped out of stealth and barged into Vinny¡¯s lair.  Sup Vinny!

    Vinny turned around. ¡°Oh, Agnis you¡¯re back!¡±  Kyle stop being a wuss and get out of stealth.

    Kyle reluctantly dropped out of stealth. I felt the dragons reacting but they weren''t doing anything stupid, yet.

    ¡°Oh, you finally made a friend, I¡¯m Vinny a jungle dragon as you can see.¡±

    ¡°A¡­ dragon¡­ is your friend?¡± Kyle looked at me as if he had no clue how to react.

    ¡°Ugh, I¡¯m sure Agnis didn''t tell you anything, he probably got a lot of laughs out of this, are you the human that kept reappearing and disappearing for the last 2 weeks?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ he made me do it!¡± Kyle said as he pointed at me.  Hey, at least your stealth is so good now that you poof out of existence if it''s against humans.

    ¡°You don''t seem to have a problem finding me though¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, Kyle¡­ please sit down. You are probably having a hard time believing that you are talking to a dragon, right?¡± Vinny said as he shifted to his human form.

    Kyle sat down. ¡°Yah.¡±

    ¡°Moreover, as I myself discovered and Agnis pointed out, dragons don''t generally bother learning Kaledonian so most can¡¯t even communicate with humans so talking to a dragon is already rare as it gets do you realize this?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I have heard myths and legends about dragons but never about having a conversation with them.¡± Kyle said after nodding.

    ¡°Right now, however rare that is. Discard that idea because talking to Agnis is even more rare than talking to a dragon. You might not even know about the existence of his race. I¡¯m sure you might have realized by now that he isn''t a human.¡±

    Kyle looked at me. ¡°Wait I know he¡¯s weird but you''re saying he¡¯s not a human? Then what is he?¡±  You know it''s not nice to tell others secrets you know Vinny...

    Vinny shook his head. ¡°I don''t know how long you would keep him around but he would figure out sooner or later, you don''t even know how to act like a human!¡±  You don''t either!

    ¡°You''re correct but do you see me living between them?!¡±  Ugh, I hate it when you''re correct.

    ¡°You just don''t make sense from time to time¡­¡±

    ¡°So, is he a ghost or something? He looks like a human to me.¡± Kyle took another good look at me.

    I guess the fox is out of the bag.  I showed my 9 tails and fox ears.

    ¡°Whoa! I¡¯m sorry I have no idea what you are.¡± Kyle said surprise. His surprise turned into curiosity as I noticed that his eyes were following the movements of my tails.

    ¡°This is a nine-tailed spirit fox, the most endangered mythical beings, last in series of the tailed beasts, I don''t know if you''ve ever heard of them.¡±  Of course he hasn''t, he¡¯s young and humans don''t care as much about the planet as we do.

    ¡°I have never heard of them sorry, so when you said you lost your hometown¡­¡±  Yup everyone from my race and other mythical and legendary beings disappeared and are nowhere to be found.

    Vinny acted shocked, or maybe he was shocked. ¡°Hey wait Agnis, you never told me this!¡±  Uhh, I didn''t? I told you about our numbers being close to the double digits, right?

    ¡°Well, I mean about your hometown and stuff.¡±  Oh yeah, I guess I didn''t.

    I told Vinny the same story I told Kyle. ¡°Wait, you did say you were the son of Edea Hourai but you never said Hourai is gone!¡±

    ¡°Is that a big deal?¡± Kyle asked out of curiosity. He''s young and a human so it makes sense that he doesn''t know.

    Vinny gave Kyle a crash course of what legendary and mythical creatures have as role. Kyle turned pale.  See this is why I wanted to keep my identity hidden he¡¯s just a kid this is too much for him to take in at once.

    ¡°And why does the kid argument only count for humans? You¡¯re a kid too but you still have to deal with all this shit possibly alone, I can only help where a dragon can help, I can¡¯t do anything where a spirit fox is needed!¡±  But this is not his responsibility neither his fault! He will now go through life knowing that humans hunting down mythical and legendary beings is speeding up the demise of the planet. I already met one human that isn''t proud to be a human, we don¡¯t need more of them, not all humans are bad, yet.

    ¡°And how are we going to stop them from hurting the planet more? By not telling them? What if you suddenly pop your tails in a human city, how many humans will protect you knowing that killing you specifically sets the planet one foot in the grave?!¡±  I understand your point but Kyle already has a lot of baggage, now is not the time to dump this all on him, he first needs to be able to fend for himself and his brother before he can worry about other things.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, thank you. This is indeed a lot to take in. I would love to talk more but I need time to think, is it ok if I come back later?¡± Kyle looked as if he just saw a ghost.

    ¡°Sure, I will tell the other dragons to leave you alone and that this is yet another spirit fox prank.¡±  Thanks, Vinny we will be back in several days, you could use a long break, Kyle.  I hid my tails, went into stealth, and carried Kyle back to my hideout.

    <hr>

    ¡°Hey, Agnis what would you do if a city caught someone from your race and held them prisoner or even worse killed them?¡±  I told you this before, I would burn the city down to save him.

    ¡°Are you stronger than a dragon?¡±  Uhh depends on how old they are but I could probably wipe out that lair of jungle dragons quite easily since they¡¯re relatively young and weak to fire.

    ¡°Isn''t your race immortal? Doesn''t that mean you are like hundreds of years old?¡±  Oh no, I''m actually 17 years old in human. I just turned 1 year old by my race¡¯s standard I won''t turn 2 until I reach 81 years in human years. So, I¡¯m basically a baby.

    ¡°I see. I guess you won''t destroy the world because your task is to keep it together. Is this why so many weird things are happening lately?¡±  Uhh, yeah and not to scare you but it''s only going to get worse, most of the races Vinny talked about don''t have the numbers to do their job properly without risking death.

    ¡°So, we¡¯re doomed?" Kyle said downcast.  Pretty much but this won¡¯t happen in your lifespan.

    ¡°But it will happen in yours.¡±  Seeing as how things are going, probably not, I will probably kick the bucket way before that happens.

    ¡°How can you talk so carefree about dying?!¡±  It¡¯s my nature, I guess. Anyways let''s make the best of the time we have. You need to become strong to become my successor and protect your brother. Stop worrying about me and worry about yourself and your brother.

    ¡°Sure, I had the impression that you were extremely selfish but it seems I was wrong. I can see why Rubert told me to keep an eye out on you.¡±  Why does everyone keep saying stuff like that¡­

    Kyle got a long rest and thought about Vinny¡¯s words a lot and even asked me some questions. We went back to Vinny¡¯s place and had some catch-up and stayed there for 3 days. Kyle listened to Vinny¡¯s adventures and my adventures.

    ¡°You guys are crazy! Is this how immortals live?¡±

    ¡°Agnis¡¯ life is crazy but how is my life crazy?¡±

    ¡°Going all the way to Hurricane Path, going with this lunatic into a dungeon.¡±  Hey! I¡¯m not a lunatic!

    ¡°Yet, and all the other things you did like going to the elven forest.¡±  Well elves are very welcoming to dragons, kinda, they will shoot down any human that comes close though.

    ¡°And your adventures¡­ no sane person or no mortal could do any of that¡­¡±  Lucky that I¡¯m neither. But that''s over I''ve been behaving the last half year.

    ¡°So, you want me to join Silent Night in your place to gain experience?¡±  Correct. I will teach you some shadow tricks I learned and the basics of creating poison and you should be fine. I brought you to Vinny because he can probably help you. Your expertise is different than mine so you could benefit more from using poison than I could.

    ¡°I see. I will do it.¡± Kyle''s eyes were filled with determination. I don''t know what made him so determined but that is not my problem.

    ¡°So, you will mix poisons with me during the night and do shadow training with Agnis during the day. You must be the first human to be trained by a mythical and legendary being.¡± Vinny said as he had changed to a professor outfit. he seems to like his human form.

    ¡°I will do my best to not disappoint.¡± I am a bit disappointed that his arrogant side has melted away but this speeds up his training a lot. I guess it''s hard to be arrogant when a dragon and 9t are breathing down your neck. Maybe it''s my fault that went away.

    We spent 2 months training Kyle. He got way better at Esher¡¯s technique than I was and obviously, he got better at mixing poisons than I was because Vinny is a genius in this and I completely half-assed poison mixing. Kyle even taught me some tricks on how to be a bit better at Esher¡¯s technique.

    <hr>

    Day 273, June 33rd, Kyle turned 16 and we had a party at the dragons'' place. It was also to indicate that his training was over.

    He got the umbral pendant as a gift and I told him about the location of the Loud Sun and about Bernie. He said he would check up on his brother first, get an adventurer''s ID, do some missions, and then go to the Silent Night.

    I warned him about Io and he said he would be careful. We all decided to do nothing for another month and enjoy the wonders of the jungle before we would head off. I would carry him to Saluk, the sand city where he would become an adventurer. We would hang around there for a bit and I would bring him back to Texiha where he would visit his brother and adventure more. From there we would go our own ways.

 Vol 2 Ch 56: Thalia Resha

    Day 320 came and we said goodbye to Vinny and I carried Kyle to Saluk.

    ¡°Hey, you still have to show me those leyline techniques! You only show your assassin stuff! I guess showing your 9t stuff would be too much to ask.¡±  Well, I can''t get better at this assassin stuff if I don''t use it. Just like I mainly used leyline last year I will mainly use assassin stuff this year although I have more flexibility.

    ¡°I still can''t believe that you could run this fast, no wonder you have no idea how long humans take to travel between places. Look I think that¡¯s Saluk there!¡±  Still sandy as ever¡­  We got close to Saluk and we walked.

    This place has changed a bit since the last time I was here. The big purple house is gone.

    ¡°Didn''t you say that you assassinated the owner of that house?¡±  Ah right, the fat guy!

    ¡°Wow look at that! That¡¯s one fancy shop, let''s check it out.¡± Kyle said, pointing to an unfamiliar building. We stepped inside and it was some very fancy¡­ this wasn''t a shop it was a restaurant.

    A woman in an intricate fancy dress walked up to us. ¡°Excuse me do you have reservations?¡±  Uhh, sorry, we just came to take a look.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but you can¡¯t come inside if you don¡¯t have reservations, Please leave if you don¡¯t have a reservation.¡±

    Kyle got a bit angry. ¡°Whoa, humans have no chill.¡±  But you¡¯re a human¡­

    Kyle pointed at me. ¡°Well, I don''t feel like one now and it''s your and Vinny¡¯s fault!¡±  You could have left whenever you wanted though¡­

    ¡°Excuse me, you¡¯re interrupting business here, please leave else I will have to call my manager.¡±

    Kyle started to give off an intimidating aura. ¡°Do it! What is he going to do eh?¡±  Right, that¡¯s enough Kyle.

    ¡°But she started it!¡± Kyle said while pointing at the woman.

    ¡°Hello, manager? Yeah, we have 2 men at the front that are causing problems.¡±  Well, you could have asked it more nicely¡­

    A familiar guy appeared. He wore a nice suit. In the desert... ¡°Heyhey, have you any idea who this is Jonelle?! How is it, my friend!¡±  Wait Meatguy? This is your place? Wow! You really outdid yourself!

    ¡°Wait you know this guy?¡± Kyle said confused.

    ¡°Is this your friend? Come on in come! Come and eat free of charge! I promised right? I¡¯m so happy to see you''re doing well.¡±  You too, every time I come here your business gets crazier.

    ¡°Achmedi, Sayid, cancel the 2 most recent VIP reservations, we¡¯re full! Come come! Take these VIP seats.¡± I looked at 2 dudes running around serving meat, they seem familiar. They looked like the 2 rich guys but that can''t be right.

    ¡°So, care to tell the story about this guy?¡±  Uhh, I bought meat from him once or twice and he never forgot it.  The Meatguy turned around.

    ¡°Just once or twice? Let me tell you the story of Waleed.¡±

    He told us in detail how much he earned whenever I bought all the meat of his stall how he used it to grow bigger, the influence Thalia had on his business, how he clashed with 2 rich guys, and how he and Thalia bankrupt them and took over their assets and the last step of hiring the Yttroz Industries to build this restaurant that in a short time became famous for its high-quality meat but also relaxing baths.

    ¡°You really do have a strange effect on people around you, don¡¯t you? And who is Thalia?¡± Kyle said while wolfing down his food.

    ¡°That would be me, hello sweetheart.¡± A familiar voice said before familiar boobs... a familiar face appeared.

    Kyle got out of his seat and stared. ¡°Holy shit she¡¯s hot!¡±  Oh hello, Thalia.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard you came by Saluk several times this year and you never stopped by." Thalia said as she sat down next to me.  Uhm, I assumed you were busy!

    Kyle looked at me and Thalia and put up a mischievous smile.

    Kyle don¡¯t! I will kick your ass!

    ¡°Hehe, Thalia, what I know from this guy, he probably didn''t visit you because he was afraid that he would fall for you!¡±  You brat you''re so dead!

    Kyle slipped into stealth and escaped and I chased him down.

    ¡°Sayid, Achmedi, prepare the luxurious bath! It is time to help our two biggest benefactors!¡± Meatguy said cheerfully.

    ¡±Yessir!¡±

    It took some effort but I finally caught Kyle. I got you now! You¡¯re still too young to escape from me!

    ¡°Ugh this speed, you¡¯re just cheating!¡±  Well, I''m sorry for being born fast as fuck!

    ¡°Do you care for a relaxing bath after your meal?¡± Meatguy asked.

    He didn''t seem to care that Kyle and I were making a ruckus. ¡°Do it!¡±  Wow Kyle, chill, of course, I will do it, there¡¯s sand everywhere¡­ hey any plans on relocating to a place without sand?

    ¡°We already have 3 branches over Zanyr. One on near the beach and 2 others spread over the desert.¡±  So still sand¡­

    Meatguy smiled. ¡°Come come wash the sand away.¡°  You have a strange smile, I sense deception.

    ¡°Shit he noticed, get him!¡±  Whud? Kyle what the?!  Kyle and one of the familiar guys picked me up and carried me away.

    Hey, this is kidnapping! Thalia help! Hey, where did she go?  Kyle and the guy carried me through the corridors of the bathhouse and threw me in some huge luxe bath.

    I will remember this! I will leave a negative review!

    The bath was relaxing though. I got rid of my sandy clothes and left a shadow clone at the entrance in case Kyle was planning to pull more stunts.

    ¡°Just like our first meeting.¡± The voice scared the living shit out of me.  Who¡¯s there? Show yourself!

    ¡°I¡¯m right here¡­ you really don¡¯t change.¡± I turned around and saw Thalia about to enter the bath. There was a door behind her. I looked over to where I entered the room and saw my shadow clone shrug and gesture that this wasn''t his fault. I facepalmed. Didn''t I make this mistake before?

    ¡°Haha, thank you for re-enacting our meeting.¡±  Uh, I didn''t do that on purpose¡­

    ¡°I know, so what have you been up to?¡± She came closer and I tried to keep my distance. Her sweet smell was intoxicating and it made my head spin and my thoughts foggy.  Uhh, not much just chillin¡¯ killin¡¯ and training Kyle.

    She ran her finger over my chest. ¡°So, it was you who assassinated Dominique? He disappeared overnight.¡±  Oh, so the fatty is dead? I didn''t know! I tried to back off but it was relatively unsuccessful.

    ¡°Have people ever told you that you¡¯re a terrible liar?¡±  Uhh, I¡¯m good at it when it counts!

    ¡°Then I¡¯m glad that the lies you tell me are terrible, that means hiding this from me isn''t important for you.¡± I backed off because Thalia was getting really close.  I am so sorry; I know what you want but I can¡¯t¡­

    ¡°That¡¯s ok, I¡¯m patient.¡±  No, it¡¯s not that¡­

    I was unsure if I should tell her. Kyle thinks similar to her so I could, the problem is just¡­ she puts a lot of value on beauty. Another problem; this chick is oozing charm magic. It¡¯s quite rare under humans. She could easily get anyone she wanted with this or without the charm magic. I sighed.

    I guess I owe you an explanation because I don¡¯t know if you will get it if I don''t. And Kyle you asshole! I can see you peeping!

    ¡°Oh shit! Go for it!¡±  This brat!

    ¡°You¡¯re only 1 year older than me!¡± Kyle protested.

    ¡°You two seem to be close¡­ I¡¯m a bit envious." I really like you but this is never going to work and I will explain why.  The shadow clone kicked Kyle out of the bathhouse and froze all the doors shut.

    ¡°Yeah, go get her!¡± This guy is so annoying.

    I covered the bath in illusions to make sure nobody could peep.  The reason this isn''t going to work is this.  I got my tails out.

    I remember you talking about immortality and stuff, I¡¯m one of them. My sense of time is just different. I could literally go out for a walk get distracted and be away for 40 years because time has a different meaning for me. And even if I won''t. One blink and suddenly 70 years have passed. And that is assuming my life will be quiet which it won''t be. I¡¯m sorry to say but humans are too fragile to live in our frame.

    Thalia cried. ¡°You¡¯re so beautiful!¡± She stroked my tails. ¡°So soft¡±  Uhm, did you hear what I said?

    ¡°Yes, and I understand, I have always thought about what life would be like as an immortal or what if I fell in love with one. My beauty would fade in a blink for them. Like a flower, just beautiful for a moment before it wilts¡­ Why did I have to be born as a human?¡± She cried even more and I was at a loss to do so I just held her. ¡°I understand, I will not press the issue on you any longer but I won''t give up. I¡¯m close to reaching my first goal. I was always wondering what should I do afterward. I now have my answer. You will see, I will find a way!¡±  As long as you don''t hurt others¡­ you know, I have this, it won¡¯t make you immortal but it increases your lifespan.

    I said as I took out some vials of the liquid I had made during poison synthesis.

    ¡°What is this? Why is it red?¡± She was curious and looked at me.  Uhm, my blood can cause you to live longer.  She pushed the potion away.

    ¡°Please don''t ever tell anyone that! I don''t want your blood and I don''t want to take away from you to reach my goal. I¡¯ve only taken stuff from you and never given anything of value back. Please destroy it, I don''t need it and the world doesn''t need it!¡±  You seem upset¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don''t know what your race is but as you said immortals aren''t common and there must be a good reason for that. The effects of your blood could be one. I don''t want to be like them, extracting from those that protect us for selfish gains. I could be ok with hurting humans but not immortals.¡± She got up, grabbed my head and kissed me. I sat stunned as she pulled away.

    ¡°I will get there you¡¯ll see. It seems I have a lot to do.¡± She got up. ¡°I¡¯m sorry that this meeting is so short but unfortunately for me, life is short. I¡¯m still young so I should make use of it. Your silver tails are beautiful by the way.¡° I regained my senses and turned them black and lifted the illusion and thawed the ice.

    ¡°Thank you for telling me this, I will not forget this and please, come visit me when you can, I am planning to move to Gittrian, more opportunities there and especially for you, no sand.¡± She blew a kiss and disappeared into the dressing room.

    I have no idea what just happened¡­ I tried to dissuade her but she just got even stronger. I am so bad with people...

    I got up and picked up my sandy clothes and burnt them. I felt like wearing my fox onesie so I did just that.

    ¡°Hehe, so am I going to get a sister in law? Nice onesie, do you have one for me too?¡±  Shut up, Kyle!

    I took out a donkey onesie, swapped his clothes with it, and burnt his sandy clothes too. ¡°Hey! Why a donkey?!¡±

    We thanked Waleed for the food and bath and we left the restaurant.

    ¡°Hey, these onesies are pretty comfy and sand-repelling.¡±  Jarn technology at its finest, they¡¯re weirdos but at least they know how to make clothing.

    We walked around, did some light shopping and afterwards headed toward the Adventurer¡¯s Association as probably the worst assassins ever but we weren''t on a mission so that was fine.

    Kyle pointed. ¡°Look it''s your wife.¡±  She¡¯s not my wife¡­  Thalia was talking to the receptionist about something.

    Now go register, I need to check something.

    I looked through my personal messages, there were a lot and most of them have expired. Somehow none of them filed a complaint or anything negative.

    I found a fresh one, it got sent minutes ago. The sender was¡­ Thalia Resha¡­I looked back and she winked at me.

    This is awkward, it''s awkward to accept and awkward to decline. I guess it would be more awkward to decline so I accepted it. She hasn''t caused me headaches so far so I''m willing to hear what she has to say, even though we had a conversation 30 minutes ago¡­

    I then looked at my public info. Still no role but oof what are all these things? I don''t remember any of these. Wait I do, I helped the fishermen in Gavin and I saved Healerguy¡¯s daughter and all the other things that got reported to the Adventurers Association, also the incident in Yttroz Industries, and because I don''t have a role everyone is going to see these achievements. Most were on accident!

    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°When looking at all the stuff you¡¯ve done it¡¯s strange to see that you¡¯re still without a role and a C-rank.¡± Thalia said after sneaking up on me.   I haven''t taken any official requests from the Adventurers Association for almost 3 years. You needed to discuss something with me? We talked half an hour ago.

    ¡°That was personal, this is business. I¡¯m one mission away from getting S-rank. I¡¯m requesting you and Kyle as party members.¡±  Wait weren''t you B rank?

    ¡°I told you life is short right? I don¡¯t have time to take things slowly."  Kyle is a noob though, he just registered.

    ¡°Well, you trained him, right? I doubt that he will hold us back, it could also boost his rank by a lot.¡±

    ¡°Sup mom and dad, what''s up.¡± I shot an icicle at Kyle. ¡°Whoa watch out! This is the first time I see you use water magic though.¡±  Be careful else it will be your last.

    ¡°I kind of want to see it now.¡± Kyle said with a smirk on his face. It looked less annoying as he was wearing a silly donkey onesie.  Well, Thalia has a mission for us so you might, she¡¯s about to hit rank S so I probably can''t get away with doing things half-assed.

    Thalia clapped her hands. ¡°Ooh, do I get to see those beautiful tails again?¡±  If you see them that means we probably fucked up somewhere and are in deep shit.

    ¡°Yeah, you should hear about the shit he has done! Half of the things that were in the news a year ago were something he was related to.¡±  Hey, you were a street rat! How do you know that!?

    ¡°The cult had tv¡¯s¡±  Of course¡­

    Thalia got closer. ¡°Ooh, I would love to hear them sometime.¡±  Anyways we have a Silent Night and a Grumpy Blowfish¡­ hahaha I¡¯m sorry I can¡¯t!

    ¡°Hey! You know that I¡¯m working hard to change that!¡±

    ¡°Wait your role is Grumpy Blowfish? Hahaha¡± Kyle and I were rolling on the floor laughing like idiots.

    Thalia started to give off a pink glow. ¡°Hey Agnis, do you want to see my new charm attack?¡±  Shit how do you know about that! No thanks!

    She smiled. ¡°Well, I¡¯m not stupid, I noticed that you seem to be more susceptible to charm magic than other men, Kyle for example seems fine but you seem to be fighting against my aura.¡±  Meh charm users are so troublesome.

    ¡°Ohh so you do have a weakness, a weakness to women, Thalia finish him off hehe!¡± Kyle said while pointing with his donkey hoof. It was already hard to take him seriously but even less with that donkey onesie.  I seemed to have picked up an asshole from the streets, not a street rat!

    ¡°I learned from the best!¡±

    ¡°Come on guys, don¡¯t fight, and don''t worry Kyle, I will finish him off in due time, I just have a lot to do before I can do that.¡±  Hey guys can you stop talking about my demise¡­

    ¡°So where do we need to go?¡± Kyle ignored me. This cheeky brat.

    ¡°First we register as a temporary party and then rest up.¡±

    ¡°Oh, let''s go find a hotel then.¡± Kyle got up and ready to leave.  We don''t need to; were all adventurers they have rooms here.

    ¡°So, 2 or 3 rooms.¡± Kyle moved his eyebrows up and down.  Oh, so you want to sleep in the sand! In that case we can take 2 rooms then.

    ¡°Noo please no sand!¡±

    ¡°What do you guys have against sand? I have no issues with it.¡±

    I looked at Thalia.  You don''t wear enough for sand to get stuck in¡­

    ¡°Yeah! Although this donkey suit is super comfy, I don''t even feel hot in it. People look weird at me but at least I¡¯m comfy.¡±  I like my fox onesie.

    Kyle pointed. ¡°Hey your tail is moving, don''t tell me¡­¡±  Ssst are you trying to get us killed? You donkey!

    We got 3 rooms. I had to fight back because both Thalia and Kyle thought 2 rooms were a better idea. But these rooms are cheap and Thalia and I are rich so there is no reason to cheap out on rooms. The next day we got the details of this supposedly super-hard mission.

    Kyle and I met up with Thalia. ¡°Are you guys still wearing those onesies?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re comfy,¡±  It''s my identity.

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°He''s not wrong.¡±

    ¡°Our mission is to investigate a cave.¡± Thalia gave us the details of the mission.

    ¡°So why was this a hard mission again?¡± Kyle asked after he summarized the details.  Caves always contain dangerous stuff; caves are a threat to humanity and other races.

    ¡°That stuff only happens to you¡­¡± Kyle said as he shook his head.

    ¡°There have been reports of crunching sounds near the Aurelia river not too far from Gittrian. A team has been sent but they never returned, a party of B-ranks went in an attempt to save them and find out what happened but they have disappeared too.¡±

    ¡°So, they¡¯re sending a fox, a donkey and a half-naked chick as a response? Thalia, you don''t need those clowns, how about you take us, we¡¯re all A-rank.¡± A handsome guy in a purple suit approached us with 2 people that looked like they came from Jarn. They were dressed weirdly and seemed to emphasize their looks. ¡°Haha, what''s with that getup? And didn''t this donkey apply for becoming an adventurer yesterday? She¡¯s taking a fresh donkey and a fox on an A-rank+ mission, it will be a waste if you die, take us, and we¡¯ll take good care of you.¡±  I hope you know that this donkey here could body all of you before you can blink.

    ¡°Haha imposi¡­¡±

    Kyle floored all of them and threw daggers that stuck in the ground next to their faces. ¡°If this is what A-rank is about it¡¯s quite disappointing, so why are you C-rank again Agnis?¡±

    Thalia seemed impressed by Kyle''s performance. ¡°He is C rank for lack of trying I assume.¡±

    ¡°That sounds so like him yeh.¡± Kyle pushed the dagger closer to the clown''s face.  Hey guys! I just haven''t done any quest and rank says nothing as you can see here.

    ¡°You guys will pay for this!¡± The clowns ran away.  Why do higher rank people always have bad attitudes, it''s even worse than yours Kyle.

    ¡°I think you have the worst attitude out of us all¡­¡±

    ¡°It is so refreshing this!¡± Thalia said. She seemed invigorated.

    ¡°Huh, what is?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m used to men fighting about me or trying to court me but none of you are doing such,¡±

    ¡°Even though you wish Agnis would do that?¡± Thalia blushed.

    I smacked Kyle. ¡°Hey! I¡¯m not wrong!¡±  So besides 2 teams disappearing what else do we know, since it''s in Hjuva there is no sand at least.

    Kyle fist pumped and made a strange dance. ¡°Thank god!¡±

    ¡°Well, there is a lot of water, and that¡¯s all we know.¡±  Hmm, this sounds familiar, my friend Raishin and I had a quest similar to this on the part of the Aurelia river that goes through the Igrini Kingdom.

    ¡°If that is the case it must be an S rank quest then, nothing good will be there, I¡¯m going to quickly prepare more poisons.¡± Kyle quickly went to his room.

    ¡°Can you tell me a bit more about that mission?¡±  Just like this, it was a cave near the Aurelia river, it flooded for some reason and we found 2 creatures inside that shouldn''t exist, one of which was a winged lobster that could create water out of nothing. I actually wondered what they did with it, we got a lot of passive income from catching it. Let me check how much unclaimed money they have for me.  I went to the magic terminal where I first checked my private requests.

    ¡°Ooh, I¡¯m curious.¡± I opened the unclaimed payments section. ¡°Ooh, 17 gold, what did you do?¡±  I have no idea¡­ is this what they mean by the rich get richer?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    I collected the gold and the donkey; I mean Kyle returned. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m ready.¡±

    ¡°Guess who¡¯s back! We took the same mission but we also have a ride! We will have finished the mission way before you guys even arrive hahahaha!¡± Kyle struck an intimidating pose and the 3 clowns backed off a bit.

    ¡°Wimps!¡±

    The clowns walked away and started flinging slurs at us.

    ¡°Hmm, this is a problem, it will take a while to get there, and even though I have the money I don¡¯t think using the teleport is worth it.¡± Thalia said while inspecting the contents of her dimensional box. She doesn''t have the luxury of having tails that keep track of what''s in it so I can''t relate to that problem.

    Kyle looked at me. ¡°Oh, she doesn''t know!¡±  Teleports are a waste of money; We can be there by tomorrow.

    ¡°Huh?¡±  I had enough of this sand anyways, Thalia get all your stuff!

    ¡°I have a dimensional box remember.¡± She said as she showed off the purple box.  Right, let''s go out of this sandy city first, I don''t want to get any more attention than this comfy onesie gets me.  We saw the clowns hop in a strange-looking coffin on wheels and they rode off.

    Hmm, this is a problem.

    ¡°What is?¡±  There is no room for my other tails.

    ¡°That is your problem? Just wear something else.¡± I got into some other comfy clothes I got from Jarn. I picked Thalia and Kyle up with my tails.  I am not responsible for any sand that flies in your eyes.

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave those clowns in the dust!¡± Kyle pointed at the clowns that were driving in their coffin on wheels.

    ¡°So fluffy!¡± I sped up and dashed. It only took me 3 seconds to pass the coffin on wheels. ¡°So fast!¡±

    ¡°Aagh! I got sand in my eyes! I hate sand!¡± Kyle was rubbing his eyes.

    Didn''t I warn you?  The desert flashed by, although it all looked the same.

    We reached Texiha at sundown.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m going to hang out with my brother for a bit. You two go enjoy yourself.¡± Kyle ran off with an annoying smirk on his face.

    ¡°I want to meet this Rubert.¡±  Ugh, fine let''s go visit Healerguy.

    We went to the Adventurers Association but Healerguy didn''t seem to be there, he was helping out on a mission. Kyle¡¯s brother was here though. Apparently, his name is Josh. They were happy to see each other and shared stories. He did keep it a secret that I was a 9t and that he met a dragon.

    ¡°Thank you for saving Kyle and me, I think it¡¯s a good thing Rubert is not here though, he has a lot to say to you about how you handled that cult.¡±

    Kyle seemed to remember something. ¡°Oh right, what did you actually do? He seemed quite upset when we left.¡±  Uhm, I forgot.

    ¡°He flushed the cult through the sewer system and the corpses started to clog certain parts and they had to be removed. It was a long and painful process.¡± Josh said with a tired look on his face.  Oh really? I did that? Haha! Woops?

    ¡°...¡±

    ¡°You are a menace.¡±  Anyways, I¡¯m going to practice some Dragonvein and turn in early, I¡¯m sure tomorrow will be a pain in the ass.

    ¡°Can we watch? You always do that super early in the morning and I always miss it!¡±  Then don''t sleep so long! it''s not my fault that you''re lazy!

    ¡°Hey humans need their sleep!¡± Kyle''s protest fell on deaf fox ears as I didn''t care.  What an awfully convenient excuse.

    ¡°It''s true!¡±

    I found a small park and recalibrated with the leyline energy. 4.0% affinity and 3.4% authority. Not a big upgrade but it''s something. Since it wasn''t early in the morning and I was in public I only went with water. It felt that I felt the weight of the water less and less as the affinity increased. The weight was still there as I demonstrated by blowing a hole in a tree. It¡¯s just that I don¡¯t have to physically move all of it around. I wonder if it will feel weightless if my affinity nears 100%.

    Thalia had an interesting expression on her face as she watched me. ¡°It''s fascinating, you¡¯re doing all that without magic.¡±

    ¡°He explained to me how it works, it is actually way harder than it seems, he spent a year getting the basics down and ¡®Master¡¯ it as he says but he just meant with that he won''t make simple mistakes.¡±  I¡¯m still working on one of my ultimate techniques.

    ¡°Didn''t you say you had 2 in the working?¡±  I finished one, I just need something to test it out on.

    ¡°Good luck finding something that lives long enough for you to test that out¡­¡± Kyle said as he was going through the pockets of the donkey onesie.

    ¡°I¡¯m just curious since I never have seen you fight, isn''t creating an ultimate skill as an immortal¡­ overkill?¡± Thalia said as her eyes followed my movements.

    I would have agreed with you 5 years ago but there are some very tenacious and stubborn creatures in this world. I could nuke a city and that creature would still be alive and kicking.

    ¡°You haven''t done any of that right?¡±  Not yet¡­

    ¡°At least he¡¯s honest.¡±

    I stopped with the basic practice and started making ice and water ramps and skating and sliding over them.

    ¡°Hey that looks fun let me try too!¡± Kyle did his best to not make a fool out of himself but he wasn''t used to moving on slippery surfaces. ¡°Why does everything you do seem so effortless but is actually tricky?!¡±

    Git Gud donkey!  He managed to get decent at it when It was time to head to bed.

    ¡°Huff, I¡¯m exhausted, you are a monster!¡±  0 stamina donkey!

    I brought them all the way to the Aurelia river the next day.

    ¡°Hey Agnis, I realized this yesterday but this onesie has like a million pockets!¡± Kyle said as he went through more of his inner pockets.

    Yeah, these onesies have no business being this good.

    Thalia shook her head. ¡°You guys are special¡­¡±  So, this is the cave that is probably almost going to kill us.

    ¡°Yup, be careful Agnis, it would look weird if only the humans make it out alive.¡±  Your skills in poison suit you, you¡¯re so toxic, a Toxic Donkey! I will survive, I have an advantage that you don''t have!

    ¡°What being able to die 42 times instead of one?¡±  Heh, you''ll see.

 Vol 2 Ch 57: Toxic Donkey

    We headed into the cave and I lit the dark passages with a bright [Fire Dragon Dance].  Since we have a Silent Night and a Grumpy Blowfish, I can sit back and play a supporting role.

    ¡°The race that can blow up cities on a whim wants to be a support?¡± Kyle asked mockingly. I wanted to retaliate but nature did that for me as he slipped and almost fell.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s fine, he did bring us here all the way he will surely help us when things get spicy.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure about that? He let me run around in the jungle being chased by dragons while it didn''t have to be that way.¡±  It was good for your character, stop complaining. I will make sure that you two can do your job don''t worry. And Thalia, you¡¯re too close!

    ¡°I don''t think I am!¡±

    ¡°Ugh get a room you two. Hey since I¡¯m a Silent Night and all shall I leave you... I mean go and scout the area?¡±

    Thalia smiled. ¡°You are as bad in deception as Agnis¡­ sure go ahead.¡±

    Kyle went out to explore but he came back in 3 minutes. ¡°Guys we have a problem, it¡¯s a dead end, there''s water everywhere.¡± I looked down.  Nope, there is a lot going on down there.

    ¡°You can''t be serious; my donkey suit will get wet!¡±  Donkeys can swim, let¡¯s go!

    ¡°What about Thalia?¡±

    ¡°I don''t mind getting wet.¡±  She¡¯s like wearing a swimsuit kinda, she will be fine.  We dove in the water. And I made the bubbles.

    ¡°Oh right, you told me you spent a long time under the ocean.¡±  Yup, this feels nostalgic.

    ¡°Wow, so this can also be done with water, I still have a lot to learn.¡± Thalia said as she was staring a bit too much at my movements. Why can''t I do anything normal?

    ¡°Well, this guy spent days living under the ocean. Don''t expect anything normal from him.¡±

    ¡°If that is required to master water, I shall consider it.¡±  Ooh, I like that passion! I will warn you though, I almost drowned multiple times and my tails were a great help, be extremely careful when you do so, there is a merfolk village off the coast of Gavin near the coral reef. I would recommend practicing there, if you happen to drown, they will most likely save you. When they do tell me you know me and tell uhh whatshisname Shadin or something I haven''t found his friend Norya yet.  A sharp pain went through my head and I almost popped the bubble.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Images of a pink-haired 9t chick flashed through my head and the nightmare played off again.  Ugh, I think something is wrong with my head.

    ¡°You don''t have to tell us.¡± I sent Kyle into another bubble and slowly filled it with water. He seemed to be yelling something like ¡®I¡¯m sorry.¡¯ I let him back in.

    ¡°You¡¯re merciless. What is that there in the distance by the way?¡± Kyle asked while pointing at something in the distance. It''s just a piranha, a bit big but just a piranha.

    ¡°Just a piranha? Don''t they appear in jungles or tropical areas?¡±

    ¡°How big are they?¡± Thalia asked the important question as I noticed that their size was a bit problematic.

    Just human-sized, oh ew they even have human teeth, I think we found our anomaly.

    ¡°I see, it is just 1 piranha but I can see how those teams must have disappeared, I don''t think many adventurers are skilled in underwater combat.¡±  I hate to burst your bubble, which I won''t, don''t worry, but there is not one, you see that black spot down there? That¡¯s the school feasting on whatever is left of the precious adventurers.

    ¡°Look Agnis, I know that panicking isn''t really your thing but should we be chilling here when we¡¯re clearly screwed?¡± Kyle said but he wasn''t panicking either.

    And do what? Move so that they feel the disturbance in the water and turn us into a pile of bones? And something isn''t right. I can hear a crunching sound from somewhere else but I can''t see where it''s coming from. There is something else here.

    ¡°So even though I like to see, wouldn''t it be better to get rid of this bright dragon so we¡¯re not giving our location away?¡±

    ¡°I don''t think it matters Kyle, having the light suddenly disappear will also be quite noticeable, we are stuck here¡­ How much air do we have?¡±  We have air as long as I¡¯m alive and I can move.

    ¡°Well, keeping you alive was part of the plan so that works.¡± Kyle said as he took out some daggers. I think we should eliminate them. No matter what we do we will probably draw their attention so might as well eliminate them.

    ¡°How? We don¡¯t know how to fight underwater.¡±  Yeah, don¡¯t worry Thalia, I got this, I will try to create opportunities for you though.  I got my tails out.

    Kyle seemed surprised that I took my tails out. ¡°Is it that serious?¡±  Yeah, if I screw up you 2 die, I might be ok if you kick the bucket but I certainly want to keep Thalia alive.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    I split the bubble in 2, one for Thalia and one for Kyle and grabbed them with a tail each and I covered myself with the water veil. Thalia started buffing Kyle¡¯s offense. He would be throwing poisonous daggers while I would be the taxi, a highly offensive taxi. I told Thalia to focus the buffs on Kyle because I won''t be attacking constantly, at least not yet.

    A tail started to work out how to dynamically change the pressure within their bubbles. Humans are fragile. After working this out I started spinning my tails and used [Waterfall] and aimed for the swarm of feasting human-sized piranhas.

    Kyle spread out a poison cloud in the water. I made sure that the water veil was protecting me because I didn¡¯t know what poison he was using. Thalia was safe in her bubble. I evaded some bites and sent out daggers and [Water blades] out whenever I evaded. I used [Waterfall] to get out of this swarm of piranhas who had me as their target now. Kyle kept throwing poisonous daggers at them while I was getting away. Most of the daggers instant killed the piranhas because of Thalia''s buffs. She also threw some water attacks around that were quite potent. She used some ice torpedoes or trapped them in water bubbles.

    I made another evasive manoeuvre and cut some piranhas and I also left some [Ice mines] behind. I was hoping those things were smart and avoid them. I wanted to set a whole field up and set them all off as a chain reaction and freeze the whole area but these things kept swimming into the mines and turning into ice cubes.

    [Tempest Step] and tornado kick also saw some use as it made swirling masses of water that shot out [Wind Blades].

    We kept this up for half an hour and it didn''t seem like we were putting a dent in their numbers. I apologized to Waleed in my head and chucked out 3 big pieces of high-quality meat he gave me. The piranhas beelined for it but after taking some bites started to fight each other. I guess that works until all the meat is finished. I got us all in a big bubble so we could talk.

    ¡°Whew, there¡¯s no end to these.¡± Kyle wiped off sweat from his donkey forehead.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn''t expect this mission to be so difficult, I think we should retreat.¡±  Nah, I think we need a different approach. I think I need to get serious.

    ¡°How about you don''t, I like being alive.¡±  It will be fine, I will make an enormous bubble on the floor where you guys can fight, and I will fling piranhas into it so you can kill it. They should be harmless outside the water.

    ¡°Wait, you can do that?¡±  Dunno but it¡¯s worth a try, they ate all the meat, we gotta go for it.  I grabbed them again with my tails and used [Counter Spin] and created a big dome of air while spinning around. I anchored it to the floor with [Pressure] and kept it fed by the ambient leylines. I stopped my movements to check if it would persist. The bubble shrank when I did but not by much. We entered the bubble and I broke our fall with a weak [Waterspout] as we landed on the floor.

    ¡°Wow wind element can do this? I should practice this in case I ever have to fight underwater.¡°  Kyle, I''m leaving Thalia to you, it¡¯s time to push some piranhas around.

    The two ran to the middle of the bubble while I jumped back in the water and started creating currents and started to [Flush] the piranhas into the bubble. As predicted, they became quite harmless and Kyle and Thalia had no trouble finishing them off. I pissed off a big group of piranhas and made them follow me into the bubble to which we all finished them off.

    ¡°Hey Agnis, what to do about all these dead piranhas? Do we eat them?¡± Kyle said as he pointed at the piranhas.

    Hell no! Most ugly creatures taste disgusting, I don''t even want to eat them.

    ¡°I agree with Agnis, these things look hideous.¡±  Just burn them.

    ¡°How? Neither of us have a fire affinity.¡±  Be creative!

    I jumped back in and killed some piranhas and lured or [Flushed] most of them into the bubble. All went well until some big strange sharks appeared. They were way faster and were casting lightning magic. I made my water veil thicker and redirected some. I [Flushed] 1 into the bubble but there it grew legs. What the fuck are these things. Kyle and Thalia seemed equally shocked. It seemed to take Kyle quite some time to finish it off. I [flushed] 4 more into the bubble and zapped 3. They were quite sturdy so I kept evading until the [Water blades] did enough damage so that I could decapitate it with a [Tempest step] kick. One tail slammed me but my water veil protected me, it did send me flying into the bubble.  Whoa, these things are annoying.

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Yeah. what are these things?¡±  Abominations  Some sharks jumped in the bubble.

    Right time for my secret weapon.  I opened a vial and the smell of fresh rain wafted out of it. I manipulated the poison and got 10 drops out and made them land on my fingertips. I flicked the droplets at the sharks and licked my fingertips.

    ¡°Was that the Millennial Foxbite?¡±  Yup.

    ¡°Millennial Foxbite? What is that? It smells very nice though.¡±

    Kyle explained what it was. 45 seconds passed and the sharks started to become extremely bulky and became many times stronger. ¡°Hey Agnis, a question, what happens if you hit a target with Millennial Foxbite, that can live longer than a millennia?¡±  Well, you have a prime example here, they will get millennium years stronger.

    ¡°... Shitty fox.¡±  Hey, come on how was I supposed to know that these things could become that old?!  I created a [Frostwal]l to block charge attacks of 3 buffed-up monster sharks.

    ¡°I don''t want to be mean Agnis, but I can see now why people are worried about you and why your race might be low on numbers.¡±  Not you too Thalia!

    ¡°Hmm, I wonder, will those piranhas turn into sharks when you hit them with Millennial Foxbite?¡±  Good question, let''s try.  I sniped a piranha with a Millennium Foxbite droplet and it evolved into a shark 45 seconds later.  How does this make any sense¡­ shouldn''t they turn into bigger piranhas?

    ¡°I can''t believe you even went with Kyle¡¯s suggestion. We have to deal with 10 buffed-up sharks, 4 regular sharks, and a horde of piranhas now¡­¡±

    ¡°Thalia and Agnis, back off, I¡¯m going to test out my new poisons.¡±  Oh shit, time to get away!

    I grabbed Thalia and brought her to the edge of the bubble and made a bubble around her to be sure.

    Kyle can easily solo this, I think, I will throw piranhas at him, keep the buffs up on him.  Thalia nodded and sent attacks out but also buffed Kyle to the moon. The thing with Kyle was, he only needed 3 days to get immunity for most poisons, 5 days on very strong and special ones. I picked up a monster...

    The only thing that made him not as scary was the donkey suit he was wearing. Truly a Toxic Donkey. I kept [Flushing] piranhas in the bubble. Kyle was running around in stealth leaving poison clouds behind. A regular shark walked into it and its flesh started to melt. Yeah, Kyle was a killing machine now. The buffed-up sharks didn''t melt but they were a bit too slow to catch him.

    He dropped out of stealth after he melted all the faster regular sharks. He took out 5 vials and coated a dagger with each of them and threw the 5 daggers at one point on the buffed-up shark and its flesh started to rot. It slowly spread until the shark was unable to move and its torso fell off the rest of its body. He took some short breaks to take some notes. And continued.

    The whole bubble slowly started to fill with some poison gas so most piranhas I [Flushed] in kicked the bucket quite swiftly without Kyle having to do anything. Thalia was safe in her smaller separate bubble. After 20 minutes Kyle gave me a sign. He probably wanted me to refresh the air, the poison gas didn''t do anything to him but the oxygen was probably running low.

    I entered the big bubble with a bubble around me and used [Counter Swirl] and sent all the poison flying to the edge of the bubble and then expelled it out and refreshed the air. I also refreshed Thalia¡¯s bubble and went back to sending the piranhas in the bubble. It took us almost 4 hours to get rid of everything. I had to refresh the air in the big bubble again but this was so we could rest.

    ¡°Phew, that was rough, I didn''t know you could also increase the potency of poisons Thalia.¡±

    ¡°I can do it all! I have to.¡±  Good job guys, you guys did well!

    ¡°Why do you sound like you didn''t do anything you did well too!¡± We ate some stuff and Kyle told Thalia about his training and the properties of some poisons.

    ¡°I should work on my other affinities as well.¡± Thalia said after she finished listning to Kyle''s stories. What more affinities do you have besides water?

    ¡°Earth and wind.¡±

    ¡°So sand and windy sand¡­¡±

    ¡°Yup! I don''t get what you guys have against sand! What affinities do you two have?¡±

    ¡°I have wind but I¡¯m not good at it yet, dark/shadow, and that''s it.¡± They both looked at me.  What?

    ¡°Tell us!¡±  Nah, I feel like I¡¯m bragging.

    ¡°I don''t mind if you brag a bit from time to time.¡±

    ¡°No don''t do that! Don''t stroke his ego!¡± Kyle can be such an ass...

    I thought for a bit.  Do you guys hear that?

    ¡°Stop changing the subject! I don''t hear anything, now I¡¯m curious, you can brag just a bit.¡± Thalia seemed insistent on me bragging. I can guess the reason but I''m more interested in something else at the moment.

    Maybe I was just hearing things.  I have an affinity for fire, frost, lightning, spatiotemporal, chaos and spirit magic.

    ¡°Whoa, wait no water? And what is chaos magic?¡±  Well, whenever someone gets born with frost magic affinity he gets a free water affinity and well about chaos magic, I have no clue, it''s lost magic but even my mother had no clue how to use it and she had the same affinity.

    ¡°And spirit magic is because you¡¯re a spirit fox?¡±  Yeah! Listen you can''t imagine how surprised I was when I learned that I''m also a spirit!

    ¡°But it says so in your race¡­¡±  Ok Mr. smartass, but hey do you guys really not hear that?

    ¡°I don''t hear anything but don''t forget Agnis, foxes have way better ears than humans.¡± I stood up and tried to locate the sound. It was a growling grunting sound. I then saw it, a very weird buffed-up shark coming at us.

    Buffed-up shark incoming at 4 o¡¯clock!  It crashed into the bubble. I had to stabilize it else it would''ve popped.

    ¡°What have you done to my brethren!¡±  Oh, it talks, we wanted to turn them into fish sticks but they looked quite disgusting to eat so I burned them.

    Kyle got up. ¡°Great, another one.¡±  Don''t worry I got this. It is something I saw on tv it¡¯s called ¡®Talk no Jutsu¡¯ if I talk to it, it will leave us alone, maybe even become our friend.

    ¡°You can¡¯t be serious right?¡± Kyle said as he got ready to act whenever this thing would move suspiciously.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see what he does, he is an immortal, maybe they do things differently than us humans.¡±

    ¡°Oh, he certainly does a lot of things differently than humans.¡±

    So, I understand that you''re upset but we just acted out of self-defense, they attacked us first!  I evaded water blasts, claw swipes some stinky breath, and all kinds of attacks.

    We even made some of your fighters even stronger, doesn''t that count for something? So, I don''t think it''s fair that you come at us. Sure, we didn''t try to talk it out but it''s hard to do since we can''t talk underwater. Hey, are you even listening?

    ¡°Hey, Agnis! I don''t think it''s working!¡± Kyle said as he started flinging daggers.

    ¡°You! You smell like the blood of my brethren!¡± The Buffed Abomination was about to dash at Kyle when I made him slip and froze his butt to the floor.  Hey, I was talking to you, you can''t just attack the donkey while I¡¯m talking to you, did you understand anything I just told you?

    ¡°You will pay!¡±  Hey Kyle, are you familiar with video games?

    ¡°Uhh, a bit I used to play some games before our parents got into the cult.¡±  Doesn''t this guy sound like a poorly programmed NPC?

    ¡°I will kill you!¡± Buffed Abomination said while drooling like a rabid.. shark.

    ¡°Hmm you might be right but what of it? You surely don''t think we¡¯re in a game or something?¡±  No, but maybe someone created these things, they surely aren''t natural.

    ¡°This cave isn''t connected to anywhere so this place shouldn''t be connected to any other place.¡± Thalia said while flipping trhought the mission details.

    Anyways this guy pisses me off, time to send him to where his ¡®Brethren¡¯ are.  I disconnected from the ambient leylines and jumped up, used [Azure Spear] and threw it at this buffed-up shark. The enormous force this spear landed cracked the floor.

    Oh, I didn''t expect this to happen.  I dashed to Thalia and the donkey, I mean Kyle, and covered them in a bubble.

    The floor collapsed and the bubble popped. I expected there to be more water but I saw magma down below and¡­ a village? I hid my tails after spotting the village. Thalia made a water slide so we could land safely.  Hmm, this is strange, magma chambers aren''t supposed to have clean air.

    ¡°Hmm, it doesn''t feel hot with this onesie on.¡± Kyle removed the hood and he started sweating. ¡°Whoa, that''s a huge difference!¡± He put the hood back on. We looked at Thalia.  Whoa, you¡¯re glistening.

    She was fanning herself and seemed extra alluring. ¡°Hey Agnis, you¡¯re staring. You can stare all you want but mind helping me out a bit?¡±

    ¡°Hehe, so when¡¯s the wedding?¡± I threw a dagger at the donkey and made a [Frost cloak] for Thalia.

    ¡°Just a question, the fact that you have something for this random situation, you have been in a similar situation before, haven''t you?¡±  Ehh, I might have once or twice yeh.

    ¡°Heh, I think it would be easier to ask him in what strange situation he hasn''t been. We make fun of him but at least he¡¯s reliable.¡±  Thank you, Toxic Donkey.

    ¡°Hey, who are you calling a Toxic Donkey?¡±

    ¡°Agnis?! Is that you?¡± I turned around and to my surprise I saw a severely wounded Esher.  Whoa, what are you doing here and how did you get this messed up?  I gave him a [Frostcloak].

    ¡°Ugh, I know this might be a lot to ask of you but do you have some water?¡± He was about to collapse and I caught him. We moved him to the side and I gave him some water.

    Thalia knew a weak healing spell. It wouldn''t help him much but it was something. I wanted to draw the rune for healing but I couldn''t remember it that well anymore. It was fresh in my mind after that demon did his bullshit but the very complicated runes didn''t stick that well. I put my tails on it but it would take too long to write it correctly. Esher passed out for a bit but woke up shortly after.

    ?

 Vol 2 Ch 58: Esher Jevela

    Kyle, he¡¯s awake.  Kyle was looking around the area and making sure the buffed-up shark that fell down was dead. It seems that the village down here is another base of a cult.

    ¡°Ugh, my head, did Shade send you? I shouldn''t have gone over my deadline yet.¡±  Uhm, no we were on something else, this was purely a coincidence. Can I ask what you''re doing here and what your mission was?

    ¡°Sure, I will fail anyways if I don¡¯t tell you. I was tasked to guard the daughter of the Vice President of the Adventurers Association. She was to travel to Gittrian for the S-rank assessment that will be held in 2 weeks. He was afraid that she would be kidnapped and held hostage, or worse, assassinated, so that''s where I came in for counter-assassination.¡± Vice Daddy had a daughter? Didn''t he have a son?

    ¡°You know the vice president?¡±  Kyle that''s not important let Esher talk!

    ¡°...¡±

    Esher groaned. ¡°So 2 days ago we got ambushed by this strange group. There were so many of them and they weren¡¯t pushovers. They called them Ouroboros or something.¡±  Hoo boi.

    Kyle clenched his fist. ¡°These fuckers again.¡±

    Esher groaned and checked his inventory. ¡°We took out half of them but they seemed to have a strange object that could undo certain actions so we got caught eventually. I managed to escape several hours ago but the vice president''s daughter and some of the guards are still stuck in there.¡±  I know this might sound cold but do you know if they were planning on something because those lives don''t matter much if this cult has something worse planned than just kidnapping randoms.

    ¡°The vice president¡¯s daughter isn''t just a random person but they said something about gaining immortality.¡±

    I saw Thalia react from my eye corner. ¡°Did they say how they would achieve it?¡± Thalia acted on her interest.

    ¡°No but it might have to do with that ancient looking structure they built their base around."  Oh no, you gotta be kidding me. Kyle, send out shadow clones to find exits immediately, I need your real body, this¡­ might get very dangerous.

    I climbed on a big rock and inspected the base. They had an ancient building in the middle of their base. The primal runes read ''Warning'', ''Sealed'', and other things. It didn''t read ¡®Demon¡¯ but at this point, it didn''t matter. The cultists were using some item that I recognized as a Dimsha, to slowly undo any seal on whatever was inside. They seemed close to succeeding. I spotted the prisoners so I sent 2 shadow clones to save them.

    Esher got up. ¡°I¡¯m going in too this is my mission!¡±  I¡¯m not going to stop you but realize that you might die if you go in like this.

    ¡°I am a Silent Night this is our pride, complete the job even at the cost of our life!¡± I saw that Kyle was listening.  I will send my shadow clones to deal with the cultists. It is your mission so you save them!  I put my hand on Esher''s shoulder.

    Don''t die, this kid here is my successor, he could learn a lot from you.

    ¡°Heh, finally had enough? We were wondering when you would have had enough. I can''t promise anything but I have no intention of dying.¡± Even while injured Esher still gave off an air of confidence and coolness. He left to save the Vice President''s daughter.

    ¡°So that is Esher, your¡­ my boss.¡±  Yeah, I don''t know him that well but he always stays calm and he is more skilled than he lets on. This place has over 3000 cultists. How he even escaped alive after getting caught as a human. I¡¯m impressed.

    ¡°I admire his spirit; I hope I will be as cool as him one day.¡±  Fat chance Toxic Donkey!

    The cultists were using the Dimsha to undo things our clones did and it was very annoying. I tried to swap it with a dagger I was holding but it didn''t respond. Strange. I touched the magma and used [Ignis] and sent him to terrorize the cultists. They undid him but he just reformed and continued to harass the cultists. The problem was this ancient building. It says ''Divinity''.

    I surely hope that there isn''t a god is sealed here. That would be worse than a demon, I think.

    I tried to get close but something pushed me back. Divine energy? What the hell? The cultists summoned a huge magma golem in response to [Ignis]. [Ignis] was a glass cannon so he got one shot but kept reforming. Take that jerks! Well, Ignis was only keeping them occupied, he wasn¡¯t doing a lot of damage because he gets one shot the moment he reformed. I need to one day refine this technique¡­

    ¡°See I told you I would be back alive!¡± Esher returned only 10 minutes after he had left.

    ¡°Wait is that you Agnis?!¡± A woman said after pointing at me.  Do I know you?

    ¡°It¡¯s me Tania! Stop forgetting me!¡±  Tania? Doesn¡¯t ring a bell sorry.

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    ¡°But you do remember my father, right?¡±  Yeah¡­ Ohhh you¡¯re Daddy¡¯s girl! Yes, I remember!

    ¡°I¡¯m not Daddy¡¯s girl anymore, I¡¯m an adult now, how about it, I turned out beautiful eh?¡± She spun around. I looked at Thalia and pulled her toward me.  I¡¯m sorry I prefer Thalia.

    ¡°Wha?!¡± And this is how I made the two chicks talk to each other so that I didn''t have to deal with some nonsensical rivalry by appointing Thalia as my favourite. Now I need to deal with this divinity bullshit.

    ¡°Hey Agnis answer me! Who is this chick!¡±  I already told you her name is Thalia and she¡¯s capable to tell her yourself, ask her, I¡¯m busy. Hey Toxic Donkey, anything about the exits yet?

    ¡°Nothing yet, some collapsed passages, we might have to get out how we came in.¡± Kyle and I looked up and the others followed.

    Daddy''s girl was still being a nuisance. ¡°Wait, you came from up there? How?! Hey Agnis explain!¡±  Esher, please¡­

    ¡°Right, Tania let''s get somewhere else, you¡¯re wounded, and we''re still in the middle of the enemy base.¡±

    ¡°Hey what about them?" Daddy''s girl pointed at us.

    We¡¯re going for risk mitigation; you guys get out of here first.  I put some illusion layers on everyone because nothing good will happen here, it¡¯s best to be cautious.

    Esher, I can''t explain how or why but I put something on you guys that allows for you to die 5 times before it is game over. Normally it''s a bad idea to say this but I¡¯m sure someone of your caliber can exploit this to its fullest potential. After 5 times it''s as if everything works like normal, Don''t let it get to a 6th time.  Esher nodded and he guided Tania and the 3 guards away. Kyle sent him in a certain direction because there was a passage that seemed decent. It would bring them close to where they could climb up and enter the space from where we fell down.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis shouldn''t we go too? I have a bad feeling about this place¡­¡±  And you¡¯re completely correct Thalia, get the Toxic Donkey and get out of here.

    ¡°Wait, what about you?¡±  I told you about the duties of an immortal right? I don¡¯t care for these cultists but that building there is something I have to deal with.

    ¡°If you''re staying in staying too, it won''t matter, right? If that thing comes out and you lose, we will probably all die, I might die if I stay here but if I can be of help, we might win.¡°  These runes read ''divinity''; I don''t think a human can do anything against that.

    Thalia grabbed my hand. ¡°Did you forget who I am? I¡¯m the Alluring Desertflower, I¡¯m only as strong as the strongest link in our party, and that is you.¡± She closed the distance. ¡°I am going to buff you so much that you can''t help falling for me, so what if there is a god in there, can it stand against a fully buffed nine-tailed spirit fox?¡±  I surely hope not, we have a huge problem if it can.

    ¡°Right then we have a deal. Kyle! We¡¯re staying!¡±

    Kyle kicked a cultist away and turned his face toward us. ¡°Wait what? Are you guys insane?¡±  You can run with your tail between your legs Toxic Donkey!

    ¡°Fuck that!¡±

    The place started to slowly crumble and the magma started to rise. The cultists were in panic. I tried to stop the last seal from breaking but I had no clue how to deal with divine energy. I noticed that 3 layers had broken on Esher. There seemed to be some strange mutated trolls that gave the same vibe as the piranhas, they even had super buffed-up trolls. He was in a very rough situation but he seemed to have made some bets with his life that paid off. The dungeon exploded.

    "Yeeees! I am finally free! At last! I can finally see mother!¡± A black-haired bulky guy broke out. I created a [Frostwall] around him and boxed him in with myself, Thalia, and Kyle inside. Kyle picked up Thalia. He would be her legs.

    And who might your mother be?  He slowly changed from a body language that indicated that he was happy to one of being annoyed. He slowly turned his head toward me.

    ¡°Ugh, disgusting creature. I admire your curiosity for the divine though, I loathe to think that I share half my blood with these disgusting creatures but at least my mother''s side is beautiful.¡± By the words, looks and manner of speech I can already take a guess.

    Hmm, demigod, we¡¯re not quite as fucked as I thought, should be doable, let me guess your mother is Tomato head Biian?  My head felt like it exploded and all kinds of memories flooded in that I seemed to have forgotten.

    Oof, that was unpleasant, but that explains my headaches and nightmares.

    ¡°You filth! How dare you call her that and to even utter her beautiful name on your filthy tongue! You shall be excised from existence!¡±  Well, there you go guys, we¡¯re quite lucky it''s just a demigod.

    ¡°Just a demigod he says¡­ Watch out!¡± I dodged a strike. This guy swung his golden staff at me. He was fast but I could easily dodge them all.

    ¡°Hmm, I sense more filthy creatures!¡± He spotted Kyle and Thalia and sent a [Light ball] at them. It was huge. Kyle evaded it and it exploded and took down a part of my [Frost wall] My eyes told me that divine energy doesn''t give a fuck about my wall being made out of frost. Good to know.

    ¡°Ugh! They¡¯re crawling everywhere!¡± He sent out [Light waves] that broke the other [Frost walls] and one shot the cultists. He then charged a punch and punched into the air.

    Oh shit!  I created multiple [Frost walls] because he was aiming for Esher and his group. My walls didn''t help and they got blasted. Esher¡¯s last layer broke and he was quite bloodied. I wanted to help but I can''t go easy on a demigod. Hoping Esher will survive I turned to the Demigod.

 Vol 2 Ch 59: Just a Demigod

    Hey, Demi how about you go back to being sealed so we don''t have to see your ugly mug?!  This seemed to work, just like his mother he was easy to provoke when making comments about his looks.

    ¡°You will be purified and turned into dust!¡° He came at me and wanted to strike me with his pole but I used [Frozen Ground] and made him slip and froze his toga to the floor.

    ¡°Aagh! You insolent wretch! Stop making fun of me!¡± I connected to the air leyline currents.  I have to say, I was expecting more from a demigod but I can''t complain, I don¡¯t think you can kill us, you¡¯re probably relatively young but I don''t care, your kind doesn''t do this world any good so just as you want to excise me from existence, I will do the same to you.

    ¡°Ha! What can a stupid human do to divinity like me?!¡±  I can see how you got sealed away, you¡¯re quite stupid aren''t you, aren¡¯t you frozen to the ground, would that have happened if I were a human?

    ¡°Irrelevant, I chose for this to happen, I can get out whenever I want!¡± Thalia started buffing me. It was quite a lot; how can one lose with all these buffs. She even buffed my speed, oof this guy is going to get a good ass kicking. Demi broke out of the freeze like it was nothing.

    ¡°I will give you this, you are strong for a human but still insignificant!¡± He shot a [Light beam] at me but I evaded it easily with my speed buffed.

    I will show you just how ignorant you are.  I got my tails out and went 9t mode. A mana burst exploded from me and foxfire appeared on the tip of my ears and tails. My eyes glowed dark purple and time and space started to glitch around me.

    ¡°I... Impossible! My mother wiped all of you out!¡±  Guess, what, she missed some.  Demi threw attacks at me but I messed with space and he hit himself. He didn''t do much damage to himself so either he is very tanky or does no damage.

    ¡°Holy shit Agnis, that¡¯s so cool!¡± Toxic Donkey got excited.

    ¡°I¡¯m in love all over again.¡±  I told you right, we¡¯d have to be in deep shit if I have to use my tails.

    Demi sent attacks at me and I reversed time on them. I rushed at him with [Accel Step] and used [Crimson Palm]. I got hasty so it was only purple lightning. He didn''t seem to be that hurt. I evaded some [Light Novas] and sent daggers imbued with lightning at him while evading. The daggers did nothing to him but it annoyed him a lot. [Tail Dynamo] got the lightning to red so I landed a real [Crimson Palm].

    ¡°Aagh!¡±

    This seemed to work, somewhat. He made a [Light Dome] crash down and I protected myself and Kyle and Thalia with a [Frost cloak]. I have to remember that she only buffs my offense. I used lightning [Dragon] and kept hitting him with [Crimson Palms] until [Dragon] got sentient. Demi got hit a couple of times by it but he seemed fine.

    How tanky is this guy? Do I have to seal him away? I can see how this will become a pain in the ass and sealing him will be the best option but¡­ Seals can be broken. This guy needs to die here.

    I shifted stance and started using [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] to catch all the light attacks he was sending my way.

    If this doesn''t work, I will have to use my ultimate skill. Especially after catching attacks like these, [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] will be stronger than [Dragon].

    Thalia kept buffing me and she seemed to be getting tired. Even with all these buffs I wasn''t putting a scratch on him.

    ¡°Aaagh! So, vexing! Why can¡¯t I hit you!¡±

    I doubt that he could one-shot me but I certainly wasn''t going to test this out.

    He did a wide attack that started to bring the place down on us.

    I will be fine but Kyle and Thalia will get buried alive if I don''t do something. I could send [Ocean¡¯s wrath] at him and possibly one-shot him or use it to completely clear out the ceiling. I bundled the attack and sent it to the sky blowing a hole in the ceiling.

    ¡°Hahaha, where are you aiming!¡± Demi laughed mockingly while he kept spamming light based attacks.

    ¡°Agnis, you fool! You could have severely damaged him with that!¡±  Shut up Toxic Donkey! I care more about you two than dealing with this ugly tomato.

    ¡°Aaargh! That¡¯s it! You''re dead look at this skill I perfected!¡±  While you were sealed?

    ¡°While I was sealed, wait no! Before that!¡±  Idiot. Right, Toxic Donkey, you wanted to see my ultimate skill, right? Keep your eyes peeled. It''s called [Silver Torrent].  The cosmetic illusion started to slowly fade and reveal my silver tails.

    ¡°S¡­s...silver! Shit, I hate silver! Gold is the only worthy color!¡± He slammed his pole on the floor and he created exactly 978 identical clones. These things seemed to be as strong as him.

    ¡°Ha! Behold my ultimate skill [1000 Hunks]!" I almost lost my composure.  You called it 1000 hunks? Hahaha, what a narcissist and why are there only 979 of you? Where did the other 21 go? Are they the [21 Junks]?

    ¡°My training got interrupted but this will do for you! I will be unbeatable as long as at least 1 is standing, you can¡¯t beat me!¡±  Interesting, my ultimate skill just happened to be great against multiple targets.  I took off my shoes and created the setup for [Dagger Torrent].

    How much do you know about lightning?  I started using [Accel Step] while using [Tail Dynamo]. The lightning instantly turned red.

    ¡°Haha! This red lightning hurts but you need more than this!¡±

    The lightning was eating away at the clones and the daggers did a sizeable amount of damage to him. My tails notified me that I seemed to be doing a lot more damage than expected and this was since the damage also seemed to be determined by how fast I was. Thalia buffed my speed so this might be it.

    I sped up and the wires started to vibrate. It made a pleasant sound reminding me of my [Boss music]. The lightning shifted orange and I was assaulting the clones simultaneously with lightning and daggers. I¡¯m not sure how long the wires will last. Some had already melted. Demi tried to hit me as did his clones but there was no way he would be able to hit me. He tried to get out but that was not possible.  Hey, tomato, do you know what color comes after orange?

    ¡°How arrogant! Only deities have gone higher than orange!¡±  Well ok then.

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    My [Tail Dynamo] spun faster and even those that normally couldn''t see leyline energy saw that something was gathering at my spinning tails. All the wires melted and snapped as all the lightning turned black and this was for the first time that Demi seemed in pain.

    This is an ultimate technique for a reason, you won¡¯t get out of this alive.  Demi was throwing wide attacks around, even those that had the speed of light but since they were well telegraphed were easy to dodge. He dropped another [Light Dome] but I blasted a hole into it. There was a lot of contrast in this fight. I was throwing black lightning at him and he was throwing light at me. My fingers started to tingle a bit. A dagger one-shot a clone but it reappeared 10 seconds later. Time for the final stretch. I started [Accel turning], building more charge and possibly hurting my feet.

    Hey, tomato! Want to know what comes after black?  I reversed time on an attack he was trying to cast for the last few seconds.

    ¡°Aagh! I hate you foxes! You''re such a pain in the ass to fight! And I don''t know what comes after black!¡±  Your favourite color, Silver.

    The spin on my tails reversed and the black lightning around my tails turned orange for a brief period of time and then jumped to silver. A strong silver lightning wave erupted form me as all the lightning turned silver and the clones were visibly getting cooked. This was quite taxing on me, not stamina-wise, I could do this all day because it did restore a lot of stamina. It did take my physical energy as in I will probably have to eat 80% of the food in my stash to get this back. I could keep this going until I think my food stash will not be able to cover this.

    I had 10 minutes before I would have to clear out my stash and have nothing left. I wasn''t there yet though; I needed a little push to get where I need to be. [Silver Torrent mode]. Demi was layering defensive skills on himself but just on himself and not his clones. He had been doing similar stuff before which indicates which one is the real one. It didn''t matter to me though. The last [Accel turn] got used before using [Accel Stop]. Accel stop had a different function now. It put me in [Silver Torrent mode] when I met the requirements.

    Another wave of silver lightning burst out as I reached [Silver Torrent Mode]

    ¡°Ha stopped running around now eh!¡± Demi sent 900 [Light waves] at me and they passed right through me. My body was made out of lightning, moreover¡­

    I shifted stance and used [Drowning Pulse]. The silver lightning started to act like water and its volume increased. [Silver Torrent Mode] enables me to control silver lightning as if it were water. I shifted stance and used [Silver Dragon]. It flew at all the Demi¡¯s and popped them out of existence. The real one tried to run away. [Silver Waterfall] caught him when the last clone got popped. I waited and checked the area if there was still anything left. I looked back at Kyle and Thalia who seemed at a loss for words.

    I told you, he¡¯s just a demigod.  I dropped [Silver Torrent mode], got out of 9t mode, took a lot of food out of my dimensional pocket, and started to eat.

    ¡°That was¡­ I have no words to describe it! It was the most beautiful thing I¡¯ve ever seen.¡± Thalia said starstruck.

    ¡°Here I was thinking it was just one big attack, you just basically went god mode or something!¡±  It makes me hungry as fuck, want some? With leylines I don''t just try to make strong skills, I make techniques because it¡¯s easy to dodge an attack but it''s harder to dodge a technique.  I continued eating and Kyle joined in.

    ¡°Does it have limitations? How long and often can you use it?¡±  It has no limitations except for this.  I pointed at my feet which seemed like they had better days.  And how much food I have that''s it, I can use it whenever but I can''t use it without my tails yet. It also forces my cosmetic illusion to disappear for some reason but when I use this I don''t really care about the color of my tails.

    ¡°Well, you did say it was called [Silver Torrent] so why have black ears and tails?¡± I acknowledged that he made a good point and kept eating. Thalia was just standing in a daze. If [Silver Torrent] didn''t work, I had to probably use [Elgard Overload] and copy and spam [Silver Torrent] mode for 8 minutes without the downsides and then have my eyes disabled for 80 minutes.

    I ate 80% of all the food I had stored up before I felt satisfied and I mitigated the downside of [Silver Torrent]. I will have to do some serious shopping after this.

    ¡°You sure have an appetite.¡±  Yeah, this downside is brutal, it¡¯s the only thing I need to fix for my Ultimate technique.

    ¡°But silver lightning, eh? The strongest I''ve ever seen is purple, I knew that red exists, never knew about orange and beyond. Is there anything after silver?  Dunno, maybe gold, silver is the best I can do at the moment and I quite like the color silver so I have no intention of going beyond.  I got up and looked at the sky. Nobody had noticed when I blew this hole right?

    ¡°To think the Ouroboros cult was here too, unfortunately, I couldn''t catch those who had that item.¡±  Oh shit, I completely forgot about that! But oh well it will appear sooner or later. Someone else will deal with that.

    ¡°You don''t feel bad they escaped?¡±  A bit but that''s a problem any human can solve, this demi thing however, if I didn''t step in things might have gotten ugly. I did say he was weak but I¡¯m not sure this would''ve worked without Thalia''s buffs, hey Thalia! snap out of it! Is she broken?

    ¡°I think she¡¯s imagining a future with you.¡±  You¡¯re not funny¡­  I picked her up and we left the hole.

    Daddy''s girl appeared with an injured Esher and some guards. ¡°What was that!¡±  Holy shit, you¡¯re still here?

    ¡°That was so cool! I couldn''t see exactly what was going on but there was silver everywhere! Was that your ultimate skill or something?¡° Daddy''s girl asked out of curiosity. She looked beat up. Doesnt this chick have better things to do?  Uh, yeah that was my [Silver Torrent], how¡¯s Esher?

    ¡°He is still breathing; he gave his everything to protect us. I¡¯m going to ask Daddy to give him a big reward.¡±  Yeah, he deserves it. Well, we have to go cya Sara!

    ¡°The name is Tania!¡±   The guards had done some treatment on Esher and I saw a small team arrive.  Ugh, Healerguy again?!

    ¡°Tania! Stop that guy!¡±  Really?!  Tania tackled me. It was hard to evade while my feet were hurting and carrying Thalia.

    Healerguy''s silhoutte loomed over us. ¡°Well, well, who do we have here in the middle of trouble again.¡±  Hey, I swear this was an accident! I was just helping Thalia out and why are you everywhere? Are you a stalker? Or do you have like triplet brothers?

    ¡°I did tell you that the Adventurers Association teleports are free for Golden Angels, right? I can just teleport over to wherever there is trouble and it so happens that you¡¯re always in it. Speaking of trouble¡­ we need to talk about the Texiha incident.¡±  Oh, is Texiha ok? What happened?

    ¡°You know exactly what happened and stop laughing Kyle, you¡¯re an accomplice!¡±

    ¡°Wait what?!¡±  Get rekt Toxic Donkey.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go to Gittrian.¡± They started walking but I stayed behind.

    Healerguy turned around. ¡°Come on now.¡±  Can somebody carry Thalia and me? My feet hurt¡­

 Vol 2 Ch 60: Vice Daddy

    Kyle and I got the scolding of our life. I got my feet checked and scolded yet again. Healerguy also tried to do other tests on me but nothing came out of it but he was convinced that there was something wrong with me.

    ¡°Your blood sugar seems low.¡±  I¡¯m hungry.

    ¡°I saw you snack quite a lot not too long ago.¡±  Do we really have to do this every time you encounter me?

    ¡°Yes, because with how you¡¯re going around there might not be a next time if I don''t make sure you¡¯re not secretly falling apart. Now how about this, I don''t detect any residual mana on you but why are all these metal objects pointing at you?  I¡¯m attractive.

    He tried to touch me and a silver spark zapped him. ¡°Ouch, what in the world is going on with you?¡±  I am just a bit charged that''s all.

    ¡°You make me feel stupid, I have no clue what is going on with you.¡±  I am healthy, now can you let me go?

    ¡°On those feet? No, let''s get you a wheelchair just in case, it will also cut your mobility down so that I can keep an eye on you.¡±  But I can walk¡­ What¡¯s wrong with Thalia by the way?

    ¡°A classic case of being star struck. She is just processing a lot of things, give it some time.¡± I didn''t realize that encountering a demigod would be a shock to her. I did know she was interested in immortality but to encounter one that soon after must have been a shock for her. I will give her some space to work things out.

    My wheelchair came.  Come on! I thought you were joking!

    ¡°You can stay in this wheelchair for a week or I will send an alert to all Golden Angels to give you a check up on sight.¡±  Ugh, fine! Just a week, right?

    ¡°Good. You can bring him away, now bring in Kyle.¡± I got rolled out and Kyle got dragged in.

    ¡°Guys there is nothing wrong with me!¡± Kyle was resisting.

    ¡°You have trained under Agnis, you are bound to take over some of his traits, we will decide if something is wrong with you. Now take off that donkey suit¡± Kyle sent me a glare and I stuck out my tongue.

    <hr>

    I got rolled into the lounge.

    ¡°Oh, there you are!¡± I tried to roll away on my wheelchair but I got caught. ¡°Where are you going? My Daddy is here, come meet him.¡±  What have I done to deserve this?  I got rolled upstairs into a special room.

    Yoo Vice Daddy, you seem to be greyer than the last time we met.

    ¡°And you seem to be less mobile than the last time we met. I extend my utmost gratitude for saving Tania.¡±  Tania?

    ¡°My daughter¡­¡±  I was just testing your memory.

    ¡°She¡¯s my daughter¡­ Anyways, I do realize Esher had a great role to play but he also mentioned your name, as did my daughter. I have known you for a while but to think you could also use lightning, people are full of surprising.¡±  Huh?

    ¡°Tania told me everything, she seemed to be excited for some reason that she found someone that could teach her lightning magic.¡±  Wowowowo! I never agreed to that! I¡¯m a busy man!

    ¡°Hmm I see, that makes sense, you disappear for years to appear in the middle of a mess, I guess you have a lot of unresolved issues, Sorry Tania we will have to find someone else.¡±

    ¡°Aww, you should have seen it Daddy, he might be the strongest lightning user on the continent!¡± This chick was bragging about me as if I was her brother or something.

    Hey come on there is no proof for that, no need to put me on a pedestal.

    ¡°Uhm, Agnis, you do know that the current strongest lightning attack is red lightning and that''s questionable because a year ago, 2 orange lightning pillars have been spotted near Itris. So does silver come after orange?¡±  Ehhh. not really. What you saw was white lightning! Yes, white lightning!

    Tania created white lightning that clearly looked different than what I used. ¡°What you used didn''t look anything like this, tell me! I need to know how far I am from you!¡±  Uh, well there is purple then red then orange then black then silver.

    ¡°Can you show me?!¡±

    "Calm down Tania, do you want him to blow up the whole office? And moreover, look at him he¡¯s in a wheelchair, cut him some slack!¡±

    ¡°When are you getting out of your wheelchair?!¡± This chick was getting really annoying.

    ¡°Tania!¡±

    ¡°Ok¡­¡±  Heh, Daddy¡¯s girl.  She tried to react but Vice Daddy stopped her.

    ¡°Anyways it has been a while since we last spoke. You haven''t taken any missions since 2 days ago in¡­ Saluk¡­ how did you¡­ you know what never mind, you did have a decent amount of gold that the association was holding for you so this isn''t surprising. So now we have a problem.¡±  Oh?

    ¡°You are C rank but all these achievements that got reported to the association¡­ you need a promotion.¡±  Uh, I don''t want to do any tests.

    ¡°Oh, don''t worry you don''t need anything we already bumped you to B-rank, you do need one for A-rank however but you can take that one whenever you feel like it.¡±

    ¡°Heh! I will be S-rank soon! Try to keep up!¡± Daddy''s girl was bragging again. I''m sure she abused her daddy''s power.

    ¡°Now we have to solve the problem of you not having an adventure name, Tania had a great suggestion based on what you told her.¡±  Eh?

    ¡°We decided that your adventurer name is Silver Torrent, and although Kyle is quite new Tania suggested...¡± He looked at a file. ¡°Toxic Donkey¡­ Hey, Tania are you sure this is correct?¡±  Hahahaha! Yeah! That is correct! I will take that name I like it and Kyle would be happy.

    ¡°Alright, well that will be made official in an hour. So now about your role.¡±  What about it?

    ¡°So, I was thinking about that assessment we had years ago. And you don''t seem injured besides your feet which I doubt was done by an enemy. You don¡¯t get hit often or at all do you? And as Tania kept complaining, it didn''t feel like anything she would do worked on you. So, I had a conversation with Jerome, ehh the President a while ago. Crowd control is extremely rare because it is tricky to execute and even if it gets used it rarely is successful. It is known to be useless just as water magic and you have shown that both are far from useless. So how about this? You get a new role that focuses on crowd control and shutting opponents down. And since you are the first one the role name will be Silver Torrent.¡±

    ¡°Ooh, Daddy! I like that, It only makes sense that my rival achieves at least this!¡±  Hey! Since when are you my rival? And I have the feeling that you guys already decided this¡­

    ¡°I guess we couldn''t fool him, Daddy.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, Jerome, Tania, and I have quite a liking to you, we expect great things from you!¡±  I have a question. Can you bump Ky¡­ Toxic Donkey up to C rank? He will just waste time doing uhm, no offense, shitty missions to climb to there even though he could easily wipe out a group of cultists.

    ¡°Uhh, normally we don''t do this but we can make an exception. Now excuse me I have to prepare several things for the upcoming S-rank assessment. Will you be spectating?¡±  Probably not, I¡¯m sorry, I have some issues to attend to.

    ¡°So busy, you will probably have achieved much more the next time I see you. Take care, I heard some concerning things from Rubert, please be careful.¡± I nodded at Vice Daddy and rolled out of the office. I wanted to take the elevator but it was full. I looked at the stairs. This shouldn''t be hard right?

    <hr>

    I messed up and Healerguy is scolding me again. ¡°I need to check your head for brain damage again! Which idiot takes the stairs while in a wheelchair?!¡±  Hey, you told me to stay in the wheelchair!

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°I didn''t tell you to do stupid things with it! No brain damage, unbelievable!¡±  I¡¯m telling you I¡¯m healthy!

    ¡°Human positive¡­ hey you can tell me if you¡¯re an alien or something else. I was sceptical at first but now I don''t believe for a second that you¡¯re a human, any other human would''ve¡­ died a long time ago.¡°  I''m a caged bird.

    ¡°... forget it, it was na?ve to think I could get an answer out of you that makes sense. Go! I¡¯m getting a headache!¡± I rolled out of the sick bay.

    ¡°And take the damn elevator!¡± The elevator was full again. I looked back and Healerguy was watching. I decided to wait for the next elevator.

    <hr>

    ¡°Hahaha which idiot takes the stairs with a wheelchair!¡± Kyle was making a scene by being an asshole and rolling on the floor laughing.  Ha, let¡¯s see who has the last laugh! Any moment now.

    An announcement got made. Something appeared on the screen and it was an update of my profile. A lot of people seemed amazed and even more when a new role got made.

    ¡°Holy shit you created a new role, is it the I¡¯m-a-pain-in-the-ass role?¡± Kyle seemed to have fun until his update appeared.

    ¡°Wait what?! Toxic Donkey?!¡± People were amused with this name. ¡°You! What did you do!¡± I was trying my best to hold in my laugh but he was still in his donkey onesie so this made it even more funny.  Hahahaha!

    ¡°I need to change this!¡± Then the update came that he became C-rank. ¡°Wait, C-rank? Doesn''t that mean it''s harder for me to change my name now?!¡±  Hahaha, yeah, aren''t I generous? Hahaha!  I laughed so hard that I fell out of my wheelchair.

    Hey, Kyle imagine, when you become the best assassin, the world has ever seen, they will change the Silent Night role name to Toxic Donkey! Hahaha!  Some people were weirded out by me laughing, others were laughing too, and some seemed concerned.

    ¡°My life¡­ is over¡­¡± Kyle dramatically dropped to his knees but the donkey suit made it even more comical. My belly started to hurt and I needed air.

    ¡°What is going on here? Oh my god, Agnis again?!¡± Healerguy lifted me into my wheelchair. ¡°Huh, you hardly weigh anything.¡±  Uh oh.

    ¡°Right back to the sickbay you go!¡±  Nooo!  I saw a smile on Kyle¡¯s face that I didn''t like.

    <hr>

    I was in healer jail. I wasn''t allowed to leave until they knew what was up with me. Healerguy used his connections and brought 2 well-known Golden Angels here. His daughter was here too.

    ¡°Hey there, it seems you did something crazy again.¡±  All I did was troll Kyle¡­  Thalia was here too; she came running after hearing that I got sent to the sickbay for the third time today.

    ¡°I heard the good news! And the bad news, what did you do this time?¡±  I didn''t do anything! Oh, have you heard? Kyle¡¯s adventurer name is Toxic Donkey! Hahaha.  I saw a smile but it vanished almost immediately.

    ¡°Are they trying to find out what you are?¡±  Don''t worry they won''t find out, but there are some traits that are indeed hard to hide like my weight¡­

    ¡°Your weight?¡±  Try lifting me up.  She seemed hesitant but lifted me up and almost threw me in the air.

    ¡°Wow! Is this why you can move so fast?¡±  I don¡¯t think so, I could move fast even when I had a normal weight.

    ¡°So, it decreased over the years, you know that this just makes me even more envious right?¡±  Sorry.

    Healerguy and a healer chick came in.

    ¡°Right, we¡¯re going to be blunt here, we have no clue what is going on with you, the only thing we know is that for some reason your cells have an extremely small weight which makes you ehh light, but this doesn''t account for everything. You should weigh about 20kg if our calculations are correct but you weigh more like¡­¡± He looked at a file. ¡°2.5kg¡­ We also noticed that your cells seem to refuse to obey gravity as other matter does¡­ we have no idea what this means. Are you sure you''re not an alien?¡±  I¡¯m quite human, besides that stuff. was anything else off?

    ¡°No¡­ just your abnormally high heat resistance.¡±  So, besides some weird things, I¡¯m a human, doesn''t that mean I¡¯m just that? A human?

    ¡°Normally yes but there are some things that are just¡­ consistent, like how gravity affects you and stuff¡­ Maybe you¡¯re a new species of human but it has not been discovered yet. Me and my colleagues will do some more research.¡°  Uh, Good luck.  Thalia rolled me out to another part of the sickbay; I still couldn''t get out.

    ¡°Won''t they find out if they keep researching?¡±  Nah if there is one thing you can trust a 9t on is its ability to deceive, also whatever samples he has of me will self-destruct soon. After I found out that my blood can grant immortality or at least longevity I¡¯m not taking any chances. I will have some fun sending him on wild goose chases and then it will self-destruct.

    ¡°I see.¡±  Are you alright? You have been acting strange since we returned.  She rolled me into the room that was reserved for me. It had a warning on the door for other healers and people who work here to not let me go and keep an eye out on me. A mean-looking woman was keeping an eye out on me.

    ¡°I just got shocked. I thought I knew what beauty was but I was wrong. You shook my world, in more than one.¡±  Uhh, sorry I didn''t do that on purpose.

    ¡°I know, but thanks to you I know that I was a frog in a well.¡±  We 9t have something similar it goes: The spirit salmon that challenges the spirit fox will end up on a dinner plate. It''s similar to the frog in the well or showing someone his place.

    ¡°Spirit salmon, I¡¯ve never heard of that.¡±  It¡¯s tasty but they get arrogant if they get too old and start disturbing their environment and that''s where we come in! We eat them and the other water creatures can relax again.

    ¡°Does that mean their numbers are getting out of control?¡±  Uhh, possibly but I haven''t encountered one yet and I''ve spent a lot of time in and around water so hopefully it''s not that bad.  Thalia hugged me.

    ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sorry. I need some space, I get too distracted around you, and my drive to reach my goal gets weak when around you.¡±  I¡¯m sorry.

    ¡°Don''t be, you''re doing nothing wrong. I also need to prepare for the S-rank assessment. I have a lot to do, and seeing you fight underwater gave me a lot of ideas I need to work on.  How far are you from changing the role name?

    ¡°Well, the Grumpy Blowfish made his name 50 years ago so he already has passed away and he got to S rank, so if I surpass S rank I will reach my goal, it¡¯s just hard to get past S rank, not many reach it and those that do hit a wall.¡±  But you could also pull a very impressive feat right? I think the most recent role name is Silent Night because of something he did. Too bad that the role name will soon change to Toxic Donkey.

    ¡°Yeah, there are only two roles that have never changed name, Golden Angel, which has been standing for 436 years since the Adventurer¡¯s Association''s inception, and Crimson Eagle which is held by a witch, and that witch is very much alive so it is unlikely that someone would beat a witch after so many years. I want that when I change the role name that it will be almost impossible for anyone else to change it and immortalize my name!¡±  Well, you''re young and beautiful, I doubt anyone will be able to compete when it comes to it. Grumpy Blowfish reached S rank, probably shortly before he either retired or died. You¡¯re 18 and practically already an S rank. There is no way you won¡¯t succeed.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Thalia played with the ruby pendant she was wearing.

    ¡°My goal after that is even harder. You won''t forget me, right?¡±  I hope I won''t, I don''t make it a habit to forget important people.

    ¡°Important people.¡± Thalia smiled. ¡°Alright let''s break you out of this healer jail. I want to spend a fun night with you, I will have to start focusing from tomorrow onwards.  Hmm, my feet feel fine, alright, want to join me for a run? I haven''t shown you my home.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be delighted.¡± Sneaking out of this place was easy. Not sure if they truly believed that they could keep me here. I carried Thalia in the cool night breeze. I showed her my home and the waterfall. The jungle and stuff. We played some pranks on the jungle dragons and then we visited Vinny.

    ¡°Finally! He finally has a girlfriend! I¡¯m so happy for you!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not his girlfriend, yet. So, you are Vinny, I¡¯ve heard about you.¡± She was happy to meet another immortal. We talked and some adventures of mine came to light. Unfortunately, I had to bring Thalia back to Gittrian.

    ¡°Where will you go after this?¡¯  I will drop Toxic Donkey off in Texiha and from there on I don''t know. Probably polish all my skills even more I have 4 more months before I plan to go for the next thing.

    ¡°What will that be?¡±  Improve my sword skills, I haven''t held a sword in almost forever and improve my blacksmithing. These go hand in hand because I want to make a specific type of sword. Maybe I should spend these 4 months hunting materials down.

    ¡°Multitalented and hardworking, I like that, I hope you reach all your goals!¡±  You too!  I arrived at Gittrian at 4 in the morning. I dropped Thalia off at her room and I snuck back in healer jail.

    ?

 Vol 2 Ch 61: Material hunting

    Healerguy needed a whole week to do tests and he finally let me go so I went to clear out some stores with Kyle.

    Gittrian is such a nice city to buy stuff in. Greg said he''d be in Gittrian, should I visit? He would either be too busy or tell me to stop fooling around and continue whatever I''m supposed to do. I would probably say the exact same thing if Raishin would come and visit me.

    "Hey isn¡¯t that the car of those clowns?"  That coffin on wheels is called a car?

    "Yeah, the only thing I know is that it leaves no mana traces so it''s very hard to track.  So perfect to escape after an assassination.

    "Exactly"

    The clowns spotted us and stepped out of their car. "What the! How did you guys get here before us!"  We ran

    ¡°Stop lying! You must have taken the teleporter!"  Sure, let''s go with that, Kyle do you still need anything?

    Kyle looked at a list he made. The list had 2 items on it... "Uhh, I forgot to complete my list, let''s hop by the apothecary to see if they have what I need."

    "Hey assholes stop ignoring us!"  So annoying, do you want to disappear?

    "Hah, try if you can, we''re higher ranked than you."

    I opened a vial. "Hmm smells like its gonna rain, hey wait, Agnis are you insane?!"  He gave me permission, maybe he too will evolve into something ugly.  Kyle persuaded me to not assassinate them in broad daylight.  You got lucky, you owe your life to Toxic Donkey, Toxic Donkey is your master now.

    The clowns walked away.

    "I still haven''t forgiven you for that." Kyle... Toxic Donkey said with a frown on his face.  I didn''t come up with the idea but I¡¯ll happily take responsibility for this one, I wish it was my idea.

    "Then whose idea, was it?"  There she is! Let''s hide though, she''s annoying.

    "The vice president''s daughter? I think she''s nice."  Give up Toxic Donkey she''s like 22, too old for you.

    "I heard that! I''m 20, not 22!"  Still daddy''s girl.

    "Stop that! I''m sure you guys hang out with your parents too all the time." Daddy''s girl said as she approached us. She seemed to be ding groceries.

    Toxic Donkey raised an eyebrow. "My parents are dead¡­"  Mine have been missing for over 10 years¡­

    "Oh, ehh, I''m sorry."

    "Treasure your father it will be too late after he''s gone, come Agnis before the apothecary runs out of our stuff!" Daddy''s girl seemed lost in thought and we got our stuff from the apothecary.

    "That''s all I think, ready when you are. Are you sure it''s ok to not say bye to Thalia?"  She''s busy, we already said goodbye a week ago.

    "You really suck at this do you? Go say bye to her! I will be waiting at the west gate." Kyle walked off. He didn''t have his donkey onesie on today.

    I would be alone again after today; it feels so weird. I didn''t want it to end on one side but we all have our stuff we want to achieve so staying together wouldn¡¯t work.

    I wonder if something would happen with Raishin and Greg too. If that happens, what will I do? I''ve asked these questions before but I don''t have any answers. I am good at ignoring my emotions at certain points.

    I reached the area in the Adventurer¡¯s Association that had duels and spar and spotted Thalia. It was weird to see her with so much clothing on her. She was working hard.

    She was having a 3v3 and the Crimson Eagle from their team got knocked out. Normally this would be a game over if it has a Grumpy Blowfish as all the party''s damage disappears but she was owning the opponents. They probably didn''t expect her to hit that hard. She seemed to have gotten some inspiration from my [Waterfall].

    It was very rough because it''s difficult to change magic into forms that deviate from their original form but it was recognizable as my [Waterfall]. It might be sloppy but its power was real and her opponents noticed that. I decided to watch a bit and leave. She turned the fight from a 2v3 into a 2v2. There is no way they will lose now. I turned around.

    "Can you please wait?" It was the Crimson Eagle that got knocked out. "You''re Agnis right?"  Yeah.

    The crowd cheered as they had won.

    "Go to her" I nodded and went into the duel area. Thalia saw me enter, her face lit up and she ran at me.  That was wonderful. I came to say goodbye.

    "I know that I said I would be busy and I didn''t expect you to say bye but I''m happy you did. I will get S rank!"  I know you will. Hey it was fun hanging out with you and I apologize for being difficult.

    "I''m difficult too, it will work out somehow. Can I get a hug before you leave?" I decided that this wasn''t the time to act awkward so I pulled her in and embraced her.  The next time I see you I want to see that Alluring Desertflower role name.

    "Easy, thank you." I let her go.  Be well.

    I left, waved and scolded myself in my head. Why am I so awkward?! I made myself cringe. If Kyle was here, he''d surely say something about it and rightfully so.

    I left the Adventurer¡¯s Association and headed to the west gate. Kyle was waiting ''edgy assassin'' style, leaning with his back to the wall and playing with a dagger.  Just say it¡­

    "You blew it didn''t you?" I nodded and we headed out. We didn''t exchange any words.

    We got far enough and I carried him to Texiha.

    Kyle spoke when we neared Texiha. "Are we ever going to see you again?"  Why wouldn''t you?

    "Just thinking, all these things you go through, even the things that happened in the short time I travelled with you. It is all quite crazy. You are not going to die somewhere all alone and leave us behind, are you?"  Getting sentimental, eh? Don''t worry I will be fine.  We arrived at Texiha and we walked toward the Adventurer¡¯s Association. I dumped all his stuff that I had stored in the room he got.

    "Hey, if you ever need help just put in a request. "  I would like to say the same but I''m a busy fox.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    "Yeah, you never check your requests, say hi to Vinny for me when you see him."  I will.

    Kyle disappeared and I went to the outskirts of the town. A strange feeling of loneliness came over me. I steeled myself. Just 1 year and 4 months left till I finish everything I planned. After that almost 10 months before we would meet up. Did we fail at math? We said 3 years but we will meet up at Ted''s 5th death anniversary so that makes it almost 4 years. Raishin is gonna mess this up, won''t he? I headed back home and floated around in the basin.

    Another full moon. A very strong tug and it forced my tails out and they turned silver. I stared at the moon and it was as if it was trying to talk to me. I was curious what this was about so I just let everything happen. A filter appeared. [Moontalk]? What is this? I used it and it felt like I made a connection with it. It was like the moon was some kind of library. Anything that happened under the moonlight was stored. Any race linked to the moon seems to be able to connect like this. I looked for answers. My race isn''t particularly linked to the moon. Frost magic is related to the moon? That''s a first. Silver foxes are always proficient in frost magic and thus linked to the moon.

    So, you''re telling me that the most useful library ever has been hanging over our head the whole time? Hmm, what is this? I don''t understand what does this mean? Silver nine tailed spirit foxes don''t exist? I wanted to know more but a stupid cloud covered the moon and severed the connection. I connected to the air leyline currents and blew the clouds away. I tried to connect again but I didn''t feel the pull. What does this mean, there was a mention of silver foxes. This doesn''t specify any amount of tails. It could be a regular fox. But silver nine tailed spirit foxes don''t exist? I counted my tails. 9 of them. I made sure to check the color. Could pass for white but it''s silver. Hmm, maybe the moon is wrong? Is this where the word Lunatic comes from? Believing what the moon says? I don''t have the feeling that anything the moon had as information was wrong. Moon-related races. I might have to find some of these for clarification.

    The gods were also specifically targeting frost using ninetails. Does this have anything to do with this? Does that mean I''m not bound to the 9t duties? But if so, what is my duty, then? Because if I''m not a 9t, I¡¯m something even more rare. But my mom is a 9t. Not silver but gold so what does this mean? Is this something that jumps generations? Was gramps a silver fox? He was. How does he produce a golden fox? Was granny gold? No granny was a phoenix.

    Aagh! What''s going on with my family?! Life couldn''t leave me alone eh, I almost started to feel comfy and now this. Wait. I don''t know anything about my father. Maybe if he was silver then it might have done something. But my mom was surprised to find out that I had an affinity for frost and had never seen it before. So¡­ no silver fox dad¡­ I''m stuck. I decided to sleep and ignore the problem until it goes away.

    The next day, I went to hunt for materials found in the jungle. Chopping some trees, collecting random herbs storing some water just in case. Nothing was safe. I don''t know what stuff I will need so I want to have as much stuff as possible. Am I a hoarder? Maybe but I have near infinite space at my disposal and I keep it neat and catalogued, kinda, I do throw some things in but it''s on an organized pile!  Yoo Vinny!

    ¡°Oh, not with your girlfriend this time?¡±  We split up, do you have any broken-off fangs and claws or something, some scales would work too.

    Vinny abruptly stopped what he was doing. ¡°You split up? What happened?¡±  Different goals, now do you have those?

    ¡°Yes, but I want you to elaborate, you are not doing something reckless again are you?¡±  Ugh, you guys care too much. She needs to focus and I¡¯m a distraction, that basically sums it up.

    ¡°Hmm, you are a distraction indeed, I don''t fully buy it but that''s acceptable for now. I have some of the items you requested, what do you need them for?¡±  I¡¯m entering the last chapter of my training in 4 months or so and I¡¯m going to be blacksmithing and creating weapons and become less shit with a sword.

    ¡°Is there anything you can¡¯t do?¡±  There is a lot I can''t do, that''s why I need your help. I prefer to ask for broken claws and scales than hunting down problematic dragons. I shouldn''t have turned that asshole into a pile of ash if I knew this would happen, all I got were some bones.

    ¡°Hmm I have some but I assume you don''t just need parts for jungle dragons. There are actually some belligerent fire dragons in the mountains nearby that have been annoying us lately. I wouldn''t mind if you use them for missing parts.¡±  I assume they are 2-winged dragons, do you know of any no winged or 4 winged dragons?

    ¡°Actually, I don''t, I only know of no winged dragons from you, and all I know from 4 winged dragons is that they live in very extreme conditions or are domesticated.¡±  Well, I''ve been in some magma chambers and didn''t see any, I think that''s pretty extreme.

    ¡°I guess if you are unable to find them, they must be really rare.¡±  Hey, come on!

    ¡°How many people do you know that jump into hurricanes and live to tell the tale or spend days underwater or chill out in magma chambers?¡±  How would you train different elements then?

    ¡°I don''t know, maybe observe what the humans do and copy that?¡±  That! Hmmm, you have a point.

    ¡°Just wondering, don''t you need metals and rocks for blacksmithing?¡±  Normally yes but I''m trying to make something ancient and strong so it will certainly need unusual and exotic materials. Did you go through the armory in the time capsule?

    ¡°You know I can¡¯t read all that¡­¡±  Ah right, I will put my tails on translating some, it might interest you and also tell you about the dangers you could get into if you''re careless around humans. There was armor made out of dragon scales and bones, don''t end up as someone''s armor.

    ¡°I am more concerned about what they will do with a spirit fox but I will keep that in mind.¡±  Some extremely soft fabric that can both conduct magic well or block it. I have a mountain of fur that I could turn into that it¡¯s just I don''t know much about fabric, it just so happens that I turned the fabric country into a mess quite recently so I might have to delay that. Also¡­ I found this book¡­ it described the effects the blood of legendary and mythical beings can have¡­ I will translate it to draconian because this needs to stay far from human eyes but we must be aware of this.

    ¡°That is very concerning yeah, I could use some more literature, I am slowly running out, probably a downside of longevity.¡±

    I spent the rest of the day in Vinny¡¯s lair translating some parts of the manual that made recommendations on what types of plants to get. Vinny had most of them but I needed 5 that he didn''t have, he also asked me to bring a sample for him if I found them. ¡°The name of this plant bothers me, as far as I know, it doesn''t exist, does it go by another name nowadays? Dewdrop¡­ ¡°  Any idea here it might grow based off its name?

    ¡°Well, most get named by humans so either the name is very specific or doesn''t make sense at all. Pineapple¡­ it''s not an apple and it doesn¡¯t even look or taste like apples either! How does that make sense?¡± ¡±  Fair point, so this either looks like a dewdrop, grows where dew is common, or is completely misleading.

    ¡°Do any of the texts that you have archived talk about it?¡±  Hmm, let¡¯s see.  I put my tails to work to find if there was something.  Oh¡­ how nostalgic.

    ¡°You found something?¡±  Dewdrops are also known as mistflower. I know where mistflowers grow. I could also get some ores from there.

    ¡°Hmm east side of the Umbra mountain range and near where it splits off into the Lucidus mountain range. Or more to the northeast side along the Lucidus mountain range but that¡¯s quite close to witch territory.¡±  Exactly! That¡¯s where we started out, Boshi Town. and is that where the witches live? I never knew.

    ¡°Yeah, their second largest city, Witchaven is near, I wouldn''t recommend going there but since you love trouble, I''m just going to assume that you will end up there sooner or later.¡±  Well, I¡¯m interested in the witch place but not now, can you write down the location of the other 4 plants and a general description of what they look like? I will go do some mining near the basin later, see if there are some cool rocks or metals there, and head out later this week.

    ¡°Ok, I will be visiting the time capsule again so I will be gone in 3 days for an undetermined amount of time¡± Vinny wrote the important details down and we talked a bit. The dragons didn''t seem to want to participate in helping Vinny check up on any other jungle or forest than their own. All were obsessed with their selfish goals. Like eating the most fruit or lazing around all day. Most kept at least the jungle in order.  Playing pranks on you guys was an eye-opener, wasn''t it?

    ¡°Hmm, well we realized it must have been you but you can never be sure, if more humans like Kyle appear it might get troublesome so I guess it¡¯s good to keep us awake.¡±  I won''t be pulling any more pranks after I get all my stuff so if anything, weird happens, it''s not me.

    ¡°Are you moving countries?¡±  Probably, it is very beneficial to stay relatively close to Gittrian if I want to do blacksmithing.

    ¡°I should visit it too, I heard it¡¯s very welcoming to non-humans.¡±  Yeah, it is, we were walking around in funny onesies but only got funny looks when we actually did something weird.

    ¡°I will put it on my agenda, that is probably the best place to learn about humans. I¡¯m slowly becoming tired of how the dragons act here, I can only imagine how it is for those who weren''t raised by dragons.¡±  Good luck, humans have their problems too I just have found more reasonable humans than dragons.

    I went back home and prepared for some diving. I had equipment for mining but it was old and since I didn''t bother learning earth leylines I needed mining tools. It seemed to have gone missing as I had lent it all to Raishin and never got it back. This is a problem. I can create holes easily but I will destroy whatever useful it might contain. I don''t know any mining town besides Boshi town. Do I really have to go there? I still need mistflowers. I guess going there wouldn''t hurt. I will laze around a bit and then head over to Boshi town.

 Vol 2 Ch 62: Where it all began

    Rarely do I lose track of time but relaxing in the jungle just felt too good. It was day 353 and I finally decided to do something. Vinny was still away from visiting the time capsule, maybe he was still there or took a detour. I hope nothing happened.

    Going through the Penumbra and Umbra mountain range would be the shortest route distance wise to get to Boshi town but I can''t run fast through the mountains. I could run around the mountain range which was the long route distance wise but might actually be way faster time-wise. I had over 3 months left. Going through the mountains would certainly take longer. I did know for a fact that the environment in the mountain range is no laughing matter so I decided to go around. The first stop would be Texiha which is near the border, after that, I would follow the mountain range up north.

    I found a small town named Girai not too far from Texiha. Well, that might be inaccurate, but it isn''t far for me. It was about as far from Texiha as Gittrian is. This village was next to the Gittrian river in the mountains but not too deep in. It was a very nice and quiet village.

    They had mining supplies and anything Boshi Town would have, they did mining, logging, fishing, hunting, and more just living off the land. I got to like this place as it was also perfectly located. I will consider this as my next home. The villagers were friendly and I managed to sell some stuff they didn''t have for cheap and asked they had a blacksmith. Interestingly enough, they didn''t.

    They relied on trade with Gittrian to obtain weapons and metal tools. I spent the second night of my trip there and headed north the next morning. Not many settlements were located along the mountain ranges so I had to sleep in trees as I tried to avoid caves because it never ends well when I visit caves.

    I arrived near Boshi Plateau on day 381. It took a bit longer than expected but that was not a problem. I still had an [Dimensional Anchor] home so I could easily teleport back.

    I was expecting merchants to climb up to Boshi Plateau but the barrier was gone so maybe there was a different system in place. I wonder how Philip and Hera are doing, Their memories got wiped so they won¡¯t remember me. Something fell off as I got closer. I started running and saw what was causing the feeling. The ambient mana was over-saturated with light element and there was a huge crater where Boshi Town once stood. The crater gave off traces of divine energy.

    I hid myself in illusions and scanned the area. I didn''t sense anything or anyone nearby and used [Frost cloak] because the ambient light mana was very thick and it was mixed with divine energy.

    I don¡¯t need to guess who did this but why? Did she figure out that Azu escaped? Jerry talked about Boshi town not too long ago so it must have been still there at that time. This does feel as if it happened recently. The site of looking at a hole where Boshi Town once stood wasn''t unfamiliar to me but this hole was even larger and at least the holes we made didn''t leave this much miasma behind.

    We need a dragon to eat all this stuff up but it''s probably going to be a light dragon. I have no idea where they live. I was trying to investigate to find out what happened. I looked down.

    The underground city and the power spot for the spirits were also gone¡­ Was it really necessary for her to wipe everything off the map? Most if not all animals nearby had gotten corrupted with light mana. What a mess. There is not much I could do about this situation, unfortunately. This place needs dragons to eat this mana then possibly a shadow cat to absorb whatever has seeped into the ground, plants, and animals. Possibly elves and 4t to tend to the flora and probably many other things need to happen here and get other races involved. All because a god threw a tantrum. I tried to drive away some mana by controlling the leylines but the mana had to go somewhere.

    Using frost magic here would be a very fast and easy way to turn into an ice cube and die.

    I was unsure on how much mana dragons eat but this certainly is a lot¡­ I replaced [Frost Cloak] with [Shadow cloak]. At least my mana reserves were replenished now. It did absolutely nothing to improve this area though.

    A light-corrupted Boshi gull attacked me and I one-shot it. I went to the hole that I blew in the mountain years ago. Everything here was infused with light. This whole area became hostile to life. I remembered that I needed mistflowers.

    Corrupted, corrupted, they were all corrupted. What do I do now? The more I investigated the angrier I got. It all seemed deliberate. The only things that I could use were clear elemental stones. Well, they weren''t clear anymore, fully charged with light magic but normally you can infuse them with a certain element and use them as a small battery or backup mana source. These things are very useful in crafting weapons. I don''t know anyone who can use light magic so this is a silver lining. But did it really have to happen like this? I fought off more corrupted animals and decided to just cover myself in illusions.

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    I entered a mine that was quite some distance from Boshi town and there I found light-corrupted miners. The corruption was severe so unlikely that it was reversible. I put them out of their misery and tried to bury them but the ground and soil were also corrupted so I had to cremate them. I didn''t want any light-based zombies or things that are even harder to kill.

    Many things are hard to imbue with mana and the air is one of them, all metal ore that was mined was imbued with light. I inspected it and I had no clue when this would wear off. Everything here is worthless now. I sighed.

    I traveled 8 days to come up empty-handed and witness the aftermath of a disaster. My tails popped out and alerted me. I went into stealth and got as many illusion layers on me and went into stealth mode for my Elgards eyes. My tails never do this, that means it only means one thing. I sneaked out of the mine and looked at the hole. I saw an individual surrounded by gold standing there.

    ¡°Come out you witch! You must be here somewhere!¡± I didn''t know if I should be happy or terrified. It seems she doesn''t know I¡¯m here but she knows someone is here. I didn''t take any chances. I tugged on my dimensional anchor and teleported back home. My heart was pounding loudly and I was trying to calm down. She didn''t notice me, did she? This was the second time I encountered her.

    I looked at my hands. They were shaking. I hugged my tails and thanked them for alerting me. I let them analyse whatever little information they gathered and instructed them to dimensional teleport me away the moment something similar happens. I need to make sure I have more locations saved.

    I was unable to calm down for the rest of the day as I was shivering in a corner like a terrified fox wrapped up in my tails. The thought of instant obliteration wouldn¡¯t leave my mind.

    What if she knows I killed her son? I am so fucked! This second encounter just made me realize how weak that clone of her was in Boshi town. She probably dusted herself off and the dust became her clone or something. Never before have I been gripped by fear like this. I couldn''t even think of anything else. The scene when I saved Norya kept repeating in my head. I didn''t have much time to be afraid then as long as I could wake up Norya as she would find out something, she got sealed just like Azu because that tomato bitch couldn''t beat her.

    It took me 2 days to finally calm down. I would have to stay away from that area. Was it smart to go out hunting for materials so soon? Tomato goddess was looking for Azu but what if she finds me and remembers? Norya said she probably won''t but do I want to risk my life on a probability? My hands started trembling again. Wait¡­ what if she finds out that I freed Azu, Norya, and killed her son? I went back to my corner and wrapped myself back in my tails.

    What do I do? How do I fight a god? My fear returned. Why can''t I control this? I have been running around all this time and nothing happened, why can''t I convince myself that this will still be the case? The tips of 2 of my tails started to slowly turn red.

    Ugh, I¡¯m fine, calm down Agnis.  I took deep breaths. Just a small bit of my tail tips were still red. Our tails turn bloodred starting from the tip when we¡¯re extremely stressed. I don''t know what happens if the whole tail turns red but at least this is an indication that the one with red turning tails needs a break. It must have been useful in the past when there were still a lot of us and we could take shifts but that is not possible right now. I doubt that the other races know what this means but it doesn''t take a genius to know that my tails turning red is a bad thing.

    I managed to calm myself down enough and the red disappeared. I jumped into the basin to freshen myself up and I dove to the bottom and tried to mine a bit but I couldn''t put myself into it. I got out of the water and put my clothes to dry. A noise startled me and I started shaking again.

    I tried to zap myself out of it and it didn''t work.

    I sat on my bed exhausted. I couldn''t focus and I seemed to have turned into a wimp.

    Do I talk about it? I will just stress out more people if I do. Do I hide? I can¡¯t hide forever. I think I need to sleep. It will put a dent in my agenda but I should just sleep for a month or 2. My tails will process information and create a better plan. I might have to invest in skills to run from gods or fight them. I don''t know what would work but I do know frost magic works. I still have to master the skills gramps gave me¡­ I will put my tails on that too.

    I made a comfortable ball with my tails. They will take care of everything and hopefully, I will be less stressed and afraid when I wake up. I hope I don''t oversleep.

 Vol 2 Ch 63: Silent Night

    It was a warm night in mid October. A man clothed in black approached a small village.

    ¡°Ahh finally home! After 10 long years!¡± He took a deep breath and let out an edgy laugh. ¡°Hahaha Now I can finally hunt down that brat and kill him. Let¡¯s see how my pupil Esher has been doing all these years.¡±

    He approached the Loud Sun and [Silent Melded]. ¡°Guess who¡¯s back!¡±

    The assassins in the Silent night got put on full alert.

    ¡°Who is this?¡±

    ¡°An intruder?¡±

    ¡°Ahh, right, I have been away for 10 years, allow me to introduce myself, I am the founder of the Silent Night, Arby Sazor.¡±

    The assassins who had gotten ready to defend their base relaxed. ¡°Wait, it¡¯s him it''s THE Silent Night!¡±

    ¡°Of course, where did you think the name of this place came from, now give me a drink I¡¯m both bloodthirsty and thirsty, where is Esher?¡± Arby walked inside.

    ¡°Hey, who are you! Get out of here or else I will turn you into a dragon snack!¡±

    ¡°Who brought this woman here? Step aside.¡± Arby pushed Io to the side.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    Arby entered a room and found Esher in bandages mixing some poisons. ¡°Wow, they released you?¡±

    Arby sat down on a chair, filled a cup with poison and drank it.

    ¡°Ugh, you know that your breath stinks when you do that, I assume you have come to take over the assassins'' guild.¡± Esher waved the toxic fumes away and coughed as Arby''s breath smelled foul whenever he drank poison.

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s mine after all. I want you to stop what you''re doing and investigate someone for me. This brat humiliated me and I won¡¯t stop until he¡¯s dead. Don¡¯t approach him, I will kill him myself.¡±

    ¡°A brat? How is he still alive?¡±

    ¡°He fought me in the cold, you know how I hate the cold, it makes me sluggish but even then, the speed at which he moved, at least I will give him that, very impressive indeed.¡±

    ¡°Oh, interesting, we had an assassin named Agnis not too long ago, he also had otherworldly speed.¡±

    Arby crushed the cup and spilled poison on the floor. ¡°Age? Specialties?¡±

    ¡°Huh? You can''t be serious? Event Horizon is extremely far and even still there is no way a kid would even get out of there.¡±

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    ¡°Age, specialties! Don¡¯t let me repeat myself!¡± Arby started exerting bloodlust. Esher was doing his best to breathe.

    ¡°17 years, speed and precision, he is known for his water magic.¡±

    ¡°Appearance?¡±

    ¡°Black hair with white or silver ends¡­¡±

    Arby slammed the table. ¡°You let that brat into MY guild?!¡±

    A large shadow appeared behind Arby, it extended its arm and grabbed Esher and lifted him up.

    ¡°Hey, Esher what¡¯s wrong, who is this guy?¡± Io walked in.

    ¡°Io, I¡¯m fine¡­¡± The shadow was choking Esher. Io went in for a punch but Arby evaded it and landed a dagger in her stomach.

    ¡°What? How¡­¡± Io dropped to the floor.

    ¡°Quite sturdy this bitch, too bad you sullied my guild. It is time for a cleansing. Letting the one who humiliated me inside my guild just to humiliate me further! I won¡¯t forgive you Esher!¡± Esher tried to escape from the chokehold. He managed to knock over a candle that briefly shone bright light before it crashed on the floor which allowed for Esher to escape. ¡°It¡¯s a shame, you were such a good pawn.¡± Arby used [Dark Nova] and the large shadow behind him got another arm with a scythe. the scythe swiped at Esher.

    Esher clumsily evaded as his wounds slowed him down. The shadow''s free arm grabbed Esher.

    ¡°Aaagh!¡± Bones could be heard cracking and snapping and then it went silent. The large shadow hand tossed the lifeless body to the side. Assassins came into the room and Arby cut them down gracefully and effortlessly.

    ¡°Who are all these maggots, so weak.¡±

    Arby kept killing anyone he laid eyes on.

    Suddenly everything was quiet. No assassins were left. Arby looked around and took a cigarette and a lighter out of his unblemished suit.

    ¡°A bit rusty but still good enough.¡± Arby lit his cigarette and made sure to inhale all of the toxic cigarette fumes.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I missed someone.¡± He stomped on the head of an assassin that survived, crushing his skull. Blood splattered on Arby¡¯s suit. ¡°You bastard!¡± He kept stomping on the corpses, splattering blood everywhere.

    ¡°I lost interest, I don¡¯t need this place anymore.¡¯ He visited the room that held the records. ¡°He said the brat¡¯s name was Agnis, let¡¯s see.¡± He held a file. ¡°Agnis, Hourai, 17 years old, no role or adventure name but C-rank. Water magic user, I recognize his face, this is him yes.¡± Arby [Silent Melded] out.

    ¡°I wonder if Bernard still works here. I will consider him lucky.¡± He looked at the Loud Sun. ¡°It would look strange after all if a normal bar would disappear overnight.¡± Arby used [Shadow cloak] and disappeared into the night.

    <hr>

    A body moved in the Silent Night.

    ¡°Owowow that hurt!¡± Io held her hand at the wound which was slowly closing. She got up but almost instantly dropped to her knees. ¡°Guys? This joke isn''t funny. Esher? Shade? Jimmy? Hey guys! Answer! Please!¡± Io checked if there were any survivors and the tears started flowing when she realized that she was the only survivor.

    ¡°Be strong Io! Humans die, humans¡­ die¡­¡± Io wandered through the empty Silent Night wondering how to get out. She sat outside the Silent Night and cried.

    Her dragon senses picked up something. The shadows rippled and a boy in a donkey suit appeared.

    ¡°Yo, I¡¯m Kyle, is this the Silent Night? Agnis sent me.¡± He showed an umbral pendant.

 Vol 2 Ch 64: Relocating

    My tails were notifying me about something.  Just 2 more days, I haven''t slept so well in a long time.  My tails notified me 2 days later.

    How about 5 more hours? What? I''ve asked for 2 more days for the last month?! Why didn''t you wake me up!  I uncurled and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. What was the date? I was still sleepy and almost fell back asleep. I activated my Elgards eyes.

    January 39th¡­ It''s almost February! I overslept! I tried to get up but my body was still asleep and I fell over. I tried to wake my body up but my body felt like sleeping. I rolled out my hideout into the basin. That woke me up properly. I stretched and floated on the water It felt great! It almost felt like I had gone into hibernation. Technically I did, What have my tails been up to?

    Hmm they figured out the magic gramps taught me; I just need to practice. They ordered and re-catalogued my dimensional pocket, made frost marbles, totally forgot about those. Came up with new ideas for skills and more. Hmm, my tails actually get more done when I''m asleep than when I¡¯m awake. Is this why 9t sleep even though they technically don''t have to sleep? We only need 1 night per month at minimum. Maybe I should up the length of my sleep and lower the frequency. I still need to figure out that full-moon stuff. I needed to check something too.

    I reconnected with the air leyline currents and started to calibrate. 5.7% affinity and 5% authority. I used [Waterfall] and the boost was noticeable. Now time to test the first magic skill gramps tried to teach me. I disconnected from the leyline currents and cast [Pneuma Boreas] but the speed my magic circle appeared and disappeared shocked me. That was fast! A strong wind blew and froze the area around me and created an enormous light blue fox that possessed 9 tails and was made out of frost magic. It reminded me of Ted¡¯s [Bear Avatar] but more solid and probably way stronger. I put my hand on it.

    The frost magic was well under control. It sucked up the mana in the surroundings but it wasn''t going to me but the [Pneuma Boreas]. I tried to make it hide 8 tails and it did. Now I would like to see what it does but¡­ The jungle was slowly freezing over so I cancelled it. Since I was at maximum mana it had nowhere to go so it turned into a small frost fox and hopped on my shoulder.

    Wow, this is adorable, thanks gramps!  I could feel how much mana this thing was holding. I wonder if I could clean up the Boshi Town area with this.

    So, the other skill [Kryokym] returns all the mana as damage that I had absorbed with frost magic. I always wondered why frost magic was seen as so strong when it had so few damage options but these 2 seem strong enough to put a dent in anyone''s defenses. My tails also had worked out the 2 skills I was supposed to teach Hisui if I ever meet her.

    One skill is funnily named [Thalia]. I can¡¯t use it but how funny would it be if Thalia could use it. It is illusion magic but its laced with charm too. I tried it out but only the part that was illusion went through.

    Yeh, this skill was useless for me, for female 9t who are not as good at using illusions as the males this might be very useful though. I started to formulate a countermeasure for it because I¡¯m sure Hisui will use this on me the moment I teach her this. The other one is [Pneuma Nefriti] which uses nature energy. I¡¯m not skilled enough in nature energy to use this but it seems to do something similar to my [Pneuma Boreas] probably with different properties. It would surely be strong here in the jungle.

    I felt so refreshed and so light! Wait, light? I really need a 9t doctor, I don''t know if it''s normal to keep getting lighter. I wondered what Healerguy was up to. I petted [Pneuma Boreas].

    I appreciate the skill gramps but this name is too long. I need a cool name for this fox. It had a nice light blue color so I decided to name it after the primal word for blue, [Nilah]. Nilah seemed to act like a pet, kind of like Ignis. Seems there are still some things about magic I don''t understand.

    I connected with the air leyline currents. Nilah didn''t seem to like it but she didn''t disappear. Magic and leyline energy have a bad compatibility so I wonder how this will go. I practiced various water moves to get back in the habit of moving. Nilah behaved and rested on my head since that was the only part of my body that didn''t move a lot. After 4 hours I felt like my body loosened up. I was not tired which was a pleasant surprise. I feel overpowered but if this would be enough to kill that tomato bitch¡­ unlikely.

    Cleaning up my hideout came up next and the collected fur got stored in my dimensional pocket. I already overslept by a month so I can¡¯t waste more time. I will go to that village, Girai, that I found last year and set up a small blacksmith shop there and then figure out how I''m going to balance blacksmithing and collecting materials but I first have to get there. I also just realized I spent my birthday sleeping, Happy belated birthday to myself, I guess. Why am I always sleeping on my birthday? I started running and arrived at Girai the same day.

    Good evening, sir, I am planning to move here and set up a small blacksmith shop, is there any place you could recommend?

    ¡°Ooh, I remember you, You''re the nice guy that sold us those weird yet useful items last year. Hmm, there is an abandoned house near the river over there, I don''t know if you can see it.¡± I looked at where the old man pointed. Yes, I see it. Can I use it?

    ¡°Well, nobody is using it, we were thinking of breaking it down but I don''t see why you can¡¯t have it. You will have to make it habitable yourself though. That is a very cute fox you have by the way¡±  That is fine and thank you.

    ¡°I will tell the others that we have a new person in our midst and that you¡¯re using that old house, come and say hi in the morning.¡± The old man left. I inspected the old house. It had seen better days. I could probably fix it up all nice and well by using some shadow clones and working all night but that''s gonna look weird when the villages see a fixed-up house in the morning. I have to look normal. Even if I have slept for so long, I decided to sleep again. Nights are quite boring without anything to do. I curled up with Nilah in my tails and blended in with the old house.

    The next morning, I went to greet the villagers. It was a warm greeting; I got a lot of free stuff to help renovate my house. I was wondering how to renovate it without looking out of place. I don''t know how long it takes for these things normally. I also don''t have experience in building. Luckily, I know people that do. I guess having connections is quite useful.  How long would it take to get to Gittrian from here?

    ¡°3 weeks by foot, 3 days if you take a boat and follow the river." Another old man pointed at the river. "It is called the Gittrian river for a reason, it connects many villages like ours to Gittrian, while anyone can send materials easily to Gittrian like this, skilled water users are needed to bring boats upstream."  And I assume there are not many water users so the boats return infrequently?

    "Yes, once every 2 weeks so Gittrian sends supplies over once a week with a truck to compensate."  A term that I don¡¯t know, what is that?

    "Oh, it¡¯s fairly new, based off ancient technology, I don¡¯t know how it works exactly but it¡¯s a bigger version of a car. You must have seen those."  Uh metal boxes on wheels, there is a city that''s full of them.

    "These trucks are made to carry a lot of materials. "  Ooh I know! They sent one before to pick up something I sold.  So that thing they sent was a truck. But it''s not new then. Then again, I don''t know how long it takes before something isn''t new anymore. I decided to pretend to take a boat so that I only had to be away for 6 days instead of 6 weeks.  Hey, mind if I borrow a boat? I''m a water user, I will see if I can take another boat back.

    "Ohh how reliable! Talk to Gregory over there he owns most of the boats."  Gregory eh¡­  I walked over to Gregory who was obviously not the Greg I know.

    Yoo Greg¡­ I mean good morning, Gregory, I heard that you own most of the boats. I was wondering if I can borrow one to head over to Gittrian and bring some boats back. I''m a water user. I showed him my adventurer''s ID card.

    "Ooh that''s a lot of help. I have loaded this boat here with lumber. The boat is a bit heavy so watch out it might capsize if you''re careless but you should be more focused on your own safety first. Don''t get yourself into trouble over some lumber, there are many trees but just one you."  Thanks, I appreciate it. What about the person that was supposed to man this boat?  Gregory pointed to the fleet of boats that were waiting on the riverbank.

    "Our ability to send these off can''t keep up with the amount of materials we produce. We are relying mostly on the water users that go back and forth between Gittrian. Anyone can bring a boat there but getting back is the problem."  I see, suffering from success, eh? I will see what I can do.

    "Thanks. Whenever you arrive get this boat to dock 12. It is the dock where all Girai''s materials get dropped off and where all our boats are waiting to return. Our shipwright or well more specifically boatwright is getting tired of making boats. He is supposed to be our carpenter but everything slows down if we can''t exchange products. So, we dubbed him Boatwright, he hates the name but it''s good to have a laugh once in a while."  So, we have a boat situation. Dock 12 gotcha, I will probably be back in a week or so.

    "Take your time, our village would not be so flourishing if we needed one youngster to work his ass off." I stepped into the boat. It had enough space for 2 people and the rest was cargo. There was enough room for me to move around, which was perfect. Nilah jumped on my head while I connected to the air leyline currents and [Flushed] the boat into the river. The currents took the boat and I was heading toward Gittrian. I didn''t have to do much; the strong currents carried the boat at a comfortable speed. As Gregory said anyone could do this, just sit back and relax. I petted Nilah while looking at the scenery. I passed some villages that also seemed to have the boat problem and waved at some of them.

    2 boats approached from the opposite direction and I saw 2 water users working hard to go against the current. They moored at the village that I just passed because it was getting dark. I had no intention of doing the same nor do I need to. This boat ride was quite pleasant if not a bit boring so I sent Nilah to fish. She dipped her tail in the water and froze the fish when they came near.

    Does this magic fox eat? I chomped on the fish while Nilah ate the other. Magic is so strange. At one moment it follows a logical set of rules and at another moment it does something completely unexpected. How does this small fox that''s made out of magic eat? Is this why it took so much effort and time to master this? Just forming a fox shape out of frost is easy but I wouldn''t get these results. How fascinating. Nilah awakened my interest in magic again.

    I studied her behaviour for the whole night. She seemed to be acting as I would expect a fox to act. I don¡¯t know much about foxes so that doesn''t say much, even though I''m a fox myself. Nilah didn''t give off mana just like me. She was made out of frost magic after all. I poked her and the fur seemed to be made out of snow so it wasn''t unpleasant to touch her. I wonder how long it took gramps to make this magic skill. I wouldn''t be surprised if it took a good 100 or 200 years.

    The next day arrived and I could see Gittrian in the distance without my Elgards eyes. I might have to do this quite often, just to help the village out. I¡¯ve only seen 4 boats come back upstream in total and there is no guarantee that Girai was their final destination.

    Girai seems to be the last stop though because further upstream and the river becomes extremely rough for boats and it becomes mountainous and has cascades. A fleet of boats in front of me was moving slowly. I activated my Elgards eyes. Most of the people on the boats seemed to be adventurers. They might have Gittrian as their destination and are helping the villagers out in exchange for a fast ride. My boat seemed to be going slightly faster than theirs so I might catch up by tomorrow.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    Is this boat just faster? Of any reason I could think of the one that made the most sense is that my boat is lighter because I am lighter.

    These villagers seemed to have figured out how to load these boats with about the same weight of cargo regardless of what type of cargo it was carrying. I guess they found out what would be the most efficient. Maybe that¡¯s why these boats aren''t that big. A lot of thought must have gone into this system.

    Realisation set in if I was a normal human this would have been a problem, I wanted to go to Gittrian to get supplies, and I would have normally had to put them on the boats to get them back. If these boats have a weight limit, then that would have never worked. I analysed the boats and cargo. It seems I could add more than 200 kg before the boats would run into trouble.

    The boats that had 2 people on them didn''t seem to have issues and since Nilah and I don''t weigh anything I could put 2 people¡¯s worth of cargo extra. I guess that¡¯s not as bad as I don''t shop lightly so this was good news. We were getting close to catching up to the fleet in front of me on the third day of my boat ride but Gittrian was quite close but it might not become an issue. I only saw 6 boats go upstream in total and I see 1 more approaching. Meanwhile, there was a fleet in front of me and several boats behind me. The ports where these boats end up must be an enormous chaos.

    Our boat was nearing an enormous gate that had the function of pre-sort the boats. I used the rudder and steered the boat toward the section of the gate that would lead toward docks 11-15 and arrived at dock 12, 10 minutes later. I tied the boat to some sort of pier.

    Lumber from Girai.

    ¡°Thanks, I will register its arrival.¡±  I am a water user and I will bring a boat back or multiple, if possible, is there anything I should know about this process?

    ¡°Oh, more help is always welcome. Follow me to the hangar.¡± I placed Nilah on my head and followed him to a big building on the water with a large 12 on it. He opened the door and hundreds if not thousands of boats were loaded and ready to go. There seemed to be different areas clearly indicating how much extra weight they could carry. There were even empty boats.  Whoa.

    ¡°See that counter over there? Whenever you leave tell them your destination and what boat you take, look next to every boat there is a pole with a number. You state your name, destination, and boat number. Skilled water users tend to take one cargo boat and one empty boat so make sure to make this clear too. That¡¯s all. I would recommend taking lighter boats if it¡¯s your first time, people tend to underestimate the force of water, and depending on your destination you will be at it for 5 days or more.¡±

    I will be taking that into consideration, thank you.  I looked around for a bit and then left and tried to navigate toward the Yttroz Industries headquarters. It was a large and well-known building so it shouldn''t be hard to find it it''s just¡­ Gittrian is huge. So many streets and buildings, even more people, most streets looked similar. I tried to find my way without cheating with my eyes but I got lost so I had to rely on them once again. I tried to sneak into the building because I didn''t want a VIP welcome like the last time but I forgot about the anti-shadow guards.

    ¡°Hey! Who goes there? Wait isn''t that?!¡±  Ugh, this buddy system is a royal pain.  The guards were excited and escorted me to the VIP section.

    ¡°Hey, Jeremiah, guess who we found sneaking around!¡±  Sup Jerry.

    Jerry had just arrived in the VIP section and was wearing a neat suit. ¡°And why were you sneaking around?¡±  It was a failed attempt to avoid this VIP treatment¡­

    ¡°I see you haven''t changed, what can I do for you? And that is a cute pet¡±  I¡¯m setting up a blacksmith workshop up in Girai, I got an old house but it''s¡­ old, it needs to be fixed but I don¡¯t know anything about building. I also need supplies.  I gave Jerry a long list of things I need. My tails compiled with this list while I was sleeping.

    I don¡¯t care how much it costs; I will pay for it.

    ¡°Hmm, I can speed up this request for construction, most of these materials we can send out whenever you need it, others might take a while. There is the problem of transportation to Girai but I assume you will be involved as a water user?¡±  Yup

    ¡°And you don¡¯t need to pay for anything.¡±  Uhh, why is that?

    ¡°Well 10% of whatever the Hourai Rubies as a currency earn and 1% of those processed into jewelry, trinkets etc. will be collected by Yttroz Industries and will go to you. You are 18 now so you are entitled to it now but I assume you have more than enough gold on you already. So, my suggestion is that we will just subtract from whatever we¡¯re holding for you and cover the costs from that.¡±  Oh, that sounds like a good idea, just curious, how much gold are we talking about?  Jerry gestured to an assistant who gave him a tablet.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see at the moment we¡¯re holding 41 527 gold for you.¡±  ¡­ Hey, if you guys are ever in need of money just use that. I give permission. Also, if I ever cause problems, you can pay damages from that because you guys will probably have to fix that.

    ¡°Ehh, ok I will keep that in mind. We did have to subtract some to fix the hole you made in the ground some months ago and to redesign the sewer system in Texiha, apologies for not notifying you about this.¡±  Ehh, it''s fine.

    ¡°Also.¡± Jerry gestured to the assistant again. ¡°We forgot the last time you were here but this is for you, it is the very first Hourai Ruby that was made as a currency, every Hourai Ruby has a number, this one has the number 0. A recent trend has come up that prices the lower numbers even higher than those with higher numbers.¡±  Ugh, can these guys just stop, all I did was sell some rubies¡­  I accepted the Hourai Ruby. It had its usual inscription proving its authenticity and it had a number next to it indeed.

    ¡°I know that this annoys you to no end so I will just tell you for how much the Hourai Ruby with the number 1022 went 2 weeks ago. It went for 7089 gold.¡±  These idiots¡­ don¡¯t they run out of gold?

    ¡°We are trying our best to keep the worth of them low but that¡¯s hard when they become scarcer and scarcer because more and more people use it as a collector¡¯s item and a status symbol. We might have to take action and stop using it as a currency. The initial idea was to keep their value at 1000 gold. We didn''t expect it to be this popular.¡±  A hypothetical, what would happen if I give you more ruby crystals and you make more Hourai Rubies, would their worth decrease?

    ¡°In theory yes, practically¡­ we might get a shortage of gold if you do that so even though we appreciate it, please don''t¡­¡±  So, what if I sold you guys gold to turn into coins?

    ¡°We would be able to control the worth of gold because nobody knows how much gold Yttroz Industries possesses so that could be a solution yes.¡±  Right, I kinda caused this mess so I hope I can help out, bring me to an empty warehouse or something with a lot of room.

    ¡°For someone who doesn''t care about money you sure do keep getting richer¡­¡±  Just use whatever gold you have stored up for me to pay for it, it probably won''t stay at 0 for long anyways¡­  Jerry brought me to an empty storage space. I dumped all the golden items I don''t need in this room.

    I don''t know how much this is worth but just add the difference back to whatever gold you were holding for me if it¡¯s more than that.

    ¡°Wait, you want to pay for this, using your personal saved-up funds, and if it¡¯s worth exceeds that number to add the difference back? You do know you are trying to pay us to take this gold off you, are you truly insane?¡±  I guess that didn''t work¡­

    ¡°We will add the worth of this to your personal savings.¡± He snapped his fingers and 5 appraisers went to work. ¡°I will arrange for a team to help you renovate your house as well ready the supplies, where should we drop them off?¡±  Hangar 12 for the small boats.

    ¡°How long will you be staying? We need at least 2 days to get everything you need.¡±  2 days is fine; I can kill some time.

    ¡°We also need to hire some more water users because we need several boats.¡±  Oh no I got this.  Jerry looked up from his device.

    ¡°Sure¡­ come back here in 2 days. The supplies will be ready by then, there are just some things I want to discuss; the team won''t be ready yet but they will be in Girai by the end of the week."

    I left and had to take detours to avoid important-looking people. I tried to leave through the normal entrance but I got spotted by guards and they all wanted to talk to me.

    I don''t like this celebrity vibe. I might have to develop some kind of illusion that makes me appear as a forgettable background character. I have done this before but it needs to be more of a passive effect. I escaped the guards and put a tail to work. Gittrian is a city where race doesn''t matter but I still can¡¯t walk with at least 1 tail out. Because the fox beast kin has gone extinct so even as a regular fox, I will gain attention. Nilah was gaining quite some attention though.

    ¡°Oh my god! It¡¯s so cute!¡± 3 chicks approached me.

    ¡°What is its name? Can I pet it?¡±  Her name is Nilah and sure.  The chicks petted her and Nilah stole some mana from them.  Right, she likes mana so be careful, she might steal it all.

    ¡°Ooh, interesting! What type of fox is she?¡±  It¡¯s a magic skill.

    ¡°Wait really? She looks and behaves so real!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m getting a bit dizzy¡­¡±  Then stop petting her! I told you she loves to steal mana.

    ¡°But she¡¯s so fluffy!¡± Nilah didn''t seem to like the excessive petting and stole more mana. I had to pull her away from the chicks and they acted like I was taking their baby away.

    ¡°Wait! I still have mana left!¡±  Don''t let her steal more of your mana!  I escaped. Nilah seemed satisfied with her mana snack or well more like a buffet. I entered the Adventurers Association and the first thing I did was to check if Healerguy was here. The coast seemed clear. I wanted to ask if he was in Gittrian but I forgot his name.

    ¡°You have a mountain of personal requests; you might want to check them.¡± Was what the clerk said.

    I checked them, most were just people interested in having the new role in their party, and a lot were expired. There were 3 that were valid or didn''t involve teaming up. One read: Good to know you didn''t kick the bucket yet. Written by Gregory Sheru. I see so he¡¯s doing fine. Another one was anonymous and just said: Die! I guess my first hater. And the last one read: I did it!

    I headed over to the area where the new adventurers liked to hang out and looked through the role names. Nothing changed except for one role name. Eternal Desertflower. I thought she wanted to change it to Alluring Desertflower but Eternal Desertflower suits her too. So, she finally did it. I wonder what Thalia was up to now. Her next goal was even harder.

    Nilah and I sat down in a small restaurant inside of the Adventurers Association and relaxed. Nilah was destroying a paper cup so I had to put her on my head, far away from anything that could be destroyed. It was quite late; I could go shopping but I would only have an hour before most places would close. I decided to get a room with a game console and do some gaming.

 Vol 2 Ch 65: Gittrian II

    I went out the next day and went shopping. I did my best to not buy everything as I had a habit of just buying everything. Most of it was food. I want to have enough food for several or 1 prolonged [Silver Torrent]. I dodged another group of people that seemed to be interested in Nilah.

    Hey Nilah can you be less cute? You''re giving me a hard time.  She gave me some mana.

    That''s not helping¡­  Nilah had spent most of the day stealing mana from strangers. Maybe Nilah is not really an attack but more a trap. So cunning! Gramps is a genius!

    I was chilling on a bench when I saw a familiar face.

    Nilah attack!  Nilah ran at this guy and took him down with a tackle. Surprisingly strong this little fox.

    ¡°What the! A small fox? Agnis what happened to you!¡± Vinny in human form picked up Nilah. He had short light green hair and a tough build. He did have a friendly face however.  I¡¯m over here you dumbass.

    ¡°Oh! You didn''t turn into a small fox! How are you?¡±  Shopping and avoiding humans that want to pet Nilah.

    ¡°So that''s her name. She¡¯s¡­ stealing my mana¡­ she¡¯s not a living being, is she?¡± I took Nilah from Vinny and put her on my head.  It¡¯s a skill. I have something I need to discuss with you by the way, I¡¯m glad I don''t have to go all the way to Jubra.

    ¡°I was just heading toward the library, let''s go there.¡±  Oh, I might find a friend there.  We arrived and I asked if they knew someone by the name of Gregory Sheru but it seems we missed him by a day. Apparently, he went to an archaeological site. He always liked old stuff. We found a quiet spot and I told him what happened to Boshi Town. I could see that Vinny got upset.

    ¡°They really don''t care about those down here, do they?¡± He said as he slamemd his fist on the table which garnered the attention of everyone around us. I covered us in illusions to make this meeting a bit more... private.

    Seems so and I hope this one here is a good countermeasure to those deities. I said as I played with Nilah.

    ¡°I wonder what the other Sarian deities are up to¡±  Well one is sealed away and the rest is probably up to no good.

    ¡°Well, I wouldn''t be able to eat that light-based miasma it would just corrupt me or at best give me a stomach ache.¡± Vinny showed his disgust, indicating that light mana might taste bad.  Thought so, I thought at first that dragons were immune to mana corruption but it makes more sense that they''re immune to the corruption of mana that they''re affiliated to.

    ¡°Light dragons are so rare¡­ maybe Nilah can do something?¡±  I don''t know if it''s possible but there was a lot of mana there. I think a dragon is best.

    ¡°And are you sure you''re fine? A close encounter with an angry goddess seems terrifying.¡±  I''m fine now, I had to put myself to sleep for 3 months though.

    ¡°So that''s why I couldn''t find you. I don''t know if you''ve heard but your girlfriend succeeded in her goal!¡±  Yeah, I saw.

    ¡°Also, Kyle teamed up with a chick and seems to be hunting someone down. I don''t know the specifics though. I just heard something when I registered to become an adventurer.¡±  Ooh, I expected him to train at Silent Night by now. Maybe he found a girlfriend and thought ''screw this''. I hope he¡¯s not hunting me down for revenge or something.

    Vinny shook his head. ¡°I would 100% hunt you down if you were responsible for everyone calling me Toxic Donkey¡­¡±  So what role are you going for?

    ¡°I¡¯m still undecided but leaning toward Unstoppable Beast. It is hard to control my magic to make sure I don''t kill any humans so I don''t think I can go for Crimson Eagle.¡±  Yeah, humans are squishy. Mastering the sword might make it easier for me to deal with humans. Both assassination and my leylines are meant for killing or will kill.

    ¡°Swords were lethal weapons last time I checked¡­¡°  I can just land shallow cuts or hit with the back of the sword.

    ¡°Hmm well, you seem like a speed type so that should work, speed types don''t pack much of a punch in general.¡±  I have a solution for that!  I put an ancient text on the table that I swiped from the time capsule weapon room.  It is possible to make weapons that scale off your speed.

    ¡°Right because they needed to make you even more dangerous.¡±  I want to also see if there is a way to make some of my skills do that so that they aren''t necessarily tied to my magical attack which is stupid high or my physical attack which is almost non-existent.

    ¡°So, you want to tie it to your speed that''s also stupidly high?¡±  Yes!

    ¡°You make no sense¡­ but good luck, as long as you don''t end up fighting me, I don''t care that much.¡±  Anyways back to you being an adventurer, what is your goal?

    Vinny crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. He thought for a bit and then leaned forward. ¡°Experience in general, being able to defend myself better but also with humans and other races. Gittrian is quite welcome but I wonder how this goes outside Gittrian.¡±  Good luck to you too and greet the Toxic Donkey when you see him.

    ¡°I will, and you go find the Eternal Desertflower!¡±  Did her adventurer''s name also change?

    ¡°Yeah, it suits her from what you''ve told me. I just hope she doesn''t stick her nose where it will get her killed.¡±  I hope she stays away from that cult, they have ideals that align with her goals.

    We talked a bit and Vinny had to go on a mission.  Have fun as an adventurer!

    ¡°Thanks, you be careful, stay out of trouble.¡±

    I left the library and went to the park to practice. Nilah was attracting a lot of attention.  Hey Nilah, can you tone that cuteness down, I¡¯m trying to practice here.

    2 random human women appeared ¡°Can I pet her?¡±  She will steal your mana, just so you know,

    ¡°Ooh, what breed is it?¡±

    ¡°What does she eat?¡±

    ¡°Where did you get her?¡±  Hey, can¡¯t you see I¡¯m practicing here? Nilah get them!  I continued practicing while Nilah stole the mana of 2 women harassing me.

    2 men in funny uniforms arrived. ¡°Excuse me is this your pet?¡±  Technically not¡­

    ¡°We are from the Gittrian Security and we¡¯re investigating a case of a lot of citizens getting their mana stolen.¡±  Stolen?! Unacceptable! Who would do that?! Can I help?

    They pointed at Nilah. ¡°We think that is the culprit.¡±  Well, I warn them that she will do that but they still pet her just like those chicks.  I pointed at the women who were cuddling and giving Nilah a hard time while getting their mana stolen.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you keep your pet under control?¡±  She¡¯s not killing anyone or turning this whole city into a frozen wasteland so I think I have her under control pretty well.

    ¡°I will need you to control her better or come with us.¡±

    ¡°Officers can¡¯t you see how cute she is?¡± The humans helped me out.

    ¡°She¡¯s not harming us!¡±  See they agree with me.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°He still needs to come with us.¡±  They tell you that you are wrong, what more do you need?

    ¡°We are convinced that you are a problem.¡±  Hey, chicks you''re seeing this right?

    ¡°Officers, it¡¯s nothing really! We¡¯re not using this mana anyways we just want to pet this cute thing.¡°

    ¡°He is disturbing the order.¡±  Alright, how about this, they are disturbing my privacy by disturbing my alone time.

    ¡°I need you to still come with us.¡±  Ugh, listen I know you are trying to do your job but to be honest you¡¯re not doing it well, I have warned them, but you guys see what''s going on, and look, they''re still petting Nilah, and I can translate her behaviour for you, she doesn''t like it that much, hey chicks can you leave her alone, please?

    ¡°Aww ok.¡± Nilah was finally released and jumped at me.

    ¡°Last warning, you¡¯re coming with us!¡± I sighed.  Ugh, fine.  I followed the officers. I got brought in for a crime I didn''t commit.

    ¡°So, your pet has caused 14 cases of mana depletion, we would like you to restrain it or not bring her into the city.¡±

    ¡°Where did you get it?¡± so many questions.

    She didn''t attack anyone, are you guys against self-defense? And I got her from my gramps. Now what is it that you want me to do?

    ¡°We will either confiscate her or you have to leave the city.¡±  Alright, Nilah, we¡¯re leaving, also you better make sure that the supplies I ordered will arrive at the correct place, also explain to Jerry why I can¡¯t have an important conversation, also bring back some boats up the river.

    ¡°That is not our responsibility.¡± I tried to think of any reason why these people are so difficult. My initial response is to fight back but I think I did well so far. What they were asking was quite unreasonable. I¡¯m not going to leave Nilah behind and I¡¯m not leaving the city.  So, what would be the scenario in which I get to keep Nilah and stay in the city?

    ¡°There is none.¡±  Right with all due respect, you guys are unreasonable, you''ve wasted my time with nonsense. Goodbye.

    ¡°Then we will have to discipline you with force!¡±  Oh, trust me you don''t want to do that, your best shot is to solve this with words.  They got some batons out.

    Ugh, I guess Yttroz Industries will have to pull more gold out of my personal account.

    <hr>

    I walked around eating some self-made pineapple ice cream and shared some with Nilah. I did my best to ignore the smoke plume behind me and people running to see what happened. I made sure to use some illusions to make sure nobody would accurately recall that I was there. I tried, but they didn''t want to listen. I will fess up to Jerry although he would probably find out it was me. I decided to stay low until tomorrow since I clearly can¡¯t stay out of trouble.

    This is your fault  Nilah ignored me and kept eating ice cream. I went back to my room and did some more gaming. I had to pause halfway because Nilah was making a mess out of the place. Is this really just a magic skill?

    <hr>

    Nilah woke me up the next morning. Someone was at the door.  Who is it?  I opened the door and it was Jerry.

    ¡°What did you do this time?¡± He came in and I closed the door.  I have no idea what you''re talking about.

    ¡°The incident at the city guard office yesterday, you weren''t involved in it, do you? Nobody could miraculously remember what happened. I only know 1 person that has strange things happen around him.¡±  Uhh well¡­  I explained what happened.

    ¡°Well, they were in the wrong but so were you!¡±  You can subtract the costs from my personal stuff.

    ¡°I think this one is on them anyways, they will pay for it, now it¡¯s time to do business right, you said you wanted to start a blacksmith workshop right? How about you have a partnership with us? We will do our utmost best to get the best materials to you as fast as we can and in exchange, we can put up specific commissions that will be exclusive to us. How about it?¡±  Sure, I don''t know how long it will take for me to get back into it but I think that''s a good deal, it¡¯s just¡­ I¡¯m not going to be a full-time blacksmith.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, you won''t need materials when you''re not blacksmithing right?¡± Jerry smiled and held out his hand. ¡°We are expecting a lot from you.¡± I shook his hand.  You are expecting too much from me, really.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± He took out a dagger that I recognized. ¡°We bought this dagger 2 years ago; it was sold in Ainahs. It was in high demand but we managed to get our hands on one. It looks like a normal dagger but it''s 40% lighter and stronger. While not the peak of blacksmithing, it''s impressive work, even more since the creator was 14 years old when he created it.¡± He looked at me.  Well, I haven''t touched a hammer or felt the heat of a forge since then so I might be completely shit at it.

    ¡°I doubt it and even if that¡¯s the case, we still think it¡¯s important to show our good will toward you. I already said it back in Boshi Town, we will support your blacksmithing needs. All the materials that you have requested have been successfully delivered to dock 12. We are still handling the paperwork but that should be done in about 2 hours, after which you should be able to depart without issues.¡± He walked to the door and opened it. ¡°Try to stay out of trouble.¡± He stepped through the door and paused. ¡°Do you by any chance know the Eternal Desertflower?¡±  Yes, I do, why?

    ¡°Hmm interesting, no it¡¯s nothing, stay out of trouble.¡± He closed the door and left. What was that about?

    Nilah! Did you eat my snacks again? You gluttonous vixen!  I cleaned up the room and put the now-asleep Nilah on my head. This little fox surely was training my balance. She was quite light so she would fall off my head if I didn''t keep my head straight. I headed down and saw someone I didn¡¯t want to see.

    I swear, can''t you just chill in other cities?!  I tried to run but Nilah almost fell off my head and I got dogpiled by 2 Golden Angels while trying to catch Nilah.

    ¡°Right, let¡¯s see what strange afflictions you have this time.¡±  Oh, come on you can''t expect me to have something new every time you see me.

    ¡°Well, there is only one way to figure out, bring him up.¡±  Hey fellow adventurers? Do you see this? It''s kidnapping! Why doesn''t anyone help me?!  I got carried to a place I hoped to never see again.

    ¡°I see that you''ve picked up a cute companion. Is it an alien too?¡±  Will you be happy if I say yes?  Nilah curled up in my arms, it seems she didn''t like Healerguy and I don''t blame her.

    ¡°I have never seen that type of fox before.¡±  It''s a magic skill.  Healerguy dropped his pen.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±  You dropped your pen.

    ¡°What did you say she was?¡±  Ehhm, now what was it, I can¡¯t seem to remember!

    ¡°I know that you don''t have brain damage, your memory can''t be this bad!¡±  Why are you so nosy! I said she is a magic skill, not an animal or monster or anything else.

    ¡°Fascinating, you always come with interesting afflictions, but now you brought a strange lifeform.¡±  Eh, wait she¡¯s alive?

    ¡°I have no clue but it looks like it, well it¡¯s time for your check-up. Get him guys.¡± He pointed at me and some unfamiliar chicks came at me.  Hey you''re not using me as a subject to teach new Golden Angels, are you?

    ¡°Hmm, I wonder, I can¡¯t seem to remember.¡±  Ugh, Healerguy you suck!

    <hr>

    ¡°Strangely healthy as always, it does seem you had recent exposure to a lot of light mana. What little mana you have left is slightly shifted into light. Since light and dark don''t appear in people¡¯s mana balance this is easy to find out. For the rest¡­ completely healthy and everything is normal except you have seemed to have lost weight¡­ ¡°  So, can I go now?

    ¡°You can go¡­ We can¡¯t get any readings from Nilah¡­ She doesn''t give off mana just like you. I will discover your secret one day!¡±  Good luck with that, cya.

    I was wondering how I was supposed to kill time before I had to leave but Healerguy solved the problem for me. I had 30 minutes before I could go so, I slowly started to walk toward the dock. I arrived on time and indicated that I would be taking all 5 boats with me. Whoever was in charge here for today started asking difficult questions but I said I would be fine. I hopped on the foremost boat and had the 4 others in a line behind me. I connected to the air leyline currents and used [Water Dragon Dance]. All the boats were getting pulled by a dragon now. This was surprisingly easy. I left the docks and slowly went upstream the river. I started to pick up speed after I left the gate.

    Once I was clear from the gate and I confirmed that there were no boats in front of me I made all the dragons use [Waterfall]. The scenery zipped past. I had to steer the dragons a bit but most of the leyline currents were following the river. I went way faster than any boat that went downstream. Anyone that I passed looked surprised. I spotted the first boat with a water user going upstream. I zipped past him. I had been playing video games for the last two days and I had to curb the urge of leaving banana peels behind or throwing colored shells. I could see Girai in the distance when the sun started to set. I would probably before the day is over or just past midnight. I could speed up but I don''t know if these boats can take it. Another full moon. Is this going to become a problem? I tried to avoid looking at the full moon. Nilah started to glow and get colder though.

    Nilah please don¡¯t do anything stupid¡­  I picked her up and hid her under my shirt away from the moonlight. I sped up a bit and made it just past midnight. Most people were already asleep. I teleported all my stuff to my house and left the boats with the village materials on the part of the river where the boats arriving from Gittrian get moored and unloaded. I then teleported to my old new house to avoid looking at the moonlight. I can''t have myself bust all my tails out here or Nilah freezing the whole village.

 Vol 2 Ch 66: New Home

    Day 81 came and workers from Yttroz Industries arrived to rebuild my house. A very important dwarven figure had appeared.

    Aren''t you a bit too important to come all the way over to this village in the boonies?

    ¡°It¡¯s important for the CEO to stretch his legs a bit.¡±  I¡¯m pretty sure Gittrian has enough parks¡­

    ¡°Aren''t you happy to see me lad?¡± Barusu said while he was unloading equipment from his truck.

    I would be happy if your presence wouldn''t attract so much attention, I¡¯m trying to live a normal life here¡­

    ¡°They would find out sooner or later, so I came here to make it sooner hahaha! I also haven''t participated in construction myself and this is the perfect time to show off!¡±  Well, this attracted enough attention by now so might as well go full out then.

    ¡°We want to devote our all here, no shortcuts! So, this will mean that we will be constructing for 2 days, I hope you don''t mind.¡±  I¡¯m used to sleeping outside, 2 days is nothing, I think I will go into the mountains in the meantime and see what I can mine there.

    ¡°We will buy anything interesting you find!¡±  I know, well have fun I guess, you seem to be excited, and I won¡¯t disturb you building junkies.

    I looked back as I headed for the mountains and saw Barusu and some of his workers extremely excited to turn this old house into something habitable. I had neatly placed the construction materials next to the house but I saw Barusu being sneaky and ordering more stuff. Please I just want a normal house¡­ Stopping a dwarf from being a craftsman is impossible so I will just deal with the consequences later on. I had my mining equipment with me. They were of high quality so I wouldn''t have to bother with using any earth-related skills.

    I just realized that mining is a poor man''s earth magic. I hopped up the cascades and breathed in the fresh mountain air. I had no clue where I should start mining.

    Normally I would find a mine or have Greg locate interesting spots. I could look in the ground with my eyes but it just all looks like rocks and dirt to me. Unless it''s really special, I don''t see a difference between rock A and rock B. I could locate caves but¡­ I¡¯m here to mine not to get into trouble.

    Things that bring me into trouble: sand, caves, being near Healerguy. Maybe sewers too. If I mine and create my own cave does that count too? It doesn¡¯t, right?

    I found a rock wall half a day later. 7 shadow clones got summoned and started mining and digging. I have no clue what I¡¯m doing but if I blast holes in this wall, I might destroy precious materials. Nobody was here so I could get all my tails out and those of my clones and let each tail hold tools to dig faster. I love cheating with my race.

    <hr>

    It has almost been a full day and I haven''t found anything. I had made a cave that went 50 meters into the rock wall. This wasn''t as easy as I had expected. Half my clones were mining at the side of the tunnel and the others were making it longer. Nilah was trying to help but in her current form, she was too small. I picked her up and rested while the rest of my clones were slaving away. It would be lame if I didn''t find anything by tomorrow.

    The moon was out but it was waning. No weird stuff going on. Probably only on full moons. I got reminded about that time in Boshi Town when I went 9t mode, the sky went through day and night cycles and stopped on the full moon. Greg told me that that¡¯s not something that normally happens when a 9t goes 9t mode. I don''t think it happened the last time but I couldn''t tell because we were underground. Does this play into the fact that the moon said I''m not a 9t? One of my clones seemed to have found a small iron vein.

    Another clone helped him to mine the iron, the rest kept searching. Wait a second, I didn''t go into 9t mode like how I was supposed to do it in Boshi Town, I used that [Illusionary Dagger] and stabbed my tails. I completely forgot about that. That 9t mode also felt a bit different. Hmm, strange. The version in Boshi town seems super risky though and I don''t know if it¡¯s stronger. The moon did power me up but that¡¯s it. Or was that an important detail? I decided that my break was over and went to help my clones in making this tunnel longer.

    I kept mining for another 1 hour before I heard a strange sound. Is this the sound of trouble? I kept mining and suddenly my tails wrapped around me and I got hit by an explosion and got launched out of the cave. I got up.

    Ugh, what now?  Nilah was absorbing all the mana that got released during that explosion. Only one clone got blasted to bits the others were fine. I inspected the cave with my eyes. That explosion surely helped with digging. I noticed that a part of the rock wall that I was digging into had another color and was absorbing the mana and about to cause another explosion.

    Oh, fuck I just had to find electronium!  I ducked away and another explosion catapulted rocks out of the cave. Nilah ran in and started to suck up all the mana that got released from those explosions. I ran in too and connected to the air leyline current and covered the rock wall with water. Since leyline energy doesn''t mix with mana it drives mana away.

    As long as electronium doesn''t get in contact with the ambient mana it won¡¯t explode. This is the reason electronium mining is so dangerous. You can¡¯t mine it with earth magic because then this explosion would have been 20 times worse. It¡¯s a truly pain in the ass metal and somehow society decided to power off this. The only thing that would make electronium mining worse if they did mining with lightning magic.

    The whole reason they made alloys out of this stuff is to make it less dangerous. It will still release mana when hit with magic but it will be the most receptive to lightning magic and unfortunately, that¡¯s where the lightning spirits come in. Electronium is the number 1 cause of mine-related deaths, this stuff is no joke. I covered the whole cave in water created by leyline energy and started to mine the electronium. I have no clue how electronium gets mined exactly but this works for me. It does get stored in some sort of oil when transported. I have some but not enough to put this chunk in. I freed up 70 kg of Electronium. It looked like a big rock but it was deceptively heavy for its size so I froze a thick shell of ice around it and put it in my dimensional box. When something bad happens it will blow up whatever is in there and not what¡¯s in my dimensional pocket. I checked for more electronium but it seems most of it had exploded and spilt into lighter elements.

    For some reason, it likes to split into neodymium, potassium, and zirconium after it explodes. The potassium was reacting with the water but it wasn''t enough to cause any issues for me. I guess this is why they use oil for storage. I carefully collected the neodymium, I will sell these to Barusu later, he might need them for whatever project he needs magnets for. I left the zirconium behind because I bet, they have more than enough of that stuff. I went through my archives to find a book Greg once let me read about electronium.

    He said something like: read this so that you don''t blow yourself up trying to find electronium one day. I seem to have remembered these things correctly. I guess this will do for today. I don''t want to run into another electronium vein. Nilah was still absorbing the mana that got released. It seemed quite a lot. I dispelled my clones and decided to take a nap until the next day was over.

    I returned back home and dreaded what kind of highly noticeable building they put down. I surfed down the cascades and arrived at the village. It seems I was wrong, it looked like a normal house. A bit too normal.

    Barusu and the workers were drinking some beer and having fun. ¡°Oh, there you are! We finished it on time just as we said, we did carried away though!¡±  Yes, that¡¯s what''s worrying me, you say that and it looks quite normal, what did you do?

    ¡°Well, we were debating about space management and we concluded that the current dimension wouldn''t be sufficient for the volume we were aiming for.¡±  Aha, and now in Kaledonian?

    ¡°We gave your basements 5 floors and an elevator to compensate.¡±  Of course, you did¡­ anything else?

    ¡°That''s all, I worked together with some dwarves not too long ago to make better and more efficient forges, we¡¯ve installed one of those.¡±  Thanks, it¡¯s not harder to use, is it?

    ¡°Oh no  anyone could use this but knowing how a normal forge works will certainly help, we also ensured that everything is fireproof so your house burning down because you got reckless won''t be an issue hahaha!¡±  Uhh, thanks, I guess.  The workers were making a commotion. Nilah was cooling their beers and they were appreciative.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Anyways we will be drinking here until tomorrow and then head back. I hope you like your new house. But first a commemorative photograph!¡± Barusu had Nilah and me line up with his colleagues and himself and had a villager take a picture. He surely loves these photographs.

    He also got his beer chilled by Nilah. I beckoned Nilah and we went to check out our new house. It smelled new, everything seemed extremely well made, and they even furnished the house. Everything was ready to live in it. They installed some modern appliances. Electronium batteries, eh? I don''t need those I can perfectly power everything here with lightning Dragonvein but I will store these in case of emergency.

    It had a living room a large kitchen, a toilet and a small empty room on the main floor, the entrance to the workshop was in the kitchen, it was large and spacious it even had electromagic machinery I don¡¯t recognize but they all seemed to have instruction manuals. So modern. The first floor had 3 bedrooms and a shower on the first floor, it also had a balcony.

    The attic was big and empty. I went back to the main floor and took the elevator down. The b5f. Just for storage, it reminded me of a small version of that seed vault. It had shelves for everything. I appreciate this but I have my dimensional pocket, I will repurpose this one day if I''m not lazy. B4f was the same but for food and more perishable items. How much do these guys think I eat? B3f was interesting. It was a bit like that simulation room in the time capsule I could practice all I wanted here; the walls were reinforced so were the floor and ceiling. I messed around and I realized this was a bit like how they can change arenas in the Adventurers Association. I tested the strength of these walls and connected to the underground leyline currents and sent a fire [Dragon] at the wall. The room shook but it looked like it held up well. It was a bit damaged but it seemed to repair itself. I can see why Yttroz Industries is stinking rich.

    How is anyone going to compete against this? Nilah sent some frost attacks at the wall. This place seems strong enough but it seems anything as strong as [Dragon] or stronger will mess this place up, I will have to remember that. B2f was¡­ am I outside?

    It looked like a resort with a huge pool. I looked up and it seemed like sunlight but it obviously wasn''t. I have no idea how they did this. It looked completely different but it reminded me a bit of my home in the jungle. I think this alone makes this house the best ever. B1f had various different things. It had a terminal that allows me to keep track of what missions are available. It seems to be somehow connected to the Adventurers Association. There was also a small station. I approached. There was a note. It says it¡¯s a healing kit. From Healerguy.

    I looked at this station, he calls this a healer kit? I just have to send a Teleroad and he will come over to study me? What the fuck? I looked to the side and saw a Teleroad station. The rest was relatively empty. I was probably supposed to fix up this floor. I am too lazy for that I will probably only use B2f and B3f. I took the elevator back to the main floor and went outside to thank Barusu.

    Ah right before I forget, I found this in the mountains, and almost got myself killed.  I took out the electronium which was still frozen and the neodymium.

    ¡°Jerry and Rubert weren''t wrong, you do keep getting into problems, I¡¯m glad you made it out alive, not many miners are as lucky as you when it comes to random electronium veins. Let me take that.¡± He pulled out a small barrel out of his dimensional box and opened it. It was filled with oil. ¡°You can lower it into this barrel. The neodymium too, I don''t want it to get any more oxidized.¡± He closed the barrel and wrote something on it and put it back into his dimensional box. ¡°Do you mind if we add this to your personal funds?¡±  Sure, I don''t need any more gold on me.

    ¡°How are you¡­¡± I showed him my own dimensional box. ¡°Aah, that is indeed very smart yes. We will greet the people who promised to take us in for the night, we will leave tomorrow early so we might not be able to say goodbye so I will do so now.¡± He reached out his hand. I shook his hand. ¡°Was good to do business and get my hands moving, now back to the boring office¡­ Well, cya!¡±

    Barusu walked off and mingled with some villagers. I went back to my new house. I went to B1f. I had an idea; this heal station could be useful. I dropped my [Dimensional Anchor] here. I have 3 locations where I can dimensional teleport easily to now., it''s not impossible to do without a [Dimensional Anchor] but it might spit me out with fewer lives than I started out with. I still remember how the last one damaged Io. I don¡¯t know what this would''ve done if I did this with a human.

    I went back up and went to my new workshop. I decided to start light and create daggers of similar or better quality than I did 4 years ago. As usual, I created a lot of ¡®Low Quality¡¯ daggers. And knives. As in they were perfect and maybe too good for everyday use but not good enough to bet your life on. At the end of the day, I had 3 normal to high-quality ones and the rest was low-quality. I hope the villagers need knives and daggers. I know what I might repurpose the 2 lowest basement floors to! I can store whatever is low quality that I can sell. I assume that I can''t sell everything here so I will eventually have to bring them to Gittrian. The hours passed as I was trying to re-familiarize myself with the techniques and made myself familiar with the new stuff. Nilah started to pull on my pants at one point.

    What''s up Nilah?  She was trying to tell me something. I noticed someone was at my door. I opened up. it was Village Gregory.

    ¡°I never got to thank you for returning my boats and the cargo back!¡±  Oh, no problem, can I do anything for you?  I saw some people behind him.

    ¡°Well, we were a bit worried, you haven''t stepped outside ever since your house got completed 5 days ago.¡±  Wait 5 days ago? It was only yester¡­ oh¡­ I might have been carried away creating knives, any of you need any knives or daggers?  A woman needed new kitchen knives and a hunter needed a knife set.  How big do you need your knife set?

    ¡°Uhh, doesn''t matter, make it as big as you want.¡± Hehe, wrong answer mister, now I can dump a large amount of knives on you.  Right, there is a door that leads to my workshop over there, I will leave it open so if you don''t see me, try the workshop. I will try to notify someone when I go out to gather materials or something.  I went through the house and met the villagers in the workshop. They seemed to be shocked to see the mountain of daggers and knives I created.

    I apologize, I don¡¯t have anything to give you the knives in so I will just wrap them up. Be careful, they¡¯re sharp.  I threw a piece of wood in the air and swung a random knife at it and the block got cleanly cut in half.

    That¡¯s how sharp, don''t tell me I didn''t warn you.  I wrapped 5 knives for the woman who needed kitchen knives. The daggers and knives for the hunter also got wrapped up I kept wrapping and wrapping.

    ¡°Uhh, that¡¯s enough, I can''t pay for all those.¡±  Oh, don''t worry taking these off me is already more than enough payment. Here, a 142-piece dagger set. Have fun hunting.  The man accepted a mountain of wrapped-up knives and slowly walked home carrying the heavy load.

    Right, anyone else needs knives?  The others decided to help out and took at least 1 knife with them.

    ¡°Hey, I know you¡¯re our new blacksmith but you don''t need to overdo it, you should also rest. 5 days of non-stop crafting is a bit much¡­¡±  Thank you for your concern, I will consider it.  I guess I need to sleep. I took all the daggers into the storage in the basement and went to bed.

    <hr>

    I kept doing this until day 98, I could make high-quality daggers whenever I wanted, but it wasn''t up to luck anymore. I also had started on swords. 60% ended up as ¡®Low Quality¡¯ as I managed to consistently beat out the impurities on a wide range of wavelengths. In the meantime, I had gotten some requests to create some tools, nails, or repair weapons. Nilah was of great help cooling the metal off in a highly controlled manner.

    I had created a new routine where I would work for 5 days and sleep for 2 days. The villagers seemed to be confused about this but this made me more productive and energetic than sleeping every night. I got my first commission from Yttroz Industries. I needed to make a sword that had multiple segments in its blade that could stretch and turn it into some kind of whip. Going for the hard requests it seems. It wasn''t supposed to be a magical weapon so it should either respond to basic mana inputs or be mechanical. I don''t have much knowledge or experience with mechanicals so mana it will be. It felt like an obnoxious puzzle. I made the separate parts and the hilt of many conductive materials. The only thing I needed was to somehow connect these.

    Nowhere was the affinity of the user mentioned. I decided to use series of strong magnets that would repel and attract each other and add some kind of barrier that keeps the pieces from going too far from each other. I have no clue how this is normally done but I can make barriers and seals so I will just use those. The only thing the user has to do is send mana to trigger the barrier and release the sword pieces by making them repel each other, when the mana flow stops the magnets will flip and attract each other strongly and make a sword. I strengthened the barrier a bit to make sure that they would act as a normal sword in those circumstances.

    I spent 3 days making the pieces and 4 days making the barrier to make all this work. It took 9 days total to make because I had to sleep for 2 days in between. I went to the training floor in my basement and tried it out. It could stretch to 10 meters. The gaps between the metal pieces seemed to look as if there was nothing in between. Anything that didn''t interact with barriers or magnetism would pass through the gaps. I guess I should add this to the properties. The distance between the metal pieces depended on the mana fed to the sword. The whole sword couldn''t go over 10 meters because the barriers wouldn''t allow for longer. The magnets would be unable to piece the sword back together when the mana flow stopped if I went for a longer sword. I stopped feeding it mana and it snapped back to normal. It made quite a sound. I guess I need to add a noise-cancelling barrier.

    I tested it out and it seemed quite flexible and easy to use, that is if you¡¯re proficient with swords. I played around with it a bit too much. I started to miss wielding swords. Since I won''t have to add more barriers, I decided to lock them in and make them a bit more complicated so they can''t be disabled or dispelled easily. I put in some traps and small puzzles to give whoever tries to disable these hell. It was Boshi town barrier tier difficult.

    Only someone like Greg, Azu, or me would be able to disable this in a reasonable timeframe. I had a clone make the sheathe for it and decorate it and wrapped it up in cloth. It is my first official commission so I want to personally bring it and possibly see the face of the person who is going to use this weapon. I did learn from crafting this weapon that I might need some strange magic techniques to solve problems I don''t have the means to. I¡¯m sure another blacksmith would have an easy time making this sword by going the mechanical route. I don''t know for how long I can milk the idea of using barriers to solve a problem. I headed over to Gregory and notified him that I would be bringing 5 boats to Gittrian. This was the second time I would be taking a boat to Gittrian.

 Vol 2 Ch 66.1: New Home part 2

    Gregory looked at me as if he was looking at a mythical creature. Wait he actually is. ¡°Finally stepping outside, eh? We¡¯re glad that you''re doing great work as our blacksmith but getting fresh air is important too!¡±  Well, I will do some more custom and village commissions and then I will be attempting to make some things that I wanted to create for a long time and I might have to hunt for some special materials. So, I would suggest that you guys create a list of items that are urgent. I will get to them once I get back from Gittrian.

    ¡°Hey, you should look up what ¡®rest¡¯ and ¡®holiday¡¯ means, don''t overwork yourself!¡±  I will consider it!

    I connected with the air leyline currents. Nilah jumped on my head and I used [Water Dragon Dance] and started to pull the boats and then started to speed down the river with [Waterfall]. I was bolder this time because I have full control. With this speed, I can reach Gittrian in 1 day. I helped the boats going downstream and started to get annoyed in carefully passing these slow boats so I switched to [Water Dragon Festival] and just kidnapped every boat I encountered and pulled them to Gittrian. I let them go when I saw the gate so that they could pre-sort. I completed the procedures and headed toward the Yttroz Industries Headquarters. I casually walked into the normal guest entrance and I got dragged to the VIP section.

    ¡°We will continue dragging you into the VIP section.¡±  And I will continue sneaking into the normal area, where is Jerry or Barusu?

    ¡°They are busy or not here, Jeremiah told me to not bother introducing myself since you will either forget my name or give me a different name, follow me I will lead you to the client. She was quite surprised that her commission got completed so swiftly.¡±  Oh¡­ I had the feeling I was taking my sweet time; some things were a bit hard to get done.  I got led to a room and a woman with long blond curly hair was sitting on a fancy couch. She had hair drills. She looked like a super-rich aristocrat.

    ¡°Annabella, this is the blacksmith that completed your commission.¡±

    ¡°Ohh, what a young and handsome man, my name is Annabella Rosierie.¡± She showed me the back of her hand and I shook her hand. She seemed surprised and the guy that brought me here had a strange reaction. ¡°Oh, and who is this cute creature?¡±  That is Nilah, she will steal your mana if you pet her so be warned.  She didn''t care, petted Nilah, and got some of her mana stolen.

    Right, there are some things about this sword that you should know.  I unwrapped it and showed the sword while in the hilt.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s gorgeous!¡± I took the sword out and showed it. ¡°It looks like a normal sword, although a bit unique¡­¡±  When you send mana through it this happens.  The parts separated and I swung it around like a whip. The random guy ducked away but I knew what I was doing.

    It is not exactly a whip but as you can see you can choose what to hit and what not to hit by changing the distance between the parts, it takes some time to get used to but its dependent on the amount of mana you put into it. And when you stop feeding it mana.  I stopped feeding it mana and it returned to its original state.

    It returns back to normal. I had to apply some barriers to it to get this effect, it can get to a maximum length of 10 meters. It will be fine in environments that disable or suck up mana it will not be as sturdy in its sword state though, as long as you do nothing super crazy it would still be fine. And the whip state will be unavailable if you run out of mana obviously. Here see how it feels.  I sheathed the sword and handed it over. She took it out, looked at it and swung it. She seemed content with its weight. She poured mana in it and I evaded a sword whip part.

    ¡°O apologies, It looked so easy when you showed it, this is harder than I thought.¡± The random guy dove to the floor as this chick tried to control the sword whip but was struggling. She stopped the mana flow and apologized again. ¡°I love it! It''s better than I imagined!¡± I got an uncomfortable hug.  I''m glad that you like it.

    ¡°So how much are you asking for it?¡±  Uh, 50 silver will do.

    ¡°Hey hold up Agnis, tha¡­¡±

    ¡°Unacceptable! You must have worked extremely hard to make this wonderful weapon! There is no way it could be this cheap!¡±  No, really It wasn''t that bad, and I¡¯m not hurting for mon¡­

    ¡°So humble! I wish more aristocrats were like you!¡±  No, listen¡­

    ¡°How about 4 gold? I think that''s a fair price, I won''t go lower than that!¡±  Uhhm.

    ¡°Look Agnis, commissions are something special, not everyone can get their commissions to get through so the quality that gets brought out will also be high to compensate, I am an appraiser by trade and I can see this item is of high quality and unique. The minimum price of commissions is 1 gold but Miss Annabella is correct in her assessment 4 gold is a fair price.¡±  Ah sorry, I''m out of touch with how all this works.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°Yes, that''s exactly why Jeremiah sent me to handle this. Also, I would suggest you trademark your works it will make things easier for everyone.¡±  Ah right, show me that for a bit.  Annabelle handed me the sword. I took out the sword and heated up my fingertips and made a symbol that looked like a S and T that were made out of waves.

    Since I don''t want more problems getting attached to my name I will be using my adventurer name Silver Torrent.

    ¡°Nice to meet you, Mr. Silver Torrent,¡±  Likewise.  The appraiser handled the payment and the woman left happily with her new weapon.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s how it goes, as you get busier it might be less feasible to meet your clients face to face but whenever you can please do so. It might be good to see what impact your works do.  I guess.

    ¡°Well, you surely work fast, most commissions can take up a month or even 2 to complete. Jeremiah did say that logic doesn''t apply to you though¡­¡±  I will take that into consideration, how did you know I would be here early though?

    ¡°Well, we noticed something coming down the river at a very high speed, it wasn''t hard to figure out who that was.¡± I guess I was standing out again. Nilah was eating all the cookies on the table. What a glutton. I picked her up and suddenly got a lot of mana sent to me. And with a lot, I mean enough to turn me into an icicle under normal circumstances but this seemed to be fine. The more time I spend with Nilah the less I know what she is. I went well over the maximum amount of mana that I can hold and I''m perfectly fine. I petted Nilah and put her on my head and left. The appraiser guy was holding some long-winded monologue. So, these custom weapons are that expensive, eh? I guess I will just leave the appraisers to decide how much these things are worth.

    I walked to the streets of Gittrian and realized how bad I am at imitating humans. I have no idea about how long it takes to travel anywhere because I''m fast and I don''t know how much things are supposed to cost because I''m rich. Is this the power of humans? Do they know this stuff because they are broke, slow, and weak?

    But Barusu is a dwarf, he probably is limited in a similar way. Would I think differently if I was poor? I can''t imagine myself being poor, I could do some missions or craft tools and sell them or worst case steal them. I guess I could never pretend to be a convincing human in the long run. I see why my mom took everyone and created Hourai, trying to coexist is difficult, we will get discovered one day, some might accept us others won''t. People still seemed to be interested in Nilah but there were fewer people approaching me to pet her. I decided to avoid the park this time. I went to visit the famous city block Aurum. It was impressive to see how they constructed the buildings out of a soft metal like gold. They had strange shapes to accommodate this.

    People actually lived here. They were all stinking rich of course. I saw groups of tourists looking around. It didn''t seem that the inhabitants minded, they were even asking the tourists to come inside to take a look and show off their house, or well mansion was a better word. There were a few houses and most were mansions. After wandering through this waste of gold I headed back to the docks. I finished the procedures and decided to take 10 boats back with me this time. I was feeling adventurous and was wondering if I could get these boats back in style.

    I sped up after leaving the gate and would drift the boats in bends, when encountering boats in front of me I made a ramp of water and made the boats do a 360¡ã in the air while making the boats jump over them. I had a lot of fun but it didn¡¯t take long because I reached Girai in record time. It only took me 7 hours.

    Gregory was again looking at me as if he was looking at a mythical creature. does he know? ¡°Hey, I saw boats flying in the distance, was that you? You have been away for one and a half days¡­¡±  I found a method of drastically speeding this up, look I brought 10 boats all in the same condition they were in when they left Gittrian.

    ¡°I see that is great to hear, just don''t overwork yourself.¡±  Don¡¯t worry, that was quite fun.  Gregory gave Nilah a snack and I moored the boats and went back home.

    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t forget to rest! It might have been fun but completing an 8-day trip in this short amount of time must be tiring!¡± I gestured that I heard him and I entered my house. I went to practice some sword fighting in the training room. No matter what I did they would shatter when I got a bit serious. Even those that had many purified wavelengths. They were sturdier but still shattered. I sent 2 shadow clones to craft some tools and other weapon types while I was practicing with the sword. I can make a cool new sword but if I don''t know why they shatter then I will just make one to break one.

    By the end of day 109 I realized what the problem was. I simply swung my sword too fast for most materials to handle, also at those speeds the ambient mana seemed to act like a liquid or even a solid. There were 4 ways I could tackle this, the first one was to give up on swords, that''s not going to happen so there were 3 left. The other 3 were, to use a material strong and flexible enough, get something that can deal with the ambient mana like frost magic, or use something that doesn''t interact with mana like leyline energy. Now the last 2 seem extremely difficult while the first one might be some extremely rare and expensive alloy. I will need Barusu''s opinion on this.

    What do you think Nilah?  Nilah wasn''t paying attention because she was fighting some monsters the simulations brought up. The monsters stood no chance, frost magic is so unfair to fight against, been there, done that. The thing is, Nilah isn''t a biological creature so she''s unaffected by frost magic¡¯s biggest weakness. It looks weird to see a small cute fox bring down enormous monsters. I have not once ordered her to turn into her original form. I think I will destroy my house if I do, not a lot of magic is used to keep this place together but most materials don''t do well when they get frozen. I would ask Barusu about the sturdy metal next time I visit.

    My focus shifted to my wires. I need an upgrade. Vinny had told me that older dragons have beards and that dragonbeard matches the properties I need for my wires. They''re thinner and stronger. The problem is, I need to steal it from an older dragon or ask for it. But going into dialogue with a dragon¡­ not sure what I would prefer. I could use the trick I used against the Mountain to get through the tough dragon scales. Their toughness is my only concern. I might have to throw multiple rounds of strong attacks at it so I can''t use many risky moves early on. I had more than enough phoenix flowers so I shouldn''t run out of stamina or energy. Nilah has mana problems covered. So, all I need to worry about is getting one shot and getting through his toughness. That doesn''t seem so bad. Vinny mentioned some problematic fire dragons in the Penumbra mountain range.

    Hey Nilah, want to kick some dragon butt?  Nilah seemed fired up. I collected my best daggers, cutting the dragonbeard off after I knock them out won''t be easy otherwise. Vinny mentioned fire dragons but I shouldn''t be surprised to find earth dragons. If I find an earth dragon I will run, I have no time for that. Will I lose? Probably not, I will lose a lot of time though. I spent 3 days preparing for this dangerous errand.

    ?

 Vol 2 Ch 67: Trimming the beard

    I was ready and so was Nilah. We would find this dragon, hope he''s problematic so we don''t have to talk to him and steal his beard. It¡¯s not as if he¡¯s going to use it. I went into the mountains yesterday and tried to summon Tero but no response, no free beard for me.

    I followed the river upstream and hopped up the cascades. They made me feel like messing around but I decided to focus and followed it deep into the mountains and found a small lake. Several small streams ran into this lake and this water ran down the mountains. I was expecting to find something cool in this lake but it was just a normal lake. This lake was almost on the same latitude as the south of Jurna jungle so I should find these dragons if I go north. I kept my eyes open because I didn''t want to get ambushed.

    The variety in lifeforms was wide, there were some monsters but they minded their own business. The air was cold and clean. It was refreshing! Some mountains had cold tops but most were relatively green. Some were rocky but those were in the minority. Living in the mountains is also another alternative.

    Girai is at the foot of the mountains so that doesn''t really count. Now how would I lure dragons? I could create a large mass of fire mana. They will certainly notice that.

    I spotted a mountain in the distance that was quite rocky and barren, that would be my target! I used the stupid amount of mana that Nilah gave me a while ago to cast a [Foxfire: Autumn Breeze], I used a bright orange color that''s hotter and attracts more attention. It melted the mountain side and it was stronger and bigger than I expected.

    All I need to do is wait, so I sat down and waited. The temperature rose after 10 minutes and 2 2-winged fire dragons arrived to inspect the molten area. They started to feed on the fire mana that got left as a residue. Not even checking out what caused it? How reckless¡­ I guess, they''re dragons alright. 2 dragons for the price of one.

    Do we 2v2 them Nilah or do you want to take on one and I take the other?  Nilah showed some fighting spirit, I think she wants to fight one by herself.

    Alright, how about this, I launch you at the left one and you can turn to your normal size midair, how about that?  Nilah agreed with the idea. She sat on my foot. I kicked and sent her flying at the left dragon. Midair she turned in the huge fox with 9 tails and tackled the first dragon and frost burst all over the place. This dragon had no idea what just happened. I shot [Frost arrows] at the other and froze his wings. I jumped at him and landed on him. He started heating up but I didn''t care. Nilah entangled the dragon she was fighting in her tails and was mercilessly draining its mana.

    Hey Nilah! We¡¯re here for their beards not to kill them! Be a bit nicer!  She eased up and just absorbed whatever mana that got shot at her. The dragon I was on kept thrashing.

    We are just coming for your beards, stop struggling!  He kept thrashing, I guess this was on me since I was talking in Kaledonian. I forgot that dragons don''t even try most of the time, I assume they''re not even trying right now. I held on and climbed to the dragon''s head. The whole area turned into a hellscape; everything was on fire.

    We are here to trim your beards!  I said in draconian. The dragon seemed to calm down a bit and then started to thrash again.

    You heard me, didn''t you!? Stop pretending you didn''t understand me! My draconian is impeccable!

    ¡°Me not know whadda ya talkin'' bout eh? Ye accent a wee weir'' innit?¡± Of course, these dragons have some stupid thick accent, just what I need.  Nilah, they''re retarded! Show no mercy! Get that beard!

    I got my most heat-resistant wires out and wrapped them around the dragon''s neck. Then I sent frost magic through them to make sure they lasted longer. To then get to the head and inspecting the dragon''s beard. It wasn''t anything impressive but it was something.

    Hey, stop thrashing and turning this place into a hell pit or else I have to knock you out! You don''t want that to happen to you?!  I pointed at the other dragon which seemed to have cooled off quite a lot because Nilah sapped all the heat out of it. This made the dragon lethargic and Nilah was slapping it with her paw or tail whenever he tried to move too much.

    ¡°Git off me ya kidnapper!¡±  How about you listen while I still ask nice!  I froze his wings since he was trying to take off which caused him to crash into the mountain. I got my dagger out and went for his beard. My first 4 daggers shattered attempting to trim the beard but the 5th one did the trick. I had to keep replacing the daggers because they got dull after one attempt. A shadow clone would be responsible for trimming the beard of the other dragon. The dragon that I was fighting let out a loud roar.

    I hope you know that calling your friends won''t improve your situation!  I [shadow bound] the dragon and continued trimming the beard. It was a satisfactory amount but I hoped I could get more, calling for allies might be a blessing in disguise.

    The beards were trimmed. I let the dragon go and Nilah let the other go too. He just had slight hypothermia. Probably the first time I encountered a fire dragon with hypothermia. These didn''t seem too strong or at least not motivated enough to show off. Nilah started to spin her tails like I do when using [Tail Dynamo].

    Ehh Nilah, what are you doing?  The dragon reinforcements arrived and the area started to freeze over while she was spinning her tails. The whole area turned into a mana-free zone. Right, this isn''t completely overpowered at all¡­ The dragons were here yes, but they couldn''t use magic or eat magic to power up. Some landed and slipped. It has been a while since I saw a dragon make a fool out of himself.

    ¡°Wadya want?!¡±  I want some beards!

    ¡°Scale off!¡± What does that mean? Does that mean something like fuck off? It¡¯s hard to understand these guys. I could also use some scales though.  Nilah, change of plan! We¡¯re also taking some scales!

    A dragon without magic is just a large flying lizard that¡¯s just tougher than anything else. I hopped on Nilah¡¯s head and she slammed dragons with her tails and I shot frost arrows at their wings to get them out of the sky.

    I need to stress how much easier Nilah was making this for me. She was sucking up mana in this area and also was just a huge body that had tails large enough to knock a 2-winged dragon around if she hit them well. The dragons were still larger than her but not by much. She could only restrain 9 dragons because she had 9 tails. I sent some shadow clones to keep the other dragons busy while I collected more beards and scales.

    Hey, Nilah can you ease up on sapping the heat from them?  Some dragons started to sneeze. Were they catching colds? I had enough when the horde of dragons all started to fly away. Nilah released the dragons she was restraining and they flew away too. I have a bad feeling. These weirdos wouldn''t just run away like this. The sky turned dark and the wind started to pick up.

    ¡°You stupid 2-winged fire dragons! I told you to stop creating such a ruckus!¡± A large dragon head appeared from the clouds. Now this dragon looked different. I recognized this dragon head as one from the no-winged dragons and this one seems to be a wind dragon. While I have no problems fighting these 2-winged fire dragons, this wind dragon seems ancient. ¡°Hmm, interesting, this area seems to have no mana. A nostalgic sight, It has been over 40 years since I¡¯ve seen this.¡± 40 dragon years, that''s 4000 human years, yup this guy is ancient.

    ¡°And a nine-tailed fox nonetheless, I remember you guys looking a bit different though, I didn''t know you had a form that actually looked like a fox!¡± It seems he was mistaking Nilah, for the 9t race.  Hey! Excuse me! I know this is a weird question but can I trim your beard?!  This dragon had quite the beard. He also sounded more intelligent than the other dragons I¡¯ve met.

    ¡°Ah, a human, I¡¯m sorry I didn''t notice you.¡° He flew down and floated near us to get a better look. He was huge, his head was as big as Nilah in her large form. ¡°You are not a human, you smell different.¡± I got my tails out. ¡°Ohh, that''s more how I remember you guys, what is the deal with this one?¡±  Uhh, she¡¯s a skill my grandfather gave me.

    ¡°Hmm, I can remember seeing something similar years ago. I had fought a nine-tailed spirit fox who used something similar. Good times, I haven''t had a good fight in decades!¡±  Did that guy perhaps go by the name Alep Oures?

    ¡°You know him?! I haven''t heard that name in such a long time! Unfortunately, he died long ago, just thinking about it makes me mad. It was nice to meet you, I¡¯m a bit upset recalling his death so I think I am going to hunt down a god and kill him!¡±  Uhh, he is my grandfather as I said.  The dragon took a closer look.

    ¡°Hmm, that actually makes a lot of sense you also smell just like him and have the same skill, why didn''t you tell me!¡±  I already told you twice¡­ how many more times do I have to tell you?

    ¡°The youth these days like to be mysterious.¡±  Hey, are you listening? Ugh, for a moment I forgot that I was talking to a dragon.

    ¡°Very well, is there anything I can do for you?¡±  I need some dragon beard and possibly some scales.

    ¡°Hmm, your race is always up to something interesting, very well I shall grant you your request on one condition!¡±  Oh shit, here we go, what do I have to do?

    ¡°I want a good fight!¡±  Huh? You could sneeze and I¡¯d be dead¡­

    ¡°You underestimate your race; you guys can do pretty nasty stuff when you¡¯re pushed to the limit. Come on! It will be fun; I will go easy on you and take it out on a random god later.¡±  Uhh, as long as you give that god a good whooping I guess, it will be fine.

    ¡°Let''s go for this; we either stop when I¡¯m satisfied or after you¡¯ve lost 3 lives, does that sound fair?¡±  Sounds like a terrible deal on your end since you could easily get rid of 3 but I¡¯m ok with those.

    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    ¡°Well, I really feel like venting on some random god so either way will be fine.¡±  Right¡­

    ¡°What do I call you? My name is Inyr.¡±  Agnis Hourai.

    ¡°Ooh, that reminds me of something but first our battle! You can fight right?¡±  I think so. Right, Nilah! Show him what you can do! Because I¡¯d like to know too!  Nilah fired a [Frost Nova] at Inyr and he dodged by flying up and disappeared in the clouds above.

    Ugh, cheater! Come Nilah!  Nilah turned small and hopped on my head. I connected to the air leyline currents and used wind [Dragon]. It was nowhere as big as Inyr but it was still big. I jumped on its head and sent it up to the clouds after Inyr. Following a real wind dragon into the skies is not a good idea but I don''t have any alternatives.

    ¡°That is an interesting skill you have there, it can be easily mistaken for the real deal!¡±  That¡¯s the point!  I dodged [Wind blasts], [Wind blades], and large [Air balls]. I needed to keep this up until this [Dragon] becomes sentient. Nilah blocked various attacks with frost magic. She jumped off my head and became big again and grabbed Inyr with 3 of their tails and climbed on top of him and started to blast him with frost magic. It did something but not a lot.

    ¡°Haha foxes riding dragons! How exciting!¡± He really didn''t care that Nilah was on his back attacking him¡­ While it is easy to shoot a 2-winged dragon out of the sky, it¡¯s hard to do this to a no-winged dragon¡­ I had to put in more effort because I had to make [Dragon] make a complicated evasive manoeuvres. I narrowly evaded but Inyr performed the same movements [Dragon] just did.

    My tail reminded me that Tero once said that dragons follow the movement of their elements Dragonvein or something. This guy did fly differently from how Tero flies. It reminded me indeed of how to use wind Dragonvein. [Dragon] became sentient so I didn''t have to worry about evading or falling off now. I jumped off [Dragon] and sent it to crash into Inyr. He tried to counter it with [Dragonbreath] but Nilah started spinning her tails. It didn''t completely disable the [Dragonbreath] but the power dropped considerably. I also started to spin my tails and started to collect lightning.

    I got close to Inyr and Nilah grabbed me with her tail and aimed to slam me on his head. I tried to time this with a [Crimson palm] but he threw both of us off. [Dragon] picked us up and prevented us from falling too far down. So now there was an enormous wind dragon fighting a smaller dragon with 2 foxes on its back that had their tails spinning in the middle of a thundercloud. I was attracting the lightning with my tails. Nilah picked me up with a tail and threw me at Inyr. The lightning flashed red and I used [God of Thunder]. It was a direct hit but Inyr didn''t care. I used [Hurricane path] to attempt to get on his back through the turbulent winds.

    ¡°It is funny, you fight like you have fought a wind dragon before!¡±  I haven''t but I¡¯m familiar with hurricanes!  I used [Counter spin] which disrupted his movement and I gathered more lightning and dropped an orange [God of Thunder] on him. I was about to fall on him and swapped myself with [Dragon]. [Dragon] and Nilah crashed into Inyr and this did seem to do some damage. I changed [Dragon] to become lightning element and queued up [Howling Updraft] followed by [Tempest step] with a tornado kick. I didn''t think that a tornado will do anything to him but at least it might buy me time.

    Inyr was sending wind blades and other attacks all over the place. [Dragon] had to body block some and Nilah was doing her best to drop the power of these attacks with her no mana zone, which was useful but didn''t work so well against ancient dragons.

    ¡°Very impressive, something bothers me though, is this all there is to this dragon made out of energy?¡±  Uhhm, it is quite strong, you¡¯re just too strong!

    ¡°Most of your attacks seem to get stronger the longer you''re doing those dances but this one doesn''t.¡± Inyr slapped [Dragon] and sent it and Nilah flying downward. I had to use [Pressure] to drop my altitude to evade a [Dragon Dance] that created wind spirals and wind spears that homed into me and created several high-pressure spinning air spheres. It sucked in some attacks and ripped them yo shreds.

    What do you mean? I don¡¯t feel like my attacks do anything!  I used [God of Thunder] again and Inyr narrowly evaded it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can tell, so what will happen if you use the same movements that you did to create that dragon? Oh, it didn''t crash to the ground.¡± [Dragon] used a lightning [Dragonbreath] while ascending.  Uuh, I don''t know, I make another one?

    ¡°I see, you don¡¯t have anyone to test these kinds of skills out on, I can acknowledge that that could make races like us weaker, go on try to use that skill again!¡± [Dragon] plucked me out of the sky and coiled up because multiple of those high-pressure spinning air spheres were rapidly closing in on us. I followed his advice and used [Dragon] again. Something seemed different. I didn''t make another [Dragon] it seemed to be stronger but leyline information was flowing into my head. I can keep reusing [Dragon] and after meeting certain requirements I can make it transition in a stronger technique. It was some kind of flowchart. I took control over [Dragon] again and sent it toward Inyr. It had turned into orange lightning by now. My stance shifted causing it to turn into wind and blew Inyr back by several hundreds of meters.

    ¡°Yes! Yes! That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about!¡± [Dragon] ascended and dropped Nilah on Inyr. I turned [Dragon] back into orange lightning and divebombed on Inyr. He seemed unfazed but was enjoying it nonetheless. My stance shifted again and turned [Dragon] into fire and set the area ablaze. Spinning fireballs and fire tornadoes flew around everywhere. [Dragon] was shrinking in size but gaining power. I was putting in a lot of effort to evade all the attacks Inyr threw at me. Nilah tried to keep Inyr in check but she got thrown off again. I shifted stance and changed [Dragon] into water and caught Nilah. The dragon was barely big enough to hold her so she went into her small and cute mode and hopped on my head.

    You did well. [Dragon] used [waterfall] and it punched through the attacks Inyr had been sending at us.

    Nilah, it¡¯s time to show him the power of ice.  She released a lot of frost magic and [Dragon] turned into frost. [Dragon] was considerably faster now and Inyr was unable to hit us or follow us. An ice [Dragonbreath] froze a part of his body and he lost control over that part for a moment. I jumped off and [Dragon] crashed into Inyr, shattering into a million pieces for them to reform back into a [Dragon] moments after.

    ¡°Ooh! That is going to leave a bruise!¡± He slammed his tail into [Dragon]. It shattered again and the shattered pieces hit Inyr. I used [Dragon] again and several spots on Inyr¡¯s body started to glow.

    ¡°Oh, what is this?¡±

    Every living being has leyline energy in their body, and Inyr is no exception. Because Inyr got hit by attacks from [Dragon] I could now pull the leyline energy out of his body and use it to create more [Dragons].

    Inyr is strong so I can pull a lot out of him. 12 [Dragons] stronger than the previous got pulled out of him and started attacking him. ¡°I knew it! It does get stronger!¡± He was doing a great job fighting off 11 [Dragons], the 12th plucked us out of the sky.

    They assaulted Inyr for 10 minutes before combining together and forming one big [Dragon] half the size of Inyr. I was still riding the 12th [Dragon] which is technically the 2nd dragon now that the rest had combined. The ice [Dragon] was fighting Inyr head-on. It was losing badly but it still got some good attacks in. I got a phoenix flower out and invigorated myself and went 9t mode and locked the space around Inyr to limit his movements. I turned back time on any attacks he tried to pull while having [Dragon] go at him.

    ¡°Yes! Yes! The memories of my fight with Alep!¡± He started to glow and broke out of the spatial lock. I tried to create a rift but it was too weak to do anything. He glowed in blue green light, coiled and then let out a [Dragonroar]. It knocked me and [Dragon] away.

    Inyr came at us. He was way faster than ever. It seemed as if he moved through a vacuum. No wind, nothing. He coiled around us with his head inside the coil. We were stuck in a hollow ball made out of Inyr. We were trapped.

    ¡°You lose, but I am satisfied. That was a good battle, you also seemed to have figured out a bit more about this interesting power of yours.¡±  Thank you for being my punching bag, although you hardly felt any of that.  I cancelled my 9t mode.

    ¡°Well, I tried to keep my defence as low as possible. There was only 1 attack you did that actually hurt, when you pulled that strange energy out of me. It was damage that came from inside me so it¡¯s impossible to defend against.¡°  Hmm, I see I will keep that in mind, thanks.  I also cancelled the big [Dragon] and we landed on the ground.

    ¡°Whenever you feel like having a spar, I will always be available! Now let me bring you to my lair.¡± I hopped on his head and he flew up. He kept ascending. Was he going to space? The air was thin and cold. I am lucky that I¡¯m resistant to cold. I don''t know if we¡¯re in space but it seems we¡¯re close. Inyr flew at a big floating cloud in the distance.

    If that¡¯s what a wind dragons lair looks like then I¡¯m not surprised nobody has found any. We landed on the cloud and I hopped off.

    ¡°You will be fine walking on these clouds but don''t make it a habit you would have fallen through if you were any other race.¡± I made a shadow clone that had a human body and he slowly sank through the cloud and eventually fell through.  Yikes.

    ¡°Let''s see, dragon beard, some claws, maybe some teeth, a pile of scales, I¡¯m glad I kept all this junk. How about a wind egg?  What¡¯s that?

    ¡°A pocket of vacuum,¡±  Then why is it called a wind egg?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I didn''t name it like this. Want some? You can trap someone''s head in it, which makes for fast wins, I once killed a minor god like that. It was quite spectacular!¡±  This works on gods?

    ¡°Well gods are a pain in the ass, most magic doesn''t work on them so you need special kinds of magic to deal with them like your frost magic or those fancy dances you do. They didn''t hurt me much but I could feel them, if it was magic, I wouldn''t have felt anything. Those attacks you do, don''t seem to care about magical defences. Keep training kid, you¡¯re on to something.¡±  Thank you.  I stashed all the stuff Inyr gave me. It seems that the no-winged dragons are more reasonable than the two-winged dragons.

    ¡°Right before I forgot, I talked to Neia a human year ago. She found out that Hourai, your homeland is gone after failing to contact her brother. You might want to pay her a visit.¡±  Neia?

    ¡°Neia Mikazuki, I think she said her brother was Viridian Mikazuki, the Mikazuki family have been friends with the Oures family for ages. At least I think so. The only things I can remember from before the Great Eraser are names. And this seems to be consistent. Whenever I meet other dragons or other legendary beings and I recognize them we all seem to have in common that names and some information around those names get remembered. I don''t even remember what life I lead before the Great Eraser but I do remember the name of your grandfather and an exciting fight I don''t remember how I met him, why we were fighting, only that it was exciting! Anyways, go visit Neia, she lives in Aquini kingdom, somewhere ehh, I forgot, but you''re both spirit foxes so you will bump into each other. I will tell her I sent Alep¡¯s grandson her way when I next meet her.¡°  The Aquini Kingdom, ok thanks.

    ¡°Hey, I don''t think I need to tell you but the population of your race is extremely low, be careful. I noticed some divine activity recently. The gods are up to no good again, be careful. I am going to kill a god that thinks it''s a great idea to replace all the air on the planet with alcohol, unbelievable these gods.¡±  It seems you have a lot on your plate too. Good luck.

    Inyr flew off into space and left me behind in his lair. I assume he thinks I can get back down safely. I can but¡­ a lift would have been nice. I jumped down and petted Nilah while falling. It would take quite a while before I would land. I was aiming for a mountaintop close to the small lake. I would land in a pile of snow and then slide down into the lake and surf down to Girai. Perfect plan!

    ?

 Vol 2 Ch 68: New equipment

    I returned to Girai with more than I ever hoped to gain. Nilah was sleeping on my head. She fought well, we were just no match for Inyr but that¡¯s fine. It seems he kills gods when he¡¯s bored, he''d be in deep shit if we could beat him. I put Nilah on my bed and went to practice a move that I saw him use. Those balls of air that spun around and shredded whatever it sucked in. I want it! I started with using [Counter spin] and forming the air into a ball. That was easy. I made them self-sufficient and chucked a piece of meat into it. It was just swirling around in the sphere. No shredding. What if I combine it with [Pressure] and [Wind blade]?

    There we go, it got ripped to pieces as if I threw it into a blender and I will call it such. Acquired the skill [Blender], Happy with my new skill I started to process the dragonbeard, I was literally splitting hairs. It needed a lot of precision but I have my Elgards eyes so it just takes time. I reached the day on which I was supposed to start sleeping which I badly needed as I have been splitting hairs for the last 2 days.

    I woke up refreshed on day 117 and continued. It was a long and painful process but I finished splitting the beard and making wires on day 125. I made them extremely thin and they were extremely strong. Tests revealed that they had no danger of melting or snapping. I did create one weakness into them; I made them weak to a specific wavelength so that I could snap them easily when I wanted to. I wanted to start and read the manual of how to make an ancient relic magic katana when someone knocked on the door.

    Nilah ran to the door and I picked her up before opening the door. It was someone from the Yttroz Industries.

    ¡°You have received 3 commissions. Jeremiah told me to also tell you when the deadline is else you will show up a week later or something and think it is normal.¡± He read something on his tablet. ¡°All three commissions are due in exactly 65 days. It is possible to extend this deadline. The expected materials will be delivered to you tomorrow, any other materials you might need you will have to provide for yourself. Have a nice day.¡± He left a tablet behind.  Hey, you forgot something.

    ¡°Oh, I didn''t, it¡¯s yours now, you can easily see what commissions you have on it, its due date, the materials heading your way, and their status, you can also request any extra materials on this. There is a menu with open commissions if you see something you want to make you can take them. The ones I brought to you were specific requests asking for your craftsmanship.¡±  Ah, thanks!

    I looked at this technological wonder and could easily find the data that the guy talked about. This thing is actually quite convenient. It is a bit like my Elgards eyes but then for humans. And uhh more mechanical, I guess. Let''s see, the first request is a set of daggers that have small channels in them. This request is interesting.

    So, this client wants to put a vial in the dagger''s handle and the contents will seep through the small channels into the dagger and when the client stabs someone the liquid, which I assume is poison, will instantly be delivered. There was a list of poisons the dagger should work with. This list¡­ I looked at the name of the client. ''Anonymous'', you can''t fool me Toxic Donkey!

    Nobody has a list of poisons this long; I also recognized some highly uncommon poisons. What a dumbass, did he think I wouldn''t find out? I will engrave: ¡®For Toxic Donkey¡¯, somewhere on it when I¡¯m done. This shouldn''t be hard to make. Now that I have my new wires, I could just make the daggers with some of these wires in and then pull them out when I finished the daggers leaving thin channels. I could finish this in 2 or 3 days easily. I put a tail on simulation duty to find the best and most efficient way to do this.

    Next up. Another anonymous; A sword that fits my beauty¡­ Are these guys messing with me? What is the point of being anonymous if their description will give their identity away? Let me guess, the last commission is from Vinny? Yup, at least he put his name on it. He wanted chainmail to hide his innate sturdiness.

    Normally this is easy but he needs something strong enough that can mimic the toughness of a dragon. Actually, this is easy, he gave me a bunch of his scales and I also have scales I''ve gotten from Inyr. I will just make some dragon scale armor. Nothing beats dragon scales in mimicking a dragon¡¯s sturdiness! So Toxic Donkey¡¯s and Vinny¡¯s requests were easy. Thalia¡¯s request though¡­ a sword that matches her beauty¡­ I don''t know anything about beauty¡­ I needed to wait for the materials that would arrive tomorrow but I could start on Vinny¡¯s dragon scale armor because I already had the key ingredient already.

    I went through my archive and brought up the manual about dragon scale armor that I swiped from the time capsule. Yup, I have everything, the hardest material to get was obviously the scales which I had an abundance of. I didn¡¯t know his size though. I tried to remember the last meeting with Vinny and estimate the dimensions. I think I got it. I made some peach ice cream before I started, gave some to Nilah and we started with the dragon scale armor. And before I knew it the door rang.

    ¡°The materials have arrived!¡±  Oh, that was fast, I thought they would arrive tomorrow!

    ¡°Yes, that''s what I told you yesterday¡­ make sure to rest enough¡­¡± 4 guys loaded materials into my workshop. ¡°I see you have already started, wait is this?¡± The guy looked at the dragon scale armor that was almost halfway done. ¡°Dragon scales? How did you? I will notify the client that this might get expensive¡­ I will appraise it when you are done¡­¡±  Oh, you¡¯re that appraisal guy from last time! Did you get a haircut or something?

    ¡°No¡­ I didn''t change my appearance¡­¡±  Oh, ok.

    ¡°Also, don''t come to Gittrian within the next week, let the clients wait a bit¡­ I think I need to notify Rubert¡­¡±  Noo! No! I will take it easy! I promise!

    ¡°Ok then, good luck.¡±  Phew, we don''t want to deal with Healerguy, right Nilah?  Nilah seemed to dislike the thought of Healerguy catching us. I agreed with her. I finished the armor before I had to sleep and I finished the daggers 2 days after I woke up. I think I did a pretty good job.

    Now this sword¡­ what does Thalia like? Baths, can''t put that in a sword, sand, I¡¯d rather not put that in a sword. What else does she like? Immortality, can''t put that in a sword either. I realized that I actually don''t know anything about her. Oh, she loves jewels, rubies specifically. How about a sword with a ruby edge adorned with some jewels? She is extremely rich so she can surely afford this.

    I went back to the bath idea. What if I make the sword hollow? She can fill it with water and whenever she¡¯s in the desert where there is no water, she has some to use her water magic on. But hollow swords aren''t a great idea unless¡­ If I enforce it with some dragonbeard wires it should become strong yet flexible and it wouldn''t matter if it''s hollow.

    Now to check if it is actually a good idea. I made a simple hollow sword out of iron and measured the volume. This wouldn''t be enough to be worth it. Unless¡­ I looked at my dimensional box on the table. If I just shove a small dimensional box in it, she can still store the water in her sword. I would need a small dimensional box though. I left 2 clones behind to start testing various shapes and sizes that would fit her the most and set up preparations while I got ready to set out. I needed to get a small dimensional box from somewhere. There were 2 candidates. Gittrian or that auction in Saluk, the sand city. I created another shadow clone and sent him to sand city. The shadow clone tugged on the [Dimensional Anchor] and returned to the jungle. I headed outside and went to Gregory to take more boats to Gittrian.

    ¡°You don''t have to keep asking me, just take them when you go to Gittrian you are the only one who can take more than 3 boats anyways.¡±  Ok.  I took 15 boats and headed for Gittrian. Nilah stayed behind this time to help the shadow clones. I arrived the same day late in the evening and went to the Adventurers Association and got a room. It deviated from my normal schedule but I can''t do whatever I want here so might as well sleep during the night.

    The place where I would find what I''m looking for is a mall close to Aurum. It has stuff only the richest people can buy. It didn''t take long to find a store that had what I was looking for. It had dimensional boxes of all sizes. one of the smaller ones had a holding capacity of 200 liters.

    Not a lot if the goal is to store items, it is a lot if the goal is to store water. 6 gold though, isn¡¯t this daylight robbery?

    I purchased the overpriced item and headed toward Yttroz Industries Headquarters. I needed to talk to Jerry or Barusu and successfully sneaked into the building. Locating Jerry¡¯s office was a piece of cake. He was having a Teleroad conversation. I stepped in after he was done.

    ¡°Whoa, I guess you finally managed to sneak in successfully, Don''t tell me you already finished the commissions?¡±  No, not yet, I have a question.  I told him about the properties of the material I was looking for.

    ¡°Hmm, I can''t think of any material that fits those properties off the top of my head, I will discuss it with Barusu if he has time, is there anything else?¡±  Uh not really, just a question, why did 2 of my clients go anonymous?

    ¡°Well one seemed to do that to annoy you and the other one did it to feel like she wasn''t bothering you but it seems you already found out who they are¡­¡±  Their requests were¡­ let¡¯s say unique to them so I could tell.

    ¡°I see, well you still have enough time to complete the commissions.¡±  I know, I will probably be back in a week.

    ¡°Can you use your tablet to indicate when you will arrive in Gittrian so that we can notify our clients? We will hold on to the items if they can''t be available at that time.¡±  Alright, I will also come with a lot of junk¡­ regular items that need to be sold.

    ¡°That is fine, you can leave the regular items in the boats that you bring but I would ask you to bring the commissioned items with you to the headquarters.¡±  Ok, thanks, Jerry. And you need to take a holiday sometime!

    ¡°I don''t want to hear that from you!¡± Jerry said with a tired look on his face. I hope they''re not overworking him.

    The streets were busy as always. It was such a different scene than anywhere else I''ve been. Some things have changed since the last time I was here. They attached some big screens on some buildings. It was giving news flashes and weather reports. Uh oh. Some archaeologists have found something that was hidden well, it seems to be sealed. They have hired an expert on unsealing but he refused to unseal it. I saw a small news snippet and what do you know? It¡¯s Greg. I guess asking him to unseal stuff is a good call. It does seem he¡¯s in the ruins where I sealed that Dimsha. I think he recognized my handiwork and realized that messing with this is a bad idea. Unfortunately, the archaeologists want to know what¡¯s sealed away.

    I wonder what happened to the creature that was in that room. More random news, some flood in the Aquini kingdom, the Igrini kingdom still being in a dispute, some group of people demanding independence, and some idol group breaking popularity records. Mysterious killings in small and big cities, freak weather, the state of Jarn kingdom, and all kinds of random news. I could see that Gittrian was slowly being rebuilt. Yttroz Industries did its best to not inconvenience anyone. It might look completely different in a year or 2 years or 5 years. I arrived at the dock and took 15 boats and headed back home. I couldn''t beat my 7-hour record because I had more boats.

    The boats were moored and it was in time for dinner. Not that my shadow clones or Nilah would cook or anything. The shadow clone that went to sand city dispelled himself because he got tired of the sand.

    I got back to work and I finished on day 139. It wasn''t as easy as I thought because beauty is subjective. But I could say that the end product was truly beautiful. The dimensional box was embedded in the handle of the sword because I went for a thin short blade. A short sword would fit her the best. The edges were made out of ruby. I had more than enough rubies lying around so this wasn''t hard to do. I dyed the metal black and decorated it with gold and silver. It looked dangerous yet beautiful. Now I just had to put a simple enchantment which made the water enter and leave from the tip of the sword and not the back.

    I tested it out, it was a bit heavier than I expected but it didn''t feel bad as the sword had a good weight balance. The sword was extremely sharp. I engraved my trademark on it. It reminded me to do the same for the others, I added: ¡®for Toxic Donkey¡¯ on the daggers in fancy writing. All were done. Time to slack!

    I notified Yttroz Industries that I would arrive in 5 days and relaxed for 5 days. I spent most of my time on the resort-like B2f and eating self-made ice cream. Nilah seemed bored though. I sent her to the training floor and let her fight some monsters.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    My relaxation came to an end when Nilah came to the tropical floor and started jumping on me.  Hey, what¡¯s up?  She ran to the elevator so I checked the date.

    Oh, it¡¯s time to go to Gittrian already?  Time flies when you¡¯re doing nothing.

    I got up and got ready to leave. Everything was wrapped up and ready to go. 15 boats were taken this time to Gittrian. These were all boats full of stuff I crafted and needed to get rid of.

    The cargo got registered and I went to deliver the new equipment after arriving in Gittrian. The building seemed relatively empty.

    I met up with the appraiser and he inspected the items beforehand. ¡°Let''s start with the daggers. Masterfully done. They still seem quite simple, 2 gold will do for these, now let''s see that armor¡­¡±  The client had provided the scales himself so you can ignore those.

    ¡°Ah... I see, well in that case 3 gold will do, otherwise¡­¡± I wondered if Vinny even has enough gold. ¡°And let''s take this sword out of its sheath, shall we? I love the scabbard.¡± He took the sword out and was perplexed. ¡°What¡­ how did you even get the idea of making this?" He looked at the sword. ¡°It¡¯s bewitching. Give me a second, it will be hard to pin down a price if I¡¯m distracted.¡± He sheathed the sword and looked at the scabbard. He typed something on his tablet. Then he took it out again.  Ah right, I also embedded a small dimensional box in it so the user can store water in it. She is a water user.

    ¡°Yes, I know¡­ So, it even has a dimensional box¡­ This item is worth 88 gold¡­ I assume you already knew that she was rich.¡± I nodded. ¡°Now only one could make it today. We kept an eye on the river to estimate when you would arrive.¡± The appraiser snapped his fingers and 2 people came to collect the sword and the armor. I guess that means only Toxic Donkey is here. We entered the room.

    ¡°Surprise! You didn''t think it was me who put up this commission eh?!¡±  What? Toxic Donkey? Oh no I didn''t know! How could I?

    ¡°Damn, you suck at lying, how did you know?¡± I showed him the list of poisons he mentioned and pointed at the rare and specific poisons. ¡°Oh, right.¡±  I see you¡¯re good friends with Io.

    Io was assaulting Nilah trying to pet her and Nilah was having none of it and kept running away. ¡°I noticed what you meant, she¡¯s special, but that''s why I love her.¡±

    Oh, you two are?

    ¡°Yeah, I know what you¡¯re gonna say but it¡¯s my choice! Also, I made her a bit less annoying! It was a lot of work though¡­¡±  Must have been rough, how is Esher?  Io stopped chasing Nilah. She walked to me and put her hands on my shoulders.

    ¡°Agnis! You must help us! Someone killed them, all of them! We¡¯re trying to find him but we can''t find even a trace of him!¡± Io started to tear up and Kyle seemed to have a hard time in this situation.  Wait what are you talking about? What guy?

    ¡°I went to the place you told me about, the Loud Sun. I [Silent Melded] inside and the only living person that I found was Io, who was crying, the rest of the assassins all got murdered, with daggers or shadow magic. The person Io identified as Esher was¡­ crushed to a pulp¡­ Io described the culprit as cocky, he had black hair, and a black suit, and claimed that he found the place and said he was quiet in the night or something.¡±  Esher, is dead?  I tried to process what was going on. I put my hands on my face.

    The culprit was covered in black, that doesn''t say much, unfortunately. You said he found the place and he''s quiet during the night? Well, if he got there then that makes sense¡­ wait, Io can you say word for word what he said? Not your interpretation.

    ¡°He said something like I¡¯m the founder and I¡¯m Silent Night or something.¡± I got a flashback of my heart almost getting pierced.  Kyle, we have a problem. I just realized something. I¡¯m so stupid. If you ever found a guild that was named Silver Torrent, who would you think the founder was?

    ¡°Well, you of course¡­ wait are you telling me? Wasn''t he in jail?¡±  Ugh, I told you that I broke my friend out of jail, right? That¡¯s where I met the Silent Night, he almost killed me with the skill that gave him his name.

    ¡°I guess that part was not so relevant to your adventure but it would have been nice to know, so we¡¯re basically trying to find the best Silent Night alive?¡±  Seems so, but I believe in you, put that guy in the dirt and change the role to Toxic Donkey.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯ve been looking for him for months now. The only traces we find are the corpses he leaves behind. We know it¡¯s him because of how he kills them but he leaves no mana traces behind. Also¡­ I think he¡¯s looking for you.¡±  For me? Why?

    ¡°Most of the people that he killed were imposters pretending to be you or resembled you¡­ What did you do?¡±  Fail to kill him, I guess. I was in a hurry though¡­ I will let you know when he finds me.

    ¡°I know you''re strong but make sure we get to you while you''re still alive¡­ ¡° I currently spend my time in Girai but I do make sure all my tracks are covered, besides when I go up and down the river¡­ I should go easy on that, I guess.

    ¡±Ok, we will keep an eye on the area. According to my latest information he is somewhere around Jarn Kingdom so you should be safe for a while.¡±  Alright thanks, but everyone is gone eh¡­ he better hope he never finds me.

    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m still here!¡±  Yeah, I¡¯m glad you survived Io, anyways these daggers work as you requested, I even signed it for you.

    ¡°For Toxic Donkey¡­ so you really knew it was me¡­¡±  Yup, now go have fun with your girlfriend

    ¡°I wish you would settle down¡­ where is Thalia?¡±  No clue, I completed a commission for her but she''s not here.

    ¡°Oh, she put one up too?¡±  I thought you 3 put them up together.

    ¡°I guess it¡¯s a coincidence I put one up as soon as I heard that a blacksmith named Silver Torrent had appeared. An adventurer had made a name for herself in the most recent Sichar tournament that ended 24 days ago. Her sword skills were graceful but her sword stood out. It took her enemies by surprise with its versatility. Her team didn''t win but it left a deep impression. After that, she revealed where she got it from.¡±

    Appraiserguy stepped in. ¡°You have no idea how many requests we have to decline, so far, these 3 have cleared the background check, it also helped that they are acquainted with you. Jeremy also tells us to make sure we don¡¯t overload you because you don¡¯t tend to rest a lot.¡±  Hey! I just finished slacking for 5 days!

    ¡°5 days in how many years?¡±  Shut up Toxic Donkey!

    ¡°Rude, anyways thanks for the daggers, I will make sure to put that asshole in the dirt with these.¡±

    ¡°Mr. Toxic Donkey, you¡¯re forgetting the payment.¡±

    ¡°Ah right!¡± The appraiser was completing the payment procedure while I watched Io trying to catch Nilah. Io sure got quieter. I guess Kyle is having a positive effect on her. He has a little bit of experience dealing with dragons so maybe it''s that.

    Anyways enjoy your new equipment, I need to check something.  The appraiser kept talking to Kyle while I headed over to Jerry¡¯s office. He didn''t seem to be there, I went to Barusu¡¯s office, also not here. Where are all the useful people?! I found an important looking guy walking around.

    Hey, excuse me, I''m Agnis Hourai and I''m looking for Jerry or the CEO.

    "Oh, I know who you are, they are not in Gittrian at the moment but maybe I can help." I told him about the type of material I''m looking for. "Hmm strong enough to withstand the effects of the ambient mana under high speeds. Let''s visit our material expert." We took an elevator to the 5th floor and walked into a workshop. "Good afternoon Verno, Agnis here has a question for you." I told this dwarf what I was looking for.

    He stroked his beard. "Hmm, I¡¯m sorry to say this but no such thing exists, any material that comes close to your description would break after several uses. If you find something that meets those requirements, please sell it to us."  I see, it did seem like a tall order, I was just hoping that there might be a solution.

    "I''m sorry, you might have to resort to highly non-traditional methods."  Thank you Verno

    "I''m glad I could help." He continued working on chipping blocks of stone. "We will keep looking for something that meets your requirements." The important person and I took the elevator down.  It''s fine, this was one option I might be able to solve this, so don''t worry.

    "Ok I will relay this to Jeremiah when he returns, have a nice day." He got off on the 2nd floor and I continued to the main floor. I could leave this building via the normal exit! Is what I¡¯d like to say but I still had to dodge curious staff and guards. When will they forget about me? I went to the dock and got 5 boats. I dropped the boats in stealth and covered myself and the boats in illusions and headed back home. Nilah had been quiet since I left the room with Kyle and Io. I reached after breaking my personal record. 6 hours and 37 minutes but I wasn''t happy about it.

    The sun had set and I sat down in my house. Esher is dead¡­ and it¡¯s my fault. Well actually it¡¯s that Silent Night''s fault and I don¡¯t have any control over his actions but still¡­ It feels like it¡¯s my fault. Nilah seems to have noticed how I feel way before I reached home. Kyle said that the Silent Night was looking for me. I assume it''s for revenge? Maybe getting beat by a kid rubbed him the wrong way. It probably did. I thought about the inevitability of death under humans. One day I will have to deal with this when Kyle and Thalia die of old age or in their line of work. I can''t keep blaming that on myself.

    Even though I can interfere it doesn''t mean I should. I wouldn''t be different from those stupid gods if I did. I took a deep sigh. Esher was an assassin, he knew his line of work was dangerous. Any mission can be your last as an assassin. It would have felt different if he died in action. But he got killed by a supposed ally, that is what I can''t accept. I won''t show this guy any mercy if he finds me, although I don¡¯t think he is mine to kill. Kyle or Io should get the kill. Preferably Io, she had known Esher for way longer than I did. I don¡¯t know how I feel about letting a killer run free if he finds me first though.

    Maybe I should send him packing and let them finish him off. Various situations popped up. I decided to let these thoughts rest. I needed to come up with a way to create a material that sucks in the ambient mana before it starts to become dangerous to my sword or make it unaffected by mana. I started to look through ancient manuals but none had what I was looking for. I guess I was on my own. It¡¯s both scary and exciting. Some clues and methods seemed helpful. But I tried to go for the easiest solution first. I made shadow clones and started crafting swords out of metals that had a high mana conductivity. I started to cheat and used my 9t mode in an illusion bubble to speed up these things. I didn''t rest and finished a set of 18 swords in 6 days. I imbued them with frost magic as I swung them like I normally do.

    This didn''t seem to work. They were fine by just swinging but if I tried to cut something they shattered. How about infusing them with frost magic while creating them? This posed a challenge because it killed all the heat. Is there a way to cold forge this? I will need earth magic and specifically the branch of metals which also requires a lot of studying and experience¡­ That option is out. I can infuse a special oil with frost magic and soak the sword in it so it gains similar properties to the frost infused oil.

    The oil froze¡­ Why am I even surprised? I kept trying different ideas that all failed. I got some commissions in the meantime which I completed quite easily. I didn''t have time to bring them to Gittrian so I sent them by a special boat. They had to send a water user to Girai specifically to pick these up. Since I finished all the 5 commissions, I could give him all 5 of the weapons I made. I sent more regular armor pieces and weapons with normal boats.

 Vol 2 Ch 69: Impossible

    It is day 201 and I still haven''t found a solution. The option of using leyline energy seems even more impossible than using frost magic. The biggest problem is the nature of magic. After magic is cast, its primary effect will disappear after the mana supply disappears.

    I created a sword out of frost magic. Anything I came up with would have to be a fancier version of this. I swung the sword and cut some monsters into pieces. It disappeared when I stopped the magic. It does stay intact after multiple uses but it''s just magic, that''s all. I had completed over a hundred commissions by now but none gave me inspiration on how to solve this problem.

    I tried getting ideas from reading fantasy books in Gittrian''s library, had talks with various magic weapon blacksmiths, and even had some chats with Barusu. Nobody had an idea of how to create something similar to what I was planning. I was to blame for this too because I couldn''t tell them that I can use frost magic.

    Is what I''m trying to make impossible?

    I made a prototype of something similar but with fire magic. It was a crude fire sword. It wasn''t a magical weapon or anything, it was way too weak and simple. But my idea worked with fire because the oil could take fire magic, I can forge with fire magic, but I can''t do all this with frost magic. Greg''s race skill [elemental inversion] could come in handy but I don''t think he can get something to change to frost magic.

    I wonder when he will learn that, it seems to be a royal pain to learn, and he also doesn''t have anyone to teach him. I can alter reality but only for 8 minutes and it''s not permanent. [Transmute] doesn''t work on mana and I don''t know the skill. What other options do I have left?

    I had gathered most of the ingredients that I was missing besides mistflowers and this flower that blooms once per year. Vinny said that encasing it in frost magic is the best way to store it since it''s also sensitive to mana. One of the reasons is that it''s endangered. It doesn''t like the portion of unusable mana present in the ambient mana.

    I brought up the correct filter and studied the composition. 12% of the ambient mana was unusable. Quite low by today''s standards. I had to find an area that has 6% or less and I will most likely find this flower growing like weeds. The problem was that finding a place like this is extremely hard. The hole I blew into the mountain near Boshi town seemed to have 0% unusable mana according to Greg but the light mana corruption corrupted it. Stupid tomato goddess! Vinny told me that the Aquini kingdom has areas that are quite pure but he wasn''t if it goes as low as 6%.

    The Aquini Kingdom is quite far, south of Igrini Kingdom. I will have no problems getting there but I don''t know where to look. It is home to the southern elven forest. I could try and ask them but was unsure that would be a good idea. I could also use some exercise however.

    Nilah, we''re going to the Aquini kingdom!  Nilah seemed excited to finally go out again. I stepped outside and the villagers acted like they saw a ghost.

    "He''s still alive!"  Come on guys, you buy stuff from me all the time!

    "We thought the sun would turn you to ash!"  I''m not a vampire¡­ I am going out for an undetermined amount of time.

    "Ooh, finally taking a holiday."

    "Yes, it''s good to relax."

    "Take your time, we will be fine" All these villagers think I need a holiday¡­ I made sure to indicate that I will be unavailable for commissions. This tablet is so convenient.  Anything that needs to go to Gittrian?

    "Yes, but we will manage, go take your deserved break!"

    "Yeah, don''t worry." I guess they want me to do my thing.

    Uhh ok then.  For the first time in forever, I left Girai in a way normal villagers would leave; I took the road. I always left using the river or the mountains up north. I took a safe distance and then covered myself in illusions and started running. I had to travel quite far so I went Mach 3 and went southeast. It was possible to get there by passing through the Igrini Kingdom but I would have to go around a small mountain range for that. I will have to northeast then get to where Ainahs is and then head south or I could go southeast and enter through a gap in the mountain range and get to the south of Aquini Kingdom. I am unfamiliar with the geography of the Aquini Kingdom but I at least know how to get there.

    It took me 30 minutes to arrive after I reached Mach 3. I was still in Hjuva but I was near the border. I could see a large city in front of me. I don''t know if this city is still in Hjuva or is over the border in Aquini. I don¡¯t have the convenience of seeing borderlines like on maps. I should locate a map of Kaledon one day and memorize it. The city was called Hiena, pronounced as Hyena. I found a shop and got a map. It seems the Aquini kingdom is divided into 2. It is split in an east and west side by a branch of the Aurelia river that is called the Aquini river. The river splits up and creates a delta and enters the ocean to the south.

    The river is surrounded by a thick forest of which the northern part is the elven forest. The west side, the side I will enter, has some plains and lakes. There is a big city to the northeast. To the south, there are some more mountains and a jungle. On the east side of the river is another large jungle and an enormous lake. The capital of the Aquini Kingdom, Alledra, is built in the middle of this lake.

    Huh, that is interesting, I should visit it someday. More mountains in the northeast of the country. It borders Hjuva on the west and Lopahz and the Igrini Kingdom on the north. Lopahz is sandwiched between Hjuva, Igrini, and Aquini, it¡¯s just forests and a little bit of Aquini river. I decided to go to the big city near the forest, it was called Nelfim, but first I have to cross the border. I heard that there might be some issues.

    I could easily teleport over the border but there might be situations like this in the future with escort missions or something, let''s find out how to solve this as a human. I joined a group of people that seemed to want to cross the border.  Hey, what''s going on?

    I had addressed a random person and he turned around.¡°Aquini¡¯s policies have changed recently concerning who gets into the country as a response to its crumbling relationship with the Igrini Kingdom.¡±  Wait so this is what they meant that Igrini was in a dispute?

    ¡°Yup, it doesn''t look like they will go to war yet but I wouldn''t be surprised if they do in the future, unfortunately, this affects nobodies like us the most. Some of us have families there, want to trade, or just want to visit as tourists, it''s a beautiful country.¡±  I see, but we''re from Hjuva can''t they let us in?

    Randomdude shook his head. ¡°Well, Igrini could send people over to Hjuva to enter Aquini from this side. Some got caught with fake IDs¡± Oof, that''s a problem yes.

    ¡°The king, or I should say leadership in Igrini have been making a lot of questionable choices for the last 10 years. It is supposed to be a kingdom and it poses as such but it feels as if more than 1 person is calling the shots and multiple decisions conflict with previous ones or seem to be incohesive, it all is just a mess. There has been a rumor popping up recently that the king sent a young boy to an extremely secure prison just because he talked to the princess. I don¡¯t know if I should believe this but I wouldn''t be surprised if that was true.¡±  I see, that is very concerning. I will keep that in mind if I ever find myself in the Igrini kingdom. So, anything we can do to get into Aquini kingdom faster?

    ¡°Probably not. Some people have found a loophole but it¡¯s not one anyone can use.¡±  What is the loophole?

    ¡°These rules only apply to humans. Elves, dwarves and other non-humans can pass easily, probably because it has a good relationship with Lopahz and Lopahz has a bad relationship with the Igrini kingdom.¡± He showed me a map. ¡°Lopahz does border Hjuva but¡­¡± He pointed at Lopahz¡¯s border with Hjuva or more accurately, natural border, it was a mountain range.  Hmm yeah, I see the problem, if the non-humans want to go or return to Lopahz they either have to go through Igrini or Aquini. Lopahz was the country that¡¯s predominantly non-human right?

    ¡°Yeah, and the Igrini kingdom isn''t so big on non-humans so that is why this loophole exists.¡± He put his map away.  Well, since you were quite helpful, how about I help you out? I dabble in illusions you, see?

    ¡°Not so loud!¡± He came closer and talked softly. ¡°How many layers can you make?¡± I can make 12 layers now but this is quite abnormal for humans, I think 4 layers should suffice.  4 layers.

    ¡°Whoa, dabbles he says, that¡¯s pretty good, better than average but not quite a pro. I am confident in my dwarf impression!¡±  But dwarves don''t act that much differently from humans¡­

    ¡°That is exactly why! What are you going to disguise yourself as?¡±  Uhh a wolf beast kin, I guess.  I got my ears and 1 tail out and used illusions on them to make them look like a wolf tail and wolf ears. Honestly, I didn''t see a big difference but those familiar with wolves might notice. Walking around as a wolf guy with a small blue pet fox might look weird but hey it¡¯s something. I cast illusions on this friendly guy and he looked like a dwarf.

    ¡°Whoa, I would start to believe I am actually a dwarf! Thanks!¡± We were at the back of the line so nobody seemed to have noticed us. I did make sure nobody was watching prior to changing our appearance. We waited for 2 hours but it didn''t seem the line was moving and people joined the line behind us.

    ¡°Hey, you two there? What the fuck are you standing in line with the humans?! You guys can just pass don''t wait!¡± A tall human spotted us and was clearly addressing me and the friendly guy. The line made way for us and we passed the border. Nobody asked us anything, no checks. We just got through. I sensed someone who was looking for deception but 4 layers was above average so unless he was extremely skilled or had a special skill, he wouldn''t be able to see through this. ¡°Have a nice time in the Aquini kingdom!¡±  Thanks!

    ¡°Thank you!¡± Fake dwarf and I started to walk. After an hour he told me that I could drop the illusion.  Are you sure?

    ¡°Yeah, my family lives in the capital, I can''t appear in front of them looking like a dwarf hahaha! Thanks, lad, where are you heading off to?¡±  Nelfim.

    ¡°Ahh, I guess we will have to split up then. Also just know that the closer you come to Lopahz and the elven forest the more you will be looked down upon as a human. It isn''t as bad as how humans look down on non-humans in other countries but I assume you might have never experienced being looked at as a human as if you¡¯re a stranger, just so you know! Bye!¡± He waved and walked off.

    This side of Aquini is like most of the other countries but humans take the place of the non-humans in being discriminated against or just being looked down upon. I guess that happens when humans push most other races to their limits. From my point of view, humans have done this to themselves. I decided to keep my illusion up and continued walking toward Nelfim.

    I met some beast kin on the way but also humans. I wasn''t really walking as myself here but it felt good walking around with at least 1 tail out. I could also run quite fast in the open because wolf beast kin can run quite fast. I like this country so far.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    I ran north. Some beast kin joined me in running for a bit and we had a nice talk. I had to slow down for most but there were also some that ran faster than what I think a wolf beast kin can run for. I could match their speed but I tried to pretend I was still struggling.

    I arrived at Nelfim utterly exhausted 6 days later. Nilah seemed to be implying that I did this to myself. She might be right, nobody told me to run at almost wolf beast kin full speed for almost 6 days straight. Running this slowly is quite energy inefficient for me. I dragged myself to the Adventurer¡¯s Association. I had to pretend to be a human to get inside though. The Adventurer¡¯s Association knows me for being a human.  One¡­ room please¡­ huff.  Everyone was watching me and rightfully so, I was making a fool out of myself.

    ¡°What happened to you?! Do I need to call a healer?¡±  No! No healer! I¡­ I thought it was smart to¡­ race a beast kin¡­  Everyone laughed. I didn''t lie here; the context just changes when a human tries to do that. 90% of adventurers here were non-human.

    ¡°Ah... I can imagine how you ended up exhausted like that then, can I see your ID?¡± I gave the cat girl my ID. ¡°Oh, Mr. Silver Torrent, I¡¯ve heard that you are quite fast, did you win the race?¡±  Ugh, barely, 0/10 would recommend this as a human.  People laughed again. The non-humans here didn''t seem to have anything against me. I got a comfy room and slept for 2 days.

    I have 23 days left to find this flower so I can''t afford to laze around. I got up refreshed and prepared to head for the forest. Nilah was still sleeping so I put her on my head and headed out. I checked personal requests but there weren''t many, I had a few but they were all cantered around Gittrian or near Texiha. That is too far. I headed into the city and bought some food that I was unfamiliar with. I spent 2 hours shopping for food and then headed northeast which I reached it at noon. I walked through the forest and remembered the weird jellyfish seeds I collected when I was in Cnidaria forest. I took some out and threw them at a chunky bird and caught it. I prepared and fried it and had it for lunch with Nilah. What strange plants would this place have? I bet nothing strange else Vinny would have warned me. Although he never told me to go here so maybe there are some strange plants.

    I walked around and checked the purity of the ambient mana. 16% unusable mana and slightly elevated wind and earth element but a normal balance for a forest. I guess I won''t find it here now how do I find the elves? I assume they would find me but I fried a bird and walked around for 2 hours and they didn''t find me. I realized that I might have made a big mistake. The dragons couldn''t find me for this same reason. I sent a pulse of nature energy out and sat down. Silhouettes appeared 10 minutes later. There were 4. I dodged 17 arrows flying at me. I guess they found me.  Hey! Wait! I¡¯m here to talk!

    ¡°We don''t talk to humans!¡± Right, I forgot about that.  What if I¡¯m not a human?

    I dodged more arrows and various wind-based magic. I also saw an elf cast something funky so I messed with the magic circle and interrupted the cast by throwing a rock infused with mana and knocking a mana rune out of the magic circle. I had to resist the urge to run after I saw their purple eyes which returned to blue and green shortly after. Phew, I haven''t interrupted casts in a long time.

    ¡°Stop lying, we can see you''re a human!¡±  Oooh, I didn''t know elves were known for their exceptional sight.

    ¡°Stop mocking us human!¡± the two elf guys seemed triggered but the 2 elf chicks started to calm down. I dodged more arrows and wind magic and thought about a way to get out of this situation.

    ¡°Hey G¨¦or, don¡¯t you think this human smells¡­ nice?¡±

    ¡°Isn''t this your smell? You always smell nice! Although, I don¡¯t remember you smelling like an autumn shower, Human what cologne are you wearing? And where can I get some?¡±  Uhm, I see at least your noses are working and this is not cologne¡­

    ¡°Stop cockblocking me human! Where did you get that cologne?!¡± I started to get pissed off by this G¨¦or guy.  Oh, you want some? Are you sure about that?

    I opened a vial and the scent of an autumn shower or however they call it, wafted through the area.

    ¡°Ooh! Give it to me!¡±

    ¡°G¨¦or wait! He is one of us!¡±

    This G¨¦or guy pointed at me. ¡°Huh, he is certainly not an elf! Give me that cologne!¡± He even tried to steal my vial!

    The other elf chick smacked him on the back of his head and knocked him out. I was slightly disappointed that I don¡¯t get to turn this guy into dust. I am well aware that elves can get old but if he applies the whole vial to himself, he will turn into a raisin.

    ¡°Hey, instead of fooling around how about you show your true identity, it is very hard to tell if you¡¯re a human or not.¡±  Ah right, my bad.  I took 1 tail out.

    ¡°Is that all? I don¡¯t remember fox beast kin smelling like this.¡±  A smart one or at least one with experience.  I took the other 8 tails out and stretched.

    Haven''t been able to walk out in the open with these in a while.  The 3 conscious elves dropped their bows in surprise.

    What? I thought you knew.

    ¡°No¡­ we didn''t, we just knew you might be some type of immortal, not an extinct one.¡±  Hey, we¡¯re not extinct!

    ¡°Yet.¡±  Fair point, hanging on a thread.

    ¡°So, what are you doing looking for trouble in the elven forest.¡±  Just doing what my race does and I came to ask you guys if you know of a flower that only blooms at this time of the year and in places where the ambient unusable mana is lower than 6%

    ¡°Huh what? Can you repeat that again?¡± I repeated what I said but they still didn''t get it.  I¡¯m sorry, I don''t know any Elvish¡­

    ¡°We can understand the words you¡¯re saying but not the meaning it''s that 6% that confuses us.¡± G¨¦or was still knocked out and the other guy was poking him with a stick.  Ehhm, where the air and ambient mana is clean.  The elf chicks looked at each other.

    ¡°You might want to ask one of our elders. Come with us¡±  Aren¡¯t they going to kick me out?

    ¡°They might, let¡¯s still try. G¨¦or wake up!¡± She kicked G¨¦or and he woke up.

    ¡°Huh, what? Where is my cologne?¡±

    ¡°G¨¦or, it wasn''t cologne, that is just how he smells naturally, hi I¡¯m Fynn don¡¯t pay much attention to my brother, he got dropped when he was a kid.¡± The other elf guy held out his hand and I shook it.

    I¡¯m Agnis Hourai, this here is Nilah, if you pet her, she will steal your mana so beware.  G¨¦or picked up Nilah from my head with both hands and got a lot of mana sucked out of him. It seems Nilah doesn''t like him either.

    ¡°Ooh, ooh, I feel weak¡­¡± I took Nilah back before he wobbled and fell on his ass.

    ¡°G¨¦or! Get up! I¡¯m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself I¡¯m Nnym, and this here is my sister Gwynn.  Oh, so this was a double date?  G¨¦or seemed to be the only one happy with the mention of a double date.  I guess I was wrong.

    ¡°Nono! You were right! Gwynn and I are dating!¡±

    ¡°No, we¡¯re not! In your dreams!¡± I took the vial out and opened it.  Hey, want some, it will make you more mature.

    ¡°Oh really?!¡±

    The Fynn dude stopped his brother. ¡°I want to know Agnis, if I remember correctly, your race are quite the pranksters, this isn''t one, is it?¡±  Ehh, maybe I should save this for another time.

    ¡°I guess I need to study more of the rare races, I saved you there brother be thankful.¡±

    ¡°You cockblocked me too Fynn! I¡¯m not thanking you!¡± We arrived at a huge tree. What do these tree races have with big trees. An elven village surrounded the tree.

    ¡°Right here this way." The elves of the village looked at me out of curiosity. We entered the big tree and I caught an arrow.

    ¡°What is this unfamiliar presence!¡± Whoa, that was some deep voice for an elf. ¡°Wait 9 tails, are you a relative of Neia?¡±  Uhm no, but I know her brother.

    ¡°I see, I¡¯m sorry for that arrow.¡±  It¡¯s fine, I''m immune to that poison anyways.  I burnt the arrow to ash.

    ¡°Elder!¡±

    ¡°Ahum, I¡¯m sorry, so what do we owe this visit to?¡± Deepvoice elder said after clearing his throat.  Owe? What? Oh, that''s how you talk ehm I¡¯m looking for a flower that blooms this time of the year and grows in clean and pure mana.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, can you repeat that?¡± What is the point of those ears if I have to repeat everything¡­  I am looking for a flower that blooms once a year and only grows where the percentage of unusable mana does not exceed 6%.

    ¡°Ooh, why didn''t you say that before, We have some of those stored, we collected them earlier this week.¡±  You guys are impossible¡­

    ¡°We can give you some but we would like you to help us out.¡±  Hoo boi, here comes another impossible request, what do you need?

    ¡°Well, we suffer from ehhm low numbers and we want to bring them up, we want your help with this.¡±  What? I¡¯m sorry, I don''t think I got that, can you repeat that?

    ¡°What is the point of those ears if we have to repeat things?!¡± I looked at G¨¦or, who stole my line.  G¨¦or, I swear, I¡¯m so close to kicking your ass.

    Deepvoice Elder ignored G¨¦or and continued. ¡°Our community is experiencing an imbalance in a male-to-female ratio that is preventing our community from increasing in population, we request your aid.¡±  Impossible!

 Vol 2 Ch 70: Eslana Village

    I was hoping they were asking me for helping the elf guys be more active and bringing them and the elf chicks together but that''s not what he meant¡­ He wanted me to help out in producing how he names it ¡®offspring¡¯. The village had 4 times more females than males. Raishin would love this place. Maybe I should just steal this flower and run. I sat opposite to the elf elder Tyrone. It seemed to be an unusual name for an elf but his deep voice made him sound more like a Tyrone. I have no idea what a Tyrone sounds like but I think this guy pulls it off quite well.

    ¡°And that is the plan.¡± The deep voiced Tyrone said while giving me a hopeful stare.

    Oh shit, I didn''t listen. I might get into deep shit if I answer inappropriately.  How about getting men from the other elf forests?

    ¡°They are also experiencing the same problem but not as bad as we do.¡±  So why me? Lopahz is not too far and for those interested, there are enough humans.

    ¡°But we¡¯re helping you out too, you¡¯re race is also low on numbers, right?"  Ooh shit is that what you''re going for?!

    ¡°Not a bad idea, right?!¡±  Find another 9t fox!

    ¡°As I understand the females outnumber the males in like 20 to 1 in your race so it''s unlikely that we will encounter another male-tailed fox.¡±  Look theoretically that sounds like a good plan but personally, I¡¯m not a fan of this plan.

    ¡°You don''t want a bunch of hot elven chicks?¡±  ¡­

    ¡°So, you do!¡±  That''s not the point! I have nothing against elves or the chicks here it''s just... This plan has a low success rate. My mother was a phoenix and a 9t, I have 2 older siblings that are just a phoenix. I¡¯m the only hybrid.

    ¡°And that''s why you will take more than 1!¡±  Right, I will stop you right there. I have a hard time dealing with people in general, a harem isn''t going to magically make that disappear it''s just going to get worse. I will decline but I appreciate the offer.

    ¡°Hmm, too bad, you seem like a nice guy. The fact that you''re not jumping at this opportunity makes me want to push this idea more. I will discuss this with the other elders. Excuse me but we can¡¯t give you the flower yet. Enjoy your stay in the village.¡±  This is not some scheme to make me stay here and possibly fall in love or something?

    ¡°Who knows.¡± Tyrone flashed a malicious smile and disappeared to the back of the big tree.

    I stepped out and sighed. I wonder if I should [Transform] into a chick the next time I visit an elven village. I snuck around and climbed into a tree on the edge of the village. I ate some fruit while sitting on a branch. I fed Nilah some too while observing the village. 7183 elves of which 5491 were women. I forgot to ask, why don''t the elf guys just take more chicks, problem solved. I saw the guys interact and they seemed odd. G¨¦or, seemed to be the only one acting normal.

    I went through my archive and looked at what I could find about elves. Hmm, the males seem to have a low sex drive. I looked at G¨¦or who seemed like a normal dude. The other elf guys seemed uninterested. Oof this must suck for the chicks.

    So, if I can make these guys act like G¨¦or, the problem is solved, but how? I need Greg if it¡¯s a love potion or another type of potion. Whatever idea I came up with would probably turn me into a criminal. Then again, it''s either that or I have to give up on this flower. I should''ve asked them where they found it but I don''t think they will tell me at this point¡­ I should have just pretended to be a dwarf or something. I sighed. My 9th tail had an idea though.

    9th tail, are you insane? They will never let me back here if I do that.  My 9th tail countered my argument that the alternative is that I help the elves repopulate by taking a harem¡­ Very persuasive 9th tail! I will observe the situation for a bit longer until I take action. They are so going to ban me for doing that though.

    I spent days chilling in this tree and observing the villagers. By the second day, it looked like they were looking for someone. They even sent elves out into the forest to look. I had hidden my scent as I was hiding under their noses. I enjoyed the slight chaos.

    By the 5th day, it was obvious that they were looking for me. Magic flew out to scan large areas. I covered myself in illusions to be undetectable to them. I got found the next day because I was laughing a bit too hard at the panic some of them were in.

    ¡°So, this is where you were, were you here the whole time?¡±  Hahaha! Sorry, you guys look like headless chickens.

    ¡°The other elders want to talk to you, will you come with me?¡± I nodded and followed Tyrone. I shocked and embarrassed a large part of the elves when they saw I was hiding in the village all along.

    I entered a room with important looking elders. Tyrone was the only guy, I guess that makes sense. 2 of the other elders seem to have the hots for him but he was trying to keep it professional. Why is every immortal race such a mess? Isn''t there one that''s normal?

    ¡°So, you are Agnis Hourai?¡± A beautiful elf with light blue hair in a single braid addressed me.

    ¡°You do resemble her a bit, how is your mother?¡±  Uhm, I would like to know that too.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    I sighed and told the story of what happened to Hourai. 2 elders started to cry and the rest was shocked.

    ¡°Noo! Wh...why isn''t this more known?!¡±  With all due respect, it is quite hard to find these things out if you guys stick to your forests, I met an elf last year and her reaction was the same but she knows because she went out in the world. As far as I know, only me and 2 of my friends have escaped. I think that elf went to her elders in the east elven forest but they didn''t want to listen.

    ¡°You! You have no¡­¡±

    ¡°Calm down Tyria, he has a point. The elders in the east forest are hard-headed¡­ do you have the name of the elf you met? We might want to hear her story.¡±  Sylvana, I don''t know if you guys have surnames or how to find the correct one.

    ¡°You mentioned that she had been an adventurer for some years, not many elves should fit that description so I think it should be fine.¡°  I  see, well there you have it, I¡¯m sorry but you guys can¡¯t afford to sit in your trees and be angry at humans anymore. A jungle dragon name Vinny has been going around doing stuff you guys should do. It is just a matter before he burns out be it 300 years, 500, or 1000 because he also needs to do actual dragon stuff.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, are you interested in an experienced elf?¡± A blonde elf said with an... interesting expression. It reminded me of Hisui''s love crazed expression...

    ¡°Yrynn! Behave yourself!¡±  This is such a clown fiesta¡­

    ¡°Ignore the ladies for a bit, so who else have you told this?¡± Tyrone seemed to be the only elf that could behave.  Uhm, Vinny the jungle dragon, Sylvana, and 2 humans that I trust and are quite disgusted with humans themselves.

    ¡°Ok, I would recommend keeping this hidden from the western elves but the shadow elves will probably help you the most. It¡¯s just that they clash often with the eastern elves. To be honest, the shadow elves are the only ones taking what you described seriously.¡±  What''s wrong with the western elves?

    ¡°They are insane¡­¡±  Fantastic¡­ anything else I should know?

    ¡°How about you take my daughter?¡±  How about no, I do know a guy who might be interested, a six-tailed lightning tiger.

    Tyrone put up a complicated face.  Shit, so you know.

    ¡°Yeah, not the best partners but I will consider it if we''re truly desperate.¡±  The fact that you know and are considering it already proves that you''re desperate¡­

    ¡°Anyways what would make you take at least one?¡±  You want this badly, eh? That is actually a very good question and I don''t have an answer because I¡¯m busy, on a tight schedule, and too immature to be stuck to a lifelong commitment so the best answer I could give is: give me 20 or so years and ask me again.

    Now I¡¯m hoping they have shitty memories and will forget.

    ¡°Did you write that down?¡± Tyrone said as he looked to the elf secretary.

    ¡°Yes, I did!¡±

    Shit, I guess my future me has to deal with this problem. I think I¡¯m safe for now. I should have gone with 100 years¡­  Nothing worked to energize the men?

    ¡°We tried everything. Even illegal drugs, nothing worked long-term.¡±  Whoa! Ok, I guess you did try. Alright, I have a plan but I won''t tell you because you might not like it but it¡¯s going to be 100% effective. I will understand that you will ban me from the village if I explain it but at this point maybe that¡¯s for the better¡­

    ¡°And why are you telling us this?¡± Tyrone asked.

    I flashed a malicious smile.  Because you can''t stop me. If you give me the flower, I will help you guys with your problem. You got 3 days; I will be in the tree.

    ¡°Hey, maybe continuing to push a tailed fox wasn''t a great idea¡­ Strange things happen when you do.¡±

    ¡°He said he would help us; we might like how he would do it but maybe that¡¯s the correct solution. A viewpoint from outside our race!¡± They continued to argue and I hopped back in my tree and started to run simulations. I wanted my plan to have a maximum effect. I will never tell anyone what will happen here.

    <hr>

    2 days passed and Tyrone hopped on the branch and handed me a bunch of flowers that had magic on them to preserve them.  Thanks, this is only for you, if you want to see and remember anything that will happen at the end of the next day, I will advise you to sit in this tree.

    ¡°Uhhm sure it will help us, right?¡±   It will, you might not like it though.

    ¡°We discussed this and the future is more important than the current, whatever you do now might be something we might not like but if it secures a better future, we will take it. I think I will be watching.¡±

    I will prepare for being banned from this village.

    Tyrone jumped off the branch and I continued to simulate.

    The day came. A portion of the elves seemed to be nervous, others seemed excited. Too bad for them, they will have to wait.

    Night fell and the full moon appeared. I created an 11-layered illusion over the whole village and shattered it and collected the [Illusionary Dagger]. The simulations were to stretch the time of this special 9t mode and another skill I was going to use.

    ¡°Are you going to start?¡± Tyrone appeared next to me.

    You are just in time.  I stabbed one of my tails with the [Illusionary Dagger] and it left 8 copies behind. I stabbed my other tails and entered the special 9t mode. The moon seemed to glow and become larger. I then used [Elgard Overload]. My simulation kicked in and stretched its duration to 40 minutes.

    ¡°What... what are you doing?¡± Near infinite layers of illusions fell on the village.

    I can¡¯t permanently alter reality but I can do something that has permanent effects.  I used [Elgard Overload] to force all the elvish men and women to become extremely horny. The guys had 40 minutes to procreate.

    ¡°This¡­ this¡­ I see why you said we wouldn''t like this.¡± The scene of the elven village turned into an 18+ rated scene.

    You can join them if you jump off the tree.

    ¡°I think I will stay¡­¡± The elves didn''t care for the location. They were doing their best to bring their numbers up. My eyes started to hurt but I had to give them enough time to do their deed. I also made sure they could keep going.

    ¡°Is this what happens when you push a tailed fox?¡°  Yup! I accept being banned from the village after this, they won¡¯t remember any of this afterward though, only you will. Although, they might get dreams about this night.

    ¡°Terrifying¡­¡±

    The 40 minutes had almost passed. I made them clean up and return them to their clothes and homes in the last 5 minutes. My 9t mode dropped, my vision went dark and I fell out of the tree. Tyrone caught me.

    Ugh, I will be useless for a day, you can ban me after that.  Nilah was giving me mana. I couldn''t use any 9t stuff nor my eyes for a whole day. I decided to sleep for a whole day.

    I woke up early, picked up Nilah, and fled the scene. I don''t know how well elves respond to amnesia but probably better than humans. They might not remember now but maybe in a month, a year, 10 years etc.

    I returned to Nelfim and decided to stay there for a bit. I can expect the elven population to boom in about 7.5 months. They surely will be confused about why that happened.

 Vol 2 Ch 71: Party

    I decided to do some missions before I headed home. I looked through a boring list of missions when I found something interesting.

    Oh, restraining a group of wyverns. That sounds cool. It seemed to prefer the Silver Torrent role. Well, aren''t they lucky?

    I took the mission and read the details. It was not too far from here as it was on the other side of the lake. Some wyverns were attacking people but the eccentric person wants to tame one.

    Let¡¯s turn those wyverns into ice cubes Nilah!

    I headed toward the location and I saw 4 people talking to who I assumed to be the one wanting to tame a wyvern. ¡°I¡¯m telling you! You need to restrain them! Not kill them or severely wound them!¡±

    ¡°And how are we supposed to do that, they can kill us if we¡¯re not careful!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you can just tame the one that got lucky and knocked out without major injuries!¡±

    I could understand both sides here. But asking to restrain wyverns for such a silly reason is stupid. I encountered a real wolf beast kin, a lizardman, a human and something that looks like a human but I¡¯m sure he isn''t a human; he is a bit tall for a human. The human was the only female and she seemed to be a Golden Angel. I actually wanted to test something that took inspiration from my fight with Inyr. I might be able to complete my other ultimate skill with that but the mission is to restrain so I can''t use that.

    Good morning can I help?  The adventurers looked at me. It seems they were thinking: ''here comes another one''. The unreasonable guy seemed to be excited,

    ¡°Hey, aren''t you supposed to be in magic university?¡± The human chick asked. She seemed to be in her late 20¡¯s

    ¡°What¡¯s that? Something wild you humans have going?¡± The beast kin asked.

    ¡°It is a school where young humans go to master magic.¡± The human responded.

    ¡°Sounds wildly boring hahaha!¡± I agreed with the wolfguy.  School or university is for people who lead boring normal lives, the best teacher is experience, I can drop the wyvern faster than any university guy but since we¡¯re restraining them that shouldn''t matter.

    ¡°That¡¯s him! That¡¯s him! The guy I need! I didn''t know you were here in Aquini! Thank you for taking my request!¡± The requestgiver said excitedly. He was holding a leash for a dog. I surely hope he knows that that won''t work on wyverns.

    ¡°Wait is this the Silver Torrent? He is just a kid!¡± the human seemed shocked.

    Hey, I turned 18 last December!

    ¡°Well, he must be well known for a reason, right? You humans and your wild rules, if he knows his stuff, his age shouldn''t matter.¡±  I¡¯m Silver Torrent, this is Nilah, who might you be?

    ¡°Wild Fang! Nice to meet you! I have never heard about you but the humans seem to know who you are!¡± Wild Fang said while wildly shaking my hand.

    ¡°I¡¯m Alicia Dwarf, nice to meet you.¡±

    I looked at the short human. Is it because you¡¯re so short?

    ¡°Noo that''s my real name! I don''t have an adventurer''s name yet...¡±

    ¡°Wahahaha I like you Silver Torrent also this wild guy¡¯s name is Gilbert, he¡¯s not much of a talker.¡± Wild Fang pointed at the big guy.

    ¡°I am Dragon Warrior! Nice to meet you!¡± The lizardman did some weird movements with his swords as if he was fighting something and sheathed them.¡±  But you¡¯re not a dragon¡­

    ¡°Not Yet!¡±  Lizardmen can turn into dragons?

    ¡°I will become the first one to succeed!¡±  So that''s a no then¡­

    ¡°Uhm, It is nice to meet you Silver Torrent but can you do something about those?¡± The short chick pointed at the wyverns that were wreaking havoc on some humans.  And why hasn''t everyone evacuated?

    ¡°They''re stubborn¡­¡±  And dead if they don''t get out of here!

    I counted all the foolish humans running around, threw an equal amount of frost marbles into the lake behind me and swapped the humans with them one by one. They all fell into the water. I connected to the air leyline currents and [Flushed] them all to the other side of the lake, where Nelfim was located.  Good riddance.

    ¡°Ooh that was cool! Your role had something to do with control right, this seems quite useful for control. Hey hey, can you keep a wyvern still so I can use my [Wild Claw] on them?¡± I shot out daggers and wires and bound a wyvern and it dropped to the floor. ¡°Whoah! That¡¯s wild! Take this!¡± Wild Fang was going to town on this wyvern. We were lucky that there were still more. I bound another wyvern with wires and dropped it in front of the idiot who wants to tame a wyvern.

    There you go.  The wyvern tried to struggle but he couldn''t move much. These guys are lucky that these wyverns are just infants. Teenage or adult wyverns would have levelled this city in no time.

    ¡°That''s it?¡±  That¡¯s it. Now take your wyvern home, we need to deal with the rest here.

    I could send Nilah after them but these adventurers were here for some action too so I decided to be considerate and team up with them to dispatch the wyverns.

    ¡°Whoah that felt great! Hey, where did that wild request guy go?¡±

    ¡°Our friend Silver Torrent here bound a wyvern and completed the mission, but there are still wyverns left so I can show off my dragon powers!¡±

    ¡°Oh, that''s Wild! I have a question though for the dwarf.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a dwarf!¡±

    ¡°Won''t you be useless with that guy here?¡± Wild Fang pointed at me.

    ¡°Huh? Why is that?¡±

    ¡°Well, when his role got announced there were some speculations going around that it might be a good alternative to having a Golden Angel, both are rare but you don''t need a Golden Angel if you don''t get hit.¡±

    Hmm, this guy makes the same point I made to my buddies years ago. The wyverns noticed us and came for us. I shifted stance and used [Howling Updraft] to send them flying into the air and then used [Pressure] to slam them down. Wild Fang went ham on the wyverns that were grounded.

    ¡°See! They can''t even do anything to us and we get to do wild damage!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget me! [Dragon Claw]!¡± is what Dragonboy said that but he was just slicing at the wyverns with his swords.

    The silent guy stretched his hands out and shot [Dark Bolts] at the wyverns. Another wave of wyverns approached and I used [Counter Spin] and all the wyverns got stuck in fast-spinning air balls that dropped to the floor. I didn''t use [Blender] because that becomes messy and gives these adventurers less to do.

    ¡°More free damage!¡± Wild Fang was loving it, and so was the wannabe dragon. The chick didn''t seem like she could do anything. All the wyverns were dealt with after an hour.

    ¡°Whoa, that was wildly easy and effortless, I now understand why they made such a big deal of it. I guess the only downside is that it deals no damage.¡± I decided to leave them in this delusion.

    ¡°Hey, I have a mission tomorrow to fight a lich and a skeleton army in some cave nearby, can I ask you to help out?¡±  Uhh sure but wouldn''t that leave you with not much to do?

    ¡°Well, a bored Golden Angel is the best-case scenario, how much we dislike to be bored.¡±  I''ve heard that line before, sure, I can help out.

    ¡°Heyhey! I want to help out too! I like free damage!¡± Wild Fang seemed more interested in doing free damage than the quest.

    ¡°You guys could use the assistance of a dragon.¡± Dragonboy did the thing again with flailing his swords and trying to act cool.

    The silent guy walked away.

    ¡°Great then we have a party!¡± Both Wild Fang and Dragonboy seemed to be Unstoppable Beasts but that''s fine, I am quite flexible. As long as the dwarf stays alive, she can fix us up. We can get as reckless as we want. Wild Fang and I made the same face, it seems we had the same thought. We fist-bumped each other and returned to Nelfim.

    We collected our reward and a bonus for wiping out the wyverns. I got asked about Nilah and gave them the usual warning. Nilah was quite good at collecting mana. We ate together at a restaurant and would meet up at the east gate.

    During the night I practiced parts of the ultimate skill I came up with during my ocean training. I couldn''t do everything because that certainly would draw attention, the part where Inyr coiled around me and gave me no escape was what inspired me. Just like [Silver Torrent], this skill will be near impossible to escape from. My opponents will have fucked up if they allow me to use this. I made Nilah act as my opponent and she tried to find ways to get out. It allowed me to fine-tune it. Nilah was small so if she can''t slip out nobody can. The sun started to rise so I took a short nap in a tree outside the city.

    We¡¯re going into a cave so shit will go down. I don''t know how but life will find a way.

    Nilah woke me up and it was time. I quickly freshened myself up in the nearby lake and waited at the entrance. The dwarf was already waiting there. I was on time. Dragonboy was cutting it close and Wild Fang was 10 minutes late.

    ¡°You¡¯re late!¡±

    ¡°Meh, I wildly overslept sorry!¡±

    We fist bumped and the dwarf rolled her eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s go! This mission might take long.¡±

    ¡°They will fall to my mighty [Dragonbreath]!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, Bro did you brush your teeth? You smell wild! And not in the good sense!¡±  The liches don''t have any noses so you might want to use another attack to kill them.

    I held my nose and took peppermints out of my dimensional pocket and threw them to Dragonboy. He caught 2 and dropped the other 3.  ¡­ A dragon that can¡¯t catch? That¡¯s a new one.

    ¡°It was too sudden even for my dragon reflexes!¡±

    We went west and entered the cave. ¡°My dragon eyes can''t see a thing!¡± Wild Fang and I seemed to be see just fine. The dwarf made a small [Fireball].

    ¡°Ohh how wild, you can use fire, dwarf?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not a dwarf! I¡¯m a human! And anyone can use [Fireball] even if they don¡¯t have a fire affinity¡±

    ¡°That is wild! Is that so?¡± I nodded and made the weakest [Fireball] I could make.

    ¡°Whoa so hot!¡± The dwarf looked at me and turned off her [Fireball], I guess I¡¯m the lantern now. We kept walking through the tunnel but nothing seemed to be off, just some strange clattering.  This cave seems to be empty...

    ¡°Don¡¯t you hear that clattering?!¡± Dragonboy said looking around paranoid. ¡°But he is right, sound is air and air is nothing! That is what my dragon senses tell me!¡±  I think you need to take your dragon senses back to school.  We hit a dead end not too long after.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    Is anyone proficient in earth magic? This cave might be empty but there must be something behind this.

    ¡°I can''t use earth magic but I got something better!¡± Wild Fang started to glow and grow bigger. We cautiously went to stand behind him. ¡°[Wild Charge]!¡± He crashed into the wall. It started to crack, he took a leap back and did it again. The wall broke down after the third attempt. His head was bleeding and the dwarf healed him.

    ¡°So reckless!¡± Wild Fang gave a thumbs-up as he returned back to normal. He blasted the hole, making it bigger and revealed a huge underground room. A lich was holding a speech to an army of skeletons and we seemed to have interrupted. They turned around and stared at us.  Right, sorry to disturb you, I think we got the wrong address, please continue!

    ¡°What the fuck? We didn''t order anything! Guys, they are intruders! Get them!¡± The lich ordered after pointing at us. The skeleton army started to clatter even more and ran at us.  Right, it¡¯s time to go.

    Wires shot out of my dimensional pocket, I gently wrapped them in wires and pulled them along as I dashed out of the cave.

    ¡°Where are you going?! Our targets are right there!¡± Dragonboy said while pointing his sword at the skeleton army that was following us.

    ¡°Ohh, I get it lure them into the sun so they become ash! That''s a wild idea!¡±  Dude, they''re skeletons, not vampires, the sun does fuckall to them!

    ¡°Oh¡­ aren¡¯t we wildly screwed then?¡±  I assume that skeletons make for poor swimmers.

    ¡°Ooh, I can show off my water dragon powers!¡±

    ¡°Are you a water user Dragon Warrior?¡± Dwarf asked.

    ¡°No, I am not.¡±

    ¡°...¡±  ¡­ You are worse than an actual dragon.  The skeletons were quite slow and I had to stop from time to time to lure them and get them to the lake. These guys had a short attention span so they wanted to chase whatever living beings they saw.

    Hey, assholes! Over here! Please focus! We were the ones that got your address wrong remember?!  The skeletons remembered why they were mad again and chased after us. The lich was nowhere to be seen. It took a while but we finally got the skeleton army to the lake when I saw 2 skeleton giants and a bone dragon burst out of the cave with the lich riding the bone dragon.

    You see that¡¯s a real dragon! And the reason I dislike caves!

    ¡°Hey there brother mind sharing some dragon tricks with me?¡±

    I jumped on the lake to evade a bone [Dragonbreath].  Who of you can walk or water or swim?

    ¡°I can [Float].¡± I dropped the dwarf.

    ¡°I can swim!¡±  How good?

    ¡°I¡¯m the best!¡± I dropped Wild Fang.  And you?

    ¡°Uhm I can¡¯t swim¡­¡±  The ¡°Dragon¡¯ can¡¯t swim, of course¡­ Nilah, stay with him and create ice for him to walk on and be nice to his mana reserves¡­  Nilah jumped on Dragonboy and I dropped him. He stood on the ice platform Nilah made. The skeletons ran into the water but they couldn''t swim, obviously. The lich used some magic to make them walk over water.

    Oh, come on that¡¯s cheating!  Wild Fang was doing the butterfly. He had excellent form, he mowed down skeletons with his claws while doing the butterfly.

    I¡­ I have never seen anything like this¡­ Hey Wild Fang! Can you surf?

    ¡°Of course, I can!¡± I made a board made out of ice, threw it at Wild Fang, shifted stance, and started using [Churning Waves]. The skeletons had a hard time and Wild Fang caught a wave and surfed past a horde of skeletons and clawed them down. ¡°This is wild!¡±

    Wild Fang seemed to be having the time of his life. Dwarf was spamming [Holy] on the undead and poofing them out of existence. Dragonboy was¡­  Are you seasick?

    ¡°Ugh, give me a moment... blegh...¡±  Just so you know, Nilah is going to kick your ass if you vomit on her.

    I kept giving the skeletons a hard time. Now it doesn''t matter if they can walk on the water. The skeleton giants and the bone dragon with the lich are the real problems. The skeleton giants pulled their arm out and threw them like enormous boomerangs. Their arms grew back because of the Lich.

    ¡°Wahoo! how do you like my [Wild Surf]?!¡±

    I guess I can leave the skeletons to the dwarf and Wild Fang. [Surface Flip] submerge some skeletons that tried to jump through a wave and catch Wild Fang.

    ¡°Whoa, thanks! I will pay more attention; you go deal with those boners up there!¡±  Don''t call them boners¡­ it has a strange meaning under humans¡­ Dragonboy, do you like flying?

    ¡°I¡¯m not good with heights¡­ give me a second¡­ bleghhh¡±

    I guess I¡¯m on my own. Nilah looked at me and her eyes were pleading for me to take her with me.  Get him on dry land Nilah and I will take you with me.

    Nilah jumped on the water and created a frozen path for Dragonboy. He was slowly walking toward dry land which made Nilah impatient.

    How big of a mess will I make if I make a leyline version of [Tsunami]? I guess I will catch my allies, maybe I shouldn''t.

    People from the city were looking by at a distance. I tried to lock [Churning Waves] to the leyline flow so that I could keep it going while doing something else. I managed to succeed when Nilah returned. Dragonboy was fighting some skeletons on dry land. Nilah hopped on my head and I used [Waterspout] and launched myself in the air. I made a bow out of ice and shot [Ice Arrows] at the lich. It didn''t seem to pack enough of a punch. I used [Pressure] to make it appear that I fall normally and kept using [Waterspout] and [Pressure] to find a good angle to snipe the lich down. I also sent some arrows to the skeleton giants and froze their joints.

    ¡°Hey! Silver Torrent! Can you send me flying too?! I want to use my special summer edition skill [Wild Dive]!"  Uhhm, sure, why not?

    I launched both of us in the air and Wild Fang started spinning and shot down. He landed in the water shredding anything he hit and created a whirlpool that started shredding the skeletons that got caught up in it.

    What kind of summers does this guy have that this is a summer special¡­ Anyways he got back to surfing the whirlpool. He seemed uselessly experienced in this but it worked out for us. I canceled some magic the Lich was casting. It was some stupid instant death magic. I need to watch out for this guy, he has overpowered skills. I shot myself near the bone dragon and used [Blender]. It didn''t shred anything unfortunately but at least they seemed to be occupied. Dragonboy was being useless, the dwarf had defeated way more skeletons than he had and Wild Fang basically is having a blast and is using this lake as his playground.  Wild Fang I¡¯m going to make the water wilder!

    ¡°Yes yes!"

    [Churning Waves] turned into [Stormy Tides]. [Churning waves] creates waves of 5-9 meters tall, [Stormy tides] creates waves of 9-15m tall. I guess the next step is [Tsunami].

    ¡°Hey, isn''t this a bit insane? Are water users really this strong?!¡± Dwarf seemed to be complaining that I turned the lake into a death trap for the skeletons. The skeleton giants finally reached the water.

    Let¡¯s get them Nilah!  I used [Waterfall] and simultaneously started using [Oceans Wrath] I dashed and climbed the skeleton giants with [Waterfall] while blocking attacks with [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] and sending the water currents that were swirling around me out to attack the joints. Its hip got dislocated after I sent a current through it and this giant started to fall over. I jumped over to the other and knocked out some vertebrae.

    They tried to reform but they were too slow. I kept destroying more and more joints. Some skeleton mages were blasting me with magic but my [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] was absorbing them to become stronger. These mages were weak but there were many. I [Flushed] them toward Wild Fang and kept destroying the giant''s bone for bone.  Dwarf, they will take forever to reform, blast them with [Holy]!

    ¡°Don¡¯t call me dwarf!¡± She blasted the area with [Holy] and I took some to feed my [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] I needed more to charge this. The Lich started to shoot lightning magic at Wild Fang but Wild Fang had an easy time surfing around, shredding skeletons, and evading the lightning.

    Wild Fang! Heads up!  A large [Thunderbolt] was heading toward him and I swapped myself with him and absorbed it with [Ocean¡¯s Wrath]

    Is that all you got? You¡¯re the weakest Lich I¡¯ve ever fought!  Since this is the first and only lich, I''ve encountered this is technically correct. He is both the strongest and weakest lich I¡¯ve ever fought.

    ¡°Oh, how about this then! I have a special delivery for you! Say Hello to the [Thunder Mage]!¡± The lich created something out of thunder. It reminded me of an attack I saw in my C-rank assessment. These things are strong. Perfect. I kept provoking them and they kept feeding attacks into my [Ocean¡¯s Wrath]. Technically I had a kill count of 0 because I had only helped the others get kills. [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] is almost done and its electrified with very strong lightning attacks, this is surely going to hurt. I created a ramp made of ice and sped up with [Waterfall] and landed on the bone dragon and caught more attacks.

    ¡°Wait, something is off with this skill!¡± The lich used [Shadow grasp]. I jumped up and threw a fish at it. It grasped the fish and crushed its heart. Don''t get me wrong, this skill is very strong, I¡¯m just making it look like a weak skill because I have a dimensional pocket full of things that have hearts.

    I was now above the lich and the bone dragon and I combined all the currents swirling around me and bundled them and shot them down at the lich, [Thunder Mage] and the bone dragon. Wild Fang saw this skill descending and surfed to the shore and started running. This guy has a lot of experience with water. The Dwarf saw Wild Fang''s reaction and did the same. The attack punched through the bone dragon and one-shot it. The water pushed the [Thunder Mage] and lich into the water and electrified the whole lake. All the remaining skeletons poofed out of exitance a lot of native fish too apparently. Dragonboy was too close to the water and got zapped. I swapped him with a rock further inland. The Lich was still alive, well he is an undead so that was debatable.

    Your turn Nilah!  She jumped down and covered herself in frost and dove down into the water instantly freezing it. She dug herself out of the frost and tapped it with her tail. The frost shattered and turned into a near infinite amount of shards that shot up and fell down back as streams of water and refilled the lake although only for about 80%. The rest fell next to the lake.

    8/10 style points, Nilah, you have to work on the aftermath a bit.  I landed on the water and moved the water back into the lake. The lich was nowhere to be found. This attack of Nilah was actually quite brutal. There were only a handful of skeletons left but Wild Fang and Dwarf were on it. I guess I didn''t have to use my ultimate technique. The last skeleton got blasted by [Holy] and the skeleton army and their lich overlord were no more.

    ¡°That was wild! Never has fighting an army been so fun and easy! I hope that more people will take up the Silver Torrent role!¡±

    ¡°I have to say. I never imagined that water users could do all that, you didn''t use magic though which confuses me more¡­¡±

    ¡°Are... are there more skeletons?¡± Dragonboy joined us. he was still being paranoid.

    ¡°They are all gone Dragon Warrior, you can relax, whoo That was wild! It seems my beach holidays paid off bigtime whoo!¡± Wild Fang was extremely excited.  Yeah, I was seriously impressed with how you handled all this water.

    ¡°Yeah! I think I might study some more water magic now. I have an affinity but never bothered. I¡¯m missing out on so much fun! Thanks for the fun! I need to train!¡± He ran away in the direction of the forest. I guess he¡¯s heading toward the river, but there is a lake here¡­. Not my business anyways.

    ¡°Doesn''t he want to collect his reward?¡±  Leave him be, he will probably be too excited to focus on anything, let''s go get our reward.  We didn''t seem to need to put in a report because most of the people in the city were watching how we were having fu¡­ destroying the skeleton army. Wild Fang would be compensated whenever he would return.

    adventurers gathered around us. ¡°Whoa, that was cool! So, this is how the Silver Torrent fights?¡±

    ¡°So strong!¡±

    ¡°Heh, you guys don¡¯t understand how impressive it was what he did.¡± we all looked at some guy that was acting all cool. ¡°Let''s ignore that using water to this extent is already hard and rare. Has any of you noticed that he has the least kills out of the group?¡±

    ¡°Uh, what about him?¡± Someone pointed at Dragonboy.

    ¡°Second least kills then, you guys probably didn''t notice but he did but was this because he couldn''t or that he had a different goal? Fighting an army isn''t easy, he created an environment that didn''t stress the Golden Angel out and where his allies could deal damage quite easily and without worrying. I¡¯ve said this before but he¡¯s the alternative to Golden Angels, it¡¯s no coincidence that Golden Angels, have ¡®Gold¡¯ in their name and he has ¡®Silver¡¯ in his name! You don¡¯t need a healer if you don¡¯t take damage! Moreover¡­¡±  Right, nobody cares dude, I appreciate it but you¡¯re wasting your time.

    ¡°I¡¯m interested!¡±

    ¡°I want to hear it too!¡±  Guys, it was nothing special, all I did was sell rubies¡­

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Haha, this guy is funny!¡± The fanboy kept talking about how I would compete with Golden Angels and other bullshit and I just left. I hope he¡¯s not going to form some sort of cult. I guess 3 versus an army is on my resume now.

    I left the adventurers association so it would look weird if I went back to spend the night so I tugged on my [Dimensional Anchor] and returned home. Nilah seemed to be happy to be home. I just went to get some flowers and all this stuff happened. Let''s summarize to see how crazy this was. I went to get flowers, had to sneak past the border with a disguise, and had to go to an elven village to get the flowers but they wanted me to help them procreate so I dropped them into a reality-bending situation and created probably the biggest elven orgy ever which probably has gotten me banned from that village, then I fought an army of skeletons on a lake. Maybe it is better if nobody knows about this story. I encased the flowers in frost and could store them indefinitely now.

    ?

 Vol 2 Ch 72: AgnÃ¨s Oures II

    Day 253 and I still couldn''t figure out how to make this sword. I had counselled every ancient text and manual to make relic magic weapons but nothing was helpful. I knew those manuals by heart now, and despite my frustration, managed to make a hammer for Greg. It was obsidian black and adorned with dark purple gems, just to make it extra edgy. I''m sure he will love it! Or hate it and kick my ass...

    The hammer could change in size and weight by itself. It could also use some shadow magic. It can do what I learned from Esher. Greg can pretend to throw the hammer, the physical hammer woulld stay in his hand but the hammer-shadow will fly off. It had a small list of cool things it could do. It was a relic magic weapon and magic weapons use specific magic cores. These are very hard to make but I mass-produced them by going 9t mode and creating shadow clones. Any person that can''t use magic or use it well but is proficient at a magic weapon could beat a skilled magic user. That''s how strong these things are.

    Their mana is also different, they can be used in situations where mana can''t be used. That''s why a license is required to use one or they will have to be stored away when going to public mana-free areas.

    I called Greg''s hammer ''Umbra Noctis''. Every cool weapon needs a name. I made a spear for Raishin named Thunderclap; not very original but I was tired when I finished it. It can stretch a bit and bend a lot. It also has a function that increases its user''s accuracy. As long as he doesn''t throw the spear, he will have increased accuracy. It also boosts his damage even more. Now I just needed to make one for myself but I had to get this problem fixed. I was convinced that I needed certain magical skills or techniques I was unfamiliar with. I came up with nothing, even after digging through the libraries of Gittrian 2 days ago. Is this truly impossible to make? I sat down and Nilah leaped on my lap.

    Nilah, are you getting fatter? You should ease up on stealing mana.

    Hmm, that''s not it, Nilah seems to be bigger. I don''t understand [Nilah] at all. I have no problems casting it, I could teach it to someone although it would take long for them to be able to use it but this all changes after she is created.

    How mysterious.

    I felt like I couldn''t go forward. I had practiced with weapons that were strong enough to fight with for a short time. I slowly started to develop my own style. I had to make fast and precise strikes and I had to move my swords in ways to get the most of them. It looked quite cool. I had to swing the swords around quite fast between actual swings to swing some mana away to make the next swing be met with less resistance. It gave me a fighting style where the opponent had a hard time following my sword. This weird way did make my swings more powerful even whiteout using matching wavelengths. I could get insanely strong with a sword if I could figure this out. I also sheathed my sword if I had to take too many fake swings in between real ones. If I could create a katana, I could use this to use the Iai that I like so much. I had made katanas but they had the same problem as the normal swords, it was even worse because I swing the katanas faster.

    I decided to distract myself and get the last flower that I needed. Mistflowers. I bet Azu could have helped with this sword. Hmm, Witchaven is close to the location of the Mistflowers. What place is better to find non-standard magic methods than in the city of witches? I think she said it was an academic city. Time for some information theft! Let''s see what do I know about witches, their hats contain most of their mana, without it they''re just slightly stronger humans unless your name is Azu. I put Nilah on my head. She was bigger but not much heavier.

    Do you want to be my hat?  She used [Transform] and turned it into a hat.

    What the¡­ Nilah, what are you?

    I guess she¡¯s a fox too so it makes sense that she can use [Transform], I think. Now witches also use catalysts, mostly staves but the more skilled they get at casting magic the smaller they get. Most skilled witches have small wands. Unless your name is Azu. I made a staff a while ago. It was made out of metal though and it was more a bo staff. I cast 7 layered illusions on it and it looked more like a witch staff, a retractable witch staff. Now the problematic part, they were strictly female. Do I really need to use [Transform] again?

    I used [Transform] and turned into a chick.

    Hmm, now that I¡¯m older I quite look like my mother as a chick. I hope nobody knows her.

    Nilah, can you send some mana to this staff? I don''t want to circulate mana through my body.

    Nilah sent mana to the staff. As long as I had Nilah on my head and this staff, I could pass for a witch, I think. I inspected myself with Elgards eyes. The mana is a bit low for a witch but better look like a nobody than some diamond in the rough. Alright! Time to gather some mistflowers and infiltrate the witch city! I put an illusion on myself and stepped out of the house. I went into the mountains. I think witches fly on their staves but... I can''t fly but I can pretend to fly!

    I connected to the air leyline currents and used [Howling Updraft], at least I was supposed to.

    Right needs a bit more hips for this since I''m a chick now. I used [Howling Updraft] and got launched into the air. I stood on the staff and used [Hurricane Path]. It was more surfing on the wind than flying but this is the best I can do. It was quite fun but hard to steer. I could only go in a straight line else the staff would wobble and throw me off. Also... I had to crash-land somewhere in the mountains because I was getting close to witch territory. How do I know that? I saw various barriers and anti-air uhm what is it? It''s like a huge invisible net and when I fly in, they will probably detect me and shoot me out of the air.

    No more flying, the rest needed to be travelled by foot but that¡¯s fine I¡¯m fast. I started running and faceplanted. I guess I''m not as fast when I''m a chick.

    I reached the location of the mistflowers after half a day and got more than enough. I don''t want to come back here when I don''t need to. I walked and walked. This place is so far away! I took another look at myself.

    Is this what a witch would look like or do I look weird? Azu was kind of weird.

    I arrived at a spot where I could look over the city. It was built on a tall pillar. You could only get in by flying or teleporting.

    Are you ready Nilah?  Nilah seemed ready and I teleported to the city. I tried to get in but got redirected to some sort of border control. Not this again...

    I saw a witch hand over a special ID. Something about coming here to study. I quickly analyzed it and replicated it under my illusions. My picture was a problem. I finished the ID in 30 minutes. How am I going to solve this picture problem? I will just put another set of illusion layers on this.

    "Reason for visit?"

    To study runic construction and destruction and magic skill synthesis.

    The witch looked over her glasses. "Aren''t you a bit young to study those complicated subjects? You also seem a bit weak."

    Age has nothing to do with this and I have good mana control.  I gave her Nilah, who currently was a hat.

    "Are you messing with me? This is just a normal hat!" Nilah started to release a lot of mana when I snapped my fingers.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    "Ooh, very impressive, controlling the mana output of your hat is extremely difficult, I apologize, Agn¨¨s Oures, you may pass." I put Nilah back on my head. Too easy.

    Or so I thought, there were 4 more checks. After 45 minutes I was in. It looked like a normal city if you ignored all the witches flying around. A large castle stood in the middle of the city. Normally this would be a palace but this seemed to be the academy. Not a lot of technology here but a lot of magic. Things were running by themselves. I saw decorations for hats, wands and staves. I observed other witches and they also used the gold system. I bought an actual staff. I also learned a couple of things. The witches don''t refer to themselves as witches under each other.

    They just go with ¡®Witch¡¯ because humans have popularized it and they just go with it because it will be hard to correct. How do I know this? In a more thorough check, I got asked why I had Human on my ID.

    I know, that¡¯s a sloppy oversight. So, I persuaded them that this was because I had spent a lot of time traveling. This made a lot of sense to them and they helped me turn it into ¡®Misha¡¯ or how the witches call themselves. Another thing, these Misha have no sense of humor. This is something I might struggle with. Azu mentioned something like this but I didn''t think it would have been this bad.

    A lot of young-looking Misha were walking, running, and flying around. Not that I know their actual age but I got referred to as being quite young, is there a way they can tell? It was strange to see absolutely no men, they weren''t particularly fond of them though.

    I arrived at a block that seemed residential. Every residence had a chimney spitting out weirdly colored smoke. The Misha are cooking something and I bet it''s not food. I spotted a large residence that wasn''t spitting smoke. Curiosity gripped me and I went to check it out. Is this Misha not in the city? 90% of the residences have weird smoke coming out of the chimneys. I don''t believe that all the Misha are at home at this moment, they might have things cooking while they''re away. So, this one strikes me as interesting.

    The residence was large and it had a particular color. It can''t be, right?

    The residence seemed water-themed and azure in color. If this is really her house then that would explain why there is no activity. The entrance seemed to have some interesting seals. But they could all be opened by something simple. Is this how Misha lock their doors? Creating multiple layers of seals that all have a similar weakness and when this weakness gets hit, they all disable temporarily. I¡¯ve only gotten here but I already learned something. There seemed to have been attempts of forced entry, but it doesn''t look like any succeeded. I can''t tell if anyone has managed to unlock the door. Well, if these Misha can¡¯t unlock it there is no chance for me. I took 3 steps away because I needed to find a place to stay when I stopped.

    Why did Azu teach me some of these skills? [Tsunami] I get but why specifically [Azure Spear], [Azure Chain], and [Azure Shark]. She didn''t directly teach me like the other skills but she seemed to show the magic circles in an unusually clear and concise way so that I could copy it. Normally these would be scrambled so copying them is harder. She is no pushover so this isn''t just a mere oversight. I looked around. Nobody seemed to be paying attention to me. I always found that [Azure Spear] had a particular shape and runic structure.

    I used [Azure Spear] and fired it off at the door. The seals reacted, some barriers turned and they clicked. That easy? As far as I know only Azu and I can use this skill.

    I looked around and went inside. I started to revise the magic circle of the skills I copied from Azu. They were the clear concise ones. I should scramble them to protect them from being copied. The door closed behind me and I could instantly tell that nobody has entered here for at least a millennia. This place was like a small mansion. I took Nilah off my head and she turned back to her small fox form.

    I guess, she won''t mind if we borrow her house for a bit.

    I started to clean the place and I found a big room that looked similar to the room she had in her shop. It had a huge cauldron and all kinds of witch ehh Misha stuff. For the rest, it was a relatively normal mansion. It had a study full of literature and the basement had some form of workshop. Is this where she worked on researching and forming runic structures? It was as if this house had everything she needed, a small lab, a mini library and a cauldron room. I saw some prototype hats.

    Don¡¯t Misha get born with their hats? Can they replace them? I found staves and wands. I guess these were those that she used up until she didn''t need them anymore. I saw some images of Paula and Paul and her. Also, Azu with some other witches.

    Something that looked like a graduation picture and more. I found something that looked like a lab journal. I swiftly read through it. It seems she also has a lab in the academy and it is locked and very secure. It reads how to unlock it and what''s inside but it doesn''t seem like this is being careless. The Misha couldn''t even get into her house to find this and getting to the lab seems even harder. They need to use the [Tsunami], [Azure Shark], [Azure Spear], [Azure Mist] combo to open the lab.

    Yeah, this lab is going to stay locked until she comes back. Wait, I can use that combo! I am curious but it¡¯s her hard work, should I really snoop around? What if I piss her off and she wipes me off the face of the planet? Would she really teach me these if there was a possibility that I could get into her lab? Hmm, either way, I''m here with a goal, and getting some more knowledge in the meantime won¡¯t hurt.

    Nilah, this will be our home for an undetermined amount of time, I need you to turn into a hat when we go out.  Nilah showed that she understood and started to explore the house. I dropped an [Dimensional Anchor] here. I wonder if I can teleport directly into this house, then again 9t are one of the very few races that can do this so it''s not like there is a concern to protect against these. I went outside and tugged on the dimensional anchor. I got met with a lot of resistance and had to fight against some interferences but I finally got in. It¡¯s not impossible but it¡¯s certainly hard to get in here.

    I went to the mini library and started to look through the literature. Most were just about water magic and Misha potions. Nothing in here was really useful to me. There were some about arcane magic and I archived them. It seems that I need to go to her lab for more in detail and specific information. Her house does have the environment to mess around and try stuff and then bring those ideas to the lab to actually do something with it.

    The layout of her personal lab got memorized and I tried messing around to improve my sealing and barrier techniques. I also found a book that went into detail about the mana runes and the different types and variations. The author was Ayaru Mistflower. The mana runic system wasn''t as complicated as the primal runes on face value but it wasn''t as simple as I thought. It would be extremely hard to create magic skills without this knowledge. This might actually be the most important book I''ve ever read.

    I spent time studying this book. I archived it of course but I need to know this one by heart and concluded from the first few chapters that most of the magic we know is highly inefficient because it is created to suit everyone¡¯s needs but everyone is different and most if not, all modern magic skills don¡¯t take advantage of this. Which makes sense but hence the inefficiency. So, what Azu had done was spend years to make the magic skills she knows the most efficient version that suits her. It made her [Water Spear] into [Azure Spear] and so on. Hmm, I see. But this is not easy to do.

    I put the book down to digest all that. Just when I think that I knew what I was doing I find something that proves the opposite. I would consider myself quite proficient at magic but it seems that¡¯s not the case. I never planned this but I might also want to brush up on my magic. There are just things that magic can do that Dragonvein can¡¯t. Completely ignoring magic is unwise.

    This took me by surprise and I sighed. I guess this will be my new home for the foreseeable future. I thought I might be here for a month tops, but it seems that I have to live here for a while. The whole night was spent reading Azu¡¯s book. It was well written, something I didn''t expect her to pull off from what I knew about her. I held a [Fireball] in my palm and looked at the runic structure.

    After reading her book I can see how sloppy this really is. I¡¯m not an expert in any way but I can already see multiple flaws and methods that can be improved. How does Azu see the world with this knowledge, people throwing magic around saying they''re masters while she sees dozens of flaws in it? Is this why she got shunned from the community and used as a special weapon? I tried to remember all the magic circles and runic structures I''d seen.

    None seemed efficient, even of those of the Misha I''ve seen here yesterday. Is this the book the Misha were aiming for by trying to get into her house? This and the journal are probably the most important items in her house. It is her life''s work but it could make the Misha several times stronger if they use this knowledge.

    I wonder what happened, she certainly must have tried to make this well known. Did they just not listen? People with authority don''t seem to want to listen to anything that conflicts with their ideas. They didn''t listen to her, got annoyed with her, and sent her out to fight an army of Zarrazax cultists alone hoping she would die. She didn''t die but this got 2 gods pissed off at her, she sealed one away, fought another, and got sealed away herself. It is quite a sad story and all she wanted to do was probably bring the Misha to greater heights.

    And now they probably realize that her research might actually make them stronger and are trying to break into her house to get the research. I don''t even know if they attempted to find her and unseal her but I wouldn''t be surprised if they didn''t. This story sucks.

    I called Nilah. The academy would start lectures tomorrow and I need to get ready for them. I have never been to a real school. Everything I know is from what I''ve read or got taught by home tutors in Hourai. A lot is also improvisation.

    I also never expected to go to a school but here I am. I am not going there to learn though. I need to know how far their knowledge goes compared to what Azu¡¯s research suggests, I might be better off locking myself up in her lab and studying instead of getting assaulted by topics I don''t care for, are irrelevant, or I already know. Nilah jumped on my head and turned into a hat and I looked through the windows. It was quite early so nobody was in sight. Her house was also in a low-populated area it seems. I covered myself in illusions to be less detectable and left the house.

 Vol 2 Ch 73: Misha Academy

    The shopping district was yet again buzzing with life. I had no idea what I was looking for so looking around and observing Misha was all I could do. Figuring out what those in my situation would do was quite the task. Most of these probably will also start following lectures tomorrow but most seemed more concerned with¡­ cosmetics and sweet food. Can these Misha focus?! I¡¯m planning an infiltration here!

    This was getting me nowhere, the academy it is! The academy was easy to reach, the most important roads naturally went into that direction. The building was imposing but it didn''t scare me, and I could easily enter the campus. It was as if it was a small village. It seemed relatively peaceful but I saw some Misha duelling not too far. There was a small crowd and I joined them.

    They were standing still and flinging spells and blocking those that flew at them. It looked very similar to magic fights in video games. Then again Misha aren''t gifted in physical attributes so evading will probably tire them out faster than throwing mana left and right. I already know that I won''t fit in here. I have a lot of mana but most of it is inaccessible if I don''t have my tails out. I will have to rely on Nilah to give me the mana. I¡¯m actually very similar to a Misha right now. Without Nilah, my hat, I will get owned by these Misha because they will have way more mana than I have. Did Nilah steal all that mana in preparation for this? Impossible!

    A blonde-haired Misha won but it seemed she had to work for it. I wanted to continue watching but I had the feeling I would get into trouble if I did that. I quietly separated from the group and continued walking around the campus. I noticed a crucial mistake that I had made and I had no time to correct it.

    ¡°You there! Where is your uniform!¡±  Uhhm, I messed up a potion so it''s in the wash.

    ¡°Excuses! Come here with me missy!¡± I got grabbed and dragged inside. ¡°You should eat more or is this the potion that you messed up?¡±  Let''s go with that, yeah.

    I got dragged through poorly lit corridors into a large bright room.

    ¡°Olivia, get this one a uniform, she had the gall to appear on the campus without one.¡±

    ¡°Ooh a gutsy newcomer, give me a moment. Hmm some nice proportions you have, the others might get jealous of you if you walk around like that.¡±  Sorry, I messed up.

    The nosy teacher dropped me off and was left alone with a tired looking Misha. ¡°You seem quite young, what is your subject of interest?¡±  Runic construction and destruction and magic skill synthesis.

    ¡°Hmm, there is not much material about that here, you might have to study by yourself a lot, don''t forget to make friends! There I got your measurements, here is your uniform¡± She did a short incantation and my uniform appeared. It was ehh quite witchy.

    Thanks.  I swapped my clothes with the uniform and was about to put my old clothes into my dimensional pocket when I hesitated, how normal is this for Misha?

    ¡°Ooh, you have some very fast casting there, I didn''t see the magic circle.¡±

    Right, let''s try to avoid doing this in the open.

    It is the only one I can do that fast.  I thanked her and left the room. I put the clothes in my dimensional pocket now nobody was looking and wandered through the halls. I snuck into an area that probably wasn''t meant for students. This area seemed to lead toward where magic getting researched. Azu¡¯s lab might be down here somewhere.

    Some weird labs were down here. At least entrances to them. Every lab seemed to be locked with some strange barrier or locks and these decided how the front of the labs looked like. These locks gave a hint to the specialties and personalities of the ones owning them. The corridor ended but nothing that seemed reminiscent of Azu. It was time for Elgards eyes to shine!

    There seemed to be 4 floors dedicated to personal labs and the deepest floors seem to have the biggest labs and one had a pool in front of it. It would be hard to use [Tsunami] without some water present so this might be it. I went into stealth and tried to find my way down. This whole academy had a convoluted floorplan. What''s wrong with just some stairs on logical spots? This is a maze!

    I was careful as Misha can''t use stealth so getting detected would cause a lot of trouble.

    2 hours is how long it took to get to Azu¡¯s lab. Nobody was down here but wouldn''t there be anything to monitor this place? Or do they just not care? I decided that it was a bad idea to blow my cover on the second day that I was here. I remembered how to get here and headed back home. I petted Nilah and ate some food I bought on the first day I got here.

    <hr>

    The next morning was the day when I would find out. I put on my uniform and headed to the academy. There was a very clear system, the first half of the day were general lectures while the latter was specialized. The first one was a refresher on the basics of magic. It sounded boring as hell but there was no alternative. Next up is a lecture on how to deal with races that fight up close, humans included. It was just basic stuff but many Misha seemed as if this wasn''t logical and paid a lot of attention.

    ¡°You there! You seem bored, what will you do when a fast beast kin rushes at you!¡±

    You nuke the whole area or just teleport away.

    ¡°Not everyone can teleport, another solution please.¡±

    Well, we have way more mana so I don''t see why keeping pressure on him wouldn''t work, it is not as if he can get through that without taking any damage. Then you blast him away with either wind magic, or an explosion, or block his path with earth magic and take some distance and then repeat it until he drops dead.

    My peers seemed impressed and the lecturer approved. I don''t know why this isn''t common sense. So, this lecture was useless.

    Next up was mastering your catalyst and hat efficiency. I¡¯m not a Misha so this was completely useless to me. The last standard lecture was how to conduct research and put this down in writing. It was boring but I saw the merit in this so I paid attention. It would help me understand how the witches do research and understand Azu¡¯s research and possibly other research better.

    We had a break. The Misha tried to bond and form friends. I decided to stick to the last 2 lectures I had. Catalyst mastery and hat efficiency are useless to me but it does give me a lot of information about Misha and their strengths and weaknesses. It is just a matter of time before I piss one off so it would be wise to learn how to counter them. I tried to avoid contact with others because I will skip most lectures anyways.

    There were more duels on campus. I observed from a distance. A magic attack got deflected and flew in my direction. I canceled it on reflex and this seemed to have gotten a lot of attention. I tried to pretend as if nothing happened.

    ¡°Hey, how did you do that?¡±

    Hmm? What might you be referring to?

    4 Misha gathered around me.

    Uhh is this the part where I get ganged up on and beaten to a pulp?

    ¡°Huh, what are you talking about?¡±

    I forgot that they have no sense of humor.  My bad, how can I help?

    ¡°That attack just now, you didn''t block it but it disappeared right? What did you do?!¡±

    I desperately tried to think of something, dispelling magic attacks after they have been cast is quite uncommon because identifying its structure and upsetting its structure is needed to do this, and this is quite difficult to do without Elgards eyes.

    I¡¯m sorry that was just a fluke, I do not know either how I did that.  The 4 seemed to buy into that lie but the Misha who cast the deflected spell approached me and didn''t buy it.

    ¡°I recently perfected that spell, how would you ¡®accidentally¡¯ cancel a custom spell?¡± It looked a bit different from a normal [Fireball] but I wouldn''t call it a custom skill. I could continue to feign ignorance, tell the truth or school them. What would cause the least trouble? I cast the same [Fireball] that I just canceled.

    ¡°What?! How!¡±

    I started to dynamically change the runic structure to kick out some flaws. It took quite some effort to do it like this but it¡¯s also good practice for me. Everyone took distance because my simple [Fireball] turned into some monstrous fireball that was generating a lot of heat.

    Well, there you have it.

    I stopped feeding the fireball mana and it went out. All I did was using concepts I had learned from Azu''s book.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°That was amazing! I thought my [Fireball] was special but you¡¯ve shown me how ignorant I was! What are you studying?!¡± I didn''t expect this reaction¡­ Everyone seemed to be interested.

    Runic construction, destruction and magic skill synthesis.

    ¡°Ooh, that makes a lot of sense! We¡¯re from dynamic combat!¡±

    Ah¡­

    ¡°You have no idea what that is eh? I don¡¯t blame you! It¡¯s fairly new! We Misha aren¡¯t that great physically but the other races are and they tend to move around a lot which is something we can''t really do; this is an adaptation to it for us.¡± Ah, so it¡¯s just using magic as any other race does.

    Ah, I see.

    ¡°How about a duel to demonstrate?¡±  Uhm, I don¡¯t think that''s a good idea, I don''t want to get hurt¡­

    ¡°Come it will be educational! My name is Shelly Manarune by the way, what is yours?¡±  Agn¨¨s Oures, wait are you related to Beatrice Manarune?

    ¡°Yup! That is my mother, I want to surpass her one day but first our duel!¡±

    Ugh, I don''t want to. Can¡¯t these Misha leave me alone? The crowd started to cheer me on. Let''s see, I can''t move a lot and I can''t dispel stuff. Wait I will lose with those restrictions! I can¡¯t use frost magic and my defensive skills are absolutely garbage. Uh oh, this is bad. Wait! That thing I did with Raishin! Just hit it with something of equal strength! I can do that!

    The duel started and I started cancelling her [Fireballs] with mine. I wasn''t moving but she wasn''t moving much either. She started throwing other fire attacks around and I cancelled them with stronger [Fireballs].

    ¡°Is [Fireball] the only attack you know?¡± The answer is no but my fire skills are a bit too potent. ¡°Heh! How about I force you to use your strongest fire spell? Take a [Taunt]!¡±

    Nono, bad Idea! Get this [Taunt] off me!

    The magic circle of [Meteor] started to form but it was way too fast for anyone to get a good read on it.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t see what skill that was the magic circle disappeared too fast, hit me with your best shot!¡± For the first time ever, I had to sabotage my own magic skill and managed to cancel [Meteor].

    Phew, that ended almost badly.

    ¡°Hey! Are you taking me seriously?! Did you just cancel your own skill?!¡±  I concede I can¡¯t win this.

    ¡°Hey! You weren''t even trying!¡±

    I¡¯m sorry, cancelling that took a lot out of me, excuse me.  I walked away and started running after I turned around the corner. Duels are bad ideas. I need to stay low during the breaks.

    The break ended and the specialized lectures began. Only 3 Misha sat here beside me and the lecture was some basic stuff I learned back in Hourai. The rest was self-study because this field was wildly unexplored. I headed to the library and was amazed. Apparently, half of this academy is taken up by this library. If I can¡¯t find what I need here I can find it nowhere. I found a whole city block worth of books that were related to imbuing materials with mana-normal or special cases.  Yes!!!

    ¡°Sssht!¡± A lot of Misha shushed me but I didn''t care. Some seemed to be amused by my enthusiasm for knowledge. I started going through books but I had to keep it to a normal reading speed, unfortunately. This is going to take forever. There were so many interesting ones. But shortly after starting to read, I was about to get kicked out.

    ¡°Hey, are you listening? You¡¯ve been studying here for the last 6 hours, take a break and go home, we¡¯re closing for the day."  What? 6 hours? That can''t be right I came here 20 minutes ago. Oh... it''s already that late¡­

    ¡°I also haven''t seen you eat missy, take more care of your health, now scram!¡± I got kicked out of the library and entered empty corridors. I haven''t found yet what I was looking for but judging from the information I found it will only be a matter of time. I repeated this routine for a month until one of my worst nightmares came to pass.

    ¡°Right, today we will have live duels!¡±  Ugh! I feel sick! Can I go home?!

    ¡°Stop messing around Agn¨¨s you always do strange things; you can go first! Show us your mastery over your catalyst!  Uhm, it¡¯s malfunctioning, I think It needs to get sent to maintenance.

    ¡°Get over here!¡± The lecture hall slowly expanded and created an open space. ¡°I will personally test you!¡±  I concede I will accept a failing mark.

    ¡°I have heard that you keep conceding duels, have more confidence in yourself!¡±  Well, someone has to be the biggest loser of the academy, I will sacrifice myself and take that name.

    ¡°You are not funny Agn¨¨s! Now focus!¡±

    Ugh.  I was facing my lecturer who seemed ready to kick my ass. I have to make sure it¡¯s a spectacular ass-kicking else I will get accused of not taking things seriously again.

    How about this! If I can¡¯t hit you within 3 spells I concede!

    ¡°How about this, if you don''t take this seriously you will have to fight everyone in this hall!¡±  Can I use lethal force?

    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit!¡± I used a juiced-up [Fireball] and sent it to the lecturer.

    I ran at her to her surprise. I threw my staff at her head which she took directly. She did block the [Fireball] but didn''t block the [Staff Throw]. She tried to cast something but I put my hands in the magic circle and manually interfered with it.  How about it did I pass?

    ¡°Throwing your catalyst?! Are you insane?!¡±  But I used it as you said¡­

    ¡°I feel as if you did this to mock me, You need a disciplinary lecture!¡±  But¡­ I didn''t concede¡­

    ¡°Go sit down and watch the others!¡±  So difficult¡­

    I picked up my staff and went to sit down. The other students were divided into being upset and being interested.

    A Misha turned around. ¡°Hey, that was an impressive [Fireball]!¡±  I don''t think the lecturer agrees.

    ¡°Agn¨¨s! Shut up!¡± The lecturer seemed to have it out for me.

    I had to sit through boring turret fights. They just stood still casting stuff and blocking them. I survived and got scolded at the end of the lecture and it was finally break time.

    ¡°Hey, it''s the Fireball Misha!" A rumor seems to be spreading that [Fireball] is the only skill I can use. Water magic is not a good idea, I can''t use earth magic and lightning is certainly a bad idea. There is wind left but I don''t know many wind spells either. So, there is only fire left and well magic that Misha typically can¡¯t use so I¡¯m stuck with fire. I¡¯m not here to kill people so I¡¯m also limited in what I can use. So, I''m fine with only be known for using [Fireball]. I ate my lunch and a Misha approached me. I forgot her name but she started all this.

    ¡°I finally found you! You are like a ghost! I want you to check this out!¡± She showed me a [Fireball] that looked better than the previous one she showed but it was still quite shit. I cast a [Fireball] that increased the temperature around us by 2 degrees.

    ¡°I knew it! You might know only 1 spell but you have perfected it!¡±  Uhh, it¡¯s nowhere near perfect and I can use more but¡­  Some objects near me caught on fire because of the heat and I put them out.

    Aren''t you wondering what my other fire skills will do if I can do this with a [Fireball]?  She got silent and seemed to have come to a realization. Some eavesdropping Misha had this same realization too.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re not only using [Fireball] because it''s the only spell you know but the only spell you can use?¡±  I will leave that up to your interpretation, I have to study, now please excuse me.

    I left an air of mystery behind. Anyways I¡¯m getting too much attention. I¡¯ve almost finished the book city block and it¡¯s soon time to disappear into Azu¡¯s lab. It¡¯s not exactly what I was looking for but I found something that could work. I am planning to read more but this will do for now.

    The librarians were getting tired of kicking me out. I was reading when I felt myself getting levitated. I guess it''s closing time.  Thank you for your services, I won''t bother you anymore, goodbye.

    ¡°Huh? Wait!¡±

    I returned back home by tugging on my [Dimensional Anchor]. Nilah turned back to her fox form, stretched and curled up to sleep after we arrived at Azu''s house. I decided to sleep too, I would break into Azu¡¯s lab tomorrow and lock myself in and study whatever she has discovered.

 Vol 2 Ch 74: Magic synthesis

    I woke up and took a bath. It was still strange to be in a female body but I had gotten used to it for the most part. I dressed up. Not in my uniform because I won¡¯t be attending those lectures anymore. I have a very good idea of how to attack their weaknesses now. I also think I will be doing the lecturers a service by not showing up. Nilah was about to turn into a hat when I stopped her.

    No need, we¡¯re going to sneak around now.

    She hopped on my shoulder and I entered stealth as I left the house. The lectures had already started but I didn''t have to be on time anymore. The halls were empty but I stayed vigilant. It was easier to get to Azu¡¯s lab now that I knew how to get there. This corridor didn''t seem to have any detection magic. It became clear to me how Misha operate in the last month. These labs are abandoned. Nobody can get in but nobody is supposed to expect to know about them either. I faced Azu¡¯s lab, used [Tsunami], [Azure Shark], [Azure Spear], and [Azure Mist], and the door unlocked. It was spacious. I got met by the smell of mistflowers. An enormous collection of magic runes seemed to be stored in special magic containers.

    All of the common, uncommon, and rare runes in large amounts. I didn''t know it was possible to store them. The centre of the lab seemed to be some sort of holographic template of magic circle bases. The magic runes could be placed in them and the effects could be observed. Several mana readers would interpret what the expected effect was and what the percentage of certainty it was. I threw some random runes on it and I seemed to create a magic skill that made a weak explosion and had a 1.52% chance to become an extremely strong explosion. It also had logs and more lab journals.

    The lab even had a bed. It seems she had spent many nights researching. I found the section that had the research materials and other literature. These were quite technical. Most of these were things she wrote. 2 were from another author but they were all from the same person. Did only 2 Misha study this in Misha history? That¡¯s rough. Well, I¡¯m not a Misha but I guess I will be the third. I started familiarizing myself with the basics again. It was an easy read and completed in 12 minutes. I could get my tails out here and went into ¡®Library Mode¡¯ flipping through the pages at high speed and reading everything with my Elgards eyes and archiving it. I could finish 11 written works per minute. One book in each hand and one in each tail.

    At the end of the day, I had consumed half of the literature, logs, journals, and books in here.

    Oof that is a lot to process. Shall we sleep for several nights Nilah?  I curled up in my tails with Nilah. It felt strange because these tails aren''t as comfy as I¡¯m used to but it will do. My tails would process everything while I would sleep. I will turn a genius in this overnight, well not overnight multiple nights are needed.

    Day 305, I''ve been sleeping for 2 weeks. I ate something, used the shower in the lab, and went ¡°Library Mode¡± on the other half of what was left, I slept for another 2 weeks after this.

    Day 319 and I was an expert. 0 actual experience but I am an expert in theory. The first thing I would do is improve all my current magic skills. They might drop in mana cost or just become stronger for the same amount and give me more bang for my buck before nausea sets in. Unfortunately for me, this lab only had one of these magic circle simulators, as I would call it. So, I could only improve them one by one. I had my tails as extra limbs so placing runes and testing this didn''t seem to take too long. I drastically improved almost every skill I knew.

    I also found out how to make these scale with my physical speed so I made duplicates. The original and the ones that also scaled based off my speed. This would be extremely important for when I would eventually create my sword. One of the skills I didn''t improve yet was [Nilah].

    Do you benefit if I improve this? Or do I have to cancel you and use you again? Will you even be the same if I do that?

    Nilah seemed to encourage me to improve it. I don''t think I will cancel her. Maybe in attempting to improve her, I will understand her better. While it took 5 days to improve most of my skills, I was working on [Nilah] for 15 days and had still a lot to do. It was extremely complex but there were also countless things that could be improved. Nilah had large parts of mana runes I couldn''t read so I only tinkered with the small section I could.

    Hey, I¡¯m not turning you into a god with this right?

    She looked at me as if she had no clue what I was talking about.

    Day 347 and [Nilah] was improved. There was still a lot of room for improvement but this was good for now. I could make complicated seals and barriers on the fly now. Unsealing and dispelling magic seemed to be relatively easy now, at least the common magic and barriers. I would need time for more advanced ones. I couldn''t store these runes in my dimensional pocket but there was a method to create them. There is mana everywhere. And the runes can be formed out of mana. The elemental balance needs to be perfect as in every core element needs to have an equal percentage. It will then create arcane magic. I always thought arcane had no element. It''s not exactly correct but also not false either. Arcane has no element because it has earth, water, fire, wind, and lightning in equal amounts and thus shows no traits attributed to any of them. The more you know.

    Nilah seemed to have grown again. She was a medium-sized fox now. Still light so I could carry her on my head still. She was big enough to just walk and be able to keep up with me. I vaguely remember that [Ignis] used to do the same. [Nilah] also seemed to have picked up some things from this research. I never found out what she is exactly and I probably never will. I am so glad I was born a 9t this would have taken a lifetime otherwise. I hugged my tails.

    Thank you.

    I hid my tails after thanking them and beckoned Nilah.

    Nilah, hat!

    Nilah jumped on my head and turned into my Misha hat.

    The lab door opened and I peeked outside. The coast was clear, and nobody was here. The normal corridors were empty was what I concluded after walking around for several minutes. Was everyone on holiday? I walked into a lecture hall. It seemed as if there were people in here not too long ago, strange. The main floor seemed to have some people and they all seemed to head in the same direction. Curiosity got the better of me and I followed them. They all went to this enormous hall.

    Wha¡­ what is this?!

    I saw an enormous picture of my face and written in magic letters: Agn¨¨s Oures Memorial service. I heard the voice of the librarian.

    ¡°And then she said: Thank you for your services, I won''t bother you anymore, goodbye. And then to be never seen again! I didn''t know she was depressed! I should have seen the signs; she had no friends and was always reading until I had to kick her out. I wish I was a bit nicer to her¡­¡± The librarian started to cry even more. Another Misha comforted her. It seems that they did everything to find me but it was as if I completely disappeared without a trace, which is impossible of course. The most popular speculation is that I suicided with mana exsanguination and set up a magic circle to vaporize my remains. In that way, it would be impossible to find where and how I died. I decided that staying here might be a bad idea.

    ¡°Aaah! It¡¯s a ghost!¡±

    Uh oh, someone had spotted me.

    ¡°Agn¨¨s? Is that you?!¡± Everyone turned around and looked at me. ¡°Where have you been! We¡¯ve been looking all over for you!¡±

    Uhhm, I had stomach cramps and got claimed by the toilet.

    ¡°This lack of humor, it¡¯s truly her!¡±

    Nono, continue, I don''t want to disturb you guys, I will just buy some ice cream!

    I ran away with some Misha on my heels. I guess disappearing and suddenly appearing might have this kind of effect. I dispelled and cancelled any attempt to catch me.

    ¡°Wait! I want an explanation!¡±

    I just gave you one!

    While I was running, they were all flying on their staves. Nilah was still my hat but I feel like she was laughing at me. I threw my staff at them and made it [Explode]. Yes, that¡¯s a new skill, well a new skill for me, there must be other skills that have that name but I didn''t learn all that stuff to not create new skills! It took out most of the lecturers temporarily. I jumped through a window and landed on the campus. There I saw a familiar chick crying.

    ¡°Huh, I thought you were dead!¡±

    I might be in a bit if I don''t stop running, cya!

    A barrier formed around the academy and I was trapped.

    Ugh did Azu make this barrier? This might take a while to break.

    2 minutes in my attempt to break the barrier and I got a wand pointed at my neck.

    ¡°You owe us an explanation Agn¨¨s!¡± I raised my hands in the air.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Sorry, saw this on tv, take me to your leader.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    <hr>

    I sat in front of a very beautiful Misha, she had light green hair and glasses, unfortunately, her face was getting ruined as she didn''t seem to be very happy. The air was primed with mana. I had thrown my staff and they had confiscated Nilah. If I was a Misha, this would mean I was utterly screwed. I¡¯m still screwed but it could be worse.

    ¡°You have been absent for almost 2 months and were untraceable for that period of time, care to explain? I heard that you are a jokester but I would advise you to be serious and tell the truth.¡± I leaned forward, put my elbows on the desk, and rested my chin on my hands.

    You want the truth?

    ¡°I was clear, was I not?¡±

    Alright then, I am a blacksmith trying to create a sword that can hold a specific type of magic but no matter what I did this seemed to be impossible so I snuck into this city to gain knowledge of how to achieve this but for that, I had to read a city block worth of books in the library. After that, I snuck into a secret lab and mastered a certain type of magic in the course of a month and when I came out you guys were holding a memorial service for me.

    The mana in the room surged.

    ¡°Enough! I said tell the truth! No jokes!¡±

    Reality truly is stranger than fiction, eh? In that case, I did an experiment that landed me in a different dimension. I managed to get back in 10 minutes but it seems almost 2 months had passed.

    ¡°Hmm headmaster, the librarian did spot something that seemed akin to a small dimensional rift¡± An unfamiliar Misha reported to the headmaster.

    Wait that lie worked?

    The headmaster adjusted her glasses. ¡°Hmm, and how did you open that rift?¡±

    Dunno.

    ¡°I have the feeling you¡¯re hiding something from us.¡± She put Nilah on the table in front of her. ¡°I don''t recognize the patterns on your hat, from what family are you?¡±

    Oures.

    ¡°Yes, but are any branches in your family that are higher or lower?

    Uhm.

    I don''t know enough of my family tree to seem like I¡¯m not lying.

    ¡°Ok, let me ask you this, who let you in my city?¡±

    The border police.

    ¡°Border police?¡±

    Sorry, I have spent a lot of time with humans, I had to go through procedures to get in, and I forgot what they were called.

    She stood up and paced around.

    ¡°Spent a lot of time with humans, eh? And how long might that be? Most Misha here are at least 1 year old, you are practically a newborn!¡± Oh right, 1 year is 1000 years for them¡­ is everyone that much older than me? Is this what they meant that I was so young? And asking how they can tell isn''t a great idea. ¡°You wouldn''t have survived this long as a human. So, tell me what are you?¡±

    I am a Misha, just like you¡­

    ¡°Who is your mother, what are her achievements?!¡±

    Uhm my mother Edea preferred to be more free than chase achievements.

    The mana in the room changed.

    ¡°Edea? Now that I think of it you do resemble her quite a lot.¡± Multiple barriers formed around the room.

    Uh oh.

    ¡°But this is strange, Edea wasn''t a Misha.¡± I felt killing intent. This headmaster hadn''t grabbed her catalyst yet but her hand was close to it. ¡°Now I might be wrong, so tell me more about your mother.¡±

    Uh oh, I think I can''t fool her any longer. Mom what did you do to make this chick so angry?!

    She loves fish and¡­

    ¡°I knew it! It¡¯s Edea Hourai!¡± She grabbed her catalyst. I dispelled multiple deadly spells that she was preparing. The other Misha in the room also started targeting me.

    Nilah, we¡¯re busted!

    Nilah returned to her fox form and blasted the area with frost magic. I got my tails out and started getting rid of all these barriers. The frost started to crack.

    That is new. They seem to circulate mana within their bodies but prevented it from getting out and getting completely sucked up by my frost magic. It needs a very good mana control. Only 4 seemed good enough in this to make a difference but the headmaster was the one I didn''t want to deal with.

    I broke the barriers and ran out.

    Ugh, I¡¯m so slow as a chick.

    I used [Transform] and got it after the second try. I arrived at the campus and the stupid barrier was still surrounding the academy.

    ¡°Catch him alive! But be careful he is a nine tailed spirit fox! Don''t kill him under any circumstances!¡± At least I¡¯m getting out here alive if I mess up. I broke the barrier in 2 minutes and dashed off. I teleported and sat down on top of a tower 2 km further up and observed how a swarm of Misha took their staves and flew off looking for me.

    I guess they don''t like us that much Nilah.

    Nilah had stolen an insane amount of mana. Her fur seemed to be glistening. I was sitting on the tower in stealth and observed for the rest of the day the chaos that slowly spread. I guess they are very strong against anyone that tries to get in but once you get in it seems as if they''re headless chickens. Since anyone knows by now who I am and that I sneaked in I might as well walk around with my tails out.

    I got back home in stealth and rested. I messed around in the mini-lab and worked a bit on the time I needed to dispel barriers. I would have been caught if I stayed as a chick. Unfortunately, I wasn''t done with this place yet, there were so many books I needed to read.

    <hr>

    I snuck back into the academy the next morning. I got into the library and went ¡®Library Mode¡¯ on another interesting city block of books.

    ¡°What the? I heard Agn¨¨s was actually a tailed fox, are you Agn¨¨s?¡±

    My real name is Agnis Hourai, but Agn¨¨s was my disguise yeah.

    I was still reading books in library mode. The librarian seemed captivated by how I was devouring information.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for kicking you out like I did every day.¡±

    Don''t worry about it, you were just doing your job. Shouldn''t you kick me out actually? I¡¯m not a Misha nor am I a woman.  I started reading books from another bookshelf.

    ¡°I wanted to apologize to you first.¡± She took out her catalyst. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but please leave!¡± I swapped her hat and catalyst with 2 books I just finished. The hats have some kind of magic on them to prevent this from happening but I cracked the code. Misha without their hats and catalysts are quite harmless. ¡°What? How?!¡±

    I¡¯m sorry but this is important to me, you¡¯ll get them back once I¡¯m done for the day.

    Some Misha burst in 2 hours after. I stole their catalysts and hats too.

    Right, you guys are too noisy. I¡¯m done for the day.

    I returned the catalysts and hats to them and they started attacking me. I didn''t need practice evading but I could with interrupting, dispelling, and cancelling magic.

    ¡°He¡¯s back!¡± Another group of Misha tried to catch me. I had a good time messing with their attacks. Then I felt a strong mana burst.

    Shit, the headmaster is here!

    ¡°Come here son of Edea!¡±

    Do I get a prize if I do?

    ¡°These comments, I should have known you¡¯re a tailed fox!¡± The headmaster could cast multiple skills simultaneously so this was a challenge to mess with. I wondered if I could do this too. It looked overpowered and useful. I kept evading and dispelling and cancelling her attacks trying to figure out this trick. I could do 2 at once but she could do 7.

    Is this a passive skill? I should be able to create passives too. It would just take longer to create than normal skills. I had only created 1 passive. It was simple but very strong for me. It increases the damage I do to anything that''s under a control effect. It is simple and for most people useless. So that''s why it was easy for me to make. Most skills that are relatively useless are cheap or easy to use, doesn''t matter how strong they are. There could be a skill that one shots anyone that does a specific dance at a specific time of the day. It would be a super strong but also super useless skill but probably anyone could make it or learn it. I bundled some wires and caught all the Misha in a web.

    Right, that was enough practice for me, cya!

    I tugged on my [Dimensional Anchor] and returned home, Azu''s home. That was fun. The interference I got by teleporting here with a dimensional teleport was easier to get through now that I was better at magic runes.

 Vol 2 Ch 75: Shelly Manarune

    All the knowledge of the next book city block got claimed after 10 days. I started to become bolder and just shopped with my tails out. The Misha were serious, they did sell me things but they would also attempt to capture me. My assassin training was coming in convenient here. I was completely exploiting their weaknesses. They couldn''t do anything once I stole their hats and catalysts. I was sitting in a tree on the campus observing more duels. Suddenly the familiar Misha approached the tree.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis was your name, right? How about this!¡± She used a [Fireball] that looked quite good. I used [Fireball] and showed her that she still had long ways to go. I forgot that I was in a tree and set the tree on fire.

    Oh, shit!  I fell out of the tree and put the fire out. I felt someone grab my wrist.

    ¡°There, I caught you, now can you show me your fire magic?¡±  Uhm, won''t your peers and the lecturers get angry at you? The headmaster will chase me if I make too much ruckus and she knows I¡¯m here. I have her chasing an illusion not too far from here.

    ¡°Well, the lecturers didn''t seem to have an idea how I can bring my fire to new heights. I personally think all this Misha purist ideology is a bit stupid, you did go too far though.¡±  I see, I can teach you if you keep it secret from the headmaster.

    ¡°Hey, uhm we were thinking, can you teach us too, your [Fireballs] were all we saw but they were stronger than most of the skills the third years have.¡± A group of Misha approached me.  Third years?

    ¡°Yeah, those that have been here for three human years.¡±  Three years of these boring lectures?! No wonder none of you have a sense of humor!

    ¡°We actually get lectures for 7.¡±  And you can''t even catch a 9t?

    ¡°9t?¡±  Nine tailed spirit fox is a mouthful, I just say 9t.

    ¡°Oh, I see, so how old are you actually? You looked very young when you were disguised as a Misha.¡±  18 human years.  Everyone was shocked.

    ¡°So young¡­¡±

    ¡°We are all at least 1 year old so¡­¡±  At least 1000 human years, yeah, I¡¯ve heard, I had no idea¡­

    ¡°Any Misha gets an opportunity to study here after they reach 1 year old.¡±  Sounds boring but anyways, I¡¯m just a fox, show off your fire skills.

    They showed them off and it seemed good enough to toast any human and most other races but personally, I think those standards are low.  Hmm, red-haired ehhm whatsherface, hey what was your name again?

    ¡°Shelly Manarune.¡±  How strong is the headmaster?

    ¡°Uhh, I don''t know I heard she can defend this city by herself.¡±  Perfect! Remember when you hit me with [Taunt] and I told you to stop it?

    ¡°Ehh, that was a while ago but yes.¡±  Want to see why?

    ¡°Sure!¡±  Right, so here is my strongest fire attack. It¡¯s called [Meteor].

    I used [Meteor] and I waited. I had of course improved this skill too. All the Misha seemed to become pale at the mention of [Meteor].

    ¡°W..wait! [Meteor]? Why do you know that? You will destroy the city!¡±

    Oh, look here it comes! This is the first time I see it in its improved version.

    A loud siren sounded and swarms of Misha flew up to stop the [Meteor]. I observed while Nilah replenished my mana. They managed to slow down the descent of [Meteor] and were starting to dispel it or blast it with magic to slowly cancel it. We observed how the sky was lit up by the [Meteor] and how the Misha were working hard to fight against it. They finally succeeded after 11 minutes.

    And that is why [Taunt] is a very risky skill to use.  The Misha seemed terrified and relieved that the danger is over. Shelly was no different. I decided that was enough for today and went to read in the library.

    This didn''t last long because the headmaster was livid and for the first time, she seemed out to kill me. I stole her hat and ran away.

    I hid the hat in the drawer of her desk and temporarily cancelled the magic on it that allows her to find it. I went home to be safe from all the chasing and magic flying around. They knew by now that I lived in Azu¡¯s home but they couldn''t get in so I was safe. Nilah had absorbed yet again an insane amount of mana and she looked like a normal-sized fox. This might become a problem if she keeps growing. How big would she be in her true form? I might have to try and unleash her upon the city to find out when I feel like it.

    <hr>

    Several weeks went by and a large group of Misha returned. They seemed to be respected by the ones I was familiar with here in the academy. The headmaster gave up on chasing me away so I was free to move around. I would get chased off if I caused trouble though. One was harassing my friend Shelly. She forced her into a duel and was mocking her for her poor use of magic. Shelly''s skills were more refined than the bully but the bully just had more firepower. She was about to completely blast Shelly when I stole her hat and catalyst.

    What is thine, is now mine, Confiscate!

    ¡°Huh, who the fuck are you, and what¡­ are you?¡±  Agnis Hourai, nice to meet you bully, there is no need to turn Shelly into a pile of ash, your point is clear, however, not because you are older gives you the right to bully her for being superior.

    ¡°Phuh! What does a beast kin know about magic!¡±  Well, I can show you but then the headmaster will get mad.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    ¡°Hah, I can¡¯t imagine that mother would allow you to be here!¡±  Ahh, you''re her daughter, that explains a lot actually, now you have 3 options, you walk away, I humiliate you here, or Shelly will humiliate you later.

    ¡°Hah, as if any of you could humiliate me, you¡¯re just a beast kin that are no brains all brawl and this failure is a stain on her mother''s legacy!¡±

    Right, so you went for option D, all of the above. Here have your toys back, defend yourself.  I returned her hat and catalyst and even gave her time to prepare. She started to cast purple lightning which I redirected and shot into the sky.

    I would advise you to dodge this.  I stretched my hand out and used [Fireball]. An enormous blazing fireball shot out of my hand. She put up several barriers but they all shattered and she got blown away.

    You will be able to do this soon Shelly, keep up the work.

    ¡°Ugh, wait! I¡¯m not done yet!¡±  You look quite toasty to me, hey if you are her friends stop her,  They all pointed their catalysts at me.

    Hey, Shelly, isn''t your race supposed to be super intelligent? Didn''t they see that I turned their friend into a toast with just a [Fireball]?

    ¡°I think they just want to protect their friend but you have a point¡­¡± I cancelled and dispelled the attacks they sent at me and I stole their hats and catalysts.

    Look it¡¯s admirable that you want to defend your friend but don''t forget to use your head too.  I twirled a hat around my finger.

    ¡°Give our hats and catalysts back! We get the message!¡± I returned their stuff and they removed themselves from the scene.

    Hey, Shelly, let me teach you a trick. If you put these 3 magic runes after the execution sequence and once more after the attribute sequence you will get a serious boost in firepower.  I drew the runes on some paper.

    ¡°Really?!¡±  Yes, now go practice this and kick that bully¡¯s ass when she tries this again. This humiliation is only temporary but it will be permanent when you mop the floor with her.

    ¡°Your race really is devious, isn''t it? I need to read up more on you guys.¡±  Send me a copy once you find a book with any of that.

    Another group of Misha returned and they seemed to actively hunt me down. They seemed very experienced. They weren''t as stationary as the Misha I met when I was still disguised but they weren''t as mobile as the lecturers. It wasn''t any fun to beat them up after I stole their catalysts and hats, so I only stole their hats. Most seemed unfamiliar with how to act when that happened but some kept pushing. I would have to recommend adding a course to teach what to do in this situation to the headmaster. If she would listen to me that¡¯s a different story.

    I had started research into magic that would make it harder for me to steal their hats. The Misha had given me a lot, mostly involuntary so this was the least I could do. I wrote a paper like how the Misha did and published it. It took me 3 days to finally get the headmaster to read it. I had to annoy her a bit first though.

    ¡°Are you insane? If we widespread this, we might be able to finally catch you.¡±  It might be involuntary but you guys have given me a lot I¡¯m just giving back here, and I¡¯m also looking into how to make your shitty barriers better. I also got an idea of a magic skill that could temporarily replace your catalysts but that one is still in the working. The research on how to shift the elemental composition of the ambient mana to suit your magic affinities is almost complete.

    ¡°You¡­ you are doing this to annoy me even more, are you? Making it harder for me to kick you out once I finally catch you!¡±  Hey come on you know I¡¯m harmless, you will have a lot of experience now in case someone really dangerous sneaks into your city.  I dodged a [Flare].

    ¡°You are dangerous! You almost destroyed the city with a [Meteor]!¡± I stole her hat again. She tried to counter it but she failed.

    ¡°Ugh, I will look into this, Don''t come complaining when I get my hands on you!¡± I threw the hat at her and ran away.

    <hr>

    The day came, the headmasters daughter was bullying Shelly again but something seemed different about Shelly. Her demeanour had changed and she seemed more fiery.

    ¡°I will show you that I¡¯m not a disgrace to my mother, I will make you eat those words,¡± Shelly somehow seems way more mature than before. I sat in a tree and ate some popcorn. Nilah was being pet by the other Misha and was yet again stealing mana.

    Bully attacked first but Shelly dodged. Whoa, wait she threw her catalyst! She winked at me and ran at the bully. The bully didn''t expect this and took the catalyst to her face. But how does she know that? Was she in the same lecture hall? I never noticed. Shelly could retrieve her catalyst before the bully blew her way with a [Wind Blast]. Shelly had left a [Fire Trap] on the floor the moment she retrieved her catalyst and it blew up on the bully. She partly defended against it and Shelly used [Fireball]. It wasn''t as good as mine but it was beautiful. It destroyed all the defences of the bully and toasted her.

    ¡°There is more of this if you are insistent on pestering me, you might be 30 human years older than me physically but mentally you''re still a child." Shelly left after burning the bully physically and mentally.

    A green haired Misha teleported next to me.

    ¡°Agnis, we need to talk.¡±  Hey, it wasn''t me! I didn''t toast your daughter!

    ¡°I know, come to my office, please.¡± I followed the headmaster to her office. ¡°We have reviewed your paper and it¡¯s¡­ excellent. We are working on integrating this into our curriculum. I have 2 questions for you. Firstly, what is it that you want and secondly, how is Ayaru?¡±  While I can''t answer the last question because frankly, I have no idea where she is but when I freed her from the seal she was mentally hurt and sad. What I want is to understand magic better and humans are extremely useless when it comes to advanced magic so here I am.

    ¡°I see, of course, she is¡­ I have more questions about her but I will ask them another time. Now about what you want¡­ We have a policy that you are probably well aware of. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t enforce it because if I could, you wouldn''t be here¡­ there are many Misha stronger than me that are not present in the city currently. I want to remind you that things will change when they return. You have proven your worth and I¡¯m less motivated to kick you out but when it comes to it, I will kick you out. However, there is a small village not too far from here to the southeast. If you''re interested in partnering up for a research project with me or any other Misha¡­ we¡¯re happy to do so. Your race is rare but as you''ve shown, make for excellent research partners. So, we will do our best to not kill you but accidents can happen.¡±  I understand, I appreciate it. Also, your daughter might have some mental issues after Shelly just schooled her.

    ¡°I  am not sure if I should chase you out or thank you but this is also some form of education, she is used to pushing others around, getting slapped around by another race and a younger Misha might be a wake-up call for her.¡±  You seem to be a fan of the spartan approach.

    ¡°Don''t make me want to kill you again!¡± I escaped the office as I got targeted by a [Flare].

    This incident seemed to make Shelly quite popular under the Misha. Her fire magic proficiency grew swiftly and it didn''t take long for the lecturers to whisper that she might surpass her mother.

 Vol 2 Ch 76: Silver Menace

    Day 397. I pissed off the headmaster again. They finally changed the magic on their hats and changed it up a bit. It worked for 3 days after which I figured out how to steal them again. I can imagine that she would be pissed but not this pissed. I decided to hide in the sewers. Because I didn''t want to hole up in Azu¡¯s house.

    The sewers were the worst ones I''ve seen. There was grime everywhere, the smell was terrible. The sewer seems ancient and its extremely dangerous as everything is slippery. I have seen more sewers than the average person and these suck. The aboveground is neat and tidy but down here it''s a mess. A good city has good sewers. Strangely enough, I have yet to find sewers better than Boshi town. Maybe Gittrian has but I haven''t been there yet. I wonder how the headmaster would react if I tell her that she should fix the sewers. Probably not favorably.

    Something moved. I took out a dagger.

    A sewer rat? No just a blob. Wait is this a slime? What is it doing here? I inspected it and it revealed something problematic.

    Oh no, a Misha must have flushed a random potion through the toilet and it created some weird lifeform. It spotted me and it ran away so I followed it.

    I saw more slimes and they all ran away. What I noticed was that there was no water anywhere. How could I have missed that? What is happening here in the sewers? I followed them and found myself in a large room that was supposed to be filled with water but I saw a huge multi-coloured blob of slime pulsing.

    Did this blob use all the water to form? And what is it doing? I saw streams of weirdly colored water flow into it from various canals. Don''t these Misha know that they should separate their waste and transport it to a special facility and not flush it down? I had read this in Azu¡¯s earlier lab journals. She got scolded a lot for doing the same so she learned how to properly separate different types of magic waste. I¡¯m surprised that nobody has died yet. I detected toxic fumes but they were not that bad. My basic poison immunity could handle it. I never stopped ingesting poison to gain immunity but unfortunately, I can¡¯t do it as fast as a certain Toxic Donkey.

    Nilah didn''t feel like absorbing this mess of swirling mana. How did they even manage to get the unusable mana percentage to 43%. This is insane! Nilah wrapped me in her tails. I should be fine but continued exposure isn''t healthy. This seems quite close to a new kind of poison element. I decided to do the Misha a service and solve this problem for them, after I get rid of this blob, I will tell the headmaster that the Misha should separate their poisonous potions. I haven''t noticed a decrease in available water because I can create water but maybe the city is in a crisis. I tried to [Flush] the blob but it just sucked up the water and became larger. It seems that is a bad idea. How about setting it on fire?

    <hr>

    I got launched out of a manhole. All the manholes flew up in the sky. The moment I set the blob ablaze it exploded and I was covered in weird goo. I had covered myself in frost magic before the explosion but I still didn''t like it. Nilah was upset with me because she was covered in goo.  I¡¯m sorry Nilah, let''s take a long shower.

    We walked home and the Misha avoided us because we smelled weird. We arrived home and I turned on the shower but nothing came out. Right, I forgot. I normally just freshen myself up with water Dragonvein I make because I¡¯m too lazy to walk to the shower. I used [Water Dragon Dance] but created only 2 water dragons. One to clean myself and another to clean Nilah. I had to scrub Nilah because the goo was harder to get out of her fur than off my skin. I had to work with the shittiest soap in existence, I need to file a complaint! It took long but we were clean.

    Hey Nilah, how do you think we should solve this? I don¡¯t know anything about potions.  Nilah played with water suggesting that I should wash It. Nilah seemed to be getting smarter and smarter.

    Hey Nilah, what are you?  She gave me a cute stare. The urge to pet and cuddle her awakened and I picked her up. I cuddled Nilah and we went back down. Nilah covered herself with a lot of frost this time. I did so too.

    So, you said to wash it. So, what if I use a stronger [Flush] and spread it over the whole sewer system then it wouldn''t matter if it grows and maybe the toxic components will wash away or be diluted enough to stop forming the blob.

    I was about to start when I heard a voice. ¡°Agnis, I know you¡¯re here somewhere!¡±

    Shit, I guess all the manholes getting launched was quite visible. Not a lot of Misha were looking for me probably because the sewers was not a place they wanted to be. I successfully evaded detection and tried to find out if there were more blobs in the sewer.

    I found 4 more and then encountered the headmaster''s daughter. ¡°Can you please just surrender and come with us; I hate this place.¡±  You are not here to solve this problem?

    ¡°What problem?  Do you have water?

    ¡°What has that to do with the sewers, we get water from a separate system, not the sewers.¡±  And where does that water come from?

    ¡°Collected rainwater and purified sewer water¡­ oh¡­¡±

    I evaded a [Flare].  Ahh so you''re finally here.

    An angry Headmaster appeared. Her face was a bit red. ¡°What is this?! What have you done this time!¡±  Hey don''t blame me for all your problems! I¡¯m here to help solve this problem.

    ¡°And how did this problem start? Something you did?¡±  Does it seem like I¡¯m flushing toxic potions through the sewer systems?

    Another stream of colorful liquid fed the blob and I pointed at it.

    ¡°Ugh, those idiots, we teach them to separate their potions.¡±

    Headmaster''s daughter pinched her nose and almost slipped. ¡°Ugh, I hate this place! So, what about that explosion? And can we leave?¡±  Uhh, that was me, it seems to be flammable so you might want to tell your mother to stop sending [Flares] at me.  The headmaster cancelled her [Flare] cast.

    ¡°So, what do we do about this? And what is that funny ice coat you''re wearing?¡±  It''s to protect me from the goo and uhh do you have a potion to unblobbify this thing?

    ¡°Unblob¡­ what does that even mean? No such potion exists!¡±  So how would you solve this problem then?

    ¡°Well, we need to put a full-scale investigation, figure out what components are causing this, hold a survey to discover what potions the Misha are sending down here then appeal for a¡­¡± Headmaster said as she seemed to have entered ''lecture mode.''  zzzzz

    ¡°Hey!¡±  What if this thing grows more in the meantime and wants to expand its territory aboveground?

    The headmaster became pale. ¡°We can''t allow for that to happen!¡±  And that is why I¡¯m going to [Flush] this thing. I won''t make the same mistake I did the previous time I [Flushed] the sewers.

    The headmaster attempted something when she paused to react. ¡°Wait, what previous time? What happened?¡±  Don''t worry I won''t leave bodies behind this time.

    ¡°What?!¡± I started using [Drowning Pulse] and kept using [Flush] to spread the blob out through the whole sewers. ¡°Hey, what is this this isn''t magic?¡±

    Not now, this blob is persistent.  There were signs that I was properly flushing it but it continued growing.

    So, there is good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?

    ¡°Good news please.¡±  The blob is diluting and isn''t toxic anymore.

    The Headmaster jumped back and breathed in her sleeve. ¡°This thing was toxic?!¡±  Not anymore!

    ¡°What is the bad news?¡±  Well, ehh this thing might expand a lot, I hope that you like to get dirty.

    The Headmaster started to form barriers around her and her daughter. ¡°Are you sure you aren''t the god of pranks and misfortune?¡±  Would I hang around in the sewers if I was?

    ¡°Probably not¡­¡± The blobs expanded and turned green and ballooned in size.

    <hr>

    We got launched out of the manhole. The headmaster was covered in green slime as her barriers seemed to have been inadequate. Nilah and I were fine because of our frost coats but the city¡­ Green slime kept shooting out of the manholes and covered the city in 4-meter-deep green slime. Azu¡¯s house was safe because it was located on a hill.

    I felt someone lock on to me and I sensed several magic skills activating. ¡°You did this!¡±

    Hey, be calm! Let''s attack the root of the problem! I could have never done this if the Misha hadn''t brought a blob to life with their potions!  The headmaster didn''t seem to listen and shot a [Flare], [Wind Blade] and [Gale] at me. The green slime glowed from the heat and created an enormous explosion. I escaped the chaos and decided to stay home for a week.

    More of my research papers got accepted and the Misha community was divided on whether I was a buff or debuff to their city. They didn''t use those words but that¡¯s my interpretation. They started to call me the Silver Menace though. I am not that bad...

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    I had reapplied my cosmetic illusion but it didn''t seem to have thrown them off. Nilah was interested in the towers spread through the city that gathered mana. Either curiosity or just wanted to steal its mana so we went to check one out.

    It was quite simple. The whole pillar moved all the mana inside of it to a crystal at the base. Because of this, it would create a low concentration mana inside the pillar which got balanced out by the ambient mana around it rushing into the tower to compensate for the difference in mana concentration and then the process repeated. Nilah froze the crystal to see what would happen.

    We observed the tower. It kept trying to push mana into the crystal which got frozen by normal ice. The tower started to heat up and melt.  Uhh, Nilah, I think we shouldn''t do this anymore.  Nilah snatched the mana-rich crystal and got its mana. The Misha nearby chased us away.

    Hey Nilah if you want mana so badly you can take mine.  She refused my mana.

    So difficult.  I tried to figure out why she needed this much mana. I couldn''t tell how much mana she was holding on to but I''m certain she could blow up a whole country by now with the amount she has. I did create her after I woke up after being afraid of a god. Is she preparing in case I encounter one? I petted and cuddled Nilah. Either way, she has no intention of harming me. She was big enough that I could ride on her. She started out so small and cute. Now she is a vixen ready to steal every drop of mana. I don''t even need to bother dodging and evading attacks now. She just blocks it with her body and tails and stores the mana. The Misha are very annoyed with us. I also admit that my prankster nature is being drawn out by their reactions. I decided to visit the library again tomorrow.

    <hr>

    I went into library mode and read about some subjects about magic and their magic circles. These magic skills were impossible to cast in the traditional method, they needed to be drawn. There were 3 city blocks of books on these. The poor librarian tried to chase me away as usual but I stole her hat and catalyst. I gave her hat and catalyst back at the end of my reading spree. My tails started piecing together skills that could only be cast by drawn magic circles. I did some more research in Azu¡¯s lab and discovered a new magic rune. It could be used to repeat the last attack that occurred. It was a bit similar to what I already had but it was more potent. I could drop a [God of Thunder] on it and it will echo a stronger one. This applies to every element but I tend to use these with lightning skills. I got out of the lab 3 days later and wandered through the corridors. I studied too much! I need a break! The Misha saw me as a part of life now and they treated me like their own.

    ¡°Hey is everyone from your race like this?¡±  Dunno, I haven''t seen any of my race in over 10 years.

    ¡°Isn''t that lonely?¡±  Dunno, other races keep telling me that I¡¯m a typical case of members of my race so they would probably be a pain in the ass, my mother was nice though, and another 9t friend though¡­ she was scary.  I continued eating lunch in the canteen with Shelly.

    Shelly seemed to have a well balanced diet. there was one problem. it had too many potatoes but rather her than me. ¡°You keep disappearing, where do you keep disappearing off to?¡±  Depends on the situation. Hey Nilah go easy on the ladies!

    Nilah was as popular as ever.

    I can¡¯t very well sit still with the headmaster constantly after me. Have you updated the magic on your hat?

    ¡°Yeah, I can''t believe you improved the magic twice on it to break it again, I don''t want to know what the headmaster is going through¡­ Also, this magic you made to temporarily substitute our catalyst¡­ it¡¯s extremely useful. It is as if you''re exploiting our weaknesses to find out how to help us.¡±  You''re reading too much into it I just enjoy a challenge.

    A loud voice echoed through the halls. ¡°Where is Agnis? He¡¯s the only one that can use spatiotemporal magic in this city!¡±

    ¡°I guess you need to run, the headmaster is pissed again.¡±  Oh no, I¡¯m fine this time.

    ¡°What did you do¡­¡±  I spatially scrambled the doors and hallways. If you go through that door you will end up in your next lecture hall.  I pointed at a door that normally leads outside.

    ¡°But why...¡±  She can''t find me if she can¡¯t get to me. Here is a map so you don''t get lost, give some to your friends.  I spread the maps of the academy to everyone in the canteen. I relaxed and ate my lunch as I heard the headmaster''s voice get closer and farther.

    Want to go for a walk Nilah? We haven''t stepped a foot outside this city since we came here.  Nilah seemed excited, grabbed me with her tail, and carried me outside the city. We jumped off the pillar the city was built on but fall damage isn''t something we worry about. We entered a forest and found a lot of suspicious mushrooms. I stored them in my dimensional pocket when we got attacked by a horde of boars.

    I climbed into a tree and Nilah kept throwing [ice spikes] at them.  Ooh, I thought of a cool prank let''s see how many targets I can teleport.  I teleported as many boars next to the pillar as I could.

    Hmm, 170 is the upper limit eh.  I froze the boars but left an unfrozen patch on their backs and wrote numbers 1 to 188. I skipped some numbers. There are only 170 boars but the Misha won''t know that. I bypassed the system that redirects you to the entrance and I teleported the boars into the city and watched the chaos from afar. It feels good to embrace my nature once in a while. It took them half a day to catch all the boars but they were looking for 3 days in total for the 18 missing boars after which they gave up.

    It was time to behave and I threw myself into developing a substance that could hold the properties of frost magic. It was a difficult substance. I had to keep it under [Pressure] to synthesize it. The biggest hurdle was over. It created a new problem. I couldn''t use metal to craft this sword. I need heat to create a sword out of metal. There were enough strong materials that weren''t metal so this was not as big of a problem. I made various other ingredients that didn''t require forging. Some stabilizing agents and oils to improve mana conductivity.

    <hr>

    Weeks flew by as I was focusing on getting enough prerequisite ingredients so that I could afford mistakes. Nilah was focusing frost magic on what would become the core of the relic magic weapon. She was putting a lot into it. This might become a super strong katana if I finish this. I slept for 5 days. This time I will make sure I''m not sleeping on my birthday.

    I decided to do some shopping after my sleep since I had 4 more days till the big day. The 3rd year of training to get stronger was almost over but we would meet up in September so there were 10 months left. I didn''t have anything planned for that but that is a good thing. My current goal has had some hiccups so it will take longer. The Misha were acting weird as if they were happy to see me. Did something happen? Did they get brainwashed?

    A Misha with silver hair approached me. I took a good look as silver hair seems quite alluring. Another argument why I need to hide my hair and tails. "Silver Menace sir, the headmaster is looking for you."  Whatever she thinks I did, I didn''t do it, not this time!

    "Can you pay her a visit please?"  Ugh fine.  I headed over to the academy and entered the office of the headmaster.

    Whoa, you look like you need some sleep. Whatever you¡¯re accusing me of it wasn''t me this time!

    "We know, we''ve been trying to get a hold of you but as usual you''re hard to catch."  So, what do you need me for then?

    ¡°Not  long after your disappearance, we started to notice that our mana was getting sapped whenever we used magic. At first, we thought it was a prank of yours with your blue fox but it happened everywhere in the city and nobody had spotted you. The suspicion stuck until some areas had this effect more than others. It wasn''t a significant amount of mana sapping but noticeable at least. We concluded that this might be something else and 3 weeks ago we discovered that something might be wrong with the dimensional fabric. We couldn''t confirm this but this problem appeared shortly after you disappeared so we were wondering if you were sick or dying for this to occur." The Headmaster needs some sleep. this academy must be stressing her out! although I might be partly responsible for her stress.

    Oh, you were worried, how sweet, I will check this problem out for you.  This problem sounds both new and familiar. The headmaster and I went outside and she pointed out where its effects were the strongest. I got the correct filter and yup I found the problem. I circulated nature energy because there was another case of rotten dimensional fabric and there were dimensional maggots everywhere. I didn''t miss this sight. Mana was leaking into this dimensional hole to I don''t know where. The hole was small but it looked disgusting and mana was escaping through them. Several of these could be found in the city.

    Right, this might inconvenience you guys.  I created illusion layers and shattered them to get my [Illusionary Dagger] and stabbed my tails. The sky started to shift between day and night until the full moon appeared. The Misha were freaking out because time and space started to glitch. I did the same thing I did when I got into this mode in Boshi Town. I fixed up all the holes before all my tails disappeared. Nilah caught me after I fell down.  It should be fine now.

    <hr>

    A day had passed and I woke up in an unfamiliar bed and to Misha arguing. The headmaster was arguing with a very short Misha.

    ¡°I come back and I find out that you let a man and even worse a human inside the city!?¡± Shrimpy pointed at me.

    ¡°Correction! He let himself in and he might be a menace but he has helped the Misha community too!¡±

    ¡°Irrelevant! Kick him out with force!¡± Shrimpy stomped like an angry toddler.

    ¡°Well then dear sister go ahead! Be my guest!¡± Wait this midget is the headmaster''s sister? This midget looks like a preteen but she talks like she¡¯s older. People like that exist too, eh? I interrupted several casts to forcefully teleport me out. This pissed her off and she started flinging lightning at me which Nilah absorbed.

    ¡°See, if it was that easy, he¡¯d be long gone.¡± The Headmaster showed off a rare smile. This situation seemed amusing to her.

    ¡°Ugh, I have no time for this! I¡¯m busy! I want him gone when I come back!¡± The midget sister stormed off.  She looks like a younger sister but let me guess, she¡¯s your older sister?

    ¡°Ugh, yes, I¡¯m sorry for that, the mana situation improved after you did that strange thing. I seem to lack knowledge about nine tailed spirit foxes because I didn''t know they could change day and night like that.¡±  Hey, I have a question, do you know about a race that closely resembles a 9t but isn''t a 9t?

    ¡°I would assume that you mean the other tailed races.¡±  Uhh, not exactly. Anyways. My next research is almost finished, I think you guys might like this one. This one was extremely difficult. It had been in the works since I first started stealing your hats.  I twirled Shrimpy''s hat around my finger.

    ¡°Why did you do that¡­¡± Someone in a corridor away was losing her mind.

    She might have a point but I don''t think she should talk to her sister like that. Anyways the new research might be done in a week, that of course depends on how often you guys keep up this futile pursuit it''s hard to focus with angry Misha on my ass.  I threw Shrimpy''s hat at the headmaster and headed home. It seemed Shrimpy had returned with 4 other Misha that were as strong or stronger than the headmaster. I might have to exercise some caution. I had pulled a lot of pranks on this city. Even before they started to call me the Silver Menace.

    There was this time I trained mountain gulls to steal their food when they would buy them at stands. I also put the whole city in a small-time loop when testing a spatiotemporal skill that I had made. It reset the day 3 times in a row but everyone kept their memories. I had to scrap this skill but the Misha weren''t happy. I think I will do one last prank on my birthday and then let them live in peace. I might still stay here longer but I will be a behaving citizen after that. Not that I¡¯m a citizen here, I¡¯m an illegal immigrant.

 Vol 2 Ch 77: The Last Prank

    My birthday came and I wasn''t asleep. This calls for celebration! Some preparations were made beforehand. I had cooked up a harmless prank. I looked at the tanks of garlic oil I had made. It was 4 in the morning. I took a long shower because the water would be quite garlicky in a bit, petted Nilah and we teleported to the water purifying facility of the city.

    I dumped the garlic oil in the purified water and waited thill it spread through the city. I was wearing my gasmask because this oil was very potent. It would get diluted so unless they somehow concentrate the contents of the water, they should smell like garlic bread.

    And that was it, my last prank. The problem is that they will 100% know it was me. It would be better if there was confusion about who the culprit was.

    I relaxed in the park and brushed my tails. Nilah was taking a nap because we spent almost the whole of yesterday creating this oil. A lot of strong Misha had returned in the past few days. It is as if they¡¯re preparing for something. It¡¯s not to kick me out on my birthday, is it? That would be cruel. The smell of garlic wafted by. Nilah woke up and absorbed a barrage of attacks.

    "So, you are the tailed fox they were talking about. It is good to see that your race is fine but you have to go!" It was Shrimpy and 9 strong looking friends.  Ooh you smell nice, what is it?

    "Enough!" A large spell got prepared but it disappeared after I stole their hats and catalysts. 2 seemed to have learned the substitute catalyst magic that I had developed. Nilah kept blocking their attacks.

    "Ugh, is there nothing we can do against this?"  Don''t worry, I just need to go over my paper one last time to fish out mistakes and when I do, I will release the solution. It will probably be tomorrow or the day after.

    "What is your goal in all this?"  Well, you guys are strong I acknowledge that, I just want to make sure you guys don''t feel like messing with me in the future. I encountered a Misha years ago and her capabilities scared the shit out of me. So, I don''t want to ever deal with that.

    "Well, it seems to be working. An order is almost ready to get passed on. A flee on sight order."  Oh perfect! Now the Misha that''s in charge of creating soap has been cutting corners. I had beef with her because it took too long to wash goo out of Nilah''s fur. She said her soap is fine, which is bullshit! If you guys want to smell good again, take it up with her. Good soap should fix this quite effectively, just not today, there''s still garlic oil in the water system.

    ¡°So petty¡­ Anyways, we have the firepower to finally get you out!¡± Shrimpy pointed her finger at me. You would kick a fox out of his home on his birthday?

    ¡°Happy birthday and yes! We don''t have the numbers and power to deal with you and other problems!¡±  And you want to do that without hat and catalyst?

    ¡°Would you be so kind as to return those¡­¡±  How about this, if you can beat me in a fight I will leave, all 10 of you can go at me.

    Shrimpy had a wide smile. ¡°You can just leave, there is no way you alone would win against the 10 of us in a fair fight.¡±  Well, it¡¯s 10v2 on your own home turf, it''s hardly a fair fight so you are correct

    ¡°2?¡±  Don''t leave Nilah out of this.

    ¡°Ah right a fox and his fox pet, we will kick you out gently since you have brought merits to our city. I need to learn that substitute catalyst thing¡­¡± I returned their stuff and they instantly started blasting me. I jumped back.

    We haven''t let loose in a while Nilah! Let''s show them how big of a mistake they made thinking they can win a 10v2!  Nilah turned back to her original form. Although she was way bigger now and looked a bit different.

    You guys have made one crucial mistake, I don¡¯t need to steal your hats or catalysts to make you useless.  The Misha shot various objections to me which I ignored. I will just have to show them. Nilah and I used [Eternal Winter]. I could control better now how much mana got into me and could redirect the rest to Nilah. We turned the whole city into a winter wonderland, the magic the 10 Misha were throwing at us weakened considerably.

    ¡°What?! Ice magic?!¡±  Don¡¯t think Nilah was the only one who could use this.  The Misha surely were strong. I targeted only them they didn''t freeze over but they were using a lot of mana to resist it. Some mana also leaked out of them and got stolen by us. The other Misha of the city were watching. None of their mana got stolen because I had better control over this. Nilah also had good control but she didn''t care so I had to tell her to leave the others alone, for now.

    ¡°Ugh¡­ remind me again, why is your race close to extinction?¡±  Because of those stupid gods and also because of humans.

    ¡°Dying to the strong and the weak, you guys make no sense.¡±  I know but the world is a crazy place. Ready to surrender?

    ¡°No!¡±

    Nilah and my eyes glowed light blue and the frost intensified and froze the 10 Misha. We dropped the [Eternal Winter] but left the 10 Misha frozen. I changed the frost so that it would turn into normal ice in 2 hours and then melt. They can cool off a bit. I picked up 5 Misha with my tails and Nilah shrunk back to her smaller size and picked up the other 5. We walked to the campus showing off the ''Ice cube Ten'' as we walked and placed them in the headmaster''s office.

    ¡°Ugh, I don''t even want to ask. An order has been pushed. A flee-on-sight order. This just¡­ enforces it¡­ these Misha are all stronger than me you know?¡±  I know magic is your thing and all but you might want to find alternative ways. You are reliant on magic the most out of all races, also your hats and catalysts are weaknesses. Don''t let what happened to us happen to the Misha.

    ¡°Is this some sort of big lecture?¡±  I suck at lectures; you can take this how you want. I am going to relax today since it¡¯s my birthday, I have a solution to your hat problems ready by tomorrow or the day after, also these guys will be able to get free from their frozen state in 2 hours. And you smell nice hehe.

    ¡°You are lucky that I like the smell of garlic bread else I would have your head! Also, they will be available in 2 hours, right?¡±  Are you preparing for something?

    ¡°None of your business go enjoy your birthday and please¡­ ease up on those pranks.¡±  I will stop the pranks after today.  The headmaster got up

    ¡°Are you ill?¡±  How rude! No, I got what I wanted, you Misha are very unlikely to mess with me in the future now so I can give you guys some well-deserved rest.  The headmaster sat down.

    ¡°Ugh, why couldn''t you just tell us.¡±  Would you or any of those ice statues here listen?

    ¡°Fair point. So¡­ are you going to form a research partnership after? We have kind of developed a love-hate relationship, we would want you gone from here but you also brought some good changes. The sewers are cleaner than ever, my daughter is well-behaved now, we have fixed some of our weaknesses, we surely are better at chasing and tracking down opponents and reacting to unpredictable situations, and we have realized how primitive our magic is based on some of your papers and the list goes on.¡±  And if that greedy Misha gets her shit together you will also have better soap!

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°You seem to do the wrong things for the right reasons¡­¡±  Well, if you think I had some ulterior reason you¡¯re wrong I just did what I wanted to do and if the outcome is that your race overall improves then that''s a nice bonus.

    ¡°It is strange because this is obviously a lie, you are quite terrible at it¡­¡±  People keep telling me that, anyways these 10 might be in a bad mood after they thaw so beware.

    The city was a bit in an uproar and some Misha asked us to make some ice sculptures and other cool stuff because most have never seen so much ice. The day ended up with the soap Misha getting pressured into creating better soap. The city still smelled like garlic bread and I visited a restaurant that had some good garlic bread. These Misha were thankful because the garlic bread smell had many Misha craving garlic bread and they were doing better than normal because of it. The food was good, Nilah had a great time too, we headed back home when we saw a group of the strongest Misha fly away to the northwest.

    I sat on Azu¡¯s house and checked out where they were heading to. Something strange was going on. Space was bending and an army of people came out. Wait are those vampires? Weren''t they super rare? What is an army doing here?

    The vampires outnumbered the Misha 10 to 1. Did they go there to die? Is this what they were preparing for? The vampires seemed to be way stronger than all the Misha but¡­ they were acting strange. A 3-hour battle followed and the vampires suffered a crushing defeat and retreated into the rift. It closed and left a big group behind and the Misha continued to blast them. Only 3 strong Misha had perished in that fight. The vampires didn''t seem to want to die though. They restrained them with magic and left them behind. Are they just going to leave them there till the sun fries them?

    A small group of Misha stayed behind and kept assaulting them with ice. The vampires didn¡¯t get turned into ash when the sun started to rise. They died to¡­ hypothermia? And shattered as if made out of ice and turned into fine glittering dust, how strange. Are all the stories about vampires wrong? A large group of super-strong Misha headed my way. I think I should hide.

    ¡°Wait!¡± The headmaster and some of her friends came to me before I could go back inside. ¡°We¡­ want to thank you¡­ I know it was a prank but this garlic bread smell¡­ It was very effective against that vampire army¡­ I can''t believe that I¡¯m saying this.¡±

    ¡°We have been struggling and losing many Misha in the fight against them, the rift used to open every 200 years near our city and we would fight them off but something is happening and they appear every 50 years now¡­¡±  Huh, that¡¯s strange, what is the deal with them?

    ¡°I don''t know the specifics but their race got locked in a subdimension many centuries ago and they¡¯ve tried to get back here ever since, they are not friendly to many races here including ours so we took it upon ourselves to repel them. We would lose so many every time¡­ we only lost 3 today.¡±  Locked in a sub-dimension, is that why I saw a rift open? Can they use spatiotemporal magic?

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe they can, I think the fabric is weakening, judging by what you described what happened when the mana started to leak, I can only assume that¡¯s related.¡±  Hmm, so the dimensional fabrics weakening and this allows for the vampires to stage more frequent invasions? That doesn''t sound good.

    I heard a stomach growling and a Misha turned red in embarrassment. The smell of garlic bread must be making her hungry.

    ¡°Is there anything you can do?¡±  I can mainly create subdimensions or fix what¡¯s broken, sometimes destroy but that¡¯s not my expertise, reinforcing and strengthening isn''t my thing sorry, we would need a 7t for that.

    ¡°Oh¡­ that¡¯s unfortunate. At least you gave us a solution for these invasions. Can we have the recipe for the garlic bread oil?¡±  Hehe.

    ¡°Please don''t make this hard for us¡­¡± I gave them the recipe for the garlic oil. Some other strong Misha thanked me and they went home. I can''t believe that turned out well¡­ I am better at pranking than I thought! Although it doesn''t look like a prank now anymore, I won''t be surprised if someone cooks up a suspicion that I might have foreseen this and masked it as a prank to secretly help them. I don¡¯t want them to see me as a hero¡­ I should''ve used a different prank¡­ It was time to finish this research I''ve been working on for almost half a year.

    <hr>

    The last day of the training year. Not the last day of the calendar year. It might be confusing but the last day of my training year is 1 day after my birthday. December 9th was the day that I first set out from Ainahs. Almost 3 years have passed. Time flies by. The headmaster let me into her office after I knocked and I put my research paper on her desk.

    ¡°What have you cooked up this time? Are you going to invalidate this 3 days after we implement it?¡±  Well, this skill is actually very hard to use. I can use it since I created it but I¡¯m expecting the most talented Misha to take 3-4 years to learn this. I have taken the Misha physiology in mind so don''t worry but I can emulate this quite well. Nilah hat!

    I used [Transform] and turned into Agn¨¨s Oures and Nilah jumped on my head and turned into a hat.

    ¡°Give me a second, I will ask some others to observe too.¡± She used magic to expand the office room and to call other Misha. Some familiar faces appeared, most of them were strong Misha, also the ''Ice cube Ten'' had joined.

    Shrimpy pointed at me. ¡°This guy again?¡±  No need to be so snarky you might like this one. I named it [Hattrick] it creates up to 2 hats that work like your original. Due to its difficulty, I can only use 1 extra hat.  I created a functional copy of Nilah as a hat. And I threw it and it floated.

    Now some of you might be familiar with my [Staff Throw] attack.  I saw 2 lecturers cringe.

    This is similar but¡­ The hat can independently cast attacks from its location.  I casted [Fireball] and the hat casted [Thunderbolt].

    You can freely change the location of the remote hat.  The hat floated away and continued casting.

    Now if I could use the third hat it would be able to do the same. The spells are limited to those that you know and your mana gets copied and not split up, this is a very important detail.  I already had impressed most of the Misha as copying mana is extremely difficult, or impossible. I forgot which one of the two it was.

    But this isn''t the main feature.  I flicked my hair and knocked my hat off my head.

    In case you lose your hat¡­  The floating hat glowed and I teleported under the hat so that I was wearing that hat now. The hat that I had flicked on the ground started to float and was ready to cast magic.

    You can teleport to the location of any floating hat.  All the Misha went crazy.

    ¡°Are you serious?! We can do that now?! I need this I need to learn it now!¡± I was expecting some stuck up Misha to stay cool or disagree with my idea but even the most serous Misha was going crazy.

    Well, as I told the headmaster this is very hard to learn, you will have to divide your attention between yourself and the hat. I can only use it with 1 hat but 2 is currently the maximum. Theoretically, I could improve it to have 5, 6 or even more hats but that would probably take me a year to do, this should be good enough for now.  The excitement could be felt.

    And this is probably the last paper I will publish.  The Misha quieted down.

    ¡°Are you leaving?¡±  Not now, but probably in several months, yeah, I can¡¯t stay here, I don''t belong here.

    ¡°How about a research partnership? With this skill surely, we can make an exception for him, right?¡± Other Misha started to talk to each other and trying to convince the others to make an exception.

    That sounds nice but I don''t think you should. Don¡¯t let another race be responsible for yours, go find Azu¡­ Ayaru, everything I did, she can probably do better and she is one of you guys. Don''t abandon her.  The Misha looked guilty. Nilah returned to her fox form and I used [Transform] and turned back into a 9t.

 Vol 2 Ch 78: Ultimate Technique

    No more pranks as promised. The Misha went from trying to chase me out to making me stay. Didn''t they get my message? I can''t stay here. This place will drive me insane in the long term. Since they were insistent on annoying me, I started to annoy them back. I snuck into the forbidden parts of the library and started learning some Misha-specific magic and taboo magic. They had a lot of nasty spells here.

    Most spells that turn someone into a frog are temporarily. This one here is permanent. And that''s one of the mild spells. Some come very close to black magic. One makes you relive all the nightmares you ever had. I decided to learn this one. Greg should be able to cause people to fall asleep and get nightmares, I can pile on to that by making them relive those. I archived almost all forbidden and taboo magic they had stored here.

    It took them until mid-January to find out that I had sneaked into the forbidden section. But it was too late by then I had already learned more of their dirty secrets. This changed the opinion of some Misha and now half of them wanted me to stay and the other half for me to leave. Another idea for a katana popped into my head at the beginning of the calendar year when the Misha shot off fireworks. And I was busy getting everything ready for that. What would be cooler than 1 katana? 2 katanas!

    Jokes aside this one would have a completely different function. It will be a slower version for when I can''t swing my sword around all the time. This will be fire-based because I don''t need any more complicated materials and jumping through hoops to get stuff done. I also started practicing Dragonvein in the mornings. I had been slacking on that so I had to pick that back up.

    I cleaned up Azu¡¯s lab and left some copies of the papers I¡¯d written behind. She might be able to improve on these or use them as a reference. I hope the Misha will accept her back¡­ I spent several weeks making sure I had everything information and material-wise. The Misha became quieter and quieter. Are they planning something? Maybe they¡¯re going to mount a large attack to finally kick me out. Well, if they''re patient I will leave by myself.

    Day 62 was when I would leave. It was day 61 and the Misha were acting very strange. Nilah was quite large by now. I was wondering if she needs a 3rd form because she was almost half as big as me now. I don''t even know how much mana she has stored and I¡¯m not sure I want to know.

    The Misha in the academy were also acting weird. I came here to tell Shelly that I would be leaving. I hadn''t made many friends here but Shelly was consistent in showing off her [Fireball] and other fire skills.  Hey, Shelly, I will be leaving tomorrow, I came to say bye.

    Shelly seemed a if she just had a fight with a close friend of hers. She was a mess. ¡°Did they finally chase you away?¡±  Nah, I can¡¯t stay here, you guys need a place just for yourself I was just a temporary visitor.

    ¡°How about a research partnership? I¡¯m sure many Misha would want one with you! I would love to become your research partner if you wouldn''t mind.¡±  I¡¯m sorry I have things to do, and so do you. You¡¯re practically the queen of the academy now it shouldn''t be hard to surpass your mother.

    ¡°I guess¡­ everyone has their own goals. Is there nothing that would make you stay here?¡±  Nope sorry, maybe if I was a Misha myself, I would''ve stayed longer but I have to go.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis she asked nicely just listen and stay!¡± The ''Ice cube Ten'' appeared.  So, you went from attempting to evict me to attempting to imprison me? You guys surely are a bunch of criminals.

    ¡°We don''t care, we have read your papers and also found some literature about your race. You are a boon to us and moreover, we can''t let you run off and get yourself killed you will be safe here.¡±  There is literature about us?

    Shrimpy showed a strange looking book. ¡°It is encrypted with some magic that makes it impossible for humans to read but it''s this one, fairly recent from a newbie author Vinyr.¡±  Ugh, that idiot, he shouldn''t have done that. He would make a great writer though. Anyway, I¡¯m not staying! You guys wanted me gone and now I''m going and that''s also a problem!

    One of the ''Ice cube Ten'' Misha spoke up. ¡°You can¡¯t win this; we have prepared countermeasures against your frost magic. Also, the whole city is in on this, you can''t possibly beat a whole city.¡±  Oh, you want to bet? Didn''t you turn into an ice cube the last time you said something similar?

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°This is different!¡± Under normal circumstances, I would agree this would be impossible but it so happens that this ultimate skill that I had completed a long time ago doesn''t care about how many opponents I fight, the more the better actually. I was slowly getting surrounded by Misha.

    Just a question, do you guys truly believe you have seen everything I can do?  Some started to think and seemed to realize that I haven''t actually tried most of the time.

    There is one thing I want you guys to remember from this.  I calibrated the Dragonvein. 8.4% affinity and 5.4% authority. And connected to the air leyline currents.

    You guys rely too much on magic.  It had been 2 years in the making but I could finally use my other ultimate skill.

    Nilah keep them busy until I finish the prerequisites, I''m going to use [Hsien].  Nilah grew to her enormous form and spun her tails and created a mana-free zone. I started to use something that resembled [Drowning Pulse] but it was turning the air in the city into something closer to water. It made it act like it was all water. The outside of this enormous dome of water began to slowly freeze and create an ice barrier.

    I spent 2 minutes evenly spreading the water and the whole area inside the barrier started to act like it was water but it wasn''t. I popped out all my other tails and created 4 frost dragons around me and multiple water dragons. The whole city turned into something that looked like an underwater coral reef and it had fish swimming around. Everyone trapped within this had a permanent slow status so my passive that deals damage to cc¡¯ed targets would always be active. Nilah dropped the mana free zone and swam toward me. The Misha couldn''t move freely, they would have to swim but they could still breathe.

    The whole city was trapped and it was difficult for all of them to attack me at this point. Nothing in here was what it seemed. There were fish in various sizes but they were part of the technique, all made out of leyline energy. They would eat any mana that got used and use it to grow. They would become bigger and bigger fish, then killer whales, I love killer whales and the final stage was a dragon. And these fish dealt damage when you got close to them and the bigger the fish the more damage. The dragons would absolutely destroy anyone. I had 4 frost dragons around me not for protection but to cool myself off. This technique was intensive on my eyes, brain, and tails because there was so much happening. Nilah was assisting me in cooling down. This was preventing my own body from overheating. There is an extremely low chance someone would be able to make it to me. I was currently at the centre of this skill and I could move freely.

    Escape was improbable but not impossible so I formed [Dragons] at the edge of the dome and they slowly weaved a net with their bodies and made escape impossible. It looked like the dragons were dancing though. The beauty is I don''t need to actively attack because the fish and dragons do these on their own. The movements were complicated and I had to focus a lot. I closed the dome off so there was no chance of escape and thus the whole city was trapped. I started churning out [Dragons]. I paused because I was attempting to form 2 very strong ones.

    The air acting as water around me started to boil, Nilah responded and cooled me down even more. I was doing this all with leyline energy so it was also body intensive. I made two enormous light blue wingless dragons made out of frost and they terrorized the stronger Misha. There was nothing they could do. Their magic would get eaten by the fish and just make this technique stronger. They couldn''t move very fast and anything that would hit them would deal a lot of damage.

    I completely shut down anything anyone could do to me while inside [Hsien]. The 2 frost [Dragons] were giving the stronger Misha hell. They couldn''t even defend themselves. Some fish notified me that I had to tune the damage a bit lower because even the smallest fish did too much damage to the weaker Misha. The orcas were going to town and toying with 3 of the ice cube Misha. Someone thought it was smart to use [Discharge] and this just fed a lot of fish and they also zapped their allies. The 2 large frost [Dragons] disappeared after 2 minutes because they were doing too much damage. Most of the Misha gave up and were unconscious.

    ¡°Can we really not persuade you to stay here?¡±  No. sorry¡­

    ¡°I can¡¯t use any of my strong skills in here¡­ We surrender, you may leave...¡± Shrimpy said. I had expected her to be prideful but it didn''t look as she had swallowed her pride what was the look on her face? Sadness? Disappointment? I couldn''t tell, either way I can''t stay here.

    Thank you.  I sent most of the energy [Hsien] collected into Nilah and formed a [Dragon] with the rest of it. I can use the energy of this freely, normally I would bundle into a large nuke and drop anyone who is still alive after this but I can¡¯t do that now. Nilah started to glow and some markings appeared on her body. I think this is a good thing? Nilah and I rode the dragon to the sky. I was planning to leave tomorrow but I can''t return after such an epic exit.

    So, Nilah, what does this mean? Are you going to evolve? What would you even evolve into?  Nilah requested cuddles. What a mysterious fox.

 Vol 2 Ch 79: Nilah

    I landed in the Lucidus mountain range and cancelled [Dragon] as I can''t fly around on this without drawing attention. I rode on Nilah¡¯s back and she ran for 12 days. She wasn''t as fast as me but it was an impressive speed through the mountains. We went through the Lucidus mountain range into the Umbra mountain range and into the Penumbra mountain range. We would reach Girai in 2 or 3 more days. She didn''t seem to tire. I had her for a year now, we had a small 1-year party for her. We just kept eating food though. We reached Girai on day 76.

    ¡°Whoa! Is that Nilah? She has gotten huge!¡± The villagers greeted me and petted Nilah. Of course, she stole their mana as usual. I had to make a good story of why I was away for so long. I can''t say I was hanging out in Witchaven. I returned home and brushed my tails and also Nilah¡¯s tails.

    Shall we relax in the resort for some days or get to work?  It seems the resort won. It was good to be home. The sword could be made with 95% certainty now. I had done my best to make sure I had every ingredient needed and more. The methods seem to have no flaws. Just the execution is needed. Have mastered runic construction and deconstruction so if anything unexpected happens I can create something that can deal with it or just put seals barriers or other enhancements to solve my problem.

    This should work. Creating 1 sword seemed to have been way harder than mastering Dragonvein or learning how to be an assassin, find a successor, and train the successor combined, Isn''t this ridiculous? I better make this sword the best sword in existence. I don''t have confidence in my blacksmith skills to achieve this but I have confidence in my methods. Otherwise I will have spent a year for nothing. I decided to put these thoughts aside and started to relax. The goal was to relax for 6 days but the villagers hadn''t expected me to be gone for so long so the boats piled up so I had to cut it short by 2 days. I played ferryman and kept bringing boats back and forth for a week. Now that this was done, I could finally start crafting my sword. I hadn''t bothered visiting the Adventurers Association or Yttroz Industries, I just wanted to craft my sword. After that, I would also need to practice.

    So much to do. I returned back home and instantly got notifications that I got 4 commissions. Are they stalking me? I haven''t told them I was available yet. I decided to complete these first and then put myself on unavailable again. Maybe I should put myself on hiatus. After I finish creating my sword, I want to practice sword fighting with it and I should also do some missions to test out my new skills. Blacksmithing gets delegated to be done in my free time. The commissions were fairly simple and straightforward. I completed 3 of them in the first 2 days. The 4th commission had a bit of artistic freedom so I tried something. I put in some fancy engravings and had to redo them several times. I wanted to get proficient in these engravings because it was similar to using primal runes.

    So, I spent a day practicing delicate and fine hand movements to create the engravings. I was satisfied with the result and sent them with a special boat. I put myself on hiatus and I could finally focus on my sword. I picked up the special mana core. It already had a lot of Nilah¡¯s mana in it. It also needed my mana. This is an unnecessary step but I want his sword to be exclusively mine. Others can steal it but they will have difficulties using it if they do.

    I poured a lot of mana into it and started with the blade. I had buckets of frost-infused substance. My first problem is to find a material that''s suited to make a sword. The substance got poured into a large mold. I just had to create a huge block of it and then beat the impurities out of it. I then got a crazy idea. Instead of infusing metal with this, how about I infuse this with metal? Normally impossible but I think I can pull it off with some runic deconstruction and trick the metal into thinking it¡¯s mana. I put shadow clones to work and to get this ready. I took the metal I wanted to use out of my dimensional pocket. Originally, I wanted this to become the sword but plans have changed but it might still work. I was stuck now because the clones did complete the skill quite fast but they would need 2 days to fish out all the errors and improve it.

    So, I waited for 2 days. Everything went as planned and the metal got successfully infused. I now had a block of a solid that looked like clear ice. I hit it with a hammer. It acted like a metal. I couldn''t use heat so I had to control its shape with frost magic while hitting. I beat it into a large thin sheet and folded it over each other. I kept hitting it and folding it until it looked like a white-blue stick. I had to soak it into 3 different special oils and then fuse it with the core. Nilah was for some reason pouring more mana into the core. I let the frost stick soak in the oil for 1 day each. It would increase its resistance to stress, improve the mana conductivity and make it more malleable. I would have to counter the last oil after I get my desired shape to set the shape.

    The third day passed and the frost stick was a bit orange. There was still oil on it. Normally I would heat it up and it would disappear. I decided to grind it off. It became very smooth and I started to beat the stick to make it flat and more katana-like. I made sure that the blade had a nice curve. I kept beating it and added some enchantments and ingredients to add the desired properties. It did look like a katana now but it was dull and the ice metal wasn''t clear. Also, I didn''t beat the impurities out yet. That is probably going to take the longest but first. Fusing the core. I placed the core on the metal and sent mana through the core into the metal.

    I simultaneously had to integrate a matrix of mana circles, coding for the swords special properties, which I couldn''t do without stealing information from Witchaven and studying Azu''s research. This method was many times more efficient than how the ancient manuals suggested to implement special skills into the core.

    Sending mana through the core was supposed to embed the core into the metal and share its properties with the metal but it didn''t seem to want to fuse.

    Ugh, how difficult! I can''t fail now!  I put more mana into it and it finally fused. It took 60% of my mana to fuse. Those were some high requirements. I rested for a bit and started to beat the impurities out of the sword at every wavelength I know. It took me 8 days to get the blade as pure as possible. I decided to rest. I soaked the blade in oil that undid the malleability oil. I took it out a day later but rested for 3 more days. I went outside a bit and played with Nilah.

    Day 104, back to crafting. I sharpened the blade and added an enchantment to keep it sharp. The blade was sharp and translucent. I had wanted to have some ice patterns and effects in the blade but that would be impossibly hard. Now I had to blast the blade with mana to wake the core up. I blasted the core and it woke up. The whole room started to freeze.

    Hey! Behave!  I fought against the core to keep the temperature normal. It also started to request for more mana and another core.

    2 cores? Are you out of your mind?!  I slowly started to gain the blade under control. Is this what they mean that some magic weapons have a will of their own? Cold gusts started blowing and cutting and freezing everything it hit.

    Behave!  The gusts became less and less. Nilah seemed to be upset at the sword.  It¡¯s ok

    Nilah. I have it under control, I think.  The gusts subsided.

    Good, you don''t need 2 cores you are strong enough.  I added a thin layer of oil to make the blade more mana conductive when the hand that I was holding the blade with started to slowly freeze.

    Hey, I told you to behave!  Nilah had enough. She pushed me aside and grabbed the sword with her tail.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Nilah?  Nilah sent out a cold shockwave and then disappeared. The blade glowed and beautiful snow patterns appeared in the blade. I could sense 2 cores in the blade. A strong one and another one that was unmeasurably strong it was keeping the other core in check, quite easily.

    Nilah, why¡­  I held the blade and it had a familiar feeling.

    A year for this? You stupid fox¡­  It was difficult but I had to continue. I don¡¯t know if I can reverse this effect. Why do my pets always end up like this? Nilah was more than a pet though¡­ I sighed.

    I put in a lot of work to finish and make this katana the best katana I could ever make. I went 9t mode on it and finished it off beautifully after 4 days. It had everything. The sheathe was decorated with blue snow foxes and snowflake patterns. The blade was beautiful. I swung the sword. It unintentionally cut everything in its path in half. It was unbelievably sharp and deadly. It could also be split into 9 copies. I held one in each tail. The blade was cold but not unpleasant. I couldn''t test it in my training room because it cut deep into the walls but the cuts were so thin that they were almost invisible. So far, I could swing the sword as fast as I wanted and it would be fine. The sword could store an insane amount of mana.

    Thank you for making my dream come true Nilah.  I decided to call this sword Shirayuki Nilah. I would call it Shirayuki to avoid confusion. I still had my skill [Nilah]. I finished crafting and testing but I didn''t feel happy at all. I held Shirayuki. This sword certainly has a will, no doubt. There is still so much I don''t know about magic and I get proven that time and time again.

    I took 2 days off to emotionally recover. I convinced myself that she wasn''t gone and just took another form. I needed a place with no people and a target that doesn''t keel over. I had already practiced my style with normal swords and kept replacing them when they shattered so I just have to get more familiar with Shirayuki. It was a very light sword. Normally this is bad but she is almost indestructible and does more damage the faster its user is. So, its lack of weight is not a problem after all. I decided to visit Inyr. He is the only one I can think of that wouldn''t get one shot by this sharp katana. I used wind [Dragon] and climbed up the stratosphere toward where I remembered his lair was. It took a while but I finally found it.  Knock Knock, Inyr are you home?

    ¡°Oh, it is you, I was about to blast whoever disturbed me to pieces. Have you met with Neia?¡±  Who?

    ¡°The other spirit fox I told you about¡­ I told her that you were coming¡­¡±  Oh no, I will try and remember, I have come for an epic fight! I need to test something out!

    ¡°Ooh a good fight yes! That god I told you I would slap was quite disappointing, you put up a better fight! Where is that other fox by the way?¡±  She¡­ did something stupid and now she turned into a katana.  I took Shirayuki out of the sheath. Inyr looked at it and laughed.

    ¡°Hahahaha what a weapon, did you make this kiddo? You might be able to kill a god with this if you''re lucky, excellent! I¡¯m fired up! I can sense that fox in the sword yes, she¡¯s itching for a fight and taunting me. Don¡¯t die kiddo! I¡¯m going to be a bit rough today!¡± Inyr rose up in front of me. He was very imposing. I sheathed my blade. ¡°Too soon to give up!¡± I could finally use Iai now. The first one is dedicated to Nilah. I jumped up and used [Iai: Nilah]. My blade flashed and 9 blue cold streaks shot out. Inyr evaded them but one cut off his left horn and another strike cut off some of his beard.  Shit, I missed.

    ¡°Whoa, there are you trying to kill me? Great! That''s more like it!¡± Inyr dove at me. I connected to the air leyline currents and used [Hurricane Path]. The beautiful thing about Dragonvein was that I could combine sword fighting with it. The [Hurricane Path] was a bit sharp and it cut off more dragon beard.

    ¡°You might become my new barber hahaha!¡± I kept fighting Inyr. I got used to Shirayuki and fighting a dragon midair. I could control the outgoing damage better. I landed some hits on him. He seemed fine but he did say that they stung. I had yet to be hit but I would probably instantly lose if that happened. Inyr wasn¡¯t kind though. I could just cut any non-physical attack and also absorb its mana. Shirayuki was strong against mana and physical attacks but I can''t cut through an ancient dragon so I have to still evade those [Tail Slams] and [Dragon Claws].

    We went at it for 2 days. I managed to create various Iai. The horizontal ones were extremely destructive. I cut off some mountain tops with them so I would have to stick to vertical cuts to keep the collateral damage to a minimum. I could also throw my swords because I could create 8 copies for 9 swords total and since I can use [Turning leaf] I can retrieve them whenever. Each copy had a different strength though, it resembled how my tails work. The original counts as the 9th copy and is the strongest while the first copy is the weakest. I managed to give Inyr some cuts on his scales but that was all. He was nowhere near losing. I wouldn''t be able to win this but I can prolong losing as long as I don''t mess up.

    And I messed up. I forgot that Inyr could drastically speed up with no tell. He [Tail Slammed] me and I flew into a mountain. It didn''t kill me but it was close.  Ugh, you win again.

    ¡°Yes, I won indeed I wanted an epic battle and I got one, you have gotten way stronger and you hardly used your fancy dance techniques. Impressive. I even got some trophies to remember this fight by.¡± He looked at 3 scales that had some deep cuts in them.

    Owowow, I¡¯m glad you like them.  I started circulating nature energy. I got a positive emotion from Shirayuki. I sheathed her.  Thank you for the practice.

    ¡°Oh no need to thank me, I had a blast! Keep practicing I am looking forward to our next fight!¡± Inyr disappeared into the clouds. That was crazy but educational. I sat down and waited till the nature energy did its job. He really was going for the kill. I guess that''s what a real fight is supposed to be.

    <hr>

    I went back home. I spent several days making a fire sword. It¡¯s magic core was difficult to make but easy to control. This sword would be a bit more normal and pack a lot of raw power. I lack raw power so this relic magic sword will hopefully fill that gap. I wasn¡¯t in a mood to name the sword so I left that for another time.

    I packed all my belongings. It felt weirdly empty.

    Gregory, does anything need to go to Gittrian?

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re going in that direction? Can you take these 4 boats?¡±  Sure, also, I won¡¯t be returning, I am moving.

    ¡°Oh¡­ and you''re leaving so late in the night? Do you have a place to stay?¡±  I will find a place don''t worry and I¡¯m bad at saying goodbye, can you thank the villages for me?

    ¡°Sure, we will keep the house as is! If you ever need a place to return to you can just return here to your home!¡±  Thanks, I appreciate it.  I took the boats and dropped them off in Gittrian. I didn''t stay long in Gittrian. I decided to go to Zanyr, the capital of Zanyr. They had some sort of arena there where a lot of magic weapons battles were held. Killing was allowed but not recommended. It was perfect to make my skills human friendly.

 Vol 2 Ch 80: Zanyr

    Day 115. The capital Zanyr is in sight. No detours or unnecessary stops were made. It seemed like entry to the capital was strictly monitored. The usual ID check. It was annoying but not a huge obstacle and after the procedures were finished the streets of Zanyr could be explored. The first stop was of course the Adventurers Association. This Adventurers Association seemed larger than most others and it also had rooms that had more luxury.

    Just a regular room will do.  The arena had events going on at all times. It was possible to get in at any time. This time would be tomorrow. My room looked out over the streets of Zanyr and the arena. Nothing could be seen from here. It was time for sleep. Tomorrow might bring its own problems.

    I woke up with a craving for fish. Most of my meals have been quite normal but without fish. I cooked various types of fish in my room and enjoyed the well-seasoned dish while I thought of a plan. Practicing to become human friendly sounds good but it isn''t an actual plan. Swords are meant to kill. So many tv shows and games have characters using swords but unless the opponent is extremely sturdy or can regenerate it will fall over mortally wounded or dead after 1 or 2 good slashes.

    I have no problem with killing but I¡¯m also not a bloodthirsty maniac. I unsheathed Shirayuki and covered the sharp edge with frost. I threw a fish in the air and tried to cut it. The fish bounced off and almost fell on the floor. I caught it with a tail and ate it. I think this would work. It will leave my opponents severely bruised but it beats dying or getting chopped into pieces. This should work, right?

    The lobby was noisy the adventurers were watching some news. A strange creature had appeared 2 months ago and was wreaking havoc in north Igrini Kingdom. They were blaming the Aquini Kingdom for it and their relationship got worse. A red lightning pillar had been spotted in Lopahz. What is Raishin doing¡­ The Aquini kingdom is also blamed for this, something about developing a magical weapon. I am not sure if it was him but there is a 95% chance that it was him. The reconstruction of Gittrian was going faster than expected strange phenomena have been spotted all over the continent.

    The strange creature that had been captured 5 years ago had been finally sent to the desert of Zanyr to create water. Oh, it''s the lobster Raishin and I caught years ago! Some adventurers have gone missing and more and more strange creatures have been appearing. Also, Itris had been attacked by lightning flowing down Mount Thunderpeak. Ooh, are the spirits finally fighting back? And a region is trying to declare independence from the Aquini Kingdom. The Aquini Kingdom can''t get a break, can it? What was causing a commotion were some of the adventurers that went missing. I recognized none of them except for one.

    Thalia, what are you doing¡­  The Eternal Desertflower had disappeared 8 months prior and hasn''t been seen since. I hope that she didn¡¯t get killed by that stupid cult¡­ Do I look for her or am I overstepping boundaries here? I also disappeared technically. I see that I was once in the category of missing but that has been retracted. I decided to give it some more time. She is strong and probably quite similar to me and just needs time away from everything to focus. I just hope that she isn''t doing something stupid¡­

    There was more news but some things bothered me. The disappearance of Thalia and the strange creature running around worried me the most. I am guessing that another ancient building broke and whatever was sealed within escaped. This time I wasn''t there to stop it. I wouldn''t be surprised if more of this popup. Am I expected to deal with all of those? They might be able to handle a strong monster but humanity is toast if a demigod or a demon escapes.

    Ugh I can¡¯t do this alone¡­ I got up and headed to the arena. I tried to enter under an alias but they recognized me as the Silver Torrent. I was wondering if I did something wrong because it isn''t normal to recognize any adventurer.  Hey did I do anything special? I didn''t expect anyone to recognize me.

    ¡°Well, you''re the only member of the Silver Torrent role so I think that¡¯s special enough.¡±  Oh, so nobody has gotten in yet?

    ¡°Well, you might not fully realize how hard it is what you¡¯re doing. A video had been released that illustrated just how amazing you are!¡± He showed me his tablet and a video played of when I fought the skeleton army, It was painfully clear that the skeleton army couldn''t do anything. ¡°Anyone who even entertains the idea of becoming a Silver Torrent gets reminded by this video just how crazy it is, so nobody has dared to apply yet and those that tried failed miserably.¡±  I see¡­ Technology is moving quite fast.

    ¡°Anyways I¡¯m curious about your skills, only weapons and magic weapons are allowed so maybe we get to see a more human side of you hahaha, unbelievable, I don''t think anyone will be reclaiming this role name for a very long time.¡± I walked inside the arena and found a spot to look at the fights. There were multiple sections it wasn''t an arena where only 1 fight took place at a time. At least they''re being efficient. I would fight mainly in section 5B. I found a spot to sit there. There was a section for spectators and a section for participants. Most battles were quite short. No magic can be used as it''s a mana-free zone. So, skill will determine the outcome. Some magic weapons made it look like the user could use magic but this was fuelled by the weapon, not the user. Shirayuki can do the same.

    It was my turn. The sign to start rang. The opponent was also a swordsman. He was pretty good but I was better and faster. I used my fighting style and parried his sword strikes at the start of the swings with the tip of my sword. At this stage of the swing, there wasn''t a lot of power and speed to the swings so there was not much he could do. I will never win a contest of pure strength or weight realistically so I have to rely on speed precision and technique. I parried a strike a bit more than I''ve been doing and it sent his sword way off course and I hit him in the stomach with Shirayuki and he flew into the wall. I guess I¡¯m still strong from a human perspective. I didn''t even try with that swing.

    My next opponent used a flaming bow. I easily parried the arrows and knocked him out too. I started to see a problem. None of these were fast enough to pose a threat to me. I could fight the strongest magic weapon used on the continent but if he¡¯s slow there will be nothing he can do. I decided to take another approach. The next guy had a shield as a magic weapon? Why? Is he going to defend until I die of boredom? He just stood there. I decided to hold my sword still and find the correct way to strike. I can''t use an Iai because that will one shot him. The crowd gasped. I realized that this was the first time I held Shirayuki still and they could all see the beauty of my katana.

    ¡°Hey, where did you get that katana? Want to trade with my shield?¡±  I respectfully decline.

    I pointed the sharp edge up and made an upward slash. The opponent''s shield fell apart in 2 pieces a second later. His clothes also but he was physically unharmed. I think Nilah, I mean Shirayuki helped me with this. I think I don''t need more practice. My sword is well-behaved. I hadn''t been kicked out of the competition so I had to do so by losing. The next guy had strange hand cannons. I took some head-on, protecting myself with frost of course. And I pretended to get knocked out. I repeated this until I got kicked out of the competition. I had a lot of people come to me to get a look at Shirayuki and ask me where I got her.  Uh, I don''t like to brag, you might see her next time.

    ¡°Where did you get that sword? How much did it cost? It must have cost a fortune!¡±  It cost a lot but not gold, I crafted it myself.  Now I got requests to make one for them too and I declined. I don''t have time for this.

    ¡°That was an interesting performance Silver Torrent, I¡¯m a big fan, so why did you lose on purpose?¡±  I have no idea what you''re talking about, I¡¯m just not as good with the sword as I thought.

    ¡°I would have believed you if you didn¡¯t completely dominate anyone in the first half of your matches. I don''t even think it was because of your sword, you probably could have done all of that, except maybe that shield guy feat, with an ordinary sword.¡±  You¡¯re giving me too much credit, don''t you have anything better to do?

    ¡°Hmm I guess these people were nowhere near your level and you got bored, I¡¯m Jack! I like sticking my nose into everything!¡±  I noticed¡­ Just don''t get yourself killed because of it.  I tried to walk away from Jack. He was wearing a jacket, wearing an orange helmet and carrying some strange drill magical weapon that had the words ''Jack hammer'' on it. is this guy a walking pun? This must be on purpose right?

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°Whoa whoa, so what is the Silver Torrent up to now?¡±  I¡¯m not going to get rid of you until I tell you, will I?

    ¡°Ooh, so you understand! That makes things easier!¡±  Probably do some missions and then laze around until September or something.

    ¡°Do you mind me accompanying you? I am a C-rank adventurer, I won''t drag you down. I promise!¡±  People around me tend to die or disappear, you are warned.  Jack followed me to the adventurers association where I just spent slacking several days in the hope he would give up and leave.

    Hey Jack, is it really that special to create a new adventure role?

    ¡°Well, Pit Viper was the newest role which got overwritten by Silent Night almost 18 years ago. But in the time of Pit Viper there were enough individuals that met the requirement to become what we call Silent Night nowadays. So even if it was new, it had enough individuals to fill. Your role, however¡­ I don''t know where it came from but it is believed that you could be a substitute for a Golden Angel and the requirements to become a Silver Torrent are tuned to that. Currently Golden Angel and Silver Torrent are the only roles that require completing strict tests and building up some experience and fame. Because your party¡¯s life literally depends on your performance. This all got enforced by a video that got released a while ago where you made fighting an army look like childs play. The Golden Angel had nobody to heal.¡±  I see, it seems I did something crazy again.

    ¡°I think  this is a good thing, there are many groups that have members die even with Golden Angels, avoiding damage is superior to healing it up.¡±  Yeah, that¡¯s why I got into this. I am what you would call a glass cannon. One good hit and I¡¯m out and my defensive skills are also terrible so I have to rely on that and my speed.

    ¡°I see, that makes a lot of sense. Either way, it wakes up the community and breaks the status quo. More people will be looking at you and wanting to help their parties just like you do.¡±  Well, I see it like this. Let''s assume you have 100 energy to attack your opponent. If I control you. You need to spend 30 or 40 energy to make sure you can move like you normally do which only leaves 70 to 60 energy to attack. If I put in some attack power in it you will need 40 energy to try and move how you usually do and 20 more to defend yourself leaving 40 for attacks. Then on top of that, I make sure that your allies will have an increased chance of hitting you so you need to spend 20 more energy to pay attention to that. See where I¡¯m going here?

    Jack petted his beard. It was styled quite strangely. Don''t tell me it has a ''jack'' style or something. ¡°Hmm, so you¡¯re dividing their attention making them more likely to fail at one or multiple of the separate tasks they need to keep track of?¡±  Moreover, this will most likely frustrate them, throw in some provokes and 0 energy will be put into attacking.

    ¡°Interesting so all we see is that you physically and magically shut them down but you''re also mentally shutting them down, so if someone joins your party that can use illusions¡­¡± I created a small pink elephant with my illusions.  I can use illusions.

    ¡°My god, I think I found someone I never want to ever fight. Why has nobody asked you this before?¡±  I don''t interact a lot with people in general.

    ¡°Hmm, I guess most people aren''t interested in the deeper meaning or workings of it they just see something new and cool and are interested in it superficially.¡±  That''s an interesting way of looking at it.

    ¡°Very interesting and it seems you''re not interested in fame, quite rare these days. I would have expected to see you in the Sichar tournament. Although¡­ you did kind of make a name for yourself there. A blacksmith, eh? It must not have been easy to make that gorgeous sword of yours.¡±  I am confident that I can never replicate Shirayuki.

    ¡°So that¡¯s the name of your sword, a pretty name for a pretty sword. So ehh when are we going on an adventure?¡±  Dunno, I¡¯m thinking of what kind of mission I want. I need to practice with the sword and most requests for me as a Silver Torrent won''t be useful here. I also still need to practice my [Boss music].

    ¡°Your what?¡±  A very important part of my skill set.

    ¡°Ah, I see¡­ how about guarding some idols?¡±  Why would I do that?

    ¡°It has music and probably fighting, Tails of Symphony is massively popular now. They had some rough patches but they are probably the number 1 or 2 idol group on the continent now. And with fame comes the risk of being kidnapped or assassinated.¡±  Maybe another time.

    ¡°Aww come on! They are really hot you know?¡± He poked me with his elbow and moved his eyebrows up and down.  Then you go take up that quest. I think I need to fight a large group of something, preferably not in a cave or where sand is.

    ¡°How about culling the troll population and the Troll King on Zanyr Mountain nearby.¡±  Why does this country name everything after itself? Zanyr river, Zanyr city, Zanyr mountain.

    ¡°The emperor is a narcissist.¡±  The emperor is named Zanyr?

    ¡°Zanyr Zanyr the 22nd yes¡­¡±  You are trolling, please tell me this is a joke.

    ¡°I wish it was a joke¡­¡±  So there have been 22 Zanyr Zanyr¡¯s in this country''s history?

    ¡°Uhm well, the Zanyr family has never liked the number 1, so 1,10 and the following numbers with a 1 have been skipped, and 21 has been skipped too.¡±  So, this is the 10th Zanyr¡­

    Jack made a ''hush'' gesture and looked around. ¡°Not so loud! He hates that he¡¯s the 10th because it has a 1 in it.¡±  Why is this country ruled by a lunatic like that?!  Some Silent Nights locked on to me.  Shit, you must be kidding me.

    ¡°I don''t want to sound like a dick but I like my neck! My eh... Jackrabbit escaped! Yes that! I need to find him before he terrorizes the city cya!¡± Jack ran away and I felt gazes on me. Is this how I die? For criticizing a lunatic? The Silent Nights left the building. I¡¯m so screwed. Do I [Meteor] the city? And how is the future emperor Zanyr going to handle being the 11th, that might be the end of the country... I would be safe as long as I stay in the Adventurers Association. I tried to think of how to get out of this when the Adventurers Association got hit by a power shortage which is strange because this place runs on their own power grid so it means that the Adventurers Association was specifically targeted. It was getting close to the evening so it was quite dark. I noticed 2 Silent Night sneak in the dark and approach me. I went into stealth and went to my room. Minutes passed and nothing happened.

 Vol 2 Ch 80.1: Zanyr Part 2

    The lights went on again. More time passed. Someone knocked on my door. Nobody has ever knocked on my door, I don''t order services nor do I know anyone here. This is obviously a trap. A shadow clone opened the door while I hid in stealth. A beautiful redhead lady was at the door.

    The moment I opened the door, 2 Silent Night swiftly entered my room in stealth. The lady tried funny stuff but my shadow clone declined and closed the door. Her objective was just distraction. If I was my shadow clone and I was unaware of the situation I''d be quite dead.

    The Silent Night were sitting in corners patiently waiting until I would go to sleep. I waved my hands in front of them and did a small dance. I guess my stealth is better. Now what to do? Do I efficiently counter assassinate or do I have some fun? I have never been on the receiving end of an assassination before.

    Actually, that''s incorrect. We''ve been targeted by assassins for the longest of time, I just always located them first. The incident in Ainahs was the first time we were located first. My illusion that makes us unlikely to be found dropped a while ago. Tomato goddess and Azu can find us now if they put in the effort. I''d like to believe that I stand a chance to survive an encounter with tomato goddess but I could be completely wrong in this.

    My shadow clone was pretending to write something. He crumpled the paper and threw it over his shoulder. This was aimed at one of the Silent Nights in stealth of course. This caught him by surprise and he dodged it quite strangely. The other Silent Night did his best to not laugh. The fact that they can see each other means that they either know each other well or their stealth is at the same level. Or one of them put the other in stealth.

    I made sure to make most of the crumpled-up paper balls miss him but some were going straight for him. He had enough of it and went for the assassination but my clone got up and turned around so he backed off.

    My clone went to play video games. Every time they got close, I moved my arms to turn the controller. I was playing a racing game so this wasn''t all too weird.

    One Silent Night was watching the game while the other tried to assassinate me. I lost the race. The impatient Silent Night went for the kill but my shadow clone threw the controller in frustration and it hit the Silent Night on his forehead and knocked him out. He had some special type of stealth on him because this didn''t knock him out of stealth.

    Huh did I hit something?

    The other Silent Night did his best to not laugh and dragged his unconscious colleague to the side so that I wouldn''t trip over him. My clone pretended to find out what my controller could have possibly hit. The patient Silent Night tried to wake up the impatient Silent Night but it was of no use. He focused and observed my shadow clone. My shadow clone went to shower.

    The Silent Night followed him. What a creep. My shadow clone showered like I always do by also playing with the water. Everything got wet, even the Silent Night. My shadow clone and I covered ourselves with a thin [Pure Water Veil] and ''accidentally'' knocked a plug out of a socket and electrocuted the whole room.

    The unaware Silent Night got zapped and passed out. Having fun with counter assassination is successful! I knocked both out of stealth and tied them up and put some restraining seals on them. They wore clothing that screamed Silent Night so they won''t be able to talk themselves out of this.

    I also made them hang upside down from the ceiling. Now there are 2 things I can do, interrogate them and let them go or turn them in. Turning them in won''t do much, it''s their role, this is what Silent Nights do. It will just tarnish their reputation a bit. There is no merit in interrogating them either, I know why I''m targeted. I sighed and decided to let them go after I poked them a bit.

    <hr>

    Loud arguing woke me up. I threw a pillow at the arguing duo and tried to catch more sleep. This didn''t work so I cut the rope which tied them to the ceiling and they fell on their heads, knocking them out. I can sleep again.

    Again, did I wake up to arguing.

    Shut up!  They looked at me.

    "Hey, can you let us go?"

    You can''t be serious; you disturb my sleep twice and you want me to let you go?

    "Wait, that''s what you''re upset about? Not that we were targeting your life? How did we get caught anyways? I can''t seem to remember¡­"

    "You got hit on the head by a controller hahahaha!"

    It was amusing to watch you guys fumble around, you¡¯re just doing your job.

    "Wait, our data said you''re the Silver Torrent, you''re not supposed to notice us!"

    Well, you might not know this but I was a candidate to become a Silent Night.

    I threw a dagger and it lodged into the floor next to them.

    Now, I have a good idea why I¡¯m targeted but I¡¯d like to make sure, any funny business and you will ''mysteriously'' disappear. Understood?

    The Silent Nights confirmed my suspicion. Just a petty emperor with a fragile ego. I was to be assassinated and have my head delivered to him or I would be captured alive so he can finish the job personally. There was a large emphasis on the latter so I''m probably more likely to get kidnapped than assassinated. These guys realized that killing is easier than restraining so they would go for the smaller prize for lower difficulty. I got a 1 gold bounty overnight for being brought in dead and 10 gold if I got brought in alive.

    Apparently, this isn''t uncommon. Tourists, travelers, and adventurers tend to disappear here if they speak ill of the emperor. It is good business for the Silent Nights so they keep their ears open. What a shitty place.

    Hey Isi, maybe it''s better to destroy the planet. I think it''s easier to start from scratch than to fix all this mess.

    I had nothing against them so I gave each of them 2 silver for the entertainment. I warned them that the next time they come after my life I will end them. Everyone deserves a second chance, well almost everyone.

    I wonder if it would be a good idea to assassinate the emperor. I thought about it, the next emperor will probably be Zanyr Zanyr the 23rd but actually the 11th, and this realization might drive him nuts and make this place worse. No assassination then. I think I should just leave.

    I left the Adventurer¡¯s Association and got jumped immediately. No patience it seems. I teleported to a rooftop and ran away. These Silent Night weren''t hiding that they wanted to chase me. Although they probably want to catch me so stealth is relatively useless.

    I jumped from rooftop to rooftop until I suddenly got caught by a large magic trap. I dispelled it almost immediately but they piled on various capture magic and I got overwhelmed. I should have taken this a bit more seriously¡­

    <hr>

    I got brought to the palace in front of Zanyr Zanyr the 22nd.

    "So, you are the fool that called me an imbecile?"

    No, you have the wrong person, I called you a lunatic.

    This guy looked like he had never ran a minute in his life. Maybe he had never even walked in his life. He got fed his food by maidens. I guess the typical rich fat guy look?

    "Right, I will let you choose how you die; you join our army, you fight me and die by my hands or you will become my dinner."  Wait, you eat humans? That''s fucked up bro¡­

    "Silence! Don''t tell me what I can and cannot do! I''m the emperor! Humans taste just like pork, proving that they are just pigs."

    Entitled much? Aren''t you a human too? You kind of look like a pig yeh hehe.

    The emperor became red and furious.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    "I am the emperor, the god of this country! You pig won''t tell me what to do! Heresy! I will deal with you myself! Royal guards!"

    The guards erected an anti-magic barrier. My restraints fell off. The emperor seemed to have a ring that protected him from this effect. I tried to create a [Fireball] but magic circle formation got blocked and the use of mana got blocked. So, a Duet barrier, blocking magic formation in 2 different ways. I can''t even use frost magic with this because it still requires magic circles.

    The emperor started to cast [Holy]. I evaded it. It seems quite strong. I could still use my racial skills so I took some daggers out of my dimensional pocket and threw them at the emperor.

    A barrier blocked them. I don''t see how a human could win this. Beast kin could have a chance and possibly tear down the barrier while evading these attacks. Wild Fang would have no issues defeating this guy. The problem is¡­ the further west you go on the Kaledon continent the less accepting humans are of non-humans.

    For this reason, you will hardly find any here. Hjuva and Aquini are relatively safe for them. With Aquini Kingdom being the best option. There are 2 important cities that have an invisible line.

    Anything west of Gittrian is relatively hostile to non humans while the east is relatively safe. Anything North of Saluk has tolerance for slaves while anything south of Saluk won¡¯t tolerate slavery. I have mainly been south of Saluk so I haven¡¯t dealt with slavery besides when we got sold in Jubra all those years ago.

    The emperor was slowly losing his patience. "DIE, DIE, DIE DIE"

    That''s some impressive vocabulary you have there emperor, truly befitting a god.  The emperor popped a vein and seemed to choke in anger. He was gasping for breath.

    Don''t tell me my comment killed him.

    The barrier dropped and the guards piled on me and restrained me while healers flocked to the emperor.

    "Throw him in the dungeon but don''t touch him I will kill him myself." Is the last thing he said before he passed out from hypoxia and anger.

    I got thrown into a pretty clich¨¦ dungeon. It should be easy to get out here but I don''t have much to do anyways so might just ride this out. I took some time to disable all the restraints and put them back on.

    Now that I know how they work they will be easily disabled when I need to. These dungeons were quite depressing. A lot of mummified corpses down here. The emperor probably forgot that he locked these people up. Maybe he will forget me so I can escape without consequences. But no, I got dragged out after 5 days.

    "There you are, you scum, don''t think I forgot about you."  Is it me or did you lose weight?

    "Silence! This stress diminished my essence!"

    That essence must have held a lot of weight for you hehe.  He became red again and was again gasping for air. I got sent to the dungeons again. Maybe I should just shut up and get this over with.

    I practiced some Dragonvein in this small dungeon. There might be situations where I might not have a lot of room so this is the perfect setting to practice.

    I got dragged out 2 weeks later. The emperor seemed to have lost a considerable amount of weight. He could be recognized as a human being now, just an overweight one.

    "So, you are back. What do you have to say for yourself?" I remained silent. "You have mocked me and insulted me! Answer! I am a god and you shall treat me such!"

    I just looked at him. I haven''t done anything but he''s already pissed off.

    "Raise the barrier! It is time for him to perish!" The barriers popped up and my restraints fell off. "At least this will feel extremely satisfying now when I destroy you!"

    He used [Light Pulse] and [Holy]. I continued to dodge and stared at him.

    "What is with that judging stare? Bow down to my brilliance!" I did no such thing.

    "Bow pig!" I took out Shirayuki and cut his attacks in half.

    "Aaagh! Who gave him a magic weapon!" He started to lose it and started hyperventilating. I put Shirayuki away as the barrier dropped and I got restrained again. What is this clown fiesta¡­

    I continued practicing Dragonvein in small spaces and I got quite good at it. I did the same with sword fighting. It was challenging because I can''t alter Shirayuki''s length. A month passed and I got dragged back up. I had forgotten the reason why I was here. My restraints got taken off. Strange.

    I got brought in front of the emperor or so I thought. A handsome young man was sitting on a throne that was way too big for him. He was looking in a mirror.  Hey, dude I would get off there, the emperor is going to kill you if he finds you there.

    "I see, so you do not recognize me. I have gotten extremely handsome since our last meeting." He got up and approached me.

    "I have been thinking this last month. Stress and anger had been eating at me up until 2 weeks ago and then I discovered my handsomeness. After this discovery, it all washed away. I could think clearer than ever. My maidens and attendants treated and looked at me differently. And I got to this realization. An emperor needs defiance to become strong and handsome. "  ¡­ did you fall on your head? Where is the emperor?

    "Yes, this is what I mean, people like you are needed to keep big egos in check. I thought to be a god, I look more like a god now but I know I am not. Do you know why? Because I have been proven wrong!"  Uhm, can you answer my question, please? I don''t really care about your revelation or the results of your self-search, I want to talk to the emperor so I can get this over with¡­

    "Ah apologies, you are talking to him right now. I''m Zanyr Zanyr the 22nd¡­ no I''m Zanyr Zanyr the 10th."  Hey guards, this lunatic is pretending to be your emperor!

    Judging by the guards'' reaction it seems this guy was indeed the emperor.

    Aha, interesting, what the fuck happened to you!

    "That''s what I''ve been trying to explain to you just now¡­"  So, you got so stressed out that you lost a lot of weight, realized you''re handsome, got a clear mind, realized you were being a lunatic, and got your head sorted all because I was uncooperative? Hahaha! This isn''t a cartoon or fiction!

    I did my best to not make a fool of myself but this was too funny. The emperor just waited patiently.

    Wait, you''re serious?

    "I have done things that weren''t handsome and I can''t say that I am proud of it. I am still internally fighting against my god complex because look at me! Only a god can be this handsome, but I am serious about changing my life." I have to give it to him. he looked quite handsome but can people really change like this overnight? Overnight... I''ve been stuck here for about 2 months! I need to get out of here.

    Uhh ok, so does this mean I am free to go?

    "I would request you to become my advisor!"  Rejected!

    "May I know why?"  I don¡¯t want to!

    "So direct! This is exactly what I need! What can convince you to become my advisor?"  Nothing

    "Hmm playing hard to get eh, I understand it is hard to forgive me for what I''ve done to you and Zanyr. I will make Zanyr great again and prove to you my sincerity and then ask you again!" He walked away.

    "Geoffrey, we need to purge all the corrupt nobles! Set up a meeting!" What just happened?

    The guards led me to a luxurious room.

    Guys, I''m fine, can I go now?  They were hesitant but let me go.

    What do I do now? I was flabbergasted. A lot of strange things happen to me but this takes the cake. I did waste a lot of time but it seems it will have a positive effect on Zanyr.

    The next day came and some strange news spread. The ''number 1'' was no longer banned in the capital and the current emperor shall be referred to as Dimitri Handsome.

    The country would keep its name but Zanyr river, Zanyr mountain, Zanyr desert, and Zanyr the capital were pending for different names. A contest would be held to find the best names¡­ more other weird news spread but all this just gave me a headache.

    All I did was call him a lunatic¡­ Why do all of my small actions have such a ripple effect? At least he didn''t substitute ''Zanyr'' for ''Handsome''. That would be stupid. Handsome river, Handsome mountain, no thanks!

 Vol 2 Ch 81: Boss music II

    The bounty got removed but there were still Silent Nights that didn''t know yet that the bounty dropped. I had been stuck for almost 2 months in that palace and I had enough of this.

    I created a passive skill that made perceiving me difficult. It made it hard for people to notice me. Not impossible but just hard. I could walk in front of someone and they wouldn''t notice but when I would snap my fingers or talk to them, they would notice. It made it easier for me to avoid all these assassins.

    I was hiding on Zanyr Mountain (name pending) to make sure I wouldn''t get caught or assassinated before the Silent Nights realized that the bounty has dropped. This was a perfect moment to practice my [Boss music]. I had been neglecting it for too long. While it is easy to use this with magic this is not the case with leyline. The sounds that get produced are different.

    Does this mean that magic in itself produces a certain sound? Magic keeps becoming more and more abstract. My time with the Misha had proven that magic can be quite logical and scientific just like physics and chemistry but on another side it''s also logic-defying. Like Nilah. I guess magic wouldn''t be so popular if it weren''t for that it would have just been another science just like physics. The setup for [Boss music] was ready but it needed to be tuned.

    This works for magic but doesn''t for leyline energy. I played a song with magic. A bit rusty but 4 repeats was all that was needed to fix that. Now for the leyline version, terrible, my ears hurt. How is there this big of a difference? I am not a musical talent so I have no clue what the problem is. I think I should just get accustomed to which action creates what sound. I spent days trying to figure this out. Maybe I should''ve taken that mission with the idols.

    This isn''t easy. The strings were the hardest part, the other instrument types went pretty easy but the strings were inconsistent. Is it because of the dragon beard?

    ¡°You need to change the length of the strings.¡±  Whoa! Stop sneaking up on me.

    Some old random dude sneaked up on me. He was holding a lute.  A bard? Perfect!

    We talked a bit and he revealed his bard secrets.

    Huh, so the length of the strings is responsible for the sound not what color lightning I run through it?

    ¡°Yes, who told you that the color and intensity of lightning changes the sound¡­¡± He played a song on his lute and pointed out that the fingers of his left hand were making the strings shorter and longer to create different sounds.

    Huh, so that¡¯s how it works.

    ¡°You have an interesting setup here, mind if I tinker with it a bit?¡± He helped me adjust the setup of my wires.

    It seems that I just need to keep the strings vibrating at a certain length. I can make them as long as I want but the length is only important if it¡¯s vibrating.  So, you musicians were holding this cheat all to yourself?

    The bard shook his head. ¡°I think everyone knows about this except for you¡­¡±

    Well, I didn''t need to with magic, look!  I played some [Boss music] with magic and it sounded great and the bard enjoyed it.

    Now when I switch over to some non-magic this happens.  The same song it sounded better than before but it still sounded bad.

    ¡°Hmm, maybe you¡¯re conveying the song you want through the magic and it plays itself, with the non-magic you will have to play like anyone else.¡±  Interesting, thank you.

    ¡°What is this non magic by the way? You could be mistaken for a performer as you create music and you dance.¡±  Uhh long lost secret art. Can''t tell you much about it sorry.

    ¡°Hmm, alright, how about you teach me a song and I teach you a song, after you improve of course.¡±

    Days passed and I got better. The bard was a strict teacher.

    So how come you, bards and musicians, don''t use magic to play, and why did only my strings have this problem?

    ¡°Music has been an art way before magic became so common. Just like how many people prefer to walk over augmenting themselves and running everywhere so do musicians prefer to play music by hand and instruments. About your string question, it seems you are aware of how the other types of instruments work but not how string instruments work, that is my hypothesis.¡±  Hmm, so music just boils down to finding different ways to make things vibrate.

    ¡°Pretty much yeah.¡±

    I almost nailed the song I had been practicing, I only made 2 mistakes. The bard played it without any mistakes.  Such a tryhard, what song are you going to teach me?

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    ¡°It¡¯s a magic lullaby.¡±

    I thought you guys didn''t use magic to play!

    ¡°That¡¯s correct but our instruments are magical. It is possible to tune it to bring out effects related to the song. Let me turn it off, it will be a problem if you fall asleep.¡± The bard messed with his lute. The lute seemed a bit similar to a magical weapon. It''s mana signature dissapeared as the bard had turned it off.

    Hmm, using [Boss music] to attack eh, whoa Bard you are a nasty little fella, even I never thought about that!

    ¡°I said lullaby, not attacking¡­ either way, this is the lullaby.¡± He played the lullaby; it wasn''t laced with magic but it did make me sleepy. That''s how good the song and its player were. It also had some sadness, as if a loved one got sucked into a mire of depression and I was unable to pull him out.

    ¡°What do you think?¡±

    It¡¯s good and sad! Let''s see.

    I had paid close attention to how short he made his strings while playing. It was rough but I got something decent on my first try.

    ¡°Not bad! Keep trying!¡±

    At the end of the day, I had somewhat mastered it. My ability to copy and impersonate were invaluable as usual.

    ¡°You¡¯re a fast learner.¡±

    Thanks, it has kept me alive so far.

    ¡°Now for the component to make others sleep¡­¡±

    Uhm, won''t you fall asleep if you do so?

    The bard smiled. ¡°Look at me, I¡¯m an old man, I have trouble falling asleep lately. I wanted to find a good place to sleep.¡±

    You sound as if you¡¯re talking about a different kind of sleep, does this lullaby really put you to sleep?

    The bard approached me.¡° It does, don''t worry.¡±

    He put his hand on my shoulder. ¡°I am just old and tired; I can''t play this for myself because the users are immune to their own songs. Will you do an old man a favor and put me to rest with a beautiful lullaby?¡±

    Is there really nothing else?

    ¡°I had chosen this mountain; it holds a lot of memories. I would like this to be my resting place, I got lucky to meet you here.¡±  Don¡¯t teach me, show the magic circle, I can figure it out, I¡¯m not going to put you to rest with a practice song, it should be when I¡¯m at my best.

    The bard toggled the effect on and handed me his lute. I inspected it and determined that it was more than just a lute.  Whoa, this is complicated.

    ¡°That¡¯s why it''s better if I teach you.¡±

    You helped me out a lot, I¡¯m not going to put you to rest with an imperfect sound. I¡¯m sorry but can you wait a bit, I will make it worthwhile I promise.

    ¡°Very well, I¡¯m in no rush.¡±

    I carefully studied and dismantled the runic structure and made slight improvements to it and applied it to my [Boss music] setup.

    I practiced the lullaby with the special effects off and on day 205 I was ready. I had conversations with the bard in the meantime, he also taught me other songs, most were just songs and had no special effects.

    Hey, are you really sure Liam?

    ¡°You finally called me by my name. I am, thank you for giving this old man a good time.¡± He went to sit down and closed his eyes. He was still alive but the fatigue and stress accumulated in his body was insane, what kind of life did he lead? He kept refusing to tell me.

    Liam, please open your eyes, I told you I was going all out.  I had my tails out and the tips were covered in foxfire. I also canceled my cosmetic illusion.

    ¡°Is... is this a dream?¡±

    I turned on the special effects and played the lullaby. Tears started to roll over his cheeks but I don''t think I was playing badly. He fell asleep halfway but I kept playing the song. And near the end, he passed away.

    I finished the lullaby and found a good spot on the mountain and buried him there with his lute.

    He never told me the name of the lullaby. I decided to name it [Liam¡¯s Lament]. I¡¯ve had humans loathe and be ashamed to be born as a human in Thalia and Kyle and now an old man who preferred to die alone on a mountain. What is going on in the world? Are there things that I¡¯m missing? I covered myself in illusions and practiced my other songs. I didn''t feel like hiding my tails so I had to resort to illusions.

    I mastered [Boss music] on day 210 but I wasn''t happy about it. It seemed to become a trend now. Achieving something but not being happy about it.

 Vol 2 Ch 82: Floating Treasurebox

    I got a special request to participate in an escort. They needed me, a water user, to bring a merchant ship safely to one of the islands near Hurricane Path and back.

    Some of the islands still needed some assistance with supplies and I felt guilty so I decided to take up the mission. It would take 4 days to get there by ship and 3 to get back. Courtesy of the new wind patterns that I may or may not be somewhat responsible for. This can¡¯t possibly be all my fault, right?

    Anyways, I tugged on my [Dimensional Anchor] and teleported to Gavin one of the biggest port cities in Zanyr. I¡¯m surprised it didn¡¯t get named Zanyr Port or something but maybe another city was unfortunate enough to get that name. The mission would start in 2 days but I wanted to stock up some more on fish and visit the old fisherman.

    It seemed they were out fishing so I had a lot of time to kill. I made sure to stock up reasonably without drawing attention. I will get the hang of being a human someday.

    The city was full of life and seagulls and energy. The salty sea breeze reminded me of the time I trained in the ocean. I wonder if the nymphs got their shit together, probably not.

    I wandered around while deep in thought. An object flew at me. An attack?! I dodged and looked for the attacker. It seems that I have wandered to the beach and what I just dodged was a beachball. I guess no attackers.

    ¡°Hey, can you throw the ball back at us?¡± I threw the ball to the group of young adults that were playing some ball game. I found a spot that didn¡¯t have as much sand and looked at the humans play on the beach.

    How can they enjoy a place that has this much sand? I looked at the sand in front of me. Maybe I should accept that sand is here to stay and learn how to live near its presence.

    I got an idea. I got a spoon out of my dimensional pocket and started digging. I had seen this on tv, people like to create sandcastles. But they always collapse because they don¡¯t have a good foundation! I learned from the Yttroz Industries that buildings need a good foundation.

    After digging for 30 minutes, I started to see the flaw of my idea. Creating a foundation out of sand to then cover it with sand¡­ isn¡¯t this pointless? Building is harder than I thought.

    I had already dug a hole, might as well make a sand castle that has a dungeon or something. I spent 2 hours building the sand castle. I cheated a bit and used sand and water leyline to hollow out rooms and strengthen some parts. It was built over a hole so I had to be very careful. I didn¡¯t notice that people started to gather around my castle.

    Huh an invasion of giants? Can you guys create a more realistic setting?

    ¡°We are just here to watch; it looks very good.¡± I kept building my sandcastle when I noticed a threat. The ocean was creeping up to my castle.

    First giants and now a flood, which idiot decided to build a castle on such a problematic spot! Oh, that would be me¡­

    I tried to create canals and trenches to divert the sea but the sea was merciless. I held out for 30 minutes before it mercilessly turned my castle into a pile of wet sand.

    I knew the ocean was brutal but this was uncalled for¡­ At least I now know that water beats sand which is something I can live with.

    It wasn¡¯t much but I got a bit of appreciation for sand. Sand is ok, just not when it gets everywhere like it does now. I tried to get all the sand off me while the bystanders were showing their support for my destroyed sand castle.

    I couldn¡¯t get all the sand off so I jumped into the ocean to wash it all off. The ocean wasn¡¯t as merciless now. At least, I think. I am quite familiar with it now, there would be a low chance for me to drown even if I mess around.

    The more I think about this mission, the more I concluded that I would be perfect for this mission. There were warnings about pirates making the area around the islands unsafe and the displacement of sea monsters.

    Who knew that changing the path of hurricanes a bit could cause all of this. Note to self: playing god has adverse effects. I discovered this and I¡¯m only 19 years old, meanwhile those actual gods had millennia to figure this out but still didn¡¯t get the message.

    I sighed. I got up and walked back to shore over the water¡¯s surface. It caught some attention but it wasn¡¯t super strange, the water users of any country are mostly concentrated around rivers and oceans.

    Tomorrow would be a short briefing about the mission and I would meet other adventurers that would be taking up this mission. I¡¯m not looking forward to this. I don¡¯t deal too well with people.

    Everyone here is for their own agenda and using ¡®helping out¡¯ as a disguise. Some will probably do fuck all, one might be in cahoots with the pirates and betray us, another might be in it for the money, maybe an adventure hungry junkie like me and the list goes on. I¡¯ve embraced the fact that everything I touch will turn into chaos so I might as well prepare myself. I sat down in my room that I¡¯ve rented for the night.

    Do I approach this as a human? People might die if I do. If we get hit by 1 pirate ship, we might be fine but if we get hit by multiple¡­

    Pretending to be a normal human will get us all killed. So, the next step is acting like the competent adventurer Silver Torrent. But I don¡¯t want my name to become even bigger¡­ This all would be easy if I wanted to become famous.

    Getting my tails out and all would be a no-go unless I somehow manage to piss off the god of the sea, although I will probably get brutally killed regardless so that might not even matter.

    I decided to just be as competent as I could get away with. I can¡¯t have them doubt that I¡¯m a human. I will become that one adventurer that hardly talks but gets shit done when the need arises.

    With that sorted, I started to brush my tails and prepare to sleep. I had to break my normal sleep schedule a lot since I decided to go back to taking missions and not sleeping before or during them might exhaust me faster or it might be suspicious to other adventurers.

    <hr>

    The briefing was short and unimpressive. They did however stress that the ship we were protecting was full of food and valuables meant for the islanders. Any pirate would be a fool to ignore this ship. Any hungry sea monster would be a fool to ignore this ship.

    I asked them if they have ever considered air travel and they looked at me as if I¡¯m crazy. They are not wrong but I don¡¯t think the technology is there yet to have air pirates and flying monsters are a thing but less common.

    All they need to do is call the Yttroz Industries and I¡¯m sure they can figure something out. I guess that that is unrealistic so a ship it is. It just reminded me how weird the state of technology is on this continent. Same as that stupid city that looked down on magic. Maybe it is hard to balance technology with magic. It does sound like a nightmare. I sure am glad that dealing with this problem isn¡¯t my responsibility.

    Only 4 adventurers would be participating on this dangerous trip, excluding me. One looks like he¡¯s doing it for the money and would probably be in cahoots with the pirates, I can check that one off. One seems like the stereotypical ¡®I want to be a hero¡¯ type. I guess there is at least someone who really wants to help.

    There is a Golden Angel that seems like she got dragged into this. She didn¡¯t seem unwilling but she seemed uncomfortable with this mission and the last guy¡­

    ¡°Hey! We meet again! I had the feeling that I would meet you on this wild mission!¡± There is the adventure junkie, Wild Fang.

    It has been a while, how is the water magic going?

    ¡°It is trickier than I thought, a lot of mana control is needed, I¡¯m a bit too wild for that so I have the rough basics. I can make my own surfboard now though!¡± He gathered the moisture in the air and created a surfboard out of ice.

    It was just a slab of ice. It wasn¡¯t graceful but it should have no issues acting as a surfboard.

    Don¡¯t tell me you put all your effort in mastering water magic just to create a surfboard¡­

    ¡°Oh, you could tell?! It is wildly useless on land so I¡¯ve been taking more missions that are around the water!¡±  Of course, let¡¯s hope you won¡¯t have to use it.

    ¡°I can smell a wild adventure! I¡¯m sure I will have to use it!¡±  I unfortunately agree with you.

    Wild Fang and I left the briefing before it finished because we got bored and nothing of interest was being said.

    So, what brings you this far from the Aquini Kingdom?

    ¡°This mission had been open for a while and I wildly ran to here to get a chance to participate. It looked wild and important enough to grab your attention.¡±  I left that big of an impression on you, eh?

    ¡°Haha! You have no idea! I told my friends about that wild adventure but they didn¡¯t believe me! Only after that video got released did they believe my wild story! Most of my missions are easy and boring so that was a breath of wild air!¡±

    Wild Fang told me that his kin told him to be very careful because he can¡¯t hide his ears and tail well so that he might get into trouble with the humans especially this far west.

    I agree with the assessment of his kin. People were looking at him. Some out of curiosity, some seem to be used to it or don¡¯t care but a lot out of disgust. Wild Fang didn¡¯t seem to notice or care though. I might have to add an asterisk to my mission. I will have to make sure he doesn¡¯t get assassinated before the mission starts or during the mission.

    I know that you¡¯re here for exactly this but just be warned, weird stuff happens around me.

    ¡°Hahaha! Perfect! I¡¯m itching for an extremely wild adventure! Look!¡±  What¡¯s that?

    ¡°No clue, but a friend told me that this floating crystal can record my wild adventures. They will have to believe me if I show them the video!¡±  Right, so I can¡¯t do crazy stuff. Thanks for the warning.

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Noo! You need to be free!¡± He put his hand on my shoulder and pointed at the ocean. We were at a vantage point looking out of the ocean.

    ¡°Look at that! The ocean holds so many wild adventures but moreover! Anything goes! It is the perfect place to run wild and free!¡±  That is exactly what pirates are about.

    ¡°I don¡¯t necessarily disagree with pirates but disturbing other¡¯s freedom is a problem, I will show them no mercy.¡±

    I agreed with Wild Fang. The pirates can do whatever they want but if they mess with me, they have a problem. I will be fine if the ship sinks, they will not.

    I split off from Wild Fang because he wanted to try out the local booze and I returned to my room to simulate the best ways to make boats sink. Just punching a hole in the hull is lame. Can I [Surface Flip] a whole ship?

    Hmm that seems very effective. How about making a [Dragon] and disguise it as a sea snake and make it crush and swallow their ship. I grinned maliciously as I got more and more ideas on how to give these pirates hell.

    <hr>

    The day of pirate sinking¡­ eh ship escort came. I was ready, Wild Fang was ready, the shady looking adventurer looked like he was up to no good, the Golden Angel looked sleep deprived and the wannabe hero was shaking in his boots. Just go home if you don¡¯t want to¡­ What people will do to be a hero. Heroes are overrated.

    There is something like the 7 legendary heroes on this continent. Apparently, everyone knows who they are. I don¡¯t but apparently the name Beatrice Manarune, that I keep hearing, is one of them. Is it because we¡¯re from Hourai? Whenever the title of that specific hero gets passed on everyone will know. Beatrice is a witch so it will probably take a very long time before someone takes that. Maybe Shelly will someday. The heroes are strong yes, but that¡¯s all, they aren¡¯t necessarily heroic it¡¯s more like a title.

    Humans just like the word ¡®Hero¡¯ and that¡¯s why. I think Beatrice has burnt down some human villages for whatever reason and is still looked up as a hero. At least the race doesn¡¯t seem to matter if you¡¯re a hero. Maybe I should try and make Wild Fang a hero. I have no idea how to though¡­ I don¡¯t know who the other 6 heroes are but none of them are beast kin. If that was the case beast kin would have been looked on more favorably.

    I¡¯m guessing that most of them are human with the random witch or elf mixed in. Those 2 are so far the only 2 races I know that are looked upon favorably. Maybe throw in some dwarves too but they¡¯re more builders and are a great boon to society. Without dwarves there would be no Yttroz Industries and this continent without them would be quite¡­ primitive, I guess.

    We got to the ship. It was huge. I immediately saw something that¡¯s concerning.

    Excuse me, I¡¯m not that knowledgeable about ships but can this ship outrun ehh outfloat? A pirate ship?

    A salor turned around. ¡°Hahaha of course not!¡±

    Can it safely pass through stormy weather?

    ¡°Unlikely! But the weather report seems favorable for today and tomorrow!¡±  But the trip takes 4 days to and 3 days back¡­

    ¡°We can¡¯t predict the weather but you will be fine!¡±

    This ship¡­ does it have sea monster deterrent or can it survive a sea monster attack?

    ¡°Don¡¯t be silly! Of course not!¡±

    Then why are you putting us on this floating treasure chest?!  I pointed at our ship.

    It was big and pretty and that was it. I had more confidence in the old man¡¯s fisher''s boat in being storm worthy than this floating treasure chest. It was screaming ¡®Pirates! Over here! Here is the loot!¡¯ and it seems nobody cares.  Can this ship even turn?

    ¡°That is why we have requested for water users!¡± My old friend ''headache'' returned.

    The more I think it the more it sounds as if this mission was planned by someone who knows nothing about the ocean. I secretly made a shadow clone and sent him out to investigate.

    It didn¡¯t take long for him to discover that this mission was funded by some noble that wanted his name to be associated with benevolence. This floating treasure chest could be easily be recognized as his property. All this was seemingly to gain respect form the public for some reason.

    I rubbed my temple.  Is there any chance that there is a more suitable ship available?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, this ship was custom made to carry the enormous load it has to carry, no other ship will be able to stay afloat with this cargo.¡±  Then send multiple ships!

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but the client has set a specific deadline. This mission has to be completed by the end of this month which is in 9 days.¡±

    So this is why the mission was open for so long and nobody had seemingly taken it, a look at this ship would make anyone want to get out¡­

    ¡°Anyways! We¡¯re counting on you guys!¡± He wanted to smack my back but I evaded.

    This feels more like a targeted assassination than a mission now¡­ it is unlikely we will survive on this¡­ floating coffin.  My words got ignored and we were all herded on board.

    I can¡¯t believe this¡­ are we actually doing this?

    ¡°Yeah! That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about! Woo! Let¡¯s show those pirates how wild we are!¡± Wild Fang seemed to be the only one excited. Even the ship¡¯s crew seemed to be uncomfortable.

    ¡°Good morning, my name is Captain Morgan, I will be in charge of this¡­ vessel, for lack of better term. Does anyone by any chance have experience steering an object like this over the ocean?¡± He looked around.

    ¡°What do you mean!? Aren¡¯t you the captain? Shouldn¡¯t you know?!¡± Some merchants that acted as passengers and the sneaky adventurer said and started to complain.

    ¡°I know this looks bad but¡­ this ship has no rudder¡­ I have never been on a vessel like this¡­¡± I felt for the captain, I spotted nothing that could help this floating coffin navigate. It had sails at least.

    I sighed; I was about to volunteer when the Golden Angel said that she could blow wind in the sails. The captain¡¯s face brightened up and he ordered the crew to get ready.

    ¡°Hey Silver Torrent, aren¡¯t you going to help out? I¡¯m sure you could do something wild about this.¡±  I will just wait and see, moving this ship won¡¯t be easy and they can¡¯t expect me to do this for 4 days straight I will collapse from exhaustion before the first day passes.

    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s true, I guess our wild adventure has a bad start.¡±

    The Golden Angel started to blow wind in the sails but the ship was so heavy that nothing budged. She tried for 10 minutes before she collapsed to the floor of mana exhaustion.

    I swear, humans are so selfish from time to time, this floating coffin was a bad idea.

    I was about to connect to the air leyline currents to move the ship forward when I got a better idea. I could work my ass off to get this ship moving but there was another alternative. I remembered the time back in Boshi town when I fought with Bunai. What if I can do the same with this ship. I can use primal runes and language now. Most of the functional parts of this ship was still made out of wood. I would use the same format like '' Advance! Turn left 40 degrees!'' Something like that. I will need to draw the appropriate runes though.

    Right, move over!  I drew a large circle on the centre of the deck.

    See this circle? Nobody come in here. I need this to steer the ship. Only the navigator, Wild Fang and the captain are allowed, now Captain and navigator come here, which direction do we need to go? Be specific please, preferably in how many degrees we need to turn.  I got ready to draw primal runes as the captain and navigator approached.

    ¡°My name is Jeffrey, I will be our navigator, we need to head that way, which translates to 67 to the left for you.¡±  Thank you, Jeff, that¡¯s very helpful, keep me updated if we need to readjust our course, please not too complicated because drawing these runes is a pain in the ass.  I started to draw the runes for ''Advance! Turn left 67 degrees!''

    Agredi! Verna vastro Sestihdescasapta amsuu!

    The ship moved forward and turned and headed in the right direction. I almost messed up the pronunciation for 67 just as it¡¯s easy to mix up the numbers and get 76 it¡¯s the same with this language.

    Saptadescasestih would be 76. It doesn¡¯t seem like numbers were around back then so I would have to do with this. I hope I won¡¯t have to turn this ship for more than a 100 degrees¡­

    The people seemed to be amazed that this floating coffin was moving. I drew another rune. This ship was going slow like a turtle.

    Acla!

    Finally, an acceptable speed. I made a chair out of ice and sat down in the circle while the ship accelerated and kept up a decent speed. Nobody is supposed to bother me in this circle besides Wild Fang, the captain and the navigator. I enjoyed the 0-effort trip.

    Jeff requested several degrees of corrections but these were mostly single digits of degrees.

    <hr>

    The weather looked nice and nothing had happened for the last 5 hours. Wild Fang seemed to be the only one who had problems with this. He came over into the circle.

    ¡°Hey, when do you think our wild adventure will start?¡±  Don¡¯t worry, we still have a good 3.5 days where shit can go wrong, rest up or prepare for when that moment happens, because it will happen.

    Some people seemed to have an issue that I claimed a spot on deck for myself. I sold them the lie that these runes needed to be big and that if a part of the rune overlaps with someone, they will get flung off the ship.

    I don¡¯t know what happens in this case but better not risk it. The runes could be smaller but I won¡¯t have space to myself if I tell them that. It was quite warm but it wasn¡¯t noticeable because of the sea breeze. I felt like jumping in the ocean and see if I can find some orcas but I had to refrain from doing that.

    Not sure how well these people would handle it if I suddenly jump overboard. We enjoyed our first day of relaxing sea breeze and I got brought dinner to my circle.

    I had allowed some chefs to enter the circle. Of course, more seafood. I enjoyed the dinner. Wild Fang did enjoy it too. I wonder if there are any carnivorous beast kin that don¡¯t enjoy seafood.

    Greg and Raishin love it too.

    The day ended without any incident. I had a problem though, I was to share a room, is it called a cabin on a boat? Anyways I was supposed to share them with like 5 other people but my circle was empty. So, I decided to stay in my circle.

    I don¡¯t need to sleep. Jeff approached me and asked me to alter the course a bit. Jeff went to sleep after I did so. Only very few crew members were left on the deck. The sky was dark but clear.

    I enjoyed the beautiful night sky when I sensed something under the surface. Nothing threatening yet but it seems some sea monsters have smelled this Floating Snackbox. Let¡¯s hope they stay away.

 Vol 2 Ch 82.1: Floating Treasurebox part 2

    This stupid ship is everything; a floating treasure box, snack box and coffin in one. Do we get plundered, eaten or do we sink first?

    This ship had a shitty floating spell on it and it was slowly giving out. The only ship that could carry this amount of cargo? Bullshit!

    They had to make it such that I will have to dispel it and create a new and better one to help this boat. I have never created a floating enchantment but that isn¡¯t the problem here¡­ it will take a while to replace it, enough time for this ship to sink. I would be able to replace it after we arrive on the island so it will just have to hold out for that long.

    I tried a floating primal rune. It did correct the ship but it started slowly returning to its previous state over time. The acceleration command I gave to the ship at the start wasn¡¯t permanent, I had to keep renewing them which I did whenever Jeff asked for tweaks in our course.

    The sun started to rise. Another beautiful day, hopefully as uneventful as the last. Around 07:00 a ruckus started. Someone had attempted to sneak in with the chicks on board. We¡¯ve only been gone for a day and they¡¯re thirsty for female attention already? Wild Fang joined me as we spectated an argument that had broken out on deck.

    ¡°What¡¯s with them? They''re already this wild and the day has just started.¡±

    Dunno, some human problem.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a wild human too?¡±

    Even as a human I have no clue why they can¡¯t behave.  The argument escalated and magic started flying around. Wild Fang and I dodged some stray magic bolts and shaped magic.

    I hope they will cool off after getting this out of their system.

    A discovery was made; someone had eaten half of the breakfast. Wild Fang and I were casually eating while watching the humans fight. Apparently, I¡¯m not a suspect because I haven¡¯t moved from my spot since yesterday according to some crewmates that had the night shift. I¡¯m sorry crew but I¡¯m the culprit.

    ¡°Hey, are they blind? Can¡¯t they see that were wildly eating their breakfast? Ohh can you hand me that?¡±

    Well it seems some have seen me use my dimensional box before so they probably assume that I got this food out of my dimensional box. Have you tried these cheese sandwiches? Can you hand me the juice?  We had a nice breakfast and the fights escalated. Someone used a [Fireblast] and a part of the ship started to burn.

    How did they manage to burn soaked wood¡­

    I put out the fire and continued to observe. I noticed  how the sneaky adventurer finished a Teleroad message within the chaos.

    Oh, this can¡¯t be good.

    Wild Fang, we can expect unwanted visitors relatively soon. One of my suspicions is probably going to come true.

    ¡°Oooh! So, it¡¯s finally time! This is going to be wild!¡± He said as he ran inside. Probably to get ready for something.

    The problem with pirates is¡­ these guys are used to fight on the ocean. I don¡¯t think I will lose but Wild Fang is probably the only one who is going to be useful. I hate to say it but people used to fighting on land are no match against those that fight on the water regularly. I might even learn a thing or 2 from these pirates. I will treat them with extreme prejudice though and sink them as swiftly and efficiently as possible. I can learn from pirates another time. I drew a prinal rune.

    Acla!

    The ship sped up and it caught everyone fighting off guard. A mist bank approached in the distance. This is nothing special except that this fog was made with magic. I could see what¡¯s in it but others can¡¯t. I wouldn¡¯t say it¡¯s a pirate fleet because I don¡¯t know how organized they are but multiple small pirate ships were approaching.

    Some seemed to be fighting each other but not to the extent to sink each other. I got up from my ice chair and started stretching. I felt people staring at me but I would pay them no heed. Wild Fang burst out of the door in a surf outfit.

    ¡°It is time! I can smell gunpowder! The wild pirates are here!¡± As usual Wild Fang and I were the only ones aware of the situation but these words caused panic. Suspicious adventurer was faking panic but was doing a shitty job.  Right Wild Fang and I will deal with these pirates, you guys sort out your own mess.

    ¡°Wait then who is going to steer this ship?!¡± The wannabe hero seemed to be shaking in his boots.

    You can use water magic, right?

    ¡°Yes, but¡­¡±

    Congratulations! You¡¯re in charge of steering now and good luck! Wild Fang let¡¯s go see what the status is of our attackers!

    I climbed into the mast and Wild Fang followed.

    ¡°Whoa, you are wildly agile for a human, you put me to shame there for a bit!¡±

    You might not see them but you can smell them, right?

    ¡°Yeah, I can also hear something, they seem to be wildly fighting each other but I don¡¯t hear anything that suggests that their wildly killing each other. It might be a trap.¡±

    I had to pretend to not be able to hear them also. Foxes have very good ears. I¡¯m not sure if a human would be able to hear them from here or not.

    Would you be surprised if I could sink some ships from here?

    ¡°Ha! Of course not! Isn¡¯t your job to make outnumbered fights a piece of cake? I will be looking forward to what wild method you come up with!¡±

    I gestured that I would need some space. I connected to the air leyline current and used [Surface Flip] on the 3 closest ships. It was heavy, as if I had to physically flip the boats. I only managed to flip 1 boat.

    This is the first time I used this on anything heavier than a human. I had no idea that weight is a limiting factor. I guess that plan is out. At least one ship had been disabled. Well, they want to fight with mist eh. Fight mist with mist.

    Get your surfboard out Wild Fang. Let¡¯s pay them a visit.

    ¡°Yes! Yes! Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Wild fang and I jumped off the ship. I disconnected from the leyline currents and used [Tsunami] and created a surfboard out of frost and Wild Fang and I rode the [Tsunami] to the pirate fleet.

    ¡°Whoo! This is what I¡¯m talking about! Pay attention to my [Wild Surf]!¡± Wild Fang¡¯s surfboard grew 2 ice claws on the side and he surfed in between 2 pirate ships and the claws tore through the hulls. The [Tsunami] hit the frontline of the fleet and various attempts were made to stop the [Tsunami].

    Wild Fang jumped up and landed on a pirate ship and started tearing pirates to shreds. He seemed to have the time of his life.

    I surfed past many ships and went to the middle of the fleet and used [Azure Sharks]. 9 sharks spread out and give the pirate ships hell. Wild Fang jumped from ship to ship while mowing down pirates.

    He seemed to have stolen some food from some ships and got knocked off one of the ships and went back to surfing, adding some fancy tricks here and there.

    Someone used [Water Spout] on me to launch me in the air. I let them and used [Azure Spear] and sent it at a random ship blasting a big hole into it. It isn¡¯t effective in dealing with multiple targets but I just need some strong water skills. I was time for [Azure mist].

    Blue fog mixed with the existing one and trapped the whole fleet in the [Azure Mist]. chaos ensued, they couldn¡¯t see what was going on, activating magic took twice as long and when they did, they would get hit by something twice as strong as [Azure Spear].

    Wild Fang also couldn¡¯t see what was going on but I could see exactly what was going on and I relaxed on a pirate ship. They would self-destruct as long as this skill is in effect. Any attempt at using magic got the pirates blasted and it didn¡¯t take long before every pirate was dead.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Azu¡¯s skill is brutal. This is the first time I used it in combat besides the time that I used it with Azu.

    Anyone reliant on mana get fucked over with this. The best course of action is to run.

    The floating coffin was approaching and this fleet was still a problem. [Azure mist] dissipated as well as the mist bank they had put up and the ship graveyard became visible to everyone on the floating coffin.

    ¡°Whoo, you did it again! This is Wild! I don¡¯t even know how you did it!¡± Wild Fang was excited as ever to get free kills.

    We hopped back on the floating coffin and I steered the ship around the floating junk. The suspicious adventurer seemed in shock and defeated as if we just killed his whole family or something. Anyways that is not my problem.

    The wannabe hero seemed quite useless in using water magic. Did he come here to be useless? At least the fight had stopped there was 1 problem¡­

    Hey guys! Get out the circle!

    ¡°This is our circle now!¡±

    Oh, taking over steering the ship? Cool I¡¯ll go to sleep then.

    I climbed up in the mast and found a spot where I could sleep. I tied myself to the mast because I can¡¯t be truthful and say that I trust these guys.

    <hr>

    A lot of noise. Something is wrong, why isn¡¯t the boat moving? I opened my eyes and we seem to have ran into a reef. Moreover, we were slowly sinking. Not my problem so I went back to sleep.

    Is what I thought as I got rocked an hour later.

    ¡°Silver Torrent! Wake up bro, we wildly need you!¡±

    Ugh, I guess no rest for me, what¡¯s the matter?

    ¡°Well, the humans started fighting wildly and decided that you¡¯re at fault!¡±

    How selfish, let¡¯s hear what they have to say.

    I jumped down and got met by an angry mob.

    ¡°This is all your fault!¡±

    I was asleep so I don¡¯t see how this is my fault.

    ¡°Weren¡¯t you in charge of steering the ship?¡±

    You guys were clear in taking it over by hanging around in the circle so it became your responsibility, pushing this on me is unreasonable.

    ¡°He has a point though; he was clear in what he needed the circle for.¡± The Golden Angel agreed with me.

    ¡°Shut up woman! You can¡¯t expect us to be ok with him claiming that circle for himself?¡±

    Hey no need to be rude to our healer, there are very few rules concerning Golden Angels but one of them is that you want to keep them your friend. Now back to your unreasonable request, how am I supposed to steer the ship if there were a lot of people there? No matter what, steering the ship became impossible for me the moment you guys decided to hang around there.

    ¡°We don¡¯t care, fix this problem aren¡¯t you a B-rank adventurer?¡±

    I don¡¯t see how this and that are related, I¡¯m not a god I can¡¯t undo your mistakes.

    ¡°We don¡¯t care, fix it!¡± A lot of people seemed to agree, a minority seemed to think it was unreasonable.

    ¡°Is this how humans treat each other? I¡¯m wildly disappointed! Don¡¯t we have the same goal?¡± Unfortunately, Wild Fang¡¯s words fell on deaf ears.

    So, you want me to fix this situation, eh? Are you willing to listen to me then?

    ¡°If you can fix it, we will have no complaints right guys?¡± Most of the humans nodded.

    I want you to be specific in what you¡¯re expecting of me. And I will warn you, be careful what you wish for.

    I made a chair of ice and sat down and leaned back and listened with a malicious smile. It is time for malicious compliance.

    ¡°We want you to fix this ship and bring us to the island!¡±

    ¡°And don¡¯t forget to fight off threats!¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡±

    Is that all?

    My smile seemed to unsettle the unreasonable humans.

    ¡°Ehh, I think that¡¯s all, right guys?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I think so.¡±

    I got up.

    Ok the first step would be fixing this floating coffin then.

    I connected to the air leyline currents and used [Waterspout] to knock this sorry state of a ship into the air. This ship was heavy so it took a lot of effort.

    The humans started to scream but nowhere in their request did they request for me to keep them safe or do things within reason. While airborne I started freezing the parts of the ship that needed fixing. I can¡¯t fix a boat but I can freeze it. It will be very cold but nowhere did they say that they wanted to stay warm or dry.

    The boat, fixed with ice and frost, landed on a part that wasn¡¯t shallow. It sent some people flying but nowhere did they state that we should leave no one behind. I made sure to save the crew that disagreed with the majority though.

    I shifted stance and started using [Stormy Tides]. The ocean started to become wild. This wasn¡¯t a big problem because we would be hit by a storm early tomorrow anyways. These weather forecasts are relatively useless.

    I let this skill dance on the ambient leyline while I sent the ship forward. It was very bumpy because of the 9m+ waves but never did they state that they wanted to arrive smoothly. I confirmed the course with Jeffrey and we were heading toward the island.

    An angry passenger pointed at me. ¡°You! What are you doing!¡±

    I did exactly what you asked, I fixed the boat and am bringing us toward the island.

    I sat back on my chair of ice. I had frozen my chair to the deck and myself to the chair to make sure I didn¡¯t get sent flying by these enormous waves. Everyone was holding on to something.

    ¡°Are you insane! We didn¡¯t tell you to do it like this!¡±

    That¡¯s why I told you to be specific. I have done what you asked so now it is your turn to do what you promised. Shut up and don¡¯t bother anyone anymore. That¡¯s all.

    ¡°You can¡¯t be serious We...¡± I [Flushed] him overboard.

    Anyone else having objections and wants to break the agreement, I can also undo the ice and put someone else in charge of getting us to the island.

    ¡°I¡­I understand why you¡¯re doing this but can¡¯t we get along and help each other?¡±

    Listen Healerchick, I know you mean well but hardly anyone has the intention to get along and help, the arguments and fights form before are evidence, how they snapped at you is evidence, how they disrespected my circle and how they blamed me is evidence. Some people just need a taste of their own medicine to get a point across.

    Someone objected and threw slurs at me and I [Flushed] him overboard too.

    The ocean is dangerous, we can¡¯t allow this fuckery else more people would die. We even have an adventurer here that called a pirate fleet on us.

    The suspicious adventurer turned pale. I looked straight at him and the others followed my gaze.

    ¡°W¡­what? I would never call the Nyr pirate fleet on us!¡±

    See this is what I mean, I had no idea what the name of the pirate fleet was until this guy spoke. Most of you guys here are clowns, without Wild Fang and me here most of you would be swimming with the fishes.

    Some humans started to interrogate the suspicious adventurer. I cancelled the [Stormy Tides] because we would get hit by a real storm in about 5 hours. The people on the ship would have some rest till then.

    A sailor approached me. ¡°Hey, is there any way you can make this ice less cold?¡±  You do know how ice works right?

    ¡°Yes¡­¡±

    Wild Fang was the only one who wasn¡¯t shivering. He was just fishing in his flower-patterned shirt. What a free spirit.

 Vol 2 Ch 83: Floating Snackbox

    The storm came earlier than I expected. It was supposed to hit us early in the morning of day 3 but we got hit in the evening of day 2. I am all for scaring the humans but this time I tried to keep the ship as calm as possible and it was extremely exhausting. I can¡¯t keep this up for the whole storm. The panic seemed to warm the humans up though. The Healerchick seemed to be casting something to keep everyone calm but it didn¡¯t seem to be super effective.

    ¡°We¡¯re all going to die!¡±

    Well, I told you guys this was a floating coffin, do you all believe me now?  This ship was too big and bulky and any attempt to prevent this ship from getting thrown off course was futile. I also had to strengthen the ship with frost magic because the waves were doing a number on the wood. This thing would sink the second I drop my frost magic. I¡¯m already planning an assassination for the jerk who gave this ship an ok. I stopped trying because I was exhausted and the ship became like a rollercoaster ride. I got annoying comments but I ignored them. I can¡¯t keep flushing idiots off the ship. I had hoped that those 2 from hours prior would make for good examples but apparently not.

    ¡°So, what is the plan Silver Torrent? You look exhausted, want one of my Wild snacks?¡± He pulled some beef jerky from his small pouch.  Uhh thanks. There is not much we can do. I can¡¯t stop this ship from becoming a circus attraction. I can only make sure we don¡¯t capsize.  I moved a large volume of water to prevent us from capsizing.

    ¡°I see, what happens if this wild storm keeps going on and you need to sleep?¡±  Uhh, that is a very good question. The ice will stay but there will be nobody preventing us from capsizing.  I thwarted another attempt of the ocean to tip us over. This ship sucks¡­

    ¡°Shit, I wish I had put in wild effort into water magic! I¡¯m so stupid!¡±  Don¡¯t be so hard on yourself preventing ships from capsizing isn¡¯t included in a normal and basic skillset¡­  The exhaustion started to mount and I felt like I needed a nap. The ocean was as merciless as ever.

    Hey Wild Fang, I really need a nap, can you get some strong guys and go below deck and move the weight around in the hold to prevent capsizing? Have someone on the deck call out for what you guys need to do.  Another save. I stopped attempting to send the ship in the correct direction because the waves highly disagreed with our course.

    ¡°Ok, I will get these humans to form a wild anti-capsizing party!¡±  Uhh good luck with that.  My body had difficulty listening to my commands because of the exhaustion. I had been at this for hours now and it seems many more to come if I don¡¯t rest. I started to hear complaints like

    ¡°Why do we have to do this?¡± and

    ¡°Can¡¯t someone else do this?¡± Do these guys even want to live? It was getting close to midnight and I found a spot, tied myself to the mast and fell asleep.

    <hr>

    I awoke because of a big drop. The floating coffin was still afloat. It had taken a lot of water on deck and the humans were trying to get it off the deck. A big wave approached. Someone shouted and the ship started to tilt toward the wave. A big crash, more water on deck and the ship tilted to the other side but didn¡¯t capsize. It was 6 in the morning and everyone seemed exhausted. The storm didn¡¯t seem like it would stop anytime soon. I jumped on deck, connected to the air leyline currents and [Flushed] all the water off. The waves seemed less violent than before. Fixing the course of the ship will alleviate our problem. I [Flushed] people off the circle but not off the ship and changed the course of the ship. I went down to tell the hard-working crew that they can sleep.

    ¡°Oh, thank god! We can finally rest!¡± Most of them just collapsed on the spot and instantly fell asleep. Wild Fang helped me tie the cargo back down and then he went to sleep too after a fist bump. I returned to deck and talked to Jeff. We were so far off course it wasn¡¯t even funny. It would take almost an extra day now to get back to the island. Well, that is bad news. More bad news is that we seem to have ended up in dangerous territory. Full of sea monsters and the like. I looked at the floating snackbox we called a ship.  We are screwed, aren¡¯t we?

    ¡°I¡¯d hate to admit bet we are yes¡­ it will take us half a day to get to the safer area.¡± Jeff seemed to be keeping his head cool in this panic.

    I really hope that this all is worth it¡­ if these islanders are ungrateful, I feel like sinking the island.

    ¡°Haha, there is no way you can do that but I hope the reception is favorable yes, this trip has been nothing more than a nightmare.¡±  Why can¡¯t I ever have a normal adventure. Next time you need an adventure like this don¡¯t invite me, there is a high chance nothing strange will happen. I might be cursed.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s true; we would¡¯ve not even been able to leave the city without you and even if we did, we¡¯d be quite dead.¡± I didn¡¯t feel like explaining that everything around me turns into a clownfiesta. A normal life is an unrealistic dream for me. I sighed. I had been keeping an eye on it the whole time but the thing that I saw on the surface on day 1 had been following us the whole time. There was no need to interfere but I was getting worried now.

    Our new ETA was on day 5, we just entered day 3 and shit had already hit the fan. 3 more days of this circus? Someone help me! Something answered. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t help. People screamed as an enormous sea snake decided that we would be his next breakfast. It looked enormous; it might be mistaken for a no winged water dragon. I already got tired thinking about having to deal with this thing. Oh wait! Maybe I don¡¯t need to do anything! The wannabe hero seemed to be preparing a huge skill. Gogogo become a real hero and allow me to slack! His bravery rallied some people to help him out.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you help too?¡±  Shht this is their moment! Kill stealing is rude!

    ¡°What? I don¡¯t understand? Isn¡¯t it better if more people help?¡± Jeff was right but I felt like I had done enough, these guys can shine and make a name for themselves. They will forget about me and talk about how this brave hero singlehandedly saved this whole mission. Yeah, let¡¯s go with that! I sat down next to a crewmate who seemed to be writing his will.  Whatcha writing?

    ¡°A will, there is no way we get out of this alive!¡± He talked calmly but his hands were shivering and he was only writing gibberish on this magic paper because of it.  Are you leaving assets behind and assigning them?

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°No¡­ I have no assets; I just want to tell my family and friends how I feel and what I think of them but my hands won¡¯t stop shaking.¡±  Hmm I might have to write one someday too can you tell more about it?

    I listened to the sailor. The adventurers were putting up a fight in the meantime. And I¡¯m being generous with this description. They managed to not get this ship sunk. After hearing the crewmates story, I decided to stop messing around and get this sea snake off our backs. Wild Fang had woken up and he is surfing around the sea snake and clawing at it but the scales of the sea snake protected it from any damage. I was wondering how this guy had so much energy.

    He reminds me a bit of Raishin. He wasn¡¯t stupid and he noticed that this didn¡¯t work and he ran up the sea snake¡¯s body and tried to go for the head I assume. Another bigger sea snake appeared and I saw many others under the surface. Did we disturb their nest? Wild Fang reached the head and clawed one eye out. The snake thrashed and threw him off. I connected to the air leylines and caught him with a [Waterball] and brought him back to the ship.

    ¡°That was wild! Thanks!¡±  I am going to be serious, to some extent, are you in?

    ¡°Always! I might be able to claw my way through its eye into its skull and claw its brain out!¡±  That sounds¡­ messy but effective. We have to make sure this boat doesn¡¯t sink though.  I shifted my stance and used a floating snackbox sized [Ocean¡¯s Wrath].

    Go! But make sure to evade whatever I will send at the snakes!  Wild Fang howled and went back to surfing. My [Oceans Wrath] caught any attack the sea snakes threw at the floating snackbox. The adventurers were useless so I didn¡¯t count on them. The storm picked up but I couldn¡¯t be bothered to keep the ship steady. The ocean got wilder and wilder and more and more sea snakes appeared. One went straight for us attempting to swallow us whole. I had to thwart his attempt by creating several frost pillars on the snackbox to make sure he couldn¡¯t chomp us down. It surely gave the humans a scare. I hit both of its eyes with some of the swirling currents from [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] and turned this hungry snake into a blind noodle. It kept thrashing and hissing spitting water everywhere.

    You can look but you can¡¯t touch!  Wild fang seemed all bloodied but it didn¡¯t seem to be his blood. He did exactly what he told me he would do. Claw through the sea snakes eyes all the way to its brain. It seemed he had already killed 2 sea snakes like this. This guy is insane and fearless. This guy deserves an A-rank. I will put in a good word for him if I have the chance and remember. I sent a shadow clone to him telling me that he should get ready to dodge as If his life depended on it.

    But in fact, it did. I bundled all the currents swirling around me into one. I saw Wild Fang surf for his life. I sent the enormous blast of water at them and wiped out 8 of the 24 snakes. It blasted through them as if they were made out of paper. The other sea snakes didn¡¯t like this though. Also, some other types of sea monsters started to appear interested in this floating snackbox. I created a series of [Steam cannons V2.0] and bombarded them with frost balls.

    This is how a pirate is supposed to fight! With cannons! Hahaha!  The humans looked at me as if I was insane. They might be right but I don¡¯t care. Wild Fang used one frost ball as a baseball, he discovered after 1 try that touching the frostballs was a bad idea so he used his surfboard as a bat. Surfing, beach baseball is there anything this guy can¡¯t do? There were too many sea monsters. Sticking to water leyline will probably take too long. I wanted to switch over to lightning but some sea monsters were charging up a beam. I swear someone needs to ban lasers! I made the [Steam cannons V2.0] shoot frostballs into their mouths. A success! Now time to zap them before they start getting serious with lasers. I have yet to find an appropriate counter to lasers.

    I swapped myself with Wild Fang and started using [Accel step]. A few [Crimson Palms] here and there and I fried some sea monsters. Normally I would cut them up and stash them but I¡¯ve had it with them. Wait, why don¡¯t I just cut them up? Shirayuki would make quick work of them. I took out Shirayuki and cut the head of a sea snake. I kept using [accel step] and dashed over the stormy ocean imbuing Shirayuki with purple lightning. Many more sea monsters haven¡¯t bothered surfacing yet.

    How do I get them all? A concentrated lightning slash will get most of them or do I use [God of Thunder] and fry all of them? I cut up more sea monsters as I decided to get it over with and use [God of Thunder] I had no assistance from my tails, I had to do this with the [Accel Step] route. I used [High Voltage] in between the sword slashes to keep the damage rolling. The lightning around me crackled and turned red. This should be enough, right? I will become a hot topic if I go orange here. I started to concentrate the lightning around me. I sheathed Shirayuki, she can take a break. I kept dashing around luring all the sea monsters to one spot. The spot was above the nest of sea monsters chilling under the surface.

    Hasta la vista noobs!  I unleashed the red pillar of lightning. It reached all the way down to the sea monsters in the depths.

    I used this opportunity to go back to the ship. I shoved the humans aside who were chilling in the circle.

    I have had enough of this!  I wrote the same rune 5 times.

    Acla! Acla! Acla! Acla! Acla!  The floating snackbox turned into a speedboat. I heard various comments but I ignored them. I had 0 tolerance for those who entered the circle unauthorized. I instantly [Flushed] them out of the circle and froze them to the mast for 20 minutes. The usual people were allowed. Jeff sent me on the right course. I kept accelerating this coffin and reduce the resistance the ship got met with by parting the water in front of the ship. It was extremely tiring but extremely fast. I kept it up for a day until I almost collapsed from exhaustion. The island was in sight. It would probably take 3 hours to get there. I told the humans to figure the rest out and I went to sleep.

    <hr>

    I woke up 3 days later. It seemed we were on our way back on a normal ship.

    Wild Fang told me that the inhabitants already had more than enough and that the person who requested the mission kept insisting on sending them aid. The inhabitants gladly accepted the supplies still. This of course made the whole crew and the adventurers upset but luckily nobody was immature enough to take it out on the inhabitants. They would all take this up on whoever organized this mission. What a clown show. I¡¯m glad I was asleep for that. At least nobody of importance died.

    I tried to avoid most of these people because they all wanted to talk to me and thank me. I didn¡¯t do this for thanks I was just tired of this clownfiesta. We arrived safely at Gavin without incident and everyone put up a complaint. The Adventurer¡¯s Association said that there was nothing they could do about that.

    I agreed, but I can! Call me petty or a villain but this mission was doomed to fail from the start, we literally got sent out in a coffin so I will just return the favor. It was extremely easy to find out who put up the request since he wanted it to be known that he helped the island. I snuck into his mansion and I put the chefs under an illusion. I opened a jar and emptied my secret weapon into the sauce. I undid the illusion and observed how this jerk got his food served. He took a bite and instantly reacted.

    ¡°Aaagh! Who! Who put this much mustard in my sauce! I will have his head!¡± He trashed like a spoiled toddler. It was fun to watch him squirm. I opened a vial. I took out a drop before the smell could spread. I aimed and flicked the droplet at his forehead. I licked my finger and enjoyed the smell of fresh rain.

    The jerk turned into dust 45 seconds later and I returned to my room. I left the city early in the morning. I did say goodbye to Wild Fang first who was also leaving. He had recorded everything and needed to show it to his friends. I totally forgot that he was recording. I hope that my malicious compliance won¡¯t cause me too much trouble. Maybe I could use a stain on my reputation, I hardly do anything and people think highly of me if they would see me as just another jerk with a name that might change. I hope that will happen. I decided to take up more missions but simpler ones. I felt like I had to stay low for a bit.

 Vol 2 Ch 84: Rescue Mission

    Day 287. I had done various missions and I had nothing to improve with my sword fighting skills. I didn''t want to but Silver Torrent got more fame because besides doing Silver Torrent stuff I could also cut down anything that I wanted. The situation in the capital Zanyr or should I say Brilliance, had calmed down. Yup, they renamed their capital to Brilliance. Most people find this ridiculous and keep calling it Zanyr. The assassination attempts on me have also stopped. I had a different problem. I was trying to get a hold of Toxic Donkey but I was unable to. Thalia was still missing and I was getting worried. I might still be sticking my nose in but I think this has been long enough. The rescue teams looking for her had long given up. I had gathered crumbs of information but they all conflicted with each other or were unreliable.

    The only thing that seemed to be consistent is that she was last seen in Alledra, the capital of Aquini Kingdom. I didn''t put up a request or anything at the Adventurers Association. I did indicate that I would go solo and look for her. I ran to yjr Aquini Kingdom. I went as fast as I could. This would be a no-bullshit mission. If I have to blow up a country so, be it. I arrived at Alledra and holy shit this city is beautiful. It was a floating city it had channels everywhere and water everywhere. It looked like a paradise. The city was clean. It was as varied in races as Gittrian. I couldn''t point out any flaw.

    The people were nice. How did Thalia disappear here? I scanned the city for suspicious neighborhoods but there were none as far as I can see. This would be the first city I¡¯d consider moving to. I could see an enormous waterfall in the distance. The water was rushing down the mountain and filling this gigantic lake. I think this is the biggest lake on the continent. Ice peaks could be seen behind the waterfall in the distance. The Aquini mountain range. These mountains were way taller than those of the Penumbra, Umbra, or Lucidus mountain ranges. I don''t know who decided to build a city here but besides it being on a lake it was genius. I suddenly felt like I didn''t want to leave this place. Maybe Thalia didn''t disappear but took up residence here but¡­ I headed over to the Adventurers Association. If she did then this Adventurers Association would probably know and she wouldn''t be marked as missing.  Excuse me, I¡¯m looking for the Eternal Desertflower, has she been here in the last year?

    ¡°She has yes but she didn''t visit the Adventurer¡¯s Association. We only know this because some adventurers have spotted here but that¡¯s all. They just admired her beauty but didn''t pay attention to what she was doing or where she was going.¡±  Is there a general area where she had been seen?

    ¡°The Crystal Deck, you can''t miss it, it''s the large open space looking out over the lake.¡± The Crystal Deck was indeed hard to miss. It was a large open space with a clear floor and the fish swimming below us could be seen. I understand why she came here. Why is this city so beautiful? I started to scan the area. Nothing interesting. What if¡­ I looked down. This lake was crazy deep. Some good 2400 meters. I remember Thalia mentioning practicing underwater combat or something of that sort. What if she is still doing that? I couldn''t look too deep in the water. I dove into the lake and got my tails out. There is a low likelihood she is still in the city since she would''ve been found by then, there is also no underground in this city, and there are sewers but. I looked back. They are immaculate. Boshi got dethroned from having the best sewers. If she was still around this area, she must be underwater. This lake is enormous though¡­

    I spent a week searching under and around the capital. Another week in the middle of the lake all with no clues. The noose of time started to creep up on me. Day 360 is when I meet up with my buddies but if this continues, I might not be able to find her before that. I have 59 days to find her. I spent another week looking for her near the waterfall. There were so many underwater caves here.

    I created shadow clones and sent them into each cave and I went into one myself. I just don''t hope to find her corpse, please be alive. Most caves didn''t go deep and ended up being empty or having underwater creatures live there that weren''t happy with my sudden appearance. I should''ve gone and looked for her sooner¡­ A clone found a cave that branched off in a complex system and he needed assistance. I teleported over with my clones. I discovered that short-range teleports go further underwater. 3 holes went down, 4 went up, 3 left, 1 right, and 2 straight ahead. All these also had their own branching-off routes.

    I put more mana into my eyes and crossed off 3 that had early dead ends. Just enough for me and my clones to get one each. I decided to go down and took the 3rd hole down. A lot of ugly fish but I had no time for them. I cut down everything in my path. Nothing here. I retraced my path and went into another one. I needed to sleep as I haven''t slept since I dove into the lake. I¡¯m hitting my limit. I found a dead end with an electric eel. These assholes again. I cut him in half and stored him in my dimensional pocket. I used [Counterspin] and created an air pocket. I froze the bubble to be sure and curled up in my tails and went to sleep.

    I had a strange nightmare, people screaming. I was pissed about something and hungry. The dream had a very unpleasant feeling.

    I woke up sweating. What was that? I don''t dream often but this felt real. Am I just fatigued? The problem was¡­ I recognized the place in my dream. It was Alledra. But all its blue and white was stained in red. I hope this just stays a dream. I finished looking through every nook and cranny of this branch. I teleported over to a branch my clone was looking through. Another week passed and I was wondering if this place would never end. We were helping the last clone because he found a huge space even deeper under the ground and this also branched into many corridors. This place is a maze. The large space had some very strong monsters that 3 of my clones were fighting. I had already cut some open to check their stomachs for human remains but as far as I could tell their diet was just fish. Then again Thalia had been gone for months, one might have eaten her and digested her fully and I would never know. I found it somewhat promising on day 318. A small merfolk community. They brought me to their village to talk.

    Has a human been here in the last year? Female, dark skin, super-hot, scratch that might not mean anything to you. Ehh, brown hair, obsessed with immortality?

    The chief of this village was so kind to answer my questions. ¡°Hmm, we have encountered a human like that yes, she stayed here for 2 days. We were wondering what a human was doing this deep and far into the Aquini Mountain range.¡±  Ah right, I guess I¡¯m under the mountain range now can you tell me what you remember?

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    ¡°She was very nice, asked a lot of questions about how we move and fight underwater, about our lifecycle and lifespan, and if we knew about the Heart of Xeyvna.¡±  What? What is that?

    ¡°That was our reaction too. She said she suspected it was somewhere here and left the next day. She used techniques similar to yours to move underwater, she didn''t have any tails though.¡±  Thank you, she has been missing so it¡¯s good to hear something. Where did she go?

    ¡°She went deeper even though we told her not to¡­ even we don''t go there, we don''t know what¡¯s down there but it¡¯s very dangerous. And I don¡¯t want to be that merman but¡­ that has been months ago she is probably¡­¡±  I know, but if that¡¯s true I can at least recover her body. I hope she is still alive¡­ Thank you, Here are some fish from the ocean.  I gave them some fish to compensate them for their hospitality and information.

    ¡±Don''t you need to rest?¡±  I will rest eventually, but thanks!  I went deeper and the pressure started to become insane. If Thalia made a mistake, it would''ve been game over in an instant. I made more shadow clones and kept looking. It was just a wide tunnel going down. How much water was in this place?

    An enormous blind shark. It was using the flow of water to detect us. But there were multiple targets so it was easy to confuse. I cut the shark into bite-sized pieces and stored it in my dimensional pocket. I kept descending. Heart of Xeyvna? What is that? What have you gotten yourself into Thalia? It must be related to immortality else she wouldn''t put this much effort into this. I reached the floor but the water still stretched on. Was I still under the mountain range or did I get into the ocean to the east? My geography was failing me so I forgot what the ocean was called. There was some sort of ceiling that I could see vaguely.

    Then I saw them. Strange humanoid sludge creatures with red eyes. They looked extremely creepy. They made a strange bubbling sound. I evaded a blast of sludge and it corroded the rocks behind me. Corrosive sludge. Can I just finish my mission in peace? I decided to ignore them and swim past them. I sped past them and left [Frost Mines] behind. This seemed to do the trick. I became more and more worried. I don''t want to say Thalia is weak but I''m cheating with my race to get here, this will be many times harder for her. I continued on believing that these wouldn''t pose a threat to her.

    Day 321 and I had the feeling that maybe she had found a way out and is somewhere else. I didn''t want to declare her as dead yet. The absence of evidence isn''t evidence that she¡¯s dead. As I thought that the floor started to slope down. Even deeper?

    My eyes told me that I was currently 6711 meters below sea level. This is insane. I followed the floor and saw something glow in the distance. I got closer and closer and saw a gigantic city sitting on the ocean floor? Cave floor? It had an enormous air bubble around it. I detected ancient technology. Is this what Thalia was looking for? I tried to estimate how big this city was. It is bigger than the country of Lopahz¡­ is this an underwater country then? Why is it here? How did Thalia know it was here? I got in the bubble. This city had similarities to Ardella in color scheme but that was all it had in common. As far as I could tell it was deserted. Is Thalia here? This place is as big as a country. Finding her won''t be easy if she¡¯s here. I found a good spot and dropped a [Dimensional Anchor]. No way I¡¯m going to get back here like I just came, screw that. This place was extremely tidy as if it had been built but nobody lived here after it had been completed. I also couldn''t detect a trace of any human ever being here.

    Thalia?!  I kept looking and scanning the area. This place wasn''t just as large as a country it had 6 layers. Assuming she is here, it will be like finding a needle in a haystack even with my eyes. Day 354 came. I was desperate. I haven''t found any clue about her. I sent out magic waves and such out that if she could feel or see it, she knew it was me but again this place is as large as a country and has 6 layers¡­ I have only been looking at the top layer. I felt lost for the first time. I haven''t had a defeat like this since we lost our home. I have a dimensional anchor here. I can return¡­ My clones returned with nothing. This place has a self-defense system, by the way. It will react if I start flinging magic around to draw attention. I wanted to continue but I was exhausted and I needed sleep.

    More nightmares and I awoke on day 358. I need to go¡­ I spent 4 hours convincing myself that she is at least safe here. Nothing attacks you unless you do something stupid. Not on this layer at least. I haven''t put any energy into finding out why this place exists why it was made etc. Maybe I would have found clues if I did. I just didn''t know anymore. Maybe if I had paid more attention, I would have found more clues. I¡¯m slowly noticing that for someone with overpowered eyes I don¡¯t pay a lot of attention nor take note of important details. I should work in this flaw¡­

    I will come back, I promise, stay safe.  I tugged on my [Dimensional Anchor] and returned to Girai, to my old house. I¡¯ve gained a lot in these years but I''ve also lost some. Unfortunately, this is what happens when immortals mix with mortals. My tails were soaked. They got dried off after I moved the water out of them and they also got some good brushing. I would sleep till tomorrow noon. I needed this sleep to feel better. In the end Thalia had made this choice by herself. I trust and respect her wishes. She is not stupid or weak. She got to that merfolk village which means she got to that city. Maybe there is something else beyond the city that I haven''t found yet. I had only been looking for 2 months-ish, she has been gone for almost a year if she is still alive, she has had way more time to investigate that place and move on. Thalia¡¯s competency made me calm down. I will see my buddies soon. That is something to be excited about.

 Vol 3 Ch 1: Reunion

    It was early September and the lobby of the Adventurers Association was quite busy. Large groups of newcomers were walking around and going from shop to shop to find the next shiny piece of equipment. The Adventurer¡¯s Association has seen quite a boom in new adventurers lately. A large part of these will give up within several months and some might even die. Personally, I didn¡¯t take adventuring seriously when I applied to become one but I got away with it, these youngsters might not. The Adventurers Association, which I''m going to call AA now, has gotten in trouble because teenagers are forgoing their magic education and attempting to make a name for themselves.

    Unfortunately, I am somewhat responsible for this¡­ Why is everything my fault? Because I joined at quite a young age and made a name for myself, other youngsters think they can do the same. Luckily this is not completely my fault. It seems Greg hasn¡¯t been just reading in libraries these 4 years. He got the adventurer name, Obsidian Prince. I regret not being there when he got this edgy name. I doubt that he has a skill by that name so someone must have named him that just like I named Kyle, Toxic Donkey. I would like to meet this person.

    Nothing on Raishin it seems, but back to Greg. He seems to be quite popular with the female adventurers. Is this related to why he is called the Obsidian Prince? I don¡¯t think he would want to tell us even if we keep asking. But maybe it''s funnier if we find out from someone else. I am fully abusing the new passive skill I made [Hide in plain sight] which makes it hard for people to realize I''m here, I¡¯m sure I would have gotten an army of young adventurers around me without it. I sighed. Maybe this is a bad time to announce that we will be back in business soon. I need these people to forget about me.

    Hjuva had been met with a setback after Boshi town disappeared. It was one of the top producers in lumber, ore, pelts and more. This has caused the AA to send out more adventurers to investigate and find areas to find more resources and to investigate what could have possibly happened to Boshi town.

    I know what happened. A petty goddess nuked it into oblivion. Not many things can create a hole that large and cause light corruption so I''m curious to what conclusion the humans will come.

    I got up. It¡¯s time to leave. Cnidaria Forest isn¡¯t far for me but the longer I stay here the more likely I am to get into trouble. My new passive skill isn¡¯t all-powerful. People that know me for example will have no problem spotting me. And this is what scares me. If I stay too long, maybe Healerguy randomly appears, making my life hard. I have been able to avoid him for a long time so I have the feeling a meeting is due. So I decided to leave Ainahs and head for Cnidaria forest, maybe a bit early but I could wait in the cabin where we would meet up.

    It didn¡¯t take long for me to arrive near where Cnidaria forest should be but¡­ Did I go wrong? I don¡¯t get lost often and why is there a desert here? Don¡¯t tell me this is my fault too! Wait I haven¡¯t been here in almost 4 years there is no way this is my fault! Did someone unseal that Dimsha and turned this forest into a sandbox? Ugh, I¡¯m trying to be more accepting toward sand but this is pushing it! The river ran still through the forest/desert but nothing was growing next to it.

    How strange. Whenever you think you¡¯ve seen it all you get surprised by something else. There was nothing but sand. I got to where the cabin was supposed to be but only saw a dune and a strange guy digging. It looked like he was wearing some tribal outfit. He wasn¡¯t exactly bare-chested but he might as well have been and he was wearing a tiger hat or well not a tiger hat he wore a tiger head. Decapitated and hollowed out. What a weirdo.

    Unfortunately, I have a feeling that I know this weirdo. I could hear an electrifying buzz sound from Raishin which disappeared shortly after. Is this his version of my rain smell?

    Need help?

    Oh no, thank you, whoa Agnis! Long time no see!

    A hug for a greeting and inspection of each other¡¯s attire.

    So, what are you wearing?

    My battle armor!

    I get the battle part, where is the armor? How is this going to keep you  safe?

    It is the intimidation! It has the intimidation! Nobody has approached me or messed with me since I left Lopahz, which means it¡¯s working!

    Are you sure they¡¯re not just weirded out by your outfit?

    Why would they?

    Never mind, how have you been these last 4 years?

    Single¡­ but I got way stronger! Look at these muscles!  Raishin flexed and showed off his muscles.

    Aha¡­ good job, I guess.

    So, what have you been up to? I see that this continent is still in one piece so I guess you were slacking.

    Hey, come on I behaved! Kinda¡­ I did notice a lightning pillar from the direction of Lopahz though!

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Oh, but that¡¯s nothing compared to the 2 orange lightning beams that could be seen from even across the mountains!

    Ugh, fine, you win this round.

    It¡¯s good to see you alive and well! So, did you get a girlfriend yet?

    No¡­ you do know that our objective was to become stronger right and no chasing skirts¡­

    Some action couldn¡¯t hurt! Anyways this sand is in the way, help me dig out the forest! It must be under here somewhere!

    I think this is the forest, how weird it might sound.

    So, we can dig with lightning magic then?

    Yes, but why do we need to dig?

    For our cabin!

    But we just need to meet up here we don¡¯t have to chill in it, moreover it will have a lot of sand in it¡­ let''s just dig up Ted¡¯s memorial stone.

    I located the memorial stone, connected to the underground leyline currents, and moved the sand off it.

    Stupid sand, heavy as fuck as always.

    Ooh, you can use earth now! And without magic! That¡¯s some progress there!

    It¡¯s just sand and I¡¯d rather not deal with it if possible.

    We kept chatting during the day. Raishin¡¯s training didn¡¯t seem to be that intensive or special. He just hunted and hunted. he did work on his skillset but it was nowhere close to what I had been through in my last 4 years. I asked him about the national animal that seemed to have disappeared and as I suspected he was responsible for it. It was supposedly some strange kind of deer and he mistook it for a normal one. He was sleepy so he just thought he was seeing things and he killed it and ate it¡­ It was refreshing to hear that I wasn¡¯t the only one creating chaos somewhere. It did seem that nobody knew he was responsible, so that was good.

    I guess both of us have the luck or skill where nobody realizes the chaos we create. Since his training wasn¡¯t anything special, he wanted to know about my adventure. He did tell me an interesting story though it seems the elven population had seen a considerably large baby boom. I wonder why. I told Raishin about some of my adventures till sunset.

    Damn, I wish I could¡¯ve been there, sounds fun, although I would probably die miserably on most of those though¡­

    Ah right, here are some dynamo beans.

    Thanks! So that goddess that sealed Azu is active, eh? How long do you think we can hold out before we kick the bucket?

    I don¡¯t know, I do have some ideas so we might at least last several hours.

    A strange purring sound approached and a man with pale skin, black hair, and in a black and purple suit approached.

    I meet up with you guys for the first time in 4 years and the first thing I hear is when we will kick the bucket, at least I¡¯m glad that none of you have changed.

    Good evening, Mr. Obsidian Prince!

    I couldn¡¯t see you there in the dark, Obsidian Prince.

    And still as annoying as ever, I had hoped at least that had changed. How have you guys been?

    We spent the rest of the night telling and retelling our stories. Gregory had studied seals and curses. He told me about his encounter with the Dimsha that I had sealed away and boring stories of him spending years in the library and mastering potions. Raishin asked him about his adventurers'' name but we couldn¡¯t get anything out of him. He did say he had mastered some nasty dark, shadow, and earth magic skills and even some nature energy and that we should look forward to seeing them in action.

    You surely have made a name for yourself Silver Torrent. I have the feeling it is named after some ridiculous skill or stunt you pulled off.

    Uh yeah, I needed it to kill a demigod, it was kind of rough.  Silence fell in our small camp.

    Right, I have to congratulate you on making it out these 4 years alive on your own. If it wasn¡¯t for regular updates of the Silver Torrent¡¯s achievements, I would have thought that Raishin and I would have to continue the search for Hourai with just the 2 of us.

    Oh, come on I¡¯m not that¡­ reckless¡­ never mind. Anyways! I¡¯m still alive and kicking so it¡¯s time to revive Team Hourai!

    I took food and drinks out of my dimensional pocket and we started to party the rest of the night until morning. It transitioned into a memorial day for Ted. We told him about how we¡¯ve grown and how we¡¯re hopefully wiser now. For the first time in our lives Raishin and I joined Greg in drinking liquid shadow vodka. There was quite a lot to go around. My alcohol tolerance is low so I stopped early.

 Vol 3 Ch 2: The battle for Pineapple juice

    10 September Year 579 of the New Kaledonian calendar. Raishin and Greg were recovering from their hangover.

    So, Greg, why did the forest turn into a desert?

    Cnidaria forest goes through stages, its lifecycle changes every 4 years. The stage we found it at first was the adult stage where the forest is at its largest. Because of the shape of the forest and the nature of most of its flora, it has been called the Cnidaria forest, the trees in the middle are taller than those at the edge giving it a dome shape and this stage was called the Medusa. After this stage it would revert to a stage where all the plants turn back into seeds and move to a different spot, The Cnidaria forest has over the years travelled but it doesn¡¯t seem to follow the wind.

    Huh, what a weird forest.

    The forest is now a desert and has slightly moved from its original position. About 5km more north. This should be its second year of the desert phase and in 2 more years it would form strange formations which would look like organic rock for 4 years more years. After this, the rock formations will sprout jellyfish-like objects and bubbles that float around for another 4 years after which they will drop to the ground and reform the forest.

    I see that 4 years of living in the library wasn¡¯t for nothing .

    I didn¡¯t live in the library!

    What a nerd. So where is this forest going or where did it come from?!

    Hmm, it does seem to stick close by the river, it might follow the river all the way up north and either follow it west and end up near Ash Boshi town or go east and merge with the elven forest.

    Ew, Boshi town, I want to go to the elven forest! Let''s go!

    Or we can follow the river south and see where it came from.

    Hmm south, oh oh! Let''s go to the beach! Summer is almost over and I haven¡¯t seen chicks in biki¡­ haven¡¯t been to the beach yet!

    I am not interested in the ocean but I could use some relaxing after having spent the last 4 months in the books.

    But there is sand there¡­

    Let''s go!

    And that is how we decided to go to the beach and lived happily ever after.

    Well, I wish that was the case as nothing ever goes well for us. We first walked and followed the river but this took too long so we kidnapped Greg. I made a raft and I sped down the river. I had experience with these kinds of things so it was easy to get us safely to the sea. We went down south the Aurelia river, and crossed the border into Hyuva. We could see Gittrian in the distance. The Gittrian river would eventually merge with this one before reaching the sea.

    We hopped off and visited the beach nearby. Raishin was acting like a kid but scaring everyone away because he still had the dead tiger on his head. Gregory didn¡¯t complain as much as I expected him to and I tried to hold back on the sand complaints. It seems Raishin is the only one who¡¯s truly enjoying this.

    Oh, Greg remind me, I have made weapons for you and Raishin.

    Ooh, I haven¡¯t held a hammer in almost 4 years!

    Whud? Weren¡¯t you supposed to train that too?

    Well, yes, but offense isn¡¯t something I should focus on.

    Fair point. This hammer I made for you might have had you relearn using hammers anyways so that¡¯s a nice bonus.

    That is good, now let''s relax, Raishin is probably the only one here who doesn¡¯t need to relax, I¡¯m sure you worked yourself to the bone in your own way. Let''s use this as our rest before we get back into this world and attempt to find Hourai.

    Ok then! But then there is something we need to do!

    And that is?

    How am I supposed to relax without mango juice?! Raishin! Let''s go to that bar there and get some fresh juice!

    Oh, great idea! I¡¯m thirsty, a bit sandy and hot here.

    We arrived at the bar but the ambience seemed a bit off. The place was occupied by over 100 burly men wearing speedos.

    Eww isn¡¯t this visual pollution?

    We decided to ignore them. I ordered some mango juice, Raishin went for some coconut water and Greg went for pineapple juice. It went well until Greg ordered his juice, a burly speedo guy and Greg put up the same order at the same time and there was only 1 glass of pineapple juice left.

    I will reimburse you if you take another beverage and let me have this pineapple juice.

    ¡°No amount of money can bribe me away from pineapple juice! Give up! We were here first; we have a claim on that juice!¡± The burly guy said.

    I turn around and you already have gotten yourself into trouble Greg!

    Hey! It''s them! Look they are scaring all the customers away with their burliness! I can''t even enjoy my pineapple juice like this.

    ¡°Excuse me? Your pineapple juice? You mean MY pineapple juice!¡±

    Just let it go, Greg, it''s just pineapple juice.

    What? I can''t believe I''m hearing this from you Agnis!

    ¡°This guy has no idea what he''s talking about!¡±

    I know right!

    Hey, can I get more coconut water?

    Raishin got his second serving of coconut water and Greg and the burly speedoguy looked enviously at how someone got their drink but they didn¡¯t.

    ¡°Hey, how about a battle for this pineapple juice? Your friends against my friends!¡±

    Deal! We will bury you!

    Raishin seriously? Firstly, make sure to know the conditions to what you agree on and secondly¡­ this is not your fight! Let Greg handle this!

    But these guys are ruining the view and scaring away the hot chicks, these speedos need to go!

    I agree with Raishin, laying a claim on my pineapple juice is unacceptable, we will respectfully put you in the sand.

    ¡°Ok so if we win, we get the pineapple juice and you will join our mafia group and if you win you get the pineapple juice and we will do whatever you want, the battle is in 20 minutes.¡±

    Huh, wait we didn¡¯t agree to join your disgusting group!

    That¡¯s why you shouldn¡¯t just accept anything now we''re stuck to this! We need to win I don¡¯t want to join¡­ this¡­

    Yeah, absolutely disgusting.  Greg and I showed our utter disgust.

    ¡°Boss! These guys are insulting us!¡±

    A bigger burlier guy in a speedo approached us. ¡°Are you the guys harassing my men?¡±

    This is war guys! We will claim this pineapple juice and save this beach!

    Yes!

    Yes! Let''s get the chicks back!

    ¡°Oh, challenging the great Garo, you guys have guts!¡± We ignored this newcomer and made a plan.

    I had a shadow clone lay out traps on the beach where we would fight in 10 minutes. We saw this as a good exercise to get back into it and do some teamwork.

    ¡°So, me and my right-hand man and my left-hand man are ready to beat you punks!¡± I yawned.

    A 3v3? You really aren¡¯t trying, eh? Is this pineapple juice unimportant to you?

    ¡°I won¡¯t fall for this cheap provocation You will not insult our certified yakuza group!¡±

    A what? Aren¡¯t you just making things up now? What even is a certified yakuza group?

    And what is a yakuza group doing on a beach drinking all the pineapple juice, go do yakuza stuff somewhere else, shoo shoo, and give me my pineapple juice.

    This Garo guy started to become extremely angry. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me how to run my yakuza group! Fine! Guys! They asked for it lets show these 3 morons how things are run here!¡±

    You don¡¯t run though, you¡¯re just sitting and flexing, how about you run into the sea or something?

    Or put on shorts and shirts, how about that?

    ¡°You know what? Fine! We will show that even at half-strength we can beat you!¡±

    Dressing up like a normal person makes you guys weaker?

    There is no point in talking to them let''s get on the beach to kick their asses and get our pineapple juice.

    Wait, give me a second. One more mango juice!

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    The speedos and Greg looked enviously as I got my mango juice and drank it. ¡°I¡¯ve had it enough with your provocations! Let''s fight now!¡±

    A random speedo guy read the rules, no killing of course bla bla. Too bad they don¡¯t know about the traps that are lying around here. Not much we will have to do.

    ¡°Aand fight!¡±

    I swapped some burly guys on traps and they got blasted into the sky. Raishin started throwing attacks around. His accuracy had improved but their destructive power had increased. Greg grabbed the speedos and threw them onto the traps I had set. He also slapped most of them around with a [Shadow Hand].

    The goal was to practice some teamwork but these guys were so unorganized and weak that it wasn¡¯t really needed. I kept swapping speedos around so they even hit their own allies. Raishin kept teleporting left and right. He seemed to be able to do it in rapid succession and accurately. And with low mana disruption, probably used to sneak up on his prey. He kept teleporting behind them, tapping on someone''s shoulder and teleporting away. The burly guys tried to punch him when he did that but they hit their allies. Greg also messed with their shadows so that they were more likely to hit their allies. At one point the three of us didn¡¯t need to do much because they started some infighting.

    Raishin blast them away!

    Raishin sent out a strong [Wind Blast] that knocked most of the speedos out. Only Garo and another guy was left. I swapped him with a rock that was on the bottom of a pit that a clone had dug. I connected to the underground leyline current and filled the hole with sand. Only his head was sticking out.

    I took out a jar of my secret weapon and pushed a spoonful of super-strong mustard into his mouth causing him to passed out. Greg [Shadow Melded] to Garo¡¯s shadow and made his shadow form into a ball which caused Garo to take on a similar shape.

    ¡°owowowow! I surrender! You can have the juice!¡±

    Yes!  Greg ran to the bar to claim his prize.

    ¡°Ugh, we lost, what do you guys want?¡±

    I looked at Raishin.

    Hmm

    Hmm.

    <hr>

    Gregory returned with his juice.  Huh, what¡¯s going on? Why are they still here?

    Well, Agnis wanted them to build this new thing called a yacht, and after that, they will leave the beach.

    I was ordering the speedos to bring some stuff into the yacht they were building. It was a kind of boat but it ran on some alternative power source. It leaves no mana trail behind so it''s impossible to follow. The car things have that too. It will be hard or impossible for Silent Night to track you if you take those unless you leave obvious tracks behind. This yacht will be useful because we might need a boat like that one day. We will test it out and then I will store it after we¡¯re done. For some random yakuza, they sure know how to build one though. Are they affiliated with Yttroz Industries somehow?

    It took quite a while and the beach started to become populated again because the speedos were mostly busy in this concentrated spot of the beach instead of everywhere. Raishin went hunting for some chicks and Gregory was relaxing in the shade. It took them 4 hours and it was done. I had a weird hunch so I also had them load crates full of bananas in. I had seen some monkeys not too far from here so we might need bananas to distract them because they like to harass people. One of those monkeys is harassing Raishin at the moment. I swapped a banana to my hand and threw it into the dunes. The monkeys made sounds and went after the banana.

    ¡°That was the last crate of bananas!¡±

    Good, now scram!

    The speedos left and I started eating some bananas while inspecting my yacht. Does this thing have a manual? It shouldn¡¯t be that much different from a normal boat. I went to the side and engraved S.S. Banana on the side.

    Perfect!

    Are you doing something useless again?

    I handed Greg a banana.

    Thanks.

    Greg and I inspected the boat while eating bananas. We got harassed by monkeys but nothing a simple [Banana Throw] wouldn¡¯t fix. Well, that¡¯s not a real skill but it¡¯s effective. I also saw some gulls stealing food from beach tourists. The animals here are quite ruthless. It reminds me of the pranks I played on the Misha.

    I attempted to make another sand castle, this time further from the ocean but some snotnosed kids trashed my castle. I felt powerless again. Why are kids allowed to do this? I can''t do anything back to them! I sneaked some bananas into their clothes and they got harassed by monkeys. Nature will punish them.

    But that¡¯s enough sand for today! It was time for a boat trip! As I approached the yacht, I saw Raishin with a dog on the leash.

    Do I even want to know?

    A chick with big badonkers told me she would hang out with me if I watched the dog while she went shopping.

    You are taken advantage of¡­ how long ago was that?

    Dunno, 2 or 3 hours ago.

    So, what are you going to do with that dog? We¡¯re about to leave.

    We can bring it with us!

    That is a terrible idea, did they say when they would come back?

    Somewhere, today.

    ¡­Right, just bring the dog on board then¡­

    ¡°Hey, is this your yacht?¡± A unfamiliar voice asked.

    Whoa, Agnis! Look at those badonkers! Yes, this is my yacht!

    I facepalmed. Raishin was trying to get 5 random chicks on board.

    Raishin you asshole this is not your ship! Look what does this say?!

    S.S Banana?

    ¡°What a strange name!¡±

    ¡±Maybe we will pass on this free boat trip.¡°

    Look what you¡¯ve done you scared the chick with big badonkers away!

    Good! I don¡¯t want any randoms on my ship!

    Ugh, you could use a girlfriend too, how about that short one?

    You are ridiculous¡­ just get that dog on board and we will leave, Greg is already on board.

    Meh, fine.

    Raishin got the dog on board. It had long hair and it looked quite stupid.

    ¡°Hey! What are you doing with my dog!¡± A red-haired chick with a nice figure in a red bikini came running with a friend with light blonde hair in a ponytail, she wore a light blue bikini, she also had a nice figure.

    I think I found out what your type is Raishin¡­  Hehe, nice figures eh? The redhead is mine! You can have the blonde!

    They are people, not tradeable goods!

    The chicks boarded the yacht. ¡°Is this your yacht?¡±

    Ye¡­

    This guy has ulterior motives, I apologize for this idiot but this is my yacht.

    ¡°Oh, we know, he isn¡¯t that good at hiding it. The name is Christina.¡± The redhead extended her hand and I shook it.

    Agnis.

    ¡°This is my dog  Haroldus Remulos Maximus the Second¡±

    Oh, what happened to   Haroldus Maxulos Reximus the First?

    ¡°It¡¯s Haroldus Remulos Maximus the Second! And the First ran away¡­¡±

    Probably for a good reason...

    ¡°My name is Hayley; nice to meet you Agnis!¡±

    I shook her hand but something was off with her. Why is she so overly familiar?

    Anyways, you got your dog, we¡¯re about to leave. You go do what ehh beach babes do.

    ¡°Ohh, beach babes? Us?¡±

    ¡°Hey, can¡¯t we come with you guys, that strange guy did promise us a boat ride!¡± I looked at Raishin. He pretended that he had no idea what was going on.

    Right, just a warning strange things happen to us so I would advise you to stay on shore but if you don¡¯t mind then stay, I would advise you to keep an eye on Rexoldus Heximus Minimus the Second because I sense that a storm might be brewing.

    ¡°That¡¯s not his name! Get it right!¡± The red head did her color scheme justice and got heated up.

    ¡°Now, now Crissy it is not such a big deal, your dog does have a long name though¡­¡±

    Anyway, I gotta find out... I have to steer this vessel so go talk to Greg or Raishin. Although maybe better if you don¡¯t talk to him, he¡¯s probably out for your bodies, especially Mina.

    ¡°The name is Cristina!¡±

    Cool, cya!

    ¡°Hey, can I watch?¡± The blonde-haired chick was doing it again. I put up a difficult face and she seemed to be amused.

    You know what, do what you want, I don¡¯t care, if we sink it''s your fault though! Greg! Stop taking so damn long drinking 1 glass of pineapple juice! Sipping on it for over 4 hours is ridiculous! Keep an eye out for Raishin!

    Ugh, you noticed? Fine, I will keep an eye on him, Hello ladies.

    That Tina girl seemed to be into Greg, poor Raishin. Maybe bringing them was a bad idea, anyway not my problem, time to find out how this boat works!

    Right let¡¯s see, hmm what does this do?  I kept messing around. Why does this thing have so many buttons?

    ¡°Do you know how to steer this?¡±

    I jumped back.  What? A sneak attack?!

    ¡°I followed you here remember silly?¡±

    Ugh, this was a bad idea, anyway enough messing around, time to get out of here before Raishin brings more chicks on board.

    I connected to the air leyline currents and [Flushed] the yacht into the ocean and started to steer it with directed [Flushes].

    ¡°That is a very interesting way of steering the boat.¡± She said as she just kept watching. Isn¡¯t that boring?

    I found a suspicious button and it turned the boat on so I could steer it and look like I knew what I was doing.

    Just some warm-up exercises, now time to get serious!

    Is she here to make sure I steer this ship properly? Is she some sort of spy or something? Did we get careless and let assassins on the yacht? It is suspicious that they show so much interest. I will have to keep an eye on them.

    So, I said that I was going to keep an eye on them but I was having too much fun steering the yacht around and drifting with it. I can do the stuff I do in the racing games with it. The winds started to pick up and we encountered dolphins playing around. This chick who apparently was named Hayley seemed to love dolphins and wanted me to follow them. I had no reason to decline so I just did that.

 Vol 3 Ch 3: Dolphin Racing

    Dolphins started to gather around the boat. Christina and Raishin seemed to like playing with them, Raishin threw bread at the dolphins to eat.

    Raishin, stop feeding the dolphins, bread is not in their diet.

    So, what do they eat then?

    Predominantly meat.

    Raishin grabbed Christina¡¯s dog and threw it at the dolphins.

    How about that? Remuldus Memulus Haximus the Second is made out of meat, right?

    ¡°Noo! And that¡¯s not his name!¡± Christina leaned overboard and tried to retrieve her dog.

    Raishin are you insane? You can''t just throw a dog, and with meat, I meant fish, why isn¡¯t this logical for you?

    ¡°Haroldus! Come here! I should have taught you how to swim!¡±

    Isn''t swimming a part of a dog''s starter pack?

    Gregory smacked Raishin.

    Look the dolphins are saving Melidus Hafordus Secundus the Doggus!

    ¡°That¡¯s not Haroldus'' name! And they¡¯re not saving him they¡¯re taking him away! That¡¯s my dog! Dolphins over here!¡±

    Are you happy now? Now you made her cry.

    Oh, I¡¯m sorry I didn¡¯t know he was important to you.

    Cristina gave Raishin a death glare with tears in her eyes.

    Hey, you guys make an awful lot of noise up here, I can¡¯t even eat my tuna sandwich in peace.

    Agnis emerged with a captain hat and Hayley behind her.

    ¡°This lunatic threw  Haroldus Remulos Maximus the Second overboard to feed the dolphins! And wait¡­ weren¡¯t you the captain? If you''re here who¡¯s steering the ship?¡±

    Uh, Hayley, I thought you would take over.

    ¡°Oh, I thought that was one of your many jokes.¡±

    ¡°What is wrong with all of you?!¡± Christina started to lose it when a shockwave went through the boat and everyone got knocked off balance.

    A dolphin jumped up and snatched Agnis¡¯ sandwich.

    Agnis! You can¡¯t feed dolphins sandwiches bread isn¡¯t in their diet!

    I didn¡¯t feed him! He stole my food! And it''s Captain Agnis for you!

    Really? This again?

    And how about feeding them fish instead of dogs?

    How about fishdogs? Not hot dogs but instead of the bread it has fish!

    But hot dogs don¡¯t have actual dogs in them¡­. Anyways, not the point! This jerk stole my sandwich! He will pay for it!

    ¡°Dogs as food?! Are you a monster? How could you eat something as sweet as Haroldus?!¡°

    Agnis went back inside while Christina was going nuts. ¡°And what about my dog? Why is a sandwich more important than my dog?¡±

    Let''s pay respects to Secondus Remundus Harrumis the Maximus.

    ¡°His name I  Haroldus Remulos Maximus the Second and he''s not dead!¡±

    Yet

    Christina shot a mean glare at Raishin.

    The intercom played off some static before a voice could be heard.

    Ahum ladies, gentlemen, and Raishin, I would advise you all to grab tight onto something because the dolphins have declared war on us and we are going to retrieve our snack. These dolphins are quite smart so they have mastered the art of provoking and they have successfully provoked me. 11 dolphins have challenged us to a race, the front most dolphin has my sandwich but we could go out of our way to retrieve Humberto Rombalus uhh dog.

    Gregory headed inside.

    Do you actually know how to steer this thing? There seems to be a shallow reef nearby.

    It can¡¯t be harder than steering a floating snackbox.

    What?

    Never mind, I got this. Go grab some bananas, we¡¯re going to destroy these dolphins.

    This isn¡¯t the time to eat bananas!

    Correct we need them to distract and protect us from the dolphins, look they''re throwing shit at us!

    Coral, sea stars, and sea shells got thrown at the boat and Agnis steered out of the way of all the ocean junk thrown at them.

    Go!

    Greg  left and started hauling some boxes filled with bananas on deck.

    Ooh, perfect! Just like our racing game!

    Raishin started peeling bananas and throwing them at the dolphins

    What are you doing? How many times do I have to tell you that dolphins eat meat!

    It¡¯s made to make them slip!

    ¡°But dolphins swim¡­ It¡¯s impossible to slip while swimming¡­¡± Christina said as she tried to keep up with what was happening.

    I knew that! I just have to throw these at their faces!

    Raishin threw the banana peels toward the dolphins behind them but this didn¡¯t seem to work out.

    It¡¯s not working!

    I think you have to thank echolocation for that.

    What?

    ¡°This can¡¯t be real right? This must be a dream! My dog is gone, we¡¯re racing against dolphins! This can¡¯t be real!¡± Christina crouched down and started to hyperventilate.

    ¡°Agnis did warn us though that strange things happen to them.¡± Hayley also started throwing banana peels.

    ¡°But I thought it was to just get us off the boat!¡±

    Nope, this is normal for us.

    One of us! One of us!

    The intercom activated again.

    This is Captain Agnis speaking, we¡¯re approaching a shallow reef. I need someone to go to the roof and disable the dolphins in front of us, also we¡¯re going to speed up, this asshole is munching on my sandwich!

    ¡°What about my dog?¡±

    What about your hotdog? Did they steal your food too?

    ¡°Wait, you can hear me from there? And no not a hotdog! My dog! Haroldus!¡±

    Who? Anyways no point in dealing with imaginary friends, there is a dolphin that¡¯s carrying a dog though, you¡¯ll just have to do with that one.

    ¡°What¡¯s with all of you? Each of you is insane!¡± Christina realized that joining this boat trip was an enormous mistake.

    Don¡¯t lump me together with those idiots.  Greg created [Shadow Tendrils] and knocked out some dolphins.

    Raishin, I swear if you use lightning, I will personally kick your ass!

    Raishin who was about to throw lightning around stopped what he was doing.

    The yacht hit something and loud scraping sounds could be heard. The 2 chicks started to scream.

    Another announcement over the intercom.

    This is Captain Agnis, I may or may not have hit something, Raishin can you check?

    Aye Aye sir!  Raishin went below deck while Greg was dealing with the dolphins that started to throw water magic at the yacht.

    -I thought you knew how to steer this vessel? We¡¯re scraping over the coral and the hull has a huge hole, we will sink the moment we get back to the water. -  - Can you fix it by welding it back together?-

    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    -Uh, not really, I can do my best though.-  -I guess we will have to go fast enough to prevent water from entering then! Let¡¯s go faster! -

    The engines made a strange sound as the yacht accelerated and Raishin did his best to weld any small holes appearing in the hull.

    Meanwhile, Hayley and Cristina were grabbing on to the railing of the yacht to secure themselves in this wild ride.

    ¡°This is sure a crazy adventure, you should learn how to relax Christina.¡±

    ¡°Relax? Relax?! Do you see what¡¯s going on here? And poor Haroldus! How am I supposed to relax!¡±

    This is Captain Agnis, a storm is approaching, I hope you guys like getting wet!

    Nono! Not like this!

    Gregory panicked as the wind picked up and rain started to fall. Gregory gathered shadows and made a large umbrella. Hayley and Christina hid under the umbrella with him. The boat was still scraping over the shallow coral reef but the first place was in sight.

    Look it¡¯s the dolphin that stole your dog!

    ¡°He didn¡¯t steal my dog you threw Haroldus at him!¡±

    ¡°You guys have fun here; I will see what Agnis is up to.¡± Hayley went inside and saw Agnis pondering.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    Oh, it¡¯s you, I was wondering how we are supposed to get through that. Agnis pointed at a narrow opening in a large rock formation at the end of the reef.

    ¡°Uuhm, can¡¯t we avoid it?¡±

    The dolphins are going through that. Alright, it¡¯s time to speed up!

    ¡°Wait! Even more?!¡±

    Agnis sped up, made a sharp turn and broke the steering device.

    Hmm, they don¡¯t make these like they used to.

    For the first in a long time, Hayley felt panic. She prided herself in keeping a cool and calm mind even in the direst situations but she had never experienced something like this.

    ¡°W...what do we do! Aren¡¯t we going to sink now?¡±

    Well technically we¡¯re already sinking, Raishin is unable to fix the big hole in the hull.

    ¡°W...w¡­what? I¡¯m too young and beautiful to die!¡± Hayley fell to her knees. ¡°And single to boot¡­ hey Agnis are you perhaps willing to¡­¡±

    Don¡¯t be silly, nobody is dying here.  Agnis connected to the leyline energy and created water dragons by using [Water Dragon Dance] and steered the boat.

    See? Easy! Now excuse me I need to make an announcement to the ship. Agnis grabbed a device and pressed a button.

    Ahum Captain Agnis speaking here! We have a slight issue here; the dolphins'' race brings us into the dangerous maybe narrow but extremely dark cave up ahead. Anyone who doesn¡¯t have night vision ehh figure something out. Good luck!

    ¡°But how are you going to steer if we can¡¯t see?¡± Hayley noticed that Agnis¡¯ eyes were glowing a soft yellow. It looked dangerous yet alluring.

    Hold on tight!

    Agnis turned the boat to head straight into the cave.

    Hayley grabbed on to Agnis.  Hey, not to me! I need to move!

    ¡°Please! I¡¯m scared!¡±

    Ugh, what a pain. We¡¯re lucky that the leyline energy can carry us through this. Give me a second.

    -Raishin, we will hit deep water after we get out of this cave, what is the status of the hull?-  -We will have a good 20 seconds before we turn into fish food, might want to warn Greg, he will kill you anyways though.-

    - Ugh, fine.-

    Hey, can you tell Greg that we might get wet a good 20 seconds after we get out of this cave?

    ¡°Aww but I want to hold on longer.¡± Hayley reluctantly let go and went to deck where she found chaos.

    ¡°Come here stupid dolphin! Give me my dog back!¡± Christina was flinging fire at the dolphin that had ¡®abducted¡¯ her dog.

    At this point, you will really turn him into a hotdog¡­

    They entered the dark cave and nobody could see anything, besides¡­

    ¡°Hey, how do you do that, Agnis¡¯ eyes were glowing too!¡±

    Ah this, we can see in the dark, we¡¯re not exactly human.

    ¡°Huh? Are you monsters?! Are you going to eat us?!¡±

    ¡°Crissy don¡¯t be silly they¡¯re probably beast kin or something, how fascinating! So, what are you?!¡±

    I¡¯m a cat, Agnis is a fox and that idiot that¡¯s bumping into everything there is a tiger.

    Hey, who turned the lights out? I can¡¯t see anything!

    ¡°Is that why he¡¯s wearing a tiger hat?¡±

    Hat? You know what, yeah that¡¯s why he¡¯s wearing the hat.  Gregory started to manipulate the shadows while Hayley and Christina barraged him with questions.

    The intercom went off.

    This is Captain Agnis, who betrayed us and let their dog steer a dolphin? He just passed us by! I think the dog was mocking us!

    ¡°That¡¯s  Haroldus Remulos Maximus the Second ! Please help me get him back!¡±

    Very well, get ready to collect Ronaldus Secandilus Hondurus the Mist after I knock this dolphin out!

    ¡°That¡¯s not his name! why can¡¯t anyone get his name right!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what you¡¯re focusing on Crissy? He¡¯s getting your dog back. Aren¡¯t you thankful?¡±

    ¡°Ugh, thank you Agnis!¡±

    Can your dog swim?

    ¡°What?¡±

    A [Dragon] flew out and knocked out 2 dolphins in front of them. Christina and Hayley couldn¡¯t see this because it was dark but Greg saw precisely what happened. He created a [Shadow Tendril] and fished the wet dog out of the water before the boat would pass over it.

    Here you go.

    ¡°My hero!¡± Cristina hugged Greg.

    Hey, too close! I just fished him out!

    Hahahaha! Take that dolphins! You won¡¯t get first place!

    ¡°His intercom is still on¡­¡± Hayley said as she shook her head.

    Light appeared at the end of the corridor.

    Ugh, I can finally see, I should¡¯ve done this earlier.

    Why are you so useless?

    Hey, I can¡¯t see well in the dark like you or Agnis!

    But you¡¯re a tiger!

    So?

    Never mind¡­

    Quite a bumpy ride, it seems Agnis is having fun.  The boat rocked wildly as Agnis was gathering water from under the boat and sending it at the dolphins.

    Ahum, Captain Agnis here, the dog dolphin has been vanquished, I hope you have your dog back.

    ¡°Yes! Thank you!¡±

    Hey, Christina, can I have a hug too?

    Christina stayed at Greg¡¯s side and shot a mean glare at Raishin.

    I spotted my sandwich! We¡¯re going fast!

    The boat sped up and light could be seen in the distance.

    Whooo! He¡¯s going all out! Too bad he has 20 seconds after we get out of this cave.

    Huh why is that?

    Didn¡¯t he tell you about the huge hole in our hull?

    ¡°What?! So, we¡¯re going to sink after I finally reunited with  Haroldus Remulos Maximus the Second?¡±

    ¡°Ah right, Agnis did mention something about that.¡±

    Huh, Hayley how are you so calm this is dire! Hey Agnis!

    The yacht shot out of the cave and hit deep water. A large [Water Hand] slapped the dolphin and reclaimed the sandwich. They also shot past the dolphin which occupied the first place!

    Haha, we win! And I got my sandwich back!

    Agnis came on deck and received the half-eaten tuna sandwich from the [Water Hand].

    Ugh, it¡¯s all soggy, this is inedible!

    ¡°Wait, we went through all this, lost my dog, this traumatic race for a soggy sandwich?! And who is steering the yacht!¡±

    Well, we¡¯re sinking so there is no point in steering it, this storm is also a problem.

    They looked up and the sky was filled with grey dark clouds and the rain was unrelenting.

    Agnis, tell me you have a plan!

    Ehh we swim back?

    Swim¡­ what do you mean swim?! You know I can¡¯t swim!

    Huh, weren¡¯t we supposed to get rid of our weaknesses in the last 4 years? Why didn¡¯t you learn how to swim?

    Who goes to the beach without knowing how to swim?

    That''s not the point! We were supposed to just hop by the beach and have a boat trip! Swimming is useless in those activities!

    Agnis pointed at the yacht which was slowly sinking.

    This is a special case!

    So, who else can¡¯t swim?

    Nobody reacted.

    See Greg, everyone here can swim!

    Agnis fed the soggy sandwich to the dog while Raishin, Greg, and Christina were arguing.

 Vol 3 Ch 4: Dolphinus Woofus Sandwichus the Breathless

    So not only are you a hammer user you¡¯re a hammer yourself? Hahaha!

    This isn¡¯t funny Raishin!

    Tina, your dog stinks, he needs a bath!

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t stink!¡± Her face got a bit red.

    Disagree, Dolphinus Woofus Sandwichus the Breathless smells like a wet dog!

    ¡°Stop calling him those weird names! His name is  Haroldus Remulos Maximus the Second!¡±

    ¡°So, what do we do about this storm? Also, we¡¯re still sinking, I know I¡¯m wearing this sexy bikini but I would still prefer to stay dry.¡± Hayley looked at the sky.

    I thought about the situation. Teleporting was out. This storm also seemed like it would become quite wild. The best way was to either chill in that cave, which was quite far by now, or go underwater. These guys had no experience with deep sea adventures but I have. I should be able to pull this off. I looked at Raishin and Greg who were still arguing.

    Agnis! You can teleport us, right?!

    We are too far from shore also I can only teleport myself with the other type, our best shot is to hide underwater.

    Noo! Raishin! You must have a teleport that works right?

    Haha no way, I might be able to teleport further than Agnis but I have no clue where we are and it is probably too far.

    Nooo!

    Some water will do you good, now my suggestion is to wait out this storm underwater, no waves, no possible lightning strikes and the kind.

    ¡°But isn¡¯t the ocean dangerous?¡± Hayley shifted her focus on the waves that seemed to grow wilder and wilder. I wonder what Wild Fang is up to. He would have loved this situation.

    The alternatives are too.

    Raishin and I started making air floats for Greg and the chicks because the yacht was sinking quite fast now.

    I still hate water.

    I started to create a big bubble that we could take underwater. Apparently, Greg told the chicks what we were so I got 6 tails out.

    ¡°Wow! I didn¡¯t know foxes had 6 tails! They look so fluffy; can I touch them?!¡± Crissy seemed to be interested in my tails, just like everyone else.

    I looked at Greg and he facepalmed.  I told them that you¡¯re a fox beast kin, not a nine tailed spirit fox¡­

    Oh.

    But didn¡¯t the fox beast kin go extinct?

    ¡°Wait, they did? Really?¡± Hayley looked shocked. ¡°I did not know that¡­¡±

    I guess they didn¡¯t know that, anyways the fox is out of the bag, Raishin keep an eye out on Greg.

    I made a nice big comfy bubble. I don¡¯t normally take my time making these but this one was extremely sturdy.

    <hr>

    10 minutes well spent. I moved Greg into the bubble first and then the chicks. Raishin helped himself. I had captured some of the yacht¡¯s hull around the bubble to make us sink.

    Right, we¡¯re ready.

    ¡°Ugh, I¡¯m so stressed¡­ Haroldus come here¡­ Haroldus? Haroldus! Where is he!¡±

    Did you lose your dog again?

    I saw him swimming away chasing a duck after we realized that we were sinking.

    Christina grabbed him by his collar and shook him violently yelling why he didn¡¯t stop the dog. Raishin replied that he thought the dog could use some recreation with his eyes spinning. Greg paid his respects to Duck Hunterino Swimawayus the Lost.

    ¡°You guys love messing with Crissy don¡¯t you?¡±

    Christina was hyperventilating. ¡°Haroldus isn¡¯t dead!¡±

    Yet.  I got a mean glare which I ignored. The storm picked up and we needed to get out of here.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°Let me out! I need to find him!¡±

    ¡°Crissy! It¡¯s too dangerous you can¡¯t!¡±

    It¡¯s just a dog¡­

    Christina lost it and assaulted Raishin. ¡°This is all your fault!¡±

    I sighed.  What a clown fiesta, Raishin keep the bubble intact, we¡¯re descending, Crissy, I will get your Woofus, just stay calm is that ok with you?

    ¡°Really?! You would do that for me?¡± I dodged a hug and got hit by the follow-up. ¡°Thank you! You have no idea what he means to me!¡±

    Right... you look like a mess; I can go only after you let me go.

    Hey, Agnis is this a good idea?

    Do you want to be stuck with her in a bubble after leaving her dog behind? Also, I¡¯m the only one suited for this. Just keep the bubble intact, it will keep descending though.

    We were already 25m under the surface.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, I appreciate that you do this for Crissy but, he¡¯s right is this really a good idea?¡±

    I¡¯ll be back before you know it!

    Famous last words.

    Someone smack him, please.

    Greg replied by smacking him.

    Ow!

    Alright, cya!

    I got out of the bubble and used my regular underwater setup and went to look for Woofus. I activated my Elgards eyes and scanned the surface for doglike creatures. I detected 3 different species. How strange. It was quite far from here. I used [Waterfall] and sped up. It took quite a while and the bubble with everyone should be at a depth of around 1.8km now, it will be at almost 3 km after I get there. How did this dog get this far in just 10-20 minutes?

    I arrived and I found Woofus being drowned by some seals and strange waterdogs. I need to read up on the creatures of this planet again because nothing seems normal anymore.

    A bubble formed around Woofus after I used wind leyline energy to save him. I grabbed his bubble with my tail and I [Flushed] the bullies away. The 2 seals backed off but the 3 water dogs let out a strange howl and attacked me. I surely don¡¯t hope they think Woofus is one of them.

    My evasive maneuvers shot out [Water Blades] and the waterdogs got blasted away. I used [Waterfall] and attempted to return to the group but a whole swarm of waterdogs appeared and started attacking me. I made sure to continuously refresh the air in his bubble as I kept evading. Do I fight them and waste time or do I shake them off?

    I took some snacks out of my dimensional pocket and chucked them into the water. A large part got distracted and I used this chance to get away. My secret weapon or my poison won¡¯t be effective underwater. [Water Dragon Dance] made the dragons swirl around me while I kept escaping. [Ice mines] got left behind to catch more of these waterdogs. I have no time to deal with these waterdogs! And these ice mines seemed to have made them more aggressive.

    I decided to get all my tails out and go back as fast as possible. A big waterdog and a small group of others could keep up with me. How annoying. I teleported 1000m further and kept going but they slowly caught up. The bubble should be at around 3.4km deep now, I can¡¯t lure these guys to the bubble.

    I created more ice mines but these would float up after it traps up a waterdog. The big waterdog was unrelenting. He couldn¡¯t catch me but he was a huge thorn in my side. Why don¡¯t these guys realize that I could just [Boil] them and turn them into hotdogs? Get the message, and leave me alone while I¡¯m still trying to escape peacefully!

    I created an [Ice wall] and the waterdog crashed into it. The wall turned into a box and I pumped out the water and got air in with wind leyline which caused it to float up. I reinforced it with frost and was relieved because I finally got rid of him. The waterdog bashed against the ice walls but to no avail. Just some smaller waterdogs were left to deal with. I made sure to refresh the air for Woofus at a regular interval but I noticed something.

    A short break was in order so I made a bubble and petted Woofus.  So that happened, eh? Let''s keep it a secret from Crissy.

    Woofus barked and I gave him a new bubble and continued the escape. 10 minutes was how long it took me to lose or float all my pursuers. This all was extremely tiring. I did a lot of underwater acrobatics. It would have been easier to just kill all of them. I should have done that. Am I getting too soft? If I drown because of exhaustion this would be all my fault. I have been gone for way longer than I planned. Almost 2 hours. I hope Greg isn''t going to chew me out. I had to dive down quite a lot.

    This part of the ocean seemed to be extremely deep. The bubble had an estimated depth of 5491 meters by now. Greg might be fine, Raishin would be fine but the chicks might be freaking out. Nothing will be visible from the inside. I don¡¯t know if Raishin made some light but if he makes it too bright it might attract some ugly fish.

    There is a lot of yacht around the bubble so they should be relatively hidden unless a monster snoops around. To the outside, it just looks like a hunk of metal sinking suspiciously slow. I don¡¯t think most monsters are smart enough to notice that it¡¯s suspicious. The bubble came in sight 2 hours and 43 minutes after I had initially left almost nearing 6 km depth. I was extremely tired; I would find out how to get this bubble to the surface after I took a nap. I got into the wreck and entered the bubble.

    Ugh, I can''t go out for a bit and you guys make a mess.

    ¡°Haroldus! I was so worried! I thought I might have killed you with my unreasonable request!¡±

    Don¡¯t worry about it

    ¡°You¡¯re back!¡± I dodged Hayley and observed how Greg was frantically closing up holes in the bubble and how Raishin was passed out.

    Thank Hourai, you didn''t kick the bucket! Mind helping out?

    I used water Dragonvein to close the holes.  What in Hourai happened here?

    ¡°Your friend here started to practice with his spear and in doing so poked holes in the bubble, Crissy and Greg knocked him out and Greg has been fixing holes for the last 30 minutes.¡±

    I looked at the small campfire Raishin must have made.  Right sorry about all this but I¡¯m extremely exhausted, I will nap and then bring us back up, hopefully. I also am extremely hungry because those dolphin jerks stole my lunch but I will eat after I wake up. Good night.

    I curled up in my tails and fell asleep.

 Vol 3 Ch 5: Seasnake of the Breathless

    I woke up and uncurled. The first thing I had to dodge was a happy dog that jumped at me. The second was 2 chicks that wanted to thank me. None of the 3 seemed to want to give up so I took my loss and stopped dodging. Crissy kept thanking me, Woofus was just doing dog things and Hayley¡­ why does she need to thank me actually?

    Ugh, ok I get it you¡¯re thankful! You can let go now, is Raishin still knocked out?

    He woke up 3 hours ago but I knocked him out again just to be sure, I don¡¯t want him to cause trouble while you¡¯re asleep.

    I see, it seems we¡¯ve stopped sinking.

    I had to wildly wag my tails because Crissy and Hayley seemed to want to assault them and I had my tails dodge them. It didn¡¯t seem to work so I hid them.

    Crissy pouted. ¡°Aww, can¡¯t we feel them even for a bit?¡±

    Asking that is rude! It¡¯s as if I would ask to stroke your butt!

    ¡°If that¡¯s what it takes to stroke those fluffy tails you can go on ahead!¡± Hayley turned around and stuck out her butt. I just stared. What¡¯s wrong with this chick?

    ¡°Hayley!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    You sound just like Raishin. Anyways I¡¯m hungry, let''s eat.  I took a buffet out of my dimensional pocket and we started to eat.

    ¡°So, Greg, explained to us what you guys are, again. So even Raishin is a mythical beast, eh? He could have fooled me.¡± Hayley kept eating with a glimmer of curiosity in her eyes.

    Crissy was talking to Woofus and feeding him. Woofus only seemed to be interested in bread though.

    I had to tell them; Hayley kept asking¡­

    It would be nice if you stopped telling others our sensitive information...

    ¡°So, tell me more about yourself!¡±

    I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re so fascinated I¡¯m just a regular guy besides being a 9t.

    Greg almost choked on his food and coughed. Ugh, regular guy? You?!

    Hey, no need to be an asshole about it! I haven¡¯t been discovered yet so that means I fall within that can be considered human!

    I don¡¯t think that¡¯s because you''re a convincing human, they are just at a loss at what else you could be.

    Oh, ok then Mr. smartass how have your 4 years been? Did they ever doubt you?

    Of course not, how about you? I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve been accused of being an alien once or twice!

    Ugh, fine you win.

    Hayley''s curiosity wasn''t satiated yet so she kept asking questions. ¡°So how are you different from a human?¡±

    You¡¯re too close Hayley and might want to put some more clothes on.

    ¡°But we¡¯re still at the ocean, don¡¯t you like my bikini?¡±

    It just reminds me of something a bit uncomfortable to think about. That¡¯s all, but if you want to continue walking around like this I won''t complain, just don¡¯t complain when that guy wakes up and starts to harass you.  I pointed at Raishin who was still out cold.

    ¡°Why is he wearing that tiger hat this whole time? I¡¯m curious how he looks, aren¡¯t you too Haroldus?¡± Woofus barked and ran to Raishin, Crissy followed and took off his ¡®hat¡¯.

    ¡°Whoa, Hayley look at this, he is quite handsome!¡±

    ¡°Oh, too bad he is a bit too crazy, so Agnis tell me more about yourself!¡±

    How about we start making plans to head up?

    This guy is not too big on talking about himself, you might have heard of the Silver Torrent, that¡¯s him.

    Hey, stop talking about other people''s lives Mr. Obsidian Prince!

    ¡°Oh my! You¡¯re the Silver Torrent?! And we have the Obsidian Prince?! We got so lucky Crissy! Jenny won¡¯t believe this hehe.¡± Hayley had a malicious smile. What is wrong with these chicks?

    ¡°So you need to be crazy to become a well-known adventurer eh? I should keep that in mind for after I graduate.¡± Crissy started to take notes.

    Nono. He¡¯s just special, you can be an adventurer and be normal.

    Hey, I¡¯m not special I¡¯m ehh. Hmm, I''m not normal.

    ¡°Silver Torrent, the talk of the university! Hey, how about studying with us at Fugaku University?¡±

    Those things are overrated and lectures are boring as hell.

    How would you know, have you been to university?

    I kept quiet, I can¡¯t very well reveal that I spent over a half year living with the Misha or witches as they know them by. That¡¯s one of the many things I haven¡¯t told them because Raishin would get jealous and ask stupid stuff and Greg would scold me for many things I¡¯ve done there.

    I don¡¯t need to go to a place like that, there is nothing they can teach me, do they teach you how to make a bubble like this and survive almost 3 hours in the deep sea?

    ¡°Ah, you might have a point¡­ too bad, I would love to study with you.¡±

    ¡°Stop lying Hayley, you wouldn¡¯t spend much studying if he was around.¡±

    Right, I will just ignore this because I have no idea what you guys are talking about, I¡¯m not following any lectures. Now let''s catch some fish before we go up.  I looked around but there weren¡¯t many fish around and those that were, were extra ugly and didn¡¯t seem tasty at all.

    Hmm more ugly fish here, nothing there, oh, Greg I found an underwater cave.

    This deep down? Is this a good idea? Nothing ever went well after we went into caves.

    Well, it''s just us and ugly fish down here what else could threaten us? Also, I think we¡¯re way too deep I would exhaust myself before we would reach the surface, can''t you like grab this darkness and drag us up?

    Don¡¯t be crazy, there is no way I could do that.

    ¡°Hmm, so we¡¯re stuck, eh? But you will protect us right Agnis?¡±

    ¡°How can you be so calm Hayley! We¡¯re on the bottom of the ocean and we can¡¯t return!¡±

    ¡°Do you see these guys panic? They must have something or at least be able to find out how to get out of here, panicking won¡¯t get us anywhere.¡±

    Hmm, maybe I underestimated that university thing a bit, you seem to have a good head on our shoulders, about us having a solution¡­ we don¡¯t really have one but things always work out somehow else Raishin, Greg, and I would have kicked the bucket a long time ago.

    Ugh, my head, what happened? And where is my tiger hat?!

    You don¡¯t need it, if you cause trouble again, I will knock you out without mercy.

    ¡°Ok, so what do we do now?¡±

    Investigate that cave!

    Oh, I smell food, I want some too!  Raishin ate and I tried to figure out what we would find in this cave.

    Oh, guys! I have good news and bad news!

    That¡¯s one of the combinations of words that I don¡¯t like to hear from you. What is it this time? Give us the good news first.

    We found a dungeon!

    ¡°And what is that? And what¡¯s the bad news?¡± Hayley genuinely didn¡¯t seem to know what I was talking about. I knew it! Uni is useless!

    The bad news is that we found a dungeon.

    Elaborate.

    Well, normally we could breeze through this but we have 2 humans with us and the dungeon might be highly hostile to them. I don¡¯t think leaving them behind or letting them die is a good option so this might become many times more difficult.

    Hayley still seemed confused. ¡°Hey, what is a dungeon? They don¡¯t teach us this at uni.¡±

    I don¡¯t know what humans call it but it''s those ancient buildings that appear from time to time and that can''t be opened.

    ¡°Oh, ancient monuments, I¡¯ve heard of those yeah. Knowledge of ancient languages is needed but those languages have gone extinct so nobody can open them, we learned that in history.¡± Crissy tried to sound smart. She might be smart but unfortunately that¡¯s incorrect. It seems the human education system is failing.

    And this is why uni sucks, because the language isn¡¯t extinct, just highly endangered. I¡¯m confident I can get in and loot the place, the treasure is mine!

    You sound like a pirate.

    Hayley got closer, uncomfortably close. ¡°Ohh fascinating! That¡¯s so cool!¡±

    I know right!?

    I can''t believe that you don¡¯t realize what she¡¯s doing¡­ how can you be this dense¡­

    Hmm, what is that? Do you want to swim?

    Let''s go investigate that cave!

    Anyways, I have no time for this stuff Hayley, come on guys let''s go!  I made a bubble and used [Pressure] to keep us on the ocean floor.

    Yuck, there''s goo everywhere.

    Probably dead ugly fish watch out where you¡¯re walking. Greg stopped Raishin from slipping and falling into goop.

    ¡°Haroldus wait!¡± Woofus ran forward.

    Hey Woofus chill, you''ll turn into a dog pancake if you step outside the barrier there is a limit to how many times, I''m going to save your ass.  This seemed to work and Woofus behaved.

    We went into the cave. Raishin saw an ugly fish pass by near the bubble and he wanted to poke it with his spear. Greg [Shadowbound] him and took his spear away and threw it at me.

    Store this for him please, he''s not allowed to use a spear as long as we¡¯re underwater.

    Are you sure you didn¡¯t train to become an assassin? You keep finding methods to almost kill us.  I made the bubble extra sturdy and we walked into the cave.

    ¡°Yuck, so many ugly creatures!¡±

    ¡°Stop clinging to him, Hayley! Do you want this bubble to pop?¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine! Right?¡±

    Ooh, guys were there look!  We had been walking for about 20 minutes inside this cave but there it was. Our eyes were met with soft blue light.

    ¡°Hey, what is this?! Aren¡¯t we supposed to be on the bottom of the ocean?!¡±

    What is a dungeon doing down here¡­

    Woohoo our first adventure!  Raishin wanted to run towards it but I tripped him.

    Hey! What gives!

    Well, firstly you¡¯re in a bubble so he just saved you, secondly¡­

    ¡°Wow, look white dragons!¡± Hayley said as she pointed at 2 creatures that for sure weren¡¯t dragons.

    More like water snakes but these surely are big yeah¡­ This dungeon though, is massive. Not as big as the underwater city I found but still big¡­

    ¡°Underwater city? What?¡±

    Never mind, long story.

    ¡°Tell me!¡±

    Do you think that this is our ticket to the surface?

    No clue, it¡¯s worth giving a shot.

    We carefully got closer and the sheer size of this dungeon started to impress us more and more as we neared closer.

    What do we do with those snakes? Do we blast them?

    ¡°But we¡¯re underwater! How are we supposed to fight underwater! Hey! Haroldus come back!¡±

    Greg and Raishin looked at me.  What? You guys didn¡¯t also practice underwater combat?

    Of course, not¡­

    I did some swimming in the river if that counts!

    ¡°Wait? You know how to fight underwater?¡± Crissy and Hayley said in unison. One of the few times they seem to be in synch.

    Of course!

    Yeah, I have to remind you 2 that nothing makes sense with this guy, you could think of the weirdest conditions and this guy can probably fight there.

    ¡°Ooh, how about a volcano!¡±  Does a magma pit count?

    ¡°A tornado!¡±  Hurricane path comes close enough.

    ¡°Uhh, complete darkness!¡±  Oh, Greg did you know that shadow behemoths are lactose intolerant? You had to see Vinny¡¯s face when the shadow behemoth got one shot by over 1000 liters of poison hahaha!

    ¡°What?!¡±

    See, I told you¡­

    Right, time for these snakes to say byebye!  I said as I took out a vial.

    ¡°Ooh, what¡¯s that smell?¡± Crissy started to sniff around. Maybe she is taking over traits from her dog.

    I aimed and shot a drop at the snake and¡­ nothing happened.

    Hey, Agnis, what was that? Don¡¯t tell me you tried to poison a water snake from here, there is no way that would¡¯ve worked¡­

    Right, uhm Woofus stinks so I needed some air freshener.

    ¡°His name is Haroldus¡­¡±

    Yes yes, so let''s go beat up those snakes! Christina, do you want a white leather purse?

    ¡°Ehh, sure¡­¡±

    Gogogo Agnis!

    Meh, don¡¯t wanna, let''s sneak in.

    Boo!

    Do you want to make your own bubble? My bubble, my rules!

    Meh fine.

    ¡°Hey, Greg, does my hair look good?¡±

    Hey Greg stop flirting with Christina! I saw her first!

    Wha? I didn¡¯t even do anything.

    Right, let''s stop clowning around and move on you might also want to be quiet or else we will end up as water snake snacks.

    We got closer and closer and I noticed a nest of water snake eggs nearby. I gestured to be quiet and I gestured to Greg to make sure Raishin stayed quiet. Water snakes will get extra aggressive near their nest. We just need to silently sneak in and¡­ ¡®Woof! Woof woof!¡¯

    Woofus seemed to have found something and was barking the place down. I facepalmed. The water snakes instantly reacted.

    Right, what was I expecting? Greg bring them to the entrance of that dungeon; I will send a shadow clone with you to open the door I will keep these things busy.

    ¡°How did they even hear him? We¡¯re underwater!¡± Crissy beckoned Woofus but the stupid dog ignored her.

    Sound travels better underwater, come on let¡¯s go, we don¡¯t want to be near those snakes!

    Crissy grabbed Greg''s shirt. ¡°Ugh, yeah I hate snakes!¡±

    It¡¯s not the snakes I¡¯m afraid of, I¡¯m afraid of what Agnis is going to throw around.

    I made a shadow clone that led them to the door as I got out of the bubble and shot toward the water snakes. Unfortunately, I''m quite familiar with this environment. They seemed to focus on Woofus for some reason so I blocked their path with [Ice Mines]. They went off but the snakes took no damage. That is strange, are these frost snakes or something? I shifted stance and used [High Voltage] but they didn¡¯t seem to take damage. I can understand that they have magic resistances but leyline resistances too? Can life stop throwing overtuned monsters at me?

    I used [Waterfall] to evade a multitude of attacks. They were finally focused on me. My shadow clone had an easy time solving an obnoxious puzzle that prevented easy entry. The doors opened and my buddies, the chicks and the wet dog went inside. I spread some more [Ice Mines] and then used [Waterfall] to rush inside. I made it inside with time to spare, unfortunately one snake managed to follow me inside leaving the other behind outside. We seemed to have arrived at an enormous open space, I could see something akin to a maze further up and some caves to the side. I sped up and entered the bubble of my buddies.

    So, we have a series of small problems, which you can see on your right-hand side!

    ¡°Aaah! Why is it here!¡± Crissy was screaming the place down.

    Problem number 2, it seems to take no damage!

    Hey Agnis it¡¯s coming for us!

    Problem number 3 this place is a labyrinth and my eyes are relatively useless here due to all the ancient technology!

    Ok thank you Agnis for the heads up but can you do something about that approaching snake?!

    ¡°Aaah! We¡¯re gonna be eaten!¡± Crissy grabbed Woofus and crouched down while looking away.

    ¡°I¡¯m too pretty to die! Hey Agnis¡­¡±

    I swapped us, bubble and all with some rubble to the side of this large space. The snake crashed its head into the ground.  Jeez, why are you guys so on edge?

    ¡°Ugh, my heart.¡±

    So ehh you two what are your combat specialties? I don¡¯t think this snake will leave us alone if we ask it nicely, we will have to kick its ass ehh tail.

    ¡°I¡¯m a Grump¡­ Eternal Desertflower if I would be an adventurer! I¡¯m aiming to dethrone the current Eternal Desertflower and make my to-be-determined adventurer name the new role name.¡±

    Good luck with that, no offense but she¡¯s the same age as you and already S rank, that¡¯s a steep hill to climb, how about you miss Woofus?

    ¡°It¡¯s Cristina! And I¡¯m a Hard Light!¡±

    Great so both do no damage, Raishin, you¡¯re up and I swear if you pop our bubbles, you¡¯re gonna fix it!

    Aye sir!

    I moved the bubble out of the various water magic attacks the sea snake was firing at us.

    Right, guys, this is going to suck for me but I will have to make water veils for each of you, don¡¯t expect much offensive support from me, it¡¯s just you Raishin.

    I gave everyone a water veil so they had more freedom to move in the water. The 2 chicks and Woofus would be at the back, Greg and I were in the middle and Raishin was the vanguard. Raishin used his tails as propellors so he was fine, Greg was moving clumsily around and the chicks were practically immobile underwater. I used [Water Dragon Festival] and made dragons swirl around them to protect them in case the snake did something funny. The buffs started to roll out. Is it me or are they quite weak? Hayley has a long way to go before she can catch up to Thalia, I could fight a demigod with Thalia¡¯s buffs, but I can''t with these. Raishin started chucking lightning left and right.

    Normally this would be a problem but I know exactly how to handle this. The sea snake started to create nasty currents and since Greg couldn¡¯t do anything about this I also had to use [Pressure], don¡¯t tell me I¡¯m the Hard Light here now, Crissy and Greg need to step up! Oh, a [Shadow wall] blocked a tail slam I only now notice that his [Shadow wall] is way bigger than I remember.

    Some light barriers were cast on Raishin. Yes! that¡¯s more like it! I will just make sure these guys don¡¯t drown and they do the rest! Good good.

    Hmm, the currents are picking up debris, hey, this is dangerous! I tried to kick the debris out of the currents to make sure to give Greg and Crissy an easier time.

    Raishin didn¡¯t seem to be putting a lot of damage on this snake. Is it invincible? Do I have to pull a cartoon stunt and go into its mouth and cut it from the inside? I drew Shirayuki and I sent a slash at the sea snake. It evaded. I didn¡¯t expect this thing to evade, let¡¯s put more effort in it. I used [Waterfall] and sent another slash at it.

    A gash in its scales but that¡¯s it. What Hourai¡¯s name is this snake? It¡¯s as tough as a dragon! Why do we always get these bullshit monsters? Physical attacks don¡¯t work, leylines don¡¯t work, magic doesn¡¯t work.

    Does it have an elemental weakness? Greg is using the debris to attack the snake, Earth, ineffective, Raishin is blasting it with wind and lightning, ineffective. I sent [Water blades] and some of the [Water Dragon Festival] dragons at it, ineffective. Greg¡¯s [Shadow bolt] and Crissy¡¯s [Light Ball] don¡¯t do anything either although those 2 seem to have low attack power. I sent a primed Dawnlight and threw it at the snake. Nope to dark and the Dawnlight lit up the whole area but no damage. I had it with this thing it¡¯s just immune to everything!

    -Greg, do you have any ideas? This thing is immune to everything?-  - I have nothing sorry, I have tried to curse it but it seems to passively shed these.-  -This thing is sturdy! Why aren¡¯t we trying fire?-

    -Well that¡¯s obvious, fire doesn¡¯t work underwater¡­-  -Hmm, but maybe that¡¯s the key!-

    - Not you too¡­- -No listen! If you would have to design a monster. Raishin watch out!-  Raishin evaded a snake bite and a tail slam. I used [7th Waterfall] and pushed the snake into a wall.

    ¨C If you had to design a monster and make it as strong as possible, wouldn¡¯t you give it a well-covered-up weakness, Greg think about it, this is like making a seal! Give a monster a fire weakness and put him under the sea where fire doesn¡¯t work!-  -Ok, you convinced me but how are you planning to use fire underwater?-  -Can¡¯t we just use that super lightblue almost invisible fire?-

    - Ooh, I like that idea Raishin, can you use it?-  - I can, it is a bit too reckless even for me but it¡¯s fine to use underwater right?-

    - It should be.-  - What? Wait? I don¡¯t know much about fire, please explain!-  - So I was messing around with different color fires and there was this one super strong color that almost killed me and burnt the whole area down. It''s super impossible to control, I just know that it can burn anything, I know because I tried to put my hand in the river but it just burnt the water¡­ crazy stuff. Then I just stopped feeding it mana hahaha. ¨C

    - Uhm Agnis translation? -  - Uh, this fire likes to burn anything that contains oxygen so in open air it''s extremely dangerous. It will rip out the oxygen atoms and use them as fuel and leave behind whatever is left, mostly carbon or methane, and hydrogen if you¡¯re unlucky, it will then instantly react with either the methane or hydrogen and cause explosions so 0/10 would recommend using it out in open air, in water it will just burn and create stupid amounts of hydrogen.-

    -Right and what is it going to do to this snake?- -Probably turn it into a large volume of hydrogen gas a lot of carbon and maybe some nitrogen gas here and there.-

    -As long as you guys don¡¯t torch yourself then that¡¯s fine.-  - Uhh, Agnis, this fire, scares me I will leave you in charge. You¡¯re our fire master.-

    I had never used this fire before exactly for the reason that I just explained to Greg but it would surely do tons of damage. I swapped Raishin and Greg with some rubble and sent a shadow clone to create a magic circle to amplify fire. I gestured to Raishin to start small and I would take care of controlling the fire. The fire needs a lot of mana to start but it''s relatively easy to control, underwater that is. Raishin went for it and he was acting uncharacteristically, overly cautious, I don¡¯t blame him he could lose an arm or a life if he gets careless.

    Aaand he missed, but not by much. I made my shadowclone [Flush] the snake into the fire. Its head caught fire and it was hissing loudly and started to trash. It seemed to work but there was not enough fire. I activated the magic circle and the fire blazed. Countless bubbles rose up and I caught them together and stored them into my dimensional pocket. Not often when I got a chance to store hydrogen. I will make good use of it, someday. I never tried to make a cool bomb and as an assassin, bombs are crucial! I think.

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 6: Untraceable II

    A cloaked figure arrives at the beach and spots a lot of beefy guys in speedos. He orders something to drink but he learns all drinks were sold out because of the beefy guys in speedos. He gets mildly irritated and asks if the bar owner has seen a guy with black hair, a bit eccentric, who is skilled in combat and is about 19 years old. The bar owner tells this figure that a lot of people matching that description pass by. The cloaked figure overhears some beefy guys in speedos talk about Agnis, Raishin, and Gregory, and the hooded figure gets up. He walks up to them and shows interest in the individuals that got brought up. He learns of the battle the yakuza had with 3 individuals and how they had to build a yacht for them.

    The cloaked figure asked if the yakuza knew where they were headed to. The yakuza indicated that they had no idea and that they¡¯d been gone for quite a while. Arby lost his patience. This beach had nothing he wanted, not his favorite orange juice and not his target. A beefy guy accidentally bumped into him and that¡¯s when he lost it. He killed the beefy guy and the yakuza got put on alert. The yakuza attacked and fought Arby but they were no match for him. Garo tried to surrender to save his allies but Arby didn¡¯t care. He plunged a dagger through Garo¡¯s heart and washed off the blood on his weapon in the sea. He became extremely annoyed because he lost his target. He went to look for magical signatures. Nothing, nothing indicated that magic has been used to travel over the ocean. For the first time in his life, his target escaped and this put him in a foul mood.

    ¡°I will find you and kill you, you can''t escape me forever!¡± Arby [Shadowmelded] and headed over to Tyung, the nearest city.

    Tyung is a port city, and trade involving the ocean was the theme of this city. Markets everywhere, seagulls and humans seemed to be the main inhabitants of this city and the smell of the ocean and fish was the most dominant. Arby had developed a dislike for fish because of a certain battle he had several years ago.

    ¡°Ugh, where is that asshole?¡± Arby sent out some shadow clones to find his target. His target has to be here! Nobody can escape from the Silent Night. At least that was what Arby was confident in. Arby bought some poisonous sea urchins and snacked on them. He used the spikes as toothpicks. A seagull stole one of his sea urchin snacks and he killed the seagull with a well-aimed dagger.

    ¡°Everything seems to be quite obnoxious lately.¡± He leaned back on a bench and tried to relax. It was only a matter of time before he would find his target. He was able to calm down. Then a seagull signed his black suit with its droppings.

    ¡°Stay calm Arby, it''s just a seagull I¡¯m not going to waste my mood and daggers on another one.¡± The people around him took distance from him. Arby noticed that he was exerting killing intent and he calmed himself. He realized that he hadn¡¯t been acting like a Silent Night lately. His mood was quite volatile but he was confident that this problem would be solved after he killed his target. His pride didn¡¯t allow him to calm down unless he sets his humiliating defeat right.

    ¡°Hahahaha hey did you see that? That guy got shat on by a seagull!¡±

    ¡°Hey, Io, not so loud he can hear you!¡± A red-haired woman with horns was laughing at Arby¡¯s expense and she was accompanied by a man in a donkey suit. Arby tried his best to calm downt but the red-haired woman kept laughing.

    ¡°Hey! Kyle that¡¯s him! That¡¯s the guy who killed everyone!¡± Arby took a closer look at the woman and slowly started to remember where he had seen her before. He didn¡¯t have time for this because he got assaulted by killing intent.

    ¡°And who are you? Is this a zoo? What do a dragon and a donkey want from me?¡± Arby dodged a dagger that flew at him. He easily evaded it but the dagger made an unnatural movement and grazed him. This gave him a bad taste in his mouth. It reminded him of his humiliating fight. His intuition alerted him and he dodged away and another man in a donkey suit narrowly missed him.

    ¡°Ugh, you fight just like that brat!¡±

    ¡°Oh, you mean Agnis? He¡¯s my mentor, as I understand you have issues with him. Unfortunately for you, we have issues with you.¡± Toxic Donkey pointed at Arby with his donkey hoof. Toxic Donkey was wearing a onesie and he still had hands but it looked like Toxic Donkey had hooves. It didn''t hinder his dexterity as his onesie is from Jarn and anything related to textile and clothing gets taken seriously in Jarn. this means that these hooves don''t diminish his dexterity at all.

    ¡°That pest had a disciple? Well, then I will be happy to excise you from existence hahaha!¡± Arby put his hand on his forehead, leaned over backward, and made a dramatic laugh.

    ¡°Right, he mentioned that you¡¯re an edgelord.¡± Toxic Donkey did his best to hold in his laugh.

    ¡°Right, let me hear the names of those foolish enough to challenge the Silent Night!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Io and I¡¯m a dragon!¡±

    ¡°The name is Kyle, but my adventurers name is Toxic Donkey, I¡¯ll be coming for the role name.¡±

    ¡°Ha! A donkey wants to get his name as a role? Dream on kiddo, I will show you how big the world is, you stand no chance!¡±

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    The people cleared out. Arby was quite loud and the killing intent flying around scared them off. Something seemed off with Toxic Donkey. He must be 17 or 18 years old, why did this guy intimidate Arby so much?

    <hr>

    Meanwhile in Gavin.

    The Shadow had heard that Agnis had been in this town recently. There was an incident of what was called the ¡®Floating Coffin¡¯ incident. It had taken the Shadow long enough to figure out that its target¡¯s adventurer''s name was Silver Torrent.

    ¡°Quite a fitting name, what was he thinking giving away the ¡®Silver¡¯? Or is this related to something else?¡± After realizing that Agnis was linked to the name Silver Torrent it became a bit easier for the Shadow to track him but even though he seemed to be an adventurer who had quite some feats he stayed consistent in being hard to track down.

    The Shadow had reason to believe that he was abusing his speed to get around which means he could be anywhere on the continent.

    The Shadow sighed. The Shadow was confident in its ability to track down targets but Agnis surely was making this hard. At least this means that the other assassins would stand no chance. The Shadow had noticed a considerable drop in individuals or groups going after them.

    This had puzzled the Shadow at first but after beating up some assassins it learned that now that the targets are older, they stand no chance. The Shadow agreed. Certain recent events have suggested that at least Agnis and one or more of his friends have gotten to a point where random assassins would stand no chance of capturing them.

    ¡°He should be 19 years old by now, how time flies.¡±

    Most of the information that was gathered led to dead ends. He was seen one day and after that, it was as if he disappeared, as if he were a ghost. It was annoying but the Shadow also felt a sense of pride.

    The Shadow had located an old fisherman.

    ¡°Do you want to join us on our fishing boat?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m looking for someone, are you familiar with the adventurer named Silver Torrent?¡±

    The old man looked at his colleagues and looked back at the Shadow.

    ¡°I did. What a strange yet kind young lad, he had some strange obsession with jumping into the ocean. He helped us several times with fishing. The ugly fish he pointed to us became a hit here in Gavin! It allowed us to buy a better boat and now we are able to reliably catch them!¡±

    ¡°I see, he does have a strange effect on the people around him, do you know where he currently is?¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I do not, you do look suspicious though, you are not planning to assassinate him I hope?¡±

    ¡°Oh, this is just a habit of mine to dress this way, I¡¯m just interested in him.¡±

    ¡°Well, if you find him tell him that the old man in Gavin is looking forward to another fishing trip!¡±

    ¡°I will, thank you for your time.¡± The Shadow gave the old man 1 silver for his effort and headed over to the AA.

    The Shadow looked at all the feats the Silver Torrent had to his name. he even made a new role. The role had only 1 member and it was the Silver Torrent himself. The Shadow smiled and got an idea. The Shadow headed over to the registry for recruits and looked at the thin blonde woman who would be responsible for the process of making the Shadow an adventurer.

    ¡°Excuse me, I want to apply to become an adventurer.¡±

    ¡°Uhm, that is fine but you will have to show your face and state your real name.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m not familiar with how all this works.¡± The Shadow took off its hood and revealed long blue-silver hair. The shadow also took off its cloak and appeared to be wearing a light green blouse and black leggings. The Shadow was gaining a lot of male attention.

    ¡°Wow! I can¡¯t believe you were hiding that behind the cloak! Ehhm can I have your name? And I assume you want the role of Silent Night?¡±

    ¡°Silent Night is the role that¡¯s similar to spies and assassins, right?¡±

    ¡°That is correct.¡±

    ¡°I will go for that role, yes. And my name is Hisui Mikazuki.¡±

    ¡°Your request will be processed; it should be done in 10 minutes. And I have to say, you are pretty.¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Hisui went to sit down as the receptionist was enviously looking at her figure.

    Hisui sighed. ¡°I should have used [Transform] to hide my figure more¡­¡±

 Vol 3 Ch 7: City of the breathless

    The snake was wildly trashing and flailing sending attacks everywhere. I might have been a bit overzealous thinking I could control the fire. The fire might not be the biggest problem but the thrashing snake surely is. I had to move everyone further away to make sure their bubbles didn¡¯t catch fire. This fire is merciless to anything that even has 1 molecule of oxygen in it. I kept storing the hydrogen that got released from the burning water. It should die out once it had ripped out most of the oxygen available on the snake. It started to grow slightly.

    ¨C We might have a problem, it feels as if this snake is putting energy into shedding its skin.-  -Slippery bastard, how do we stop it?-  -More fire?-

    -More fire!-  - Is that a good idea?-

    Raishin used more fire and I controlled it. The snake thrashed around wilder and harder sending attacks and debris everywhere. Greg and Crissy were doing their best to make sure none of us got knocked out. I had the extra task of extinguishing debris that had caught on fire. This is quite reckless what we¡¯re doing. One hit and we turn into ash, kinda. I might be fine; heat resistance is so OP! Anyways the battle was under control. Woofus ran off into a cave. Crissy wasn¡¯t stupid enough to follow him but the snake saw a free snack. Seriously this dog¡­

    I gathered the water dragons and made them carry us and we chased after the sea snake. The fire died out and its skin seemed completely charred. The water was quite difficult because the heat of this burning snake created violent currents in the otherwise cool ocean water.

    Greg was having a bad time. A lot of things remind me of some of the Boshi adventures we had.

    Woofus got picked up by a current and got swept away further into the cave. It seemed like Crissy was losing her shit but we luckily couldn¡¯t hear her.

    ¨C This dog is something else¡­ how is it not dead yet?-  - Maybe an extra sturdy breed?-

    I tried to keep us from drowning, the veils intact, moving debris away from us, keeping us somewhat orientated in this rollercoaster and now I also had to babysit a lost dog. We were getting sucked into the cave even deeper and the snake was still thrashing and it knocked rocks loose which made my life harder.

    ¨C There are too many rocks, Greg please do something!-  - Ugh, I hate water, I will do my best!-

    Raishin managed to get on the snake and tried to zap it. It seemed to work but not by much. I guess its defenses got fried. Greg also got on the snake and moved all the rocks away. I pulled the chicks into my bubble and attached some wires to the snake to get a free ride.

    Ugh, so exhausted, that dog is a real piece of work.

    ¡°Please save¡­¡±

    ¡°My hero¡­¡±

    I moved both of them into a separate bubble before they could assault me with whatever bullshit. I can¡¯t deal with this.

    It seems we almost were out of this corridor. Keeping these bubbles and veils active for multiple people sure was tiring. I [Flushed] some rocks and stones aside to ensure no bubbles got popped.

    We got forcefully ejected into another large space and the snake was extra mad. The chicks tried to tell me something and Greg seemed to had enough of all this water. Why am I always the babysitter? Why can''t anyone babysit me from time to time? I moved Greg and the chicks into a big bubble and moved them to the side and let him deal with their shit. It was a strange occurrence but Raishin was very reliable. He was single-handedly keeping the sea snake busy.

    He got a bit bolder with the super risky fire and was giving the snake the beating of its life. This is fine right? He doesn¡¯t need my help, right? I looked around and saw something extremely interesting. I sent 4 shadow clones out to investigate.

    This space had an ancient city in a huge air bubble! It was in ruins so luckily no strange cultists worshipping a strange root or anything but a lot of interesting ancient texts. And it would so happen that I can read these!

    But seriously these things are actually everywhere once you start looking around although the bottom of the ocean is quite inaccessible. How did they even get here? There was the time capsule floating in the sky. What would this place have for us? What was strange is that¡­ the language in this city is vastly different from the ones on the labyrinth walls. Raishin blasted the snake into the wall and I refreshed everyone¡¯s air.

    Ah right, Woofus! I sent one clone to find Woofus because the woofer was nowhere to be found. My clone notified me that it found a strange trident. My clone told me what it¡¯s properties were but it also relayed it to Raishin. It seemingly can turn into any size, turn any physical blow into a fire attribute and the user had complete freedom without restrictions to move underwater. This trident seemed to be crafted with ancient technology to deal with this snake. Raishin grinned when my clone relayed this to him with telepathy. My clone threw the spear at Raishin which he caught.

    ¨C You can release this bubble thing around me now Agnis! It¡¯s time to turn this guy into a fried noodle! -  - Just remember that that only works as long as you¡¯re holding the spear, don¡¯t throw it! -  -Give him hell!-

    I released the bubble around Raishin and he truly seemed free to move however he wanted in the water and joined Greg and the chicks in the bubble. We watched by as Raishin was singlehandedly and one-sidedly beating the snake up. It seemed so overpowered at first but it was at complete mercy now.

    Quite something eh?  Yeah, I haven¡¯t seen him had this much fun in a long time.

    ¡°What is that sound? Is the snake? Crying?¡±

    ¡°Where is he?! Where is my dog!¡±

    Chill, I will find him if he¡¯s not dead.

    ¡°Stop it! My dog isn¡¯t dead!¡±

    Yet.  Crissy shot Gregory an angry glare.

    ¡°So are things like this normally for you mythical beasts?¡± Hayley asked while Crissy was still glaring at Greg.

    Hmm, so far this has been quite normal.

    Unfortunately, he¡¯s correct, this is relatively tame by our standards.

    ¡°But aren¡¯t you adventurers?¡±

    Trust me most adventures are boring compared to this, don¡¯t get the wrong idea and think all adventures are like these you will be for a nasty surprise once you become one.

    ¡°Hmm, so hey, do you have a spot in your party?¡±  I¡¯m not sure why Hayley wants to join our party. This mess should demonstrate that that¡¯s a bad idea.

    Nope sorry, it¡¯s quite full.

    Yeah, there is me, Raishin, Agnis and his ego which takes up the other 3 spots.

    Hey! My ego isn¡¯t that big! It takes at least 1 spot! Yours takes up the other 2!

    Oh, so now I¡¯m the one with a big ego, eh?!

    ¡°Hey guys, look Raishin is about to finish the snake off!¡± Crissy pointed and we looked at Raishin who seemed ready to finish the snake off.

    Hey Agnis, didn¡¯t you tell him to not throw his spear? Why does it look like he¡¯s going to throw his spear?

    Ugh, because he¡¯s an idiot!

    I shifted my stance and created a bubble around Raishin and Greg pinned the shadow of the spear to Raishin¡¯s shadow so that he couldn¡¯t let go of it. The snake tried to use this opportunity to escape but Raishin adapted and used another move and impaled the head of the snake without letting go of the trident.

    One day you guys will babysit me, babysitting you guys is so tiring.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind babysitting you!¡±

    Ugh, not you¡­

    Raishin came at us and I used [Counterspin] and [Pressure] to make a large bubble and decided to take a nap. One of my clones returned with Woofus.

    ¡°Haroldus!¡±

    Wow look its Drownus Lostus Againus the Wet!

    ¡°That¡¯s not his name!¡±

    He¡¯s more a Woofus Boomerangus Doggo the Undead, maybe not even a doggo are you sure he isn¡¯t a cockroach?

    ¡°His name is Harold¡­¡±

    And with this, I¡¯m going to nap!

    Is it me or are you taking a lot of naps lately?

    This stuff is physically tiring, wake me up when my 4th  clone has returned.  I sat down and went for a nap.

    Another dream, this time clearer, the sky was red and burning, thunder was dropping like it was rain, and I seemed to be in what I recognized as Alledra, it felt familiar, I walked to a restaurant I liked to grab a bite and get shelter, I got my order but when I was about to dig in, the food decayed. I looked around shocked and wondered what happened to my food and saw others'' food decay too. And at the entrance was a woman with black hair, dark green glowing eyes in a black feathered dress with a nefarious smile. She asked if we enjoyed our food but I knew she was responsible for this. My instincts told me to run, that this woman is dangerous, but I was pissed, I had helped the citizens gather food in this hellish weather and make the meal in this restaurant possible and this woman made our last several hours of going through hell, undone. I didn''t know who she was but I could feel the divinity factor on her.

    Great another pain in the ass god  I said in my dream.

    I felt very annoyed and the anger and disappointed to witness the food that I worked hard for, just disappear. The people in the restaurant cleared out when they heard me say this. The woman slowly approached with a smile on her face, she was quite attractive but everything about her annoyed me, she sat down across me at the table I was sitting at, crossed her legs, and asked me why I didn''t flee. I narrowed my eyes and responded with:

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    I can''t kick your ass with my back turned to you.

    The woman laughed, maybe she found it amusing or was laughing mockingly. She introduced herself as Hablena and she would be delighted to turn me into a decaying pile full of maggots. I finished my carbonated lime soda which didn''t decay, crushed the cup, and lit it on fire. I threw it at her. She easily dodged it and stretched out her hand to activate some magic or ability. I felt a pressure on my chest and my face became liquid as if it was melting. My face wasn''t becoming liquid but it was wet.

    I saw the face of Woofus sitting on my chest and slobbering my face. I dried myself by expelling moisture and air from myself accidentally launching Woofus in the air. Woofus orientated himself in the air like a cat trying to land on his feet. Gregory and Hayley who were awake were looking at this event in amazement. Woofus managed to orientate himself with 2 vertical flips and a horizontal flip and gracefully landed on Raishin¡¯s stomach. The 3 of us held up signs awarding marks of, 9, 10, and 9 for his aerial performance. Raishin, who was sleeping before Woofus landed on him, wasn''t happy and flipped off on Woofus for waking him up like that, this woke up Crissy, who was also sleeping and she flipped off on Raishin for flipping off on Woofus.

    They sure do get along poorly¡­

    You do know that this was your fault, right?

    I shrugged.

    So, what have you guys been up to while I was asleep?

    Preventing Hayley and Raishin from being creeps.

    Ah, thanks.

    ¡°Come on, can¡¯t you cut me some slack?¡±

    Agnis, I¡¯m warning you; this chick is like a female Raishin.

    That bad eh? I said as I moved away from Hayley.

    ¡°Hey! I don¡¯t bite!¡±

    No, you do something that¡¯s probably worse¡­

    Raishin and Crissy were still bickering so I froze both of them. I took food out of my dimensional pocket and started to eat while I looked through the pile of stone tablets my shadow clones had gathered while I was asleep. Greg and Hayley helped themselves to some food too.

    Woofus and I slipped away while Greg and Hayley were eating. Luckily for us most of the city was in a large air bubble. We found a temple-lookalike building, there was rubble everywhere and some parts that had collapsed seemed to be the location where a shadow clone found the tablet. I looked around and at the temple, thinking of what ancient civilization this place could be from, I couldn''t place it but decided it was a mix of 2 languages that normally shouldn¡¯t be related to each other. I could read it but it seemed like I was reading a heavy dialect. Is it possible that I don¡¯t know one of these languages?

    I should know every ancient language on this continent so I either missed one or¡­ this language is from another continent. This struck me odd because the Gcehaio ocean which is the largest ocean in the world, is massive. I looked again at the temple and tried to imagine what the temple would look like again. This seems like an easy obnoxious puzzle; I just need to place the rubble where it originally belonged. After a 2 second examination of the pieces, I recreated the wall by moving the rubble to the approximate spot, with some minor adjustments. There is hardly any erosion for some reason. This language was a bit of a pain to read but I should be able to derive its meaning. The knowledge I picked up at the time capsule is really shining now. Let''s see what does it say?

    It told the history of 2 groups of fishermen, one on the Kaledonian coast I assume and what¡¯s this? Nesher continent? I guess that¡¯s the name of another continent. Anyways they got stuck in an enormous storm that engulfed the whole ocean.

    Talking about a freak storm. Both sank and got swallowed by the whale. What? A whale? How is this related to a whale?

    The storm took 3 weeks and the whale was going around the ocean bringing heavy storms and swallowed everything in its path. The 2 civilizations came into contact for the first time, in the belly of the whale.

    One civilization was mainly run by warriors while the other civilization had a healthy mix. Normally they would''ve been digested like other civilizations before did but these fishermen were resourceful and identified quite fast that if they didn''t work together, they''d be fish food. The group from Nesher had some scholars under them who were originally on fishing boats to study fish ecology and the odd behavior of the sea, and these scholars contributed to the brainpower of the group.

    They moved a lot of swallowed rubble and made an island of rubble and some boats to not get digested by the whale. But about 3 days after they made their island a scouting group discovered that at some point in time the whale swallowed a mountain and that they could hide inside the mountain to be safe for almost forever. At this point in time, they still had air because the whale was swallowing a lot of stuff at the surface or on land so it didn''t dive much. The combined group which called themselves the Jectu moved into the mountain and that''s where they found a huge cave with an even more ancient structure.

    The labyrinth of the breathless was a dungeon swallowed with the mountain! They settled in a branch of the cavern next to the labyrinth since this structure emanated some mysterious power that intrigued them but the area around it was also warmer than the rest of the cave structure. Everything went well. they made basic structures in which they could live. It looked like they could make it work until the whale calmed down.

    Wait what, this text is talking about this place being in the belly of a whale. This can¡¯t be right! I activated my Elgards eyes and expanded the scope of my sight. A lot of nothing and then I saw that we were surrounded by a lot of organic stuff. I fell to my knees.

    Please let this be another bad dream, I¡¯m too young to end up as fish food!

    Woofus barked.

    Yes yes, I know a whale isn¡¯t a fish. Ugh, how am I going to tell the others? Hmm, maybe I shouldn¡¯t. Let''s keep reading, what other nasty surprises do we have here?

    The whale started to dive and the whole place got flooded and submerged. A quarter of their people drowned and they had to find a way to live in a world that would be underwater for an undetermined amount of time. The scholars used magic to create air bubbles and provided everyone with air and also protected against the water pressure. But over time this evolved to everyone just using magic on themselves to withstand the pressure, the buildings they made had air trapped inside which got refreshed by magic, and there were some towers and structures they scattered wherever they went which trapped air. The purpose of these was to act as a safe place to get some air before traveling more underwater.

    They evolved to be able to swim really well, also partly aided by equipment and magic, they could hold their breath for 1 hour and be fine but had some small devices that could give them 15 minutes that they could use when they were far from an oxygen tower. These developments all occurred over a time span of 5000 years, the original group didn''t benefit from this.

    Ooh these texts are dated they seem to use a specific dating system. They use moon cycles. The moon is consistent so it¡¯s easy to calculate back. Finally, a civilization that puts a lot of effort into this!

    The original group had to do with air bubbles and clumsy underwater movement. What they did do was build airtight structures and trap air in them. It took a long time because it was really taxing for those casting the magic, some of the Jectu drowned because this magic was hard to keep up for a long time.

    Hmm, I recognize this problem, I have a similar problem, this stuff is draining. I wanted to read further but this was all the wall told me. I tried to find another wall that would tell me more but I couldn¡¯t find any useful ones.

    I did find a piece of text that described some encounters with the sea snakes. They planned on using their own technology to make a weapon that could be used underwater indefinitely and could kill the water snakes since they were a hazard and were eating quite a lot of fish that they were interested in.

    There were other texts about the laws they made, religion, politics, minor events, major breakthroughs but nothing more about the history or anything about the labyrinth. I looked around to find similar structures and restored the walls but these had information of events of a later date.

    These were from roughly 2000 years ago when they killed 5 water snakes and sent a small group into the labyrinth for them to never return.

    Also, a story of a group trying to get out of the whale and venturing outside the mountain, of the 10, only 2 returned with heavy acid burns but they managed to make a rough map of the whale''s stomach and the discovery that a bubble coated in metal protects the people inside for enough time to get from the mountain to the edge of the stomach.

    They didn''t have much metal in their civilization so the number of times they could use this information was limited. The reason why this worked seemed that the acid prioritized digesting the hard-to-digest materials first, so in close proximity of something hard to digest, you''d be relatively safe, that''s how they got acid burns but didn''t die, because they were carrying some metal ore they found. They think the reason for the mountain being quite safe is that it¡¯s easy to digest or that something really hard to digest is next to it. Maybe the whale had swallowed 2 mountains but 1 of them is filled with metals and sturdy maternal, or the mountain is close to impossible to digest. The text continued about how they finally managed to consistently get into the labyrinth and made their second city inside close to the entrance, basically where we are now.

    Wait where is this other city they were talking about then? Was it in the caves outside the dungeon?

    It then talks about the moving and settling process, meh boring what does this say?

    Some scouting trips into the labyrinth were mentioned but most didn''t seem to return and those that did had a limited map from teams that went before them, just to map the labyrinth, they were in charge of building oxygen towers to make scouting easier. They seemed to run into issues where they had to regularly create different maps.

    Oof this seems like another pain in the ass location.

    The fact that so many scouting teams never return worries me most, they had 5000 years to explore the labyrinth but the most recent map I see was the one shown here. It only seemed to be about 10% complete and red was used to indicate areas that were probably the most dangerous? Did no team survive passing there? If so, why aren''t all paths leading outside the known area red? Why can¡¯t they be clearer in this?

    I think I have enough information, I made a mental note of the map of the whale''s stomach, the cavern system outside the labyrinth, and the map of the labyrinth which I would probably have to update myself. What a pain in the ass. Can¡¯t these ancients just make a tea house or something? Why a dangerous labyrinth that¡¯s massive? They surely overkilled on this one. The situation was dire but panicking wouldn''t help me at all,

    I petted Woofus and wondered how to get out of the mess.

    Hmm, I need a plan, is there a library here? I still haven¡¯t found out how these guys disappeared. According to the texts this civilization was doing just fine 2000 years ago, and by analyzing the area with Elgards eyes, the most recent objects here were 637 years old, nothing newer than 600 years though.

    Something happened that made them disappear and this all unsettled me. Was it the snakes? But they had their nest outside the dungeon and I didn¡¯t spot any snake skeletons here. After failing to find more clues I returned to the camp. Christina and Raishin¡¯s bickering had turned into wrestling and Hayley was taking a nap. Greg seemed to be the only one who noticed that I was gone.

    Found anything useful?

    I did but promise that you won¡¯t freak out.

    I told Greg about that we¡¯re in the belly of a whale and that some civilizations got swallowed and mysteriously disappeared some 600-ish years ago. Gregory didn¡¯t like this information but he took it well.

    Out of all things¡­ It is as if fate wants us to die¡­ So, what is the plan? Do we finish the labyrinth or break out of here?

    This is a dungeon so as far as I know there is no breaking out, now I think we should clear it, one for the treasure, also the end of a dungeon probably has a teleport device that teleports you to the entrance. I might be able to hack its runic structure and send us to the surface although¡­ we¡¯re quite deep underwater, I don¡¯t know if it has enough juice to reach that far. Might need Raishin to juice it up but we¡¯ll see then.

    I guess we¡¯re still the same, getting into the strangest situations, how are we going to tell the others?

    We don¡¯t, they will freak out.  I looked around.

    There was nothing that could help us anymore. No useful text no hints. I sighed.

    Greg, do I have permission to go all out when it''s needed?

    What¡¯s this? Why do you ask? Don¡¯t you normally do it anyways?

    I just want you to be on board. The situation might look safe but we¡¯re underwater in the belly of an enormous whale and in a dungeon, we kinda got the most dangerous situations piled on top of each other, the only way this could be worse is if we encountered a god in here. I want to stress that the ocean is merciless. It has kicked my ass many times and even killed me once. Again, we have passengers that are quite mortal, when push comes to shove and I have to tear the place down I want you to be on board.  I extended my hand toward Greg.

    I thought that you didn¡¯t change after all these years, it seems you grew at least a bit.  He shook my hand.

    Sure, but I will join you. As you say we¡¯re in a deceptively dangerous situation, this can all be flipped on its head at any moment. I will assist in tearing this place down when needed.

    Perfect.

 Vol 3 Ch 8: Labyrinth of the Breathless

    I had sent 2 clones back to the ruined city to make sure I didn¡¯t miss anything. Maybe secret buried passages, hidden treasures etc. Meanwhile, the team and I would go back and challenge the labyrinth. This will probably be my most tiring dungeon yet. I would have to constantly make sure these slackers don¡¯t drown. I thought we would train to be able to be prepared for anything, why am I the only one who can remotely deal with this situation? I thought I was fooling around quite a lot in my training but these guys seemed to have surpassed me in this. I surely hope they are god-mode on dry land.

    Anyways, rant over, keeping everyone alive is important. I came to the realization. Wouldn¡¯t it be faster if I left them at the city that had air, then solve this myself, and then bring them after I figured out the correct path? Will they put up with sitting there for hours or even days while I possibly risk my life? I doubt it. Pain in the ass method it is!

    Woofus was fearless as always trying to run out of the bubble without protection. Reckless as ever.

    I stopped. Wait is this how my buddies see me? Crissy was screaming and preventing the doggo from doing dangerous stuff.

    Naah, there is no way.

    I created a big bubble that fitted everyone and we moved back to the labyrinth through the corridor. Crissy was holding on to Woofus.

    We stopped right in front of the entrance of the labyrinth.

    Right, I don¡¯t think I need to tell you guys but this is a labyrinth, don¡¯t go wandering off, especially you Woofus! The moment you get lost is the moment I will start thinking what to put on your tombstone!

    Crissy held Woofus tight. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I won¡¯t let Woofus separate from me!¡±

    Famous last words. Ow! Stop smacking me, Greg!

    What is the plan? You can¡¯t cheat with your Elgards eyes I assume?

    Hmm, no but I suggest we slack here a bit and send our shadow clones in and get an idea of what¡¯s going on here. I can make 12 now, how many can you make Greg?

    I can make 32, that sounds like a good idea.

    We sent our shadow clones to explore while we chilled at the entrance. Raishin was trying to flirt with Crissy while Crissy was trying to flirt with Greg and I guess Hayley was flirting with me. We¡¯re in a dire situation and all they can think of is flirting¡­

    ¡°Hey, are you listening?¡±

    No, let¡¯s focus, save the flirting for other humans. Some of my clones disappeared Greg, did you find anything funny? This map of these ancients doesn¡¯t seem super accurate¡­

    Some monsters but a sizeable amount of my clones has disappeared too¡­ Also this consistent [Gravity] here prevents us from swimming upwards a lot what does this mean?

    I made a hologram of the map that I had found which was updated with what my clones found. I stuck to the format of the map and used red areas for where my clones disappeared.

    Hmm, can you link me up and let me help update the map?

    I linked him up and he added to the map, also with red areas. We kept doing this until we only had red areas.

    Is this labyrinth unsolvable? What¡¯s with all this red? All my clones are gone and I don¡¯t know if they¡¯re dead.

    Same, how about we dispel them and send them out in groups of 2?  We went with Greg¡¯s plan.

    Hey Agnis, I¡¯m bored!

    Go flirt with Crissy, I¡¯m busy!

    But she isn¡¯t interested in me¡­

    Then go flirt with Hayley. Greg, I don¡¯t think this labyrinth is a 2 dimensional labyrinth¡­

    Yeah¡­ It seems that there are different floors where the labyrinth continues but information exchange between the floors seems impossible¡­

    Great, exactly what we needed a 3D labyrinth! Couldn¡¯t these ancients make it any harder?

    At that moment the whole labyrinth shook.

    An earthquake!

    I wanted to comment that the whale might have just rolled over or is moving but I can¡¯t tell them we¡¯re in the belly of a whale.

    Well, you just had to jinx it Agnis, look!

    I had no idea what I was looking at. The entrance slid away. A lot of blue stone or ancient material, whatever this labyrinth was made of passed by until everything stopped moving and a new entrance appeared.

    A shifting labyrinth¡­ I guess we¡¯ll die here¡­

    ¡°Noo! I¡¯m too hot to die!¡± Hayley¡¯s words didn¡¯t match up with her actions as she doesn¡¯t seem to be worried. She might be a female Raishin but at least she knows how to stay calm although she is allowed to panic in this situation as we¡¯re quite fucked.

    This is a problem¡­ do you think the layout on the other floors of the labyrinth changed too?

    For maximum obnoxiousness, probably yeh¡­

    But at least we found that out now instead of when we were halfway right?!

    I don¡¯t think it matters¡­ Let''s send another wave of shadow clones Agnis.  We did so and our current map was even more useless.

    Aaagh! I¡¯ve had it! Time to blow this place up! This is not worth whatever treasure this place has!

    Hmm even though I agreed to this, we might have to remember that we have human passengers.

    Great, nerfed by humans. Let¡¯s see if I can cut through these walls.  I got Shirayuki out.

    Oh, you had weapons for us, right?

    Oh right!  I took out the weapons I had made for Greg and Raishin.

    They have notes on what they can do. Nobody has time to explain it to you.

    Let¡¯s cheat and cut down all the walls, Shirayuki!  I focused and used an [Iai: Winter¡¯s bite], the walls got a small cut.

    Of course¡­ these ancients and their pointlessly strong materials.  I focused again and used [Iai: Nilah] and busted down the wall.

    Ugh, it''s going to suck doing this all the time. At least we have a shortcut now. Let¡¯s go!

    We went through the hole I made and followed the new map our shadow clones made. We got met with some monsters but that was Raishin¡¯s job to deal with. I had to make sure we had a sturdy bubble to make sure we didn¡¯t drown.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, look up there, it looks as if the water is draining.¡± Hayley pointed and we all stopped to look up.

    Ugh, what is it this time, I don¡¯t think the ancients will give us a break and drain all the water. I bet it has some meaning.

    We kept walking and the water slowly disappeared from the labyrinth. At least the part we were at.

    I dislike water but I dislike this even more.

    There was no need for me to keep up a bubble anymore because besides some puddles it was quite dry here now.

    It reminds me of what happens before a Tsunami hits, be on guard Greg.

    Guys, can we leave? My intuition is going crazy. I¡¯m not against adventure but I think something bad is going to happen soon.

    Woofus seemed to take this as a sign and jumped out of Crissy¡¯s arms and started running.

    Oh shit, here we go again.

    ¡°Haroldus!¡±

    I¡¯ll get him, this dog is too wet behind the ears to outrun me!

    ¡°Take me with you!¡±

    Hey, Hayley let me go!

    ¡°Aaah! He went around the corner!¡±

    Ugh, you humans are a pain in the ass!

    I ran after Woofus with Hayley clinging on to me. I easily caught Woofus after chasing him for a good 20 minutes, he was cheating because random monsters ignored him. He ran into a dead end so that¡¯s how I caught him.

    Stupid dog.

    I picked him up and the labyrinth started to rumble again.

    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Woofus, please tell me this is you farting¡­

    I saw a strange transparent barrier appear not too far from me and the ground under us started to tilt.

    Ugh, I wanted to say hold on but you¡¯re already doing such.

    I think the part that I¡¯m standing on is moving just like the part of the entrance before. At least my buddies will also get moved with us. As the ground kept slanting more and more, I saw Gregory, Raishin and Crissy behind the transparent barrier, quite unmoving.

    Oh¡­ this is a problem.

    Woofus was barking and Hayley was screaming. It feels like this part is trying to slide us off. I ran at a wall and used it as a floor. The area started slowly moving us into the water so I remade a bubble around us.

    The moving stopped. It seems the part we were at turned 90 degrees and not in a direction that is human or 9t friendly. At least it didn¡¯t send us falling off the labyrinth. Our previous floor was now a wall. I then noticed that the floor down below also had a maze. My 9th tail instantly came up with a possible explanation.

    This labyrinth probably has labyrinths on all sides, so if this part turns 90 degrees again there will be a different labyrinth on the new floor. My 9 tail also had a possible scenario that sounded like it would make this whole obnoxious puzzle even more obnoxious.

    Hey Hayley, are you familiar with puzzles?

    ¡°Stay calm Hayley, I¡¯m with a mythical beast, everything will be alright, stay calm. Eh, what? Puzzles? Uhm a bit why?¡±

    Let¡¯s ignore that this is a labyrinth. Do you know any popular cube like puzzles that have moving parts?  Hayley took a pensive stance.

    ¡°Hmm you mean that this labyrinth might be a puzzle like that? Hmm, I can only think of that puzzle with colors, I forgot what it was called but it was made out of small cubes 3x3x3 and you had to turn them all to get each side to have the same color! Wait¡­ you¡¯re not suggesting this labyrinth is like this right?¡±

    I don¡¯t know what puzzle you¡¯re talking about but my tail suggested something similar to your description. Although I doubt that this labyrinth has 27 cubes that can move independently¡­ No wonder that other ancient civilizations couldn¡¯t figure this out. Even while knowing how it works, solving it is a completely different beast. Ugh, we might be stuck here for a long time, sorry Hayley.

    ¡°A 3D labyrinth on a colorcube, that is some high levels of sadism¡­¡±

    Taking obnoxious puzzles to the max. If I ever find the one who came up with this idea, I¡¯ll [Vaporize] him¡­

    I jumped down with Woofus and Hayley. The [Gravity] Greg mentioned seemed to have little effect on me but I assume this labyrinth is impossible to solve standing on the walls. Everything here seemed green. Everything was blue before we got moved and it was quite dark and eerie here. Does every floor have a different color?

    I think it was safe to say we were on the top floor when we started. So, the top floor is blue, and the second floor is green? Are we on the second floor? If this is 3x3x3 it has at least 3 floors. But it¡¯s not guaranteed that the ancients stopped at a simple 3x3x3 cube. What if this labyrinth has something stupid like 8x8x8? Solving 512 individual smaller cubes is going to literally take forever¡­

    Aaagh! I hate this place!

    I put my tails to work on how to solve this. There must be a mechanism to force these to move. Then there is the issue of moving between layers without moving the smaller cubes.

    ¡°Hey what is that?!¡±

    More headache! Let¡¯s see.

    We were in a small hall and we moved to where Hayley pointed. A small pillar with inscriptions is what we found in a corner. The inscriptions had unimportant text but it showed the labyrinth and all its smaller cubes. It didn¡¯t show any path but it just indicated on what floor we were. It seems that this dynamically changes so remembering where these pillars are on each cube might be useful.

    Hmm, hmm, 4x4x4 cube and we¡¯re on floor 3 and the bottom of each smaller cube is a floor of the big cube making for 4 floors. That¡¯s good to know, solving 64 smaller cubes though¡­ still sucks.

    ¡°Ugh, I hate puzzles, so how do we beat this?¡±

    No clue, my best bet is to have Gregory remember every permutation of this cube and from there move these cubes and solve this retarded 3D labyrinth.

    ¡°But he¡¯s not here¡­¡±

    Yeah, I also can¡¯t reach him. But this split up is I think the best scenario, Greg and Raishin can together make an air bubble. If there had to be a split, those 2 would have had to stay together with one or more of you chicks. I¡¯ll be fine alone.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that lonely? But don¡¯t worry I will keep you company!¡±

    Ugh, just my luck, I¡¯m stuck with the Raishin chick.

    ¡°Hey! My name is Hayley! Not Raishin chick! I¡¯m better than him!¡±

    I sent out shadow clones to make another map. I made them pay attention to when they would move to a different cube. So far, I still needed to find up how to go up or down cubes besides getting kidnapped by a whole row or column of cubes. The red zones did that but¡­ no red zones on this floor. My clones did find strange structures though.

    I assume this [Gravity] is so that nobody can cheat, I can cheat when I¡¯m alone but not with you and Woofus. You guys kinda have to obey [Gravity].

    ¡°Huh, mythical beasts are immune to physics?¡±

    Of course not, but my race seems to poorly interact with gravity and the more I think about it, Greg might have something with light or shadows. I don¡¯t know about Raishin though. So, I guess we¡¯re selectively immune to physics?

    ¡°Fascinating! They don¡¯t teach us about you on uni!¡±

    For a good reason. Anyways we need to run, my clone spotted an annoyingly strong monster!

    ¡°But where do we go? This is a labyrinth! And where¡¯s Crissy¡¯s dog?¡±

    I thought that you had him¡­ I swear this dog¡­

    I ran around dragging Hayley with me. Did this dog seriously jump out of the bubble? What a reckless woofer.

    I found him not much later being cornered by the monster I tried to avoid.

    Hey isn¡¯t keeping a dog on the leash quite normal for humans?

    ¡°It is, I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t have the leash, Crissy has it¡­¡±

    Of course, she has¡­

    ¡°How come he¡¯s fine, aren¡¯t we deep underwater? And doesn¡¯t he need to breathe?¡±

    That is a very good question, I guess he¡¯s Woofus the Breathless. Time to save this troublesome dog.

    I used [Water Dragon Dance] and sent water dragons at his uhm what is it? It looks a bit like those strange sharks I fought with Thalia and Toxic Donkey but it was a bit less shark and more uhhm whale? Is this a joke? Are there mini whales in this huge ass whale? The water dragons pushed it around but didn¡¯t seem to do a lot of damage.

    Right Hayley, I¡¯m making the bubble a bit bigger, back off for a bit, I¡¯ve had it with this clown show.

    Hayley backed off and shifted my stance to use [High Voltage] and fried the abomination.

    Huh, weak to lightning eh, that¡¯s a pleasant surprise.

    I collected Woofus who tried to continue exploring and threw him at Hayley.

    ¡°Hey! He¡¯s wet! And why are you fine so long underwater? Come on you can tell me! I will keep it secret from Crissy!¡± She tried to discover Woofus¡¯ secret.

    I inspected this strange structure while Hayley was playing with Woofus. My eyes didn¡¯t tell me much about it.

    I knocked on it, it seemed hollow. I followed the structure with my eyes. It went into the ground but also all the way up into the ceiling. Is this our ticket up? Is it an elevator? I walked around it but no door.

    Strange. My clone found a hole to go down. I don¡¯t know if going down is a good idea. I had to make sure I kept track of where we were going. I don¡¯t know on which cube we are at the moment on the 3rd floor but when we got separated from the rest the labyrinth moved us eastward.

    So, I guess our row moved to the right. I guess that means we were on the 3 cube from the left when we moved to land on the 3rd floor. Ugh, thinking in 3D like this is such a pain. So, we were somewhere in the 3rd column of cubes when we moved. Does that put us at the edge of the labyrinth then?

    Let¡¯s think, to make sure we minimize movements when this happens, we should go to the 8 cubes in the center of the labyrinth. No matter what bullshit happens we will only move 1 cube relative to our starting point. As far as I know, we didn¡¯t move to the next cube so if we would head west, we would eventually get there.

    Let¡¯s go Hayley, we¡¯re going to cheese this labyrinth a bit, if we go to the center, we won¡¯t be moved a lot!

    ¡°Huh what? Ok!¡±

    We moved west and I dealt with annoying monsters by zapping them. I stopped running when my tail notified me of something.

    Hayley bumped into me. ¡°Ow, what¡¯s up?¡±

    We should blow up this place¡­ my tail just told me how many possible combinations this shitty place has¡­

    ¡°How many?¡±

    7 401 196 841 564 901 869 874 093 974 498 574 336 000 000 000, that¡¯s a 7 with 45 0¡¯s behind it if you were curious¡­ this is literally going to take forever if there¡¯s not a mechanism to solve it, it also seems these small cubes have mazes on all 6 of their sides so might as well throw them into the mix¡­

    ¡°You have an idea, right? Right?¡±

    Besides blowing this place up not really¡­ My tails are having issues going through so many combinations¡­ Maybe we should put Raishin in charge and let his intuition carry us. Using logic will probably take too long¡­ so hope his intuition can brute force luck and the result¡­

    ¡°You said the center doesn¡¯t move a lot, right? Maybe that¡¯s a clue?¡±

    Hmm solving a 2x2x2 and then just changing the outside, it¡¯s worth a shot, thanks that was helpful! My tails can brute force solve a 2x2x2.

    Getting to the next cube was harder than I thought. Many paths led to holes to go down or tubes to go up I assume. It took us 4 hours to finally get to the cube west of us. I was paying close attention. My other clones were helping out too and I concluded that these smaller cubes were 10 km in every direction, not small but well that means the whole labyrinth is 40x40x40 km. Which is ridiculous. How did they even build it? Couldn¡¯t they have gone for something easier like 40x40x40 meters or something? And this labyrinth isn¡¯t helping either.

    ¡°Ugh, I¡¯m so tired¡­¡± Hayley sat down next to a wall as I had moved the bubble to the side. She was still in her bikini and looked¡­ pleasant, for a lack of better words.

    Yeah, this was brutal. Go rest up a bit.

    The labyrinth rumbled and I got a bad feeling.

    Ugh what now?

    The water on this floor also started to slowly drain. My clone notified me that those tubes were moving with the water level. The holes to go down closed after the water drained from this floor and holes appeared in the tubes through which we could swim up. So, besides all this bullshit we also have to wait for tides to go up and down? Which sadistic asshole thought of this?! It was midnight, the topmost floor drained 6 hours ago, a floor drains every 2 hours? Will they fill up after that every 2 hours?

    Ugh, this dungeon is too much for me. If my suspicion is correct then it means this floor will flood again in 4 hours. Now the question is to go up one cube or stay here? We will still be in the center 8 cubes if we go up from here, I didn¡¯t keep track of when this labyrinth randomly moves a row or column of cubes. Can it also move cubes on the horizontal plane? It should, right? So, staying in the middle 8 cubes is always a good idea. On the outer cubes you get moved way too much. I caught Woofus who tried to escape since Hayley fell asleep. I swear this dog just hates behaving.

    Look here Woofus, it¡¯s hard to keep your secret if you act as reckless like this. Hayley might notice.

    Woofus barked but I have no idea if he understood me. I would like to think this dog is smart but everything suggests that he is quite stupid. I didn¡¯t like this idea but I had to curl in my tails and have Hayley and Woofus inside them too, it would protect them when the floor would flood again. I carried Hayley to a safe spot and I curled up protecting them from whatever other bullshit this labyrinth will throw at us.

 Vol 3 Ch 9: Hydrophobia

    ¡°What do we do? What do we do! They¡¯re gone!¡± Christina collapsed on the wet floor.

    They¡¯re not dead, are they?

    Christina got a look of horror on her face. ¡°Nooo!¡±

    I smacked Raishin.  Look what you did!

    Sorry! So ehh. What do we do now? I don¡¯t think we can follow them.

    This is a big problem yes. We should make our own versions of these bubbles in case something happens to Agnis.

    Raishin and I combined our efforts and make our own bubbles. They were quite crude but they did the job. How much time had Agnis put into perfecting these? The realization set in that we needed to do this without Agnis, our water user. I started to shiver.

    Greg, are you cold?

    No. I¡¯m fine.

    ¡°How can you guys be so calm! Our friends and my dog just disappeared!¡±

    Panicking will get us nowhere, right Greg? Greg?

    I tried to control myself but fear started to set in. Maybe Agnis and Raishin were correct. I should have prepared better in those 4 years. Raishin was keeping up the air bubble.

    I clenched my fist.  It¡¯s nothing. They got moved east; we might find them if we follow that direction. My shadow clones are on it.

    It didn¡¯t take long for monsters to appear and they all started to attack us with water magic.

    Hey Greg! You¡¯re not fine, are you? I guess this is too much water for you. I will take care of this. Cristina, can you protect us?

    ¡°I will do my best!¡± I tried my best to be help but all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and be somewhere warm and dry.

    I don¡¯t understand how Agnis and Raishin can be fine with all this water around. Raishin used [Wind Blasts] to keep the monsters away. He was acting strange. He wasn¡¯t blowing them up like he normally would do.

    Is this way east?

    That¡¯s west.

    So this is east?

    Raishin started walking south.

    ¡°Raishin, east is the opposite side of west!¡± Raishin pointed at a wall and looked at Christina. ¡°Ok you have a good point there, how do we go east in a labyrinth?¡±

    They all looked at me but I had difficulties in formulating a plan.

    I guess Greg¡¯s brain shut down which puts me in charge! Lets go this way!  Raishin grabbed us with his tails and tried to run away.

    Whoa, Agnis makes this look so easy. Ugh! I can¡¯t lift you with my tails!

    Huh? Hmm that¡¯s strange.

    Curiosity overpowered my hydrophobia and tried to try it out with my own tails. It was indeed impossible. There is a slight difference in the length of our tails and fox tails have more volume but there shouldn¡¯t be this much of a difference in strength.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Running it is! Come on!

    Wait do you know where to go?

    Nope but my intuition does! We need to go this way!

    I doubted it at first but my shadow clones that had spread out confirmed that Raishin was taking all the right turns. What is going on in his head? I already never understood what was going on in Raishin and Agnis¡¯ heads but I was truly stumped.

    We kept running through the drained labyrinth floor but the lingering puddles ranged from just a puddle to being ankle deep. I refuse to deal with any amount of water!

    We encountered countless skeletons. So they have succumbed to the terrible dangers of water too. I can relate.

    ¡°Eww! What is that!¡± Christina pointed at a creature resembling a humanoid whale. It¡¯s head was anything besides humanoid though¡­

    A Whalezor! Or a Whalelord! Or a Whalezoid! Take this! [Anti Whalezoid attack]!

    ¡°You just made it angrier!¡±

    Take this! [Meganova Blast]!

    Huh where did he go?

    You vaporized him¡­ I think he is weak to lightning.

    Yes! I can finally be overpowered! This dungeon is going to be a breeze!

    Raishin kept dragging us through corridors and blasting everything that moved with lightning. I felt guilty for being so useless.

    It took a while but we found a bizarre tube that went inside the ground.

    Uhh this thing is suspicions. I don¡¯t trust it.

    It should be near midnight. I don¡¯t like this but we should rest up. Raishin¡­ can you keep the bubble up around us?

    Why? It¡¯s dry on this floor. Well, kinda.

    What if the water returns while we¡¯re sleeping?

    ¡°They¡¯re alright right? Hayley, Haroldus and Agnis?¡±

    Of course, they are! They are probably doing better than us! Agnis had spent months living underwater! He will be fine!

    Raishin made the air bubble around us sturdier but I just couldn¡¯t calm down. The water might return at any moment. It might inundate us before we realize and then it¡¯s too late. I started to recite literature to calm myself.

    <hr>

    Christina and Raishin had fallen asleep hours ago. How can they sleep in a situation like this? I was reciting novels now. I sensed monsters in the distance but they left us alone.

    Tailed beasts don¡¯t have to sleep every night. This night is the same. It is just that staying active for too long in exhausting environments will require us to rest. This situation was one of those. I was mentally exhausted but I couldn¡¯t manage to fall asleep. Besides having to rest, nights tend to be boring since most of the dominant races on this planet sleep every night.

    The hours crawled by. I kept track of the time and was waiting until Christina and Raishin woke up. 07:00 passed. Still asleep.

    08:00 passed. Still fast asleep. Raishin was sprawled on the floor.

    09:00 passed. How long do they intend to sleep? I was curled up in a corner. Going to the beach and having that boat trip was a terrible idea. I should have known. Nothing goes well with these 2 around.

    10:00 arrived and I had enough of waiting and sent some [Shadow Tendrils] at Raishin to wake him up.

    Hey! Wake up!

    Ugh¡­ 20 more minutes.

    I gave Raishin 20 more minutes and poked him again with my shadows.

    10 more minutes!

    I waited for 10 more minutes and wanted to poke him again when the whole labyrinth rumbled. The floor under us started to tilt.

    Huh what?

    Help!

    The floor was moving way faster than I remember. We got dunked into cold water and I tried to keep myself from drowning and completely freaking out. I didn¡¯t have time because we moved again and again and again. I was in distress; I couldn¡¯t take it anymore. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Raishin swimming toward me and pulling me up.

 Vol 3 Ch 10: Cube of the Breathless

    It was 7:57 and there was no water. Hayley and Woofus were still sleeping. I uncurled and wondered if I was wrong but this means we can go up a floor. My clones notified me that as far as they could tell, there was no movement in the cubes while I was asleep. Either nothing happened or the outer sides of the cubes moved without touching the core 8.

    I¡¯m going to call these cubes the core 8 for simplicity. All my clones were spread out in the core 8. I can¡¯t communicate with those that are on the floor above us so maybe that one changed. I decided to head up to hear what they had to say.

    I noticed that the floor slowly started to flood at 8:00. I rushed to where I saw the tube that could allow us to go up. The hole in the tube was slowly disappearing so I jumped inside and swam up. [Gravity] seemed disabled here so it was easy to swim up with 2 living beings that are affected by [Gravity]. Also, this tube seems to be filled with water regardless if the floor is drained or not. How odd. I arrived on the 2nd floor and got information from the clones on this floor and lost connection with those on the 3rd floor. Nothing seemed to have happened on this one either.

    The data on the core 8 was more or less complete now and I put my tails to crunch the numbers and to find out how to solve this core 8. As Hayley suggested, solving the core 8 will make solving the rest quite easy. And a 2x2x2 is quite easy to solve. I guess this is impossible to do with the real 4x4x4 puzzle since the core 8 will always be hidden. I made a large bubble and took out some food and started cooking.

    Nothing special just some dishes I had seen in some restaurants. I imitated some fish dishes I had during my 18th birthday and some other dishes I¡¯ve seen over the years. There were also rabbit and chicken meals andI got a bit carried away.

    ¡°Ooh, that smells good! Isn¡¯t this a bit much?¡± Hayley got lured in by the smell of the food I had cooked.

    Uhh, I got carried away, just eat what you can and I will store the rest.

    We had our breakfast while my clones were working their asses off. A clone found 2 clones of Greg and they told the clones of what this place is and how I¡¯m planning to solve this mess. According to the clones they haven¡¯t found out much. They were too busy calming Crissy and trying to avoid getting lost. Greg¡¯s main body should still be on the first floor.

    They did encounter a lot of skeletons. I could imagine, I haven¡¯t found many down here. I still wonder how that civilization disappeared, these skeletons are probably deceased scouts, and I am not stupid enough to think that the whole population just dives into the labyrinth for no reason or with no plan.

    Maybe they escaped from the whale? How plausible is that? I don¡¯t know. Hayley was talking to me again but I wasn¡¯t paying attention. I was keeping an eye on Woofus the menace. I would expect him to do something stupid right about now. I swapped him with a chicken bone because he tried to explore again.

    I swear Woofus, be glad that you¡¯re a dog, if you were a human, I would have kicked your ass a long time ago.

    Woofus barked as if he had no idea what I was talking about. I believed him because I¡¯m convinced this dog isn¡¯t too bright. I¡¯m not talking to him in Hourai am I?

    Here, this is your responsibility, we have a lot to do, I don¡¯t feel like being stuck in this place for weeks.

    ¡°I will do my best I don¡¯t want to die here, lead the way!¡±

    Well, you can say that but I have no clue where to go. Since this is a moving cube, where would the exit be? And we also need to force this cube to move to solve it so we need to find a mechanism that does this. So we have 2 goals, one which is unreachable and the other one that still needs to be found out.

    Woofus was clearing out all the bread and it drew Hayley''s attention.

    ¡°That is strange, Haroldus was never a fan of bread.¡±

    Probably stress, let¡¯s go I think my clones found something. There are a lot of monsters there though. And don¡¯t stick too close!

    ¡°Aww.¡±

    I was wondering if this was how Hayley copes with this situation. She isn¡¯t unattractive but I have a policy for situations like these.

    I headed toward the area where 2 of my clones were fighting. I didn¡¯t give them much mana so they were having a rough time to make sure they didn¡¯t get annihilated. I arrived as a strange humanoid ice creature impaled one of my clones. I detected frost magic.

    Ugh, this bullshit again.  I created a pure water veil around Hayley and Woofus.

    So, this is why my clones had issues with you. I won¡¯t entertain your bullshit; I¡¯m going to drop you instantly.

    I spread wires and they formed into a pattern of a magic circle that would echo lightning attacks with greater power. I fired up [Tail Dynamo] and prepared for a small [God of Thunder]. In the meantime, I boxed him in with [Water Dragon Dance]. The creature''s cold presence froze them which I used to box him in on top of the magic circle. Orange lightning gathered at my tails and I was ready to drop this pain in the ass monster. It took the blast head on and instantly froze over.

    I now felt stupid, I didn¡¯t expect it to get defeated in just one hit. Am I too used to fighting super strong opponents? The blast got echoed by the magic circle that I had completed and arcs of orange lightning jumped everywhere. It hit me too but it did nothing to me now that I¡¯m more ¡®one with lightning¡¯

    It is not as if I have lightning resistances but I might be quite tanky if it¡¯s against lightning. I don¡¯t want to test this against a real god of thunder of course.

    I deactivated my Elgards eyes but I couldn¡¯t see this creature in this block of frost. It had a nice red color and I confirmed that the creature exploded in red blood mist and this is it''s remains.

    Frost magic is so overpowered but as I know could also be a double-edged sword.

    A clone was still close to the Greg clones so I let one tell Greg that this place has frost magic creatures walking around. I think Greg should be able to deal with those if his training went well. Frost magic has a neutral matchup against dark magic but dark magic is still at a slight disadvantage.

    Somehow Greg¡¯s clones seem less afraid of water than the real body is. I should ask him how that works one day.

    It was 10:01 and this floor started to fill up with water.

    ¡°Noo Haroldus come back!¡± The stupid dog had escaped again and Hayley tried to chase him.

    Don¡¯t chase him or you will drown, come here.

    ¡°With pleasure!¡± Hayley ran at me and locked arms with me.

    Don¡¯t make me kick your ass too. Let¡¯s get this dog before he lures more monsters here.

    Half the floor was submerged and I made water veils around us, for easy movement and so that I didn¡¯t have to listen to Hayley¡¯s ¡®Raishin comments.¡¯

    Maybe I should put in the effort to get her and Raishin together. That would make for a very annoying couple but as long as all those comments are directed at each other it might give Greg and me some rest.

    I wonder what Shania is up to now? Is she the queen now? Does she still remember Raishin? And wait wasn¡¯t the country in a mess last time I heard about it? Ugh, I need to pay more attention to world events, I¡¯m sure some are just ready to bite us in the ass because we don¡¯t pay attention to them.

    I caught a stray Woofus in an air bubble, disconnected from the leyline currents, and bound the bubble with [Azure Chain], this woofer won¡¯t escape anymore.

    I saw Woofus struggle, unfortunately for him, these chains can apparently bind a light and dark dragon so there is a low chance this guy can escape. He didn¡¯t lure or attract any strange creatures this time and we went back to the device my clone had found. Everything was submerged now. I archived this.

    Floor 2 floods at 10:00 and floor 3 floods at 08:00. Hopefully I won''t stick around long enough to experience this tomorrow.

    I inspected the device in front of me. It seemed quite simple; it was a pedestal with a glass dome over it. In the glass dome was a floating 4x4x4 cube. I assume it represents the labyrinth.

    The pedestal read something about needing lightning magic to activate it and that a powerful frost monster will be attracted to any attempt to activate it. I looked over at the big red ice cube. Does it mean that thing? I could probably deal with many more if they appear. Now this text was very specific in lightning magic. I zapped the pedestal with magic and something mechanical moved and the glass dome disappeared. The cube started to float and glow.

    The top row of the cube was blue, the second row was orange just like we saw on this floor. The third floor was green and the 4th floor was purple-pink. I have bad memories associated with that color, it¡¯s the color of pink broccolis and charm magic. I decided to do anything in my power to avoid going to that floor.

    Woofus pulled on the chain. I handed the chain over to Hayley and returned to the cube. It was slightly transparent so I could see the core 8. It had a red dot which I assume is our current location. I held my hands around the cube but didn¡¯t touch it yet. My tails were still figuring out how to solve the core 8. It had to take every side of the core 8 cubes into account so I don¡¯t blame them for taking a while. I stood like this for 23 minutes before my tails came up with 2 solutions. 1 was highly probable to be correct, the other would have a higher probability of being correct if the first solution was incorrect. With this combination, no passage that would lead to another adjacent cube, should end in a dead end. A simulation popped into my head on how to turn this cube.

    I love being a 9t. Doing this as a human would need an expert on these kinds of puzzles and possibly an army of scouts. Solving the outer parts will become rough because they need to be scouted too. I wonder if there is more than 1 solution to this labyrinth. It would be quite sadistic if that was the case¡­

    I started to turn the cube. I went a bit too fast and the cubes in the core 8 also moved and threw us around. Hayley¡¯s bubble was still intact after that stunt but this could have gone so wrong. Right, let¡¯s do this slowly.

    I solved the core 8 after 3 minutes. I hope my buddies will forgive me because I¡¯m sure they had the ride of their life but it¡¯s not like I could warn them. Greg might kill me later though¡­

    At the moment we were on the third floor. On the west side of the core 8. I canceled all my clones and sent out a new wave to check if I didn¡¯t make a mistake. I would only know if this floor is correct but there¡¯s a high likelihood that floor 2 will also be complete if this floor is complete. Some clones set out and went up a floor.

    Apparently, different tubes allow for different movement between floors. A lot of tubes aren¡¯t accessible but some are. They will allow me to either go to floors 1,2 or 4 depending on the water level. And when this changes different tubes will allow for access to other floors. At the moment 2 tubes allow me to go to floor 2 and 5 tubes allow me to go to floor 4 while only 1 to floor 1.

    The holes in the ground to go down only close when the floor drains of water so going down is an option as long as your floor is flooded. Only one immune to [Gravity] like me can use them to go back up.

    It was almost 11:00 so it would probably take an hour before floor 1 floods. There is a low likelihood my buddies are still on floor 1 after I messed with this cube. Normally I would be like: my work is done here. But this labyrinth moves out of itself. I¡¯m keeping an eye out on this cube but nothing seems to be happening automatically. Is there a reason why it moves automatically? Is it also based on the time or is it random? Or maybe it triggers when people inside the labyrinth do something.

    I looked on as Hayley seemed to have more and more difficulty in keeping Woofus behaved on its [Azure Chain] leash. Maybe it sensed that Crissy is nearby. I don¡¯t know what the probability is that they ended up on floor 3 but the moment they get into the core 8 it should be easy to get them. I don¡¯t know about Crissy but Greg isn¡¯t stupid, he has probably realized too that getting into the core 8 is the safest, and I told his clone that I would be here. I saw no movement so I decided to relax a bit.

    Stolen novel; please report.

    It was nearing noon. I connected to the leyline currents and tried using [Counterspin] but nothing happened. Hmm strange.

    I tried again and I just made bubbles. I sat down and calibrated the leyline energy.  8.6% affinity and 0.4% authority oof, did Isi ditch me, or has her power have difficulty reaching here? I am quite deep down in a whale''s belly inside a dungeon, I actually shouldn¡¯t be surprised that she can¡¯t reach me, the real planet is quite far away considering all these ¡®barriers¡¯ between the planet and me. I wonder why I¡¯m only getting hit by it now? Is it because I used magic? It never did this before. I use magic all the time while using leylines, although they are more utility-based and don¡¯t require much mana, is this the reason?

    The veil around me and Hayley slowly started to become thinner. I might have to switch over to magic if this keeps thinning. Luckily it got to a thickness that was still acceptable but barely. I opened the filter of leyline energy. I should actually keep this open but I¡¯m doing most on just feel.

    The currents seem quite normal although a bit weak. Hmm, wait, these energy currents belong to the whale. Hmm I see, I can see how this is a problem.

    What would happen if I used all the leyline energy from this whale? Will it die? Or will it send us to the surface? I archived this because I might need it later and Greg is going to kill me if I forget. I wonder what would happen if I attuned to the whale¡¯s leylines but I decided against it. Personally, I would notice if someone attuned to my leyline energy and I wouldn¡¯t be happy. So, what do I do now? Do I wait here or try and find my buddies?

    Greg knows that I¡¯m in the core 8. Moving too much might cause us to miss each other. I have clones spread out and so does Greg. It should be a matter of time before our clones meet up again and relay important information to each other. This is the best we can do in this obnoxious puzzle.

    I tried my best to create a good [Counterspin] with the shitty hand I¡¯ve been dealt but at best I could make a bubble the size of my head. I didn¡¯t know that Isi¡¯s Authority had this much of an effect. I guess calibrating the moment I get to a new spot becomes more important since the use of any magic besides frost seems to mess with this. I had noticed this earlier; frost magic seems to be useable while using leylines but for other magic, I need to disconnect from the leyline currents. Also, I might have been quite lucky in that her authority increased, she said she was weakened, and maybe it takes a lot out of her to give me a high authority. She started at 1.9% which was quite low. She could''ve given me like 10% and I would have been able to blast almost anything.

    No point in thinking about this. I¡¯m nerfed at the moment so I might have to rely on magic.

    This shouldn¡¯t be a huge issue anymore. In my time with the Misha, I have improved all my magic skills. Nausea should be a foreign concept unless I fight prolonged with magic or against a strong entity like a demi-god or stronger. I used [Air Ball] and finally made a space of air big enough for Hayley and me to relax in. Woofus took this as an opportunity to rip the leash from her hands.

    ¡°Hey! Haroldus!¡±

    I froze walls with dog-unfriendly doors at the exits of this small room. He could run around all he wanted but he would have to stay in this room.

    ¡°That was magic? Those magic circles flashed by so fast! How did you do that?¡±

    Uhh lots of sleeping and studying in that order.

    ¡°It¡¯s not specific to mythical beasts is it right? Greg and Raishin¡¯s magic circles don¡¯t disappear so fast.¡±

    Uh, yeah, it isn¡¯t, as I said it took a long sleep and over half a year of studying and pranki¡­ Just studying.

    ¡°Pranking? Pranking who?¡±

    You misheard me, anyways let¡¯s wait here, my clones should find Greg¡¯s clones sooner or later unless something happened to them.

    ¡°How about you tell more about yourself in the meantime?¡± She sat down next to me. I looked at how Woofus was tackling the frost door.

    Look I¡¯m going to tell you the same thing I told a friend some time ago. Immortals and humans just aren¡¯t compatible, go find a human man to show your crushes or love interests in. I could sneeze and suddenly 50 years have passed for you. Just give up or go for Raishin, he is more interested in the opposite sex and has no standards. The same applies to him but at least he¡¯s actively pursuing a girlfriend. Now besides that, there is not much to me I¡¯m just an eccentric chaotic guy. I¡¯m sure there are more like me out in the world.

    ¡°Hmm, and here I was thinking you would make fun of me or give me a bullshit reply, immortal, eh? I haven¡¯t thought about that. Does that mean you don¡¯t allow yourself to fall in love with mortals?¡±

    Hmm not allowing myself is a big word, I did fall in love with a mortal but this is not going to end well for both of us so it is better to push any mortal away. Use this situation as an example. Our most efficient plan would be to blow this place up but we can¡¯t do that because you 2 are quite mortal. It gives us more of an adventure but you realize how dangerous this situation is right? One mistake on our side and you 2 will die.

    ¡°I see, so someone else has captured your heart. And¡­ I am aware that we¡¯re dragging you guys down. And I see your point you guys don¡¯t seem to be making a huge fuss about it but I do realize it must take a lot of effort for you guys to keep us alive here and thanks for that.¡±

    Don¡¯t worry about it out of all the humans I¡¯ve met you¡¯re not that demanding or selfish. It also makes us learn what¡¯s considered normal and how to manage dangerous situations. Greg and I are responsible for keeping us alive so more experience is always welcome, just a tip. When strange people warn you that strange things happen around them, don¡¯t go on a boat trip with them¡­

    ¡°Haha, another type of stranger danger. I acknowledge that what we did was quite reckless, this is the first boat trip that¡¯s interesting though, most guys our age are quite boring. And after this, they will become even more boring!¡±

    Heh, that¡¯s assuming you make it out alive!

    ¡°You will make sure this pretty lady makes it out alive right?¡± Hayley started acting cute.

    Lady? I don¡¯t remember ladies throwing themselves at the first random guys they meet.

    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m just attracted to danger!¡±

    Did you fall on your head? If I¡¯m dangerous you should run away!

    ¡°No, I mean you have the troublemaker vibe! I love that!¡±

    Ugh, is it that palpable? I need to address this; I will put my tails on this. I didn¡¯t want to go for the boring background character #62 vibe but after everything that keeps happening to me, I should go for it.

    ¡°Hey, how are we going to return to the surface? Let¡¯s say we beat this labyrinth and make it out, we¡¯re still on the bottom of the ocean¡­¡±

    Don¡¯t worry, we will find something by then, let¡¯s focus on getting out first. That suggestion you had about the core 8 was a very good one. It makes solving this labyrinth way easier. We just have to solve the outer edges. I¡¯m wondering about the disappearance of the civilization here but at this point, I just want to escape. And Woofus stop slamming on the door!

    ¡°Woofus, returned to me not too long ago.¡±

    Great, so some random monster is slamming on the door, I don¡¯t feel like dealing with it.

    ¡°What if it is Crissy and the others!¡± Hayley got up to open the door I grabbed her with my tail and bound her. ¡°Ooh, this is so soft!¡±

    Look, the wall has doors, I¡¯m sure Crissy knows how to use a door¡­

    ¡°Oh, right, she does¡­ what if this monster knows how to use doors too?¡±

    Then we would be fighting and not asking these questions, I will put a lock on it. Crissy knows how to turn a simple lock right?

    ¡°She does¡­¡± The banging stopped and seconds later it sounded like something was bashing into it. I started to get quite some energy from it.

    ¡°What if he breaks through?¡±

    Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t break.  Another door made a sound and 3 figures entered.

    ¡°Crissy!¡± Hayley got up and ran at her friend.

    ¡°Hayley!¡±

    The chicks had a dramatic reunion and Greg closed the door. He looked exhausted. Raishin looked quite tired too.

    Hey Agnis I know that you were trying to solve this labyrinth but¡­ did you had to solve it so wildly?

    Wildly? Heh, that reminds me of a wolf guy I met but yeah sorry, I started a bit fast, I went slower after that.

    And for that you have my thanks. I can finally relax. This place is stressing me out.

    Finally rest! This maze sucks! So many frost monsters! I felt so useless!

    Heh, it was rough but luckily, I could just [Shadowmeld] them and Raishin could [Flash bomb] them.

    Oh, that trick good times, actually bad times.

    Not many monsters we¡¯ve encountered could just be blasted. Also, so many skeletons, we¡¯re going to get out of here alive right? Greg explained your plan but I don¡¯t get it¡­

    Yeah, we should find out the outer edges and solve those, I have been keeping watch on random movement from the labyrinth but we either didn¡¯t meet the conditions for it to happen or the time that this happens hasn¡¯t passed yet.

    Well as far as I know the labyrinth has moved 3 times since we got here, the first one was before we entered at 19:30, then the first floor drained at 20:00 and it moved again at 20:30, then at 10:30 it moved again and after that I haven¡¯t seen any movement so either there was none or no movement that could have been seen or noticed on the first floor.

    I hate this puzzle.

    Same with me, but we might be able to leave this shitty place today if we¡¯re lucky or tomorrow at worst. We either need to brute force the outsides with permutations and let the clones get knocked around and notify us or we need them to scout out the cubes and we will have to put our tails on duty too.

    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s this thing with your tails?¡±

    Greg explained to Crissy and Hayley that our tails can do more than just be fluffy. Raishin was sitting in front of the door that was still getting bashed.

    Hey Agnis, what are you going to do about this? Do you mind if I take out my frustration on what¡¯s behind this door?  Raishin pointed at the noisy door.

    You do know that there¡¯s water behind the door, right? And that you might get bashed the moment you open the door.

    It¡¯s fine! Because Greg is such a wimp in the water, I got better at moving underwater! I will be back in a bit!  Raishin wanted to open the door but I stopped him by freezing his feet to the floor.

    How about you step aside when you¡¯re not about to get bashed¡­

    Ah right, sorry haha!

    A bash could be heard a split second later and I freed Raishin, who swiftly opened the door, went outside and closed the door behind him. It didn¡¯t take long for my frost wall to get hit by various strong lightning attacks. Raishin stepped back in 2 minutes later. He looked refreshed. Somehow, he got rid of his exhaustion by blasting something. 6t are so mysterious.

    Hey, Agnis, what is the matter with this dog? It¡¯s energy feels a bit off.

    It must be his stupidity; look I don¡¯t sense any intelligence from that dog.

    ¡°Hey! Don¡¯t insult Haroldus!¡± Crissy got fired up again.

    ¡°Crissy, I know you love him but he almost got us killed several times¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ I will keep a better eye out on him¡­¡± She tried to stroke Woofus but he dodged her hand. What an asshole.

    We caught up. Apparently, Raishin did the heavy lifting in keeping Greg and Crissy dry. Greg was wimping out a lot but at least was useful with his shadow clones and [Shadow melding] frost creatures. Crissy had improved her opinion of Raishin doing this and Hayley seemed impressed too.

    Good job Raishin! You might even get one of these to be one of your girlfriends! Raishin went to pet Woofus but Woofus barked at him and he lost balance. He faceplanted into Crissy¡¯s chest¡­ I had such high hopes for him.

    Crissy and Raishin started to fight again. Is fate trying to keep him single?

 Vol 3 Ch 11: The Breathless

    Crissy and Raishin finally stopped fighting. Greg and I were discussing how to tackle the rest of our problems. I was already tired of this clownfiesta and wanted to blow the whole place up. Greg felt the same but we both agreed that would be the solution if all else fails.

    We formulated a plan; I would keep my clones in the core 8 and place them at opposing corners in 2 diagonally opposite cubes. It was quite confusing so Gregory had to explain it to make clear what his plan was. He told me to imagine the core 8, they will have 8 cubes, 4 to the front and 4 to the back. He numbered the cubes, The foremost cube on top left is number one, next to it is number 2, the foremost bottom left cube is 3, and next to it is number 4, then moving to the back top left is number 5, and so on.

    I would place clones in the corner of cube 1 that didn¡¯t border any other core 8 cube. Like this, It could detect whenever the cube layer above it or the 2 cube layers beside it would move. Another clone would sit in the corner of cube 1 where it borders 3 cubes of the core 8. This will be the same for cube 8 which is diagonally opposite to cube 1. A clone will sit in a corner that has no core 8 cubes bordering it and another will sit in a corner where the cube borders to 3 other core 8 cubes.

    Like this, I will only need 4 clones to detect every movement in the whole labyrinth. I will then use 2 clones to relay information between floors 2 and 3. And 2 sets of 2 clones which will do this between floor 1 and 2 and floor 3 and 4. Greg will spread his clones through the cubes that don¡¯t belong to the core 8 and find out how to move them and relay this information to my clones that go between floors. Greg had to explain his plan 3 times because complicated 3D puzzles aren¡¯t the norm in anyone day to day life and explaining it is probably even harder.

    So, to summarize, I would put down 4 clones to track the movement of the whole labyrinth while Greg would use his clones to investigate and gather information to solve the rest of the labyrinth. But since we can only communicate between clones or telepathy on the same floor, we also need clones that go between floors to update the other clones. We will keep our main bodies in this room while the clones will figure this out and either Greg or I will turn the cube in this room to solve the labyrinth. We don¡¯t know when this labyrinth will move by itself so that¡¯s what my clones are for to detect any movement.

    I don¡¯t get this idea¡­

    That is fine, as long as Agnis gets it we will be fine.

    ¡°How did you even come up with this idea?¡± Crissy approached Greg in curiosity.

    Greg patted his 3rd tail.  This one came up with the idea.

    ¡°Your tail can talk?¡±

    They can¡¯t but they act similar to our brains, we can delegate tasks to them that require a lot of processing power. They will do the thinking or simulations while we with our main brain tackle whatever is right in front of us. Every tailed beast can do this however¡­  We both looked at Raishin who was playing with Woofus.

    It seems that one race of the tailed beasts didn¡¯t get this memo¡­

    Ok my clones are at their spots! Nothing seems to have moved so far, the core 8 is still as how I¡¯ve put them in.

    Right, make sure to have the other clones swap floors periodically to stay up to date, my clones will take way longer to get to their positions.

    It took 3 hours for Greg¡¯s clones to get into position. He had to resend some clones out because some got locked in combat with some troublesome monsters and were wasting time so he cancelled them and attempted another route to get his clones there.

    It was 16:32 and Raishin was getting visibly bored. Gregory and I were focusing but Crissy started flirting with Greg out of boredom. Hayley sat across me and was staring at me. I gestured toward Raishin with my head to encourage her to talk to Raishin. I didn¡¯t see Woofus anywhere but I was done solving the problems of these humans.

    Aww maan she¡¯s totally going for Greg, lucky Greg, he gets the big badonkers¡­

    Are you blind Raishin? Hayley over there also has ehm big badonkers as you call them, how about you keep her company?

    Oh, you¡¯re right! Thanks, Agnis!

    Hayley looked at me. Her expression seemed to ask me why I did that. I shrugged.

    Hey, Christina, I know you like to talk but I need to focus, can you please keep Raishin busy before he does something stupid?

    As usual, Greg doesn¡¯t notice that Crissy is into him. One guy is super horny and the other one doesn¡¯t realize he¡¯s getting hit on. Am I in the middle? I sighed.

    Greg¡¯s clones were still figuring out what the layout was of every cube. At dinner time I took out a feast and we all relaxed and ate. At this point Crissy discovered that Woofus was nowhere to be found.

    ¡°Haroldus! Where is he!¡±

    You must be the worst pet owner ever; he¡¯s been gone for over 3 hours.

    Crissy grabbed Raishin by his collar. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say anything!¡±

    I kept eating, pretending that I didn¡¯t notice that Woofus was gone for over 3 hours.

    But it¡¯s your dog right! If he doesn¡¯t listen to you, why would he listen to us?!

    He has a point though¡­

    ¡°He seemed quite well behaved when Agnis was holding him though¡­¡± The focus shifted to me.

    Hey, not cool Hayley, I have nothing to do with this situation.

    Hayley stuck out her tongue. ¡°That¡¯s what you get for sending Raishin after me!¡±

    Raishin what did you do this time¡­

    Uhh, nothing¡­

    ¡°He asked me what my bra size was!¡±

    I almost chocked and coughed.  Raishin what the fuck is wrong with you?!

    I was just curious¡­

    And you¡¯re surprised that you¡¯re single¡­

    Unbelievable¡­

    ¡°Stop changing the subject! What about Haroldus?!¡±

    Who?  I dodged a cup flying at me.

    ¡°Unbelievable!¡± Crissy stood up and stormed at a door.

    Uhh Christina that¡¯s a bad idea, we¡¯re still underwa¡­

    She opened the door and water flowed in. Unfortunately, that wasn¡¯t the only thing that entered the room. Now I might have messed up my description because I did mention it was a door but it was quite a large door. Maybe more of a gate but it looked like a door. A 4m tall creature stepped in. I managed to freeze the door shut but that only stopped the water.

    ¡°Aaah!¡±

    It slammed on Crissy and I swapped myself with her. The punch packed a lot of power but because of that I could use [Auto dodge] The force blew me to the side and I swiftly flipped on its arm, took out Shirayuki and went to cut its head off when it turned into foam and disappeared.

    Is this the water version of those scythe dog?

    Oh, you do remember those pain in the ass monsters, it seems so, I can¡¯t feel its energy anymore, I assume this is the same scenario.

    Yup, I can¡¯t see where it disappeared to.

    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Sidedog?

    Greg explained to Raishin our encounter with the scythe dog and I helped Crissy up. She was terrified, I can¡¯t blame her, whatever just appeared was quite ugly. She grabbed my arm and clung to me.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­ can I hold on to you... what¡­ what was that?¡± She was shivering and fell through her knees when I tried to get her up.

    ¡°Hey not fair!¡± Raishin and Hayley said in unison.

    She really is a female Raishin¡­ Can you get up Crissy?

    She tried to answer favorably but I could see that she was too terrified to do anything. I sat down next to her and wrapped her in my tails to calm her down.

    ¡°So envious! Agnis I¡¯m scared too!¡±

    Raishin! Greg, and I are quite busy, I put you in charge of finding out how to deal with that thing. I have the feeling it will reappear. Greg and I will be fine but we need you to protect the chicks. Can you do that?

    Yessir!

    So, you do have a soft side.

    Do I need to let more water in?

    I retract my statement.

    Raishin sat down and it actually seemed like he was running simulations. It is good to see that he went through some character progression. Hayley was poking his tails, he let her play with them. Now just to get Crissy calmed down. It seemed she was crying into my tails¡­ I guess this whole adventure was stressful for her. She doesn¡¯t have a cool head like Hayley and on top of that, her dog keeps doing stupid shit. Maybe I should put more energy into checking if she is okay instead of roasting Woofus.

    Something moved at 19:30.

    Greg!  Y

    es, I¡¯ve noticed, the labyrinth is moving.

    Nothing in the core 8 moved luckily. A report from Greg¡¯s clones came in 30 minutes later to notify that the first floor was draining. This matched up with what happened yesterday. Greg confirmed this. This means that the next move will be at 20:30. Crissy had cried herself to sleep so I was quite immobilized now. Hayley seemed to have shifted her attention to Raishin and both of them were gross and were flirting with each other. I have successfully evaded Hayley.

    20:30 came and the labyrinth moved again. This time it messed with the core 8 so Greg, undid that move at the cube. He doesn¡¯t have a lightning affinity but he seemed to have picked up how to use [Lightning bolt] so he could activate the pedestal by himself.

    Something started to bang on the door at 20:53. This woke up Crissy and she went back to being terrified.

    Raishin, could you please get that asshole to shut up?

    On it! I will show you how cool I am Hayley!

    Are you going to take her in a bubble with you?

    Ehh, no.

    Then how is she able to see how cool you are, you surely aren¡¯t going to let that thing in are you?  I pointed at Crissy who was shivering and wrapping herself more in my tails.

    Ehh, I will tell you how cool I am after I beat this thing!

    ¡°Go get him tiger!¡±

    I cringed. Raishin made an [Air ball] around himself and went out the door. It didn¡¯t take long for him to return.

    This asshole disappeared into foam again!

    Not doing so great on telling Hayley how cool you are.

    Ugh, I guess I need a better idea. Hayley you can play with my tails while I figure this out!

    I think I¡¯m almost there, 4 clones have encountered difficulties, and after they have completed their objective, I will be able to simulate solutions.

    Hey, Crissy are you ok?

    ¡°Is that thing dead?¡± Crissy was still shaking. She looked at me like a terrified puppy.

    Raishin is working on it.

    ¡°What about Haroldus? I don¡¯t want to lose him; I don¡¯t have anyone else¡­ Just my grandpa and Haroldus¡±

    Well, we will see what we will do about Woofus, one of our clones are bound to run into him and maybe Greg can take care of you, he should be single, he¡¯s just a bit dense.

    Hey, I heard that Agnis!

    ¡°What about you, are you single?¡± She asked when she clutched one of my tails. I don¡¯t like where this is going.

    Huh, why does that matter? You¡¯re interested in Greg, right?

    ¡°I thought that you were an egocentric asshole but you seem quite nice under that shell of yours.¡±

    Uhm, no you¡¯re wrong, I am an egocentric asshole! Better stay interested in Greg!

    Give up Agnis she¡¯s not going to fall for that obvious lie, if it helps Christina, this guy will have no problems dying to get his friends to safety.

    Seriously Greg, can you just focus on your task instead of making things troublesome for me!

    See it as a payback for causing me trouble, now you do need a girlfriend, you have my blessing hehe.

    ¡°I see so I wasn¡¯t wrong.¡±

    Very wrong, I will nuke a whole country if they piss me off.

    ¡°I see.¡± Crissy got up but still stayed wrapped up in my tails. ¡°Thank you, these tails are very calming. I will try to get my act together. I know it¡¯s unreasonable but can you give Haroldus one more chance? I realize that he might be a bit stupid but I love him. But I do realize that he is putting us in danger so I will concede after that is that fine?¡± Crissy showed a painful smile.

    She was forcing herself. I have no idea what to do in these situations. And there is also Woofus¡¯ secret. I wonder if I should tell her. I got up too.

    Fine, let¡¯s give Woofus one more chance. Greg floor 2 will drain soon, how are the simulations going?

    They are almost done but I think we will have to solve this labyrinth tomorrow; we need the correct sequence of tubes and holes to move between the floors. The best time to start is tomorrow after 00:30 or the day after. I would recommend the day after because we will be able to set up the labyrinth for it to be solvable after the last time the labyrinth moves. A clone reported that there was a move at 00:30.

    Oh, how did you find out?

    Well, I didn¡¯t cancel all my clones and one got in an embarrassing situation and got stuck, it returned to this floor 20 minutes ago. After 00:30 there should be no movement until 19:30.

    So, do we leave a clone behind in this room to change the cube at a certain time to correct the cube?

    That would be wise yes. We still have to simulate the solution so I think tomorrow at 00:30 might be too soon.

    Fair, I will go look for Woofus then. Can you stay here with the chicks Greg? Raishin you¡¯re coming with me.

    Ooh, adventure time!

    I¡¯m going nowhere with all this water so you can count on me.

    ¡°Can I really not come with you?¡± Crissy seemed to have difficulty letting go of my tails.

    I¡¯m sorry, this place is quite human unfriendly, we will try to get Woofus as swiftly as possible, we will also hunt down that thing so you don¡¯t have to be so terrified anymore.

    ¡°T¡­thank you, I¡¯ll be waiting¡­¡± She reluctantly let go of my tails.

    ¡°Go get him Raishin!¡±

    I made an [Air ball] around myself and stepped out of the room with Raishin. I scanned the direct area and gestured to Raishin that Woofus was nowhere near. I had 10 clones currently on duty to make sure to relay information and keep track of the labyrinth¡¯s movement which means I had 2 at my disposal to scout the area. I sent them out to explore and look for Woofus.

    It was 23:42 and we still didn¡¯t find him. I did say that we would get him as fast as possible but this place is just enormous. The labyrinth has moved once since we left but Greg had corrected it. This floor will drain in 18 minutes which will make looking for Woofus easier but if he went to another floor, it might close off access to where he is.

    A clone appeared from the 4th floor and notified me that Woofus had been spotted there. Access to the 4th floor will disappear once this floor drains so I grabbed Raishin and dragged him to floor 4.

 Vol 3 Ch 11.1: The Breathless Part 2

    We arrived at the 4 floor at 23:56. Now here is the problem in 34 minutes the next move will happen. Who knows where we will end up if that happens. Nothing might happen to us or we can get moved to floor 1. Gregory is only going to correct the labyrinth if any cube in the core 8 gets moved. Preferably we solve this and get back to the core 8 before 00:30, Woofus was found in a cube at the very corner of floor 4.

    I dragged Raishin to Woofus and we got to a large room. I collected the woofer and shifted my focus to our new problem. It was a bigger version of the monster that invaded our room earlier today. It was bulky, had red veins or stripes and a lot of tentacles. It also had some sort of tentacle mustache and red eyes.

    A bigger version of the pain-in-the-ass monster. I decided to call it The Breathless. It was lacking a nose. It¡¯s a good thing that Crissy didn¡¯t come with us. Raishin shot forward and blasted it to pieces. I would like to say he one shot it but there was a lot of foam everywhere. This led me to believe that it escaped. I guess at this point we¡¯re so overpowered that monsters just run from us. Are we the real monsters here? Die as a normal person or live long enough to become the monster yourself? Aren¡¯t we too young for that to apply? Raishin seems frustrated that the monster escaped but we don¡¯t have time for this bullshit.

    ¨C Stop throwing a tantrum, we need to get back before the labyrinth changes, can you bring us back at full speed?-  - Ugh, this thing is so annoying, let¡¯s get out of here yeah, I¡¯ve had it with this place and keep Woofus close, I don¡¯t want to deal with his bullshit again!-

    I made a frost chain and kept Woofus on it as Raishin dragged us back. I had to direct him to a tube that we could take to floor 3 because he was still subjected to [Gravity]. We arrived at floor 3 and made it into the core 8 when 00:30 hit. We got to the room where we had our hideout but we saw 2 Breathless banging on the door.

    So they also appear when there is no water, do you think we can kill them now?

    Let me try to freeze one so he can¡¯t turn into foam.

    A breathless turned into foam and fled when I froze the other one. This one couldn¡¯t turn into foam. Raishin dropped a [Nova Blast] on it and it actually seemed like it died. It left a puddle of blue blood behind.

    Hmm so it¡¯s that easy?

    Well, it¡¯s harder to do underwater because I might block the corridors when I freeze things underwater.

    Hmm as long as it dies, let¡¯s give the chicks the good news.

    We got inside. Crissy was shivering in a corner and ran at me and dove into my tails when she saw me. Raishin went to brag to Hayley. Crissy seemed to have completely forgotten about Woofus.

    Hey Crissy, easy on the tails, I got your dog, he is wet though and needs a bath, he stinks.

    ¡°Haroldus! Bad dog! Stop causing so much trouble¡± Crissy might as well be scolding a wall. Nothing seemed to get into the head of this dog. It had a look on its face that suggested the absence of intelligence.

    We beat one Breathless, unfortunately there are more, we also found a big one.

    Breathless?

    That¡¯s the name we decided on, they can be defeated if I freeze them otherwise, they will just run away.

    They are ugly but nothing we can¡¯t handle! You can praise me now Hayley!

    ¡°How reliable!¡± Raishin and her started to get a bit touchy.

    Ugh, get a room, talking about rooms it¡¯s time to sleep, we have to bust out of this place tomorrow.  I froze the doors shut and made a separate room.

    If you guys are going to act disgusting, take that room, you can stay here if you¡¯re going to behave.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, I don¡¯t want to ask for a lot not after you saved Haroldus and did all you did but we¡¯ve been walking around in bikini¡¯s for 2 days now and without shower nonetheless.¡± Crissy looked at her red bikini.

    Hmm, I guess you can¡¯t refresh yourself with water magic or leyline every morning, alright I will repurpose that room into a bathroom. I will leave some clothes behind in it, just pick whatever is your size and fits.

    You can¡¯t give these sexy ladies your clothes! They will look lame!

    So, I dress lame? I will kick your ass later on and no I have women¡¯s clothing.

    May I ask why you have women¡¯s clothing?

    Hmm, right this sounds bad. I had to buy a large amount of clothing for 2 reasons, one to fix wardrobe malfunctions and 2 because I had a reliable source that told me that clothing will be quite expensive in the future.

    ¡®Oh, you have no idea! Do you see this sexy bikini I¡¯m wearing?!¡± Hayley approached me and pulled lightly on her strap making her chest jiggle. ¡°This cost me 8 silver, 8 SILVER! It¡¯s insane! And Crissy¡¯s bikini cost her 10 silver! Finding nice clothes that fit us was always hard and expensive but these prices are insane! My poor wallet¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah, something happened in Jarn Kingdom, and especially women''s clothing that accommodates big busts got hit the hardest.¡±

    I started to feel uncomfortable, what would they do if they discovered that this is partly my fault?

    Right, I will repurpose that room into a place where you can take a relaxing bath, do your girl stuff, have privacy, and nerd out on clothes.

    ¡°Do you have makeup by any chance?¡± Hayley and Crissy were getting needlessly close.

    Hey, come on I¡¯m not a store! I don¡¯t get useless stuff!

    ¡°But it¡¯s not useless! Look at us! We look hideous without makeup!¡± Hayley pointed at her face.

    Greg, Raishin, and I lined up and took a good look at the 2 chicks.

    Hmm, they look quite pretty to me what do you think Greg?

    I have no idea what they are talking about, both of them look attractive, I guess we don¡¯t have to ask Raishin¡­

    You 2 look gorgeous!

    ¡°Ugh, you men wouldn¡¯t understand¡­¡± Hayley shook her head, causing her ponytail to dance around.

    Not because of a lack of trying, anyways watch out for Raishin while I fix this room.

    I went into the room and froze a changing room and a bathtub with a shower. I will have to route water to them, they will have to tell me to make it hotter or colder though. What else? I don¡¯t think they will appreciate me dumping the clothes on a pile. What do women like? I have no clue, the best I can do is keep them cool in a wardrobe. Hmm, this wardrobe will become enormous then. This is a problem.

    ¡°How is it going? And uhm, I came to thank you. I know it was selfish to keep asking to save Haroldus, the amount of times you had to risk your life¡­¡± Crissy came in and gave an awkward apology.

    Eh, it¡¯s fine, just don¡¯t make me run out of patience, hey, the number of clothes I have won¡¯t fit in this place, also the bath might be a problem because I will have to heat up the water so you will have to yell if you want it to be warmer. I have a high heat resistance so I don¡¯t have a good grasp on what will be too hot and cold.

    ¡°You are not upset with me?¡±

    Uhh, no

    ¡°Then why are you acting so cold?¡±

    Uh, that¡¯s just how I am. Shall I just leave the clothes on a pile?

    ¡°You also did this when Hayley went after you, is it because we aren¡¯t wearing make up?¡±

    I sighed. I guess I have to tell her the same thing I told Hayley.

    Right, I will tell you but can you promise to answer my questions about this room afterwards?  Crissy nodded.

    Raishin and Hayley, you assholes! Don¡¯t think I can¡¯t see you, get your asses in here, maybe drag Greg too so I don¡¯t have to keep repeating myself!

    Uh oh, Agnis is serious, whatever Crissy did she¡¯s in deep shit!

    ¡°Hey! I didn¡¯t do anything!¡±

    Yet!  Everyone got inside.

    Right, I told Hayley something similar. Here¡¯s the thing, our lifestyles are too incompatible so I¡¯m going to stop you here before you get strange ideas. Both of you are attractive. If I was a human I would be overjoyed when you would be interested in me. The fact is I¡¯m not a human.  I pointed to my 9 tails.

    Now what does this mean? I¡¯m immortal and you 2 aren¡¯t. it doesn¡¯t stop there. I¡¯m going to sound like an ass but here we go. When you got afraid of that monster Crissy, that¡¯s a good indicator that our lives are incompatible, this is just another Tuesday for us.

    But its Saturday¡­

    If this scares you, what we three see as a big problem will scare you shitless. The majority of our life will put you 2 in constant danger. Tell me what was your experience with Woofus since we left?

    ¡°While Haroldus is normally quite sweet it was stressful and annoying to continue to save him. I will keep a better eye on him!¡±

    While it¡¯s fine right now but after weeks, months or years that¡¯s how we are going to feel about you as a human. We get into situations where having 1 life is a certain way to die and stay dead. If this room floods now we all will die, the difference is that while you 2 will be permanently dead, we will only lose 1 life and either Greg, Raishin or I will be able to recover and prevent us from losing more lives. This is the state we will constantly be in and that is ignoring the fact that assassins and gods have their crosshairs on us. If you stick with us there is a very high likelihood you will be dead in 5 years.

    I paused to let that sink in. It also seemed to hit Raishin.

    Look we have nothing against you two but it¡¯s better if you two find a human or a mortal, fall in love with them share your life with them, and grow old together. Sticking to us will most likely put both you as mortals and us as immortals in an early grave. I¡¯m not stopping you from flirting with us but realize that there is no future in a romantic sense. There are some things that I have to tell you Raishin and Greg but now is not the time.

    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    I looked at Crissy and Hayley. Crissy was tearing up and Hayley was focusing on what I was saying.

    So, I¡¯m going to be very clear. I don¡¯t dislike or hate any of you, just know that any pursuit will fall on a dead end because a dead end is better than both of us being dead. Now Raishin might think differently in this but this is my stance.

    To add on that, combat wise you will be a liability. I don¡¯t say this to degrade any of you but each of us could easily destroy a city when push comes to shove, it is very possible that you might get hurt or die getting hit by crossfire. You two might not know this but these 2 are holding back a lot. I don¡¯t even think it¡¯s possible to emphasize how much they¡¯re holding back. We know you mean well but nobody benefits from the relationships that you seek.

    Hayley sat down and took a deep sigh. Crissy wanted to find comfort in my tails but was reluctant, I gestured that it was fine. The mood was heavy. Greg didn¡¯t say anything anymore and seemed to be deep in thought, even Raishin was deep in thought. I had Crissy in my tails. Woofus was chained to a table that I had frozen so he couldn¡¯t run away.

    I wanted to ask on how to fix this room for them but I decided that now might be not the time to ask this.

    Raishin got up.  Agnis is right, you two are very hot and have big boobs but I don¡¯t want you two to die because I couldn¡¯t control myself.

    Who are you and what did you do to Raishin!

    Hey come on! I thought about what you said, I couldn¡¯t find any objection¡­ I will try and be more considerate in pursuing chicks! Only super tough or immortal chicks!

    Hmm seems you¡¯re Raishin after all.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for being a burden¡­¡±

    Look, you¡¯re not a burden. If you want to point fingers at the burden it''s that Woofus over there! Your contributions have been helpful or neutral. Now if you want to feel good and feel helpful, can you tell me how to fix this clothing and bath problem?

    Crissy slapped her cheeks, stomped, and yelled while she flared up and calmed down soon after.

    ¡°That felt good, I feel better now, thank you. I will do my best to not be a burden, Hayley I need your help with this, show us what you¡¯ve got and Greg? Can you kick Raishin out the room?¡±  Ok,

    Raishin let¡¯s go!

    Huh what? Wait!

    Greg dragged Raishin out.

    Right, I¡¯ll see myself out too.

    ¡°Not so fast mister, we need our clothes so we need to see what you got. After that we will let you go.¡± Crissy blocked the door so that I couldn¡¯t pass.

    But there¡¯s a mountain of them¡­

    ¡°Guess that means you will be here for a while, since any pursuit will end in a dead end at least let me have this as a date!¡±

    I should have gone full asshole mode on this explanation¡­

    I got freed 2 hours later. Each of them only managed to find only 2 sets of clothing they liked. Only 2 sets out of a mountain¡­ there is a limit to being picky.

    So¡­ tired¡­ finally free!

    They surely are ruthless.

    What did they decide on tell me!

    You will see it later on. Don¡¯t be so impatient! Also, I think they¡¯re calling you Agnis, I assume it¡¯s for the bath or shower.

    You can use water magic right Greg?

    Yup, but this is a problem you created, go solve your own problem!

    I don¡¯t remember you being a demon cat, I thought you were a shadow cat.

    ¡°Agnis, can you fix our bath, please? It¡¯s a bit too hot!¡± Chrissy walked out wrapped in a bath towel and dragged me inside.

    Hey come on I¡¯m a guy! I don¡¯t belong in a room where women are bathing! Let me go!

    ¡°But you¡¯re not good at hitting the perfect temperature!¡±

    What do you mean! I made it 1 degree hotter and it went from too cold to too hot for you! You chicks are unreasonable!

    I think they just want to mess with you Agnis.

    Why?

    Because you deserve it!

    <hr>

    I woke up the next morning at 10:48. Quite late but I also went to sleep late. I looked over at the chicks that were sleeping soundly in the pajamas they had chosen out. They seemed quite relaxed. I guess they had a great and relaxing time at my expense. Maybe this was for the better because today might be stressful. I looked over to where Woofus was originally chained to but he was gone. I know how this dumbass keeps escaping but I can¡¯t do much to it.

    I decided to get him back before the rest would wake up but I got hit by a dizzy spell and saw double. I sat on the ground. Did I overdo it? I don¡¯t think so. While I can get dizzy I should be immune to most forms of vision impairments and seeing double is one of them. I inspected myself but I couldn¡¯t find anything. The dizziness was gone. I stood up and waited for a bit. Nothing happened. Maybe it¡¯s nothing.

    I put an illusion on the room. If they wake up, they won¡¯t know that I¡¯m gone. I made an [Air Ball] and went into the labyrinth. I sent out shadow clones and started looking for Woofus. I encountered some frost monsters and turned them into blood mist and also found some Breathless but they all fled. Their number seemed to increase. Most underwater monsters I encountered were unimpressive.

    Suddenly something formed out of gathering bubbles, four Breathless appeared and shot lasers at me. I made a [Frost Mirror] and reflected it while simultaneously freezing them. They got hit by their own laser and splattered blue blood everywhere. These assholes think they can gank me with lasers. It probably will have a high success rate. 2 of my clones got ganked and finished off by lasers. What a pain in the ass.

    Teleporting in with 3 or 4 of them and opening with lasers is quite mean. What if this is what happened to the city? What if an army of Breathless charged up lasers and ganked them? Not much you can do against that. I froze the area around me because I saw bubbles gathering and blasted them with lightning. I saw blue blood splatter everywhere. This is going to suck when we are going for the escape. I sent out more shadow clones because 5 had died.

    A clone found Woofus stuck on something that looked like coral after 20 minutes. I made a bigger bubble that covered both of us.

    Look I know you want to go on adventures but if you keep this up, I will have to send you back. You are a pain in the ass, to be honest, why can¡¯t you act like the others of your race?

    Woofus conveyed some retarded statements.

    Yes, you have more freedom now, but that doesn¡¯t mean you can be an ass and make Crissy worry or be a pain in the ass and have us retrieve you. This is your last chance; you are going back if I catch you doing anything stupid.

    Woofus barked and gave me a look that was completely devoid of intelligence. I don¡¯t think he understood a word of what I just said. I blasted the coral and got him free and headed back to our hideout. I returned and everyone was awake except Raishin. I put Woofus on an ice chain and made the illusion match his movements and I went to where my illusion was pretending to be sleeping and I dispelled the illusion.

    Oof, is it already this late? What are you guys up to?

    Agnis look how sexy they look in those outfits!

    Crissy was wearing a red blouse and showing off some cleavage and wore blue jeans. Hayley was wearing a very risqu¨¦ top and hot pants.

    I don¡¯t get you Hayley, you got out of a bikini to almost wear the same amount of fabric¡­

    ¡°I like to show off my assets!¡± She took some super model poses and winked at Raishin.

    ¡°I do have to say these clothes seem like they fit like a glove and they are super comfy.¡± Crissy inspected her attire. It seemed she was unable to believe it¡¯s quality.

    Jarn technology at its finest!

    ¡°Wait, this is from Jarn? This must have cost a fortune! Let me reimburse you!¡±

    Uhh no need those clothes are now yours I have no need for women¡¯s clothing. Although since it was useful just now it might¡­ Right¡­ now what¡¯s the plan, Greg!

    The plan is to relax till 00:30.

    Something knocked on the door.

    Coming! Who ordered? Did you order Agnis?

    I pounced on Raishin who wanted to open the door.

    We are still in the labyrinth remember? Stop being an idiot!

    So, they don¡¯t deliver down here?

    What do you think¡­

    ¡°Can¡­ can I hold your tails?¡± Crissy started to shiver.

    Sure.

    I froze a cage around Woofus who escaped from his leash.

    Woofus, I swear, I¡¯m so close to kicking your ass, behave!

    ¡°Haroldus! Behave yourself!¡± Crissy¡¯s voice sounded weak so even if Woofus wasn¡¯t an asshole or an idiot he might not have listened.

    The banging became louder and Crissy tried to get her fear under control but she was struggling. Waiting till they stop might be a bad idea. I¡¯m unsure if Crissy will be ok if I go out this room now. Raishin went to the door but Greg stopped him.

    These feel different. Maybe it¡¯s best¡­  I saw bubbles form in the room.

    Oh, hell no!

    I froze the bubbles and blasted them with [Lightningbolt]. I created a [Frost cloak] on everyone to protect them from the blue blood splatter. I covered Crissy completely with my tails so she didn¡¯t see what happened.

    Bad news guys, these guys can come in here now and they will gank us with lasers!

    What in Hourai¡¯s name does ¡®gank¡¯ mean?

    They will try getting cheap shots in on us by sneak attacking with a small or big group. We need to get out of here!

    Raishin made an [Air ball] around us. I left a shadow clone behind in stealth so that he could access the cube console on the pedestal when we needed it. Greg grabbed Woofus.

    Guys, I think we have to go fast, I will count down and on 1 I will drop the frost walls and doors, grab you guys and get the fuck out of here.

    ¡°We will be fine right?¡±

    Don¡¯t worry Crissy, Greg has Woofus.

    I froze more bubbles and Raishin blasted them.

    3¡­2¡­1¡­  I dropped the walls and dashed off after grabbing my buddies. I had made a magic version of [7 Waterfall]. It was so efficient it was hard to believe I made this myself.

    Whenever I meet Azu I need to thank her for her research and the passive skill she gave me. I saw a multitude of bubbles appear around me but I was too fast for them. The other 6 clones that were part of the [7 Waterfall] would be scouting the area and reporting the correct path to take once we left the core 8.

    Greg and I had sent shadow clones out but as long as we were in the core 8, we knew exactly where to go. This was because we had kept the core 8 in the same orientation since we got there and the clones had mapped out the route in them. We had to continue going around until it was time to escape.

    These monsters suck.

    Just make sure to rest when you¡¯re getting tired Agnis.

 Vol 3 Ch 12: Out of breath

    It was 23:19 and Gregory and the chicks were becoming a bit annoying. They kept telling me to rest but to be honest my magic was so efficient now that it felt as if I started using [Waterfall] 20 minutes ago. My clone had also corrected the moves the labyrinth did. All 3 of the changes went through the core 8 so they needed to be corrected. I can¡¯t communicate with the clone because I¡¯m currently on the first floor. Gregory had also left a clone behind by shadowmelding it into the shadow of the pedestal so whenever 00:30 hits he will take over. Well, his clone will.

    Guys, please shut up! I¡¯m fine I¡¯m not tired!

    ¡°You have only rested to let us eat; you must be tired!¡±

    ¡°You are not overdoing it to keep us safe right?¡± Crissy was making a familiar face. A face of someone being worried. Can¡¯t they put that energy into something else?

    I can take over Agnis!

    Don¡¯t kill yourself by overdoing it.

    Guys listen! I told you I¡¯m fine! I could probably do this for 4 more days. Let''s just focus on what¡¯s going to happen the next hour. I can¡¯t flood all the floors but I can pull water up on the places where we might need the elevator to move.

    My passengers could run if they wanted to but none of them can run as fast as I can so they were reluctant to do such. During the day bigger and bigger Breathless have been appearing as well as the whale monsters. I don¡¯t know why this is happening now. Is it related to us as intruders or is there another reason?

    Guys, I¡¯m going to make a detour I need to check something.

    I sent more shadow clones out and I made them find the entrance to the labyrinth. There was no water on this floor so I found it swiftly and found the entrance. The empty space in front the entrance was crowded with Breathless and I could spot a gigantic one where the ruined city was.

    Is this how they got wiped out?

    Possibly but they had been fine for so long, why did this become an issue 600ish years ago?

    We all fought off the Breathless that tried to attack us. I decided that it was unwise to go back to the ruined city so I went back into the labyrinth. What is the reason that these things started to appear suddenly? Does trying to solve the labyrinth summon them? Did one of those ancients made it to a console? My clones had found 6 more of these consoles but we had only ever used 1. Most had a lot of monsters in its proximity. Does it attract monsters? Because our hideout kept enduring attacks by monsters. I hopped into an elevator that could bring me to the 2nd floor.

    It¡¯s almost time, I have drawn various maps of every cube we need to pass through. Every cube has a number.

    I held these maps in front of me with 2 tails while running. I can count on Greg to draw maps. The maps are uselessly detailed though. He could have just drawn a simple map...

    00:30 hit and nothing happened seemingly. I¡¯m sure one of Greg¡¯s clones knows what moved and is fixing this.

    You¡¯ve been quiet Raishin, are you ill?

    Ehh, no I¡¯m just enjoying the ride.

    I noticed that all this time I had Raishin and Hayley squished together. So, this is why he was quiet¡­

    Hey Woofus sit still I¡¯m trying to focus!

    ¡°Give him to me, thank you for carrying him all this time.¡± Crissy received Woofus who had been napping for quite a while but was awake now and was trying to escape.

    Alright, got it! You can finish most of this labyrinth until this point here you then have to wait till 08:00 till floor 3 floods or you will have to force this elevator up to floor 2. From there on you will be able to get through the rest unless you take too long and floor 2 floods. We will have to wait a whole day if that happens, which is unfavorable.

    Hey I was thinking. This labyrinth. It needs a group of people to solve, do you think it''s only solvable by leaving people behind? We have the luxury of using clones but not everyone can do so.  I had already started running. I assume Greg¡¯s clone was solving the labyrinth.

    Don¡¯t go too fast.

    How can you still communicate with your clones?

    Gregory pointed at his shadow. It had left a thin trail of shadows behind.

    I connected all my shadow clones with a shadow. I currently am not bound by the restriction these floor try to force upon us.

    Ooh, that is a cool cheat!

    So OP!

    It should be fine now!

    ¡°How long till we can get out?¡± Hayley said as she tried to combat her drowsiness.

    33 minutes.

    I sped up and followed the path Gregory had laid out. It had some minor errors but nothing problematic. I forced water up to push up the tube that could bring me from the 3rd floor to the 2nd floor. The path had first brought us all the way down to the 4th floor then to the third floor then back to the 4th and now we needed to get to the 2nd floor. It seems that the exit is on the 2nd floor. I had to dodge more Breathless which seemed to increase in numbers.

    <hr>

    03:41 and we reached the exit. It had a large treasure room and a transporter in the back.

    Phew that was rough.

    We¡¯re rich!  Greg and I ignored all the gold and silver and went to look for historical records, manuals and magic skills.

    Hey! Don¡¯t ignore the treasure! We¡¯re broke!

    YOU are broke! I have 12 gold to my name.

    What!? I only have 80 bronze¡­

    Broke as always.

    How much do you have Agnis?

    No comment¡­

    Hehe, you¡¯re broke too aintcha?

    Just drop it Raishin¡­  I opened a dimensional pocket and let Raishin throw stuff in.

    Pick whatever you want ladies, it¡¯s a reward for surviving all this. Did you find anything useful Greg?

    Hmm no historical records sadly. This seems to be a manual on how to build a labyrinth like this¡­

    How useless. What else?

    Some magic skills but these are water based and this one is wind based.

    I looked at the water based one. [Tsunami] eh? This is useless for me, what¡¯s this one? [Acid Rain]? Interesting, this one is [Mudslide] also has earth as a component. I assume for me it will be more like muddy water than a mudslide.

    Greg, this is [Mudslide] you missed the earth runes here, I can¡¯t use this.

    Right, I want to remind you that I can¡¯t read all this, the manual had schematics and I just picked out runes that looked familiar.

    Right, I forgot, I will take these 2 magic skills. Oh, this skill is called [Submarine] it makes a comfortable air bubble that has high maneuverability it seems.

    ¡°They come with descriptions?¡± Crissy seemed curious and looked at the scrolls with the magic skills on them.

    Eh, no I can read what it does based on its runic structure.

    ¡°What? That is possible?¡± Crissy studied the magic circles but she didn¡¯t seem to be able to determine what the skill did by just looking at it.

    Agnis, you never told me that you studied magic runes?

    Ehh, that¡¯s what I assume it does based on its name haha I was joking, me being able to read what it does from its runic structure? Pff how do you guys believe that joke!

    I think I messed up; Greg isn¡¯t buying it. how am I going to tell him that I spent over half a year studying the runic compositions of magic circles without mentioning Witchaven. As I had told the Misha Headmaster, humans are quite useless if it¡¯s about advanced magic.

    Everything is loaded in! let¡¯s get out of this place!

    Good idea! Before this place throws other things at us!

    Wait! I want an explanation!

    I grabbed everyone with my tails and took the teleporter after confirming that we robbed the place clean. A white flash and we were in another ruined city. I confirmed that we were outside of the dungeon. There was air here. Did it teleport us to the nearest safe spot? The chicks sat down. They didn¡¯t do much but they seemed tired. I inspected the area. I wanted to explore this other city but I had enough of all this. It¡¯s time to get out of this whale.

    ¡°Haroldus! Come back!¡± I boxed him in with [Frost walls].

    Right, Crissy I need to confess something.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re confessing to me?! Oh gosh, I don¡¯t know what to say!¡± Her face turned a bit red and started to act a bit bashful

    Ugh, this is my fault, I had to word this differently. It¡¯s about Woofus.

    ¡°Huh, what¡¯s with him?¡± Her bashfulness turned into worry.

    I sighed.  This might come hard to you.

    I shattered illusion layers that I had placed on Woofus after I had saved him from the water dogs. He looked a bit transparent.

    You see¡­ Woofus didn¡¯t survive his encounter with the seals and waterdogs. I don¡¯t know how or what but he turned into a spirit. He did want to continue the adventure so I let him¡­ I¡¯m sorry for keeping this from you. You seemed quite attached to it but I¡¯m afraid he has already passed away.

    Crissy looked at Woofus. A lot went through her mind. It seemed as if she was about to cry but held it in. Hayley approached her and gave her a hug.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but I already suspected something like this. He acted different since you had saved him, he ate so much bread, stopped listening to me and was even fine underwater. He felt¡­ like a different dog¡­¡± Crissy collapsed to the floor and started to cry.

    Even as his spirit self Woofus was up to no good.

    Woofus look what you¡¯ve done! Look at Crissy! She¡¯s in pain and all you can think of is causing more trouble!

    Woofus conveyed more retarded statements.

    You can¡¯t be serious! More adventure? Didn¡¯t you have enough?

    Noow he was just being an asshole.

    Ugh, Crissy, please your last words, it might seem cold but this guy is pissing me off, I¡¯m sending him to the spirit world.

    Crissy wiped her tears and   approached Woofus. ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened to you after you died but you are not my Harol¡­ Woofus anymore, Haroldus was sweet, caring, and obedient. I won¡¯t let you tarnish his good character by pretending to be Haroldus, my Haroldus¡­¡±

    Crissy started to cry again. ¡°Goodbye, I hope you can adventure to your heart''s content in the spirit world.¡±

    Crissy turned around and started to sob. Hayley consoled her again. Woofus made insensitive comments as a response.

    Really Woofus? That¡¯s what you have to say? Enjoy the spirit world!  I pulled the spirit energy out of him with frost magic and he got sent to the spirit world.

    This was the first time a spirit had pissed me off. Although he might not be a real or traditional spirit.

    ¡°What did he say?¡±

    I¡¯m sorry, it¡¯s best that you don¡¯t know¡­

    Wow that must have sucked¡­

    At this point it¡¯s better to not say anything Raishin¡­

    Crissy was inconsolable for half an hour and I used this time to find out where in the stomach of the whale we were. I had an idea. I don¡¯t know much about whale anatomy but the stomach shouldn¡¯t be too far from the lungs. If I could set off an explosion and knock the wind out of the whale it might surface to get some air. After that, We have to make it spit us out. I also have an idea for that. I used the map that I had found in the ancient city and directed my attention to where I suspected the lungs would be. It seemed we were close. Now how to bring this news to my allies¡­ Crissy approached me.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m sorry for being such a mess and all of this, it must have also been hard for you, thank you for allowing Har¡­Woofus to have one last adventure.¡± She looked at my tails. I need to find out what it is with chicks and fluffy tails.

    Don¡¯t force yourself, it is good to cry and get things out of your system once in a while.

    Thank you, I¡¯m fine now, kinda, can I hold your tails for a bit? They bring me comfort.¡±

    On one condition!

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Don¡¯t freak out what I¡¯m going to tell you guys next.

    ¡°I think I will be fine; nothing can be worse than losing Haroldus.¡±

    Uhhm, I can think of many things but if you say so. Alright guys gather round! There is a public announcement I need to make! Hayley you might want to sit down for this one.

    Oh no is it what I think it is?

    Yup! So currently we¡¯re in the stomach of a giga whale at about 7000 to 8000 meters under water. So, our first hurdle, the labyrinth, is cleared now we need to get to the surface and out of this whale, preferably in that order.

    ¡°We¡­we got eaten?! So are we still going to die?¡± Crissy started to hyperventilate. I tried to calm her but she passed out from hyperventilating.

    Hayley seemed defeated. It was good that she listened and sat down. I checked Crissy¡¯s state and she seemed fine although a bit tense. I handed her to Greg who took out some scented potions and made Crissy inhale the scent. Her body relaxed.

    ¡°So, we¡¯re still going to die¡­¡±

    Nope! Maybe! I have an idea though, we will knock the wind out of this whales lungs so that he has to surface, then we make him spit us out. And boom we¡¯re free!

    Aren¡¯t you conveniently forgetting that it might be quite pissed, and for a good reason, after all that?

    Then we will just kick his ass!

    Yes! This all was frustrating for us it¡¯s time to vent on this asshole!

    I don¡¯t have a better idea and your idea seems good enough to work, how are you going to knock the wind out of the whale though?

    So, I have stored a large volume of hydrogen gas¡­

    Right, blowing him up, why am I not surprised?

    I need Raishin our explosion expert though.

    Ooh, what is the plan!

    So, when we find a good spot, I will release the hydrogen gas. I will mark the spot. I want you to compress it with wind magic and send a [Fusionado] at it. It is important that you keep compressing it. It should create the biggest explosion you¡¯ve ever seen!

    Compress and [Fusionado]! I can do that!

    Are you sure it isn¡¯t going to outright blow a hole through the whale?

    Nah deep see creatures are sturdy, It might blow a hole in its stomach at best.

    I¡¯m just curious what you just described sounds a bit similar to how the sun works, are you trying to set off a mini sun?

    I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about it¡¯s just a big explosion!

    I¡¯m slowly starting to think that introducing you to physics was a bad idea¡­ I should start making contingency plans for when you inevitably create a black hole¡­

    Hmm, Black holes do fall within the specialties of 9t, creating suns is more a 6t or phoenix thing.

    Yes, that¡¯s exactly why I need to create a contingency plan for it.

    ¡°Your plan isn¡¯t going to blow up on us, right?¡±

    Don¡¯t worry Hayley, Greg will make sure we don¡¯t blow ourselves up!

    Ugh, I will do my best.

    So where will we set it off?

    We have to get out of this cave first and somehow combat the stomach acid of the whale. I can¡¯t access my leyline energy that well I can however do this!

    I dumped metal bars next to Greg.

    What is this?  Help me create a metal shell that can protect us.

    I took out my blacksmithing supplies, lit the forge and started smelting metals and making sheets.

    Oh, I completely forgot that you¡¯re a blacksmith! I can weld the metal together!

    Gregory formed the metal into chucks that would be easy for me to smelt and form. I would create sheets and other metal components to create the metal shell and Raishin welded them together. My clone gave him instructions on what to weld and where.

    ¡°This is¡­ unexpected¡­Is there anything you guys can¡¯t do?¡±

    Eat soup.

    Get a girlfriend apparently.

    Swim.

    ¡°There really is no boring moment with you guys is there?¡±

    We like adventure and being flashy!

    Our metal shell was finished after 3 hours. It was quite ugly but it was functional. It didn¡¯t need to be watertight because Raishin or I would use [Air ball], but as I had read it would protect us from the strange stomach acid. It was decided that I would make the [Air ball] and Raishin would be the engine. Greg would keep the metal shell in place when Raishin and I had to briefly get out to set the hydrogen bomb off. Crissy had woken up in the meantime.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you make this thing a bit prettier?¡± Hayley said with a disaproving look.

    But it¡¯s not a pretty metal shell contest!

    How about this!  I patted the metal shell and put an illusion on it and it looked like a big tadpole.

    ¡°Oh, how cute! That¡¯s better!¡± Hayley seemed strangely obsessed with how the metal shell looked but she seemed happy with a tadpole.

    As long as it works it doesn¡¯t matter what it looks like. Raishin and I rolled the tadpole to the edge of the bubble and welded the fins on it.

    ¡°Hey! Tadpoles don¡¯t have weird fins like those!¡± I patted the tadpole and the illusion hid the fins.

    What a tough customer¡­

    ¡°Come on Hayley, cut them some slack, they¡¯re doing their best.¡± It seemed Crissy had turned into the voice of reason, how much they¡¯ve changed since we left from the beach.

    Wait, you two have been gone for almost 2 days now isn¡¯t there anyone going to be worried about you?!

    ¡°We had planned to have a beach weekend with the 2 of us, as long as we return today it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. I do have to do something on the Uni tomorrow though. It will start next week.¡± Crissy was inspecting the tadpole and poking it. It surprised her that it even felt like a tadpole and not like metal.

    ¡°Ugh, I was hoping to lock down a hunk during this beach weekend and brag about him when uni started but I guess I got something interesting instead¡­ Hey Raishin how about you pretend to be my boyfriend for a bit?¡±

    ¡°Hayley!¡±

    Uhh, I don¡¯t mind but I have no clue where we will end up after this so you will have to ask my buddies.

    Am I seeing this correctly? Is Raishin growing up?!

    Oh, come on! Give me some credit!

    Good job Raishin!

    Hehe thanks.

    We finished the tadpole and I was ready to blow up a whale. Greg and the chicks went in first.

 Vol 3 Ch 12.1: Out of breath part 2

    Crissy looked around. ¡°Hey, how come this thing looks so small from the outside but is so spacious?¡±

    Courtesy of Agnis¡¯ spatiotemporal magic I assume.

    It¡¯s not much but if it¡¯s about messing with the volume of spaces or having doors lead elsewhere then I¡¯m your guy!

    Why do I have the feeling that this was a byproduct of a prank¡­

    Because it is! Now Raishin if you would please! I will link you up with my vision so you don¡¯t get lost, this cave system is a mini maze.

    The tadpole entered the water and we slowly navigated toward the spot I had marked for explosion. The tadpole went quite fast. I don¡¯t know if real tadpoles are fast but Raishin made this tadpole more like a racing tadpole.

    You¡¯re not getting any more strange ideas, are you?

    Can you stop reading my mind?!

    I know you well enough that you might revise this situation to create a situation similar to our dolphin race.

    Ugh, can you stop being so overpowered?!

    We¡¯re almost there!

    ¡°Already? That was fast!¡±

    ¡°Well, they are mythical beasts, nothing is probably going to make sense, I wonder if uni has literature on them¡­¡±

    ¡°Ugh, Crissy you¡¯re such a nerd!¡±

    ¡°And you could benefit from stuffing books in your head instead of men!¡± The chicks started to bicker and Raishin and I got out the tadpole to knock the wind out of this whale.

    I created a frost arrow and shot it at the stomach wall to mark where Raishin needs to send his [Fusionado]. I released all the hydrogen gas I had stored up and made it stick to the wall in a bubble of thin ice. I gave a thumbs-up and returned to the tadpole.

    Raishin sent some [Lightning Glitter] at the bubble, started up his [Fusionado] set up, and started to compress the hydrogen. He returned to the tadpole when the [Fusionado] was complete and headed over to the bubble. He had already compressed the hydrogen to almost half its size. Greg covered the tadpole in various layers of [Shadow walls] and [Shadow domes]. I added a [Frost wall] to the mix and I linked Greg up with my vision and we looked on as how the [Fusionado] hit the hydrogen bubble and started to heat it up. It completely fused with the bubble and started a fusion reaction. Raishin compressed it all into a small ball of plasma which then started a fusion reaction and violently exploded.

    The whole place shook and rumbled. A deafening and deep whale sound almost tore our eardrums.

    ¡°Aaah!¡± Crissy ducked and covered her ears.

    ¡°Did... did it work?¡±

    It seems the whale is ascending. I think we successfully knocked the wind out of the whale.

    Wow! That was the biggest explosion I¡¯ve ever seen! It even blew a hole in the whale¡¯s stomach!

    I can¡¯t imagine it being happy about this!

    Well, his biggest problem is being out of breath so we have until then to relax. After that, he will probably be pissed.

    Probably? We blew a hole in its stomach. I would be surprised if he wasn¡¯t pissed. What is your plan to get him to spit us out?

    Hehe, do you still have your gasmask, Greg?

    What in Hourai¡¯s name are you planning this time!

    It¡¯s time for my secret weapon to make its debut!

    I took out my jar of concentrated mustard and opened the lid.

    ¡°My eyes! What¡¯s this thing? Is this mustard? It¡¯s so strong put it away!¡± Crissy dove in my tails to avoid the mustard smell that started to fill the inside of the tadpole.

    Greg smacked me. Close that! Don¡¯t open that here!

    Well, that¡¯s why we need your gasmask! Ugh, my eyes.  I rubbed my eyes.

    You must be the biggest idiot on the planet besides Raishin¡­ I don¡¯t think this is enough to make him spit us out though¡­

    Right, but I have 2 jars!  I took out another jar.

    You know that that¡¯s not going to make a difference¡­

    Well, I¡¯m going to use [Elgard Overload] to make an infinite amount of it until it throws us up. Since I¡¯m just making an infinite amount of this there shouldn¡¯t be too many downsides that I need to kick out of reality and I can stop it prematurely so I don¡¯t have to be stuck without my eyes for 80 minutes.

    Should you really be using such a strong skill to make an infinite amount of¡­ mustard? Can¡¯t you just get us out with it?

    Well, the best way to use it is to create a temporary impossibility to force something permanent, if I get us out with [Elgard Overload] and it drops it might put us back inside the stomach. The infinite mustard will disappear after my [Elgard Overload] drops but it will create an event which is the whale throwing us up.

    Hmm I see, so it¡¯s not completely reckless. I don¡¯t have any better ideas and since it doesn¡¯t involve blowing ourselves up, I acknowledge that this idea is relatively safe.

    Hmm that is strange¡­

    ¡°What is strange?¡±

    Normally this is the moment when something goes wrong but according to Agnis¡¯ eyes everything is going well, my intuition is not picking up anything either.

    Well, something is bound to go right at some point. Just 2472 more meters and my secret weapon can shine!  I took out my gas mask and put it on.

    Greg also took his one out and 2 others. He gave them to the chicks.

    Hey what about me?

    Weren¡¯t we supposed to be prepared for anything in the last 4 years?  Greg flashed a malicious smile behind his mask.

    Oh, come on this is very different than just learning how to swim!

    Well, I only have 3 gasmasks I¡¯m sorry!

    Give me yours then!

    Alright guys, stop clowning around! It¡¯s time for my secret weapon!

    I sat in the opening of the tadpole. I activated [Elgard Overload] and opened the jars. Raishin and Greg got kicked out of my shared vision the moment I did this. The mustard kept streaming into the stomach of the whale. Whatever water or stomach acid the mustard touched also turned into mustard so it didn¡¯t take long for there to be mustard everywhere.

    Help¡­ me¡­

    Raishin got hit by a small blob of mustard and he tested it.

    Aagh! So strong! It¡¯s going through my nose and to the back of my head!

    He was rolling around in the tadpole and it reminded me of Io. Both are idiots. The whale started to act strange and 3 minutes after I started [Elgard Overload] the stomach started to convulse and I braced myself.

    It is going to spit us out!

    Not too long after we got flushed out. I canceled my [Elgard Overload] the moment I saw the sky. I would be 34 minutes without my Elgards eyes now. I took this chance to recalibrate with the leylines.  8.9% affinity and 4.1% authority. It seems to work now.

    I connected to the air leyline currents and broke us out of the tadpole and used [Waterfall] to get to the shore. The whale was kind enough to surface quite close to the shore. It seemed relatively close to a peninsula. I don¡¯t think this is where we entered the ocean.

    I confirmed that we were still near Kaledon.

    Phew, it wouldn¡¯t be funny if we ended up on another continent.

    We arrived at the shore and I had 11 minutes left before I could use my Elgard¡¯s eyes. The ocean had become wild and we kept hearing wild whale noises.

    He seems very pissed.

    ¡°Dry land!¡±

    ¡°We made it!¡± The chicks ran around and made sand angels in the sand. It was good to be on solid ground too. Gregory also seemed to be happy to have earth or sand beneath his feet.

    Hey uhm guys, it is not necessarily our problem but don¡¯t you think we should do something about that whale?

    The whale was rampaging and large waves started to approach us. It also seemed to have caused a thunder and rainstorm. It was quite early in the morning but it was extremely dark because of the clouds and purple lightning dropped from the thunderclouds.

    Hmm, leaving this whale here to rampage might flood some areas. We might have to nuke that asshole.

    I agree but I¡¯m not going back on the water!

    That¡¯s fine, you protect the chicks, Raishin, and I will deal with it. The whale is super sturdy, on the ocean, quite far from any civilization, if there is one moment Raishin and I can go all out it¡¯s now!

    Ooh yes!

    I dealt with the waves that approached us. I shifted stance and used [Churning waves] to counter the waves coming at us by canceling them with my own waves.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we call for a specialist or my grandfather?¡±

    How is your grandfather going to help with this? And we¡¯re the specialists!

    ¡°My name is Christina Fugaku and my grandfather is Teppei Fugaku, the headmaster of Fugaku University and the Sword Saint, or sword hero.¡±

    Wow that is some major reveal Crissy, so you¡¯re not just a random NPC?

    ¡°Enpesee? What?¡± Crissy seemed confused. It looked like she has never touched a videogame in her life.

    ¡°I guess they¡¯re gamers Crissy they mean Non-Player Character, they probably mean that you¡¯re not some unimportant background character.¡±

    Ohh are you a gamer girl?

    ¡°Not really but it¡¯s important to know what the guys like.¡± Hayley put her hands on her hips and made a smug expression.

    ¡°Hey, isn¡¯t it rude to call me that?¡±

    Who knows, anyways we¡¯re the specialists as Raishin said, we are good at blowing stuff up. Let¡¯s go blast him Raishin! I can use my Elgards eyes again!

    Hell yeah!

    I linked Greg and Raishin up again and used [Waterfall] to get to the mega whale. Raishin used continuous teleports to get there.

    So how are we going to nuke it?

    Well, the whale monsters were weak to lightning so I assume nuke it with lightning.  I jumped on the whale and fired up my [Tail Dynamo]. Raishin landed next to me.

    So, I just blast it with lightning?

    Yup go ham. I¡¯m going to use [God of Thunder].

    Is that the lightning blast you used to put a hole in Boshi town square?

    Yeah, the orange lightning pillars you might have seen were also [God of Thunder].

    In that case I can¡¯t hold back!

    Clouds with tiger patterns started to gather around Raishin.

    Oh, you can use that in combat now!

    Yes! It still needs work but I should be able to generate way more energy now! Also!

    Raishin went 6t mode. I used illusions to make sure the mana bursts wouldn¡¯t travel far. I decided to extend this so that not too many people would notice this whale going ham. Orange lightning rained down from the sky. I used the trick I learned on Mount Thunderpeak to send them all toward the whale¡¯s head. My tails were gathering orange lightning. The whale noticed that something was on its back and started to move. It tried to submerge.

    Another mana wave and the shadows started to move strangely. A huge shadow extended toward the whale and locked it into place. I looked at the shore and I saw waves of shadows. Gregory had decided to go 3t mode. Large black paws made out of shadow appeared next to the whale and started to claw at it. The whale cried and threw water and wind attacks around.

    Whoa, let¡¯s drop this whale!

    Hey since you use orange lightning and I¡¯m going to use black lightning how about we made a lightning wasp or something?

    And who is going to control it?

    Uhh, my control is shit, if you would be so kind?

    You feed it lightning, I will control it.

    The lightning was ready to get discharged and I used [God of Thunder], Raishin used a skill that he had named [Black Lightning Spear]. A direct hit and the whale started to thrash and made more noise. I made the lightning ride on the ambient leyline currents, closed the connection, and focused on controlling the mana. I had no choice but to make the mana follow the leyline course. I succeeded in forming it into a wasp. I messed with some runes and succeeded in attaching the mana to the leyline energy.

    Wow I don¡¯t know what you did but my intuition tells me that you did something amazing!

    Your request was near impossible¡­

    I connected back to the leyline energy. The authority and affinity were still the same. I retook control over the [Thunder God Wasp] and moved it around with leyline energy.

    Not as responsive as I want it to be but it¡¯s good for something I put together in 5 minutes!

    Raishin jumped on the back of the wasp and I sent the wasp to assault the whale. Every time it stung the whale it discharged a stupid amount of black lightning through its stinger. Raishin kept feeding it energy and every sting just kept doing more damage. I had to jump off the whale because although I can endure lightning quite well this is getting a bit stupid.

    Hahaha this is cool! I got it from here Agnis! I have another idea!

    Right, I guess this is the moment I get the fuck outta here!

    I used [Waterfall] to get to where Greg was on the shore. His shadows had absorbed the lightning that spilled or missed the whale and the [Shadow Paws] were applying some sort of [Liberation] whenever they smacked or scratched the whale. It seemed so intimidating at first but now it can¡¯t do anything.

    Phew that whale isn¡¯t as strong as I thought it was.

    Are you done messing around? The whale isn¡¯t dead though.

    Well, Raishin said he had an idea and I don¡¯t want to get vaporized so I got out of there. What¡¯s up with those chicks by the way?

    Pay them no mind, they are just speechless.

    Hmm, they seem to have the same thing Thalia had.

    Thalia?

    Never mind, look! Is that a black [Lightning Glitter]?

    The [Thunder God Wasp] had crashed into the whale¡¯s back and there was a big gaping hole on its back that was sputtering blood. Raishin rained black [Lightning Glitter] on the whale. The tiger clouds around him started discharging black lightning. I don¡¯t know exactly what that means but I do know one thing. This whale is fucked.

    Raishin sent out a strange black mist. It was a mist made out of lightning? How did he do that? The whale let out a very loud cry and silence followed. The whale had breathed it¡¯s last breath. The sea calmed down. The black mist disappeared and it revealed just the ocean and a sinking mountain. It seems the shitty labyrinth will stay submerged.

    Did...did he just vaporize that whale?

    Seems so, as far as I could tell it got ripped into atoms. This might be his most damaging skill yet.

    Greg and Raishin canceled their tailed beast mode and the sky started to turn back to normal and the area became lighter because it was already close to 07:00. I slowly removed the illusions covering up this battle and Raishin teleported next to us.

    Phew, [Black Lightning Haze] needs a lot of energy. That was refreshing!

    And you didn¡¯t nuke the whole area! That¡¯s some good progress!

    Hehe thanks!

    That was very impressive. It feels good to have no aftermath effects!

    ¡°You guys¡­ you do know that that was an ancient creature? It could swallow mountains and is unbeatable, I mean nearly unbeatable! You just smacked it around and killed it like it was nothing!¡±

    Well as we told you, we are Mythical creatures, we stand higher on the totem pole than ancient creatures. Anyways good riddance I can¡¯t imagine this thing being a boon to the environment.

    Crissy sat down as if we had turned her world upside down, well we did so that¡¯s not surprising. Hayley was trying to process what just happened.

    Let¡¯s bring these 2 home. I can¡¯t imagine them being able to get much done in this state.

    I hid my tails and hoisted Crissy on my back, giving her a piggyback ride. Raishin piggybacked Hayley. I snapped my fingers in front of Crissy¡¯s face.

    Hey, wake up! Where do you live or where can we drop you 2 off?

    ¡°Huh, what? You¡¯re leaving already?¡±

    No, we¡¯re dropping you 2 off first.

    ¡°Uhh you can drop us off at the Fugaku University near Fuurang. That city over there in the distance is Fuurang, the University is close by a bit more on the peninsula.¡± Crissy pointed toward the peninsula not too far from us.

    Ok guys let¡¯s go bring the chicks home.

    It was fun!

    Not sure If they agree.

    We took it easy in carrying the chicks back home. The area was quite lush and it had a lot of nature so we just enjoyed the walk. The chicks had fallen asleep and it became quiet. While none of this was magically taxing, it had been physically and mostly mentally taxing. At first, I was wondering if I had covered us sufficiently with illusions. I don¡¯t want that tomato goddess to get wind of what happened but we have been walking for 2 hours and we are still alive so I assume I did a great job. We could see a city appear in the distance.

    We arrived at Fuurang at around 9:12. It was a Monday and surprisingly quiet for a city.

    They told us to bring them to the university, right?

    Yeah, oh look a floating platform station! It says that the green one goes to the university! Let¡¯s go!

    Ugh, I could use a rest!

    We ran to catch the floating platform. We didn¡¯t had any special cards for it so I used my ¡®Noble ID¡¯ to cheat the system.

    You¡¯re still abusing that?

    It works or would you rather waste time trying to figure out how to get those cards?

    Yes! I can finally sit!

    We sat on the comfy couches on the floating platforms which were floating toward something that looked like another city. Is that the campus of the university? It¡¯s not as big as the Misha Academy but it¡¯s coming close. I needed to curb the idea of pranks that I could pull in a place like that. Universities and academies now stood synonym for pranking to me.

    The ride almost took an hour. We got off in a fancy platform station on the campus. I wonder what the point is to have a city next to this place if this university could very well act as its own city. Maybe because of this hour-long ride? Crissy and Hayley had woken up during the platform ride.

    ¡°How do I look? Do I have bed hair?¡± Hayley was patting her hair down.

    ¡°It¡¯s quite early, the guys you¡¯re interested in won¡¯t be here this early Hayley, they might not even be here until lectures start¡­¡± They got some strange badges out and pinned them to their clothes at chest height.

    we got off at our destination and the chicks patted their hair down and straightened their outfits.

    ¡°Thank you for bringing us here. I¡¯m going to say hi to my gramps and then take care of some things.¡± Crissy waved and walked off.

    ¡°Such an honor student, I should pay her gramps a visit too, thanks guys!¡± Crissy had already started walking and Hayley ran after her.

    I¡¯m going to miss them, they were so hot¡­

    Alright, let¡¯s get out of here. Greg?

    Greg was looking around in amazement. I forgot that he was a nerd, any place that was a library or academy would grab his attention.

    Greg! Let¡¯s go!

    Hey, lectures don¡¯t seem to start until next week, how about we just look around, I never had the chance to go to a university.

    Ugh, what a nerd.

    Come on! It would make for a good reference! Who knows maybe we will encounter a university dungeon!

    Unlikely but not impossible, I guess looking around won¡¯t hurt. I wonder what they serve in the canteen.

    Hey is that where they do sport?!

    We decided to split up and look around. We would gather back in front of the platform station in 2 hours. Raishin would check out the places where the students would sport, I will probably visit the canteen and I¡¯m sure we will have to collect Greg from the library before we leave this place.

 Vol 3 Ch 13: Fugaku University

    This place is huge but the layout shouldn¡¯t differ that much from the Misha academy. There were students here but not many. I did get strange stares though. Do I look weird? Maybe I stink? I inspected myself but nothing was off. I don¡¯t look like I¡¯m from here so maybe it¡¯s that. I successfully located the canteen after half an hour, it was almost 11:00. I thought of my days pranking the Misha when I heard a voice.

    ¡°Hey you! You¡¯re not skipping out on the first year¡¯s orientation, are you?!¡±

    Huh, what? I thought lectures start next week!

    I realized that this sounded like an excuse a skipping student would give. A tall middle-aged man with short curly black hair looked at me. He walked toward me and his footsteps echoed in the quite empty canteen.

    Wait you¡¯re wrong! I¡¯m not a student here, I¡¯m just sightseeing!

    ¡°Nice try! Who in their right mind would go to a university for sightseeing. Luckily, I know how to deal with skipping students!¡±

    Ok, you have a point, what you say makes sense but I really am not a student here! I¡¯m ehh, too dumb! Yes, too dumb to study here! I just wandered in here to get some food and be off again!

    ¡°Interesting excuse, now you have the choice to either go back to the orientation or get your ass kicked and dragged in front of the headmaster.¡±

    Hey isn¡¯t getting dragged in front of the headmaster quite outdated? How about you expel me?

    ¡°Expelling students will close off their opportunity from learning from their mistakes but I see you have chosen the latter, now let¡¯s see how proficient you are in magic!¡± He started up a magic circle but I interrupted it.

    ¡°Impressive! How about this!¡± He tried something interesting; it was the same magic skill but a bit scrambled, unfortunately for him I¡¯m quite an expert on magic circles and mana runes so I interrupted it again. I jumped into the kitchen section of the canteen to find some food.

    ¡°A prodigy I see, but that doesn¡¯t mean the rules don¡¯t apply to you!¡±

    Can you just let me eat in piece? I will leave afterwards! I promise!

    I ducked to dodge a [Magic Hand] and dodged another. This guy could control 3 [Magic Hands]. The name is very uncreative but it tells you exactly what they are, a better name would be [Arcane Hands] because they¡¯re made out of arcane magic but I don¡¯t think the term ¡®Arcane¡¯ was popular when the creator made this skill. I threw plates at the [Magic Hands] because they work a bit similar to [Dark Grasp].

    This is not something I know but could read from the magic circle that created them. They would grab whatever comes near to them. So, I wasted this professor¡¯s time by making his [Magic Hands] quite useless.

    I found some lasagna but it wasn¡¯t fresh. It then dawned on me, where is the kitchen crew? The professor jumped over the counter and rushed at me.

    Decided to grab me from up close, eh?

    I stepped to the side and jumped on the fridge. He sent a hand after me and I jumped to a low hanging lamp and swung to the other side of the kitchen and took a stack of plates and threw them at him like frisbees. He seemed occupied with making sure that I don¡¯t break any plates. I flashed a smile.

    ¡°Oh no you don¡¯t¡±

    Oh yes, I do!  I grabbed a cart that was loaded with plates, pushed myself off to get it going and kept throwing plates at this professor.

    How do you like this plate drive-by?!

    ¡°Are you this cocky that you think you can get away without using magic?!¡±

    It¡¯s not cocky if I can get away with it right?  I kicked in a door and left the kitchen on the cart full of plates.

    So far, this professor was doing well in catching all the plates but that would change after I had escaped from the kitchen.

    ¡°Ugh, these students are becoming more troublesome by the year!¡± he augmented himself and started running after me. he still caught most of the plates I threw. He couldn¡¯t do anything about the plates that weren¡¯t aimed at him.

    I¡¯m not a student! I¡¯m a sightseer!  I got attacked by another professor while I was wondering why I didn¡¯t do this at the Misha Academy.

    ¡°Lisa help me with this troublesome student! He escaped the orientation of the first years!¡±

    I¡¯m still not a student!

    I kept throwing plates and interrupting troublesome magic that they were trying to cast. I had to spend some of my attention to take a corner so they were able to use some magic. I had to snipe [Lightning bolts] down with plates. As I raced through the corridors, more and more professors started to pursue me. Now I had a big problem. I was running out of plates to throw.

    I crashed the cart in a wall and dove into a lecture hall. It was empty and spacious. It had many rows of red seats.

    It was time to play hide and seek. I messed with the runes in the device that would illuminate the hall and I hid in the 4th row of chairs. I will cheat and use some shadow clones and shadow magic to mess with the professors. 4 professors entered the room and tried to turn on the lights.

    ¡°We know you are here! You have nowhere to go!¡± Handguy shouted as he tried to find out how to illuminate the dark hall.

    I had made 7 shadow clones and we all talked at the same time.

    That is assuming you can find me!

    ¡°Ugh, what a troublesome guy, let¡¯s spread out!¡± Handguy issued orders to the other professors.

    ¡°But we can¡¯t see anything in this darkness!¡±

    ¡°Neither can he! Also pay attention he is adept at interrupting your magic circles!¡±

    The humans think they can find someone who has no problem with seeing in the dark? I made a [Shadow Tendril] and tapped on the back of a professor.

    ¡°Gotcha! Huh what? Aaah!¡±

    ¡°Lisa?! What is going on?! Oof!¡± I made Handguy trip.

    Welcome to the haunted lecture hall! I hope that you guys are well prepared!

    I had a shadow clone use a Dawnlight to illuminate only his face in the darkness and it sent the female professor screaming and running out of the lecture hall. I also spread some wires through the upper part of the lecture hall and I had a shadow clone hang from it upside down and do some swings with a small Dawnlight.

    ¡°He... he¡¯s flying!¡± A professor pointed at me and tried to find out what magic I used. ¡°But I don¡¯t sense any mana!¡±

    Another clone had cleared his throat and mimicked a strange deep creepy voice. Another clone mimicked a high-pitched crazy sounding voice.

    Help¡­ me¡­ aaagh! Nooo! I don¡¯t want to die!

    The deep voice responded from across the room.  Muhahaha, you will become my sacrifice, but I need one more¡­

    The clone that used the deep voice had used illusions and transformed into the Breathless and held a Dawnlight in front of his now ugly face.

    I have spotted one!

    It ran at another professor and the professor freaked out and ran away. The reaction of the professors was hilarious and I had to make sure to not give my location away by laughing too hard. Only 2 professors were left.

    As I thought of something else to scare them off 2 female professors entered the lecture hall. One used [Illuminate] and another used [Levitate] on everything that wasn¡¯t attached to something. So, all the professors, my shadow clones and me levitated. The professors just levitated 2 meters from the floor but me and my shadow clones levitated to the ceiling.

    I guess playtime is over.

    ¡°Shadow clones eh, I can see how you had trouble catching this guy, now be a good student and come down here!¡±

    You know I¡¯d love to but you will have to cancel this [Levitation].

    My clones still spoke when I did so it was hard for them to pinpoint the real me. A clone still had the high-pitched voice and the Breathless clone still had the low voice.

    ¡°The prankster type eh, I was wondering where they all went, I guess one of them skipped out, not surprising, John, Carlos, prepare to catch him and be careful this might also be a trick!¡± The Levitation professor dropped the [Levitate] and we slowly fell down.

    ¡°What is this strange magic. Fall down already!¡± Levitation professor used [Heavy] but that didn¡¯t seem to work.

    Stolen story; please report.

    ¡°Ugh, I will hand it to you, you are quite skilled in whatever you do!¡±

    Thanks, I guess?

    The first professor whose name is John used his [Magic hands] and caught me and my shadow clones. I decided to let myself get caught because I remembered that Crissy¡¯s gramps was the headmaster here, he can confirm that I¡¯m not a student here and let me go.

    Take me to your leader!

    ¡°We have quite a strange student this year, bring him to headmaster Fugaku.¡±

    I dispelled all my shadow clones and got carried by a big hand through multiple corridors. Some students who passed by looked at me. Some were interested, some guys gave a look of approval, probably expecting to have an interesting year with someone who got caught before the lectures started. Too bad for them I¡¯m not a student! Although I might have to keep an eye out on Greg, he might enroll himself and possibly us if we¡¯re not careful. I then saw 3 professors appear and they seemed to have caught Raishin. I waved at Raishin and he waved back.

    ¡°Another troublemaker, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re friends!¡±

    I see you got caught too, let me guess you were hitting on the students here?

    Yup, and I might have embarrassed the ace of their basketball team¡­

    Classic Raishin.

    ¡°Great¡­ so they know each other¡­¡± We got lead into a big spacious room. It looked like one of those dojo¡¯s Ted used to go to. An old man in some robe or something and a katana on his hip was talking to Crissy and Hayley.

    Sup Crissy and Hayley!

    ¡°Huh, Agnis? And Raishin? Oh gramps, these are 2 of the guys I told you about. What are you 2 doing here?¡±

    ¡°Hehe, it seems they got into trouble Crissy, look even Agatha is here!¡±

    ¡°Headmaster Fugaku, these students skipped the first-year orientation and caused trouble, this one here made a mess out of the canteen and turned a lecture hall into a haunted house and this one here flirted with students and professors and beat up the ace of the basketball team!¡±

    A haunted house? Damn to think that I missed that!

    You even flirted with professors¡­ do you have no shame?

    ¡°Hmm, I see, thank you Agatha but these aren¡¯t students, they are the adventurers responsible for helping my granddaughter out. My name is Teppei Fugaku, I¡¯m the headmaster, my little Chris here just finished her story about her adventure with you.¡±

    Ehh, nice to meet you Crissy¡¯s gramps. See guys? I kept telling you that I¡¯m not a student here!

    ¡°And how were we supposed to believe that? You are the same age as our students and really? You came to sightsee? Nobody is going to believe that even if it was true!¡±

    That! Ok you¡¯re right but I¡¯m still not a student!

    Yeah! I hate studying! Now let us go!

    The professors let us go and left the dojo room.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you guys went on another adventure without us!¡±

    ¡°They didn¡¯t go on an adventure Hayley; they were causing trouble¡­ This here is Agnis and this is Raishin. Where is Greg?¡±

    Probably buried in books somewhere in the library.

    The headmaster stroked his long beard. He looked old but he still seemed quite strong. He is the sword hero after all. ¡°Hmm, they look quite normal for mythical beasts¡­¡±

    You told them?

    ¡°I didn¡¯t! Hayley blurted it out!¡±

    ¡°Hey how are we else going to explain how we got out of those impossible situations?¡± the chicks started to bicker again.

    I¡¯m more surprised that your gramps believed that.

    ¡°My dearest Chris doesn¡¯t lie, if she says she has met a god I would believe her. You two seem interesting. Even ignoring the story Chris and Hayley told me, you have piqued my interest. I want to ask you to consider becoming students here but I realize that asking this of mythical beasts might be a¡­ waste of resources.¡±

    Exactly!

    Yes! We don¡¯t want to become students!

    ¡°I want to thank you for saving Chris and Hayley but I can¡¯t very well ignore my own interests. I¡¯m quite curious in your strength. How about a wager?¡±

    Bring it on old fart! We will kick your ass!

    The old man smiled. I got a bad feeling about this. ¡°You really are as impulsive as they told me.¡±

    Raishin you idiot how many times do we have to tell you to hear the terms first before agreeing! Now he can make up whatever rules he want and we will never know!

    But that doesn¡¯t matter if we beat him up!

    And you know that because? He could make a rule that we become students if we manage to beat him up!

    Then we don¡¯t beat him up!

    Yes, and what I¡¯m trying to tell you is that now he can just set the rules to suit his agenda regardless of what happens!

    Wait what? That¡¯s cheating!

    I facepalmed.

    Who needs enemies with allies like you¡­

    The old man smiled and sent out a Teleroad message.

    ¡°The preparations will be done in 30 minutes, Chris can you bring them to the hall where the practical exams get conducted?¡± This old fart seemed happy. It seems we are screwed, yet again.

    ¡°Sure! You guys certainly screwed up but I am a bit happy that we will be able to study together!¡± Hayley seemed ecstatic and started taping on a small tablet.

    ¡°Yeah! Thank you for screwing up, guys!¡±

    Noooo!

    The headmaster was talking to some of the professors that ¡®caught¡¯ us. They also found Greg and Greg was scolding Raishin but he didn¡¯t seem super upset. He was hiding the fact that he was ecstatic that he could enroll here.

    I sighed. I don¡¯t want to study here. Nothing they can teach us here will be useful to me anyways. The only one who will benefit from this is Raishin. Maybe we should leave him here for a year to ¡®git gud¡¯ and then pick him up and continue looking for Hourai.

    ¡°So here are the courses you can follow, these are the ones I¡¯m following.¡± Crissy pushed a folder in my hands.  I¡¯m not going to study here¡­

    ¡°Come on it will be fun!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, studying isn¡¯t fun but this year certainly will be more interesting with you guys.¡± Hayley disagreed with Crissy. She did seem like the more outgoing type and not the studious type. Crissy seems like the person to diligently take notes and Hayley like the person to fall asleep during lectures. Not that I blame her, lectures are boring. There were very few Misha lectures that were interesting.

    Why do you assume we will be put in the same year?

    ¡°Well, Greg and Raishin seem to be better at using magic than most of the same year, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen you use magic a lot though¡­ I hope you get into the same year as us¡­¡± Crissy said fully convinced that we will end up as students.

    Ugh, humans and their lame rules.

    ¡°So, Sebastian and I will face off against you 3.¡±

    Heh! 3v2 easy!

    You are forgetting that Teppei Is the sword hero and I think Sebastian was his companion so he is probably on a similar tier.

    Yeah, and the old guy has a katana, he is probably way faster than you 2. He might cut you down before your magic circles finish.

    Will you be taking him then?

    I think I have to, if this old man knows Iai, both of you are fucked, I think I can only save myself from that.

    Also, we seem to have quite an audience so no blowing up the place Raishin!

    Hey why don¡¯t you say that to Agnis?

    Because there is a high likelihood, he¡¯s going to use his sword skills, if Teppei has a magic weapon, which he probably has, he will be too fast to deal with conventional magic, his leylines also seem to require him to need a bit of time to move so it¡¯s very unlikely he is going to blow up this place.

    Yeah, to be honest I¡¯m excited to see how I fare against probably the best swordsman on the continent. I will get my ass beat but at least I will be able to learn from it.

    Huh, aren¡¯t we going for a win?

    Accepting a match without knowing the terms makes winning lose its value.

    A suggestion, stick to mainly using the relic magic weapons I gave you 2. The activations of their skills is faster than conventional magic. It might save you from stray slashes.

    Oh, that is a very good idea, I haven¡¯t fought with a hammer in a while.

    My buddies got their weapons out. Gregory studied the notes I had attached to it. Raishin was just messing around with his spear. I got Shirayuki out and attached the sheathe to my hip. I wondered if I should take out my other unnamed sword but I decided against it. We got led to the hall where we would face a crushing defeat. We might win this fight but the headmaster was free to choose what happens because Raishin¡¯s blunder. So, we will most likely end up as students. Gregory had tried to wrestle the terms and conditions of the match out of the old man but he just gave a mysterious smile.

    I sighed. This is going to suck.

 Vol 3 Ch 14: Teppei Fugaku

    I looked at my friend Sebastian and then at the young men that we would be testing. The one with blond spiky hair and muscular build in strange clothing was according to Chris¡¯ description Raishin. He had an impulsive nature but he could wipe us off the face of the planet if we don¡¯t keep him in check. Thanks to his nature we can get what I want regardless of the outcome. As long as we can keep him in check, we should be fine.

    The next one, however, was a tall young man with pale skin and black hair wearing a suit. He was holding a strange-looking hammer. His eyes show off high intelligence. According to Chris, he is quite intelligent and is responsible for keeping the other 2 under control. I have talked to him briefly but I have the feeling he already knows what will happen after this match.

    The biggest problem seems the last one. He also seems quite tall and has black hair that ends in white or silver. His eyes had locked on to me. It feels like the gaze of an expert fighter. The description Chris gave me about Agnis was quite problematic. He seems adept at using water but also lightning. But the talk I had with my colleagues seemed conflicting. And Chris wasn¡¯t all too sure what his specialty was. He is wearing a katana on his hip. He does know that I am regarded as the sword saint, right? His personality seems unpredictable and a trickster. His ideas seem to range from brilliant to absurd. Also, this sword. I can¡¯t feel anything from it. Either it is a normal weak sword, or it¡¯s extremely powerful. I don¡¯t make it a habit of underestimating my opponent.

    I take my stance as the match is about to start. Only Agnis seemed to react to my stance. I see he must also be experienced in the art of the sword and can tell what I¡¯m about to do. He is supposed to be just 19-year-old. Is he a prodigy like my student Leefa? He didn¡¯t take out his sword though. Interesting. It seems that this fight will be a short one.

    I flashed a smile. Sebastian took his neutral stance. My best friend was a master in close combat. His stance seems full of openings to an amateur and this can cause him an advantage or a win early on.

    The sign to commence rang and I wasted no time and went for Raishin, I did pretend to rush at Gregory. Sebastian rushed at Agnis. As I was about to change direction and cut Raishin. Agnis tripped Raishin causing him to dodge my sword slash. Sebastian tried to capitalize on this but Agnis seemed to defy gravity and use strange movements to evade Sebastian. My friend is an expert in close combat. Never have I seen someone escape his range this easily. The swift judgement of Agnis terrified me.

    Yeah, Teppei is way too fast for me, can you take him Agnis?

    Sure.

    I heard his voice behind me, I turned around to parry a sword strike. I did parry a sword strike but I didn¡¯t see Agnis who was supposed to deliver the strike. I parried another one from the side. I briefly saw a glimpse of him. He was moving to my blind spots, how troublesome. Gregory¡¯s hammer grew to various sizes and he was swinging it as if it didn¡¯t weigh anything, judging from how Sebastian had to dodge these strikes and how he blocked them this was anything but true. Raishin¡¯s spear also seemed to have special effects going on. All of them had magic weapons, these must have been expensive and where did they get them?

    This brings me to Agnis, I still can¡¯t feel anything from his sword, having a swordfight is mostly like a conversation. But it just seems Agnis or his sword are mute. Is this a special ability? I made a wide slash and had Agnis back off. He had swung his sword moments ago but his sword was sheathed. What is the meaning of this? I don¡¯t sense any invisible weapons.

    ¡°Interesting sword and technique you have, where have you picked it up?¡±

    I both made this sword and style myself; my style isn¡¯t perfect so I hope to learn from you.

    What does this mean? He made his sword himself?

    ¡°That is not a normal sword, is it? You said you made it yourself? Is it a magic sword?¡±

    That is correct, it was extremely hard to make but I succeeded in making this and the weapons of my friends.

    I glanced at the sheathe and it was stunning. It had blue foxes and snowflake patterns.

    He turned into a blur and I reacted to parry a strike to my side. I tried to counter but he parried my strike before it gained momentum making it very easy for him to disturb my stance. I had to jump back to create distance. He used this to close into my other side. How fast was this guy? I had to turn around mid-jump to parry his strike. None of his strikes seem to have a lot of power. The more exchanges we made the more I started to understand him.

    He was feeling the water out, he was also attempting to just disrupt my stance. I assume he is figuring out how to apply my reactions to himself. He did say his style was imperfect. He had the habit of disrupting strikes before they picked up in speed and power. Or he sent the swing off course by shifting the angle my sword swings by hitting the sword close to the hilt early in the swing. I wonder if he is lacking in physical strength because everything suggests that he doesn¡¯t want to contest in strength.

    I decided to put more power in my swings. I exerted killing intent which made him back off and swung at him with more strength. My swings aren''t slow but he evaded it and moved into the side that was wide open. I jumped back as he would capitalize on this but it would give me enough time to get in a more favorable stance. I expected him to go at me mid jump but he just stood there.

    So, strength based also doesn¡¯t work. He seems to be the type that punishes mistakes.

    I smiled. My pupil was the inpatient type. She has a lot of talent and strength but she doesn¡¯t have the patience and skill this youngster has. I wanted to see what more this mythical beast has to offer. It then dawned on me, that he is a mythical beast, why isn¡¯t he using magic? I glanced over to his friends and both of them were using their magic weapons.

    I augmented myself and parried a strike near my blind spot. It seems he was tracking the movement of my eyes. What a scary guy.

    He sent a flurry of strikes at me. In my younger days this would have not been an issue but I had to parry some on instinct because I couldn¡¯t follow all of them. I got 2 shallow cuts on me and managed to push him back in a short exchange. Nothing made sense. I pushed him back but I didn¡¯t feel as if I pushed something back. It seemed as if he floated down. Is this the secret behind his speed? The power behind his strikes don¡¯t suggest that he is weightless. It falls within the range of what to expect from a 19-year-old.

    I started to wonder how a fight would look like between Agnis and Leefa. It would surely be a spectacle to watch. As if he could read my mind and know when my mind wandered off, he closed in and slashed at me. I evaded but I still had to parry. His blade had sent out a wind blade. Normally I would suspect that it was magic or a skill of the weapon but the speed of his swings had picked up speed. He started to assault me with ¡®real¡¯ strikes and ¡®fake¡¯ strikes.

    The real ones were meant to hit me while the fake ones were relying on the wind blades that shot out to make me parry them or move in a certain way which would possibly create an opening for him to exploit. Still no conversation either from Agnis or his sword. I have identified his intent but I haven¡¯t gotten much from his style. I did notice that I yet have to see his blade. It was either sheathed or moving so fast that I couldn¡¯t see it. Is this his style? I moved back with [Slide] and sent wind blades out myself with very fast slashes. Now that I was at a distance, I could see his style.

    It was as if he was waving something aside before sending out slashes. The more wind slashes I sent at him from a distance the more excited I got. It was hard to make out but everything that looked like a single swing were multiple swings. I set a [Wide swing] with its corresponding wind blade at his feet and closed in. He jumped over it and I tried to catch him midair but he defied gravity and I missed. He landed on my sword.

    This is bad.

    I dropped my katana to my left hand which I had placed below my right hand. It made him unsteady and because he fell slower than the sword, I could salvage the situation and send a sword strike upward.

    I put a lot of power in it because this was quite an unusual stance but Agnis evaded it as if I tried to forcefully cut a leaf. It reminded me of my younger days when I attempted to cut falling leaves. A special technique is needed to achieve this else the force will blow the leaf away. I followed up with [Hakidashi] which is what I used to cut falling leaves.

    He blocked the strike but in a strange position which caused him to flip over my blade. Again, it didn¡¯t feel like I was cutting at something that didn¡¯t have weight.

    ¡°Has anyone taught you about how gravity works?¡±

    I am well aware of how it works, it¡¯s just that gravity doesn¡¯t agree with me.

    He sent a slash at me which I prepared to parry but he changed its trajectory mid slash. I shifted my stance and managed to parry it.

    I got another shallow cut. I tried to counter but he had already corrected his posture and evaded my strike and went for my opening. His speed, dynamic vision and precision were a big problem for me.

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    A 360¡ã slash, [Kazekiri] was used to counter this. He ducked and dropped his sword. The moment I saw the blade I was struck with awe and it felt as if the sword woke up.

    The sword was like transparent ice, a bit blueish and had white snowflake patterns in it. I have never seen a blade so beautiful. It looked very fragile but all the exchanges suggested otherwise. I was captivated by the sword which cost me. I evaded a strike which was shallow but enough to sting and bleed a bit.

    She¡¯s beautiful, eh?

    I looked at his right hand which was holding the beautiful sword and then to the sword that laid on the ground.

    ¡°There are two of them?¡±

    Hmm, I wonder.

    I decided to get serious. I had decided against using my magic weapon Kazeshini against these youngsters so I had to do with a katana I had bought recently. I had bought it from Yttroz Industries. A blacksmith named Silver Torrent had crafted various amount of weapons and tools and left them to Yttroz Industries to sell. Hmm, Silver Torrent?

    ¡°What was your adventurer¡¯s name again?¡±

    Silver Torrent, why?

    I held up my katana and pointed at it. ¡°Did you make this? It¡¯s of a very good quality.¡±

    Oh, I was thinking that your sword seemed familiar. I might have made that yes.

    ¡°I see, can I know the name of that beautiful sword you¡¯re holding?¡±

    Her name is Shirayuki Nilah.

    He slowly sheathed his sword. I wanted to capitalize on it but I decided against it after I saw the stance he took. He didn¡¯t seem to want to catch me by surprise because he wasn¡¯t moving particularly fast. I also sheathed my sword because an Iai was the only thing fast enough to counter his Iai.

    Both of our swords flashed. The slashes clashed and wind got blasted at Agnis while ice got blasted at me. He got picked up by the wind and skilfully navigated on it while I had to cut away the ice around me.

    I glanced to the side because I heard heavy slams and explosions and it seemed that Sebastian was getting pushed back. I had to parry wind blades and ice slashes raining from the sky. How long is he planning to take to fall to the ground?

    I parried something flying at me at great speed and noticed that he threw his sword. Is he insane? I looked at the other sword that was still on the ground. He was holding another one.

    He has 3 of these? He disappeared and I instinctively blocked something that came from the direction of the sword he had just thrown. I was confused.

    A sword was still flying at me. Did he swap places?

    I put more effort in my body augmentation, evaded the sword and sent a sword flurry at Agnis. He seemed to be on the defensive this time.

    He disappeared again and his sword fell to the ground. I located the first sword that he had dropped, not there, that means! I parried another sword strike. I¡¯m sure that I would have a blast fighting him in my younger years but it is quite annoying at my current age, he is fast enough to minimize the amount of time I have to think and react, it is going to wear me out mentally before it will wear me out physically.

    Another parry. I¡¯m slowly starting to feel like this is psychological warfare. He probably realizes that he can¡¯t win from me, to which I¡¯m not sure if that¡¯s the case. Just as I¡¯m holding back, it seems he is holding back too. None of us have made any big moves. The tiniest mistake will be capitalized on. I am not the Sword Saint because I overpower any possible contester. It is because I have defeated masters in the sword that very well might have been stronger than me.

    Strength isn¡¯t everything. He might lose to me now but give him 10 no 5 years and he might mop the floor with me, even if I was in my prime. My pupil Leefa is slowly getting more and more wins in on me. I¡¯m getting old and slow.

    Agnis dropped his sword again. He is either going to swap places with a sword or form a new one. His sword seemed to be talking now. It wasn¡¯t talkative but it was direct. It told me that I should get serious if I don¡¯t want to lose. From the exchanges I had with it I could tell that he was holding back a lot. This sword is extremely powerful and it seems to have a strong will. I picked up a copy that he had dropped. I instantly felt mana drain out of me. I tried to swing it and parry Agnis¡¯ strike but it shattered.

    ¡°What?!¡±

    I jumped back and got another shallow cut.

    I looked at my hand. The cold didn¡¯t affect my hand too much because it shattered so fast. I reexamined the way he swung his sword. Is the reason he is swinging his sword like that to make sure it doesn¡¯t shatter? I used [Slide] to another copy he had dropped. I put a lot of mana in my hand and augmented it to withstand the severe mana drain it would inflict on me. Agnis seemed to patiently observe.

    I picked it up. My mana still drained but not as much as it did before. And I swung the sword as I saw Agnis do multiple times and dropped it. While at first, it felt like I was swinging through water on the version that shattered, this swing was smooth and frictionless. It didn¡¯t need a lot of strength but it still had made a huge gash in the floor.

    ¡°I now understand your sword style. This is not easy but you seem to have found something that works for you. At first, I thought you had made this sword to suit your style. This is what most blacksmiths do, create swords that correspond to the style of the users. But you¡­ you made a style to match the sword?¡±

    That is not quite correct but good enough, the style is not perfect but I¡¯m getting there.  He made a normal sword out of ice, swung it and it just shattered. I don¡¯t know exactly why but I can take a guess, his swings are insanely fast.

    ¡°It is to accommodate your speed?¡±

    Correct. I guess you¡¯re the Sword Saint for a reason. Even if I can read your body language and try to catch you off guard, I still can¡¯t get a good hit in. You even are holding up well against Shirayuki and you figured out how my style works. I don¡¯t think my style is anything that is common.

    ¡°It is not. But I¡¯m glad that I had this exchange. I would love to see a match between you and Leefa Seorwynnn, my disciple.¡±

    Ah, sounds like she will also be a pain in the ass to fight.

    ¡°It will certainly be an interesting fight, although you seem to be more technical, she has more raw power so I wonder how this might play out.¡±

    I tried to catch him off guard but all my attempts ended in failure. All his attempts also ended in failure. It has been a while since I¡¯ve been a stalemate. If it wasn¡¯t for his speed he would be defeated by now.

    A lot of skills could have been used. They don¡¯t leave me open against regular opponents. But Agnis is the fastest opponent I¡¯ve ever fought and he is skilled at finding openings so this might not be true with him as an opponent.

    At times like this I wish I was younger. I sped up and put pressure on him. He seemed occupied so I attempted a big move. But as if he had read my mind, he backed off a lot, placing him out of range of my big move. Using it now will only make it easy for him to exploit the opening it might make. My instinct told me to block and that¡¯s what I did.

    A heavy blow came out of nowhere and pushed me back. Blood trickled down my forehead and I got rid of the ice crystals growing on me.

    What was that? Agnis was standing still, his sword was sheathed¡­ I focused. Another blow out of nowhere. I blocked it again but this time I briefly saw what happened. He used an Iai from a neutral stance, making it seem to come out of nowhere. I got rid of the ice crystals again.

    A loud crash. Sebastian had been blasted into the wall andor the first time, I felt magic.

    The swords Agnis had left behind had formed a hexagon around me and it had activated a magic circle. It has been years since I have seen magic activated like this in a real fight. It created an ice cage. Getting out of this cage was no issue but¡­ I parried wind blades Agnis sent at me from between the bars.

    Go for it Raishin!

    I looked over and Raishin wasn¡¯t holding his spear anymore. I noticed an enormous spear made out of purple lightning above my head, it dropped down and I sent a [Iai: Kazeshini] at it. It dispersed the attack as it wasn''t as strong as I expected it to be.

    A spear flew back to Raishin¡¯s hand. I wanted to get rid of this cage when I felt a cold blade rest on my shoulder.

    This is our win.

    I looked to the side and Sebastian seems knocked out. Agnis was holding his katana near my neck and Raishin and Gregory approached.

    ¡°That is correct, this battle is your win.¡± I smiled because the outcome of this battle didn¡¯t matter.

    It seemed Agnis realized this because he was making a face that suggested he knew that something troublesome was coming.?

 Vol 3 Ch 15: Results of the test

    We got led back to the dojo of Teppei. Nothing I tried worked on him. I was limited to non-lethal skills so I guess this was the result. I could have done more if I was out for the kill but I assume that is the same for him. We were keeping each other in check because Teppei could body my buddies easily and I assumed I could do the same with the other old man. We sat down to listen to the bullshit requests he would demand from us. Crissy and Hayley seemed to be excited.

    ¡°You guys were so cool! I didn¡¯t know you were proficient in the sword, and your katana, it is so pretty!¡± Crissy orbited me and inspected my sheathe.

    ¡°You guys just keep surprising us; you can show all of it when we show you off to our friends! Hehe, they''re going to be so jealous!¡± Hayley grinned; it seems like she has ulterior motives.

    That old fart was tough.

    And fast

    You¡¯re just slow¡­

    Teppei was fast as fuck.

    Yeah, I saw, quite impressive for a human,

    And he¡¯s old¡­ what if he was younger¡­

    Instant loss for me. Let¡¯s see how much Raishin¡¯s impulsiveness is going to screw us over.

    I¡¯m sorry¡­

    Are you though?

    ¡°Well as you probably already know, your friend here had already agreed to whatever terms and conditions we would come up with so I won¡¯t be holding back. I do realize that having you enrol here as students will be a waste of everyone¡¯s time.¡± My face lit up, I looked at Raishin and he started dancing. ¡°However, that doesn¡¯t mean that you can¡¯t become professors at this university!¡±

    I¡¯m sorry we¡¯re too stupid to become professors.

    I¡¯ll be delighted!

    Greg, shut up please! Teppei, we are too stupid to become professors, especially this guy here.  I pointed at Raishin.

    Also, our age is close to your students this is never going to work.  A professor entered the room and handed some documents to Teppei. He briefly glanced over it.

    ¡°Agnis Hourai, also known as the Silver Torrent.¡± He started listing all my achievements and added what his colleagues had told him. He focused on my disruptive nature and how I effortlessly interrupted their magic circles. I got a bad feeling about this; I think I know where he¡¯s headed with this.

    ¡°It is apparent that you have mastered control and disruption. We had planned to introduce a course called ¡®Disruption and Evasion.¡¯ But we could never find professors that were knowledgeable or skilled enough so we had to scrap this idea. As you have demonstrated in our fight, this doesn¡¯t only apply to magic, but also other forms of combat. I am confident that you will do well. Congratulations you are the first professor to teach ¡®Disruption and Evasion¡¯ You can dub it ¡®Crowd Control¡¯ if you so please.¡±

    Ugh, bringing my adventurer feats into this is cheating!

    He shuffled the papers and took another glance.

    ¡°Gregory Sheru also known as the Obsidian Prince.¡± Raishin and I snickered.

    ¡°Proficient in archaeology, seals, and curses. You have cured the daughter of a nobleman of various high-tier curses, and you have lifted problematic barriers and erected useful barriers around small towns, important objects, important individuals, etc. Your knowledge of alchemagical potions also has gained recognition. While we do have enough professors in the alchemagical department we could use your expertise in ¡®Seals and Barriers¡¯ if you could become a substitute professor for ¡®alchemagical potion synthesis¡¯ that would be appreciated.¡± I can¡¯t help to think that this description sounds as if Teppei is describing a Misha.

    That sounds wonderful! Can I suggest having Agnis as a substitute professor for ¡®Seals and Barriers¡¯?

    Greg, please don¡¯t¡­

    ¡°That can be arranged.¡±

    Nooo, Greg you asshole!

    Payback for all the trouble you¡¯ve caused me!

    ¡°And for Raishin¡­¡± Teppei looked at a sheet of paper but I could see it was relatively empty.

    I would suggest enrolling Raishin as a student, he is a bit dumb though so he might need some extra care.

    Hey! Isn¡¯t there a course where I can teach how to blow stuff up?

    I don¡¯t think so¡­

    ¡°Hmm, maybe we should do such. Now I am not a demon so you will get something in return. I got interested in Agnis¡¯ swordsmanship, I don¡¯t mind mentoring you, I could mentor Raishin in the spear too. Sebastian can mentor Gregory with the hammer. Besides that, I¡¯m not planning to keep you here for long, half a year will do. You can treat this place as your home, within reason.¡± He looked at Raishin. ¡°And you might be able to pick up how humans behave because Chris told me that you guys imitate humans quite poorly¡­¡±

    Oh getting mentored by the sword saint! This might not be so bad after all!

    I agree.

    What about me?

    What about you?

    I think we¡¯re getting scammed!

    And whose fault is that?

    Meh.

    I feel sorry for the professors that get him as a student. Do any of your courses have material on mythical and legendary beings?

    ¡°Hmm, we do have mythology but it is quite unpopular and we might not be accurate in that at all, I have only heard tiny bits about nine tailed spirit foxes but I never knew about three tailed shadow cats or six tailed lightning tigers. I won¡¯t force you to take it over but if any of you are interested, we can arrange something.¡±

    I would gladly take that role upon myself!

    Right let the nerd teach the humans how the humans are a menace to most of the other species, good idea Greg. Now for the most important piece of information. What is the canteen specialty?

    That¡¯s what you¡¯re worried about?

    ¡°Agnis will do ¡®Disruption and evasion¡¯, Greg will do ¡®Seals and Barriers¡¯ together with Agnis, and ¡®Mythology¡¯ was already on my list after this adventure. Ok, I will go apply for those courses! Let¡¯s go, Hayley!¡± Crissy grabbed Hayley''s hand after writing down some notes and dragged her to the door.

    ¡°Ooh, right we can be the first ones hehe, I bet they will fill up fast!¡± The chicks left in a haste leaving only Teppei, Raishin, Greg, 2 professors, and me behind.

    ¡°We have to do some paperwork, and make yourself comfortable on the campus, Chris or one of the professors will collect you at the end of the day to show you your dorms. I have one question; do you want to walk around as humans or beast kin? I apologize if this is an offensive question.¡±

    I would prefer beast kin.

    Me too.

    Uhh me too then!

    ¡°Ok, I wouldn¡¯t necessarily recommend showing off being mythical beasts but I can¡¯t stop you if you do. Our students are disciplined so they are aware that the information of you being beast kin has to stay within the university grounds. We have a few non-human professors and students and this applies for them too. We want everyone to be themselves here.¡±

    That is admirable! I do need to extend a warning though. This guy¡¯s race is known for being pranksters, while this guy¡¯s race are relatively self-centered.  Greg pointed to us.

    Teppei nodded and gestured that he had work to do so we left.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Never thought that I would become a professor.

    Coming here was the best thing that has happened to us!

    Well, you don¡¯t know that it¡¯s just a matter of time before this guy screws something up.  I grabbed Raishin who was about to follow a female student and probably ask her for a date or something.

    I¡¯m more concerned about the students you will get. You are not going to turn them into monsters, are you? I can imagine them getting detached from normalcy after getting taught by you.

    Occupational hazard.

    We split up again to explore the university. It didn¡¯t take long for Handguy to find me.

    ¡°I have seen the match and heard the news, nice to meet you, my name is John. I teach arcane magic.¡± He extended his hand. His normal hand. I shook it.

    Agnis, sorry for messing you up but I did tell you that I wasn¡¯t a student¡­

    ¡°That¡¯s fine, it did seem the headmaster forgot to tell you that each professor gets their own room to prepare lectures and the sorts between the hours. Let me show you!¡± I followed John and he gave a small tour. It was quite boring. I remembered that I could have my tail and ears out so I did such.

    ¡°Whoa, a beast kin, is that why you are so fast?¡±

    One of the reasons yes

    It felt good to have my tail out. It was just 1 but that was good enough for now. It probably wouldn¡¯t take too long for me to slip up and pop up more tails. I got led to a row of boring-looking cubicles.

    ¡°One of these will become yours after everything has been arranged. Do you already know how your first lecture will look like?

    Lectures are boring, I will go full practical. Nobody is going to remember a string of words for half an hour. To expect students to remember all that is na?ve at best.

    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s an interesting perspective, the lectures are in blocks of 45 minutes though, not 30 minutes. And how are you going to keep them up to date on the theoretical aspects?¡±

    No clue, that¡¯s a problem for the future me, now excuse me I need to scout out the canteen.

    John is nice but a bit boring so I had to get out of the situation. I located the canteen but it had quite a lot of people. Most were students. Isn¡¯t this still their holiday? Why are they hanging around on the campus eating my food?

    I got some food and sat on the table. It was just simple pasta. It didn¡¯t look bad but also not super good. Some students were causing a scene, just like the Misha academy. I wonder what they are up to. A [Fireball] flew at me and I dispelled it without any thought. Hmm, something like this had happened before. I should have dodged it¡­

    ¡°Hey dude, that was so cool! How did you do that!¡±

    It was a fluke, I got lucky.

    I seem to have attracted the attention of 2 guys and 2 chicks. The students that were causing a commotion were still fighting. Several professors came in to break up the fight.

    Look those guys are getting their asses kicked by the professors, that¡¯s way more interesting than me eating my pasta.

    ¡°Oh them, they always cause trouble. My name is Randy, what¡¯s your name?¡± This Randy guy extended his hand and I handed him a tomato. He took it, unsure what to do with it.

    Agnis.

    The others also introduced themselves. I can¡¯t handle so many names and faces at once. So dispelling fireballs is abnormal for Misha and humans alike. Why are these races so incompetent? Or am I the problem?

    ¡°Hey are you listening?¡± A blonde midget was talking to me but I noticed too late.

    No, sorry, I¡¯m very bad with crowds.

    ¡°But we¡¯re with just the four of us¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, Clarice, I think it¡¯s like that saying, what was it? Four is a crowd?¡± Randy seemed to be the center of this friend group.

    He seemed to be always smiling and he had a friendly face with red spiky hair. He looked a bit like Raishin but the red-haired version and probably way smarter. The chick he was addressing was short, blonde and wore her hair in a ponytail, she could pass for Hayley¡¯s younger sister. She didn¡¯t have Hayley¡¯s figure though, she was also very short.

    ¡°We also noticed your tail and ears and were curious.¡± A tall brunette with sharp eyes but a friendly face pointed at my tail. She seemed to be the pretty one of the group.

    ¡°Hmm, he seemed to be a beast kin, however, I can¡¯t tell from which subspecies.¡± And here was the stereotypical bespectacled smart guy. He even did the move where he adjusted his glasses. He was quite tall and handsome, maybe not so stereotypical, he doesn¡¯t look like a nerd.

    Right, maybe I should answer.

    Well, my subspecies is quite endangered so it isn¡¯t strange that you can¡¯t tell

    I wiggled my ears, and pointed at them.  These are fox ears.

    ¡°Fascinating, so they didn¡¯t go extinct.¡± Smartguy would probably be great friends with Greg. All of them showed great curiosity.

    Is this perhaps the first time meeting a beast kin?

    ¡°Yeah! It seems uni had a beast kin professor in the past but that was way before we started studying here. I have to say, you look familiar, have we met before?¡± Randy seemed quite sharp. I hope he fumbles this and doesn¡¯t know who I am.

    The short chick clapped her hands. ¡°Oh, I know! He¡¯s that guy from the video! He¡¯s the Silver Torrent!¡±

    Crap.

    ¡°Wait! The Silver Torrent! Here! Whoa! Hey dude, wanna become our friend?!¡±

    Please not so loud, you¡¯re drawing attention!

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°Do you know him, Randy?¡±

    ¡°Francis, this guy is an adventurer, he even made a new role! He is quite popular under the water users and new adventurer¡¯¡±

    ¡°Water users?¡± Francis, the smart guy, adjusted his glasses. ¡°Interesting, so you can not only dispel attacks without paying attention, but you are also adept in water magic? You have my attention; what courses are you following?¡±

    Guys, really, it¡¯s not a big deal, you¡¯re hyping me up too much, I just want to eat my pasta¡­

    ¡°Oh sorry, you see these guys get easily excited.¡± The brunette seemed to be the voice of reason of the group and they all sat down next to me. It felt quite awkward because I was the only one eating and they were talking to each other.

    ¡°Hey, dude just tell me if it¡¯s rude to ask but ehm, can I touch your tail?¡±

    Depending on the type of beast kin you ask it is rude to ask. For my race, it¡¯s not that rude but it is uncomfortable, it would be as if I would ask to touch your butt. If a friend or acquaintance asks it, it is fine, but if it¡¯s someone that I¡¯ve just met, it¡¯s uncomfortable. For other races it might be the same as asking to grab their groin or an act of aggression.

    I continued to eat while the 4 thought about the words I just said. I don¡¯t want to become a walking attraction.

    ¡°So, we can¡¯t touch it yet?¡± The short chick asked.

    So, about those courses you asked about smar¡­ sorry what was your name again? I¡¯m bad with names, and faces and people and uhh humans, sorry.

    Smart guy adjusted his glasses. ¡°That is fine, I¡¯m aware of the relationship between your race and humans, I actually have to commend you for being around us like this. And my name is Francis.¡±

    Oddly enough my dragon move was successful in changing the topic.

    I am not a student, so I¡¯m not following any courses.

    ¡°Ooh, then tell me, what are you Mr. Fox?¡± The brunette leaned over and made eye contact. ¡°Oh, some interesting eyes you have!¡±

    Well, I don¡¯t expect you to believe me, you will find out next week but apparently, I¡¯m a professor.

    ¡°Wow that¡¯s so cool dude! What are you teaching!¡±

    Uhh, what was its name again, disruptive something, Teppei told me that I could rename it to ¡®Crowd Control¡¯

    ¡°Oh, shit! That actually makes a lot of sense! Yoo, guys lets sign up for that!¡± Randy got excited and his energy was contagious as the other 3 also started to become uselessly energetic.

    ¡°Huh, I don¡¯t think we had a course for that?¡± Brunette cocked her head. ¡°Hey, Randy, Clarice? What is crowd control?¡±

    ¡°What? You don¡¯t know what that is Layla? Wait, let me show you the video!¡° Randy got a tablet out and put it on the table and navigated through some stuff and played the video of when I fought against the skeleton army lead by that strange lich. Randy was commenting on the video while it was playing.

    ¡°Wow, that is really you in the video!¡± The brunette looked from the tablet to me, back to the tablet and to me again. I suppose my passive skill is messing her up as it makes it hard for people to recognize me.

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°I have never seen anyone fight like that, I did notice that I don¡¯t see you use any magic circles, care to explain?¡±

    ¡°Ooh, look at that blue fox! What a cutie!¡± Midget¡¯s voice sounded as if it was almost going ultra sonic. I wish they could keep it down.

    ¡°Oh, my gosh it¡¯s so cute!¡±

    Right, I forgot that Nilah was very popular under the chicks. Is this what they call a chick magnet? Does a magnet steal mana though? The video ended and I got bombarded with questions.

    ¡°Guys, he can¡¯t possibly answer so many questions at once, give him time and be concise in your questions!¡±

    Thank you, smart guy, but there are still too many questions. I was wondering if I had the energy to answer all those questions.

    ¡°Ah there you are! Greg told me you would be in the canteen!¡± Crissy came over, grabbed my hand, and dragged me away. ¡°I need to show you where you will be staying!¡±

    I waved at the four that got left behind and silently thanked Crissy for kidnapping me.

 Vol 3 Ch 16: Class

    The week passed and everything was set up so Greg and I would become professors and Raishin a first-year student with special needs. This amused Greg and me.

    Raishin didn¡¯t seem to be happy to be treated as a student with special needs. Greg had no issues setting everything up to start his probably boring lectures, but I did have difficulties. It seems that purely practical are not the norm so I had to fight to get this done.

    Forget the students falling asleep, I will probably fall asleep too! Maybe I could take a nap with the students, I wonder how long it will take for other professors to find out and getting me into trouble. I had no plan. I would probably improvise every practical for half a year. Suddenly half a year sounds extremely long.

    I don¡¯t think they will master it in half a year so I should be fine. I could just start kicking their asses when all fails and have them survive as long as possible. I am confident that I can get away with that.

    I sat down in the field where I would hold my practical. It had enough water to the side so there shouldn¡¯t be any issues. I took a target on a pole out of my dimensional pocket and stuck it in the ground and started to read a book about mythology that I had swiped from the library.

    I hope for Greg that he doesn¡¯t need this book for his lecture because I think he¡¯s giving mythology right after mine ends. They did assign 3 blocks of ¡®study hours¡¯, which is 45 minutes each. What the fuck am I supposed to do with all that time?

    The author of this book has no idea what he is talking about. It started off with stating that dragons are noble and intelligent creatures. Has this guy ever talked to one? Vinny is an outlier and Inyr probably too. Inyr is a battle freak though so it might not be as apparent, but I can imagine that he would be a pain in the ass to deal with if I didn¡¯t want to fight him and get my ass kicked. So, in that regard he is just a typical dragon.

    ¡°Excuse me, is this ¡®Disruption and Evasion¡¯?¡± A random guy with short black hair addressed me.

    What?

    ¡°It is yeah, don¡¯t worry you¡¯re at the correct place, what are you reading Agnis?¡± I looked up from my book and saw Crissy and Hayley.

    4 people approached that looked familiar and a bunch of other faces I didn¡¯t recognize.

    Wait this is Disruption and Evasion? Am I on the wrong field?

    ¡°No¡­ this is what your course is officially called, you might want to tell everyone that you call it something else.¡±

    Ah ok . I continued reading.

    ¡°Hey, where is the professor?¡± I heard an unfamiliar voice. ¡°Hey, excuse me, do you have any idea where the professor is? He is supposed to be a well-known adventurer.¡±

    So well-known that you can¡¯t recognize him, eh? Well, I got my passive skill to blame which makes me seem relatively unimpressive. You¡¯re talking to your professor.

    ¡°Huh? That¡¯s not funny! Where is he? You¡¯re just a student like us!¡±

    Randy approached this clueless chick and showed him something on his tablet.

    ¡°Wait he is the Silver Torrent?! How come I didn¡¯t recognize him?!¡± She looked at the screen and then to me and it started to dawn on her.

    It seems my passive still works. Randy seems a very helpful guy.

    I got up. Right, this is probably just as confusing for me as for you guys but I will be your professor in ¡®Crowd Control¡¯

    ¡°Disruption and evasion¡­¡±

    Thank you Crissy, that¡¯s the boring name. the name I will use is Crowd Control, because to be honest if you can shut someone down effectively you don¡¯t have to bother with evasion. Now evasion is useful though. Now there is one problem¡­

    I looked over at the students that had gathered. There seemed to be 67 students.

    I had made sure to make the description as boring as possible so that there wouldn¡¯t be so many of you¡­ Why are there so many of you¡­

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°Well, the name of the professor in charge always gets attached to it. No matter how boring the description, ¡®Silver Torrent¡¯ as professor is going to attract attention.¡±

    Ugh, this again. Well thank you for the explanation, Francis, did I get it right? I did, right? Well, I don¡¯t believe in lectures because I will likely fall asleep just like you will. So, this is mainly practical. If you find it boring you are free to nap, just don¡¯t be surprised if I come to kick your ass. I am bad with names and faces so don¡¯t expect me to get your names correct the first 5-6 months. Any questions?

    ¡°Can we touch¡­¡±

    No touching my tail! Next question!

    Francis adjusted his glasses. ¡°What will this first practical be about?¡±

    To be honest I have no clue, it depends on you guys. See this target here? If you can destroy it with ranged magic, we will progress the class. You guys probably think your magic is special. Maybe it is for human standards but as you can see, I¡¯m not exactly human. Humans will be the least of your problems in truly difficult situations. So, this is the first assignment: destroy this target.

    Francis adjusted his glasses again. ¡°Isn¡¯t this on the level of elementary class?¡±

    I don¡¯t know what you humans learn in elementary class so show me what you¡¯ve got.

    I sat down and continued this fraudulent book. The students talked under each other and the first magic circles got formed. I twirled my finger and interrupted them all without looking up from my book.

    ¡°What?!¡± The students were shocked. I bet nobody ever invalidated their magic without looking up.

    ¡°Hmm, this is the ¡®Disruption and Evasion¡¯ course after all. It is plausible that he wants us to use magic that is difficult to disrupt.¡± Thank Hourai for Francis, maybe he should become the professor.

    I interrupted the complex magic skills and dispelled the simpler ones mid-flight. This book was praising the mythological creatures. It didn¡¯t have any information that seems useful in finding Hourai or to teach. I took a rock out of my dimensional pocked and threw it at the foot of a guy that decided to cheat and tried to smash the target with body augmentation. He faceplanted and embarrassed himself. After that nobody tried to cheat.

    I didn¡¯t finish my book but I had enough after an hour. Half of the students had given up and the other half were still trying.

    I stood up. Right, that is enough.

    I briefly blasted the area with frost magic to eliminate all magic circles in construction and magic skills firing off.

    You there bulky guy, about 1.8m, short blonde hair. What is your opinion on this assignment and do you think this is an elementary exercise?

    ¡°Hmm, the assignment was simple, yet none of us succeeded. I am impressed with your skills in interrupting and dispelling our magic without looking up but what is this supposed to teach us?¡±

    It is to illustrate that your magic is nothing special. The ability to interrupt and dispel mana is directly related to how complex it is. The simpler it is the easier it is to disrupt it. What I¡¯ve illustrated here is that none of you have magic complex enough for me to look up from my book.

    ¡°But isn¡¯t that because you¡¯re overpowered?¡±

    A good point Hayley, did you all come here to become normal? Or are you here because you want to become overpowered? Who here wants to become a normal person, indistinguishable from a random person you meet on the street?

    Nobody? Thought so. Now who here is able to interrupt their own skill?

    Only 14 seemed to be able to do so.

    Ok 14 is a bit much, you 3, shoot the magic you can interrupt or dispel at me. Once should be enough but if I don¡¯t get it I will ask you to do so again.

    ¡°Ehh, are you sure?¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    How often do you get to fire magic at your professors without consequence? Just go for it!

    I got a [Fireball], [Flare] and [Wind Lance] shot at me. I made sure to remember the magic circles they used to fire those off. I also easily dodged them.

    Ok, you three, pay attention. I will send these back to you and your job is to make sure it doesn¡¯t hit you. You can interrupt it, dispel it or evade it when the other 2 fail.

    I had to make sure I would slow my magic circles down because else they didn¡¯t stand a chance. I sent the exact same skills with the same runic structure at the students. One managed to interrupt the skill, the two others dispelled it. One came close to having to evade but he made it in time.

    It takes a lot of focus; you can get a 1 or 2 minute break if you want. The first time is always extra taxing.

    The students took their break and talked about the assignment.

    I want the rest of you to pay attention. This is something that all of you are expected to do at the end of my courses. You should know the exact structure of your own attacks; this means that you should be able to interrupt and dispel it when someone sends it back to you. If you can¡¯t do this, I would advise you to take a good look at your magic spells because you will be for a tough ride if you can¡¯t even do this.

    I repeated the same thing. This time all 3 were able to interrupt it. I went twice more and they seemed comfortable in interrupting.

    Right, don¡¯t get too comfortable, I will slowly and subtly change the magic circles, which will make It harder for you to interrupt and dispel.

    I introduced small but realistic variations in the magic circles. While a [Fireball] in one family might be identical or similar, the [Fireball] of another family could fire the same [Fireball] but have a different magic circle structure. They can still be recognized as a [Fireball] but it makes a huge difference if you attempt to interrupt both of them. It might be easy to interrupt the [Fireball] of one family, but extremely hard to interrupt the [Fireball] of another family.

    This extends to any magic skill known. There could be variations per individual, per family, per settlement, area, country, or race. So, knowing the basics on how to disrupt and evade is knowing what you can disrupt and knowing what to evade. Evading wastes stamina and possibly also mana so disrupting is always preferred over evading. I told the students this while I was slowly changing the magic circles and the students started to visibly struggle with interrupting and dispelling. I called forth more and different students to get a feel of this too. And that¡¯s how I filled the rest of the assigned time. It was hard to read how the students found my improvised lesson.

    ¡°That was eye-opening¡­¡±

    Oh, hey Crissy, so tell me, how bad did I do?

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you did bad it¡¯s just¡­ most of us take pride in our strength and that we got into this uni, you just demonstrated how weak and normal they are¡­ It was also a wake-up call for me. I can¡¯t even interrupt my own spells¡­ I have a long way to go¡­¡±

    ¡°Ugh, you really put me through the wringer there Agnis,¡±

    Well you should take Crissy as an example, if you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.

    ¡°Well, you deserved it Hayley, flirting with him during the lesson was not very smart of you¡­ even after he had told us about how he views us and all¡­¡±

    ¡°But I want to touch his tail too! It¡¯s not fair that only you got the chance!¡±

    ¡°You had a chance to play with Raishin¡¯s tails!¡±

    ¡°Crissy look at Agnis¡¯ tail! Do you see how fluffy it looks? There is no way they¡¯re the same!¡± The chicks started to bicker again.

    Right, stop fighting, I need to return this scam book. This author clearly had no idea what he was talking about.

    I returned to the library and tried to return the book when I saw a panicking Greg.

    Yoo, looking for this?  I handed him the mythology book.

    I should¡¯ve known, you¡¯re an asshole!

    The book is a scam so be careful what you reference from it, good luck!

    Greg nodded as he ran off with the scam book. I decided to locate some books that were interesting. Maybe could give me ideas for my next group which is in 2 hours.

    <hr>

    I¡¯ve been looking for almost 2 hours and this library has nothing interesting. The Misha library was many times more interesting than this one. Humans are so useless when it comes to magic. I have 15 minutes. I could drop a [Dimensional Anchor] here, go to Azu¡¯s house and raid the Misha library and be back on time. I decided to do that when I¡¯ve exhausted all my options.

    I did the same as I did with the first group, this group seemed a bit more aggressive and incompetent. It seemed to have a lot of troublemakers.

    ¡°You¡¯re the same age as us, maybe even younger, what can you teach us!¡± Random delinquent student #4 said.

    You might have missed that none of you could destroy the target¡­

    ¡°And what¡¯s that supposed to teach us, eh? Aren¡¯t you just showing off?!¡± This time it was random delinquent student #6 who said this.

    Trust me, you have no idea what it looks like when I¡¯m showing off, can anyone tell me what this illustrated?

    No one? Tough customers.

    Even though it was supposed to be a practical I had to give a small lecture. Only half of the group seemed to understand it.

    ¡°So, what happens if we beat you up? Do we pass?¡± A group of clowns, I mean students with multicolored dyed hair approached me.

    They looked intimidating but I didn¡¯t care. I always thought that these types only appeared in movies and series.

    Right, it seems I have to edit the curriculum a bit for this group. How about this, if you can beat me, you will automatically pass the first test that I will give in a month.

    ¡°Don¡¯t come crying when you die!¡± Random delinquent #1 and the leader of these clowns seemed to have instigated all this.

    How aggressive! And how am I supposed to cry if I die?

    What¡¯s wrong guys, this applies to all of you, not just these idiots.

    The whole group started going after me. I used [Eternal Winter] but I made the magic circle appear for 7 seconds, which is a very long time. I evaded during this time and all the mana got wiped out. I didn¡¯t freeze the students.

    ¡°What?! I can¡¯t use mana!¡±

    ¡°What is this!¡±

    ¡°My mana is getting sapped¡­¡± Random delinquents #2, #3 and #5 said. These three seem to be quite close.

    The whole group was confused. I made a chair of frost for myself and sat down.

    What¡¯s wrong? Don¡¯t you want to pass that test?

    Those that didn¡¯t give up rushed at me while augmenting themselves. I slipped all of them and froze their pants to the floor. Since they deserved it, I decided to mix a rant with a lecture.

    ¡°Whoa, what is this!?¡± A random professor approached. Half the students still had their pants frozen to the floor.

    Oh, these idiots thought that they could pass a test by beating me up. I gave them 7 seconds to prevent that but all of them failed.

    ¡°I came because I was interested but it does seem like they are controlled yeah¡­ how are they supposed to learn from this though?¡± I explained what led up to this situation.

    ¡°I see, they might get the idea because of your age yeah, but I assume this lesson here might be enough for them to realize to not mess with you. My name is Helen, by the way, I teach water magic.¡±

    Uh oh.

    This woman seemed very friendly but also tired. She had long black hair with some grey streaks in it. I haven''t seen many older people that wear their hair that long. Or are those streaks a special trait? She looks like she¡¯s in her late 30s or early 40s. Humans age so strangely.

    ¡°Do you mind if I attend your lectures? And do you mind attending mine? I¡¯m struggling just as my students are with water magic.¡±

    As you can see, slipping them up and freezing their pants to the floor works 9/10 times. Ugh, I¡¯m not a fan of this idea, but maybe we should combine our classes, water users could benefit a lot from what I try to get these dumbasses to learn.

    I removed the [Eternal Winter] effect and let them examine their own magic circles for the duration of the time I was supposed to teach them stuff.

    ¡°Hmm, well I only have 7 student¡¯s so I guess that could work, I will see whether this is possible, do you prefer the morning or afternoon classes?¡±

    The morning group is nicer and more well behaved so I prefer you join that; I will probably have to whip these slackers into shape more than once.

    So even on a big and well-known university like this one has difficulties teaching water magic and pulling students that are interested. This country¡¯s education system seems to be failing if they don¡¯t create incentives. What would happen if water users go extinct and with them most water magic. The continent would be quite screwed.

    <hr>

    I went to my room. My first day was over. I only had 2 groups so I was done for a while. The next class would be on Thursday. Now I don¡¯t have off till then because Greg in all his wisdom needs me for ¡®Seals and Barriers¡¯.

    Luckily one falls on when I have class on Thursday so I only have one session tomorrow. I got my tails out and brushed them. I then realized something. I had signed Raishin up for my morning class but I didn¡¯t see him. What is he doing¡­ but that is not my problem.

 Vol 3 Ch 17: Exam

    Greg¡¯s lecture was extremely boring. I had to stay awake till my part. I hate the idea that I have to do this for the coming half year.

    ¡°Professor, the Silver Torrent is falling asleep!¡± I hate students.

    Agnis, pay attention! Your part is up now!

    Right, this guy here had this complicated word salad but what does this mean for you? See creating a barrier as baking a cake. You check what you need and make a list. Compare this to creating your barrier, you check what you need in it, make a list, which is its magic circle. Now you might not bake it right away. Maybe 20 minutes later, maybe some hours. See baking the cake as forming the barrier. You use the correct ingredients in the correct order.

    I made a simple demonstration

    Only fools would put the frosting in the batter before baking the cake. Everything has an order. This is how you form your barrier. You extract mana from yourself or the ambient mana in the order that¡¯s the most efficient for each mana rune and hitting everything on your list. And boom your barrier is done.

    I created a blank mana circle that already had the barrier template and placed the runes in it as Greg had described. I then formed the barrier in front of us. I had made a barrier that only blocks water so I shot a [waterball] and a very weak [Fireball] at it and only the [Fireball] went through. The students ducked to evade the [Fireball] but seemed to get it.

    Right, my work here is done, don¡¯t try to make it too complicated for them Greg.

    During the months that followed, I was basically a translator. Greg threw around complicated ideas and technical terms and while some got his explanation, I had to translate it into metaphors, analogies or simplify it for the rest of the group. They were on their own on Thursdays though.

    Raishin got into a lot of trouble and got turned into an assistant of those in charge of the spa. Yes, this place had a spa. At first, I had no idea what it was but it''s a good facility to have in this stressful environment. Raishin did enjoy being around chicks and massaging them. I just hope he doesn¡¯t turn into a criminal.

    My own lessons went well. The first ones of the day was mixed with the water magic students. Their ideas on water magic was so outdated it wasn¡¯t funny; they focused on support and not on offence. How offensive! I took personal offence to that and showed them that water is as qualified in offence as the other elements.

    They gained a lot of value from being disruptive. I wanted to teach them something more advanced like hijacking the magic circles and forcing the opponent to use a water skill but I¡¯m not sure how good humans could get at it. A Misha or I would have no problems with that though. Although the students couldn¡¯t destroy the target next to me, each student could cancel their own magic and some slight variations of it. I learned some new skills from this. Stealing magic skills from my students. I¡¯m a genius!

    I had introduced combat components because just interrupting or disrupting magic skills is easy, it¡¯s completely different during combat. I told them to keep it at simple magic. They were all aware on when to interrupt, dispel or evade. The ones with poor physical condition had more pressure to interrupt or disrupt while those not great at mana control had the pressure on evading more.

    This made the students get more familiar on how they have to approach this. I can¡¯t teach them this. they need to figure this out for themselves, that¡¯s why they have to continuously do mock battles with each other. This worked out for me because that means I don¡¯t have to do anything. Helen was also participating but she didn¡¯t miss her chance to instruct the water magic students.

    ¡°Phew, this is quite the workout.¡± Crissy sat down next to me.

    Her skin was shimmering from the sweat. It didn¡¯t take these students long to find out that they would work a sweat here so they had brought the appropriate clothing for it. The guys wore sport pants and t-shirts and most of the chicks were showing off quite some skin with a top and short sport shorts or leggings. Crissy took a big gulp from a water bottle and it made her chest jiggle. I had noticed that Hayley and Crissy were the most popular chicks in my group. Probably for the reasons Raishin got interested in them on the beach.

    ¡°Ow! Hey physical augmentations are cheating!¡± A guy got punched because he wasn¡¯t paying attention.

    He was getting cocky after successfully interrupting every attack his opponent threw at him.

    He is not cheating, this is a classic example where you have to evade, good job ehhm Nigel was your name?

    ¡°It¡¯s Percival but thanks!¡±

    ¡°Still as bad with names as ever, how come you still remember Hayley¡¯s and my name?¡±

    Well, that¡¯s because we had and adventure together. It might sound wrong but the relationship I have with you 2 is different than the other students.

    ¡°That¡¯s interesting, hearing that from you.¡±

    A guy was making a fool out of himself. Probably trying to impress the chicks here.

    Hey you! Whatshisface! Balance interrupting and evading better, you¡¯re panting like a tired dog, it means you¡¯re balance is off! Also don¡¯t forget to take breaks in between!

    I directed my gaze to Crissy .

    Well, the thing is my memory works the best with exposure and impression, if you leave a good impression, I will put in more effort to remember your name, bonus points if it''s short

    A big guy was completely dominating his opponent. His chunkiness was deceptive as he was quite fast.

    Mo! That was a wonderful display! Take a break that was wonderful!

    ¡°I see, you remember the short names better indeed. Right, it¡¯s time for me to beat Hayley up. Hayley! It¡¯s time for an ass kicking!¡± Crissy got up.

    Hayley looked as if she had been put through a blender. There were no cuts but she was a mess. ¡°Ugh, give me 2, no 5 more minutes!¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Crissy seemed to not care about Hayley¡¯s state and was determined to beat her friend up. What a wonderful friendship.

    ¡°You¡¯re a demon!¡± Crissy ignored Hayley¡¯s complaints and went at it.

    I had to think of an exam. All the professors were bragging and showing off what cool or complicated exam they had cooked up and there I was with no clue how to test them. I was happy with the progress of this class but the next one was quite disappointing. Any exam that would get this one to pass will cause the majority of the other class to fail. Any exam that the second class could reliably pass would be extremely easy for this one.

    Hmm what if I make them team up? Every person from this class has to team up with one of the other class. With that it depends on which class is stronger. If the first class is skilled enough, they can pull up the second class, if the second class is too lazy, they will drag the first class down. If I then let them face off in 2v2 they will be able to get a better grasp on everything.

    Now how to grade this? Instead of 2v2 I have the 2 groups face off against me. I will fire easy, medium, and hard magic spells at them the amount and types they can dispel and interrupt will determine how well they do. Evading is probably out of the question for them because if I miss that means they are being set up for a trap. Blocking attacks is allowed but blocking too often will affect their grade. So, they will have the pressure to do well but also the competition of another group that might do better than them. How this will feed into their competitiveness. I have set a limit on myself. If a group can land 3 hits on me, they instantly pass. I wrote these things down.

    I headed toward Helen and asked her what she thought about this idea. She offered to take a look at how the second class was doing. After the second class, I would put pressure on Teppei to merge the two classes together on Thursday so they could form pairs and practice together. The exam would be in 3 weeks. I hope I don¡¯t have to take more exams. It feels like solving an obnoxious puzzle. The second group was at the point the first group was 2 weeks ago. Only 11 were at a similar level of the first group. They were causing trouble again but the mock battles kept them busy so that I could work out this idea more.

    ? Interrupting or dispelling an easy spell will gain them 1 point but getting hit by them will lose them 3 points.

    ? Interrupting a medium spell will gain them 3 points and getting hit by one will lose them 2 points.

    ? Interrupting or dispelling a hard spell will gain them 5 points and getting hit by one will lose them 1 point.

    If this is achieved by team effort every interruption or dispel will add 2 points. If I detect sabotage the one responsible will get a 2-point penalty. This only counts for the team members; they can dispel or interrupt the skills of the other pair they¡¯re fighting. My tail will keep track of the amount of points gained. The pairs will inevitably lose points but I¡¯m more interested in how many they gained during the test.

    If one of the pair scores high and the other doesn¡¯t but has put in the effort to get to the result that one will pass, anyone who is dead weight will fail. Hitting 21 points or over is an instant pass, hitting me 3 times is also an instant pass. Every set of pairs gets 10 minutes. This feels more like a game now. I made a list of skills I would use and put them in the category weak, medium, or hard. Interrupting a skill of another pair will always be counted as a medium. I beat up 3 troublemakers after finalizing the specifics of my exam.

    Next class will be interesting, look forward to it, it will be preparations for the exam I cooked up so better come well prepared. Now go use the rest of the time to freshen up and think about your life choices because this is going to be rough for most of you.

    I went to put pressure on Teppei and my exam got approved. He had been very busy but he would be free next week and that¡¯s when the sword training would start for me.

    Thursday came and the second class was confused to why their class started earlier. I had gotten into an argument because I might have said that the lecture, they would normally have at this time, was quite useless. The professor wasn¡¯t happy with that.

    Right, slackers and hard workers, from now on we will prepare for the exam. These are the rules.  I stuck a pole in the ground which had a board with the rules on it attached.

    This will stay here and will still be here during the exam, study them well. If I get bullshit about that you didn¡¯t know the rules, I will send you to Greg¡¯s lectures. Now how this is how it works, team up with someone from the other class to make pairs. I don¡¯t want to hear complaints.

    I heard grumbling and while the first class was trying it¡¯s best to follow the rules the second class was resisting.

    All right assholes, do you want me to beat you up again?!

    ¡°Hah, we got stronger! The rule still stands that we pass if we kick your ass, right? We also have the other class with us now! This should be a piece of cake!¡± Random delinquent #1 again.

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    It seems he learned nothing, literally and uhh literally. He didn¡¯t learn his lesson and he didn¡¯t seem to be paying attention in class so he literally learnt nothing in both cases. Lazy students.

    ¡°Uhhm, Crissy and I pass on that idea, you guys have fun.¡± Hayley and Crissy backed off.

    The rest of first class also disagreed with beating me up. They haven¡¯t seen me fight but they were fine with the current exam plans. Half of the clown team joined the first group in not wanting to get their asses kicked.

    So, it¡¯s just 31 of you. You guys have been clowning around the last 3 months do you seriously think you can beat me now?

    ¡°Only one way to find out! You¡¯re the same age as us, you can¡¯t be that much stronger than us!¡± Delinquent leader was rallying all the delinquents and misfits.

    I wonder why they took my class in the first place. Maybe they thought it was an easy path to fame.

    I looked over at Hayley and Crissy, hoping they would talk to these clowns. They gave me a thumbs up. Do they seriously want me to beat up their fellow students? How would I make clear that they stand no chance? Just blast them? I will get in trouble with the university. How about I just humiliate them? I haven¡¯t used martial arts a lot lately. I might be a bit rusty in hand-to-hand combat but it should be enough to beat up these jesters. Nothing will humiliate them more than beating them unarmed and without magic.

    You see this right Helen?

    Helen nodded and attempted to persuade the rebellious students; I mean problematic students.

    Only managed to convince 12, eh? That¡¯s more than enough.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, they somehow feel like you¡¯re treating them as if they¡¯re inferior.¡±

    That is because they are correct. I have way more experience in this than they have, to teach someone means that you are superior in a sense. Anyone who is here to learn should realize that. They are here to get rid of their inferiority. Having this attitude surely will keep them there longer.

    This didn¡¯t sit well with the remaining idiots but nobody seems to tell them how things are. I started to stretch a bit.

    Right, I see you have opted for humiliation. I want you to remember one thing. See this tail? It signifies that I¡¯m not a human. It would serve you well to remember that. Now with that warning out of the way, come at me.

    I gave an intimidating stare and turned my eyes sapphire blue, my favorite color. The 19 clowns hesitated and started to attack me. This specific blue eye color makes me see more detail and makes it as if the world slows down. A lot of information flooded my brain and tail. I interrupted all the magic that they were casting.

    I identified the location where I would be in the blind spot of most of the clowns. I used [Blindside] and got to it. It looked like I disappeared to most of them. I closed in to an unaware guy with multi-colored hair, landed a palm strike on his solar plexus and sent him flying. This alerted the other 18 clowns and they came at me with more magic that I interrupted. 3 spells got let through as they were no threat.

    A student tripped over my tail and I placed him in between me and the attacks flying at me. I grabbed someone behind me with my tail and flung him at 3 women who were bunched up and preparing to cast magic. I used another [Blindside], I swatted some fire magic back with my tail, and grabbed a bulky guy in front of me. He smiled thinking I was no match for him in a strength contest.

    Didn¡¯t I warn them that I¡¯m a beast kin? I might not be physically strong on a mythical tier but I would kick the asses of most humans in physical strength. I easily overpowered him, pivoted, and did an overhead throw, slamming him to the ground. He attempted something but I manually interfered with his magic circle.

    ¡°What?! Impossible!¡±

    I did warn you though¡­

    I knocked him out turning this in a 17v1. I didn¡¯t knock the other ones out yet that got hit.

    I dodged a [Wind Crane], tanked a [Flare], and swatted some lightning magic down with my tail. Some were working together to pool enough mana for an [Inferno]. I wonder how long it will take them to realize that fire magic doesn¡¯t work on them. I ignored all the fire magic flying around and continued beating up my students.

    I redirected some [Lightning bolts] and zapped 3 of the guys who sent them at me. 5 down, 14 more to go.

    I used [Blindside] again and used a palm strike on 3 more guys. Only 2 got knocked out. A student sent an augmented kick at me. I blocked it with my right leg and used the force of his kick to send me spinning, fuelling a spinning kick which I landed on his temple. I had to reduce the impact because while he seemed to kick to kill me, I have no intention of doing such.

    At this point the clowns started to regret clowning around. The [Inferno] finally went off and hit me full on. They seemed ecstatic that they finally defeated me but I emerged from the fire unharmed and yawning. I knocked out the 3 chicks that were in charge of the [Inferno] with a chop to the back of their necks. It¡¯s harder than it seems. Games and tv make it seem easy.

    9v1. I had expected them to put up more of a fight. I showed off my agility by evading a [Barrage]. I have never seen someone use this attack before. It¡¯s quite weak but it sends weak arcane balls over a wide area. Even if they would hit me, it probably wouldn¡¯t hurt. I don¡¯t know what the purpose of it is besides that I can show off my agility. I closed in on this fool, grabbed him with my tail and threw him at a short guy that was charging up a strong lightning attack. This caused him to lose concentration and zap himself and the guy I threw at him.

    I deflected a punch and almost got hit by a follow up. This lean guy seemed to know his martial arts. I grabbed his right shoulder. He leaned it backward to deliver a kick with his left leg. But because I am very light, I got pulled in by this movement. He didn¡¯t expect me to be pulled along with his shoulder movement and I used the momentum to close in and flip over him and deliver a chop to the back of his neck.

    I have noticed that not many people know what to do if you flip over them. Turning around takes too long and is predictable. I looked at the 6 remaining idiots. One guy seemed to have peed his pants because my sapphire blue eyes seemed to intimidate him to the point where he pissed himself. The other 5 conceded.

    So, tell me do you still believe me you stand a chance against me?

    They shook their heads. The smart students cheered and clapped. It might not have been intentional but although limited I had shown them how to disrupt and evade. I could have disrupted everything but then I wouldn¡¯t have had time to attack effectively. Maybe I should tell them too that sticking to only disruption will leave very few opportunities for attacks unless they manage to add a damaging component to interrupting. I should look into that actually.

    I pulled a big tent out of my dimensional pocket, placed some beds in them and laid the unconscious clowns to rest there. Helen helped me and since she knew some healing spells, she aided them. Most of the damage was inflicted by themselves or their allies.

    Right although it was not my intention you guys have seen a demonstration on how to disrupt and evade. As the sharp ones under you have picked up, I did not use magic once.

    Someone raised their hand.

    Yes?

    ¡°So interrupting magic circles is not magic?¡±

    Hmm, that¡¯s a good question. It¡¯s more similar to augmenting yourself. You could consider it magic but you could even perform this in mana free areas. So, it is up to what you would define as magic. Personally, I don¡¯t see it as magic but that might be different for anyone else.

    ¡°What was that thing you did with the lightning?¡±

    Oh that, I just redirected it.

    ¡°How¡­¡±

    Long story which isn¡¯t related to magic. Anyways, this was also a demonstration on what to expect during the exam, although I will be using magic during that.

    The students started to despair after hearing that.

    ¡°I¡¯m never going to pass!¡±

    ¡°I should have practiced more¡­¡±

    ¡°He is just too strong¡­¡±

    Hey guys! Focus! Look at the rules I put down! You aren¡¯t supposed to defeat me! 3 hits at best!

    A guy adjusted his glasses, oh it was Francis. ¡°I know that this is to encourage us but you just fought off 17 individuals who are of a similar skill level as us without breaking a sweat. Every hit you took was deliberate, do you have a high fire resistance perchance?¡±

    Thank you! Finally, someone who pays attention, if I could I would instantly pass you right here since paying attention is also important in being disruptive but I can¡¯t do that unfortunately. I believe in you Francis!

    ¡°Uhh, thanks I guess?¡±

    The students seemed to put in a lot of effort in practicing with their partner. Those who didn¡¯t have a partner, because they were knocked out, teamed up with Helen and me to practice. We would swap regularly to keep it fair. It wouldn¡¯t help them much because they will need to get used to their partner but at least they become a bit familiar with the rules. I had to use a shadow clone for this.

    The weeks passed and everyone took the practice seriously.

    My lessons with Teppei had started. He said that the only thing he can teach me is by sparring a lot. My basics were good it was just to polish my skills. I had a whopping 20%-win rate against him. The only reason I could win was because of my speed. Now that he didn¡¯t have extra factors to consider and had a grasp on my style, he could abuse it. I picked up some cool tricks from him and got some useful advise to polish my style even more.

    The day of the exam came and everyone seemed exhausted before it even started.

    Did you guys come from Greg¡¯s lecture? You all look like zombies.

    ¡°We practiced before coming here, also we don¡¯t have many lectures during this exam period so that we can revise.¡± Crissy sat down, she was all sweaty and it looked like she was sleep deprived. Most of the other students seemed the same.

    ¡°You¡¯re not planning to fail all of us, are you?¡± Hayley sat next to me also sweaty and tired.

    If you guys clown around, I will fail you. I have to run around and face off against 20 sets of pairs.

    ¡°I thought it would be 30 sets of pairs you will be fighting?¡±

    Well yes but 300 minutes is insane, 200 minutes is more manageable. I don¡¯t need a break because I can let a shadow clone do this when push comes to shove so we can just start and keep going till everyone has finished. I have prepared food for you guys.  I pointed to a table I had set up with a buffet. I may or may not have stolen half from the canteen. I hope they won¡¯t mind.

    ¡°Oh wow, you¡¯re the best!¡±

    I know.  I got up after confirming everyone was here.

    Right, as you can see on this sign with the rules there is a slight change in rules, this won¡¯t affect you much, just the amount of time you guys will be here. 3 pairs will be facing off against me instead of 2 to make this not take longer than it has to. Each pair has gotten a number from 1 till 20. This is not complex magic circle synthesis, if you¡¯re number 1 you¡¯re up first, if you¡¯re number 2 you¡¯re up in the second round etc. Now for those who want to grab a bite, there is food there, you can do whatever you want, just be in time for when your turn is up, if you¡¯re 5 minutes late you and your partner fail. Don¡¯t waste other¡¯s time. Now let¡¯s start

    The majority of the students started to watch or do some light practice. Some left, which was fine as long as they were back on time. Now this exam was quite boring for me so It will just be a brief summary of results.

    Out of the 60 pairs, 2 were too late and instantly failed. 42 pairs passed. And 9 were in an uncertain range. This didn¡¯t mean that they did bad. These 9 were from round 5, 9 and 17. Their competitiveness was so fierce that not much got done that round but those were actually the most enjoyable. They were successfully sabotaging the other pairs which didn¡¯t net them many points. Interestingly enough most of these pairs contained students I expected to pass easily.

    In theory, the smartest approach was to ignore me and evade my attacks and mess with the opponents. I didn¡¯t foresee this outcome but it was quite interesting to watch and I¡¯m not planning to fail them. I had decided to give them a small extra test. If they could interrupt or dispel one of their own skills that I had modified then they would pass. Luckily all of them passed.

    <hr>

    I sat down on the bed in my room. It was late at night. Today was exhausting. Who knew that holding an exam was so tiring. I also had practice with Teppei after that. The students that had failed of the second class had decided to drop out of my course. Failing my course doesn¡¯t affect them academically like other subjects might but I assume this wasn¡¯t for them.

    I wonder what to teach them the next 3 months.

    I brushed my tail while pondering. They had learned a quite passive form of disruption, maybe a more active form now. Like how I normally fight. Not by interrupting skills but disrupting movement. I will go with that!

 Vol 3 Ch 17.5: Side story 1 - Dimensional Pocket

    I hopped into my dimensional pocket, got all my tails out, and stretched. It was time for my weekly ¡°Me time¡±, it is when I can relax and don¡¯t have to worry about anything. Time flows different in here than in the real world. I strolled through the field of Phoenix flowers that I¡¯m tending too and set it ablaze.

    Phoenix flowers don¡¯t need water but fire to grow. The hotter the fire the better. It also seems they prefer golden flames. It¡¯s the type of flames my mother and sisters always used on me to recover. This is one of the few moments where I switch to my phoenix side and ignite. I have yet to find out how to use these flames as a fox.

    The flowers seem to do great. They have to be. They have the ability to restore stamina when the pollen get ignited and inhaled. These flowers need me as much as I need them. They were driven to near extinction as they are popular under fire users. Also there aren¡¯t many places that are constantly ablaze on this continent.

    The Phoenix flowers seemed happy with the golden blaze. It was time to go to the next plant that I have to keep alive as they will keep me alive.

    The scenery changed as I was in a field of Dawnlights. These also don¡¯t need water but they need light. I returned to my 9t self and made white yellow flames, known for their luminosity. One side of the field contain the Dawnlights that will be used for illumination as using fire isn¡¯t always optimal for illuminating spaces and the other side will have the Dawnlights, primed and ready to explode. It is the only method in which I will be able to inflict light-based damage. The offensive Dawnlight need longer exposure to light.

    Tuning the time flow on my flower fields was tricky. Time has to flow slower than the outside world but faster than most of my dimensional pocket. Many flowers have died before I could get the balance right.

    I almost stepped on a primed Dawnlight. This had also caused me many issues. They won¡¯t explode because finding the right balance in this also took time. It did cost me though as I had blown myself up several times before, half of them were because I carelessly stepped on oversaturated Dawnlights. They will only explode now if I throw them.

    The Dawnlight round was done. It was time for the last plant that I grow. The other plants are stored as perishable materials.

    The scene changed and it was just 5 plants in a open space. So heres te thing. I completely forgot that I had planted Cnidaria seeds. Most had died and only these 5 were left when I rediscovered them.

    They are doing quite well now. These just need water. I won¡¯t be able to use any Cnidaria seeds as this will put this population in danger and I will have to return to the Cnidaria forest to restock. And I don¡¯t feel like going back there.

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    The Cnidaria seeds were watered and I moved to the part that held water. I had ocean water and river water stored. Ocean water was on accident as opening my dimensional pocket underwater also gets water inside but I could use that.

    A part of the river water was set aside to water plants or for consumption, the rest was for when I one day need an insane amount of water and I can¡¯t use water Dragonvein for some reason.

    I jumped in the oceanwater and practiced underwater combat. Getting rusty in this will certainly get myself killed.

    I replayed every underwater adventure I¡¯ve had and also created illusions of anything I could come up with. It was 3 hours well spent. I do this every week but there might come moments when I can¡¯t as I occasionally sleep for a week or longer.

    The pocket changed again and I was in the part where I had stored sand. I had tried but there was nothing I could think of. What do people normally use sand for? Sand is not my thing so I have no clue.

    Spending too much time here will get sand in my tails and getting sand out of my tails is a nightmare. I moved to a different part in my pocket. It was a jungle. It was an imitation of my home in the jungle. This is where I would truly relax.

    I would catch up on sleep and eat food I¡¯m too greedy for to share with others and more.

    I woke up after a 6-hour nap and stretched again. The pocket changed again and a lab appeared. It was similar to Azu¡¯s lab. Working on my magic skills and improving them is important. I¡¯m also looking into new types of magic and doing research on magic myself.

    The archived information floated by on command as I was messing around and attempting to create magic circles never seen before.

    4 days had passed and there was some progress. That will do for now. An open area appeared and it was time to practice every Dragonvein element. The focus lies on wind Dragonvein as that is the element I use the least. There is also earth Dragonvein but who cares about that! I will go to the desert if I want to deal with sand!

    The pocket changed after 3 ours. It was time for blacksmithing and maintaining my equipment. It¡¯s not much as I hardly lose daggers. They always get sucked back into my dimensional pocket after I use them. or they get vaporized by the lightning I run through them.

    I need to replace the daggers that I vaporize. Other weapons also get crafted but the focus lies on creating daggers.

    My skillset is so wide that I need to keep up to date with everything. Also hammering metal relieves stress!

    2 days had passed of blacksmithing. The last one is making sure I keep making Millennial Foxbite and poisons.

    Poison is not my style but it s possible to get cheap shots in with poison. I should remember that. It is hard to remember options that are not my style. Millennial Foxbite is my style though. What is the difference? That is a good question! I don¡¯t know the answer!

    Well, Millennial Foxbite is made out of my own blood so it¡¯s technically a part of me, just like my tails and my foxfire, which means it should be easier for me to tweak its properties.it has as much potential as a 9t and it smells nice!

    And with that done I slept for one whole day, after which I hopped out of my dimensional pocket. I had been inside the dimensional pocket for a week but only 5 minutes have passed in the outside world. I love being a 9t!

 Vol 3 Ch 18: Troubled

    Another lecture had ended. I gathered my belongings and was about to leave the hall.

    Agnis had skipped out again. A multitude of questions had popped up of which Agnis would have no problems in answering in a way the students could understand.

    I had attempted my best Agnis impersonation but they still were unable to grasp the meaning behind my answers. Raishin always comments on how I talk bizarre and difficult. Was he right all along? It also hurt my ego a bit that several students had fallen asleep.

    What can I do to keep the students invigorated during the lectures?

    I prepared a shadow clone to give the next lecture and went to observe Agnis¡¯ class to glean how he tackled this problem.

    He was preparing his students for the coming exam. I was unsure what the intent was but most were having mock battles and some seemed to be playing some game. It took me a while to notice what was going on.

    Not sure if this was planned out or one of his whims but it seems that having his course as strictly practical seems to have been the right choice. The amount of lectures I can personally think of regarding his topic is¡­ 2. The rest is highly practical. I haven¡¯t planned any practicals. Is this the answer to my problem?

    I have yet to give my students the chance to create barriers and seals. It is quite inefficient now I think of it. The mythology lectures aren¡¯t as successful as I had hoped. There wasn¡¯t a lot of source material. The source material I had procured were also unreliable. Agnis had warned me but I didn¡¯t realize that it was this unreliable. I will have to discuss this with the headmaster. This course might have to get scrapped.

    The solution to my problem was simple. I headed toward my cubicle and started to plan a practical class. They would show what they have learned and I will correct them.

    I pondered for a bit. Is this the correct way to go about? Agnis seemed a bit more active in his practical.

    Maybe a mock battle with barriers and seals would be more beneficial. It would be impossible for my students to fall asleep. I will need monsters for them to seal away. I headed over to the headmaster¡¯s office.

    ¡°Go away Agnis! I¡¯m busy!¡±

    I will come back on a later date when you¡¯re less busy then.

    ¡°Oh, Gregory, it¡¯s you, come on in.¡± I stepped inside the dojo that had been repurposed as an office.

    I don¡¯t want to disturb you if you¡¯re busy.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±

    It seems Agnis has been putting a lot of pressure on you.

    ¡°Ugh, you have no idea. And I¡¯m only talking about the demands he has for his classes. Now he accused Agatha¡¯s lecture for being useless and it¡¯s causing me a headache.¡±

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    With all due respect but I agree with Agnis, her source material is outdated and her methodology is quite¡­ ineffective.

    ¡°Not you too¡­ So, what is it that you need?¡±

    I need to plan in several practical timeslots and I need about 50 monsters. I can procure them myself if that¡¯s an issue.

    ¡°I forgot that you¡¯re his friend. Can you elaborate on why you need 50 monsters?¡±

    I gave a detailed explanation on my plan and the outline of the practical I plan to give.

    ¡°Ho there! No need to give me the full lecture, I understand. We don¡¯t keep monsters on the campus so you will have to procure them yourself. I will grant you the time slots. I really should put someone else in charge of this¡­¡±

    I appreciate the swift decision. I will get to it immediately.

    I [Shadow Melded] to a small forest nearby. Monsters are preferred but wild animals would also work. The sense of urgency in sealing them away will be less if I return with monsters instead of wild animals however. It didn¡¯t take long for me to get surrounded by wolves. These wolves were quite fierce and although they aren¡¯t monsters, they will give the students enough of a push to get a sense of urgency.

    [Shadow Vortex] would be the most efficient way in gathering the group and capturing them alive. All the wolves got trapped and I [Shadow Bound] all of them and wrapped [Shadow Tendrils] around them. I summoned my [Shadow Cat]. It started to purr and with its purring it cast [Sleep] on all the wolves. I had caught more than I intended too but it¡¯s better to ¡®have but not need¡¯ over having to ¡®need but not have¡¯.

    The sleeping wolves got bunched up in a large ball of shadows which would follow me back to the campus. It would be reckless to walk into the campus like this so I [Shadowmelded] the ball containing the wolves into my shadow and returned to the campus.

    <hr>

    So, we will be having a practical class today to evaluate the fruits of your studies. I have brought some targets to seal away while barriers will be practiced in mock battles. Any questions?

    One of the diligent students raised a point. ¡°Why a practical so late in the term?¡±

    I have realized that I was severely lacking in instructing the practical aspects. Barriers and seals are things that should be practiced often just like any physical exercise. This will not be on the coming exam since it¡¯s such short notice but it will come in the last exam of this course.

    The practical class commenced. I had heard complaints from Agnis that these human students were weak but seeing for myself how poorly they could handle just 3 forest wolves confirmed what Agnis had told me. I had tried to be reasonable with my practical but it seems that even I lack human common sense.

    It seems that even I have still a lot to learn. It seems I had underestimated how the life of a professor would be. I had decided to continue practical classes until the students had a practical level that I considered to be passable. It only now became apparent how ignorant these students seem and I started to fear for the exam. will they be able to pass it? They seem to fumble on the basics even though those lectures had finished weeks ago.

    ¡°Like baking a cake¡­¡± One student managed to succeed. I wondered if I should introduce more analogies and metaphors in my lectures as Agnis had done. Another thing I should work on.

    I went to visit the library after my lecture and started to read up in ways I could add metaphors and analogies in my curriculum

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 19: Paradise

    I feel scammed. The teachers in Hourai had always made studying out to be something shitty. This had led me to believe that schools suck. But I was wrong! Uni is wonderful! There are hot chicks everywhere and I don¡¯t have to do anything!

    Ok I did get kicked out as a student and had to help out in the spa but this was a blessing! I could touch hot chicks without it being weird! I first thought that learning how to massage was lame but I was wrong! Massaging is the best thing ever! I can also take relaxing baths and swim and have a good and relaxing time while everyone is studying.

    I cleaned the pool. A large group of chicks will arrive here in an hour. I have to impress them by having this place in top condition!

    I had become quite popular. I don¡¯t understand why. When I try to get popular it fails but it works out when I do nothing.

    I need to apologize to Greg. Uni doesn¡¯t suck it¡¯s a paradise!

    ¡°Raishin! When will you clean the pool¡­ Oh, it¡¯s already done.¡±

    Hehe what do you think Henry?

    ¡°Good! But since you have finished this I will have you help out in the massage rooms. Clarissa has called in sick so we need you to fill in.¡±

    My boss, Henry walked in and inspected the pool.

    My favorite job! Too bad I won¡¯t get to hang out with busty chicks in bikinis but massaging isn¡¯t too bad either!

    I will fulfil this duty as if my life depends on it!

    I saluted at Henry and walked off.

    ¡°What a weirdo¡­¡±

    I got a massage room ready, dimmed the light a bit and got ready for the first chick to arrive.

    The first arrival.

    Good afternoo¡­ ugh, it¡¯s you again.

    In front of me was the ace of the basketball team I had humiliated months ago.

    ¡°Hehe, I¡¯m here for the deluxe massage, extra oil please!¡±

    This is criminal! You know that you are hogging up time I should be spending in massaging a hot chick!

    ¡°Well, your massages are quite good, the faster you begin the faster you¡¯re done, my friends are all waiting.¡±

    Do you even have female friends?

    ¡°I do but they all decided to go to the pool.¡±

    Noooo!

    I spent the rest of the day massaging the basketball team. I feel violated. This is time theft!

    It was time for the last massage of the day and Hayley came in.

    Whoa I did not expect you to come in.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    She flashed a smile. ¡°We¡¯re pretending to be a couple right; this is the least I can do for you. Is what I want to say but you will be massaging me.¡±

    She stripped to her underwear revealing her badonkers and large ass and laid down on the massaging bench. I wonder what she eats to get a sexy body like that.

    Ooh this is what I¡¯m talking about!

    I loved massaging Hayley, she always made erotic sounds when I massaged her. This had pushed me to become better at this.

    So how was your day?

    ¡°Ohh, it was rough. The lectures were boring. Agatha never fails to put me to sleep. The lectures about arcane magic are ok, it¡¯s just that hardly anyone will be using arcane magic a lot. Agnis put us through the wringer today too. Even Crissy kicked my ass. But at least his class is interesting. How was your day?¡±

    Full of assholes hogging my time! But it wasn¡¯t that bad. I should complain to Henry though. Sending basketball teams in should be illegal!

    ¡°Haha, just your luck. Say what will you guys do after the next term is over?¡±

    Uhh, dunno. You will have to ask Greg or Agnis.

    ¡°Ohh! Hmm, yeah that¡¯s the spot!¡± I gave her back some extra attention.

    ¡°Is there any way you guys can stay here and at least finish the year?¡±

    I would love to! But¡­ I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good idea. My intuition tells me that staying still at one spot for too long is a very bad idea.

    ¡°I see.¡± I finished massaging her back and she let me massage her front too.

    I really wonder how Greg and Agnis can control themselves with hot chicks around them. I had to give myself small zaps so I wouldn¡¯t cross the line and get kicked out this spa. I like working here.

    The pay might be bad but I can relax and talk to chicks. But some guys are very cool.

    ¡°Ohh that tickles, is this the rumored lightning massage?¡±

    Uhh yeah! Haha! I was unsure if I could pull it off!

    ¡°You can practice on me. I don¡¯t mind.¡± Damn Hayley is hot.

    I was about to start but I noticed I had red sparks around my fingers. What am I doing?! I don¡¯t want to one-shot Hayley! At least not like this, huehue. Wait I need to focus! I need to control myself! In more way than one!

    The lightning dropped to white and I carefully placed my hand on her.

    ¡°Ooh, yes give me more!¡±

    I restarted the massage but this time with the weak lightning.

    ¡°Ahh yes more! Harder!¡±

    I was unsure how to react but I increased the intensity a bit and put a bit more strength in my hands. Hayley reacted in the most erotic way possible.

    ¡°Oh yes! Raishin you¡¯re amazing!¡± Hayley started to sound even more erotic and even became a bit loud so I continued the massage. I was enjoying it too.

    ¡°What the fuck is going on here!¡± Henry barged in and looked around.

    Huh? I¡¯m just giving her a massage?

    ¡°What? Oh¡­ It sounded like something different. Please¡­ keep the sound down. I have heard various complaints about ehh, suspicious sounds.¡± Henry left and closed the door.

    Hayley and I looked at each other and we laughed.

    ¡°How about we continue this in my dorm room?¡±

    With pleasure!

    Uni isn¡¯t a hell as I had always thought. Uni is a paradise!

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 20: Disturbance

    I awoke to a familiar feeling. I looked outside and it was a beautiful Friday morning. The birds were chirping. The sky had a nice blue color and some clouds floating around. There was a slight breeze and autumn leaves were dancing in the wind. It was quite cold by human standards but I was unaffected.

    The end of the year isn''t super far. I checked the date. Hmm, I seem to have forgotten my birthday. Is that why Greg and Raishin were hanging out a lot with me a week ago even though we all were busy? We had some kind of get-together at Raishin¡¯s birthday in September. But that¡¯s not important right now. I looked out on the campus and it just seemed like a normal day. I opened the filter which allowed me to see the dimensional fabric and this painted another picture.

    Nothing seemed to want to get through to this side but the fabric was festering. It wasn¡¯t as bad as the time in Boshi town but this was worse than I had spotted in Witchaven. The one in Witchaven was just a big hole, this is full-on festering, it¡¯s the size of a building. There are even maggots here.

    I shattered some random illusion I made and got my [Illusionary Dagger]. I defeated the maggots with the dagger and blasted the fabric with foxfires. The fabric recovered a bit, it wasn¡¯t perfect but I still don¡¯t know how to properly fix this. I torched the fabric with white opaque flames. This should attract more maggots so that I can fix it more later on. I closed the filter and the nauseous feeling was gone. I need to find a way to fix this without going pseudo 9t mode. That¡¯s what I call it because it is different from going into 9t mode normally.

    Normal 9t mode doesn¡¯t mess with the day and night. I also have to figure out what all that is about, on top of that full moon bullshit that told me I¡¯m not a 9t. So many things that I don¡¯t know about myself and here I am teaching human students. The mythology literature or mythology-related literature here is absolutely useless. Have I raided the Misha library for mythology-related literature? I think I did. They didn¡¯t seem to know much about my race and what they did know seemed to be related to prior encounters they had. I never got to ask what relation the headmaster had with my mother. I don¡¯t think I can get that answer though. My relationship with the Misha is a bit complicated now, I either will get chased away, they will run away because I have a run-on-sight order on me or they will try to keep me inside Witchaven. None of these situations seem favorable to me.

    I left my room. I had no classes and these lazy students seemed to be getting another holiday next week. Didn¡¯t they get one in October? Anyway, that is not my problem. Because the lazy students will get a holiday that means I will get one too. A large portion would stay here because this uni is like a fucking city. Only those who have arrangements with their families will leave.

    I casually walked around. It has been a while but it¡¯s time for some pranks. I have the privileged position that I don¡¯t fall under student rules but also not under professor rules because I am not certified to be one. It makes me wonder if employing Greg and me is illegal, not my problem.

    Getting fired is beneficial to me so I assume they are not going to do that. This professor thing pays terribly by the way, no wonder nobody wants to be one. It seems to be good pay compared to other educational facilities on the continent, almost twice as high but adventuring for a week will easily outearn the monthly pay these professors get. I¡¯m not hurting for money so again this is not my problem. I decided to make some boring lectures more interesting.

    I went into stealth and snuck into the Magic Theory lecture. It is Levitating professor! Oof, doesn¡¯t she notice that half her students are dozing off? She was waving a stick to point at the runes in various magic circles she had drawn. I used [Transform] on the stick and it turned into a chicken.

    ¡°Aaagh!¡± She tried to cast capturing magic on the chicken but I hijacked it to shrink the net and made it give the chicken a kinky fishnet outfit.

    The students loved it. She tried to [Levitate] the chicken that tried to run away and I hijacked it and made her enlarge the chicken.

    ¡°What is going on! This... this is disruption!¡±

    Uh oh, don¡¯t tell me she realized that it was me? I saw her scramble her magic circles but doing a poor job. She tried to cast [Reveal] and I hijacked it and turned it into [Flash Bomb]. I decided to use this opportunity to shatter an illusion and return everything to normal and get out of here, any longer and I will get found out. The scene returned to her holding the stick. The students and the professor all seemed confused.

    I thought about my next prank. It can¡¯t involve disruption because I might become the prime suspect. I walked around absentmindedly and ended up in the canteen. Someone had left a pot of sauce unattended.

    An idea welled up. I put on my gasmask and snuck into the kitchen. I looked around and dumped a jar of my secret weapon inside the pot, stirred a bit and cast an illusion on the pot to temporarily hide the fact that I just added mustard to it. It should wear off at lunchtime.

    I wandered some more and got assaulted by Crissy. She hugged my tail. ¡°As fluffy as ever! What are you up to? My last lecture has just ended.¡±

    Oh, but it¡¯s only 11:30, you got lucky with your lectures then?

    ¡°Yup! Want to hang around the canteen and get an early lunch?¡±

    Uhh, I will pass on that. I think I will practice at the lake. I need some exercise. Teaching students doesn¡¯t count for much of an exercise unfortunately.

    ¡°Wow, that hurts! But I guess you¡¯re right, do you even know what you¡¯re going to teach us after the break?¡±

    Yes, and I bet you all will suck at it.

    ¡°But that¡¯s what you¡¯re here for right? To make sure we suck less?¡±

    You can see it like that yeah.

    We arrived at the lake. Various students were trying to freeze the lake. It was cold but not that cold yet.

    ¡°We were hoping to be able to ice-skate but it doesn¡¯t seem like it will be cold enough soon, can you help us out?¡± Crissy asked while holding my tail like it was precious to her.

    Hehe I¡¯m not going to make it easy for you students!

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s the Silver Torrent, can you freeze this lake for us?¡± I didn¡¯t recognize this student. This is nothing special as I don¡¯t recognize half of the students in my class. I decided to act natural.

    Yes, but first I want to see how you guys attempt it.

    ¡°But none of us are adept at water magic or have affinities for it!¡± A random student thought that this was a smart answer.

    So? That doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t freeze a lake.

    ¡°Huh, and you are supposed to be a professor? Of course, you need a water affinity to freeze a lake!¡±

    Hey Crissy do they teach physics here?

    ¡°I think they do but it¡¯s not very popular.¡± Crissy seemed to start thinking about how those 2 are related. I¡¯m glad that at least this student is smart.

    Do you know the true nature of fire magic Crissy?

    ¡°Uhh, putting stuff on fire and heating them up?¡±

    Then why do most fire users have a high heat resistance and high cold resistance or more accurately, temperature resistance and not resistance against just fire?

    ¡°That! Hmm, never thought about it. It is true that most fire users with a notable heat resistance also have cold resistance. Wait! Don¡¯t tell me the answer! Let me think!¡±

    Some other students also started to think about this question. Crissy made the magic circle of her [Fireball] appear and looked at it. Because of my course she knows her magic circle well. If the professor teaching magic runes and stuff is doing their job, they will be aware of the most important parts of the magic circles.

    Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°Oh, are these runes responsible for the temperature? I don¡¯t know how to change these like you do.¡±

    I showed Crissy her [Fireball] magic circle but with the temperature section having the temperature going to the negative. Crissy looked at the temperature sequence and tried to form the magic circle. Some students with fire affinity did the same. This would be the easiest for Crissy because I had modified her [Fireball]

    The same skill can vary slightly in magic circles between different users. Crissy managed it and used it on the lake. She shot out a blast of cold which froze a patch on the lake. It was small and inefficient but it wasn¡¯t bad for a first try. The other students got excited. A student approached me.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand this¡­ but I¡¯m curious.¡±

    I don¡¯t blame you students. It is called fire magic by everyone and I assume even your fire magic professor calls it such and teaches it to you as fire magic. The more appropriate term is Temperature magic. But that doesn¡¯t sound as good as fire magic. How most of you that use fire are only using half of what this magic branch can do. Personally, I don¡¯t use the other side a lot. because I don¡¯t need to because I can use water and ice.

    I flashed a magic circle and the temperature around us started to drop.

    ¡°Wow! That was so fast! I didn''t see even what the magic circle looked like! How did you do that!¡±

    A lot of research, sleep and practice. It is unlikely that yours becomes that fast but with a lot of studying magic runes and practice it might be possible, so far, I¡¯ve only met one person that had magic circles this fast. But this isn¡¯t important, focus on dropping temperature instead of increasing it, ask your fire magic professor, see if he knows hehe.

    It made me think. I was able to flash my magic circles before I studied Azu¡¯s research. How did that happen? Did I unconsciously pick up how Azu did that and my tails copied it and applied it in my long sleep? The mana flow through my magic circles is identical to what Azu¡¯s research proposed. I already knew this but tailed beasts can actually get stronger by just sleeping.

    Dragons like to sleep for months or even years, is this why? While not common, we mythical beasts can do this too. Our tails will organize any information and magical skills in our possession and make everything more efficient where possible.

    The students were still messing around. There was still one method left on freezing this lake.

    There is another way to freeze a lake. Who here can use wind magic?

    3 students put up their hands.

    You guys really should give physics a try¡­ Just blow a very strong wind over the water surface or make the air near the lake expand rapidly.

    The wind magic students messed around and created small patches of ice on the lake.

    ¡°Where have you learned all this?¡± Crissy was still messing with her magic circle but could seem to make it more efficient in reducing the temperature.

    I don¡¯t blame her what she is trying falls more into what I have studied in Witchaven. She will need help from her fire magic professor or Magic Theory professor to get a template that can accommodate this change better. Universities work with templates for ease and wide use. What I studied allows me to make magic circles from scratch, maybe even make new templates and basically have way more freedom in messing with magic circles. I don¡¯t think most humans know what 80% of their magic circle does. They can change the last 20%. The other 80% that¡¯s what Azu and I researched.

    It¡¯s partly physics and where I grew up this was taught. I have a high fire affinity but I got taught that it was more control over the temperature.

    ¡°I never see you using fire.¡±

    Do you want to find out why? Guys back off! I¡¯m going to use [Fireball]

    ¡°So what?¡±

    These students sure have an attitude. Maybe it¡¯s proportional to their ignorance.

    I created a [Fireball] and they backed off because of the heat. It was just my basic fireball so I gave it more juice and more and more students ran away from the monster of a [Fireball] I created. It didn¡¯t grow much in size but the heat was real. The students backed off for 100 meters and it seemed they could still feel it. They used it to warm themselves up.

    This is just a [Fireball] by the way. I¡¯m not feeding it a stupid amount of mana, if I use this, I will instant kill almost any human that I fight.

    I killed the mana flow and the [Fireball] disappeared. The students approached me again. The students started trying out what they had learned on the lake.

    Now that you know about the other options, I will freeze the lake for you.

    I used [Frozen Ground] on the lake and it froze over.

    ¡°Thanks! That was interesting!¡± The students went and messed around on the lake. Only Crissy stayed behind. She was still messing with her magic circle. I put my hand on her shoulder.

    Stop messing around with it, go and have fun.

    Crissy nodded and joined the other students.

    <hr>

    It was time to check on my canteen prank. I activated my Elgards eyes and grinned. The people were loving my secret weapon. The canteen staff had its hands full with the chaos.

    I continued making the campus unsafe till late in the afternoon. Most of the students that would leave had already done so. I walked through the shopping district on the campus. The sun had already set and I was enjoying the cool breeze. To anyone without cold resistance this would be quite cold but it felt pleasant to me.

    It was dark, the place was empty. I had this place for myself. I was enjoying it so much that I noticed something very late. Behind me¡­ something was following me. I looked behind me with my Elgards eyes. It would probably flee if I would turn around. I saw a disturbing looking black blur with orange glowing eyes. It reminded me of the thing that I saw in the room where I had sealed away that Dimsha. Is it the same thing? It looks similar but different. I kept pretending to enjoy being alone here in the cold but unfortunately that was not the case. I went through filters but it stayed a blur and it was following me. I went around the corner and went into stealth.

    It came around the corner to find out that I had disappeared. It kept walking down the road and turned around several times. I assume it was looking for me and then it disappeared in some sort of black fog that dispersed. What the fuck was that? Nothing should be able to hide from me if I find the correct filter? And it is extra disturbing because I had seen something similar but didn¡¯t pay much attention to it. I had no idea what it was but my intuition told me that this is bad news. In movies and videogames this would be seen as foreshadowing and it probably is. It might make sense later on but I hope it won''t be too late when I find out. I scanned the area to make sure it didn¡¯t go somewhere else to look for me but I couldn¡¯t find it.

    What I did find was some nausea. I opened the dimensional filter which revealed the dimensional fabric full of disgusting maggots. The hole seemed to have closed but it looked disgusting, it didn¡¯t help that the maggots made sounds as if they were slurping slime or goo. I circulated nature energy, shattered a random illusion and dealt with the maggots.

    After annihilating the maggots, I looked proudly at the dimensional fabric that looked smooth and fresh. It even looked better than the fabric around it. Did I get better at this? While not knowing what I¡¯m doing? Nah I probably got lucky. This method isn¡¯t very time-efficient. I sat on the fresh new patch of dimensional fabric while being lost in thoughts. I patted the dark purple fabric.

    It felt like silk, it looked and felt smooth but it was way thicker than any fabric used for clothing. After running my hand over it I felt something that felt like a weak pulse. How strange. Is the fabric of space part of a living being? I focused more on it but I didn¡¯t feel the weak pulse anymore. Did I imagine this? Or did I misinterpret what that pulse could be? It felt like a pulse of a living being for 10 seconds before it disappeared. I wonder when I will get answers and not more questions.

    I always felt strange and different when walking over the dimensional fabric. Maybe I can find out how and what. I paced around on the dimensional fabric and shot a [Spatial bolt]. My spatiotemporal skills need a lot of work, this attack is super weak. It does feel stronger than when I¡¯m not on this fabric. Do I get a boost? I hopped off and shot the same [Spatial bolt]. It seemed to be weaker. So, I do get a boost. What else?

    I hopped back on it and tested various types of things but the only conclusion I could make is that my spatiotemporal magic gets a boost when I¡¯m on the dimensional fabric. I wondered if this is how I should practice spatiotemporal magic. So far, I can only play pranks with it. I can only use this well in 9t mode.

    9t mode, hmmm space does act wonky when I do that, what if I go 9t mode on dimensional fabric? I decided to test that some other time. I hopped off the dimensional fabric, closed the filter, and went back to my room.

    I brushed my tails and thought about that Blur I saw.

    What was that thing?

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 21: Combatting Boredom

    18th of February, Year 580 of the New Kaledonian calendar.

    I am bored. The students are behaving and doing their mock battles now with magic skills to force their opponents into CC or just to disrupt their flow of battle. Many had dropped out so I only have 1 group now. They are obedient and learn at a good pace. They are almost good enough to not need me anymore. And this is why I¡¯m bored.

    The course that I give is fairly simple. If I had to give a lecture it would boil down to: disrupt the enemy''s battle flow and evade what you can¡¯t disrupt. Maybe get into methods of how and the details but that¡¯s it. It¡¯s highly practical because everyone fights differently. So, at this point they just need experience fighting others, that¡¯s it. Easy on the theory, rough on the execution. Most of these students use relatively simple attacks in their fights. They do know more complex magic but they have stopped using them.

    Using complex magic was a strategy before the break while they only interrupted, dispelled, or evaded casts. Now they know how to impair their opponent''s movement and exploit openings and that¡¯s where complex magic can become your downfall if you¡¯re not aware of its weaknesses.

    They tried it a lot in January and I gave demonstrations on how to exploit these and their fellow students picked up on this and did the same. It ended in students shutting each other down completely. The moment they tried complex magic their sparring partner capitalized on its flaws and turned the fight quite one-sided. So, nobody dares to use any. The problem is¡­

    I looked over at a [Fireball] fight where most fireballs got cancelled out, interrupted, or dispelled. Nobody seems to be able to win fights and they become extremely boring to watch. Maybe there is something I can teach them.

    Right guys, all your fights are boring, but I understand why. Now instead of boring me to death, how about you take some time to examine your more complex spells and find out how to cover its weaknesses? You can do this by sparring with a friend and exchanging pointers. In real life you¡¯re unlikely to bore your opponent to death so get to it. The next 4 classes will be cancelled. I will still be available for questions. I can even help you out but it will involve me beating you up so be prepared.

    I released the students and went to Teppei. I had my sword training early in the morning and it went well. Raishin also makes good progress with the spear. My win rate against Teppei is now 40%.

    I kicked his door in. Sup old man! I have a demand!

    ¡°Getting cocky because your win rate increased, eh? What ridiculous demand do you have this time? I am not allowing you to lecture in the canteen.¡± He was maintaining his katana. Shirayuki maintains herself so that¡¯s one problem that I can¡¯t relate to.

    I want to take my students on a trip to kill this boredom! I was thinking about Denga!

    ¡°This is not a high school¡­ we don¡¯t do trips¡­ And why the jungle?¡±

    I slammed my hands on his desk.  Do you know what a dungeon is?

    ¡°I am familiar with that term but I want you to elaborate.¡±

    The jungle of Denga should have a dungeon, those pyramid thingies.

    ¡°They have only been identified as ancient structures, where have you acquired the information that they are dungeons?¡±

    A map I found in the library of Ash Potato Village.

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    Long story, it will break boring monotony, they get to see some ancient culture and also fight unusual and strong monsters. There is much to learn!

    ¡°And how is this related to Disruption and Evasion?"

    It disrupts the boring monotony and we¡¯re evading that annoying professor who wants me to apologize for messing with her lectures.

    ¡°You still haven¡¯t apologized to Agatha?¡±

    I did her a favor by making her boring lecture interesting.

    Teppei stroked his long grey read and looked at me. ¡°You are serious?¡±

    Yes, I¡¯m serious! You don¡¯t have to be concerned about safety; I can blast the whole area if something messes with the students.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s also something I¡¯m concerned about.¡±

    How about this then? I won¡¯t tell Crissy that you missed taking her out on dinner because you overslept if you allow this trip.

    ¡°You brat! Threatening me, eh?!¡± He got up and pointed his katana to me.

    Come at me old man! I will go 9t on your ass!

    He tried to cut me but I traded places with him and he obviously missed.

    Come on old man, I¡¯m sure you could use some fresh air.

    ¡°And why would you leave out the part where I would also go on this trip?¡±

    To see how you would react.

    He sheathed is katana. ¡°I forgot that this is your nature. I have to say I am interested in your full capabilities and these ancient structures where no human has stepped foot in.¡±

    Hmm not entirely correct, your granddaughter and Hayley are probably the first humans to have set foot in a dungeon for the first time in a good 600 years. Although the civilization from that labyrinth doesn¡¯t actually count because they lived in a dungeon so it¡¯s safe to say they¡¯re the first humans since the Great Eraser.

    ¡°Hmm, now that I think about it that¡¯s correct. My dear Chris has been the first human to visit a dungeon! I¡¯m so proud! The legacy she will leave behind!¡±

    Yeah, yeah, so are you interested? Don¡¯t you want to see how much Crissy has grown? It¡¯s a good excuse to be close to your granddaughter for an extended amount of time.

    ¡°Gregory also warned me that manipulation falls within your nature but the offer is enticing. Let me think over it for a bit. I will give you my answer tomorrow.¡±

    So, there is this guy in my group that has a crush on Crissy¡­

    Teppei slammed his hands on the desk and emanated bloodlust. ¡°When are you leaving for Denga!¡±

    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    In 2 weeks, February 31st.

    ¡°Nobody messes with my Chris! I need preparations!¡± He stormed out of his office dojo.

    Teppei is so easy. Now with this trip confirmed I need to also do some preparations. This university is quite wealthy. It has its own teleport gate. I need to arrange that the class can get teleported nearby. Well nearby¡­ I will have to teleport them to Hiena and then cross the border into the Aquini Kingdom and head south.

    I have to make sure that passing the border won¡¯t be a complete pain in the ass. My students are human so they can¡¯t cheat to get over the border like me. I can drop illusions on them if necessary but nobody is going to believe that a random group of 60 non humans want to cross the border. So, it¡¯s probably going to involve stealth.

    Since I had some time off, I decided to do 2 things. Explore the strange underwater city I found and attempt to locate Thalia. And scout out what the situation is around the border and the Aquini Kingdom.

    I went back to my room and dropped an [Dimensional Anchor]. Now I will scout the Aquini Kingdom first because I want to spend most time finding Thalia as she is still missing¡­

    I dashed toward Hiena which took me 2 days. The first thing that I noticed was that a lot of people were wearing clothes that looked relatively similar. I do remember Crissy and Hayley complaining that clothing became quite expensive but it can¡¯t be that bad right?

    I stepped into a clothing store and looked around. Oof the cheapest piece was 6 silver and 80 bronze. This can¡¯t be my fault, right? I don¡¯t know what the status is on Jarn but replacing its king shouldn¡¯t be hard right?

    ¡°Hey, are you going to buy anything or not?!¡±

    Sorry wrong store!

    I thought about this situation. While I am responsible for assassinating that weak ass king, it¡¯s not my fault that they get 80% of their clothing from there. I am not planning to touch the country of Yzs, but if something happens to that country 80% of the electronium will disappear. That certainly is going to be a bigger problem than clothing getting more expensive. I wish this continent would get it¡¯s shit together.

    I arrived at the place where I crossed the border the last time. I put on the disguise I used last time to pass the border.

    Excuse me, I have a cousin that wants to go sightseeing in the Aquini Kingdom in 2 weeks with a large group of humans. Do you have any recommendations on how to tackle this?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but that¡¯s a very bad idea. The Aquini Kingdom is on the verge of going to war with the Igrini Kingdom. Bringing a large group of humans into the country will certainly be noticed and met with problems. I don¡¯t know how long this status will remain. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Thank you.

    Does this mean that Shania won¡¯t be able to become queen if they go to war? Is this a coincidence or deliberate? I don¡¯t remember how this exactly worked but I think Igrini Kingdom appoints kings in times of war and queens in time of peace. I think I should add ¡®Finding Shania¡¯ to the list too. I wonder if Raishin still thinks about her.

    I went to the AA and talked to a receptionist there to link and arrange the teleport. It did cost a fee of 50 silver but because the teleport came from the university, I wouldn¡¯t have to pay for every person that would take the teleport.

    I also scouted the area and found a mountain pass which was poorly guarded. I would be able to sneak my class through this in stealth. The idea that this whole trip might be a bad idea flashed through my mind but it instantly disappeared. As long as nobody dies it will be a learning experience.

    I tugged at my [Dimensional Anchor] and returned to the underwater city. Still as big and empty as ever. I created 12 shadow clones and spread out to look for any clues of Thalia.

    <hr>

    2 weeks had passed and I didn¡¯t find anything. I sighed as I returned to my room by tugging at the [Dimensional Anchor]. I wish I could solve problems faster than they could stack up.

    I went to visit Raishin and Greg before I would leave the next day.

    Wow Raishin, did you finally succeed?

    Raishin was sitting in a chair like a king with 3 chicks around him.

    Oh, hey girls, this is my friend Agnis and yeah! They¡¯re totally into me! You¡¯re always busy have you found anyone yet?

    I don¡¯t make it a point to hunt down chicks¡­ and the one chick I¡¯m trying to find is nowhere to be found¡­

    Raishin got up and approached me. Wait, you never told me this story, is she ok? Is she hot? She must be hot right else you wouldn¡¯t look for her.

    Ehm, she is hot yes but I¡¯m not looking for her for the reason you¡¯re thinking of. She is just a good¡­ friend.

    Raishin put up a face that was very annoying to me. Oooh! So, you finally fell in love! So that¡¯s why you¡¯re ignoring all the hot chicks around you!

    Didn¡¯t I already make my stance clear back in the labyrinth?

    Oh right, only immortal chicks, hmm those are hard to find, I will help you look!

    It¡¯s fine, I just came here to tell you that I will be gone for a bit, I¡¯m taking my class out to git gud.

    I feel sorry for them, good luck!

    Hmm so you¡¯re not interested, eh?

    Well, you are probably going to give them hell. And if I go, I¡¯ll be away from my chicks and you will give me hell too so good luck!

    Hmm ok. Don¡¯t laze around too much else Teppei will reduce your pay again!

    Noo not again! Come on chicks let¡¯s get to work!  Raishin got up and started to clean up the mess they made.

    I went straight to the library. I didn¡¯t need to ask anyone or use my Elgards eyes. I just knew he was there. And I was right. He was reading and had stacks of books besides him. I cleared my throat and changed my voice to that of Teppei.

    The students of ¡®Summoning and Familiars¡¯ have had a mishap in their laboratory and have summoned a gate which we opened up on the bottom of the ocean. The water is rushing towards this section of the building and I want everyone to evacuate!

    Greg closed his book and got up ready to leave. I grabbed him by the back of his collar.

    Real Teppei here! This was a prank by Raishin!

    Everyone who was about to get up and leave looked around confused.

    You are a menace.

    I returned my voice to normal. I am going to raid a dungeon with my students wanna come?

    I do but unfortunately, I¡¯m quite busy. A professor has challenged my way of lecturing and I need to prove that my methodology is superior. I also still have to give lectures and practicals so I can¡¯t come with you sorry.

    That¡¯s fine, which professor was it by the way?

    Agatha.

    Destroy her for me please. Good look and show no mercy!

    Thanks. You be careful it wouldn¡¯t be funny if all the students return safe but you died.

    I will be fine!

    I guess it¡¯s just me, Teppei and the students. I went to the field where we normally hold our classes. It was silent and empty. We would gather here tomorrow morning. I had only told them we would go on a trip and not where we would go. I drew a teleportation circle on the field and hid it. This was for returning home. After our trip is over, I will draw a teleportation circle to teleport us to this field. Also, this is for emergency measures. If things go wrong, I could gather them in a spot, and let a clone teleport them back while I deal with whatever we need to run from. This should be enough. Now tomorrow will be the special class ¡®Combatting Boredom!¡¯

 Vol 3 Ch 22: Denga

    Alright guys, you might be all wondering why I¡¯ve all gathered you here¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s a trip, right?!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so excited! I wonder where we will be going!¡±

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s the beach, he is a water user, right? Maybe we will see him in action!¡±

    ¡°Ooh, I like that!¡±

    The students started to chatter. Teppei was here too and He looked a bit grumpy. Crissy walked over to him and cheered him up.

    Hey guys do you want to keep talking or do you want me to tell you where we are going?!

    They stopped making noise and looked at me in curiosity. I sometimes forget that they¡¯re the same age as me. They do act a bit immature from time to time. Same goes for me I guess but I have a good excuse! I¡¯m only 1 year old! Quite funny, if I was Teppei¡¯s age I would still be 1 year old in 9t. I think this old fart is like 78 years old.

    ¡°Are you thinking about something rude? I will cut you down if you bring Chris in danger!¡±

    What is it with people that seem to read my mind? I thought of rubbing garlic butter in his beard to confirm if he could read my mind or not. No reaction. It seems I¡¯m safe.

    Right, we will be going to Denga!

    ¡°What? Is that a beach?¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a game?¡±

    Hey Teppei, these guys geography suck! What¡¯s the deal with this?

    Teppei rubbed his head. ¡°Denga is a jungle to the southwest of Aquini kingdom. It has dangerous animals and monsters. It also has various tribes of humans who have strange abilities and are demanding independence from the Aquini Kingdom.¡±

    Teppei seemed to have went into lecture mode.

    Wait it has people wanting independence from the Aquini Kingdom? They¡¯re not cultists, right?

    Teppei rubbed his temple again. ¡°I thought you knew this¡­ but they aren¡¯t cultists as far as I know but we should stay clear from them.¡±

    Ah that¡¯s easy! Anyway, we will be visiting the pyramids, or were they temples? They¡¯re pyramid shaped so I guess it doesn¡¯t matter.

    ¡°But no human has ever been in an ancient structure!¡±

    Ha! That¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong ehhh what was your name again?

    ¡°Layla¡­¡±

    Yes! Well as far as I know two humans have been in ancient buildings! They¡¯re right there!  I pointed at Crissy and Hayley.

    ¡°Oh, shit he¡¯s right! Crissy we¡¯re the first humans!¡± Hayley got excited.

    ¡°I can¡¯t say that I¡¯m too excited about it¡­ we were close to death so many times¡­ you¡¯re telling me we¡¯re going back to something like that?¡±

    The students started to crowd around them and started asking questions. Teppei stepped in to get them away from Crissy. Unfortunately, this caused them to crowd around Hayley.

    ¡°Hey, back off, give me some space!¡± Hayley dove out of the crowd and hid behind me. ¡°Ooh, finally a chance to stroke your tail. So soft!¡±

    Ugh, I¡¯ll let you get away with it this time. Hey clowns! Did you forget that we were going on a trip? You can ask them about it later, let¡¯s go to the teleport gate. I have arranged for a teleport. After that we¡¯re going to play hide and seek with the border police of Aquini Kingdom and then steal¡­ borrow a large coffin on wheels and get to the jungle! Any questions?

    ¡°Yoo dude that sounds awesome! What do you mean with hide and seek with the border police though?¡±

    Ah good that you ask Randy! Well, they¡¯re not so happy to let a big group of humans through the border, even after I asked nicely so we have to sneak in.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that illegal?¡±

    Yes, your point is?

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°What Randy means I that there will be legal consequences for entering the Aquini Kingdom.¡±

    Well, you see Francis, I don¡¯t care, your education is more important than their stupid rules. If they have a problem with it, I¡¯ll gladly nuke a city or 2. Now any more questions?

    ¡°Uhm how do we hide from the border police?¡±

    Stealth!

    ¡°Stealth?¡±

    Stealth!

    Teppei stepped forward. ¡°Right, let me take over because Agnis tends to stop making sense at some point. I don¡¯t agree with his methods but I¡¯m curious about these ancient structures so I will play along. You see this guy here is full of surprises so don¡¯t overthink it too much. Agnis and I are enough to keep all of you safe. The Sword Saint and Silver Torrent are more than enough to deal with anything.¡±

    Besides deities.

    Teppei nodded. ¡°Yes, besides deities. Huh? Hey, why would you bring that up?¡±

    Hmm, no reason, go on Teppei.

    Teppei cleared his throat and continued.

    We had almost reached the teleport gates in some hall they had in the basement. ¡°I didn¡¯t know this before but your Professor here almost ended up becoming a Silent Night. So, it should go smooth unless any of you are careless.¡±

    Don¡¯t worry, I will make it so that even they can¡¯t mess this up!

    ¡°Hey!¡± I got harassed by some students.

    Ok ok! I¡¯m sorry you guys are way too responsible for that! Hey stop touching my tail!

    The teleport gate got ready and we stepped in. This was my first time stepping through one. It felt as if I got sucked in and made weightless. Well, My weight is quite low so I got sucked in way faster than the rest and I arrived at the other side. I was the first one to arrive.

    I recognized this as the hall where all the teleport gates are in Hiena. I waited for 10 minutes before the first student got through. Did it always take so long for people to get transported through? Is it weight related? The first student who got through was the short blonde chick that was friends with Randy. It did seem they got out in order of their weight. It took 3 minutes after shorty arrived for the rest to arrive. Teppei was last. I assume it¡¯s because he is carrying his katana. That thing is heavy.

    ¡°Wow that was fast! How come it took so long for you guys to take so long to get here?¡± Shorty asked her friends.

    ¡°Dunno, it felt instant to me.¡±

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°These Teleport gates spit you out with the speed of it depending on your weight, the lighter you are the earlier you arrive.¡±

    Shorty looked at me. ¡°But he was here before me.¡±

    All the students looked at me.

    Uuh, malfunction? Hey guys backoff!

    Hayley grabbed me and lifted me easily.¡°Whoa, he is super light! He almost weighs nothing!¡±

    Hey! Not cool Hayley let me go!

    ¡°Ok, Crissy here!¡± I got handed around. Everyone treated me as an attraction.

    ¡°It seems that you¡¯re getting more and more popular with your students, how long have you been waiting for us?¡±

    Hey, old fart can you help me out instead of just watching? And well I had to wait 13 minutes in total for your heavy ass to appear.

    ¡°I see, do you want me to cut your weight in half?¡± Teppei shot bloodlust at me. I easily broke free from the students, got Shirayuki out and parried his sword strike.

    ¡°Gramps! Be nice!¡± He complied to his granddaughters request and sheathed his sword.

    Thanks Crissy.

    ¡°And you be nicer to Gramps!¡±

    Ugh, you say that because you don¡¯t know how he treats me during sparring, he¡¯s a demon!

    Teppei ignored me and dragged his old bones out of the room and the students and I followed. It was quite the spectacle, the Sword Saint followed by 61 students and a beast kin. We certainly drew attention in this AA.

    Everyone was focusing on Teppei. It was nice for people to not pay attention to me for once. Maybe I should always hang around with someone who¡¯s more well known than I am. Maybe that¡¯s how I can return to being invisible. Although my passive still works, so I can walk in public and not be instantly recognized. We moved to a place that was quiet and I dropped some illusions around us.

    And time for our vanishing act!  I cracked my knuckles and dropped us in stealth.

    ¡°Ooh! How cool!¡± Most of the students acted as if they¡¯ve never been in stealth. Which is true but that wasn¡¯t particularly helpful.

    Seriously guys, shut up, we¡¯re in stealth¡­ follow me.

    I walked toward the edge of the city aiming for the mountain pass but my students were being idiots and tiptoeing and walking all sneakily. It made them quite slow.

    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    Hey clowns, you see how I walk? You don¡¯t need to do that stupid shit, your weight, smell, sound and presence are erased, the only way you can fuck this up is by being loud, attacking someone or getting hit by something hard.

    They finally stopped being silly and we made it to the pass. There wasn¡¯t any border police presence but some bandits. I swiftly assassinated them without the students noticing. It took 2 hours but we made it through with no problems. These students were lacking stamina though. Even the old fart was perfectly fine. Only a handful of students were fine.

    I¡¯m going to steal¡­ borrow a coffin on wheels to bring you all to Denga. Old fart, make sure they are ready to depart when I return.

    ¡°Do you have a license?¡± I showed Teppei my adventurer¡¯s ID.

    ¡°Not that card¡­¡± I showed him my noble ID.

    ¡°Not that one either, wait you are a noble?¡±

    Ehh, long story, don¡¯t worry I got this.

    ¡°Wait Gramps! Stop him! He sunk a yacht! I don¡¯t think he knows how to drive either!¡±

    But it was too late as I already was descending the mountain and heading toward the small city nearby. I swiftly spotted several big coffins on wheels and inspected it. It can only hold 32 people. I guess I need to steal¡­ borrow 2 of these. I made a shadow clone and covered them in illusions and ¡®borrowed¡¯ them.

    The door was locked. How boring. My magical lockpicking skills are unrivaled. A barrier stands no chance against me, what makes them think that a stupid coffin door will stop me?

    I sat behind the wheel. I know in theory what to do but how does it start? That yacht had a button. I pressed all the buttons. Nothing happened. I got up and went through the big coffin on wheels to find a manual.

    Nothing. I found a slot that seemed to require mana. I dumped mana in it and it started. Ha this is easy!

    I drove this thing, maybe a bit sloppy to where the students were waiting. I might have knocked over some poles and other non-human objects. I haven¡¯t hit anyone yet! These coffins were covered with illusions so it just looked like something invisible rushed past. I don¡¯t know exactly how these things work so my illusions can only make them invisible at best.

    These things are relatively slow though. I can run way faster than these things. It took a while but I arrived at where the students were waiting. I made them appear and the students approached.

    ¡°Oh, you got 2 buses!¡± A random student seemed excited.

    Is that how these coffins on wheels are called?

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°Out of curiosity, why do you refer to them as ¡®Coffins on wheels¡¯. Buses are quite safe.¡±

    Its more dangerous than walking, running, flying or teleporting.

    ¡°Well, yes but not everyone can do those or at a prolonged period of time.¡±

    Sounds like a skill issue to me, now hop in.

    Crissy tackled me. ¡°No not again! I¡¯m not going through this again! Gramps you can drive right? I will drive the other bus!¡±

    ¡°I can drive one bus yes but you can¡¯t drive a bus Chris¡­¡± Teppei shook his head at Crissy¡¯s suggestion.

    Crissy looked into the group pleading. ¡°Can anyone drive a bus?¡±

    Nobody was able to.  Don¡¯t worry, I got this.

    Crissy ran at Teppei. ¡°I¡¯m with gramps!¡±

    Hayley and some students followed suit.

    How rude, let¡¯s go guys to the coffin on wheels for winners!

    ¡°You do know that that sounds like we¡¯re going to die right?¡±

    You too Randy? Don¡¯t you have faith in my abilities?

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen Christina so terrified so I¡¯m starting to doubt.¡±

    Christina? Oh Crissy, she¡¯s just a bit of a scaredy-cat, let¡¯s get in!

    The coffin on wheels which was apparently called a bus filled up and the students instantly put their safety belts on. It¡¯s good to see that they take safety seriously.

    I peeked into Teppei¡¯s bus and these lazy students didn¡¯t take safety seriously.

    Teppei rolled down a window. I fumbled and struggled to find out how to do the same but I finally managed.

    ¡°What are you doing¡­ ahum. I don¡¯t know the directions so I will follow you. Please¡­ be careful.¡±

    I know exactly where to go so don¡¯t worry!  I injected mana in the mana port and started the engine.

    Let¡¯s not waste time!

    I went ahead full speed. The students were being wimps and started to grunt or scream. I was leaving Teppei in the dust. I guess I¡¯m going too fast for his old bones. Some students prayed to Sarian gods and other gods. How rude! there are certain things you shouldn''t do near a 9t and praying to gods is one of them!

    It took hours to get even close to our destination. They prayers to the Sarian gods have yet to stop. It annoyed me a bit. Praying to the gods in front of a mythical beast? Do they want to get [Vaporized]?

    Calm down Agnis, they don¡¯t know that you¡¯re a mythical beast. Nor do they know that gods suck. Nor do they know that the gods will do fuckall for random students that get scared from a simple bus ride.

    I swerved to evade a monster that popped up.

    ¡°Agnis! Why did you go off the road!¡±

    The road makes a boring detour. Going through this forest is faster.

    ¡°But this forest is infested with monsters! And there are so many obstacles!¡± I swerved again and everyone screamed.

    Where is their sense of adventure? I ignored the wimpy students and exited the forest. The forest route saved us 30 minutes. The mountainous area came in sight and the prayers increased.

    The roads on the mountains were quite dangerous. These roads are narrow and had many turns which seemed quite impossible at this speed. I tugged at the wheel to make this coffin comply to my demands and something familiar happened; the wheel broke. More students started screaming and I think some fainted. I keep forgetting that these things are made for humans and that I¡¯m stronger than most humans. I guess no more acting normal.

    I teleported to the top of the bus, connected to the air leyline currents and used [Drowning Pulse] to create a large volume of water under the bus causing it to float and then used [Waterfall]. The bus was rushing forward on a mass of water and I had way better control over this coffin like this. I froze my feet to the roof so that I wouldn¡¯t get launched off and sped up.

    Using [Waterfall] goes many times faster than this slow ass bus. The previously hard corner was super easy now because I could let the water climb up the rock wall and rush through the turn at an angle. It¡¯s good that the students were so big on safety because the seatbelts would keep them in their chairs. The path went southwest through a mountain ridge.

    The mountains to my right and a steep drop to the left. This didn¡¯t deter me. I can create enough water to catch us in the case we fall down.

    The jungle appeared in the distance. At this speed we would reach it at the end of the day. The problem is that the old fart is nowhere to be seen. I looked for him and he was already behind by 9 km. what is he doing?

    I made a shadow clone and sent it to tell him to stop being so slow.

    Another turn. I think this turn has a specific term. I think it was called a hairpin turn. It looks tricky. I didn¡¯t entertain the restrictions of this hairpin turn.

    I froze ramps to allow me to take this turn as wide as possible. Hairpin turns are for slowpokes!

    After completing this hairpin turn, we got to another one half a minute later. What¡¯s the point of 2 hairpin turns? The only thing it does is slow people down. We were descending in altitude though. Maybe it is to bring us down gradually. I looked at the roads ahead and it seems that was its goal. How boring. I decided that these roads were uselessly slow. I sped up more and created a ramp in front us and sped up.

    More screaming students and more fainted. We got launched over the edge. It was quite a long way down so I froze wings to the side of the bus and started to use [Howling Updraft] and then [Hurricane path] to steer the bus in the air. Now that we were airborne, we could pick up even more speed and ignore the restrictions the roads put on us.

    Teppei was giving my clone some bullshit about safety and speed limits. The clone just hijacked their bus and also launched it in the air and gave the bus wings. We crashed ehh landed at around 18:30 near the jungle. Teppei¡¯s bus crashed 5 minutes later, that old fart needs to work on his landings. These coffins are so fragile.

    ¡°Are you trying to kill us?!¡± The bag of bones activated his magic katana and rushed at me.

    I swapped places with him and he cut down several hundreds of trees.

    Wow, deforestation is not cool old fart!

    I used [Eternal Winter] to freeze him in his tracks. He tried to break free which I let him but I managed to make I¡¯m slip after sending some [Frost balls] his way. He didn¡¯t wear pants but some sort of kimono or robe so my trademark move wasn¡¯t very effective on him.

    Cool down, we arrived safely.

    ¡°Ugh, I¡¯m too old for this shit, you almost killed me by giving me a heart attack!¡±

    So dramatic, you wouldn¡¯t be the Sword Saint if this could make you kick the bucket. Let¡¯s set up camp here.  I froze houses with frost magic.

    ¡°Really? Can¡¯t you make anything warmer?¡± I kicked the random student into one of the houses I made.

    I noticed something strange. All the students from my bus were sleeping. Lazy students. Or did they all faint? The mountain air was quite thin after all.

    ¡°Hey, this isn¡¯t actually cold, it¡¯s quite comfy in here!¡±

    Thought so. Anyone who doesn¡¯t like ice can sleep outside. Hey guys! What the fuck do you think you¡¯re doing! Of course, you can¡¯t stay in the houses with the chicks.

    I pointed at Teppei  I can mess around because this guy can¡¯t kill me but any guy that comes close to Crissy, oof, good luck with that one!

    Teppei directed his frustration at the guys who thought they could share a house with Crissy and Hayley. It made them reconsider and they behaved.

    Teppei headed over to the wreckage of my bus and woke up the lazy students. He thenwent to the ice house meant for him. He would be the only one in it as nobody wants to spend the night with an ancient relic like him.

    ¡°Agnis, why does this house have a walker for the elderly?¡±

    To accommodate yo¡­  I ducked to evade a sword strike.

    ¡°You are doing this on purpose aren¡¯t you! You won¡¯t influence my temper!¡±

    But I¡¯ve been quite successful¡­

    I had to evade a [Hakidashi] before he slammed the door of his house. I made sure that everyone found a house they could rest in.

    ¡°Hey Agnis, where is your house?¡± Hayley looked around to spot a house that wasn¡¯t occupied while Crissy and some of her friends salvaged their belongings from the bus wreckage.

    I¡¯m going to keep watch I don¡¯t need a house.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that lonely?¡±

    No?

    ¡°How about you join our house!¡±

    Absolutely not!

    ¡°This ice looks sturdy, what could be a danger to us while we¡¯re inside?¡±

    Oh, you have no idea a lot can get through that if it wanted. Luckily, they are unlikely to appear but it¡¯s always good to be careful. Go help your friends and rest up. It¡¯s not that late but going into the jungle when night is falling is a very bad idea and an easy way to lose students and have some die.

    ¡°Ok, and hey, that flight was quite exciting, make sure you rest up too!¡± Hayley waved and started to help her friends.

    She got scolded by Crissy for slacking. Crissy shot me a mean look. Everyone was cozied up in their houses by 19:00. I had provided everyone with enough food so that wasn¡¯t a problem. I left 3 shadow clones in this small ice village and I headed to the jungle. I found a good spot and sent out a wave of nature energy, sat down and waited.

 Vol 3 Ch 22.1: Denga Part 2

    30 minutes had passed and no jungle dragons or elves were approaching. Does this jungle not have any? Strange.

    That is good news for the students, but probably bad news for this jungle. Who or what prevents stuff from going bad out here? Can a jungle just do fine on its own? I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not a race responsible for that.

    I activated my Elgards eyes and scanned this part of the forest. Some settlements of strange humans but the rest are just jungle animals and monsters. No other interesting races. Maybe they¡¯re underground or like tree people or nymphs. I have no clue if those make their home here.

    As I was about to return to the small ice village, I felt uneasy. I opened the filter that allowed me to see the dimensional fabric and it was also torn here. This has been popping up a lot lately. It can¡¯t be a good thing. It had no maggots though and it wasn¡¯t festering. Was it a new tear? I didn¡¯t see anything behind the fabric that would have caused it. Why does the fabric tear? Does it happen by itself or is something trying to get in and just slashing at the fabric and making tears left and right? I targeted it with opaque white flames and closed the filter.

    I returned to the ice village and I saw Crissy and Hayley looking around.

    Strange where are my clones? They disappeared. It seems they got defeated by something but I don¡¯t know what. Crissy and Hayley were the only ones outside. I jumped in between them, got another tail out and wrapped them in my tails.

    Something is off here. Did you notice anything?

    ¡°We heard strange sounds after we came out to have a chat with you.¡± Hayley stroked my tail in a way that sent shivers through my spine. She isn¡¯t going to steal it is she?

    ¡°Yeah, I have a lot to say to you!¡±

    That can wait Crissy. I left 3 shadow clones behind here to watch over the ice village but they got defeated without knowing what happened.

    I went through multiple filters but couldn¡¯t find anything. I couldn¡¯t find anything but my intuition told me to get away from where I was standing. I jumped away and saw space bend at where I just stood. It would have twisted us and sucked us through a small hole if we had stayed there. I still couldn''t see what was attacking us.

    My intuition told me to open the dimensional fabric filter. I don¡¯t know why I don¡¯t have these in the default filters I go through. The place was infested with dimensional ants. They were about as tall as a human teen. They had large mandibles. There was one big difference between them and ants as one would know them. A humanoid torso stuck out from their backs. It was light purple. It had eye sockets but no eyes. The mouth on the humanoid part of them seemed stitched shut and they had long black nails on their fingers.

    They were extremely creepy. The humanoid parts seemed to cast spatial magic and targeted me for deletion. I briefly weighed my options. If their target is only me, they will leave Hayley and Crissy alone so it would be safer to leave them behind. Something told me that that was a bad idea. I moved away from the ice village because one of their spatial distortions almost hit a house. Another peculiarity of these abominations. They weren¡¯t walking over the dimensional fabric. They were everywhere except on the fabric. There was also a big hole in the fabric here. Are these things like dimensional maggots? Or are these actual invaders? I have no idea.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? You look stressed.¡±

    I realize that the 2 chicks can''t see this. Maybe that¡¯s good. These things are nightmare-inducing.

    The ant part started shooting some strange liquid at me. I assume that it¡¯s acid but that might be the best-case scenario. I froze it and sent it back to them. It got hit by its own attack and it seemed in pain. The liquid glowed and started to mutate the section it had hit this ant humanoid. Do I call this an Antoid? I stopped moving. Moments of Ted flashed back through my mind. What pun would he make. Would we tell him it was a bad pun?

    ¡°Hey, Agnis are you all right? And where are you going¡± Crissy¡¯s voice snapped me out of it and I avoided more strange liquid.

    I don¡¯t want to end up as an abomination. How do I get rid of these things? I had successfully lured them away from the ice village but no plan.

    I looked at Crissy.  What color are my eyes?

    ¡°Ehh, some blue purple. Hey you can change your eye color?¡±

    The color of eye depends on what I can see. At the moment we¡¯re under attack but things you two can¡¯t see. Well, it¡¯s not we that are under attack, I¡¯m under attack but I think it would be a bad idea to leave you 2 behind there.

    I evaded another [Spatial Twist]. This left a small tear in the fabric of space. The Antoids that swarmed after me ran over it and teared it open in the process.

    Ugh, is it you assholes who keep creating tears in the fabric?  I disconnected from the leyline currents and I torched them with foxfire.

    ¡°I see it! Something is on fire there!¡± It seems that the chicks could see the fire but not what was on fire.

    Crissy sent a [Flame Wave] at them but it passed through them.

    ¡°Huh? Why can¡¯t I hit them?¡±

    Probably because you can only hit them if its mixed with spatiotemporal magic but I can¡¯t go ham on it because I will vaporize you 2.

    ¡°There are a lot of them! Is there really nothing we can do to help you? Not that I mind doing nothing and enjoy these soft tails.¡± Hayley stroked my tail in a way that gave me shivers.

    ¡°Hayley behave yourself! Is there a way to attack them without setting them on fire?¡±

    Hmm, now that you mention it, Azu told me that I can infuse any element with spatiotemporal magic.

    I focused and laced [Eternal Winter] with spatiotemporal magic and froze all these creepy assholes. This allowed the chicks to see how the Antoids looked like and they freaked out.

    ¡°Aaah! What is that! It¡¯s so hideous!¡± Hayley screamed.

    ¡°I feel sick¡­¡± Crissy seemed disgusted. Hope she doesn¡¯t vomit on my tails.

    I snapped my fingers and made all the frost shatter into a million pieces oneshotting most of them. 3 big ones survived and dashed at me. I had gained a lot of mana from doing all this. It¡¯s time to use one of my new skills. I used [Kryokym] laced with spatiotemporal magic and the Antoids got one-shot.

    Whoo that packs a punch.

    [Kryokym] returns all the mana I gained from using frost magic as damage. Just [Nilah] and [Kryokym] turns frost magic from quite defensive magic into extremely bursty in nature. If I play may cards well I can one-shot a lot of annoying opponents with these.

    They are gone¡­ they left some weird stuff behind though¡­

    Every Antoid had left some weird purple dot behind after they had died. I approached one when all my tails popped out, warned me and pushed me back from them. The purple dots rapidly expanded in size and tore enormous holes in the dimensional fabric. It also took my right arm.

    ¡°Your arm!¡±

    ¡°Noo! We need a healer¡± Crissy did her panic thing and started to hyperventilate.

    Ugh, chill, this is not the first time I lost an arm. It was also quite painless.

    I inspected the situation. My arm was gone and not just stuck in a different dimension. I used frost magic to create an arm and layered illusions on it to make it look real.

    I dropped to one knee. This is tiring. I looked at the dimensional fabric which looked like a beehive. I was staring directly in the void. I never had seen a hole this big since Boshi town.

    Fixing this is going to take forever unless I use my pseudo 9t mode. But losing my 9t abilities for a day is not something I want to do now. I decided to torch this with opaque white flames but because the holes were so big there wasn¡¯t much to torch. I doubt the maggots can do a decent job at partly fixing this. I sighed.

    ¡°Are you ok? You just lost your arm you know!¡± Hayley seemed to be having difficulties in staying calm but I appreciated it that she wasn¡¯t freaking out like Crissy.

    Thank you for your concern I¡¯m fine. Having my arm made out of ice actually makes me stronger in some situations.

    ¡°You said you lost your arm before? Did a healer fix it?¡±

    Oh no, give it 3 or 4 hours and it will grow back, courtesy of not being human. The blood loss is a problem though¡­

    We looked at the pool of blood I had left on the ground. I froze it and turned it into fine dust so that nothing could use it for whatever.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Crissy had calmed down but seemed upset. It¡¯s always something¡­ ¡°Why are you acting like it¡¯s nothing? You just lost your arm fighting some strange invisible monsters! It¡¯s fine to say you¡¯re not ok! You guys also did that in that labyrinth. We didn¡¯t know if we would ever make it out and you guys just act like nothing is going on!¡±

    ¡°Yeah! You can say when you¡¯re not ok!¡±

    Thank you but I¡¯m fine. You don¡¯t want to hear me say that I¡¯m not fine, trust me. It will just make you hate the world and possibly your own race. Let¡¯s go back.

    Both Hayley and Crissy put up a sad face but I paid it no mind. I dropped them off at their house.

    ¡°Make sure you rest well! I will be checking up on you tomorrow!¡±

    ¡°Crissy is emanating some wife energy hehe.¡±

    ¡°Hayley shut up!¡±

    They went inside and I sat on Teppei¡¯s house and kept the dimensional fabric filter on. No maggots have appeared yet. I looked at the dimensional fabric over the jungle that I had blasted with white opaque flames and nothing there either. I created 3 shadow clones and decided to eat some raw chicken to help me get some blood back and then took a nap.

    <hr>

    I woke up after the shittiest nap ever. My frost arm had fallen off and I had my real arm back. I moved it around because it was a bit sore and stiff. Strangely enough, it was easier to use than my previous right arm.

    I looked around and didn¡¯t see any Antoids or other anomalies. No maggots¡­ This is actually concerning. How am I supposed to fix this dimensional fabric without the maggots? What if the maggots are also going extinct? Where do they even come from? Or did the Antoids eat them? Either way this situation is bad. I might have to add ¡®find another 9t to help me¡¯ on the list but our race isn¡¯t doing so hot right now so this might be impossible.

    Some early birds left their frost house. They looked refreshed. At least someone had a refreshing night.

    I sighed and tried to nap more when old bones appeared. ¡°I heard the story from Chris, are you alright?¡±

    Stop being concerned, it doesn¡¯t suit you.

    Crissy and Hayley climbed onto the house.

    Ugh, the pity squad has assembled, I¡¯m fine!

    ¡°Stop being so stubborn! Let me see that arm!¡± Crissy wrestled me and took a look at my arm.

    Hey, old timer shouldn¡¯t you stop her? You don¡¯t like guys getting close to your grandchild, right?

    I broke free and escaped from Crissy. ¡°Wait! Is gramps the reason you¡¯re evading me? Gramps!¡±

    Good luck old timer!

    ¡°Ugh, I swear, I will cut you down one day, no Chris! I¡¯m not trying to keep him away from you! Yet¡­¡± Teppei gave me an intimidating stare but I ignored it as I jumped down. It was time to check on my students.

    Sup students, what are you up to early this morning?

    ¡°Oh, we¡¯re getting some fresh air. The air here feels noticeably cleaner than back at uni.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not much of an early bird but this is refreshing!¡±

    ¡°Why is it so much warmer here than at the academy?

    A guy adjusted his glasses. Seriously Francis is everywhere when an explanation is needed. ¡°The western Aquini mountain range traps warm air from escaping to the ocean. This keeps everything north and east from it temperate and anything west and south of it a bit more extreme.¡±

    ¡°What? Francis in Kaledonian please?¡±

    Mountains keep this side warmer.

    ¡°Ah¡± The students were diligent and started practicing a bit.

    I decided to practice too to work this arm in. I calibrated the leyline energy. 9.1% affinity and 3.9% authority. I wonder if the planet is doing well, my authority over the available leyline energy is steadily dropping. Is Isi weakening or is this location specific? I started throwing water Dragonvein skills around.

    Teppei appeared 20 minutes later.

    ¡°Whew, grandchildren can be relentless. Is this what you used to give us the worst bus ride in history? It seems rhythmic, is it possible to use this with your sword fighting style?¡±

    I can but if I do that, I will probably kill you.

    ¡°Oh, getting cocky again, eh? How about you give a demonstration!¡±

    I want to beat you with skill not with cheats.

    Teppei had already drawn his magic sword Kageshini. That sword scares me, it¡¯s not as strong as Shirayuki but it can boost this old farts speed and make invisible cuts that aren¡¯t even wind related. I haven¡¯t found the filter yet to see the cuts so I have to deduce it from how he swings his katana but even then. The cuts don¡¯t act naturally. And those cuts inflict [Spite]. Now he can remove it with his sword but in a life and death fight with this old fart just 1 or 2 cuts will cost you your life.

    ¡°Come on, I¡¯m curious now, show me what you got brat!¡±

    Go write a will first and say goodbye to Crissy first!

    The students gathered around to watch. Luckily, they weren¡¯t stupid and were quite far away and even climbed on the frost houses. Smart of them.

    ¡°I guess I have to make the first move then.¡± He stepped in and wind started to swirl around him. More like [Wind Blades].

    Getting close to him would feel like stepping in my [Blender] or in the appliance that shares its name. For quick and sharp movements, lightning is the best. I shifted stance and used [High Voltage] and red lightning coursed through my body. I still had Shirayuki sheathed and took my stance for an Iai. The old fart picked this up and he was alerted.

    He started sending the wind blades at me. I took a deep breath and exhaled. I cut all the wind blades down with lightning-infused [Iai: Nilah]. The 9 red blueish cuts eradicated the wind blades and homed in on Teppei in a wide arc. He realized that he couldn¡¯t dodge it and used his [Iai: Kazeshini] but he only got rid of one of the 9 cuts flying at him. This was cool and all but I had already started using [Accel step] and caught up to the cuts causing Teppei to get attacked from 9 sides.

    ¡°This is ridiculous!¡± He prioritized parrying my strike.

    He managed to get rid of 3 of the remaining 8 cuts and successfully parried my strike but got hit by the other 5. Blood erupted from his body as he got hit by the slashes. This whole scene played off in 4 seconds. Teppei was unable to continue fighting but he was still alive and kicking.

    Are you still alive old fart?

    ¡°I concede¡­ I didn¡¯t realize there would be that much of a difference¡­¡±

    Holy shit you¡¯re still alive! It¡¯s a zombie!

    ¡°I would cut you down if I could¡±

    Let me fix that for you.  I snapped my fingers and broke some illusion layers. I always make it a habit to form these before or at the start of a battle. Teppei returned to his healthy but still old self.

    ¡°Wait it''s over already?¡±

    ¡°That was fast!¡±

    ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°Is he going to be the new Sword Saint?¡± The students seemed to have no clue what just happened. This must have probably been the shortest fight they have ever seen.

    Teppei inspected himself. ¡°Interesting, I assume that wasn¡¯t your strongest attack.¡±

    Not really but it comes close to one of my strongest sword attacks. But I¡¯m not out here to kill you because I could also just turn the whole area in a popsicle, shatter the ice and kill everyone here. But that¡¯s obviously not an option.

    ¡°And here I thought if it was just with physical feats that I could beat a mythical beast.¡±

    Oh, you would still destroy me in most physical fights don¡¯t get me wrong. But relying on those powers too much might actually get me killed, how paradoxical that might sound.

    Teppei stroked his beard. ¡°With great power comes great responsibility. I think I get it. Many nations had asked me to become their general and some have sent strong individuals or even armies at me to make me comply or even kill me.¡±

    Oof, that must have been rough, but yeah something similar to that will happen if I randomly sent energy waves off whenever I need to beat something up. I will just be screaming. ¡®I¡¯m here! Come kill me!¡¯ or something.

    ¡°You might want to tone down the flashiness of your skills though¡­¡±

    It¡¯s not me! It¡¯s her!  I pointed at Shirayuki.

    ¡°I see so it does have a will. It seems to have a strong will.¡±

    Yeah¡­ I have to be careful because she only cares about me. If I have her out and I get hurt like losing my arm earlier, she would probably freeze everything around me or cut it to pieces, including you guys. She is normally well behaved but she has 0 tolerance against anything that is a serious threat to me. Which could be a problem.

    ¡°Getting your sword under control is also part of being a swordsman. Only you decide what to cut and what not to cut.¡±

    Thanks, Teppei, now you go deal with these students who seem to have a million questions I¡¯m going to scout out the dungeon! Cya!

    ¡°Hey! What! Wait!¡±

    I headed toward the pyramid temples while Teppei got buried under questions.

 Vol 3 Ch 23: +1

    The maggot-less dimensional fabric was still bothering me but there was nothing I could do. I detected some dangerous animals around them but nothing special. I had also found a group of archaeologists, I assume, that had a camp on the far end. They are probably studying these structures but as far as I know most had already given up on deciphering the language on these.

    I wonder if I should become a helpful fox and write dictionaries for them. But it will probably make me more well-known or even as anonymous they might use it to weaponize whatever they find inside. It also has some strong magic inside. This is of course assuming they can make it out of those dungeons alive.

    I¡¯m wondering how humans would fare in those. It might also be one of the many reasons I had brought them here. Because it doesn¡¯t matter what race you are, those dungeons are unfriendly to whatever is alive. Even Vinny was struggling in the Shadow Behemoth dungeon. I wonder how Greg¡¯s matchup would be against that thing.

    I scouted the Pyramids and I made a shocking discovery. Most were connected to each other underground so most were just 1 building. I say most because there are 7 pyramids here but they are actually 3 dungeons. The biggest one contains 4 pyramids, then one that has 2 pyramids and the last one is just 1. I don¡¯t know what this means but what I do know is that the one with 4 pyramids is the biggest. That¡¯s not where we¡¯re going. Let¡¯s keep it simple and go for the single pyramid.

    The single pyramid had a glade in front of it. It would be perfect for sightseeing.

    It seems something had been there in ancient times but it¡¯s gone now but it had left an open space. Nothing seemed fishy about it so this would be the destination.

    I returned to the group and they just finishes fighting off some jungle snakes.

    Good job! I have found a good spot for sightseeing; you guys will like it. We do have to go through the jungle for a bit.

    I ignored some complaints and dispelled the frost houses. It was nearing noon so we had to get going.

    I tried to avoid Crissy and Hayley because they would ask too many questions but I failed. I was leading the group so it was predictable where I would be.

    ¡°Is your arm alright?¡±

    I showed off that it was ok by swinging it around.  You have to remember that I¡¯m not a human.

    ¡°That¡¯s cool and all but just like us humans you have feelings too!¡±

    I don¡¯t know why but Hayley also seems upset with me. What have I done wrong? I will never understand humans.

    My feelings are fine, they will be hurt though if we continue at this snail pace. Hey guys! Move faster!  I got complaints that we¡¯ve been walking for a while and other nonsense.

    Ok smartasses, why is none of you using magic to make this experience better?

    They looked at me as if I was speaking in Hourai.

    Magic isn¡¯t just a tool to beat others up its to make your life easier, now stop complaining and use your brains!

    Sometimes I think that being smart is something people turn on and off. Students used magic to speed this up. They had created a team effort to make a budget bus out of wood and vines and use wind magic to make it float.

    Shall I drive?

    I got a unanimous resounding ¡°No!¡¯ so I had to just point in the right direction as the students used their wind magic to steer this wooden floating coffin. The ride was pleasant and didn¡¯t take too long. Some students intimidated and fought off monsters who thought that attacking us was a bright idea. Most monsters didn¡¯t even get to do anything. The students effectively shut them down. The monsters are quite predictable in what skills they will use but it¡¯s still impressive. The students started to gasp and chatter now that we were getting close to the pyramid temple.

    The pyramid temple looked like it was made out of steps for giants and made out of some brown greenish stone. One third of it was overgrown with jungle plants. It looked impressive but not intimidating.

    I threw rocks at monkeys that were making a lot of noise nearby. I did sneak a banana in Teppei¡¯s clothes which ended up in some monkeys assaulting him. He failed to control his temper and cut the vehicle in half after I evaded his slash. Luckily, we weren¡¯t far so we could walk the rest.

    I froze frost houses on the empty space. Right guys it¡¯s nearing 16:00 so going into this dungeon now is a bad idea. Go sightseeing. Make sure you don¡¯t get lost. There is a camp of archeologists about 10km that way so don¡¯t disturb them unless you want to answer a lot of annoying and strange questions.

    I pointed to the northeast where the building was that had the 4 pyramids. You have already encountered the monsters and animals from this jungle, they¡¯re no match for you but still stay alert. I will slack here in case you find something strong, just lure it here. Don¡¯t be irresponsible! Now I put the frost houses in the same layout as before so take the one you had yesterday.

    ¡°Where did our stuff go?¡±

    It¡¯s in your house¡­

    ¡°Wait! How did you¡­¡±

    I can¡¯t tell them I have a dimensional pocket I hope they just go do their thing.

    They confirmed that their stuff was still there and headed off. I decided to use this time to rest. I sat down on the house of Teppei and laid down on the roof. I noticed 7 individuals climbing up the roof.

    What are these idiots doing, they should go sightseeing. It was Crissy, Hayley, Randy, Francis, midget, and the other chick. Wait I counted 7 these are only 6.

    I got up and looked around. The 7 person disappeared. Am I going crazy?

    Guys a serious question, did you guys climb up here with 7 of you?

    Midget looked around. ¡°Hmm, now that you ask it did seem like that but I only count 6 of us.¡±

    ¡°Uuh, we¡¯re not being haunted, are we?¡± Brunette chick said as she looked around quite paranoid.

    ¡°Did you see something again?¡± Crissy asked very worried.

    ¡°It¡¯s not more of those super creepy monsters, right?¡± Hayley got battle ready.

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°I am curious to what you two are referring to.¡±

    Pay it no mind these two are suddenly so overprotective.

    ¡°Hey! We¡¯re not! Maybe it¡¯s not a big deal to you but for humans it¡¯s a big deal to lose an arm!¡± Hayley blurted out; she held her hand in front of her mouth but the damage was already done. I had to explain to the other 4 that we got attacked the night before.

    ¡°That sound rough dude. You can count on us to help out!¡± Randy made a very confident pose.

    Even though none of you can see or hit these things?

    The confident pose disappeared quickly.

    Now stop wasting your time and go sightseeing!

    ¡°I can¡¯t, that 7 person thing scared me!¡± Crissy used this opportunity to grab my tail.

    ¡°Can we...¡± Randy pointed at my tail.

    Ugh, fine. I don¡¯t understand how you humans are the dominant species out here, a race with fluffy tails could conquer you easily¡­

    I endured my tail being stroked as I thought about what this 7 person could be.

    Hey Francis, when you got time, can you ask around if other people also had the feeling of there being one or more extra people in their group but the numbers not matching up?

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°Sure. I¡¯m curious about what this about too.¡±

    So many bizarre things were happening lately. There was that blur, the dimensional fabric is doing worse than ever and now these phantoms. Is my life slowly turning into a mystery novel? I could do with some answers.

    At that moment something exploded not too far from our ice village. This isn¡¯t my fault, is it? I tried to get up but the students stopped me.

    ¡°They can take care of this; you told them to lure it to here if they can¡¯t¡± Brunette chick is correct but it can¡¯t be coincidence that this happened when I wanted answers.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    I heard a monstrous shriek that sounded like whatever that was just breathed it¡¯s last. I could check it out with my Elgards eye but I had the feeling I would end up with more questions than answers. When did my life turn into such a mess? Probably the moment we got kicked out of Hourai. Does that mean that this is not all my fault? Then again if we were strong enough, we wouldn¡¯t have gotten kicked out. I sighed.

    ¡°Something bothering you dude?¡±

    Way too much.

    I activated my Elgards eyes. Almost every group was fighting some sort of monster. Most were doing fine but some were struggling. I created a frost bow, aimed at the sky and shot several [Frost Arrows]. They rained down and killed the monsters that proved to be problematic for the students.

    ¡°Whoa, that¡¯s cool. I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this but I wish I had a water affinity now!¡± Randy was as enthusiastic as ever. Where does this guy get his energy from.

    You need a lot of mana control to use water. It is quite hard as the majority of the water users demonstrate. If it was easy more water users would be known.

    I created small ice statues identical to the students here. Something strange happened, it looked like I had 6 fingers and I made 7 statues but the 7 one didn¡¯t look like me.

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°I assume you didn¡¯t do that on purpose, it also seemed as if you had 6 fingers for a bit.¡±

    Francis was right, I had 5 fingers now and only 6 ice statues floated above my right hand.

    ¡°What is going on! I don¡¯t like this!¡± The chicks hugged my tail.

    ¡°Oh, you have 2 tails?¡±

    Brunette needs glasses. Wait did it copy my tail too?

    Someone adjusted his glasses again. ¡°He has only one tail. I assume something here is adding the illusion of a +1 to everything but they seem to disappear the moment we get aware of it.¡±

    Crissy pulled on my sleeve. ¡°If they are supposed to disappear when we get aware of it. Why is that house still there? You made 7 houses of ice yesterday, right?¡±

    Yeah¡­

    I looked at where Crissy was pointing. It was a house made out of frost magic that I¡¯m sure I didn¡¯t make. It was my frost magic though. I placed illusion layers and it placed more than I intended to. I tried to break through whatever illusion we were stuck on but it wasn¡¯t an illusion so there was nothing to break.

    I wanted to get up to investigate the extra house but Crissy pulled me back by my sleeve. ¡°Where are you going?¡±

    I¡¯m going to check that house out. It¡¯s not supposed to exist.

    ¡°Are you out of your mind! Let¡¯s just ignore it! It might go away.¡±

    I actually like that idea, ignoring problems until they go away but I¡¯m in charge of your safety. I can¡¯t leave things here if they¡¯re not supposed to exist.

    I flicked an ice cube off Teppei¡¯s house and swapped myself with it and approached the house that shouldn¡¯t exist. It seemed perfectly normal to me.

    You see at this point it would be fine if the house would give off a strange energy so that I was incentivized to ignore it but it being quite normal is jarring. It is a strange feeling or like an instinct to remove it since it doesn¡¯t belong here. It¡¯s like an itch that needs to be scratched, a dirty speck on an else clean surface. bubble wrap that hasn¡¯t been popped. It is near impossible to ignore its existence. It needs to go.

    I walked over to the extra house and tried to dispel the frost magic but it just looked like it was mine. It had no mana runic structure; it was as if I was trying to get rid of a house that was made out of real ice. What is the meaning of this? My Elgards eyes were useless on it because it was like frost magic. I deactivated my eyes to get a better look at it. In all shapes or forms this looks similar. The students followed me from a distance, they were still visibly creeped out by this phenomena.

    I walked up to the front door. What would I find inside?

    The door flew open without a warning and I saw¡­ I have actually no idea what it was but I did recognize the background. It was the void.

    Oh shit!

    A strange kraken like tentacle monster grabbed me around my waist and tried to drag me into the void. My [Dimensional Anchor] kicked in and prevented me from getting dragged to the void. I had to do something because while it wouldn¡¯t be able to drag me into the void, it would snap me in half trying to.

    The six students panicked and tried to aid me.

    Seriously guys stay away! I can¡¯t help you if it drags you into the void!

    Crissy pointed. I could see that she tried to stay calm but she was failing. ¡°What is that!¡±

    Owowowow I don¡¯t know! Get as far as possible from here!

    I tried to get its grip to loosen by squeezing it¡¯s tentacle with my tail and freezing it. Its grip was weakening but it was sending more tentacles my way. I couldn¡¯t move so I couldn¡¯t use Dragonvein. I threw magic at it but it seemed to be immune to it. What a cheater! I bet only non-magic or spatiotemporal magic works on this monster.

    ¡°What is going on! Agnis what in Yxim¡¯s name is that?! Let me cut it down for you!¡±

    I appreciate it old fart but I need you to get everyone out of here! Remember what I told you about my sword?

    He was old but his memory seemed better than mine and remembered that Shirayuki would attack indiscriminately if I was in danger. He used wind magic to blow any curious students away. I took Shirayuki out my dimensional pocket. She instantly reacted.

    She was compelling me to draw her out the sheathe. It was hard to breathe because of this stupid tentacle monster strangling me but I managed to unsheathed Shirayuki. All I saw was a light blue flash.

    <hr>

    I was encased in frost but I could break out of it. Did I pass out? It shouldn¡¯t have been for long. The house was obliterated and I don¡¯t know how. I broke out of the encasing and found myself inside an enormous 9-sided snowflake pattern of ice that had cut through the ground. Every arm of the snowflake crystal had an ice trail cut extending for who knows how far. It seems whatever Shirayuki used was some variation of [Iai: Nilah] but this was many times stronger. Shirayuki was sheathed at my hip.  Thank you.

    Shirayuki still seemed restless and froze herself to my arm when I attempted to return her to the dimensional pocket. What a stubborn sword. Now I have the special privilege of having to explain this to the curious humans. I have no clue what happened so asking me is useless and I told them that.

    ¡°Why do you keep making others worry about you!¡±

    Hey that¡¯s not fair Crissy! How was I supposed to know what was awaiting in there!

    ¡°You could have just left it!¡±

    And risk it to jump out and drag a student into the void? Do you have any idea what that is? It¡¯s in between dimensions! It¡¯s impossible to navigate in there unless you¡¯re a member of one of 2 races! And even then, it¡¯s still hard. It¡¯s safe to say if someone disappears into the void he¡¯s gone forever!

    Crissy had no comeback for that but I could see she still didn¡¯t like my response.

    ¡°Just be careful, ok?¡±

    Look at the student being concerned about her professor. Everything will be fine. Old fart let¡¯s get ready to head over to the pyramid before it gets too late.

    Teppei was busy keeping the students calm. ¡°Are you sure? Shouldn¡¯t you take a short rest?¡±

    Fine I¡¯ll take a rest if you guys stop being so over protective!

    I took a rest against my will to make sure these humans wouldn¡¯t be so annoying. It did seem that the +1 problem was gone now. Everything seemed normal. Why did that house connect to the void? Wouldn¡¯t that mean that there was a hole in the dimensional fabric there? I activated my Elgards eyes but all the frost was interfering with it. This big snowflake cut, Shirayuki had made is beautiful but I can¡¯t see shit with this.

    It took me 3 minutes to get rid of it and inspected the dimensional fabric. It looked beat up but there was no hole. Still no maggots on the other holes that I had torched with white opaque flames. Maybe I should torch them again. I wanted to get up but noticed Hayley and Crissy were watching me like a hawk. It would be nice if they would mind their own business¡­

    At least I know my [Dimensional Anchor] works. Not that I wanted to discover it like this¡­ I don¡¯t like how I keep get reminded why 9t are probably near extinct. I guess these humans are right to worry about me. I hope Greg has a better time being a 3t. although he has to deal whenever something stirs within the shadows. It seems they aren¡¯t caused by weak creatures.

    The last time was the salt and pepper dragon in Boshi town. And I have the feeling the demon that tried to possess me also is something he has to deal with. That demon thing is his race''s responsibility, not mine. I just got unlucky as usual. I looked down, the troublemakers in the Basement are his responsibility, spirit Isi told us it had devils, demons and other stuff too. I¡¯m sure Greg remembered what was down there... I don¡¯t think it¡¯s easier than what I have to deal with. Guess he¡¯s just lucky that they are behaving for now.

    I wondered how long they wanted me to rest. I want to see what¡¯s in that dungeon. I will just find more problems if I sit still.

    They finally decided it was time to head over to the pyramid.

    ¡°Hey Agnis, Chris is really worried about you and asked me to lead, are you fine with that?¡±

    Such a doting gramps. Sure, means less responsibility for me!

    ¡°You know I also was young at one point and had a lot of responsibility. It¡¯s ok to just relax and rely on others from time to time.¡±

    I will try, thanks old man I will slack until we reach the entrance then. Good luck fighting off the horde of monsters that have locked on to us.

    I casually kept walking while Teppei had to intercept the monsters approaching.

    I think these six students had become friends over being worried about me. I felt surrounded because they were walking in front of me, next to me or behind me. We arrived at the pyramid later than I had hoped but nothing we can do about it.

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°How are we going to gain access to the innards of this structure?¡±

    We just solve a puzzle or tell it to open up. Let¡¯s see. Oh, this language. No puzzles, hmm that¡¯s odd. I guess the dungeon will be quite tough then.

    I told the door to opening the correct ancient language and the door opened to the surprise of all the humans here.

    Stop gawking, let¡¯s go inside!

    I stepped inside and the humans followed.

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 24: Nightmare Fuel

    I got hit with an instant d¨¦j¨¤ vu. It was unusually dark in her.

    Please not another shadow behemoth¡­

    I connected with the underground leyline currents and used [Fire dragon Festival] to light up the place. These students stared.

    What? Did you not know that I have a high fire affinity?

    It seems not everyone knew that. Not that affinity matters with Dragonvein but I¡¯m not telling them that.

    This place lit up just like a normal dark space so at least I don¡¯t have to worry about fighting shadow behemoths. My supply of poison is still safe, not that I would have issues on dumping it. I do acknowledge that it has some uses. At the moment all it¡¯s good for is defeating shadow behemoths, making ice cream and becoming my secret weapon if that noob god reappears.

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°This place is fascinating!¡±

    I disagree with Francis; it is just a large pyramid shaped room. It has some impressive decorations but that¡¯s all. Is this all this dungeon has to offer? Where is the treasure? I feel a bit scammed. I can do without the obnoxious stuff it will throw at us but there isn¡¯t even writing on the walls, ceiling or floor. Just a pedestal with a strange statue in the middle of the room. It is suspicious as fuck but the students still approached it.

    Guys seriously? There is nothing in this room besides that statue, getting close to it obviously a bad idea¡­

    ¡°But we came here for the dungeon, right?¡± This random student had a point but¡­

    None of you seem ready to get into battle. I suggest to make sure you look around, see what you want to see while avoiding that statue in the middle. After that we will see what pain in the ass challenge this place has for us. Let¡¯s look around for an hour.

    ¡°Hey! The entrance is gone!¡±

    Very sharp observation Mo. This happens in every dungeon, nothing new. Now go look around and gather here when you¡¯ve had enough.

    I made some fire dragons circle around the statue creating an area where the students couldn¡¯t get close to without getting burnt. The students went to look around in this room which was about 300 by 300 meters. I couldn¡¯t find any signs of deception or any mechanism that could lead underground. The only suspicious object in this room was this statue of some strange monster. I don¡¯t recognize it.

    It looked as if a slime had taken up the form of something hideous. It had traits of a lion, a pig and a manatee. But it looked as if it was made out of slime or it was melting. Not a handsome monster. I couldn¡¯t determine if it was a real statue or a real monster that was petrified to become a statue. I guess we will find out soon. The monster was quite small, maybe a bit taller than an average human.

    This monster must be a royal pain in the ass because this place would be quite easy otherwise.

    Hey ancient relic, do you know what that monster there is supposed to be?

    ¡°The only ancient relic here is that statue. And I have never seen such a monster before. I assume it must be extremely strong to guard this place by itself.¡±

    I hope it¡¯s just super strong.

    ¡°Why? What would the alternative be?¡±

    It having an extremely obnoxious ability. I have fought many strange things but the most problematic ones weren¡¯t the ones that were strong, it were those with obnoxious abilities. A stupid pink broccoli comes to mind. Defeating it was easy but it just grew back because its 7 roots needed to be destroyed first, and these were spread out and guarded by powerful guardians. Also, some barriers and obnoxious puzzles here and there, an invasion of shades and attacks echoing, and the whole ordeal became a massive pain in the ass.

    ¡°That does not seem pleasant. Let¡¯s hope this monster is just exceptionally strong.¡± Teppei walked off and went to inspect the dungeon. I gave them an hour but there wasn¡¯t much interesting to see. Most of the students returned after half an hour.

    ¡°Hey dude, do you think there¡¯s anything interesting up there?¡± Randy pointed up.

    As far as I can see there¡¯s nothing interesting there.

    ¡°Whoa, you can see that far? Beast kin are something else!¡± I was wondering if all this space had a reason or if the ancients got lazy.

    There were some cases where they got lazy just like my very first dungeon with all the corundum but there are also cases where they go above and beyond and make something like that obnoxious Labyrinth of the Breathless. I started to form layers of illusions on every student and spreading shadow clones through the room. They also had started to draw some magic circles. I am planning on letting the students fight this thing without my help but I will jump in when this thing is extremely strong or annoying. Teppei also seems to have a similar idea. He looks relaxed but he is ready to jump in at any moment.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t an exam, is it?¡± Midget and brunette said as they sat down next to me.

    Hmm I just realized that it might look like one but it isn¡¯t don¡¯t worry.

    I got up and addressed everyone.  Right guys! I just got a very good question. The question was if this is an exam. It is not! I just want that you guys get some real-life experience. Most of you already had some by fighting the monsters in the jungle but those aren¡¯t a match for you so it is not much practice. This thing however is going to either be strong or annoying so it will put you to the test. Normally 61 students against 1 monster is overkill but the adversaries in dungeons tend to be really strong so I hope 61 is enough. Teppei and I will jump in whenever it is too much. Just try to apply everything you have learned, not just from my course but also from others. This thing will kill you when it has the chance. Help each other. This is not a competition. Work together and put this ugly thing out of its misery and kill it.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± A gutsy student seemed excited. I think her name was uhh Peach? Petrolia? Something with a ¡®P¡¯.

    ¡°We¡¯re ready!¡± Said the guy that looked the least ready but that¡¯s fine.

    Cool, let me activate this statue then. I¡¯m sturdier than you guys so if something happens it should be fine.

    I approached the statue, covered myself in frost and touched it. It let out a mana pulse which seemed to be harmless. I slowly backed off as the statue was slowly coming to life.

    The petrification was completely lifted but the creature didn¡¯t move. It just looked around. The students kept their distance and were wary. It seemed to lock on the students that showed the most fear. Please let it just be able to detect fear and not have a stupid ability that feeds of fear.

    It let out a shriek and exploded into black fog. The fog filled the whole room.

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°Did it¡­ self-destruct?¡±

    Well, it did die but I bet my tail that it left an obnoxious effect behind.

    The fog drowned out the light of my fire dragons, shadow behemoth style. Obnoxious effect in 3¡­2¡­1¡­

    ¡°Aaaah!¡±

    And it¡¯s here, let¡¯s see. Hmm, a scene is playing in front of us. It¡¯s one of my students giving a presentation in her underwear. The student who¡¯s portrayed here seems terrified. Hmm, is it playing their deepest fear or¡­ The scene morphed into her walking alone and still being in her underwear and other people laughing at her which is strange because she is a bit petite but it¡¯s quite pleasant to look at. But the scene has some strange things going on. The scene disappeared and another scene appears and it''s about another student he is just talking to his friends in a park but suddenly started falling. It¡¯s not just the scene that¡¯s falling. It put everyone in this room into freefall.

    ¡°Aaah! This is just like my nightmare!¡±

    The guy seemed to have told me what this is. This dungeon is replaying nightmares similar to fears but not quite.

    I had to save these students before they fell too far from me. I was still falling as slow as ever. I beckoned the fire dragons to me and shifted my stance to [Wind Dragon Festival] and sent them to pick up the falling students. The ground was approaching them swiftly and I managed to save everyone. I did save Teppei as last though. He was 2 meters away from hitting the ground.

    Aren¡¯t you a wind user old fart? Falling should be no problem for you.

    ¡°Are you insane? How am I supposed to break my fall with sword fighting?"

    Ever heard of magic?

    ¡°I am not as gifted with magic as these young ones.¡±

    Oh, I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know that. Hey guys listen this dungeon replays nightmares!

    At that moment the room turned dark. The scene showed Randy sleeping in his bed and a strange yet creepy cat jumped on the foot of his bed. The room was dark but it¡¯s eyes shone through the darkness. The cat then flashed a wide and creepy smile that could be seen even in the dark. It had very sharp teeth and the cat started to glow and grow. Randy seemed to be unable to move and run from this monster cat. It then escaped from the scene and started to attack the students around it.

    The students were surprised but Francis recovered fast and took the lead and started issuing orders. I sat down and looked on as how the students organized and fought the monster cat. I think this dungeon assumed that only a small group or only 1 person would enter. The person who has had that nightmare would be most likely be paralyzed with fear or limited in his or her effectiveness in fighting it off as Randy was demonstrating. But this monster cat isn¡¯t anything special. The students were struggling a lot at the start but once they got used to this unusual creature, they started restricting it¡¯s movements.

    The cat did throw shadow skills around but the students that could use light magic made short work of it so the cat had difficulties moving and could hardly attack.

    ¡°I have to say it does look like the students are bullying that monster. I¡¯m sure it could give experienced adventurers a run for their money.¡± The ancient relic seemed to be impressed by the students performance. He was extra impressed with Crissy¡¯s performance.

    Well cc¡¯ing your opponent is not that different from bullying so you¡¯re correct.

    The cat gave a monstrous cry as Randy finished it off with a [Flaming Kick] to its head. ¡°Wow, that actually felt quite good. This nightmare won¡¯t scare me anymore, thanks guys!¡±

    The solidarity in the group seemed to have increased. They braced themselves for the next nightmare. Luckily most of the students were wimps and had nightmares about embarrassing scenes or strange phobias. Having them fight 61 monsters would be much to ask. The next nightmare was about some student drowning. it changed the area and put everyone underwater. I put the wind dragons, who were on standby, to work and save everyone and bring them to safety.

    I dried everyone off to prepare them for the next nightmare and went to sit down beside Teppei. ¡°What nightmares does a mythical beast have?¡±

    I dropped the snack I was eating.  Shit! My nightmare will also appear, won¡¯t it?!

    ¡°Uhh, I assume so.¡±

    I thought about it. What nightmare would appear, when we lost Hourai? When we lost Ted? Or¡­

    I heard Hayley scream and saw her collapse on the floor. Her nightmare seemed to witness the weddings of all her friends and her staying single forever. There was no threat but it seemed to do emotional damage to Hayley and Crissy was comforting her.

    The next 5 nightmares had strange monsters too. The students got a break from looking at their friends emotional traumas and fears and got to fight something.

    The next nightmare was strange. It was Crissy at a wedding. Teppei turned pale. It played Crissy marrying someone who looked like a criminal but he morphed into someone who looked like a loser. Crissy seemed extremely embarrassed and Teppei looked terrified. I knew he was a doting grandparent but this just confirms it.

    The next nightmare was a problem though¡­ it also involved Crissy. A scene popped up where a guy confessed to Crissy and got brutally rejected. It was embarrassing for him and Crissy. There was one problem though.

    ¡°So, this is the guy you told me about!¡± Teppei got furious and drew Kazeshini.

    Oh shit!

    I shifted my stance and turned the wind dragons into [Ice Dragon Festival] and used them to restrain Teppei and block cuts he sent at the unfortunate guy who got his heart crushed by nightmare Crissy, got publicly embarrassed and earned the ire of Teppei. This must be the worst day of his life.

    Calm down Teppei! It¡¯s just a nightmare! He might not even like Crissy!

    ¡°Oh, so he thinks my Chris is ugly!¡±

    I seemed to have pissed him off more.  Nono! Nobody thinks Crissy is ugly!

    ¡°Oh, so he wants to wife her up!¡± He got even more angry.

    I don¡¯t think anything I could say would calm him down so I turned him into an ice cube. It was a temporary measure. Ugh this is rough.

    More monsters. One was quite a challenge for them. Some students got hurt but not severely. Teppei had cooled off and helped the students land the killing blow. They had managed to pin it down. It couldn¡¯t do anything but it just wouldn¡¯t die so Teppei one-shot it. I held him back because they could use this time to rest up a bit and reorganize because the next nightmare would start when the monster dies.

    The next nightmare started and Crissy screamed, ran at me and clutched my tail. It seemed to be her nightmare. Some creature that looked like a mixture of Woofus and a Breathless was chasing her through the labyrinth. She was terrified. It followed her nightmare version but she was cornered because she ran into a dead end. This is where the Breathless Woofus broke out of the scene and started attacking the students.

    Hayley seemed to be taking an active role in fighting this thing because it also liked to disappear in bubbles and reappear and shoot lasers. This was their first challenging fight. They couldn¡¯t lock this monster down.

    I decided to help them after 15 minutes and froze the asshole so he couldn¡¯t form into bubbles. After this it became easier for them. Hayley ran toward me, looking quite exhausted.

    ¡°Hey, can you freeze that monster so that we can rest? We¡¯re exhausted. And how¡¯s Crissy?¡± I looked over at Teppei who was comforting Crissy and froze the Breathless Woofus.

    She just needs a bit of time. Go tell them to take a break. I will arrange for some food.

    I took a buffet out of my dimensional pocket and let the students rest. After they defeat Breathless Woofus, they will have 12 more nightmares left.

 Vol 3 Ch 25: Nightmare Fuel II

    The students are enjoying their break and I¡¯m running probability manipulation to have my nightmare appear as last. I don¡¯t know which one will appear but unless it¡¯s when we lost our hometown, it will involve fighting strong opponents. Maybe some events from Boshi town, or when we lost Ted. If I¡¯m lucky its being unable to find Thalia in that huge underwater city. But I¡¯m never lucky.

    It could also be the one where I broke Norya out of her seal. If that one appears we¡¯re screwed. Then again maybe it allows for Norya to help us. In that case we¡¯re not so screwed. It¡¯s just that a fight between Norya and tomato goddess is going to wipe out the humans here.

    Crissy had recovered and went to join her friends and apologized for her behavior. The students seemed to have really bonded during this dungeon. I guess it makes them understand each other better inside and outside of battle and see a different side to them than what they normally see on the campus.

    They finished eating and chatted a bit. To me they could rest as long as they wanted but an hour after the break started, they approached me and told me that they were ready.

    I will partially lift the freeze after you guys get into position. There is one thing I want you guys to do. If you see a scene and I am in it. Run.

    ¡°Hehe, you don¡¯t want us to see your nightmare?¡± Hayley teased me, failing to realize that their life is on the line.

    Most of the things that give me nightmares would probably kill you guys easily, please run when that scene plays.

    ¡°Oh, ok.¡± The students stated to chatter while getting into position. They seemed to be curious what my nightmare would be like.

    Teppei, you¡¯re the only one that will probably be able to do something when my nightmare appears. But what¡¯s more important is the student¡¯s safety. I don¡¯t know which nightmare will appear but only 1 is safe¡­

    ¡°That is fine, I will keep the students safe and make fun of your nightmare later on.¡± I rolled my eyes an observed the students.

    They still seemed tired but their efficiency had gone up. I guess they had also discussed some strategy. Breathless Woofus fell 20 minutes after they had re engaged. Crissy seemed relieved that it was dead.

    The next nightmare was interesting. It was a circus. Not a scary circus. A normal circus. The midget seemed to have a phobia of clowns. She was screaming the place down and ordering the students to attack the clowns but this seemed to be a non-combat nightmare. 10 more nightmares passed of which 4 were combat nightmares. Teppei had to help with 2 of them because they were tough and the students were very tired. I got up and prepared for my nightmare. One more nightmare until mine¡­

    This nightmare was cute. It was a field full of sheep. Oh, never mind the sky turned dark and the sheep suddenly turned into a horde of creepy zombie sheep that had their guts spilling out. It seemed to have been the dream of Francis. How uncharacteristic. Maybe he likes sheep. The scene changed.

    The sky was red and burning, thunder was dropping like it was rain, and I saw myself walking through the streets of what I recognized as Alledra, it felt familiar.

    Oh, shit I didn¡¯t expect this nightmare to appear.

    Guys, this nightmare is bad news!  Shirayuki started to feed me a lot of mana.

    <hr>

    The scene continued with me walking into a restaurant that I seemed to like and grabbed a bite and hide from the madness that was happening outside

    I got my order but when I was about to dig in, the food decayed. I looked around shocked and wondered what happened to my food and saw others'' food decaying too. A woman stepped in and stood at the entrance. She had black hair with feathers sticking out of it, dark green glowing eyes. She wore a dark green and black feathered dress with a nefarious smile, she asked if we enjoyed our food but I knew she was responsible for this.

    My nightmare versions instincts told him to run, that this woman is dangerous, but I was pissed in this scene. I had helped the citizens gather food in this hellish weather and make the meal in this restaurant possible and this woman made the last 5h of going through hell, undone. I didn''t know who she was but I could feel the divinity factor on her.

    Great another pain in the ass god  I said in my dream.

    I felt very annoyed and the anger and disappointment of the food that I worked hard for disappear. The people in the restaurant cleared out when they heard me say this. The woman slowly approached with a smile on her face, she was quite attractive but everything about her annoyed me, she sat down across me at the table I was sitting at, crossed her legs, and asked me why I didn''t flee. I narrowed my eyes and responded with:

    I can''t kick your ass with my back turned to you.

    The woman laughed, maybe she found it amusing or was laughing mockingly.

    ¡°The name is Hablena. I would be delighted to turn you into a decaying pile infested with maggots.¡±

    I finished my carbonated lime soda which didn''t decay, crushed the cup, and lit it on fire. I threw it at her. She easily dodged it and stretched out her hand to activate some magic or ability.

    <hr>

    Guys, this bitch is a goddess! Teppei, get them the fuck out of here!

    I went 9t mode as Hablena broke out of the scene. Just my luck I had to have a nightmare of a goddess attacking me and it had to appear. Shirayuki misbehaved and froze the whole area.

    Hey, I know how you feel but be considerate of the humans here.

    I confirmed that Teppei had gathered the students safely. This goddess is a problem. She uses a rare element called Rot. She blasted the area and 2 illusion layers on me broke. I sent a [Iai: Nilah] at her. She tried to decay it but tough luck for her.

    ¡°What?! This isn¡¯t magic!¡± Right deities aren¡¯t the brightest. I assume she can only use rot on magic. Frost magic is magic but it didn¡¯t seem to be affected by rot. I froze her arm because she was trying something.

    ¡°Ugh, they use Pagos here too! That¡¯s why we wiped them all out in our dimension!¡±

    Right, this is both concerning and useful. If I remember correctly gramps called frost magic Pagos. And this seemed quite effective against deities.

    I folded space and popped her head off. Unfortunately, this isn¡¯t an issue for goddesses as it just grows back. I rewound time so that she got hit again by my first [Iai: Nilah]. I pulled up information from the battle I saw long ago. It was when Isi fought against Ira. I can use that information now.

    She tried to say something again and I popped her head off again. I kept repeating this and it pissed her off because she couldn¡¯t get a word in. She started to gather energy. Even the restaurant of the scene started to decay. I covered myself in frost and mana flooded in. All my tails ignited in blue foxfire.

    I started chucking [Foxfire: Winter¡¯s end] at this goddess. It hurt my pride that this didn¡¯t seem to do as much damage as I had hoped. It does seem she takes more damage from frost magic and Shirayuki¡¯s slashes. I remember Inyr commenting that Shirayuki could possibly kill a god. I guess now is the time to find out. I unsheathed Shirayuki but didn¡¯t swing her.

    ¡°Oh, my that is a gorgeous sword. Weapons are not my thing but I will take good care of it while you¡¯re rotting on the floor.¡± She shot a dark green bolt intermixed with black.

    I cut it in 2 with minimal movement. This seemed to surprise her. The frost surrounding me did pick up a lot of mana while I did that. I used [Blindside] and cut her head off cleanly. She talked while her head spun slowly while decapitated.

    ¡°You can¡¯t kill a goddess with just that.¡± She started to regenerate and I hit her with [Kryokym].

    ¡°Aaagh! I hate Pagos!¡± Is it safe to assume frost magic is her weakness?

    It did a stupid amount of damage because all the frost around me is absorbing the waves of rot she sends out. I glanced over at the humans.

    My clones had erected several layers of frost walls to protect them. My moment of inattention almost cost me. I warped space and her punch landed on her face.

    Phew that was close. I need to practice spatial magic so that I can do this when not in 9t mode. I messed with time so that she got hit again by my previous [Kryokym]. I sent [Frost slashes] at her from a distance. I made sure to pop her head off when she tried to speak. Cut off her limbs when she tried an action and returned her time when she tried something I was unsure of.

    Sometimes she did something to set my intuition off so I had to prevent it from happening because I was unsure if I could deal with it after it had happened. The waves of decay that she sent out were increasing which meant I could drop more [Kryokym] on her. I would have been so dead if I had never met gramps in that book. [Kryokym] is the only reason I haven¡¯t turned into a blood mist yet.

    What is wrong? You¡¯re not very talkative?

    I smirked as I popped her head off at her jaw when she tried to speak. Spatial magic is so overpowered. I tried the [Dimensional Twist] those Antoids used and put a hole in her torso. I saw green with black maggots gather around the hole, and filling it up which then turned into her flesh. Or whatever she was made of.

    Yuck, that is disgusting.

    I shot a [Foxfire: Summer Blaze] at her but it did way less than any frost skill I had sent at her.

    I need to dump mana. I replayed the last 5 [Kryokym] I even dropped a [God of Thunder] on her. This seemed to have hurt her a lot and she had problems regenerating the electrical burns.

    Oof, this is a very bad matchup for you.

    She created 4 enormous worms and sent a wave of flies at me. I shifted my stance and used fire [Dragon]. She might be resistant to fire but these worms and flies surely aren¡¯t. She sent out another blast and this sent me flying into a wall. This didn¡¯t hurt because I was covered in my [Frost Cloak]. It didn¡¯t even break a [Frozen Skin] layer. It seems my [Frost Cloak] is doing the heavy lifting here.

    ¡°What is this bullshit! I thought this dimension was full of magic! What¡¯s the point if you don¡¯t use magic!¡±

    As I said this is a terrible matchup for you.

    The fire [Dragon] incinerated the disgusting bugs she sent at me. I kept moving it around and made sure to wipe out every fly and every worm until the [Dragon] became sentient. From what she had managed to say so far it seems she¡¯s from a different dimension. I assume this means a different house if using spirit Isi¡¯s house analogy. And magic seems to be uncommon there, or at least not as common as it¡¯s here. And she seems to be strong against magic.

    In theory she should be extremely strong here then but unfortunately, I¡¯m a bad matchup for her. The problem is this is too complicated of a situation for a nightmare. Is this really a nightmare? The fire [Dragon] went out to eradicate every bug Hablena had summoned. She seemed more concerned about being frustrated than dealing with me. I popped her head off again just for the laughs and dropped my 9t mode.

    I think I can beat her without it. She is extremely weak to frost magic and relatively weak to lightning. This puts her in the situation where she intersects with a question I had once asked myself. After I achieve the [Silver Torrent Mode] can I freeze the lightning and mix it with frost magic? Only one way to find out.

    I took off my shoes, walked over to the humans and handed them over to Crissy.

    ¡°Huh, what?¡± My clones went to harass Hablena for a bit. They started activating the traps they had set up. She might be a goddess but she is only situationally dangerous. I¡¯m also assuming this one isn¡¯t as strong as the real one if she exists.

    My shoes are going to get destroyed if I keep them when I¡¯m using this skill.

    ¡°Hey! Stop disrespecting me by having your clones fight me! Come¡­¡± A clone cut Hablena¡¯s head off.

    I handed my shoes to the humans behind the [Frost Walls].

    Promise me you guys wont barrage me with a million questions after this. I will show you why my adventurer¡¯s name is Silver Torrent.

    I walked away and released tons of daggers and wires. These wires were all made from braided dragonbeard. Even a goddess will have issues breaking these. I started [Accel step] and [Dagger Torrent]. Being weak to lightning puts Hablena at a large disadvantage. She tried to decay the wires which failed. She then targeted the daggers but I sent a [Wintersbite] at her. Shirayuki seemed to have dumped a lot of energy in it.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°I will give it to you, you¡¯re strong. How about this? Become my husband and we will dominate this dimension together?¡± I looked at her.

    She was attractive, unfortunately I¡¯m not interested in immortals that are made out of maggots.

    Sorry, I pass, I¡¯m not interested in a wife made out of maggots, moreover you¡¯re just a nightmare.

    The lightning shifted red and Hablena seemed to have difficulties concentrating because of all the pain I inflicted on her. Is it possible that she isn¡¯t used to taking damage? She is a god after all. And just getting close to her would get most races one-shot. Has she never fought other gods before? I realize that I actually don¡¯t know much about deities. Only that they¡¯re assholes. But knowing my enemy is a good way to stay alive.

    How about this, you disappear and I let you live!

    ¡°Hah! How cocky! How about this then!¡± She waved and a dark green and black fog started to gather around her and started to pulse. I thickened the frost around me and gave myself a [Frost cloak]. I got more energy in but also other things.

    Uh oh.

    ¡°Hmm, that is strange, you should be riddled with curses, why are you still alive?¡±

    Oof, I¡¯ll have to visit Greg after this.

    I made an effort to cut through the pulsing fog to make sure I didn¡¯t get more curses on myself. I counted 8936 curses. I still feel fine. Greg¡¯s passive is carrying me hard here. I don¡¯t know to what extent this is going to save me. I might keel over the moment I hit 10k.

    I sped up and used more [Accel] steps and [Accel turns] and kept cutting the fog with [Frost Slashes]. Her attacks are as usual a bad matchup against mine. I was sapping my own [Dagger Torrent] but I had to prevent any more curses from accumulating. I sent out a [Nine tailed slash] It was similar to [Iai: Nilah] but way weaker. And successfully cut her into ribbons which caused the pulsing fog to stop. I sped up and the [Dagger Torrent] could finally progress to orange lightning. She gathered another type of fog which started to rapidly decay and corrode the floor around her. She tried to lock on to me.

    ¡°Stop zipping around like a fly!¡±

    I thought you liked flies!

    An orange lightning imbued dagger went straight through her. She clutched her torso and collapsed to the ground.

    ¡°Ugh, you¡¯re just a mortal! I¡¯m a goddess!¡±

    It seems you have no idea what you¡¯re fighting. Let your ignorance be a lesson.

    The area around her stated to slowly decay. The wires made a pleasant sound as the lightning turned to black. At this point Hablena was only screaming out in pain. It seems she isn¡¯t as sturdy as that demigod I had fought before. She tried to escape by trying to turn herself into a swarm of flies. The fire [Dragon] saw this as a cue to attack her.

    It didn¡¯t do damage but it did force her into her tangible form.

    ¡°Ugh! Fine! I¡¯ll bring this whole place down then!¡± She tried to touch the ground but I swapped her with a dagger that was flying around. I have to say she might not be as sturdy as that demigod but she holds out quite long. If I had to compare the two. If they were gaming characters, demigod would probably be a high hp and high-defence character. This chick only has high hp.

    She started bleeding as I continued sending daggers at her and by frying her with black lightning. I started up my [Tail Dynamo]. The leyline energy gathering around my tails became visible to everyone.

    ¡°What are you¡­¡±

    I am responsible for kicking the ass of anyone who causes trouble in this dimension, tries to invade this dimension or those that have invaded this dimension. Since you are an illegal immigrant, it is time for you to be turned into nothingness.

    ¡°Heh, invading this dimension was easy, it was childsplay.¡±

    Well, you know what they say; play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

    My tails reversed their spin which dropped the color of the lightning temporarily to orange which then shifted to silver. My cosmetic illusion wore off and revealed my silver hair and tails.

    Hablena¡¯s regeneration had difficulties keeping up. I gave it an extra push and used [Accel Stop] and attained [Silver Torrent mode].

    Hablena was panting and tried to blast some silver lightning away. She was successful but that didn¡¯t matter anymore. ¡°You¡­ have finally stopped moving¡­ Did you give up? I will spare you if you surrender.¡±

    I looked at her. Her confidence was gone. Her hair was a mess. No attack she did seemed to work. And yet she still had her godly arrogance.

    Do you really think you¡¯re that much better than us?

    ¡°Hah! Of course! I was created as a deity! I have so much that you have not!¡±

    A gaping wound in your side? Several electrical burns? Cuts everywhere, an enormous ego and an army of flies? You¡¯re correct you have a lot of things I don¡¯t have but I will gladly pass on those. Now what do you have to say before I kill you? I¡¯m sure you won¡¯t be permanently dead because that¡¯s just how deities work and you¡¯re just a nightmare.

    ¡°Heh, just a nightmare! How about¡­¡±

    I sent the fire [Dragon] at her and turned it into a [Silver Dragon]. I tried my best to not get cocky. I need to remember that this is probably a way weaker version than the real one. Just like that shade of tomato goddess, we fought in Boshi town.

    Hablena was screaming in agony as the [Silver Dragon] toyed with her. Even just as a cheap knockoff she did load me up with a lot of curses and would be able to knock some lives off me if I had made a mistake. It would¡¯ve been way worse if her matchup against me wasn¡¯t so terrible.

    I shifted stance and used [Silver Drowning Pulse] and slowly started to fill the area with silver lightning. Her arrogance seemed to have broken and she was crying for mercy. I think she only means this because she is getting her ass kicked. I¡¯m sure that if the situation was reversed, she would have turned me into a pile of decaying matter in a heartbeat. I still felt a bit bad about continuing to assault someone who was crying for mercy. This would¡¯ve been easier for me if she kept her arrogance till the end.

    I steeled my heart and formed 3 more [Silver Dragons] out of all the silver lightning here and sent them at her. I slowly mixed them with frost magic. It was strange, this shouldn¡¯t mix but it seemed to work well. Is it because the lightning acts as water now?

    The [Silver Frost Dragons] crashed into Hablena and completely vaporized her after she let out a scream that shook me. It just sounded like a scream any woman would let out in pain. Am I unsuited for this? It shouldn¡¯t affect me this much. She would have killed everyone here in this room. Sometimes I wish that I could steel my heart better than this.

    I took a deep breath and exhaled. The room slowly turned back normal. I got rid of all the silver lightning and cancelled my [Silver Torrent Mode]. I instantly took a mountain of food out of my dimensional pocket and started to eat. My feet didn¡¯t hurt as much as last time I used [Silver Torrent].

    The humans weren¡¯t barred off by the [Frost Walls] anymore and gathered around me.

    ¡°Was¡­ did¡­ did you just kill a goddess?¡± Hayley seemed baffled.

    Not a real goddess, just an imitation that appeared from my nightmare, the real one would probably kick my ass or kill me several times. Can you hand me that pizza?

    A student which¡¯s name started with a ¡®G¡¯ Handed me my pizza. At least I think his name started with a ¡®G¡¯.

    ¡°They¡¯re so fluffy!¡± Crissy dove into my tails.

    At this point I didn¡¯t care that my tails were a very popular attraction. I was busy eating.

    ¡°So that¡­ that was silver lightning, it acted as If it was water, so is that¡­¡± Nobody seemed to be able to formulate complete sentences.

    This uni is a scam! What¡¯s the point of a uni if their Kaledonian starts to fail at random moments.

    That¡¯s where Silver Torrent comes from yeah. Do you guys want to eat? There is more than enough?

    The students were interested in other things rather than food.

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°You did say you were a fox beast kin. I don¡¯t remember any having 9 tails. Unless it¡¯s from a very specific extinct mythical race.¡±

    Very sharp Francis. What you see here is an illusion, they are extinct indeed.  I wonder if they would buy this bullshit.

    ¡°Wait, so Francis, you¡¯re saying that our teacher is from a mythical race? Wow dude! That¡¯s so cool!¡± Randy¡¯s energy spread and the other students seemed to be excited except for 2 students. The others picked up on this.

    A student noticed this. ¡°Hey, did you two know? You did tell us about your adventure with him and another professor before you came here.¡±

    Yeah, they know. Phew that was a good meal. Let¡¯s get out of here before my other nightmares appear.

    I got up but I fell down. I looked at my hand and it was shaking a bit. It seems I have used more energy than I thought. It was more of a mental issue. I was mentally fatigued. Fighting a god is quite stressful. My body was fine.

    ¡°Here let me help you. Whoa you really are as light as Chris told me.¡± Teppei gave me a piggyback.

    I can walk just fine. Can you also tell these chicks to get out of my tails?

    ¡°Ladies, stop messing around, let¡¯s get out of here.¡±

    That white thing there is a teleporter. It should bring us outside. But first!

    I pointed at the empty spot. Where at first the statue stood, was now a dark green button. Since I can¡¯t see any treasure here it only means that it gives us access to the treasure room. The brunette pressed the button and I heard some rumbling. I grabbed all the nearby students with wires and pulled them away from the center. A mountain of treasures fell down the ceiling and gold and other metals kept falling. The waterfall of treasure continued until it subsided after 3 minutes.

    The students got excited. Until another statue fell down to replace the one that had been there before. They backed off a bit.

    ¡°Uhh, what do we do?¡±

    Grab it and be careful. Chuck it in my dimensional pocket. We will then get out of here.

    I tried to get off Teppei¡¯s back to help the students.

    ¡°Leave this to them.¡± I nodded.

    It took them 15 minutes to get all the treasure in my dimensional pocket and we took the teleporter out.

    ¡°Since Agnis is tired. I will take the lead now!¡±

    Who died and made you the boss?

    He flashed a part of his sword by unsheathing it a bit. ¡°Do you want to volunteer?¡±

    No thank you, go on.

    "We will rest up here and then find a way to get back tomorrow.¡±

    See this is why it was a bad idea to make you leader. Guys gather round!

    Teppei didn¡¯t want me to get off his back so I swapped myself with the guy who had a crush on Crissy.

    ¡°You again!¡± The old fart drew his sword.

    ¡°Aaagh!¡±

    While that student kept Teppei occupied I drew the teleport circle.

    ¡°Do you need help with that?¡±

    Thank you but do you know how to draw a long-ranged transmission teleport circle Crissy?

    ¡°Ehh, good luck!¡± She gave me a thumbs up and backed off.

    I finished the circle and pulled Teppei and the unlucky student into the circle because Teppei was chasing the poor man.

    Before we knew it, we were back at the field where we normally have class. I dumped all the treasure and the stuff they had brought with them.

    Grab your stuff and distribute the treasure. Also...

    I approached Crissy and Hayley and dumped their share of the labyrinth dungeon treasure.

    ¡°Hey why do they get more!¡±

    Didn¡¯t I tell you guys that these 2 had been in a dungeon with me before? If I see any of you giving them an unfair share, I will personally kick your ass! There will be no class for the next week you guys have deserved your rest make sure to keep your treasure safe, I¡¯m sure the headmaster will help you with it..

    ¡°Make it 2 weeks, I keep hearing from Chris that this guy doesn¡¯t take enough breaks. I¡¯m proud to have you all as my students let this trip be a learning experience for you all. AND YOU! WE NEED TO HAVE A LONG CHAT!¡± Teppei dragged the guy who had a crush on Crissy away.

    I didn¡¯t feel like dealing with more questions so I teleported to my room, curled up in my tails and fell asleep.

    The nightmare with Hablena reappeared and was as realistic as ever.

 Vol 3 Ch 26: [Hablenaâ€™s Curse]

    I had heard that Agnis had returned from his educational outing. He rarely halfasses something if he is serious about it. Even if he went intending to have fun, I¡¯m sure the students have realized how big the world truly is. It is impossible for Agnis to stay out of trouble so at least they got to witness something spectacular which no normal human would be able to experience normally.

    I visited him in his room after he had returned. The first thing that I noticed was that he was giving off a strange energy. He told me about the state of the dimensional fabric and how he was unable to mend it. He also told me about a strange phenomenon which he dubbed. The ¡®+1 mystery¡¯ and how he almost got dragged into the void. As I had expected he had some bizarre adventures while away.

    He then described the pyramid dungeon and its contents and its challenges. It sounded like no big deal until he arrived at the manifestation of his own nightmare. I saw his complexion change during his retelling of his story and it seemed like his body was slowly shutting down. I gave him a check-up and concluded that some of the curses he contracted were affecting him. I sent a shadow clone to grab my supplies because I needed some potions to stabilize him. He linked me up with his vision so I could have an easier time dispelling the curses.

    I want to say that you did something reckless again but given the circumstances I¡¯d say that you got the best out of the situation.

    You think so? I feel terrible. Dying doesn¡¯t even sound so bad at this point.

    Well, you brought 62 humans into a dungeon. Not only did all survive, none are severely wounded. To add on top of that a watered-down version of a goddess appeared and still no humans have died or gotten wounded. Moreover, you survived without losing a single life. I¡¯m not unreasonable enough to say that you were reckless. I think you handled it the best you could possibly handle it.  I dispelled 53 curses and Agnis breathed a bit more easily.

    The problem with these curses is that not all have the intent on killing you.

    Does that matter?

    Well, what I¡¯ve realized is that my shadowcat passive doesn¡¯t block curses. It just allows for opportunities to dispel them before they become an issue. This can be stretched over a long time before they take effect but they will eventually get through. Now curses are similar to barriers and seals but they have one important difference and this difference makes it hard for you to dispel curses and relatively straight forward for me.

    Uhh, I think I have read it somewhere. It has to do with the intent of the curse, right?

    Correct. You can¡¯t see intent. But shadowcats can feel the intent of the curse. The reason why the curses that want to kill you are quite ineffective because you subconsciously recognize their intent to kill you. These other ones however are unclear to you and that¡¯s why my passive is less effective on those.

    Hmm so if I knew the intent of those your passive would be able to negate them easier?

    Correct, and stop talking, I can see that you¡¯re straining yourself.

    Agnis seemed to play it cool but I could tell he was in agony. He was using frost magic to numb himself and slow down the progress of the curses I was dispelling. Most of these curses gave him various illnesses. One curse had decayed, or more specifically regressed the state of his immune system so I had to create a sterile bubble. Interestingly enough Agnis had encountered a more advanced sterile bubble and instructed me how to create it. Rot or decay element isn¡¯t that far from time magic.

    Anything relating to time or space will have a hard matchup against Agnis just as anything light or dark related has a hard matchup against me. He got lucky that he got to fight this specific goddess. I told him to attempt to return the state of his immune system to what it was before he got hit by that immune system decay. While he was struggling to reverse the time on that I continued to nurse him to health and remove the thousands of curses he had contracted.

    <hr>

    Three days had passed. I sat down exhausted in the corner of the sterile room. Just like Agnis was in a constant battle against the illnesses and curses, so was I constantly in battle against a specific curse. It is named [Hablena¡¯s curse] and this curse generates 100 random curses every 12 hours. Most are deadly so I can ignore these for a bit because they don¡¯t affect Agnis for now, the ones that aren¡¯t deadly needed to be addressed in a timely manner else they would affect Agnis.

    He had told me how bad the matchup was for the goddess but the majority of these curses confirmed that. They would become quite potent against living beings that had a lot of mana circulating through their systems but since we got out of Hourai, both Agnis and I have made it a habit to make or internal environment as mana free as possible. Agnis uses frost magic or pulls mana from the environment and briefly holds it in his body for the most part, while I use mana stored in my shadows. Agnis and I especially seem to be a terrible matchup for that goddess. It¡¯s comforting to know that there are some deities that are relatively useless against us.

    Raishin and several students have tried to visit but I had denied them access. It would be a bad idea for them and for Agnis.

    I had a shadow clone take over my lectures. Another one was doing research on how to combat [Hablena¡¯s curse] more effectively.

    It was the first tier 2 curse I have encountered. Even those deadly sin curses we had acquired during Boshi town were tier 3.

    It was almost 17:25, the moment when [Hablena¡¯s curse] would generate 100 more curses. I prepared for the 100 new cursed but they never came.

    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    You look exhausted, take a break. I managed to freeze time on that curse for a bit.

    Stop wasting your energy, I¡¯m fine, it¡¯s you who isn¡¯t. I will rest after we¡¯ve solved this problem.

    Agnis nodded and I dealt with the 100 new curses that flooded in.

    <hr>

    A week had passed since Agnis had started to slowly succumb to the multitude of curses placed upon him. I had successfully dispelled 3195 curses from him. The curses that would hinder his normal functions had mostly been eradicated. Just 33 left including [Hablena¡¯s curse].

    I looked at Agnis who was fast asleep. He had continued to apologize for the state he was in. He doesn¡¯t realize that I don¡¯t get nearly as many chances to save his life as he had saved mine. This is just a part of returning the favor. I do realize that nine tailed spirit foxes have a lot to deal with but that doesn¡¯t mean they need to take up absolutely everything. I do acknowledge that I have been lax in what a shadow cat is supposed to be doing but my task isn¡¯t as straightforward as Agnis.

    How do I know where to distribute energy to? And where do I get that energy from if I have to. We have Raishin but what do I do in situations where Raishin is absent? I haven¡¯t noticed any strange behavior of shadows either and my shadow isn¡¯t talking to me. Do I have a similar state as Agnis where I can see the fabric or feel the fabric of the shadows and feel if something is off? I have no ideas that can be backed up with facts.

    A clone had made a breakthrough and I started to address [Hablena¡¯s curse]. My clone had found a way to forcefully remove or change the intent of a curse. Removing the intent is an extremely bad idea. It is near impossible to create a curse without intent but it¡¯s also near impossible to remove a curse that has no intent. I will remember this though. If I can curse a god and remove the intent it will be there to stay. I will have to shift the intent of this curse to become easy to deal with it or I can change it to become beneficial and turn it into a blessing.

    A blessing and a curse are similar. Blessings have beneficial intents while curses have detrimental intents. Changing intent should be impossible but my race might be able to pull this off. I could turn this harmful curse into something that extends 100 blessing to him every 12 hours. I will just be making my friend here the strongest creature ever known. That is if I succeed of course. It will more likely just turn into a low tier normal blessing. But there is a small chance that I can just alter its intent without touching the rest of the curse.

    Now I do have to keep it from changing its name. if the real goddess appears one day, she won¡¯t be able to place [Hablena¡¯s curse] on him since he already has it. This isn¡¯t the type of curse that increases in intensity or duration whenever it gets reapplied. It¡¯s the type that¡¯s unique and can¡¯t be reapplied unless it gets removed first. I tested my theory on more harmless curses. Any harmless curse that was unique would get their intent changed by me with attempting to keep the rest of the curse intact.

    I had turned many curses into harmless blessings. They did seem to default to a one-time use and then disappeared. This is also a good result but not my objective.

    Agnis woke up. Ugh, it feels like you¡¯re using me as a guinea pig.

    Well, you provide the perfect environment for me to study and experiment with curses. This field is highly theoretical so it¡¯s unlikely that anyone gets a lot of practice with this.

    Whatever. As long as you become better at dealing with curses I don¡¯t care. Go for it. I would prefer to stay alive though.

    I will keep you alive don¡¯t worry. What is the point of me telling you to be careful all those times and then finishing you off myself?

    Maybe you got enough of my pranks and me messing with you.

    Don¡¯t worry I always get back to you without compromising your life.

    My head hurts, how is the progress coming along?

    I just need to shift the nature of [Hablena¡¯s Curse] and then I¡¯m done. You will still need to rest to get back to good health.

    Agnis coughed and drank some water. I feel so much better now compared to last week, thanks Greg.

    Pay it no mind. You seem to forget how many times you¡¯ve saved my life and how many times I¡¯ve been unable to return that favor.

    Agnis forced himself to sleep because he didn¡¯t want to be awake to experience what I was up to. I kept studying and examining the remaining curses and got rid of the 100 curses [Hablena¡¯s Curse] generated.

    I succeeded and failed the next day. [Hablena¡¯s curse] had been lifted. That was the success. I failed in trying to flip it into a blessing that generated 100 blessings per 12 hours. It just turned into a relatively strong 1-time blessing. It seemed to have boosted his natural regeneration. I guess if a curse of a goddess of decay gets flipped it will become a blessing of regeneration. After this he seemed to rapidly recover from his illnesses and made a full recovery.

    He gave me 30 bottles of liquid shadow vodka as thanks. I felt it was safe to lift the sterile bubble 12 days after he had shown the first signs of being cursed. The strange energy he gave off had disappeared with the disappearance of [Hablena¡¯s Curse].

    You look exhausted. Let me bring you to your room. I will even send a request for days off for you.

    Thanks

    He teleported me to my room and cleaned up a bit. My room had been unattended for almost 2 weeks. He also replaced the food in the fridge.  Now go sleep, if I see you walking around within the next 3 days, you will be the first person to hear my [Bossmusic: Liam¡¯s Lullaby].

    I went to bed thinking that he must have picked up another strange skill that would probably be very niche but save our lives one day.

 Vol 3 Ch 27: Disturbance II

    I left Greg¡¯s room after confirming that he was fast asleep. I teleported to Teppei¡¯s office and slammed a piece of paper on his desk.

    ¡°Oh, you have recovered! You should have seen my surpri¡­¡±

    Yes yes, this is a request for days off for Greg. He needs at least a week!

    ¡°That is understandable, I will arrange for that, so I was surpri¡­¡±

    Ok if that¡¯s fixed then I have to go. I need to think of something to teach the students on Tuesday. Cya!

    ¡°Hey you brat! Let me finish talking! You were deadly ill the last 2 weeks. There is no way you could have rested so I will grant you¡­no you are required to rest for 2 more weeks!¡±

    Ah, uhm ok then, you tell the students then. I can¡¯t bear those worried and overprotective comments

    ¡°That will be your responsibility.¡±

    And who will Crissy blame if I do no such thing?

    ¡°Ugh, I despise you, I will get it done in a timely manner.¡±

    Hehe, it¡¯s good that we understand each other.  I left the office before Teppei could get more stupid requests in.

    I inspected myself. I still had a bit over 5000 curses on me but they were either disarmed by Greg or relatively harmless so they were nothing to worry about. I just have to avoid Healerguy at all costs. He will probably get a heart attack and die if he sees over 5000 curses on me.

    Maybe this is the best way to kill a Golden Angel. Appearing front of them with over 5000 curses. So, this means they can only be assassinated by allies then. Because no Golden Angel is going to get a heart attack when their enemy appears with over 5000 curses.

    I walked around the corner and bumped into someone. ¡°Hey watch it twerp!¡±

    I looked at a broad tall guy. He reminded me of someone.  Donkey?

    ¡°The name is Dunkey Hurado! Descendant of¡­¡± I ignored him and jumped on the roof of a nearby building.

    This is strange. Is this coincidence or is something strange happening again? I sent a clone to investigate. Boshi town was extremely far from here. But about 8 years have passed since Boshi town so it wouldn¡¯t be unrealistic for him to get here in that timespan.

    My clone confirmed that this university had a student named Dunkey Hurado. So, it¡¯s pure coincidence. According to him, we have never met because Azu wiped everyone¡¯s memories. But unfortunately, I do remember him.

    I observed him. He just continued walking. So far it didn¡¯t seem as if he was as much of a jerk as he was back then.

    Just a little bit disturbing to find him here that¡¯s all.

    I went to visit Raishin to tell him that I had recovered. He wasn¡¯t in his usual spots. It was nearing 20:00 he was normally enjoying the company of chicks by now. After asking around I found him in a lounge. Surrounded by a lot of familiar faces.

    See! I told you that he would come to you if you hung around with me!

    Raishin you asshole! Did you finally betray me?!

    Raishin teleported to me, grabbed me, and teleported me to the couch he was sitting on, surrounded by my students. I got barraged by hundreds of questions and I had to answer most to the best of my ability. The questions that annoyed me the most were: ¡®Are you alright?¡¯, ¡®Shouldn¡¯t you rest more?¡¯, ¡®Can I play with your tails?¡¯ or any variation of those.

    Anyway, I¡¯m fine now, the headmaster did give me 2 more weeks off though.

    Well, Greg said that you were almost dying there so I can¡¯t imagine that you were able to rest. Everyone here agrees that you need some rest.

    Oh, by the way, Raishin, did you know Donkey goes to this uni?

    Huh? That idiot? I did not know that. He doesn¡¯t remember us, right?

    Don¡¯t think he does. Anyway, I just came to tell you I¡¯m fine, have fun chatting up my students!¡±

    ¡°Hey! You don¡¯t need to go! Let¡¯s chat!¡±

    Sorry, I ran out of monthly chats. Try again next month! Cya!  I teleported away before Hayley could make more objections.

    I went to sit on the top of a roof. The moon was out. Right, I still needed to figure this out too. It wasn¡¯t a full moon though. I just gazed at the clouds while enjoying the cold winter breeze.

    I woke up. When did I fall asleep? It¡¯s a good thing Greg is not here else he would chew me out from sleeping outside. It was 8:16. It was an ordinary Wednesday. I hopped off the roof and went to relax near the frozen lake. Frost was covering the plants and objects. The natural kind. I didn¡¯t freeze anything. I sat on a bench and thought about what I would do. They told me to rest. But that¡¯s boring. I do feel a bit tired though. I went back to my room and decided to sleep for several days. I curled up in my tails and fell asleep.

    <hr>

    I woke up to someone banging on my door. Can¡¯t a 9t get a god sleep in? Oh, I seem to have slept for 10 days. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and opened the door. Crissy and Hayley barged in.  What¡¯s up? I still have days off.

    ¡°We need your help!¡±

    Can¡¯t your gramps help?

    ¡°Just come and see for yourself!¡± Crissy grabbed my hand and dragged me to the edge of the campus. A lot of people have gathered.

    It¡¯s just people looking at the ocean.

    ¡°They¡¯re not looking at the ocean they¡¯re looking at that!¡± Crissy had managed to worm her way through the crowd while pulling me. I got a good look at what everyone was looking at.

    Hmm, this is a big problem indeed.

    We were looking out over the Gcehaio ocean. The uni was built on a peninsula so to the north we could see the mainland while straight in front of us in the far distance we could also see the mainland but that part belonged to the Aquini kingdom. We would be looking at the west Aquini mountain range from the other side. But this is not what they were looking at. Hovering above the ocean was a very large vertical tear. It looked like a dimensional tear but this one wasn¡¯t on the dimensional fabric since everyone could see it.

    I opened the correct filter. Well, I guess it is a tear in the dimensional fabric, but why is this one visible to anyone else?

    Ah, you¡¯re awake. This tear appeared yesterday evening but it was very small. It has grown considerably since then as you can see¡­ Can you tell me anything special about this tear? Anyone can see it.

    I¡¯m sorry, I have no clue what the difference is besides the obvious ones. I guess I will have to close it.

    You might be careful with that though.  The humans gasped and some even screamed because it seemed like something was moving behind the tear.

    It seems I will be undoing my rest¡­

    I didn¡¯t feel like dealing with this but I don¡¯t have a choice it seems. I don¡¯t think ignoring this problem will make it go away. I guess I will have to go pseudo 9t mode here. I was about to get my [Illusionary dagger] when I heard a scream.

    Something had broken through and it was huge. It wasn¡¯t a scorpion this time. It looked like an enormous praying mantis. Besides its size it did look like a normal praying mantis. Is this thing suggesting that insects are from different dimensions? Anyway, it seems that I can¡¯t close this hole now. Smaller praying mantis were crawling out of the tear which is now a hole. However, these things were 2m tall. There is a reason why insects are small¡­ no human stands a realistic chance against them if they¡¯re human-sized or taller.

    Alright guys! Back off! This place will become a warzone soon! Also, anyone who has questions for me can direct them to the headmaster or the ehhm hey Greg what was my course called again?

    Disruption and Evasion¡­

    Yeah! Anyone who has questions for me can direct them to preferably the headmaster but they can also be answered by the Evasion and Disruption students!

    I froze a 1 km tall frost pillar and sent a [Flare] at the invaders. This drew their attention and they all headed toward us. Some that had strayed off and were going at the shore north now all headed over to this university. I got all my tails out and Shirayuki. She supplied me with an insane amount of mana and I started chucking [Foxfire: Summer heat] at them. This pissed them off at no end and now they certainly were coming for me. The smaller ones got vaporized but there were way too many of them. I created walls out of frost on the ocean to block their path. I felt a spacequake.

    ¨C Agnis, we have a problem, a small dimensional hole has opened up and these invaders are inside the university.-  - Can you interact with them?-

    -I can yes.-  - Can you keep the students safe? And fight off problematic individuals? Defence is your forte so I will feel comfortable leaving them in your hands.-

    -Ok. I will find Raishin and send him to help you.-  - Thanks.-

    I looked behind me and it seemed that the professors in general were relatively useless against these invaders. The big praying mantis was too far for me to hit with my foxfires but the smaller ones were well in range. These things were walking over the ocean as if it were normal. I kept chucking foxfires while Shirayuki kept supplying me with mana. I had almost forgotten that she had stolen an insane amount of mana when she was a fox. The stupid invaders started using my favorite attack; The laser.

    If I ever find a Dimsha that can ban an attack from anyone or anything I would ban the laser. I created [Frost Mirrors] but Shirayuki hijacked them and absorbed the energy from them. I guess they¡¯re not mirrors anymore? Greedy for mana as always. I guess this is why she can keep supplying me mana like it¡¯s nothing. I started setting up many layers of [Frost walls] on the university wall and moved away from the university on a cliff next to it. Below me was the ocean and in front of me was an army of praying mantises. Why did I do this? Well if these small ones have a laser, then the big one has one too. I noticed a teleport ping and Raishin appeared next to me.

    Just in time, can you wipe that big bug off the face of the map before it starts shooting a laser? Greg is too occupied keeping the students safe to be in charge of blocking the laser when it comes.

    On it!  Raishin chain teleported toward it and shot an orange lightning laser at the big praying mantis but a barrier blocked it.

    -It has a barrier¡­-  - I saw¡­ keep blasting. I will try to dispel it from here.-

    I inspected the barrier. I realized that it truly was from across dimensions. It did seem to be made out of mana runes. But many seemed unfamiliar. It did use the same system as we do, which is strange. This thing is from another dimension, isn¡¯t it¡¯s magic supposed to be different? Scratch that, why can I recognise it as being magic? It¡¯s nothing I can¡¯t figure out but forcefully breaking this barrier might be faster.

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    -This thing is from another dimension. I can¡¯t read the mana runes so well. You just have to bust through it¡­-  -Ok!-

    6 enormous orange lightning spears appeared and pierced into the barrier. The barrier didn¡¯t break but the spears poked through it. It seems Raishin had to generate more energy to get them all the way in to hit the praying mantis. Tiger clouds appeared around him and started discharging lightning.

    I wiped out more smaller invaders when the whole area started to brighten. I heard screams from the uni. This was what I was afraid of. The big guy was charging up a laser. I wondered if I could cut the barrier open.

    I used my [Tail dynamo] and got to orange lightning and used [Iai: Nilah]. Orange and blue slashes flew at the barrier and concentrated at one point. It made a small crack in the barrier. The big praying mantis was way too far. It was clawing at Raishin but not hitting anything. Unfortunately, this didn¡¯t stop it from charging the laser. Range had never been a big issue for me but it seems to be now. The only things that can go that far are my foxfires, [Meteor], and [Solar Stream]. I have never used [Solar Stream] myself but Raishin had ¡®taught¡¯ me.

    A funny story, he always used it wrong. Whatever hit us was the portion doing light-based damage. He always thought it was a fire skill. So did we. It did generate a lot of heat so we never doubted it. Anyways the light portion of the skill hits first and then the fire portion. It¡¯s just that his mana control is so garbage that the fire part never makes it to our planet. [Meteor] is a bad idea. And [Solar Stream] takes too long. I could go 9t mode to speed it up but that¡¯s not something I want to rely on.

    I still decided to use [Solar Stream] to see what happens. Now that this is going on as a backup, I need to block this laser. I can dodge it but the university that¡¯s also in range¡­

    If I ever meet the god of lasers, he will get a good ass whooping!

    I carefully placed multiple [Frost walls] while I made sure to continue blasting the smaller mantises and empty out my mana. I circulated nature energy because, at this point, I was overdoing it with mana consumption. I queued up several mana-intensive spells. I have learned from my last encounter where I had to block a laser.

    I won¡¯t freeze myself this time. I hope. I also have a secret weapon but I don¡¯t know how that will pan out so I will do what works first. I sighed. I¡¯m going to get so many questions about this.

    I Ignited the tip of my tails with blue foxfire. My tails were evenly spread out and the fire connected and formed a circle. I will have this circle spin which will waste a lot of energy once the mana floods in. It will melt this whole area but I¡¯m relatively far from the uni. I will name this [Foxfire: Sapphire Ring]. One day I will be able to use it as an attack but for now it will be in charge in slurping a stupid amount of mana. I might be able to send it back with my counter. I realized that this counter also doesn¡¯t have a name.

    Hmm, who cares it¡¯s not as if I¡¯m going to make a habit on doing this.

    -Agnis, I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t break through this barrier fast enough! -  -Don¡¯t worry about it, oh by the way a [Solar Stream] will drop down there in about 4 minutes so beware. I hope it will help you drop this stupid bug.-

    -Ok, are you guys going to be alright though? -  - Yeah, I think so, Greg is busy protecting the students so I will block this laser with my [Frost Wall].-

    I was expecting a response but I felt a mana wave as Raishin went 6t mode and summoned enormous tiger clouds. The spears poking into the barrier turned into black lightning and shattered the barrier. The laser shot out with as target the university. I exhaled and braced myself. It vaporized all its allies on the way here and my [Frost walls] caught the lasers. Some were at an angle and were sending parts of the laser into space. The [Foxfire: Sapphire Wheel] started to spin and the rock beneath me started to soften. Every plant got instantly incinerated. I drew primal runes on the [Frost Wall] in front of me. I¡¯m lucky they had ice as a material. The primal civilization were some crazy people.

    Yire paro, yire paro. Mali agaccede adpe me. Mali agaccede adpe me necha pagrediku idac rekhea. Reverhitum, yire paro. Manesa durabs.

    I felt the mana influx drop considerably as this incantation dropped the firepower of this laser. I inspected my feet. I wasn¡¯t freezing over, yet. I was standing in a pool of lava though. My [Foxfire: Sapphire ring] had turned into 2 sapphire rings. This ring was bigger and had formed around the original one. The heat of these rings was getting insane but I couldn¡¯t cool this down without getting the energy back with frost magic.

    A third ring appeared and everything in a 30m radius was disintegrating or boiling. I messed with the mana runes of one of the rings and turned it into a cold fire. This seemed to keep the heat in check but not by much.The heat and energy influx was still a bit too much. The area of certain disintegration started to grow and it seemed the heat I was giving off was reaching the university. My feet also started to freeze slowly. I drew more runes on the frost wall and repeated the primal incantation I did butcher the pronunciation and messed up some runes so it wasn¡¯t as strong this time around so I got Shirayuki out.

    Look I¡¯ve never tried this because I have no idea what will happen. I don¡¯t want you to turn everything into an ice cube, can you promise me that?

    I seem to have gone crazy. Talking to objects and things that can¡¯t respond seemed to have become a habit of mine. I sent most of the mana coming in, into Shirayuki and used [Pneuma Boreas], also known as [Nilah]. I was expecting a new fox to appear but I was hoping Shirayuki would return to her form as [Nilah].

    My katana started to change form and turned into a light blue fox. She jumped into the laser and grew. There was no point in keeping the frost walls up.

    Hey Nilah, can you do something about this?

    I gestured at the [Foxfire: Sapphire rings] which had increased to a number of 4 and were melting the walls of the university even from this distance. She wrapped one of her tails around the rings and they disappeared. I also felt all the mana being pulled out of me. The [Solar Stream] arrived and blasted the praying mantis monster who already seemed to be on his last legs. I have never seen Raishin get this serious.

    I looked at the state of the students. They were sweating heavily but they were fine. Teppei¡¯s beard had burned off. He looked quite silly without his beard. The laser stopped because Raishin had blasted the head off this huge praying mantis. I¡¯m sure this thing was super strong but that doesn¡¯t matter when a 6t is serious in kicking your ass. His techniques seem quite ally unfriendly though. A large part of the ocean was electrified and black lightning was raining down. 3 minutes after the light portion had blasted the big bug an enormous fire pillar descended on the big bug. Raishin backed off but since it was a controlled fire, he was fine.

    Nilah shrunk back to her ¡®compact¡¯ size and requested cuddles. I petted her and was happy to see her again. I guess she is now my sword and one of my strongest frost skills. This is getting quite complicated. Nilah and I observed how Raishin summoned more black lightning spears and was chucking them like it was nothing. It now seemed like he was bullying this thing.

    Hey Nilah, do you know how to properly fix that dimensional hole?  Nilah looked at me as if she was saying something like: aren¡¯t you supposed to know that?

    I guess you don¡¯t know. I guess we should wait till Raishin is done and improvise.  Nilah tried to sit on my head as she always used to do. She wasn¡¯t heavy but she was quite big now so it looked silly.

    Hey, you can¡¯t do that anymore! You¡¯re too big now!

    I continued petting her thinking of how big she actually is going to get.

    Do you have a smaller size?  No reaction.

    You¡¯re not going to get bigger, are you?  She shook her head. I guess that is good.

    The temperature had become human friendly and some students came running. Right, time to get out of here before the questions start rolling in. I tried to stand up but I was stuck. I looked at the floor which was lava until moments ago but it had solidified. It was like how I use [Frozen Ground] and freeze opponents¡¯ pants to the floor but the lava version. I was stuck in solid rock.

    Uh oh.

    ¡°You¡¯re ok!¡± Crissy and Hayley dove at me for a hug and I unfortunately couldn¡¯t dodge them. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s this, why is your butt stuck in the ground?¡± Crissy put her hands in her side.

    Well, you see when lava hardens¡­

    She pointed at me. ¡°Hey Hayley, do you see this? I think we found out why immortals have multiple lives! It¡¯s because stuff like this!¡±

    ¡°I agree, who gets their butt stuck in lava¡­¡±

    Oh come on! Accidents happen!

    Well, well, it seems you have finally cc¡¯ed yourself. Let me help you out of that.

    Thanks. You¡¯re a lifesaver.

    Well, it seems that getting your butt stuck in lava is the most reckless thing you¡¯ve done today so I can¡¯t complain. I was surprised how you handled that laser. You are ok right? No frozen patches?  Greg liberated my ass from its glassy prison.

    I¡¯m free! Greg will answer all you questions by the way! I¡¯m going to check up on Raishin!

    Hey wait! Are you going to explain what that fox is?!

    ¡°Yeah! We¡¯re curious too!¡±

    The big bug exploded in a lot of strange goo after Raishin killed it. He got hit by the goo and was emptying his stomach. I chain teleported toward him while carrying Nilah and broke the illusion layers on him to undo the goo.

    You¡¯re still alive! And unfrozen!

    How rude! I know what I¡¯m doing. Mostly¡­

    Oh, what a cool fox!  He petted Nilah and Nilah stole all his mana dropping him out of 6t mode.

    Huh?

    Wow you got owned by Nilah. She will steal your mana if you touch her. I didn¡¯t expect her to steal all of your mana though.

    Haha, I didn¡¯t know what to do with it anyways! It saves me vomiting for 3 hours! At least I could get rid of my mana when fighting against that whale but this world boss died too early. Hahahaha!

    You¡¯re such an idiot¡­ Hey Nilah, what are you going to do with all that mana?

    No response. But I think I know what she is going to use it for. She seems to be the most active when very strong opponents appear. If Nilah can use [Kryokym] it¡¯s going to do an unimaginable amount of damage.

    Nilah, do you know how to use [Kryokym]?

    Nilah jumped around excitedly. I think that is a yes. Raishin was still petting Nilah but she lost interest in Raishin after draining all his mana and returned to me and sat down. Her markings had changed to snowflake patterns. How mysterious.

    I feel a bit weak¡­

    What did you expect¡­ Now get out of here I need to close this hole. Blast those praying mantis while you return.

    I opened the correct filter. I wondered how I am supposed to close this without the maggots. Nilah ignited in foxfire and became extra blue.

    Are you going to help me?

    We jumped on the dimensional fabric. Nilah tried to freeze the hole shut but this hole didn¡¯t respond to magic that wasn¡¯t spatiotemporal. I should have expected this. Nilah has no idea either. I wonder if those praying mantis were a part of the puzzle. They did look more like invaders though. Even though the centipedes, maggots and beetles had all the chance to invade back in Boshi town, they never did. Is this the difference?

    I torched the dimensional hole with foxfire laced with spatial magic while I thought about what I know about all this. Blasting this with opaque white flames won¡¯t help much because there is a shortage of dimensional maggots. What if I reversed time on this hole? I put my hand on the intact fabric. I could feel that as long as I was standing on it my spatiotemporal affinity got a huge boost. I should be able to do stuff here that I normally can¡¯t. I focused on the feeling that I get when I reverse time while in 9t mode. It was considerably harder but not impossibly hard. At first, I didn¡¯t think it worked but slowly but surely the hole started to close. Well, it didn¡¯t close, I was slowly undoing the fact that it ever opened in the first place. It did look like it was leaving a strange bright orange scar behind. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good thing. I started panting heavily and I got a headache. This stuff isn¡¯t easy. And I¡¯m lucky that this thing opened quite recently.

    I managed to close it after 20 minutes as I was completely exhausted. I laid on my back on the dimensional fabric and looked at the ugly bright orange scar it left behind. Is this an indication that I messed up? It¡¯s better than leaving it open right? Nilah put her face on my chest and replenished my mana. I wonder what would happen if I torch it with foxfire now. I petted Nilah and got up and torched the scar with [Foxfire: Summer heat]. The scar seemed to dry out and made some strange sounds.

    It seemed to turn transparent and shattered. The strange crystals dropped on the dimensional fabric. I looked at where the scar was. It was a bit discolored; it was weaker than the fabric around it but it was stronger than the scar. I could use the help of a 7t now. They would be able to strengthen it.

    I walked over to the strange crystals that were laying on the fabric. I inspected it. In front of me was a collection of light purple seven sided crystals. None of my filters could tell me anything interesting about them. I just chucked them into my dimensional pocket. Maybe I could sell these rocks to Yttroz Industries or make something out of it. I¡¯m sure that they have never seen these strange crystals before.

    I was proud of my work and concerned. This hole had only opened up yesterday and it took me this much effort to close it. What about holes that have been open for days or months or even years? I can¡¯t possibly reverse time on those. There must be something else I¡¯m missing. At least I have another tool to close these holes and tears. I jumped off the fabric and forgot that it was midair. I looked at the ocean below. To be honest the ocean isn¡¯t a threat to me so it¡¯s not like what I did was reckless.

    I¡¯m not sure if the humans could see me walking around on the dimensional fabric because this tear was visible to them. But if they could see me, it would have probably looked to them like I was walking on air. Most holes and tears I encounter are in the air. Is it on purpose or is it just more likely? What if a hole appears underground? How would I know? More questions and no answers. I froze a couch on the ocean and sat on it while I looked at how the humans were barraging Greg with questions. I think I will stay here for a bit until the humans calm down. I saw Raishin and Hayley acting like a couple. They aren¡¯t being gross. Maybe Raishin will be able to pull this boyfriend thing after all.

 Vol 3 Ch 28: Black Lightning Spear

    My intuition woke me up. Something big was going on. I looked out of the window and I saw a lot of people gathering. Were they looking at the sea? I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I wanted to go back to sleep when I saw a big tear in the sky, it opened up and a big blue bug with long scythes broke out and it had mini-me¡¯s that spread out. Is this what they call an invasion? Isn¡¯t this the same thing that happened in Boshi Town? My intuition was going wild. I spotted Agnis in the distance. I decided to teleport over to him.

    Just in time, can you wipe that big bug off the face of the map before it starts shooting a laser? Greg is too occupied keeping the students safe to be in charge of blocking the laser when it comes.

    On it!  I chain teleported toward the big bug and shot an orange [lightning laser] at the big guy but something invisible blacked it. Huh? I thought I had improved my accuracy. I took out the spear Agnis had made for me and threw it. It bounced off something invisible. It returned back to my hand. I like this weapon. He had named it something lame but I will name it Sexy Lightning. I poked the invisible wall with Sexy Lightning and identified it as a barrier.

    -It has a barrier¡­-  - I saw¡­ keep blasting. I will try to dispel it from here.-

    He said to blast it. I wonder how strong this barrier is. I tried to use [Spot Weakspot] on it but the weak spots it showed weren¡¯t that weak. Maybe a cool skill I had made will work on this!

    -This thing is from another dimension. I can¡¯t read the mana runes so you just have to bust through it¡­-  -Ok!-

    It¡¯s my time to shine! I will swiftly and flashily defeat this thing and become extra popular under the chicks! I haven¡¯t found an immortal chick yet though. It is hard to restrain myself. There are so many hot busty chicks here! Maybe school isn¡¯t so bad after all! Hayley had also become my fake girlfriend but she is chill and let me do what I want. It makes me feel a bit guilty though but she did say that no other chick stands a chance against her and I started to notice that she was correct. Most chicks aren¡¯t as cool as her, they like to talk about things I don¡¯t understand.

    I absentmindedly threw some [Orange Lightning Spears] at the weak spots in the barrier. I¡¯m starting to wonder what most chicks would be like if they became my girlfriend. Will they be like Shania and Hayley or will they act like those other chicks on campus? I wonder what Shania is doing right now¡­

    Something made a strange sound that broke me out of my train of thought.  Hey! I¡¯m thinking about chicks stop interrupting me!  I blasted some small bugs and noticed that my lightning spears were stuck in the barrier. I haven¡¯t seen a barrier this strong since Boshi town. Is this what Agnis meant with this barrier being not from this dimension? I have the spears more juice and they broke through the barrier. Hah easy!

    Is what I said but the barrier was still intact and the spears had only slightly poked the big bug. It was sending attacks at me but I could easily [Teleport dodge] them.

    So back to thinking about chicks. I need to somehow get Agnis and Greg to also get girlfriends, the good kind, of course, they have no idea what they¡¯re missing out on. Greg needs one to break him out of this shell he has and hardly shows excitement or emotion. And Agnis needs one to make him less reckless. Sometimes I wonder if he has a reason to live. My intuition tells me that he doesn¡¯t put as much importance on staying alive as he should. I wonder what would happen if Greg and I were to die. My intuition tells me he¡¯d take the whole world down with him. Besides that, they don¡¯t seem to realize that their races aren¡¯t doing so well and need more manpower.

    Or maybe they do but aren¡¯t as good with chicks as I am.  And that¡¯s why they need my help!  The big bug started to give off light.

    Hey what gives! Uh oh.  I looked at the big bug and where he was aiming while charging his laser. I saw [Frost walls] appear.

    Oh, nonono not this again!  I started to panic and kept blasting the barrier. Did I jinx it? I don¡¯t want this to happen again.

    -Agnis, I¡¯m sorry, I can¡¯t break through this barrier fast enough!- -Don¡¯t worry about it, oh by the way a [Solar Stream] will drop down there in about 4 minutes so beware. I hope it will help you drop this stupid bug.-

    -Ok, are you guys going to be alright though? -  - Yeah, I think so, Greg is busy protecting the students so I will block this laser with my [Frost Wall].-

    I don¡¯t know if Agnis is playing it cool or has the situation under control. I will put my secret mission: ¡®Agnis¡¯ and Greg''s girlfriend recruitment plan¡¯ on hold and released my 6t mode. No more cutting corners! I created extra big [Dynamo Clouds] and turned the spears into [Black Lightning Spears] and shattered the barrier. I was too late and the laser shot out. I wanted to help Agnis but he seemed to have blocked it well. He sent some of the laser to space and turned the area around him into a soup. Everything was melting. I teleported a bit to see if he was ok.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    He wasn¡¯t turning into an ice statue. It seems he is doing ok, for now. I teleported back to the big bug and kept making [Black Lightning Spears] The bug was making strange noises but I didn¡¯t care. He tried to slash at me but I blocked it by dropping a [Black Lightning Spear] on it. I almost missed. And¡­ hmm does it count as blocking if I blow up his scythe? It does, right? I decided to blast his other scythe off but I missed and the lightning spear crashed into a mountain far in the distance and blew a big hole into it. Woops. I spread out some [Lightning Glitter] and tried again.

    The laser started to weaken because I was bombarding this stupid bug. Why is it still firing its laser? Why won¡¯t it defend itself? Does it want to kill Agnis so badly? I then remembered that this is part of his role as a 9t. wouldn''t it make sense for it to eliminate its biggest threat? I looked at the small bugs that were all heading toward him. They were ignoring the human city at the shore. They were only heading toward him. Is this their goal? Kill Agnis and then take over the world? Not if I can help it!

    Suddenly an enormous blue fox appeared and absorbed the laser like it was nothing. Now my intuition was contradicting itself. It did say this was a good thing because this fox seemed to belong to Agnis, where it was telling me it was dangerous was something unexpected. Is it because there is a big chance I as a 6t could lose to that fox? It seems to do the opposite of what 6t do. It¡¯s the same feeling as when Greg goes 3t mode. I don¡¯t think I could win against Agnis or Greg if we had a serious fight against each other. Both of them seem to have something that makes fighting someone with infinite energy not that big of a deal.

    Proud at how overpowered my friends were, I made the biggest lightning spear I¡¯ve ever made and blasted the bugs head off. [Solar Stream] dropped down and kicked the bug while it was down. Agnis¡¯ [Solar Stream] seems¡­ different. I used [Chain Lightning] and was amused how the lightning jumped from bug to bug and zapped them. Most of the smaller bugs that still entered our dimension were instantly getting fried. I saw a lot of dead fish.

    Uh oh, am I going to get in trouble for this? Not much I can do about it now can I? I continued blasting the bug which was almost unrecognizable now. I turned him into bug mush! And my intuition told me to get out of here immediately. I chain teleported away and the biggest fire pillar I¡¯ve ever seen dropped on this bug. I looked up to the sky. Is this a fire [Solar Stream]? I¡¯m still close but I¡¯m fine. My intuition still says I should back off but I think it¡¯s fine. Agnis had controlled his fire. I should ask him to teach me the fire version of [Solar Stream].

    The laser had stopped and the [Black Lightning Spears] had finished the bug off.  That¡¯s what you get when you mess with us!  I tried to clean up all the residual lightning but I only could manage to get rid of a bit. I guess I will have to ask Greg¡­ Aaand it got sucked up by the big fox which turned small again. Problem solved? Problem solved! I wanted to teleport to Agnis when I heard a strange sound.  What? It¡¯s not dead yet?

    I blasted the bug with a [Supernova Blast] and it exploded in green goo. It got all over me and the smell was terrible. It¡¯s worse than when I let my stinky socks in the sun for a week. I couldn¡¯t keep my nausea under control and I had to barf.

    Agnis chain teleported toward me while carrying the cool bleu fox and broke some illusion layers on me and the goo and smell disappeared.  You¡¯re still alive! And unfrozen!

    How rude! I know what I¡¯m doing. Mostly¡­

    Oh, what a cool fox!  I petted the blue fox and felt it steal all my mana, it undid my 6t mode.

    Huh?  I guess it works out for me because I have no idea what to do with all this mana. Nausea from having too much mana would kick in the moment I get out of 6t mode but this cool fox saved me.

    Wow you got owned by Nilah. She will steal your mana if you touch her. I didn¡¯t expect her to steal all of your mana though.

    Haha, I didn¡¯t know what to do with it anyways! It saves me vomiting for 3 hours! At least I could get rid of my mana when fighting against that whale but this world boss died too early. Hahahaha!  You¡¯re such an idiot¡­ Hey Nilah, what are you going to do with all that mana?

    While Agnis continued talking to his cool fox I looked at the people on the shore. I saw Hayley and decided to flirt a bit with her and make some people jealous.

    That is one big bug less!  People gathered around me and   Hayley ran at me and locked her arms with me.

    ¡°Back off girls, as you know he¡¯s mine!¡± Hehe, look at the faces of these chicks. I looked at Hayley who was pressing her badonkers against me. She is so hot.

    ¡°What¡¯s that!¡± We all witnessed Agnis blasting the dimensional hole and eventually fix it. It disappeared but he seemed to blast something that we couldn¡¯t see. Maybe something else appeared but it didn¡¯t take long for him to relax so it probably was no big deal.

    Shall we go Hayley? There are too many people here.

    ¡°Sure, let¡¯s show off to Jenny!¡±  Oh, that jealous chick? Sure! Let¡¯s show off!

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 29: Gregoryâ€™s Stalker

    Greg was still answering all the questions of all of the humans gathered around him. It seems Raishin and Hayley had sneaked away. I did spot someone who didn¡¯t seem to belong here. She was a bit older than most students here but she didn¡¯t give a student vibe. She kept staring at Greg, the dangerous kind of stare. She either is out to assassinate him or wants something else for him. I got out a frost bow and got ready to snipe her down if she pulled something suspicion. I have 0 tolerance for people that mess with my friends.

    What¡¯s with this chick? She¡¯s just staring. Why isn¡¯t Greg picking up on this, I get a strange feeling from all the way over here. I can¡¯t place the feeling. It might not be bloodlust but it feels dangerous. I guess I¡¯ll give it to Greg because he babysat me when I almost died from those curses. I shot an ice arrow at the suspicious woman an turned her into an ice cube. I chain teleported over to her. Most of the students had cleared out but the 6 friends, minus Hayley, were still here.

    ¡°Ah there you are Agnis! Greg explained everything to us!¡± Crissy looked at the big ice cube next to me. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    I tapped on the ice cube.  This person had malicious intent aimed at Greg.

    Oh that¡¯s Jana, you can release her.

    Who?

    Someone I met in Gittrian in the last 4 years. What is she doing here though?

    She didn¡¯t seem like she was out to assassinate you but it still felt malicious, why is that?

    I have no idea; our interactions were always professional.

    Hmm, ok then.  I released the strange woman.

    ¡°Oh Mr. Prince! You found me!¡±

    I raised my eyebrow.  ¡®Mr. Prince?¡¯ Wait¡­

    Not a word!

    Ahahaha! You mean Obsidian Price?! Hahaha is she your fan? Whoo you can¡¯t make this shit up!

    She is not a fan! She is a colleague!

    I looked at how this Jana was looking at Greg. Now that I was closer, I could identify it not as malicious, it was lust. Hoo Boi.

    So uhm Jana right? What are you doing here in this uni? You¡¯re not a student nor professor, are you?

    ¡°I came to see Mr. Prince!¡±

    I appreciate the sentiment but I have told you that I have resigned. I have other important issues to address. There is no need for you to go out of your way to visit me.

    I think she has a good reason¡­

    And that would be?

    You.

    I know, she just told me that she came here to see me, why is that a good reason?

    Hoo Boi, this is going to be interesting, hey Jana, if there is something you want to know about Greg, you can ask me.

    Jana came awfully close in a bit too enthusiastic manner and grabbed my hand.

    ¡°Really? You¡¯re Agnis Hourai Right? Greg has told me a lot about you, you are as cool as he told me you would be, so what is his favorite type of food? Love interests? Hobbies? Childhood memories? Pet peeves?¡± Maybe this was a bad idea. I tried to back away but this thin pale black-haired woman was uncharacteristically strong for her build.

    Hmm he loves potatoes, he loves liquid shadow vodka, his hobbies are reading and being afraid of water, his childhood memories¡­.  I thought about all the bullshit we had to go through.

    Might want to ask that himself. His pet peeves are ignorant people or disobedient people, speaking of which, where is Raishin?

    ¡°Oh, Raishin is the handsome guy with blond spikey hair and strange choice of clothing? I think he went that way with his girlfriend.¡± Jana pointed toward the campus lake.

    She seems to also have been paying attention to the people close to Greg. This woman is scary. But that¡¯s not my problem, Greg could use a female touch. Jana seemed to have a notebook in which she wrote the things down that I said. I spotted some other concerning details about Greg. His exact height of 1.841m, weight of 93.641 kg, his speech patterns, his daily routine, his favorite books and more. Why is this person so uselessly accurate on these things, who cares about how millimeters or milligrams his height and weight has?

    Is this what they call a stalker? Is this a good thing or bad thing? As far as I know this is a human thing. She can clearly see that he¡¯s not a human. Oh, she¡¯s wrote down that he¡¯s probably from the cat beast kin race. Would this person be a threat to him?

    I sized her up. Greg could kick her ass any day of the week. Not a problem then!

    ¡°Hey! Were you listening?¡±

    No, I wasn¡¯t, I don¡¯t know the answers to your questions Crissy.

    ¡°I was asking if you would have lunch with us.¡±

    I looked at Randy, brunette, midget, Francis and Crissy.  Uh sure why not.

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°Let¡¯s not dawdle then, lunchtime becomes highly competitive at this time, certainly now everyone is up and about with all that happened.¡±

    I flashed a smile.

    Crissy backed off. ¡°I don¡¯t like that smile!¡±

    I grabbed all of them with my tails and gave them an Agnis Express to the canteen.  Ahh, it feels good to have my tails out. Now that everyone has seen them, I can just keep them out.

    ¡°Holy shit! Wow dude! Too fast!¡±

    ¡°Ugh, I feel sick.¡±

    Midget, I¡¯m gonna drop you if you vomit on my tails!

    ¡°Ahahaha this is so cool!!¡± Seems the brunette was loving the fast ride.

    ¡°I missed the softness of these tails.¡±

    I dropped the students off in front of the canteen and midget went to a corner and emptied her stomach. Brunette consoled her.

    At least she threw up before her lunch.

    Someone tried to adjust his glasses but they were already adjusted. ¡°Hmm odd, ahum, that was an interesting experience.¡±

    I kicked in the door of the canteen and walked inside. We were the first. The chefs had already finished preparing the food.

    Hehe lucky! Let¡¯s clear this place out!

    ¡°But what of the other students?¡± I looked at the brunette as if she was talking in Hourai.

    Wait I can understand Hourai, I mean a language I don¡¯t understand.

    If they want the food, they should be faster.

    I grabbed a plate.  Hmm, I want this, this, that and give me some of that chicken over there. Nono no potatoes, bad idea unless you want this canteen to turn into an Ash Canteen. Hey is that milk? Which psychopath puts poison in his food?!

    I brought 5 plates toward a free table. Students started to trickle in slowly. I saw Greg walk in with his stalker. The stalker ran forward and got a plate with food that Greg likes the most. I was eating some spaghetti while observing the interaction between Greg and the stalker. Does he really not notice? How dense is he.

    The 5 joined me at the table and started to chatter.

    I smelled something familiar.  Is that mistflower?

    Crissy looked at me as if I was talking in Hourai.

    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    ¡°Wait you know this perfume? I thought you didn¡¯t know anything about women?¡±

    How rude and what do mistflowers have to do with women?

    ¡°It¡¯s an expensive yet popular perfume under the women.¡±

    And why would you wear something so expensive to uni?

    ¡°Ehh, I just want to smell nice.¡±

    You do know that your gramps is going to kill whoever you¡¯re trying to seduce right?

    Her face got almost as red as her hair. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to seduce anyone!¡±

    Whatever makes you sleep at night.

    I kept observing Greg and his stalker. The stalker was shooing students away from Greg. Correction, female students. I tried to think about how this would develop between Greg and his stalker but the scent of mistflowers made my mind wander to Azu.

    I had expected to hear some news from her because I assumed that she was like us and would set some explosions off here and there or piss off some important characters but she seemed well behaved. She should have finish her duties in about 2 years. I hope she forgot about us but also that she didn''t..

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, are you not listening again? Stop making it a habit!¡±

    Sorry, what were you saying?

    ¡°Who¡¯s that woman next to Greg?¡± Crissy pointed at the Stalker.

    My guess is as good as yours, I think it¡¯s his stalker. I was thinking about how he probably has no clue that he is talking to his stalker. Quite the dense fella.

    ¡°Yoo dude, you¡¯re dense yourself too, anyone with eyes can see that Christina is into you.¡±

    Hah that¡¯s where you¡¯re wrong Randy! I already knew that!

    ¡°Ohh really? And?¡± Midget and brunette leaned in. They must love this kind of gossip.

    I told her that she can do better.

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°Better than the Silver Torrent?¡±

    Hey come on Francis, if you say it like that it sounds dumb what I just said.

    ¡°Maybe because it¡¯s dumb? Come on let¡¯s hear the real reason!¡± the other chicks were starting to become quite annoying.

    ¡°It¡¯s ok you two. He told me the real reason and I agree with him, I just have to yet accept it.¡±

    ¡°Aww, you can tell us!¡±

    Hmm, how about we ask Greg, he¡¯s the professor of Mythology.

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°Oh, that is correct, girls, Agnis is a mythical beast as demonstrated by those tails. I¡¯m sure there are severe limitations on what he is allowed to do.¡±

    Ehh, it¡¯s not that it¡¯s more that I can sneeze and wipe out this whole place or things related to immortality that made me decide on this. Let¡¯s go harass Greg.

    I walked over to Greg.  Right no offence but all the guys that aren¡¯t interested in Mythology. Get the fuck out of here. I will have Greg explain something related to mythology. I would advise the chicks that are interested in Greg to stick around though.

    You can¡¯t be serious? I have to do that here?

    Oh, so you are not completely dense! Makes it easier for me! Now students listen very carefully to this educational mini lecture. And Greg, I swear if you make this boring, I will drag you through some water.

    I will take note of that.

    I relaxed while Greg gave them a small lecture about Mythology. Specifically, about why none of us can afford to have mortal love interests. I could feel the disappointment of the female audience. The stalker took the hardest hit. It looked as if Greg just told her that her whole family had died or something.

    I wonder if this will eliminate his stalker problem. He does need a girlfriend but a mortal girlfriend is a bad idea. Maybe I should bring him to Eslana village, maybe there are still some elves that aren¡¯t too busy being a mother.

    Someone took off his glasses and cleaned them. ¡°I see, that actually makes perfect sense, their timeline is completely different than ours. And Agnis has demonstrated twice how dangerous their lives can be. I would certainly be wondering if I would make it to the next year if I was subjected to this constantly.¡±

    I leaned back.  Well, that¡¯s the story. Also, we¡¯re your professors! Don¡¯t you feel disgusted with the fact of any of you getting with us?

    I got some bullshit excuses about that it¡¯s exciting, that we¡¯re the same age as them and that we don¡¯t act like the other professors. This brought me to a question.

    Hey guys, I need an honest answer. On a scale from 1-10 how good is my human imitation?

    I got soul crushing, 1¡¯s, 2¡¯s and 3¡¯s. I put my head in my hands.  Why am I so shit¡­

    Just give up Agnis, you will never be able to do a convincing human imitation unless you go loose on the illusions or [Transform].

    ¡°You can use [Transform]?¡± Crissy got too close.

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°The limited knowledge about his race states that they are pranksters which often involved shapeshifting.¡±

    Oh, I¡¯m still too noob to use [Shapeshift] but I can use [Transform].

    ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡± Midget asked. I wonder if this uni is for show. Why don¡¯t they know these basic things?

    Someone didn¡¯t need to adjust his glasses because he already did not too long ago. ¡°[Shapeshift] also copies memories and habits and the user doesn¡¯t necessarily need to know what they¡¯re [Shapeshifting] into while this is the case for [Transform], it also just changes the appearance and maybe a bit more. Did I get that right?¡±

    I nodded.

    Now I¡¯m curious Agnis, what have you all been [Transforming] into? I bet it all involved pranking.

    I had only used it that one time with you remember?  I lied.

    Hmm, you know that¡¯s strange. Before I met up with you in Cnidaria Forest I had heard a rumor. It was not just a normal rumor. I was talking to a witch and she was talking about a witch that had infiltrated Witchaven but ended up being a man. What was even more interesting was that that individual was dubbed ¡®The Silver Menace¡¯ and that all the witches have a run-on sight order for if they ever encounter that individual.

    Wow! What a coincidence! I had heard that too! Isn¡¯t that crazy? Who would ever infiltrate Witchaven, the Misha must not have liked that!

    You know sometimes I wonder if you need to go to a nine tailed spirit fox school because you suck in lying from time to time. I have only heard the term ¡®Misha¡¯ once before.

    What do you mean! I heard it from Azu!

    Hmm ok I believe you. We shall see the next time we encounter a witch.

    What do I do? I think Greg knows.

    ¡°Transform into something!¡± These students sounded as they had never seen someone [Transform].

    My [Transform] isn¡¯t that great as I can only [Transform] into animals and inanimate objects. The only person I can transform into is Agn¨¨s Oures as all I¡¯m doing is transforming into a female version of myself. I¡¯m not transforming into someone that isn¡¯t me. I need to work on other appearances.

    ¡°Yeah dude! Show us!¡±

    Uhh, I have only [Transformed] into chicks¡­

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not complaining! Go for it dude!¡± I looked at Greg for help but he started to demand that I [Transform]. This jerk, I help him get rid of his stalker and this is how he repays me. I looked at Nilah who was Shirayuki at this moment and behaving in her sheathe. I sighed. I guess it¡¯s time to reveal the truth then.

    Nilah, hat!

    I [Transformed] into Agn¨¨s Oures and Shirayuki shifted toward her fox form and then turned into a hat and bowed.  Congratulations Greg, you have found the Silver Menace.

    I fucking knew it! And you look quite like your mother.

    I twirled my hat.  Yeah, that¡¯s how I got caught, some seemed to have known my mother, at least it took them several months before they discovered.

    I see, now it starts making sense why you are so adept at mana runes and the like. I assume you have retraced Azu¡¯s steps?

    Something like that yeah. But I didn¡¯t only prank them! I also gave them more skills to not be so ehhm vulnerable? Look at this!

    I was about to show Greg something when I got tackled. ¡°Stay away from Greg! He¡¯s mine!¡±

    Huh what? Hey stalker chick, it¡¯s me Agnis!

    ¡°I won¡¯t let you take him away from me you vixen!¡± I looked around and confirmed that there wasn¡¯t a vixen in this room. If she meant just me that¡¯s fine. I¡¯m technically a vixen now. I wonder how good my Misha impersonation is.

    Very well, let¡¯s try something new then. Nilah, we¡¯re fighting as a Misha! Mana please!

    Please tell me you¡¯re kidding me. You can¡¯t imitate a human but you can imitate a witch?

    Hehe, aren¡¯t I amazing?!

    ¡°Wow dude! You¡¯re pretty!¡±

    Thanks Randy, now back off a bit, my Mish¡­ witch impersonation is a bit sloppy. I got kicked out of lectures many times because I couldn¡¯t nail it.

    ¡°So, this is where you went to uni¡­ with the witches¡­¡± Crissy seemed tired and was rubbing her temple.

    As I said, this guy never makes sense

    I didn¡¯t need a catalyst but I want to make this as authentic as possible. The stalker took out an umbrella and took a fighting stance. I realized how serious she was. Umbrellas are no joke. I know because I have used umbrellas too.?

 Vol 3 Ch 30: Witch vs Stalker

    Now how do I kick her ass without turning this place into ash?

    I decided for my [Fireball], [Staff throw] combo. The weak [Fireball] got blocked by an open umbrella which she closed and took a staff to the face. I ran at her while casting [Hattrick]. After countless revisions I had somewhat mastered using 2 extra hats.

    I went for a [Fire Punch] but feinted and grabbed my staff and jumped back. She swung her umbrella and I ducked so that she knocked my hat off which caused me to teleport to another hat floating around and I cast another weak [Fireball]. She blocked my [Fireball] but didn¡¯t notice that the other 2 floating hats had also cast a [Fireball] and torched her back

    ¡°Aagh! Where did that come from? Did I miss more vixens?¡±

    I imbued my staff with fire and went for another [Staff throw]. She blocked the staff with her umbrella and blocked a [Fireball] another hat shot at her. The third hat was preparing something cool. I started a long cast to bait her into attacking me and teleported to another hat and hit her in her back. I love teleport bombing! Just prepare strong attacks or those with long cast times and teleport in range when they go off. There is nothing the opponent can do about this.

    ¡°Ugh, how annoying! You will never defeat me like this! Greg is mine!¡±

    I looked over at Greg and he seemed concerned. Maybe, just maybe, he¡¯s realizing now that this chick might be crazy.

    My hat finished casting a 7 layered [Fire trap]. I collected my staff which was laying on the floor and blocked some umbrella strikes with it. Unfortunately for her I know some swordsmanship so she is not winning this exchange. This is not very Misha-like though. I teleported to another hat and lured her into the [Fire traps]. She used something similar to my [Blindside].

    I didn¡¯t cheat and use my Elgard¡¯s eyes but because I fight similarly like this I know where she will appear. I kept aiming my blind spots to where I wanted to get her and like this, I had successfully lured her into the [Fire traps] which all went off.

    Crissy directed her attention toward Greg. ¡°Hey, do witches really fight like this?¡±

    They are quite intelligent so there is a high likelihood that Agnis is doing a good job in imitating their fighting style. It still has a bit of an Agnis twist to it though.

    I had a hat make more traps because I don¡¯t know how Misha deal with situations like this besides blowing up the whole area. I threw my hat at the stalker which surprised her but the hat was casting [Flare] so she might want to get out of there. I teleported to a hat that was quite the distance and the [Flare] went off.

    ¡°Hey, are witches really supposed to have cast times this short?¡±

    Stalker has a point normally the cast times of Misha are slightly longer than the other races but they are also many times more powerful. Unfortunately, I know 1 Misha who doesn¡¯t care about that.

    Well at this point you might not believe me but I¡¯m not a witch, anyways, you might want dodge that.

    The stalker dodged a weak [Firebeam] a hat sent at her which caused her to dodge into more [Fire traps]

    ¡°Wow, he... she¡¯s ruthless, no mercy there¡­¡± Brunette said that but Crissy and her seemed to be impressed by my fighting style.

    I stopped toying with the stalker and used [Heatwave] while another hat used it too and melted her umbrella. I landed a [Staff Throw] perfectly on her head between the eyes which knocked the stalker out.

    Witch 1! Stalker 0!

    You are full of surprises.

    What do you mean? Did you expect a witch to lose to a human?

    That¡¯s not what I meant¡­ You can [Transform] back now¡­

    I [Transformed] back after 5 attempts.

    ¡°I see so even in an unfamiliar fighting style it¡¯s possible to use ¡®Disruption and Evasion¡¯ as long as the basics are mastered, it doesn¡¯t matter what situation you find yourself in.¡± Crissy started writing notes again.

    ¡°Oh no, Crissy is going nerd mode again.¡±

    Maybe you should do that too midget. Crissy, Francis and Mo are the top of my class, you however¡­ might need some tutoring from Crissy.

    ¡°Ugh! It was so easy at the start how and why did you need to make it so difficult?¡± The midget grabbed her head and despaired.

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°That is the reason why it¡¯s so hard to find on this continent. It¡¯s difficulty makes it relatively undesirable. Especially if one wants to take up the role as Silver Torrent, being able to execute this reliably and swiftly is of utmost importance.¡±

    Wait, you guys aren¡¯t going to do anything lame like going for the Silver Torrent role right?

    ¡°Of course, we will! It would be stranger to get taught directly by the Silver Torrent himself and not be able to qualify!¡±

    Wait, Crissy, I thought you were an Eternal Desertflower.

    ¡°That was Hayley, I had planned to take the route of Hard Light, but I¡¯m quite liking this Silver Torrent role, I¡¯d also like to say that I¡¯m quite good at it.¡±

    Well yeah, you¡¯re the second best of the class after Mo and above Francis. I don¡¯t know what it is with Mo but he seems to just be born for this role.

    ¡°But aren¡¯t we getting many recruiters here tomorrow to talk about the places that have jobs for us?¡±

    Ah I forgot about that. Apparently, the humans have a problem with many jobs being understaffed. The only company which doesn¡¯t really have this problem is Yttroz Industries. Almost anyone wants to work for Yttroz Industries or become an adventurer. Both pay very good and are variable in what they would do there. The other jobs are boring and low paying relative to those so the companies and jobs have to hunt for employees.

    So, they¡¯re sending a fleet of people to convince and recruit students to come work for them after they graduate. I know that this is mostly futile because most have already made up their mind to become adventurers or work for the Yttroz Industries. The third popular option is working for the Adventurers Association.

    They will only be able to catch those unsure about where to work after graduation. Is this continent going to be, ok? The closer I come in contact with the humans the more I realize that their society seems to be held up by a house of cards ready to collapse. Jarn kingdom, Yzs, Yttroz Industries, if one of those goes under, the whole continent suffers. If the dwarves decide to leg it, the humans will also be in deep shit. What else? If Greg, Raishin and I kick the bucket they will also be screwed sooner or later and the list goes on.

    The north, where Boshi town was will be fine because slavery is still a thing there but on the south where we are now, slavery is abolished, banned and illegal. So, any big event could cause the human society to collapse. Interestingly enough most of the other races will be fine when that happens, just the humans will suffer mostly. I don¡¯t see anything the dwarves have built up collapsing anytime soon.

    Well, I¡¯m rich so at least Greg, Raishin and I won¡¯t suffer under this too much.

    ¡°Ugh¡­ Greg is mine¡­¡± I knocked the stalker unconscious before she could cause more trouble.

    So how are you going to address this problem Oblivious Prince?

    Hey that¡¯s not funny! And I will talk to her.

    I looked at Greg full of doubt.

    What? Why are making such a difficult face?

    You know what? Just do that, see how it works out. Right sorry guys but it¡¯s time for me to get my ass kicked by Crissy¡¯s gramps.  I said goodbye to the students and got my ass kicked by Teppei.

    I had a 50%-win rate now. I outclassed him in speed and physical strength but he still gave me a run for my money. He was still this strong even when he wasn¡¯t out to kill me.

    ¡°I think this is enough. I don¡¯t think I can teach you anymore, your style is refined enough to be a serious threat now. To finetune it is something only you can do. I also want to quit while I¡¯m still ahead.¡±

    Selfish old man but thanks, it was very educational.

    ¡°Raishin is also doing quite well and I had heard that Gregory finishes his training in a week. Now there is one problem¡­ you haven¡¯t applied the details of your next exam.¡±

    Ugh, is that really needed? Nobody likes exams.

    ¡°It is to ensure that they are qualified to finish the course and to ensure they have understood your course. It can be any format.¡±

    And this is where he screwed up, any format eh? This might make things easier.

    I will think about it now I will be using my free time cya!

    It seems I have completed my training. Everything seemed to have gone so fast. I walked over the campus when I saw a familiar face so I walked over to him

    Sup.

    He turned around. ¡°What are you doing here? Did you get into trouble again?¡±

    The middle-aged man with neat black hair, glasses and a small scar on his left cheek looked at me with tired eyes.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    How rude! I¡¯m a professor here! Now what are you doing here Jerry?

    ¡°My name is Jeremiah¡­ I wonder when you will remember and I¡¯m here for the event tomorrow.¡±

    Don¡¯t you guys have more than enough employees?

    ¡°Yes, but this is just for appearances.¡±

    Note to self: Jerry¡¯s hobbies involve lying to students.

    ¡°Hey come on! It will look bad on us if we¡¯re not even trying to attract students! And what professor would you even be? Of blowing stuff up?¡±

    Hah! I¡¯m a professor in ehh, forgot the name, something with CC, and I also do a bit of seals and barriers but I skipped out on many of those.

    ¡°You are a professor and you¡¯re skipping out? The world must be ending¡­ We have identified 3 more ancient structures in the last half year and only one had the warning runes. We buried the ancient structure the moment we encountered those. However¡­¡± Jerry took out his tablet and showed me 14 images of ravaged villages and destroyed property.

    ¡°Many strange creatures, probably similar to that demon you¡¯ve fought, have been breaking free and running amok on the continent. I hate to say this but we need adventurers more than ever. I will attempt to get students into Yttroz Industries but we¡¯re over saturated so we will create a special department which will equip competent people with our newest and best equipment. We have made an arrangement with the AA.¡±

    Cool, and you¡¯re telling me because?

    ¡°We thought that maybe you wanted to lead that group,¡±

    Oh hell no! but I do know someone who might be able to do so hehe, he goes by the name of Toxic Donkey.

    ¡°Oh, you haven¡¯t heard? He had gone missing almost half a year ago.¡±

    I stopped. No¡­ not again. Where was he last seen?

    ¡°Tyung, not so far from here, it¡¯s near the Aurelia river at the seaside.¡±

    Thank you, Jeremiah, I would love to chat but I have to find out what happened, cya!

    I teleported outside the university and started running across the shore and headed toward Tyung.

    This was like a bad dream.

    I looked through this city. It was a small and lovely city but I couldn¡¯t enjoy the city like I normally would.

    According to some sources in the Adventurers Association (AA), Toxic Donkey and someone who matched the description of Io had encountered someone who matched the description of Arby and had a 2-day long fight on the Boulevard. The aftermath was still visible. Poison puddles everywhere. Most seemed to have been cleaned up but it was still work in progress to clean it all up. Some spots seemed to have corroded.

    Toxic Donkey is a Silent Night so it would be near impossible to find him if he¡¯s alive. Why do the few humans I care about all disappear? Are Crissy, Hayley, Old Bones and even Jeremiah also going to disappear? Is this my fault?

    Thalia¡¯s disappearance. My fault. Toxic Donkey¡¯s disappearance, also my fault. I sat down on a couch. Am I ruining lives? In that case it¡¯s even more important that I distance myself from humans.

    I would rather that they hate me then them ending up dead in ways and places unimaginable. I tried to think of where or what Toxic Donkey would do after an encounter with Arby. I assume he had won or at least a draw. Maybe the sewers? Besides that I have no idea.

    Tyung¡¯s sewer system is absolute garbage. I would give it a D-tier. Alledra and Boshi Town scare a perfect S rank on the sewer tier list. The shittiest town known to mankind has one of the best sewer systems on the continent, that¡¯s when you know that humanity is doomed. Well Boshi town is Ash Boshi town now so that automatically makes Alledra number one.

    The sewers were messy and no traces of Io. I don¡¯t think I will easily find traces of Toxic Donkey, but tracking down Io shouldn¡¯t be too hard. Either she got better or they were never here. I sighed as I climbed out of the sewers. Can these people stop disappearing? It¡¯s making my overpowered eyes look silly. I looked at Shirayuki at my hip.

    You¡¯re not going to disappear on me, right?

    No response. I guess she¡¯s not going anywhere. I had nothing to off on. Both the Silent Night and Toxic Donkey are better assassins than me because they can¡¯t rely on cheats like I do. But I¡¯m not completely useless either! If I can¡¯t find any trace of them here that means they¡¯re not here anymore. If Toxic Donkey could get away alive, I¡¯m confident nobody can catch him. I can make the bold claim that he has the best stealth of any human on the continent, possibly the planet. He also isn¡¯t stupid. This will be fine.

    As I made plans to go back to the university, I saw a wall poster. Sichar was holding some mock tournaments to prepare any who¡¯s interested for the big tournament in 2 years. I thought for a bit. Am I going to entertain the clich¨¦ of having a school arc and a tournament arc? Jokes aside the students can find out their skill level compared to other adventurers.

    I also don¡¯t have to think off stupid rules and do troublesome stuff because this tournament seems well planned.

    I grinned. This is going to be easy and fun!

    Who knows maybe Toxic Donkey will appear there too. It was quite absent after he learned that Vinny and I were mythical and legendary creatures but he does have an ego, maybe he wants to show off. Two harpies with a single fireball! I went to the AA and got some flyers for the tournament. It tried to attract attention by stating that some well-known adventurers would be there to scout talent for their parties or to just participate or watch. I don¡¯t know any of these adventurers.

    I did try to find out who the Golden Angels were, because if Healerguy is there I will have to unfortunately cancel this cool idea. After skimming through some names, I came to the realization. I have no idea what Healerguy¡¯s adventurer¡¯s name is¡­ Is this why Greg keeps telling me to put in more effort in remembering names?

    Ok this is not a problem; I will just go disguised. I can go as Agn¨¨s Oures and be fine. Yes! That¡¯s a brilliant idea! Because I¡¯m sure that the random appearance of the Silver Torrent is going to cause me problems anyways.

    I returned to the university with this brilliant idea. I barged into the old fart¡¯s office and slammed the flyer on his desk.

    This is my exam!

    He drew his sword and tried to cut me. I easily evaded his slash and a large cut appeared in the wall behind me.

    ¡°How many times do I have to tell you to stop barging into my office!¡±

    Hehe, what are you gonna do about it? Kill me?  I parried several sword slashes with Shirayuki.

    ¡°I¡¯m slowly starting to think that training you was a bad idea!¡±

    Nah, maybe you wouldn¡¯t get into trouble if I kick the bucket, because you¡¯re old, but Crissy might have to live through the world going to shit a bit sooner than normal.

    Teppei sheathed his sword. ¡°Ugh, let me see what kind of headache exam you¡¯ve cooked up.¡± He looked at the folder and confusion set in.

    ¡°What is this?¡±

    I smiled.  Exam!

    ¡°This is the mock tournament in Sichar¡­¡±

    It¡¯s perfect for an exam! They can beat up other adventurers and see how skilled or lacking they are compared to other adventurers; most will pick up adventuring anyways.

    Teppei rubbed his temple. ¡°This is a joke, right? You must have watched too much tv like the youngsters do these days.¡±

    Look I know it¡¯s quite clich¨¦ and this happens a lot on tv series but hear me out. All the students here are fighting in a safe educational environment. When they get released into the world, they won¡¯t have that. You agree that our trip to the dungeon was useful right?

    Teppei seemed to have trouble with my reasoning because he knows I was correct. I decided to give the final push to make him agree.

    Don¡¯t you want to see Crissy absolutely destroy every adventurer that tries to mess with her? She is the second best from my course you know.

    Teppei glared at me and seemed to be biting. ¡°On one condition, I will come too.¡±

    Well, that was the plan, you need to take care of the troublesome procedures.

    Teppei sighed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I am agreeing to this. I will take some time to think about this and discuss this with Sebastian but for now you get my approval. I will notify your students in your next class about how this is going to work. Now go before I get annoyed by you and cut you down.¡± He chased me out of his office.

    I was already happy that my brilliant plan had been approved. I made some shadow clones and sent them to Sichar to gather information and become familiar with the place.

    <hr>

    Teppei appeared in the next class and told us about the exam. Most of the students were excited, the rest were nervous.

    ¡°These tournaments are held in 3v3, or 6v6. The exams in this university are normally held at a later date but your professor had the idea of letting you participate in this tournament as a test of your skill so you will have only 3 weeks to prepare instead of 6. Luckily for you, this is not a problem because of the practical nature of this course.¡±

    Yeah, you guys are free to make teams yourself, I would recommend to pick a healthy combination of roles and people you know well.

    ¡°Yessir! I have a question though!¡±  What is it Mo?

    ¡°Don¡¯t we have 61 people in our group? How are we going to divide that by 3 or 6?¡±

    Hmm, who wants to 1v1 me and get an instant pass if he or she does well?

    Silence fell. Someone stepped forward and adjusted his glasses. ¡°I would like to give it a shot, I¡¯m unsure if I will be able to thrive well in a tournament setting.¡±

    I think you will do fine but I will give you a fair chance. You will have 2 weeks to prepare for this unfortunately, is that fine?

    Francis seemed like he was doing calculations in his head. ¡°That should be no problem, do you mind if I go meditate a bit?¡±

    Sure, the rest of the classes will be preparation for the exam

    ¡°Hey, aren¡¯t you just being lazy? ¡°

    You bring up a good point Hayley. Yes, this is me being lazy but the fact still remains that you guys need to form groups so chop chop get to it. Make me proud and get to the point where you one-sidedly beat up anyone you face in that tournament.

    Old fart stepped in. ¡°Oh, you won¡¯t get a relaxing run you brat. I have entered you into the tournament too for the solo¡¯s.¡±

    Wow not cool!

    ¡°You can¡¯t worm your way out of this, you will be less of a headache if you¡¯re busy.¡±

    Hey, can you at least change the name of who you have applied?! My name will cause problems anyways!

    ¡°And what do I need to change it to?¡±

    I [Transformed]. Nilah! Hat!

    Shirayuki turned into a hat and I put her on my head.

    The name is Agn¨¨s Oures.

 Vol 3 Ch 31: Exam II

    2 weeks passed and I got used to fighting as a Misha. It also took a while to get used to this body. I didn¡¯t notice much when I used [Transform] during my Witchaven infiltration but I¡¯m a 9t fox after all. Agn¨¨s Oures is slowly starting to match the proportions of Hisui.

    I sighed. Most immortal species stop physically aging at around 22 or 23 years old. I¡¯m apparently a late bloomer as most of my 9t traits are locking in quite late, as a male and female. I wondered why my mother didn¡¯t had a figure like that. Maybe because she was more in tune with her phoenix side.

    It¡¯s good that I have clothing from Jarn. My charm magic is also growing and relatively uncontrollable. It reminds me of how Hisui could never control it. I will have to apologize to Hisui¡­

    Never mind that¡¯s a very bad idea, either way controlling this is hard. Nilah is sucking up charm energy and making it harmless.

    It was fun to tease my male students like this though. Hayley and I teamed up and made them go crazy. But I also made sure that they could focus on their upcoming exam.

    It was almost time for Francis¡¯ exam.

    He adjusted his glasses. ¡°So, you¡¯re going to fight me as a witch? You do realize I have seen you fight like this before?¡±

    That¡¯s the point, I won¡¯t have to be afraid to severely hurt you because you know what is going to happen if you mess up.

    I had made my staff a bit more flashy and functional in the last 2 weeks. It had a sharp tip at the bottom and resembled a club on the top, so throwing it would make it act like a spear and swinging it would make it act more like a club. The Misha were being uncreative in when they said ¡®Use your catalyst¡¯

    They just use it to boost magic spells that¡¯s all. All the students were watching. Teppei also seemed interested. Besides that, Raishin and Greg were here too.

    Gogo hottie! Beat him up!

    You do know that it¡¯s me right Raishin? And this is an exam! The goal isn¡¯t to beat him up!

    I don¡¯t care! A hot chick is a hot chick!

    I sighed. Similar rules as last exam, get some hits in on me or get some good disruption in and you pass. I will be casting like a normal Mis¡­ witch so you should be fine.

    Francis nodded and summoned 2 [Arcane Sheep] and 2 [Arcane Rams]. He would use the sheep for defence and the rams for offence. He was a hard-working student but unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t blessed with any affinities. Magic wise he¡¯s the weakest of the whole group but he makes up for it by hard work and his intelligence. I have only seen him lose twice since I know him.

    I started with a simple [Fireball] and while it was sloppy it got turned into a useless blob of fire that almost dropped on my toe. I looked at the pathetic wisp of fire on the floor. A ram rushed at me and I used [Hattrick]. He tried to mess with it but this skill is extremely complicated and scrambled. For a good reason. This skill is supposed to help Misha stay alive.

    I teleported to another hat and the hat that got left behind fried the ram that tried to ram me.

    I sighed. I miss Ted.

    The other hat started laying down [Fire Traps] and Francis messed with some of them. 4 out of the 7 [Fire Traps] had become useless. I¡¯m sure he remembered where the other 3 traps were. He sent 2 sheep out to trigger the traps. As far as I care he has already passed. But let¡¯s see if I can get more out of him.

    I let my catalyst create a dummy magic circle of a [Flare] while I really casted [Fireball]. He couldn¡¯t manage to interrupt the [Flare] but he got surprised when a [Fireball] shot out.

    I teleported to another hat and swung my staff like a club. He blocked it with an [Arcane Barrier].

    He adjusted his glasses. ¡°Are you sure that witches fight like this?¡±

    Nope, but maybe they should.

    The barrier exploded and I took some damage. I did not see that coming. I wanted to announce that he had passed but he seemed ready for more because another ram came at me. I guess the previous exam stated that I should get hit 3 times.

    I used [Staff Throw] and impaled the ram. Both his offensive rams are gone.

    He was a bit close to my staff so I used [Explode] and the staff exploded. He got blasted away but managed to protect himself with an [Arcane Sheep] at the last moment. He still took some damage from that.

    I walked over to my staff and picked it up. He mustered a lot of mana and used 4 [Arcane Rams], He sent 2 in for a pincer attack. I teleported to another hat and my [Fireball] got interrupted. Another [Staff Throw] which he evaded. Unfortunately, he dodged into the only [Fire Trap] that was left. One ram was camping near my hat, another ram was camping near the other hat while the other 2 went after me.

    I didn¡¯t have my staff and I would get rammed the moment I teleport. I used a [Flame cloak] and incinerated a ram and got grazed by the other ram. Francis didn¡¯t seem to be rejoicing. He was full focus. He ran at me covering himself with [Arcane barriers]. The other ram was harassing me. I dove out of the way and tried to get my staff but he blocked my path with an [Arcane barrier].

    That was wonderful.  I got rammed and sent flying into the [Arcane Barrier].

    Oof that hurt.  I dusted myself off.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Francis stretched out his hand and helped me up.

    Yeah, don¡¯t worry, I might look like a witch but I¡¯m a bit tougher than one. You pass.

    Francis made a subtle fist pump. He became the center of attention while I cleaned up the area by dispelling some illusion layers and returning the field back to its old state.

    It was interesting seeing you fight like that.

    Well, it is quite static even if I move a lot.  I dispelled [Hattrick] and went back to owning 1 hat.

    Are you going to fight like this also in that tournament?

    Well, I was just messing around here, nobody is going to get as many opportunities as Francis just had. They are going to get their faces melted off if they¡¯re not careful hehe.

    Is using fire really a good idea? It¡¯s a tournament, not a slaughterhouse¡­

    I have to be convincing as a witch though.

    As long as you don¡¯t kill anyone.

    The students started practicing again so I could slack.

    Raishin was flirting with Hayley but she had to practice now so he came over to me.  That was a cool fight, too bad you lost though¡­

    Did you forget the reason why he...she had that fight in the first place?

    To show that nobody messes with her even in his sexy from?  Greg and I facepalmed.

    Anyways, thanks for watching. Also, Raishin I had heard that you have been slacking and that Teppei has planned extra spear lessons for you.

    Ugh, that wrinkled piece of paper needs to chill. He is way too OP!

    I stepped aside to dodge a slash that was aimed at Raishin.

    ¡°I heard that you brat! At least Agnis has put in a lot of effort in his lessons! You however!¡± Raishin ran away and Teppei chased him down.

    Unfortunately, I can¡¯t come and see the results of the exam but I¡¯m sure most of your students will be fine.

    Raishin and Teppei had exited the scene as did Greg. It was just battle sounds.

    Francis sat down next to me and adjusted his glasses. ¡°That was quite intensive. You did go easy on me did you?¡±

    The fact that I moved so much means I didn¡¯t hold back a lot. I held a bit back on the firepower but your win is completely yours as that was the level I need you to be at, congratulations on being the first to pass my exam.

    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    We looked at how the students were attempting to lock each other down. I saw a very nasty group. Crissy had teamed up with Mo and Hayley. Mo was an Unstoppable Beast before he had mastered the skills that would befit a Silver Torrent. Crissy had focused more on raw fire power over the last half year and also being disruptive so she was more a Crimson Eagle and Silver Torrent combined. Hayley had worked on her offensive buffs and just like everyone here she¡¯s also disruptive.

    Mo is the absolute master of this group though. I don¡¯t see anyway how another group of 3 can handle them. They are destroying the other groups of 3. They got cocky and fought a group of 6 and won quite easily. Is it cocky if they can actually win that easily?

    Mo has a big build but that¡¯s very deceptive. He is quite fast and tanky. So, if you manage to hit him, he won¡¯t take much damage. He is just a juggernaut. I think I can see how a lot of opponents are going to look down on this team and it¡¯s going to destroy them. It looks like a heavy guy trying to block every attack while the 2 chicks will try to defeat the opponents before the big guy drops.

    That¡¯s how it¡¯s going to look but the big guy is actually the biggest threat. I¡¯m sure this was Crissy¡¯s idea. Also¡­ Mo is very skilled in ice skating. Crissy had gotten better in manipulating temperature. She can do hot and cold now. Crissy had asked me tips about applying cold. I had suggested my [Frozen Ground], slipping opponents and freezing their butts to the ground and making ice ramps.

    She doesn¡¯t have a water affinity so the amount of ice she can create is dependent on the moisture in the air. She can¡¯t manipulate the volume of this moisture so she is even more limited in creating ice than water users are.

    This is how they beat the 6 they fought against. Mo got the nickname Ice-skating Mo, because he was absolutely everywhere, their opponents were too busy to make sure they don¡¯t slip and most Mo had to do was just skate into them and send them flying. Hayley just kept buffing Mo so he was in many ways unstoppable.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, can you show us to deal with that monster trio there?¡± A student asked me the impossible.

    Well beating them up is easy but it won¡¯t be helpful to you guys.

    ¡°We still want to see!¡± The sore losers wanted to see the overperformers lose.

    Hey do you guys mind getting your ass kicked for a bit?

    ¡°We won¡¯t lose easily! Be careful Mo!¡± Crissy became wary.

    ¡°This is going to hurt, is it? Hayley, do you have more buffs?¡±

    ¡°Buffs to knock him out? I¡¯m sorry Mo, let¡¯s just try to survive as long as possible.¡±

    I¡¯ll do my best to not injure you.

    The students cheered thinking they could learn anything. If I fight on the level of the students I will most certainly lose.

    You guys are not going to like this.

    The battle started

    Crissy used [Frozen Ground] with her ¡®fire¡¯ magic and Mo started to skate around. I planted my staff in the ground and reached my hands to the sky. The sky started to light up. Everyone looked up and looked at the [Meteor] in horror.

    This was an illusion of course and the 3 who were distracted weren¡¯t paying much attention to me so I skated over, clubbed and knocked out Hayley, launched Mo with an [Ice pillar], froze his pants to the floor after he landed and pointed the tip of my staff at Crissy¡¯s neck.

    ¡°What the¡­¡±

    A distraction. If I can convince you that something wild or unexpected is happening, I can abuse the gap in concentration and capitalize on it.

    ¡°So that [Meteor]?¡±

    The [Meteor] dropped but I removed the illusion and just a single snowflake fell down.

    Crissy caught the snowflake. ¡°A snowflake?¡±

    Cool, eh?

    ¡°My butt is cold, I concede, can you free me?¡± I released Mo.

    Just remember, use everything in your power to disrupt your opponent, distractions or other stuff are all valid. As long as it works it¡¯s not wrong.

    ¡°Did you have to knock out Hayley though?¡± We looked at Hayley who was passed out on the floor.

    Nope, but that¡¯s an occupational hazard. Go rest up and stop terrorizing your fellow students, you¡¯re breaking their confidence.

    2 of the monster trio took Hayley and went to relax and the rest started to become more creative in their ways.

    Teaching is so exhausting. I¡¯m glad that this is done after the exam.

    <hr>

    The day came. Teppei had fixed the teleports and all other things I should have done but I had successfully mixed in with the students so it looked like Teppei was the only professor.

    ¡°Where the fuck is Agnis?¡±

    The passive that I had adjusted seems to be working. I¡¯m successfully unrecognizable within crowds. Even though I was wearing a large hat, he looked over me several times before he spotted me.

    ¡°Why is it so hard to identify you in this group?¡±

    Dunno, you must be getting really old.  I ducked a bit and his sword clanged to my hat and he got pushed back a bit.

    ¡°What the¡­ You are not a real witch! There is no reason for your hat to also be indestructible!¡±

    Tough luck for you old man, this hat is the same as my sword.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    I didn¡¯t expect this ancient relic to understand.

    The group spread out. Those who would do 6v6 would go to their part of this huge building which contained multiple arenas. Those that did 3v3 went to their part and I was the only one doing solo¡¯s.

    I had already spread some shadow clones out so they could spectate my students. I arrived at my destination after 20 minutes as this place is massive. I confirmed my presence with the staff and I got a small tablet which showed me which fights would be going on and when I would be up.

    I won¡¯t be up for a while so I used [Shadow Swap] with the clone who was the closest to the 3v3 group. It seems the monster trio would be up.

    These assholes were laughing at Mo. Their opponent was looking down on them. Crissy flashed a malicious smile.

    The battle started and Crissy used [Frozen Ground]. Mo started skating and instantly rammed into their Golden Angel. Hayley started buffing Mo who kept up his relentless assault. The Golden Angel tried to get up but Crissy had frozen his pants to the floor. The others tried to help the Golden Angel but Hayley and Crissy kept disrupting their casts. Crissy went in with a [Flare]. They had their hands full with Hayley and Crissy and Mo were unleashing attacks on the Golden Angel. Any attempt to heal himself got either interrupted or he got knocked around so he was unable to do anything meaningful.

    Mo knocked him out mercilessly and started skating to the 2 other guys who were struggling against the girls. They finally got something off but Mo body blocked it and was unscathed. It didn¡¯t take long for them to knock the others out too.

    Teppei couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. ¡°What have you done to my students¡­ you¡¯ve turned them into monsters¡­¡±

    Cool eh? Nobody will be able to do anything against them unless they come with complicated magic or strategies. They are good noob stompers. And when someone with a bit more depth appears that¡¯s when they can show off other stuff they¡¯ve learned from your boring uni.

    I blocked a sword strike with my hat.

    ¡°It is not boring! It¡¯s educational and professional!¡±

    Maybe as a headmaster who sips tea all day in his office.  I blocked more strikes with my hat and also had to evade some attacks.

    ¡°Look it¡¯s Randy and his group!¡± This group had Randy, Brunette and midget. Randy was also an Unstoppable Beast but his fighting style was quite different from Mo. Midget was a Golden Angel and Brunette was a Hawkeye.

    Brunettes shots were boxing the opponents in so that Randy had an easy time kicking their asses. The opponents were trying to focus the Midget down but she was in charge of interrupting spells. Going for the healer is always the best idea. Unfortunately for them, they will have to hit her, which is exactly something my students are good at avoiding. Even though Randy was putting in a lot of work, it was the brunette who had knocked out all the opponents.

    Most fights of my students were quite similar. Even my worst students had a relatively easy time winning.

    I could watch 1 6v6 and then it was my turn. I found Francis watching.  How are they doing.

    Someone adjusted his glasses. ¡°I am wondering if they have become much stronger or that this is just the effect of shutting down the opponent. Most battles I¡¯ve seen had my peers win quite easily.¡±

    Well as I like to say. If you shut down their basic functions like casting spells or moving, they will have to spend more energy dong such leaving less energy and concentration for offence.

    ¡°So, by increasing the difficulty of basic actions, the difficulty of everything else will increase? That¡¯s interesting, I have never thought about it.¡±

    That¡¯s fine. Because even by not realizing that they can get wins in quite easily.

    My students had only 1 person get knocked out but by that time they had already turned the fight into a 5v3.

    He had fumbled on purpose. The opponent was desperate to knock at least 1 person out. The opponents were getting close to knock out the Silent Night of the student group. This guy was responsible for most of the control effects and he was a huge thorn in the side of the opponents. This guy sacrificed himself and drew attention toward himself to save the Silent Night. It was a good decision. All these guys have been getting closer since the fight in the dungeon.

    ¡°This makes me wish I had joined a group too.¡±

    Well, you have already passed but you could aways act as a substitute when someone wants to rest or sit out for a bit. Anyways my match is up soon.

    I walked to the 1v1 area and I saw a lot of students gather.

    Uhh guys it¡¯s just a 1v1 go prepare for your next battles.  I got bullshit excuses like watching me is preparing for their match

 Vol 3 Ch 32: AgnÃ¨s Oures III

    I got ready and walked into the arena. It seems my opponent is a Misha.

    ¡°Oh, hey fellow Misha, my name is Arwen Clover.¡±

    Oh hello, my name is Agn¨¨s Oures.

    ¡°Agn¨¨s Oures? The Silver Menace?¡±

    Wait what? How do you know about that!

    ¡°I surrender!¡± Arwen ran away.

    What had just happened? Do I now have 2 names that cause trouble?

    I went back inside.

    ¡°Hey, what just happened your opponent just ran away!¡± My students seemed disappointed.

    I think I might be a bit infamous.

    ¡°Hey dude, didn¡¯t you disguise yourself to avoid that?¡±

    You see Randy, you make a good point, unfortunately I may or may not have used this appearance before.

    ¡°I bet you were up to no good as usual.¡± Crissy was being harsh but she was correct. ¡°So, what did you do to make her run away?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Tell us!¡± The students became noisy.

    So, I may or may not have pranked a group of witches so much that they have put a ¡®Flee on sight¡¯ order on me.

    ¡°So, one of the most powerful races known are afraid of you?¡±

    Not afraid it¡¯s more like uhm, they have a terrible matchup against me.

    ¡°Aww, we were looking forward to see you fight! Oh, look they have fixed something so that you can fight after all!¡±

    Ugh.

    They were correct, I was up again.

    I walked into the arena and I saw a guy who looked like he would be a Silent Night. He was holding 2 daggers after all. I saw the Misha that had run away from my fight closely observe and she even had a notepad. What is she doing?

    The match started and the Silent Night rushed at me. I swung my staff and he evaded it. He went for a dagger strike at my back and I flicked my hair and made my hat fall. It blocked the dagger strike and I used [Hattrick]. Both the Misha that was spying on me and the Silent Night were surprised because dropping your hat as a Misha is a death sentence. His surprise turned into horror when he saw me teleport to another hat and saw another floating.

    I pointed at his feet where my original hat was. It had just finished [Fireblast]. He got blasted in the air and I sniped him down midair with several [Fireballs]. I made the other 2 hats move to where he would land and used [Explode] to keep him airborne. There was absolutely nothing he could do.

    I made an extra big [Fireball] and defeated him.

    He had spent more time in the air than on the ground. I also didn¡¯t have to move a lot for this. And! I used my catalyst like how most Misha would use them!

    He dropped down and was severely charred. Is he dead? I might have overdone it as he seemed one foot in the grave. Something was preventing him from dying though. Interesting. It works for me as I would have messed up and killed him.

    The spying Misha had already written 4 pages full. What a weirdo. I walked off and got a lot of cheers.

    ¡°Wow you really humiliated that guy¡­ and¡­ killed him?¡± Hayley looked at as if she was feeling sorry for the Silent Night.

    ¡°Yessir! That was fantastic! The contesters in the arena are unable to die so you can let loose!¡± Mo was overly excited by my performance.

    Oh that¡¯s good to hear. I messed up as my moves still seemed a bit overtuned¡­

    ¡°Wow dude, do you mind if I copy that idea?¡±

    Sure, I don¡¯t mind, t¡¯s not easy to keep someone in the air though. You¡¯re also unlikely to turn your opponent into ash so go for it!

    Randy started talking to his teammates on how to do this.

    I had decided to interrogate the spying Misha. A clone had also notified me of some suspicious activity. Another university was stealing my idea and having their students beat up adventurers too. It¡¯s time to spy on them and eliminate any threat to my students.

    I casually walked through the crowd. The spy Misha was looking at her notes.

    So what¡¯s the status on learning [Hattrick] in Witchaven?

    The Misha jumped up.

    Wow chill, I¡¯m not here to beat you up, yet. How about we chat were there are less humans around?

    She nodded.

    It had been more than a year since I had left Witchaven. Most skilled Misha should come close to getting [Hattrick] to work. The first one should appear in 1 or 2 years.

    ¡°Hello again, my name is Arwen Clover. I¡¯m a big fan of your work. About [Hattrick]¡­ it¡¯s more complicated than we had expected¡­ the headmaster said that Misha like Ayaru and Beatrice would be able to master this within 2-3 years. The skilled Misha would need about 10 and someone like me probably 50 to 100 years¡­¡±

    Huh? Did I make a mistake? It shouldn¡¯t be that hard?

    ¡°Well, this is why the headmaster was upset with you. Everyone was excited to know that they could use this within 2-3 years. But you see, only you and Ayaru can read the mana runes to almost perfection. Even though you had released a paper explaining in detail how it works and how to learn it. Most of your ¡®Simple¡¯ steps were quite difficult for most of us. So, at the moment we have 12 Misha researching those ¡®Simple¡¯ steps of yours. The order: ¡®Flee on sight¡¯ still stands but this only related to combat. They have sent Misha out to try and ask if you could return to Witchaven.¡±

    Ugh, great. I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t belong there. I will only pay a visit when I need to raid your library. So, what were you writing down?

    ¡°Oh, well your fighting style involving [Hattrick]! Also, your friend Shelly has made ¡®Dynamic Combat¡¯ more popular. We¡¯re moving to be a bit more physically active during combat. And the name ¡®Fireball Misha¡¯ and the skill [Catalyst Throw] are very popular now.¡±

    Ah right, they used to call me the ¡®Fireball Misha¡¯ yeah.

    ¡°I was shocked though when you dropped your hat, for us Misha that would take a lot of confidence or courage.¡±

    That¡¯s fine. It¡¯s just your hats are indestructible right, why not use it to block attacks.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, that¡¯s just too scary, what if it does break?¡±

    I guess this isn¡¯t as easy for you. But it¡¯s up to you. [Hattrick] is very useful offensively.

    ¡°Do you mind if I share these notes with my peers?¡±

    Sure, I wouldn¡¯t have put that paper on their lap if I didn¡¯t want them to learn it.

    ¡°Oh, the headmaster had another message for you. She told you to watch out for Verruka Saltpeter. She¡¯s a Misha that went rogue and had killed many of us and extracted strong skills. I¡¯m sure she will be interested in [Hattrick]. She had only murdered Misha, but the headmaster is sure that she would make an exception for you. Hunting Verruka down was Ayaru¡¯s responsibility before she got sealed away¡­¡±

    Well, she can stand at the back of the line. I already have a target on my back, getting one or 2 more won¡¯t bother me at this point. But thanks for the warning.

    ¡°Ok, be careful! I will be watching your other fights!¡± She gave a thumbs up and went back to her seat. I thought about the useful information. I think Azu mentioned that she had to hunt someone down. Does that mean that this Verruka is as strong as Azu? If she doesn¡¯t know [Hattrick] and needs a hat to be effective I might still have a good shot.

    I wonder how she would extract [Hattrick] from me though. Of what I know about Misha physiology is that their hats stick around for a bit after they die. And since the hat knows the same skills as the Misha, they can be extracted from the hat. It¡¯s not an easy process but it¡¯s possible. Hacking into someone¡¯s brain and stealing skills is way harder than hacking into a hat. Maybe I should develop a skill to protect their skills after death. I¡¯m not sure how popular it would be for them but it might put them at ease a bit. I decided to put a tail on this.

    My clones had been spectating and none of the students have lost a match yet. I had decided to pass every student except for 3. Their match would be soon and they will have to do their best a bit more. It¡¯s a 6v6 battle but only 3 of them are doing the work. The other 3 are a bit of a liability.

    My clone had concerning news for me. The other university that was here was not from close. They came from far, the country of Bizax. It borders Igrini Kingdom to the north and Hjuva to the northeast. It¡¯s a religious country.

    I didn¡¯t know all this, this is what my clone had learned from spying on them. Now the concerning news was. They were from the Biian Academy and their religion is worshipping the bitch goddess. My clone also heard something about rumors of a Dimsha being here.

    I hope thee 3 students pull their weight in their match because we need to get out of here immediately. This Dimsha is piquing my interest though. It seems to be important to this building because it creates barriers to protect people and makes it almost impossible to die in this building. It¡¯s one of the few instances where I think such a powerful item is used correctly. It¡¯s used for the people, not to protect some stupid arrogant king or something.

    I also feel dutybound as this Dimsha prevented me from becoming a murderer and getting into a lot of trouble. I might have to interfere with this.

    I sighed. This was just supposed to be an exam for my students. I had a match soon but I will have a clone deal with that. This cultist academy is super suspicious.

    My clone had achieved a swift win. It was my [Fireball], [Staff Throw], dash to opponent combo. Nobody saw it coming. The spy Misha was super excited because she had probably heard about this.

    I came close to where these cultists were hanging out when I got surrounded.

    ¡°Oh, we¡¯ve found a hottie! How about you sit with us!¡± These guys had white silken robes adorned with gold. It did remind me of the dress that Tomato Goddess was wearing when I saved Norya.

    It is time to go full vixen on them.

    Oh no! I got lost!

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry little bird, we will protect you.¡±

    I had to control myself to not vomit. Does this actually work on chicks? I decided to play along.  Oh, how reliable! I need to be at section D5.

    ¡°Eh? That¡¯s quite far from here, how about you hang out with us for a bit and we will safely return you.¡±

    Ehh sure.

    They led me into a small hall. They kept staring. They could stare all they want but they will turn into Ash Cultists the moment they try something funny.

    It seemed they had hired off this hall because I could only find cultists here. They were looking out of the window which was looking over a big arena where I saw some cultists fight.

    ¡°Look Hoyt, we found a hot chick!¡±

    A guy that resembled the demi god got up. He was huge, easily 2.2 meters tall and looked quite¡­ square. Did his mother fuck a cube? Is he even human? He towered over me and looked down to me.

    Ow, my neck, can you stand a bit further away so I can look at you?

    ¡°Hmm a witch, I thought they had a lack of humor. It seems this one is different and interesting. She also seems more endowed than the average witch. Very interesting. She can stay.¡±

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Hoyt went back and sat down and watched how his cultists friend were a bit too aggressive in fighting their opponents. Their opponents blood was flying everywhere.

    Uhm, I¡¯m not here to stay, I¡¯m looking for D5.

    ¡°Oh, come one, just have some fun with us!¡± This random cultist put his arm over my shoulder and squeezed my left breast. ¡°Oh, pretty big, aren¡¯t ya?¡±

    I grabbed his hand and burnt it to a crisp.

    He screamed and activated some random light magic spell which I easily interrupted.

    ¡°Hey you bitch!¡±

    How about you stop abducting random women and groping them, last warning let me go!  I pointed my catalyst at the random who was unarmed.

    ¡°You will pay for this!¡± Unarmed random was about to attack me when he got blasted by a [Light Blast]. He crashed into the marble wall behind him.

    Hoyt got up. ¡°Feisty, aren¡¯t ya? I like my women feisty. How about this? Join us?¡±

    Sure, let¡¯s go! Is that what you expect me to say? Is that square head for decoration?

    Hoyt exhaled deeply. ¡°Oh, I wouldn¡¯t rebel if I were you!¡±

    I got surrounded by cultists. ¡°You might not realize this but by burning Purty¡¯s hand off you got a stack of [Biian¡¯s Judgement]. If she ever finds you, she will not let you off. Hurting any of us will just increase those stacks. But obey and come with us, and we will remove it for you.¡±

    Unfortunately, this guy wasn¡¯t bluffing. But I would be screwed debuff or not, that tomato bitch would target me before she finds out that I have these stupid status condition. But I want to know what they are up to.

    I lowered my staff.  Fine, but if any of you tries crazy stuff, I will turn you and your cultist group into ash!

    ¡°Hahaha! I really like that fighting spirit! I like you! What is your name? And we¡¯re not a cult.¡±

    I¡¯m Agn¨¨s O¡­  I paused.

    Hoyt was looking waiting for a complete answer. I realized that I almost made a mistake. Gramps had changed my mom¡¯s last name from Oures to Hourai. Why did he do that? Will giving that last name away tip them off? Do I need to create another name?

    ¡°Agn¨¨s Ou?¡±

    Yes, Agn¨¨s Ou.

    ¡°That is a beautiful name, come and sit next to me, we will watch the matches together!¡± He looked at the other cultists. ¡°If anyone of you touches her you will wish you were never born.¡±

    He confiscated my hat and started treating me as some trophy, he was bragging about all kinds of boring stuff. He was getting too close and I was extremely uncomfortable. I was very small compared to him.

    His hand also got closer to my chest. He did tell me everything I wanted to know though. I was unsure if this was because of my natural looks or because of the charm magic that I was leaking. I will have to find out what the deal is with charm magic one day. To me it seems to be one of the most overpowered magic branch that exists.

    The cultists were here to practice combat but also to reduce the amount of non-believers. They were aiming for the Dimsha because it was a relic that¡¯s only supposed to be wielded by those who were worthy. Of course, in all their arrogance are convinced that only they are worthy. I don¡¯t know how but it seemed the monster trio was up next against some cultists. What are these idiots doing on this side of this building?!

    ¡°Oh, these three seemed to have been setting up an impressive streak. Those two there are quite attractive. Hey Ipush, bring those 2 here after they have been defeated. We will have some fun with the 3 ladies afterward hahahahaha!¡±

    I smiled. There is no way the monster trio would lose against these idiots. Hoyt seemed to have misinterpreted my smile though.

    ¡°Oh, you are so beautiful when you smile.¡± That instantly killed my smile because I was disgusted.

    The monster trio had more difficulties with these cultists than I had thought. Mo got hurt but not a lot. They could revert to their real roles now that they were fighting opponents that had more complex magic. One of the cultists was sexually harassing Crissy and Hayley and Crissy turned one into an ice cube. It wasn¡¯t very strong ice because there wasn¡¯t a lot of moisture in the air but it did stop him. Long enough for Mo to fuck him up and knock him out.

    Hoyt leaned forward, not believing what he saw. He was squinting his eyes. It looked strange, squinting eyes on a square-ish face.

    ¡°What?! That¡¯s impossible! Who are these three!¡± He yelled at a random cultists.

    ¡°Uhh, we don¡¯t know Hoyt!¡±

    These are students from the Ancie¡­ Fugaku University.

    Hoyt leaned back and smiled.

    ¡°And she¡¯s knowledgeable. I should pay more attention to the witch race. They are alluring and intelligent.¡± He looked at his cultist friends. ¡°You guys are useless! Go get something to eat for Agn¨¨s! And maybe also something¡­¡±

    He looked at me. His eyes seemed to be licking my body. Is this how chicks feel when Raishin looks at them? ¡°Pleasant to wear.¡±

    I wondered what I should do. These guys didn¡¯t know the location of the Dimsha, they have other cultists looking for it but I want to see the monster trio destroy these cultists.

    Oh, Crissy landed a satisfying [Fire Punch] and knocked another cultist out. Hoyt seemed to try and control his emotions but his hand was still getting closer.

    You are going to lose that arm if that touches my chest.

    He twitched and his arm started creating distance.

    The monster trio had won. They looked beat up but no major injuries. Mo was doing some dance. It looked a bit funny but he was really happy. The chicks hugged each other. Hoyt didn¡¯t like this though.

    ¡°Ipush!¡± Silence. ¡°Ipush! Where the fuck is Ipush?!¡± Square looked around but couldn¡¯t find the lackey he had sent off minutes ago. Is his brain one big cube too?

    ¡°Uhh, you sent him to get those women when they lost.¡±

    ¡°Go tell him to bring them either way! That redhead is busty and pretty, I feel like fucking her and Agn¨¨s. Where is the dress I had requested?¡± And this is where I will have to step in.

    I¡¯m not fucking you! You look like a human sized cube! You probably are as stupid as a cube too!

    He grabbed me and I tried to burn his hand off but my magic didn¡¯t work. He pointed at a device. It seemed to cancel out magic circle formation.

    ¡°I love your spice, let¡¯s get you in that dress first so I can get in the mood.¡±

    Hey let me go!

    Hmm I might have fucked up. Some female cultist came and dragged me away. They dragged me in a room and started putting me in some dress they had for some reason.

    Now I could easily escape but I was curious about how this dress would look on me. Also they have set their sights on the monster trio so I will have to save them when I escape. Better to let them bring them here. They took their time dressing me up. Most dresses didn¡¯t fit me. I sensed some envy but they didn¡¯t pull anything strange¡­ yet. I heard noise in the hall. They finished and let me go. I walked in and activated my Elgards eyes.

    Oh, I¡¯m quite the looker. Their taste is not that bad. Now time to save my students. Some fire mana was leaking from me, making me extra hot. But that¡¯s unintentional as I¡¯m pissed and doing my best to not incinerate my students.

    ¡°Huh? Agnis?¡±

    Hey there Mo, Crissy, Hayley. Hoyt, let them go, they¡¯re with me.

    ¡°This is impossible¡­ a guy is prettier than me¡­¡± I don¡¯t know why but Hayley seems to have taken emotional damage.

    Hoyt couldn¡¯t keep his eyes off me. I suppose I can start leaking more charm magic now. ¡°Wow, it was a good idea to dress you up and what do you mean they¡¯re with you?¡±

    You said you wanted to fuck me, right? How about this, if you gather all your friends around to watch I will let you.

    ¡°Agnis are you crazy?!¡± Crissy was being held down by a random cultist.

    I gestured for her to be quiet. It was time for 9t toxic trait #1: Manipulation.

    ¡°Hey, what are you waiting for! Get everyone! That Dimsha isn¡¯t going everywhere!¡±

    Surely but slowly, I applied charm. Hoyt was getting extremely excited.

    It took 10 minutes for the hall to be filled with cultist. I walked over to Hoyt slowly and put on my best seductive voice.

    Is this everyone? You¡¯re not letting me wait are you, Hoyt?

    I threw more charm magic around. Some pink energy tried to appear but I hid them with illusions. It would be apparent that I¡¯m using charm magic if pink energy starts gathering. Hoyt nodded like a horny dog and I moved my hand over his chest.

    Are you sure?

    Hoyt came in action and personally checked if everyone was present. I took this time to charm every cultist in the room.

    ¡°Agnis! Please stop this isn¡¯t worth it!¡± Crissy started to cry.

    I walked over to her and dried her tears.  Did you forget what I am?

    ¡°Yes! Everyone is here!¡± Hoyt was already stripping.

    Good, now come here I beckoned him with my index finger and took a seductive pose. Hoyt walked over to me

    You see Crissy, you have seemed to forgotten that I¡¯m a fox. And I¡¯m doing what foxes do best. And foxes always get what they want.

    My eyes glowed pink purple and I revealed all of my tails. Every cultist was already charmed by me. I used my tails and grabbed Mo, Hayley and Crissy from the clutches of the cultists and wrapped them into a ball inside my tails, protecting them from what was to come.

    Right, this world can do without Biian cultists.

    The cultists broke out of the charm because I suck at charm magic but that didn¡¯t matter. I used [Incinerate] on the whole hall.

    The familiar scent of burnt flesh spread through the room. The whole room was charred black and charred bodies were littering the floor. The only things that weren¡¯t burnt was me and my students wrapped in my tails. Also, a blue hat.

    Nilah! Sword!

    Nilah turned into Shirayuki and I stored her in my dimensional pocket.

    I made a sexy pose. I am hot, figuratively but also literally.

    Realizing that I was making a fool out of myself I covered myself and the students in 9 layers of illusions and walked away.

    The staff ran over to check what had happened. I seemed to have gained 161 stacks of [Biian¡¯s Judgement]. I tried to remove them but it was completely different from curses.

    Most of my students had finished all their matches. My clones notified that the 3 that might fail the exam were a liability again so unfortunately, 3 had failed the exam.

    I walked into the small hall Teppei had hired. Teppei was pacing around and mumbling something. I removed the illusions and freed the students.

    ¡°Chris!¡± He ran at Crissy.

    ¡°Gramps!¡± They had a touching reunion.

    ¡°Holy shit Agn¨¨s why do you look so hot?¡± I realized that while I¡¯m like this, a female 9t, I¡¯m irresistible to the men. I noticed that I was unconsciously leaking charm magic again. I hid my tails and ears and it mostly disappeared.

    Right, ¡®G¡¯ guy, Crissy¡¯s admirer and ehm Benny?

    ¡°It¡¯s Ginny!¡±

    Yes, you three, we need to talk. Old fart, give the rest the good news.

    I brought the 3 to the side and explained to them why they failed. The guys kept staring at my cleavage. I didn¡¯t mind it that much, I know that Agn¨¨s Oures is alluring. They seemed to have already realized that they have failed.

    Right, I know that a lot has happened but we need to get the fuck out of here.  I dropped illusion layers on everyone and we safely made it back to the university. After arriving at the uni I announced my departure.

    ¡°Why do you need to leave!¡± Crissy was clinging to me and crying.

    Come on Crissy you¡¯re ruining your pretty face. Teppei say something!

    Teppei was being useless and doing nothing. The students tried to convince me to stay.

    Look it was fun but I was only supposed to teach for half a year. You guys don¡¯t need my lessons anymore. Those who have to retake the exams can do so without me. Also, as usual I have a target on my back, this place will turn into a warzone one day if I stay here. People come and go in your life all the time. Make sure to make it worthwhile.

    Crissy was such a crybaby. I covered her in my tails which seemed to calm her down. I looked at the sorry bunch that were my students. Such a change of tone in the ambience since they had heard they had passed. Aren¡¯t they supposed to be the same age as me?

    Well, Teppei as of today I¡¯m resigning thank you for everything

    I handed Crissy over to Teppei.

    ¡°You will still be around, right?¡±

    I looked back at Teppei.  Of course, I¡¯m not leaving without my buddies.

    I walked away but tripped because walking on heels is a nightmare.  Shit!

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 33: Team Hourai

    I had to tell my students to continue and focus on their studies and not trying to spend all of it hanging out with me. I had transformed back to my male self. I did keep the dress and accessories. They might be useful for my next Agn¨¨s Oures adventure. Crissy had buried herself in her studies and the rest of the students seemed to have focused on their other exams. Greg had given his students a standard exam so he had to grade them.

    A week had passed since the last exam and Greg was still grading the exams. This gave the students time to spend time with me. I just went with it. I got dragged shopping through the campus shopping center, fishing, climbing, they even dragged me to a party. I had managed to drag Greg too. Greg was getting hit on and his stalker was scaring them off again. Raishin had the time of his life. He had finally earned his way to 1 gold. He barely has 1 gold but it¡¯s something. Mo was making the dancefloor unsafe. Some humans are mysterious, how can he move like that?

    He was about 127 kg but his dance moves were more fluid than anyone. He was absolutely killing it. He was putting the cool and ripped dudes to shame. Raishin gave it a shot and he was more the comic relief. He tried to copy Mo but he failed miserably. I looked on while I was clearing out all the snacks. The barman was keeping an eye out on me but that¡¯s useless if I can use [Turning Leaf] to steal snacks.

    ¡°Hey I saw that!¡± Woops the barman caught on.

    He sent a bouncer at me and I had to take evasive maneuvers. The music was loud and mostly bad. It was quite dark yet there were still lights flashing everywhere. A lot of students were being gross but I guess this is their time to unwind.

    I saw Hayley and some of her friends dancing provocatively while also being dressed like such. It was driving Raishin crazy. Is this how humans get educated? It looks like any trace of intelligence had disappeared and had made place for pleasure and lust. The more I learn about Uni, the more I wonder why Raishin didn¡¯t like it. It seems he does now though.

    I sat down in an empty corner and made a double layered [Air ball] with a vacuum in between to keep the noise out.

    Ahh my personal quiet bubble. I kept swapping snacks and drinks toward myself. The barman noticed again that the counter was full of ice cubes but he couldn¡¯t see me from here.

    I love my Elgards eyes. I looked at how almost everyone was intoxicated, Greg included. He didn¡¯t seem to have noticed that the chicks did that to him on purpose. Is today the day he really becomes a man? I leaned back into the couch.

    After we leave, we need to get back to finding leads on how to return home. I have to find Thalia and Toxic Donkey. There was no trace of Toxic Donkey in that arena place. I need to watch out for that Ver witch that wants to steal [Hattrick] and I have an extra big target on me so the moment Biian smells me I¡¯m toast. So which problem do I address first? I might also have to check on Vinny but he is careful so hopefully he won¡¯t disappear. Am I missing something

    I was deep in thought so I didn¡¯t notice 5 intoxicated chicks and an intoxicated Raishin sit with me in my quiet corner.

    ¡°Heyyy Agnis, why are you here alone?¡±

    Whoa this smell, and this dress, Hayley did you put Crissy in this dress?

    ¡°Hehe, she¡¯s sexy, eh? Now that we have delivered Crissy, its tiiime to party!!¡± She grabbed her drink, grabbed Raishin¡¯s hand, stood up and went to dance. Intoxicated Midget and 2 chicks I don¡¯t know stayed behind.

    Hey Hayley! You forgot some people!

    But she couldn¡¯t hear me.

    ¡°So, you are Agnis, I¡¯ve heard a lot about you. My name is Jenny.¡± I looked at the tall blonde which was dressed like a slut. I¡¯m sure that the guys would go crazy over her. I don¡¯t know much about makeup but I think this was too much. I wonder if her makeup would crack if I flicked a snack at her face.

    ¡°Hey, what was that?!¡±

    Dunno, maybe a fly.

    It seems her make-up was quite robust. The small nut that I flicked couldn¡¯t dent her makeup.

    She started talking and I tuned out. Midget was talking with Crissy and the other chick. Why did they come to disturb me?

    ¡°Hey are you listening?!¡±

    Nope.

    ¡°Ugh, you should be glad that you get the chance to talk to me.¡± She arrogantly flipped her hair trying to act pretty.

    I¡¯m not, you talk too much, can you leave my quiet space?

    ¡°I¡¯m not leaving even if you ask me!¡±

    Then can you stop talking so much?

    ¡°Why should I listen to you? Now look here, I¡¯m looking for a boyfriend and you meet the requirements.¡±

    I looked around.  Is this a shop? I¡¯m a person not a thing. And why do you think I would say yes?

    ¡°Hah, because I¡¯m gorgeous!¡±

    Your personality is trash though, I pass, but that guy there, he got rejected by Crissy, he might want to give you a shot.  I pointed at a guy who was taking shots. He looked miserable.

    ¡°Eww, gross.¡±

    Look just like me he is a person. Maybe you should learn how to treat others like people and not as things or possessions.

    ¡°Ugh, unbelievable, to think I wasted my time on this.¡± She got her stuff and walked away. I made a mini [Frozen Ground] and made her slip. I chuckled.

    ¡°So, I¡¯m not the only one that you reject.¡± Crissy seemed to have a drink too much.

    Hey come on girls, you know better, get her some water.

    ¡°Ok, we¡¯ll get some. We will be back!¡± They left but they took all their stuff. I think I fell for a trap. I sighed. They know my stance on this and currently Crissy is intoxicated and operating on emotion and not logic. How do I deal with this?

    Crissy looked at me as if I had use charm magic on her. This is bad. I tried to break some illusions to undo her state but it seems to be genuine and not some special effect. I think women will be the bane of me. I have no clue on how to deal with them. If Crissy could use charm magic and used it now, I would be toast. I am just like Raishin, quite shallow, but at least I can control myself.

    ¡°Hey, can I cuddle your tail?¡± Deciding that this would be better than anything else I let her. An awkward silence fell.

    ¡°Am I ever going to see you again?¡± I thought about it. There was a very likelihood that the answer would be ¡®No¡¯. but would it be a good idea to say that? Do I lie? What are the social rules for this situation? Lying or dealing emotional damage to her. I wish someone would save me. Raishin was dancing and having the time of his life. Greg was telling drunken stories to his harem.

    Teppei, where is Teppei? He is sitting across the room taking a shot and giving me a death glare but not doing anything. Why isn¡¯t he doing something! It¡¯s his granddaughter! I wish he would just come over and kick my ass. I can navigate through a conversation pretty well most of the times but in times like this it becomes apparent how socially retarded I am. Why won¡¯t anyone save me?

    ¡°Hey Agnis¡± Crissy closed in. I started to become uncomfortable. And then I saw it. The blur. It had entered this hall.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    Crissy, don¡¯t move.  I went into stealth with her.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Shhh. Over there by the door next to that stool, do you see anything?

    I didn¡¯t have my eyes active at the moment but I could see it. I pointed. It was as if Crissy had trouble looking at where I was pointing. Is she that intoxicated or¡­ I held her hand and turned her head toward the blur and I could feel she was shocked and she held on to me.

    ¡°W...what is that? Did I drink too much?¡±

    So, you can see it too, no you did not. I didn¡¯t have a drop and I can see it. I had seen it before; it seems to be after me or looking for me.

    I secretly thanked the Blur for saving me but now I wish it would fuck off.

    ¡°Where did it go?!¡± I turned her head toward the Blur. It seems that it¡¯s not invisible but it has something similar to my passive. It makes it hard to notice even out in the open. Does this mean that my passive doesn¡¯t work on 9t? I need to find something else then. I don¡¯t know why but I have the feeling Hisui could be nearby.

    Crissy, this is the kind of stuff I have to deal with. I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t know if I will be able to meet you up again. I will be either too busy and several decades will have passed or¡­I¡¯m going to investigate. Stay here.

    She grabbed my sleeve.

    ¡°No¡­ I¡¯ll come with you.¡± I grabbed her with my tail and approached the Blur. I activated my eyes and went through filters to find out what it was. It was a bit shorter than I was. It had big yellow eyes but was a black blur for the rest of its body. It¡¯s as if I can see a human like silhouette behind it but it¡¯s very vague. Even a god doesn¡¯t have an effect on my eyes like this. What is it? I can¡¯t determine its weakness, race, nothing. I followed it. It seemed to be looking around. Is it looking for me or something else?

    It spotted Greg but ignored him. So, it¡¯s not Greg. Hey isn¡¯t this thing like a walking shadow? Why isn¡¯t Greg alerted? It also ignored Raishin. It also looked like the humans were unconsciously avoiding the Blur.

    ¡°Agnis, I¡¯m scared, what does it want?¡±

    I wish I knew.

    I made a shadow clone and let it wander around. The blur noticed it after 2 minutes. It followed my clone and I followed the Blur. I tried to make my clone accidently notice it but my clone had the same problem as Crissy.

    ¡°Can you turn my head again? I lost it.¡± I turned her head toward the Blur.

    ¡°It¡¯s following your shadow clone¡­¡±

    My shadow clone has the same problem as you. It can¡¯t seem to focus on it.

    ¡°What will happen if it catches your clone? It moves quite slow.¡± I made my clone stop and grab a drink. My heart was pounding. The Blur neared my clone. It grabbed my clone and my clone and the Blur seemed as if they got sucked up in a small wormhole and disappeared. I put a tail on Crissy¡¯s mouth because she was about to scream. She seemed to be terrified. More than I was supposed to be. I couldn¡¯t connect to my shadow clone. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s dead or not. Either way this isn¡¯t good.

    Crissy couldn¡¯t calm down. She started to cry again and embraced me. At least now I know that this Blur is bad. Strangely enough this thing was even more unsettling than a god wanting to kill me. I tried to calm Crissy down but I wasn¡¯t calm myself.

    It should still be within the same dimension else my [Dimension Anchor] would have protected it. I brought Crissy back to the silent corner.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go! You saw what that thing did to your clone! There are a lot of people here, someone might notice it and warn you! If you¡¯re out there nobody can warn you!¡±

    It¡¯s fine Crissy. You need to calm down, you¡¯re hyperventilating.

    ¡°How am I supposed to calm down! That thing! It... just killed your clone! Why aren¡¯t you panicking too? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve accepted your death! I can¡¯t accept that!¡± I¡¯m wondering when this all will be over. I have nothing against Crissy but this just keeps repeating. Maybe I should surround myself with people that don¡¯t care about me.

    Teppei had noticed that Crissy was very distressed and he came over. He drew his sword.

    ¡°No gramps! He didn¡¯t do anything!¡± She started sobbing and told Teppei what just happened. I took the opportunity to get out of here and went outside. It was cool and dark. I wish I had an ability to solve problems faster than they appeared.

    I saw a fire wisp floating. It was setting some plants on fire.

    Oh, hell no!  I extinguished it.

    A strange crystal ball dropped out of it. It cracked a bit. I picked it up.

    ¡®To Raishin Torai,

    We want to apologize for the injustice we have done to you by sending you as a prisoner to Event Horizon.

    The royal family is deeply sorry and embarrassed about this event. We extend an invitation for a party at the royal palace of Scasarras on April 2  <sup>nd</sup>   of this year to personally extend our deepest apologies.

    Signed, King Ignatius Nvirath Gosileth.¡¯

    Is this a problem or are things working out for us? It will solve the problem of finding out what Shania is up to. There is a problem with this invitation though. It doesn¡¯t sound much like an apology. Apologizing for locking him up in Event Horizon? Why now? It¡¯s quite late for an apology. Is it to silence us? Nobody is supposed to escape that place and we did escape although not fully¡­

    What would we be doing if Ted was still with us? What would he say about this invitation? Would we even have ended up as teachers if he was still with us? What would Ted have been teaching? I sighed.

    The Igrini Kingdom is full of bad memories. We might need to go for some closure though¡­ We have never recovered his body¡­ Not that it would matter at this point. Too much time has passed.

    I started running some simulations on how to effectively wipe the palace off the map if they piss me off. Might have to save Shania first before I do that. Maybe this palace has useful information stored up. Stuff that only the royal family is supposed to know. There might be a low chance anything relates to Hourai but better safe than sorry.

    Next stop Igrini Kingdom! They better choose their words wisely. Although the queen seemed to be cool. Kidnap Shania and the queen then wipe out the capital. Perfect plan. It¡¯s probably easier to start out from scratch rather than the shitshow Igrini is in at the moment. We will be doing them a favor. I don¡¯t care if this turns us into international criminals. I¡¯ve had it with getting pushed around. It¡¯s time to push back.

    The next day came and I dragged the hungover Raishin toward the room of the hungover Greg.

    Hey alcoholics, wake the fuck up. This is important! We got invited to the Igrini Royal Palace, they are going to apologize to Raishin for locking him up!

    Ugh, my head, why is that happening now?

    I looked around and no trace of a chick ever being here. I was a bit disappointed.

    No clue but if they mess this apology up, I¡¯m going to wipe out the capital.

    No objections here.

    Huh, what is Igrini? Who are you guys? Wait who am I?

    I slapped Raishin and forced water down his throat.

    Whoa what am I doing here? Shit did I mess up again? Where are all those busty chicks?

    Your room was full of passed out naked busty chicks. I don¡¯t know what happened but I¡¯d say congratulations, you probably did it. Now let¡¯s get back to the important part¡­

    Yes! Woohooo!

    I decked Raishin so he would be quiet.

    Ugh, I haven¡¯t touched a drop and I¡¯m getting a headache.

    I assume you have an ulterior motive.

    Good that at least your head still works. They might have some shady information only the royal family knows about. Maybe it has something related to Hourai. You never know.

    And getting a proper apology from them is also overdue. I will assist you in wiping out the capital if they are insincere or fail to properly apologize. It cost us our dear friend and brother.

    Yeah! Let¡¯s get our revenge!

 Vol 3 Ch 33.5: Shadow Clone

    A portal opened and a person got forcefully ejected out of the portal into a large subterranean room filled with corpses.

    Ouch! What a sloppy portal, where the fuck am I and¡­ who has this terrible taste¡­

    The young man said after quickly recovering from this strange event.

    He had no time to think much of it as he dispelled a [Vaporize] that specifically targeted his head.

    Whoa that''s a nasty greeting! The young man said. He kept his composure even though he got ambushed.

    ¡°That is strange, most targets that get sucked up by my collectors are too distressed or disoriented to react to my targeted [Vaporize] or [Supernova Blast]. Who are you?¡± Verruka Saltpeter asked the young man that had just appeared from the portal.

    He had black hair which was tied up. The ends of his hair seemed white or silver. He was dressed quite formally.

    Huh? Azu? Wait, not quite Azu.

    The man''s demeanour changed.

    You brought me here so you should know who I am. More importantly¡­ who the fuck are you? Why do you look like Azu, but not quite like her. Hmm actually you don''t look anything like her. A fan? Maybe a sister? A stalker?

    A black blob merged with Verruka Saltpeter and information about her target flowed into her mind.

    ¡°Ahh Agnis Hourai, the creator of [Hattrick]. The Misha are going crazy about it and it''s a skill that I need for my grand plan. However¡­¡± Verruka raised an eyebrow. ¡°You are not a Misha¡­ Did those fools decide to let other races in?¡±

    She expected an answer but her target was stretching and suddenly had 9 fox tails out.

    Oh sorry, I wasn''t paying attention. I lost connection with my main body. I¡¯m a shadow clone, you see. So this situation means that I¡¯m probably screwed. A shadow clone should complain to the main body that he keeps overworking us. I thought that I could enjoy this party but noo! I had to be a decoy for some strange Blur...

    ¡°I see a trickster race, that explains a lot.¡± Verruka tried casting various spells but they kept getting interrupted and the eyes of this man had an eerie color. His gaze was piercing and an uncomfortable feeling welled up in Verruka as she had the feeling as if this man was peering into her past, present and future.

    I see. I think I know what''s going on. A Misha did warn me about a ¡®Misha killer'' that targeted [Hattrick]. I think your name was Versalt?

    ¡°It''s Verruka Saltpeter! The mother of curses!¡± Verruka said proudly.

    Huh? Not Versalt? Did that Misha mess up your name?

    Verruka¡¯s pride turned into annoyance. ¡°Unbelievable, another one that lives under a rock! Most targets have heard of my name! And those that didn''t, used my actual name and not a made up name or a nickname! And to make it worse, you''re a clone? And not the real person?! I have no need for a clone¡­ Die!¡±

    Verruka''s mana welled up, getting ready to cast several skills and causes when a cold flash went out and wiped out all the mana. ¡°What?!¡±

    Hmm I¡¯m not on the Kaledon continent anymore. Why do strange things continue to happen to me¡­ first that Blur and now this bullshit.

    Agnis walked around, tripped over a corpse and faceplanted into a pile of corpses.

    What the fuck! This is poor taste for furniture. Your room is even messier than Raishin¡¯s!

    Agnis started to incinerate corpses. Most of the corpses had their hearts eaten so Verruka had no need for them but Agnis started incinerating a pile that were due for ¡®Heart Extraction¡¯.

    ¡°Hey hey! You can''t just come into a woman¡¯s room and incinerate all her corpses! And why don''t you fear me?!¡± Verruka cast [Acedia] on Agnis. It failed as Agnis already had been afflicted by [Acedia]. ¡°Ahh you have heard of me! You are afflicted by one of my deadly sin curses!¡±

    Agnis continued incinerating corpses without batting an eye.

    Oh yeah I¡¯m quite cursed, that stupid goddess did a number on me with all those curses, that was quite reckless of me.

    His gaze fell on to a corridor, leading deeper into the mountain.

    ¡°No, that curse is mine! Not of a goddess! And if you''re going to lie, make up a more believable lie!¡± Verruka casted multiple skills but her target kept evading. Every evade sent out [Water Blades] and [Fire Blades] causing Verruka to get pressured by his evades.

    ¡°It seems I can extract more from you than just [Hattrick].¡± Verruka said while licking her lips.

    Agnis pointed at himself.

    I''m a shadow clone, remember? You probably need my real body for that. Good luck catching him. Now why do I sense deception?

    Verruka was currently merged with an enormous black mass of viscous condensed mana. This viscous mana connected her to other large masses of concentrated mana, spread out through the cave system so she was unable to move from her spot.

    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    She formed 2 blood sacrifice clones, also known as BS clones, out of nearby corpses to deal with this problematic shadow clone.

    Agnis¡¯ face contorted in disgust.

    This is what you do with the corpses? You really do have terrible taste¡­ Why do I always get the weirdos¡­

    Agnis jumped up, used [Frozen Ground], slipped the BS clones and froze their pants to the floor.

    I have no chance in beating you as I¡¯m a shadow clone but the least I can do is piss you off! I hope that you like playing ¡®Hide and Seek¡¯!

    Agnis said before dropping into stealth and disappearing.

    Verruka was baffled and upset. What just happened? This was the first time she ¡®collected¡¯ a shadow clone and also the first time her target escaped. She created 12 more BS clones, which spread out to look for this problematic target.

    Verruka managed to calm down. She had stopped researching her targets centuries ago. Something like this was bound to happen. It was certainly the first trickster or assassin-type target she ¡®collected'' since she stopped familiarising with who she will ¡®collect¡¯ next.

    An half hour went by and the two BS clones were still frozen to the ground. The tropical temperatures should have melted it a long time ago.

    This improved Verruka''s mood as this wasn''t normal ice, it was a branch of magic that''s nearly extinct. Eating his heart became more and more attractive.

    She either had to consume countless hearts, or consume the hearts of Agnis Hourai and Ayaru Mistflower and the prerequisites will be met decades earlier than planned.

    Blobs gathered around Verruka and merged with her. The blobs contained information gathered by all the active BS clones.

    ¡°Hmm, Ayaru surely takes her time getting here. I wonder how her heart tastes like. I appreciate that she¡¯s coming here herself as ¡®collecting¡¯ her would be near impossible. Now what''s the deal with this Agnis Hourai guy? I thought fox beast kin were extinct and I don''t remember them having 9 tails¡±

    More blobs merged with her as she tried to find out where the real Agnis Hourai was and how to deal with the shadow clone as an explosion went off that shook the mountain. Verruka lost connection with the concentrated mass of mana that was responsible for high level fire magic. Neither she or her BS clones would be able to use complicated fire magic without it.

    ¡°That asshole!¡± Verruka created more BS clones to catch this shadow clone. ¡°How did he even find out?! They are concealed masterfully!¡±

    Is what she believed but it was a fact that her ¡®High Fire Mana Blob¡¯ had been destroyed. She had mana blobs for almost every magic category as managing millions of skills was near impossible. Verruka marvelled in her genius idea to separate magic categories and have condensed mana blobs take charge over them.

    Verruka''s ¡®genius¡¯ idea was currently backfiring as Agnis had destroyed the blob responsible for complicated fire magic. She had made sure to hide them properly with illusions.

    ¡°Illusions¡­ fox with 9 tails¡­ It¡¯s surely not a nine tailed spirit fox right? Illusions are quite useless against them¡­¡± Verruka realised that her plan would be in serious danger if this was the case.

    Sounds of glass cracking and shattering could be heard as several illusion layers broke and the blob responsible for illusions and deception got destroyed.

    ¡°Noo! My genius plan!¡± Verruka put all the collectors on alert. They would increase the amount of targets to ¡®collect¡¯ as Verruka turned half of the remaining corpses into BS clones to hunt this fox down.

    ¡°Not now! I needed the ¡®deception blob¡¯ to deal with Ayaru!¡±

    A swarm of BS clones rushed out to locate Agnis.

    Verruka dropped her head in her hands. Everything went so well up until this point. The mana she had saved up had been used to create those BS clones.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a good thing that Ayaru is so slow¡­ I need more time.. ¡°

    The ¡®deception blob'' had been destroyed so all the other blobs were exposed. If Verruka didn''t deal with Agnis, she would lose more blobs. She needs them to fight Ayaru.

    Verruka was confident in her strength but the only individual she deemed a threat was Ayaru Mistflower. But¡­

    She felt several BS clones disappear as they got assassinated by Agnis¡¯ shadow clone. Several portals opened and multiple ''collected'' targets dropped to the floor. They all got caught by surprise and died to some [Supernova Blasts], [Oxidize] and [Crystalline Fractures].

    Verruka would normally also use [Melt] or [Vaporize] but she was unable to use it, now the fire blob had been destroyed.

    She consumed more hearts while getting increasingly upset with Agnis¡¯ shadow clone.

    Days went by. Her mana was slowly getting to the point where she felt comfortable as she had collected thousands of hearts. Some hearts gave her fire based skills but she needed to consume many more to create a new fire blob.

    The biggest loss was the loss of the deception blob. She would need to catch targets like Agnis to restore this but as her disappearing BS clones were demonstrating, this could end up backfiring.

    ¡°Stop hiding and fight like a man!¡± Verruka exclaimed in vexation.

    Agnis appeared next to her moments later and shook his head.

    You do know you''re fighting a 9t right? ¡®Unfair¡¯ is our thing. Expecting us to fight straightforwardly and fair is like expecting a fish to run a marathon.

    ¡°I don''t care! And I don''t know what a ¡®9t¡¯ is!¡± Verruka said as she shot out [Fulminate Surge] and [Gale Force] which Agnis evaded.

    Agnis kept evading and sending [Fire Blades] out after every evade, countering Verruka''s attacks. This excessive use of fire pissed her off even more.

    Whoa those are some exotic skills. And uhh, ''nine tailed spirit fox'' is a mouthful so I just say 9t, it''s short and easy. Also¡­ why don''t you cast [Incinerate], [Vaporize] or other fire based spells?

    Agnis asked with a smirk.

    Black blobs, wind and lightning magic got flung toward Agnis. ¡°Because you destroyed my cute fire blob!¡±

    Ah I see, so I was right. Not that fire works on me anyway. It also is disturbing to see a Wannabe Azu stuck in black goop and talk with a creepy voice like that. Anyways, my mana ran out so I got to go. I don''t know who is supposed to kick your ass but that''s not my problem. Cya!

    The clone dispelled itself and disappeared.

    This made Verruka even angrier. She was the strongest Misha on the planet and this shadow clone made a fool out of her. It didn''t even die, it ran out of mana, mocking her that she couldn''t even kill a clone before it ran out of mana.

    She lost it and threw a tantrum. Several BS clones spread out over the planet went on a rampage so she could vent.

    It didn''t work as she, the main body, needed to vent. There was nothing here for her to vent on.

    She looked at the corpse pile closest to her and smiled. The most important component of her plan was in this pile and untouched. She decided to bottle up her frustration and vent it later. She would vent on Ayaru, turn that beautiful face of her into a mess before ripping her heart out and feast on it.

    Verruka still had insufficient mana but was eagerly awaiting Ayaru¡¯s arrival as she needed to get this out of her system and wondered how Ayaru''s heart tastes like.

 Vol 3 Ch 34: Ainahs II

    Our departure was heart breaking. Hayley and Crissy especially made our departure difficult. Greg¡¯s stalker was lurking in the distance so at least Greg had an easy time. They told us to visit from time to time but I¡¯m unsure if we will be able to. They have a month off now and they wanted to join us but Greg and I had convinced Teppei to stop them.

    Also, we are most likely going to make Igrini Kingdom our enemy. They don¡¯t need a whole country being pissed off at them. We took the teleport gate to the AA in Ainahs. I had to wait 10 minutes before Greg and Raishin appeared.

    Hey Greg. I have a question. What would happen if the Aquini Kingdom learns that Igrini Kingdom had sent Raishin, a beast kin, to Event Horizon.

    Greg stopped and took a pensive stance.

    Oof, that might actually be the straw that breaks the camel¡¯s back and an actual war might break out.

    I¡¯m not a big fan of wars let¡¯s keep the kills to ourselves!

    As usual, doing the right things for the wrong reasons.

    I miss the chicks, why couldn¡¯t we take them with us?

    Do you want to meet Shania while having Hayley drooling over you?

    Oh, shit I totally forgot about that! Yeah, maybe it¡¯s better they didn¡¯t come with us.

    I hope Shania smacks you¡­ I¡¯m curious on how you¡¯re going to address this. She¡¯s still technically your girlfriend.

    Yeah, I can¡¯t believe that you cheated on her.

    Raishin grabbed his head.   Oh shit! I completely forgot! She will forgive me, right?

    Forgive you for forgetting her? Oof you¡¯re asking for much there.

    Just accept your fate.

    Nooo!  Raishin collapsed dramatically.

    Come on we¡¯re just joking; I¡¯m sure Shania understands the situation and wouldn¡¯t mind. You might get a slap at worst.

    Really?

    Raishin looked at me and he looked like he genuinely felt that he messed up.

    Come on get up, it will all work out.

    I helped Raishin up because he was attracting a lot of attention by acting dramatic in the teleport gate terminal. Greg and Raishin walked into the main hall but I was carefully looking around.

    What are you doing?

    I have to make sure Healerguy isn¡¯t here. He always finds me somehow. I think the coast is clear.

    I could relax because Healerguy didn¡¯t seem to be around. The 4 of us headed out to find a hotel. Yes, the 4 of us, the stalker thought she was being sneaky but she can¡¯t escape my eyes. I don¡¯t see any harm in this as long as she doesn¡¯t hurt Greg.

    This might actually be beneficial since she can help him when he gets lost or something. Also, anyone who tries to fight Greg will have to fight her too. She doesn¡¯t seem to be a Silent Night but a Hawkeye. She seems to be well aware of her surroundings. We found a random hotel that was close to the south gate. We would take our time to get to the capital because we had 20 days to get there.

    We didn¡¯t want to stay in Ainahs though.

    <hr>

    I can finally get my revenge!

    Raishin had imbued a pillow with orange lightning and it was slowly disintegrating.

    That looks very dangerous. So, tell me how is that pillow not disintegrating?

    Raishin started to boast about how his mana control had improved. I wasn¡¯t really listening because he didn¡¯t realize that I was stalling for time until his pillow would disintegrate. Which it did after 74 seconds of him boasting.

    Huh?

    Ha! Take this!

    A perfect hit on his head. the force of the hit launched him into the wall.

    I win again! You suck at pillow fights!

    The door got flung open ad an edgy character entered.

    What in the Hourai¡­  He looked at all the feathers on the ground and Raishin who was slumped against the wall and was getting up.

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    This again?! Raishin you¡¯re coming to my room!

    But!

    Now!

    Raishin got his stuff and moved into the room of Greg and I shattered an illusion to return the room back to normal.

    I sat down on the bed. What is the objective of the royal family? Why apologize now? Did Shania put them up to it? Or is this some sort of trap? Maybe they brought Cygnus and Geminga over there to capture us.

    Luckily nobody here knows that we¡¯re beast kin. This country isn¡¯t a big fan of them. The more I think of this situation the more this seems like a bad idea. But! I will let Greg and Raishin babysit me. I babysat them in the labyrinth and the whole uni stuff is Greg¡¯s and Raishin¡¯s fault so I think I deserve to kick back a bit.

    I fell asleep and had a nightmare about that Blur that sucked up my shadow clone.

    I woke up sweating andlooked around. No Blur close by. Maybe it thinks it has me now and won¡¯t return. Let¡¯s make myself believe that. I looked out of the window and it was a full moon. Time to see what this is about.

    It felt as if my mind got sucked into the moon. A lot of unfamiliar information floated by. I tried to look for the part where I had left off. I had to focus to return a part of my mind back to my body. I connected to the air leyline currents and placed a [Counter Swirl] in the air to prevent clouds from ruining this experience.

    My mind got fully sucked into the moon the moment I relaxed. Now about this thing where silver 9t don¡¯t exist. Let¡¯s see. Golden 9t also don¡¯t exist. Huh? Solar fox, Lunar fox? Looks similar but is quite different?

    Solar foxes tap into the power of the sun and Lunar foxes into the power of the moon. Wait getting stronger during the night isn¡¯t a 9t thing? So, I must be a Lunar fox then. And I guess my mom was a Solar fox. She¡¯s also a phoenix so that is quite fitting. Wait shouldn¡¯t I also be a Solar fox? I had already determined that my father probably wasn¡¯t one. Maybe it skipped generation and I got it from gramps.

    Let¡¯s see so their role is similar to the 9t, placing 3 races in charge of maintaining the dimension in their role. Hmm if that¡¯s the case what¡¯s the point of making a distinction? Solar foxes tend to use the rare element Sol, while the Lunar foxes tend to use Pagos. So, I guess frost magic. I¡¯ve never heard of the Sol element. Is it like fire element? Or fusion? What about [Solar Stream]?

    I made the magic circle of [Solar Stream] appear and skimmed through its structure. It has no unknown elements to me it just has light and fire element. So, I guess I don¡¯t secretly know skills that have this Sol element. Then there is something super special, a fox born gold and turned silver. Those seem to be exceedingly rare and extremely powerful.

    Cool cool, that¡¯s not me though, I was born black turned silver. Now what is the deal with the Lunar fox then?

    Lunar foxes gain access to [Moontalk]. Which is what I¡¯m doing right now. They also command Pagos, and draw strength from the night and the moon. Their power is at its apex during the blood moon. Their [Ehluna] State allows for powerful Pagos and illusion attacks which have an unpredictable nature.

    Solar foxes gain access to [Solar Body].

    Aha, what does this do? What? They become immune to any non-fire attack? What is this bullshit! Oh, it only can be used when the sun is at its highest point so between 12:00 and 13:00. Still overpowered, god mode for 1 hour. And foxes have high fire resistance so yeah good luck fighting that during their god mode window. Their [Asol] State allows for powerful Sol and fusion attacks with a power escalating nature.

    Let¡¯s look up more stuff. [Moontalk] can only be done during the full moon and all the information the moon holds is information that is known by any moon related race, or any event that happens under moonlight.

    Oh, this is cool so as long as something happens under the moonlight, I can access it? Let¡¯s see can I use this to find Toxic Donkey.

    Looking for information and events was surprisingly easy. It took me an hour to find him. He was hiding in a hut in a forest with Io, it¡¯s the forest in Aquini Kingdom, not all too far from the Aquini river. He seems to be fine; his donkey suit was missing an ear though. It looked like it was corroded. He seemed to be treating Io who had a nasty poisoning but had almost made a full recovery.

    I was relieved. Toxic Donkey and Io are safe. Let¡¯s see if I can find Thalia.

    I kept looking and looking. Either she hasn¡¯t moved under the moon or is somewhere where the moon can¡¯t reach¡­ I can also look at past events. I tried to go back to when she had disappeared but I got forcibly disconnected. I looked at the [Counter spin] which was supposed to make sure I didn¡¯t get interrupted but I noticed that the sky was starting to lighten. I have spent the whole night in [Moontalk]... No moon, no [Moontalk]. This is easy to understand. I guess I will look for Thalia again at the next full moon.

    ehaustion overtook me. [Moontalk] is quite tiring. I was about to doze off when something started to bother me. Isn¡¯t my frost magic from my phoenix side? Why am I a lunar fox? Is it from both?

    Great now I don¡¯t even know who or what I am. Silver fox is linked to frost magic but I could use frost before my hair and tails turned silver so maybe the frost from my fox side awakened then? Judging from my fight with Cygnus, it doesn¡¯t seem like my frost affinity is as crazy as my fire affinity.

    I got tired of all these questions without answers and fell asleep.

    I woke up late but that was fine. We had nothing planned today. We would leave at midnight so I had 8 hours till then so I hopped into my dimensional pocket.

    I had made a space that was similar to Azu¡¯s lab. It¡¯s possible to create new skills without this setup but it will be way harder. I had an idea for a new type of clone. I would also start working on something to help the Misha so their skills can¡¯t be stolen after death.

    <hr>

    We would be leaving in 30 minutes but this skill I wanted to make for the Misha had me stumped. Mana flow stops after death so it is extremely hard to make something stay active after death. While this isn¡¯t all too hard to do on living beings. Well, they won¡¯t be living¡­ Let¡¯s rephrase that.

    Having magical effects after death aren¡¯t extremely difficult to create for anything that lives or was once alive, for inanimate objects this is different. Because after a Misha in this case dies, many processes still continue in the body, the person is just not alive anymore. Anything that¡¯s purely magical or chemical still continues until there is a need for an input, like oxygen, food, or drawing mana in from the environment, all things a person can¡¯t do while they''re dead. Now a hat doesn¡¯t have this. It will even dump the mana it holds in the Misha to force a large burst of healing and strong Misha can even revive when this happens. So only strong Misha have 2 lives, technically, they will be low on mana after that happens so it is very likely that they will still die unless they escape.

    So, if I theoretically would want to kill a Misha. I will have to make sure to anticipate a burst of healing or even the Misha reviving. And then kill her again. Now I can take the hat away but I will have to keep the hat at a certain distance away from the Misha to stop this. The shortest documented range was 33m.

    This is not my research this is what I have read in the Misha library. Now this Ver Witch probably knows this so she either has a skill to block the mana dump of the hat, or takes the hat away and then kills the Misha. The hat becomes quite useless after the mana dump and this mana dump is my problem. I can¡¯t protect the skills the hat holds if it does the mana dump.

    Besides that, the magic structures of Misha hats are extremely complicated. Fixing this problem is probably going to take long. Longer than it took me to create [Hattrick]. I decided to put this on hold. There might be a possibility that I will have to pay Witchaven a visit to get more information. I was done for now. At least my skill was completed. Opponents are going to hate fighting these clones. I smiled and got back to the normal world.

    We got ready to leave for Scasarras. We tried to do some sightseeing but this country seemed to be in a mess. Ainahs for some reason the only place that still looked normal. The small villages seemed to be hit by poverty. We tried to help out as much as wandering travellers could and arrived at Scasarras a week later.

 Vol 3 Ch 35: Party at the Royal Palace

    We kept a low profile until it was time for the party. Greg and I had our suits. Raishin didn¡¯t have one of course but I had clothing from Jarn so for the first time in years, Raishin was wearing normal clothing.

    Maybe you should just continue wearing a suit. It suits you.

    It feels weird and restrictive!

    It¡¯s just for one night

    I bet 1 gold that this palace is vaporized by this time tomorrow!

    You finally got money and are gambling it away? I bet 2 gold that this palace is nowhere to be found tomorrow.

    They looked at me and I shrugged. I have enough gold. I don¡¯t believe this palace will be standing there tomorrow either but I can bet against the and see how things go.

    3 gold on that the palace is still there tomorrow.

    The capital is quite empty. It is as if everyone had moved to Ainahs. It was bad the last time we came here 6 years ago but it wasn¡¯t this bad.

    They sure know how to self-destruct but instead of fixing their country they throw parties. Let¡¯s go!

    We walked out of the hotel and walked toward the palace side by side. 3 men in suits. This is missing something.

    I took sunglasses out of my dimensional pocket and put them on.

    Perfect.

    Oh, I want too!

    Greg handed Raishin sunglasses and put on his own. 3 men side by side, walking in a black suit and wearing sunglasses. Nobody will mess with us like this. We walked toward the entrance and everyone made way for us.

    ¡°Stop!¡± Besides this guy, but stopping people is his job.

    ¡°Do you have an appointment or invitation?¡±

    I showed him the strange object they sent to us.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re Raishin Torai?¡±

    No, he is. I pointed at Raishin and he nodded. It seems he had tapped into his cool energy.

    We got led to a familiar party hall. Tables everywhere with food. It was almost identical to the party I went to. Correction, the first party Agn¨¨s Oures went to.

    I got concerned, are they going to apologize before this many people? What is their objective in doing so?

    We got led to a special table full of food. I reached out and Greg admonished me. I guess I will take food when he isn¡¯t looking. I tried to find his stalker but she didn¡¯t manage to get inside the palace. How disappointing.

    I scanned the palace for Shania but I could only find the queen. The king and the queen were heading over to this hall with Shortstuff and some security.

    Hey Greg, how about we make shadow clones to find information?

    Good idea.

    Both of us made 2 shadow clones and they snuck away under my stealth. Raishin had attracted some female attention and was talking to some noblewomen. Greg was distracted so I could start eating.

    The king and queen entered. I know my memory is bad but was the king always bald? I remember him having hair. He is wearing a toupee but I could see right through it. I don¡¯t want to fall for nasty surprises so I will have my Elgards eyes active during this party.

    How flexible is the word ¡®Party¡¯? A group of adventurers is a party, this is a party, and what we had at the university is a party. Why do humans make everything so inconsistent and confusing? Anyways there is food here so I can¡¯t complain.

    The royal family were doing posh stuff and talking about bullshit with other nobles when the king stood up and started to talk

    ¡°This party today, is held to extend an apology to an individual we have wronged. It is to show the sincerity of our apology and to provide compensation. Raishin Torai, and friends. What has happened was terrible and unintended. We apologize. We want to have a more private conversation with you to discuss the terms of the compensation.¡± He nodded and went to sit on his fancy chair next to the queen.

    The problem was that he was looking at Greg while talking . My assumption was that this happened because Greg was the only one who was paying attention. I was eating and Raishin was still talking to noble women.

    Agnis, I don¡¯t think he means this apology; I suspect that he is trying to look good or has been pressured to extend this apology. He doesn¡¯t even know how Raishin looks like¡­

    I was thinking the same. How about we keep the deception up and you avoid correcting them when they refer to you as ¡®Raishin¡¯

    Hmm, I think I know what you¡¯re thinking. Let¡¯s go for that.

    Psst, hey Raishin.

    Raishin turned around. Sup.

    When someone talks to Greg and calls him Raishin, or uses your name don¡¯t react. These clowns don¡¯t even know how you look like.

    Raishin thought about what I said and it looked like he understood. I know he isn¡¯t a complete idiot. He just acts like one.

    We walked toward the royal family and a magic screen dropped behind us. It effectively made a new room with only the royal family, some guards, and some important-looking nobles.

    ¡°Good afternoon gentlemen, my name is Ignatius Nvirath Gosileth, the current ruler of the Igrini kingdom, this is my wife, Shera. I see you have made it to the palace safely. I want to yet again extend my apologies. I have a question before we will discuss the compensation.¡± The king adjusted his toupee a bit.

    ¡°How did you escape from Event Horizon?¡± He was still looking at Greg.

    Greg took a step forward.  Escape wouldn¡¯t have been possible without my friends. Great sacrifices were made to escape that prison¡­

    Raishin and I looked down. We still had our sunglasses on so it should be hard for them to read our expressions.

    ¡°I see but that still doesn¡­¡±

    ¡°Ignatius! This is not an interrogation! You¡¯re here to make things right!¡± His wife started to scold him.

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°Ugh, I should have divorced you, you can¡¯t even give a proper apology¡­¡±

    ¡°No! wait! Raishin Torai. What compensation would be sufficient? Your friends can also put in a request. Their request will be processed within 5 working day¡­¡±

    ¡°Ignatius!¡±

    ¡°Yes dear! I mean, their requests will hold the same weight as yours!¡±

    I have several questions.

    Greg walked toward the king and I could tell he was upset.

    Why now?

    ¡°We have had multiple instances of terrorists, rebellions and cases of espionage. Besides that, we were quite busy but this isn¡¯t an excuse to prolong an apology like this¡±

    Greg took another step forward.  What do you know about the circumstances surrounding the capture?

    ¡°I had ordered for anyone who came close to my daughter Shania, to be sent to the Event Horizon. It was impulsive. It wasn¡¯t my intention to put you in prison, Raishin.¡± I saw that Raishin was doing his best to not react to his own name.

    I see. What about Shania? Where is she and what is she doing?

    I saw a twitch and the rest of the royal family was acting strange. I think this says enough. Shania had escaped again. I sneakily made another shadow clone and sent him to investigate. All I need to know is if she¡¯s still in this city.

    ¡°Uhm, she is resting. I¡¯m sorry but you can¡¯t meet her now. We will send another invitation when she is available. She has been quite busy with training and studying lately you see.¡± The king was sweating because of his nervousness and this made his toupee slip a bit to the side. Not even Raishin fell for this bullshit.

    Ok last question. Are you sure you got my name, right?

    ¡°As far as I know, your name is Raishin Torai, I apologize if I mispronounced it or if you have a middle name.¡±

    Your name was King right?

    ¡°No, I¡¯m king Ignatius Nvirath Gosileth.¡±

    K.I.N.G, so your name is king, I was correct. So here is the thing. How sincere is your apology if you don¡¯t know who you¡¯re apologizing to? Raishin is over here.

    Raishin held up his adventurers ID.

    King became even more nervous and his toupee slipped off. ¡°You... you have deceived me!¡±

    I never said that my name was Raishin nor have I reacted to that name. You assumed that I was Raishin which means you don¡¯t know how he looks like.

    So, a question King. What has Shania told you about Raishin? Have you even talked to her? Is she even in this palace?

    The royal guards came into action and surrounded us. The queen seemed visibly disgusted by King¡¯s ineptness.

    ¡°You! You must have kidnapped her!¡±

    Going back to baseless accusations, didn¡¯t we get into this situation because Shania had escaped in the first place?

    Yeah, and he did the same thing when I told the queen that Shania had been missing for over a year instead of several weeks.

    ¡°Huh? Impossible! It was a young woma¡­¡±

    I [Transformed] into the Agnes Oures from then. I didn¡¯t correct for my age though but that doesn¡¯t matter. It would be even more shocking to them if I showed the woman they remembered.

    The queen stood up. ¡°So, you¡¯re fine! I thought that Ignatius had managed to capture you and kill you!¡±

    I [Transformed] back after 3 tries.

    ¡°I see, so it was preparation for breaking Raishin out of Event Horizon.¡± It seems the queen had realized what was going on. King however¡­

    ¡°Imposters! Kidnappers! Liars! Capture them!¡±

    Raishin. Do you remember the plan?

    Yes!

    Raishin teleported toward the queen, kidnapped her and teleported away.

    He would bring the queen to safety because the queen seemed to be the only one in this palace that was competent. Greg had confirmed that all the ministers were corrupt. My clone had found out that Shortstuff had set certain events in motion to cause a war. He wanted to be the successor to the throne but that was impossible during peace time.

    Greg knocked out all the guards that tried to attack us. I was just slacking and observing.

    Greg can babysit me now.

    ¡°Aaargh! They took Shera! Send in the elite soldiers!¡± A guard activated a mana circle that sent an alarm through the whole palace.

    I hope you¡¯re up for some exercise.

    What do you mean? These are all yours. It¡¯s my time to be the damsel in distress!

    But you¡¯re not a damsel¡­ nor in distress!

    A royal guard approached me with his spear. I just stood there as I didn¡¯t feel like dodging.

    Greg! Help! I¡¯m in distress!

    Ugh¡­

    He gave me a [Shadow cloak] which blocked the spear strike. Shadows extended from my shadow cloak and wrapped around the spear all the way to the royal guard. He was freaking out and screaming as the shadows slowly covered him until he was covered in shadows. He then automatically got [Shadow Melded] into the [Shadow Cloak].

    Wow that¡¯s a nasty combo Greg. But now nobody wants to hit me¡­

    That¡¯s the point¡­  Greg was swinging his hammer and smacking guards around. Short stuff started casting some wind magic but I interrupted him. He tried again and he got interrupted again. He decided that it was not worth it and fled.

    I heard roaring and saw abominations approach and they burst into the hall. The screen separating us from the rest of the party hall had been destroyed so we had a lot of space now.

    Interesting. We had encountered abominations like these in Event Horizon. I can¡¯t help to think that something suspicious is going on.

    ¡°Meat! Smash!¡± The abominations rushed at us yelling words that were unrelated to each other. That was cool and al but I could easily slip them. They didn¡¯t wear pants though¡­

    It feels good to be the overpowered one for once in a while.

    I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about I had a quiet 6 months; I was you who made things difficult for yourself by going to dungeons!

    Gregory skewered some abominations with his shadow. And put the [Heavy] debuff on them and dropped a curse on them which made them bleed 10% of their mana every time they would use magic. Not effective against opponents with a brain because the duration was only 1 minute. But these things¡­

    6 abominations got immobilized due to mana exhaustion. An abominations punched me but the [Shadow cloak] blocked it too and did the same thing it did to that royal guard. The [Shadow cloak] turned from black to dark purple. An abomination shot a [Flare] at me. The [Shadow cloak] absorbed it and shot something back at the abomination which looked like a mini [Liberation].

    Wow Greg, your [Shadow Cloak] is OP now!

    It has to be, else it can¡¯t keep squishy foxes alive!

    We were not putting much effort in fighting these abominations.

    ¡°Aaagh! Bring all of them! All of them!¡± King looked visibly red now. I don¡¯t like him but that doesn¡¯t matter, today is the last day he will be king. I spotted a teleport ping and Raishin appeared.

    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    I¡¯m back! I dropped her off at the AA in Ainahs. Oh, these things. Did they escape from Event Horizon too?

    Don¡¯t think so, they¡¯re probably filling in for the guards that have abandoned this city.

    Raishin and Greg kept fighting the abominations while I did nothing. I then saw something disturbing that made me extremely angry.

    Whoa Agnis! What¡¯s up! It¡¯s getting hot in here.

    And then they entered a group of 5 abominations. These seemed to be more like their human selves except for 1.

    ¡°Help me!¡±

    ¡°It hurts!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to die!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m so hungry!¡±

    I can¡¯t hold¡­ much longer¡­

    Between the 4 human like abominations. There was a big bear that seemed to have his head and shoulder stitched to his body.

    Ted! You¡¯re still alive!

    I can¡¯t hold¡­

    This is fucked up you used his corpse to create a soldier?!

    What? Noo!

    Right, I¡¯ve had enough. Let¡¯s destroy this place.

    I tried to calm myself down because I had raised the temperature by flaring up. Raishin and Greg were fighting the other abominations but were avoiding fighting Ted. I really tried to control myself but every time Ted¡­ this abomination said Ted¡¯s last words to us I got angrier and angrier.

    Raishin was angry too.  Guys. This all was my fault originally. Can you leave this to me?

    Raishin¡¯s hand was shaking and I could see that he was doing his best to not discharge an insane amount of lightning. This calmed me down and I placed my hand on his shoulder.

    Can we tell him goodbye? A decent one before you destroy this city?

    Of course.

    Raishin hit all the abominations besides Ted with [Lightning Glitter] and zapped them with a red [Chain Lightning]. Greg had [Shadow Bound] Ted.

    Much longer¡­ Greg make sure to get them out alive.

    We fell silent and Greg exhaled.  I did get them out of the prison alive, we¡¯re all here alive as you can see. Thank you for always being there for us.

    I put a [Frost cloak] on myself because I had difficulties controlling my emotions. I was affecting Greg and Raishin with my uncontrolled fire so I had to counteract it.

    Ted, I¡¯m sorry for letting you down. I have put more effort in being able to defend myself and keep Raishin and Greg safe. I wish you could have been alive to see it¡­ Thank you for always having our back.

    I tried to hold back my tears but I failed. I didn¡¯t cry after he had died back then but now, I couldn¡¯t stop.  I will never let this happen again! I promise!

    It must have been my imagination but Ted started to calm down and didn¡¯t thrash as much. I was looking at Raishin¡¯s back but I saw tears falling.

    Guys, get out of here, I will bring this place down after my words to Ted.

    Ok, could you make sure you get everything off your chest? Let¡¯s go Agnis.

    I was too busy crying to give an answer. Greg put his hand on my shoulder and [Shadow Melded] us all the way to Ainahs.

    We sat on the roof of the AA in Ainahs looking toward the capital. I had Greg linked up with my eyes. We waited for 20 minutes and an enormous [Solar Stream] dropped on the city.

    What skill would you have used to wipe out the city?

    [Meteor]¡­

    Fitting.

    We looked at how the capital got wiped off the map. We spotted Raishin going 6t mode and dropping more nukes on Ash Scasarras. We watch without saying a word until Greg broke the silence.

    Its unlike Raishin to vent like this. It must have really bothered him.

    I can¡¯t imagine what he has been through, it was bad for us but he probably blamed himself the most.

    Did you find Shania?

    She is not in the capital. My clones had made sure of it.

    The blasting had stopped.

    Did you cover this up with your illusions?

    Well not everything. I can¡¯t cover up a whole city disappearing for too long. I disguised it as a random [Judgement Bolt]. They still haven¡¯t figured out what caused the last 2 so they will have a third one to figure out. Not that they will ever find out.

    [Judgement Bolt] is that those orange lightning pillars that have been spotted several years ago?

    Yup. I blasted a mountain top and an Electronium Plant.

    So, it was you!

    Well yeah. But they were mistreating spirits.

    I see.

    We fell silent and looked at the setting sun. I spotted Raishin teleport into Ainahs and I linked him up with my vision so that he could find us. He joined us on the roof.

    I¡¯m sorry guys, I had to get that out of my system.

    That¡¯s good.

    You did good. How about we see Ted off properly this time.

    I like that idea¡­

    He deserves it.

    We jumped off the roof and went to a plain outside the city.

    Hey Ted. It has been some long years without you. I hope you can rest easily now. There is so much I need to tell you. But¡­not now. I will tell you about our adventures when we meet again.

    I got all my tails out. Each tail created a foxfire wisp and sent them floating in the sky.

    You make it sound as if you¡¯re about to meet him soon.

    I will do my best to stay alive.

    We looked at the foxfires that slowly ascended into the darkening sky.

    So, is this how 9t see each other off?

    We send them off by having the foxfires take the body into the sky. We are quite a flashy race.

    I pointed at the sky. The foxfires grew and turned more and more colorful and the exploded into many colors.

    Don¡¯t worry the body would get vaporized and turn into nourishment. I never knew what that meant but it might be the only way we 9t can send energy back to our dimension.

    I kept looking at the sky with a sad look. Ted¡¯s body was unfortunately gone, for the better.

    Can I have a bottle of liquid shadow vodka?

    I tossed him a bottle. He signed it and put it on a patch of shadow.

    Normally the body would be here too, with some objects that the deceased owns or loved. He loved alcohol¡­. Just like me. Drink up buddy may your rest be undisturbed.

    Greg [Shadow melded] the bottle into the shadow patch.

    Normally we would light a match to let the shadow disappear but I think Raishin¡¯s way of sending him off will create some flashes.

    Greg stepped away and Raishin stepped forward.

    Again, thank you for being a brother for us. Your energy will not be forgotten. It will always follow us and help us.

    Raishin made a ball with all colors of lightning up to black lightning.

    We¡¯re also flashy. We dig a hole and blast it with all our lightning colors.

    Greg made a pit. His shadow patch was on the bottom of the pit.

    Until we meet again.

    Raishin threw the lightning into the pit and a small pillar of the lightning colors came out of the pit. It wasn¡¯t big. It was shoulder height but still flashy.

    Let¡¯s never make this mistake again.

    Greg and I held his shoulder as he started to tear up again. We spent some time just standing around and being silent. We talked a bit. It was a bit difficult but we decided to move on.

    <hr>

    So, what now? I miss home.

    I didn¡¯t find any useful documents in the palace. Did you Greg?

    Unfortunately, not. I only found secret deals with the Event Horizon and the funnelling of funds to their ¡®Super Soldier¡¯ project.

    Did we nuke all their soldiers?

    Dunno, there might be some left in Event Horizon. At least their funding has stopped.

    I¡¯m not sure but that could be true. They had also been receiving funds from the Jarn Kingdom but Jarn is not doing so great at the moment so it¡¯s possible that those have also stopped funding that project.

    An awkward silence fell. The recent events were still on our mind. To think they would use Ted¡¯s corpse¡­ I tried to break the silence.

    Oh guys, it seems that I¡¯m not a 9t.

    Huh?

    What?

    I¡¯m a lunar fox!

    Aha, are you going to explain or are we supposed to instantly know what that is?

    Uhm all I know that it¡¯s the same yet different.

    Great¡­

    Ok wait so I can do this thing its called [Moontalk] I can talk to the moon. Now I might sound crazy but it has a lot of information. So there¡¯s a Solar fox, 9t, and Lunar fox. I think they¡¯re different flavors of the same thing with the 9t being vanilla and the other 2 uhh fancy flavors.

    Ohh! I get it!

    Huh? I don¡¯t get it.

    They¡¯re the same yet different!

    Yes, but how!

    The name is different!

    I can talk to the moon

    You know what, never mind. Let¡¯s find someone who does know. We might have to try and find some non-humans. I don¡¯t think we will find our answers under the humans.

    Like who? The tiger beast kin didn¡¯t know anything about 6t tigers.

    Hmm, I don¡¯t think Inyr knows, he¡¯s a dragon after all, Vinny and Io are out too. Sylvana didn¡¯t seem to know either. I don¡¯t think I know anyone who does. Well, I kinda do but I have no idea where she is.

    Ohh! It¡¯s a she! Tell me more!

    You met another dragon?

    Eh, yeah, the dragon is not important now. So, I found something like a dungeon but it had someone sealed inside. A 9t chick called Norya Mikazuki. She used some strange skill that gave both of us and the bitch goddess amnesia so we could escape. If I can find her, we might be able to get some answers but finding a 9t is¡­ hard.

    Hmm, well how about we go to the Aquini kingdom then? We have the highest likelihood of finding beast kin over there. We should also be able to get in quite easily.

    Even more, after we nuked the capital!

    Except for that this should stay between us.

    I will go explain the situation to the queen. Can you put an illusion on me so that there is a higher likelihood that she will take it well?

    I don¡¯t think any illusion can make a queen accept that her capital got wiped off the map but here you go, good luck.

    I placed an illusion on Greg and he [Shadow Melded] away and entered the AA.

    Ugh this thing with Ted is still bothering me. I need distraction! So that 9t chick. Was she hot?

    Yeah, I need some time to get over this myself too. I didn¡¯t take a good look at Norya because I was running for my life but as far as I know, all female 9t¡¯s are hot so the answer is probably yes.

    Wasn¡¯t that chick you¡¯re afraid of last name Mikazuki? I didn¡¯t know that she had a sister. Maybe she knows about Hourai too!

    I don¡¯t think it¡¯s her sister, I think it¡¯s her cousin.

    Do you think she escaped? What about those 3 chicks you had saved?

    Huh? Who did I save?

    Ehhm what were their names again. I think it was Giana, Noelle and Yvonne. You kicked them out of Hourai to make sure they didn¡¯t get sold off as slaves.

    I went through my memories and recalled something vague yet similar. Ah right, something like that happened.

    Do you think they know?

    I think they¡¯re the same age as us in human years so I doubt it.

    Where are they actually? They must be super-hot now. Giana is a 9t right? How about you get her as a girlfriend?

    I¡¯m sure they will be mad at me for locking them into that cave. I think they would rather be out to kill me.

    You are not going to explain the situation to them?

    Why would they believe me? It will just sound like I¡¯m making excuses. And what makes you think they¡¯re single by now. If you¡¯re correct and they¡¯re super-hot they will probably have already bonded with someone.

    Nobody on the Mainfloor uses ¡®Bonded¡¯ Agnis! It¡¯s called becoming a couple or marriage.

    Leave it up to you to be uselessly knowledgeable in those things. Anyways it¡¯s best to leave them to their life. We can give them a heads-up when we find a way back to Hourai.

    Aww then when are you going to get a girlfriend?!

    Dunno, I¡¯m more likely to die before that happens and if it happens, I will leave a sad chick behind so maybe I should pass.

    Ugh, just don¡¯t die!

    I¡¯ll do my best. I couldn¡¯t find Shania by the way. She¡¯s not in Ainahs and she wasn¡¯t in the capital. She might be somewhere else in the country.

    Stop changing the subject! But that¡¯s good to hear. Look I¡¯m serious about this. You need a chick, more than I do. I will help you.

    I sighed. Sure, if it makes you shut up about it,

    Heh! Don¡¯t worry! I will get you someone with big badonkers!

    Sure¡­

    We met up with Greg who just came out of the AA.  This queen¡­ she¡¯s strong¡­

    Good job.

    Hey Agnis, let¡¯s have round 3 of our pillow fight!

    I will destroy you!

    Absolutely not! Grow up you two!

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 36: The Aquini Kingdom

    We had decided to take the Aurelia river and take the branch of the river that would go into the Aquini Kingdom. Since the border is heavily guarded, we will have to take a subaquatic route. Greg was acting like a baby a day after he told Raishin and I to grow up. How the tables have turned.

    We were walking on the bottom of the river with Raishin¡¯s [Airball] around us and I was controlling the water around the bubble with water leyline to make sure the current didn¡¯t sweep us up and ejected us out of the water. Well, the water will eject me because I¡¯m so light.

    I think I found the reason why Greg can¡¯t swim. He seems to be denser than a human. But he still weighed as much as one. I wonder how this works. He is a certified hammer. Not sure if he can swim even if he learned how to. Shadowcats are such weirdos.

    You¡¯re thinking about something rude, aren¡¯t you?

    Not really.

    I thought about him getting swept away by the current.

    No reaction. So, he can¡¯t read minds after all.

    Hey that fish looks funny!

    I [flushed] it into our bubble and inspected it.

    I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a real fish.

    Huh? But it looks like a fish¡­rabbit.

    Well as far as my eyes can tell me this is a rabbit.

    Maybe it¡¯s like that lobster with wings!

    Hmm, it does look like it yeah, I wouldn¡¯t recommend eating it.

    I released the fish¡­rabbit, and it clumsily swam past. The urge to eat it came up but my eyes told me that this creature was highly suspicious and that eating this might be a bad idea.

    What¡¯s happening with the animals on this continent?

    No clue, let¡¯s delegate this problem to the humans. This is something they can perfectly deal with¡­ probably.

    How are they supposed to unrabbit that fish?

    You mean unfish that rabbit but I don¡¯t know! But that¡¯s the thing, we don¡¯t know either so since we have our hands full the humans can take this problem!

    Yeah! Finding girlfriends for you 2 is almost impossible! Greg doesn¡¯t seem to realize he has a stalker and you reject anything that becomes something.

    Huh, a stalker?

    You don¡¯t see that chick in a diving suit over there?

    Raishin pointed at the stalker who was struggling to swim against the current.

    What is she doing here?

    Good luck Raishin, you have your work cut out for you.

    You could at least make it easier for me by just accepting the next chick I find for you.

    I will think about it.

    We had successfully passed the border but the stalker wasn¡¯t so lucky and got caught. Raishin wanted to help her but we would also get caught if we did and thus, Greg escaped his stalker.

    We surfaced and found us inside the Aquini Jungle. it reminded me of my first home in the jungle. I wonder if there are jungle dragons here. There should also be elves here. We¡¯re far from Eslana village. It would be awkward if I got spotted by them.

    Guys, we have a problem. Something has locked on to¡­ Raishin and me. Why not on you Agnis?

    I¡¯m kinda invisible to jungle dragons and elves, good luck!

    I went into stealth and heard Greg whisper ¡®asshole¡¯.

    A jungle dragon appeared. He was older than the Asshole that I turned into ash.

    ¡°Leave humans!¡± he said that in Draconian of course because only Vinny and I guess Inyr bothered to learn Kaledonian. How do they expect humans to understand them if they don¡¯t speak a language they can understand.

    ¡°Hmm you guys have a strange sound.¡± Again, Greg and Raishin couldn¡¯t understand it and they got battle ready.

    ¡°Hey, are you 2 really humans? You do look like humans. State your race!¡± I facepalmed. When is this idiot going to realize that Raishin and Greg don¡¯t understand him. I decided to help this clown dragon.

    My appearance startled him. ¡°Whoa! I didn¡¯t see you human!¡±

    You¡¯re such an idiot, you know humans don¡¯t speak Draconian! Talking to them in Draconian isn¡¯t going to achieve anything!

    ¡°Ha! You¡¯re wrong! Look you understand me so that¡¯s not true!¡± I pointed to the 2 tails I had out.

    Look! Take a good look! Does this look human to you?

    ¡°A new subspecies?¡±

    Oh my god! This dragon is retarded too!

    ¡°Hah! I graduated the 12th best of my dragon class I will have you know!¡±

    There is so much to comment on¡­ how many members did your class have?

    ¡°11¡­¡±

    What? Huh? You know what? It doesn¡¯t matter! We¡¯re not humans! See these tails? See the tails of my friends?!

    ¡°So, they didn¡¯t want to let me in their class because they thought they were too good for me so I just joined them.¡±

    Aand¡­ he¡¯s not listening. Ok Plan B! I could use some more dragonbeard!

    I got Shirayuki out and approached the dragon.

    ¡°Hey, wait! Ok sorry! I¡¯m listening! I don¡¯t want to fight! I pulled a muscle yesterday!¡±

    I didn¡¯t care and attacked the dragon with the intention of trimming its beard. It was¡­ easy.

    He looked in the reflection of the river. ¡°Oh, I look quite handsome now, thank you!¡±

    What was that even about?

    A headache, trust me Greg, you don¡¯t know what he is saying¡­

    ¡°Hey, can you also massage my pulled muscle?¡±

    Hey, Greg, do you know a method to unlearn a language?

    Is it that bad?

    I nodded. We kept aimlessly walking and the dragon followed us.

    ¡°Hey, you smell familiar.¡±

    I stopped.  You¡­ I didn¡¯t hide my smell, only now you comment on it?

    ¡°I thought you were in the relaxation industry, trimming my beard, massaging my pulled muscle and some aromatic treatment. I thought it was part of the package.¡±

    I banged my head on a tree.

    Agnis! What are you doing!

    I¡¯m trying to forget the draconian language!

    Whoa! Noo! Chicks won¡¯t like you if you turn stupid!

    Raishin and Greg tried to stop me and I pointed at the dragon.  Talking to them makes me stupid!

    ¡°I will just visit Neia; her relaxation treatment includes more than just trimming my beard. It is expensive though¡­ how is a dragon supposed to get his claws on silver¡­¡±

    Greg, can I turn this dragon into ash?! He¡¯s pissing me off!

    You can¡¯t just burn any dragon you come across!

    I know! But I can do that to those I can actually beat!

    Fair point but at least stop banging your head into the tree.

    Blood trickled down my face. This stupid green overgrown lizard is just being a stereotype dragon and only be situationally useful.

    Dumbass! Bring us to Neia! You could have told us from the start. I swear I¡¯m so close to turning you into fertilizer!

    ¡°Oh right! I forgot to add fertilizer to my orchids, can we take a short stop by my lair?¡±

    I created an uncontrolled [Fireball].  So, you have chosen to become fertilizer for your orchids?

    Whoa Agnis chill! This dragon must be really annoying for you to flare up!

    ¡°Ok! Sorry! Follow me!¡± He took off and flew away at high speed, leaving us behind.

    Oh shit!

    Greg put up a big [Shadow Wall] to block the [Flare] I had aimed at this shitty dragon. Does he realize that we can¡¯t fly?! He is making me miss Io. I thought about it for a bit. Nope not missing Io.

    I tracked this Dumbass down and we found ourselves in front of an enormous pink lotus floating on a lake. It seemed to be a building made as a lotus or a lotus made into a building. I detected countless layers of illusions on it.

    Whoa!

    This is remarkable!

    So many illusion layers, this is the work of a 9t, no doubt.

    We walked toward the entrance for non-flying lizards.

    I became a bit nervous. My race is quite problematic, for reasons why other people find me problematic.

    Whoa are we in heaven?

    The inside was of course bigger than the outside suggested. It looked like some sort of spa or beauty parlor. The smell of aromatic oils and lotus was tickling our nose. The theme of this place seemed to be pink and gold. There were female 9t everywhere. Most seemed to be well put together illusions or clones. I could identify 36 individual 9t.

    Is this where the majority of my race is hanging out? If we¡¯re getting close to the double digits then these are hogging a third.

    It took a while for them to notice us. They were tending to many different races including humans.

    Hah! Finding a girlfriend for you might not be so hard after all!

    This place is well put together. The energy flow here is unique, anything that wants to start trouble gets immediately kicked out. Yet there is still elegance to this place. So, this is how your race truly is?

    Hey how should I know? I don¡¯t have a big sample size to go by.

    I could pick up various smells which weren¡¯t from this place. Most smelled like scented fire, none smelled like rain. 2 smelled like an ocean breeze. So, there is variety in this.

    ¡°Excuse me. Can I help you?¡± A pink with blue haired vixen in a pink and gold kimono approached us. She had 8 tails out and her ears were also pink. I assume she doesn¡¯t have her 9th tail yet. She looked at my blue ears and gasped.

    ¡°Please! Come with me! I will bring you to mother. Yue! Can you take over for me?¡±

    Uhh, we¡¯re just here to look for someone.

    The pink haired chick grabbed my hand and led me to a room made out of petals.

    ¡°Mom! Look who has finally paid us a visit!¡±

    Huh, you expected me?

    Someone approached the door made out of a light pink petals.

    ¡°My friend Inyr said that you would pay a visit, that was almost 2 years ago though.¡± A vixen that resembled Norya opened the door and spread her arms. ¡°Hey there sweetie, give your auntie a hug!¡±

    Auntie? You¡¯re not my auntie, right?

    ¡°I¡¯m good friends with Edea, I might as well be your auntie!¡± I gave her an awkward hug.

    Psst, Greg, look at that figure!

    You know that foxes have good ears and that she probably heard you right?

    Oh shit!

    ¡°And you must be Gregory and Raishin! Welcome to my Lotus Garden! I am Neia Mikazuki, but you probably already knew that.¡±

    I looked at the woman who claimed to be my auntie. She had pink blonde hair that ended in pink. She had a body type like any other vixen; made to seduce. Raishin was having a lot of trouble in trying to control his stares. I was in the same boat.

    I was shattering illusions to get rid of the charm magic flying around.

    Neia noticed and the charm magic assault became bearable. ¡°Oh, sorry, I forgot that the men of our race are especially susceptible to charm magic.¡±

    Ugh, this is a feature and not my personal weakness?

    ¡°Well of course, how else are we supposed to seduce our oblivious male counterparts? Come on in we have a lot to talk about!¡±

    Neia and her daughter sat us on pink flower chairs. Normally, I would feel uncomfortable in this environment but I didn¡¯t. I am safe here, right?

    I looked at Neia¡¯s full and fluffy tails waving around. It seemed a bit hypnotic. Is this how the humans feel about my tails? I had to control myself.

    ¡°So how come it took you so long to visit me dear Agnis?¡±

    Uhh, I forgot.

    I apologize on his behalf. This guy is quite forgetful.

    Hey Neia! I¡¯m looking for someone to be his gir¡­

    I stuffed my tail in Raishin¡¯s mouth and took something out my dimensional pocket.

    Before I forget. Some guy named uhh I think it was Shimmy Fishfingers gave me this. It¡¯s Norya¡¯s tail ring.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    She accepted it with a saddened face.

    ¡°Oh Norya¡­ Thank you¡±

    Is something wrong? Hasn¡¯t she returned yet?

    ¡°Norya, my eldest daughter got sealed away by that bitch goddess almost a millennia ago. I couldn¡¯t find where she was sealed away. Poor child¡­¡±

    Huh? I released her from her seal like 2 years ago. She didn¡¯t return home?

    She looked up. ¡°You freed her? Oh, thank you!¡± I got a vixen hug with tails and all. She cried a bit but this was of happiness making it was a bit awkward.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry.¡± She wiped off her tears with a tail and freed me. ¡°If she is up and about then that¡¯s good. She must have probably found a place to rest and prepare a revenge plan.¡±

    Uhh, she did this thing to give us amnesia. After I broke her out the tomato goddess came after us. She used I think [Temporal Severance] or something. So, she might not remember.

    ¡°Oh, that is fine, if you remember then she will probably too. Maybe not now but soon. Soo my little girl is fine.¡±

    I have a question.

    ¡°Shoot away, nephew.¡±

    Nephew? Ehh well do you have an idea what happened to Hourai?

    Well, wasn¡¯t her mother bonded to your gramps¡¯ brother? You 2 are actually related.

    ¡°Oh, you know something about our family I don¡¯t know!¡±

    Greg and I briefly explained what had happened to us in the Spirit Library and I showed her the book with our grandparents in it.

    ¡°Oh¡­ I wish I remembered my mother¡­ I was only 9 human years old when the Great Eraser happened. I don¡¯t remember much from before it even if I tried. I only remember the name of my parents. I don¡¯t know why they had disappeared after my little brother was born¡­ Do you know if Viridian and his little girl have escaped?¡±

    I don¡¯t know about Viridian but my intuition is telling me Hisui is fine. I get chills through my spine every time that name drops so I¡¯m sure she¡¯s alive and well.

    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear. Now about Hourai. I don¡¯t know what happened to it unfortunately. I do know where it was supposed to be though. I had moved out of Hourai 1023 years ago to live down here and I have made trips back. Hourai isn¡¯t where it¡¯s supposed to be¡­ do you mind if I link you up Agnis?¡±

    I nodded. She held my head with both her hands and tapped her forehead on mine and the link was made.

    Whoa that was fast and easy.

    Just like when Norya linked me up hundreds of filters I wasn¡¯t familiar with appeared. I archived these before she removed it to make it easier on me. She shared a strange looking dimensional map with me.

    Holy shit! Is this how our dimension looks like?

    ¡°It''s incomplete but yes, this is simplified to accommodate the ¡®House¡¯ analogy, have you heard about it?¡±

    Oh, we have heard about it yes, we are familiar with it.

    I linked Greg and Raishin up.

    Ooh it looks a bit like a house just spherical, and bigger, and the rooms look weird¡­

    It looks nothing like a house but the concepts are the same.

    ¡°Over here is where Hourai is supposed to be. Near the edge. Its purpose wasn¡¯t only to save and isolate mythical and legendary species. Me and your mother had created it at that exact spot because the wall of the ¡®House¡¯ there would periodically fail. So, by being next to it we could easily deal with whatever tried to get in.¡± She removed the small bubble which represented Hourai and revealed the hole it left behind.

    Do... do you think they got forced out? Or are they still within the ¡®House¡¯?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know sorry, any attempt on locating it has ended in failure on our part. The fact remains that there is a large hole there, and nothing to stop anything from coming in. We are severely shorthanded on members to fight off whatever is leaking in from the hole Hourai¡¯s disappearance had left behind.¡± She pulled up her kimono a bit and revealed an ugly scar that seemed to be corrupted on her leg.

    ¡°This happened 3 years ago. The strength of those that come in aren¡¯t my biggest problem. It¡¯s the sheer amount of them that flood in. I lost 3 of my daughters¡­¡±

    No¡­

    Is your leg, ok?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, I might have to cut my leg off to make it regenerate properly but I haven¡¯t had the resolve to do that.¡±

    It¡¯s not putting your life in danger, right?

    ¡°It¡¯s not, it is slowly corrupting my mana though. I can¡¯t command the same amount of mana as I used to.¡±

    I sighed and walked over to her.

    Agnis?

    We can¡¯t afford for the strongest vixen on the Mainfloor to be like this. I¡¯m sorry Neia but I¡¯m going to be a bit forceful.

    Neia didn¡¯t seem to resist and even showed a subtle smile. I pulled up her kimono and looked at her leg. I could see the corrupted mana spread from the wound into her body. It was bad but not to the point that it was irreversible.

    Nilah!

    I took Shirayuki out my dimensional pocket and she turned into her fox form

    ¡°Oh, my, is that a [Pneuma Boreas]? It looks vastly different than I remember.¡±

    You¡¯ve seen it before?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, it¡¯s the only skill I can think of when thinking about my mother¡¯s friend, your grandfather Alep.¡±

    I focused on the wound and all the corrupted mana in Neia¡¯s system. I covered my hand I frost and pulled it out of her. I sent it to Nilah which turned it into mana that wasn¡¯t harmful.

    ¡°So, this is Pagos.¡±

    I had pulled al the corrupted mana out of her body but the wound was still generating corrupted mana.

    Nilah! Sword! I¡¯m sorry Neia, this is going to hurt.

    I placed the blade on her leg. She nodded and put a tail in her mouth. I cut her leg off and covered it in frost.

    Meets his auntie for the first time and cuts her leg off¡­ I think you¡¯re the craziest guy in our group now Agnis!

    It¡¯s for her own good!

    Neia was in pain but she smiled through it. ¡°Thank you. I would have walked around with this longer that I should have.¡±

    Didn¡¯t your daughters say anything?

    ¡°I raised them a bit too well, they listen to anything I say. It backfired because my resolve on fixing this problem was weak¡­ thank you Agnis. Do you mind continuing this talk later? I need to lay down a bit. Treat this place as your home and go meet your cousins. Medea, make them feel at home, as you¡¯ve heard they are from Hourai and one of us. Notify your sisters.¡±

    Rest well.

    I¡¯m sorry for his forcefulness.

    Auntiecutter

    I smacked Raishin and we got lead out of the room.

    Hello Medea, I¡¯m Agnis.

    I held out my hand and she looked at me quite confused.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s how the humans do it!¡± She shook my hand which was laced with charm.

    This place is dangerous. Is this why there are so few men of our race?

    Uh how do we normally do this then?

    She held out 2 hands forward and 2 tails extended towards me. ¡°Copy me and press your hands into mine and press 2 of your tails into mine.¡±

    I copied her.

    ¡°Now exchange your thoughts through your tails¡± I did so and it allowed me to introduce myself better than I ever could verbally. The same was for Medea.

    Wow this is extremely efficient. Thank you!

    Oooh! Me too!

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind but this is only effective within our own race.¡± Medea did this with Raishin but they still had to exchange words, same with Greg.

    Medea was 192 years old. Her mother named her after my mother. From what I know now she shares some similarities. She¡¯s fulfilling her duties while still being cheerful and playful.

    ¡°My sisters are quite busy; a troublesome dragon friend had arrived and they¡¯re having their tails full dealing with him. It doesn¡¯t help that he only speaks draconian and doesn¡¯t bother learning Kaledonian¡­¡±

    Ah that dumbass! I still have to kick his ass! Do you mind if I help out a bit?

    Medea flashed a malicious smile. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m going to like this. Let¡¯s go!¡±

    Let¡¯s show him to not mess with us!

    I¡¯m not sure if I should stop them or if this is normal. Medea seems on board with this¡­ Maybe this is a nine tailed spirit fox thing

    ¡­ Let¡¯s go Greg! I want to see how this works out! We also need to scout for Agnis¡¯ girlfriend! That Medea chick looks nice. But damn everyone here has a nice body!

    I think it¡¯s a racial trait just like the males of your race are all goofy.

    Hey I¡¯m not goofy!

    Sure¡­

    I arrived at a hall where the Dumbass was thrashing around and causing trouble for 3 vixens.

    Well, well who do we have here, did you come here to misbehave and give these chicks hell?

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you again! Are you coming to help them massage my pulled muscle?¡±

    You do know that they can¡¯t understand a word of what you¡¯re saying right?

    ¡°Why is that? You understand me perfectly fine.¡±

    Yes, but I¡¯m not a good representation of my race¡­ these ladies here, are. If you cause a fuss, I¡¯m going to kick you out!

    ¡°But what about my massage?

    Cancelled until you learn to speak Kaledonian.

    ¡°Ugh, but nobody has time for that!¡±

    You... you can¡¯t be serious! If you were a human, cool that could work. But you¡¯re a dragon you basically have unlimited time¡­

    ¡°Ah, so hey, can you massage me?¡±

    I exhaled and walked toward the Dumbass.

    Open your mouth.

    The dumbass opened his mouth and I emptied 3 jars of my secret weapon into it.

    ¡°Hmmfp! Aaah what is this! My nose!¡± I connected to the leyline currents and used [Ice Dragon Dance] and restrained his movements with the ice dragons coiling around him.

    Any last words before I send you off?

    ¡°Aah this is too strong! It stings! It stings more than the words of my ex!¡±

    Right, enjoy your flight¡­  I shifted my stance and used [Waterspout] and launched him through a window out of the lotus to who knows where.

    Good riddance. I¡¯m sorry for that dumbass, I should have used [Flare] on his ass.  The 3 vixens looked at me as if I was speaking in Hourai but I was speaking in Draconian.

    Sorry my bad, mistakes of a polyglot. I¡¯m Ag¡­

    I took the stance Medea told me and they reciprocated.

    ¡°I liked how you dealt with the troublesome customer!¡±

    ¡°He always does that!¡±

    ¡°Are you staying for long and are you single?¡±

    This new method of introducing myself was quite effective, it made it instantly seem like we knew each other for a long time. I wonder why Neia didn¡¯t introduce herself like that.

    They talked to us about how this place worked. They had infinite space and could create rooms or remove rooms whenever they wanted with illusions. They had massages, pools, baths, a place where people could exercise. But also, a bar, a place to hold the infamous ¡®Party¡¯ and also places where their sisters would dance or sing or just talk to customers.

    They were all abusing their good looks to squeeze money out of the customers but the customers all loved it so they keep coming back for more. I suspect that the charm magic that¡¯s everywhere here is playing a big role. Even women are getting trapped by it.

    I think this is the kind of place that if you come here once you will keep returning until the day you die. My race is scary. But I would probably do something similar if I had to spend a prolonged amount of time as Agn¨¨s Oures. I wanted to know more about my race but it seems this can wait. I introduced myself to more of Medea¡¯s sisters.

    So apparently Neia is saving our numbers problem by just having a lot of children. Most seem to be pure 9t but some are hybrid. The most problematic one was one that was half vixen half succubus. And also, the first one to actively blast me with charm magic. I can¡¯t say I¡¯m surprised, what did surprise me was that it took so long for one to do this.

    What in Hourai¡¯s name was Neia thinking creating a kid with an incubus! Aylena please!

    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m just going to let you go? Mother has been trying to get a boy for the longest of time, they¡¯re rare for a reason!¡±

    I had made frost dragons swirl around me to make sure I didn¡¯t get affected by Aylena. As I had mentioned before, I¡¯m just as shallow as Raishin so one good hit by her charm attacks and I probably would end up as her boyfriend.

    How about this! If you stop, I will show you something cool!

    ¡°You can also show me after we have bonded.¡±

    She has a point you know!

    Hey assholes aren¡¯t you supposed to help? I¡¯m under attack!

    I don¡¯t know, isn¡¯t this how 9t do things Greg?

    I don¡¯t know but from what I remember it seems so.

    And why don¡¯t I know anything about that?

    You did remember the talk we had in Boshi town, right? That races with low female population have the males hunt down partners while the reverse is the case. So, enjoy getting hunted down until you settle.

    What about your race?! You are also low on males!

    I will deal with that when the time comes.

    So useless!

    I evaded a swarm of pink lotus petals. She was way more adept at using her tails and she cheated with teleports and tried to close in. She was 99 years old but despite her age one of the strongest of the 42 daughters Neia had. It was probably because she had a strong drive. Not just to fight.

    Ugh, fine have it your way! Nilah!

    Shirayuki turned into her fox again and started her [Tail Dynamo] and turned the hall into a mana free zone. All of Aylena¡¯s magic skills dropped so I could relax. I did get grabbed by her tails though.

    ¡°Perfect, it would be boring if this was too easy.¡±

    You know, you are scarier than most opponents I¡¯ve fought before.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will give you enough time to change your mind. I will take him for today sisters! Don¡¯t waste this opportunity!¡±

    Hey Greg, any chance that Neia has recovered already?

    Nope. Go make us proud!

    Asshole!

    I got brought to Aylena¡¯s room. She closed the door and released me.

    ¡°Sorry, I had to be a bit forceful there, many of my sisters were thinking the same thing. But because I¡¯m half ninetail and half succubus I had to work hard to control my¡­ desires. I did mean everything there just now but I¡¯m confident in being able to control myself, I¡¯m not sure about my sisters.¡±

    Hmm that was unexpected. I appreciate it. But why would you do that, we just met and realistically speaking it would benefit you if we bonded.

    ¡°It will only be beneficial in the short term. It¡¯s not going to be a great bond if it gets established like that. Just like how males of other races see their females as objects of desire and occasionally don¡¯t take note of their wants and dreams, we have that with you. You are our object of desire and we might ignore your wants and dreams in the process. From your introduction it¡¯s clear you don¡¯t know anything about us as a race. I can relate as a hybrid. I have problems my sisters don¡¯t have, it¡¯s as if I¡¯m a completely different race.¡± She played with her dark pink hair that had black highlights.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how long you will stay here but you¡¯re welcome to stay here forever, I wouldn¡¯t recommend this though. We emit charm magic as easily as you breathe.¡±

    Yeah, I had suspected that races like ours might be my biggest weakness.

    ¡°I have heard you helped mother with her leg. Thank you. Is there anything I can do for you? I will give you anything you want, even if its myself.¡± Her eyes flashed pink purple for a second.

    Ehm. Well, what do you know about fixing the dimensional fabric?

    ¡°Hmm, not much sorry, my mother, Norya and Saya are the only one who are old enough to know so you will have to ask them sorry. We learn that when we turn 3 years old, which is 729 Kaledonian years, did you know that?¡±

    I nodded.

    Aylena had several moments where she wanted to say something, started a sentence but then fell silent.

    ¡°My sister, Norya, is she ok?¡±

    I don¡¯t know sorry, she seemed to be fine after I unsealed her. I will look for her on the next full moon. Oh, do you know what a Lunar fox is?

    ¡°What?¡±

    I guess that¡¯s a no¡­

    We kept talking till it was night time. She was a cool vixen but it did seem like she was undressing me with her eyes from time to time. I guess it¡¯s hard for her to fight her nature. It should be easy for me to get a room because they make them here with illusions.

    I fled before Aylena would lose control and made my own room which had no pink. I had seen a bit too much pink today. Not all of Neia¡¯s daughters were pink 9t foxes but the vast majority were. I checked on Greg and Raishin. Raishin was enjoying a sensual massage and Greg was talking to one of the sisters.

    Besides the charm magic that was permeating this place, it wasn¡¯t so bad.

 Vol 3 Ch 37: Neia Mikazuki

    I woke up the next morning. I looked around in my room. Nobody had broken in. good. I left my room and got met by Dumbass crashing into the place. It instantly got fixed with illusions.

    ¡°I tore another muscle!¡± still in Draconian.

    Neia approached him on her fully regenerated leg. She looked a bit anemic and tired but it didn¡¯t diminish her beauty.

    I slapped my face. She told me to call her auntie. I should stop thinking about her like this.

    ¡°I had told you to only return once you can communicate. You¡¯re disturbing all the customers here.¡± She pointed her fan to the exit.

    ¡°Hey, you, mean guy! What did she say?!¡±

    She told you to learn Kaledonian or get lost.

    ¡°Can you tell her that my right wing hurts?¡±

    Chop it off and let it regenerate, stop being such a baby, you¡¯re supposed to be an imposing dragon.

    ¡°I am imposing! I was 12 in my class!¡±

    Nobody asked! Go harass someone else!

    ¡°Wow! Ok Mr. grumpy pants. I will ask this sexy lady over here. I wish I had a better human form; I would love spending the night with her hehe.¡±

    I don¡¯t think Neia understood what he said but she did pick up on the intent and created a huge lotus which closed around the dragon. It abruptly opened, caused a pink explosion and sent the dragon flying through the roof and to who knows where. The building fixed itself again.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t understand what he was saying but it gave me a headache so I decided to send him away. Where are your friends?¡±

    I looked around. Raishin was chilling with some women that had come here for the bath and Greg was talking to one of Neia¡¯s daughters that was in charge of making the scented oils.

    They are being useless. Can you tell me about fixing the dimensional fabric?

    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s a difficult topic, do you know why you learn that at 3 years old?¡±

    Ehh experience?

    ¡°It¡¯s when our second maturity hits. It¡¯s a spatiotemporal maturity. We are quite weak at using spatiotemporal skills before that age. Also, we just learn this by instinct. It is quite hard to explain something that is done by instinct, come join me in my room.¡±

    I followed her and tried my best to not focus on her tails. Or her figure that was apparent through her kimono.

    ¡°Sit down.¡± I sat down on another pink couch and she did the same.

    ¡°It is a bit complicated but our growth in spatiotemporal magic makes fixing the dimensional fabric less dangerous and easier. That¡¯s why I don¡¯t allow my daughters to get close to it until they reach that age. There are many creatures that can be a threat to us because only spatiotemporal magic works on the dimensional fabric. Foxfires work too but spatiotemporal skills are the most effective.¡±

    She made 3 small rifts. One was a tear; another was a hole and another one was something I hadn¡¯t seen before. It was red. The color of danger. I just got uncomfortable looking at it.

    ¡°I can show you how they get closed but I can¡¯t exactly explain why. I will need to think about it and I don¡¯t think I will be able to come up with something you can do or use. These red ones, please don¡¯t attempt anything with these. The injury on my leg is from one of those. It was my third red hole but it¡¯s a handful for a 3-year-old vixen like me, please don¡¯t attempt it, you will die.¡± I nodded; red is bad. That is easy to remember.

    She showed the tear. Bridges got formed over the tear. Tails pulled on the edges of the tear and caused it to eventually close. It got blasted by a strange purple foxfire after that.

    The hole had several patches laid next to each other and they also got blasted with that strange purple fire. It was like a dark purple mixed with blue.

    What about reversing time on those holes and tears?

    ¡°I would not recommend that but if it had opened recently then that¡¯s a possibility, it is going to leave an ugly dimensional scar behind and you will need a seven tailed crystal wolf to reinforce that. You will need one either way because when you fix a tear or a hole properly, it will be stronger than the fabric around it. So, you need them to make the transition in strength smooth. Look at this small rift. It¡¯s closed and sturdy but over here it¡¯s like the rest. A tear could form here easily.¡±

    But they are also doing quite poorly¡­

    ¡°I know¡­ Any other questions sweetie?¡±

    How about those dimensional maggots, centipedes and beetles?

    Neia leaned forward in shock. ¡°Oh dear. You¡¯ve seen those? Is the fabric festering? That¡¯s not good¡­ While they do make restoring the dimensional fabric easier, they are an indication that something has invaded from that hole or tear.¡±

    Wait invaded? I saw it festering when there were small holes or tears. I didn¡¯t notice anything that didn¡¯t belong here.

    ¡°Unfortunately, that doesn¡¯t matter, festering dimensional fabric always means something had already infiltrated from there and it will attract those bugs. You don¡¯t want to encounter those, preferably.¡±

    So, it would be a problem if I told you that most tears and holes I¡¯ve encountered were festering and only a few were not? And what about the white opaque flames that attract bugs?

    ¡°Those maggots are only nearby if there was an invasion in that location. And what you said is a problem indeed. I haven¡¯t detected any extradimensional creatures yet. So maybe it was small or some sort of energy.¡±

    Wait do we just know when something invades?

    ¡°If it invades nearby, we will instantly know yes. We had a big one 13 years ago which most likely coincided with when Hourai disappeared. Can you tell me about what happened?¡±

    Do you mind if I call over my friends?

    ¡°Go on ahead.¡±

    -Guys come to Neia¡¯s room, we might get some important information. -

    Greg arrived 3 minutes after my telepathic message. Raishin arrived after 10.

    Why did it take so long?

    I can¡¯t just walk away from ladies.

    We explained what happened before I got knocked out and we got sold as slaves. Neia was listening the whole time and her expression didn¡¯t give anything away but she must be upset.

    ¡°I wonder why they would need you 3. If your description is correct then the attacker was Enott from the Hing family."

    Huh, you know that monkey?

    ¡°He was some sort of mentor for your mother. He became arrogant and after the vampire incident and got banished from Hourai.¡±

    A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Vampires? They attacked Hourai?

    ¡°No, they were part of Hourai but they demanded preferential treatment and started a rebellion. Enott had instigated it. Your mother and I had to banish them from Hourai. It was quite the challenge. We still don¡¯t know why he suddenly turned against us. He was acting as if Hourai was in his way¡­ Maybe¡­ he needed that hole for something.¡± Neia got up.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I would love to talk more but I need to check out this hole as soon as possible. I will meet up with my daughter Saya, then find Norya and head over to that hole. Don¡¯t worry youngsters. I will take care of this. You can stay here as long as you desire.¡± She looked at me and grinned.

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind returning and find out that I have become a grandmother.¡± She left the room with a sense of urgency.

    Guys, the way she reacted¡­ I have a bad feeling about it¡­

    Me too. I thought maybe they wanted to do something with Hourai or to our mothers but if he just wanted Hourai to move aside to make that hole¡­ who knows what he was planning.

    Unfortunately, we don¡¯t have the age or experience to handle this. We will have to rely on Neia for this.

    Wasn¡¯t she weakened?

    Yeah, but I think she will be fine by the time she finds Norya. Let¡¯s wish her the best. I have more questions but Neia¡¯s urgent task is more important.

    Are you fine with this though? You might not get any answers anytime soon.

    Whatever question I have isn¡¯t more important than an enormous hole in the edge of our dimension. She has also lost her brother. Now that her leg isn¡¯t an issue, she has all reason to go back looking for Hourai. We can¡¯t do what she is doing so we just have to hope she can find Hourai. We have already found Hourai in theory.

    We don¡¯t know how long it will take for her to find Hourai or if she will find it at all.

    But there is nothing we can do about that right?

    I looked at everything in Neia¡¯s room. I spotted an image of a young Viridian and Neia. Another one where she was holding young Hisui. A very old one with her and my mother. Both were so young. I got the feeling that Neia would go over and beyond to get Hourai back.

    We have the most powerful 9t on the Mainfloor looking for Hourai. Let¡¯s focus on getting to a point where we can be of assistance to her. We still have many problems to solve and we also have to get stronger.

    So, what now? I like it here and we still need to get you and Aylena together.

    Are you planning on hanging around here for long?

    I would love to but I think I can get jumped at any moment. It¡¯s good to see that at least half the members of my race are here and doing fine¡­

    Yeah, it¡¯s crazy that she has so many daughters!

    It seems she is making sure that you don¡¯t go extinct. And it seems that those daughters of her seem to have the same idea. I think 3 have locked on to you Agnis.

    Right, I will work on my disappearing act. Is it fine if we leave the day after tomorrow?

    Will you survive for that long?

    Noo we only leave after you get one of the chicks here to be your girlfriend!

    Maybe another time Raishin but not now!

    I dropped into stealth and covered myself in a [Frostcloak] just in time because the room got blasted by charm magic. Greg was fine but Raishin was infatuated. I slipped out and fled to the jungle and sat in a tree. I was looking out on this small lake with the enormous floating lotus on it.

    So, they had to live deep in the jungle to stay safe. On top of that in the country that¡¯s the safest for beast kin. I don¡¯t know if this is a good or bad thing. I talked to some people that left the Floating Lotus. And it seems that they completely forgot about the part that they got served by vixens, they only remembered the sexy ladies.

    I guess this is what¡¯s needed to stay in business. Who knows what happens if someone learns that a skulk of 9t vixens is serving and entertaining people here. They would probably come for the novelty or hunt them down.

    3 of the sisters seemed to be chasing after a shadow clone of mine. Illusions are less effective against 9t but shadow clones could still work. That¡¯s why I¡¯m not in stealth or using illusions to hide. There is no point.

    I felt an Elgards eye gaze on me. I guess one found me. I tried to push the gaze back and moved around. As long as I pushed back, they would only know my general location. It is educational though. I never had the chance to clash against Elgards eyes. Now while every 9t has Elgards eyes. It isn¡¯t a race specific trait. It is extremely rare but humans or other races can also be born with this trait. The only race that has all members have this trait is us.

    Since we keep getting unlucky, we might encounter some stupid strong enemy that uses this. Anyone who has eyes like these is bound to be strong.

    I completely pushed back the gaze but it took me a lot of effort. I had developed a headache. I think they would catch me soon. My concentration dropped because my Elgards eyes dropped after pushing back that gaze. It was Medea¡¯s gaze though so maybe she will let me off the hook.

    I made a shadow clone and made him sit under a tree while I dove into the shrubbery close by.

    ¡°There you are!¡± Medea came running with Aylena and a sister I hadn¡¯t had any interactions with yet.

    ¡°Do you know where mother went?¡±

    Oh. Uhm, she realized something after talking to us about Hourai and went to get your sister Sarah¡­

    ¡°Saya¡­¡±

    She then went to look for Norya and check out the hole Hourai left behind.

    ¡°So, she went to do something reckless again¡­¡± Aylena seemed to be the most worried out of the three.

    I suddenly remembered that we seem to have a low risk assessment.  She will be fine right?

    ¡°Yes, I just hope that she will get to doing what she set out to do¡­¡± Medea continued.

    What do you mean?

    ¡°Are you familiar with the Sarian Goddess Biian?¡±

    Painfully so yeah.

    ¡°Well mom and Norya had pissed her off so she will take any chance to mess with them if she spots them. I don¡¯t think mom or Norya will lose but I can¡¯t help to be worried.¡±

    I can imagine. That bitch should stay on the Second Floor and leave us alone!

    They looked at me who was hiding in the shrubbery because I messed up and didn¡¯t let my shadow clone say those lines.

    Woops.

    Aylena approached me and fished me out of the shrubbery with her tails. ¡°It might be instinct but what you are doing is making things worse for yourself¡­¡±

    How so?

    ¡°Do you know what your female counterparts are attracted to?¡±

    I¡¯m not going to like the answer, will I?

    Aylena smiled. ¡°Everything that symbolizes our race is something that we find attractive, deception, trickery, pranks, being able to annoy other races and being able to escape from any situation. Partners that show those traits are unlikely to die young.¡±

    Uhm aren¡¯t most of those toxic traits and should be a turn off?

    ¡°Vixens love toxic traits!¡± Medea¡¯s eyes flashed pink purple.

    So uhh if I surrender that will turn you off right?

    Pink energy started to gather around Medea. ¡°Hmm, yes more deceit! Give us more of that¡±

    You girls are impossible!

    I teleported away. I arrived close to the Floating Lotus, connected to the air leyline currents, jumped into the lake and dove down. I hope they won¡¯t get me here. I saw some trying to dive down. This was a bad idea; they were all in bikinis. I enjoyed the sight, that I did. But I¡¯m not sure if I will be able to escape effectively if one gets deep enough. The surface is covered by a thick layer of charm magic. I will turn into a lovestruck zombie if I get hit by that.

    So, as I understand then this is just going to make things worse for me. So, I have to be less toxic to escape them. But I can¡¯t escape them if I¡¯m not toxic¡­ So I spent the night on the bottom of the lake.?

 Vol 3 Ch 38: Floating Fire Lotus

    It seems Dumbass had returned with 2 of his dragon friends and they were giving the vixens trouble. Not my problem. I was comfy at the bottom of the lake. I had made my bubble and was having breakfast. They were busy however so I could surface. I regretted telling Raishin and Greg that we would leave tomorrow.

    My breakfast finished and I walked into the Floating Lotus. I got gazes on me but they were all busy so I only had to evade Medea.

    ¡°Come on! Can I at least hang out with you! How about an Elgards eyes contest!¡±

    Didn¡¯t you lose yesterday?

    I pushed back Medea¡¯s gaze.

    ¡°Show me all your secrets! Huh? Veyle! Come here! Agnis is cursed!¡±

    Uh oh.

    A petite blonde 9t chick appeared. I guess not every 9t has a killer body. Her tails were very long though. I tried to run but she grabbed me with her enormous tails.

    Hey aren¡¯t tails like these cheating?

    She held up her hands and moved me towards her. I introduced myself with the introduction pose and she did the same.

    ¡°Heh you like my tails ehehe thank you!¡±

    She was quite an airhead.

    ¡°But flattery won¡¯t let you escape! It¡¯s time for your detoxification treatment!¡±

    But I¡¯m cursed not poisoned¡­

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter, we have it all!¡±

    She brought me to a small room which looked like a massage room

    ¡°Lie down here please.¡±

    I complied.

    ¡°All your tails out please!¡±

    I complied again.

    ¡°Quite unusual to have 9 tails at such a young age.¡±

    I¡¯ve been under a lot of pressure from a young age.

    ¡°I can tell, most people with this many curses are quite dead.¡±

    She had stripped me to just my underwear and was actually giving me a massage but with her giant tails. She seemed to have imbued them with some special magic. It was extremely relaxing. I can understand now why Raishin went to the spa so often at the uni.

    ¡°Hmm, these curses seem quite resilient.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t paying much attention. I was just enjoying the massage. Some of the curses did disappear but I didn¡¯t care. Maybe I should take relaxing a bit more serious.

    <hr>

    I woke up and I was wrapped in my own tails. I must have dozed off because it was so relaxing.

    Veyle was gone. She had removed almost 1000 curses but I was still afflicted by almost 4000 curses. I will get rid of them slowly but surely.

    I dressed myself and decided to join Raishin in the hot baths. I felt stupid for dressing myself because I had to undress for the bath. Raishin was relaxing in a bath with a strange woman. She was quite tall and burly. It is that she was in a bath that I could identify her as a woman because her facial features were quite¡­ masculine. I guess this is why Raishin isn¡¯t talking to her.

    Wow this bath is relaxing.

    So which 9t chick got lucky?

    None but I don¡¯t think they¡¯re serious. They seem to love this sort of chase¡­ they¡¯re all older than me, they have no business getting owned by a baby like me.

    Oh, Kaya said that doing this builds attraction but they¡¯re also hoping you would just choose someone. Aylena had a talk with all of them about that. She also said that you might not be up for it now so that they should keep it down.

    I will have to thank Aylena. And I get it. If the roles were reversed and there were only 5 9t chicks left alive and I spotted one I would certainly go for her.

    Raishin spread his arms out

    This place is a paradise! Just take them all!

    Well, it¡¯s a good thing that I¡¯m not you. Now stop pestering me with this. I will get to it eventually. Just not now.

    I think I know what the problem is!

    Raishin pushed me with his index finger.

    Tell me.

    Nobody has moved your heart yet! I forgot this. I can fall for any hot chick. But for you! They need to move or break through your heart of stone!

    Hey! I don¡¯t have a heart of stone!

    Then pick a 9t chick! Your way of introduction is deeper than just saying Hello, right? Or you can¡¯t? Heart of stone! But this blunder is on me. I will have to keep looking for you. As long as all these chicks are this horny, they won¡¯t manage.

    You really are taking this seriously, aren¡¯t you?

    Of course! Just as you wish the best for me, do I wish the best for you. Now excuse me. I need to screen all these chicks and find out what type would be the best for you.

    Raishin got out of the bath and walked off.

    I sighed and looked at the woman in the bath.

    ¡°What?¡±

    Nothing¡­

    I got out and went to the sauna. The steam smelled nice but I didn¡¯t get the effect of getting a good sweat. Is this heat resistance hindering my enjoyment here? But all these 9t also have heat resistances. I then went to relax in the bar. I wanted to ask Raishin to join me but he was too busy with his personal quest and interrogating vixens.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    It was a very relaxing day. The sisters had such a busy day that I could go about my day stress free. Never have I been so relaxed. I will have to thank Dumbass and his 2 friends for that.

    I woke up the next morning and there was a ruckus. I¡¯ll just continue sleeping. This isn¡¯t my problem. I almost fell asleep when someone tugged on the illusion of my room and I pretended to not notice. The illusion shattered moments later. I guess my rest is over.

    Medea came in. ¡°Agnis, we need your help! These dragons aren¡¯t leaving!¡±

    Those dumbasses are still here?

    I walked into the hall and it was a mess. They had claimed the Floating Lotus as their lair.

    Hey, assholes what are you doing? This is a 9t sanctuary, get your smelly behinds out of here! It¡¯s starting to smell like dragon here!

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you again, tell them we will use this treasure as a deposit and that we will move in here. We were thinking of staying here forever but we still have to discuss that right Rugathornyr?¡± Dumbass looked at R-nyr,

    R-nyr had a lecherous look on his dragon face. At least that¡¯s what I assumed it was.

    ¡°I like the servants here, so sexy and fluffy. I need to work on my human form.¡±

    Guys¡­ not another word, pack your stuff and get out of here! This is not your home! You can¡¯t just move in because you feel like it!

    ¡°Why not? This is our jungle!¡±

    Oh really? And who¡¯s maintaining the jungle?

    The dragons looked at me as if I was speaking Hourai and then looked at each other.

    ¡°What are you talking about? How are we supposed to know that?¡±

    My headache returned.

    Let me keep it simple for you overgrown lizards.

    I walked toward them while dynamically changing my [Fireball]. This place was made by 9t with illusions so it would be fire resistant.

    If something is your property, you¡¯re supposed to take care of it. Now it¡¯s certainly not you dumbasses that are taking care of this jungle, it¡¯s the elves so no, this jungle is not yours. So, since this jungle isn¡¯t yours, you also can¡¯t force your stupid ideas on these hard workers here. So, I would suggest that you get here while I¡¯m still asking nicely.

    I said that I was asking nicely but I was ready to blast them the moment something stupid would leave their mouth.

    ¡°Tha¡­¡±

    I blasted the dragons.

    ¡°Hey! Chill! Cool down dude!¡±

    Oh, you want ice? Get out of here! Nilah! Let¡¯s drop these clowns!

    Nilah turned into her fox and grew to her original size.

    ¡°Wait, this thing looks strong! How about we get 70% of this place and you get 30%¡±

    Nilah wrapped her tails around one of the dumbasses that tried to do [Dragon Dance] and drained his mana. These dragons are a joke. I turned the other dragon into an ice cube and only Dumbass was left.

    ¡°How about a 50/50 share? You can even take half of the chicks here.¡±

    You disgust me.

    I shot [Frost Disks] at him and he fled. I launched the other 2 away by growing [Frost Pillars] beneath them. I walked to a wall and used [Fireball] and dynamically changed it. I made it compatible with the illusions that made this place. The ceiling had already fixed itself. I found the matching runic sequence and added it to the illusions which created this place. It turned the Floating Lotus in a Floating Fire Lotus. The heat will be concentrated at the top because these dragons don¡¯t believe in using doors.

    Right, this should keep these assholes out.

    I got met with many hugs and was shown appreciation. They had a rule to not be violent with customers but even the other customers around here agreed that these dragons needed to get kicked out. Why can¡¯t they be more like Vinny? I had a short chat with Medea and explained to her on how to keep the Floating Lotus ablaze.

    ¡°Oh gosh and you¡¯re smart too!¡±

    Medea please¡­ focus on keeping this place dragon free.

    ¡°Thank you! You will always be welcome here! And free of charge! This is your home!¡±

    Uhh thank you, do you know what Greg was up to all the time?

    ¡°I think he had spent most of his time making aromatic oils.¡±

    What a weirdo, can you get him for me? I will fetch Raishin.

    Raishin was doing something different and stuffing his face. The food intrigued me so I joined him.

    Hey, this dish is amazing! Is this a 9t specialty?

    It¡¯s spirit salmon, which is generally our favorite food. I think it might be our specialty. I will ask Medea for some recipes.

    We kept eating until Medea and Greg came to fetch us.

    Hey Medea, can you teach me the recipe¡¯s to these dishes?

    ¡°Sure, I want something in return though.¡±

    Uh, sure, what is it?

    Medea took the introduction pose. We connected our hands and tails and I got information about how to make these dishes and she requested to know some interesting facts about the world outside the jungle.

    ¡°Thank you!¡±

    No problem! This is pretty useful! Thanks for showing and teaching me a bit about my culture.

    ¡°As I said this is your home now come back whenever you want, you too Greg and Raishin! Also be careful, I have heard that there is some strange disease going around.¡± The 9t chicks that weren¡¯t busy came to see us off. They also gave us a stupid amount of food which I appreciated.

    We will make sure to get back!

    Don¡¯t let those dragons harass you any more than they did!

    Yeah, just fry them when they return!

    So ehm, what now? We don¡¯t have much of a goal now besides getting stronger.

    Hmm how about we return to Igrini. There should be a dungeon in the southeast.

    Do we take the river again?

    Hmm, as I remember it was close to the Eastern Aquini Mountain range.

    You mean the part of it that is in Igrini but is still part of the Aquini mountain range and annoys the Igrini inhabitants to no end?

    Yeh, there is a dungeon there so if we go to the mountains, we can easily get over the border there. I don¡¯t know what monsters it has there though.

    I grabbed Raishin and Greg and dashed toward the mountains. We encountered some jungle dragons. They were stronger than those dumbasses but I just avoided them. They can¡¯t catch me!

    We arrived at the mountains 4 days later.

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 39: Icyhot Obnoxious Puzzle

    April was almost ending and I couldn¡¯t locate this dungeon.

    It¡¯s supposed to be somewhere here.

    Are we there yet?

    Did you remember its location properly? Maybe it¡¯s underground?

    Well, it should be somewhere here, give or take 20 km.

    That is a big margin of error¡­

    We were getting close to the South Igrini river. This river is the southern part of a river that splits off in the Eastern Elven Forest, the place where Sylvana is from. We are quite far from the forest but we can see the forest in the distance from the mountains were on. The river was exiting into the ocean down below us.

    Did I misremember the location of this dungeon? I had archived it to be somewhere here. Did it get buried? Or is it in the air? I took a look at the sky but nothing suggested that a dungeon would be up there. I looked down but I only saw dirt and rocks.

    I¡¯m tired! Let¡¯s rest!

    Ok there might be a chance this dungeon is in some cave.

    How about we just avoid caves altogether. Nothing ever good happens when we go into caves.

    But if it has a dungeon in it then it makes sense that the cave will cause problems¡­ Maybe I can summon the dungeon by using primal language!

    I thought for a bit but it didn¡¯t have a word for dungeon.

    Oh, such word doesn¡¯t exist¡­ how did they call it?

    Ooh primal language! That sounds so cool!

    Is that how it¡¯s called or did you name it that?

    Uhh, officially its called Pronam Astentia, and means something like first or original language but they called it Protia. But primal language sounds cooler. It¡¯s a pain in the ass to write and pronounce though.

    Ooh, how do I say ¡®I¡¯m Raishin¡¯ in primal!

    Uhh you should watch out with using this but it should be fine without writing the runes however some words even carry their effect without them. So, you would say ¡®Astimi Raishin.¡¯

    Oh that¡¯s not hard! Astimi Raishin! Does my name have a meaning in primal?

    Uhh no, Greg is the same and my name¡­ oh.

    And what does your name mean?

    Well, ¡®Agnis¡¯, means ¡®fire¡¯ it seems. I wonder if my mother knew, probably not since my name is derived from the word Agnisotra, which means purifying flame. Maybe the phoenix language was inspired by the primal language.

    So, you will basically say that you¡¯re fire if you introduce yourself?  Greg backed off and created [Shadow cloaks] around Raishin and himself

    Go for it.

    Uhh as long as I don¡¯t write the rune it should be fine.

    I got this, let¡¯s see what happens, I¡¯m curious.  Greg started layering defensive skills.

    Hey, isn¡¯t that overkill?

    Just do it!

    Astimi Agnis.  I felt a bit warm but nothing happened.

    See?!

    Now with that rune of yours, it¡¯s not much but you just increased in temperature.

    Fine.

    I drew the rune which represented fire. I was wondering if this was coincidence. Maybe the old language of the phoenixes was a branch of the primal language they placed a big importance on fire after all.

    Astimi Agnis.

    I felt warm again but this time the whole place got blasted. I looked at my hand and it looked like I was made out of fire. I think this would have killed me if I didn¡¯t had such a high resistance. It got to the point that even I could feel the heat. It didn¡¯t bother me, yet. It seemed to buff my fire affinity to the moon.

    This state reminds me a bit of my [Silver Torrent] state but weaker and simpler. In the [Silver Torrent] state I¡¯m made out of silver lightning, now I¡¯m made out of fire. This effect however only lasted for 2 minutes before it disappeared.

    Greg appeared from his [Shadow Dome] and looked at the surroundings.

    This was hotter than usual. It also felt different from normal fire, magic fire or the fire you use with your Dragonvein. Any clue what it is?

    Uhh Primal fire? I have no clue. I don¡¯t think I should use this though. It punches through my fire resistance. Look I have some singed hairs.

    I showed the hairs on my arm.

    Ok don¡¯t introduce yourself in Protia with runes. Don¡¯t forget this!

    Yes yes. Let¡¯s see what other names would have a similar effect? I guess Nilah would turn blue but she already is blue. Do you think someone would be named Mortyu? He would instantly die if he introduced himself.

    I have not yet met anyone with that name.

    How about names for chicks!

    Uhh Anis? It means end? Might also die.

    Maybe that¡¯s how the primals died! They introduced themselves to each other and got annihilated!

    I would hope that they were not stupid enough to go out like that¡­

    Agnis look, you melted a part of this mountain and it revealed the dungeon. It¡¯s glowing. It might have been activated by the heat.

    The dungeon was cooling off because the incandescent glow was going from light yellow to red and the dungeon disappeared from sight and detection once it cooled off enough.

    I have to say, these ancients surely are creative in hiding their dungeons! I¡¯m torching this place again and let¡¯s get in before it disappears again!

    Greg and Raishin sat down and observed.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Don¡¯t you need to shield up?

    You can control your fire, right? Friendly fire is off remember?

    Dragonvein doesn¡¯t care though¡­

    I connected to the underground leyline currents, shifted my stance and zapped Raishin.

    Ouch! Ok! We will back off!

    Raishin and Greg backed off and Greg put up some protection.

    I used [Fernys magma Pit] on where the dungeon had disappeared. It took a while but the incandescence revealed the dungeon. It seems to be able to take a lot of heat before its temperature would rise. I let the magma pit heat up the dungeon until it glowed white hot. No puzzle was needed to get inside, just resistance to heat. I put [Frost cloaks] on Raishin and Greg and we walked into the dungeon.

    The door closed behind us. No dark room, no monsters. Just a large round room with an enormous uncompleted jigsaw puzzle on the floor. The walls had 4 strange images, one on a cardinal each.

    What a terrible artist. What are these things supposed to be?

    No clue.

    This is fascinating!

    I linked up Greg and Raishin with my eyes. Nothing seemed off. Just solving the jigsaw puzzle. This one seems a bit different. Every piece was double-sided, one had a light blue border another side a red border. The spot where we were supposed to solve this puzzle on had 6 pieces that were already on a set spot. These couldn¡¯t be moved, 3 had red borders and the other 3 had blue borders.

    Now there was one problem. This puzzle was partly completed, which suggests that someone has been here before. I looked to the side. Raishin was poking 3 skeletons leaning against the wall.

    These aren¡¯t monsters that are going to attack us, right?

    I think they were the ones that tried this puzzle before and failed.

    Ugh. We will be fine right? We are immortal!

    I think dying is better than being stuck here forever.

    We will solve this puzzle so that is not a concern. But Agnis look at these images! I don¡¯t understand them but the artistic genius it took to create this.

    I had forgotten that Greg is such a nerd in this. I couldn¡¯t make anything out of these 4 images. They looked extremely abstract to me. Then suddenly one portrait changed a bit.

    I looked at Raishin who had just randomly placed a piece in this puzzle.

    Hehe, Greg you¡¯re such a noob, this isn¡¯t art, it¡¯s just a random image which seems to change when a piece is laid down. Raishin put some more pieces down!

    Raishin put 5 pieces down and 2 parts of the east image changed. 1 of the west image and 2 of the north image.

    So, we need to solve this jigsaw in such a way that all images make sense?

    I have no clue but that sounds obnoxious enough. What worries me are those borders though.

    I walked over to the puzzle and crouched down. My estimate put this jigsaw on 3000 pieces, not difficult for tailed beasts like us because we can come up with solutions by putting our tails to work. It is sure to have more obnoxious effects. Why are there 6 pieces that are always set in their place with their corresponding borders.

    Do you think they gave us these 6 for free to help us out?

    If there is one thing, I know of these dungeons then it is that nothing is free. Let¡¯s leave Greg nerd out on this place. I will complete a part around this red bordered piece, you do the one over there with the blue borders.

    It was a mess in here because the pieces were everywhere. Looking for a piece took longer than figuring out what the jigsaw was supposed to look like. The complete image was probably as abstract as the images on the wall. I tried to match the pieces by using the red bordered side but that seemed to be impossible. A cold wave swept over Raishin and me and it drew our attention.

    I looked over at Raishin. The blue piece he started to solve around showed a number 5 and every jigsaw piece that was within a range of 5 pieces around it turned blue bordered. One image on the wall changed drastically and the walls turned clockwise.

    Uh oh, I have a bad feeling about this.

    Guys, head¡¯s up something is coming through the image.

    The image that had changed the most started to ripple and an ice yeti came out of it. It was quite small but it grew in size to about the size of a normal ice yeti.

    I got this! You guys continue solving that jigsaw!

    Greg got out his hammer and started to kick the yeti¡¯s ass. It is just a normal monster so it should stand no chance against Greg.

    I finished a part around my piece and it glowed and showed a 3. Everything within a radius of 3 pieces got a red border. Another image changed a lot and the room turned counter clockwise. The image started to ripple and a horde of flame wolves hopped out. Greg [Shadowbound] all of them, created a large [Shadow Vortex] pulling them to a small area and used [Liberation] on them and swiftly wiped them out.

    So, the monsters here are no problem for us. Humans might have had issues with the amount of wolves that hopped out of the image but they were quite weak. The yeti also should be no problem from humans. So, what is the problem here? Why did they die? This jigsaw isn¡¯t extremely difficult.

    We kept looking for the pieces we would need and an hour had passed.

    Hey Agnis, I need that piece over there, I think.  He pointed at a piece that I had put down 20 minutes ago.

    Hmm, take it let¡¯s see what happens.

    He took the piece and placed it but nothing happened. I helped him finish a part around a fire bordered piece. It glowed red after we finished at least 6 rows of pieces around it. It showed a 6 and all the pieces in a radius of 6 had their border turn red. I then spotted the problem. Their shape also changes when this happens.

    The usual happened. An image changed a lot, the room turned counter clockwise and some fire related monster jumped out of the image and grew in size until it matched the size it usually is. This one seemed tougher but Greg had no issues soloing this.

    Hey Agnis, I don¡¯t think we can solve this like a normal jigsaw puzzle, the shapes and colors keep flipping.

    Yeah, I think we need to solve these in order of the numbered pieces. We need to find 1 and then solve the area around 1 then 2 etc. We might even have to take all the pieces off to reset this. Greg this is going to take a while!

    That is fine.

    What if that¡¯s not the way to solve the puzzle?

    Uhh, then we¡¯re screwed. Do you have an idea?

    Not really but what if we need to turn the puzzle into one color.

    Hmm that also seems quite hard and obnoxious. What if we have to surround these set jigsaw pieces with the opposite color?

    Ugh, there are so many options! Which one is the correct one?

    Hey, guys I have an idea! What if there are 4 types of solutions?

    Greg pointed toward the four images on the walls that kept rotating.

    Are the ancients really that nice or are each of the solutions going to give us a pain in the ass boss to fight and we could live or die by randomness?

    I think that would be extra obnoxious. You would be wondering if the other 3 solutions would have been better.

    That sounds pretty obnoxious to me. These ancients were assholes.

    So what solution are we going for Raishin?

    How about we do rock paper scissors, if I win, we go with my solution and if you win, we go with yours! But no cheating with your eyes!

    Fine! Don¡¯t come crying if you still lose!

    Best out of six?

    Why six? That¡¯s an even number, how about best out of 9!

    How about best out of 7.5?

    You¡¯re trolling right?

    We decided on a bet out of 9 but we kept drawing.

    Right, I will leave a clone behind and investigate more.

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 40: Icyhot Obnoxious Puzzle II

    I decided to do some investigating after these idiots had their 15 draw in rock paper scissors. I used [Shadow Network] and spread tendrils of shadows between the cracks and crevices of this dungeon. Since Agnis can¡¯t see through these walls I will have to use my abilities to discover the secret behind this dungeon. My shadow network managed to get behind the wall. I confirmed the presence of a ring-shaped room behind this wall.

    I [Shadow Melded] into my [Shadow Network] and bypassed the wall and appeared on the other side of the wall. According to my network, this room could rotate independently from the room where Agnis and Raishin were. This room was separated in sections. I had to use my [Shadow Network] to access these sections. So far each of these sections seemed to be some sort of corridor. They either went straight or diagonal. I discovered another ring-shaped room around this one.

    This dungeon is more complex than we initially thought. There are only 4 solutions in the middle room but I assume every time they turn the room, these rings turn too. I suspect these turn at a different rate. How many rings does this dungeon have? What could be found at the end?

    I will have to be exact in where I am located. Currently I am in the first ring. This ring is divided in 8 sections. 3 of these 8 sections seem to have monsters. Do these monsters enter the core after being turned?

    I kept spreading out my [Shadow Network] and patiently waited until Agnis and Raishin would turn the room. The room turned 7 minutes later. My clone notified that monsters had appeared in the core and that Agnis was fighting them off but I saw none of the monsters here in the first ring move into the center.

    With that hypothesis disproven I moved to the second ring. This ring had 16 sections. I blocked the charge of a giant flame boar with [Shadow wall] and skewered it with [Shadow Spikes]. This ring had a problem.

    My [Shadow Network] couldn¡¯t get into 3 rooms because they were filled with lava. 3 other sections had a cold and hostile environment. The rest had traps or monsters.

    The dungeon turned again. The core turned once clockwise, the first ring turned 3 sections anti-clockwise and the second ring turned 4 sections clockwise. I had spotted some skeletons on this layer. So, this dungeon has been visited before on several occasions.

    I think I know what to expect on the next layer. The amount of sections and how these rings turn seem to have a pattern. The amount of sections seem to increase by a factor of 2 and the sections they turn seem to match their exponent.

    The next ring should have 32 sections and turn 5 sections when the core turns. This ring will turn into the opposite direction as the previous ring. My network confirmed 32 sections. All I needed was for the dungeon to turn to confirm my hypothesis. I waited 12 minutes for the dungeon to turn. The third ring moved 5 sections counter clockwise.

    The question is what does this imply? This information is normally inaccessible to those tackling the puzzle. Raishin and Agnis think that there are only 4 solutions. Is the objective to give a random outcome? Even after completing the puzzle, it will just look like 1 long corridor to those that finish this puzzle. I assume the walls between the rings will disappear. The question is how many rings are there here?

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    What¡¯s at the end and how many rings are the most important questions. I returned to the core because it was unclear how many rings this dungeon has. The dungeon moved again and I returned after the dungeon stopped moving.

    Aaand that¡¯s the last on!  Raishin slammed the last jigsaw piece down.

    You guys solved this quite fast.

    Raishin finally put his tails to use and used simulations to solve this puzzle.

    Hehe this puzzle went from difficult to quite easy! Why did you guys never tell me about this?!

    We did¡­

    The dungeon finished its revolution and an image completed and showed a strange red sphere.

    Guys, my intuition is going wild.

    Mine is too.

    I felt a strange yet familiar energy. An enormous red sphere appeared out of the image and the corridor opened. It looked like an enormous red egg and it started to crack.

    Guys, I¡¯m going to pick you guys up and we¡¯re going to rush to the end.

    Agnis grabbed us and he dashed through a long corridor that had various monsters, magma zones, ice zones, traps etc. I remembered where I¡¯ve felt that energy before.

    The energy that shell gives off is divine energy.

    Just our luck.

    Hey, guys don¡¯t we know about a situation where a god got sealed in a dungeon?

    Silence fell but Agnis fired up his [Tail Dynamo] and sped up.

    Shirayuki, get ready to turn into Nilah.

    We arrived at the end of the corridor. I had counted 12 rings. Agnis made a [Frost wall] because a wave of fire rushed at us through the corridor.

    Guys get the treasure and dump it in my dimensional pocket. Nilah! I need your assistance.

    His sword turned into the frost blue fox. I have to ask him how it works.

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 41: Sarian God Zarrazax

    I blocked the sea of fire rushing at us while Raishin and Greg were clearing out the treasure room in haste. Just our luck, we had to find the dungeon where Azu sealed this god away. I will apologize to her if we survive this.

    This is the Sarian god of fire. I think he has a neutral or bad matchup against me. He could easily turn my buddies into ash though. The more I think about it the more we might actually be fine even if the bitch goddess appears. Greg has a strong matchup against her. We might not win but we also won¡¯t instantly lose.

    I just have to keep this guy off Greg.

    The wave stopped. Unfortunately, this wasn¡¯t an attack, just the god breaking out of his seal. Azu could have told us that solving an obnoxious puzzle would break out that god¡­

    Hey, do you think that if we had went for a different solution, we would have gotten something else and he would still be sealed away?

    I would like to believe that he would break free no matter what we would have done but there is a high chance that¡¯s possible. Our luck is quite terrible after all. I¡¯m going to grab you guys again. The teleporter is where we were before¡­

    The corridor did return to a normal corridor.

    ¡°Who¡¯s there?!¡± The voice seemed relatively friendly but it had a tone of caution. I¡¯m not letting this friendly voice fool me.

    Raishin, start generating energy. This will probably be a long day.

    I tried to zip past this guy who looked no older than 18 years old. He had a friendly face but fiery eyes and the tips of his red spiky hair were flaming. He had a fist sized cross shaped scar where a human¡¯s heart would be. He was topless but wore a long dark green jogging pants.

    These gods have a strange fashion sense. He was blocking my path unfortunately.

    ¡°Hey, I just woke up after a crazy blue bitch sealed me away, can you tell me what year it is? Wait!¡± He took a fighting stance

    ¡°I thought my Honey and I had wiped out all of you!¡±

    Ugh, move away Zarrazax! We have no time for this bullshit! I will ignore the genocide you¡¯ve led against Greg and my race if you step aside.

    ¡°Heh, my Honey loves collecting your tails and your cat friend¡¯s liver. I¡¯m sure she is going to be elated if I bring her those gifts!¡±

    I guess we will have to defeat you then. Agnis link us up! I¡¯m going to use [Blackout]

    I linked my buddies to my vision and Greg used [Blackout]. The whole dungeon became pitch dark. Zarrazax used fire to light up the place but Greg removed the light from the flames. Mana and divine energy started to well up in him. I covered all of us in [Frost Cloak].

    He used something that looked like [Explode]. The temperature and force were so great that they sent the teleporter haywire and it forcefully teleported us to the outside. We got ejected into a mountainside but we got protected by [Frost cloaks] and [Shadow Cloaks].

    ¡°Ahhh it is good to be outside again! I don¡¯t remember it being this cold though.¡±

    I noticed that the global ambient temperature was slowly rising.

    What is this? Shouldn¡¯t this happen only locally?

    Uh, dunno, might be related to that he¡¯s also associated with the sun. But raising the global temperature is quite crazy. It¡¯s going to make that stupid desert even bigger!

    That¡¯s what you¡¯re concerned about?

    Nobody needs more sand.

    ¡°Why do you races always do this?! Stop ignoring me!¡±

    Hey do you think he is attention deficient?

    He must be, he has been stuck for over 2000 years or so.

    I think it was closer to 3000 years.

    ¡°What?! 3000 years?! What about my Honey? Where is she?¡±

    I started to drop the temperature because this asshole was making this place way too hot. Greg was blocking fire attacks.

    I bet she forgot about you!

    This enraged him. Raishin never fails to piss people off.

    ¡°She would never! I will proceed with my plan and bring her your corpses as gifts!¡±

    No wonder she forgot about you, which chick wants to deal with guys that bring her corpses as gifts?

    He sent a [Flare] at me and I pushed Greg away and I tanked it.

    Hmm for a god of fire this seems quite weak.

    ¡°Ok you are going down first! I¡¯m sure she needs more material for a new coat!¡± He rushed at me and Nilah tackled him.

    Nilah! Sword!

    I took a stance the moment I felt Shirayuki at my hip and used [Iai: Nilah]. He got cut in 9 pieces but deities don¡¯t care about this.

    Greg used [Shadow Vortex] on his pieces and shot something at him that seemed unusually black.

    Is that abyss magic?

    Yeah, if we get lucky and I get enough hits of this in we might be able to kill him for good.

    I boxed him in with [Frost Walls]. And he got hit.

    ¡°Aaagh! First Pagos and then Abyss magic! We should have done a better job wiping you out!¡±

    Do you have anything stronger?

    I strengthened the [Frost cloaks] around them because he used [Explode] again as his pieces turned into fire and reformed to become 1 Zarrazax. Raishin was about to go 6t mode when I stopped him.

    Why?

    We just started this fight, don¡¯t go exhaust yourself physically yet. Let¡¯s make sure that when you go 6t mode you can do a lot of damage to him.

    Ok.

    Raishin used [Lightning Glitter].

    Zarrazax tried to blast them away but I swapped him with a glitter, which caused him to get hit by other glitters. I had expected that swapping a god would be hard or impossible. Maybe it should be but this god is overconfident. We will have to drop him before he takes us seriously. We have to abuse this godly arrogance before he just decides to nuke the whole country to kill us.

    Raishin created some strange yellow balls of lightning that floated around near Zarrazax.

    Take this special [Chain Lightning]!

    I wanted to comment that [Chain Lightning] only works with multiple targets but it was jumping from Zarrazax to a floating orb, then back to Zarrazax and so forth.

    Wow so you do have a brain!

    I interrupted various spells he tried to fling at us. And then froze his arm. It took him some effort but he broke free. The temperature of his arm stayed low for no reason. Greg noticed this.

    Didn¡¯t we learn that a certain god was especially weak to frost magic? Shouldn¡¯t he be the one?

    If that¡¯s true, he¡¯s so screwed. Nilah! Turn into your original form and sic ¡®em!

    Nilah turned into her huge fox form and pounced on Zarrazax. He seemed to freak out and did his best to evade Nilah. I wouldn¡¯t let him though. I jumped at him and landed a palm strike on his back augmented with frost. He crashed into the ground and Nilah slammed her tails on him. Raishin was chucking orange lightning spears at him. It looked like we were doing good damage but I don¡¯t know the conditions that need to be met to kill a god.

    So, he might as well feel as if we¡¯re tickling him. A death or 100 is no problem for them because they don¡¯t truly die. A [Shadow Dome] covered us as a [Heat wave] went out. All the foliage in the vicinity got vaporized. The ground was slowly melting. Now that¡¯s not impressive because I can do that too, what is impressive is that he seems relatively fine. He was dusting off his jogging pants.

    ¡°So, are you done? You guys aren¡¯t as strong as I had thought. Is it because all of you are so young?¡±

    Hey Greg, what do we do? We¡¯re not hurting him.

    Let me block more attacks. I will attempt to hit him with [Erebeia].

    Ohh good! So ehh what does it do?

    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    If it hits it will take away half of his vitality. It is the most powerful early in a fight.

    Any restrictions?

    I need to absorb about 120 more of those [Heat Waves] to hit the minimum requirements. Also, I can only use it once per day.

    Ok I will deal with that. I can release a stupid amount of energy, make sure you can catch all of it.

    I can do that!

    You can go if this isn¡¯t enough. I¡¯m going to be very efficient and drop a frost nuke on this place, it will certainly hurt for him.

    Nilah got blasted into a mountain.

    ¡°I have bad memories fighting [Pneuma Boreas]! These things are so stupidly overpowered!¡±

    I agree! Nilah are you ok?

    Greg covered the floor in shadows as I got blasted by fire. Nilah ran over to me

    I petted Nilah.

    If this is too much for you, keep enough mana to retain your form but I need you do blast this whole area with a full powered [Kryokym]

    ¡°I should kill you first to get rid of this stupid fox!¡±

    Good luck I have high fire resistance.

    I covered Nilah in an illusion. The real one rushed at Zarrazax. The illusion stayed at my side and was knocking fire attacks away with her tails. Raishin was using his tiger clouds to create energy and Gregory was preparing to use abyss magic. I will attempt to restrain this guy so Greg can get a clean shot in.

    Hey Zack!

    ¡°It¡¯s Zarrazax!¡±

    I smiled.  Ever got hit by [Kryokym]?

    His facial expression told me everything I knew. It was a face of fear and horror. Nilah crashed into Zack and unleashed [Kryokym]. All the mana she had gathered from when I first made her burst out and got converted into damage. She had stolen mana from passersby¡¯s, from strong attacks like attacks from Inyr, and the laser from that praying mantis, and more. All of this has now turned into a frost nuke.

    Everything turned white and froze over. I heard Zack scream in agony and I noticed Greg give the thumbs up. I connected to the air leylines and used ice [Dragon Festival] and made them restrain Zarrazax. He was bleeding a lot but tried to break free. I hit him with my own [Kryokym]. It didn¡¯t do nearly as much damage on him as the one Nilah did but it hurt him.

    A large pitch-black blanket reached for him and covered him. The scream got louder and more intense. Bursts of fire tried to break through. I targeted Zack for my [Eternal Winter] and the fire almost died out.

    Hey, maybe we can do this after all.

    I looked at Nilah. She looked exactly at how she looked when I first made her. I picked her up and put her on my head.

    Well, Greg and I just used nukes we can¡¯t reproduce so I¡¯m not sure about that.

    ¡°Aaagh! Ok I was wrong you are not that weak after all!¡± He shot a golden fireball into the sky which exploded like firework.

    Ehh is this phase 2?

    I think this is worse than phase 2.

    I covered my buddies in 12 layers of illusion to hide them. I made 5 layered illusions of ourselves on other locations.

    Are you ok Greg?

    Yeah, Can you dump a bit of energy in my shadow? I used all of it just now. I added some effects to it which will hopefully kick in later.

    Instant kill effect?

    I wish.

    Our illusions were holding out quite well because he was overly wary of me and Nilah. He had some frost burn scars that wouldn¡¯t heal. I think we just did meaningful damage right there.

    The sky turned gold and a familiar figure appeared.

    Ugh, this bitch, you¡¯re right, this is worse than phase 2!

    We already had our hands full on 1 god¡­

    So, Greg, I was thinking, just like I counter Zack, you counter Tomato goddess.

    Tomato Goddess?

    Oh, Neia¡¯s eldest daughter and I had decided to call her that, it pisses her off whenever you negatively comment on her appearance.

    Right¡­

    Would a ¡®Yo Momma joke¡¯ work on her?

    Dunno, go and find out.

    Our illusions held out for quite well.

    ¡°Don¡¯t kill that one Zax, I need him to breed more fur for my wardrobe.¡± She blasted the illusions of Raishin and Greg with some light attacks. Raishin¡¯s illusion got obliterated but Greg¡¯s illusion absorbed the light attack and dropped a [Liberation] on Zack.

    ¡°Ugh, I hate shadowcats.¡± Tomato bitch looked at Greg as if she was looking at Raishin¡¯s dirty underwear.

    ¡°Ugh, I hate tailed beasts, hey Honey, didn¡¯t you miss me? No ¡®hey, good to see you again.¡¯ Or ¡®I¡¯ve missed you?¡¯ or anything like that?¡± Zack said as he was walking up to tomato goddess.

    ¡°Not now Zax, fighting a team up of a nine tailed furball and a three tailed pest never comes easy no matter how weak they are. And why aren¡¯t you praising my beauty like you always do?¡±

    ¡°You look fabulous Honey¡­¡±

    Hey, they seem quite busy, would they notice if we sneak away?

    Good plan.

    I will [Shadow Meld] us.

    ¡°But first!¡± She used something we recognized as [Divine Light]. Target? Probably everything in a radius of 50 km.

    So, guys with years of adventuring experience behind my belt I will make a highly educated assessment. We¡­ are fucked.

    What do we do!

    I guess it¡¯s my turn

    Greg¡¯s shadow tripled and other shadows seemed like they were dancing. A mana burst erupted from him as he went 3t mode. A tether went out to our shadows and they became pitch black, like the color of Abyss magic. He then created [Shadow Waves] and 10-meter-high waves of shadows surrounded us.

    The targeted area of the Aquini mountain range got leveled. We got saved by Greg¡¯s shadows.

    ¡°I truly despise your kind.¡±

    Hey tomato goddess! Catch!

    I rode a [Shadow Wave] and sneaked up behind them. It wasn¡¯t much sneaking because they were flying in the air but my illusions make me unnoticeable. Nilah had turned into Shirayuki and I had my [Tail Dynamo] going. It hadn¡¯t turned into orange lightning yet but a frost slash would certainly hurt her.

    I sent a red lightning infused [Iai: Wintersbite] at tomato goddess. This pissed her off but not enough for her to make a stupid choice. She narrowly evaded it.

    ¡°Ugh, my head hurts, why do I get a headache looking at you?¡±

    Oh.  I smiled

    I went out of my way and unsealed your favorite vixen, Norya Mikazuki.

    Tomato goddess clutched her head fighting her headache. I absorbed a [Fire blast] with my [Frost Cloak] and used [Kryokym] on tomato goddess and kept slashing at her. She tried to defend herself but the headache was preventing her from concentrating. I hope I can do enough damage in these one-time gimmicks. I cut her arms off so she couldn¡¯t grab her head.

    ¡°Aaagh! Zax! Do something about that furball! And I warn you! Don¡¯t kill him! Male furballs are exceedingly rare!¡±

    Not sure if this is a good or bad thing.

    I swapped myself with Greg because he had prepared a heavy hammer slam imbued with a lot of shadows. I heard a scream as Greg pummeled the tomato goddess and smacked her into the ground below. Raishin had managed to land a [Raishin Kick] on Zack but he managed to break out of it. I swapped myself with Raishin to tank an [Incinerate].

    I used [Frozen Ground] and made him slip and froze his jogging pants to the floor.

    So, gods can slip too, eh? Nilah sic ¡®em!

    I had forgotten that Nilah was a small cute fox now. She did damage but it wasn¡¯t a lot. He tried to physically fight her off. It seems he finally learned that Nilah and I are just going to drop a [Kryokym] on him if he attacks us. Speaking of which. I hit him with [Kryokym] to return the damage he tried to fry Raishin with.

    I interrupted some spells tomato goddess tried to use.

    ¡°Zax! Get this pest, I will deal with the furball!¡±

    I kept his ass frozen and tried to box him in with frost magic but he had no choice and to blast it with his flames which fed me energy to drop more [Kryokym] on tomato goddess. And this pissed her off even more.

    Raishin was chucking [Supernova Blasts] at tomato goddess. Unfortunately, for him it seems like Greg and I are doing the most damage here even though Raishin is our main damage dealer.

    Greg had split his shadow off in 3, so 3 of his shadow and himself were hammering at tomato goddess with shadows everywhere. Every light-based skill she tried to use got drowned out by his shadows. What did escape did no damage because he had fortified our shadows so light-based attacks did hardly any damage. What concerned me is that we know what tomato goddess¡¯ phase 2 is and it¡¯s extremely problematic. Especially if she has an ally.

    It seemed as if Greg had gotten a massive boost and was doing more damage to these deities as before. Is it because his attacks have gotten stronger or¡­ Are tailed beast modes the best way to combat deities as it makes our attacks more effective? That¡¯s hard to test this as Greg is Biian¡¯s natural enemy.

    Greg and I did everything to keep them cc-locked for as long as possible. The moment Greg gets tired and has to drop his 3t mode is when we will get into trouble. We need to come up with a plan before that happens because we want to stagger our tailed beast modes as much as possible.

 Vol 3 Ch 42: Sarian Goddess Biian

    ¡°Zax, we need to change location. These pups are obnoxious but we¡¯re quite close to the home of another obnoxious individual.¡±

    Oh, auntie Neia, yeah, you¡¯re fucked if she notices!

    ¡°I will deal with you myself!¡± Biian released a wave of divine energy which pushed Greg back while his hammer turned abyss black. Tomato goddess teleported to me and I evaded her punch.

    Hey Tomato goddess! Surprise!

    I swapped myself with Greg and he slammed his abyss black hammer on her. Raishin followed up on dropping a powerful kick at the back of the hammer to drive her into the ground. The ground under her cracked as she tried to resist the force.

    ¡°Zax do something!¡±

    Oh, he is doing something. He is dealing with my illusion of 12 full sized Nilahs

    Hehe he looks freaked out! Raishin put more force into the kick and Greg''s hammer slammed her into the ground.

    How are they responsible for wiping your races out if they¡¯re this weak?

    Tomato bitch gave off a familiar glow. ¡°Oh let me show you! Hammer! Coat!¡±

    Greg got forced into turning into a hammer and I turned into a coat. I had hoped that she would never do this. Nilah broke out of the illusion and blocked the [Divine Light] flying at me. Greg¡¯s shadow absorbed it. Unfortunately, this had canceled his 3t mode. We are kinda fucked now.

    We returned back to normal and Raishin went in for a [Raishin kick].

    ¡°Tiger, Fox!¡± I expected to turn into a fox but Nilah turned into a normal fox. Nilah will be fine but Raishin however¡­ I made an ice cube and swapped him with the ice cube. Nilah got blasted but it didn¡¯t seem to do anything to her.

    ¡°[Divine Brilliance]! Bathe in my light and my beauty!¡±

    The sky glowed gold and beams of light rained down upon us. It wasn¡¯t a laser but close. This tomato bitch seems to be my natural enemy. Not quite the goddess of lasers but quite close. I had to swap Raishin with some ice cubes to make sure he didn¡¯t get blasted. Greg was a bit tired but light attacks don¡¯t do too much against him so he will be fine.

    Greg did his best dealing with the [Light Waves] and [Light Beams] she shot out while light was still falling from the sky and he was getting overwhelmed. I needed to give him breathing room.

    Something exploded behind me.

    Shit! Raishin, can you keep Zack busy? I¡¯m going to help Greg.

    I¡¯ll try!

    Bian was floating in the sky and looking down on us. I¡¯m sure she enjoys it.

    I fired up my [Tail Dynamo] and waited in stealth until the lightning turned orange. I beckoned Nilah and she turned into Shirayuki. I focused and exhaled.

    I can¡¯t just cut her in two. I have to piss her off doing so. The moment Greg gets more breathing room is when he can start attacking. He must have enough energy stored up for some more abyss magic.

    Hey Shirayuki, can we do that attack where you made a 9-sided snowflake cut?

    I dropped out of stealth because the area around me froze. Shirayuki seemed to have agreed and staying in stealth when I¡¯m freezing the area around me is pointless. This snowflake will be imbued with orange lightning though. I will target her face and cut it into 9 pieces.

    Hey Tomato goddess!

    She looked at me and that¡¯s when I unleashed [Ninetailed Snowflake]. It cut her head in 9 but the frost kept the pieces together. Her expression became distorted because she couldn¡¯t control it nor regenerate properly.

    Greg! I know you¡¯re tired but can you speed draw her face in this state?

    Is this the infamous, piss-her-off technique?

    I opened my dimensional pocket and dropped drawing supplies in his hand. I jumped up and cut her arm off. She tried to shoot a [Light Beam] at Greg, but I wouldn¡¯t let her. She also tried to say something but was unable to.

    I made a [Frost Mirror] after Greg confirmed he was finished. How uselessly fast can he draw? He showed the drawing and it was detailed and accurate.

    Tomato goddess exploded in rage after seeing her appearance in the [Frost mirror]. She launched me into the ground and one shot me. I lost a life but it was totally worth it. The frost on her face shattered and her head regenerated.

    ¡°You little shit!¡± I got targeted by a laser but an abyss-colored mass shot her out of the sky. I caught Raishin who got blasted away by Zack.

    Ouch that¡¯s hot. I was wrong they are super strong. I don¡¯t think I do well against him. How about we swap, you keep him busy and I help Greg.

    Sure. Nilah! Sic ¡®em!

    I think I have to thank my gramps for instilling this fear into Zack. Even in her cute form Nilah seemed like a boogeyman to him. Unfortunately, the only frost skills that hit hard and I can use now are [Nilah] and [Kryokym] so this is all I can do. Greg had garnered the attention of tomato goddess by showing her the drawing he made. Now that tomato goddess is aggroed to Greg. And Zack is wary of me, we might be able to not instantly die.

    I just needed another push to make sure he would keep aggroed to me.

    Hey Zack. I know how that tomato goddess looks like behind her makeup!

    ¡°Lies! She is a natural beauty! And even if that was the case there would be no way you would know!¡±

    I smiled maliciously.  Oh really? I can tell you what¡¯s in her trophy room!

    ¡°What?! She only let me on once after centuries of begging!¡±

    I told him what I could remember from her trophy room. And the things she said after doing her round.

    ¡°You¡­ how¡­ how do you know that!¡±

    Oh, you don¡¯t know? Didn¡¯t she tell you to keep me alive?

    ¡°She told me she wants to breed you!¡±

    And who would be the female be?

    I was bullshitting but he was biting. It should be illegal to give idiots like these this much power. I showed an illusion of her face that was parted in 9 not too long ago.

    ¡°No¡­ this is impossible! This can¡¯t be! I will ask her myself!¡±

    And why would she tell you anything? You were sealed away for almost 3000 years and she never told me anything about you, she didn¡¯t even look for you!

    ¡°This¡­ this is all your fault!¡±

    The temperature rose and the mountain next to him started to slowly melt. I made the [Frost cloaks] on my buddies extra strong. Now that I have him successfully provoked. It¡¯s time to lure him away.

    Not my fault that you¡¯re incompetent!

    ¡°You!!!!¡±

    I dashed away and he created fire jets behind him and followed me. I now have to find a way to keep him busy for a very long time. This is our best-case scenario. We have to survive and hope the 9t chicks notice and help us out. Or if we¡¯re lucky Neia notices. Maybe she will bring Norya and then we might be able to put these gods down for good. But I also have a plan for if that does not happen.

    I know another skill that acts like the boogeyman for gods. I want to hit both of them for maximum effect though. But I think we should do enough damage to them for them to feel threatened by it.

    They could see what I was up to because I was still sharing my vision with Greg and Raishin and I could also see that while they were in a tight spot they were holding out. Raishin created several openings to which Greg responded with Abyss magic.

    ¡°Stay still!¡±

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Ok.

    I instantly stopped, almost ignoring inertia, because I hardly have any mass, and turned around with Shirayuki drawn and pointed toward him. He almost ran into the blade and jumped up. I made an arching slice upwards and cut his leg off.

    Now the question was. Is this guy also weak to water? Popular belief states that fire is weak to water but this is only true if the water user is stronger. I might get blasted by steam explosions but I do have unlimited access to water which changes the situation a bit.

    I was still connected to the air leyline currents but I realize I should have calibrated myself. I can¡¯t do this if I¡¯m moving around like this. He had resorted to close combat. The fire won¡¯t hurt me but a punch of a god is going to hurt. So, I had to evade and deflect his punches. I could also abuse my [Auto Dodge] because there was a lot of force behind these punches. He either needs to drop the physical force, restrain me or break the sound barrier if he wants to hit me with these punches.

    I shifted his center of gravity and threw him around whenever I could. I got flashbacks from my training with Ted.

    Send punches off course before they pick up in speed, mess with their center of gravity to make them fall or weaken their attacks. And counter whenever possible. I combined my martial arts with some moves of Dragonvein and could get a trail of water around my arm and leg movements which acted like some sort of whips.

    They kept increasing in volume as I continued defending myself. I made him slip, drew Shirayuki and cut his head off.

    ¡°Ugh, I should visit Wyndur more often to polish my close combat.¡±

    His head regenerated and I cut his arms off. Now that I had the range advantage, I kept cutting his hands and legs off. He became agitated and blasted the area with a [Heatwave] but Shirayuki absorbed it and I unleashed [Kryokym] at the next cut.

    ¡°Aaagh! Honey was right! Fighting your race is truly a pain in the ass!¡±

    His power spiked and he bulked up. Not extremely so but enough to make me doubt that staying close to him was a good idea. I sheathed Shirayuki and dodged a punch. He hit the floor, which started to melt and a pillar of fire erupted from it.

    This eruption seems to have a lot of blunt force behind it so while the fire wouldn¡¯t affect me the blunt force will. I guess it¡¯s back to range. I shifted my stance and used [Water Dragon Festival]. I caught every punch with a water dragon and doused it. The first 2 times ended up in steam explosions but at the third try I had given the dragons enough volume to prevent this from happening.

    I let these dance on the ambient leylines while I started using [Drowning Pulse].

    ¡°Ugh what is this nonsense! This isn¡¯t magic!¡±

    He seemed to take considerable amount of damage from leyline energy. I guess if this is the will of Isi then gods are a problem in her eyes. The area started to flood the area and I had to deal with a lot of water evaporating but these just created clouds above us which I could use later on. His scars suddenly started to pulse and shadows burst out of them and he got fucked over by it. I guess this is Greg¡¯s work.

    He collapsed to the ground. I kept fast-moving currents around him to transport the heat away from him and cool him off. He couldn¡¯t evaporate the water faster than I created it. He set off multiple steam explosions by using [Explode] but his heat got stolen soon after by all the cold water that I had made.

    ¡°Are you an Ardella Demi?!¡±

    What? I¡¯m not a demigod. Just half 9t, half phoenix

    ¡°Ugh, that bitch Edea had kids?¡±

    Right down you go!

    I created a current that pulled him down. He started to glow and turned the water into fire.

    Hey that¡¯s cheating!

    ¡°I am the Sarian god of fire! Do you think some water will defeat me?!¡±

    It was doing a great job not too long ago.

    Not all the water had disappeared. Zack was shin deep in a layer of water. I had chucked some frost in the water to prevent it from evaporating.

    I shifted my stance and started using [Waterfall]. I rushed at him and used a water dragon as a whip. We were back at close combat but he was white hot so I had to protect myself with water. His basics hadn¡¯t changed so I could still throw him around but less frequent because I had to build up enough water to do so.

    I don¡¯t know what cheat he was using but I was feeling a bit warm. I looked around and everything that wasn¡¯t covered by water or frost had melted to goop. Maybe it¡¯s hotter here than I realize.

    I guess my heat resistance is not all-powerful. I rammed into him with [Waterfall] and used [Kryokym]. Nilah was bathing in a pool of lava absorbing the heat as energy. Zack is not going to like this. I did not notice when Shirayuki turned into a fox and escaped though. I was too busy throwing Zack around. I froze a spear of frost and started harassing him from a distance.

    He messed up and I launched him into the air and used [Vanishing Ripple]. It¡¯s the skill I used on Donkey and Monkey by keeping them airborne. I have slightly renamed it. Zack used [Explode] to break out. My spear melted causing him to break free. Energy welled up in him as he was starting to do something dangerous. That¡¯s a lot of energy!

    Nilah! Sword!

    Nilah returned to me and I started using [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] because these looked like fire lasers. I mixed some frost into this and soon I had an enormous mass of hot and cold water swirling around me. I had 729 individual hot and cold currents swirling around me and each of them could send him packing. He kept attacking me hoping it would hit me. He got 3 hits in which dropped me to 2 [Frozen Skin] layers.

    He got annoyed so I sent half of the currents back at him in one big wave. The water volume increased and 6-meter-tall waves were obstructing his view as the area looked as if we were on the ocean. I created 5 shadow clones and rushed at him with Shirayuki. Time to test a new idea.

    ¡°What are these waves?!¡±

    A shadow clone jumped out of a wave and slashed at him. It parried several attacks and a hot and cold current hit Shirayuki to which she responded by using [Kryokym]. The clone kept repeating [Kryokym] slashes until it got obliterated.

    My next clone jumped in to do the same while I dove into the water and swam under him. The clones kept sending [Kryokym] slashes at him until all my clones got obliterated. I had 5 currents left. They hit Shirayuki and I hit him with a powerful [Kryokym] quickdraw.

    This fucked him up and froze all the water.

    I dug myself out of the ice. He had a vertical scar on his torso that went up to his face. I barely missed his right eye.

    ¡°You! How is my Honey supposed to stay interested in me with all these scars!?¡±

    Dunno, maybe find another chick?

    ¡°This is your fault!¡± I tanked a [Flame wave]. It was a bit spicy but nothing I couldn¡¯t handle.

    How is this my fault? Have you tried dodging? If you dodge then this doesn¡¯t happen!

    He missed a punch but he kept his hand in the ice and melted it. No, it didn¡¯t just melt, it sublimated. The heat started to rise and divine energy and mana started to become thick. The ambient mana shifted toward fire. I reapplied a [Frost Cloak] which had fallen off.

    Ugh, so dense, need a fire dragon to eat all this bullshit!

    ¡°It¡¯s a shame, I will have to just take this whole area down with you.¡±

    That¡¯s cool and all but I think you¡¯re forgetting against who you¡¯re fighting. Nilah!

    Nilah was loving all this mana. She had returned to her fox form and used her [Tail Dynamo] and made a mana free zone by absorbing it all. She was visibly growing and at this moment Zack realized that he had fucked up. I piled on by using [Eternal Winter].

    You might be a god but I¡¯m a terrible matchup for you!

    ¡°Uggh! Where is Honey!¡±

    Nilah was back to the size of before she used the big [Kryokym] nuke earlier. I could see that Zack was regretting his choice. He took off and flew toward Greg and Raishin.

    Nilah, full powered [Kryokym] on my location after I swap!

    I swapped places with Zack and he got hit by another near full powered [Kryokym].

    Damn Nilah is so overpowered. Nilah ran at me in her small and adorable size. Zack was knocked out. So, Gods can also get knocked out, eh?

    I walked over to him. He was very much alive. It didn¡¯t even seem as if I had done damage to him besides the [Kryokym]. There is only a finite amount of times I can abuse this skill. At least I hope I have deepened his fear for [Kryokym] I will have to see if I can make it stronger when I have time.

    I tried various things to kill him. Cutting his head off didn¡¯t work obviously, nor chopping him up. I couldn¡¯t freeze him with frost for a very long time and none of my frost skills seemed to be nearly as much damage as [Nilah] or [Kryokym]. It seems that I might be able to kick his ass but not kill him. How annoying.

    A [Solar Stream] dropped down where Raishin and Greg were fighting but it wasn¡¯t Raishin who had cast it.

    I looked at Zack who was unconscious and tomato goddess who seemed to be struggling a bit. Did they really wipe out our races? Something is not right. They have very bad matchups against us but while they aren¡¯t weak¡­ we¡¯re just not strong enough. It is as if they¡¯re afraid of something but it¡¯s not us. Maybe they''re afraid of attracting the attention of Neia and her daughters.

    I looked over to the jungle. It was quite far and I had to strain myself but it seemed nobody had noticed anything in the Floating Fire Lotus. And another question that I tried to avoid. What are the other 10 Sarian gods doing? I only ever hear about these 2. Will they interfere if these 2 create too much of a fuss? They had led a genocide of 2 races. I¡¯m not sure If the other gods would be happy with that.

    I created a sturdy frost cage around Zack and walked over to where Greg and Raishin were fighting. I was just in time to see Raishin drive an [Orange Lightning Spear] through her torso.

    Hey tomato goddess! What are you so afraid of, you shouldn¡¯t be this weak!

    ¡°Shut up! You wouldn¡¯t understand!¡±

    I was thinking the same. While I do think that we have a favorable matchup and might be able to stay alive, defensively they are quite lacking¡­

    So Agnis, my intuiting tells me that after she casts a super powerful spell, she reconsiders and calms down after that! As if she¡¯s trying to not grab the attention of something!

    ¡°Congratulations, you have added the six tailed tigers to my list of races I need to wipe out. I should have just let Zax get beaten up by you. I was hoping that you were as weak as your age suggests.¡±

    Hey leave my race alone! And theirs too! Go wipe out other gods or something!

    ¡°I will just ignore this then. Have it you way! I how you will enjoy the most beautiful skill on Yabia! Bathe in the glory of my ultimate skill [Biian]!¡±

    How narcissistic, calling a skill after yourself¡­

    Golden light particles started to gather and the sky turned gold. I grabbed Greg and Raishin to attempt to teleport away but the range of this skill was larger than to where I could teleport. We braced ourselves, expecting to lose another life.

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 43: Sarian Bickering

    I heard a strange yet familiar sound. It sounded like those junkshooters they called guns. A splurt of blood appeared to the side of tomato goddess¡¯ head and she fell to the ground causing her skill to fail.

    ¡°It seems I was on time. It¡¯s good to see your race is still alive. I hate this bitch just like you.¡±

    Uh oh, it¡¯s noob god, talking about a ¡®Deus ex Machina¡¯.

    Why does he look so casual?

    We got saved but I don¡¯t think this is good.

    Noobgod appeared with a strange mechanical floating vehicle and his junk shooter. Smoke was coming out of the junk shooter.

    So, this is why they were trying to not draw attention.

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Noobgod walked over to us and pointed his junk shooter at tomato goddess who was getting up.

    ¡°Ugh, Wyxyxozyas, stay out of this, I¡¯m procuring the materials needed to continue my coat collection.¡±

    Wait? Your name is whats-his-name-ias? Hahaha why not a normal name like ehh Walter!

    ¡°Silence! My name is in fact Walter!¡±

    Then why did she call you who-remembers-that-name-ias.

    ¡°It¡¯s Wyxyxozyas! Ouch my head! But you can call me Walter!¡±

    Tomato goddess smiled. ¡°Ah right, you got banned from using that name, you¡¯re just as that furball said, a noob god, now scram, you¡¯re in the way of my project.¡±

    ¡°You had more than enough, leave these guys alone. I could use them to kick your ass though.¡±

    Uhm you¡¯re not using anyone, how about we kick your ass first and then kick their asses.

    ¡°You say that because you know nothing about her, this bitch is crazy strong.¡± Noobgod fired more junk at Tomato goddess

    ¡°Oh, yes! Tell them how amazing I am! I¡¯m willing to wait till you tell them about my glory!¡±

    I am interested in your ehm magnificence! I would like to hear about your greatness!

    Hey Greg what are you doing?!

    Shut up Raishin he is buying time!

    ¡°I can hear you, you pests! Go on Walter! Tell them!¡±

    I sat down and let my tails run simulations. I needed to poison this Noobgod again and then scare this bitch off. So, if they give us story time it will work out for us. They think they can probably wipe us out at any time, and they probably can, so that¡¯s why they¡¯re so relaxed.

    We don¡¯t have much choice but to listen to them but who knows maybe it has some clues

    ¡°Well let¡¯s skip the boring part and start with why this bitch is so annoying and needs to die.¡±

    ¡°How about you start with how you lost your name and had to walk around with that powerless name of ¡®Walter¡¯ I¡¯m sure these furballs will enjoy it more.¡±

    ¡°How about I start with how you destroyed my nation and set the technology back to the stone ages!¡±

    I took out some popcorn and shared it with my buddies while the 2 gods were arguing.

    It seems they have a long history.

    They are gods after all. Do you have sweet popcorn?

    I took sweet popcorn out for Raishin.

    ¡°It is you who started it with your stupid mechanical toys! You even wanted to wipe out magic from the whole planet! So, I had to beat your noob ass up and wipe out any trace of those nonsensical trash off the planet!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because you and your stupid magic was exhausting useful resources!¡± Noobgod was getting worked up.

    ¡°Oh, and digging up all that metal and electronium is not exhausting useful resources? What a joke! You¡¯re even worse than me! Moreover, due to your technology the mortals became arrogant and challenged the gods! They had to be put down!¡±

    ¡°How am I worse? You led a genocide against multiple races because they either didn¡¯t bow down to you, had abilities that were strong against you or that sycophant god, or you wanted their fur. And these guys there fit the category of 2 or 3 of those criteria! Your ego led to the destruction of many races; do you even know what their role is?¡±

    ¡°To be annoying and become part of my wardrobe. Anyone who fails to bow down to me is better off dead. You are well aware of that.¡±

    I thought they would tell us a story but they¡¯re just bickering.

    Shht, this might be quite useful and interesting.

    ¡°Where is that loser boyfriend of yours anyways? Oh wait! He got sealed away by a witch! Hahahaha!¡± Noobgod seemed to find this extremely funny. I wonder who is going to tell him¡­

    ¡°Ha! I will have you know that these furballs have broken out my pet. Although that 9 tailed furball has returned so Zax probably has made a fool of himself.¡±

    Noobgod looked at us. ¡°Wait? You broke out that sycophant?¡±

    Uhh, that was an accident, we had no fucking clue what we were doing, continue arguing, it was getting interesting.

    ¡°Anyways since he is not here, he must not have been useful to you, you look quite beat up for someone who¡¯s supposed to be the goddess of beauty hehe.¡±

    ¡°Shut up Walter or I will kill you again!¡±

    ¡°Hah, good luck! I won¡¯t stay dead!¡±

    ¡°You should have been the god of cockroaches and not the god of science.¡±

    ¡°And you should have been the goddess of pettiness!¡±

    ¡°I am not petty!¡± Tomato goddess was doing her name justice and turning redder and redder.

    ¡°Oh really? You sealed the witch that sealed your pet god, you sealed various nine tailed spirit foxes that you couldn¡¯t beat, you led several genocides against those who could oppose you, races you deemed ugly and the list goes on, I would say you are the only one fit to be the goddess of pettiness!¡±

    ¡°Hah! How about that bitch Chiara! She ruined my coat because she was jealous!¡±

    ¡°You do know that Chiara was fond of the races you had wiped out right? Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a coincidence that she beats you up whenever you appear with a new coat?¡±

    Ooh some more lore.

    This would be a great time to sneak away but this is kinda interesting.

    I agree.

    ¡°She is jealous that I have nice clothing while she is stuffed in that strange spatial room of hers.¡±

    ¡°Well unlike you, most other Sarian gods and goddesses actually do their job!¡±

    ¡°I thought she was the goddess of space time and infinity not goddess of the bitches.¡±

    ¡°Well since she can kick your ass and bend you to her will she might actually be the goddess of bitches, you can¡¯t do anything against her after all!¡± Noobgod was laying down the verbal hurt.

    ¡°I will overtake her in power soon enough, what can she achieve in that strange room of hers?!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know? Keeping the fabric of our dimension from completely disintegrating? Trying to get back the races that have been cast into the void because your magic kept ripping it apart!¡±

    ¡°There is no proof that magic is responsible for that! You know that as well as I do!¡± And she got even redder than before. I wonder how red her face can get.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t change that she has her hands full on making sure even your ugly mug has a place to stay!¡±

    Noobgod and tomato goddess were getting more and more worked up during this exchange. I noticed movement in the cage where Zack was passed out. I hope he won¡¯t disturb this educational argument.

    This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    I heard a loud yell from the distance. ¡°I will kill that asshole!¡±

    Hey, tomato goddess, your pet is awake.

    A flaming ball rushed at me and it got blasted by a strange weapon of Noobgod and a [Lightbeam] of tomato goddess.

    ¡°Zax, stay put, we can wipe out these 3 furballs later on I have beef with this Noobgod.¡±

    Heh, glad you like that name.

    ¡°Shut up furball! I will have to find a way to change that personality of yours after I catch you, I can¡¯t have you breed more annoying pups.¡± Tomato goddess pointed her tomato finger at me.

    ¡°I won¡¯t allow you to hurt these races more!¡± Noobgod pointed his junk shooter at Zack and a bigger one at tomato goddess.

    ¡°Uh, Honey? What¡¯s going on? And is it true what that furball told me? Did you let him into your treasure room?¡±

    ¡°My treasure room?¡± She focused on me. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have told him this. She approached me.

    ¡°How do you know about that?!¡± She instantly appeared in front of me and picked me up by my throat and held me in the air. She was pissed. If glares could kill, I would have lost a life by now.

    I was just joking, but to think you have a trophy room, who would have known?

    ¡°Zax doesn¡¯t lie! Spit it out furball or do I need to pull a tail out first? And wait! What are these stacks of [Biian¡¯s Judgement]? So, it was you who was wiping out my cute believers!¡± She started pulling on one of my tails. She was freakishly strong. I heard the junkshooter sound but a [Light barrier] blocked it.

    ¡°Spit it out!¡±

    Owowowow! Ok! I will! Leave my tail out of it!

    I glanced at a blob of metal that laid on the floor.

    You left a window open in Boshi town!

    I swapped myself with the metal blob but she instantly grabbed me again. Why is this bitch only superfast when she¡¯s super pissed?

    She crushed my throat depleting one of my lives. It regenerated so I was still getting grabbed by my throat.

    You like¡­ warm coats, right? How about this.

    It was hard to breathe but I¡¯m familiar with oxygen deprived environments. I wrapped my tails around the tomato goddess.

    ¡°Ohh, this is the highest quality of fur I¡¯ve encountered in a long time.¡±

    Normally I use [Vaporize] with just my finger but this will be a full body¡­ full tail [Vaporize]. And she did vaporize, freeing myself. Light motes appeared and grew and eventually pieced her back together.

    ¡°What?! Window? So, it was you who freed that bitch?!¡±

    Who are you referring to? Azure Mist or Norya Mikazuki?

    ¡°Aaagh!¡± She clutched her head. Noobgod tried to take this chance to shoot at her but Zack body blocked it and melted a metal blob that flew at him. So that¡¯s where that metal blob came from.

    ¡°Ugh, I remember now! So, it was you freed both of those bitches? You¡¯re so lucky that I need you alive! I would have loved to kill you while pulling out your tails one by one!¡± I looked up and the clouds above us seemed very heavy. Thanks to Zack evaporating all that water we will have some rain soon.

    ¡°Zax change of plans, we¡¯re leaving, we can catch these furballs at any time, those 2 bitches are free and we¡¯re close to Neia¡¯s territory, I don¡¯t want to pull my hairs out from stress fighting them!¡±

    Noobgod looked at me. ¡°You seem to be a good representation of your race; it¡¯s refreshing to see how well you can piss her off. So do you want to join me in killing her and wiping out magic from this world?¡±

    Pass

    ¡°This is an offer from a god, you can¡¯t refuse!¡±

    So, then it¡¯s not an offer then if I can¡¯t refuse¡­

    ¡°Annoying indeed.¡± He pointed one of his junk shooters at me and shot me in the head. It was too abrupt to anticipate. I had already lost 3 lives and none of them were spectacular¡­

    Ugh, asshole.

    ¡°Good to know you have more than one life, now let¡¯s destroy these assholes.¡±

    You will regret this.

    It started to rain.

    ¡°Ugh, my coat is getting ruined. You¡¯re making this hard for me Walter! Fuck off or I will kill you!¡±

    I went 9t mode. Space started to bend and time started to glitch. I sped up the time on the rain so it started to stream down. Greg was freaking out but that was not my problem. I disconnected from the air leyline currents and used the biggest [Tsunami] I could muster.

    ¡°He has learned this from that bitch! Zax! Do something!¡±

    I threw an [Azure Spear] at Zack and impaled his torso to the ground making him unable to move.

    Greg, I¡¯m going to be super reckless! Protect yourself!

    Greg pulled in Raishin and went super defensive.

    I drew a rune on myself.  Astimi Agnis!

    I turned into fire and the whole area got blasted by the fire. Zack seemed to also be burning and it was hurting him. But this wasn¡¯t the reason why I did this. This state temporarily boosted my fire affinity to the moon. And this is what I needed because I used the strongest [Meteor] I could muster before the effect wore off.

    The clouds parted and revealed an enormous fireball that covered the sky as far as we could see. I chugged an anti-nausea potion and used [Azure Mist] the moment it crashed down upon us.

    I don¡¯t expect to kill them with this. But [Azure Mist] acts like a boogeyman against gods. I heard tomato goddess screaming for Zack. The Noobgod was also grunting as he got blasted by a buffed [Meteor] strength class skill. And they fled soon after. This [Meteor] was uncontrolled and it was so strong that I took damage from it. But it was worth it. I was sitting on the bottom of a gigantic crater with some minor burn wounds. The impact had sent me flying and my body hurt. I walked over the lava toward a strange black crystal dome.

    It had various cracks in it and it shattered shortly after. A layer of shadows disappeared and I used [Frost Cloak] on my sweating buddies. Greg normally uses at least 5-7 layers of protection in cases like these. The fact that I broke 6 of them means that I should be very careful with these stunts.

    Are they gone?

    Yes, I don¡¯t know for how long¡­

    I was quite tired from fighting gods and my buddies were also exhausted. We had fought and survived an encounter of 3 gods. I wonder how this would have ended if I didn¡¯t know how to use [Azure Mist]

    Was that Azu¡¯s custom skill [Azure Mist]?

    Yeah. That was the only way I could see us getting out of this alive.

    I confirmed that the gods were gone and canceled my 9t mode.

    That was cool! But can you give us a bit more time next time?

    Sorry about that¡­

    What do we do if they come back?

    Probably run away.

    I wish I could have heard more about that history but I guess they won¡¯t just tell us.

    Well, it seems there is a goddess that knows about this spatiotemporal stuff but she¡¯s too busy making sure our dimension doesn¡¯t unravel or something. Also, what Noobgod said concerns me. About magic tearing the fabric of space¡­

    We will need more sources to confirm or deny that but it is concerning yes.

    We were too tired to move a lot so we relaxed in this crater. The lava had cooled down and hardened so it was safer for my buddies.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t think we would let you off so easily, do you?¡±

    Greg blocked a [Light wave] with [Shadow wall] and I blocked a [Flame Wave] with a [Frost Wall].

    Ugh, who-cares-about-his-name-ias was right, you are petty!

    I dodged a metal blob flying at me.

    ¡°The name is Wy¡­ Walter! If you don¡¯t want to come with me willingly, I will have to take you by force! And bitch?! I declare war on you!¡± Noobgod said as he pointed his smoking junkshooter at tomato goddess.

    ¡°Well, isn¡¯t that convenient? That means I don¡¯t have to declare war on you.¡±

    Guys, isn¡¯t this bad?

    So about you guys babysitting me for a change, this would be the perfect time.

    Maybe another time Agnis¡­

    Can you go 6t mode Raishin?

    Yeh.

    Now would be nice to go for it.

    A mana burst went out as Raishin went 6t mode. Large tiger clouds appeared and they started sparking black lightning.

    ¡°Oh shit! I forgot about this race!¡± What-was-his-name-ias turned around and took some distance.

    Black lightning started raining down as Raishin prepared his [Fusionado], he did launch Zack with an [Updraft] first though.

    Wait, this is not his [Fusionado]! This is his [Fusionhurricanado]!

    And what the fuck is that supposed to be?

    Fusionado but 10 times stronger.

    Uhh is that safe for us?

    For me? Nope. For you? Maybe? Would not recommend.

    I grabbed Greg and chain teleported away. Zack was being an ass but I could take his fire attacks. I kept throwing [Frost Mirrors] to deflect the light attacks Biian threw at Raishin and Greg also absorbed the light attacks.

 Vol 3 Ch 44: Protect the President

    I got an idea after we were doing our best to keep Raishin safe while he was giving tomato goddess and Zack attacks to look out for.

    Hey how we use our tactic: Protect the President?

    You want us to stagger our tailed beast mode and protect the one who is getting focused down? Works for me. I assume I¡¯m up next to use it.

    Yeah, they are focusing Raishin down because those tiger clouds are a problem for them.

    Raishin¡¯s damage was ramping up and slowly but surely, he was starting to do meaningful damage to these gods. I was full-time interrupter and disrupter. Greg was blocking and countering with either Abyss magic or [Liberation] anything that I missed or let through.

    Noobgod was attacking the two assholes but he also sneaked in some shots against us so it was a 1v2v3. Unfortunately, we were the most likely to lose first. Raishin was about to get hit by an [Incinerate] so I cast a [Frost cloak] on myself and swapped myself with him and countered with a [Kryokym].

    ¡°Aaagh! I hate that skill! Honey, we need to do another sweep of this planet and wipe out every Pagos user!¡±

    I swapped myself with Greg so he could absorb a [Brilliant Light]. It looks strong so I hope he doesn¡¯t take damage from it.

    Raishin¡¯s [Black Lightning spear] hit the tomato goddess in her face so she started to attack Raishin again. Greg took a lot of damage from that attack but he sent a new skill at tomato goddess. It was the other skill he had learned from his gramps.

    [Telos] did seem to do meaningful damage to tomato goddess and it had blasted her arm off. Just as [Kryokym] seemed to be the bane of Zack, [Telos] seemed to be the bane of the tomato goddess. Will we kill them like this? Maybe if this battle goes on for 10 more years and we don¡¯t die.

    We¡¯re just being an annoyance to them. They tried to land a pincer attack on Raishin.

    Hey Nilah, want some mana?

    I swapped Nilah with Raishin. She got blasted and absorbed all the energy.

    ¡°I think we need to switch over to get the 9-tailed furball first! His disruptive nature is obnoxious!¡±

    Raishin! We¡¯re doing ¡®Protect the President!¡¯ Agnis is now the President!

    Raishin nodded. I swapped myself with Nilah, made a frost bow, and shot [Frost Arrows] at them. Did it do damage? Nope! Did it annoy them? Yup!

    I guess all those years playing hide and seek comes in useful.

    I covered myself in 12 layers of illusions and it seemed like I disappeared.

    ¡°Zax, he¡¯s finally starting to fight like a 9 tailed furball, blast the whole area!¡±

    ¡°But what about that?¡± Zack pointed at Nilah.

    ¡°What about it?¡± She blocked Raishin¡¯s kick. Not the skill just an orange lightning imbued kick. She pushed him back, grabbed him and slammed him into the ground.

    ¡°It will unleash a strong Pagos attack if I blast the area!¡± Zack blocked Noobgod¡¯s shots.

    I had sneaked around and was standing next to Noobgod.

    Hey, Mr. Science, what¡¯s the deal with these 2? They are gods but kinda getting their ass kicked.

    I dodged a shot aimed at my head. He has quite a good hearing and accuracy.

    ¡°This place where you¡¯re fighting is close to Bellia and Ardella¡¯s favorite spot on the continent. The forest nearby and the lake on which the capital floats, are the favorite spots of the goddess of nature and water. Zarrazax and Biian have gotten 2 warnings in the past for destroying nature.¡±

    I kicked his gun out of his hand and he took out a bigger one and shot an energy beam at where he assumed I was. Not quite a laser but the blast melted the ground.

    So, staying here was a good idea, why aren¡¯t you running?

    Greg made a large cat made out of shadows and it was giving tomato goddess difficulties. Zack was freaking out. He probably things that cat is similar to Nilah. It actually might be.

    ¡°Even though I¡¯d rather not see Ardella¡¯s face, I will be fine.¡± He sniped tomato goddess out of the air which caused her to get slapped by the paw of the big [Shadow Cat]. She got annoyed and shot several [Light Balls] in our direction.

    I made a pole out of frost, drove it into the ground and swapped Noobgod with it. He got stuck in the ground so he got hit by those attacks. I managed to evade most of them. Our shadows were still strengthened by Greg but these things still hurt a lot. Tomato goddess flew at me going for a punch. I flicked an ice cube at Noobgod who tried to get out of the ground and swapped her with the ice cube.

    Let me help you get out of the ground.

    Noobgod took the punch and got sent flying as it had dug him out of the ground. The temperature rose and Nilah did her job and made Zack useless.

    ¡°What are you doing Zax?!¡±

    ¡°I told you! It¡¯s that blue fox!¡±

    Hundreds of golden wisps surrounded me from all sides. I decided that this was bad news and swapped myself with Nilah. Tiny lasers shot out from each wisp and hit Nilah, she grew in size and dropped a full powered [Kryokym] on tomato goddess.

    ¡°Enough!¡± Tomato goddess got partially hit by that attack, the rest had been blocked by a gold transparent barrier around her.

    ¡°Black hair!¡±

    Greg turned into a tuft of black hair. This confused tomato goddess since she expected me to also turn into a tuft of black hair.

    I evaded a [Light Nova Blast] and swapped a pebble with the tuft of hair. I was just in time as a [Brilliant Light] blasted the area where Greg stood seconds ago.

    ¡°Ugh, Zax! Do you know [Spatial Lock]?¡±

    ¡°Why would I know that?¡±

    ¡°Learn it! This furball swapping things around is obnoxious! Now tell me furball, why didn¡¯t that work on you?¡±

    We had been fighting these gods for a while now but only now did I start to feel uncomfortable. I grabbed one of my tails.

    Thanks for that Agnis. [Shadow Cat]! Get her!

    Guys! Can you bunch them up for my [Lightning Glitter]?

    ¡°Answer me! What color is your fur!¡±

    I tried to ignore her and tried to get Noobgod over here but he was stuck in a rock wall. I wonder what the requirement is for someone to become a god. Being competent doesn¡¯t seem to be one of them.

    Whats-his-name-ias is stuck in a wall, you will have to do with these 2. Nilah! Chase Zack over here!

    Nilah was trying but she was fighting a god after all. I wanted to swap him over but tomato goddess moved extremely fast and grabbed my wrists.

    ¡°Why are you hiding the color of your fur?¡±

    Greg forcefully [Shadow melded] me into my own shadow so that I could escape her grip. She tried to stomp on my shadow with a light imbued stomp but Greg moved my shadow to his and undid the [Shadow meld].

    Thanks Greg.

    Tomato goddess sighed. ¡°I will give it to you furballs and pests, you are obnoxious and doing your race justice. Thanks for reminding me why I had to wipe you out. Now here is the problem.¡±

    She walked over slowly and she started to glow golden.

    ¡°I¡¯m in a delicate situation here. I need a wardrobe update and I need that 9 tailed furball for that but I¡¯m also curious about the quality and color of the fur. But I also can¡¯t destroy the environment because more nosy peasants will appear.¡±

    Uhm, have you looked at how this place looks? The environment is quite destroyed.

    ¡°And whose fault is that! You dropped a [Meteor] on us! Your race always does this shit!¡±

    To his defense, you nuked us with that light attack first!

    Yeah! Stop being so petty! You started this!

    Raishin went in for a kick but she blocked it with a kick herself and sent him flying.

    I was circulating nature energy because my body was hurting everywhere. I was getting to a point that my focus could slip any moment. One small mistake could cost me or my buddies many lives. Greg seemed down 3 lives just like me. I don¡¯t know about Raishin but he also looks like he took a beating. Meanwhile tomato goddess seemed like she had several scratches. Zack seemed fucked up though, he also had many new scars.

    Noobgod had freed himself and wasn¡¯t stuck in the rock wall. He seems quite beat up. I guess that punch packed a lot of power. Wait¡­

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    I looked more closely at tomato goddess. Some of her minor injuries seemed from Greg¡¯s [Telos], but most of them were the injuries that Noobgod had inflicted on her. Zack was the only one who took a lot of damage from us. Maybe we have to shift our focus a bit.

    I dodged a [Lightwave] together with Greg.

    Greg, our attacks just tickle them but if we can make them hit each other they will take more damage!

    You do know that you already have a target on your back because you keep using [Turning Leaf] right?

    Greg forcefully [Shadow melded] us into our shadow to dodge another light-based attack. He moved us to Raishin and we popped out of the shadow. His leg seemed broken.

    Sorry guys I messed up.

    It¡¯s fine, you only broke your leg, at least you didn¡¯t die.

    Guys I appreciate the help but we will die if we stay here!

    I have an idea. Greg see if you can fix his leg. I have one question though.

    I swapped Zack in front of us so he could body block the [Light balls] flying at us.

    Can you concisely explain how your 2 abyss attacks work and show me the magic circles?

    [Erebeia] Only needs a vast amount of energy and will drop the opponents vitality to half. [Telos] becomes 20% more powerful for every time an opponent has been hit by abyss or shadow magic in the same encounter. Here are the magic circles.

    Nilah ran over and harassed the enraged Zack. I quickly examined and archived the magic circles. I made a [Frost wall] to protect us from getting vaporized. Zack was doing that stupid skill again that could possibly burn me.

    Right, I¡¯m going to go 9t mode and use [Elgards Overload].

    Greg grabbed my arm.

    You will die if they catch you after that!

    We will die if we keep this up! Running is a bad idea in this situation and this bitch can move very fast if she wants to. Staying here seems to keep them from going too hard on us. I just have to amplify their anxiety.

    How long do I have? 8 minutes? I can go 3t mode after you fall out of [Elgard Overload].

    A bit longer than that I will try to get them to attack each other. Try to get them to focus on you after I finish.

    Greg nodded and gave Raishin a potion.

    Be careful¡­ I will set up [Black Lightning Haze] after you gave them hell!

    Confirming that my buddies will take over being targeted I prepared to dial being obnoxious to 11. Playing ¡®Hot Potato¡¯ with aggro isn¡¯t easy.

    I went 9t mode and a mana wave burst out. Time started to glitch and space started to fold.

    Any attack got their time rewound, halted or moved to a different time to where it would hit one of the other gods. I wasn¡¯t attacking. I was folding space and manipulating time to cause them to hit each other. The fight between Isi and Ira, that I had observed years ago, came in extremely useful.

    A glitch in time made Noobgod¡¯s gun malfunction and explode in his face. A fold in space caused Zack¡¯s [Fire Punch] to land on his own face. I showed an illusion of tomato goddess¡¯ 9 parted face and she became pissed off and unfocused. All eyes were on me.

    ¡°Show me the color of your fur!¡± I was wondering if I should, she is not going to stop unless I do and she also won¡¯t stop after I did. She will either go easier on me or be more relentless in trying to catch me.

    I decided that that was a problem for the future me. 3 pupils appeared in my left eye and 4 in my right eyes and I started [Elgard Overload]. First thing. I did was create [Boss music]. I haven¡¯t used this in a while. Let¡¯s have some music here while I annoy them. The near-infinite illusion layers folded and created many copies of Nilah. These were as strong as the real one, not watered-down illusions like I had made before.

    This was to keep Zack in check. I created countless [Frost Mirrors] that all reflected tomato goddess as if she had her 9 parted face. I forced the effect of having drank hundreds of liters of poison on Noobgod. He clutched his stomach and rolled into a ball of pain. My first window of near-infinite power came up so I started throwing full-powered [Kryokym] and [Telos] around.

    The reason why Greg had to explain to me how it works and show me the magic circle was so that I could replicate it during [Elgard Overload]. I mixed some [Erebeia] in between and various attacks these gods had used and threw them upon them. I could still fold space and manipulate time so whatever they tried to hit me got sent back.

    And even if they hit me¡­ I had near-infinite illusion layers running so I could just shatter some and undo that reality. I didn¡¯t forget to drop some 1000 layered [Confusion] upon them. This seemed to do lasting damage to them for some reason.

    The window ended and I had to kick all the side effects out of reality. I was giving away when my windows of near infinite power came with the [Boss music] by letting the music intensify but there was not much they could do about it. Tomato goddess had decided to turtle it out and wait till my [Elgard Overload] had dropped.

    She was protected by many strong light barriers. Unfortunately for her I know a skill that break that. It will come to her in my next and final window. The gods were visibly getting annoyed by me and the [Boss music]. Also they seemed to take a lot of damage from all these attacks. Not only from their own attacks that I was sending back. It seems tailed mode increases our damage against deities.

    I kept swapping them into each other''s attacks while I kicked out more instances of nausea, me being unable to use abyss magic, mana issues, and other side effects or impossibilities I had thrown around. I had also used tomato goddess¡¯ Phase 2 against them and had turned tomato goddess into a tomato and Zack into a flame. I managed to get a lot of kills in like this but it wasn¡¯t lasting.

    I was 6 minutes into [Elgards overload] and I had successfully kicked all nasty side effects from my skills out of reality and my next overpowered window came up. I made it rain.

    Tomato goddess gave up on her shields and started to seriously attack me. It¡¯s good that I had near-infinite illusion layers because she managed to ¡®kill¡¯ me 193 times within 12 seconds. Scary. I parallel casted 10 tsunami¡¯s and parallel casted 10 [Azure Spears].

    Tomato Bitch¡¯s eyes opened up wide. ¡°This is impossible!¡±

    It is as if you¡¯ve never fought a 9t using [Elgards Overload]!

    10 [Meteors] queued up which I threw around by speeding them up and changing their trajectory by bending space. I then used [Azure mist]. My window ended. I had 1 minute to fix my mana deficiency and nausea before I would drop out of [Elgard Overload]. It was a quiet 1 minute because the gods were too busy dealing with [Azure Mist]. Unfortunately [Azure Mist] will drop once [Elgard Overload] drops.

    I moved to Greg as I got forced out of my 9t mode and the tips of my tails turned red.

    Huh? I can still use Elgards eyes?

    It ended your 9t mode though. I think it¡¯s a good trade off. I will go 3t mode while they¡¯re still distracted.

    A mana wave went out and the whole area started to darken as all the shadows came to life and obeyed Greg.

    That¡­ was exhausting. How is your leg?  Still hurts. I¡¯m ready for a [Black Lightning Haze]!

    I heard a loud ¡®Meow¡¯ as a gigantic [Shadow cat] was focusing tomato goddess down. Noobgod seemed to have changed plans and was also attacking her. I guess he hates her more than he dislikes us. She started to use her stupid skill [Biian] again. Greg managed to partly block it and died twice. He made our shadows abyss black again and it hurt but it didn¡¯t kill us.

    Ugh, this attack is so dirty! The mana sticks around! It will just cause mana corruption!

    It reminded me of the state I had found Boshi town in. Did this narcissist blast it with a skill named after herself?

    ¡°I hate you! I hate all of you!¡± Tomato goddess started to throw a tantrum. Greg showed her the drawing of her 9 parted face.

    I am thinking of selling this, could you sign it for me?

    He held a thumbs up and the ambient mana started to shift toward light.

    ¡°Zax! Burn that drawing! Now!¡±

    Wow these guys have a lower attention span than me, they completely forgot about you!

    Works out for us, Greg is now the ¡®President¡¯ go unleash your black mist thingy. I will try to support where we can.

    Tomato goddess tried to force Greg out of his 3t mode again with her Phase 2 bullshit. I had to focus and pull the moisture out of her mouth or fill it with water. I need a better method. I practiced writing the primal rune of ¡®Silence¡¯ so I could silence her. I¡¯m also sure that she is prettier if she shuts up.

    Hey! Why didn¡¯t she try that on you in 9t mode?

    Well, this is because just like Greg automatically is protected by shadows in 3t mode, I¡¯m always protected by time and space, and you¡¯re protected by lightning. So, time will just return to before that happens or it will turn its duration to 0. Any time or space-based attack against us is quite useless just as Greg is now completely dominating tomato goddess since light or dark-based attacks don¡¯t do anything to him now. Well, it doesn¡¯t do much.

    So, OP! can you swap me next to Zack? I want to blast him!

    Greg cracked open tomato goddess¡¯ light barriers and the [Shadow cat] slapped her with its paw. She was quite serious now. If Greg wasn¡¯t so strong against light attacks, he would have also died over a 100 times. Raishin is a problem though. He doesn¡¯t have this advantage Greg and I have. It might become hard on us if he becomes the ¡®President¡¯.

    I swapped Nilah with Raishin and he landed his [Lightning Glitter] on Zack and used [Black Lightning Haze].

    I petted Nilah. She had done well. I¡¯m sure Zack will have nightmares of blue foxes. I turned her into Shirayuki and used [Dimensional Sword] and sent some slashes from my location at Zack and tomato goddess which ignored any range requirements.

    With [Dimensional Sword] active, I smacked tomato goddess into the [Shadow Cat¡¯s] maw. I need to use this skill more often. Ignoring distance is quite overpowered. Then again, we¡¯re throwing overpowered skills around and these gods don¡¯t seem to care. I had finished preparing the primal runes

    I think I can make these runes accurate now. I filled tomato goddess¡¯ mouth with water again. And I wrote the rune.  Silenam!

    And it was a success! This bitch couldn¡¯t make a sound. I have no clue for how long though. I drank some water as my headache was killing me. We need to rest. Unfortunately, that will not be possible. Exploring that dungeon was a bad idea.

    Noobgod made some strange mecha suit which seemed like bad news so I crushed it with the pommel of my sword. Still with [Dimensional Sword] active. I wanted to continue harassing Noobgod but tomato goddess had sent a clone after me.

    I have the feeling this clone is stronger than the real deal. This one abuses her speed. It¡¯s like fighting Teppei but worse. I had barely any time to react. Luckily [Auto Dodge] saved me a lot but the punches soon started breaking the sound barrier so it became useless. I messed up and it punched a hole in my chest. I had lost a life but in exchange I can one-shot this clone. I froze her arm to my torso, wrapped her in my tails and used [Vaporize] instantly defeating it.

    Having to exchange 1 life per clone is not a good tradeoff for me. I circulated nature energy and I went to sit down for a bit. Several lights flashed in the corner of my eyes and a dozen [Lightwaves] came at me.

    Oh shit!

    I strengthened my [Frost cloak] and tried to evade them. I got hit by only 3 of them. I was barely hanging on to my life. I circulated nature energy through my body to recover. I also hid myself with some illusions.?

 Vol 3 Ch 45: Protect the President II

    My pride got hurt that Zack seemed relatively fine after my [Black Lightning Haze]. I wonder what I would need to defeat them. They got hit by 11 [Meteors] and are still fine. Although they don¡¯t seem as unharmed as before, we are far worse off. Greg looks the least beat up of us 2. I look at my leg. It still hurts. I can¡¯t expect Agnis to control 3 gods to the point we don¡¯t get hit.

    We might need a healer¡­

    I dove away because Zack went angry mode and it was too hot to stay near him. He ignored me and tried to help his girlfriend. I want to help Greg but I think I will get rekt if I come close. This super dark shadow just makes sure we don¡¯t die from these light attacks, they still hurt.

    I had to evade another stray light attack. Agnis had done something and the bitch goddess had stopped talking. It did earn him several [Light waves] shot at him. I saw him create a [Frost cloak] before he got hit by some. Oof that must have hurt. I confirmed that Agnis was ok. Well, he wasn¡¯t, he was still alive though. I¡¯m not sure if I can stay alive as long as Agnis and Greg did if I become the ¡®President¡¯. My cheat is infinite energy, it doesn¡¯t protect me from getting one-shot¡­

    I put my [Dynamo Clouds] to work and would try to peel Zack off Greg. Who-remembers-his-name-ias had made a cool robot suit and was shooting strange torpedoes and lasers at the bitch and the simp. I wonder if he could be useful temporarily.

    Hey W-guy! Does that cool suit need more power?

    He aimed at me but then thought about my question.

    ¡°A temporary truce would do; I am running into energy problems yeah.¡±

    Are you really a god? You¡¯re quite weak¡­

    ¡°I was stronger, our names directly relate to our power, by being stripped of my name did I lose power.¡±

    So, if we keep calling those Simp and Bitch, will they get weaker?

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t work like that but if their names got changed to that in an official sense then yes.¡±

    Cool I¡¯m sure Greg or Agnis can do something with that information! Now just say stop if you have enough energy!

    I climbed on his suit and poured energy into his suit. It did cause some parts of his suit to melt but this guy wouldn¡¯t be a god if this would be a problem, right?

    ¡°Ooh¡­ yes! I can upgrade my suit with this!¡± The suit changed and grew in size.

    It started shooting bigger and cooler stuff at the other 2 gods. They exploded and did a lot of damage. Greg was protected by his shadows so he was fine. Why is he fine though? This god shot at him.

    Hey! This is a good thing but why didn¡¯t that hurt my friend over there?

    ¡°Ha! I¡¯m not going to tell you that secret!¡±

    Hmm, my intuition tells me that it¡¯s just a normal attack but it has something that only hurts gods.

    ¡°Why are all these tailed races so annoying¡­¡±

    Ha! I knew it! I was right! Here have some more energy as a reward!

    ¡°Ooh yes! More energy!¡±

    Greg was getting tired but that was no problem. With this new super suit that wasn¡¯t mine, we had effectively¡­ essentially... efficiently¡­ what is the word I want to use? We had pissed them off! That¡¯s it!

    Hey! We need to move! Bitch goddess is mad at you!

    ¡°I think she is mad at you!¡±

    Why would she be mad at me? I¡¯m just a brat in her eyes, you are a god!

    ¡°And that¡¯s exactly why she is pissed off at you because I couldn¡¯t do this without energy!¡±

    Here have some more!

    ¡°Ooh! I think I can send this back now!¡± The super suit made something like a shield that was also a mirror and reflected the light attacks back. It hit bitch goddess.

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    ¡°Ha! Take this Bitch! How does it feel to get hit by your own attack!¡±

    Bitch goddess grunted. ¡°I will pluck that pest of your stupid costume, let¡¯s see how strong you are after that!¡±

    ¡°See? I told you; she is pissed off at you!¡±

    Then stop being so weak and provoke her more so she gets pissed off at you! Take more energy!

    I had to hold on to the suit because it was moving around wildly trying to dodge the fire and light attacks. Greg went to rest as the focus had moved away from him. My shadow was still dark but not pitch-black dark. So, I might get one-shot by these light attacks.

    Hey! Don¡¯t you want to protect your battery?!

    The suit changed and made a seat surrounded by strange glass and metal. It had a big metal ball in front of me.

    ¡°Use that ball to feed the suit energy, hopefully you won¡¯t melt my suit like that¡­¡±

    I fed more energy into that metal ball and the suit was huge! It¡¯s fist was now as big as these gods. It seemed fire resistant now. It did get fucked over by those light attacks though.

    Hey, do you have like a megaphone thingy?

    A blue button appeared. ¡°Press the blue button for the megaphone function.¡±

    This is cool.

    HEY BITCH GODDESS! YO MOMMA¡¯S SO FAT! THAT WHEN SHE FELL IN LOVE, SHE BROKE IT!

    The area started to fill up with countless golden wisps.

    ¡°Why did you have to piss her off that much?!¡±

    You¡¯re a god, right? You can block this!

    ¡°If I could I wouldn¡¯t have been defeated by this skill the last time!¡±

    Right, I guess this is time for my [Raishin Exit], cya!

    I used a very strong teleport ping to teleport to where Agnis and Greg were. They had already made preparations to protect themselves from whatever attack is going to destroy this area.

    Sup!

    That was a brilliant plan Raishin!

    Huh what plan?

    You didn¡¯t plan this? It¡¯s brilliant anyways.

    We sat in our walls of earth, shadows, crystal and frost and looked on how the suit got absolutely destroyed by a large version of tomato goddess but made out of light. It looks so tacky¡­

    What a narcissist¡­

    Agreed.

    So, about the ¡®Protect the President¡¯ plan. I don¡¯t think I can become the ¡®President¡¯ I will probably get one-shot a lot.

    That¡¯s fine. I think Walter has taken up that role. We¡¯re not protecting him though.

    I am starting to think that their personalities work in our favor. Look at how she is venting on Noobgod.

    The big bitch goddess made out of light kept punching the suit that had already been smashed to pieces.

    Wow, that¡¯s brutal, good thing I got out of there.

    She might think you¡¯re still in there so let¡¯s just stay in here until she calms down.

    I think that¡¯s a good idea. I feel 2 strong individuals approaching.

    Finally, so they have finally arrived.

    ¡°I knew it! It¡¯s you again!¡±

    Agnis eyes told me that these 2 chicks were also gods. One was flat but super-hot, the other looked like a child and wasn¡¯t my type.

    They are gods, why are they so flat?

    Greg smacked me.

    We decided to rest because these 2 gods started attacking bitch goddess and the simp.

 Vol 3 Ch 46: Boring Gods

    I got woken up by Greg. I don¡¯t remember falling asleep. I tried to get up but I got hit by a dizzy spell. I saw double again. It stayed for a minute before it disappeared.

    What was that? Did I overexert myself?

    I got up and looked at the area. Part of the crater was filled with water and nature seemed to have taken over. We also had a strange green barrier around us.

    One of the newcomer goddesses was so kind to do this for us.

    I inspected myself and I seemed to have been healed.

    Are we saved?

    Dunno, the bitch and the simp keep destroying the environment and the 2 new chicks keep fixing it.

    I don¡¯t want to get hit in their crossfire. Now that their reason to hold back is gone we won¡¯t stand a chance.

    Well, that¡¯s true but those gods are lacking in the annoying department, Zack and tomato goddess don¡¯t seem stressed at all.

    They have been going at it for an hour. They should have the advantage because we already beat them up a bit but it doesn¡¯t seem like they are taking advantage of it.

    I never thought I would say this but gods fight quite boring.

    It¡¯s as if they¡¯re afraid to kill each other. Do you think the death of a god means anything?

    I don¡¯t know but our mothers used to kill gods on a regular basis.

    A dragon friend also was doing that. So maybe there is no negative effect. Is this maybe a fight between friends?

    Tomato goddess slapped the short goddess into the ocean several kilometers further up and barraged her with light attacks.

    Never mind it doesn¡¯t seem like a fight between friends.

    The taller goddess with light blue hair and blue eyes was handling Zack quite well. She seemed to be the goddess of water. Is that Ardella?

    I looked at the trinket I had gotten from the fishermen years ago. Not exactly what they had meant but she did come to help out more or less.

    A large tree grew out of the ocean and the short goddess seemed pissed. She had short orange-red hair, a strange green cape and a fiery temperament.

    Is that the goddess of nature?

    She introduced herself as Bellia, she seemed to be pissed off the most. She also seems to be hellbent on protecting us since we¡¯re part of nature. Apparently, she had fought against the bitch goddess before. The reason was because Biian wiped our races out. Bellia had won that exchange and that¡¯s why the bitch goddess was holding back against us to not piss Bellia off again.

    So, they¡¯re not friends, then why aren¡¯t they killing each other?

    They don¡¯t seem to be holding back as much as they did against us, so it can¡¯t be to make sure they don¡¯t blow up their surroundings.

    Do you think they need our help?

    Why would deities need our help?

    Dunno, we annoy them, they make mistakes, gods finish them off.

    Well, we would benefit if those 2 get knocked out of commission or get put under the control of the goddess of water and nature.

    Their matchup seems relatively neutral. Except for Zack, he just keeps getting fucked over.

    He does seem strong against Bellia though.

    He is just pissing her off more and more though¡­ where is that other guy?

    Walter? I don¡¯t know.

    I activated my eyes and looked for Noobgod. He was talking to a strong looking guy. He was wearing clothes that looked like the dojo clothes Ted used to wear.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Let¡¯s ask them if they need help! If not, we will get the fuck out of here.

    You are insane do you know that?

    I got this, you guys can stay here.

    I woke up Nilah who was sleeping in fox form. She refused to turn into a sword and jumped on my head. I guess she wants to be ready to harass Zack if he throws a fit.

    The short chick got launched again and I swapped her with an ice cube.

    Hey, you¡¯re Bellia, the Sarian goddess of nature and healing, right? Do you need help?

    ¡°Oh, what a polite youngster. I apologize for letting your race drop to such low numbers.¡± Nilah jumped and blocked a [Fire blast] flying at us.

    Oh, wow there are gods that are nice, ehm sorry I¡¯m accustomed to those jerks! And I guess you have your hands full.

    Zack backed off after he saw a blue fox instead of a torched Bellia.

    Bellia looked at Zack who was freaking out and tomato goddess that was being held off by the blue haired chick. ¡°Yeah, I assume that would be the impression you would get if you only have to deal with them. I can¡¯t believe that they just destroyed the whole area! And the gall they had to blame this on you! You¡¯re just babies!¡±

    Ehh yeah, I can¡¯t believe they blamed this on us!

    I looked at the crater that suggested that multiple [Meteors] have been dropped on this area. I might want to go with this deception.

    Nilah! Give us some breathing room!

    She wanted to tackle Zack but I heard a shot and she got hit by something big and round.

    ¡°Poor thing!¡±

    She will be fine she¡¯s my skill ehm and sword, either way she is not a real animal, getting hit with either physical or magic attacks will make her stronger. Now to my question. If you need our help we will help where we can, else we will get out of here. I will just request politely to bring your fight somewhere else like the god realm or something.

    Noobgod had returned with his friend.

    ¡°Ugh, Walter and Wyndur, I¡¯m sorry but I will request the help of you younglings, this might end up in a 3-way fight and we can¡¯t afford to lose.¡±

    I sighed.  I was afraid of that. Can you guys protect us? We can hurt them, kinda but if we get hit it¡¯s over.

    ¡°Sure, Della and I specialize in protection!¡±

    Della? Oh! Ok I will tell my buddies. Hoo boi, this is a long day.

    I returned to my buddies.

    So, there is good and bad news, I guess.

    Whoa, get out of my head and correct! They do need our help, that¡¯s the good news.

    Wait how is that good news?

    Well, she said it¡¯s a 3 way fight they can¡¯t lose, suggesting that there is a chance they might lose if we don¡¯t help.

    Wonderful.

    My intuition tells me that we will be fine.

    Let¡¯s approach this efficiently. I am strong against bitch goddess so that is what I will be going for. Agnis, you are strong against Zarrazax, Raishin¡­ can you use magnetism?

    Oh! Yeah I can!

    Why have you never used it¡­

    Uhhm, I forgot?

    Greg and I facepalmed.

    If you use magnetism, you might be able to keep Walter occupied. Make his mechanical devices malfunction or clog up with magnetism. I will attempt to create some magnetic sand.

    What about that other guy?

    I suggest avoiding him. From what I remember he¡¯s some sort of martial artist god. Get close to him and you will get fucked up. Raishin and I can teleport so this is even more important for you Greg.

    Ok. Don¡¯t forget! The goddesses we¡¯re helping can both heal and provide defensive support. It¡¯s on us to lay down the hurt, I suppose.

    Now that I have enough breathing room it¡¯s time to prepare my ultimate techniques.

    Techniques?

    You will see!

    I took off my shoes. I have 3 ultimate techniques of which 1 I have finished recently. The special clones I have worked on will be tested today! But first! I have to recalibrate! I hope Isi is generous and gives me high authority because I need to fight against gods.

 Vol 3 Ch 47: Secret Weapon #2

    Isi was generous and gave me 8.9% authority. My proficiency was still the same because I have used magic a lot lately. I even used it a lot against these gods. It would have been easier without tomato goddess sending super-fast attacks left and right so I can finish my movements. I was aware of this weakness of Dragonvein but this is the first time I got to experience it. Now that they¡¯re focusing on Bellia and Della, I get free reign. I had noticed that Dragonvein was more effective on Zack than magic.

    I had finished calibrating. Greg had already made his big [Shadow Cat] and helped Bellia out. She had swapped with Della because Zack was a bad matchup for her. I would help Della in a bit but I first need to do something about Noobgod. I don¡¯t need much to kick his ass. Raishin was quite unsuccessful in using magnetism and making use of the magnetic sand because he isn¡¯t used to it. So, I will have to step in for a bit.

    I will present to you my second secret weapon! I opened the jar and had to instantly close it because it stank. It is 2-year-old poison. It has already spoilt of course. I had to circulate nature energy to get rid of the nausea. I dropped layers of illusions on this to disguise the spoilt milk as water.

    Noobgod is having several of his robots shoot at the other gods and Greg. While he himself is having a talk with another god which Bellia referred to as Wyndur, the god of martial arts and uhh other stuff. It doesn¡¯t matter, hopefully this guy won¡¯t get a chance to do anything meaningful because he needs to be in close range to deal damage.

    They are talking and having lunch. How rude! I will punish him for this.

    -Raishin, I got this, go help Greg! I will attempt to assassinate these guys!-  - I¡¯m sorry, I will practice some more with magnetism. Good luck!-

    Raishin went to help Greg. The robots that had been attacking him kept shooting lasers and other projectiles at him though¡­

    I snuck into the camp of Noobgod. They were talking about what they would do after they won. How arrogant! I inspected his cup which appeared to have water in it. I carefully moved some drops out of it and tasted it.

    I don¡¯t know how gods drink their water but this is normal water. I made my secret weapon taste exactly like this water and skilfully swapped them. I looked at an open jar of something that looked like honey. They used that to put on their sandwiches. I suppose my first secret weapon can also get some action. I tasted some of the honey and replaced it with Secret Weapon #1. Noobgod took a big gulp of Secret Weapon #2 before continuing his talk. Perfect!

    I left their camp. Now time to drop all my ultimate skills on Zack and possibly catch Tomato goddess. I focused and used my new ultimate skill by creating 3 clones.

    These clones were very special, their objective isn''t to deceive, it¡¯s to annoy and annihilate opponents. I call them [Triple-point clones]. They do look like me but it¡¯s obvious that they aren''t me. Now for how they work. All these clones have the three states of water in them. The outside is a thick water veil that acts as a tough stretchable skin and that fuels their water skills. This veil is made out of leyline energy, the rest of this clone is made out of magic.

    For now, they will use water leyline energy so they don¡¯t run out. At creation, they''re filled with 70% frost and 30% steam. The frost makes them sturdy but makes them very slow. These clones are quite slow, about human running speed. The steam is responsible for speed and power. The more these clones get hit the more frost will turn into steam, bloating the clone but also making them very fast and hit very hard. If they get ignored the steam condenses and freezes back into frost making the clones return to a similar state they''re in now. The clones can also completely freeze over and become almost impenetrable. I can feed them energy to avoid this but I can also pull energy out of them if they accumulate enough energy.

    Now the annoying part: hit them enough they will violently explode when their insides are made 90% out of steam, this could set off the other clones if they are also close to exploding. At the moment they have a 10% chance of reforming after they explode but this still needs to be improved. The water veil could also turn some water into steam or frost, to forcibly push them to a certain point. These clones can use water leyline to a limited extent so they can also attack from range. They are mostly physical fighters though. I also have to fix that to make them more flexible.

    I can¡¯t keep relying on Nilah to apply constant frost pressure. It''s just that it takes me 2 minutes to make these. I will need breathing room or maybe I should make shadow clones and have them create these [Triple-point clones]. Use clones to make clones. I will dub this skill [Triple Clones] because it will else be too long and long names are hard to remember.

    Go [Triple Clones]! Show Zack that he wished he had a cute fox harassing him!

    Well, I will just wait because these clones are quite slow at the moment. Nilah was sitting on my head and seemed happy that she could slack.

    Now to catch all my enemies in [Hsien]. It still takes 2 minutes to assign an area and make the air within it act like water. Della was the only one who reacted when I started but she seemed to not mind and even gave me a boost. How nice of her.

    So, the big plan is to use [Hsien]. Make life extremely hard for Zack and Tomato goddess. And when they decide to focus on me again, I will start going for [Silver Torrent] and turn the whole of [Hsien] into a [Silver Hsien]? It doesn¡¯t sound so cool. I need a cool name for after I combine my 2 ultimate skills.

    I think that¡¯s theoretically the most damage I can do right now, besides using [Elgard Overload] afterward and spamming that same skill.

    I heard an explosion and I looked around.

    That was fast! 2 of my triple clones were quite bloated and moving around extremely fast. I may or may not have made this skill after being inspired by Mo. It might be a bit rude but seeing him move around at great speed and agility with his size had a strange sense of grace. I might be a complete weirdo here.

    The setup was almost finished. Zack''s fire attacks started to drop in potency and tomato goddess and Zack started to become sluggish. My passive which increased damage on cc¡¯ed targets will be active at all times now. I looked over at Noobgod who clutched his stomach in extreme pain. I think my secret weapon did more damage to him than anything combined.

    Coral started appearing and fish of various sizes appeared as did several orcas and no-winged dragons made out of water and frost. I had covered the area as big as the crater so all the gods were trapped within.

    I made a current move me toward the middle of this large sphere and started to create multiple [Dragons] at the edge of this sphere to make sure nobody could escape. Nilah was cooling my tails down with frost magic because they were close to overheating.

    Every attack made by my opponents got gulped up by fish, orcas or dragons. Ardella looked at [Hsien] in awe and was boosting the power of the fish and orcas. Greg freaked out at first but he realized it wasn¡¯t real water.

    I created 2 more frost [Dragons] to cool my tails off. I had several frost [Dragons] swirling around me just to keep me from overheating. I slowly closed the edge of the sphere of influence with water and frost [Dragons].

    The arrogance of these gods became their downfall. They thought they could escape or break free, maybe even kill me before I could close it. Unfortunately, crowd control, is one of the things I take seriously and have mastered. The opposing forces were sitting ducks, movement was severely limited. Any attack they sent out got eaten by the leyline sea creatures I had made and will cause them to get assaulted by them.

    I created 4 enormous frost [Dragons] which went to assault every one of them. The goddesses on our sides were piling on. Zack had the hardest time. Tomato goddess sent out multiple light-based attacks at me but they got refracted and eaten by some orcas. Some of this energy went to Nilah who had had grown in size.

    A school of fish was harassing Noobgod while he was clutching his stomach. His friend punched and kicked but these fish didn¡¯t care. Greg could easily handle Tomato goddess now that she was unable to do anything. Zack didn¡¯t even need anyone on him because I had sent 3 orcas and a frost [Dragon] after him.

    Bubbles gathered around me and Della appeared.

    ¡°This is a very beautiful skill, where have you learned this?¡±

    It¡¯s inspired from spending almost 2 months at the bottom of the ocean.

    Della looked at the coral, which was inspired by the coral reef the old man had brought me to, the orcas that had helped me, various types and sizes of fish that I¡¯ve seen and the dragons that somehow felt at home. It¡¯s almost a perfect representation of my time under the sea.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°I see, that must not have been an easy experience.¡±

    I wouldn¡¯t have been able to create this if it was easy, it was a valuable lesson. Now excuse me this takes a lot of focus and some gods need their asses kicked, I can keep this up as long as nobody gets to me, which is unlikely but would you be so kind to make sure that doesn¡¯t happen?

    ¡°Sure, the tailed races always do interesting stuff, I like how I can control all this as if it¡¯s water.¡±

    Me too, it might change soon though so get the best out of it.

    I created currents in [Hsien] to make life for my opponents harder. They were completely at my mercy and I liked it! I kept churning out water and frost [Dragons] until my tails had found out how to use this skill without hogging all the processing power of all of my 9 tails.

    I can¡¯t do anything else if this is hogging that much resources. So, I kept [Hsien] up for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Another triple clone exploded. It was Noobgod this time. We seemed to be winning. I had managed to find out how to use only 5 tails to keep this up.

    Nilah was ready to wreak havoc. Raishin and Greg had decided to go tailed beast mode because I had eliminated all the possible downsides. I used [Waterfall] and went to help Della deal with Noobgod. He seemed the closest to tapping out. How weak is this guy to poison?

    Noobgod freaked out when he saw me approach him. ¡°Shit! I thought you were unable to move while using this! I don¡¯t agree with that bitch but I understand why she hates your kind!¡±

    Interesting because this isn¡¯t a racial skill, I made it myself!

    He tried to shoot me but his stomach made a strange sound and I crashed into him with [Waterfall].

    Hey Della, can you help me get these 2 over there close to tomato goddess and Zack?

    ¡°Sure, are you fine though? You mentioned that it took a lot of concentration to keep this up?¡±

    It does but I put my lazy tails to work so I have some leeway.

    Wyndur sent a kick my way. Unfortunately for him, I had my [Frozen skin] up but his one kick took all of them away. Probably some stupid overpowered ability I don¡¯t want to deal with. [Hsien] doesn¡¯t protect me from direct physical hits. He seemed to realize this and tried to go after me but I used [Waterfall] and got away from him.

    ¡°Hey come back!¡±

    Oh, hell no! take your friend and chase me if you can!

    I sent an orca after him and I moved back to the center of [Hsien]. I shifted stance, made a movement as if throwing out a bucket of water, and tried to [Flush] them and make them join the other gods in their beat down.

    Bellia had temporarily knocked out tomato goddess. I have to remember that she had beaten the tomato goddess before. Her child-like appearance didn¡¯t suggest that she was able to do so.

    Della created a vortex that caught Noobgod and Wyndur. The vortex moved toward the tomato goddess who had regained consciousness due to the turbulent waters. She recovered way faster than Zack. He only had 1 scar when we first met him but now, he has multiple. He might be more eligible for the nickname ¡®Scar¡¯.

    Hey Raishin, want to see why they called me Silver Torrent?

    Oh! Yes! I had heard stories from your students but I want to see it myself!

    Want to match me with lightning?

    I have actually tried getting to silver lightning but kept failing.

    Hmm, strange, although I did notice that lightning is way easier when done with Dragonvein than with magic, maybe that¡¯s why. Anyways maybe you can pick up something I¡¯m doing differently.  I fired off my [Tail Dynamo] with the tails that weren¡¯t keeping [Hsien] running.

    I wanted to use [Accel Step] but I noticed a problem. There was no floor since I was more or less swimming around in [Hsien].

    What a blunder! But I can fix this! I gathered frost [Dragons] and used them to run around on.

    Zack tried to boil everything away so he would be my prime focus. I made the frost [Dragons] swirl around him and I ran over them while throwing daggers and wires around him. Raishin was paying close attention while firing [Giganova Blasts] at Wyndur. I fired off [Bossmusic] since I was already using wires.

    Zack heated up. ¡°I will never forgive you for this!¡±

    Good thing you won¡¯t be able to act upon that. Right Bellia?

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they won¡¯t be able to do much after we take them away.¡±

    Not killing them, eh? As long as they don¡¯t bother us then I don¡¯t really care.

    The wires made a nice pleasant sound as I went into black lightning. My spinning tails were creating vortices and [Hsien] became highly turbulent to the point even my allies were affected. I guess I still need to work on this.

    Della stepped in and prevented my buddies, especially Greg, from experiencing a wild water ride. I didn¡¯t seem to do much damage to Zack. I was however damaging his pride. Maybe this hurts him more than this black lightning.

    I reversed the spin of my tails, this made the currents even stronger and more unpredictable. The lightning briefly went back to red.

    Oh, this hasn¡¯t happened before. Then a large explosion of silver lightning burst out as my cosmetic illusion lifted. [Hsien] instantly filled with silver lightning. I had instantly shifted to [Silver Torrent]. All the fish got a silver glow, the white on the orcas turned silver and the frost dragons became [Silver Frost Dragons].

    Right, this must hurt. The opposing deities were screaming in pain, and so were the deities on my side and Raishin and Greg. I hope they will forgive me. Unfortunately. This takes way more out of me than a normal [Silver Torrent]. I could only keep it up for 1 more minute.

    Greg placed [Shadow Cloaks] on himself and Raishin and I gave them [Frost Cloaks] but it didn¡¯t seem to protect them fully. Della and Bellia were healing them to make sure I didn¡¯t fry my buddies. Raishin started investing in his own [Tail Dynamo].

    Hey, guys, good news and bad news.

    I don¡¯t like it when you say that.

    Bad news is that I can only keep this up for 1 more minute.

    This skill hurts! That¡¯s good news! But what is the actual good news?

    I can collapse all this energy into Nilah and she can then unleash the strongest [Kryokym] in recent history. After that I¡¯m probably out. I think this will take out Zack and tomato goddess. I¡¯m not sure about the other 2.

    ¡°Your help is much appreciated; we couldn¡¯t have done it without you. I will stabilize you afterward. I would just want a warning before you zap us¡­¡± Bellia made a confident pose but it was hard to take her seriously because she looked like a 10-year-old child. It also looks like my skill fucked her up more than the opposing gods had.

    I prematurely collapsed [Hsien] into Nilah. She became her big self. But she looked a bit different. I have no clue what is going on with her. The belly part of her fur is silver now.

    Zack started fleeing.

    What a loser, this won¡¯t kill him. Just hurt a lot. This [Kryokym] counts as an ultimate skill too, right? The whole area flashed light blue as the strongest frost attack in recent history got unleashed on our area.

    I had to eat but I suddenly felt as if I had no energy. I fell down and couldn¡¯t move. My tails were warning me that I had overworked myself and the tips of my tails started to become red.

    Bellia crouched down next to me. ¡°We will take it from here. Take a nap.¡±

 Vol 3 Ch 48: What it means to be a Sarian god

    I woke up and I noticed that Raishin and Greg were passed out next to me. We were yet again in a green barrier. Is this a d¨¦j¨¤ vu? Did we get screwed over by a time loop again?

    Zack was out cold and he was imprisoned in some sort of water bubble. Tomato goddess has seen better days and she was still fighting. Noobgod was also imprisoned in some nature themed cage. It was Della and Bellia against Wyndur and Tomato goddess.

    Are they still not defeated? My internal clock tells me that I fell asleep 6 hours ago. It was night time by now. I guess it was na?ve to think I could knock all of them out. Bellia and Della seemed quite healthy so at least I didn¡¯t do lasting damage to my ¡®allies¡¯...

    Della and Bellia¡¯s presence seemed to have made sure that the battlefield didn¡¯t look like a wasteland but a pleasant meadow with a lake, a very big lake. I could see that Tomato goddess was weakening.

    Della and Bellia were getting blasted to bits by various light attacks. Tomato goddess even used that attack where she made a big version of herself made out of light and obliterated Della and Bellia as they got hit. But Della and Bellia always reformed. Della reformed out of foam and Bellia grew out of a nearby tree. Is that why she looks so young? And is she a fruit? Should I call her Fruit Goddess?

    They did return the favor, Tomato Goddess and Wyndur also got blown to bits and pieces and they reformed like it was nothing. Wyndur seemed to just regenerate. How boring. Della sent the ocean after them, Bellia the forests and jungle that she was growing. Della¡¯s water made them grow extremely fast. This is a combo of deities that you don¡¯t want to fight against.

    Both of them could also heal while it didn¡¯t seem their opponents had that advantage. It looks like the battle will end soon at this rate.

    <hr>

    I was wrong. I woke up the next day. They were still fighting. Tomato goddess looked different. Her hair was gold now and she was almost 3 times as big. Wyndur also looked different and was 3 times as big.

    Meanwhile Della was a giant mermaid now and was bringing forth tidal waves whenever she moved. Bellia¡­ looked like a normal sized adult now. Is Bellia the youngest of the Sarian gods? Anyways the meadow with a lake was now a gigantic jungle with trees as tall as 50 m. Rushing between those trees were 30m tall tidal waves.

    This fight was on a scale to where I wonder how my mom had killed something like this. and that we were cocky thinking we might have a shot at dealing with them.

    I watched this spectacle wondering how our contribution was significant in any kind.

    This is quite the spectacle, eh? Makes us feel small.

    Yeah, we have a long way to go to beat that.

    Tomato goddess got impaled by an enormous vine and it looked like life energy got sucked out of her. I activated my Elgards eyes. Whoa I can¡¯t see much. Nothing that might be useful in battle could be seen. Either I¡¯m too weak or I need to get better at using Elgards eyes. Probably both. I¡¯m sure that even if I could see what is going on here, I would stand no chance. Tomato goddess was holding her own even though she was at a disadvantage and losing. I guess her pride didn¡¯t allow her to back off and flee.

    I can¡¯t help to think¡­ Azu didn¡¯t lose to that¡­ she had to be sealed away¡­

    Yeah, it¡¯s crazy¡­

    What phase do you think they¡¯re in?

    I think phase 4 or 5.

    Why don¡¯t they just start out with their strongest form?

    Arrogance, and to be honest they don¡¯t need that phase to kick our asses. I think they¡¯re more afraid of attracting attention of other deities by doing so and get stuck in large and long fights like these.

    What are the other gods doing actually?

    They must be busy or watching this.

    How many of them do you think are like Bellia and Della?

    I don¡¯t know, it purely depends on their personality I suppose. Walter isn''t so bad; he just wants us to help kill that bitch and probably wipe out magic. Ignore wiping out magic and he is quite reasonable. Zarrazax acts more like the bitch¡¯s pet so that is a package deal.

    But that¡¯s not important! That fishbowl attack of yours was so cool! Painful but cool! I think I lost several lives getting zapped by that.

    Yeah same, how did you manage to create that?

    Fishbowl attack? Oh [Hsien], just to commemorate my training in the ocean. It is quite difficult and not very ally friendly. I can only make sure you guys don¡¯t get hit by the slow and won¡¯t get targeted by the marine animals. If you do get too close to them, they will fuck you up so I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t do anything stupid Raishin!

    Hehe! It was easy!

    You were too busy slapping Walter around though¡­

    So that silver lightning, is it because of your [Tail Dynamo]?

    Dunno, it did something unexpected and I don¡¯t know the details of it. All I know that using lightning with Dragonvein is easier than with magic.

    Greg poked Raishin with his elbow.

    Seems like you might have to learn Dragonvein.

    Ugh, I still don¡¯t understand how it works, it sounds way too difficult!

    I think you could skip everything and just learn how to use [Tail Dynamo] with Dragonvein. You¡¯re my best friend but asking me to teach you Dragonvein is just too much¡­ I know we¡¯re both immortals but that doesn¡¯t mean we should spend 100 years on teaching you stuff¡­

    Ha! Na?ve of you to assume that it will take me just 100 years!

    Right¡­ So, what do we do now? Leaving this barrier is a bad idea.

    Why is that?

    Greg pointed at tomato goddess.  That bitch became extra fixated on you after she found out that you¡¯re a silver fox. This barrier makes us ¡®One with nature¡¯ so we¡¯re more or less invisible to her. Raishin and I could escape but unless you can bring us somewhere with a dimensional teleport, she will notice when we leave this barrier.

    Does [Shadow Meld] work?

    Bellia was specific in mentioning dimensional teleports so I assume that that doesn¡¯t work.

    So, we stay here until those 2 kick Tomato goddess¡¯ ass?

    Unless you want to fight her again, yeah¡­

    I sat back down and took food out of my dimensional pocket. I was starving and I had passed out before I could eat.  Using [Silver Torrent] makes me extremely hungry by the way so don¡¯t mind me.

    We started to eat because there was nothing else to do. There was a big battle going on behind us but there is nothing we can do about it.

    So how long do you think this battle is going to take?

    I have no idea. These gods don¡¯t seem to be pushing for a decisive outcome.

    I agreed with Greg but I was too busy stuffing my face. It looks like they weren¡¯t fighting to win which was strange to me. They did have things that looked like ultimate skills but nothing seemed to have the intent of finishing this fight.

    Maybe it¡¯s because Della and Bellia are not as belligerent and are trying to protect the environment. But even Tomato goddess and Wyndur seemed to have no intent on destroying their opponents.

    Is this why they need our help? Are gods unable to tip the scales? Are we going to be stuck here? I finished a large lasagna dish I had swiped years ago. I love being a 9t and preserving food forever in my dimensional pocket.

    We talked about our recent adventures. We are fully responsible for this situation but we were in a debate on if we should continue going for dungeons. All of us agreed that we got unlucky. Greg was concerned about the risks we would take from continuing but he also was interested in their historical value and other nerd things. Raishin loved the adventure but we might have to avoid dungeons that set off his intuition.

    I think that although I like these dungeons, we might have to just get to the treasure forcefully, obliterating everything, it will end up in no adventures, no historical value stuff, just the treasure. It is not that I disagree with Greg or Raishin but in cases like this, the adventure and historical value are not worth it. Zack had blown up the dungeon so there was nothing left.

    We kept arguing till the evening and just decided to continue what we would normally do.

    They are still fighting¡­

    I am starting to wonder something about your role Agnis. Your race is a glass cannon and very disruptive.  He pointed at the battle between the gods.

    If you would join in with a good ambush or sneak attack in this battle, you will tip the balance. If you were more experienced you might be able to get a kill in.

    This reminds me of some of some fights I have seen before. An endless stalemate. If every fight between gods is like this I can understand that they want to avoid fighting others.

    It looks cool at the start but gets boring super-fast.

    Greg, these Sarian gods, they are not the only group of gods, right?

    As far as I know there are way more yes.

    Wait there¡¯s more of them?

    These should be one of the strongest if not the strongest group of gods.

    So at least no other god from another group will interfere.

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    Why is that? They can¡¯t die right?

    Personally, I wouldn¡¯t want to jump into this for no reason.

    Same here. Also, while the Sarian gods might be too strong for us, we might be able to deal with other types of gods.

    Yeah, any weaker light-based god would get bodied by you or Raishin.

    And any god that doesn¡¯t have an earth, light, or wind weakness would either die by high blood pressure or would get killed off by you.

    Yeah, I don¡¯t think any of these gods will forgive me¡­

    So, do we drop a nuke on them and run? I don¡¯t want to stay here for the rest of my life.

    Wait! Something is approaching!

    Huh, I don¡¯t see anything!

    You¡¯re looking in the wrong direction, over there!  I looked at where Greg was pointing and I saw the  Floating Fire Lotus vixens approach.

    Ooh! They¡¯re coming to help!

    They seem a bit¡­ different.

    They seem to be ready to go to war.

    What are those elves doing here though?

    The elves are here too?

    Hmm this might be a problem.

    They are late though! We could have used their help yesterday!

    While that is true, jumping into a fight against gods is generally a bad idea, it certainly would need preparation. I¡¯m surprised they even came.

    They treated you as family, why wouldn¡¯t they come?

    I appreciate it but it¡¯s against gods. It doesn¡¯t seem like they came with Neia or Norya. I don¡¯t know if they can kill that bitch.

    You can¡¯t be this stupid right?

    Whud?

    They are heading toward us, not the fight.

    Yeah, they are not here to fight, they are here to save us.

    Huh, why though? And what about those elves?

    It seems they are communicating with Bellia.

    Look Agnis you need to work on your ability to connect with other people. They see you as family, and that means something to them, enough to go to war against gods. Would you go to war against these gods if they had nuked the Floating Lotus?

    Of course!

    Well, there you have it. The elves surprise me though.

    I linked Greg and Raishin up with my vision. The elves got empowered by Bellia. They also held something that looked familiar.

    Agnis that thing¡­ it gives a similar energy as that thing you had sealed away in the desert.

    Yeah, that¡¯s a Dimsha, wait it was still leaking energy? I thought I had completely fixed it.

    It was a minor issue, you fixed 99% of the leak, and I just fixed the last percent. But an item that can interfere with the world. This might be the push they need to finally win. I wonder what it does.

    I got up.  Let¡¯s find out! It¡¯s time for round 3!

    Is that a good idea? And I¡¯m sure those women over there have a different plan.

    They were getting close. I¡¯m sure they have linked up with each other. I have never had the chance to have a multi-linked Elgards eye but that sounds overpowered as hell. It didn¡¯t take long for a gaze to lock on to me. And 15 other gazes followed. Well, isn¡¯t this uncomfortable? Is this how my opponents feel?

    They gathered around but had no idea how to tackle the barrier.

    I inspected it.  Oh, it¡¯s made out of nature energy, I shouldn¡¯t be surprised but it still surprises me how this isn¡¯t actually magic but still acts like it.

    Hmm, this operates on different rules, not sure if we can break through this.

    Why don¡¯t we just step out of it?

    Raishin just walked out of it.

    It seems we were overthinking¡­

    We stepped out of the barrier and I felt tomato goddess lock on to me immediately.

    ¡°You are still alive! I¡¯m so glad!¡± We got embraced by the skulk of vixens.

    I¡¯m glad that you¡¯re all here but we have a problem!

    Tomato goddess had sent a determined clone over to us. Medea, Aylena and 5 others huddled their tails together and created a dimensional portal and sent the tomato goddess clone to who knows where.

    Wait that¡¯s it?

    ¡°That¡¯s it. For now, now let¡¯s go! Mother had installed a specific kind of magic into the Floating Lotus for cases like this!¡± Medea grabbed my hand and wanted to pull me to come with them.

    Wait! I have an idea! You are all linked up with Elgards eyes, right? If I do that greeting thingy and tell you about what happened all of you will know right?

    ¡°It¡¯s called Ourasyn, but yeah it¡¯s used for other things besides introductions.¡± Medea and I did the Ourasyn and could instantly convey what we went through and my plan of being disruptive to help Bellia and Della. I noticed that everyone liked my plan. I saw a lot of malicious smiles.

    Another tomato clone came at us and she sent out some light attacks before she got sucked up in a dimensional portal and got sent to who knows where. They also started swapping the opposing gods around to get hit by more attacks.

    Look, Greg! They all act similarly to Agnis!

    I just think it¡¯s just a racial trait.

    I had shared the magic circle of [Meteor] with my fellow 9t and all of us were preparing to drop these. I¡¯m sure Della and Bellia will be fine. The elves might have a problem though but Bellia will fix that for us, I think.

    Ehhm what about those elves?

    ¡°What about them?¡± Aylana seemed to be thinking what I was thinking.

    Medea looked at Bellia.¡°Elves are close with the goddess Bellia; they should be fine. I think.¡±

    I decided to be a nice 9t and I sent a clone to Della and Bellia to warn them that they might get hit by 17 [Meteors] if they weren¡¯t careful. It got obliterated because of all the random attacks flying out. I had to send 10 more and 2 made it to their destination.

    One of my cousins seemed to have noticed the possible dangers of going out there. ¡°At least we now know that jumping in there might not be the best idea. It would have been cool to try though!¡±

    Most of the other vixens agreed and so did I.

    Greg was rubbing his head.  So why is your race not extinct yet?

    Because we¡¯re overpowered!

    And how has being overpowered helped you so far?

    Pass!

    Bellia was against this idea but the [Meteors] were already cast. Della was cool with it and gave some cool looking water bubbles to the elves and Bellia. I wanted to steal this but the runic structure was unnecessarily long and complex. I will have to archive this and mess with this later on.

    Wait¡­ is it possible that gods suck at magic?

    It drew the attention of Greg, Raishin and half of the vixens. The others were watching how [Meteors] were reshaping the landscape yet again. We were at quite a distance but the shockwaves could be felt. I¡¯m sure they felt that in the capital of Aquini Kingdom. It just feels like multiple earthquakes.

    What do you mean Agnis?

    Look at this magic circle of those bubbles Della used.  I showed it but nobody knew what I was talking about because nobody had studied magic runes.

    Right, this is going to be a bit sloppy but this is only a demonstration, follow me through my eyes Greg. I will show you girls later with Ourasyn.

    I didn¡¯t need to dynamically change this magic circle, I wanted to keep it the same. What I did was kick out redundancies that cluttered up the magic circle which made them more mana efficient. Normally I need to put in effort to make skills more mana efficient but all this clutter made it extremely hard for mana to flow properly through the whole magic circle.

    It was a bit similar to Raishin¡¯s skills. He just brute forces the effects with energy. If he made his circles more efficient, he would get more bang for his buck. Greg seemed to partially understand it.

    I used Ourasyn with Medea again and they could get it better because this form of communication is extremely efficient. It still didn¡¯t explain everything to them but they knew what I meant.

    If that¡¯s the case, why didn¡¯t you notices this before when you were interrupting their skills?

    Ehh interrupting is more or less a reflex to me now, If I recognize a pattern that makes the whole circle work then I just mess with it on reflex.

    You are scary¡­

    I like my race because they didn¡¯t ask me questions. Ourasyn is just so overpowered. I wish my mom had thought me this, but I guess this only works with 9t so it¡¯s not like that would have made a difference.

    Hey Greg, does your race have something similar to Ourasyn? I¡¯m sure Raishin wouldn¡¯t know if his race had something like that.

    Hey! But you¡¯re right¡­

    I don¡¯t know actually. We might have something but if that¡¯s the case I don¡¯t know about it.

    We kept shooting attacks at Wyndur and Tomato goddess and the vixens sent any clone into a dimensional hole. I used [Turning Leaf] and swapped Wyndur into attacks. Tomato goddess was too big. We continued harassing the gods from a comfortable range.

    ¡°So obnoxious!¡± tomato goddess yelled as she sent a house sized [Light wave] at us. Greg stepped in and protected us all with a gigantic [Shadow Dome]. Greg however did get a lot of questions. Some have heard that he is distantly related to them.

    I don¡¯t know the answers to all those questions! All I know is that my grandpa''s brother had ¡®bonded¡¯ with your grandmother.

    I did notice some strange activity under the elves. They were fighting with spirits. Are they spirit mages? I tried to see if Sylvana was between them. She didn¡¯t seem to be here. Their interaction with spirits was strange though. They didn¡¯t talk much to them and it was as if they couldn¡¯t interact with the spirits of their allies. I don¡¯t actually know how a Spirit Mage works.

 Vol 3 Ch 49: Million voices

    Bellia seemed to talk to someone but it wasn¡¯t to Della or the other gods. My 9 tail reminded me that she was also the goddess of communication. Who is she communicating with? The elves? I saw some important elf talking to seemingly nobody. I poked Medea and another 9t chick named Cillia.

    Hey what do you think of that situation?

    Cillia bent over as if she couldn¡¯t see it well from here, which is bullshit of course. ¡°They might be communicating with Bellia; I think they are going to use that strange dimensional object there.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, but why is it shaped like a warhorn?¡± Medea asked.

    Maybe its elvish [Bossmusic]?

    ¡°What?¡±

    I think he means that the sound of that object might empower Bellia to break this stalemate.

    Medea took a pensive stance. ¡°Hmm, you might be right, I don¡¯t think elves use warhorns to play music?¡±

    But that¡¯s not the point¡­

    That makes perfect sense actually! It should be a harp for elvish [Bossmusic!

    ¡°Or a flute!¡±

    You know what? I give up. Just Agnis is a handful, now there are 17 of you.

    Bellia tooh a glance over at us and smiled.

    Medea''s tail poked Cillia. ¡°Hey Cillia, did you see that look of that goddess? I have a feeling that it involves us somehow.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, me too, how about you Agnis?¡±

    Yeah. Maybe it¡¯s revenge for dropping 17 [Meteors] on her. And I might have zapped her too.

    ¡°Hmm I can¡¯t say that we didn¡¯t deserve it but I wish she would get back to us in another way.¡± All the other vixens got alarmed the moment Medea said this.

    I started [Tail Dynamo] and looked for Nilah. Where is that fox? I had to shatter some illusions because a presence laced with charm magic came close.  Hey Aylena! Tone it down with that charm magic!

    ¡°Oh, sorry, what are you looking for?¡±

    I looked at the blue fox in her arms which was getting pink highlights from absorbing charm magic.  Noo! What are you doing to Nilah!

    I took Nilah out of her arms.  Nilah! Spit it out! Fast!

    Nilah spat out a big cloud of pink charm mana and I had to shatter 20 layers of illusions and bite my lip. I coughed as I connected to the air leyline currents and blew it away with [Counterspin].

    Ugh! Are you trying to kill me?!

    ¡°Idiot¡­ I just found her walking around being all cute. Where did you get her?¡±

    I made sure that there wasn¡¯t any pink left in Nilah¡¯s system.  This is [Pneuma Boreas], or [Nilah] as I call her.

    The sound of a warhorn prevented them from reacting to that. We all reacted to the sound and directed our ears toward the origin of the sound. Something seemed to be drawing me to the origin of the sound.

    Hey, did you guys feel that too? It¡¯s as if something was calling?

    ¡°I felt that too.¡± Medea looked around and all the vixens had the same.

    What? I didn¡¯t feel anything.

    Me neither.

    The horn sounded again and the feeling became stronger. Tomato goddess became pale and the 17 of us went to investigate the sound.

    Wait!

    We¡¯re following them!

    Raishin grabbed Greg and followed us.

    As we got closer, we saw thousands of nature spirits being drawn to the sound. Wyndur and tomato goddess were acting strange and started to attack the elves but Bellia and Della were protecting them.

    The warhorn got blown for a third time. All the spirits around us evolved from lesser or medium spirits to medium and high spirits. I also felt a strange energy well up in me.

    A sound rang in my head. It was the voice of Bellia. ¡°Good morning, dear spirits and spirit foxes. My dear elves have used a Dimsha, called Million Voices. It will call spirits over from the spirit world and draw in nearby spirits. As the name suggests there are one million of you in total. It also strengthens these spirits. Now we have 17 special guests here. Having this many spirit foxes nearby works out extremely well for us. Will you help me drive off these 2 gods?¡±

    The vixens cheered and started throwing foxfires at tomato goddess so I did the same. It was way stronger than I remember.

    Hey, Medea why is our foxfire getting buffed?

    Bellia and Della continued the assault and Wyndur fled after taking some hits and tomato goddess was screaming.

    ¡°Wait, mom didn¡¯t tell you anything? Foxfires are our most important weapon. It¡¯s both spirit magic and normal magic, both fire element and spatiotemporal. It¡¯s our main weapon against the gods. I thought you knew this?¡±

    Oh, I did not know that¡­

    ¡°Wait, then how did you get these gods so pissed at you? How did you even hurt them without foxfires?¡±

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    Uhh, hard work and luck?

    Tomato goddess threw away her pride, she dashed as fast as she could to the cage holding Zack, grabbed it, and turned into a light pillar shooting to the sky and disappeared.

    ¡°Did we win?¡± the vixens asked because to them the battle had begun when we started dropping [Meteors]. Della went to secure Noobgod who was still trapped. While Bellia returned to her child form and approached us. The elves joined in too.

    ¡°Thank you for coming to our aid. As a reward, you can keep this boost in spirit power. For my dear elves I will bestow you increased fertility. I would love to chat but I need to chase after that bitch. Agnis. Be careful, her fixation on your fur is no laughing matter.¡±

    Della joined us with a large ball of ice. I guess Noobgod is stuck in there. ¡°Yeah, Bellia and I were talking about it but even though you were of a big help, you didn¡¯t fight like a nine tailed spirit fox does which worried us.¡±

    Yeah, I just heard about foxfires¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s not just foxfires, [Concentrate Mana], [Natural Alignment], and various illusion applications were missing from your skillset. You still did wonderfully but I¡¯m afraid you might die if she ambushes you.¡±

    Ah never heard of those.

    Della looked at the other vixens.

    Medea stepped up. ¡°[Natural Alignment] makes us stick out like sore thumbs and [Concentrate Mana] is difficult to learn, moreover he is the youngest out of us all, he needs time¡­ I can¡¯t defend him on the illusions or foxfires part though¡­¡±

    I¡­I will do my best on those.

    ¡°Your Pagos application was limited but wonderful! I am happy to see your kind hasn¡¯t gone extinct yet!¡±

    Wait you know about lunar foxes?

    This term also seemed foreign to the vixens.

    ¡°I know that they exist, for specifics you will have to ask Adea. Now excuse us, I need to bring this troublemaker to a secure place and Bellia needs to fix this area.¡± Della disappeared. Medea requested an Ourasyn on this lunarfox thing.

    I decided to talk to some elves when I got another dizzy spell. 4 Medea¡¯s caught me before I hit the ground. Everything had multiplied by 4.

    Ugh, what¡¯s this!

    I think Agnis is dizzy, I thought you were immune to vision impairments, besides hypersensitivity of course.

    Yeah, I have no clue sorry.

    I sat down and rested until the dizziness disappeared 2 minutes later. Some spirits came to greet us. I always enjoy the presence of spirits. Greg took this chance and talked to some. Raishin had gone over to talk with some elvish chicks.

    ¡°This dizziness, has it happened often?¡± Medea gave me a massage with her tails.

    Several times yeah, it seems to be getting worse.

    ¡°I think Veyle has a similar problem, she is the youngest of us and she also has periodic dizziness like yours. We don¡¯t know the cause though and we didn¡¯t use to have that when we were young.¡±

    How old is Veyle?

    ¡°38 years old¡±

    Almost 2 times my age. As long as this doesn¡¯t happen in combat then that¡¯s fine.

    ¡°You do know that will happen now that you spoke of it right?¡±

    I have reliable friends and they still have to babysit me in an encounter so that works out.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good plan! I will go talk to some spirits, make sure you¡¯re ok!¡± Medea ran off with 4 of her sisters to talk to some spirits.

    A tall elf with pink purple eyes walked over to me. I can never get used to this.

    ¡°It smells nice here, you look a bit different from what my cousin Tyrone described you to be.¡± This guy had a deep voice but not a Tyrone voice. ¡°The name is Byron Seorwynn, an elven Elder and a spirit mage.¡±

    Byron extended his hand; I stood up and shook it.

    Agnis Hourai. So ehhm what did he tell you about me?

    I was nervous because I did turn Tyrone¡¯s village into one big orgy after all.

    ¡°He was thankful for helping them drastically increase their population. He wouldn¡¯t tell me how you did it though, could you help us out with the same problem?¡±

    I don¡¯t think he knows what he is asking. Damn you, Tyrone! You can¡¯t leave the most important part out!

    Uhh, not sure about that but didn¡¯t Bellia bless you with increased fertility? Shouldn¡¯t you be fine now?

    ¡°We have tried to explain to her our situation but she fails to realize that this isn¡¯t a fertility issue, the libido of our males is just too low¡­¡±

    Just let the females initiate, easy fix!

    ¡°We¡¯ve tried, in the end it doesn¡¯t work if the men don¡¯t cooperate. We have tried everything, even illegal drugs. Won¡¯t you help us like you helped them?¡±

    Ugh, why can nobody solve their own issues? I can¡¯t even solve my own issues, what am I going to do and solve other race¡¯s issues?

    But I¡¯m not an elf, you will be breaking the rules of your race.

    More elves gathered around, they all seemed to have an important status. I don¡¯t like where this is going.

    ¡°We had a long discussion about this after hearing from Tyrone. Firstly, this only applies to humans and you¡­¡± He looked at my silver ears and tails. ¡°Are not a human, Also Tyrone did mention that it¡¯s a very unique method you have so we should only consider this as a last resort and bear the possible consequences of it.¡±

    I would like to help but I¡¯m kind of a busy fox. I just survived an encounter with 4 gods trying to kill me. Wait not kill me, even worse, imprison me and turn me into a breeding bull¡­

    ¡°Oh. I¡¯m sorry. I will not press this issue further but do know that you¡¯re welcome at any time in our village in the Eastern Elven Forest. Spirits should have an easy time to find it. You can bring your friends too. We will be awaiting you. You can take your time; we would prefer you would pay a visit before we go extinct. Although¡­¡± It seemed as if he remembered to what race he was talking.

    ¡°How about you pay us a visit before you die or are going to do something reckless?¡±

    How rude!

    Bellia appeared. ¡°I have created a hospitable place for these nature spirits. I would also appreciate it if you elves would tend to this newly created jungle.¡±

    Hey Bellia, can I ask you something?

    ¡°Sure, it¡¯s the least I can do.¡±

    Wait, let me get Greg.

    Greg was still linked up with my vision so he finished his conversation and headed over.

    Bellia, can I ask you? What are the other Sarian gods doing?

    ?

 Vol 3 Ch 50: Sarian History

    Bellia sighed and gestured for us to sit down. Byron and the other elvish leaders seemed confused but also sat down. 3 vixens I wasn¡¯t close with got curious and joined us.

    ¡°So, before I tell you about what they are doing. What do you know about us?¡±

    ¡°Gods are petty!¡±

    I agree with the vixens!

    They seem to involve the mortals a lot in their problems

    The elves deliberated. ¡°They help us out in need.¡±

    It was not Byron who said this. I think they¡¯re biased. But so are we.

    Bellia sighed again. ¡°I guess we didn¡¯t do much to get a good reputation.¡±

    ¡°We have nothing but admiration and gratitude toward you!¡± The elves were sucking up to Bellia and it annoyed me and the other vixens.

    ¡°I mean us gods in general, not many Sarian gods are in contact with those of the mortal realm relatively frequently. Personally, I only communicate with spirits, animals and elves so I¡¯m guilty of this too.¡±

    Oh, look a self-aware god!

    The elves gave me a glare but I didn¡¯t care.

    ¡°Hmm this one also doesn¡¯t seem petty or arrogant, so there is hope for the deities!¡±

    Now they directed the glare at this vixen with light pink hair ending in red. Neia seems to have daughters in every combo of pink and another hair color.

    Bellia calmed the elves. ¡°Relax, that is just how spirit foxes are. If they aren¡¯t agitating someone, they must doing something wrong or suspicious.¡±

    Bellia made a young tree sprout from her palm.

    ¡°My name is Bellia, I am the Sarian goddess of nature, healing, communications and many other things. We Sarian goddesses draw power from our names.¡±

    Oh, I read that somewhere the more ¡®A¡¯, ¡®E¡¯, or ¡®I¡¯ you have in your name the more powerful you are.

    ¡°Correct, you could say that my number is 3, Della, Ardella I mean, also has a number of 3. So does that bitch Biian. The male gods have this with ¡®X¡¯, ¡®Y¡¯ and ¡®Z¡¯. Walter, formerly known as Wyxyxozyas has a number of 6 but as Walter he has a number of 0¡±

    So if we call a god by a different name they get weaker? I didn¡¯t feel like Walter was stronger than the other Gods.

    ¡°Well, he did abuse his power in the past and Della had sealed his real name and renamed him to Walter. We want to do the same to Biian, because she is nothing but an annoyance but her affinity for light makes it hard to catch her.¡±

    How did you beat him anyway? He has a number of 6 while all of you have a number of 3.

    ¡°He was pushing his technology too much to the point the mortal civilization started challenging us and other gods, this led to their self-destruction. Biian, Zarrazax, Yxim and Yttroz fought Walter, as he sided with the mortals. They destroyed so much of the planet¡­ Della and I were pissed.¡± Bellia seemed to remember this like it was yesterday and was becoming angry.

    Is this what lead to the Great Eraser?

    ¡°Oh no! this event I was talking about happened more than 10 millennia ago.¡±

    Oof that¡¯s long time ago.

    Bellia¡¯s fist shook. ¡°They fought for a century¡­ Walter lost in the end. Della sealed his name and we repaired the broken planet. Yttroz helped out as an apology. Della secluded herself after that while I went to beat up Biian and Yxim. Yxim turned around. Biian didn¡¯t. ¡° Bellia paused. At least there are some gods that care about what happen down here.

    ¡°Chiara helped me deal with Biian and Zarrazax, who weren¡¯t apologetic, while Adea helped the mortals recover from near extinction. Biian eventually tried to take revenge on Chiara for pranking her but I don¡¯t know how that went. All I know is that Chiara is near unbeatable, she¡¯s like a spirit fox in god form.¡±

    A vixen raised her tail. ¡°Is she the god of spirit foxes?¡±

    Bellia shook her head. ¡°No, there is something however that you should know about your race, you might know that keeping us in line if were problematic falls under your duty but do you know why nine tailed spirit foxes specifically?¡±

    No clue.

    ¡°To drive us to extinction?¡± Oof this vixen doesn¡¯t hold back.

    ¡°You see there is a very interesting interaction. Chiara had once told me this: There was a being in the past, maybe a god stronger than all the Sarian gods combined or a completely different being. It had split himself up in 3 parts. The body, the mind and the spirit. He gave each to a certain group of species. The body, the strongest component, went to the gods. The spirit, went to the spirits, pretty straightforward. The mind however got spread over to almost all races. Each part has its own form of power, the mind manifested itself as ¡®Magic¡¯.¡± Bellia paused to see if everyone understood what she was saying.

    ¡°Us gods can use magic. But not as efficient as you all do; you all have the Mind. We use divine energy or we brute force our magic skills. Magic is our preferred way of combating; divine energy is likely to alert other deities. If Della and I use divine energy that¡¯s fine, but this isn¡¯t the case for other deities, not just the Sarian deities. Now humans, elves and spirit foxes and most other species have inherited the ¡®Mind¡¯ and thus are proficient in magic.¡±

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    Proficient she says, you have no idea how much improvement could be made¡­

    Shush Agnis, let her talk!

    ¡°Now for those who were paying attention, you would notice that there is a race that has inherited both the ¡®Spirit¡¯ and the ¡®Mind¡¯. Which makes you almost as strong as the ¡®Body¡¯ which is roughly as strong as the ¡®Spirit¡¯ and ¡®Mind¡¯ together. This of course is assuming that skills are used that also meet this requirement.¡± Bellia looked at me.

    ¡°At least that seemed to be holding true until Pagos made its appearance under your race. And this young fox has found something else. Currently he is the biggest threat to deities.¡±

    Congratulations Agnis, everyone wants you dead now.

    Ugh¡­ it¡¯s not like I did that on purpose.

    ¡°Now if you can somehow acquire the ¡®Body¡¯ you would become a being more complete being than a god. What that would be? I don¡¯t know unfortunately. Now Chiara and Adea are quite unique under the Sarian deities but they are not a complete being, because that¡¯s what a nine tailed spirit fox god would be.¡±

    You hear that, Greg? I¡¯m more perfect than you!

    That¡¯s not what she was saying!

    ¡°So, what would happen if that bitch goddess wipes our race out?¡± A vixen asked.

    Bellia got a sad look on her face. ¡°Your role doesn¡¯t only involve keeping deities in check so everyone including us deities would get into deep trouble. I¡¯m not sure Chiara can keep the dimensional fabric functional for a prolonged period of time without you guys. I haven¡¯t seen her in centuries¡­¡±

    So why is that bitch so hellbent on wiping them out then? Won¡¯t it also negatively affect her?

    ¡°Unfortunately, she¡¯s not the brightest tool in the shed¡­ even after getting her ass kicked multiple times by Chiara or Adea, she won¡¯t let her pride change her mindset.¡±

    Hehe, yeah, I heard that she got her ass kicked by a blue haired witch, even when in possession of a Dimsha.

    The ears of the vixens perked up. ¡°Ooh, I¡¯m curious about that story! Can you Ourasyn me that later?¡±

    Sure!

    Getting popular under your own race, eh?

    Shut it, Greg! Go ask some nerd questions instead of being a smartass!

    So, what happened after the warring deities got punished?

    ¡°It was quiet for a long time and then Biian started to create her own religion, which still exists to this day¡­ and Zarrazax started to court Biian and build his own army.¡±

    That sounds familiar¡­

    ¡°Walter had been working hard and had reintroduced technology to the mortals but to a way lesser extent than before his punishment. He started to draw Biian¡¯s attention and they started to fight again. He had asked Della to give him his true power back temporarily. She gave him 200 years as Wyxyxozyas, which he used to wage a war against Biian and Zarrazax. At this time, she also started collecting fur and slaughtering your kind.  Wyxyxozyas was arrogant again and thought that 200 years was enough to beat Biian and Zarrazax. He was wrong. He held out 80 years after he returned to Walter and got defeated yet again.¡± Bellia seemed embarrassed for his failure. I feel the same.

    ¡°Now as the victor, Biian wiped out all the technology on the planet and wiped everyone¡¯s memory with some form of mind control. All information about technology got destroyed before everything got wiped out. You refer to this as the Great Eraser. It wasn¡¯t all powerful because structures have survived this event, as did fragments of memories from before this event.¡±

    It still seems that it was effective enough.

    ¡°All this turmoil made the other deity groups opportunistic so Adea is singlehandedly putting them in line.¡±

    Wait, so I¡¯ve heard most of the names of Sarian deities, where does Wyndur fit in this and there should be 2 more.

    ¡°Xyoras and Zys were neutral, Wyndur seemed to have missed everything because he was training, at least that¡¯s what Della told me. Zys and Xyoras are more active on other continents because those are¡­ less rich in history. Yttroz is keeping silent while Yxim is traveling through the universe. Out of all of this I still don¡¯t know how Wyndur fit into this encounter.¡±

    ¡°Maybe he felt left out and wanted some action¡±

    I was thinking exact the same!

    I high fived this cool blue haired vixen.

    ¡°Anyway, that bitch and Zarrazax, are probably the only Sarian Deities that you will have to worry about. Which reminds me, I really need to chase after them.¡± Bellia got up.

    Wait! Do you know any deity by the name of Hablena? She seemed to be able to use the rot element, feathery dress, typical godly arrogance?

    ¡°Hmm, I take the use of Rot element very personally so I would know if a deity like that existed. I¡¯m sorry, it doesn¡¯t ring a bell. If you encounter her, please be careful. And if possible, contact a nature spirit or elf to call for me.¡± She looked at the elves. ¡°If he mentions anything relating to the ¡®Rot¡® element can you please contact me?¡±

    The elves seemed to be happy that they got another task from her. Are these elves her pets or something?

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for the short visit but I need to catch that bitch. Also please be mindful of her religion. They have taken over a whole country and named it Bizax. They don¡¯t need the power of a deity to catch you. And with that, I¡¯m off. Take care lovely races of the planet Isi.¡±

    ¡°Huh, I thought our planet was called Yabia.¡±

    Agnis, you take that one go have your Ourasyn session.

    You sound jealous.

    I held Ourasyn with the cool vixen whose name was Kaiiana, I conveyed the adventures of a blue-haired busty witch and how we discovered that the planet was named Isi, and my meeting with her simulacrum. This meant that all the sisters instantly knew about this. They¡¯re like a hive mind. I made the joke that if Kaiiana was a goddess, she would have the number 5 and be super strong. It was a joke but she seemed to think I made that joke with a different intention and her eyes glowed pink purple and her charm magic flared.

    It was awkward so I just escaped. Maybe that was situationally inappropriate. We spent the whole by socializing. We set up a camp where 3t, 6t, 9t, spirits and elves were welcome.

 Vol 3 Ch 51: Bizax Cultists

    I woke up and instantly fell down. Another dizzy spell. It was happening quite frequently now. Did I get a concussion? Do I need to visit Healerguy?

    Yeah, that is never a good option. I might take that option if I had to choose between dying or visiting him. Although death would probably be less annoying than him. I applied the cosmetic illusion to my hair and tails and stepped outside my hut.

    I chatted with some nature spirits. I asked them if they knew a spirit by the name Cee Horze or Starbolt. None of them seemed to know. They did mention that a very obnoxious dog spirit had appeared recently. I feigned ignorance about this obnoxious dog spirit. I had noticed something off with the dimensional fabric. The vixens were just looking at it and doing nothing. Are they just listening to Neia and leaving this be? It had opened up quite recently and small so I reversed time on it, torched the ugly orange scar and kinda fixed it. I collected more of the strange rocks.

    The vixens had to go back to help their other sisters running the Floating Fire Lotus. It seems that it had set Dumbass on fire and that they had a good laugh. I wish I could¡¯ve been there to see that.

    The elves also were preparing to return to their forest.

    Aww is everyone going home already?

    An elf perkeed his ears and turned towards Raishin. ¡°You can join us in our journey, you¡¯re always welcome to our village.¡±

    Ooh, can we go Greg?

    You will have to ask Agnis, he¡¯s the leader of team Hourai.

    Ugh.

    Raishin ran at me with a hopeful look on his face. Hey Agnis! Can we go?! Maybe we can find you a fitting girlfriend there!

    How about I consider going there if you stop this girlfriend project of yours?

    So, no elven village then, where are we going next then?

    Wow¡­ I didn¡¯t expect that response.

    Hehe, you two are more important to me then some random chicks.

    Didn¡¯t you sell us out to Charlize and Cecilia in Boshi town just for some female attention?

    Uhh, I was young and in a dark place, I¡¯m better now!

    Hmm, I don¡¯t know if I buy that, do you Greg?

    Yeah, he hasn¡¯t changed since then!

    The elves left and so did we. We looked back on the permanent mark we had left on the continent. We decided to head north and visit the city of Fahjin. Greg was against visiting another city at the ocean because things didn¡¯t work out the last time we visited the ocean. Raishin and I ignored Greg and went to Fahjin.

    What is this place''s specialty Greg?

    I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not too familiar with places this far up northeast.

    We just have to prepare ourselves. We¡¯re on the northern part of the continent so slavery is quite common here. This city also is located relatively near the elven forest.

    I thought about my encounter with Sylvana. We might encounter elves that weren¡¯t as lucky as her.

    Hmm, this part of the continent is quite strange yeah, it still has slavery but since we¡¯re this far east there is acceptance towards non-humans.

    Does that matter if they''re also getting enslaved? I guess they are at least equal in enslaving humans and non-humans alike.

    Maybe we should go back to the south, I don¡¯t want to see another slave market¡­

    Let¡¯s just do a quick in and out. We can just nuke the whole city if they try to enslave us.

    Ok¡­

    With that decided, we just had to get there. A full moon had appeared halfway our journey and I spent the whole night using [Moontalk] and attempted to find Thalia. I couldn¡¯t find Toxic Donkey this time but since I know he¡¯s alive, I decided to believe in him. I had looked at what the events that might have led to her disappearance. She had arrived Alledra during a full moon. She had bought some supplies and jumped into the big lake. That¡¯s all I could find out.

    She either is still down there somewhere or she had escaped and traveled mainly during the day or on days where the sky was cloudy. Rainfall around the year is quite common in the Aquini Kingdom, so this isn¡¯t completely surprising, it¡¯s just annoying.

    The sun started to rise and my connection broke. Fahjin could be seen in the distance. We will arrive there in 2 days. I have noticed that the 3 of us felt like we lost a driving force. Now that Neia is looking for Hourai, there is less of an importance for us to do the same. Finding out where it actually was located was big, but we can¡¯t even get there because we don¡¯t know how and even if we did, there is just a hole¡­ Are we strong enough to fight off whatever will attack us there?

    This fight against the gods has demonstrated that we have no clue what we¡¯re doing. Especially me. I created a foxfire flame on my hand and looked at it.

    I couldn¡¯t even identify that it was both regular magic and spirit magic. It looked unlike any of those, yet I could freely control it as if it was part of my body. No mana control needed. No messing with its mana rune structure. It did seem to solve a lot of problems when I try to fix the dimensional fabric. Out of ideas? Blast it with foxfire! I wonder why I never did this in combat. I always resorted to frost magic in that situation.

    I got another brilliant idea! What if I could combine frost magic and foxfire! It will become the ultimate god killing tool! There is one problem though. I thought back on the conditions that needed to be met to craft Shirayuki. I looked at my katana which was sheathed in the scabbard, decorated with snowflake patterns and blue foxes.

    It had taken so much to just get here. Will I need Nilah¡¯s help to achieve that? Will she have to do something stupid again like fusing with my mana? I don¡¯t know. I briefly tried to combine them. It was partly successful to my surprise. If foxfire categorizes as spirit magic, then it doesn¡¯t automatically get cancelled out by frost magic.

    I tried a normal flame and frost magic. The flame instantly died as all its mana got sucked up. Maybe this is what we should do. Just get better at our specialties. I could learn new skills but I already have so many and I don¡¯t even use all of them. I could learn spirit magic but how often am I going to use that? I could teach Raishin and Greg Dragonvein, while Greg is probably going to use it where he can, Raishin won¡¯t and he doesn¡¯t need to.

    Same with me, Greg could teach me more about shadow and dark magic but I use it mostly for utility and not offence. My foxfire and frost magic, however. I abuse them in the need arises. I also need to expand my frost magic move pool. I have my triple clones [Kryokym] and [Nilah] as skills that deal a lot of damage.

    Wait! I had archived the magic circle of Cygnus¡¯ stupid frost laser mana blackhole ultimate skill. The magic circle is scrambled but I think I can crack it and learn it. My days at the Misha Academy are proving to be invaluable. How did he call it? [X-1]? It¡¯s short and easy to remember.

    I had spent so long not using magic, learning Dragonvein to avoid using magic, and now I¡¯m back to a situation where I probably have to use it a lot. Although, I only need to watch out with using fire for nausea. If I need any other element, I will use Dragonvein.

    I enjoyed the cool sea breeze as we walked into Fahjin. It was a busy city. It looked a bit old. It didn¡¯t seem as if the Yttroz Industries have had their hands on this city. Most buildings were made out of primitive bricks or even wood. The main color themes were dark brown and red brown. The roads looked paved but most had a layer of mud and dirt on them and weeds were taking over the edge of the roads.

    It looks like this place needs to still catch up with the rest of the continent.

    While market stalls were common across the continent, this place took this to the maximum. I didn¡¯t see any buildings that could function as stores, all were residential. I did see something that looked like a church in the distance.

    I don¡¯t like this city¡­

    It was not as if the inhabitants here were poor it was just¡­ they seemed to live by completely different standards than we were used too. Most people were dressed very simple some even in clothing that could be described as rags.

    And what stuck out the most was that there were slaves everywhere. We recognized them by the magic mark on the side of their neck. Their color indicated what type of slave they were.

    Let¡¯s buy something to eat and get out of here.

    Yeah, I did not expect to find this. I feel awfully uncomfortable here, even in our casual clothes we stick out.

    We look like rich guys with our casual clothing.

    I identified a street rat who tried to pickpocket us. I pickpocketed Raishin¡¯s wallet back from him and I also pickpocketed all his valuables.

    12 bronze, eh? Can¡¯t say that is something impressive.

    Did you just steal from a poor kid?

    Occupational hazard, expect things to get stolen from you if you steal from others. Raishin pay more attention else you will be robbed clean.  I discreetly handed him his wallet back.

    I noticed that we were being watched. Not by anyone specifically, everyone was watching us. I counter pickpocketed 3 more street rats. I had gotten 58 bronze richer since coming here.

    We bought flatbread from a stand. It did seem like they were ripping us off but since they don¡¯t seem to have a sense of money, they didn¡¯t realize that by ripping us off they asked for a price that¡¯s normal for flatbread.

    This bread is so bland¡­

    Just bear with it we will get some proper food later on. Let¡¯s check out that church, it must have historical value.

    How about we stay away from any churches, didn¡¯t Bellia say that tomato goddess has a religion? I don¡®t want to deal with cultists if I can avoid it.

    Hmm, ok a brief look and we will get out of here. Preferably more south.

    Oh no¡­ look, those poor elf chicks.

    We saw some guys walking around with slave elf girls. The light seemed to have vanished from their eyes. They looked like soulless puppets following every command. Their body was in a poor state, injured and malnourished. Their eyes still glowed purple to me but it didn¡¯t seem intimidating to me because there didn¡¯t seem to be any vitality behind those eyes. How sad.

    Let¡¯s move on Raishin, we can¡¯t help them¡­

    But¡­ ok.

    We did our best to avoid getting into trouble. We had to ignore the poor state this city was in. I spotted a building collapsing in the distance. What has this country been doing? Doesn¡¯t it care for its citizens? What would Shania think if she saw this city.

    The queen will probably be a good regent but she doesn¡¯t have much to work with and she needs time. I don¡¯t know how long but I don¡¯t think anything is going to happen for at least 2-3 years. I also noticed something strange.

    Hey Greg, why are there so many people here that seem like they are getting close to mana intoxication?

    Can you link me up? The ambient mana feels fine, nothing else suggests that they could get mana poisoning from the water or anything else.

    Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    I linked him up but neither of us could identify the cause. We walked onto a plaza that was leading up to the church. I instantly regretted coming here. I saw a familiar cultist outfit. I instantly covered us up in illusions but he had already seen us.

    You guys should have gone with me on my school trips, you¡¯re missing so much context now.

    These guys were dressed the same as those Biian followers in that arena place. He called another cultist and talked to him.

    Guys we need to go now!

    So, we did run into cultists¡­

    We ran away but soon every street seemed to have cultists walking around and running around. No this was wrong. They have always been here. I thought this city was just uncomfortable but they had used an advanced type of illusion. Unfortunately, the slaves were real.

    Ok I did not see this coming and my intuition didn¡¯t tell me anything.

    This divine energy might be responsible. I think this might have been a trap specifically made for us.

    Most still seem to be almost mana intoxicated though.

    Several cultists collapsed due to mana intoxication and their mana started to become corrupted.

    Zombies and cultists, great, what more could go wrong?

    The slaves started attacking us.

    I think this counts, right? Do we hit them back?

    Absolutely not! We run!

    Says the slowest member in Team Hourai.

    I grabbed Greg and we started running.

    How did they recognize us?

    ¡°We have gotten a blessing from our goddess, those [Biian¡¯s Judgement] stacks on you acts as our beacon! How bright you are! I understand the mission now!¡± I kicked the annoying yet helpful cultist away.

    Does that answer your question? You two don¡¯t have these stupid stacks on you. I will distract them and you get away.

    Is that a good idea? We have just escaped the clutches from her, if she comes back and you¡¯re alone you¡¯re toast.

    I will be fine. I don¡¯t know much about her but I can trust in her pride and her love for high quality fur. If she could she would probably retrieve me herself but she obviously can¡¯t so she sends these cultists risking that they might damage my fur.

    So?

    She can¡¯t come and these guys are probably not allowed to hurt me.  I spread out my wires and made many cultists trip. I swapped some slaves away from me and used the wires to cut some cultists in pieces.

    ¡°Oooh! How bright!¡±

    I had gotten more of these obnoxious stacks¡­

    Also, don¡¯t hurt these assholes or you will also get these stacks on you.

    After splitting up from Greg and Raishin I wondered what to do. None of them could keep up with Raishin and they gave up on chasing them. If I hurt them, I get stacks, if I kill them, I also get stacks. So, what if I make them all slip and freeze their butts to the floors and roofs. I was jumping from rooftop to rooftop. I froze the rooftops and they slid off. Some fell off and broke their necks and died. No stacks.

    I smiled. As long as I kill them indirectly, I won¡¯t get stacks! I kept roof hopping freezing all the roofs making them extremely dangerous. I also spread some ice caltrops in the floor below to test if this would work. It¡¯s not a direct attack.

    More cultists slipped and fell. They fell on the big caltrops and expired. No stacks got added on me. Not that it matters because I was probably still a beacon to them. I tried to escape while in stealth. It seems they could still track me. This actually sucks. It might get me into trouble if I don¡¯t address this.

    I tried illusions but my illusions were getting peeled in an attempt to keep this beacon effect hidden. The moment all layers got peeled off was when they could find me again. Illusions work but they are limited. I tried to escape the city and prepared to drop 20 layers of illusion on myself to hide afterward when I stopped. I was looking north and an enormous army was approaching this city.

    They all wore cultist clothing. I can¡¯t escape from them as long as I have these stacks on me, can I? I forgot to ask Greg if he could get these off me. I covered myself in 20 layers of illusions and reapplied some whenever half of them peeled off.

    I gave them the slip and located Raishin and Greg.

    Yoo!

    Agnis? Why are you disguised as a street rat?

    Can you get these stupid stacks of Biian¡¯s bullshit off me? It makes me unable to hide from those cultists. Only illusions work and it¡¯s peeling the layers off.

    We stopped and Greg started with whatever he does when he starts dispelling curses.

    Hmm, this is not a curse, it¡¯s also not a normal status effect. It might take some time before I can get this off you.

    How long?

    Uhh, 2 months if I¡¯m lucky. A god is responsible for getting this on you after all.

    Aaah! Why?! How am I supposed to stay hidden from these assholes for 2 months? Reapplying these layers gets quite tiring after half an hour.

    Greg [Shadow bind] him before he does something stupid like taking his distance from us so we don¡¯t have to deal with this!

    Greg used [Shadow Bind] on me.

    Damn this overpowered intuition!

    Good call! Thanks, Raishin!

    Oh, look an army of cultists.

    Oh right, I forgot about that, they have sent an army after me¡­

    Raishin, can you distract them? Don¡¯t hit them or the city. I will think of an idea on how to solve this.

    Raishin went off to meet the army.

    That is the crest of Bizax¡¯ Papal Jurisdiction¡­ This is the Holy army¡­

    This isn¡¯t a crusade against us, is it?

    Looks like it¡­ We might need to take up the elven invitation.

    And have them go to war against Bizax?

    No, I thought they told you that it¡¯s impossible to find their village unless you¡¯re accompanied by a spirit or are an elf yourself.

    So where do we find a spirit to lead us?

    Greg smacked me.  You are that spirit!

    Oh, haha I knew that! I guess Raishin will be happy. Can¡¯t we just kill all of the cultists?

    I have read that Bizax has over 44 million inhabitants that are highly dedicated to the bitch goddess.

    So, hiding in the elf village it is¡­ I will have to find out how to avoid helping them for as long as we¡¯re there¡­

    Why is that? Just help them and they will be thankful, will make it easier for us to stay there.

    Uhm, no it¡¯s just going to make things awkward and we might even get kicked out¡­  Greg sighed.

    What did you do this time?

    Hey! I had no choice!

    Why are you getting so defensive?! Now I¡¯m even more curious!

    Keep it a secret please¡­

    Sure.

    So, you see I visited Eslana Village because I needed a flower that could only grow where the ambient mana is pure and they had it. They would give it on one condition. If I helped them with their dwindling population.

    And this is related because?

    It sounds bad unless I give the reasoning of course! So, they wanted me to help repopulate them, literally. They wanted make some 9t elf hybrid. I¡¯m sure they would look cool but I wanted none of them so I helped them differently. The end.

    You still didn¡¯t tell me what exactly you did¡­

    I ehh created a powerful illusion on the whole village which made everyone extremely horny and made them fornicate for 40 minutes. The illusion also made them extra fertile for those 40 minutes¡­

    Greg had a complicated expression. He always has this expression where the result is favorable but the means are questionable.

    I will pretend that I didn¡¯t hear that but, in that case¡­ do it when we leave¡­

    Thanks!

    I guess there is more pressure on me to get these [Biian¡¯s Judgement] stacks off you. Freeloading at their place for 2 months to then drop them into a village wide fornication event doesn¡¯t feel good to me.

    Raishin returned.  Guys! There are too many of them! Also¡­

    He pointed at the army who seemed to give off a golden glow. Divine energy was leaking out of them.

    They all got a mysterious golden buff¡­

    I think it is time to run then, Agnis if you would be so kind?

    Refreshing these illusion layers constantly was tiring so I was happy that we could flee. I took off my shoes and dashed toward the elven forest.

    They had lost us completely. We entered the forest and I put Greg and Raishin down. I noticed elves lock on to Greg and Raishin the moment we arrived.

    Hey take out your tails.

    The elves relaxed the moment Greg and Raishin did so. As usual they didn¡¯t notice me. It would be a problem if they got visual confirmation. I had no idea where this village was but somehow, I had no problems in just walking toward it. I felt that there is no way that I wouldn¡¯t be able to find it. We got stopped by 2 elves when we were getting close.

    ¡°Who is that guy with you 2? Why can¡¯t we sense him?¡±

    I stopped suppressing my smell.

    ¡°Byron has told me to let an individual that smells like an autumn rain inside.¡±

    What¡¯s that about?

    Don¡¯t worry about it. Hey Mr. elf. I¡¯m covering myself up in illusions for a reason. Something has put a mark on me to locate me. Does your village have something to counter this? If not, I can¡¯t enter your village.

    ¡°Oh, Bellia had told Byron that that would be the case, we have just finished the maintenance of our barrier, it has successfully updated and you can freely move around within the barrier."

    Oh, finally good news.

    You guys sound like you were updating a game!

    We stepped inside the barrier and I was expecting to be surprised but it looked similar to Eslana village. A big tree in the middle. The tree was casting the barrier. Getting bad memories from trees casting barriers.

    The houses were made out of huge leaves or they were trees themselves. Houses were carved into other trees and this village had a lot of verticality to make sure it didn¡¯t cover much area. I assume it has to do with the big tree, they might not want to get too far from the big tree. I dropped the illusions.

    ¡°Welcome to Nuverna Village! I will bring you to our elders.¡±

    Wow look at all those chicks!

    This place is fascinating!

    I decided to not say anything because I¡¯ve seen something similar before.

 Vol 3 Ch 52: Nuverna Village

    We got led into the big tree and got shown into a meeting room. Tyrone...Byron stood up and met up with us.

    ¡°Ahh, you have come! I had thought that it would take longer than a week for you to come here! Our scouts have returned earlier today and have notified us about Bizax¡¯ movements. We didn¡¯t know what it was about but Bellia clarified. You can take refuge here for as long as you like!¡±

    And all for some fur¡­

    You also pissed her off.

    She did say that she wanted to breed you¡­ I think it¡¯s not just your fur but also the fur of your children¡­

    Oh, hell no! I¡¯d rather die!

    Maybe that¡¯s what she¡¯s afraid of¡­

    So now she doesn¡¯t want me dead? Can she make up her mind?

    But isn¡¯t sending an army stupid? If she wants him alive then an army isn¡¯t going to work right?

    ¡°I think Bizax¡¯ wants to put social pressure on you. You can¡¯t enter villages and cities casually for too long in the fear that you will be luring an army to it. But we will be fine! I have scouts all over the place. They will notify me in 2 hours to make sure our barrier works.¡±

    Thanks, I thought elves were self-centered pricks but you seem to be quite alright.  They only act like that towards humans Agnis¡­

    ¡°So¡­ we have something to ask you Agnis.¡±

    I will help you guys before you leave, don¡¯t worry.

    ¡°Huh, now, we have an issue that came up during the last week that¡¯s more urgent than our population issue. Our guardian spirit has stopped showing us signs.¡±

    Just talk to it

    ¡°That¡¯s the thing, we might be spirit mages bet we can¡¯t communicate with spirits that we haven¡¯t contracted with.¡±

    Then form a contract with it

    ¡°The guardian spirit is our protector! We can¡¯t have it move from its power spot to having to use us as an anchor! Also, it has to be consensual¡­¡±

    Aha so I need to talk to the spirit?

    ¡°If you would, we would be very grateful.¡±

    I don¡¯t mind helping but it seems that my problems are my problems and other people¡¯s problems are also my problems. I saw a strange snake entering the village. It wasn¡¯t a spirit but it seemed it ate one. It was also giving off a familiar type of energy. I sighed.

    Hey Byron, as a spirit mage you can see and interact with spirits, right? Besides that, only spirits can interact with spirits, right? Or is there another race that can do that?

    ¡°Uhm, Bellia told us that it is possible for seven tailed crystal wolves to interact with them, besides that only deities.¡±

    Thought so. Greg Raishin, we have an intruder, it¡¯s giving off divine energy.

    I pointed at the 10 meter long snake that had entered the village.  T

    hat is not a Sarian deity, is it?

    Probably someone who thinks he can get an easy kill in or suck up to that bitch.

    It formed and a strange looking guy with snake eyes and leathery skin appeared.

    ¡°Hss who here is the silver fox?¡± I pointed at a random elf.

    ¡°Hss, you¡¯re coming with me!¡± He sent snakes at the random elf.

    I expected this guy to run away or be freaked out but he stared seriously fighting this snakegod.

    Hey, is this guy blind? You have your tails out and shit.

    It was mentioned that deities aren¡¯t the smartest most of the time. I guess there is no need for intelligence if they can casually wipe out a country¡­

    Now I feel sorry for that elfguy. I think I will treat him to some salmon.

    I walked over to Snakegod.  Hey, can you tell me why you¡¯re after him so that I can help you?

    ¡°Hss, the Sarian goddess Biian has promised that whoever can bring the silver fox to her will get to lick her feet hsss. I love feet!¡±

    Yeah, sorry I don¡¯t help weirdos.

    I torched the Snakeguy with a [Foxfire: Summer Heat].

    ¡°Hsss!! Aaagh!¡± He spat some poison at me.

    Is this guy serious? This is just basic poison. I was immune to this poison so I didn¡¯t bother dodging and threw another foxfire on him. It seemed quite effective.

    Please tell me that you¡¯re not this weak, you can¡¯t be a god right¡­

    Raishin zapped him and everyone attacked this deity that was still burning.

    ¡°Aaagh! It doesn¡¯t go out!¡±

    It seems your foxfire is quite effective against deities¡­

    It seems so¡­ who actually decides who gets to become a god?

    ¡°They get born this way but this indeed tarnishes the word ¡®God¡¯. We did know he was a deity but now that I think about it, he is quite weak¡± Byron also doubted that this was a god. I don¡¯t blame him.

    This is unmistakably a god.

    Greg shot a [Telos] at the god and the snake god got one-shot.

    Oh, you killed him. And for good. Congratulations, you¡¯re the first of us to kill a god.

    Why does it feel¡­ so empty. [Telos] isn¡¯t even supposed to do meaningful damage when the target hasn¡¯t been hit before by any of my shadow or abyss attacks¡­

    Maybe Agnis¡¯ foxfire put him one step in the grave.

    That must be it but¡­ it feels anticlimactic.

    Well, I guess that means that small fry deities should be no issue for us. I guess that is good for our morale, we¡¯re not extremely weak, just super weak!

    Yeah! We¡¯re not on the bottom of the food chain anymore!

    ¡°Uuhm, I would argue that the tailed beasts are quite high in the food chain¡­¡±

    What would an elf know! We had to deal with divine activity since we were 12! Technically 7! How did he find us by the way?

    ¡°That one actually lives nearby so he might just have spotted you before you entered the village. We had to occasionally fight him off because he was out to eat our children. I can¡¯t say that he was a strong deity but he was one nonetheless...¡±

    Well, if you guys can fight them off then he must be super weak!

    Phrasing Raishin! He means that a deity normally wouldn¡¯t be driven off this easily.

    ¡°We know¡­¡± The Super Noobgod had disappeared without trace. Maybe I should give the real Noobgod more credit.

    I gave the random elf some salmon to apologize for sending a random god after him but he seemed to be a vegetarian. I suppose that makes sense. I offered him some fruits which he appreciated. He introduced himself as Jyno Wifran. He didn¡¯t seem to have minded that I sent a god after him. What a cool dude.

    Did you just make friends over food?

    Not really! I had to send a god after him before that.

    Jyno and I hit it off and we were eating and talking about different fruits.

    Byron approached me and he looked a bit uncomfortable. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for interrupting your meal but is it possible if you can speak with our guardian spirit?¡±

    I got up.  Sure. Bring me to your leader!

    ¡°You want to meet my father, Bynerofax Seorwynn?¡±

    Why does this line never work? Just bring me to your spirit guardian¡­

    We got led back into the big tree. It took a while before we reached an area. I could see a lot of spirit energy here.

    This place feels¡­ different, as if it¡¯s a place of worship.

    ¡°We don¡¯t worship our guardian spirit but we do revere it. I¡¯m sorry but only the Seorwynn family is allowed to get past this point.¡±

    So how am I supposed to get in there then?

    ¡°You are a spirit so you are free to go.¡±

    How convenient, well then, I will talk to your guardian spirit.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    I went deeper into the tree and the light started to dim. I did see light green motes floating around. It went from looking like a building to being inside a tree. The floor was covered by a layer of water. This place seemed to be a maze but I could feel something calling me. Is it the guardian spirit?

    I kept following the call which seemed to get stronger as I got closer. I entered a small room. It had some type of altar in it. The altar was under several branches which had some fruits growing off them. The fruits seemed like they were tarnished by disease. It also seemed that it looks like the branches were wilting. I saw brown petals on the floor.

    Judging from the petals still on the tree they¡¯re supposed to be light blue. The whole room was blue, green and blue green themed. The water on the floor gave off a soft blue light while the tree gave off green light. This place felt very comfortable. Too bad that it looked as if this tree was slowly dying.

    I walked over to the branch and touched it.

    ¡°These elves¡­ They shouldn¡¯t have done this. I hope they didn¡¯t cause you trouble.¡±

    Oh, they kind of did but I¡¯m fond of spirits. My name is Agnis Hourai, how do I address you?

    ¡°I do not have a name; you can call me however you deem fitting. I get addressed as ¡®Guardian Spirit¡¯, ¡®Guardian Tree¡¯, ¡®Great One¡¯ and many more.¡±

    Hmm, I had heard that names are a big deal to spirits. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re dying because you don¡¯t have a name?

    ¡°Having a name or not is unrelated to this. I¡¯m not dying, spirits don¡¯t die so your concern is misplaced.¡±

    I looked at the branches. 2 more petals fell off the branch.  Ok how about you stop acting tough and tell me what the problem is, this whole village here relies on you and cares about you.

    ¡°I am fine, this is no concern of yours.¡±

    In that case you don¡¯t mind if I eat one of these fruits then.  I was about to pick one of the sickly fruits when the tree stopped me.

    ¡°You can¡¯t! It is meant for a ritual that is important to the elves!¡±

    Yeah, but I don¡¯t care about that, tell me why you think I shouldn¡¯t eat this fruit.

    ¡°It isn¡¯t ripe yet.¡±

    It seems like it¡¯s about to rot in a day or 2, try again.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, there is nothing I can help you with. Please leave¡­¡±

    You are wrong, I¡¯m here to help you, so tell me what¡¯s wrong.

    ¡°There is nothing to worry about. You must have better things to do as a spirit fox. I will be fine.¡±

    Right, you¡¯re pissing me off, should have answered me while I was asking nicely.

    I created a foxfire.

    ¡°Hey! Wait! What are you doing!¡±

    I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about.  I started to throw weak foxfires around and setting parts of the chamber on fire.

    ¡°Ok! I apologize! I will tell you!¡±

    I doused the flames.  That¡¯s more like it.

    ¡°But it¡¯s no use, even if you know the problem, there isn¡¯t anything you can do to help¡­¡±

    Let me hear the problem first and I will decide later on if I can help.

    ¡°I have watched over this village for millennia. I love the elves as they love me. I see them as my own children and will do anything to protect them. They have shown me nothing more than appreciation. There is one problem though¡­¡±

    Yes, go on.

    ¡°I can¡¯t continue watching over them¡­¡±

    And why is that? It doesn¡¯t sound like that¡¯s by choice.

    ¡°I might be a spirit but I¡¯m similar to you. This tree is my vessel and while it wasn¡¯t a big problem when it started 212 years ago, it is now¡­ My vessel is starting to reject my spirit¡­¡± I sat down. This talking tree is right. How am I supposed to help it counter that.

    Are there any techniques spirits know to counteract this?

    ¡°Spirits with vessels are rare, if your spirit suddenly got rejected by your body, would you know how to fix it?¡± I thought about these words. Is this a possibility? If that happens, I would have no idea how to counter this.

    How do you know that your vessel is rejecting your spirit? Do you get a warning screen pop up or what?

    ¡°As you know I¡¯m a tree but even so I get what the elves described as a ¡®Dizzy spell¡¯. It has progressed to the point where I momentarily lose connection to my vessel.¡± I sat on the ground. Dizzy spells? Doesn¡¯t this sound familiar?

    Are you capable of sight?

    ¡°I am yes, I didn¡¯t know silver spirit foxes were still around.¡±

    Does this get accompanied by seeing double, or worse?

    ¡°Ohh! Yes! So, you know about it?¡±

    Unfortunately, I do¡­ I¡¯ve been plagued with this too recently¡­

    ¡°This is ba¡­¡± Silence fell. The glow of the tree disappeared. Did the spirit fall asleep? It didn¡¯t return to the spirit world. It¡¯s presence seemed¡­ far¡­ is this my future? I waited for the guardian spirit to ¡®wake up¡¯ while thinking of possible causes or solutions. I know absolutely nothing about spirit magic. It does seem to be important for 9t apparently. Can I just live a quiet life without problems popping up left, and right?

    The tree started to glow again. ¡°¡­d Oh that didn¡¯t feel good. How long was I out for?¡±

    10 minutes. Your branches look worse now¡­

    ¡°The state of my vessel deteriorates every time this happens. I don¡¯t know how much longer before it completely rejects me.¡±

    Do you know why it rejects you?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know the immediate cause but at a certain point a vessel will reject a spirit when the state of the vessel can become a danger to the spirit. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m getting hit by the primary cause which is unknown, or that the secondary cause is responsible.¡±

    These blackouts, how often do they occur?

    ¡°The first one started 27 years ago, it was infrequent, once per year until 5 years ago where it happened at least once a month and since 4 months it has been occurring at least twice every week.¡±

    Did anything happen around that time?

    ¡°Not that I know of, I apologize but I have no information on this cause. And my communication with the elves is quite limited, I¡¯m glad that a spirit fox came along.¡± My 9 tail came up with an idea.

    How about moving to another vessel?

    ¡°I am not going to possess another species, nor am I interested in possessing corpses. If this problem can¡¯t be solved¡­. I will apologize to the elves and return to the spirit world.¡±

    My 9 tail reminded me of Isi Medri, the spirit we met under Boshi Town.

    Oh, I had met a spirit with an artificial vessel! It had some flaws but it worked great. She was hard to distinguish from a real human. If we can get one of those then you won¡¯t have to inhabit a living being!

    ¡°That sounds like a wonderful idea! But I can¡¯t imagine that that will be easy.¡±

    Yeah¡­ nobody is researching or making those. Luckily Isi had handed some of the research to me! But its incomplete¡­ How about I try and continued this research? I¡¯m not too unfamiliar with research. This is completely outside my expertise though¡­

    ¡°I appreciate that but why would you go out of the way to do that? There is nothing in it for you.¡±

    Firstly, that¡¯s not true, if my body starts rejecting my spirit too, I will also need a vessel, secondly¡­ all the spirits I¡¯ve met have been extremely helpful to me. I¡¯m greatly indebted to them since I could never help them to the extent, they helped me. I¡¯m very fond of spirits so I¡¯m not going to ignore this.

    I took out what ever Isi had given me. It wasn¡¯t much. It was 2 letters and a small book. The book had schematics on the anatomy and gave hints to the most important ingredients of certain parts but that was it. Nothing about how to synthesize them or any specifics. The 2 other papers was a letter Vo sent to Rignef briefly explaining some issues he had with connecting the ¡®Body¡¯, aspect, the ¡®Mind¡¯ aspect and to make it receptive to the ¡®Spirit¡¯. These terms sound familiar. The other piece of paper was Rignef¡¯s response. They had eventually decided to abandon the ¡®Mind¡¯ aspect of the vessel which would cause the resulting vessel to be unable to use magic besides the spirit magic belonging to the spirit.

    It had some useful information but I will basically be starting from scratch with this. I don¡¯t know how to make all these components and connect them.

    The elves here are spirit mages, right?

    ¡°That is correct.¡±

    You must have literature or special skills relating to them. Is it possible for you to communicate to them to give me access to all of them? Even the secret and possibly forbidden ones? I don¡¯t know what information I would need to make this. Also, I might be a resident in this village for a long time.

    ¡°That can be arranged, are you certain that you want to do this?¡±

    I did have a goal set besides becoming stronger but I had nothing concrete, This could categorize as getting stronger because the key to using spirit magic is understanding it first. I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯m going to study again¡­ I might have to raid the Misha library¡­

    ¡°Thank you Agnis, I would do anything if it will allow me to walk around and talk with the elves I love so dearly. This might be a better solution than to reverse this rejection.¡±

    Don¡¯t rejoice yet. I literally have no clue what I¡¯m doing. I don¡¯t know how long this will take or if I will succeed after all. I will need assistance of elvish scholars and my buddy Greg.

    ¡°Thank you. I will send the signal for the Seorwynn family to assemble so I can convey this to them. I wish you luck and if there is anything you need, regard this place as your home.¡±

    I will do my best¡­

    I navigated through the overgrown maze and got back to Byron, Raishin and Greg.

    Yeah guys, we have a problem, Byron the guardian will have your family ass¡­

    The whole tree started glowing. I assume this is the sign that the Seorwynn family should assemble.

    ¡°I assume this is what you wanted to tell me. I will make preparations; I will ask you later on for more details.¡± Byron left.

    My buddies and I navigated through the many chambers of the big tree and managed to get outside.

    Good news and bad news?

    Only bad news I¡¯m afraid, the guardian has a special case. It¡¯s spirit is getting rejected by the vessel. It has no idea how to fix this issue so I suggested an alternative. I suggested¡­.

    I got hit by another dizzy spell. This was way worse than the others. It took over 200 years for that tree, why is it happening so frequently to me. I was laying on the ground before I realized.

    Agnis! Are you alright?

    Did that tree do something to you?

    I tried to sit up but I had to throw up. I guess the tree has the advantage that it can¡¯t vomit.

    I¡¯m fine thank you¡­

    Greg handed me an anti-nausea potion which I drank.

    So, I suggested to make a spirit vessel similar to the one Isi had. Which brings me to the second problem.

    I looked at my hands. I know that I only have 2 hands but I saw 10 of them. The dizziness had disappeared but my vision was still impaired. Greg and Raishin looked worried. Elves had gathered and also seemed concerned.

    I think what¡¯s happening to the tree is also happening to me.

 Vol 3 Ch 53: Revenge

    A figure in a black hood and a figure in a donkey suit were arguing.

    ¡°You said that Agnis must be involved with those [Meteors]! Why aren¡¯t we going over to help him?!¡±

    ¡°Yes, but look! You are a dragon so you will be fine! I¡¯m a human. If he felt the need to cast not 1 but 11 [Meteors], then there is nothing we can do to help. Also, I just said it¡¯s highly likely that he is involved. It¡¯s safe to say that anything that can be seen across countries is something he might be involved with. Who knows maybe he is staying out of trouble¡­¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t believe that! We can take revenge later! Maybe he needs us!¡±

    ¡°Nothing has happened since those [Meteors] dropped yesterday. Whatever he was fighting is probably already dead¡­¡±

    At that moment the distant sky lit up. Everyone in Ainahs, the new capital city of Igrini kingdom, climbed on the roof or got a good spot to observe how 17 [Meteors] fell out of the sky in the distance. It took a while but slight shockwaves could be felt minutes later.

    Io pointed. ¡°How is his enemy not dead?! It might still be alive! Let¡¯s go!¡±

    The guy in the donkey suit stopped Io as she was trying to run off. ¡°I know how you feel, I would like to help if I could but it will take at least a day to get there if you fly. Let¡¯s focus on our objective first. What would happen if Arby learns that Agnis might be weakened and tired from that battle?¡±

    Io seemed to realize what Kyle was trying to get at.

    ¡°Ok, I¡¯m sorry¡­ I just don¡¯t want to lose more people from the Silent Night, only Sylvana and Agnis are left¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Let¡¯s kill this asshole and we can help Agnis after that.¡±

    Io nodded.

    Kyle and Io had been tracking down Arby since their draw in Tyung. Io had gotten severely wounded which made Kyle decide to retreat. They had inflicted great damage though. Io was tracking Arby by scent. They had acquired some scraps of his clothing to which Io could follow the smell of like a hound.

    Io wasn¡¯t tracking the actual smell of Arby, which any decent Silent Night would hide. She was tracking the smell of his mana. Dragons are responsible for eating excess mana that falls within their affinity. They locate areas where mana is overabundant with their noses. They¡¯re not only limited to magic of their own affinity. This ability is exclusive to dragons and races closely related to dragons.

    ¡°How close is he?¡±

    Io sniffed. ¡°There is a meat place over there! Let¡¯s go eat there before we barge into the AA!¡±

    Kyle put on the hood of his donkey suit. ¡°You and your meat, but we need you to be at full strength. Let¡¯s go.¡±

    They walked over to the restaurant diagonally across the AA. It seemed that the restaurant had recently moved here.

    ¡°Wait! I recognize this place! It¡¯s the same restaurant chain I visited in Saluk with Agnis! So that Walleed guy has expanded to places that don¡¯t have sand!¡±

    They walked into the restaurant and got stopped by a waiter. ¡°Do you have any reservations?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need reservations! I¡¯m a dragon!¡±

    Kyle stopped Io, who tried to walk in. ¡°I apologize, I forgot about this, let¡¯s go to another place,¡±

    ¡°But Kyle! The meat here smells so gooood! How about we take one bite before we leave!¡±

    ¡°No Io, I will buy you an extra portion, let¡¯s go somewhere else.¡±

    The waiter looked at the duo and looked at a card on his counter. ¡°Excuse me are you Toxic Donkey?¡±

    Kyle frowned at the waiter.

    ¡°Hahahaha is this guy blind? Doesn¡¯t he see that you¡¯re wearing a donkey suit? I will never understand humans hahahaha!¡±

    ¡°I guess, you are¡­ The owner of this chain has a VIP list you see.¡± The waiter showed portraits of the Silver Torrent, Toxic Donkey, Eternal Desertflower, a badly drawn drawing of a red dragon and 2 more portraits Kyle didn¡¯t recognize.

    ¡°Apologies for my incompetence. I will lead you towards our VIP section.

    Io pulled on Kyle''s sleeve and pointed at the portrait. ¡°Oh, Kyle you¡¯re famous!¡±

    ¡°Not sure I like the reason why I¡¯m famous¡­¡±

    Kyle removed his donkey hood and followed the waiter. The smell of different types of meat and spices tickled their noses and amplified their appetite. The restaurant was dimly lit and created a cozy atmosphere. The restaurant was busy. Many people from different walks of life were enjoying meat-based dishes.

    ¡°I smell something strange!¡±

    ¡°Io, calm down, this section is high class. This place should also have various types of baths. You might be smelling the scented ones. Now what do you want?¡±

    ¡°Everything!¡±

    ¡°And my wallet cries yet again¡­¡±

    A mountain of food arrived and the two were eating to their hearts content. Kyle had to explain that the ¡®Dragon Steak¡¯ wasn¡¯t made out of dragon meat but that it was big enough to even satiate a dragon. Io wholeheartedly disagreed.

    <hr>

    Io and Kyle walked into the AA after having a complete meal. They had also taken the time to relax and digest in the bath.

    They found Arby bragging about his accomplishments to 3 young Silent Nights. He instantly looked up after the two battle-ready adventurers walked into the AA.

    ¡°Impossible! I was sure to shake you off.¡± Arby looked extremely pissed off. His pride was hurt and the scar over his right eye started to hurt.

    ¡°Hah! Why don¡¯t you wear an eyepatch! I¡¯m sure you wouldn¡¯t have missed the opportunity to become even edgier than you already are!¡±

    Arby tried to resist the cheap provocation of Toxic Donkey but since his last battle against these 2, being called ¡®Edgy¡¯ got added to the many things that would piss him off. He took out a vial with a dark green liquid and took a shot as if it was an alcoholic beverage.

    ¡°You can¡¯t run edgeboy! This is payback for having me to sit still for almost half a year!¡±

    ¡°Ha! To think you survived that poison, dragons surely are durable. I should have known better but don¡¯t worry, I have concocted one that makes all your pain and worries disappear. You can rest easy and eternally!¡± Arby threw 3 daggers covered in a blue liquid at Io.

    Toxic Donkey caught these with his donkey hooves. ¡°Damn, can you tone down those edgy comments?¡±

    ¡°Right, this donkey and his overpowered suit and annoyingly high poison resistance. I should be the only one!¡± Arby used [Dark Nova] and all the adventurers inside the AA ran away.

    A large imposing black silhouette appeared behind Arby.

    ¡°Io, be careful this time!¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    Io nodded. ¡°I won¡¯t get caught by surprise this time!¡±

    Io started to glow red and she started to slowly get covered in scales. She dashed at Arby who jumped behind an empty counter and threw poisonous daggers at her which got deflected off her dragon scales.

    ¡°Ha! You forgot that I¡¯m a dragon!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to forget you¡¯re a dragon if you keep reminding me every time I attack! Wait? Where is that donkey?¡± Arby had put too much focus on Io and had lost Toxic Donkey.

    To his chagrin, Toxic donkey was superior in using stealth and poison. All Arby had as a superior was experience. Arby decided to use [Dark Pulse]. Nothing got knocked out of stealth. This normally works against stealth users but his 2 latest adversaries seemed to have no issues with this.

    Both the Silver Torrent and Toxic Donkey were those he had failed to assassinate and both have humiliated him. He had to divide his attention between finding the Toxic Donkey and fending off Io. This annoyed him.

    ¡°Enough! Have a taste of [Soul Drain]!¡±

    A shadow spread across the floor and started to damage everyone, including the adventurers who were taking cover and watching the battle. Another pulse of his earlier activated [Dark Pulse] went out but it didn¡¯t hit anything. Did this guy flee and leave his woman behind?

    Arby used [Shadow Cloak] to minimize the damage of these fire [Dragon breaths] that Io kept using. Arby realized too late that these [Dragon breaths] had some sort of pattern.

    ¡°Shit, another of those tricks!¡±

    A magic circle charged with a lot of fire mana, lit up under his feet. The circle was too big to dodge and Arby got hit by the brunt of a drawn magic circle cast [Fire Nova].

    ¡°Heh, this should have made most of your poisons useless.¡± Io said as a fire plume shot out of her nostrils.

    Arby inspected all the poisons he had on him but the high temperature had either completely destroyed most of his poison or had made them ineffective.

    Arby threw away anything that he didn¡¯t need. He had always done this. Objects, humans and skills it doesn¡¯t matter, once they had lost their usefulness, he would cast them away. That [Fire Nova] had hurt Arby but his [Shadow Cloak] had prevented substantial damage.

    A flash appeared. It was at Arby''s blind spot on his right side. Toxic Donkey had somehow avoided the [Dark Pulses] that had been going out every 2 seconds and sneaked up on him. He blocked it by gripping the blade of the dagger.

    Blood dripped from his hand. The blood turned black.

    Arby pulled his hand back and looked at it.

    ¡°Hehe, how do you like this dagger that can hold and instantly apply 3 types of poison. Your best friend Silver Torrent had made it for me!¡±

    ¡°Heh stupid Donkey! I¡¯m immune to poisons! Just like you!¡±

    ¡°Are you sure about that? I had created this poison on the basis of a sample of your blood that I had collected in my last battle, I was so kind to create 3 variations to make sure one of them would affect you.¡±

    ¡°So what? You can concoct poisons. I will gain immunity to these. I will just kill you and avoid getting poisoned even more. This changes nothing! I can still kill you! Hahahaha!¡± Arby took a dramatic pose and laughed in an exaggerated manner.

    ¡°Cool, we will see whether my poison works or not.¡± Toxic Donkey slowly circled around Arby.

    Arby sent a [Shadow Grasp] at him. Toxic Donkey took something out of his pouch and threw it at the [Shadow Grasp].

    ¡°What? A fish?! Are you mocking me! How much did that asshole tell you about me?!¡±

    Toxic Donkey smiled. ¡°You might start feeling cold any moment now.¡±

    Arby looked at his hand, it was turning blue and his hand was shivering.

    ¡°You!¡± Arby decided to ignore his role as Silent Night and decided to kill the dragon and the Toxic Donkey as swiftly as possible.

    He was about to use another [Dark Nova] when the air blurred and he took a punch to the face out of nowhere.

    ¡°That is for stabbing me back at the Silent Night!¡± Io said as she appeared from thin air.

    ¡°Ugh, Io, can you move around more quietly? It¡¯s hard to make you undetectable and invisible with wind magic¡­¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t! I¡¯m a dragon!¡±

    ¡°One of the few times that excuse makes sense¡­¡± Toxic Donkey sighed.

    Arby had made sure that he took no damage from flying into a counter but the punch to his face hurt his body and his pride, possibly even his ego. He didn¡¯t take his eye off his opponents. How did this dragon sneak up on him?

    He used [Dark Nova] and the shadowy silhouette behind him grew an arm with a scythe. His [Silent Reaper] swung his scythe and kept the dragon woman and the Toxic Donkey busy while he got up. He used 3 shadow clones and sent them out.

    Io instantly torched 1 while Toxic Donkey went into stealth and swiftly killed off the other 2.

    ¡°Ugh! Useless!¡± He took a shot of a deep green poison vial.

    Claws grew out of his fingers which were seeped in a liquid matching the color of the poison he had just downed. He rushed at Io and went for an [Arsenic Claw]. Io blocked it and her dragon scales sizzled after the attack got blocked.

    ¡°Evade those Io! Do you want to be immobilized for another 6 months?!¡±

    ¡°Eww, is it that same poison?! How about this then!¡± Io blew fire at her sizzling scales evaporating the poison.

    She went for a punch which Arby was about to block with his claws when she feinted, made her dragon tail appear and slammed it into Arby¡¯s side sending him flying het again.

    A sizzling sound was heard and Io blew fire at the poison that had ended up on her tail.

    ¡°What is going on here! No fighting in the¡­¡±

    Toxic Donkey tripped the newcomer to ensure that the 3 daggers flying around didn¡¯t hit him. ¡°Take your fight outside!¡±

    ¡°How about you die for interrupting my fight!¡± Arby was about to swipe at the newcomer when Toxic Donkey blocked the claws with 2 of his daggers crossed. He was slowly getting pushed back. Despite Arby¡¯s hand bleeding, he was still exerting a lot of force.

    ¡°You can¡¯t win this! I am the Silent Night! Nobody can compare to me! I have held this role even while imprisoned! That must say something! You are just pretending to be a Silent Night, but I¡¯m THE Silent Night!¡±

    Toxic Donkey got pushed back and sent flying into a wall. His body got hit by 6 poisoned daggers but his donkey suit was created in Jarn. Quality is the one thing that gets taken seriously there.

    None of these daggers had penetrated the donkey suit.

    Kyle originally disliked the donkey suit but it didn¡¯t take long for him to realize how versatile and useful this donkey onesie was. It has amazing durability, it had countless pockets, granted resistance to heat and cold, is waterproof, is easy to move in and even slightly boosts endurance. It was truly a marvel under the onesies. It even grew with him so that he never had to be afraid to replace it. The only blemish on his donkey suit was it¡¯s left ear that had corroded away from a poison Arby had used against him.

    Arby knew this. After discovering that the donkey suit had blocked everything, he took a bright yellow vial and took a shot. The green claws retracted and yellow green blades grew out of his forearms. He also used another [Dark Nova] and the second arm of his [Silent Reaper] appeared. The scythe of this [Silent Reaper] had also turned yellow-green.

    ¡°Io! We¡¯re going outside!¡±

    Io nodded and they ran outside.

    ¡°Yes! Run! Soon you will fall to my blade!

    Arby stepped outside and saw the 2 running. He was about to chase when he felt a sharp pain in his side.

    Whatever hit him didn¡¯t drop out of stealth. Arby knew exactly who it was. Only Toxic Donkey had such impeccable stealth. Arby realized what this meant. He made his [Silent Reaper] cover him with its hand which blocked a fire [Dragon Rush].

    ¡°Petty tricks won¡¯t work!¡±

    ¡°But it did work!¡± Io pointed at Arby¡¯s side. It was bleeding and the blood turned black.

    A smile appeared from under the donkey onesie. ¡°Hey Arby, do you know what the words ¡®Phase 2¡¯ means?¡±

    Toxic Donkey¡¯s shadows split into 5 and separated from his body. Arby recognized this as a skill his pupil Esher was proficient in. This was the only skill that Arby was unable to use.

    ¡°You have my attention. You certainly know how to piss someone off.¡± Arby growled.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. Enjoy breathing while you still can. Io, go evacuate the citizens nearby. I¡¯m going to use my ultimate skill [Toxic Donkey].¡°

    Io nodded and ran off.

 Vol 3 Ch 54: [Toxic Donkey]

    The plaza in front of the AA had 2 figures standing facing each other. All the bystanders had evacuated to the rooftops and were watching. Something strange was happening on the plaza. Toxic Donkey had no shadow. It did seem like shadows kept splitting off form him. He was surrounded by 9 Toxic Donkey shaped shadows.

    Arby had an enormous [Silent Reaper] behind him. One arm of it was holding a scythe, the other one was empty handed. Arby looked like he was fighting to stand up. His side and arm seemed like they were frozen but there was no ice visible.

    Toxic Donkey''s original shadow returned, totalling 10 shadows. He took out a vial with a dark blue liquid and poured it on his shadow. His mentor had given him a jar with a particular fire which Toxic Donkey had used to synthesize this dark blue liquid.

    The shadow briefly turned into a liquid; It sent out ripples which hit the other shadows which also briefly acted as if they were made out of liquid. He then poured the rest of his vial on the arm of his donkey onesie and the suit turned into a dark blue liquid but it kept its appearance as a donkey onesie.

    Out of nowhere something appeared and attacked Toxic Donkey. He got sneak attacked by a clone of Arby but the moment its dagger hit the suit of [Toxic Donkey] it corroded which spread to the arm of the clone and swiftly spread through the whole body of the clone making it turn into a dark blue ash. The wind made the dark blue ash statue collapse.

    ¡°Interesting, I just have to stay away from you.¡±

    3 shadows ran at Arby. The [Silent Reaper] swung it¡¯s scythe at the shadows. They got hit but the dark blue corrosion started to spread from the scythe, even the shadow of the scythe started to corrode.

    ¡°What is this nonsense!¡± Arby made the [Silent Reaper] throw the scythe away to prevent the corrosion to spread to his [Silent Reaper].

    Never had Arby seen such a powerful and exotic poison. Very few poisons affect vague concepts like shadows.

    The shadows closed in on Arby. He sent out [Shadow Grasps] and daggers to intercept the shadows. The daggers corroded after they got parried by the shadows. Arby covered the area below him with a [Shadow Ring]. It blocks light and dark attacks but since it¡¯s just a shadow that¡¯s all it does, it can¡¯t block physical objects.

    Toxic Donkey threw physical daggers seeped in poison at Arby and went into stealth. Arby also went into stealth. He was confident in his stealth. His hand and side were a problem.

    Arby hated the cold; it made him slow and weak. He used a well-timed [Dark Nova] and someone in a donkey suit got hit and sent flying. The [Silent Reaper] started to spit out black fog that slowly started to cover the area. However... The fog turned into dark blue ash and fell to the ground.

    ¡°Do you seriously think I wouldn¡¯t come up with something to counter that?¡± Toxic Donkey made a gesture and provoked Arby.

    ¡°What is this bullshit!?¡±

    ¡°Well maybe calling it an ultimate skill was wrong, you see, if you make an ultimate technique, it¡¯s extremely hard for opponents to counter it.¡±

    Arby noticed that his brief moment of inattention caused him to get surrounded by shadows. Arby normally wouldn¡¯t get into a situation like this. He hadn¡¯t been himself lately. Everything seemed to piss him off and this taxed his focus.

    Arby pushed through the pain and used his agility to escape the encirclement. He managed to hit Toxic Donkey with a [Dark blast] and a [Shadow ball]. Toxic Donkey slowed down quite a bit as a result of those hits.

    Toxic Donkey was bleeding slightly but he was relatively healthy compared to Arby. Arby and Toxic Donkey spent 30 minutes evading each other trying to get a shot in that would seal the deal. There were times where Toxic Donkey got hit but his donkey onesie had turned into poison and turned anything into dark blue ash when it came into contact with the onesie.

    Arby was getting fatigued and the poison was catching up to him. ¡°Aaagh! It¡¯s that stupid suit! Your insides would have turned into a soup if it wasn¡¯t for that stupid suit!¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s time to finish this off! Io!¡±

    Stolen novel; please report.

    A red dragon appeared in the sky. Io in dragon form used [Dragon Dance] and fire rained down on the plaza.

    ¡°Ha! Moron! The light of the fire will hinder your shadows!¡±

    ¡°Oh really?¡±

    The shadows completed a magic circle. This magic circle is one he had found in the library of the Silent Night, shortly after he first met Io. This skill has a dual element. The skill is named [Shadow Flame]. As the name suggests it¡¯s a flame made out of shadows. A fire and shadow affinity will create the best effects but in the case that the fire affinity is absent, it will shift fire caught in the circle to turn into shadows.

    The circle activated; all the fire turned into shadows that connected to the shadows Toxic Donkey had spread out. The flames that Arby had blocked with his [Shadow Cloak] had now turned into shadows and his body started to corrode.

    ¡°Impossible! I can¡¯t lose! I am the Silent Night!¡±

    ¡°And you can stay Silent forever now. Good Night!¡±

    A shadow pierced the heart of Arby¡¯s shadow, which meant that Arby¡¯s real heart had started to corrode.

    Thoughts flashed through Arby¡¯s mind. This must be one of his many nightmares. There is no way he would lose to a man in a donkey suit and a dragon! He couldn¡¯t accept this loss. His pride wouldn¡¯t acknowledge nor accept this Toxic Donkey.

    ¡°I am the best assassin this world has ever seen and nobody can convince me otherwise! I will survive this, hunt you down and kill you!¡±

    Toxic Donkey smiled as Arby¡¯s body crumbled to dust.

    Toxic Donkey took out a light red vial and poured it on his shadow. It turned red and rippled out to the other shadows. The shadows returned to normal and disappeared. He then poured the rest on his donkey suit and it turned back to normal.

    He looked around to make sure that he didn¡¯t miss anything. The adventurers on the roofs were staring and gossiping. Toxic Donkey hoped that this wouldn¡¯t get him into trouble.

    Io touched down and turned into her human form.

    ¡°We did it! We killed that asshole!¡± Io ran at Toxic Donkey and give him a kiss.

    ¡°Yes, we did. Finally! Thanks Io!¡± Kyle took off the donkey hood and sat on the floor.

    ¡°I¡¯m tired. How about we rest for the night and check out what¡¯s up with those [Meteors] tomorrow? Are your arm and tail, ok? I need to make sure you don¡¯t get badly poisoned like the last time¡±

    ¡°You need to get yourself checked up first! I¡¯m a dragon so I¡¯m fine but you¡¯re a human!¡±

    A man stepped out of the AA. ¡°What is going on here? Why is everything a mess here?¡±

    Kyle recognized this man. This man was very nosy and liked to stick his nose into other people¡¯s business. ¡°Ugh! It¡¯s Healerguy! Io let¡¯s run!¡±

    ¡°Oh, you take after your mentor Kyle, I wonder what afflictions you have! Anyone who brings him to me gets a free checkup!¡±

    Numerous adventurers jumped into action. A check up of a Golden Angel is quite expensive. They wouldn¡¯t let this chance slip. These adventurers were no match for Toxic Donkey¡¯s stealth, however¡­

    ¡°Io! Let me go!¡± Kyle attempted to break out of Io''s grab.

    ¡°Noo! You need to be in perfect shape for our eating spree!¡±

    ¡°I thought we would go and check out what¡¯s up with Agn¡­¡±

    Rubert, also known as Healerguy approached Kyle who was restrained by Io.

    ¡°Oh, so Agnis is involved in that catastrophe, why am I not surprised? How about you tell me more in the sickbay? I haven¡¯t seen him around lately. I¡¯m sure he also has some unique ailment and is about to kick the bucket unless someone checks up on him. I also need to give Io a checkup¡± Rubert smiled and dragged Kyle into the sickbay and Io followed.

    ¡°Nooo! Someone save me! I will pay you!¡±

    None of the adventurers listened to Kyle¡¯s plea. He might have won but he seemed like he could use a check up so no adventurer dared to step in. They also didn¡¯t want to antagonize one of the most well-known Golden Angel, the Inquiring Anaesthetist. He was known for being nosy and highly skilled. In combat he had made a name for himself by putting opponents to sleep or sapping their fighting spirit.

    Rumors went out later that day that the Silent Night had fallen and that the role might soon be renamed to ¡®Toxic Donkey¡¯

 Vol 3 Ch 55: Hisui

    I was looking at an announcement that had shocked the whole city of Gittrian. The popular idol group Tails of Symphony had revealed their racial identity. The lead singer, Giana Kahlua had revealed that she was a nine-tailed spirit fox, the musician, Noelle Yasmin had revealed that she was a seven-tailed crystal fox and the fashon designer Yvonne Faer had revealed that she was a four-tailed forest rabbit.

    I do recognize their last names. Some of Edea¡¯s important figures had those surnames. It¡¯s safe to assume that these are their daughters. They have also escaped the ill fate that befell Hourai. I know about Nathan Kahlua. A merman from the Gemmed Merfolk, which are the single-tailed mythical beasts, was in charge of the treasury of Hourai palace and the water management. It is strange that Giana has his last name. Nine-tailed spirit fox hybrids generally take on the last name of their nine-tailed spirit fox parent. He was a sapphire merman though¡­ I wonder if Giana has inherited some traits from him.

    Noelle Yasmin is a problem though. Females are quite rare under her race. Any male seven-tailed crystal wolf will be coming after her. Her father Seth Yasmin had a similar function in Hourai as the Yttroz Industries has here.

    The least problematic one is Yvonne Faer. Both her parents were in charge of scouting teams and both were four-tailed forest rabbits.

    I hope they know what they are doing¡­

    ¡°So at least 3 spirit foxes and 4 other tailed beasts have escaped Hourai¡¯s fate¡­ I wonder if my father is alright¡­¡±

    My father, Viridian Mikazuki was in charge of espionage and subterfuge. He occasionally worked with Yvonne¡¯s parents so that¡¯s why I know them. I don¡¯t believe for a second that he¡¯s dead but that might be a problem by itself. I have lost contact with him and never heard of him again. I wish I knew what had happened to Hourai.

    At that moment I felt a strange yet familiar mana wave. It felt nostalgic. This mana felt like someone I consider to be my younger brother. Unfortunately, that dynamic had shifted after his mental maturation. I won¡¯t accept a bonding partner who is weaker than me so I pushed him to make sure he would become stronger than me. I sighed

    It might have caused him to distance himself from me but I won¡¯t back down on this. Realizing that I had gotten distracted I brought my thoughts back to that mana wave. It feels quite strong but nobody had seemed to notice.

    I activated my Elgards Eyes and replayed the last 10 minutes.

    Nobody had noticed or reacted. I do know that any nine-tailed fox will be able to feel this but I was unsure if other races might pick up on this.

    "So, he is already this strong¡­"

    I was about to fall into a daydream when I realized that this might be a bad sign. We normally cover up the mana burst from reaching this far. Did he get reckless or was it intentional? It is an effective way of alerting all nine tailed spirit foxes nearby, it could attract the attention of deities though¡­

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    He is only 1 year old¡­ he¡¯s not ready to fight deities yet.

    I looked at the hot news on a large screen hanging from the buildings. I am curious about this idol group but Agnis has the highest priority.

    I put adventuring on a hold. I had hoped to get some reputation which would make it easier to meet up with him but I had underestimated the reputation of the Silver Torrent. It did fill me with pride though.

    An urgent newsflash appeared on the screen. Everyone gasped as footage got shown of a [Meteor] dropping out of the sky. It was a marvellous [Meteor]. I couldn¡¯t help but smile and be proud. There is no doubt that this is Agnis¡¯ [Meteor]. It then jumped to footage of 10 more [Meteors] dropping at strange angles. Their trajectory seemed to defy physics. It was getting hard to suppress this smile.

    So that¡¯s what he did in his nine tailed mode! Whatever he was fighting is most certainly dead now. I headed over toward the AA to gather more information on these idols when I stopped.

    Would Agnis make this mana burst travel this far if he was sure to kill his opponent? He is reckless but not this reckless. It must be a cry for help. I ran to the AA, not to collect information but to get all my belongings from my room I had rented there. The news flash showed that this event happened to the east of Igrini kingdom which was extremely far.

    I looked at my funds. I might have gone on too many shopping sprees. I was down to 6 silver, not enough to take teleport gates. I would have to get there by foot, merchant caravan or teleports.

    I put on my cloak and turned into a figure completely covered in black. It hid my race, face, voice, and body shape. I wish it would fix my weight but nothing I could find could also make me heavier. I prepared a [Dimensional Teleport] to Sichar. I am happy that I don¡¯t have to physically travel most of the distance but from here I had 2 choices. I could go upstream the Aurelia river or I could go by land and walk around the Aurelia mountain range. One option takes a lot of effort while the other takes a lot of time.

    I decided to take the Aurelia river. I don¡¯t have a water affinity but I had learned how to at least run over water from Agnis years ago.

    The river looked quite wild. I should be able to do this. I jumped in and almost lost balance. I had already been moved dozens of meters downstream while trying to catch my balance. I realized that I might have drowned if I had messed up.

    I started running over the water''s surface. The progress was slow so I had to augment myself and use wind magic to speed myself up.

    The Igrini Kingdom was reached after 30 minutes and I had reached the confluence where the Aurelia river splits into the Aurelia river flowing into Hjuva and the Aquini river going into the Aquini Kingdom. I jumped on dry land and saw a strange sight. A strange hole was where the capital of Igrini kingdom was supposed to be. What is happening in this country? I hope that nothing related to this is after Agnis.

    ¡°Please hold on Agnis, I will save you!¡±

 Pneuma 1: How the Fuck do I make a Spirit Vessel?

    I¡¯m bored. I¡¯m sitting on a comfortable leaf couch on the ground floor and looking at the canopy above. Greg, Raishin, and I had gotten our own elven house here in this village. All high up. I was excited.

    So, I¡¯ve been swinging and jumping around like a monkey and have fallen down twice in the 2 weeks we¡¯ve been here. I am getting a dizzy spell once a week now. This caused me to miss a ledge, branch, or vine and caused me to fall down.

    Now I fall very slowly and I take no fall damage but Greg and the elves had gotten overprotective and put me in a house on the forest floor. So boring. They even have some elves watching me. Don¡¯t they have anything better to do?

    I regret telling them that I have this problem. Now they won''t leave me alone. They keep checking up on me. I tried to give these 2 bodyguards the slip but there was no point. I had to come back to my house anyway.

    I had also been banned from stepping outside the village without someone to go with me because I¡¯m toast if I¡¯m outside and the tomato goddess catches me when I have a dizzy spell. I can¡¯t say that I disagree with them but they don¡¯t need to be so forceful.

    They also want to keep me safe because I had promised to make a spirit vessel for the guardian spirit. The thing is. I have no fucking clue how to make one. I had archived the info, and the documents I had about them. It was not a lot.

    The Seorwynn family was quite knowledgeable about spirits but this was a first for them. Talking about the Seorwynn family¡­ I looked at a blonde elf chick that tried to chat with Greg. The daughter of Byron seems to be crushing on Greg. She might get in trouble with his stalker but since she is an immortal Raishin and I have silently given her the green light.

    She just has to punch through his dense head.

    I¡¯m sorry Elliana, I¡¯m busy. I have to make sure a certain fox doesn¡¯t end up getting himself killed.  He looked at me.

    Hey don¡¯t blame me for being unable to talk to the opposite sex!

    And what does that have to do with anything?

    Why don¡¯t you let Elliana help you?

    ¡°Oh, that is a wonderful idea! Thank you, Agnis! How about we check if his spirit energy has some complications?¡±

    Ehh what? No need to make this about me. Go do your nerd stuff together!

    Hmm, I¡¯m not familiar with spirit energy, can you tell me more about it?

    The 2 nerds went off talking about stuff that might be important for me to know but I didn¡¯t want to disturb their nerdy date so I sneaked away.

    Let¡¯s summarize what I know about spirits:

    ? They are nice

    ? They are obsessed with bread

    ? They come from the spirit world

    ? I am a spirit too apparently

    So basically, I know nothing about them so I¡¯m waiting till some elven scholars return from an ecological survey but it takes forever. I took Shirayuki out of my dimensional pocket. I had decided to just call her Nilah because having my sword named differently is more confusing now. I wanted to avoid confusion by naming it differently but that didn¡¯t work out so well¡­

    Nilah instantly turned into a fox and requested cuddles. I still have no idea what she is. A sword, a skill or a fox?

    Hey Nilah are you perhaps a spirit?

    Nilah was too busy enjoying being cuddled to answer. The official name of [Nilah] is [Pneuma Boreas]. In the ancient language my gramps used to speak this means spirit of the northern wind. The skill says she is a spirit but if this is in a literal or figurative sense is unknown to me. Peeking into her magic circle sequence doesn¡¯t tell me much.

    I saw a lot of foreign mana runes that I did know the existence of but Azu hasn¡¯t extensively researched them so it was a big question mark for me. I wonder what Azu is doing right now. I suddenly remembered something. This should be Sylvana¡¯s hometown. I tried to find my new elven buddy Jyno but I couldn¡¯t find him.

    It was time for answers. I put Nilah followed me. I walked up to an important-looking elf who was interacting with his contracted spirit.

    Excuse me I¡¯m looking for an elf named Sylvana.

    ¡°I''m sorry I don¡¯t know where she is, you mean Sylvana Asyna right?¡±

    Uhh the one that lived outside for a while yeah.

    The elf shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, she left after she accused us of not taking our role seriously. The issue she has brought up has our community divided.¡±

    More problems this isn¡¯t going to bite back at me, is it?

    Hmm ok.

    I looked at his spirit which looked like a big leaf.

    What¡¯s his name?

    ¡°Name? It doesn¡¯t have one. It can turn leaves into weapons and create strong gusts of wind. It has been my companion for 232 years.¡±

    ¡®It?¡¯ He doesn''t tell you things?

    ¡°They are only capable of basic communication. Things like ideas or concepts. Conversation is only possible with medium spirits and higher.¡± He used simple words to instruct this spirit and it cut the small logs into pieces. I didn¡¯t agree with what this elf told me but maybe this spirit isn¡¯t talkative.

    Mind if I talk to him?

    ¡°Go ahead.¡± The elf stepped aside for a bit.

    Hey there, I¡¯m Agnis. May I ask you what your favorite food is?

    The leaf spirit waved it''s leafy arms with a high level of expression.

    Hmm, croissants I see.

    The spirit''s expressive behaviour continued and it made me feel that it shouldnt be difficult to understand him by his expressions alone.

    With chocolate? Do they even have that in this elf village?

    Never mind, how is an expression going to convey his preference for chocolate... Spirits sure have it hard. The spirit continued on and I got a rough idea of what was going on.

    Hmm, you tried to communicate that to Guyir but the message got lost?

    As I thought, this spirit was quite talkative and formed complete sentences. This elf whose name seemed to be Guyir seemed perplexed at our interactions. It seems that he is unable to fully understand his spirit.

    Hmm, not sure if it¡¯s a language barrier but it seems to be unable to convey its feelings to you fully.

    Guyir looked at me, then at his spirit and back at me. ¡°Wha¡­ what was that language? Can you teach me that?¡±

    Oh right, I forgot that I can talk spirit. Ehhm I don¡¯t think I can, to me it just felt like I was talking in Kaledonian, I¡¯m sorry¡­

    Guyir¡¯s ears drooped a bit. ¡°I see, so croissants with chocolate, eh? Thank you, Agnis. I will see if I can get this for my spirit.¡±

    He picked up his spirit and tried to talk to it some more.

    I looked around. Not every elf was a spirit mage but it seemed that most elves that had lesser spirits had a similar issue as Guyir. I tried looking for spirit mages that had medium spirits. It took a while before I found one. This elf lady was talking to a spirit cat and it was talking back in Kaledonian.

    There was no language barrier here. It is just that this spirit got treated more as a pet or object. Is this a part of their contract?

    My eyes were on this duo which caused me to almost bumped into a floating book who appeared to be a medium spirit.

    ¡°Oh excuse me. I wasn¡¯t paying attention, hmm interesting you¡¯re a spirit too.¡±

    Hey, you¡¯re a book so you should be smart right? Can I ask you some questions?

    ¡°Sure, I will do my best to answer as accurately and concisely as possible.¡±

    Why are these spirit mages unable to communicate properly with lesser spirits, why do they treat you as objects or pets, is this included in your contract and what do you know about spirit vessels?¡±

    ¡°Whoa, whoa, one question at a time. For your first question spirits are unable to fully communicate with non-spirits. They can only do this as medium spirits or if they learn Kaledonian. Besides that, the non-spirit has to be able to interact with them. Spirit mages can interact with spirits. So lesser spirits have a racial disadvantage in communication. It does get better if they learn Kaledonian but for some reason, it''s extremely hard for lesser spirits to learn new languages.¡±

    Nilah was jumping around trying to catch the floating book. I picked her up and stuffed her in my shirt to make sure the book spirit wasn¡¯t in danger. Her head popped out of the neck opening of my shirt and she had to observe from there.

    ¡°Thank you for that. Now your second and third questions. It is in our contract. Most of us are contracted as lesser spirits so we can¡¯t point out the problems with this contract. It seems to be the basis of every spirit contract they make. Only after evolving to a medium spirit and learning Kaledonian can we voice our opinions, but it is too late at that point. Some elves have tried to fix this but these spirit contracts are ancient and nobody knows how to adjust them.¡± This book flipped through pages every time the topic changed slightly.

    That seems rough. I guess it makes sense. From the elven perspective, the spirits might seem as simple as lesser spirits. They might have made this contract based on those. Then they discover they are just like any other race. I don¡¯t know the exact history but I can imagine this happening. The elves do have a slight tendency to look down on simple races.

    ¡°And for your last question¡­ I apologize. This is the first time I have heard about something like a Spirit vessel. Can you tell me what it is?¡±

    Uhh, you¡¯ve noticed that I¡¯m a spirit with a body, right? Basically, it¡¯s an imitation of my race. Making a body for spirits to inhabit. They won¡¯t have to deal with powersports, contracts or possessing other beings.

    ¡°Oh that¡¯s a wonderful idea! I have never heard of such a thing but its the wish of many spirits! I wish I could help but I have no idea I¡¯m sorry. I also don¡¯t know of anyone who might¡­¡±

    That¡¯s fine. I do have some leads but this information is ancient. It might be outdated and obsolete. I was hoping I could find more modern ideas.

    ¡°I will ask other spirits if they know of anything. Don¡¯t hesitate to ask me for help if you have a need for assistance.¡± I nodded and the book floated off to a group of spirits that were feasting on bread near a bread stand.

    I spent the rest of the day asking around the village. I even got a hold of Byron but he also didn¡¯t know. So, nobody knows how to make this spirit vessel. Isn¡¯t that fantastic?

    The sun was setting. Raishin was fitting in quite well in between the elven chicks. He has something most elven guys lack; he pursues them. He is quite popular and I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if he already has a girlfriend.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Gregory also seemed to fit in. He often hung out with Elliana and as far as I know he has been learning how to use nature energy. It got time that he would learn that.

    I feel a bit left out. I don¡¯t feel like I really belong here. I am extra uncomfortable because some elves expect me to bond with an elvish chick. There is also this uneasy feeling about how the spirits are treated. They aren¡¯t treated poorly it¡¯s just¡­ it feels off. Besides that, the only elves I''ve really interacted with are Byron, his daughter Elliana, and Jyno. But Jyno is doing some weird elvish hunting thing. It''s mainly my fault that I feel left out but I¡¯ve spent most of these 2 weeks talking to the guardian spirit and trying to find out how to make this spirit vessel.

    Do I just stop asking around, waiting for those scholars, talking to the guardian tree and just start with what I know?

    I returned to my elvish house and sat at the table. Nilah jumped out of my shirt and started to run around. I decided to just start studying what I have. I put the documents on the table when my door flew open.

    I found her! Your new girlfriend!

    Raishin stood at the door and had 4 elvish chicks behind him. I recognized one as one of the chicks he¡¯s always with so I assume it¡¯s not her.

    I told you that I don¡¯t have time for this and I''m not sure if you remember how to count but you brought 4 of them.

    Oh no, these 3 are mine. Here meet Inna!

    A tall elf with light brown hair stepped forward.

    I sighed. Now what do I do? I don¡¯t want to send her away.

    ¡°Raishin has told me all about you. I¡¯m Inna Ydrah, nice to meet you.¡± She held out her hand.

    Hydra?  I shook her hand.

    ¡°Inna Ydrah, I have been told that you¡¯re bad with names and might reject me but I decided to try either way.¡± I looked at Raishin he was doing weird things with his eyebrows and cupping his hands and moving them indicating how he calls them ¡®big badonkers¡¯.

    Ugh, Raishin, you¡¯re such an idiot. Thank you, Inna, but I¡¯m quite busy. I will however see if I can kick the ass of a random elven guy and send him your way. Just tell me which one you¡¯re interested in and I¡¯ll see what I can do.

    Hey, that¡¯s not supposed to happen!

    ¡°I will take you up on that but do you mind becoming friends first?¡±

    I am a terrible friend but I don¡¯t mind.

    ¡°Good! Now I will use your kitchen if you don¡¯t mind!¡± Raishin looked happy and took his harem away.

    Wait! Ugh, Raishin I will get you for that!

    Hehe, mission successful, partially! Let''s go ladies!

    Sounds in the kitchen as Hydra ad started kitchen activities.

    Ugh, have I become this hopeless that I need a babysitter?

    A head peeked from the kitchen. ¡°I¡¯m a friend remember?¡±

    The head disappeared and I heard more kitchen noises. So, the elves are in such a tight situation that a random elf chick decides to become my friend for no reason. Maybe I should drop this whole village under the same illusion I used on Eslana Village. I sighed

    The anatomical map of this spirit vessel was the only thing I could go by. It had a lot of icons I didn¡¯t recognize. They¡¯re not characters from a different language. I used different filters of my Elgards eyes to see if this document was holding any strange secrets.

    Hey Hydra!

    ¡°It¡¯s Inna!¡±

    What do you know about spirit vessels?

    ¡°Not much sorry. Why do you have so much mustard?¡± I heard more clattering.

    To make my secret weapon. You can use some if you want.

    ¡°I also threw away the milk. All of it was spoilt.¡±

    I got up.

    Noo! My other secret weapon!

    I ran into the kitchen and wanted to salvage what was left but my secret weapon #2 had been completely destroyed. I dropped down on my knees.

    My¡­ secret weapon¡­

    ¡°Oh I apologize, I didn¡¯t realize that it was important to you.¡± I looked at Hydra. She was wearing an apron. Now that I take a good look at her, I realize that Raishin had a great taste. I sighed.

    It¡¯s fine. I guess I have to make a new batch.

    I took 4 liters of poison out of my dimensional pocket and put them in containers on the kitchen counter.

    ¡°So why is it your secret weapon?¡± Hydra seemed to be making some dish with fish. I guess Raishin had told her about this because most elves are vegetarians. I hope he didn¡¯t tell me that the way to my heart is through my stomach because I might be screwed if he did.

    This poison has saved my life multiple times. Oh, I need an idea for Secret Weapon #3. Do you have any ideas?

    Hydra thought for a moment. ¡°How about something super spicy?¡±

    Hmm, that actually makes a lot of sense. You know what you passed the friend application! So uhm what was your name again?

    ¡°Inna Ydrah¡±

    Alright I¡¯ll try my best to remember that.

    I got shooed out of the kitchen and went to study the document again and archived everything. Now that is cool but I only know how to do the very last step. The vessel was split up into 3 parts. 1 part would be completed when the spirit would enter the vessel. The other 2 parts are the ¡®body¡¯ and the ¡®mind¡¯. Now where have I heard that before?

    I wonder if I can contact Bellia. Maybe she doesn¡¯t know anything about spirit vessels but she could tell me more about that mind, body and spirit thing. So, the mind means magic I guess in this and the body is literally the body.

    Should I start with magic first? Azu¡¯s research has made me quite skilled in this. I feel confident that I can do this and if not, I can also invade Witchaven again and freshen myself up.

    ¡°Food is ready!¡± 2 plates got put on the table.

    It looked great. It had fish and a lot of seafood, some steamed vegetables on the side and some mustard sauce covering a salad. Inna had the same dish.

    I thought you were mainly vegetarian?

    ¡°I am willing to try new things. I am not as conservative as most of the elves here.¡± She took a bite of the fish and I could see that it was her first-time eating fish. I suppose a lot of things taste strange when eaten for the first time. I took a bite and realized why she made that face. She had used too much lemon.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡±

    It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s the thought that counts.

    The rest tasted quite good. She made a different face when she ate the salad with mustard sauce. I suppose she isn¡¯t used to mustard this strong. It was quite a funny dinner.

    Hey, maybe you know about this, the Sarian goddess Bellia had told me about the mind body, and spirit thing. Do you know what that¡¯s about?

    Hydra¡­Inna shook her head. ¡°I only know that the three together form a perfect being in some beliefs or ancient stories. Now in real-life situations¡­ I don¡¯t know if it makes a perfect being but the mind is often associated with magic, the body is the flesh, and the spirit is the soul. I remember a story Sylvana had told me when she returned.¡±

    Oh you know Sylvana?

    ¡°Yeah, she is my cousin.¡±

    Small world¡­ So, what did she tell you?

    ¡°The humans have uhh what is it? Science or something that has this as a theme. I think it was called alchemy.¡±

    Oh. I¡¯ve heard about that. I guess my answer was close all along¡­ I should ask Greg. Thanks!  I got up to clear off the table.

    ¡°Oh no, I will do that¡± I raised an eyebrow.

    What has Raishin told you exactly?

    ¡°That you need someone to break through your heart of stone and someone that takes care of you and makes sure you don¡¯t do reckless stuff.¡±

    I sighed. I understand that he is worried for me but this was unnecessary.

    And how is this cooking and cleaning related?

    ¡°He said that food is very effective on you.¡±

    Quite honest, aren¡¯t you?

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe in relationships based on lies.¡±

    You do know that it¡¯s unlikely that this goes anywhere, right?

    ¡°I am but at least you show some sort of interest.¡±

    Interest? How disinterested are the elvish guys¡­

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ maybe this is a result of not executing our duties properly¡­¡± Inna cleaned off the table and wanted to bring them to the kitchen.

    Oh, there is no need.

    I snapped my fingers and [Incinerated] the dirty cutlery and dishes.  Bye!

    Inna jumped back. The dirty dishes and cutlery got incinerated while she was holding it after all. My mana control is top notch so she was unharmed.

    ¡°What?!¡±

    I dislike doing the dishes. Why deal with them if I can make new ones with illusions?

    I created illusions of clean dishes.

    ¡°That is absurd¡­ Raishin was right¡­¡±

    Huh what? I think it''s efficient.

    Inna shook her head and put the clean illusionary dishes away and sat back on the table.

    ¡°Anyways it was nice meeting you but I have to return home.¡± I got up to show her to the door.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± She left and I was alone. I looked around to see what Nilah was up to but she seemed to have fallen asleep on the couch.

    I will find a nice elf guy for Inna and exclude both of them from my ¡®Eslana Illusion¡¯ when I leave. I went to the kitchen and took out a package of flour. I used a skill that I hadn¡¯t used in a long time and attached it to the flour. It was the skill [Time Bomb]. last used in Boshi town to blow up pink protein shakes.

    I made a clone and had it sneak the flour [Time Bomb] into Raishin¡¯s house. With that done I got an idea of another secret weapon. It will be a [Flour Time Bomb]. One day and 2 more secret weapons! I took all the flour I had out of my dimensional pocket and made a big batch of my secret weapon #4 [Flour Time Bomb].

    I should be able to combine it with some fire to create a dust explosion. This is my first secret weapon that has offensive capabilities. The first 3 are consumables.

    I started to think. It is similar to my [Shadow Vodka Blaze], do I promote that to a secret weapon 2 or do I strip [Flour Time bomb] from its secret weapon status?

    [Flour Time Bomb] got stripped from its secret weapon status. Back to 3 secret weapons. I have to find something spicy enough to create my third secret weapon. I didn¡¯t possess anything spicy strangely enough. I had regular pepper but nobody will get incapacitated from this.

    I went over my secret weapons.

    ? Secret Weapon #1: Highly concentrated mustard, boiled to perfection. I created this to assassinate the king of Jarn, who was apparently the weakest man alive that even salt could kill him. So, if salt can kill him this super strong concentrated mustard would certainly snuff his light out, which it did. It was also crucial in getting us out of the stomach of that gigantic whale.

    ? Secret Weapon #2: Poison, also known as milk to most unaware species. I first used it to get Noobgod away from us, after that, it helped Vinny and me to break out of the dungeon with the shadow behemoth. And more recently it completely incapacitated Noobgod again. There is a boiled and spoilt version. Use with caution.

    ? Secret Weapon #3: Something spicy. I still need to work on this.

    I also have a Special Weapon. It''s my Millennial Foxbite. It is overpowered¡­ situationally. It¡¯s quite useless against gods and races that live for a long time. I have come to respect the use of non-offensive weapons. Not everything can and should be solved with magic. It seems that my next problem is the same.

    Alchemy, eh? That¡¯s highly unusual. But I suppose it requires unusual methods to create unusual objects. I had set my goals. Work on Secret Weapon #3 and ask Greg about this. I will have to sneak out of the village to get peppers spicy enough to make my secret weapon.

    I dropped a [Spatial Anchor] in my living room, picked up Nilah who was still sleeping and brought her up to my bedroom.

    The elves wanted to give me a bed but my tails are softer and fluffier than anything they could make. I put Nilah in her blue sleeping basket and I curled up in my tails.

 Pneuma 2: Secret Weapon #3

    Someone was making a ruckus in the village. Raishin was covered in white powder and looking for me. I was sitting in a tree covered in illusions and petting Nilah. It seems my [Flour Time Bomb] was a success. I felt like a villain looking down on a village petting my fox.

    Agnis! I know that you¡¯re here somewhere!

    He is correct but what is he going to do about it? He broke into my house in his search for me. Does he seriously think I would chill at home after setting a [Flour Time Bomb] off at his house? I gently fell down to the floor. I don¡¯t think I need to find ways to break my fall at this point.

    I had observed that Greg¡¯s shadow tends to point west. I wonder if I should tell him. He often gets lost but his shadow acts as some sort of compass. Maybe all the shadow cats had this problem but I couldn¡¯t remember Jusay or his mother getting lost. They were always accompanied by someone. Maybe this was on purpose.

    I was still trying to figure out how Raishin is defying physics with his race but maybe it''s just being otherworldly idiotic. We¡¯re getting close to the age when we stop aging appearance-wise. I¡¯m assuming that our strange racial traits will stabilize at that point. Just 2 or3 more years of getting lighter for me I suppose.

    Vinny used to say about it being as easy or easier to blow a spirit fox away than dandelions. I also remembered when I was carrying Norya after releasing her from her seal. It felt like I was carrying air or something extremely light. At least I¡¯m not an anomaly in this. I was wondering. What phoenix traits have I missed? I remember that Xelia told me that she got faster and better at controlling fire. Also, her instincts on how to fly had gotten really sharp. Xelia was an excellent flier, Yuna less so.

    Another memory of when I briefly turned into a phoenix in Boshi town. I remember how hard flying was.

    I had arrived at where Greg spends his time nerding out. I confirmed that Raishin was nowhere near and dropped my illusions, took a bottle of liquid shadow vodka out of my dimensional pocket, and popped the cork off.

    Is that?!

    I heard rummaging and someone running to the door. The door flew open and Greg dove at the bottle in my hand. I let him take it.

    Oh, how long has it been! Oh sup, Agnis.

    What an addict¡­ I have a question for you.

    Sure come in.

    I entered his house. Elliana was cleaning up the mess that was his house.

    Whoa, has Raishin been here?

    Yeah¡­ he came here looking for you and turned everything upside down. But a flour bomb, eh? I can¡¯t say he didn¡¯t deserve that. So how is your new ¡®friend¡¯.

    Greg made air quotes.

    I don¡¯t know what you mean by that. I¡¯m too busy for that. I actually have another question. Do you think I have a heart of stone?

    I don¡¯t know where Raishin has that from. You are neither afflicted by a petrification curse nor are you cold-hearted.

    Hmm thought as much.

    I made 12 shadow clones and made them abuse their speed to clean up Greg¡¯s house.

    ¡°Oh, thank you, Agnis!¡± Elliana gave a polite nod. I looked at Greg¡¯s shadow. He had one ¡®normal¡¯ one and another one that was pointing west.

    Ok, another question. Has your shadow been talking to you lately?  I pointed at Greg¡¯s abnormal shadow.

    No, it has been appearing for a while. I can hide it but my shadow has been silent since Boshi town.

    His shadow pointing west disappeared. I wondered if it is just a compass or pointing toward something that¡¯s happening to the west but I¡¯m sure he would know if that¡¯s the case.

    So, you had a question?

    I told him about what Inna told me yesterday and linked it to the story Bellia had given us.

    Oh, alchemy! What a wonderful surprise! However¡­ just as to how science is pushed aside by magic, so is alchemy. It is hardly practiced. It might go extinct in the next coming decades if not in the coming century.

    Hmm, that is concerning. didn¡¯t you have an alchemy book at your home in Boshi Town? I think it was called the Magnum Opus.

    Ah the Great Work, yeah. I didn¡¯t own that book, unfortunately.

    Glad I archived that. But from an alchemy standpoint, do you have an idea how to make this spirit vessel?

    I have no idea, unfortunately. What I know has mainly been used to concoct potions. However. There is an item in alchemy that can bend reality to its will.

    Like a 9t?

    I don¡¯t know the specifics but it could do so permanently. But this is all myth. Many have tried and while they succeeded it was neither in the form they expected nor had the properties they thought it would have. Speculations have been made that some protocols were missing some key ingredients or key steps.

    I see so while it''s worth looking into, I will have to keep my expectations low.

    ¡°Hmm, our family has some secret documents about spirits. I will see if it has anything useful.¡±

    Oh thanks, Elliana!

    Elliana smiled and got up. ¡°Nobody is at the family sanctum right now so I will take a peek.¡±

    We will bail you out if you get caught but still be careful!

    Elliana waved and left.

    So how far have you gone with her?

    You sound just like Raishin. Just like you we have not gone beyond the borders of the village.

    That¡¯s not what I meant¡­ Have you looked at her as a potential love interest?

    Huh? Elliana is just a friend, why would I do that?

    I facepalmed. At this point, Greg will stay single forever. I will just leave it at this. Elliana is doing great so far. I will only assist her if Greg is being unreasonably difficult. I got up.

    Right, thanks for the information. I will need your help to make this thing if it involves alchemy.

    Greg got up and showed me to the door. Sure, also, you might want to avoid Raishin for a bit. It seems your bomb went off the moment he would in his words ¡®get lucky¡¯. Your house might also be a mess.

    Oh, in that case I will stay low for quite a while then. Cya! And give Elliana a chance!

    I went into stealth, covered myself in as many illusion layers as I could and snuck around to see what was going on with my house. The door was still open and I sensed an enormous mess in my house. Yup, not going back there for a while. I did however leave a clone behind to clean up.

    Time to sneak out of the village. I don¡¯t have a destination though...

    How about I run west and see what city I would find first? Sneaking out of the village was a piece of cake. No village can hold me!

    I followed the river upstream and spotted a village only 1 minute away from the elven forest!

    Well, it¡¯s 1 minute of supersonic running. I don¡¯t know how long a human would take to get here. Maybe half a day or something. Travel distance and time have no meaning for me.

    I stopped. Is that because I¡¯m a 9t? our specialty is foxfire, illusions, and spatiotemporal magic and cheating. Are time and distance irrelevant to us because of our spatiotemporal affinity?

    I arrived at the village and looked around. It looked way better than Fahjin. It did have some street rats as usual it also had some slaves¡­ I have to remember that this is normal in the north of this continent. I went into the first store I located.

    Excuse me, what are the spiciest peppers in existence, and do you sell them?

    ¡°We don¡¯t sell Scoville Nightmares here but they might sell them in Xet near the confluence of the rivers."

    Ok, thanks.

    I activated my eyes and spotted a city not too far away and reached there in 8 minutes. My comfortable running speed has gotten faster. I have never tried to go at max speed but that might be a bad idea.

    I had to wait in line to get inside the city. I wonder what this was about. It has been a while since I had a check up to get into a city. Maybe something strange or bad had happened.

    ¡°Reason for visit?¡±

    I want to buy some Scoville Nightmares.

    ¡°Reason?¡±

    I like spicy stuff.

    ¡°You do realize that many have died trying them out right? It is not for the weak.¡±

    Hey can you keep a secret?

    ¡°It isn¡¯t suspicious, is it?¡±

    So, there is this petty bitch that¡¯s stalking me and sending her followers after me. I need something to keep the followers at bay.

    ¡°Oh, dealing with a crazy ex? Yeah, I know that feeling. In that case, go to the southeast of the city, there is a small shop behind the big bakery. It sells blue Scoville nightmares. They are 10 times spicier than the red ones. Nobody should get into trouble because of crazy exes¡­¡± The guard seemed as if he was recalling a bad memory.

    I don¡¯t have any exes so I can¡¯t relate but I will just go with it.

    I¡¯m sorry to hear that. Thank you. And hey, things might get better for you.

    I pressed a 10-silver coin in his hand. It was useful information and I can''t imagine being a city guard having a good salary.

    ¡°Wow, thanks!¡± I nodded at him and entered the city.

    The city looked quite strange. There was a lot of metal and steam. I had noticed before but the air is bad here. I connected to the air leyline currents and created a small [Counterswirl] around me to not get poisoned. Air this bad must be poisoned right?

    Everyone was just breathing like it was normal. Those tall walls this city has must be keeping most of this bad air inside.

    This would be a nightmare for any nature or wind-related race. I also didn¡¯t want to stay here for too long.

    It took me a while to locate the bakery and then the small shop. I don¡¯t understand how people can live here. Everything looks grey and the same, the air is bad. From what I could tell the inhabitants were also not that nice and there were slaves everywhere. I had observed several instances of slaves working at high places and falling to their death or taking a blast of steam from one of the many pipes running through this city and getting cooked alive. This city is terrible. I would put this on the list for [Meteor] candidates.

    It¡¯s a new list and Xet is currently the only one on the list, although¡­ Itris also got added to that list.

    I entered the small shop and saw one slave at the door and another one moving boxes. The slave at the door greeted me and I nodded back. I could easily break these slave seals but I will probably turn this whole city into my enemy. I will get my Scoville Nightmares and then get out.

    I am looking for blue Scoville Nightmares.

    The old wrinkly man raised his grey bushy eyebrows and stared at me from behind his glasses.

    ¡°I don¡¯t sell them, they are illegal.¡± I sensed deception but if they¡¯re illegal then that makes sense.

    Look here, nobody has followed me here. I understand that this might be suspicious to you, an unknown man just coming in asking for illegal wares. I have a reliable source that has provided me with this information. I need something to keep the followers of my crazy ex away.

    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    ¡°I see, so my son has sent you, come with me. My slave has confirmed that you are alone.¡± The slave at the door nodded.

    I followed the old man to the back. It was just a small room but there was a strange door at the end of the room. The old man walked over to a shelf and put on a gasmask; he handed me one. I put the gasmask on and he then handed me some thick long rubber gloves that extended all the way up to my upper arm.

    How spicy are these things?

    He opened the heavy metal door and we got into a very small room. It seems the room we wanted to go to needed a double door. Some liquids sprayed on us and my eyes told me it had the properties of potions that give heat resistance. It also acted as a pain killer.

    I am starting to get a bit scared now. How many kings of Jarn can this pepper kill?

    We got inside and the room was quite large. It had 12 boxes on shelves at the side of the room. The left shelf had 9 red boxes. The other shelf on the right had 3 blue boxes. We walked over to the blue boxes. He tapped on a label. It said 50 silver per pepper.

    He opened the blue box and took out a dark blue pepper the length of a hand out of the box. It looked fine to me. The pepper had a quite beautiful color but I assume that one bite sends you to the afterlife. He then showed me the contents of the box. My eyes told me that this box contained 826 peppers.

    He gave me a wooden board. It had something written on it. It said that the odor these peppers release when they are damaged will cause severe irritation of the eyes and nose. Inhaling too much can give a burning sensation to the throat and cause coughing, and possibly vomiting.

    These peppers aren¡¯t damaged but it is better to avoid any risk. The shopkeeper pointed at a row of small dimensional boxes that he will sell because bringing these peppers out in the open is a bad idea, to which I agree.

    It also said that it is hard to describe how spicy this pepper is but that death is a likely outcome when consumed and if not, extreme and excruciating pain for the next 2 hours, extreme bowel cramps, and a fiery exit that makes you wish the pepper had killed you on consumption.

    When used, a dilution of 10 million is recommended. This will put it on the scale where it will be useable as regular pepper, albeit a spicy one. It also says that under no circumstances will the owner of the shop be held responsible for deaths related to my purchase. It then asked me how many peppers I would like to buy.

    This is more than I could ever wish for. This might be my strongest secret weapon yet. Although it is breaking the rules by being highly offensive. But it is still a consumable so I think it barely passes.

    I wrote down 826 peppers and pretended to take gold out of my dimensional box to show him I already had one. This old man just earned 413 gold. He was shaking. He wrote something on a wooden board.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡± I nodded.

    I wrote on the board and asked him if I could also take the box. He nodded. I guess seeing that much gold made him not care about being a box poorer. He gave me a container to put the box in. I put the container in my dimensional pocket.

    We moved back to the small room between the double doors. We got sprayed with the same liquid again. And stepped into the safe zone.

    ¡°Thank you! You have no idea what this much gold means to me!¡±

    Don¡¯t worry about it. Just make sure to treat your slaves well, they are people too.

    ¡°I understand the concern but these two have attempted to rob my store and kill me, this is their punishment.¡±

    I inspected the old man. I didn¡¯t sense deception. It is not on me to decide whether this system is just or not so I nodded and left.

    I got met with bad air and I started to cough. I genuinely felt like I was choking and getting poisoned. I used another mini [Counterspin] to give myself some fresh air. This city sucks. I decided to get out of this shitty place as soon as possible. I tried to navigate toward the big walls but none of these streets made sense so it led me away from the walls.

    Which asshole turned this city into a maze? I was about to just teleport out when I heard a commotion. I followed the noise and saw a big square not too far from my location. A lot of people seemed to have gathered there.

    Curiosity got the better of me so I joined them. I found myself at a slave market and got unpleasant flashbacks and I was about to leave when I saw a familiar face. Jyno was bound in chains and stripped to his underwear beside several other elves but also humans.

    This explains why he hasn¡¯t returned¡­

    I sighed. How am I going to do this? [Meteor] will kill Jyno, and so will [God of Thunder]. Maybe I should just buy him and set him free? That¡¯s the most peaceful option. But what about the others?

    I don¡¯t think I have a strong moral compass but that feels wrong. I will attempt to buy him and if that goes wrong, I will just kidnap him and drop a [Meteor] on this city. Too bad for the slaves but death is better than living in slavery indefinitely, I think.

    A small screen told us, the audience, what types of useful traits these slaves have. I left the other slaves to their fate but came into action when it was Jyno¡¯s turn. I had noticed that elves were quite popular so this would cost me. This is probably the first time I¡¯m actually happy that I¡¯m rich as fuck.

    I bought him for 18 gold. This is insane. Jyno¡¯s face which seemed to be in pain and despair had relaxed the moment he noticed that I was bidding for him. I took a cloak out of my dimensional pocket and put it over him.

    It¡¯s ok now.

    ¡°I am so glad to see your face.¡± He started to tear up but tried to stay strong.

    ¡°Is there any way you can save my group?¡±

    3 elves had been sold before Jyno and one was currently being auctioned off.

    I can¡¯t do much for those that have been sold but I can buy those that have yet to be sold.

    More tears filled his eyes and he gave me a friendly hug, probably to hide his tears.

    ¡°Thank you¡­ and sorry¡­¡±

    It¡¯s not your fault.

    I won the next elf for 16 gold. The problem was, that they kept the elf chicks for last. The elf dude that I just bought thanked me after Jyno explained the situation to him.

    The battle for the first elf chick was fierce. My deep pockets won though. 54 gold for the first one. 68 for the second one and everyone went all in for the last one.

    All I''ve been doing is save some elves but I was getting a lot of nasty looks. I also had to extend my [Countespin] to the elves. This made them look happy around me which pissed off the stinky citizens even more.

    Can I go one day without making enemies? The last chick got bought for 136 gold. Today was quite an expensive day. All I did was go and buy peppers¡­

    The chick that I just bought hugged me and now that the auction was over, all eyes shifted to me.

    ¡°Hey, not cool man leave some for us too!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you know the etiquette of not buying up all the special goods?¡±

    I tried to stay calm. Don¡¯t snap back. I always make enemies when I do. I took out another cloak and covered up the last elf chick. I am now the ¡®owner¡¯ of 5 elves. Why does the Igrini Kingdom suck so much?

    I might have to tweak my [Meteor] to turn into Igrini Kingdom size when I get the chance and just wipe out the whole country. Nothing good ever happens here. Was what I thought as I interrupted several magic casts aimed at us.

    ¡°Hey, asshole! Don¡¯t ignore us!¡±

    Ok, I will stop ignoring you then, happy now?

    ¡°Give us that blonde elf there!¡±

    How about I give you nothing and you go home? Come on guys, patience isn¡¯t something I have in an unlimited amount.

    I walked away with the 5 elves. Please let this be over.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s not going to happen, buddy, you look quite weak. We will be taking those slaves off you.¡± The crowd agreed and surrounded us.

    I have to ask Greg if I have a curse that makes me get into trouble. This is ridiculous, I take 1 step outside and trouble finds me.

    Right, I will advise you to fuck off while I¡¯m still asking this nicely. I cannot understate how much you¡¯re going to regret pissing me off.

    ¡°Try me!¡± The crowd and this vocal bully started to fling spells at me so I just used [Eternal Winter]. I made a couch out of frost and sat down on it.

    So, elves, how fast can you run?

    ¡°We don¡¯t want to be a burden but we are quite weakened,¡± Jyno spoke up. He was right. They seemed to have been treated quite poorly.

    Hmm, purple slave crests, I haven¡¯t seen that one before.

    All the elf chicks had purple crests. I looked at the guys. They had crests I recognized. It then dawned on me what the implications were.

    Right. I get the picture. I am not going to destroy this city, yet, but it certainly has earned its spot as #1 place to [Meteor].

    I got 5 tails out and grabbed them.

    ¡°What are you doing?! If the humans find out you will be worse off than us!¡±

    Well, that¡¯s why they won¡¯t find out!

    I took out all my [Flour Time Bombs] and spread them over the square. I unfroze and abducted the 3 elves I failed to buy and teleported to a tall building nearby and undid the [Eternal Winter]. To the angry humans, it just seemed as if I had suddenly disappeared because [Eternal Winter] halts their consciousness.

    The time bombs went off and the whole area was covered in a cloud of flour.

    Have a taste of my new skill [Dust Explosion]!

    I shifted my stance and sent a spark at the cloud of flour which ignited it and created an enormous explosion that took out the plaza and the surrounding city blocks. A plume of fire rose up and I jumped up and rode the shockwave to the edge of the city that carried us over the wall. I started using [Hurricane Path] and headed back for the elven forest.

    My flour supply took a hit so I need to remember to buy more flour.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t wind magic? What is it?¡±

    I briefly explained what Dragonvein was. The eight of them explained how they were investigating the appearance of a strange monster at the edge of the forest when they got ambushed by a group of 50 or so slave traders. The slave traders had hired a lot of adventurers so the eight of them, 15 at that time had fought them off. 7 of them had died.

    It was 15 vs.112, they had gotten it to a point where it was a 7 vs. 29 but as I already know they had eventually lost and gotten captured. I didn¡¯t want to sound insensitive so I didn¡¯t ask about the strange creature they went to investigate but that was more interesting to me.

    A lot of them have appeared recently and it''s bothering me. Something is happening that we don¡¯t know about.

    Neia, please find Hourai fast. I don¡¯t want to deal with all this bullshit¡­

    Using [Hurricane Path] was considerably slower than running at over Mach 3 so I had to land and we set up a camp near the river. They suggested making a boat and letting the river carry us to the forest but that would be too slow for me. But I will tell them tomorrow that I will be running.

    ¡°So, you are the new inhabitant of our village, we haven¡¯t had the opportunity to meet you before we had to investigate.¡± The elves introduced themselves but there were too many names I only know who Jyno is.

    I¡¯m sorry but I¡¯m terrible with faces, or names. Or remembering stuff.

    ¡°Yeah, it took him 4 days to remember my name¡­¡±

    Anyways let me see those slave crests.

    I gestured to the elves that I had stolen from their owners. I had intentionally left their necks frozen.

    You probably realize why I have left your necks frozen but it¡¯s probably still uncomfortable.

    I easily hacked into its structure. Overwritten the part that decides the owner of the slave and unfroze the crest. I then took 1 minute for each elf to remove it. I then removed those from the elves that I owned, setting them free.

    An elf guy gave me a polite bow. ¡°Thank you so much, words cannot describe how thankful we are.¡±

    Just use that thankfulness to make sure you don¡¯t ever get caught.

    ¡°How can we repay you? You paid 136 gold for me¡­¡±

    You don¡¯t need to repay me but if you really want to do something put in some more effort in getting your numbers up. Especially you guys! Men of other races are lining up to get with an elf chick! Stop being so passive!

    ¡°We will do our best.¡±

    That¡¯s what I want to hear! Now I don¡¯t know any healing magic so you guys have to figure that out.

    The elves started to talk to each other and apply nature energy and elvish magic to each other. I sat on a rock and looked at the crescent moon. Maybe I should just accept that trouble will always find me. The longer I''m here on the Mainfloor the better I understand why mom had created Hourai.

    I wonder what''s going on in Hourai. Are they ok? Do they know they got moved to another dimensional coordinate? How much time has passed for them? What if a million years have passed when we find it? That would be worse than only a few seconds. I have spent more time without my family than with them. How should I react and act around them? I don¡¯t even know a lot about them because I was so young when we got kicked out.

    Will they be the same as I remember or is cruel reality going to demonstrate that it might not be as a happy moment as I thought? What if Hourai was the bad guy.

    I pondered about it. I can''t imagine my mom being the villain in this but I don¡¯t know anything about what had happened during the invasion or what led up to it. How will I confront my mom if she is the villain? Would I join her? I certainly can¡¯t fight her. Or what if that invasion was somehow my fault? A lot of things seem to have been my fault lately.

    Maybe it is a good thing if I go extinct¡­

    ¡°Hey, Agnis are you listening?¡±

    No, I wasn¡¯t. what did you say?

    ¡°I do appreciate that you were there to save us but what I was asking was¡­ what you were doing in that city? If I remember correctly everyone had been ordered to keep you inside of the village.¡±

    What do I tell Jyno? That I snuck out to buy some peppers, to then blow up several city blocks?

    ¡°And how did you get here so fast actually? It takes almost 2 weeks to get from the forest to that city.¡±

    Uh I wat investigating something for the spirit vessel! And well I¡¯m super-fast, you will find out tomorrow.

    I heard splashing and giggling in the distance. The chicks had gone to bathe in the river. None of these guys seemed interested.

    This race is doomed. I¡¯m slightly interested but I¡¯m perfectly fine in controlling myself. I wonder if I should force these guys to peek, maybe something will awaken in them. I think Raishin would be better suited for coaching them in this. I can¡¯t believe he is actually useful in this situation.

    How am I going to have Raishin do that? He is probably still upset with me. I had some chatter with the guys when the chicks returned and it was time for the guys to take a bath. The ambiance became quite uncomfortable.

    They were talking softly to each other but I¡¯m a fox and have good hearing. They were talking about me. I decided to curl up in my tails and sleep.

 Pneuma 3: Grounded

    I had another bad dream. I keep getting these a lot lately. It was very vague. I saw someone get killed right in front of me. I don¡¯t think I know this person but it made me feel certain things that I had never felt before. It was strange and uncomfortable.

    I tried to remember the dream after I woke up but it slipped my mind. I hope I don¡¯t get stuck in another nightmare dungeon.

    It was a cloudy day and it was raining heavily. I don¡¯t mind the rain. The elves were still sleeping in their dry leaf huts.

    I sat on the rock and waited for them to wake up. I had so much to do. There is no guarantee I will finish this at all. It might take me 100 years to finish this. Isi hadn¡¯t given me a timeframe of how long it took for her friends to make that vessel. It did seem as if the human lived to see the fruits of his labor so it shouldn¡¯t take too long theoretically.

    They knew about the subject however; I am a complete noob. I heard thunder rumble and saw some lightning flashes. I noticed the electrical charge flushing away from one of the elven huts. I connected to the air leyline currents and directed the resulting lightning flash to myself and sent it into the ground.

    How unlucky are these elves even nature wants to kill them now. They aren¡¯t cursed, are they? I couldn¡¯t find any curse on them. They might need to have Greg check on them to be sure. I still need to get rid of these 3000 or so curses on me.

    How lame would it be if I keeled over from some random curse when fighting that tomato goddess? At this point, a fight with her isn¡¯t an ¡®if¡¯ it¡¯s a ¡®when¡¯. I don¡¯t think she will stop unless she dies. Unfortunately, I won¡¯t have the luxury of dying if she catches me. But if I were to die, I want to at least take her down with me.

    I want to die in a cool way not a lame curse!

    ¡°Curse? Die? Who¡¯s dying?¡± Jyno got out of his leaf hut. He made a leaf umbrella and made another one and handed it over to me.

    I¡¯m already soaking wet; I don¡¯t need it but thank you for the gesture.

    ¡°Water users always do that¡­¡± The other elves came out of their huts. 1 chick and 2 dudes didn¡¯t bother making an umbrella while the rest did. I guess, ¡®spot the water users¡¯ is a too easy game here.

    ¡°What a terrible weather. How about we wait till this is over?¡±

    I can just run and bring you home, it won¡¯t take long.

    Jyno walked over to me. ¡°Let¡¯s not do that. The humans will come after you if they notice what you are, also wasn¡¯t a goddess chasing you down?¡±

    I think I¡¯m safe for now. I¡¯m covered in layers of illusions. Her army shouldn¡¯t be able to find me.

    ¡°And that must be exhausting right?¡±

    He wasn¡¯t wrong but I think it would be better if we would get back to the village before I run out of steam. I wanted to speak up but I got hit by elvish magic which drastically reduced my energy consumption.

    ¡°Please, we have to look out for each other. We don¡¯t lose anything for taking it slow as long as we are careful.¡±

    I wanted to protest but maybe Jyno was right. Doing things my way always gets me into trouble so I nodded.

    So, what are we going to do in this storm then?

    The thunder was quite loud, it was almost above us and the rain was unrelenting. I suddenly felt a brief wave of nausea.

    This is absurd, the thunder is loud but not that loud to rip a hole into the dimensional fabric. I opened the correct filter and I found a small tear that was slowly opening. I jumped up to the dimensional fabric, rewound time, and blasted it with foxfire.

    More strange 7-sided crystal rocks. I should find out what its properties are. I was about to close the filter when I noticed an electrical charge rushing away from the elves.

    Don¡¯t they always say that lightning doesn¡¯t strike the same place twice. I jumped to the ground and redirected the lightning away from them and into the ground again.

    Guys, something is off, this is the second time lightning tried to strike you guys.

    ¡°I guess, we¡¯re really unlucky. Let¡¯s make a better shelter. The hair on my tails started to stand up. We were stuck in a strange electrical field. I hope this is Raishin getting back at me and not something else. I shifted my stance and tried to counteract the charge buildup. A large lightning bolt struck behind us and a figure appeared from it.

    ¡°Heh, I¡¯m so lucky, to think I would find the one Biian is looking for.¡± A short guy with spiky orange hair appeared. He was wearing a hoodie and yellow sneakers.

    And who the fuck are you?

    ¡°I am Dyn a god of lightning.¡±

    A god of lightning and not THE god of lightning, eh? Are you a pushover like that snake god?

    ¡°Agnis, we need to run! We can¡¯t fight a god!¡± I looked at the sky and sighed.

    What did that bitch promise you?

    ¡°She would let me meet the Sarian god of lightning if I catch you and bring you to her.¡±

    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    I see, how about this, I make a clone, you bring it to her and everyone wins.

    He shot a red [lightning bolt] at me which I evaded. ¡°You know that¡¯s not going to work.¡±

    I have no idea how I stand against weaker gods but as far as I know, the stereotype of lightning users being fast is true, so if I want to escape with these elves, I will have to either distract him or beat him up.

    So, what do you know about me actually?

    ¡°Biian wants you.¡± I got unpleasant shivers through my body after hearing that. Something about that wording disgusted me. If this is the only thing he knows about me then he is screwed. I repurposed half the illusions on myself to create a double image.

    The illusion will keep the current situation while the real me will take the elves and get out of here. My illusion kept stalling for time and I picked up the elves. They were also getting fooled by my illusion but I don¡¯t care.

    ¡°Huh, what?¡±

    Guys shut up please and go with this.

    I shifted my stance and dove into the river. I made water veils around the elves and used [Waterfall] and rushed off. I just have to hope that I don¡¯t encounter a random god of the river or something stupid. My illusion had successfully provoked the sneaker god and it dashed north with the god in pursuit.

    What is the point of sneakers if he doesn¡¯t even run on them? He was just floating and flying after my illusion. I¡¯m disappointed. But I guess this makes it extra unsafe for me to just run around now. She''s sending minor gods and humans after me. This is not funny.

    <hr>

    I resurfaced because I had been using [Waterfall] for almost the whole day and I was getting exhausted. The sneaker god was still chasing my illusion and the illusions on myself were getting thin so we set up another camp.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    I¡¯m just exhausted that¡¯s all. We might arrive tomorrow if we¡¯re lucky.

    ¡°Will you be, ok?¡± 136 gold elf chick seemed to be overly concerned.

    I¡¯ll be fine and you can stop feeling guilty.

    ¡°That¡¯s easier said than done¡­¡±

    I should have wiped their memory about this but I can only wipe memories shortly after an event. I had missed my chance. Maybe I should drop an ¡®Eslana Village illusion¡¯ on them here so that they can get an attachment to each other and forget their guilt. It will block my Elgards eyes though. If another god appears in that window, then I¡¯m screwed.

    It was painful to see how the elf chicks were also trying with the elf guys but they showed no interest. Jyno is a cool dude but he could use a nice elf chick. I have decided. I will give them the Eslana experience. I will find out later how to deal with the aftermath.

    Can one of you hit me with more of that elven magic? And for how long will it stay? Will it persist if you guys fall asleep?

    ¡°It should persist don¡¯t worry.¡± They cast the elven magic on me and I felt less exhausted.

    Perfect! Can I have your attention?

    They all looked toward me. I felt a bit sorry for them but this is better for them. I made a 3-layered illusion to hide the mana wave that erupts when I go 9t mode and I used [Elgard Overload] and stretched it for as long as I could. Because the effect that I force upon these elves isn¡¯t something unrealistic or impossible it¡¯s possible to stretch this out. I can''t do this unfortunately when I actually need impossible things to happen.

    I could only manage 22 minutes this time. They seemed to have the time of their life. I would wipe their memories of this event but the interpersonal connections would stay intact. They should gravitate toward each other at some point. 2 guys will be unlucky because there are 3 chicks but I think elves do polygamy so it might not be a big deal.

    My [Elgard Overload] dropped and it kicked me out of 9t mode. I could still use my Elgards eyes. Is this because I used it in 9t mode? The only times where I could still use my Elgards eyes afterwards was when I used it in 9t mode. Without 9t mode, I lose access. Maybe it''s just looking for a trade off, the one that¡¯s the least likely to kill me.

    Dropping out of 9t mode is inconvenient but it shouldn¡¯t kill me, losing my Elgards eyes in combat, however¡­ The fight against Cygnus demonstrated it. I turned them off because they were relatively useless and I got ambushed by Casi and broke some ribs.

    I was extremely exhausted. All my illusion layers had dropped. Even the illusion sneaker god was chasing. The elves were sleeping and I was in a vulnerable state. Why do I keep doing this to myself? I am probably a beacon for tomato goddess¡¯ followers now. I picked them up with my tails and got my protesting body to move.

    I ran quite slowly. Slow for my standards. It took running until the morning to reach the forest. I had to zap myself to keep myself awake and energized. I launched myself into the elven village with controlled [Explosions] because my body refused to move.

    The elves were of course alarmed and rushed at us. I¡¯m sure they had a lot to say but I wouldn¡¯t know what they said because I passed out.

    <hr>

    So I first got scolded by Greg and Raishin, then by Inna, then Byron and his family, and then by Jyno. I was also grounded because the elves I saved had told the story to the whole village, including about the Sneaker god. I wish they would have at least kept that part a secret.

    But! The 8 became quite close ¡®for no reason¡¯ and it even seemed the guys showed interest in the 3 chicks. I guess there was a silver lining.

    Hey, Inna why did you volunteer to watch over me?

    I was still immobilized on my couch.

    ¡°Because we¡¯re friends!¡±

    I¡¯m sure this goes a bit too far for friends¡­

    ¡°Who knows, maybe that¡¯s what I¡¯m going for?¡± She flashed a mysterious smile.

    So Raishin in his brilliance had suggested that Inna moved in with me to keep an eye on me. Now Greg and I thought it was a terrible idea but the elves agreed with him. He isn¡¯t slowly taking over the elven village, is he?

    So now I have an extra resident in my house. How am I supposed to get her off me now¡­

 Pneuma 4: Scoville Nightmare

    Many methods and tricks were used to make Inna leave but they were unsuccessful. I had accepted that this wouldn¡¯t change until I found someone for her. This is not my expertise...

    I was grounded for an indefinite amount of time so I needed to find a way to get out of this. Inna was playing with Nilah while I was looking at the anatomical map of the spirit vessel. The scholars had returned but as expected¡­ they were useless. We have been living in this village for a bit over a month now and I have 0 progress.

    I also have to make my secret weapon #3, crack Cygnus¡¯ ultimate skill [X-1], work on my foxfire and frost skills, and possibly investigate spirits. Cracking Cygnus¡¯ skill is easy. My tails are almost done, I will just have to improve it to suit me better and then scramble the circle so nobody can steal it.

    Working on my foxfire and frost skills so I can combat gods was something I needed to do but I wasn''t feeling it at the moment. I want to work on my secret weapon #3 but there is one problem. And that problem is playing with Nilah.

    Using blue Scoville Nightmares might be categorized as reckless behavior and she might stop me. As I thought of a way to get her to leave even if temporarily, something struck me.

    Maybe Raishin isn¡¯t a complete idiot. To know how to get rid of Inna, I will have to learn more about her to know what would work best.

    Hey Inna, what would it take for you to leave and forget about being friends?

    ¡°Can I have Nilah?¡±

    Absolutely not!

    ¡°Then you can¡¯t!¡±

    Well, it seems plan A failed. I thought asking nicely would work. Then it¡¯s time for plan B.

    Do you like mu?

    ¡°Oh! I do!¡±

    I smiled and made the setup for [Bossmusic]. She was eagerly anticipating what I would play so I played [Bossmusic: Liam¡¯s Lament] and put her to sleep.

    Thank you, Liam and rest in peace.

    I carried the sleeping Inna to her room and placed some illusions on the room.

    Windows on the main floor got opened and I made small [Counter swirls] feed off the ambient leyline energy to make sure the kitchen was well-ventilated. I put on my gas mask and covered my hands and arms with frost as I didn''t have long rubber gloves. I took the container out of my dimensional pocket and lifted the blue box out of it, carefully opened it and took a blue pepper out.

    I made sure to seal up everything and I froze the box temporarily. The pepper looked mysterious. It was as if it was urging me to bite into it. I know that¡¯s stupid but¡­ I do need to know as much of this pepper as possible.

    I inspected it with my eyes. Nothing special about it besides its color and otherworldly spiciness.

    I covered myself in layers of illusions. I currently have 40 lives. Do I sacrifice a life for science? I have tasted my mustard secret weapon before.

    The doors are locked. Nobody is watching so I took off my gas mask. This might be extremely stupid but here it goes. I ate the whole pepper. I didn¡¯t feel much in the first second but then the heat set in. I began to sweat profusely, and I got an extreme burning sensation in my mouth and throat.

    My nose started to run and my eyes started to tear. I started to get headaches too. My mouth and head felt like they were ablaze and I fell to the ground in pain. The heat suddenly turned into a chill. I saw a white flash and 3 illusion layers broke.

    I was still sweating but the illusions took care of the pepper. That pepper would have killed me 3 times if I didn¡¯t use illusion layers. That is scary. My heat resistance gives me some spice tolerance but this is insane. I was still feeling hot from the pepper but I shouldn¡¯t be feeling that.

    Is this a psychological effect? I cooled myself off with frost magic. Analysis from my tails came in. There was some useful info but the most important one was that this is lethal. Well, I already knew that!

    I sat down to recover from that experience. I looked at the blue box. It is a good thing these are 50 silver per pepper. It would otherwise be made into a weapon of mass destruction.

    It could be turned into a gas but¡­ that might be a bad idea. I need to be able to use this with my buddies around. I should make an oil out of these. An oil with different strengths. One that can be used in food, one for a spicy kick in the food. One for advanced spice connoisseurs, one for assassination, and the sure kill oil. Would this classify as a poison? I believe it is possible to gain resistance to this over time.

    The question is how would I do this without spreading the odor of these peppers through the whole house, as I have to grind them. What if I made a water clone and the clone makes the weapon in a bubble?

    I decided to make 5 bubbles, 5 water clones, and 5 shadow clones and have them work on each extract. The recommendation was to dilute these 10 million times for a consumable spiciness so I will start there. I would just have the next extract type drop the dilution factor by 10 and have the very last one be 100 times diluted.

    A 100-times diluted extract would probably still kill. I had to find the right oil to dilute it with though. I didn¡¯t have many oils stored. Only sunflower seed oil and olive oil.

    I went with sunflower seed oil because I had more of that. The water clones started and the shadow clones instantly reacted. A lot of coughing and sneezing, runny eyes and nose. Some showed signs as if they were suffocating.

    This isn¡¯t good. The water clones were fine because they were made out of water, the shadow clones were closer to that of my real body. That was also the reason I had them there. The shadow clones had enough of it and dispelled themselves.

    It took 2 hours for the first water clone to be finished. It was the 100 times diluted version. I put more illusion layers on myself and accepted the vial of dark blue oil. I handed it to another shadow clone I had made and had it open the vial in a bubble.

    He only started to sneeze but that was all there was to it. I decided to join him and also started to sneeze. I froze my right hand and took one drop and tasted it. A second of nothing and the spice attacked me again. Similar symptoms as before but these were milder. Still strong. I got the chills again but no white flash. I tried to keep the screams of pain down by rolling over the floor and muffling myself with my tails.

    My stomach started to protest and I tried to soothe it with nature energy. It felt as if my stomach was burning and my tongue went numb. I did survive the 100 times diluted extract but that¡¯s probably due to my already high spice tolerance. I was having a bad time. I spent 2 hours in a curled position until the pain became bearable.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    My insides still felt like they were on fire. I got up but was a bit dizzy. I didn¡¯t see double so this was normal dizziness. The other extracts were ready. My clones were working on other batches.

    I was wondering if continuing was a good idea. I had a massive headache and my insides were burning. It should only get better from here. I took the next extract but someone barged into the kitchen.

    ¡°What in Bellia¡¯s name are you doing!¡±

    I had completely forgotten about Inna.

    ¡°Is¡­ are those blue Scoville nightmares?¡±

    Uhh no these are blue paprikas!

    ¡°I started to become extremely worried when I woke up and didn¡¯t remember when I fell asleep!¡± She made vines grow around the room, which abducted me.

    Hey, wait I¡¯m not done!

    ¡°At this point, I''m thinking you want to die! Have your clones put all that away. I won¡¯t release you until you do!¡±

    You can¡¯t make omelettes without breaking eggs; this is for science!

    ¡°Too bad! Put that away!¡±

    I protested but Inna seemed serious. I had the clones clean up; I guess I will have to continue another time.

    Inna sighed. ¡°Why are you so reckless?¡±

    Genetics?

    ¡°I guess. I have another theory but I will keep that myself for now.¡±

    I¡¯m curious.

    ¡°Nope! Not telling you! Go reflect or do something that isn¡¯t life-threatening!¡±

    I got released and Inna started to read a book on the couch. I couldn¡¯t help to think that she was still keeping an eye on me. I did say that I wanted someone to babysit me but I didn¡¯t mean it like this. More like me not having to do anything in dangerous situations.

    Hey, why aren¡¯t you a spirit mage actually?

    ¡°I don¡¯t have the aptitude for it.¡±

    Ah, but you can interact with them, right?

    ¡°I can¡¯t ¡°

    Hmm so to these elves, the spirit mages look like they¡¯re crazy by talking to nothing.

    Have you ever thought about going outside of the village?

    I have but I don¡¯t have the courage to do so. Stories like that of Jyno, make me want to stay in my village.¡±

    Hmm, yeah, I can imagine, that left a very bad taste in my mouth. Hey what if¡­

    ¡°We, and you, specifically, aren¡¯t going outside, you are targeted by something worse than humans.¡±

    Ugh, at least I tried.

    I was messing with the magic circle of [X-1]. I was close to cracking it. I had already figured out how it works I just need to crack it so I can alter it. I managed to crack it after 10 minutes and started to alter it.

    Hey, would you do anything to keep your race safe?

    ¡°I would¡±

    Then why not spend the time you''re here with some elf guy? Relying on other races doesn¡¯t go well in the long run.

    ¡°I know, but you¡¯ve seen how the men react right? No interest as If they don¡¯t care for the state our race is in!¡±

    Hmm this might not be in your nature but you might want to be a bit more forceful. Give them a good push and they will come by. Just observe Jyno and their group for a bit.

    Inna leaned forward. ¡°What did you do?¡±

    Uhh I better not say that else I might get banned from this village. Oh wait! That¡¯s a great idea! So what I did was use illusions to bring up their dormant horniness and have them fuck each other based on carnal desire.

    ¡°What? That¡¯s terrible!¡±

    Yup so now be disgusted, tell the elders and get me banned!

    ¡°Wait is this what you did to Eslana village?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°It seems that their problem has been fixed after that incident¡­ They are not sure how the newer generation will turn out but so far, their problem seems gone¡­¡±

    Uh shouldn¡¯t you be running to get me banned now?

    Inna took a pensive pose.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I know I¡¯m supposed to keep an eye on you but I need to think. Can you not do anything reckless for just one day? I will be back tomorrow!¡± Inna got up and got some of her stuff.

    You forgot a lot of your stuff!

    ¡°I am coming back!¡±

    Wait so you''re not getting me banned?

    ¡°No!¡± She gave Nilah some pets and left.

    Did my plan work? Not sure. I don¡¯t think she took that the way I had hoped. I¡¯m starting to wonder what a 9t needs to do to get banned from an elven village. But Eslana village is happy, eh? I wish that was planned but I had no idea.

    Jyno and friends¡¯ interactions seem to suggest this though. I decided to test my modified [X-1]. I went into the backyard and made a baseball bat out of frost and used [X-1]. It was working as intended and sucked up all the ambient mana. It also ripped mana out of my house.

    Uh oh. I guess I have to send this off before it destroys everything.

    I hit the baseball-sized frost orb and a powerful frost laser shot out. It tore through the fence while I tried to remember what was behind my house but I couldn¡¯t remember. I looked through the hole and saw a frozen lake.

    Oh right¡­ the park¡­ Maybe I didn¡¯t want to leave my house after all. Staying home is good, yup!

 Pneuma 5: A beacon, no more

    So, the Scoville Nightmare wasn¡¯t done with me yet. I had expected it but I had a fiery exit. I did indeed wish that the initial dose had killed me. Inna didn¡¯t return the next morning but Greg did visit. He came in and a smell of cologne came in with him.

    I have heard that even while under house arrest you are causing problems¡­. The elves weren¡¯t happy with that frozen lake.

    That was an accident! But I can use Cygnus¡¯ ultimate skill now!

    That is good and what was this about trying to kill yourself with peppers?

    I made a new secret weapon out of blue Scoville Nightmares.

    That sounds deadly, blue you said?

    I took a jar of blue oil out and Greg stepped back.

    Chill, it''s harmless in this jar.

    I don¡¯t think you can kill a god with that. Do you really need more weapons to kill humans and races that are quite mortal?

    Hmm, you have a point. But! [X-1] will hopefully take care of that! I will work on [Kryokym] next and well [Nilah] is too complicated but I think she is good as is. The foxfires are an issue though¡­

    And why is that?

    I don¡¯t know how to actively change that. It just happens automatically. Trying to learn how to alter that is as if I¡¯m trying to teach myself how to breathe.

    Hmm, so I suppose you need someone who has knowledge about mana runes but can¡¯t use foxfires. Mind if I take a look?

    I showed Greg the magic circles of my foxfires.

    This is¡­ are you sure this is magic?

    Well, it is a mix of magic and spirit magic, it¡¯s also a mix of fire and spatiotemporal magic.

    Greg kept staring and asking questions but I tried to answer them to the best of my ability.

    I¡¯m sorry this goes over my head. You might have to ask another nine-tailed spirit fox or Azu to help you in this.

    Hmm, thought as much thanks for trying.

    Well, I¡¯m not here to only chew you out, I might have found a method to get that debuff off you.

    The one that makes me a lighthouse for cultists?

    Yup, now this might take a while so sit still. Have you talked to Raishin lately?

    Uhh, no, is he still upset?

    No but he is interrogating elves again to find someone that suits you.

    Again? Why?!

    I don¡¯t know you should go talk to him. It¡¯s just¡­ he told me he¡¯s busy.

    Raishin is busy? What is going on? Are we all going to die? Or is he busy with his chicks?

    No not his chicks he seemed to have settled on 2. He is doing something but I don¡¯t know what but I have also been busy. I am getting close to using elven magic!

    Oh, that¡¯s great! Any healing magic?

    Uhh, only basic stuff. Our natural regeneration can mostly outpace it, I have a bad affinity with healing it seems.

    Well, your mother was called the goddess of death so I¡¯m not surprised.

    Greg started to work on the [Biian¡¯s Judgement] debuffs I had on me.

    Agnis, I have a question that I needed to ask you. You are our [Silver Torrent] responsible for crowd control, which you call CC, right?

    Yeah.

    I don¡¯t want to insult you or make you feel less important but what do you think about finding a healer?

    Oh, I think that¡¯s a great idea. We might not need one against humans but against gods¡­ I¡¯d rather have a Golden Angel. I don¡¯t mind honestly. I can slack more if we have one.

    Yeah, the battle against the gods made me aware that if Bellia and Ardella hadn¡¯t healed us, we might have been in big trouble. I know that this is a sensitive topic for all of us but I think we might have to start increasing our team size.

    Hmm I guess, but who would be able to put up with Raishin?

    That is a very good question¡­ maybe one of his female friends?

    Hmm, what about Elliana?

    What about her?

    She knows Elvish magic, right? She¡¯s an elf!

    She isn¡¯t a healer though¡­

    It¡¯s better than nothing!

    I will see what I can do.

    Just tell her that she might get involved in fighting gods and the like

    What about Inna? Are you getting along with her?

    Well on a baseline, yeah, but I don¡¯t think I can get as good of friends with her as I''m with you guys.

    Hmm, now I¡¯m starting to wonder. Is this why Raishin is looking again?

    How would he know!?

    I think it¡¯s his intuition.

    I don¡¯t want a house full of elven chicks!

    So, what kind of person would you be able to become good friends with?

    I don¡¯t know. People like you, Raishin, Vinny, Toxic Donkey or Thalia.

    I don¡¯t know what we have in common.

    Me neither.

    You''re a difficult person as usual.

    You are difficult too; how many friends have you made?

    ¡­ Fine you win this one. I suppose I¡¯m difficult too.

    I would argue that you''re worse than me! But I guess this is what''s needed to keep Raishin in check. We should vet those chicks he has chosen.

    Heh, I agree. We won¡¯t let a random chick claim Raishin, they better have some substance!

    You do the substance part; I will see how stress-resilient they are.

    Normally I would stop you but that is a very important trait to have when traveling with us so I would say do your worst!

    We exchanged a brotherly handshake.

    I got rid of all those stacks. I would recommend being careful in hurting cultists but if you do just give me a visit.

    Already decided that I would blast cultists, eh?

    Greg nodded.  Wisdom is knowing that this advice will be short-lived on you. I also have full confidence that they will piss you off somehow so I¡¯m just being realistic. They are after your fur after all¡­

    Yeah, I need to get this spirit vessel thing done as soon as possible, the north sucks, especially Igrini Kingdom.

    Oh, Elliana had swiped this from their family sanctum.

    Greg reached for his bag and gave me a stack of papers.

    It''s written in elvish. I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s one of the many languages you know but I¡¯ve translated it for you.

    Just bond with her already and thanks!

    I took the copy Greg had made and the translation. While I can¡¯t understand elvish, I can read it. However, what I can read is ancient elvish, not modern elvish. I gave it a quick scan. It had a lot of similarities. I might be able to learn how to read elvish from this.

    There are some parts of the last one that I had difficulties translating.

    Oh, this is ancient Elvish, I can read this. But thanks!

    As usual, you¡¯re full of surprises. I will work on procuring the basic ingredients needed for alchemy. You have sneaked off to the outside, any recommendations?

    Go south. West has the stinky city which sucks, east has Fahjin which is full of cultists, and north is closer to Bizax so I would recommend going south.

    So, in the direction of Cnidaria hills, got it, thanks.

    Also, a god with orange spiky hair and sneakers is looking for me. He¡¯s a god of lightning, not a Sarian god. Kick his ass if you find him.

    I will see what I can do.

    Be careful.

    Greg left and the smell of cologne left with him. Is this Elliana¡¯s doing? I had tried to vet her and see if she was good enough for Greg but it didn¡¯t take long for me to realize that she is a good influence for him. I just hope he doesn¡¯t screw this up but he probably will. So, I have to deal with Raishin and troll ehh prank, I mean vet the chicks orbiting around him.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    I wanted to get up to prepare to see what Raishin was up to when I fell to the floor. The dizziness was back and I was seeing triple and sat down till it went away. I waited for 12 minutes before it disappeared. I had almost forgotten about this; this is the real reason I was ¡®grounded¡¯. I got up and inspected myself. Nothing seems wrong with me. I opened the door and Raishin stood before it. He pointed at me.

    I now know why you can¡¯t connect with Inna! She doesn¡¯t possess the right color!

    What in Hourai¡¯s name are you talking about?

    Like an aura! Your aura is blue! Hers is white!

    Let¡¯s pretend I know what you''re talking about. What does aura have to do with this?

    Raishin came in and sat on the couch and His girlfriends followed.

    So, I had noticed that it just doesn¡¯t work with the chicks that don¡¯t match my aura!

    Not because you¡¯re a weirdo?

    Hey! You¡¯re a weirdo too! But my intuition is telling me to go off by aura! But I can¡¯t find a chick that could fit you and also has a matching aura. Azu is the only one in recent memory.

    So, this is just an intuition? Is this why Greg said you¡¯re busy?

    Yup!

    So, will you give up now that you found that out?

    I have no choice. I surely thought there would be someone here for you. I¡¯m sorry¡­

    Oh come on that¡¯s not your fault. How about this I will give it a thought after I finish this spirit vessel how about it?

    Ooh. So, we will go hunting chicks?

    Ehh that¡¯s not what I meant but I will observe how you do it and eliminate whatever won¡¯t apply to me, so probably 99%

    Hehe it will be fun!

    Also.  I pointed at the chicks besides him.

    I''m declaring war on them. I will test if they are good enough for you!

    Huh wait! I like them! Don¡¯t do that!

    A bond is for better or worse right? Aren¡¯t you curious to know if they would stick to you because I¡¯m sure you would do that for them.

    They will! Do your worst!

    I saw some concerned looks. This doesn¡¯t bode well for him or the chicks. I have 0 tolerance for those trying to exploit my friends.

    I had shadow clones go in stealth and [Shadow Meld] into their shadows as they left. It is time to find out their dirty secrets. Do they truly love Raishin or is he an easy target because he is the only male in this village that¡¯s pursuing chicks?

    I half believe Raishin¡¯s story about the aura. None of these chicks seem to fit his vibe. They are too quiet and not energetic enough. Or at least not flashy. It is as if they have no personality.

    I went back inside and went through the documents Greg had given me while my clones were listening in on his chicks. He seems like a horny idiot but he was treating them quite well, almost like a gentleman. Maybe his approaches just suck, once he¡¯s in a relationship he might not be bad. I followed their interactions through my clones and I learned something shocking. Wait both of his girlfriends are sisters?

    Raishin what are you doing?!

    I facepalmed. I don¡¯t know why but this is a terrible idea. We leave him alone and this happens. He had neatly dropped them off at their house. They went inside, Raishin wanted to step inside too but was blocked. They told him they were tired.

    Tired from what? Not having a personality?

    They went inside and It was quite spacious and tidy. I cut the visual because they went to change but after that, they went to have dinner together.

    ¡°What do you think Agnis meant with those words?¡± Elf sister A asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe we should stop this.¡± Elf sister B responded.

    ¡°Why? Raishin is the only male that looks our way or do you want to put in so much effort to attract an elvish man for him to treat him like he does his male friends? I¡¯m so envious of the human race!¡±

    ¡°But what about Agnis? You¡¯ve heard the stories, right? Pissing off a nine-tailed spirit fox is a very bad idea.¡±

    Elf sister B seemed to be scared of me. Good!

    ¡°Everything will be fine as long as he doesn¡¯t find out.¡±

    I was devastated. It felt as if this had happened to me but it didn¡¯t. I wasn¡¯t expecting to find anything. Maybe that they are a bit shy or something. I feel very bad, almost sick to my stomach. It was hard to describe my disappointment. My best friend is getting used¡­

    ¡°But he said he would test us, right?¡± Elf sister B said.

    ¡°We just have to pass all of them, we have already won Raishin¡¯s heart and have beaten all the other women.¡±

    I was wondering if I should tell Raishin. This is going to break his heart¡­ Maybe investigating them was a mistake. Ignorance is bliss. Would I want to know if I was being used in this situation even though I was madly in love? I don¡¯t know. Probably not. But I would trust the words of my friends.

    ¡°How about we ask Inna what Agnis is like so we can prepare?¡± Elf sister A continued.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s going to work¡­ she¡¯s such a stuck-up on principles, she¡¯d rather stay single than pretend. ¡°

    ¡°So, she¡¯s not pretending when she¡¯s with Agnis?¡±

    Elf sister B shook her head. ¡°She probably has a different goal.¡±

    Well, I already knew this. I just don¡¯t know what Inna¡¯s goal is. But if this is true maybe I can get her together with Raishin.

    ¡°Also did you see the face of Fianna when Raishin broke up with her because her aura didn¡¯t match his or something?¡± Elf sister A said proudly.

    ¡°Yeah, it is good we caught on to that.¡±

    They did something and it seemed their aura changed. Well color me surprised, Raishin was on to something. It was not something I could see but it felt as if they had become different people. Not by appearance or how they spoke. It was strange and hard to explain.

    I did notice in the month that I was here that elves seem to be able to do this. Greg speculated that they can do this to connect to different parts of nature and different types of monsters or animals.

    While nine-tailed spirit foxes are true shapeshifters, elves seem to be aura shapeshifters. I might have to ask Raishin what he means with aura. Because while it is a vague term, I might have a better idea of what he means but it¡¯s still a vague concept. Or I can ask Inna.

    Do I really want to throw myself into something else that¡¯s complicated? I decided that I wouldn''t, I will however confront these chicks. I will leave this aura thing over to Greg, it would probably be more up his alley.

    The shadow clones appeared from their shadows and they became pale.

    Good afternoon, ladies. As you have said before, pissing a 9t off is a bad idea, and you have succeeded. Now I have a suggestion. I will advise you to comply when I¡¯m still asking nicely. Break up with Raishin and tell him exactly why, tell him what you have just said to each other. If you don¡¯t, well... you don¡¯t want to find out. Have a nice day.

    The shadow clones disappeared back into their shadows.

    One started to cry and the other became angry saying that it was wrong to eavesdrop. I don¡¯t care. This is something that¡¯s expected with a 9t nearby. Just how a dwarf will fix anything broken he sees when you invite him to your house, how an elf will tend to weakened or sick plants. 9t will always collect information to find the best way to prank someone or something. Nothing can be held secret for too long with our eyes and good ears. We are the perfect eavesdroppers. They got careless and now are paying the price.

    I sat at the table and put my feet on the table while reading.

    Inna came home and dropped her bag. ¡°Whoa, stop doing that, you look intimidating with your eyes glowing like that!¡±

    Sit down. We need to talk.

    Inna sat down and seemed uncomfortable.

    Now let¡¯s hear the real reason you¡¯re here. No bullshit, I just found out that Raishin¡¯s ¡®Girlfriends¡¯ are just being opportunistic and don¡¯t necessarily care for him. Now I have heard something interesting. You are not interested in me at least in a romantic sense but have a different goal.

    Inna was fidgeting. ¡°Will you promise to not get mad?¡±

    It solely depends on the reason you¡¯re doing this.

    ¡°I told you I would rather not go outside the village because of the humans and other things, right?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Well, that wasn¡¯t completely true¡­ I¡­ I was hoping that if I got close to you, you would take me with you when you leave.¡±

    I facepalmed.

    Silly elf, why don¡¯t you just ask¡­

    ¡°Would you just accept a random elf?¡°

    Hmm, I see what you mean but kinda yeah. You are an elf so you won¡¯t die easily. Judging from your personality you would fit in with us. So firstly, we wouldn¡¯t flat-out reject you, and secondly, after getting to know you, we would conclude that you''d probably do fine in our group. Now there is one thing that has grabbed my attention.

    I put my feet down and leaned forward causing Inna moved back a bit.

    ¡°Can you stop staring at me like that, please? It¡¯s a bit intimidating and uncomfortable. It feels as if you¡¯re seeing my past and future.¡±

    Just today I learned, no actually, realized that you elves can change your aura, like aura shapeshifters. I want to know your real aura. Greg will be in charge of the details after I talk to him after he returns from his shopping trip.

    Her face changed. ¡°My real aura? How¡­ ok¡­¡±

    Inna¡¯s aura changed and it felt¡­ small and timid. I now understood why she did what she did. There is no way we would take her with this aura.

    You do know that we are here because we survived a scuffle with the gods, right?

    She tried to hide it but it seemed like she had it rough thinking of dealing with gods.

    I admire your resolve but this isn¡¯t going to work. I assume you can''t keep up the act of the Inna I previously knew indefinitely, right?

    ¡°I¡­ I can try¡±

    Look into my eyes.

    I looked into her blue eyes and showed her an illusion of the fight we had against Zack, the Noob god, and Tomato goddess. I made it look like she was there with us. She could act however she wanted in that situation.

    She did decently well in the beginning but she turned into a mess afterward. Inaction, decisions that could get us all killed without any merit. Freezing on the spot and crying.

    That is a normal response when fighting gods but unfortunately, that will get us all killed and it¡¯s not something we could use in a team member. She is not made to endure the lifestyle we live. And that is fine. Our life is extremely abnormal.

    I stopped the illusion because I had seen enough and she started to cry. I was unsure what to do, do I let her cry? Do I comfort her? Or will any attempt just make it worse? I decided to make some tea for her.

    I put the cup in front of her and sat back down.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t know¡­¡±

    That is fine. You should know now than to actually experience it. I am sorry but we can¡¯t take you with us like this. We can have a short trip but you can¡¯t travel with us. I¡¯m sorry that it had to be like this.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Thank you¡­ I will get my stuff and go back home tomorrow.¡±

    Can you also get me banned from this village?

    I saw a tiny smile and she shook her head.

    ¡°I had told Byron what you¡¯ve told me. He had the same initial reaction as I had but came to the same realization as I did. He will try to do something less extreme to get that effect. If it fails, he will ask you to do the thing.¡±

    That desperate, eh? But thank you. It¡¯s not exactly what I want but that works too. Putting the responsibility on themselves and not on other races is a good start.

    Inna nodded and got up. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for deceiving you and thank you.¡±

    She shortly petted Nilah before she went upstairs to get her stuff. I also didn¡¯t expect this development but it¡¯s for the better. Maybe I was too hasty in saying that we could just take Elliana with us. She might have a similar reaction to this illusion. I will remember this and subject any potential party member to this illusion.

    They will be rejected if they put their own lives or our lives in danger. And if it¡¯s impossible to find anyone suitable, then we will just stay a group of 3 forever.

    Nilah jumped on the table and I petted her.

    Do you think we will ever find someone that fits in?

    I got no answers from Nilah as usual. Inna came down with her stuff. She hugged me before she left, and she promised to visit often.

    The door closed behind her.

    I just destroyed this woman''s dream. Was this the correct thing? Her dream would lead her to her death. What would be worth more?

    Many are willing to die for their dream. What is my dream? What am I willing to die for?

    I don¡¯t know...

 Pneuma 6: Clues

    The house felt empty. It was a strange feeling. I wanted Inna gone but it feels empty now that she¡¯s gone. Did I get attached to her?

    Anyway, this is for the better. Now this document Greg had given me had some very useful information. Nothing about spirit vessels but about an ancient building surrounded by spirits and an old abandoned ruin in the forest.

    It wasn¡¯t an ancient building but it seemed to have been there from before the Great Eraser. They had found some documents in that building that had spirits as their subject. They might have confiscated anything useful from that already but it can¡¯t hurt to check it out.

    There is one problem though. I¡¯m still grounded and an army of elves will follow me if I stress the importance of going outside. Can''t a 9t have some alone time? Maybe I should ask for Jyno and friends. 8 should be more than enough right?

    I decided to be nice for once and tell the elven council that I would be stepping out. I was getting too used to how humans do things, planning your events on how and when you will sleep. 9t only need to sleep 1 or 2 nights per month. I could use some midnight adventures!

    ¡°So, we will see how we will respond to the rabbits on Nesher. We migh¡­¡± I teleported into their meeting room. It seemed they were in an important meeting.

    Oh, am I interrupting? No? Well, I¡¯m going to step out of the village, bye!

    ¡°Wai¡­¡± I got to the edge of the village and had a feeling that the council wanted to say something. Not my problem!

    I left the barrier and headed toward the old ruin first.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Elliana ran after me. ¡°And where do you think you¡¯re going?¡±

    Did they send only you? You¡¯re not stopping me! I¡¯m going to investigate those buildings!

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re going to investigate them now? Can I come?¡± Elliana asked but it didn¡¯t seem as she would take ¡®no¡¯ for an answer.

    Ehh, sure.

    Elliana and I ran through the forest and weaved between the trees.

    Hey, a question, is this your real aura?

    ¡°Aura? Oh, that? Yes, why?¡±

    Hmm, nothing, just asking. Do you know where the documents are that were found in that old building?

    ¡°Yes, but I almost got caught, I will try another time to get those too!¡±

    Wow thanks, you¡¯re really helpful.

    We arrived at a dilapidated building. Something seemed off. No animals or even insects could be found near it. Its as if we had stepped inside a barrier. I went through filters and identified a weak barrier. Its function was to keep things out but it had weakened considerably to the point it could only keep insects out and small animals.

    ¡°Is this it? I had expected it to be¡­ bigger, it''s no bigger than a regular hut.¡±

    Hmm, something is certainly up with this building. You say it looks like a small hut right?

    Elliana nodded.

    What Elliana saw and what I see don¡¯t match up. This building is huge. I deactivated my Elgards eyes and saw a small hut.

    Hoo boi, this is going to be a long night.

    Elliana cocked her head. ¡°Why is that?¡±

    Well like this I see a hut, if I activate my Elgards eyes, I see an enormous building. Wait¡­ Yes! This might be it!

    I ran inside.

    ¡°Hey! Wait! Where did you go? What is it?!¡± I had forgotten that Elliana couldn¡¯t see this.

    I came back.  Right this is going to suck but I will have to either leave you behind here or link you up with my eyes.

    ¡°Oh Greg mentioned that, he says that it makes studying way easier.¡±

    He really is a nerd, anyways we gotta align our magic wavelengths so you can see what I see because I don¡¯t think you can enter this without Elgards eyes.

    I placed my forehead on hers and we started to tune our mana wavelength.

    ¡°Why would that be a thing though?¡±

    Well I¡¯m guessing that a 9t, named Rignef might have lived here. It¡¯s the only intersection of spirits and Elgards eyes I can think of. And if that is true then this is big news. I have witnessed the result of his research which was a completed spirit vessel. I might find clues here.

    ¡°This attuning takes long.¡±

    We¡¯re 2 completely different species and we¡¯re nothing alike, it¡¯s going to take a while.

    ¡°What can you tell me about Greg?¡±

    You have your work cut out for you. He¡¯s as dense as his shadows, you could tell him that you''re in love with him and he still won''t get it. I actually have no idea

    ¡°Is he even interested in me, does he even see me as a woman?¡±

    I¡­I have no idea, sorry. As far as I know, he sees you as a good friend. I do have a question though. Do you want to join us when we leave the village?

    Elliana made a serious face. She didn''t answer. It seems she was thinking about it. In my opinion, this is the best answer.

    This is a good enough answer, just think more about that. You still have a lot of time.

    ¡°Travelling with you guys isn''t going to be easy is it?¡±

    Nope, you might even die. We are at risk too.

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of dying I¡¯m afraid of dragging you guys down. I¡¯ve lived my whole life in this village. I don¡¯t know better. I might be 172 years old but I am extremely ignorant¡­¡±

    Being aware of that is enough, we are ignorant too. Most humans I''ve hung around long enough suspect that I¡¯m an alien or something. Just think it over. Greg could use a female touch.

    ¡°He is worrying a lot about you, you know, and as I can see for a good reason.¡±

    It would be nice if people worry about themselves before worrying about me. It is done.

    I finished the tuning, took a step back and connected Elliana with my vision.

    ¡°Wow! This all was hidden?¡±

    Yup! Elgards eyes are very rare outside the 9t race so I¡¯m fairly certain that a 9t has lived here before.

    We went inside and looked around. This ruined part looked basic, there was some sort of spatial magic that would send us somewhere else though. Most of this was useless. Nothing was written in elvish or suggested that the one who lived here knew elvish.

    Hey, why were the documents you brought written in elvish if they were supposed to come from here? Everything here is written in an ancient language.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ I¡¯m confused as well. Something doesn¡¯t add up here¡± Elliana rummaged through a cabinet.

    I have no clue what¡¯s going on here but it would be nice if it wouldn¡¯t come back to bite us. Did you find anything useful?

    ¡°I can¡¯t read any of this¡­ wait what did you do? I can suddenly read this!¡±

    My overpowered eyes that aren¡¯t so overpowered when I need them to be¡­

    ¡°Do they work against gods?¡±

    Yes but not enough, I might also be inexperienced in using them, I''ve seen the filters of 2 other 9t and I have no clue what all those do or how to get them. Don¡¯t tell me I get an expansion pack unlocked after I reach a certain age.

    ¡°What?¡±

    Never mind, a bit hard to explain to non-gamers.

    ¡°I am patient.¡±

    I¡¯m sorry, I lied, I''m just lazy but in short it means I¡¯m probably still too young.

    I don¡¯t know how but Nilah had somehow contacted me from home and notified that Raishin¡¯s 2 ¡®girlfriends¡¯ had infiltrated my home. Nilah is currently fighting them off. It is as if they''re not putting in effort or don¡¯t care. None of our races, 3t, 6t or 9t need to sleep every night. I can do a month without, Greg way longer and Raishin a bit shorter. To think this random nightly visit would work is¡­ ignorant.

    Nilah was giving them a good ass-whooping, I¡¯m at a loss for words. There is no world where this would work. I sighed.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    I can trust you, right?

    I looked at Elliana and reminded myself that elves in general are quite trustworthy, she also deeply cares for Greg.

    Never mind, of course, I can trust you. So these girlfriends of Raishin, I have discovered that they just do this because they want a man and don¡¯t necessarily care for Raishin. I confronted them about it and at the moment Nilah is dealing with their failed attempt to assassinate or silence me.

    Elliana showed a face of disgust. ¡°Why would they do that that¡¯s despicable. If someone attempted that with Greg I would destroy her socially. You should watch out for predators too!¡±

    Elliana got unexpectedly fierce. Yup, this is the chick, don¡¯t screw this up, Greg.

    Well either way I told them to break up with Raishin and tell him exactly why they have to break up. I don¡¯t care if they throw me under the bus but they need to break up with him, there will be consequences if they don¡¯t.

    ¡°I agree, but do you mind letting me deal with the consequences?¡±

    Uh, sure. Are you going to socially destroy them?

    I saw a subtle smile that I liked. I think she will fit in perfectly.

    I have my answer, I will leave it up to you then. It is always good to see that races solve their own problems.

    ¡°How about your race? Aren¡¯t your numbers too low to solve your own problems?¡±

    Perhaps, that¡¯s not an excuse to do nothing though.

    I investigated a desk. Everything here seemed normal. I was a bit worried though. If Rignef, a 9t had lived here then this place should have boobytraps. On the other side, only possesors of Elgards eyes would be able to fully enter this building. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m that different behavior-wise from other 9t so let''s see what would I do?

    If it was a place anyone could join I would boobytrap it no doubt. Even when not there I would grin knowing that someone is getting screwed over by a trap. My current house isn¡¯t trapped but Nilah is enough. A god is afraid of her so she should be fine. Now if only 9t could enter I would make it quite welcoming.

    ¡°Hey, what is this? Is it a list of filters? What does that mean?¡± Elliana had picked up a document and waved it at me. I ran over and got instant confirmation. A list was left behind of which filters to use to make sure nothing important gets missed out. I love my race.

    Right. I am going to unlink you for a moment, I need to find these filters and it could give you extreme headaches and nausea.

    Elliana nodded as I kicked her out of the link and went through the filters and tried to find the correct ones.

    Elliana disappeared. She probably went back to the world where this space is just a hut. I have no idea how this works. It is not an illusion. It is a harsh reminder that I still have no clue what I¡¯m doing as a 9t. I found the correct filters and circulated some nature energy to combat my headache and deactivated my eyes.

    Elliana reappeared and the building disappeared.

    ¡°Oh I was afraid I had lost you.¡±

    This is a very interesting trick.

    I linked her back up and we were in front of the building.

    Elliana was taken by surprise as this building looked completely different. ¡°Wow, it looks completely different!¡±

    Yup, I just got a harsh reminder that I¡¯m a complete noob at being a 9t.

    ¡°But you''re young so that¡¯s fine right?¡±

    It is, my ego is a bit chipped that¡¯s all let¡¯s go inside.

    We got inside but it didn¡¯t look like a ruined building anymore. It looked like a small mansion that seemed like someone had tended to it. A friendly-looking man approached us. It wasn¡¯t real but it wasn¡¯t an illusion either was this a clone? Or a memory?

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    He had long red hair, blue fox ears, and 9 red-orange tails.

    ¡°Oh, how unusual a male member of my race, welcome! My name is Rignef Oures, what might your name be?¡± Even his voice was friendly.

    Oures¡­ My name is Agnis Hourai.

    ¡°I am Elliana Seorwynn.¡± Elliana shook his hand. I remembered my manners and shook his hand too. I wondered if I should have used Ourasyn. However, that might be impolite as Elliana won¡¯t understand anything and miss his full introduction. Is this why Neia didn¡¯t Ourasyn me?

    Excuse me Rignef, I have several questions. How does this work? I¡¯m quite young and unsure about the specifics. As far as I know, you¡¯re dead but this is neither real nor an illusion¡­

    ¡°Hello, Agnis and Elliana, so I¡¯m dead¡­ I see. To answer your question, I¡¯m closer to being real than being an illusion. Are you aware of what a tailed memory is?¡±

    I am not.

    ¡°You are aware of the importance of our tails right?¡±

    Yes, I¡¯m painfully aware.  I grabbed one of my tails.

    ¡°So you do know what the implications of losing tails is right?¡±

    I¡­I do.

    ¡°It is possible to lose a tail to create an effect like this. I am the tailed memory of Rignef Oures¡¯ 6th tail.¡±

    Wait why would he¡­ you do that? It hurts like hell! And it will make us weaker!

    ¡°It does but the tail will grow back, the duration depends on the number of the tail. The 6 tail will fully regrow in 6 years. So when this is done the lower numbers are preferred but as you know the higher the number of the tail the higher its capabilities are so a balance needs to be struck here depending on what you want to achieve.¡±

    That¡­ is that something I need to learn or is it instinct?

    Rignef sat down on one of his tails, I did the same. The chairs and couches were a bit far so I gestured to Elliana that she could use my tail as a couch.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry this is instinct. I hope that you never have to use this but in case you have to, it won¡¯t require someone teaching you that.¡±

    Can other tailed beasts do this too?

    ¡°They can, it just manifests differently, and because they have a lower amount of tails it¡¯s riskier for them.¡±

    I see¡­ is it normal that only other 9t can see this or is this deliberate?

    ¡°It is deliberate. My research is dear to me and I don¡¯t want it to fall in the wrong hands. I don¡¯t even fully trust the elves in this but I do trust my own race. We have a deeper connection to spirits than elves. I am sorry if this offends you¡± He looked at Elliana.

    Elliana waved her hands gesturing that it was fine. ¡°Oh no, I have noticed after Agnis had pointed out some things we do differently or wrong. I am well aware that the relationship with spirits could be better.¡±

    Rignef seemed relieved. ¡°I see, it fills my heart with joy that young elves are realizing this. I have a question for you Agnis. I don¡¯t recognize the last name ¡®Hourai¡¯ As you know our numbers are quite low so I know most if not all surnames of our race. Are you perhaps a hybrid and inherited the last name of your non spirit fox side?¡±

    I am a hybrid yes but that¡¯s not the reason my surname is different.

    Elliana seemed surprised because I don¡¯t make it a point to say that I''m a hybrid.

    ¡°A hybrid eh? I see so it is working.¡±

    What? Wait I will come back on that later. I¡¯m interested. I first want to ask you something. Do you know Alep Oures?

    Rignef seemed to have a positive reaction to that name. ¡°Oh, you know about my cousin?¡±

    Yes¡­ Alep Oures is my grandfather, he named his daughter Edea Hourai, probably to throw some petty gods off and that¡¯s how I have the surname Hourai. So ehh this hybrid thing, what¡¯s it about?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how well you¡¯re going to take this¡±

    Hoo boi, it¡¯s not some dark twist is it?

    ¡°Let¡¯s go sit on the couch over there. I apologise Elliana, it is quite rare for spirit foxes to use chairs or couches.¡± He politely showed us to a very soft red-orange couch.

    ¡°Ohh, so soft.¡±

    Did you make this with your fur?

    Rignef nodded.

    ¡°So even before I was born, the spirit fox community came to a conclusion. Their current capabilities were inadequate to fully carry out their purpose. The problem was specifically that it would take too long for us to get to the point where we would be well-equipped and strong enough to do this effectively, which is at 3 years old for us, race specific age, not how years are counted by most races.. So they had all agreed on a plan, that was also bred out of necessity.¡± Rignef also sat down.

    ¡°Other tailed races had started to adopt this method too a bit later but the spirit foxes started it. Our race had decided to create powerful hybrids to enhance our capabilities and increase the likelihood we would make it to 3 years old. This was also becoming an inevitability because as you know our numbers are low and especially the males are low in number.¡±

    I nodded to show that I followed the conversation so far.

    ¡°So we have attempted to create hybrids to aid us. It came to a point where some might have taken it a bit too seriously. I do believe it had merit but the Hifan family branch, one of the three big family branches next to the Oures and the Mikazuki, had hyper-focused on hybrids. They have the strongest individuals now. Well, when I was alive. I am not saying this is the case but there is a chance you¡¯re not a product of love but a product of ¡®select breeding¡¯. This can be in various degrees either just because or because your mother wanted to make sure you would survive.¡±

    Oof. I can see the logic behind that though¡­

    Elliana looked at me with a saddened face.¡°Are you ok Agnis?¡±

    I am fine, I know enough about my mother to know that she deeply cared for me. If it is what Rignef said it was to ensure I would make it to 3 years old.

    ¡°May I ask what hybrid you are? And do you have any siblings?¡±

    Phoenix and a 9t, my 2 sisters are both pure phoenixes.

    ¡°I see, my cousin Alep did fall in love with a phoenix woman. I would say it is probably the most offensive hybrid possible. It just has one large flaw¡±

    Uhh and that flaw being?

    ¡°While a lot of weaknesses of both races are getting covered by eacother''s strengths, the weakness of being poor in defence might get amplified. While phoenixes have their regeneration and speed that¡¯s all they have. I assume regeneration doesn¡¯t work so well in your spirit fox state.¡±

    Oh yeah, that is definitely the case. But I guess that¡¯s true. I often forget that I¡¯m a hybrid. I¡¯m not in touch with my phoenix side at all.

    ¡°At this point, I would recommend focusing on your spirit fox side. There are so many things we need to master to increase our chance of survival, postponing that might be a bad idea. But I would recommend to at least look into tapping into the phoenix regeneration.¡±

    Great, my to-do list is becoming bigger and bigger but thank you Rignef, that is very helpful.

    ¡°I appreciate the gratitude but it¡¯s misplaced. This is all I can do for you, I am unable to aid our race in any shape or form besides this.¡±

    I am going to be arrogant here but you¡¯re wrong, you just helped 20% of the male 9t population. Helping me is important and will account for something.

    Rignef smiled but it disappeared quite fast. ¡°20%... So it is that bad. If there is anything I can help you with, please ask.¡±

    So ehhm I have a problem of strange dizziness that matches the case of the guardian spirit of the elves and that spirit told me that its vessel, which is the tree, is rejecting it. So I offered to attempt and make a spirit vessel. I got inspired by Isi Medri, you have made her spirit vessel right?

    Rignef stopped moving. ¡°Isi¡­ she is fine? That¡¯s good to hear.¡± He wiped off a tear.

    ¡°I will hand over the findings of my research to you then. I apologize, I will not go into details about my relationship with Isi but just hearing that name is enough for me to entrust my research to you. I assume she has told you a bit about it right?¡±

    Yeah. She gave me an anatomical map and some letters. It seemed you were stuck on something.

    ¡°Yes¡­ we were unable to connect the magical circuits we made with the body so that the spirit could use regular magic. We had to leave that part out. We thought we were adept at using magic but we grossly underestimated how complicated it could get so Isi¡¯s spirit vessel is incomplete as it only has the body and the spirit. This resulted in many other complications that I won¡¯t go into detail now.¡±

    Magical circuits, I haven''t seen those on the anatomical map, what was the specific challenge that made it so difficult?

    ¡°We found out the theoretical method of creating them. But in practice, this proved to be near impossible. It also had to integrate with the body which we had no idea of achieving.¡± Rignef pulled a book out of his dimensional pocket and handed it over. I accepted it, flipped through the pages, and archived the information.

    So what alchemical processes did you use to create the vessel?

    ¡°Alchemical?¡± Rignef looked at me in confusion and made a pensive pose. ¡°Hmm, that might have been a brilliant idea.¡±

    Wait so I was wrong?

    ¡°Hmm, yes and no. We didn¡¯t use any alchemy but alchemy might have the means to effectively incorporate all the ingredients better. We used a complicated process of magical fusing and foxfire smelting. I wouldn¡¯t recommend that method.¡± Rignef¡¯s expression suggested that the process to put vessels together was a pain in the ass.

    Aha, I recognize the words but I have no idea what they mean together like that. And this book you¡¯ve written¡­ am I right to conclude that you needed a deeper understanding of mana runes and magic circles?

    ¡°Yes, we didn¡¯t realize that we were opening a can of worms by delving into that. And besides that, even if we succeeded it would most likely get destroyed in the foxfire smelting process. But that is why I like your idea of alchemy. It will get decomposed but eventually reconstructed when the process is complete, eliminating most if not all of the difficulties we¡¯ve encountered.¡± Rignef shook my hand.

    ¡°I know I might already be dead but thank you for improving my life¡¯s work. I¡¯m truly glad that I¡¯ve met you. I can not act upon this but knowing that all my work hasn¡¯t been in vain means that my life mattered. Unfortunately, the field of mana runes and magic circles is a whole different world.¡±

    Uhhm about that. I can do it. I am well-versed in mana runes and magic circles.

    ¡°That! How old are you? Your life must have been rough to already be at this point. I don¡¯t want to praise your hardships but I¡¯m proud to have a relative this competent. Well done.¡± I got a strange feeling. For the first time in so many years, someone praised me as a parent would. It filled me with accomplishments and pride, however...

    This is not my research it was the research of a witch. I have only studied her research. Who knows how much blood sweat and tears went into it? I just studied it and briefly expanded on it. Just as what I would do with your research. Nothing is my own.

    ¡°That is commendable do note however that most fields borrow from each other. Bringing 2 normally unrelated research subjects together and creating something new and great is also something to note. It might even be harder than the original 2 since you need to understand both separately and then find out how they will clash or connect.¡±

    Thank you. I will try to do my best to do both research justice.

    ¡°About your problem about the spirit leaving the body. I have made a certain recipe to keep the connection between the body and spirit strong because even for Isi, the body can reject her. I didn¡¯t finish it, however. It is only a temporary measure, but it¡¯s a component of the most important component; Ichor Pneuma.¡± Rignef pulled another book out of his dimensional pocket and handed it over to me.

    ¡°Please archive them, I can¡¯t give them to you since they are not real, the real books have perished with my real body unless you find a method of accessing my pocket dimension.¡± I nodded and also committed this book to my archive. I was happy to hear that I¡¯m not the only one who does this. I don¡¯t care about being unique. I just want more people like me.

    ¡°Also this book is instructions on how to make the body but you should disregard many aspects because it¡¯s tailored to foxfire smelting and magical fusing. You will have to find out what to alter for the alchemical process I¡¯m afraid. It does have the basic ingredients which shouldn¡¯t vary all too much.¡±

    Thank you Rignef. I was quite stuck. Nobody possessed the knowledge I needed. Meeting you is a blessing in more than one way.

    ¡°Likewise, now Elliana, you have been very quiet. Is there anything I can help you with?¡± He shifted his gaze toward Elliana and I noticed that Elliana was slightly intimidated by his glowing eyes.

    ¡°Well, you have studied spirits correct?¡±

    ¡°That is correct.¡±

    ¡°I am curious. There is a fairy tale under the elves that a lunar spirit once brought all the spirits to this side but she got met with a lot of resistance and hardships, as did all the spirits so she decided that it was best to bring all the spirits back to the spirit world. What do you know about this fairy tale?¡±

    ¡°Hmm, very interesting, we have a similar fairy tale but it was specifically a lunar fox, just like my cousin, which makes me wonder¡­¡± Rignef looked at the ends of my hair.

    ¡°A cosmetic illusion I see, quite sloppy, so you¡¯re one too.¡±

    Oh shit yeah, I forgot about that! What do you know about lunar and solar foxes?

    ¡°Not much, unfortunately, I only know that it was challenging to unlock the full potential. The lunar foxes were hunted down aggressively though. Solar foxes had similar strength but as long as one would avoid fighting them when the sun was at its zenith they weren''t overly problematic while Pagos was a problem no matter what time of day it was. About your fairy tale Elliana, I think it was a real event a long time ago. Unfortunately, we don¡¯t have the numbers to also help the spirit world.¡± Rignef sighed.

    Elliana looked at me. ¡°So you¡¯re a lunar fox? Maybe I should keep this a secret¡­¡±

    Uhh, why is that?

    ¡°The elves believe that one day this might happen again and they could reclaim nature together with the spirits.¡±

    Right, no offense to the elves but that¡¯s at the bottom of my list. I might even die before I ever get to that point.

    Rignef¡¯s eye color changed to light green. ¡°Any spirit fox could theoretically do that so don¡¯t take this burden up because you¡¯re a lunar fox. You already seem to have enough on your plate. Now there is one more thing I need to tell you. There is a structure nearby. It holds a lot of materials that I have used in the creation of the spirit vessel. It is a very dangerous place even for us but the rewards are worth the risk. I would recommend preparing well and venturing inside when you get to the point of needing them. Every ingredient and its location is written down in the books you have stored.¡±

    Ooh! A dungeon! What is it like?

    ¡°It had many floors, it was quite a strange jungle. I couldn¡¯t get very far but luckily it had multiple exits.¡±

    A dungeon that lets you leave quite easily? Interesting.

    ¡°My purpose has been fulfilled. This place won¡¯t instantly disappear so take a look in my lab behind this portal. Please¡­ take everything.¡±

    Wait that stuff is real?

    Rignef had a sad smile on his face. ¡°I am the only thing here that¡¯s not ¡®real¡¯ anything that is still present after this space disappears will disappear along with it so take everything you want and need.¡±

    Can¡­ can I take this couch?

    ¡°Quite sentimental aren''t you? Yes you can take the couch.¡±

    I will succeed and continue your research. I promise.

    Rignef started to slowly fade as his eyes started to become clear and transparent. It looked strange but it gave me a heavy feeling. My instinct told me that this is what happens when a 9t dies.

    Elliana! We¡¯re clearing this place out! Grab everything you can and toss it in my dimensional pocket!

    I opened the dimensional pocket and sucked up anything that could be taken. I then hopped into his lab and took anything I could. I spotted an image of a younger Rignef, Isi and a human I didn¡¯t recognise. They looked like close friends. It was the only picture in the lab. I wonder what happened to Isi. Tomato goddess had even nuked the underground city. I will give this picture to her if I ever meet her.

    We returned to the bare living room we had cleared out. Rignef was gone. He also had fallen at the hands of the tomato goddess. I first thought that what I had against her was just personal but she had been bullying my race and those related for millennia. I should have asked Rignef about foxfires. I sighed.

    ¡°Are you alright? It felt heavy even for me, I can¡¯t imagine what you¡¯re going through.¡± Elliana seemed genuinely concerned. I tried to smile but I don¡¯t know how well I pulled it off.

    It¡¯s fine, just make sure you successfully seduce Greg. It would be a huge loss if he messes this up.

    ¡°I will work on it!¡± We left Rignef¡¯s residence and headed back to the village. I had gotten valuable information but I also felt as if I had lost something. I couldn¡¯t tell what that was but it had a heavy feeling.

 Pneuma 7: Betrayal

    I woke up early and went to the house of my girlfriends Lauren and Lyss. They weren''t home. That¡¯s strange. Maybe they went out to shop. I went to several elvish stores but they weren¡¯t open yet. Oh, right it¡¯s only 07:00 so they are not open yet. Where can I find them then?

    My intuition told me they were on the ground floor. Elves generally like to hang around in the upper floors so I wonder why they would be there. It is the most boring area of this village. I feel bad for Agnis that he has to live there.

    Maybe I should visit him. I¡¯m sure he is already awake. Which reminds me. Maybe he has played a prank on them! I¡¯m worried but also curious as to what he came up with this time. I arrived at his house but his door was open.

    ¡°You do know that what you¡¯re doing is unacceptable right?!¡±

    I walked inside and saw a very strange sight. My 2 girlfriends were hanging from the ceiling bound in a very sexy way by Agnis¡¯ [Azure Chain] and Elliana was scolding them.

    Eh guys? What is going on? Is this a girlfriend meeting or something?

    Ah perfect you¡¯re here! These 2 have something to tell you.

    ¡°Raishin, we love you!¡± Lyss said but she seemed more afraid than in love.

    ¡°Please help us!¡± Lauren said pleasantly, pleadingly? I think it¡¯s the latter one. I got distracted by how they were bound. Agnis sure picks up a lot of strange skills.

    Elliana shook her head. ¡°Oh, but this is not what we had agreed upon Lauren and Lyss.¡±

    Raishin. You might want to sit down for this.

    Agnis handed me some mango juice and snacks.

    Wow thanks!

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you doing anything! Look we¡¯ve been kidnapped!¡± I looked at my girlfriends. It did seem like they were kidnapped yes but¡­ I looked around.

    Agnis¡¯ house was a mess, he isn¡¯t this messy. It even looked like a fight had broken out here. And why would Elliana help in this kidnapping? She is a bit like Greg, she would¡¯ve scolded him if that was true. Elliana and Agnis weren¡¯t defending themselves. Who do I believe?

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you doing anything?¡± I got up to walk toward Lauren but I noticed something. When did their aura change?

    What is going on here?

    ¡°As we said he kidnapped us!¡±

    I am sorry but Agnis isn¡¯t this sloppy, what did you two do?

    Lyss started to become angry. ¡°Look at the situation! What else could be going on here? Why don¡¯t you believe us?¡±

    I know Agnis very well, the fact that I¡¯m allowed to see this means he wants me to see this. I might be stupid but I know my buddy. So please tell me, what is going on here?

    Agnis sat down on his couch and tossed some ice cream he made at me and started eating.

    Ooh, thanks!

    My intuition told me that Agnis was acting like this because there might be something uncomfortable coming.

    I will call Nilah if you don¡¯t start talking.

    Their faces turned pale. What did they do to Nilah? I didn¡¯t see her in the room. The ice cream was coconut flavored. My favorite!

    Right, this is taking too long, Nilah!

    Lyss started to thrash and was swinging back and forth wildly. ¡°Wait! Ok we will confess!¡±

    ¡°But sis!¡±

    ¡°There is nothing we can do¡­ Raishin, we deceived you, we don¡¯t love you, we used you, we just wanted your attention.¡± I dropped my ice cream. Nilah rushed in, snatched it before it hit the ground, and devoured it.

    I looked at Agnis.  This is a lie, right?

    He had a serious face.

    But why?

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    Lyss had calmed down. Is this really the same Lyss that I thought I knew? ¡°You¡¯ve seen the state of this village, right? We finally have found someone who¡¯s interested in us we¡¯re not letting go of that!¡±

    But why not tell me and even fake your aura, I thought we had a connection, a bond¡­

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry but we don¡¯t feel that way.¡± It was as if the energy left my body.

    I¡¯m sorry that it had to be like this Raishin¡­ I was hoping they would prove my suspicion wrong¡­ I wasn¡¯t sure if I should¡¯ve told you so I made them tell you themselves.

    I felt betrayed. I had given them all. Did I make a mistake? What could I have done so that it would have turned out differently?

    Was¡­ was there something I should have done differently?

    Lauren shook her head. ¡°You are just not our type, sorry.¡± Agnis approached me and put his hand on my shoulder.

    ¡°You do know that this has consequences, right?¡± While Agnis seemed calm and disappointed at the situation, Elliana seemed angry.

    Lyss started to give off an ugly aura. ¡°Oh, give us a break Ellie, you would¡¯ve done the same!¡±

    Uhm she actually cares about Greg, so while she is doing the same it¡¯s sincere.

    ¡°But he is just like the elven men!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care! Him being interested in women is not what attracts me!¡± Elliana said calmly but it was clear that she was angry.

    ¡°But you¡¯re probably interested in the rumors that he has a big¡­¡± Elliana slapped Lyss.

    ¡°You bitch! What was that for!¡± The more my girlfriends talked the more and more I realized that I knew nothing about them. Is this why they were always so quiet?

    I have seen enough. Thank you Agnis and Elliana, Lyss and Lauren, it is over between us. I will drop your stuff off at your house and please don¡¯t ever talk to me.

    I was shaking. I was used to getting rejected and dumped but this was different. Never had I been betrayed like this. I just want a girlfriend that likes me for me. Is that too much to ask for? I suddenly felt very unqualified to find a girlfriend for Agnis. I don¡¯t know how he would react in my situation. I would admit that his life is harder than mine. I don¡¯t know how well or bad he would take betrayal.

    I might have jumped into a relationship too fast. I am not adept in spotting deception. I will need Agnis and Greg for that.

    I can make more ice cream for you if you want. I don¡¯t know what to do in situations like this sorry¡­

    It is fine. Knowing that you have my back at all time is good enough. Thank you, Agnis.

    Don¡¯t worry about it. Just as you look out for me, I will look out for you.  He gave me a hug and tears fell from my eyes. I thought I had finally found someone for me.

    ¡°I will further deal with these 2, take your time.¡±

    Thanks Elliana.

    Hey, Agnis do you think it¡¯s a mistake to pursue chicks with big badonkers?

    Uhm, I don¡¯t know. Maybe also pay attention to their personality?

    But they seemed fine, until they didn¡¯t.

    I don¡¯t have an answer for that sorry. Although I have an issue with how you do your thing, doing it is something I respect. I could never do what you do. Maybe introduce a bit more tact and you might get better results. But what do I know about women?

    I thought about Agnis'' words. He doesn¡¯t think what I¡¯m doing is wrong? I realize that Agnis doesn¡¯t often say what he is thinking. Is this why it¡¯s hard for me to find someone for him?

    Let¡¯s say you had to find a chick immediately how would you do it?

    I honestly don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t pay enough attention to the opposite sex to know what would be suited for me.

    So, as I thought, heart of stone.

    Hey! I don¡¯t have a heart of stone! I just might be a little afraid of something happening similar to what just happened to you.

    Someone you can trust, eh? If I would one day turn into a chick, would you date me?  You''re a bit too stupid but trust won''t be an issue there if that was the case. The question is just too weird for me to answer.

    I think we should talk more. We haven¡¯t had many since we returned from training.

    Yeah, it was first that obnoxious labyrinth where we were split up a lot, then that university, and after that, we spent a lot of time trying to stay alive. Now I have to make this spirit vessel

    How is that coming along?

    I have found out how to do it, I think. I will be quite busy from here on out.

    Agnis told me about what he had found out. I recognized the name Rignef. He also told me about how he discovered what my girl¡­ exes were up to. Also, about Inna and these auras that the elves have. We decided to keep an eye out on Elliana but both Agnis and I agreed that she might be the one for Greg.

    It seems Agnis and I will have to keep looking for a bit longer.

 Pneuma 8: I can do this, I think...

    A week had passed since Raishin had broken up. He was quite sad and disappointed on the day it happened but he was back to his cheerful self the day after. I hope he is properly dealing with it and not pushing those feelings into a corner.

    Greg still hasn¡¯t returned. I hope he is ok¡­ Elliana is worried sick; he only was supposed to be away for 3 days. Elliana tried to go out and look for him multiple times but she had been stopped every time. Raishin and I had tried too of course so now Elliana and Raishin are also under house arrest. The three of us all can¡¯t leave. Isn¡¯t that wonderful?

    The elven elders are being slow as fuck in formulating a plan and assembling a team to go and retrieve him. Normally it wouldn¡¯t be a problem for me to break out but¡­ I looked at the 2 elven elders sitting in my living room who were continuously casting some elven magic on me to keep me calm and severely slow down my magical processes.

    I am having difficulties interrupting most of them because this elven magic is very different. I did got some good interrupts in which is why there are 2 elders here now instead of one. What a pain in the ass.

    ¡°I would never have thought that it would be this challenging to keep a spirit fox under control¡±

    ¡°We are lucky he is still young. 3 of our deception experts are making sure we are not interacting with an illusion.¡±

    These elves are a pain in the ass. I interrupted 3 more casts and the elders got on edge. I hope Raishin has better luck but I assume that he is easier to restrain. I looked at where Raishin¡¯s house was.

    It seems they had succeeded in putting Raishin to sleep. I sighed as I expected this but I had hoped that he might have found a way to not get put to sleep. I interrupted another skill that tried to put me to sleep.

    My gaze shifted to Elliana¡¯s house. Oh what do we have here. She escaped. Byron is going nuts. Hehe serves him well. Let¡¯s see where is she?

    I found her after 3 minutes. She had already escaped the village and went south. I don¡¯t think they can catch her now unless they get serious. It feels strange but I will entrust Greg to Elliana. There is nothing I can do at the moment.

    Hey old farts, I know you mean well but this imprisonment!

    ¡°We don¡¯t care, we can¡¯t have you go off and get yourself targeted and killed.¡±

    Then let Raishin and Elliana go!

    ¡°The human world is perilous, you know that even better than we do!¡± I hate it when people are right and I can¡¯t retort to that.

    Ok fine. I guess I will work on this spirit vessel then. Are you guys sure you¡¯re not hiding anything from me? I could use anything doesn¡¯t matter how small in making this near impossibility.

    The elder that had been staring at my fruit bowl for a while answered. ¡°Why would we hide anything from you? We will benefit greatly if you succeed.¡±

    Yes and out of experience that is not enough reason to not hide anything. So let me ask you, why did nobody tell me about the small hut and ancient building not too far from here?

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    ¡°That! How do you know about that!¡± I pointed at my light orange eyes with purple-striped pupils.

    Did you forget who I am?

    ¡°Ugh. It looks so intimidating. I suppose we should have expected that. None of the documents we found there were of any use so we felt there was no need to bring up irrelevant information.¡±

    So that¡¯s the story you''re going with eh? Fine have it your way.

    They were alarmed when I took the anatomical map out of my dimensional pocket. What I am going to do is combine Azu¡¯s hard work and Rignef¡¯s hard work. I feel like I have to ask her permission to use her research like this. But would I be able to stick around long enough to find her and do such? I don¡¯t know when these dizzy spells are going to get worse.

    I hope she will forgive me. Just as I had learned how to document my findings and progress in Witchaven, I started to note down anything that had happened so far. The location of Rignef¡¯s mansion. What I know from him, Isi¡¯s story, and what I remember from her spirit vessel. I then wrote about Boshi town, my meeting with Azu and what I knew about Azu.

    I paused for a bit. Should I include myself in this? Rignef mentioned that I might be an important element in this. I kept writing about what I knew about Azu and my tail started writing something else. It started to write about my life. It will eventually tie Rignef¡¯s and Azu¡¯s work together.

    It started from the day of the attack on Hourai, then the events of Boshi town and anything that had happened to us. But this isn''t important now. I had finished with the background information. I introduced the problem, the two pieces of research I would use, and some info about the researchers that made this possible.

    The elders were quiet. I noticed that they were looking over my shoulder.

    ¡°Where did you learn how to write like this?¡±

    Witchaven

    ¡°Isn''t that the city of the witches? Aren''t you a man?¡±

    Heh, you should have seen their reaction when they found out!

    ¡°Right, you are a spirit fox, this does fall within your behavior¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t let us distract you we¡¯re quite interested.¡±

    Well, that¡¯s all for now. While I am quite adept at mana runes and magic circles I know nothing about spirit vessels so I need to study that.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry we wish we had more information¡­¡± The elder said as he took a banana from my fruit bowl.

    Oh, that¡¯s fine, I already found it!

    ¡°What? How! I¡¯m intrigued, can you show us?¡±

    Sorry, I can¡¯t. it¡¯s in here.

    I tapped on my head, went to sit on the couch, and leaned backward.

    I do have the research material archived but that doesn¡¯t mean that I ¡®know¡¯ what¡¯s in it. I can just easily access it. I will probably have to understand this if I want to progress so being able to access the information isn''t enough. I will have to understand it. Now lets see what Rignef had found out.

 Pneuma 9: Rignefâ€™s research

    I started with the information on how to create the body of the vessel since the ¡®Mind¡¯ aspect is something I can probably do without too much supplementary information.

    The main parts needed for the vessel are:

    ? Skin: protects the interior of the vessel. Magic resistances will be added to the skin. A list of materials was listed to create different types of skin with slightly different properties. Hair and nails are considered to be part of the skin.

    ? Muscles: the spirit vessel needs to move and while not as complicated as real muscles it is needed for most of the volume of the vessel. It will also be responsible for the generation of heat so the vessel feels ¡®Human¡¯. It will also be the part that gets augmented when spirit energy or magic is applied. There are white and red versions. The red are responsible for long sustained movements, the type suited for endurance while the white are more for explosive bursts. The ingredients for these were also listed and their locations.

    ? Bones: the main skeleton needed for support, it will also be in charge of producing Ichor Pneuma, the most important component of the spirit vessel. The ingredients for this seemed to be problematic. How annoying.

    ? Ichor Pneuma or ¡®Spirit Blood¡¯: The life force of the vessel. It will be acting like blood but it doesn¡¯t share similarities with real blood. It is a self-sufficient sort of fuel. It is also what makes the entire vessel more receptive to receiving a spirit. While every part of the vessel can be mass-produced in theory, Ichor Pneuma needs to be tuned after the specific spirit that enters the vessel. A mismatch will create a rejection reaction. The precise ingredients for this are also unknown since it¡¯s highly specific to the spirit and will need a lot of testing. The bones will be able to produce the Ichor Pneuma after they get tuned to each other.

    I sighed. I guess that this is the reason why the bones have no set ingredients. There are many chapters about Ichor Pneuma. It seems to be the single most important component of the spirit vessel and it will decide whether the whole vessel fails. Because this needs to be tailor-made. A mismatch in Ichor Pneuma will make the whole vessel useless to other spirits. It can be drained and the bones removed but it is not worth it because the process of foxfire smelting is too complicated and troublesome.

    I guess that part won''t apply to me since I will be using alchemy but it does sound like a pain. It would be ideal to get this down correctly.

    ¡®To make an effective Ichor Pneuma, one must understand spirits.¡¯

    Fuck! So, I also have to understand spirits. Well, this isn¡¯t surprising actually but this seems to be way more complicated than I thought. So, it seems that it is important to know which spirit receives the vessel before making it. I guess I will have to do some check-ups on the guardian spirit after reading this. Anyway, there is more to the list.

    There are 4 more components:

    ? Fat: used as filler and damage reduction. 3 types are listed but Rignef only used the easiest one because it was all he could muster since at some point he got pursued by a stupid bitch goddess. The type of fat determines the amount of physical damage reduction. I think I will go for the best version. I don¡¯t want any half-assed work with my name on it. This seems easy to make.

    ? Nervous System: While pain isn¡¯t necessary, it is important that the spirit in the vessel notices when parts of the vessel are damaged and needs care. The Immune system which will be in charge of repair will take care of this but it will alert the spirit that it needs to be careful with certain damaged parts. This also seems easy.

    ? Digestive system: This is completely optional. It is not needed to keep the vessel functioning. Ichor Pneuma is the driving force behind the spirit vessel and produces no waste. However, Spirits are obsessed with bread so they would prefer to eat. This is why Rignef had developed the digestive system but he hasn¡¯t used it. How considerate of him. This is also easy but it uses some rare materials.

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    ? Immune system: which is the self-repair. A spirit vessel is immune to diseases but it can still take damage. This is the only part that is tied to the magic circuits which will be the ¡®Mind¡¯ part and possibly where the ¡®Mind¡¯ connects to the ¡®Body¡¯. Rignef had half-assed this and that¡¯s why Isi asked me to check if there were defects in her vessel. But if it needed the magic circuits to function, then he did a great job even though it was half-assed. I assume he didn¡¯t know what he was doing but it worked somehow.

    The sensory organs were redundant. Only the skin was functional in its ability to touch and feel temperature. The ears, nose and eyes didn¡¯t need to be functional because a spirit will be able to do these perfectly without functional organs. The digestive system was needed for taste but only the tongue could be made without the digestive system to get the sensation of taste. It would also aid in speech so the creation of the tongue, which is a muscle, was highly recommended.

    Most of this makes sense. So, the only things that would be a pain to create are the bones and Ichor Pneuma. The book then went into the complicated processes needed to bring them together. I skipped those. It seems the bulk of this book was on how to bring these components together. It would create something similar to a rock-like substance and the desired shape had to be carved out. An artisan was required or a 9t who could use the precision of their eyes to sculpt a realistic body.

    I guess being a 9t and a blacksmith makes me perfect for this.

    I found a note. I had just copied the information on it but Rignef must have slipped the note in when he handed me the book to read. It told me about a filter I could use to create an illusion of clothing and an appearance, place it on the vessel, and use foxfire to bake the appearance into the vessel. It required that I would add some extra ingredients to the skin.

    I had to create the solution of the skin by boiling it with my foxfire instead of regular fire and I would also need the extract from a memory slime. It is a creature that can mimic the form of the person it encounters. That sounds easier. Oh, it also said that those slimes were nearing extinction.

    Can species stop going extinct? And that seemed to be it. It did mention that space should be left over for the magic system.

    I went through the book about the ¡®Mind¡¯. There were 6 components:

    ? Mana conduits: It is like a blood vessel system but instead of blood it has mana running through it.

    ? Mana Generator and convertor: This does exactly what its name suggests, generate mana and convert incoming ambient mana to become more suitable for the vessel to use. This works similar to how the bodies of living beings produce and collect mana.

    ? Mana extractor: extracts ambient mana, pulls it into the body and stores it before it gets sent to the mana converter.

    ? Mana nodes: nodes that store small amounts of mana for spontaneous or quick use of mana.

    ? Mana ward: basic protection against foreign mana that isn¡¯t ambient mana.

    ? Mana repair: repairs all the other systems when they get damaged, this part is tightly linked to the immune system of the ¡®Body¡¯.

    Rignef had written down the theories and magic circles but I could see they were all wrong. It was a good attempt though. I could see where he was going.

    I sunk deeper in the couch. My head hurt. That was a lot of information. It seems simple at a glance but that¡¯s because I didn¡¯t need to come up with how to make those individual components and find out which ingredients make for the best components. I am assuming that most of the ¡®Body¡¯ is correct. I will have to rewrite the ¡®Mind¡¯ book for him.

    The book on the ¡®Spirit¡¯ wasn¡¯t long but at this point, I needed a break. I looked over at the elven elders. They were talking at the table and eating all my bananas. Bunch of assholes.

 Pneuma 10: Bizax Cultists II

    I was extremely embarrassed. I always admonish Agnis to not be careless. I ended up being negligent and unaware of my own actions and ended up doing just such, acting careless

    The Biian cultists have apprehended me. I presumed that they were only after Agnis but overlooked the fact that the bitch goddess also has a hate for my race, the three-tailed shadowcats.

    I am ensnared in a quadruple water-layered prison which is suspended over a large body of water. This is terrifying. How did they discover my vulnerability? Is it a racial weakness? Maybe I should take Raishin and Agnis more seriously when they advise the elimination of this susceptibility.

    It took a while but I breached one layer. Just 3 more to go¡­ I will have to find out what to do with this water below me though¡­

    ¡°So, the goddess was correct! Even the mighty shadow cats have weaknesses!¡± A group of poorly dressed cultists entered the pool.

    I have no words for those who can¡¯t even bother to dress properly.

    ¡°What do you mean! This is the holy clothing the goddess has imparted on us!¡±

    I smiled.  It is apparent that she hates you if this is what she is having you to wear.

    ¡°Ha! You¡¯re just jealous that we have received Biian¡¯s grace!¡±

    Do you even know how that bitch looks like?

    ¡°Ha! Of course not! But it doesn¡¯t take much imagination, she must be beautiful!¡±

    In that case, I¡¯m jealous indeed, I would have preferred to not know what she looks like.

    ¡°Lies! Only those who have been chosen by her get to see her majestic figure!¡±

    Uhm sure, do you even know what she wants of me?

    ¡°Haha of course we don¡¯t¡­ wait! Guwui what were her instructions again?¡±

    ¡°Ehh to catch a man in black hair in a black suit that can use shadow magic and is afraid of water. If possible, confirm if he is a shadowcat but if that¡¯s not possible make sure to catch him alive.¡±

    And where did she mention that you should put him in a water cage and hang him over the pool? How about this? Take me down and I will draw your beloved goddess.

    It was apparent that the cultists hesitated. I was relying on their vague order to get out of this gaol. I am unaware of the protocol and procedures in synthesizing this ensnarement but it rivals Event Horizon. This volume of water should be illegal.

    ¡°We will take you down but keep you restrained; we are curious to know what she looks like. We do have ancient scrolls that mention shadowcats as being the goddess¡¯ pets.¡±

    That goddess calls everything her pet but this works out for me. They lowered me to solid ground but ensured that the anti-magic shackles remained and led me to a big hall.

    My bag seemed untouched and was placed in the corner of the hall. It had the alchemical supplies that I had purchased several days ago.

    A tall blonde woman walked over to me with paper and art utensils and demanded that I draw their deity. I started drawing the bitch goddess. I have to admit that Biian¡¯s aesthetic features are alluring but she is rotten to the core.

    ¡°Whoa, look at how well he can draw, it looks so realistic!¡±

    I produced 2 drawings that could rival pictures. Portraits displayed their deity from the front and side orientations.

    ¡°Ohh draw more! There is a legend that our ancestors had once seen an enormous figure of her while in bondage!¡±

    What? She had hobbies like that? You said she was huge and in bondage?

    ¡°And golden hair!¡±

    Oh, that form, I am aware of that form.

    I drew the large golden-haired form. I have no knowledge about bondage but I can take an educated guess. The cultists became excited. I have to admit. I enjoyed drawing this bitch in such a humiliating scenario.

    ¡°I think he is a high priest! He seems to know a lot about her and it¡¯s better than the ancient depiction! He must have personally met her!¡± The cultists started to become excited and freed my restraints. They were of the impression that I was in a high position in their religion. I did get carried away in drawing her into multiple humiliating scenarios.

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    The requests kept flooding in and my artistic side took over. I decided to do commissions and procure some funds in the process.

    ¡°Can you draw her in a provocative pose in the bedroom?¡± I tried to control myself to make sure that they didn¡¯t notice that I was cringing at every request.

    <hr>

    Another commission was completed, and I procured another 3 silver.

    The blonde-haired woman was next up.

    ¡°I want me and the goddess naked and laying on top of each other.¡±

    The whole hall became silent and we all looked at the blonde woman. How do I respond to this?

    ¡°Please!¡± This woman seemed desperate¡­

    I nodded and started drawing. A lot of imagination was needed and the woman was posing so that I could create accurate depictions.

    This might be the most difficult artwork yet. Between cringing, trying to recall the bitch¡¯s proportions, dimensions and having to draw something outside my comfort zone I also had to ensure curious cultists wouldn¡¯t delay or hinder my artistic expression.

    It was challenging but I finished 30 minutes later. This piece had completely drained me. The woman gave me 10 silver and walked off happily with her bizarre request¡­

    ¡°Oh, me first!¡±

    ¡°No, me! I want one where she su¡­¡±

    A sudden breeze blew into the hall. Something or someone flashed by and knocked the cultists away. I recognized this energy.

    Elliana?

    ¡°You¡¯re not hurt, are you?¡±

    I am not thank you. What are you doing here? And where are Agnis and Raishin?

    ¡°The elven elders had stepped in and tried to stop us when we wanted to investigate. They knocked Raishin out with a sleeping spell and 2 elders and 3 veterans are trying to contain Agnis. Because of this the security around me was a bit lax and I managed to escape.¡±

    She shot a cultist with her verdant bow and completed a short elvish incantation and plants sprouted out of the floor and started to assault the cultists.

    ¡°Come!¡± She grabbed my hand.

    Wait! My bag!

    [Shadow Tendrils] picked up my bag and brought it to me.

    ¡°Come on let¡¯s go!¡±

    How did you find me?

    ¡°Did you forget what elves specialize in?¡±

    I guess that was a stupid question.

    ¡°Greg, this way¡­¡± I was certain that we had to take a right turn but I decided to follow Elliana.

    Elliana shot [Wind Arrows] behind her without looking and shot cultists right through their heads. Her accuracy impressed me but this is normal feat under the elves. I used a [Shadow Vortex] as these cultists were quite fast and were catching up.

    ¡°Hey, Greg. I am going to use [Wind Walking], we won¡¯t escape if we continue to move at your pace.¡±

    Oh, it has been a while since my movement speed has been an issue. I will leave it to you then.

    I used another [Shadow Vortex] and got hit by [Wind Walking] which increased my movement speed significantly.

    ¡°This way Greg!¡± Elliana pulled me along and we left the building we were in. It was a large church. It was the church I had seen when shopping for supplies. She threw an item in the air and created a large kite in the shape of a leaf. This was incorrect, it was a large leaf that acted as a kite. We grabbed on the string of the kite and Elliana used [Zephyr] to move the kite along and bring us upwards.

    ¡°We might get in trouble when we return.¡±

    It can¡¯t be helped. I appreciate that you came to save me.

    Elliana seemed to be in a cheery mood for some reason.

    ¡°What a lovely scenery.¡± We looked at the landscape below us as the wind blew us toward the elven forest in the distance.

    Yeah, too bad this country is terrible. How are Raishin and Agnis doing, did they behave?

    ¡°Eh¡­ yeah. So, what happened there? You were gone for so long!¡±

    Well¡­

    I got interrupted as a pillar of blue foxfire erupted from the forest.

    Ugh, what is that idiot doing? Is it possible to speed up?

    Elliana nodded and we sped up.

 Pneuma 11: Spirit Body

    I might have screwed up.

    Nilah was absorbing all the foxfire from my house which is now a pile of ash. The elders who were eating all my bananas were quite fried but still alive. I had made another attempt to tweak my foxfire. I got something working but it had messed with the power output and made it quite¡­ deadly. It had made a [Foxfire: Sapphire Pillar]. It did only take out my house and anything in it and possibly the elders. Rignef¡¯s couch was fine though.

    Will I get banned now? Maybe I should just focus on making this spirit vessel. But I can blame this on the elders and request a house that¡¯s in the canopy!

    Byron and a group of stuck up elders arrived at the scene. ¡°Trouble as usual, so let¡¯s hear it Agnis, what did you do this time?¡±

    Sup Byron! So, you see these elders were eating all my bananas and I want privacy and a house in the canopy! I also might have messed up a magic circle and turned my house into ash in the process. The elders were collateral I swear! But they deserved it after eating all my bananas!

    ¡°You know that we can¡¯t give you a house in the canopy¡­¡±

    I take 0 fall damage! Look at my floaty jumps!

    I jumped and demonstrated that I can¡¯t possibly take fall damage.

    Byron followed my floaty jumps with his eyes. ¡°Very mysterious indeed. I suppose I can grant your request. With how slow you fall a passer-by elf might be able to easily catch you when you inevitably fall.¡±

    Hey! that only happened twice!

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s strange that it happened the second time! Shouldn¡¯t you learn from your mistakes?¡±

    Hey I do¡­

    I got another dizzy spell. I held my head and tried to keep standing.

    Byron rushed to me and made sure I didn¡¯t fall over. ¡°Is it happening more frequently?¡±

    Yeh.

    ¡°How long do you think you have? The last blackout the guardian tree had was almost 2 hours.¡±

    That is a long time. I need to speak with it. I need to know its preferences and I need to study the spirit for a component of the spirit vessel but I will do that later.

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget to rest. I also have a question. Do you perhaps know where my youngest daughter is?¡±

    You have more than one daughter? And Elliana is probably saving Greg because you wouldn¡¯t let us!

    ¡°It was to protect you! And yeah, my other daughter is quite troublesome¡­ her name is Leefa.¡±

    Leafa? You must be kidding right?

    ¡°Has anyone told me that you¡¯re quite rude, she is very skilled with the sword and had left the village a while ago.¡±

    Huh wait, that rings a bell is she the student of ancient relic?

    ¡°Excuse me?¡±

    Uhh Teppei whatshisface.

    ¡°Teppei Fugaku, yes that¡¯s her mentor.¡±

    Ruh oh. But she¡¯s not here! Great! Don¡¯t lose your other daughter!

    ¡°I didn¡¯t lose her!¡±

    Yet.

    I dodged a [Wind Arrow].

    Everyone is so aggressive lately!

    ¡°You burnt down your house and 2 houses above you! Luckily, they were vacant, the elders are in critical condition and you are putting pressure on our scouts because we can¡¯t let you leave! We have all reason to!¡± Byron readied another [Wind Arrow].

    So, does that mean I¡¯m banned?

    ¡°Why do you want to get banned so much?!¡±

    So that I don¡¯t have banana-stealing elders breathing down my neck!

    A glider flew in.

    A glider is actually a very good idea. It should work well with my weight.

    It seems you¡¯re having fun. Now what did you do this time?

    ¡°Elliana my dear! You have returned!¡± Byron ran at Elliana wanting to go for a hug.

    ¡°Hey, dad! Back off! Not in public!¡±

    I punished banana-stealing elders.

    One day, one day you will make sense.

    So, what have you been up to?

    Uhm getting caught by cultists.

    Again?!

    What do you mean again? This was the first time!

    Are you sure? I¡¯m sure I remember you getting caught before.

    Oh, that is new! You remember something, you remembered wrong!

    Wow no need to be an ass about it, I¡¯ll go back to forgetting things then.

    One day you will not be unreasonable and I will win an argument¡­ What is Raishin up to?

    Oh, you need to talk to him. He broke up with his girlfriends because they were bitches, he was sad that day but the day after he was acting like nothing happened. I¡¯m socially retarded so you need to find out if he¡¯s really ok.

    It seems I have missed a lot; I will get to it.

    Greg was about to walk off andI had to stop him.

    Ho there! Where do you think you¡¯re going?

    Talk to Raishin?

    Aren¡¯t you forgetting something? Or rather someone?

    Huh?

    I pointed at Elliana who was dodging her father¡¯s hugs.

    Go talk some more with Elliana for fucks sake! She just saved your ass!

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    Uhh, ok.

    Elliana kicked Byron to the side and approached. ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re socially retarded Agnis?¡±

    Only when it suits me, now go have a nice chat with this idiot.

    Hey why am I the idiot?

    Because you ask questions like this! Shoo! Only leave when Elliana lets you leave.

    Greg and Elliana left and I wanted to go back home to start my research but I only saw a large burnt patch.

    Wow, I suck.

    I decided to visit the spirit guardian and chat and ask some questions. I am supposed to ask for permission to visit the guardian tree but these elders always take too long to decide on anything so I just snuck in.

    Hey how are you feeling?

    ¡°It feels like I am in a foreign body. How are you faring?¡±

    Just some dizzy spells, they¡¯re not blackouts yet. So, I have officially started on the spirit vessel. I think I have enough information to make this. I just don¡¯t know how long this will take. But I do have to ask some questions.

    ¡°Go on.¡±

    So, there are 2 components that are important and reliant on the spirit it¡¯s going to host. Besides that, I need to know what kind of body do you want? Human? Elf? Or something else? Male? Female? All those things.

    ¡°I can choose anything?¡±

    Please keep it within reason.

    ¡°I would want to become a strong and tall elvish male. I want to be handsome and muscular. Strong thick arms, long beautiful hair, to look dependable and¡­¡±

    Hey. Just a question. How you¡¯re describing this¡­ it does sound more like a chick talking about her preference for men¡­ are you perhaps a female?

    ¡°Huh? What makes you think that?¡±

    When I make the spirit vessel it should fit the spirit. I was unsure if all spirits have genders so that¡¯s why I asked¡­

    ¡°Oh, I might have gotten carried away a bit. Give me a female elvish body that could match an elvish man like that!¡±

    I have no idea what that means but I will take note of that and consult Raishin¡­ anything else specific traits?

    ¡°Can I have 4 arms? I feel like I will have a lot to do once I¡¯m in that vessel.¡±

    Hmm, that is actually a good request. They will probably work you to the bone, anything else?

    ¡°I want to be able to store spirit energy in packets and externalize them and share them with other spirits if needed.¡±

    Oof a request I don¡¯t know I can fulfill. I will try my best.

    ¡°Thanks, that is all.¡±

    Now I need to know about you as a spirit. What type of spirit you are specifically and how this type is different from the others? I will also need samples of your spirit energy.

    ¡°You can take some of those fruits, they are filled with my spirit energy. And I am a Life spirit. It is similar to a nature spirit but how do I say this¡­¡±

    Stronger?

    ¡°I suppose so. With enough spirit energy, I can bring the recently deceased to life. No other type of spirit or form of magic can achieve this. Exceptions are the soul containers in races like you and the phoenix rebirth.¡±

    Hmm so you¡¯re similar to how the soul containers work?

    ¡°Yes, so even though you might not understand me as a life spirit, you¡¯re already instinctively familiar with this concept if you¡¯ve died at least once.¡±

    Is it that easy?

    ¡°Not everything has to be complicated.¡±

    It seems so.

    I picked several fruits from the branches.

    Are these ok now?

    ¡°I had to focus and concentrate my energy more efficiently. They should be fine to eat now.¡±

    What would even happen if I did that?  I took a bite and my spirit energy ballooned and I auto ignited in foxfire.

    Oh shit!

    I put it out before I would burn this place down.

    ¡°Hmm while I¡¯m glad that you didn¡¯t burn my vessel, your spirit energy seems to be extremely low.¡±

    What do you mean?

    ¡°Your foxfire should have punched a hole through the barrier that protects me from fire but it didn¡¯t even come close. I don¡¯t have the means to investigate or help you but I will promise you that I will investigate once I have my spirit vessel.¡±

    Uhh this is not a bad thing, is it?

    ¡°Well, I am aware that a mixture of spirit energy and magic is the most effective in combatting gods. The fact that your spirit energy is so low means that you can¡¯t strike a perfect balance between magic and spirit energy in your foxfires, which in turn will make your foxfires not as effective against gods as they should be.¡±

    So, it is not my fault that my foxfire is weak?

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe that is the case no. I am unfortunately now forced to enforce the barrier around the village to make sure you can¡¯t go out and be reckless or that gods can¡¯t easily enter. Please come see me when you want to leave the village.¡±

    Why is everyone so overprotective¡­

    ¡°Besides the reasons you often hear, this is also a selfish reason because I can¡¯t get a spirit vessel if you die.¡±

    Hmm that selfish reason is actually a really good one. Fine, I will visit you if I need to leave the village.

    I left the room of the spirit guardian and evaded some angry elders.

    Angry glares and arrows got pointed toward me. ¡°How many times do we need to tell you to ask for permission!¡±

    The guardian spirit is ok with it so you should too!

    ¡°There are procedures for everything!¡±

    I don¡¯t have time to wait 5 working days to visit the guardian!

    I slipped away and returned home but I remembered that my house had burnt down. A figure was standing in front of where my house was supposed to be.

    Oh, hey Inna!

    Inna turned her head and her light brown locks danced. ¡°Agnis? What happened?¡±

    I messed up and fried banana stealing elders.

    ¡°I see, so where are you going to live now?¡± She was petting Nilah who had finished cleaning up all the foxfire.

    I looked up and Inna followed my gaze.

    Hopefully a house up in the canopy.

    ¡°How about staying in the house next to mine? It¡¯s empty.¡±

    Eh? Is that a good idea?

    ¡°Why not? Come!¡± Inna climbed up a vine and jumped from branch to branch up into the canopy. I followed her. I hope I won¡¯t get a dizzy spell now and cause the elves to freak out again.

    I successfully made it to our destination.

    ¡°Here, use this house. I will send a singing bird to one of the elders that you will live here now.¡±

    Uhh thanks. Just know that I¡¯m a shitty neighbor.

    ¡°It is not that bad, don¡¯t hesitate to ask me if you need anything!¡± Inna disappeared into her house. The new house was quite empty so I spent 2 hours making it livable.

    Looks good! Now to dive into the research!?

 Pneuma 12: Spirit skin

    So, I did say that I would be starting my research but a lot had already done. The bones and Ichor Pneuma are the only components I have to research together with the magic circuits. But I will leave those for last. All I need to do is get all the ingredients and synthesize these components. I already had most of the basic components and equipment from clearing out Rignef¡¯s mansion.

    I doesn¡¯t seem that alchemy is needed yet so Greg can keep spending time with Elliana. I just have to mix ingredients and boil them with foxfire. Now about these ingredients¡­ I own half and I have no clue what the other half even is.

    Nothing is indicated as hard to get but this was written who knows how long ago. The names might also have changed. What the fuck is a Pferian Nais? Or a Trin Faux? I sent a clone to ask around.

    At least the location and its function has been written down. Both the Pferian Nais and Trin Faux are responsible for elasticity. So, whatever this is, if it''s elastic I know I¡¯m on the right track. It also recommends Dewdrops for a pleasant smell. Mistflowers again. All of these things can be found near where Boshi town once stood, however. There might still be light corruption there so I will have to get close to Witchaven again.

    I hope I won¡¯t get abducted by the Misha¡­ Besides that, there are some plants found here in the forest. Maybe Inna has them. I sent another clone to bother my new neighbor. I needed to get ready to go to the Lucidus mountain range. Maybe I should give Witchaven a visit. I will need to refresh on Azu¡¯s research eventually for this. Might as well since I¡¯ll be close.

    No elf knew of any elastic substances named Pferian Nais or Trin Faux, I¡¯m not surprised. My other clone got lucky. It got the plants that were needed and more.

    Another clone got made. This one would write down everything I do. Well, anything of relevance. I might prank some Misha when I visit Witchaven but that¡¯s irrelevant to my research.

    I stepped outside and almost bumped into 2 elders. They were bandaged up like mummies.

    Oh, you¡¯re not charred anymore. But I don¡¯t have any more bananas, they¡¯ve all turned into ash.

    ¡°And where do you think you¡¯re going? Out to cause more trouble I assume?¡±

    Uh, you¡¯re not wrong but this is for a good cause so I need to speak to the guardian.

    ¡°We will put in a request and in 5¡­¡±

    Yeah, we might all be dead by then cya!

    I teleported down and stepped into the big tree. Evading elders and cancelling their magic as usual and stepped into the ¡®forbidden¡¯ zone. These elves sure don¡¯t learn.

    ¡°So, you have returned.¡±

    I need to leave the village.

    ¡°For how long?¡±

    Uhh, I will try to keep it short. A week or 2 weeks.

    ¡°2 weeks?! What could possibly take that long?¡±

    Uhh, travelling takes a long time.

    ¡°And that applies to you because?¡±

    Shit, I was hoping this spirit didn¡¯t know I can move super-fast.

    I also need to refresh up on some research which might take a while.

    ¡°I see, I will arrange for bodyguards.¡±

    No bodyguards! The location of this research is ehm problematic more people will make this impossible.

    ¡°Very well, just know that if you go over the allotted time or you return injured, your next request will be considerably harder to be granted. There is no point in all this if you die.¡±

    I will keep that in mind thank you.

    I left the forbidden area and got surrounded.

    ¡°You know Agnis, there are rules.¡± Byron seemed quite annoyed.

    You do know that the guardian is on a time limit, right? And I don¡¯t know how long it takes to create this spirit vessel or even how long I can freely move around. Having to make me wait 5 days for everything is a sure way to get both me and the guardian kicked out of our vessels. Anyway, I¡¯m busy, cya!

    I tugged on the [Dimensional Anchor] and found myself in Azu¡¯s house.

    Realization set in. I had left Nilah behind. I was so accustomed to her being my sword, which I always had on me. But now that she preferred to stay in her fox form, I had left her behind several times to either watch the house or so she could explore or sleep.

    I will have to do a [Transform] without Nilah as my hat. My Misha transformation will be so weak without Nilah¡­. I can¡¯t use my normal transformation appearance. They know who Agn¨¨s Oures is and I obviously can¡¯t go out like this.

    It didn¡¯t look like anyone had been inside Azu¡¯s house since I last left here. Azu said she would grab all her research stuff but she didn¡¯t. What is going on¡­ Don¡¯t tell me tomato bitch had found her and went for revenge. I shook my head. I¡¯m sure we would notice a fight like that. Which reminds me.

    I looked through the house. No mistflowers. Makes sense, they would all have died by now. I did find some books about skincare. This is going to be important, isn¡¯t it¡­ I decided to archive these just in case. I used [Transform] and turned into a chick. I used illusions to get normal clothing, change my appearance and a hat, opened the door and checked if anyone was looking. I didn¡¯t detect anyone so I got out and headed for the Misha academy. It was as easy as ever to sneak in and walk through the corridors. This is some nostalgia.

    ¡°Hey, you!¡±

    Uh oh.

    I turned around and to my shock saw the headmaster. ¡°Are you skipping lectures? Please abide by the rules and follow them. Hmm, I haven¡¯t seen you around.¡±

    Ok Agnis, you can do this. You need to give a boring answer else you will get found out.

    I had lent a book but I forgot to return it on time. Please, I don¡¯t want another penalty!

    ¡°Oh, let me see your identification card first, you know the rules. We had to up our security since the last invasion.¡± I quickly made an illusion that made her see what she wanted to see.

    I¡¯m a first years student, what invasion?

    I handed the illusion over to the headmaster.

    ¡°A nine-tailed spirit fox invaded our city¡­¡± The headmaster smiled. It seems it worked.

    ¡°Welcome back Agnis.¡± Her mana flared up.

    Huh what? My name is Jenny, not Agnis!

    ¡°Nice try, I don¡¯t know why you would give me an identification card that shows me what I want to see but it told me exactly who you are!¡±

    Wait oh, I guess that could also happen¡­ Any chance you can let this slide?

    I dodged a [Flare] and attempted to steal her hat. I failed.

    Ooh, you upped your hat security!

    ¡°I will knock you out and then we will go through a procedure to have you become someone''s research partner!¡± I dropped my transformation and illusions since there was no point.

    I can¡¯t! I¡¯m busy!

    I used [Eternal Winter] and made magic useless. I slid through the corridors freezing every Misha that tried to catch me. Their robes got frozen to the floor as they didn¡¯t wear pants.

    1 minute and 13 seconds. That¡¯s how long it took me to crack the new security on their hats. I have gotten a bit rusty. I cancelled [Eternal Winter] and stole all the hats.

    ¡°Ugh! Not again!¡± I could see the frustration on the Headmaster¡¯s face but it was mixed with something else. An expression I couldn¡¯t place.

    I won¡¯t be here for long so don¡¯t worry.

    ¡°You¡¯ve received my message, right? We need help in mastering [Hattrick]. We have several Misha investigating those ¡®easy¡¯ steps you mentioned and they have no clue what makes them so easy¡­¡±

    I would love to help but I have something more urgent. You Misha are smart you will get there! And if not¡­ just get Azu¡­

    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    I slipped into the corridor where Azu¡¯s lab was and opened it. The door closed before the headmaster could enter. ¡°Wai¡­¡±

    I was back in a familiar environment. It smelled like mistflowers. I took several books off the shelves. These were books she had written to continue her research at a later date of for those who would pick up the torch. It had delved into mana runes that were unusual or highly uncommon. I had intentionally skipped these the last time.

    There are only 3 books but I have the feeling that they will throw my knowledge about mana runes and circles upside down. I messed with the mana circle device while reading. I tried to create a magic circle with only these ¡®exotic¡¯ mana runes. She was missing a lot of these.

    And there it was! Some exotic runes can act as a fully functioning mana circle just on their own. Others have been theorized by Azu to change the shape of magic circles. Shape? As in magic squares? That sounds interesting.

    These books had to be reread because I didn¡¯t understand what Azu had written down. Three-dimensional magic circles, which would make spheres? Ribbon-shaped magic circles? Azu you mad genius! But how are we supposed to do this? It seems Azu was unsure yet but she has put in some groundwork.

    I am getting distracted. I archived this and looked at Azu¡¯s setup to create magic circles. It didn¡¯t seem to be suited for her other ideas in these 3 books. This is my chance to improve my skills at greater efficiency. I will also be able to find out how rusty I am and get rid of that.

    <hr>

    A week was spent rereading the same 3 books and also working on the efficiency of my most used magic skills. I made a version of [Hattrick] where I could use 4 hats and wrote 2 pages of pointers for the Misha to figure out how to use [Hattrick]. I am not going to tell them how; they have to find out themselves. Might make them appreciate Azu¡¯s research more.

    I am kind of upset that they haven¡¯t taken her back in yet. I was currently looking at the magic circles of my foxfires. Even with Azu¡¯s setup, I could make heads nor tails on what to do here. They have a lot of mana runes that I don¡¯t recognize and Azu¡¯s research has only identified 2 that my foxfire has. I sighed and looked at the desk.

    I ended up writing another paper to increase the security of their hats. I am too nice to these Misha. I was refreshed on mana runes and mana circles and had even improved greatly so it was time to gather the ingredients I came for.

    I cleaned up and walked to the door but I stopped. I had written some books and copies of papers and had left them behind in this lab the last time I was here. So that Azu knew that I appreciated her research. But that is quite impersonal. Maybe I need to leave something behind that¡¯s more personal.

    What could I possibly leave behind? I approached her desk and made a mistflower made out of frost magic. This will never melt unless I want it to so it will stay here. My magic circles have been polished and had changed a lot because of her research so she might not recognize it as mine but¡­ maybe she will.

    I walked out of the lab and instantly got caught by the headmaster and 2 professors.

    Really? You guys have been camping here for a whole week?

    ¡°We won¡¯t be able to catch you otherwise!¡±

    How about a deal? I will give you these hints to using [Hattrick] and a new paper on hat security and I will let you go.

    I waved the papers and they could see it was the real deal. They seemed conflicted.

    The Headmaster however seemed sad, maybe even distressed. ¡°Agnis¡­ we can¡¯t find Ayaru¡­¡±

    Well probably because you have treated her like shit and abandoned her!

    ¡°I hoped she would at least hop by¡­¡±

    I don¡¯t know where she is, sorry, but as long as no strange big event happens then I think she is fine, even a god couldn¡¯t kill her.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m worried about. A lot of [Meteors] have been falling lately. I¡¯m afraid she got into trouble again.¡±

    Ehh, Azu is fine, those [Meteors] were mine.

    ¡°I see, in that case even more reason we can''t let you leave, it seems the student is following in the footsteps of his mentor.¡± The Headmaster started to double down and got serious in attempting to catch me.

    Oh, come on first the elves, and now you too? Give me a break!

    I threw the notes and the paper which briefly distracted them and gave me time to tug on my [Dimensional Anchor] and get back to Azu¡¯s house. I instantly ran outside, connected to the air leyline currents, used wind [Dragon], and flew off.

    I made some illusions to shake the Misha off my tail. I landed on a mountainside and found a field of mistflowers. Vinny could use some of these. I can¡¯t tell if they are going extinct but they only grow here and near Boshi town. But Boshi town is a big light-corrupted hole now so that area is out.

    I stored a lot of mistflowers and had a special batch for Vinny to tend to. My 2 missing components could be found in a cave. I have a week as long as this cave adventure doesn¡¯t take that long I¡¯m fine. Any leftover time will be spent looking for Memory slimes.

    <hr>

    Aaand it was just a normal cave. Don¡¯t see those often. I found a strange stretchy flower. I don¡¯t know which of the 2 ingredients this is but this was easy. Now for the other one¡­

    A magic attack hit me but I took 0 damage. Some extremely weak creature was spitting water magic at me. It was only making me wet. How does a creature this weak even survive? It looked like a slime.

    I poked it and it doubled down on water magic. It felt like cold jelly. I tried to pick it up but it stretched and increased in volume. I let go and the creature was way bigger now. This property could be useful for skin so it''s either this creature or its fluid that I need. I don¡¯t think this is the memory slime.

    How do I beat it without killing it? I sucked it into my dimensional pocket but that killed it and it just turned into water. Well, that is a first, a creature so weak that it''s almost impossible to catch alive. Maybe the old king of Jarn is related to these.

    I found another one. I made a cage of ice around it but the cold killed it.

    I sat down. This is unexpectedly hard. It can stretch so maybe I just carry it? I got another cold shower. These things are weak but they are brave. Or stupid. I picked one up but it seemed impractical because of its stretchiness. It was too big to pick up with one hand so that was causing the problem.

    My tail picked it up. Success! Now to teleport home! Or not. This thing died by just putting it in my dimensional pocket. Teleporting with it or running super-fast will kill it.

    Do I have to walk? I tested this out. The fastest I could go with these things was actually quite fast. As long as I stayed under Mach 1, I could carry this thing.

    I located 9, picked them up, and started running. The deadline is approaching so I might barely make it at this speed as long as I didn¡¯t get interrupted. I was afraid of anything happening like a random god appearing but I arrived safely at the elven village.

    It was midnight. the full moon should appear tomorrow or the day after. I had forgotten to continue to do [Moontalk]. I have too many things to keep track of. Coast seems clear, no annoying elven elders. I got home and I saw 2 elven elders frozen solid and Nilah sitting next to them.

    Good job Nilah!

    Nilah deserved some pets and I made some illusions to create a safe environment for these super weak slimes.

    Nilah, please leave these slimes alone. I need them for my research.

    I freed the slimes and went to mix some plants. The protocol required me to make some liquid with several of the plants I got from Inna, and then feed it to the slimes. It will cause them to toughen up and not die to almost anything. I will then be able to use them as an ingredient to create the skin.

    I followed the protocol precisely. Rignef¡¯s book described that the solution was supposed to be light orange but this was dark orange with bits of plant material.

    Hmm, that¡¯s not right.

    I must be doing something wrong. I tried and tried and tried.

    16 try and it looked perfect. So, I noticed something. This solution had to be stirred anti-clockwise not clockwise. Rignef might have been left-handed or stirred it with his tail. If this simple solution has quirky behavior like this then I might be in for a painful process.

    I put the mixture in dishes and placed them in front of the slimes. They attacked me with cold water before slurping the orange mixture. It caused them to turn light orange. They were still transparent. I tested the mixture by zapping a slime. It was still alive and kicking. It was shooting a lot of water at me.

    Hey! Just give up you will ever defeat me with this weak attack!

    The slime didn¡¯t care so I froze it and confirmed that it was still alive. The other slimes were behaving.

    You can bully them now Nilah, just don¡¯t kill them.

    I started to put another mixture together. It was viscous so I had 2 of my tails stirring it. I threw in the stretchy plants while continuing infusing magic in the solution and keep pulling water out of it.

    It turned into a solid after 30 minutes. I tried to pull out the spoon but this thing had claimed my wooden spoon. I ducked because Nilah was slapping a slime around.

    Hey Nilah watch out!

    I had to smash this solid and turn it into powder.

    Nilah! Hammer!

    Nilah jumped at my hand and used [Transform] to turn into a frost hammer. I kept hammering but it wouldn¡¯t break. I am stronger than a human but my physical strength is nothing special outside of that.

    Hmm thank you Nilah I think I will have to do something else.

    I focused and used [Vacuum Punch] on it. The shockwave pulverized the block and turned it into powder. The powder wasn¡¯t as fine as I would have hoped but it should be enough.

    Heh, speed is king after all!

    The powder got collected and put it in a large pot. I caught a slime Nilah was slapping around again and shoved it into the pot. Now they need to mix and the skin will be finished. Kind of. This slime kept spewing water in my face. It was a bit annoying. I connected to the air leyline currents and used [High Voltage] on it. It was ready now. The slime turned into a slimy liquid and I mixed it with the powder.

    Nilah, 2 more slimes!

    Nilah slapped 2 more slimes my way and I gave them the same treatment. I was soaked but I¡¯m a water user so I don¡¯t mind. In the end, I used 6 out of the 9 slimes. The result was a rubbery kind of substance. It had an orange-brown color though. I will have to do the special treatment now and boil it again with foxfire.

    I had sent out a clone to sneak out of the village to collect the memory slime and buy resistance potions. It found slimes matching the description but these were just ordinary clear slimes¡­ So they went from near extinct to be quite common. At least there is a race that seems to be doing well.

    5 hours of boiling and mixing and it was done. I sat down and looked at the transparent rubbery mass. I had also added the ¡®Memory Slimes¡¯ and it seemed to be looking good. Rignef had advised me in the book to stretch it and cut it into squares with something very sharp.

    Nilah, Sword!

    Nilah turned into a katana and I cut the mass into thousands of squares. I stored them in my dimensional pocket except for 3 and tested the stretchiness. It seemed fine. It felt soft and skin-like. I will just have to soak them in mistflower extract in my dimensional pocket and apply the ¡®skincare¡¯ procedures from the book that I had found in Azu¡¯s house.

 Pneuma 13: Spirit Muscles

    I was quite tired. I had to do a lot of things I normally don¡¯t do. It is a good thing I have some slimes left because they are needed for the muscles too. I hope I have enough. I petted Nilah and cleaned up all the water in my living room. I sat down and unfroze the elders.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°What is the deal with that fox?!¡±

    Well, you were trespassing and she defended her home, so what do you want?

    ¡°We wanted to check on your progress¡­ what happened here?¡±

    Stealing research, eh? Well not that I mind. I just finished making the skin so since you¡¯re already here go get some stuff for me.

    I threw a list at them.

    ¡°Huh, are you going to bake?¡±

    It seems so, I¡¯m just not using flour, now chop chop!

    The elders left to get these strange ingredients. Did Rignef make a mistake? Did he mix up his cooking recipe with how to create spirit muscles?

    I wanted to rest but I got dizzy again. I was sitting on the couch so this wasn¡¯t an issue. I can¡¯t afford to take any longer on this spirit vessel. Everything should go well until I get to the bones and Ichor Pneuma.

    There are 3 big obstacles. Ichor Pneuma, the magic circuits and bringing everything together with alchemy. I am only confident in the magic circuits. My dizziness subsided.

    How long do you think this all is going to take Nilah?

    Nilah didn¡¯t answer as always.

    <hr>

    ¡°Hey wake up! We¡¯re back!¡± I got up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. It seemed the errand boys had returned.

    ¡°So, what are you going to bake?¡±

    I already told you that I¡¯m going to make spirit muscles and there is no baking. Just mixing and a lot of kneading. Just dump everything in that large pot over there and chuck those slimes in.

    The errand boys did what I told them and I walked over to the pot which had something that looked like it was some sort of orange dough.

    Yup this is perfect, thank you. I have to let this sit for a bit I need to deviate a bit from the protocol to be more efficient.

    So, this dough only needs 1 ingredient to differentiate into red or white muscle. For white muscles it needs aluminum powder and for red muscle it needs iron oxide.

    So, I want to combine these and just have all-purpose pink muscle it¡¯s just that this mixture makes thermite, a quite dangerous substance. But it can be explosive and burn for a long time it is exactly what these ¡®pink¡¯ muscles need.

    I went outside and took the two metal powders out of my dimensional pocket. I have played with this so many times as a blacksmith apprentice. I know the perfect mixture but this might not be the perfect mixture for the muscles.

    Raishin appeared as expected. He often appears whenever Greg or I do things that are sensitive to mistakes. His intuition is probably to blame here and he more than often messes things up for us.

    Yoo. What are you doing?

    I am about to possibly burn this tree down, want to watch?

    Of course!

    Raishin sat down and watched as I mixed the powders.

    Wait is this that thermite thing you used to blow up ice blocks?

    Yup.

    Raishin moved further back.

    So, do the elders know about this?

    Of course not! They wouldn¡¯t let me do this otherwise! Oh let¡¯s see if it can still blow up this ice block.

    I ran over to Raishin and the thermite went off but nothing happened. It just melted the ice block.

    Did you go for the safe version?

    No, it doesn¡¯t always work, but the temperature seems right. It also burned for long enough.

    I did 2 more experiments when the elders ran out of my house. ¡°What in Bellia¡¯s name are you doing?! Are you trying to burn the forest down?¡±

    Calm down, Agnis is very good at controlling fire.

    ¡°You do realize that he burnt us and his house down not too long ago, right?¡± A banana stealing elder pointed at his bandages.

    Accidents happen it¡¯s not cool to keep reminding people of those!

    Yeah! How is your search for a new girlfriend going by the way?

    I gave up I don¡¯t think there¡¯s anyone for me here. They are a bit too sheltered.

    Ah I see, let¡¯s move a bit further back I ignited this with foxfire, let''s see what it does.

    ¡°Hey! Are you even listening?!¡±

    Nope.

    Ooh it¡¯s so colorful! It looks like firework! Oh, it burnt through the floor.

    Uhh.

    I jumped down to catch the fire. Getting banned right now might hinder my research. The elders lost it.

    ¡°That¡¯s it I¡¯ve had enough! We are going to assign 2 permanent bodyguards to you!¡±

    I thought you 2 were his bodyguards.

    Yeah, I thought so too!

    ¡°We can¡¯t continue keeping an eye on you!¡±

    You guys surely were acting different when eating all my bananas!

    ¡°They were just bananas!¡±

    They were my bananas!

    What is going on here?

    ¡°Agnis almost burnt the tree down!¡±

    The elders ate all my bananas!

    Greg sighed.  When will you learn that this is how life is going to be with a nine tailed spirit fox? I¡¯m sure you know rumors or stories about them. If you don¡¯t go with their flow, you will lead a very stressful life.

    Haha I¡¯m surprised that even after almost 2 months they still don¡¯t know this!

    And! I¡¯m not randomly burning things down!

    That foxfire was cool!

    Ok I might have been randomly burning things down by using that foxfire. But! I needed to test this thermite for my next component!

    Thermite? In an elven village? You know what? I should have expected this¡­ Let¡¯s make some protective barriers to put around his house Elliana.

    ¡°Sure!¡± Greg and Elliana walked off.

    They are getting along quite well.

    Yeah. I hope it goes somewhere.

    ¡°I have an idea; I will put Inna and Jyno in charge of keeping an eye on you. Having them as bodyguards might be more effective.¡± A banana-stealing elder said. The banana stealing elders look quite similar so I have difficulty distinguishing them. but they are not important!

    Uhh good luck with that.

    One elder went to Inna¡¯s house and another was probably going to find Jyno. I had 3 thermite mixtures that I wanted to use.

    I have to get back to work!

    Good luck! Don¡¯t burn the village down!

    I will try!

    I went back inside and decided to sleep. It could be a full moon tonight but I was just too tired.

    The next morning arrived and the muscle dough had ballooned in size but it wasn¡¯t big enough. I created an illusion to make the room bigger and its pot also bigger. It would probably be big enough tomorrow. I could already use it right now but there are no disadvantages of waiting longer. I will just have more stuff.

    The protocol I¡¯m following will have me make enough to create 4 or 5 spirit vessels. This excludes the bones and Ichor Pneuma of course. But having more muscle dough might bump that up to 6. The muscles will make up most of the spirit vessel¡¯s volume so more is better.

    I played with Nilah for the rest of the day and gave her snacks. The next day came and was time to test the thermite. I took 3 small samples from the dough and spent 5 days kneading it with my tails.

    This is easy to make but it takes a lot of time. An average of 5-7 days of kneading the dough. Rignef also kneaded this with his tails. Inna and Jyno appeared on day 2 of kneading. Inna wanted to give a shot at the kneading but her arms had gotten tired after 20 minutes.

    I feel sorry for them because I won¡¯t be doing much now, just kneading. The dough balls had a nice pink color. Jyno was lying on my couch and reading a book.

    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    ¡°So, what is after this kneading of yours?¡±

    Testing which dough ball reacts the best and longest to spirit magic and then apply the matching thermite to the big blob there.

    Inna and Jyno looked at a gigantic blob of muscle dough. ¡°It is not going to burn or explode after you do, right?¡±

    Dunno. Probably not?

    Jyno raised an eyebrow. ¡°Probably?¡±

    Don¡¯t worry I have a high heat resistance.

    ¡°And what about us?¡±

    I will save you, how is it going with your girlfriend Jyno?

    ¡°Oh great! We have a great connection. That adventure where you saved us really brought us together!¡± Inna looked at me because she knew what I did.

    Good to hear. Keep it like that and tell the other elves how it is to have a connection with a woman!

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve tried but they just don¡¯t get it. I can see what the women are going through now¡­¡±

    Keep trying, you will get there eventually¡­

    He looked at me and then at Inna. ¡°So, what about you? Are you and Inna?¡±

    ¡°Oh no! I¡¯m just his neighbor!¡±

    And now my watchdog.

    Jyno narrowed his eyes. ¡°I keep hearing that you seem to not be interested in women.¡±

    Ehh who said that? I¡¯m just not interested in a relationship. I have 1001 things to do and I don¡¯t even have time for the things I should be doing.

    ¡°I see. That makes sense. You seem to always be busy, even though I¡¯ve heard of the stories that you guys normally pull a lot of pranks and are quite relaxed.¡±

    Don¡¯t worry I will go back to that if I finish this. I don¡¯t know how long the guardian spirit has.

    I tossed one of the muscle dough balls to Nilah so she could knead too.

    ¡°Your fox is quite smart. What type of fox is she?¡±

    ¡°Jyno¡­ Nilah is a magic skill¡­¡±

    Jyno got up. He looked surprised. ¡°What? A magic skill?¡± He walked over to Nilah and inspected her.

    You can pet her but she will steal your mana.

    Jyno petted Nilah and as per normal got his mana stolen. ¡°How?¡±

    No clue, I inherited this from my grandfather, he probably made it but I have no clue what he did because the magic circle uses a lot of exotic mana runes.

    ¡°Exotic mana runes?¡±

    Never mind, she is very complicated let¡¯s leave it at that.

    ¡°I see¡­¡± He kept inspecting Nilah.

    We loafed around for 2 more days while I was kneading the muscle dough.

    First flammability test!

    Jyno and Inna dove behind Nilah.

    Just kidding but that is also a good idea.

    I tried to ignite it but it wouldn¡¯t catch fire. That¡¯s good. I sloppily poured spirit energy in it and had the dough contract. I made the relax and contract repeatedly.

    Jyno peeked from behind Nilah. ¡°So, for how long are you going to do this?¡±

    Till the last muscle dough gives up.

    All three were doing explosive bursts very well but endurance was something I had to find out so I had 6 tails doing this constantly. While I was eating, sleeping, talking to Inna and Jyno. We even played some card and board games. They were unfamiliar with it so I could easily kick their asses until Inna started to get used to it and completely destroyed Jyno and me.

    The last muscle dough got fatigued on day 3.

    Inna poked the dough. ¡°Just a question. Normal muscles don¡¯t last this long, do they?¡±

    Correct.

    Jyno looked at his arms and then at the muscle dough. ¡°So, what kind of monstrous vessel are you making that shows the first sign of fatigue after 3 days?¡±

    This is possible with training tough.

    Jyno pointed at the dough my tails were holding. ¡°You are not going to convince me that that dough had training!¡±

    Fair point but nothing I can do about it. Just be glad that your guardian spirit is going to be freakishly strong.

    He shook his head. ¡°Would the spirit be able to control its strength with that overpowered muscle dough?¡±

    Hmm, good question, just don¡¯t ask her to hug you and it should be fine.

    Inna cocked her head. ¡°Her?¡±

    Oh yeah, your spirit guardian is female. You guys should know this though¡­ you live here¡­

    ¡°I never thought about it¡­ what is she like?¡± Inna suddenly became interested in the guardian spirit.

    You will find out after I finish this vessel. It seems I will be using batch 2!

    I threw the second thermite batch into the big blob of dough and started to knead it with my tails.

    ¡°And how long is it going to take to knead this monstrosity?¡± It seems that Jyno has something against this muscle dough. Is he possibly jealous of my muscles?

    No clue, I can¡¯t knead everything because of its size so it might take 2 weeks even more. You guys can do something else you know.

    ¡°Ugh, it¡¯s fine, I just miss my girlfriend a bit.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you bring her here so we can chat?¡±

    Hey! My house isn¡¯t a social meeting place!

    ¡°I will bring her over tomorrow then.¡±

    Hey are you guys listening?¡±

    ¡°No!¡±

    ¡°Nope.¡±

    Jyno¡¯s whole elven group came over the next day and used my house as a socializing spot.

    100+ gold elven chick asked. I forgot her name or how much I paid to free her but it was the one that felt guilty the most. ¡°Hey, can we help kneading?¡±

    Sure, let¡¯s see who can keep this up the longest.

    They continued their social meeting while kneading. Most gave up quite fast. Jyno lasted 42 minutes. He seemed to be quite proud of it and he got a lot of cheers.

    ¡°Hey, why are we cheering for Jyno while Agnis has been kneading this for days without no rest?¡±

    Thank you, Inna!

    Jyno crossed his arms. ¡°He is cheating with his tails!¡±

    Hey how rude! My tails get tired too!

    ¡°Hey how do you get them to be so fluffy?¡± Another elven chick asked.

    A lot of brushing, please stay away from them unless you want to get kneaded into this muscle dough!

    That seemed to work. Greg and Elliana also visited. They had finished a barrier. Not to protect my house but to protect the village from me.

    Don¡¯t go overboard, this barrier isn¡¯t omnipotent.

    How is learning elvish magic going?

    I think I have got the basics down. I should be proficient enough to use it in combat.

    Oh, that is good. So ehh what are you teaching Elliana?

    About the outside world.

    Hmm doesn¡¯t seem like a fair trade, how about teaching her some shadow magic or something?

    ¡°I can¡¯t use dark magic Agnis¡­¡±

    Hmm, oh didn¡¯t you had a lightning affinity? Quite rare under elves.

    I am not proficient in lightning magic¡­ and I assume you are too busy to teach her.

    Well, it¡¯s a good thing that we have another friend that can use lightning magic.

    You want Raishin to teach her?  Greg seemed doubtful and I understand why but who knows what Raishin will do in his boredom.

    Sure, why not? He will have to get there somewhere, as long as you make sure he doesn¡¯t do anything strange then he can help Elliana learn lightning magic.

    Can¡¯t you have a shadow clone teach her?

    They will be quite occupied with other stuff the moment all the easy steps are done.

    Greg sighed.  What do you think Elliana?

    ¡°That sounds lovely! I¡¯m always willing to learn new things!¡±

    Well, there you have it. I also think Raishin needs something to do.

    He seems to be doing fine but I agree. Do you know yet when you need alchemy and what?

    Nope, sorry. I will get all the easy parts done first.

    Ok, just let me know when it¡¯s time.

    Greg, Elliana, and the elves stayed till late and then left. Nilah had retreated because the petting became too much for her. She had also grown considerably from stealing mana.

    I spent 2 weeks in total kneading the muscle dough. It was time to test it. But Jyno was being annoying.

    ¡°Agnis, it has been almost 3 weeks since you last slept. Go sleep!¡±

    I don¡¯t know where you get these stats from Jyno but I slept 2 weeks ago.

    ¡°You can¡¯t fool me! You pretended to be asleep!¡±

    Fine! Can you then test this muscle dough with spirit energy?

    ¡°You can¡¯t expect us to go at it for 3 days like you did last time¡­¡±

    Well then let me do that and I will sleep afterwards!

    ¡°Or, you¡¯re going to sleep now and start when you wake up.¡±

    Jeez, fine. I guess you will become a great father hehe, so when are you going to make a kid.

    ¡°Hey that¡¯s unrelated! But I guess babysitting you is good practice!¡±

    Wow rude! You don¡¯t have the weight of an elven village on your shoulders! Any time wasted can have terrible consequences!

    ¡°You are right, we appreciate it but just go sleep please?¡± I put the muscle dough in a large container and walked to the stairs.

    Very well, I will sleep for several days so you two can do whatever you want.

    I went to my bedroom. Nilah was sleeping curled up in the basket Inna made for her. I curled up in my tails. I will only have to test the muscle dough after I wake up. It is already finished in its current state.

 Pneuma 14: Where are my Pants?

    I had a strange dream. I had found the perfect girlfriend. She was funny, strong, sexy, and also fit in perfectly in our group. It felt as if Agnis and her were siblings and she had good synergy with Greg in combat. I just couldn¡¯t see her face. Her voice seemed muted. Why isn¡¯t my dream telling me anything?

    I tried my best to remember the details of the dream. Only the feeling lingered. It was anything unlike I¡¯ve felt before when talking to chicks or being in a relationship with them. What is this?

    I didn¡¯t get much time to think it over because someone was at the door.

    Oh, Greg and Elliana, are you two on a date? Hehe.  I smirked

    A date? No, we came here to ask you if you could teach Elliana lightning magic.

    Huh, why would you ask me and not Agnis?

    He is quite busy you know. It was also his idea to ask you.

    Uhh I would love to but I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m a good teacher.

    ¡°Greg will be here to give you tips. Can you give it at least a try?¡± My buddies will do anything for me. They even went to fish me out of Event Horizon and I¡¯m willing to do the same.

    Ok! Just know that I have no clue what I¡¯m doing most of the time and just go off intuition!

    ¡°I know. Thanks! So, when do we start?¡±

    Uhh, I could use some distraction. How about in 10 minutes?

    How about we help you clean out your house since you probably need those 10 minutes to find your pants¡­

    I looked down and was indeed pants less.

    I swear I put it on my chair yesterday. It just randomly disappeared¡­

    Here Elliana, some gloves and a gasmask.

    Wait! How rude my house isn¡¯t that messy!

    Greg and Elliana ignored me and entered my house.

    ¡°This is worse than I had imagined¡­ we might be here all day¡­ How does he live like this?¡±

    Greg [Shadow Bound] Elliana as she almost stepped on something I forgot to clean up.

    Normally, Agnis sends his clones over and uses their speed to clean up Raishin¡¯s house but he is too occupied now.

    ¡°It is quite heart warming to see how good of a friends you are.¡±

    Well, it¡¯s all we have.

    Greg made a lot of shadow clones.  Raishin just go sit in a corner. Cleaning always gets counterproductive when you help out, leave this to Elliana and me.

    But¡­ my pants¡­

    We will attempt to locate that first. Just go relax or something.

    Ok.

    Elliana and the army of Greg¡¯s started to clean up my house. I wonder if Greg has the same feeling towards Elliana as I had towards that chick in my dream. He is always with her but he never does anything. Maybe he¡¯s asexual? I never considered that. Given the circumstances, I would also think Agnis is asexual but from time to time it seems more as if he¡¯s trying his best to not fall for someone.

    He did once say he encountered a chick he almost fell for. He had spent a lot of time looking for her since she disappeared. Is that why he isn¡¯t letting anyone else in? There is still so much I don¡¯t know about my buddies.

    And what am I supposed to do while I¡¯m here? Greg is learning Elvish magic and getting ready to help Agnis with alchemy. Agnis is working his ass off to make a spirit vessel for the guardian spirit and himself. And I am just¡­ here. Maybe it is a good thing that they asked me to teach Elliana lightning magic.

    I have decided! I will give it my all! What do I know about lightning magic? It is cool, strong and has a lot of colors! But I¡¯m sure Elliana knows this too. What else do I know about lightning magic?

    ¡­

    I can¡¯t come up with anything else. Isn¡¯t this bad? How am I supposed to teach Elliana anything?!

    I started to panic. Don¡¯t tell me I have to study!? I hate studying!

    Oh, I remember what Agnis told me about short-range teleports! And that is everything I know. Ugh, this is bad. I should have told them that we would start tomorrow, or in a week, or in a month.

    I looked at the army of Greg¡¯s and Elliana. They did say cleaning might take a while day. Maybe I can use this time to learn about lightning magic. I went outside. The only one in this village I can ask about lightning magic is Agnis and he is busy so I will have to somehow find this out by myself.

    Various lightning skills got tested out. I then realized that I was still cheating. I don¡¯t need to use lightning magic because I can generate enough energy to create real lightning. Is this why I don¡¯t understand anything about lightning magic?

    I tried actual lightning magic and it felt inefficient to me. I remember Agnis mentioning that my magic circles were really sloppy. I don¡¯t have this feeling with fire and wind magic but I can¡¯t use those without magic so maybe I¡¯m just used to it.

    The more I tried to get my lightning magic to match my normal lightning spells the more I felt my magic circle was limiting me. I could brute force through it but it would cost considerably more energy than my 0-mana lightning.

    I sat down. I might have to ask Agnis to help me and fix this and I probably would have to study for this¡­ Why am I so shit?

    In the end, I couldn¡¯t find out more about lightning magic because all these skills have different properties and I couldn¡¯t find out what is lightning specific. Why am I so stupid? I decided to just improvise. Elliana knows nothing about lightning magic, neither does Greg. As long as she doesn¡¯t suck it shouldn¡¯t be a problem!

    It took them the whole day to clean up my house. They admonished me for going outside without pants and told me that they couldn''t find the pants I mentioned. That is strange. They went back home and would start the training tomorrow.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    I had that strange dream again. I have strange dreams from time to time. I had a similar dream before I got sent to Event Horizon. It was as vague as this one. I only realized that the dream was some sort of message the moment I was in the middle of the event.

    It was the part where we were hiding under the magma lake. Is this dream warning me of something or telling me to find this chick?

    I got up and my room looked strange. It looked bigger and brighter without all the stuff in it. I then noticed my pants in the corner next to my full body mirror. Silly Greg, how could he have missed it? I wanted to walk over but stopped. This pair of pants is the only thing in this corner. There is no way he would miss this. My intuition alarmed me.

    What¡­ what is this¡­

    The pants wiggled and its shape started to warp. I didn¡¯t take my chances and used [Nova Blast] on it.

    I woke up again. Was this a dream? My intuition was still going off. My room was still clean but the pants was still there. I pinched myself and I woke up again.

    What is going on?!

    I pinched myself again. I was in reality. I think. Is this one of Agnis¡¯ pranks? My intuition still senses danger so I don¡¯t think so.

    ¡°So, you are accustomed to illusions.¡± The pants warped and a small ugly man appeared.

    Who are you and what did you do to my pants!

    ¡°I am your pants!¡±

    I shivered and covered my crotch in disgust.

    Ewww! Pervert! What sick hobby is this!

    ¡°It is not a hobby! It is the only way I could infiltrate this elven village! You are quite careless, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    Wait is this why this pants was so cheap?!

    ¡°So, you are not a complete idiot. I am Frank a god of illusions. I am here to capture the new Calamity trio.¡±

    Calamity what?

    ¡°You do know that your mothers were called the Calamity trio, right?¡±

    Ehh sure.

    ¡°So, you didn¡¯t¡­ Well, we gods regard you 3 as the new generation of the Calamity trio. Biian had promised me that she would have the nine tailed spirit fox coach me in the better applications of illusions if I catch the 3 of you and bring you to her.¡±

    I don¡¯t get it. But I do get that your illusions suck. Agnis is way better!

    ¡°And that is why I need to catch the three of you.¡±

    I shook my head.

    You are stupid, aren¡¯t you?

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear that from you!¡±

    So, if Agnis is a better illusion user than you, how do you expect to catch him?

    ¡°I will catch you and use you as a hostage.¡±

    And that will cause Agnis to blow up everything, Greg and I are immune to most of his nukes you know?

    ¡°Haha nice try, I won¡¯t fall for that deception!¡±

    You could certainly learn a lot from Agnis. I won¡¯t have him bother with small fry like you. You might be a bad matchup for me in theory but you¡¯re quite stupid and I know a way better illusionist so do your worst!

    I got my [Dynamo Clouds] out. His eyes opened wide but I gave him no chance to react. I hit him with [Lightning Glitter] and a red [Supernova Blast].

    I felt a familiar sensation of illusion layers shattering.

    ¡°Are you insane? You will blow up the whole village!¡±

    My intuition tells me that, that¡¯s not what you¡¯re upset about. You¡¯re upset because Greg and Agnis might notice at this rate, eh?

    It seems my intuition was correct. He created various scary monsters to attack me. I know that they¡¯re illusions but as long as they look realistic enough, they will be able to hurt me.

    I realize that I know more about illusions than lightning magic. The moment I don¡¯t believe these illusions can¡¯t hurt me is when they can¡¯t. These illusions don¡¯t interfere with reality like the illusions of the 9t do.

    I used [Raishin Kick] on the most intimidating illusion and ignored the rest. I didn¡¯t believe that they could hurt me. They attacked be but did 0 damage.

    [Chain Lightning] got rid of most of his monsters. I then teleported behind him.

    ¡°Nice try!¡± another illusion layer shattered and it felt as if we were falling above an ocean.

    Nothing about this was scary or intimidating. My buddies and I have had scarier adventures. I used wind magic to close in on him and punched him in the face.

    ¡°I am a god you know!¡± Frank yelled.

    So what?! You were talking about my mom, right? Do you know that she has killed gods before?

    I kept punching him and caught him in a [Raishin Kick]. He made multiple illusion layers shatter but he was quite slow so I could teleport over to him and continue my [Raishin Kick]. Every hit I landed charged my [Dynamo Cloud] more.

    I finished my [Raishin Kick]. And sent him flying.

    He got beat up by just this. That bitch and even that Noobgod were way tougher than this.

    I used a fully charged [Black Lightning Haze]. I heard a scream that disappeared shortly after.

    I blinked and I was back in my room. It was still clean but there were no pants in the corner. Besides me breathing a bit heavy, there was no sign of my battle. I guess I joined Greg in having killed a god. I don¡¯t feel as if it was an accomplishment though. He was very weak. Is that bitch underestimating us by sending small fry after us? I took another pants out of my wardrobe and slapped it several times.

    I am going to [Black Lightning Haze] you if this is another illusion!

    No answer so I used [Black Lightning Haze] on it.

    I interrogated all of my pants and destroyed all of them because I got no answers.

    Someone was at the door as I heard knocking.

    Are you ready? Why aren¡¯t you wearing any pants again? And why are you in your 6t mode?

    My pants was a god all this time so I used [Black Lightning Haze] on it.

    Greg sighed, closed his eyes and put his hand on his forehead.

    Both you and Agnis make no sense... Just wear another pair of pants...

    I interrogated them but they wouldn¡¯t confess so I used it on them too.

    Greg sighed again.

    Right¡­ Stay here, you can borrow some of my pants¡­ Don¡¯t blast those too.

    Thanks!

 Pneuma 15: Flush

    The plan was to sleep for 3 days but I felt a strange disturbance after the second day. I detected deception around Raishin¡¯s house but it disappeared after a bit. Whatever that was I guess Raishin had dealt with it.

    I couldn''t sleep after that so I decided to continue with my project. It was still early in the morning. I went downstairs and started testing the muscle dough while I looked into how to make Spirit Fat.

    The spirit vessel could be filled with only muscle dough but that wouldn''t give it damage reduction. This spirit fat would however.

    The spirit fat was also easy. I needed to collect a lot of oil produced by Oily hippos found in the Aquini delta. And flush acid of the Sevian Sea vipers which was near Ignacio and Bia?

    What? I don¡¯t recognize these countries. I know where the Sevian sea is though. Are these old names of the countries next to it? Bizax and Igrini kingdom are at the Sevian sea. I assume they got renamed.

    After flushing the acid through this oil, it should turn into some yellow-green butter. I would have to flush it with a hydrophobic solvent or with water if my water magic control is very high. Flushing with water it is.

    After that, it should turn white. A basic damage reduction magic potion had to be be mixed with it while subjected under high pressure and low temperatures. The duration didn¡¯t matter but the pressure and temperature would. Lower temperatures and higher pressure meant more damage reduction. Greg would make the best damage-reduction potion he can muster.

    The village was still asleep so this was the best moment to talk to the spirit guardian and tell her I needed to leave the barrier.

    I infiltrated the big tree while still testing the muscle dough.

    ¡°You have returned. How is the progress?¡±

    I am currently testing the muscles of the spirit vessel but it seems good so far. I have finished the skin and I will be working on the fat now.

    ¡°But I don¡¯t want to be fat¡­¡±

    It is for damage reduction¡­ it will protect from physical damage.

    ¡°If you say so¡­ So, what reckless trip are you going to make this time?¡±

    I am going to hunt snakes and hippos!

    ¡°I assume that the details are going to confuse me even more, how long do you need?¡±

    That I don¡¯t know. How long do I get?

    ¡°Some minor gods have been quite active lately so I hope you can do this as stealthily and fast as possible. Will 3 days be enough?¡±

    I surely hope so. How are the blackouts?

    ¡°They haven¡¯t increased in frequency but the duration has gotten quite long. I know you are under a lot of pressure but please hurry up.¡±

    I¡¯m doing my best. I haven¡¯t started with the hard parts yet. I hope I will make it in time. Can you ask one of those elders to either draw how you want to look like or ask them to get Greg in here and have him draw how you want to look like.

    ¡°I will, thanks, and be careful out there.¡±

    I left. Spirits are so nice. It¡¯s so sad that they get treated so poorly. I decided to waste no time. I left the village and headed east toward the Sevian sea. It was easy to get there. I just jumped in the river, used [Water Dragon Festival] and rode the dragons until I hit the sea half a day later.

    Now Rignef had described several methods on how to lure these to the surface. I don¡¯t need all that. I know how to fight underwater. I will hunt them down and cut out their poison sacks. I looked at my hip and remembered that I left Nilah at home, again.

    I should instruct her to follow me in moments like these. I dove down and scanned the area. These sea snakes are quite high up the food chain so they shouldn¡¯t be hard to find. I saw a giant Sevian Sea snake bullying a Sevian Turtle. I have found my target! I used [Waterfall] and crashed into it. I evaded its attacks and sent out [Water Blades] whenever I evaded putting pressure on it by just evading.

    It tried to swallow me but that was its mistake. I made a sword out of frost and cut its upper jaw off its head instantly killing it. I dove to its body and covered myself in frost and cut the poison or acid sack out of it.

    Is this enough?

    I stored it in my dimensional pocket.To be sure, I hunted 2 more snakes and then went for the hippos.

    The other 2 snakes were smaller so easier to defeat and I went back to shore. The Aquini Delta is quiet far from here. It is closer to the university. I had dropped a [Dimensional Anchor] there so I can teleport to there. I will just have to avoid students and professors.

    I went into stealth, tugged on the [Dimensional Anchor] and arrived at the room I had used when I was a professor. It was empty. I was worried about someone else living here now but nothing here. How strange.

    I sneaked out of my dorm room. It was relatively early but the first lectures should start soon so I have to be careful.

    The campus was empty. Nothing had changed here. I managed to stay out of trouble and got outside of the university. I ran toward the ocean and ran over the surface of the water. It will be faster to go over the water than make an enormous detour where there are mountains, cities and a border.

    I ran around the Denga peninsula. The Denga Jungle covered most of this peninsula and behind the peninsula was the Aquina delta. All I need to do is to make some hippos sweat their oil by either agitating them or warming them up with some fire. The oil isn¡¯t flammable so this shouldn¡¯t be an issue.

    Ok this is an issue these hippos are way too aggressive. They are defending the oil with their life. I don¡¯t need to kill them but if they keep this up, I had to. I only had 1 liter of oil and that wasn¡¯t enough. I needed at least 500 times that amount.

    Hippos, you have forced my hand.

    I used [Frozen Ground] and froze their tiny hippo feet to the ground. I then started grill them non-lethally and collected the oil by making channels in the frost.

    Play stupid games, win stupid prizes! You should have just given me the oil while I was still being nice!

    I collected more than enough oil and freed the hippos. They all rushed at me but I didn¡¯t care. I tugged on my [Dimensional Anchor] and returned to the burnt patch in the elven village. I had made it back in time.

    Now I could be efficient and get everything I need for the whole process in one go but then I get less opportunity to leave the village. I moved the [Dimensional Anchor] to my current house and instructed Nilah to follow me when I was about to leave the village.

    ¡°So, what are you making this time¡± Jyno was reading on the couch with his girlfriend.

    The muscle dough still hasn¡¯t fatigued so I think it¡¯s done. Next up is spirit fat.

    I returned the muscle dough sample back to the rest.

    ¡°You want to make our spirit guardian fat?¡± His girlfriend asked.

    It is for physical damage reduction¡­ Which reminds me I have to ask Greg something.

    I went back outside and headed towards Greg¡¯s house. Nobody was home. I went to Elliana¡¯s home. Nobody either. Did they go out? Maybe they eloped. I noticed a large lightning blast near Raishin¡¯s house. Maybe Raishin knows where they are. I came close and saw Raishin, Greg and Elliana on the large leaf next to his house. Ah right he would teach Elliana lightning magic. I approached them

    Sup, how is it going?

    Look who came out of his cave.

    Teaching lightning magic is hard!

    Hey I spent 3 days out of the village! And teaching lightning magic is hard if you never use it. How is it going Elliana?

    ¡°I think I get the idea of it but Raishin¡¯s explanations are vague.¡±

    Uhh show me what you got maybe I can give some tips.

    Elliana made some weak sparks. It had a strange shape.

    Ah, I see the problem. You¡¯re putting too much effort in controlling it. The trick is to not control anything only its trajectory.

    ¡°But what if I hit someone with it?¡±

    Isn¡¯t that the point?

    ¡°I mean what if I hit Raishin or Greg?¡±

    I connected to the air leyline currents and zapped Raishin and Greg.

    Hey! And why am I not immune to this?

    Probably because it is leyline energy and not magic but look Elliana, neither of them took a lot of damage or took damage at all. Don¡¯t worry about it.

    ¡°But I might zap you now that you are here.¡± Raishin fired a red [Lightning bolt] at me and I redirected it and sent it to the sky.

    Just go for it! We¡¯ll be fine.

    Elliana nodded and she produced great results. Raishin had made targets for her to hit and she already has a better accuracy than Raishin.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s not that hard to control after I release it!¡±

    Yeah, you control it after you release it not during. Anyway, Greg, I need the best damage reduction potion you can make, preferably tomorrow or the day after.

    I will get to it and thanks for helping out!

    Also, Elliana, Raishin has super sloppy lightning magic circles. Pass them by Greg before you put in the effort to get familiar with them. And with this I¡¯m off.

    I am concerned. I¡¯m not seeing much progress between Elliana and Greg, and I¡¯m not blaming Elliana. Someone needs to keep an eye on them but who? I can ask Inna, maybe she can help them. But only Raishin and I might be able to do something because Greg is obviously the problem here.

    I went back home and I noticed that Jyno and his girlfriend were gone.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Hey Inna? Can you keep an eye out on Elliana and Greg?

    Inna came down, she smelled nice as it seemed she had just finished showering. ¡°Sure, what for?¡±

    Greg is being an idiot. Elliana could use some support; can you please help her?

    ¡°I am not that close with Elliana but I shall try.¡±

    Just say that I sent you if she becomes wary or suspicious.

    ¡°Ok. You are not going to do anything reckless while I¡¯m gone right?¡±

    Just flushing some oil and then some butter so not much that could go wrong.

    ¡°Ok then.¡± Inna left and I expanded the space with illusions and started to [Flush] all the acid through the hippo oil. The book was unclear on how long I would have to flush so I got comfortable because I suspected that it would take a while.

    I got tired after 2 hours so I disconnected from the leyline currents and used magic to flush the acid. My clone rewrote the progress of my research because it had all burnt down with my other house. It also rewrote my life story as it had also been burnt down. I might have to invest in fireproof paper. I just relaxed because these things are quite automatic with magic.

    Jyno came back home, alone this time. ¡°Finally, a step where you can just relax.¡±

    Yup

    ¡°And how long will this take?¡±

    I have no idea.

    ¡°Classic, hey, what are you going to do after you completed this spirit vessel? Will you stay here?¡±

    Don¡¯t think so sorry. We have to get stronger and help Neia in finding our home.

    ¡°Neia is your auntie, right?¡±

    Not officially, but yeah.

    Jyno held his hand over his mouth.

    ¡°I overheard an elder talking about contacting your cousins. In the case something goes wrong, they will come to pick you up.¡±

    I am actually not surprised. It sucks for me but it is their safest option. Thanks for telling me.

    ¡°Do you dislike hanging around with your own race?¡±

    Not really, the problem is just that I¡¯m one out of the 5 males in my race and they are all women so¡­

    ¡°Ah, I see. And here are we elves almost refusing to reproduce even though we have enough members to do such¡­¡±

    Different race, different problems.

    ¡°Is it true that you have found a way to make elves more proactive in reproducing?!¡± I twitched.

    Where have you heard that?

    ¡°I also overheard the elders talk about that.¡±

    It would be nice if they would keep their private conversations secret¡­ Yeah, I do, it¡¯s the reason why you suddenly got interested in the opposite sex.

    ¡°Huh? So, what did you do?¡±

    Yeah, it¡¯s better if I don¡¯t tell you.

    ¡°Hmm well they made a special house at the edge of the village, quite big to where they would ¡®convert¡¯ some of our population.¡±

    Aha, that sounds like a bad idea but if it produces results then I won¡¯t complain.

    I refreshed the acid and continued flushing the oil.

    ¡°So, you really don¡¯t want to tel¡­¡±

    The banana-stealing elders came in. ¡°Are we disturbing you Agnis?¡±

    You are always disturbing me. I don¡¯t have any bananas, shoo and I swear if you touch my mangoes, I will prank you!

    They looked at my fruit bowl filled with ripe mangoes. ¡°Ehh, we¡¯re not here for your food.¡±

    Yet, so what do you want?

    ¡°We have made a special and specific building at the edge of the village; we want you to check it out.¡±

    I looked at Jyno and he nodded. I made a shadow clone to monitor the flushing process and I followed the elders. They stopped Jyno who also wanted to come.

    So, what this about if even my bodyguard can¡¯t come.

    ¡°You will see soon.¡±

    Nilah ran after me. She must have thought that I would go somewhere.

    We got lead to the edge of the village which had a large house made out of bark and we went inside.

    I saw an elder cast various types of magic to prevent eavesdropping and the sort.

    ¡°We have made this building as a place to bring elves who are interested in bonding but don¡¯t have the emotional aptitude or connection to do so. We would want to ask you to cast that thing you do on the couples that want to bond. They will stay here so that they can spend time together after you did your illusion to foster a deeper connection.¡±

    Doing this on just 2 is a waste as I can¡¯t use this often. Make a place where I can watch over multiple rooms and I can cast it on them. Now I am fine with this idea there is one problem however.

    ¡°We will be relying on another race to fix our problems, we know, can you at least help us to start out? We don¡¯t have many opportunities to study the process of bonding under ourselves so we want to use this to find better methods of alleviating this problem.¡±

    Hmm, very well, you do know that I¡¯m busy so I will do this once a month maybe less, also remind me because I¡¯m busy and I forget. Get as many as possible so I don¡¯t waste time and energy.

    ¡°Thank you very much. We have contacted your cousins by the way. If a god ever finds its way in here, they will be ready to jump in action. We will also have 2 visit in several weeks.¡±

    Uh oh. Wait what month is it?

    ¡°It¡¯s mid-July, why?¡±

    Uhh, what did Hisui always say? Gold in spring, pink and blue in summer, red, brown, and black in autumn, and silver in the winter. Uhh, can you tell them to not come?

    ¡°Why not?¡±

    I will be in danger if they come while it¡¯s summer.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    Please it will greatly hinder my process if they come.

    ¡°Very well we will tell them to wait.¡±

    ¡°Is this related to birthdays or something?¡± Banana stealing elder #2 asked.

    Uhh no we stop celebrating our birthdays after 18 years old. I¡¯m sure you guys also give up after a certain age.

    ¡°Yeah, we stop after 15¡±

    Anyway, don¡¯t let them come and notify me when you want them to have the ¡®Eslana Experience¡¯

    ¡°Is that how you call it?¡±

    I nodded to Banana stealing elder #1 and teleported home.

    Rejoice your race is saved!

    Jyno made a funny face. ¡°Huh, what?¡±

    You will see.

    ¡°Where is Inna by the way?¡±

    Saving another race!

    ¡°Can you make sense please?¡±

    She¡¯s possibly saving the 3t!

    ¡°Ah, even under the elves we¡¯re wondering when it will get somewhere.¡±

    Poor Elliana¡­ Anyway, not my problem! Yet! Let¡¯s see if this butter is ready.

    I looked at the butter which was still very much oil.

    Am I going to lose more weeks on these stupid processes?

    ¡°Possibly.¡±

    <hr>

    It took 31 days for this stupid oil to become butter. It would have been nice if Rignef had noted that down.

    I wrote a big angry ¡®31¡¯ in my documentation. My dizzy spells had become more frequent to the point even I believe that leaving the village is a bad idea. The guardian spirit had been in a blackout for the last 2 days and the elves were becoming very worried which of course also extended to me. I had fallen out of the trees several times.

    The banana-stealing elders had been promoted to mango-stealing elders because I had caught them snacking on my mangoes. I paid them back by hiding multiple [Flour Time Bombs] in their homes which would explode at random times.

    It did remind me of Secret Weapon #3 that I never got to finish but I¡¯m too busy for that. Gregory had finished the requested potion a long time ago so I just needed to flush the yellow-green color out of this butter.

    This process only took 2 hours. I was currently pressing the white fat mixed with Greg¡¯s potion. I had made a cylinder made out of frost and was having a piston press down on it. The temperature in the piston was nearing absolute zero.

    Jyno was shivering in a corner and hugging Nilah. He had to choose between being cold or getting his mana stolen. I think Nilah has been getting more and more opportunistic lately. Maybe she feels as if a big battle is coming up soon.

    The pressing only took 20 minutes. The spirit fat was extremely soft and fluffy. I threw some at Jyno¡¯s forehead and kicked it.

    ¡°Hey! What the! Oh, what the fuck? That didn¡¯t hurt at all! It¡¯s a bit cold though¡±

    Hmm that is a lot of damage reduction, I was ready to kick your head off.

    ¡°You asshole!¡± He started flinging magic at me which I interrupted or evaded.

    Well, the pressure wasn¡¯t as high as Rignef recommended but in exchange I made it several times colder than he did so it should be fine. The damage reduction potion was also of higher quality.

    Jyno got tired of missing and calmed down. ¡°You are really determined to make this spirit vessel extremely strong I see.¡±

    Well think of it. It is the only thing your guardian will have to stay here. You want it to be strong, eh? Also, I can¡¯t stay here forever to keep doing maintenance on it.

    ¡°Hey, I can¡¯t help to notice. You keep talking about the spirit guardian, aren¡¯t you forgetting something?¡±

    I think I have everything. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve forgotten anything.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you also make a spirit vessel for yourself?¡±

    Oh¡­ well this all should be enough for 5-6 vessels so I can make mine afterward.

    ¡°How about you make yours first? If you get in a blackout and never get out of it¡­ nobody knows how to complete this vessel.¡±

    Hmm, that makes sense. Sure, I will work on it.

    We tested the spirit fat a bit but it was clear that its damage reduction was the real deal.

 Pneuma 16: System Requirements

    I was staring at the ceiling. I had finished the immune system in no time because it involved some simple adjustments to the skill [Regenerate]. The nervous system also seemed easy. I needed some thin vines of a plant with a complicated name. and these need to be continuously zapped until they become conductive. Then I infuse the modified [Regeneration] in it and both the spirit immune system and the nervous system are done. It will be connected with the mana repair system when that is done.

    I was staring at the ceiling because everything was going so well. I must have messed up somewhere, right? I am already in possession of the vines I need. I had decided to have a batch be zapped with lightning leylines and another by lightning. Rignef was explicit in stating that lightning brought forth by magic is ineffective.

    Raishin creates real lightning and I will use Dragonvein lightning.

    ¡°Not everything has to always go wrong, you seem to have been very careful, precise and meticulous. This is a good thing that everything is going so well!¡± Jyno advised.

    I would normally agree but things always go wrong sooner or later with me. I just hope it will go wrong with these easy parts.

    ¡°Where is your usual confidence?¡±

    It needed a holiday.

    I got up. I will just deal with problems when they arise.

    Let¡¯s go visit Raishin!

    Jyno and I headed over to Raishin. My vision got blurry and I fell out of the tree.

    ¡°Oh, shit not again!¡± He said that but he was taking his time catching me because there was no rush.

    Ugh. This gets old fast.

    ¡°It seems quite odd. If you were a puppet, it would look similar as if you had your strings cut. Are you unable to control your body when that happens?¡±

    Yeah. I¡¯m fine now.

    I saw Raishin, Greg and Elliana run over.

    Dizziness again? I wish I could do something about it¡­

    Are you resting enough?

    ¡°Make sure to also drink enough!¡±

    Yes yes, I appreciate the concern but there is nothing I can do about it. Raishin, I need you to continuously zap this with lightning. Not lightning magic, just how you usually do things.

    I handed an enormous spool of vines to Raishin.

    What color?

    Uhhh that is a very good question, Rignef wasn¡¯t specific so let¡¯s just go with red.

    Elliana and Jyno looked at me as if I was crazy.

    Calm down you two, this is normal, these guys are extremely skilled in lightning, just ignore any common sense around them.

    ¡°Won¡¯t those vines get vaporized?¡±

    Good point Elliana! Purple will do Raishin!

    Aye sir!

    How is the training going Elliana? And where is Inna?

    ¡°Inna is preparing for the hunting event next week. I think I have the basics down. I¡¯m just struggling a bit with the intermediate skills.¡±

    Just take your time.

    ¡°Will you be watching the hunting event? Raishin and I are joining.¡±

    I want to but I am a bit on a time limit.

    ¡°Ah right. I hope you manage to finish it before it gets too difficult¡­¡±

    Agnis, can you tell me what exactly I have to research or prepare for the alchemical parts?

    I need to find a method to put everything together without having it diminish the functions of the individual components but also allow for some customization. It needs to be compatible with magic.

    Hmm I think I have something for that.

    I am also recording anything I do. I would prefer if you do the same. This will be a big collaboration of Azu¡¯s, Rignef¡¯s, your and my work.

    Greg nodded.  I¡¯m sorry Elliana, I have some important issues to attend to.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine. I will come and help you after I finished training with Raishin.¡±

    Greg went home and Jyno and I did the same.

    I started [Tail Dynamo] when I got home and fed purple lightning into the vines.

    ¡°What other parts do you need to still make before you¡¯re done?¡±

    Digestive tract, bones and blood. The latter 2 are the hardest. After that the ¡®Body¡¯ is finished. I will have to do a lot of messing around with magic circles and mana runes for the magic part and then we have to bring them all together with Alchemy and Greg is taking care of those details.

    ¡°Spirits don¡¯t need to eat right?¡±

    That doesn¡¯t stop them from eating bread.

    ¡°Fair point. So how long is this going to take?¡±

    I showed the vines to Jyno.  It¡¯s already done.

    ¡°Oh wow! I will check on Raishin and see if he¡¯s done too.¡± Jyno got up and left.

    I infused the modified [Regenerate] into the vines. Rignef¡¯s magic circle of [Regenerate] was so sloppy, I couldn¡¯t help but alter it. I hope this wouldn¡¯t get any strange effects.

    Jyno returned with Raishin¡¯s version and I also infused this.

    ¡°So how do we test this?¡±

    I don¡¯t think we can test this. We¡¯re done. Now for the last easy part. The digestive system. I have planned to have a stomach and guts. The waste will be expelled normally and the nutrients will go to the fruits the spirit guardian likes to grow, which will be growing in her hair.

    ¡°And how are you going to do that?¡±

    Making the digestive tract is easy. Having it send the nutrients to the fruit¡­ I have no fucking clue. This is an original idea so I will have to find something myself for this.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope it doesn¡¯t take too long.¡±

    It didn¡¯t take long to make the stomach and digestive tract. I started to cheat more and more. Rignef had a complicated mixture to make it act like stomach acid and replenish stomach acid. I just wrote magic runes in the lining to do this. It saved time and effort.

    I was currently creating a magic circle to create a skill that would act similarly to [Absorb] and have it follow a certain part and make it connect to the hair, which is part of the skin component. I will have to write another magic circle to have it use those nutrients. The spirit guardians spirit energy will actively grow the fruits so I just have to write a magic circle that aids it in dumping the nutrients in those fruits.

    Do I use [Redirect] or [Transfer]? Or do I make use of [Teleport] and have the nutrients be teleported?

    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°How would I know?!¡±

    [Teleport] will get blocked because there are some areas where it automatically gets blocked and I¡¯m not willing to bet that my alteration will slip through. I cracked open the runic structure of [Transfer]. It normally is used to transfer mana or things that normally can¡¯t get passed over. I suspect Azu had used a modified version of [Transfer] to teach us those magic skills by just touching us back in Boshi town.

    An origin and a destination should be found somewhere in this runic structure. I got rid of inefficiencies and redundancies while looking for the runes I needed. I found the origin which was ¡®self¡¯ but the destination was unclear.

    Who made this skill? I dug through the runic structure for the whole day but I couldn¡¯t find a destination.

    Is it connected to ¡®touch¡¯? I looked for links with sensory input and I found a convoluted system that indeed linked it to touch.

    Why do I feel like whoever made this magic circle is a moron?

    ¡°What did you find?¡±

    I am not sure how to explain is but I will keep it simple. I theorized that when someone uses [Transfer] it will have a part in the runic code that codes for the origin and the destination, makes sense right?

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Well, that¡¯s not the case, there is an origin but the destination is vague. In simple terms what this skill does is move things to nearby objects, no specific target. Not even proximity based. It is just wired such that it will try to transfer it to everything but the failure rate is set quite high for distant objects so it is more likely that close objects get it. They could have made it proximity based but they didn¡¯t¡­

    ¡°Can you fix it?¡±

    It is actually easier to make a new skill from scratch than to fix this¡­

    ¡°You can make new skills?!¡± Jyno got up.

    I am limited because I don¡¯t have the device in Azu¡¯s lab but yeah, I can. I am glad I had stored mana to create mana runes. My habit of throwing anything I see into my dimensional pocket has saved me so many times.

    I created an illusion of Azu¡¯s setup. I don¡¯t fully understand it so I could only replicate the parts I could understand.

    It was so simple. That magic skill had so much junk in it. I made a template of magic runes and had it create a magic circle. I then started adding runes that aided basic functions of magic circles. Sort of scaffolding for the important magic runes and some sort of auto correct.

    I then placed runes which aided magic flow through the circles. Most circles have mana rushing through the whole circle as fast as possible but Azu¡¯s research had concluded that most magic circles get many times more efficient if certain parts get mana first. It will cause the mana to cascade and flow faster to other parts which then will cause it to speed up until it is completed.

    The initial startup might be slow but the total completion time of the magic circle is many times more faster than a normal magic circle. It¡¯s only weakness is people like me who can spot and interrupt magic circles in the very early phases. The whole circle will fall apart when it gets interrupted, while a normal circle will just fill out the rest from other sides of the circle.

    But because the amount of people with Elgards eyes and knowledge of magic circles like this equals to 1, this is a non-existent problem. Which means that despite me being relatively weak, I¡¯m the only one who has a decent chance at stopping Azu if she somehow went to the evil side. I am genuinely more afraid of her than any god.

    I added functional runes. Element: none. It needed specific runes to dictate the mana cost, time of transfer, cast time, activation time, specific conditions to set it on or off and more. I then had to set the origin as the stomach and intestine lining because the nutrients will gather there. And then set the destination to another magic skill I will make shortly after.

    It will just be a nutrient container and will nourish the hair and the fruits the spirit will grow. This was extremely easy to create. After finishing both I added some dummy runes to fake complexity. They were good at imitating functionality and I then scrambled it so nobody can mess with it without cracking it first.

    I had put my tails on a duty to create an extremely hard scramble to crack so nothing should be able to interfere with these functions, besides Azu and me. But if this spirit messes with either me or Azu she has a lot of other problems of which this is the least of its worries.

    I just needed to test this. I don¡¯t believe I messed up but the origin and destination are probably the parts that are going to be the most problematic. 6 digestive tracts were made prior. They looked quite gross. I also had some squares of the skin, also quite gross.

    ¡°This doesn¡¯t look appetizing¡­¡± Jyno tried to contain his stomach contents.

    You can grow fruits, right? Let a plant grow that create fruits I will target it with this new [Transfer].

    ¡°What kind of nutrients are you going to send to it?¡±

    Dunno this is not my field of expertise, what would make it obvious that it worked?

    ¡°How about salt?¡±

    Would make for disgusting fruits but at least we¡¯ll know it works yeh.

    So, I dumped salt in a digestive tract and the salt destroyed it.

    Hmm, I should have seen this coming but¡­ Fuck!

    I had 5 left now. I crushed some fish, ate some and dumped the rest in the stomach.

    ¡°You¡¯re not supposed to eat your testing sample¡­¡±

    It is going to take forever to digest anyways¡­

    We sat and waited. And waited.

    Hey how long does it take for someone to normally digest something?

    ¡°I have no idea. A day perhaps?¡±

    We waited for a day and tried one of the fruits Jyno had grown but they weren¡¯t salty.

    We waited another day and still no salty fruit.

    Also, no salty fruit on day 3.

    I think I messed up; I¡¯m going to alter the magic circles a bit.

    I messed around and made the [Transfer] a bit more specific and also improved the nourishment container.

    We tested again. And again. I had started to test all 5 digestive tracts at the same time all with slightly different [Transfers].

    <hr>

    Ok attempt 161 till 165! This will surely work!

    ¡°32 days¡­ are you even going to finish in time?¡±

    I only got the dizzy spell 21 times I will be fine!

    I felt a dizzy spell but it was lighter than I had in months.

    Oh, that wasn¡¯t so bad I think I¡¯m getting better.

    Jyno was staring at me and pointing at the floor. I looked down and saw myself laying on the floor.

    Huh what?

    ¡°Your spirit separated from its body¡­ this is bad! Go back in!

    ¡± I looked at myself with my Elgards eyes. I couldn¡¯t because I had normal eyes now.

    Jyno got me a mirror. I looked like I normally do although a bit transparent. I tried to dive back into my body but my body didn¡¯t let me in.

    Let me iiin!

    ¡°This is bad¡­ I need to report this but I can¡¯t leave you alone. How do you feel?¡±

    I feel light.

    ¡°I can imagine, anything else?¡±

    Uhh, I feel fine but I can see why this is so ba¡­

    I felt a tug and got pulled back into my body.

    ¡­d. Oh that was weird.

    I got up and rubbed my head.

    That was a strange experience.

    ¡°Please come with me. I don¡¯t feel comfortable leaving you behind now.¡± I followed Jyno and we went into the big tree.

    Jyno explained what happened. The elves freaked out of course. The biggest problem was that I haven¡¯t started on the harder components yet. I didn¡¯t expect the easier parts to be so time consuming.

    ¡°There is unfortunately nothing we can do to alleviate this. If you need any materials, please tell us, we can¡¯t let you leave the village like this.¡±

    I will need all the information you have on spirits, everything. I need it for the hardest step to complete the body.

    ¡°Ok, we will arrange for that. Will you be done after that?¡±

    No, I will need to work on the magic part and then bring it together with alchemy. Please also give Greg everything he needs. I need him for the last step.

    ¡°We will do our utmost best.¡±

    We left and continued testing.

    We waited 2 days and tasted the fruit.

    ¡°Ugh this is disgusting! So salty!¡±

    It finally worked. I¡¯m so exhausted.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t do much but I also feel exhausted.¡± We both cleaned up and went to sleep

 Pneuma 17: Ichor Pneuma

    Jyno woke me up. I had been sleeping for a week apparently. I felt tired and sluggish as if this body wasn¡¯t my own. I was wondering how long I have.

    I got up but left my body behind.

    ¡°This is a weird sight¡­¡± I waited till I got pulled back into my body.

    Right, no time to waste, how is the spirit guardian doing?

    ¡°Worried.¡±

    I mean with blackouts.

    ¡°Not much change luckily.¡±

    What about the information about spirits?

    ¡°It¡¯s all in the living room.¡±

    Jyno was right. There was a mountain of books and documents in the living room. I went into ¡®Library Mode¡¯ and started reading.

    ¡°This is also an impressive sight. The others must see this¡± Jyno disappeared and I kept reading. A lot was in elvish but I could get the gist of most. A lot of fairy tales and stories. Some info about the spirit contracts.

    None of these are deepening my understanding of spirits. They gave me a lot of junk! I made a shadow clone and had it look for the book spirit.

    I had found something. The usual about them living in the spirit world but what caught my eye was that not all races are made equal and that most races will forget a spirit when it dies.

    With a spirit dying, it means that it will get forcefully sent back to the spirit world. This is not the case if the spirit chooses to return. Races that do remember the spirit after ¡®dying¡¯ are, elves, gods, dragons, other spirits, devils and demons and tailed beasts it also named other races but I wasn¡¯t familiar with those. Are they also responsible for the wellbeing of our dimension?

    I wonder if that applies to me. I won''t get sent to the spirit world if I die so do humans forget about me or am I an exception?

    The power spot is a location that is intimately connected to either the planet or the spirit world. Spirits draw their power from it. Without a power spot or a contract, the spirits will run out of spirit energy and get forced back into the spirit world. This would count as ¡®Dying¡¯

    Spirits have a safety mechanic that forcefully sends them back to their power spot when they run low to prevent this. This is all what this document says. Why is all this information fragmented? I have the feeling that the details around contracts and power spots are very important in creating Ichor Pneuma.

    Ichor Pneuma basically has to be the substitute for the power spot or contract. I need to know what those 2 have in common.

    I had to filter through a lot of junk. I had made a junk pile which was quite large by now.

    Oh, this is the first time I see your ¡®Library Mode¡¯ how is the research going?

    Quite shit, it¡¯s not going fast enough and half of these documents are stories or fairy tales.  I threw 9 more books to the useless pile.

    ¡°What have you found so far?¡± Elliana looked tired.

    Oh, how did the hunting event go?

    ¡°I won! Raishin came in 4th!¡±

    He is sulking at the moment, he believed he should have at least taken the 2nd spot.

    Well, he was competing against elves. I¡¯m surprised he even made it that high up. Congratulations. So far, I found nothing extremely important. I need to find more about how power spots work and what they are and what their similarity is to contracts.

    Jyno and his group of elves came in.

    Hey guys I¡¯m not an attraction go do your elf things! I¡¯m busy!

    I chucked 9 more books to the ¡®junk¡¯ pile.

    ¡°Do you always read like that?¡±

    No only when I need to get a lot of information in my head in a short time, now scram!

    The elves used my house as a social meeting place again and I ignored their chatter and questions. I had cleared out the whole stack of books at the end of the next day and had found nothing else important.

    Stupid mango stealing elders, they didn¡¯t give me everything!

    Elliana looked up from a book that I had thrown on the ¡®junk¡¯ pile. ¡°How do you know?¡±

    Some information was fragmented but I never found the rest of it and I read everything.

    Jyno shook his head. ¡°I still can¡¯t believe you read all this in such short of a time. I¡¯m struggling on reading 1 book per day.¡±

    Racial perk, you should take a break. I¡¯m not going anywhere, where is Inna by the way?

    ¡°I have no idea. She got 3rd in the hunting event; she was happy to get that far but I haven¡¯t seen her ever since.¡±

    I have a question. My clone went to look for a spirit in the shape of a book. Have you seen him?

    ¡°Sorry I¡¯m not a spirit mage¡­¡±

    Right¡­ I forgot. I will have my clone look better then.

    My clone asked other spirits but they couldn¡¯t explain what I asked for or they didn¡¯t know. None had seen the book spirit in a while. Even the ones he used to hang around with. They said he suddenly disappeared but that also other spirits have been disappearing suddenly.

    What is going on? One spirit even popped out of existence while my clone was talking to her. Well, she didn¡¯t pop out of existence I assume she returned to the spirit world. But so abrupt? And why?

    I got a bad feeling.

    Jyno this is urgent. I need to talk to the guardian spirit!

    I got up and jumped to the forest floor and ran into the big tree.

    ¡°Again Agnis?!¡±

    You know I don¡¯t have time for this! I need to see the guardian!

    ¡°Agnis wait!¡± Jyno jumped down carrying me.

    Oh shit. Did I lose my body again?

    Jyno and the elders nodded. Byron approached me.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°I will go with you, I¡¯m curious on what is this urgent.¡±

    Byron and i arrived at the spirit but the glows were off.

    Spirit, are you awake?

    No answer. The glow was gone so she was probably in a blackout.

    We waited for 3 hours when the glow returned.

    ¡°Oh, I apologize, I hope you didn¡¯t have to wait long.¡±

    A question. How likely is it that something is trying to pull spirits to the spirit world? I saw a spirit pop out of existence and several spirits have been reported missing. This can¡¯t be coincidence!

    ¡°That is plausible but why also pull on spirits that have a vessel? The case of contracts is a bit fragile so I¡¯m not surprised that they will get dragged away but I am not sure how we fit in. but if that¡¯s the case then creating a spirit vessel is useless¡­¡±

    But why is it happening to some spirits and not others? Also, in the end you want to walk between the elves you love so much, right? So, it¡¯s not useless.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why this is happening but if the spirit world is calling us there is nothing we can do.¡±

    There is really nothing we can do? How is it even calling us? Can we block the signal or more importantly, can we harness that energy for something else?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    Does this categorize as ¡®dying¡¯ for the spirits?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know either, however ¡®dying¡¯ is associated with running out of spirit energy and getting forced back to the spirit world because of this. Any other reason is not seen as such. We are not getting pulled out because our spirit energy is getting drained. However¡­ this situation is special, I think it counts as dying.¡±

    Hmm, is it like that Dimsha you guys have? I remember that it called spirits over from the spirit world, can I have a look at it?

    ¡°Ohh, you are correct. Byron, show him the horn.¡±

    Byron left and returned 20 minutes later with the horn. My dimensional filter revealed that It didn¡¯t look much different than the water producing Dimsha I had found earlier. It looked like a piece of the dimensional fabric. What could even cause an item like this to exist?

    Is there a way to activate it without pulling spirits over?

    Byron poured some spirit energy into the horn and it seemed like it woke up.

    Hmm this is interesting.

    ¡°What do you see?¡±

    It is making a funnel through the dimensional fabric; I assume the destination is the spirit world. The funnel hasn¡¯t opened yet so nothing can pass. It also made spirit energy out of thin air and its sending it to both of us.

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything.¡±

    Me neither but it¡¯s not a lot. I assume the funnel opens and more spirit energy gets created when someone blows on the horn. Now why it needs to be blown three times¡­ that I don¡¯t know.

    ¡°What we know is that the third sound of the horn will fully open the connection with the spirit world. At least that¡¯s what the elven legends say.¡± Byron picked up the horn and put it to his mouth. ¡°The use of this is normally strictly regulated but this is an emergency, please pay attention as I will only blow the horn twice.¡±

    I nodded and opened as many filters as I could bear. Byron blew the horn. The funnel opened and a vast amount of spirit energy was created and rushed into the guardian spirit and me. I also got the feeling that it was calling me. Now that I was closer it was as if something was calling me in the spirit language.

    It seems some minor and lesser spirits used the funnel to come over to this side. They also got a boost to their spirit energy but because they were minor and lesser spirits, this was a bigger deal to them. This could cause them to evolve to a higher level. I also saw thin strands or filaments of spirit energy shoot out from them and head toward the crater our battle against the gods had left behind. That place was now a power spot. It looked like spirit energy but it wasn¡¯t. I will call it a spirit tether.

    Is this what connects them to their power spot? It disappeared shortly after. I believe it¡¯s still here but this might mean that it¡¯s impossible to sever this connection now. Minor and lesser spirits kept entering the Mainfloor. And every spirit got tethered to what I believe was the nearest power spot. It might also be the most suitable power spot.

    Byron blew the horn again. The funnel widened more spirit energy got created and distributed to the spirits present. The tether on every spirit reappeared and got thicker. Some spirits grew another tether that went to a different direction.

    Is it possible to have more than one power spot as a spirit?

    The guardian tree responded. ¡°It is, it isn¡¯t very common though.¡±

    Several spirits here seem to have made a connection with another power spot, 2 of them even have 3 now.

    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s interesting.¡±

    What is even more interesting, you and I also have these tethers. Mine are wrapping around my body and yours are wrapping around the tree. Both of us grew more and thicker tethers. Maybe this will cause us to blackout less.

    ¡°That is a great discovery if that¡¯s true. However, I don¡¯t think this is a good permanent solution.¡±

    Well, I might have an idea what is happening. The tethers on you and me seem quite strong but there were several that had snapped. Something might be snapping these tethers to then pull us into the spirit world. So, if we can find a way to prevent that or to regrow these without blowing this horn, we might stand a chance. But this is certainly something that should be important in making Ichor Pneuma.

    Byron put the horn down. ¡°I am glad that I could be of use, now excuse me, I need to put a team together to escort all of these spirits to their power spot, it¡¯s quite crowded here¡­¡±

    Byron was right, this space was crowded with spirits, they all seemed very happy to be on the Mainfloor and to meet a spirit fox and a spirit guardian on their first arrival. I assume it¡¯s like moving to a different country and the first 2 people you meet are celebrities.

    Byron escorted the spirits out. Byron, the guardian spirit and I had to endure many instances of ¡®thank you¡¯ and ¡®pleased to meet you¡¯.

    I am unsure how I interact with spirit energy but I feel way better than I did before. Maybe receiving or generating some spirit energy is important for a spirit, me included. It feels as if the pieces are slowly coming together. I focused on myself and slowly but surely the spirit tethers became visible. It is something that requires focus, without focus I can¡¯t see it. Even Elgards eyes has difficulty seeing this. I walked outside between the horde of spirits rushing out and following Byron.

    The elves that could see spirits were taken aback by this but I assume they did hear the horn. I did notice that the elves that had spirit contracts had their spirit tied to them by the spirt tether. It seemed to siphon spirit energy and mana. The mana got converted to spirit energy inside the tether. The tether siphoned 10 times as much mana than spirit energy.

    Does this mean that a power spot could also be a mana-rich environment and not necessarily a place that has a lot of spirit energy? My focus slipped and the tethers disappeared.

    So, making a contract involves tethering a spirit to the spirit mage with these. It will turn the spirit mage into a power spot. I already knew this but realizing this after discovering it is more eye-opening than someone telling you this.

    I focused again and the tethers appeared again. A spirit was indulging on bread and its spirit tether became thicker and more efficient. I kept observing and the tether stayed like this for an hour and then went back to normal.

    Isn¡¯t this interesting? It doesn¡¯t seem like they eat bread to get this effect but they genuinely like bread. So, the question is. Is it the bread that does it or their favorite food? Personally, I¡¯m neutral toward bread.

    I took some bread out of my dimensional pocket, ate it and inspected myself. Nothing happened to my spirit tether. I took out some salmon, fried it and ate it. Also, nothing. Does this not apply to me?

    I was about to give up on this idea when Spirit Salmon came to my mind. So far, any 9t I know loves that. It is also a spirit. Kind of, its similar to 9t as in having a physical body as if it was made to be eaten by us. As far as I know it¡¯s the only spirit type that are assholes. They drive away aquatic creatures if their population doesn¡¯t keep getting checked by the 9t. They are probably proliferating because we are nearing extinction.

    I don¡¯t have any on me but I am going to guess that this is what¡¯s going to strengthen my spirit tether at least temporarily. I approached a spirit.

    I have a question. It¡¯s safe to assume you love bread, right?

    it confirmed and even enthusiastically so.

    Oh, it¡¯s the best thing ever? Interesting. So, do you know what happens if you don¡¯t eat bread?

    The spirit answered but it might have misunderstood my question.

    No, I mean besides your mood worsening.

    the spirit gave a long list of reasons why bread was teh best and why no bread was the worst.

    Hmm, you feel weak, interesting. Thank you.

    I gave the helpful spirit some bread. All I need to do is to find out what a power spot is. For this, I need to leave the village. This is going to be a challenge. Asking the spirit guardian is of no use because she is going to say ¡®no¡¯. I will have to make my trip worthwhile because they are unlikely to let me go after I pull this stunt. Unless¡­

 Pneuma 18: Remilia Dawngale

    I couldn¡¯t finish my thought because an elder approached me. It wasn¡¯t one of the mango stealers. ¡°You have a guest.¡±

    A guest? Who besides the normal visitors would meet up with me and why does it need an announcement?

    ¡°You will see.¡±

    I got lead back into the big tree to an area I have never been. We entered the room and I saw a familiar face.

    Ugh, whatever you think I did I didn¡¯t do it!

    ¡°I am not here to accuse you of anything. I¡¯m just here to talk.¡±

    You came here all the way from Witchaven to talk?

    I sat down across from the headmaster. ¡°I came to talk and to warn you. As you know I¡¯m the headmaster of the Misha academy but I¡¯m also a member of the Misha Council.¡±

    Council? You guys had a council?

    ¡°Yes, I am Remilia Dawngale, the 37th member of the Witchaven council.¡±

    Huh wait so the council just did nothing while I terrori¡­visited Witchaven?

    ¡°They normally would but¡­ Due to circumstances we had a falling out and it escalated to the point where I had to seal them away.¡±

    So, you defeated the whole council by yourself?

    ¡°I had to be smart about it but I eventually managed to seal away all of the 22 council members away.¡±

    Huh you said you¡¯re the 37th, I thought that meant there are at least 37 members.

    A sad smile appeared on the face of the headmaster.

    ¡°There were 37 members once but they got in there way of a powerful witch. I would say they deserved it. They made the life of that witch a living hell. I don¡¯t blame Ayaru for killing them, it was in self-defense after all.¡±

    Oh, so you took revenge on the rest and sealed them away?

    ¡°Sort of, they were halting the progress of our race, something Aya also didn¡¯t like so I combined this with my personal grudge and sealed them away two centuries ago. Now here is the problem.¡± She leaned forward.

    ¡°The Misha capital has realized that there is something amiss with the council and they will send a group of Misha to investigate in about a year. Agnis, Witchaven will change completely after that event. I won¡¯t be able to have you safely do whatever you normally do. Please, don¡¯t come back to Witchaven.¡±

    I didn¡¯t sense any deception, rather I sensed fear. She was keeping her composure but I could sense that she was afraid.

    Sure. I have one question though. What will happen to you?

    ¡°That¡¯s none of your concern. Now about the progress of [Hattrick]¡­¡±

    I folded my arms.

    I am not going to listen to a word you say unless you tell me what¡¯s going to happen to you.

    ¡°Why do you care?¡±

    You are the only one who has asked about Azu several times. I don¡¯t know what your relationship is with Azu but it seems you were close.

    ¡°¡­ they might remove me permanently or seal me away¡­¡±

    What if you run?

    ¡°You want me to abandon my responsibility as a headmaster?¡±

    Look I don¡¯t know how Misha do things but I am going to be honest here. I don¡¯t have a good impression of them. My personal experience with you was quite neutral. There was some good there was some bad. But my experience most likely doesn¡¯t adhere to the reality. They have treated Azu poorly and now the same is about to happen to you. So, in this case, yes, screw being a headmaster. If you and Azu were the only ones interested in progressing your race. What is going to happen when also you are gone?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know but surely others will pick up after me.¡±

    My piece of advice. You are talking from a perspective of abundance. Where you will fall others will rise. I don¡¯t necessarily disagree with that but¡­ I don¡¯t have that luxury and won¡¯t it feel better if you¡¯ve done everything you can? You can¡¯t do that while sealed away.

    The headmaster became silent.

    Azu hated being sealed away, what would she think if she heard that you didn¡¯t fight back against getting sealed away?

    ¡°That¡­ I see¡­¡±

    In the end I¡¯m just an outsider. Just know that if I learn that they sealed you away, I will make sure to greet them with several [Meteors] and I¡¯m sure Azu would do the same.

    ¡°You are quite similar to her you know? You have bigger problems than me but you don¡¯t complain about it.¡±

    Oh, I do complain about them, there¡¯s nothing much I can do about it. Now you were about to mention something about [Hattrick].

    ¡°Your tips were very helpful. I might be able to use [Hattrick] at the start of next year or the year after. We were¡­ impressed. I wished Ayaru could be here to see this. Although slowly, but the fruits of her labor are getting slowly accepted.¡±

    That is good news. Thank you for the warning headmaster and get the fuck out of Witchaven!

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°The name is Remilia, and I will consider your advice.¡±

    Oh, so you had a name!

    ¡°Of course, I have a name! You just never asked it when you were terrorizing us!¡± The headmaster started to get worked up.

    I was too busy running away because your temper is so shit!

    ¡°My temper isn¡¯t shit!¡± She stood up and slammed the table.

    See!

    ¡°Fine, you might be right, dealing with students and council members might have influenced the length of my fuse.¡± She said as she controlled herself and calmed down.

    Well besides that you did your best to make sure I didn¡¯t get kicked out unfairly even though I was a thorn in your side, thank you Remi.

    ¡°Remi?¡± Her hands shook. ¡°I haven¡¯t had someone call me that in forever.¡± Tears dropped down her face.

    Oh sorry! I didn¡¯t mean to offend you!

    She wiped her tears. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine, you can call me Remi. I will prepare Witchaven for my departure. I should have done this a long time ago. I can freely move around and look for Aya now. Thank you Agnis.¡±

    Uhh, I don¡¯t think I did anything here¡­

    ¡°I know but you said things I needed to hear to move forward. If you ever need any help, contact me with this.¡± She handed me a blue teardrop.

    What is this? Looks like junk.

    ¡°It¡¯s a magic crystal that allows for you to telepathically connect with me. Please don¡¯t forget to use it if the need arises.¡±

    I will add it to the hundreds of other things I have to remember. Don¡¯t get mad please when I inevitably forget.

    ¡°So, let¡¯s move away from the sob stories.¡± Remi got a serious look on her face.

    Uh oh, I told you I didn¡¯t do what you think I did!

    ¡°Multiple [Meteors] raining down on the east of Igrini Kingdom, the mysterious disappearance of the capital city of the Igrini kingdom, fighting gods and now I hear you have a new problem?¡±

    Ok so the capital that was Raishin but fair enough the rest that was me¡­

    ¡°You do know that you are currently on the same path as Aya right? If the gods can¡¯t kill you, they will seal you away.¡±

    Uhh, not sure if this is good news but they won¡¯t seal me.

    ¡°And why are you so sure?¡±

    They¡­ they are interested in my fur¡­

    Remi got a hard to describe look on her face.

    ¡°I see, they won¡¯t have access to your fur if they seal you away indeed¡­ I¡¯m not sure this is good news.¡±

    Anyways, if you ever see a bitch goddess with silver fur, make sure to give her a good ass whooping. I know you Misha can give the gods a run for their money.

    ¡°I¡¯m nowhere as strong as Aya but I can¡¯t say that I don¡¯t have an axe to grind with them. Just make sure you don¡¯t end up as someone¡¯s coat.¡±

    Working on it.

    Remi got up. ¡°I will contact you via that teardrop I gave you when I have managed to successfully pass on my responsibilities as headmaster and have found a good hiding place.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you come and reside here? Judging from your conversation with Agnis, it seems you have some important ties to him. He keeps reminding us to have us solve our own racial problems but that doesn¡¯t stop him from continuing to do so. We want to give back a bit and extend our help to you if needed.¡± The elder who was silent all the time spoke up.

    ¡°You would accept a non elf in your village?¡±

    The elder looked at me. Remi seemed to understand what the elder was getting at. ¡°Oh, right, housing a spirit fox must not be easy, I know that for sure. I will take you up on your offer then.¡±

    She also gave a teardrop to the elder. ¡°I got more from this conversation that I had ever hoped. Thank you Agnis and thank you Uryn.¡±

    Uryn?

    Remi pointed at the elder.

    Oh, right haha! Sup Uryn!

    ¡°No need to pretend Agnis, we all know you¡¯re terrible with names, however we do enjoy poking fun at those you have named the ¡®Mango-stealers¡¯. You have introduced some humor in our age-old council.¡±

    Uhh, you¡¯re welcome.

    Remi got up and shook hands with Uryn and he escorted her away. She waved. ¡°Take care!¡±

    I waved back and was alone in the room. Witchaven will be unsafe in a year, eh? What will they do if Azu returns after that? Will her lab and house be safe? I don¡¯t know but I don¡¯t want to find out. I will be making another stop at Witchaven before I will investigate the power spots. If there is a possibility that they can turn Azu¡¯s research null and void, I will make sure that this will be averted.

    I went back home. I thought for a bit and got an idea. I can¡¯t make any preparations here but I could use Azu¡¯s lab to create what I need. I will create a variation of [Dimensional Anchor] and something akin to a [Spatial Lock]. I will make her lab and house a set location anchored to the Mainfloor and I will spatially lock it so it can¡¯t be destroyed from the outside. They can nuke the academy or the whole of Witchaven for all I care but Azu¡¯s lab and house will be the only locations that will remain.

    I think that is the best I could do for Azu at this point.

    I went over all the materials I needed. Spirit bones were problematic but easy to get. All the ingredients for Ichor Pneuma could be found in that dungeon next to Rignef¡¯s old residence. All the things I needed for the magic system were things I could do at home. The only problem was the alchemical process but Greg was still allowed outside.

    I have to do this right. I will have to deal with Witchaven before I forget, I will have to visit the power spot and get all the information I need because that¡¯s the only time I can freely move, and the same with the dungeon.

    My 9th tail reminded me that I¡¯m an idiot.

    Wow so do you have a better idea 9th?

    It told me that my race specializes in deception and that it¡¯s perfectly possible to do this without anyone noticing, preserving my freedom.

    Ok you have a point I¡¯m an idiot. How do you suppose I do this?

    Hmm interesting.

 Pneuma 19: Ichor Pneuma II

    I love my race.

    I was eating ice cream in Azu¡¯s house, while petting Nilah. Nobody has any idea that I¡¯m gone. I have been relaxing here for a week now. Nothing seems off in the Elven village. My 9th tail was right. I am an idiot. I only use capabilities of my race for shallow things. The only sentient being that could beat my race in deception is the Sarian goddess of chaos and deception. Which means that nobody should be able to find out if I¡¯m serious.

    Many other things play into this. Foxfires, using my tails for various other tasks, spatiotemporal magic and the sort. I am not fighting as a 9t at all and only shallowly acting like one. I put my 9th tail on duty to keep reminding me to act like a 9t and to come up with tactics and skills that suit me as a fox. It made me wonder how I¡¯ve survived for this long.

    I got up it was time to do what my race does best. I got outside and casually walked toward the academy. I had gone back to the basics. I had only used 1 illusion layer but my illusions interfere with reality. I had always used them like normal illusions.

    The moment this illusion breaks is when I instantly arrive at my destination. The fact that ¡®someone saw me walking toward the academy¡¯ gets nullified because at that point that becomes untrue. The truth would be that I always was at my destination so it was impossible to see me walk to my destination.

    My 9th tail had come up with this. It started with a simple question, which was quite random but it helped me get here without my [Dimensional Anchor] transport.

    How do you beat the speed of light? Everyone knows that is impossible. There are ways around it. Like folding space. Something I can also do but the folding of space can be detected.

    There is another solution. There is a destination that makes you always beat the speed of light. If the destination is where you¡¯re currently standing, you will always beat the speed of light. And this is what I¡¯m doing. I''m interfering with reality and telling it that I was there all along.

    And with this my style will change from, wanting to make sure none of my illusion layers get seen through or break, to wanting them to break. I can currently only get this effect with movement and whether I¡¯m physically present or not. But movement is such an important part of my kit that it has great importance.

    I instantly appeared in Azu¡¯s lab because an observant Misha saw through my illusion layer, which changed reality and made it so that I never walked here but always was here thus she could have never seen me. I sat down and brushed my tails. I had neglected this for too long. My tails deserved some brushing. The frost mistflower was still on Azu¡¯s desk.

    I took my time brushing my tails and entered the magic circle for my [Dimensional Anchor] in her magic circle device. I had to make it good enough to anchor a whole building. It only took 12 minutes to fix that. I didn¡¯t know the magic circle to [Spatial Lock] so I made one from scratch as I was equipped with the knowledge to do this.

    I borrowed many parts from [Dimensional Anchor], because there were similarities. I had to only test and tune the [Spatial Lock] 3 times before I had something robust. I cast both on the lab. I left the key to unravel and unlock these 2 skills in the lab. If Azu wants to physically move her lab she will need to undo these and these magic keys will let her.

    I went back to her house and did the same. I then stepped outside with a single illusion layer and talked to a Misha. The moment she responded the illusion layer broke and I appeared at the crater in Igrini kingdom. That conversation had never happened because I was always here.

    It only works on places I have been before of course but its more flexible than [Dimensional Anchor] teleports. But also, more unreliable. I am currently in a tree and not sure where in the crater I am exactly. At least Azu¡¯s house was an accurate destination. ¡®A crater in Igrini Kingdom¡¯, is not.

    I jumped out of the tree and tried to catch Nilah but she hit the floor before I did.

    This place was a paradise for spirits. I looked for their spirit tethers and the tethers all seemed to go to one spot.

    I expected that spot to be a connection to the spirit world but no. It connected to a large underground leyline current.

    I sat down.

    Is this why never in the history of spirit mages anyone had come up with a theory why power spots exist? As far as I know, I¡¯m the only one that has used this in maybe forever. And I can also see it. Did Rignef know this? Or did he come to a different conclusion? He alluded to the composition of spirits but that¡¯s not what I¡¯m looking into. Is it possible that there¡¯s more than one way to create Ichor Pneuma and that¡¯s why it has no concrete recipe?

    I kept looking at the underground leyline current. It was also helping this area stay bountiful. I also remembered that the pink broccoli tree in Boshi town was a vast source of leyline energy, which would create a power spot for the spirit sisters.

    The peak of that thunder mountain where I mastered lightning Dragonvein was of course rich in lightning Dragonvein. It is all coming together now. I have no evidence but I¡¯m assuming a spot that¡¯s connected to the spirit world would also make a good power spot.

    I looked at my spirit tethers. I tried to interact with them but failed to do so. I connected with the air leyline currents and made leyline energy flow through my hands and tried again. It was difficult but I could interact with them. They didn¡¯t convert it to spirit energy though. Maybe only the ends of the tether do this?

    I tried to find the end of my spirit tether but I couldn¡¯t find it. I wondered if I had enough information now. I knew everything except for how to make these spirit tethers. They grew out of the spirits and sought out a power spot. So maybe I just needed to make the Ichor Pneuma very receptive to receiving spirit tethers. It will have to be either mana-based or Dragonvein-based.

    Mana-based is easier, but would it be better? All power spots I knew of were Dragonvein-based. If I wanted to make a spirit vessel for myself, I would want it to be Dragonvein-based because there was no guarantee I could use Dragonvein without this.

    Mana was already covered by the magic circuits so there was no need to base it off mana.

    Gathering leyline energy, eh? I thought about the crystalized mass of leyline energy that Tero had been hit by. If I could crystalize it, turn it into fine dust, and dissolve it, it should be possible.

    I will have to do a lot of test with the guardian spirit to make sure it catches on. I might also have to mix some spirit energy in it.

    I kept observing but I realized that I was missing something. They didn¡¯t need anchoring with a power spot but a spirit vessel did need that. What if another spirit wants to steal the vessel. It won''t be perfectly suited for it but it should be possible.

    Do I need to make another anchor? Maybe I can alter [Spatial Lock] to make something akin to [Spirit Lock]. Maybe this is what Rignef made. It might require knowledge about the composition of spirits but if I just lock the spirit tethers then no other spirit can tether to the vessel. Did I just find a loophole?

    In the end it was unclear what Rignef did. I would bet he studied the composition of spirits and use that knowledge to anchor them because he did advice to study spirits, which I did, just differently.

    I stayed for 2 more weeks to make sure I didn¡¯t miss anything and then ran back to the forest. The dungeon was my last stop. I was unsure how to feel seeing a familiar face near the dungeon.

    ¡°Oh, Hi Agnis, I thought you were working on your project at home.¡± It seems that Elliana had gotten curious about this dungeon and had come to check it out.

    I¡¯m still working on it. How is Greg doing with his preparations?

    ¡°He seems ready to start whenever you need him to. He does seem disturbed.¡±

    Is his shadow talking to him again?

    ¡°No, he mentioned strange dreams.¡±

    About?

    ¡°That¡¯s the thing, he can¡¯t remember and it¡¯s tormenting him. He feels it¡¯s important but it is of no use if he can¡¯t remember. Also, I finished my lightning training!¡± Elliana showed off some sparks which looked promising.

    Oh, that¡¯s great! How about you show it off in that dungeon?

    ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s a good idea? Not sure I can jump in if your spirit leaves your body.¡±

    Well, I need materials inside this dungeon for the spirit vessel so there is no way around it.

    ¡°How about this, we will turn back once it gets too dangerous.¡± Elliana started to act like a sister.

    Greg please don¡¯t mess this up.

    Sure.

    I will just not tell her that there is no going back once we get in. The dungeon was quite simple to open and we stepped in. It looked like a dense jungle. I could only see 3 floors deep. It has been a while since I had found a dungeon with floors.

    Elliana looked around and sent out some pulses of nature energy to scout out the area. ¡°It¡¯s quite warm here, it¡¯s as if were at a completely different place on the continent!¡±

    No jungle I know that looks like this. Haven¡¯t you noticed? None of these plants seem common, do you recognize any of these?

    Elliana looked around. ¡°You¡¯re right¡­ maybe this is a jungle from another continent?¡±

    No clue, these plants might have been common before the Great Eraser.

    I picked a fruit and bit into it.

    ¡°Hey! It might be poisonous!¡± Elliana said as she used [Detoxify] on me.

    I have resistance against many poisons. This fruit is disgusting though.

    I spat it out and it attracted monsters.

    And what the fuck are you supposed to be.

    Monsters that looked like tangled vines and 2 stick arms hobbled over to us. They were quite small.

    ¡°They seem harmless.¡± Elliana walked over to one and poked it. The creature wrapped vines around her and bound her.

    You were saying?

    ¡°I was wrong! Help!¡±

    I will, let¡¯s see what their plan is with you.

    ¡°Why?!¡±

    Because I can!

    The creatures picked her up and carried her away. I followed them and used several small [Fireballs] to destroy any monster that thought I was an easy snack. Nilah had caught a strange bird and was eating it.

    Just know that if you get a stomach ache it¡¯s your own fault.

    Nilah didn¡¯t care and devoured the strange bird. The tiny monsters carried Elliana in some sort of primitive village and brought her before a massive version of these small monsters.

    ¡°Ok we know what their aim was, can you save me now?¡±

    Not yet, I have to figure out if they want to eat you or worship you.

    ¡°Why!?¡±

    To punish na?ve carelessness.

    ¡°But you¡¯re careless too!¡±

    And who has been caught by small vine monsters?

    ¡°Ok fine! Just save me before things get too bad!¡±

    Nilah! Sword!

    I cut the vines binding Elliana because the monster was about to chomp on her.

    ¡°Let me demonstrate some of my lightning magic!¡± She used [Chain Lightning] but it didn¡¯t catch so well because these plants seemed to have some lightning resistance.

    ¡°Of course, they had to have lightning resistance¡­¡±

    Unlucky.

    I connected to the air leyline currents and used [Fernys Magma Pit].

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    ¡°Hey isn¡¯t this skill a bit too strong? They¡¯re all dead¡±

    Do you want to waste time fighting these small fry?

    ¡°No¡­ I guess I¡¯m just too new to this adventure thing.¡±

    Don¡¯t worry you have someone with you that has over 100 years of experience!

    ¡°But I thought you were only 20 years old¡­¡±

    Just go with it¡­

    We went deeper into the first floor. This place didn¡¯t had any structure. It was a jungle in the truest sense. I was looking for treasure rooms but I strangely couldn¡¯t find any.

    ¡°Hey what is that?¡± Elliana nimbly jumped into a tree and climbed to the top and pointed at a chest. It seems the treasures are to be found in the trees. I¡¯m not sure what else I was expecting. I climbed up and took a look.

    More gold and silver, boring¡­

    ¡°What is this?¡± Elliana held a strange light yellow stone.

    No clue but probably something I need for my spirit vessel. You can keep the gold.

    ¡°What am I supposed to do with gold?¡±

    Right, gold is quite useless in the elven village but outside it can be used to trade almost anything. It is important to be able to trade outside the village and gold and silver will help you.

    ¡°Ok. How do I carry this?¡±

    You don¡¯t. I will store it in my dimensional pocket and drop it off at your house after we get out.

    ¡°Thanks!¡±

    Let¡¯s rob this place clean!

    ¡°Won¡¯t we get into trouble stealing all this?¡±

    Well yes but who do you want to ask? There is nobody here to ask.

    ¡°Can¡¯t we just take what we need?¡±

    I need adventure and materials so that¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m doing!

    I jumped down and my ears picked up a strange sound.

    Hey Elliana, do you hear that?

    ¡°Hear what?¡±

    A strange noise.

    She perked her ears and shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t hear anything sorry.¡±

    Hmm must be my imagination then.

    We fought off another horde of small monsters that tried to abduct Elliana.

    ¡°Why are they all coming after me!?¡±

    They must have marked you as ¡®free food¡¯ They are completely ignoring me.

    ¡°That is not funny! Do something!¡± Elliana was running around and blasting them with [Wind Blasts]. She was decreasing the number of pursuers but it would take a while before she would defeat all of them.

    Don¡¯t you have stronger attacks with a wider range?

    ¡°Well yes but I don¡¯t want to hit you!¡±

    How about you stop worrying about me and worry about yourself. Just send it!

    ¡°Send what?¡±

    Just use that big skill¡­

    ¡°Ok¡­¡± Elliana¡¯s aura changed and she used [Tornado] and caught all the small monsters. I shifted my stance and used [Pressure] on myself to make sure I wouldn¡¯t share their fate. I shifted stance again and I used [Spark] and ignited the tornado.

    Good riddance

    ¡°What about the jungle!?¡±

    What about it?

    She looked around but the jungle was unaffected by the fire tornado.

    ¡°You¡­ how good is your control?¡±

    Well, I¡¯m the ¡®Control¡¯ guy in team Hourai, so this is the least I should be able to do.

    ¡°Interesting.¡±

    We heard a load roar and an enormous toadlike creature made out of jungle plants jumped at us. We dove away, I shifted stance to use [Fire Dragon Festival] but something seemed off.

    ¡°Agnis! Your body!¡± Elliana pointed at my body.

    We looked by as the toad swallowed my body, burped and jumped away.

    Hey asshole come back! That¡¯s mine!

    None of my leyline skills worked. I tried magic but that didn¡¯t work either.

    Uh oh.

    ¡°Greg always tells me that the severity of those words shouldn¡¯t be understated.¡±

    I can¡¯t use any of my skills.

    Elliana walked over to me and inspected me. ¡°You seem like a normal spirit to me, although a very strong one. Just use spirit magic.¡±

    I only know [Spirit Bolt], and 2 weak lightning attacks¡­

    ¡°Hmm, making a contract is a bad idea, how about you possess me?¡±

    Absolutely not! There is no advantage for you to do that, it can even hurt you.

    ¡°But you can¡¯t fight like this right? If you possess me, you can.¡±

    I refuse! I¡¯m not going to possess anyone and certainly not Greg¡¯s girlfriend!

    ¡°But you don¡¯t know any spirit magic!¡±

    I will just use [Spirit Bolt] until my target is dead.

    ¡°Oh, wasn¡¯t your foxfire spirit magic?¡±

    Right haha! It¡¯s time for them to burn!

    I tried making a foxfire but it failed.

    Uhh, help? It doesn¡¯t work.

    ¡°I will do my best to get your body back¡­¡±

    The spirit and the elf dungeon adventures! Let¡¯s go!

    ¡°How can you be so cheerful when your body just got eaten¡­¡±

    I will snap back to my body soonish. I hope.

    <hr>

    So, I thought that finding this body snatcher and kicking his ass would be easy but it consumed almost a whole day.

    Finally found you! You asshole! It was funny the first 30 minutes now give my body back!

    ¡°Hey doesn¡¯t it look like he¡¯s digesting?¡± Elliana pointed at the toad which was relaxing and had his 2 front paws on its belly.

    Noo! You asshole!

    I used [Spirit bolt] but I don¡¯t think it did damage.

    Being underpowered sucks. How about a foxfire!

    I created a tiny blue flame and shot it at the monster but it also didn¡¯t seem to feel that. I couldn¡¯t even hold Nilah in her sword form.

    During the whole day Elliana and Nilah did all the work. I was just dead weight. I had wished to have an adventure where others would babysit me but I didn¡¯t mean it like this.

    Maybe being powerless is a good change of pace. It will allow for others to take the spotlight! The tale of the Elf, the fox and the useless spirit, go!

    ¡°I don¡¯t consider you useless, I¡¯m sure that once you get your body back, this monster dies easily.¡± Elliana had pinned the monsters limbs to the floor with [Wind lances]. Any wind attack she shot out of her bow grew in size and turned into a [Wind Lance]. Her shots also made impossible curves and turns. Most of it was due to her controlling wind magic but she might also be using pure skill to make these arrows and skills fly like this.

    She was the granddaughter of the village elder after all. I still have to meet her grandfather actually.

    The monster toad made a strange croak and many smaller toads appeared. I made a tiny foxfire flame and shot it at Nilah.

    This was the only way I could contribute, shooting small foxfires at Nilah and have her amplify this. Her tails ignited in foxfire and she torched any frog she passed by.

    Haha yes feel the power of Nilah!

    I felt a tug attempting to pull me back to my body. I decided to wait till the tug became stronger, snap back into my body and use the energy to explode the monster from the inside. It¡¯s a perfect plan!

    I resisted the pull for 20 minutes before I put my plan in motion. I snapped back and used frost magic to catch the energy and used it to use [Explosion] which blasted the monster to bits.

    Hahaha! That¡¯s what you get! Ugh I¡¯m covered in goo and it stinks¡­

    I looked over and Nilah and Elliana were also covered in stinky goop.

    Woops

    ¡°I should have expected this¡­. Let¡¯s find a body of water to clean ourselves.¡±

    I shifted my stance and used [Water Dragon Festival] and washed us thoroughly.

    ¡°See you¡¯re not useless anymore!¡± Elliana said as she dried herself off.

    Sorry about that I will be a bit more careful, let¡¯s go to the next floor.

    I pointed and we went east.

    ¡°Agnis!¡±

    What?

    Nilah dragged my body to me.

    Huh, I didn¡¯t notice.

    ¡°Please be careful¡­¡± Elliana picked up my body and brought it to me.

    I created a frost glove after I returned to my body. The flow of incoming mana would stop the moment I get kicked out of my body.

    We found more treasure hidden in the trees and I found a lot of materials I needed to create Ichor Pneuma. I also had to get tree sap so I easily drained 26 trees with Dragonvein.

    ¡°I can¡¯t help to think that you have a skill for anything needed to make this dungeon easier.¡±

    I get stuck in situations like this a lot so I try to have a varied skillset to deal with almost any problem. Look it¡¯s the entrance to the next floor.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think it was possible but it¡¯s getting dark we should setup a camp soon.¡± I nodded. I stopped feeling a mana influx and stopped.

    I wonder if this dungeon is forcing this to happen more often.

    Elliana turned around and crouched while looking at my spiritless body. ¡°Have you tried possessing your body when this happens? Might be faster than waiting until your body tugs on your spirit.¡±

    Possessing myself, eh? That can¡¯t hurt.

    I got pulled back in before I could try.

    I guess I can try that out tomorrow.

    The next floor looked like a jungle during night time so we were incentivized to set up a camp.

    ¡°Is this how all your adventures have been?¡± Elliana asked me as she was wrapping herself in an enormous leaf. Was this the elf equivalent of a sleepingbag?

    More or less, most are more dangerous than this though.

    ¡°I totally understand why Sylvana had left the village, there is so much to do, so many different people outside. I just wish that my grandfather didn¡¯t oppose her ideas so much¡­¡±

    Yeah, I¡¯ve noticed that you guys are very against people leaving.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s different in your case but it seems they have become a bit more lenient since you guys have come here.¡±

    That¡¯s good. Maybe one day they will listen to Sylvana.

    ¡°I hope so too. Let¡¯s hope we can get out tomorrow because we might get into trouble if we don¡¯t. Good night.¡±

    Good night.

 Pneuma 20: Bywen

    I couldn¡¯t sleep. I don¡¯t know how Elliana can sleep in this noise.

    I had tried everything, snow plugs, creating sound proof walls with snow. Nothing worked. What is this overpowered sound and why can¡¯t Elliana hear it?

    Is this the gimmick of this dungeon? Overpowered sound? Is this even sound? I can hear it but my ears aren¡¯t involved. Is it telepathy? Not sure. I activated my eyes and tried to look where it¡¯s coming from. My ears nor eyes could pinpoint where the sound was coming from. It was a sound similar to a mosquito buzzing around. I also couldn¡¯t see the possible origin of this ¡®sound¡¯.

    Well, I discovered what it was but it didn¡¯t make me any wiser. Instead of soundwaves, these were mana waves. Why it was similar to sound I don¡¯t know but I still couldn¡¯t find the source, it was coming from everywhere.

    I got the same feeling as I did in the library under Boshi town. There was no clock but there was a sound of ticking and it went on and off. It creeps me out to think about it. Now there are mosquitos buzzing around but no mosquitos. I will torch this place if it has a giant mosquito but I need this place.

    Something had been bothering me. Rignef had gotten into this dungeon and gathered a lot of materials from here. I didn¡¯t see a trace of anyone ever being here. No empty treasure chests or spots that were missing the ingredients I needed. Half have been found in chests but the other half were just from plants or monsters here but¡­

    Even though thousands of years have passed since Rignef was here. An empty treasure chest is an empty treasure chest. So¡­Who is refilling these?

    The sound stopped.

    Normally that¡¯s a good sign but I don¡¯t believe that is a good sign. I believe in consistency, if this dungeon is consistently annoying that is all there is but if that¡¯s not consistent, that means something is going to happen.

    It kept bugging me so I just thought over every important point that¡¯s needed.

    <hr>

    The next morning came and the sound had returned. It was a bit higher pitched.

    Do you really not hear that?

    ¡°I wish I knew what you were talking about but I don¡¯t hear it no. Maybe only spirits can hear it.¡±

    Maybe...

    I curbed the temptation to ask her what the point is of her long ears if she isn¡¯t using it but I had already determined that this is a ¡®fake sound¡¯ as it¡¯s not normal sound.

    The jungle still seemed quite dark but we pressed on. It only took 4 hours before I had everything and even more than I needed. Which was strange because this dungeon was far from completed. Rignef did state that it¡¯s possible to leave without completing the dungeon.

    I stopped getting mana from my frost glove and waited until my body would pull me back in but it took a while.

    I guess I will try possessing my body then.

    I tried to invade my own body but it seemed harder than I thought. I kept pushing and finally got in. It felt familiar because it was my body but something also felt strange. A wave of spirit energy burst out the moment I possessed my own body.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, you said you were a nine tailed spirit fox right? Are they supposed to do that?¡±

    I inspected myself. My hair was silver so were my tails. I also had moon like objects floating where normally the foxfire was floating and they were made out of frost.

    Hmm, I will admit, I did not expect this and I have no clue what this is.

    Nilah seemed excited.

    Do you know what this is Nilah?

    She continued being excited.

    So, I become overpowered when I possess myself? Cool!

    ¡°So, what are you? You have 9 moons floating around you. Wait I remember! Rignef said you were a Lunar fox!¡±

    That¡¯s correct and I never knew what it was.

    I blasted a sneaky monster and froze the area.

    And its all-spirit energy. Is this what happens if my magic and spirit energy reverse? I can¡¯t use any magic.

    I tried to use foxfire, which was the closest to spirit energy but I just created a cold flame which could be categorized as frost magic and spirit magic. I felt a tug and my cool state dropped and I was back to normal.

    Guess every overpowered state has its limit.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t even 1 minute, would you even be able to use it?¡±

    Nope. Besides blasting things with cold I will have to find out what exactly this is. And these moons, I don¡¯t know what the deal is with them but I feel that I could have destroyed everything here and possibly kill you if I had been careless there.

    ¡°That look actually reminds me of the Sarian goddess Adea, her color is silver and she is associate with the moon, silver and ice.¡±

    I see, that¡¯s true indeed. Does that mean Solar foxes are associated with that loser Zack?

    ¡°Zack?¡±

    Yeah, god of fire and sycophants. I think that jerk raised the temperature of the whole country after he got released.

    ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know. This is all new to me¡­¡±

    After thinking about this new ability I decided to not use it until I completely mastered it. What will that bitch do when she discovered that I am a lunar fox? Shivers ran through my spine at that thought. Yup not going to fuel her disgusting obsession more. I will show it when I¡¯m strong enough to kill her.

    Can you keep this a secret?

    ¡°Sure, but can I know why?¡±

    So, you know that our numbers are getting closed to the double digits and that there are only about 5 males left right? How do you think my buddies will respond if they knew that I might be the only Lunar fox? I have already told them but I don¡¯t think it had sunk in yet.

    ¡°They would probably never let you outside taking your normal behavior into account.¡±

    Yeah. So, thank you for keeping this secret. Now let¡¯s get out of here. On one hand I want to clear this dungeon but on the other, I realize we¡¯re on a clock here.

    Elliana nodded. I tried to locate an exit when the sound stopped again.

    Please be nothing, please be nothing.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    I smelled something weird and used [Shadow Vodka Blaze].

    Why is it doing its best to mimic that shitty library?

    Elliana drew her bow and was on full alert after my sudden [Shadow Vodka Blaze]. ¡°You keep confusing me, what does this have to do with a library?¡±

    Ask Greg, he can remember this better than I do. There is one thing however¡­

    I was expecting a scythe dog or something similar to appear. It didn¡¯t come but I had to continue using [Shadow Vodka Blaze] to get rid of the pollen attack that seemed to come from nowhere. I didn¡¯t sense any invisible creature.

    ¡°Agnis! The pollen is the creature!¡± Elliana used [Gust] to blow it away.

    Any idea what happens if we breathe in too much of that?

    ¡°No but I don¡¯t want to find out.¡± Elliana used [Tornado] to deal with this [Random Pollen Attack] while I snatched some more materials and emptied treasure chests when I found a strange mound.

    This is suspicious as fuck! This might be our exit!

    ¡°I can¡¯t use earth magic!¡±

    Me neither, wait does this mean we¡¯re stuck?

    Nilah ran over and started digging.

    Good girl!

    She then got tired of digging and blasted the mound open.

    Right, don¡¯t need earth magic to dig, I should know that, let¡¯s go!¡±

    I grabbed Elliana with my tail and we jumped in. We got ejected forcefully and we were back outside.

    Phew that was something else.

    ¡°That was¡­ exciting. Let¡¯s get back to the village.¡±

    I kept thinking about that obnoxious sound on the way back. I was curious to know what it was but going back there might be a bad idea. Sound brought forth by mana waves? I have never heard about that and I¡¯m sure nobody knowledgeable has heard of it before. I don¡¯t even remember if the ticking sound in that library was the same.

    I covered myself in illusions as we neared the village, I thanked Elliana and said goodbye. I took over the place of my shadow clone which had already prepared anything I needed to create the Ichor Pneuma and laid out all the ingredients I had collected from the dungeon.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re finally going to start and stop messing around?¡±

    Jyno seemed to have no idea that my clone couldn¡¯t even do anything even if it wanted to because it was lacking knowledge and materials.

    So far, I could only make the base, after that I would have to talk and tune it to the spirit guardian and I will have to make crystallized Dragonvein and to top it off infuse it with a [Spirit Anchor], so that the first spirit that enters the vessel becomes the rightful owner.

    I mixed the ingredients for the base and it instantly went wrong since it started to foam.

    Uh oh!

    I covered myself in frost and froze the foam.

    Jyno, get out this foam released toxic fumes!

    ¡°Oh shit!¡± Jyno ran out and I opened all the windows, connected to the air leyline currents and used small [Counter spins].

    I shattered the frozen foam and burnt the powder. Time to start over. At least it failed at the first step.

    <hr>

    So Rignef said that this was one of the hardest steps and I thought it was because of the knowledge needed to make Ichor Pneuma work. But nooo. His recommended amount of ingredients was to account for the good 200-300 times the first step would fail.

    This is insanity. My house had been declared as a biohazard because an elder had sneaked in to steal one of my mangoes but he had been poisoned because all the toxic fumes had contaminated all the fruits in my house. I had to throw them all away.

    I had completed the first step after 2 weeks of failing. There was still enough material for 100 more tries. The next step also had an insane amount of ingredients. I had put my tails to work on this because I would have to start at step 1 if step 2 failed.

    I only failed step 2, 5 times and I was relieved. Step 3 for the basis would just be stirring an enormous vat full of this liquid for a week. It was good that I can¡¯t die from old age because holy fuck everything in this process takes so long!

    Hey Jyno, do you mind stirring this for a bit I need to talk to the spirit guardian.

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    I handed the enormous spoon, that my tail was using to stir, over to Jyno. He dipped the spoon in the solution and tried to stir it.

    ¡°What is wrong with this stuff?! It¡¯s so viscous!¡± Jyno was visibly struggling.

    Yup, put your back in it!

    I smirked and went to the big tree. The elders pulled no bullshit and let me through. I grinned at the mango-stealing elders who were getting treated for their poisoned state.

    ¡°You have returned¡±

    Heya! Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s time we decided on a name for you. You will need a name when you get into the vessel.

    ¡°I have thought about it and I decided on the name Bywen.¡±

    Nice to meet you Bywen! With that out of the way I want to have a good look at your spirit tether.

    ¡°Go on.¡± I walked over to Bywen. ¡°You left something behind.¡± I walked back and waited till I got pulled back into my body.

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    Ugh so annoying. Ok I need to test some things if you don¡¯t mind.

    ¡°I don¡­¡± The glow of the tree disappeared.

    Bywen had another blackout. I sighed. I tried to look for the spirit tethers. The normally blue spirit tethers were white now. Several seemed to have snapped. I connected to the air leyline currents and tried to grab the end of a broken tether. It was difficult because my hand passed through but I eventually succeeded.

    I had no clue which side would go towards Bywen. I held the other side of the broken tether and fed it leyline energy. It was as if I could see the leyline energy go through the tether because the tether in my righthand slowly turned blue as the energy went through the tether. I gathered more leyline energy and sent it through the tether.

    The glow of the tree slowly returned.

    ¡°¡­t mind. Oh, for how long was I out?¡±

    3 minutes. I might have found a way to get you out of the blackout.

    The rest of the tethers had turned back blue again. This was not due to my interference; it was more as if I gave her a kickstart to return.

    ¡°Oh, that is wonderful, it is not taxing on you right?¡±

    It isn¡¯t but it also isn¡¯t something I can keep doing. I am holding your spirit tether here, are you aware of its existence?

    ¡°Spirit tether? I am not aware of its existence nor specifics.¡±

    It ties you to your vessel, currently it¡¯s wrapped around this tree and has snapped on many locations. I have found that it takes mana, spirit energy or leyline energy and converts it to spirit energy which keeps you here. This applies to spirits in contracts, since they are tethered to the spirit mage, this applied to us who have vessels, we are tied to our vessels and this applies to power spots, the tether connects to a large Dragonvein, which is a flow of energy.

    ¡°Is there a possibility to restore the broken tethers?¡±

    That I don¡¯t know but maybe you can do something about it now that you are aware. I will send some more leyline energy, try to focus and feel where it¡¯s coming from.

    I made several simple movements and sent more leyline energy through the tether.

    ¡°I feel something, can you give me more?¡±

    More you will get.

    I spent 20 minutes feeding the spirit tether leyline energy and the tree started to glow brighter and brighter.

    ¡°Yes! I think I feel it now! I never knew!¡± I saw some of the tethers move, some repaired but most were still broken. ¡°This¡­ is tiring. I will continue working on this.¡±

    Ok, now I want you to do one more thing. Is it possible for you to send your spirit energy back through the tethers?

    I coated my hands in frost magic. The tether slipped out of my hands, so I had to hold it by having one hand imbued with Dragonvein and the other with frost magic. It was weak but I got some spirit energy out it. My frost magic absorbed it and I sent my tails to work on analyzing it.

    Ok this is all I need; can you tell me how you managed to restore some of those tethers?

    ¡°I focused on my connection to my vessel. It isn¡¯t something that we can consciously feel, I only got aware of it because of the energy you provided me. I just sent spirit energy to where it was disconnected.¡±

    I see so it repairs itself with spirit energy. And it¡¯s just tiring?

    ¡°Yes. How about I return the favor? It might be easier to understand if you do it yourself. You need this to complete your vessel I assume?¡±

    I do but you need to be able to interact with the spirit tether which so far, only can be done with Dragonvein.

    ¡°And why wouldn¡¯t spirit energy work? Direct me to one of your broken spirit tethers.¡± A branch extended toward me.

    Why wouldn¡¯t spirit energy work? That¡¯s a good question. I¡¯m not skilled at using spirit energy so that would never be somethings I would try.

    I grabbed a broken spirit tether on my body and offered it to the extending branch. It took several tries for Bywen to be able to grab it.

    ¡°How mysterious, I will start the flow of spirit energy.¡±

    I didn¡¯t feel much at the beginning but slowly but surely, I started feeling it. It was as if something warm ran through my veins, but it was the spirit tether, not my veins. Just as Bywen said, I was never aware of them. I could see them but that was all. It now felt as if I was made of 2 parts that were intimately connected but there were some breaks in between. These were the tethers that had snapped.

    I get it now, thanks.

    I sent the spirit energy I just received to those breaks. It cost a lot of energy and it was indeed exhausting. I mended 1 broken tether when I collapsed to the floor exhausted.

    This¡­ is difficult.

    ¡°I wonder why this isn¡¯t known under the spirits. Is it because most spirits spend all their lives in the spirit world and never have to create spirit tethers?¡±

    No clue, one has to be aware of them first and I don¡¯t think this is the norm. Anyway! This was educational! I will send some details about the spirit vessel to Greg. Have him draw how you want to look like and please¡­ don¡¯t go overboard.

    ¡°I will. I will work on restoring my spirit tethers in the meantime. And make sure to take your rest seriously!¡±

    I went back home and sent a shadow clone to Greg. I would probably have to sneak him into the room with the spirit guardian because these elves are probably going to take forever to decide that he can¡¯t enter or something stupid.

    Jyno had fallen asleep next to the vat of viscous liquid he was supposed to stir.

    What a slacker. I went over to the vat, grabbed the spoon with my tails and continued stirring. This was a lot but it is to make sure that I have more than enough left when I mess up.

    My 9th tail returned the analysis of the spirit energy that belonged to Bywen. I was unsure if I could replicate this but as long as it¡¯s close enough it should be fine. This liquid can tune itself once it gets close enough to what it¡¯s supposed to be.

    I attempted to generate spirit energy but I failed. I might have to ask Bywen to set aside a large portion of her spirit energy another time.

    <hr>

    The stirring was done a day later.

    ¡°So, it¡¯s finally done?¡±

    It would¡¯ve been done yesterday if you didn¡¯t slack and fell asleep!

    ¡°Hey come on how is someone supposed to stir that for more than 5 minutes without getting exhausted?¡±

    You need to work out more!

    ¡°What? Look at my physique!¡± Jyno started flexing.

    He didn¡¯t look bad. He was slim yet still muscular. ¡°It¡¯s those tails! I don¡¯t know what the deal is with them! Even with that muscle dough! Don¡¯t they get tired?¡±

    They do, they are getting tired of your whining!

    ¡°I¡¯m getting outdone by some fluffy tails¡­¡±

    Hey snap out of it!

    ¡°Oh, the elders are happy with the results of their Eslana project. I don¡¯t know what that means but they are happy.¡±

    It seems that when I was away, my clone had to give some elves the ¡®Eslana Experience¡¯ I didn¡¯t even know my clone could do that. Well, it couldn¡¯t, it popped out of existence after 3 minutes but somehow that was enough. The elders were too busy with the results to notice my clone disappearing. I hope they don¡¯t turn this into a hobby¡­ They already are making it a hobby to steal my fruit. Which reminds me.

    Jyno, where are my oranges?

    ¡°Ehhm¡±

    The elders passed by, didn¡¯t they?

    Jyno nodded. I went to my empty fruit bowl and filled it with onions and disguised them as peaches.

    Hehe, in that case, I hope they enjoy these peaches.

    ¡°Are you still trying to get banned from this village?¡±

    I have no idea what you mean, this is my fruit bowl. If I want to eat peaches that taste like onions that¡¯s my own problem, right?

    Jyno shook his head. ¡°So, what time-consuming step is next up?¡±

    I boil it. It will cause this goop to separate in an oil and watery substance. I need the oil as base. The watery substance is very receptive to spirit energy so I will save most of it and a small part needs to get saturated with Bywen¡¯s spirit energy and I will have to mix it with the oil.

    ¡°Bywen?¡±

    Oh, your spirit guardian has decided on a name and she decided on the name Bywen.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a nice name. so, it¡¯s happening, eh? We finally get to interact with our guardian spirit.¡±

    That only happens if you stop slacking! Go get another container while I boil this stuff.

    I started boiling the mixture with foxfire. It needed a specific temperature but this is no problem for a 9t. I wondered how a non 9t could reproduce this. Many steps could be done as a human or elf but some steps just needed foxfire. Other steps were easier if you were a 9t but could be worked around.

    I don¡¯t understand foxfire enough to suggest an alternative so I just wrote down: Before you start this, get your nine tailed spirit fox friend to help out.

    Not sure how the reception will be to anyone who attempts this but that¡¯s not my problem.

    The mixture started to separate into oil and I threw in a special salt to speed up this process. I scooped up the oil and poured it into the container that Jyno had brought.

    I kept doing this until no more oil got produced. I then boiled the oil on a lower temperature and used water Dragonvein to pull out the watery bits and put it back in the original batch. It was now successfully split.

    ¡°This oil looks interesting.¡±

    I wouldn¡¯t recommend touching it. I have no idea what will happen if you do. I am so glad Raishin isn¡¯t here he would probably¡­

    The door slammed open.

    Sup Agnis! Can I help?

    Jyno, get him!

    Jyno tackled Raishin and bound him.

    I was just about to tell Jyno that it was a good thing you¡¯re not here because you can¡¯t resist touching stuff you shouldn¡¯t touch¡­

    Hey, what is that? It smells nice, can I drink it?

    Absolutely not! Did your instinct tell you to come here at the worst possible timing?

    Yes!

    Not even denying it huh? Jyno please if he messes this up, I need to start from step 0, which means you have to stir more viscous liquid.

    ¡°And off you go Raishin, I have nothing against you but I have everything against stirring viscous liquids!¡±

    Save some for me!

    It is not a drink!

    Jyno removed the problematic element from my house.

    He does this all the time to Greg, shows up in the middle of his potion brewing and ruins it when he doesn¡¯t get stopped in time.

    Greg entered the building.  Hey Agnis. Are you available?

    I am, I just avoided a Raishin Catastrophe.

    I saw Jyno dragging him out yeah. The elders had let me into the room with the spirit guardian. I have completed the drawing.

    Wow they actually let you in?

    They realize the urgency of this spirit vessel. It is not my best work but I tried to be as detailed as possible. Don¡¯t focus too much on the mistakes.

    Ok let me see.

    Gregory showed an image of a tall redhead with 4 arms, long slender legs and small fruits growing in her hair as ornaments.

    Very nice. Are you sure you drew this? Uselessly good at drawing as usual.

    Well, I might have had some practice of drawing relatively recently.

    Oh, do tell.

    Well, I got captured remember? And the reason why they unbound me was because I could draw that bitch goddess. So, I did. They seem to think I am an arch bishop or something. But the requests became weirder and weirder and I might have drawn her in situations and positions that might get me killed.

    Hahaha! Serves her right! You did well. And welcome to the club!

    I don¡¯t want the club of having a goddess being passionately about murdering you!

    Racial hazard. Anyway, can I request a potion that kills pain and promotes regeneration?

    Sure, why might I ask?

    So, the spirit bone is quite easy in theory. I need the bones of a creature that¡¯s living while it¡¯s extracted. The bones of that creature determine the properties of the bone. So bones of a dragon will be extremely sturdy but also heavy. Now Rignef used his own tailbone. I am not going to do that but I am probably going to use my own bones which will make the spirit bones light and strong.

    I understand the reason but why your own bones?

    It''s easier. And well I used to be ambidextrous but I lost my right arm twice and over time it grew back it became better than the last so I¡¯m quite right-handed now.

    So, you want to cut off your left arm so you become a bit more ambidextrous? That is the most retarded reason you could have thought up with.

    So, what bones should I use then if not my own.

    ¡­ I will make those potions. I should be used to this shit by now¡­ make sure to call me when you cut off your arm¡­ And is that all to that step?

    No, I have to flush the marrow with Ichor Pneuma until the Ichor Pneuma takes over the marrow and the spirit bone will start producing it. Flushing the marrow seems to take a month¡­

    You did mention that Ichor Pneuma was important to create the bones. I understand why now, thanks for the explanation. When will you be making those spirit bones?

    No clue. Most of this depends on Bywen.

    That was the spirit guardian¡¯s name, right?

    Yup.

    Ok keep me in the loop.

    I remembered that I still had Elliana¡¯s treasure from the dungeon so I sent a shadow clone over to her house to dump the treasure. I would visit Bywen the next day to have her infuse this spirit liquid with her spirit energy. I hope she only needs to do this once but the process of making Ichor Pneuma was sensitive to mistakes.

 Pneuma 21: Ichor Pneuma III

    Sup Bywen! Oh no glow¡­

    I grabbed a spirit tether and sent energy through it.

    ¡°Oh, good morning Agnis.¡±

    Good morning. I forgot to tell you something last time. The spirits, they love bread. Now if this is a bread thing or a favorite food thing, I don¡¯t know, but eating it will temporarily strengthen your spirit tether. I don¡¯t know what the long-term effects are but it¡¯s probably something that¡¯s needed.

    ¡°I see, my vessel is unable to eat bread though¡­¡±

    Well bread doesn¡¯t work for me; I suspect spirit salmon works for me but maybe this is your problem. Your vessel can¡¯t eat in the traditional sense. So, I want you to remember that when you¡¯re in the new vessel, remember to eat your favorite food regularly.

    ¡°So, this is also happening to you because you don¡¯t eat yours regularly?¡±

    Uhh, perhaps. That combined with the spirit world trying to pull us in might be a bad combination.

    ¡°I will ask the elves to procure it for you.¡±

    Uhh spirit salmon are a pain to catch so don¡¯t bother. I will put ¡®Hunting down Spirit Salmon¡¯ on the list of things to do after I finish this. I am here for this!

    I took a container full of spirit liquid out of my dimensional pocket.

    I want you to infuse this with as much spirit energy you can. Not neutral spirit energy, your spirit energy.

    Branches reached out to the liquid and spirit energy poured in.

    I hope I have to do this just once but I might be back later for more.

    My spirit left my body again but this was not a problem because I wasn¡¯t moving. I decided to try and reconnect some spirit tethers. Some had snapped when my spirit left my body.

    At least now it was easy for me to find out how long I have. It¡¯s probably game over when they all snap but I had more than enough left.

    Bywen is big so she also has still a lot left. In both our cases the tethers snap faster than we can repair.

    Would you let me leave the village if I urgently needed to hunt down some spirit salmon?

    ¡°I would send some elders with you.¡±

    Guessed as much. So, what are you going to do once you have your spirit vessel?

    ¡°See the world!¡±

    Well, isn¡¯t that interesting, the true leader of the elves wants to do something the elves are hellbent on preventing.

    ¡°I don¡¯t get it. I keep telling them that they can leave but they just refuse. I don¡¯t have the option to leave if I want to.¡±

    I don¡¯t understand it either, but it¡¯s not my problem so I¡¯m not going to stick my nose into this. This will be something you need to address once you¡¯re out your tree.

    Bywen kept talking about the things she wants to try out when she has a spirit vessel. Most were basic things but it meant a lot to a spirit who had been a tree for practically forever.

    ¡°I think I¡¯m done. This liquid won¡¯t take more of my spirit energy. Thank you for listening. I will be awaiting the completion of the vessel.¡±

    Don¡¯t worry about it. I do want to warn you to curb your expectations though. It might seem like I¡¯m close to completion and theoretically I am, however, this Ichor Pneuma is sensitive to mistakes and on top of this, the method to bring this all together is a mystery. Putting the body together itself might take months or years. Please don¡¯t get your expectations too high.

    ¡°I will do my best, what are months or years compared to how long I¡¯ve lived.¡±

    Fair point, I just thought I should tell you this. Anyway, I¡¯m a busy fox. I hope that I can finish this before all our spirit tethers have snapped.

    I wanted to leave but I checked if I was taking my body with me. I did so I continued.

    <hr>

    I had placed some oil in a glass jar. Jyno was looking at it as if it was a mythical creature. I hoped this would work. I added some foxfire to the spirit liquid and poured it into the oil.

    ¡°Whoa would you look at that. That¡¯s a good sign, right?¡±

    Jyno looked at a viscous oily liquid that displayed multiple different colors.

    Yeah, finally something that works the first try. I guess I can make multiple batches.

    ¡°Do you have to mix it? The colors are everywhere.¡±

    Nope, it seems this is supposed to happen. Now the basis is finished. I will have to apply my knowledge about spirit tethers to it and when that¡¯s done make it some sort of anchor.

    ¡°And how will you do that?¡±

    I will first make more batches then see how Bywen reacts to it. There is a list of ingredients to tune it but it depends on how she reacts and then I have to mix crystalized Dragonvein in it. That should almost complete it. I will have to keep checking how Bywen reacts to it. Then flush it through the spirit bones and anchor it. Depending on the situation I might have to break off some of her spirit tethers and mix it in.

    ¡°I will leave it to you. You seem to know what you¡¯re doing.¡±

    Oh no I have no clue what I¡¯m doing. I¡¯m going in blind from here on.

    ¡°Well, you are the only one who even has an idea on how to do this.¡±

    I put my tail to work to create a suitable anchor.

    Jyno and I spent the rest of the day creating jars of incomplete Ichor Pneuma. After that, I prepared 12 different mixtures of ingredients used for tuning. Since Ichor Pneuma is closely tied to spirit energy, they will improve the use of spirit energy or make it a bit harder. Some will effectively dilute the Ichor Pneuma while others will make it thicker. Some are mandatory depending on what type of spirit is going to inhabit the vessel.

    The Spirit Skin has all the resistances but it doesn¡¯t protect the vessel from the inside. A fire spirit will of course have fire resistance but there is no point if the vessel burns up because it houses a fire spirit. Most of these ingredients address this. The concentration needed to be tested so I will have to harass Bywen quite frequently.

    I am not overly familiar with life spirits so I made every possible tuning solution just in case. I could store it if I didn¡¯t need it.

    It¡¯s better to have and not need than to need and not have.

    I mixed a solution that made sure spirit energy wouldn¡¯t go out of control and then created thousands of mixtures with different concentrations the next morning. They had different tuning solutions and all applied them to small samples of incomplete Ichor Pneuma. I created every type of sample tenfold. I carefully labelled them and categorized them in groups.

    Jyno came down while yawning. ¡°Holy fuck, what are all these vials?¡±

    Different mixtures I need to test. I¡¯m going to kick your ass if you break any.

    ¡°Did you increase the size of the house again? How many vials do you have?¡±

    Well, I¡¯m doing my best to have different types of mixtures but I can¡¯t do them all. Especially not if I have 10 of every sample, I think I¡¯m reaching half a million.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say the spirit blood or however it¡¯s named will adjust itself?¡±

    Ah, guess I¡¯m done then!

    ¡°How long were you even planning on creating more combinations?¡±

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    Maybe a week.

    ¡°You¡¯re insane...¡±

    I hear that a lot lately.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you get tired?¡±

    I¡¯m always tired.

    ¡°How about you rest up then?¡±

    After I¡¯m done.

    ¡°Which is going to take how long?¡±

    Months if I¡¯m lucky.

    ¡°Go rest! I will carry these to the big tree!¡±

    Uhh, sure.

    I beckoned Nilah and looked at Jyno who realized he made a huge mistake. I grinned and went to take a nap. I wonder if he will still be moving over half a million vials after I wake up.

    My nap turned into a 3 day sleep. I got up and found a living room without vials. My peaches were gone too. I grinned, walked over to the big tree, took real peaches out of my dimensional pocket and tossed them to the onion stealing elders. They caught them but put them to the side. It smelled like onion in this room.

    I headed over to Bywen and found cabinets full of colorful vials all labelled. I will have to thank Jyno.

    ¡°The elders had already warned me that you might come to test these solutions. I¡¯m ready.¡±

    I will do this different that I normally do. There are a lot of samples and nobody has time for this so I¡¯m going to use one of my skills [Elgard Overload] to make the impossible possible. I will try to cram over half a million samples in your system without any adverse effects within 8 minutes. Anything that I can¡¯t get to will be applied in the next session, 80 minutes later.

    ¡°It¡¯s not going to place a burden on you, is it?¡±

    Nope, just won¡¯t be able to use my Elgard¡¯s eyes for a bit.

    I started [Elgard Overload] and applied as many samples as possible. All the negative side effects got kicked out of reality.

    A clone noted every possible change. I also sped up time to find out short- and long-term effects.

    My [Elgard Overload] dropped and I had applied more than half the available samples. So far there were 109 favorable combinations. The 80 minutes without my Elgards eyes were used to find out and deduce which combinations would have the best effect. I might be able to narrow down which works the best.

    I had noticed something though. There seemed 2 groups that did well. One highly specific to Bywen, and another one that was more aspecific.

    the aspecific one would be used to create Ichor Pneuma for my own spirit vessel. Tuning this for myself will be a royal pain. It would also make for an Ichor Pneuma that could work for any spirit. It will need minor tuning to make it fit that spirit more but it will cut out all the bullshit I¡¯m going through now.

    I could use my Elgards eyes again and we went for another round. Most combinations I tried out, had hardly if any, side effects and I could stop my [Elgard Overload] after 4 minutes. I had a new problem, I had too many options that work.

    Uhh Bywen, I have 392 samples that work, pick one.

    ¡°Does it matter which one I pick?¡±

    Nope.

    ¡°I like that light green one.¡± A branch pointed at one of the viable vials.

    Ok this will be used then. This went better than I expected.

    ¡°What is up with that group over there?¡±

    Oh, those are not specific to you but could make for something that could be used for any spirit.

    ¡°Oh, that is wonderful news, I was wondering how you would test this on yourself.¡±

    Yeah, that would be a bit difficult. Thank you for being my test subject. The next time I return is probably when I want to request to leave the village.

    ¡°Ok I will have some elders on standby.¡±

    Ugh, really? Can¡¯t I go with Greg, Raishin, Jyno and Elliana?

    ¡°I will consider that.¡±

    You kind of sound like a mom now¡­

    ¡°I consider everyone in this village my children.¡±

    I noticed¡­ Anyway, I will have to do 9t stuff if you don¡¯t make up your mind!

    ¡°I was afraid that that would be the case¡­¡±

    I left and went back home. Jyno seemed exhausted. ¡°I¡­I made it in time, didn¡¯t I?¡±

    Yeah, you did great. Get ready we might leave the village soon.

    ¡°Did you get permission?¡±

    Nope, that¡¯s why I¡¯m telling you to prepare.

    ¡°You¡¯re not trying to anger the guardian spirit, are you?¡±

    I¡¯m pretty sure she would have already if she was capable of getting angry.

    ¡°We know she can get angry¡­¡±

    Wow you guys must have really fucked up then, she seems extremely patient to me.

    ¡°I will prepare, just know that I¡¯m blaming you if we get into trouble!¡±

    That¡¯s fine.

    Jyno got ready and I went to visit Greg and Elliana.

    Hey guys! Get ready! We are going on an adventure tomorrow!

    Are you even allowed to go outside of the village?

    Nope! So that¡¯s why I¡¯m warning you beforehand!

    ¡°I will set something up so we can safely leave then!¡±

    Elliana?

    See at least she gets it! Well, I have to tell Raishin!

    I went over to Raishin¡¯s house but he wasn¡¯t home.

    Well, that¡¯s annoying. I still have 10 minutes before I can use my eyes. Where would he be? I went to his usual spots of picking up chicks. He wasn¡¯t there. I actually have no clue where he would be now. Picking up chicks was such a large part of his behavior.

    Maybe he was training or hunting. I asked around and an elf had seen him train at the edge of the village. I found him practicing lightning magic.

    Teaching Elliana had made this much of an impact on you?

    Raishin, who was all sweaty, turned around.

    Yeah. I thought that I should at least know more about lightning magic even though I won¡¯t use it in real life situations. Greg had also taught me some things about magnetism. Look!

    He threw his spear and it returned back to him.

    Uhm, you do know that I had built that function into your spear, right? You don¡¯t need magnetism to do that¡­

    Ah right¡­ bad example, throw something made out of metal!

    You do know that only specific metals abide by magnetism, right? Unless you go crazy to the point it affects everything.

    Hehe just throw some random metal that¡¯s not iron.

    I threw some copper scraps. Raishin showed a magic circle I¡¯ve never seen before and the copper scraps flew at him.

    Eh? Cool, eh? If it¡¯s metal I can use magnetism on it!

    That is impressive! Keep practicing! I came here to tell you that we¡¯re going on an adventure tomorrow.

    Oh cool! I can¡¯t wait!

    Me neither.

    I could use my Elgards eyes again and I went back home. I created more of the tuning sample that Bywen chose and applied it to the Ichor Pneuma, i would attempt to gather crystalized Dragonvein the next day and then mix it in. After that I can test it out on Bywen.

    I had to clean up the mess I made because my spirit left my body again and I knocked over some unimportant vials. I mixed the tuning solution with the incomplete Ichor Pneuma over a low temperature foxfire and decided to rest until the next morning

 Pneuma 22: Leefa Seorwynn

    I had the strange dream again where someone died right in front of me. I tried to catch more of the dream but there were no useful details. All I knew was that it was the turning point in my emotional state. It¡¯s when I go from calm and carefree to serious.

    I don¡¯t get serious because everything around me might die if that happens. I would need a specific situation where I can do that with Raishin and Greg around because some attacks of mine can eat through Greg¡¯s defences. It suggests that I was alone in that dream

    But it¡¯s just a dream. Why am I so bothered by it? I get a similar feeling from it as that dream with Hablena. It didn¡¯t turn out to be real, kinda, but she did fuck me up with all those curses and I feel like an event like that will happen.

    I uncurled and woke Nilah.

    We¡¯re going on an adventure Nilah, aren¡¯t you excited?

    We went downstairs and ate something. Is Jyno still sleeping?

    Hey slacker! Get up! Nilah get him!

    Nilah radiated some frost magic and ran upstairs. I heard a commotion not long after.

    ¡°Hey what the? Nilah!¡± I heard Jyno making strange sounds and a yell.

    Nilah ran down the stairs and jumped into my lap. Jyno was in hot pursuit and his hair looked strange.

    He pointed at Nilah. ¡°Your fox froze my hair gel while I was putting it in!¡±

    You¡¯re an elf, why are you bothering with hair gel anyways?

    ¡°It is important to look good at all times!¡±

    I like your hair, it looks cool, haha!

    ¡°Not funny! I will be done in a bit!¡± He wanted to grab a peach but hesitated.

    Those are real, don¡¯t worry.

    He bit into it, confirmed it was a real peach and went back upstairs.

    I heard some commotion in the village. Did someone invade the village? Couldn¡¯t they wait until after we escape?

    Jyno finally got ready and I opened the door. I found myself at the point of a sword and pink purple eyes were staring me down. I forgot that this happens when I meet elves for the first time.

    ¡°Are you the Silver Torrent?¡±

    Huh, Elliana? You look a bit different, what¡¯s going on?

    ¡°Elliana is my sister, answer me!¡±

    The Silver Torrent is not home, he went out to do grocery shopping, we¡¯re his maids.

    I tried to leave my door but Elliana¡¯s rude sister kept pointing her sword at me.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have maids in this village.¡±

    Oh really!? Shit! Jyno, we go scammed! We need to file in a report to the elders!

    The sword got closer to my throat. ¡°You¡¯re the Silver Torrent, right? Teppei did tell me that you would react something like this!¡±

    Teppei? The ancient relic? Wait so you¡¯re¡­ uh oh! Jyno, we need to go now!

    Nilah turned into a sword and attached to my hip, I grabbed Jyno and teleported to Greg¡¯s house. I saw Elliana¡¯s sister in front of his door.

    Huh? How did you get here before me?

    She turned around but this time she looked like Elliana.

    You¡¯re Elliana, right?

    ¡°Yes? Who else?¡±

    Your sister who greeted me with the tip of her sword.

    Elliana¡¯s expression changed. ¡°Leefa is here? What does she want?¡±

    The Silver Torrent, her mentor, the ancient relic, seems to have sent her.

    ¡°Oh, this is not good, she probably wants to fight you. We need to go now. Greg!¡± Greg came out in all of his slowness and I felt someone locking on to me.

    Right, time to get Raishin!

    I grabbed them with my tails, dodged an [Air Slash] and teleported into Raishin¡¯s bedroom. He was sleeping of course.

    Didn¡¯t you guys clean up his house recently? Why is it a mess? And why is there a pile of burnt pants in that corner?

    I don¡¯t know¡­ He told me a god had disguised himself as his pants but he also said he killed the god. He wasn¡¯t sure though so he interrogates and burns all his pants that don¡¯t respond.

    Fantastic¡­

    I took a pair of pants out of my dimensional pocket and swapped clothes on him.

    Elliana shot some arrows through the window and directed her attention to us. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the northeast of the village! I have a passage that will bring us outside the barrier without alerting the elders!¡±

    Will it alert Bywen?

    Elliana nodded. I sighed and teleported to the northeast while Greg slapped Raishin awake.

    Jyno was still fixing his hair. ¡°So, Elliana, what is the deal with your sister?¡±

    ¡°She is battle crazy¡­ nobody likes to fight her.¡±

    She had to come today¡­ I wish I could use my overpowered teleport but that only works when I¡¯m alone¡­

    Overpowered teleport?

    Yup, cuts travel time to 0.

    So, you became even faster¡­

    It is useless in battle because opponents can hit through the illusion layer making my illusion uncertain and it doesn¡¯t work well for short distances.

    Aha¡­

    ¡°So where are we going?¡± Jyno asked as he put more hairgel in.

    Somewhere where your hair gel can unlock its full potential!

    ¡°What?¡±

    We¡¯re going back to the crater!

    We slipped out of the barrier and I went southeast.

    Hey Elliana, I have a question.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    What is wrong with your sister?

    I pointed to the back and her sister was using some skill to chase us. She wasn¡¯t nearly as fast as me but I won¡¯t be able to leave her sight with how fast she is going.

    ¡°She¡­has no friends¡­¡±

    You¡¯re her sister, right? Can¡¯t you be her friend?

    Elliana shook her head. ¡°Some things are impossible even for me.¡±

    Alright! Ladies and gentlemen, I would advise you to keep your tails, limbs and ears close by. I won¡¯t be responsible if one of those get lost.

    I used [Accel Step] but I felt a strange sensation. All the weight fell off.

    Uh oh.

    My body and everyone were rolling and tumbling over the ground at subsonic speed. Talking about bad timing. Greg and Elliana used nature energy and elvish magic to recover from this blunder and put us to a halt.

    I should have seen this coming; this is on us¡­

    Woops sorry guys.

    ¡°My hair!¡±

    But Elliana¡¯s hair is a mess too and you don¡¯t hear her complaining.

    I felt a tug and returned to my body. My body felt fine despite that fall. I got up and got met by the tip of a sword.

    ¡°Fight me.¡±

    No.

    ¡°Are you afraid?¡±

    Yes.

    ¡°Afraid to lose?¡±

    Yup!

    ¡°Won¡¯t you be ashamed that a woman is better with the sword than you?¡±

    Nope, you deserved it, now can we go?

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you getting provoked?!¡±

    Oh, were you provoking me? Sorry. Try again!

    ¡°Fight me.¡±

    No.

    ¡°Are you afraid?¡±

    Yes.

    ¡°Afraid to lose?¡±

    Yup!

    Elliana¡¯s sister stomped. ¡°You¡¯re not changing your answer!¡±

    Nope, you deserved it, now can we go? Oh wait, you said something different this time.

    ¡°Are you messing with me!?¡± She said as bloodlust started to pour out of her sword.

    Yup!

    I dodged sword slashes. They had a lot of power behind them, they weren¡¯t as refined as Ancient Relic¡¯s sword but the speed and power behind them was real. I remember what he used to say, old fart is a technical fighter, I am too but this chick focuses on power. Something I don¡¯t want to deal with while sword fighting.

    ¡°Stop evading!¡±

    Ok.

    I stopped evading and she stopped her sword before she cut me in two.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you taking out your sword?¡±

    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Because that¡¯s when you will get serious.

    ¡°Ugh! Ellie, who is this guy?¡± She pointed her sword at Elliana.

    It¡¯s bad manners to point with a sword¡­

    ¡°Uhm, he is Agnis, my friend, these are Greg, Raisin and Jyno. Where are your manners?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m Leefa Seorwynn, the inheritor of the Sword Saint title!¡±

    Ha! I bet Agnis could kick your ass! That title belongs to him!   Raishin said proudly as if he was bragging about himself.

    Raishin really? You¡¯re supposed to help me not make things worse¡­

    ¡°I see, so you truly believe that eh? My mentor said that the two of us should fight it out for the title!¡±

    I concede, you win. You can have it. Let¡¯s go guys.

    ¡°Wait! Why won¡¯t you fight me!?¡±

    Did you see what just happened? My spirit left my body. I¡¯m in no state to fight you and I¡¯m not interested in the title so there¡¯s no need for me to fight you.

    ¡°But I want to fight you¡­¡±

    Maybe when my problem is solved.

    ¡°Then I will help you! What is your problem?¡±

    I facepalmed.

    Elliana gestured for us to head off ¡°Just leave him be sis, he doesn¡¯t want to fight you.¡±

    ¡°Shush Ellie, your big sis is talking!¡±

    Wait she is older? I thought Elliana was older¡­

    Same here¡­

    ¡°Being older doesn¡¯t mean that you¡¯re more mature!¡± Elliana said with a look that could kill

    Oof, a critical hit.

    ¡°You!¡± Leefa pointed her sword at me. The sword looked familiar. ¡°What is your problem? I will help you with your problem and we will fight afterward!¡±

    I turned around.

    Hey ¡®You¡¯ answer her.

    ¡°I am talking to you!¡±

    Wow look at that guys someone whose worse in remembering names than I am.

    Just answer her question¡­

    Well, my name is Agnis and currently I¡¯m working on a multifaceted problem. I will need to gather crystalized leyline energy, mix it with Ichor Pneuma and then create spirit bones and finish the last components of the body of the spirit vessel. Then I will have to create the magic circuits and eventually bring all those together with alchemy. Then to transfer the spirit guardian into the vessel and address the issue with snapping spirit tethers. So, if you help me with all that I will fight you.

    She pointed her sword at Elliana. ¡°Ellie what is he saying?¡±

    Elliana sighed quite audibly to indicate her annoyance. ¡°He is saying that he¡¯s busy and doesn¡¯t have time for you¡­¡±

    Or that¡­

    ¡°So, he won¡¯t fight me¡­ how about make a magic sword for me?! This sword here was made by him. It¡¯s so light but also strong. Why was it even that cheap? It deserves more!¡±

    Oh, so that¡¯s why I recognize it! And well, uh I just charged the minimum I could for it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to become rich!? How about this! You become my personal blacksmith and I will make you rich! I can be your Sugar momma!¡±

    Hey Elliana, what the fuck is wrong with your sister?

    ¡°I told you; she has no friends¡­¡±

    Don¡¯t you think this is the reason why she has no friends?

    ¡°That and she never holds back with her words or in combat.¡±

    Let¡¯s just ignore her then.

    Leefa walked over to Jyno. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re quite hot, want to be my boyfriend?¡±

    She doesn¡¯t hold back indeed.

    So direct.

    Raishin¡­ That¡¯s how you ask chicks out though¡­

    Really?

    Yeah.

    We started walking and Leefa chased us. ¡°Hey! Wait for me!¡±

    So, isn¡¯t this going to take forever if Agnis can¡¯t carry us?

    Hmm, we never had this problem.

    ¡°I have a solution! We can use my kite!¡± Elliana threw something in the air and it turned into an enormous leaf. 2 vines dropped down from it. She jumped and grabbed on a vine and climbed up. She gestured us to do the same.

    Someone hold Agnis!

    Huh?

    Jyno grabbed me and jumped up and grabbed the vine.

    ¡°Hey! Make sure to distribute your weight!¡± Leefa was lecturing us but everyone here knew that I weighed next to nothing.

    ¡°Jump on sis or we¡¯re leaving you behind! You know what? How about you just stay behind!¡±

    ¡°But this will be unbalanced!¡± Leefa pointed at the vine with Jyno, Elliana and me. Greg and Raishin¡¯s side seemed heavier though.

    ¡°Agnis weighs next to nothing, stop complaining and hop on!¡±

    Jyno, Elliana and I were on one side and Raishin and Greg on the other side. Leefa jumped on the side with Raishin and Greg but that side became the heaviest.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°I wish my sister would listen to me¡­¡± Elliana said.

    I have never seen her like this.

    Leefa jumped on our side and it was somewhat balanced.

    So, 3 elves and Agnis are still lighter than Raishin and me¡­

    Elliana used [Verdant Gale] and we glided east with the wind.

    Hey Elliana, mind if I steal this skill? I think I¡¯d be very compatible with it.

    ¡°Sure, I will make a kite and a glider for you when we return.¡±

    Ooh! I wasn¡¯t one too!

    Do you even know how to use one?

    Of course not! Elliana will teach me!

    ¡°The least I can do for you after you thought me lightning magic.¡±

    ¡°Wait, Ellie you can use lightning magic now? You make your big sis so proud!¡±

    ¡°Sure¡­¡±

    I¡¯m noticing some tension between the siblings. I wonder what Leefa did for Elliana to act like this. But that¡¯s not my business.

    We need to go a bit more south.

    Elliana adjusted the wind and corrected our course.

    Hey guys, I have had the same strange dream a lot lately. How about you guys?

    Same.

    Same

    ¡°I¡¯m sleeping well.¡± Jyno was still styling his hair¡­

    So, well you even sleep when you should be stirring stuff!

    ¡°I¡¯m also sleeping quite well. What kind of dreams do you guys have? Greg had told me his.¡±

    In my dream I¡¯m about to destroy a whole area because someone I don¡¯t know, died.

    I dreamt of the perfect chick but I have no idea who she is.

    Some strange creature attacked us and there was not much we could do about it.

    ¡°Somehow those dreams suit you guys¡­ So, it keeps returning? That is strange. Do your races have something with dreams?¡±

    I did not know the answer to Jyno¡¯s question.

    No clue.

    As far as I know, we don¡¯t.

    Everyone looked at me because I didn¡¯t react.

    Uhm, I don¡¯t know but I had another persistent nightmare that more or less came true so it might be something, let¡¯s hope it¡¯s just a bad dream¡­

    We could see the crater in the distance.

    ¡°Whoa what happened here? It didn¡¯t look like this the last time I was here!¡± Leefa was looking at the crater turned into a jungle with a lot of excitement.

    ¡°Does your sister live under a rock Elliana?¡±

    ¡°Her head is the rock¡­¡± I tried to holding my laugh. I will remember that one.

    ¡°Groaah!¡±

    Raishin keep your stomach under control we will eat when we land.

    Hey! That wasn¡¯t me!

    I know, I was just hoping it was your stomach¡­

    A strange large bird was heading toward us. It had 2 ugly heads and 3 wings.

    Do you think that is the cousin of the PB?

    It surely is ugly enough for it¡­

    ¡°What are you guys talking about?¡±

    Long story¡­ Elliana can you put us on the ground?

    ¡°On it!¡±

    But the fake PB had different plans and used its wings to create an updraft and sent us to the sky.

    Air combat, eh? I got this!

    Jyno grabbed me tightly. ¡°No, you don¡¯t have this if your spirit leaves your body, you¡¯re toast!¡±

    Right, Raishin go!

    I can¡¯t fly¡­

    Is anyone proficient in air combat?

    Silence.

    Ok Jyno make sure you don¡¯t drop me. Who wants to fly?

    ¡°Me!¡±

    I didn¡¯t expect Leefa to volunteer. I connected to the air leyline currents and used [Howling Updraft]. Leefa let go of the kite and drew her sword.

    I ¡®accidently¡¯ knocked Jyno¡¯s hair into a mess. ¡°Hey easy with those movements!¡±

    Sorry.

    Raishin kept throwing lightning at the Fake PB but kept missing. To his defence the wind was strong and he had to avoid hitting Leefa.

    Raishin, can you teleport to her and save her in case my spirit leaves my body?

    Ok.

    I used [Pressure] and dropped the Fake PB out of the sky. It recovered but Leefa had closed in and cut off one of its wings

    ¡°Why is my sister so stupid¡­ she cut off the only wing it doesn¡¯t need to fly¡­¡±

    That decision was questionable yeah¡­

    Well, she will have another chance. Jyno, don¡¯t drop me.

    I used [Blender] on the Fake PB but I missed because Jyno almost dropped me. I was aiming for one of its heads but I took out one of its wings and it started to fall. Leefa went after it by using her wind magic and cut it in half.

    Well, that is one ugly bird less.

    That was a cool cut.

    I used [Howling Updraft] to get her back up to the kite. It was a bit difficult because I couldn¡¯t move like I normally did.

    ¡°Whew! That was new! Do you guys always do things like this? Can I join you guys?¡± Leefa said looking quite refreshed.

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡±

    We decided to stay out of this and let the siblings fight it out.

    Something about Leefa always looking down on everyone and getting bored of people easily and leaving them behind. We arrived at the crater and the siblings were still fighting. My spirit slipped out of my body but there were no consequences. I tried to mend some spirit tethers while we descended.

 Pneuma 23: Ichor Pneuma IV

    This place is a paradise!

    We were relaxing near the lake in the center of the crater. I call it a crater but it¡¯s unrecognizable as a crater. A circular lake in the center and a lush jungle around it. Raishin noted that it looked like a big green donut and I agree.

    It seems that only Jyno, Elliana and I could see all the spirits here. Raishin and Leefa were messing around in the lake. Greg was staying safe on dry land and reading. I needed to get into the lake because the large leyline current was the densest on the bottom of the lake.

    Elliana didn¡¯t allow me to go in until after the next episode of my spirit leaving my body. Nobody can fish me out if that happens while I¡¯m diving down. So, I¡¯m just resting under a tree and trying to mend my spirit tethers.

    ¡°You look exhausted.¡±

    I¡¯m mending my spirit tethers. It¡¯s extremely exhausting.

    ¡°Will you have enough stamina to dive after this?¡±

    I have a Phoenix Flower; I will be fine.

    ¡°Do you mind if I read your research after you¡¯ve finished? The Seorwynn family is supposed to be very close with spirits but it¡¯s getting less and less with each generation. My sister can¡¯t even see spirits¡­¡± We looked at how Leefa was messing around in the lake and not noticing the water spirits around her.

    Why aren¡¯t you actually a spirit mage?

    ¡°At first it was because I couldn¡¯t find a spirit that suited me but the older I got¡­ the more I disagreed with the spirit contract.¡± Elliana said as she sat down next to me.

    If you find a medium spirit. Just talk to it. They are friendly. I had many spirits help me even though there was nothing in it for them. They all had to return to the spirit world¡­

    ¡°But elves ¡®enslave¡¯ them why should they talk to me?¡±

    Well, it¡¯s not exact slavery but well I¡¯d say just talk to them. You might not be successful the first try but you will be successful eventually.

    Raishin and Leefa had caught a big fish but it was fiercely fighting back. It was splashing around and the splashes were flying toward Greg who was freaking out.

    Well, I¡¯ve written this in the research but making a spirit vessel is going to be extremely hard if not impossible without a 9t. I can leave a basic spirit vessel behind for you but there will still be some difficult steps that you need to execute to get your spirit in it.

    ¡°I appreciate it thank you. Do you think creating spirit vessels like these will become impossible without spirit foxes?¡±

    I don¡¯t know. You will have to pick up this research after me to find out. And then you will have to study mana runes and magic circles and alchemy. I suppose this field becomes harder and harder the more it gets picked up by others.

    ¡°Hmm, it might be late but do you mind If I observe?¡±

    I don¡¯t mind, most steps are boring, just ask Jyno. Hmm where is he actually?

    We looked around but we didn¡¯t see Jyno.

    Right, I think I know where this is going.

    I took out a Phoenix Flower and inhaled it¡¯s pollen and restored my stamina.

    Nilah, we might have company.

    Nilah, who was in her katana form turned to her fox form. Both of us used [Eternal Winter].

    I felt Jyno¡¯s magic signature and a very big one. It also absorbed a familiar energy that I had started to hate; divine energy.

    I sighed.  Right, Elliana, go tell Greg and Raishin we have divine activity. I¡¯m going to save Jyno. Nilah, sword.

    I readied [Iai: Nilah] as I teleported to where I located the god.

    ¡°Ah! You must be responsible for this ice! I¡¯m¡­¡±

    I released [Iai: Nilah] and cut him in 9 pieces and freed Jyno who was bound in [Shadow Tendrils]. I remembered the scene of my dream. It wasn''t the same but similar enough.

    Oh, hell no! you¡¯re not killing Jyno!

    The god reformed as black tendrils pieced him together. It looked quite disturbing. I had no time for this minor god¡¯s bullshit. I already knew what he wants. Something something Biian said and capture us. I threw Nilah at him.

    ¡°Hey! Let me at least¡­¡±

    Nilah pierced his chest and used a full powered [Kryokym].

    ¡°Aaagh!¡±

    I wasn''t as powerful as the one we hit Zack with but this should hurt. I was ready for a follow up but the god had disappeared. Nilah turned into her fox form and looked around just as confused as I was. Did he [Shadow Meld]? The floor was covered in frost so that shouldn¡¯t be possible. I also didn¡¯t see a pillar of dark shoot up. How did he escape? He even erased all his mana and energy.

    That is strange. Are you ok Jyno?

    ¡°I am now¡­ I¡¯m sorry for getting caught¡­¡±

    Don¡¯t worry about it not much you can do against a god, we need to be careful he might still be around¡­

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you kill it?¡±

    God¡¯s don¡¯t die so easily.

    ¡°Did you forget that snake god that you sent after me?¡±

    Exceptions don¡¯t make the rule.

    I wanted to keep looking but my spirit left my body. Is this what he was waiting for?

    Greg, Raishin, Elliana and Leefa arrived but the god was gone. What a coward.

    Where is that god?

    ¡°I¡¯m trying to tell Agnis that he killed it but he won¡¯t believe me!¡±

    My intuition isn¡¯t picking up anything. He might be dead yeah; do you feel anything Greg?

    I don¡¯t feel anything.

    He used dark and shadow magic like you, do you have any tricks to disappear and wipe out all trace of being present?

    Well yes, we have but that doesn¡¯t work against you. I don¡¯t feel anything that could be related to an escape. I think you killed him¡­

    Yeah! The god that I killed died super easily too!

    ¡°You guys have fought gods? Oh, Silver Torrent you have to fight me now!¡± Leefa drew her sword. How battle crazy is this chick?

    ¡°Stop being so insensitive Leefa, they don¡¯t do this by choice it¡¯s a tricky subject for them.¡±

    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    Hmm so he died eh. That works for me. Gods will revive sooner or later after all, unless they get hit by abyss magic. So only snake god is gone permanently. Come here Nilah! You did a good job!

    Nilah ran over and I petted her. She was in her small fox size now. I cancelled [Eternal Winter] and I got up.

    Since I just had a blackout, I can dive now.

    I dove down into the lake and tapped into the large leyline current and condensed the energy. I had never attempted to condense the energy but this was surprisingly easy. I trapped it in frost capsules. Since I don¡¯t know how much I need I will continue until I get tired.

    Elliana and Jyno dove down and tried to retrieve me. They probably thought I had gotten a blackout which was my cue to resurface.

    So, on a scale of 1 to 10 how fucked are we when we return to the village?

    ¡°I don¡¯t think Bywen will be that upset. My father and the elders though¡­¡±

    But we have been stuck in there for so long! This feels like a vacation even though it was short.

    I think I can think clearer now I have stepped outside. I think this was beneficial to all of us.

    Yeah! Agnis even killed a minor god! Now we¡¯re all in the god killing club!

    Not sure this is something to boast about, it will just make things worse eventually.

    And that¡¯s why we need to get strong enough to kick their asses or annoying enough that they don¡¯t want to deal with us!

    That is your goal, eh? Just becoming a pain in the ass to fight so that even gods, who might be way stronger than you, don¡¯t bother fighting you?

    I think it¡¯s the only correct answer. It doesn¡¯t matter how strong you are, if your strength is straight forward everyone and their grandmother will want a piece of you, look at the battle crazy elf there!

    Elliana and Leefa were fighting again. I was considering giving her an unpleasant experience fighting me but I don¡¯t have the time for this and my blackouts are a problem. It might be wise to return to the elven village before another minor god appears. We might have gotten lucky and only encountered the pushovers. The demi-god I fought with Thalia and Toxic Donkey was way stronger than this one.

    We eventually returned to the village and we got chewed out. It wasn¡¯t as bad as I thought though. Bywen had prepared them properly. It was just to remind us that it could have ended up way worse. We felt like kids again getting scolded by those way older than us.

    And then Leefa had to blurt out that I had killed a god and we got more scolding. This put Elliana in a foul mood. I have never seen her like this. No matter what stupid shit Raishin did or how many pranks I pulled on her she always had a pleasant and composed aura.

    Only with Leefa it seemed to change a bit. I was curious but I would just wait until she would start talking about it.

    I went back to finishing Ichor Pneuma and as promised, Elliana was observing. Jyno was working out. The incident with that god was eating at him. I don¡¯t blame him but I don¡¯t think working out will help but who knows maybe one day he will punch a god to death. Elves aren¡¯t known for having favorable matchups against gods though.

    I took out some leyline energy that had been crystallized. It looked like a clear crystal but it had a slight red tint to it.

    ¡°Is this also a step that needs a spirit fox?¡±

    I assume Elliana was continuing the conversation we had near the lake.

    It isn¡¯t. I think crystalized mana also works but I prefer this option. Anyone can learn Dragonvein theoretically. It is just easier if you¡¯re a tailed beast or can see the flow of leyline energy. Else you will have to be very good in calculating or predicting the flow by feeling it out. It¡¯s not impossible but something many races will struggle with. I think elves might have an edge in this because of your inherent connection with nature.

    ¡°I see, are those crystals safe?¡±

    Oh yeah.

    I handed one to Elliana and started crushing crystals into powder. I had to be careful because it could release all the energy which I didn¡¯t need. I don¡¯t want to blow up another house. Maybe they¡¯re not so safe after all¡­ Let¡¯s not tell Elliana this.

    I carefully dissolved the crystal powder into the incomplete Ichor Pneuma.

    ¡°Oh, I can feel how special that substance is from here.¡±

    Elliana was right, the Ichor Pneuma gave off a strange energy, it wasn¡¯t unpleasant or intimidating. It felt¡­ special. Does this mean I succeeded? I tried different concentrations and methods on other samples. Most failed. Just simply dissolve it eh?

    The final stretch. My tails had already created various versions of [Spirt Anchors]. Some needed a sample of Bywen¡¯s spirit tether.

    Time to visit Bywen, you¡¯re of the Seorwynn family so you can join me, right?

    ¡°I need permission from my grandfather¡­¡±

    The guy that never shows his face? What¡¯s up with that actually?

    ¡°He is still wounded from a battle he had before the Great Eraser. No healing skill works and he doesn¡¯t like showing his scars.¡±

    Hmm the curse of immortality, eh? He could at least send us a message. But there¡¯s no harm if he won¡¯t notice. Let¡¯s go!

    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure about this¡­¡±

    Just blame me. Let¡¯s go!

    I took all my stuff, grabbed Elliana and teleported inside Bywen¡¯s space.

    Sup Bywen! I brought someone!

    ¡°I still need to personally scold you Agnis, and that is a face I haven¡¯t seen in almost a century, how are you Elliana?¡±

    ¡°Uhh, I am doing fine. I¡¯m sorry for intruding on your space.¡± Elliana said while acting all polite and boring.

    Stop being so stiff, Bywen is cool, besides when she wants to lock me up in the village of course.

    ¡°I have told you before that I regard everyone in this village as my children, you are no exception. There is no need to be so formal with me.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I will try.¡±

    Right, I need a sample of your spirit tether and I need you to test this Ichor Pneuma out. If it is compatible with you, which it should, then I can create spirit bones and apply a spirit anchor on it. I will have finally finished everything needed for the body.

    ¡°That is good news but how are you? How are your blackouts?¡±

    Eh? I still have enough time to finish this, don¡¯t worry.

    ¡°Elliana?¡±

    ¡°He is getting them more frequently. It is not interfering with his work, yet, but I would like to ask you to have the elders be a bit more corporative. I am not noticing that they are really helping him, they are just not hindering his progress, same with Gregory.¡± Elliana was still acting stiff, she looked like a soldier reporting to her general or something.

    ¡°Thank you. I will relay this to the elders. I am ready to test the Ichor Pneuma.¡±

    Ok, just put a branch in this jar, I will dip a spirit tether of yours into this.

    Bywen dipped a branch in the Ichor Pneuma and not much seemed to happen. The spirit tether however¡­

    ¡°Oh, this is so energizing!¡± The spirit tether was greedily sucking up the Ichor Pneuma. The tethers got deeper blue and the broken tethers were repairing rapidly.

    Uhh, I did not expect that to happen.

    ¡°Do you have more?¡±

    Yes, I have more than enough. I take it that this is a success. I didn¡¯t expect you to suck it all up. I only expected you to extract the energy out of it. Maybe this is why spirit bones are also so important. This was an eye opener, thank you Bywen!

    I was about to leave with Elliana.

    ¡°Hold on there, Agnis. Aren¡¯t you conveniently forgetting something?¡± I checked myself but I still had my body.

    ¡°Sit down, I need to have a word with you. Do you mind Elliana? I will also tell the elders that you are allowed to visit me whenever.¡± Elliana nodded and left.

    Bywen gave me a piece of her mind. I got conflicted when she got a blackout but I brought her back so she could continue scolding me.

    I returned home after getting scolded for 2 hours. Bywen has the mother persona down almost perfectly. This village will be fine with her in charge. I was exhausted though and I collapsed on the couch.

    ¡°Did you fail?¡± Jyno was doing some strange exercises and sweating buckets.

    Go shower, you stink. And I succeeded but I got scolded for leaving the village.

    ¡°Ah that is good news. I think I will shower yeah. Make sure to rest up¡±

    I looked at the empty jar. It had a piece of Bywen¡¯s spirit tether. I made a shadow clone and had it dissolve the spirit tether in the good batch of Ichor Pneuma.

    I looked at my left arm. The time has come to part with it. I wonder how Jyno is going to react to this. I don¡¯t think there is any way I can convince him that I need to cut off my arm. Might as well do it while he¡¯s not here.

 Pneuma 24: Spirit Bone

    I had called Nilah over and she had turned into her katana form. I had made a multi layered bubble around my head, a tail in my mouth and nature energy circulating through my left arm. I had some frost magic skills lined up to freeze myself an arm out of frost and stem the bleeding. All I need to do is cut off my arm.

    This was one of the worst ideas I¡¯ve ever executed but I don¡¯t think there were any better alternatives. I prepared myself. I would count down from 3 and cut off my arm on ¡®Go¡¯.

    I started the countdown in my head and cut my arm off at the count of 2. At least I could fool myself, the pain wasn¡¯t something I could do anything about. I tried to keep the noise down and was rolling on the floor of the pain. My frost arm had replaced my severed arm but my severed arm was still bloodying my couch.

    I should have thought about that but I was too busy trying to fight the pain.

    ¡°What in the world is going on!¡± Jyno rushed down wrapped in a towel. ¡°What in Bellia¡¯s name did you do! Hold on a second, I will call for someone to reattach your arm!¡±

    No! please don¡¯t!

    The pain suddenly stopped. My spirit had left my body. Well, isn¡¯t this convenient? I sat next to my unconscious body.

    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me the last step is that you have to kill yourself or something?¡±

    No, I just need bones from a living being.

    ¡°We could have hunted down some animals for you¡­¡±

    This is fine¡­ I actually have a question. I only realized now. Why do you guys hunt if most of you are vegetarian?

    ¡°We do use the pelts and some spirits consume meat. Actually a lot do, their diet is similar to those of humans.¡±

    And what about the other elven forests?

    ¡°That I don¡¯t know. I think the vegetarian population is lower under the other elven villages though.¡±

    Weirdo¡¯s. How long do you think it would take for a body to stop being in pain after cutting off an arm?

    ¡°How should I know?¡±

    Not very helpful, are you?

    ¡°You are unreasonable¡­¡±

    I returned to my body and the pain was bearable.

    Ugh, I hope I can make a large batch of spirit bones with this because 0/10 would recommend.

    I froze the blood and picked up my dismembered arm. I tried to vaporize the flesh off the bones but I have a stupid high fire resistance so that doesn¡¯t work.

    Well, isn¡¯t that annoying? My own overpoweredness is hindering me. Oh, I have an idea. Jyno, back off this might get dangerous.

    Jyno dove behind a couch and observed.

    I wrote the primal rune for ¡®Fire¡¯ on my dismembered arm. I had to get ready to kill the fire the moment all the flesh had burnt off. I made sure to inspect my bones properly and cast some illusion layers on it in case I messed up.

    Agnis!

    The arm heated up and ignited. I controlled the fire. It felt strange burning my own arm. It smelled just the same as burning humans. I had to keep reapplying the fire with primal runes as it only lasted for about a minute.

    Jyno didn¡¯t take the smell well but I was used to it. Just something that every fire user would have to get used to. I killed the fire when only bones were left.

    Open the windows please.

    Jyno pinched his nose and opened the windows. I connected to the air leyline currents and used small [Counter Spins] to ventilate the house.

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    I separated all the bones from their joints and burnt whatever ligaments and flesh was left. Jyno stayed outside because this was a bit too much for him as he had already forcefully ejected his last meal.

    I put the bones in an Ichor Pneuma bath and made small currents in the Ichor Pneuma to keep the liquid moving.

    I reread the section of Rignef¡¯s research. This flushing process will cause the marrow to form into a new Spirit Bone marrow, the Ichor Pneuma is responsible for this but also the regenerative qualities of a 9t. Both Rignef and I used bones from a 9t so this applies to my situation too. I don¡¯t have to keep cutting off my arm. That is good. I just have to flush this for a month¡­

    I am finished with the body. It doesn¡¯t feel like I¡¯m finished. I sat down on the couch and looked at my left arm. It was indistinguishable from a real arm. It should fully regrow in 3-4 hours.

    I applied the [Spirit anchor] on the Ichor Pneuma. It didn¡¯t look or feel different but only Bywen could use this batch. I had so much Ichor Pneuma. I had enough to make 10 more vessels for Bywen and of the basic Ichor Pneuma I had enough to make over 100 generic vessels.

    This was good because Ichor Pneuma was the biggest pain in the ass to make. I don¡¯t want to ever make this again unless I have to. I should tune some Ichor Pneuma a bit more to myself but I could always do that later. It was time to take a long nap. I left some instructions on the table for Jyno and went to take a long sleep.

    I had the same dream again. No new details the dream just seemed so real. But I didn¡¯t get any rest after this dream finished. I got the other nightmare with Hablena in it. It also added the part where I got cursed and Greg had to babysit me to make sure I didn¡¯t die.

    What¡¯s the point of sleeping if I can¡¯t even get rest when asleep?

    I got another strange dream after this. It was how most of Bywen¡¯s spirit tethers restored after I fed her the Ichor Pneuma. I had almost forgotten about that. I woke up.

    I lost grip on time, I had no idea for how long I was sleeping. Maybe I should make some Ichor Pneuma tuned to myself to restore my spirit tethers. I went downstairs and found 2 elders eating all my peaches.

    You guys never learn, do you?

    ¡°We came to check up on you but you seemed to be sleeping so we helped ourselves. No onions this time.¡±

    I sighed.

    My arm had regrown by now. It felt more familiar to me than my old left arm. I would have to practice some Dragonvein and sword fighting after this. I had neglected this for quite a while¡­ how long have I been here in this village?

    Hey, what month is it?

    ¡°It is end November.¡±

    I slept for that long, eh?

    ¡°We were worried.¡± They said but they kept eating my fruit.

    I recalibrated my internal clock which was a complete mess. My internal clock doesn¡¯t normally get out of whack but it seems these blackouts are mainly responsible for this. That is why tuning this Ichor Pneuma is important.

    Well, I¡¯m still alive, that doesn¡¯t mean you can eat all my peaches!

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry we bought these ourselves!¡±

    Then eat them at your own home!

    The elders continued doing their thing and I started to gather the materials to tune some Ichor Pneuma to myself.

    Where is Jyno?

    ¡°He is spending time with Rynne¡±

    Who?

    ¡°His partner¡­ how long have you been his friend¡­¡±

    Oh so that was her name. I¡¯m a bad friend.

    I created various tuning mixtures. They were all those that I expected to work on me. I created many illusion layers and started testing them on myself and shattering a layer if it had side effects and didn¡¯t work well.

    I found the best solution 3 days later. I mixed it in the Ichor Pneuma. Now this Ichor Pneuma isn¡¯t 100% suited for me because it¡¯s infused with Bywen¡¯s spirit energy. But she is a life spirit, it makes a great basis for any other spirit. I have no clue on how to dump a massive amount of spirit energy in the raw Ichor Pneuma so it¡¯s not like I could create something more suitable for me even if I could.

    I then dissolved the leyline energy powder in it and it gave off that special energy. The elders seemed impressed. All that was left was having my spirit tethers absorb this.

    Bywen had a positive reaction to it.

    I dipped a broken spirit tether in it and it got sucked up. It felt as if I was drinking something chilled and extremely refreshing. Any form of fatigue disappeared. I felt my spirit energy welling and I observed as how most of my spirit tethers restored.

    It restored them¡­ I guess I won¡¯t have this problem again.

    I made note of this specific recipe and spent the rest of the week making batches suited for Bywen and myself. This would keep us going until the spirit vessel was complete.

 Pneuma 25: Spirit Vessel Synthesis

    Year 582 on the New Kaledonian calendar.

    A new year. We have been living in the elven village for over half a year. It did become colder here, but not by a lot. We are quite up north, so that was surprising. I gave up on trying to understand how this world works. Boshi town would have been colder than this, and it¡¯s just a little bit more up north.

    The blackouts had stopped. I went back to dizziness, but it was manageable. Bywen¡¯s blackouts were very short now. She would need way more Ichor Pneuma to get her spirit tethers fixed.

    I started getting closer to the age at where I will stop physically aging and would be developing some traits of my race that were becoming more distinct. Out of nowhere I got more filters from my Elgards eyes and its burden on me had become less and less. I was also getting lighter as usual, but my tails really fluffed up.

    This might be specific to me because Rignef¡¯s tails weren¡¯t this fluffy, they did look a bit of battle worn though. I had the idea of using my tails more in battle and I had started practicing this, besides going back to practicing Dragonvein in the mornings. This didn¡¯t stop my tails from fluffing up, and I needed a new brush as a result.

    I had attempted to make a couch of the fur I had collected over the years, but I failed, so I had an enormous pillow sitting in the living room. It was quite popular. Greg and Raishin were currently fighting about who can sit in it.

    Greg seems to have gotten taller and Raishin got some bulk, even though he was lazing around most of the time. Greg was radiating darkness, Raishin and I had a great time poking fun at it. He was truly befitting of the name Obsidian Prince, Raishin sometimes calls him Prince of Darkness and Greg hates it.

    Nothing interesting had happened besides a big fight between Elliana and Leefa, causing Leefa to leave the village.

    I could afford some breathing room because Ichor Pneuma was prolonging the time we have until we get screwed over. The next step shouldn¡¯t be too hard or too long, but tuning is key. I had already made templates. I only had to fill them in correctly.

    Greg had found the method to put the spirit vessel together. It would be a variation on the Magnum Opus. We would have to go through 4 processes which would decompose and order all ingredients in the first step. They would be reassembled in a better and complete state in the last step.

    The only problem is that he has only found a very unspecific method that was missing a lot of details. But it was the only process that hit the requirements I had for putting this spirit vessel together. One of the most important requirements was that it should restore or retain the properties and functions of every ingredient.

    If it wasn¡¯t for Ichor Pneuma and the spirit bones I wouldn¡¯t care, but this is important precisely because of those. It would also keep any magical spells and infusions intact. Greg was looking more into it.

    For now, I will focus on what I can do. The ¡®Mind¡¯ of the spirit vessel. I had already set up for some elders to start teaching Bywen magic for when her vessel was completed. Spirits can¡¯t use normal magic, so she will have to learn this from scratch. I had decided to slack until February and would start on the mind after I had made sure that I had slacked off enough.

    <hr>

    February came too fast, but this spirit vessel doesn¡¯t create itself. My clones had been on point in documenting anything that was important. I had archived a copy of it so far. It might sound strange, but nothing my clones had written had gotten archived, not even automatically. I just remembered these, but I can forget, so I archived it before I would forget any details.

    I had also renovated the living room with illusions and had coconuts disguised as pears in my fruit bowl. Not only that, but I lost count of how many fruits those peach-stealing elders had devoured. It was time to threaten their teeth.

    The surveillance on me had lifted, so Jyno was free to do what he wanted to do. I don¡¯t know where Inna had disappeared to, maybe she had left the village to adventure.

    Greg was sitting on the big pillow and Elliana was observing.

    Quite strange to have people staring at me all the time.

    We are just curious.

    I wonder what¡¯s wrong with Raishin. He has been hunting a lot lately and keeps saying he needs to work on himself.

    His dream is bugging him, he wants to work on himself to get the chick of his dreams, literally and figuratively.

    It¡¯s just¡­ he rejected a hot elf chick who was genuinely interested in him. Normally that would be a good thing, but now I¡¯m worried¡­

    I¡¯m worried too. Let¡¯s just hope he meets the woman of his dreams soon.

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    Greg said as his shadow was acting odd and pointing west. It doesn¡¯t seem as if he¡¯s noticed.

    I had finished my setup and started with the template for the mana conduits, which would be the part that mimics the blood vessel system but for mana. I would create a network and place the other components in it. If this framework was perfect, then other systems could borrow from its perfection. This was the only part I can¡¯t screw up. The others could be easily replaced if I screwed up.

    I messed around and used my mana control to create a network and started to reinforce it with mana runes. I had gotten inspiration from Azu¡¯s research. This is a magic circle but just not circular. It¡¯s a network shaped magic circle!

    You just started, and I already have no idea what you¡¯re doing¡­

    Hehe just watch and learn.

    This would be fine normally because magic circles are conductive to mana but there is one problem. Mana circles aren¡¯t designed to stick around and have mana flowing through them continuously. This system isn¡¯t allowed to fail. So, I knocked out the redundant mana runes that were needed for the template and replaced them with runes that contributed to stability.

    I might have to bake the mana repair system in too to make sure I don¡¯t accidentally break it. It had a weak basis so it wouldn¡¯t accept the mana repair system very well, so I forced it in with a 30-second long [Elgard Overload]. It is cheating, yes, but nobody will complain if it works.

    Time for a break. I can¡¯t use my eyes anyway.

    So, can you explain what you just did?

    Well, this thing here is a magic circle but in a different shape. I had to make a template to make it work as intended, and I knocked out the redundant runes. I had to prevent it from collapsing on itself by forcing the repair system in it.

    So instead of making it sturdy, you have the repair system constantly repair it?

    Yup. It will kind of train itself, by doing so it will also prevent it from being destructive to the system. If this mana repair can keep the network running when it¡¯s at its weakest, it will have no problems when I will inevitably enforce it.

    ¡°Where have you learned this?¡± Elliana said as she studied the magic circuit that was close to collapsing into itself.

    The magic circle and mana rune thing? Azu¡¯s lab. How to make this system? I¡¯m just winging it.

    Well having a good sense of how magic works and having Elgards eyes makes you qualified enough to mess around with this it seems. It seems to be working, which is good.

    The system was holding on, although barely. The advantage of this ¡®Mind¡¯ aspect is, that it¡¯s easy to recreate once I figure it out and finish it. It is similar to creating a magic circle or a barrier. All the work goes into creating it. Once it''s finished, it could be easily reproduced.

    If Elliana ever wants to pick up this research, she can just learn the series of magic circles, and she¡¯s done. I got my Elgards eyes back. I let the repair system struggle for a bit longer before I started to reinforce the magic circuits and make them more mana conductive.

    Furthermore, I went through a lot of processes of testing combinations of mana runes. But the magic circuits were done.

    Elliana, can you flush mana through this? Try to be as rough with it as you can.

    Elliana started to abuse the magic circuits. The repair system kicked in again, but it held up perfectly. She kept going until she got tired.

    That is quite robust.

    I¡¯m not so sure about that.

    I started hitting it with Dragonvein and the system broke down.

    Yup, this still needs a lot of work.

    Does it need to withstand Dragonvein?

    If I ever want to use a spirit vessel, yes. Guess I have to punch out any defects of the previous system. I think I had a good start.

    I remade the structure I had just destroyed and started to mess around and attempt to create something that could withstand abuse from Dragonvein.

    Days came and went. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. I started to think that it didn¡¯t need to be immune to Dragonvein but only highly robust. I finally succeeded on a quiet night in May.

    Furthermore, I had made sure to keep up with the doses of Ichor Pneuma and Bywen was freed from the blackouts. I had spent most of my time researching. Elliana, Jyno and Greg often visited to observe or to talk, but I had no idea what Raishin was up to.

    I had finished the hardest part of the ¡®Mind¡¯ so it was time to see what Raishin was up to.?

 Pneuma 26: Raishin Torai II

    I am wandering aimlessly. The woman in my dream has captivated my heart, and I¡¯m determined to find her. But how can I find her if I don¡¯t know her face or name? Who is she, and when will I meet her?

    I have met almost every woman in the elven village. There was an elf with deep blue eyes. Her voice was clear and beautiful like a spring and wow she could sing! She would have made a wonderful girlfriend but¡­ She is not the one I¡¯m looking for.

    Agnis and Greg seemed to be shocked that I rejected her. How am I supposed to tell them that I might be chasing after a ghost? They always have serious problems and here I am¡­

    Another elf. She had beautiful black hair; her water magic was a beauty to behold. She was an amazing kisser. But again, she wasn¡¯t the one in my dreams. The woman in my dreams had a good compatibility combat with Greg, this one doesn¡¯t¡­

    I can¡¯t just like her, she must also fit in with Agnis and Greg. I am not going to leave my buddies behind to be with a random chick, so that is very important. Not only that, but I am a bit envious of Greg. He has Elliana and she fits in quite well.

    I had gotten interested in Elliana¡¯s sister, but that died quite fast. She doesn¡¯t fit in with us at all, it will be strange to date Elliana¡¯s sister and on top of that¡­ Elliana dislikes her.

    I had sneaked out of the village and visited a village nearby because maybe the girl for me isn¡¯t an elf. I had found a tempting woman. Not only that, but I was sold! She must have been the one. But¡­ I wasn¡¯t the only one she tempted. She fed off the attention of other men and swiftly forgot about me.

    Do I give up? Does she even exist? Where can I find her?

    I was laying on my back on the big leaf next to my house.

    You seem depressed. What¡¯s up?

    Will you promise to not laugh?

    I will do my best.

    I think the chick in my dream is real and I¡¯m trying to find her but I have no luck.

    Agnis sat down next to me.

    Normally I would advise to focus on other things but I know that this is important to you.

    I just feel a bit guilty. You and Greg are doing important things and I¡¯m just chasing skirts as usual.

    Right. I might have never told you this but what you¡¯re doing might be more important than what Greg and I are doing.

    Why is that?

    Think about it. Our races are nearing extinction. It is cool that we are helping out other races, but what is more important? Their temporary problems? Or their quite permanent problem that rears its head if we all die out? So, I think trying to keep our races going is more important than anything else.

    But it doesn¡¯t feel like it!

    Well, I guess it¡¯s just a culture difference, we grew up between humans for the most part. Their race is numerous, so there isn¡¯t a reason for them to act like you do. While my auntie Neia might get strange looks from humans if they knew she has made children from different partners, I have great respect for what she did.

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    Yeah, your auntie is cool. I wish I could be like her.

    And I think growing up between humans hasn¡¯t affected you at all, it has affected me a bit and Greg the most. We might tell you that you are annoying or an idiot but keep pushing us to find a partner. I am afraid that if you don¡¯t do that, the 3t and the 9t might actually go extinct.

    Do you truly mean that?

    Yes, I should start putting less importance on human values and more on mythical beast values, even though it might clash with my personality.

    So, will you help me find my dream girl?

    I will try my best. Can you tell me about your dream in detail? I will try to create illusions to match it.

    I got up excited. I could finally see my dream girl! It didn¡¯t take me long to realize that this wasn¡¯t true. Agnis doesn¡¯t know how she looks like. His illusions might give me a better experience. I tried to be as detailed as possible in telling my dream. He created some illusions and tuned it at my direction.

    So, no face or name. The body shape seems alluring, as expected. Complimenting Greg in battle and acting as a sibling to me. You certainly are setting the bar high.

    It is my dream, not me!

    Well, I think your dream is correct, besides needing those traits we won¡¯t have a random girl take you.

    Yeah, thanks for that time almost a year ago.

    You would do the same, but there is not much we can learn from this.

    My dream always stops at a certain point. I wonder why. Do tailed beasts have some ability to see certain lengths of the future or something?

    Hmm, you estimate your dream at 1 minute and 30 seconds, right?

    Yeah...

    Hmm, that matches the length of mine, you might be on to something. My other nightmare has the same duration. So, these dreams might be visions of the future then,

    So she is real?!

    My intuition told me that this was correct. I felt energized. If she is out there, I will find her.

    My intuition tells me that she is real and this is a vision of the future. Thank you Agnis I feel better now. You guys do your less important stuff, I will focus and the truly important stuff and also find the perfect chick for you, if you get a dream about her tell me like I did tell you mine.

    I went over and gave him a hug. Both of us are going through a lot. I will continue on working on myself. I have decided to go hunt some minor gods in the area. My intuition tells me that they are getting impatient. I can¡¯t have them waste Agnis¡¯ and Greg¡¯s time. I will be enough to deal with them.

    Agnis left, and I got my spear out of my room. I slapped my cheeks.

    It is time to be serious, Raishin. They might be minor gods but they¡¯re still gods, they will kick your ass if you¡¯re careless.

    I teleported out of the village. I don¡¯t have the eyes of Agnis or the ability to feel it divine energy to locate these minor gods, but I have my intuition. Something told me to go to the Cnidaria hills, which I did.

    I spotted a woman covered in mud. My intuition told me that she was dangerous and might be a minor goddess. The thought of her being the perfect chick crossed my mind, but this thought died as she sounded like an old woman. I got my [Dynamo Clouds] out and went 6t mode.

 Pneuma 27: Spirit Mind

    I thought about the conversation I had with Raishin. I had also noticed that he went outside of the village and he seemed quite serious. I would think that he would go out and find that chick but he did take his spear. Maybe he is going to vent. I pity whoever finds him or herself at the end of his spear. A serious Raishin is not someone you want to mess with.

    We¡¯re doing the less important things, eh?

    I thought about everything I did so far. It doesn¡¯t benefit my race at all, maybe it benefits me personally, but it seems the Ichor Pneuma not only restored our spirit tethers, it also made us more resistant to whatever was causing them to snap. The dizziness is extremely infrequent, and I currently have 2 snapped tethers.

    I focused and repaired one. This might not be a big issue in the future, so this might not even be beneficial to me.

    ¡®Help those in need¡¯ is popular under the humans. I¡¯m wondering who is more in need, a village who could live without their spirit guardian or a race that is quite close to going extinct. I sighed.

    I will finish this spirit vessel and go back to being selfish.

    I arrived home and I saw 2 elders on the floor clutching their jaws.

    I am wondering when you guys will learn, and were you waiting till I would leave my house?!

    I kicked them out of my house and moved on to the next step. I would make the mana ward and mana nodes at the same time. The nodes were easy, the ward is just a barrier. The only thing that is going to make this process take long is trying to be a perfectionist.

    I expanded some areas in the magic circuits which created the nodes. I went for several basic barriers. Not only that, but I had already made this mana circuit robust so I could cheap out on the mana ward. It would still be quite effective. 4 months to make the basis, 40 minutes to make the wards and nodes.

    Can I do the next step in 4 minutes? Create the mana extractor in 4 minutes?. I infused some frost magic that didn¡¯t interfere with the circuit and made it loop on itself. It would pull in mana from the surroundings. That took me less than 4 minutes. The mana generator and convertor would take a while.

    This was so easy. Without Azu¡¯s research this would have been impossible though.

    I leaned backward. Was landing in Boshi Town really an accident? There was an extremely high likelihood that we¡¯d all be dead if we¡¯d never had ended up in Boshi town.

    The assassins that were looking for us might have found us and killed us or brought us to who knows where. Without Azu¡¯s magic drill session, we would have never been able to infiltrate Event Horizon. We wouldn¡¯t even get in and even if we did, I would have never been able to mess with the teleport systems.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    Without Boshi town, we would have known nothing about these stupid gods. I would have never found Tero and never learned dead languages, which would probably have me abandon Dragonvein altogether.

    No Dragonvein, no primal language or other ancient languages. I would have never met Azu, so I wouldn¡¯t be able to study mana runes and magic circles. I wouldn¡¯t be able to create this spirit vessel. We would have been dead or nobodies without Boshi town.

    I might have to reevaluate our time in Boshi town. We all have experienced it as a shitty place. A shitty place is better than being dead. Maybe what I¡¯m doing is similar. Picking up skills that will greatly influence my future.

    It is quite scary to think that my actions might not be mine, but that fate is dictating everything. But it has kept us alive so far. I think I will play along with fate for a bit longer.

    The ¡®Mind¡¯ was finished 2 days later after I had connected the mana repair system with the Immune system of the ¡®Body¡¯. I went to bring the good news to Bywen

    All the components are ready. We just have to put them together with alchemy. It has been over a year but the end is finally in sight. The burden has lifted and I am finally freed!

    ¡°That is wonderful, I want to again extend my thanks to you. I wish I could do more for you¡­¡±

    It is fine. I have realized that this might be an important event that will help me in the future.

    ¡°Just know that if you ever need something in the future, I will do my best to help out.¡±

    I know you will, you¡¯re a spirit after all and you have lived under elves for ages, it¡¯s hard to come by a more trustworthy individual.

    ¡°Do you have an estimation on when this process will be completed?¡±

    Well¡­ alchemy is a dead science. There are not many that practice it in the field that we need to use. Greg has come up with nothing so we might have to find someone who knows about this. We might have to leave the village for an extended amount of time.

    ¡°I see. There are no restrictions on you anymore. You may leave whenever you want. Just be careful.¡±

    Thank you, I will.

    I was free! It did cost me more than a year, though. I wondered if Neia has found Hourai yet. Would it be that easy? I hope so.

    I went back home to celebrate with Nilah. She was still small because she didn¡¯t have many opportunities to steal mana. We haven¡¯t been in combat situations for a long time, and when I did, I had her use [Kryokym]. Maybe it is time to get into trouble again. I made various types of ice cream and ate it all! Just Nilah and I!

 Pneuma 28: Deicide

    Dealing with minor gods is easy now! You either kill them or run from them! My success rate in dealing with them is super low but it¡¯s the thought that counts right? I have only killed 2. Others took too long, were too boring, too strong or had stupid abilities so I had to run to make sure I didn¡¯t go crazy or died.

    Talking about dying. I might have to ask Agnis if he still has some dynamo beans. I¡¯m not super low on lives but I did lose some. So just like the big light bitch, these minor gods are super arrogant and have issues sealing the deal.

    I was sitting on a big rock in the Cnidaria hills. I could see the Cnidaria forest from here. It wasn¡¯t a desert anymore. What a strange forest.

    My intuition hadn¡¯t picked up any minor gods lately. Have they given up? They haven¡¯t caught Agnis yet so they didn¡¯t succeed. Normally this would give me an uncomfortable feeling but I was feeling good about this. They must have given up! Did I scare them off? Probably not. I might be overpowered but I don¡¯t have special skills to scare them off. I wish that the girl of my dreams could see how cool I was now.

    I was playing with my spear. Agnis had really outdone himself. This spear could do anything I want it to do. It bended funny but it worked out. It could stretch and shrink in length. I could break the spear into smaller pieces which made it split into sticks on chains. I had so many flexibility with it. It would also return to me when I threw it. Probably because I had lost many spears in the past after throwing them.

    My intuition picked something up and I threw my spear behind me.

    ¡°What the!¡± I looked behind me and saw a kid wearing a hoodie and sneakers with a hole in his torso. The hole closed by creating a lot of purple lightning sparks. It matched the description Agnis gave of the Sneaker god. I got up and put my right hand in the air and my spear returned to me.

    Hehe, you guys are too noob to land sneak attacks on me.

    ¡°I will forgive you. I¡¯ve heard about you, you¡¯re a strong lightning user. I am looking for a guy with black and silver hair, how about it want to team up with me to catch him?¡±

    I slowly got up.

    You know. It means a lot if I say this. But you gods are super dumb! Do you know that it¡¯s my friend you¡¯re looking for?

    ¡°How about it? I will reward you greatly if you join me. I will even do a good word in for you when we bring him to Biian.¡±

    So many things pissed me off. Did he think I would betray my friends? This is the first time I fought a lightning user in a long time.

    I went 6t mode and started up my [Dynamo Clouds].

    Agnis is busy so I will kick your ass on his behalf.

    I threw my spear at him but it went through him. It left another hole in his torso which closed up. My spear returned and I imbued it with red lightning this time. Sneaker god threw red lightning bolts to block it.

    My intuition told me that I just needed to overwhelm him with lightning. I spread out [Lightning glitter] but he flew away.

    What is the point of those flashy sneakers if he doesn¡¯t use them? I tried to hit him with more [Lightning Glitter] but he kept evading.

    It¡¯s time for my magnetism! I used [Magnet] and the metal in his clothes flew at me, pulling him toward me. I drove the spear, augmented with red lightning, through his shoulder.

    ¡°Owowow! You asshole!¡± He charged up his fist with purple lightning but he was too slow. I used [Raishin Kick] on him. I kept juggling him around and going for his weak spots. My [Dynamo Clouds] generated more and more energy and I was attacking him with black lightning. Everything turned orange all of a sudden.

    Huh? I don¡¯t remember dropping my lightning to orange .

    I was surrounded in an orange aura but my lightning was still black.

    ¡°Ugh, a critical rush. How unlucky! Time to retreat!¡± Sneaker god tried to run away.

    Hehe it is time for you to say your butt goodbye!

    I threw my spear at him but the parts of the spear got loose and it turned into the sticks on chains.

    Woops.

    It still hit him but he was now impaled by sticks on chains imbued with black lightning. I guess this works? I kept zapping him because he couldn¡¯t escape.

    ¡°Aaagh!¡±

    Oh you want more?

    I put my [Dynamo clouds] on maximum and kept generating energy and sending it through my spear-chain-stick weapon. He sent attacks at me but his aim was worse than mine. I pulled on the chains and pulled him into a large rock while still zapping him.

    Haha! Get rekt!

    I kept swinging him around and zapping him. Another orange explosion and he coughed up blood. These minor gods are a joke. Kinda.

    ¡°Very well I will kill you then.¡± He turned into lightning and broke free.

    My intuition told me to block behind me so I did. I blocked a kick with my arm.

    Heh! How do you like these muscles!

    He sent another lightning-fast kick at me but I blocked it too.

    ¡°What the fuck? I¡¯m a god nothing should be stronger than me!¡±

    This happens when you skip leg day!

    I grabbed his leg, zapped it and threw him at the ground. My spear turned back to normal and I filled it with black lightning and threw it at him. He got hit by some random black lightning bolts after dodging. It was raining black lightning bolts as usual and he got hit by more random bolts.

    He threw red lightning at me and I used [Thunder Cloak]. It hit me but did minimal damage.

    Wow aren¡¯t you supposed to be a god? Why are you so weak?

    My intuition told me to kick to my right side which I did. My kick met his and I was slowly pushing him back.

    ¡°What¡­ what are you?!¡±

    I am a six tailed lightning tiger!

    ¡°A what?¡±

    Uhh a 6t?

    ¡°Yes, what is that?¡±

    Uhh a tiger that can use lightning and has six tails

    ¡°Stop lying!¡±

    What is the deal with this sneakergod? I punched him and another orange explosion sent him flying. I also saw teeth flying around. I always wondered but aren¡¯t mythical beasts as strong as minor or medium gods physically? Besides the 9t because for some reason they¡¯re super squishy.

    The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    I teleported next to sneakergod who just got up and I punched him again.

    This felt so good! He flew into a hill and I teleported to him and kept punching him with black lightning imbued fists. A red flash of lightning hit my [Thundercloak] but it protected me from any lightning attacks.

    ¡°Wh... this is imposs¡­¡±

    I punched his face which was a bit misformed. I didn¡¯t pay much attention and I took a kick and got sent flying.

    Ouch.

    I got up and saw sneaker god rushing at me. This time running on his sneakers. I smiled and held up my hand and my spear returned to me. I held it forward and he ran into the spear to which I blasted him with [Black Lightning Spear]. My intuition told me to get out of here so I teleported away.

    The area I was in got vaporized.

    Oof so he still had some juice left.

    His skin discolered a bit and he bulked up but it still looked like he skipped leg day.

    Wow how much do you hate leg day?

    He caught a random black lightning bolt and threw it at me. I dodged it but my intuition told me that, that was a mistake. A large fist imbued with red lightning appeared next to me and hit me.

    That hurts!

    ¡°What are you! That was supposed to kill you!¡±

    He teleported behind me for another kick but I used [Raishin Kick]. It always starts with sweeping my spear at the legs and this Sneaker god seems to have weak legs. The punch grazed me which messed up my timing to continue [Raishin Kick] but I could get a real kick in with extra spicy black lightning of course! Another orange explosion but the orange aura disappeared shortly after.

    ¡°Ugh, I can¡¯t believe you got this lucky.¡±

    What do you mean! I could have finished you off with [Raishin kick] if it landed!

    ¡°Then what was that attack you hit me with then!¡±

    Just a normal kick¡­

    ¡°Liar! No beast kin is that strong!¡±

    You really are stupid are you¡­

    I decided to give Agnis [Tail Dynamo] a try. My [Tail Dynamo] and my [Dynamo clouds] worked hard. I kept punching and kicking him and managed to land a [Lightning Glitter] on him.

    Whoa this is tiring!

    My [Tail Dynamo] and [Dynamo Clouds] combined had finally gotten enough energy to push to the next lightning color. It felt a bit cheap to finish this god off with Agnis¡¯ color but since Sneakergod after him it might be a good way to send him off.

    I swiped my spear at his legs. I heard something break. It was not my spear.

    ¡°Aaagh!¡± Sneakergod crumpled down as I had broken his legs.

    I drove the spear through him.

    How about a [Silver Lightning Haze]?

    The lightning briefly shifted to silver. But it was enough. The [Silver Lightning Haze] vaporized the Sneaker god. At least that¡¯s what my intuition told me.

    He¡¯s gone. I slumped to the ground as my 6t mode dropped.

    Wow this silver lighting slurps a lot of energy. No wonder Agnis has to eat like crazy after using it.

    ¡®Groah¡¯ My stomach growled and I looked at my bag but it had been blasted to pieces.

    Noo my tasty sandwiches! That asshole!

    I wanted to vent more on him but he was already dead. I was now hangry...

    Meh. Time to get back to the elven village and ask Elliana to make more of those tasty sandwiches.

    I held my hand up in the sky to get my spear back but it didn¡¯t return.

    ¡°This is a very nice spear. Where did you get it?¡±

    A guy that looked like Sneakergod was sitting on a rock and inspecting my spear. He was wearing boots though and a trench coat. Is this Bootgod?

    Give me my spear back!

    ¡°Not after what you did to my brother!¡± The wind picked up and it seemed like the storm got worse.

    He started it!

    I dodged a [Wind Blast] that punched a hole into the rock behind me.

    Whoa that looks nasty! I don¡¯t want to get deleted!

    ¡°Haha yes admire my power! Now stand still so I can blast you to pieces!¡±

    I teleported away to avoid all the bullshit he threw at me. why am I this unlucky? I¡¯m super hungry, how am I supposed to fight on an empty stomach? I could only make purple lightning currently. ¡®Groah¡¯ My stomach rumbled again.

    Yes, stomach be a bit patient. I need to escape this jerk first.

    ¡°Who are you calling a jerk? You killed my brother!¡±

    He will be back someday! Stop being an asshole and leave me alone!

    A [Tornado] launched me up high in the sky. I want to show him the power of [Fusionado] but I¡¯m too hungry.

    ¡°Haha! How do you find my wind magic! I might not be THE god of wind! But at least I¡¯m way better than anyone down here! Even better than those overgrown lizards you call dragons! Hahaha!¡± Bootgod was laughing loud at himself as I saw a large no-winged dragon appear behind him.

    Oh wow! I never thought I would get into a situation like this! Ahum. Ehhm he¡¯s right behind you. Hmm I don¡¯t think this went well.

    ¡°Haha what are you talking about?¡± Bootgod turned around and was face to face with the enormous no-winged wind dragon.

    ¡°I see there are still idiot gods that think they can best a dragon, very well, let me show you how Inyr the Northern Stormdragon fights.¡±

    ¡°Uhh wait Inyr? Haha ehh I was just kidding! I will just deal with this murderer here and be off. No need to pay attention to me.¡±

    Ooh ooh! I¡¯ve heard about you! Hey Inyr! I¡¯m the friend of Agnis Hourai! This Bootgod and his brother are friends with that bitch Biian and are trying to kill him!

    All the wind disappeared and the tension rose. It felt as if it was hard to breathe.

    ¡°Is that so minor god?¡±

    I don¡¯t know what dragon expressions look like but Inyr seemed pissed off.

    ¡°Eh haha of course not!¡±

    ¡°I am familiar with the scent of that bitch¡¯s mana. I do know for a fact that she was responsible for killing a dear friend of mine.¡± The mana and air pressure built up as Inyr had locked on to Bootgod.

    I gulped. I am so glad that this guy is Agnis¡¯ friend.

    ¡°You seem to be of the six tailed tiger race. Agnis had told me about you, you must be Raishin?¡±

    Yes!

    ¡°This is the first time I have fought with your kind, what do you think? Want to team up and annihilate this god from the face of the planet?¡±

    Ohhh! Count me in!

    I teleported to him and stood on his head.

    ¡°This will be short but let¡¯s commit some deicide!¡±

    Hahaha yes! Let¡¯s destroy him!

    ?

 Pneuma 29: Secret Weapon #3 II

    Now that nobody is supervising me and I¡¯m not busy anymore, I can do whatever I want! It has been a while but it is time to finish my Secret Weapon #3.

    I created more bubbles and water clones and continued where I got interrupted a year ago. I felt a familiar mana wave and smiled after confirming Raishin was doing well. Another minor god was approaching him though. Although¡­ Inyr seemed to have just killed a minor god and is headed for Raishin too. This might get interesting.

    I kept an eye out on their battle while continuing with my secret weapon. Everything went well until the pear stealing elders came in and started to snack on my pears.

    ¡°So, what is the next step of your research?¡±

    Kicking your assess if you don¡¯t leave my fruit alone!

    ¡°Just give up, it has become a tradition by now. Is that related to finishing the spirit vessel?¡± Pear stealing elder #1 stole another pear while pointed at my clones making the secret weapon oil.

    It is not but you might find out what I¡¯m doing in due time.

    ¡°Ooh, I found some bananas!¡±

    Noo not my bananas! Get out!

    They took all my bananas and fled.

    I was dumbfounded. They are supposed to be elders, I just got raided by elders. Why can¡¯t they act like the others? I got a reminder that some adults are just kids in bigger bodies and I sighed.

    That¡¯s it. I have tolerated my fruit being stolen for a year, but this is the last straw! This means war! And I have the perfect weapon to kickstart this war. I looked at my clones that were working hard at extracting the blue spicy oil.

    I have to test my new secret weapon someday. It¡¯s nice that these 2 elders have volunteered. I do need to find an application. I could do it in gas form, but I might hit innocent bystanders. So, I will have to have it applied orally.

    I took some tomatoes out of my dimensional pocket, put them in my empty fruit bowl and put some salt to the side while wondering if they will steal my tomatoes next.

    The process of extracting the oil took the rest of the day. I looked proudly at my new secret weapon. I had 5 different batches, all blue but in varying intensity. The lighter blue ones are the least spicy. Now which one should I use for this war? The second spiciest or third spiciest?

    I don¡¯t want to kill them, yet. So, I will use the third spiciest. I put on my gas mask, made a syringe out of frost magic and sucked up some spicy oil, and injected them into the tomatoes. An illusion here and an illusion there, and they looked like normal tomatoes.

    The salt drew my attention. What if I replace this with Secret Weapon #1 and disguise it as salt? All is fair in war!

    With my 2 secret weapons ready, all I had to do was wait. Greg was still figuring out the finer details of the alchemy process, so I had time to fool around. I decided to find out what Inna was doing as I haven¡¯t seen her in a long time.

    I went to my neighbor, but she wasn¡¯t home. I asked around, most haven¡¯t seen Inna in a long time, but I eventually found out what was going on. She had left the village to go and see the outside world. I had already guessed that much, but now I have confirmation. I want to complain that she could have said goodbye, but she probably did, I was just too busy to notice. Greg wasn¡¯t home, Raishin was killing a god with Inyr and Elliana wasn¡¯t home either. What to do?

    I decided to practice some Dragonvein. I didn¡¯t get super rusty so I didn¡¯t tire myself out needlessly. 2 loud screams came from the direction of my house after an hour which marked the end of my practice. I grinned and returned home.

    The 2 elders were rolling over the floor clutching their throats. They were sweating, and their noses were running. Their eyes were also tearing up. They were a mess. They were flushing their mouths with water magic but failed to get relief.

    Idiots¡­ water doesn¡¯t work on spicy stuff.

    I crouched down next to them and showed them my secret weapon #2, the non-spoilt and non-boiled version. It is funny how my secret weapon #2 can counter my secret weapon #3.

    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    I will give you some if you promise to never ever steal my fruit again.

    They didn¡¯t hesitate, they nodded and gulped down the Secret Weapon #2. They still seemed uncomfortable, but they felt good enough to flee from the scene. I am unsure how effective this was, so I placed apples in my fruit bowl with the second-spiciest oil I had. They will get punished even harder now if they return. I will also give them spoiled secret weapon #2 if they pull this off again.

    A week went by and Greg and Elliana were still gone. Raishin returned, and he had killed 3 minor gods. He looked beat up badly. He had only lost 3 lives, though. I think this is impressive.

    Most minor gods are pushovers, but I also had to run from others.

    Hmm yeah, I suppose it¡¯s matchup dependent. Also, the ones we¡¯ve encountered so far seemed to be the bottom of the barrel. I think it would be a bad idea to think we can take minor gods as a category. We can probably beat half of the minor gods and lose to the other half. How was your experience?

    They like to talk a lot¡­ the very arrogant ones were the ones I killed. The rest escaped or I had to flee from.

    I punched  his shoulder.

    So you''re a godkiller now!

    Hmm, yeah. It was exhilarating at first, but that disappeared quite fast. We already knew this, but they really don¡¯t care for us or the environment.it really felt like a duty to drive them off or kill them. One kept complaining that a dragon killed his brother. His brother had the ¡®brilliant¡¯ idea of turning all the air on the planet into wine. He didn¡¯t understand why his brother had to die for that ¡®brilliant¡¯ plan. The other one was complaining that I killed his brother, which was Sneaker god. At least he won¡¯t be bothering you anymore.

    Oh, that sounds familiar. I met a dragon that hunted down gods as a hobby. He would¡¯ve had an easy time killing a minor god yeah.

    Oh, Inyr right? I met him he¡¯s a very cool dragon, he helped me kill the third minor god.

    How is he doing?

    He is doing well he wanted to fight me afterward but¡­ I fled, the battle was rough on me since I ran out of energy and needed to eat and there is no way I can fight a dragon that hunts down minor gods when he¡¯s bored haha!

    Yeah, I fought him twice, he kicked my ass without trying.

    I can imagine. So, what have you been up to?

    I am currently at war against the tomato stealing elders.

    They seem to have a different name every time you mention this, so who is winning the war?

    Think I¡¯m winning because it has been quiet for a week.

    Is your fruit finally safe?

    We heard 2 screams originating from my house.

    I guess not.

    We went over to my house and I saw a familiar scene. One elder had passed out, though. I checked if he was still alive. He was still alive and kicking. I crouched down next to the conscious elder and took out the spoiled Secret Weapon #2.

    Last warning. The next batch of fruit is going to be spicier and might kill you. You will get this poi¡­milk if you promise to leave my fruit alone and to accept these terms: I am not responsible for what happens to you if you happen to eat the next dose of fruit, understood?

    The elder didn¡¯t hesitate, grabbed the poison, downed it, took his friend and fled.

    Do you think they will be back?

    I hope they won¡¯t.

    Oh apples!

    Raishin bit into an apple and his face changed.

    You idiot¡­

 Pneuma 30: Berfhais

    I didn¡¯t get into trouble for defeating the fruit-stealing elders. Everyone in the village was aware that this was a thing. Some thought that I went too far but others thought it was the natural course of order. It is known that messing with a trickster race won¡¯t end well.

    Raishin had also learned his lesson although I didn¡¯t intend for him to get a taste of my secret weapon. His suffering didn¡¯t end after the bite of the apple he took, he also had a fiery exit. It was the first time I had heard him cry in a long time as it echoed through half the village.

    He also asked me to lend him 80 silver and he went off. Something told me that he wasn¡¯t going to waste it on a chick that doesn¡¯t want him back so I gave it to him. He returned with a tv and a gaming console I didn¡¯t recognize.

    It feels like I haven¡¯t done some gaming in decades!

    Well unless you did in our training period, that¡¯s true, we left Boshi town 9 years ago.

    Oh, I had a chance in between but it was so short. Now let¡¯s see, this elf village has no tv¡¯s so there was no opportunity.

    I like the idea but how are you going to power them there are no outlets, you need a settlement that is connected to the electronium network.

    What? So, I wasted my silver!?

    You mean MY silver. But I think we might be able to fix something. I have stored some electronium batteries I got years ago. I might be able to hook them up.

    It wasn¡¯t perfect but I managed to hook up the batteries to the tv and gaming console.

    So, we only have about 4 hours before the batteries die and the tv and the gaming console turn into junk.

    Ugh, 4 hours is better than none.

    They do look different than I remember.

    These are the newest console and a relatively old tv, tvs have become insanely expensive¡­

    We played for 3 hours and 47 minutes before the batteries died and the screen turned blank.

    Ahhh! We forgot to save!

    We won¡¯t be able to play it unless we find more batteries so I don¡¯t think that matters¡­

    But that blonde guy in this game, I like him! He resembles me!

    I don¡¯t know, he is smoother with women than you are.

    Hmm maybe I should try the stuff he did. Like: Hey there gorgeous, mind me taking you for a dinner and end the night in a passionate exchange?

    Please don¡¯t¡­

    I got it! I will ask the elders to consider connecting to the electronium network!

    Good luck with that, I don¡¯t think they want it or need it.

    We left Raishin¡¯s house and he went to harass the elders.

    It wasn¡¯t for long but that game was relaxing. I envy the game characters a bit because everything works out well for them. And if we lose, we can just reset from a save point. They are always correct and their actions have no consequences.

    It has been confirmed that the global temperature has risen since we accidentally released Zack from his dungeon. He is the Sarian god of fire and the sun after all. It makes sense thinking about it. What this means is yet unclear but anything related to the rise in temperature will be more or less our fault.

    I do realize that this is a bit unfair because things are just returning to how they were before he got sealed away and that he is responsible for raising the temperature but the effects could have easily been postponed several millennia if we hadn¡¯t accidentally released him.

    I saw an unfamiliar elf come out of the big tree. I went down to take a closer look. All the elders seemed to respect him.

    ¡°I apologize for the tardiness. I had wished to do this sooner but I was unable to.¡± He looked at Raishin and me.

    ¡°I am Bynerofax Seorwynn, the chief elder of this village. I realize that you two have been living here for a year now but I welcome you and you can stay for as long as you want.¡±

    This B-fax guy didn¡¯t look old but it was something with his face. He looked like a 24-year-old elf but the expression on his face just gave off this feeling that he had seen a lot of things that he didn¡¯t want to see. This in turn made him look a bit older than most elves here.

    He also had various scratch scars on his body and I noticed that he had many stacks of [Spite] on him. Is this why he is injured and can¡¯t be healed? He was walking with a cane as if he is an old man.

    I wonder¡­ did he fight that scratching demon before it got sealed away? I¡¯m sure B-fax is old enough to have been alive when that happened. He probably just won¡¯t remember because of the Great Eraser¡­

    ¡°I have also come to give out an announcement. This might come sudden but I want everyone to hear.¡± More and more elves gathered around to listen.

    ¡°I will be stepping down as chief elder and hand the position over to my son, Byron Seorwynn. I don¡¯t agree with everything he has brought forth but it¡¯s an undeniable fact that he has caused this village to progress. Progress is better than stagnation or regression, which the village did under my rule. So, I hereby step down as chief elder. The important decisions won¡¯t be up to me anymore. They will now lie with Byron and Bywen.¡±

    He looked at me. ¡°Thank you for helping our spirit guardian.¡± He gave me a polite nod and retreated back into the big tree.

    So that¡¯s Elliana¡¯s gramps.

    How did your request go?

    It got rejected. It did somehow bring Bynerofax out though.

    So, your unreasonable request smoked out the old fart?

    The elders seemed to be talking to each other with Byron in the center of attention. I didn¡¯t see the apple stealing elders though.

    <hr>

    Greg and Elliana returned several days later and had found something that could help us.

    We have found out the location of alchemy¡¯s origin. A large green stone had been dug up centuries ago in the Zanyr desert. This stone contained various ideas on which alchemy is based off. It is one of the few places on the continent where knowledge about alchemy is somewhat available and reliable.

    Zanyr desert? Nooo! Isn¡¯t there another place?

    ¡°What is wrong with Zanyr desert?¡±

    I don¡¯t blame Elliana for not knowing, she probably never had the misfortune of having to deal with sand.

    There is sand everywhere¡­

    Well of course, it¡¯s a desert¡­

    Ohh I have never been to a desert or Zanyr! Let¡¯s go!

    You know how it is there right Agnis? What is it like, besides the sand.

    Ehh, you¡¯re asking me how the place is without mentioning the most dominant and important experience? Hmm well nothing special, quite hot and boring unless you find dig sites or buildings buried beneath the sand interesting.

    Let¡¯s go! I could use a change of scenery and visit a place with an electronium system!

    What makes you think they have one in the desert?

    Hey Greg, is there another place we can go to?

    Ugh, both of you¡­ we¡¯re going to Berfhais, the origin of alchemy.

    ¡°Well, it is the origin but it is still a dead science, magic is more practical in most if not all cases¡­ We are expecting to have some difficulty finding a knowledgeable source there.¡±

    So that¡¯s it? We¡¯re going to die by sand?

    No tv?!

    Why are you guys so dramatic¡­ stop complaining. The more energy you guys put in finding out the exact method the sooner we can leave there.

    In that case! Pack your stuff guys! We¡¯re leaving today! I should arrive there in a week on speeds that are safe for you guys!

    No teleports?

    Dimensional teleports with other living beings doesn¡¯t go so well¡­ and I can¡¯t use my cheat teleport on others and to places I haven¡¯t been so running it is.

    Why don¡¯t we take teleports from the AA teleport gates.

    You do realize that unless we have a special license or it is an emergency it costs 1 gold and 50 silver per person to use those right? Do you have that amount of gold?

    Right, Agnis Express it is. I will get my stuff.

    So, it has appeared again, sand, my arch nemesis.

    I thought potatoes were your arch nemesis.

    I have more than one. Lasers have also made their way into becoming my arch nemesis.

    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    At least that one makes sense.

    I visited Jyno to say that I would be out for an undetermined time. I also left a vat of Ichor Pneuma behind in Bywen¡¯s tree room. She knows how to handle it so there should be no problems.

    We let that evening and it took me 12 days to get there. The speed was too much for Elliana so I had to go slower than I¡¯m used to, which made it exhausting for some reason.

    That took¡­ too long, I¡¯m exhausted and there is sand everywhere. This must be the worst day of my life.

    Let¡¯s go to the AA and get some rooms.

    As usual the AA looked like a small city inside a city. It also had no sand so it became my favorite place in Berfhais. We decided to rest for 2 days before beginning our search. Days which I spent getting sand out of my tails.

    <hr>

    It was a hot summer day. I was fine but the rest seemed to be affected by the blazing sun.

    It¡¯s not as if I didn¡¯t warn you that the desert sucks.

    Water¡­ I need water!

    I would normally douse you in water but I¡¯ve learned that carelessly using water in the desert will create many problems.

    Water magic is quite rare and useless here but if one can use it here, he or she would probably get rich quite fast.

    Rich? Why don¡¯t you sell water Agnis!? We will get rich in a heartbeat!

    And probably get targeted by powerful people and be in the center of a power struggle, no thanks, there is a river 100 km from here, if they want water, they should move to there.

    Why didn¡¯t they make this city on the river?

    Dunno they must prefer sand over water.

    There must be a historical reason.

    Hmm perhaps, this place didn¡¯t use to be a desert.

    How do you know that?

    Remember that Dimsha I sealed away and you found? It seems that this place used to be dry but not this dry. They used the Dimsha to create water but it made too much and turned buildings, people and animals into water so they had to tur it off, which in turn took more water away than it produced. This repeated several times and voila you have a desert.

    I see, can you notify me if you find structures with ancient languages? I am curious about their history.

    I will.

    ¡°It¡¯s so hot¡­¡±

    Elliana was using a large leaf as a parasol. She did get some stares because elves are quite uncommon in the desert but we are back to the part of the continent that is strongly against slavery so that is no issue. Zanyr used to be relatively unfriendly toward different races but that strange emperor of Zanyr had brought about a lot of change since he stopped being fat and arrogant.

    The feelings of the people won¡¯t change as fast but at least elves fall under the category that are quite easy to accept for the humans.

    Greg went and talked to an information broker. The rest of us stood at a distance to not spook him.

    Come on Agnis! Just a bit of ice!

    No! we will get into trouble! Just bear with it. We can rest in the lobby of the AA after Greg is done.

    ¡°I am getting envious of your heat resistance now. And how is Greg fine with this heat?¡± Elliana was still fanning herself and looked at Greg who was in his black suit as always.

    Each of us has things they are good and bad at. And Greg¡­ it is either his darkness edge aura or that his suit originates from Jarn.

    Greg returned.  There seems to be a man living to the south east of the city that is a bit crazy about alchemy. He has produced some interesting alchemical potions but he seems to fail at anything more complex or complicated. We might be able to at least gain some information out of him.

    But what you guys need to do is complicated right? Is he the correct guy?

    He might be missing the supplies he needs to execute more complicated processes; the desert isn¡¯t known for being rich of resources.

    Hmm, let¡¯s go in the evening, it seems Elliana and Raishin are melting.

    Yes! I need some cool air! My respect for the AA just keeps rising.  T

    he AA is the most useful edifice in most cities.

    Stop talking weird Greg! Nobody knows what that means!

    I made some ice-cream without the bystanders noticing and handed it to my buddies.

    ¡°Oh, this tastes wonderful.¡±

    Wow thanks you¡¯re the best!

    Much appreciated.

    We stepped in to the AA and got hit by cool air. I looked at the gear shops to the side. It brought me to a question. Are we under geared? It is a valid question in games and Raishin and I always make sure to keep that up to date but what in real life?

    We all were wearing regular clothing. Greg was wearing his suit that was made in Jarn so despite it looking like it could give him a heatstroke it should be quite comfy. I bet it could protect him from attacks that could normally kill a human.

    Maybe I should wear some clothing from Jarn, it¡¯s just¡­ Humans are unlikely to harm us. Raishin is the only one who is at risk but it¡¯s not big either. What we want to defend against are things that don¡¯t care how strong your protective clothing is.

    Legendary and mythical beings, maybe spirits and gods, they all don¡¯t care if you''re hiding in a fortress or a tin can, they will crack it open easily. But the least we can do is wear clothing from Jarn.

    I went through my catalog to find what would be best for Elliana, Raishin, and for me to wear. I found the perfect outfits when I heard something I didn''t want to hear.

    ¡°Anyone who catches that guy gets a free checkup!¡±

    I didn¡¯t need to even look up or think to know who would say that. I tried to run for the exit but I got [Shadow Bound].

    Greg really?

    We could use some professional help in getting rid of our curses.

    I won¡¯t hear the end of it if he finds out!

    ¡°Well, well, who do we have here. It is good to see that you haven¡¯t kicked the bucket yet, and you¡¯re together with number 1 on the list of most reckless adventurers, this must be my lucky day.¡± Healerguy beckoned over some other Golden Angels and we got escorted to the sickbay.

    Hey this isn¡¯t funny anymore can you stop popping up everywhere and just stay in Gittrian?

    ¡°So that it¡¯s easy for you to avoid me? Dream on.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know that you were acquainted with one of the most well-known Golden Angels of Hjuva.

    Not by choice¡­

    Hey! Back off! I¡¯m healthy!

    Raishin got a rough checkup. ¡°Hmm, you also have various curses on you, what is it with team Hourai.¡± Healerguy looked at Elliana. ¡°A new member, eh? I will get to you too.¡±

    As usual they started dispelling curses but couldn¡¯t get many off Raishin so they let him go. It was my turn now.

    ¡°You do realize that if you¡¯re in a worse state than Raishin, that you get moved up to be the most reckless adventurer, right?¡±

    If that¡¯s the case how about we skip this session?

    ¡°Absolutely not, now let¡¯s see.¡± Healerguy dropped his pen.

    ¡°How is this possible, you have more curses on you than the last time¡­ How are you even alive?¡± He looked at me.

    I want to have a discussion with you about that. I am confident in my skills in dispelling curses but they are too numerous and difficult for me to dispel.

    Greg and Healerguy started nerd talk and discussed all types of curse mumbo jumbo I didn¡¯t understand and I managed to sneak out.

    Wow that guy is nosy!

    Yeah, he¡¯s dangerous. He will kidnap you the moment he lays his eyes on you.

    I¡¯ve only met him once before and he kidnapped me too.

    Only once? How lucky¡­

    We waited for Greg and Elliana to come out but they were still in there after 2 hours so Raishin and I decided to head out. It was starting to get cooler as it was nearing 19:00.

    I still find it so weird that it gets quite cold during the night. I thought deserts were always hot.

    I thought everyone knew that? Although I¡¯ve been hanging in round deserts for quite a while so maybe I¡¯m used to it.

    Let¡¯s go find our guy!

    Yeah, who knows how long Greg is going to nerd out with Healerguy.

    It didn¡¯t take long for me to find our guy. I found a house that had equipment similar to what Greg used to have back in Boshi town. I don¡¯t peek into houses normally but we don¡¯t want to spend too much time looking for 1 dude.

    We knocked on the door. A man around our age opened up. He wore his hair like Raishin although a bit longer and it had a strange orange color. He wore leather belts that held different colors of vials over a dark red leather coat.

    Hey do you want to talk about our lord and savior Biian?

    He tried to close the door on us and I put my foot to block the door from closing and smacked Raishin.

    That isn¡¯t funny! I¡¯m sorry my friend here was dropped on is head when he was a kid, we are quite interested in alchemy and we wonder if you can help us.

    His face brightened up.

    ¡°Oh, fans of alchemy? In that case, come in! alchemy lovers can¡¯t be bad people! Wahoo! I can¡¯t believe there are still people interested in this dead art! Come in! Come in! I don¡¯t have much but I¡¯m willing to share it with you!¡±

    We accepted his invitation and went inside. He lived quite simply. He might even be hurting for money. All his equipment was upstairs though, that couldn¡¯t have been cheap.

    Books about alchemy were spread out everywhere.

    ¡°You can call me Bomba! Master of alchemy and bombs! What about you guys!?¡±

    Bomba! What a cool name!

    You¡¯re supposed to introduce yourself here Raishin¡­ My name is Agnis and this is Raishin. I see that you have a passion for alchemy. I hope you don¡¯t mind if I get to the point and ask a difficult question. Are you familiar with the Magnum Opus?

    His face changed. It went from carefree to serious.

    ¡°So, you guys weren¡¯t lying, you are interested in alchemy. Very well follow me upstairs.¡±

 Pneuma 31: Bomba

    ¡°So, you two are interested in alchemy I see. The Magnum Opus is something I rarely hear about.¡±

    We were sitting in his lab. It looked similar to Greg¡¯s old lab but it also had a lot of equipment that I didn¡¯t recognize. ¡°May I know why, and what you want to create?¡±

    I can¡¯t go into much details but I want to create a vessel to hold spirits.

    ¡°Oho, that sounds complicated, thank you for not going into detail but why do you need alchemy for this?¡±

    It has components that don¡¯t mix well normally, but as I¡¯ve understood the Magnum Opus is a method to create things out of components that are normally incompatible or near impossible to assemble.

    ¡°That is correct, you are probably already aware that ¡®Knowledge¡¯ is the key. If you are not knowledgeable about the thing you want to put together, the process of magnum Opus will fail. It is not just simply throwing ingredients together and getting the result out of it. This only succeeds if there is a deep understanding of every component and how they relate to each other.¡± Bomba was carefully observing us.

    That should be no problem I just spent 1 year creating most components from scratch.

    ¡°Very well, I shall help you. You need the knowledge on how to execute the Magnum Opus correct? I need materials to execute the Magnum opus. You help me get the materials, I will give you the knowledge, a fair trade, isn¡¯t it?¡± Bomba extended his hand but I was skeptical.

    I appreciate the offer but why would you trust us so easily? In your perspective we are just 2 random guys that visited you on a random time with a highly unusual but specific question.

    ¡°Haha, because I can just kick your asses if you try to pull anything!¡±

    Ha! Here is where you are wrong! We are super strong!

    Hmm that¡¯s true but it might be related to the strange energy in this room.

    ¡°Oh, very observant, it seems that I lucked out. Well, this is the reason for my confidence. I call it Bookmark.¡± He pulled out something which I instantly recognized. The energy it gave off was similar to the horn from the elven village, the item the cultists had when they were releasing the demi god and the item I had found in a ruins in the desert.

    A Dimsha, that explains a lot, is it a good idea to show us this though?

    ¡°It has recognized me as its owner, you can steal it but that won¡¯t transfer ownership. I can even tell you what it does and it won¡¯t change a thing. It will put your magical and physical power to the same level as mine. And I am quite weak you see.¡±

    He created a flame which was quite weak. Nothing about this guy suggested that he was physically strong or even strong magically.

    But won¡¯t that just give you a 50% chance to win? And there is two of us! So that means you have a 100% chance to lose!

    ¡°Not all power stems from magical power or physical power. I have my explosions! Power stemming from knowledge and skill are important too!¡± Bomba said confidently and jugling spherical objects that resembled bombs.

    I see, that would make it hard for many to stand a chance against you yeah. The inhabitants of this continent place a low value on science so they will be quite harmless if their magical and physical powers get taken away.

    ¡°I think we would have a great partnership; it seems you understand.¡±

    I will just say this, I will still be able to kick your ass but I respect what you stand for so I won¡¯t pull anything, you might want to beat this guy up though so he really understands.

    Hey! I won¡¯t do anything if he behaves!

    I¡¯m more worried about you misbehaving but this works. I hope the materials aren¡¯t that unreasonable.

    ¡°Well, that is the thing, it is hard to execute the Magnum Opus exactly because the materials needed are unreasonable.¡±

    What unreasonable materials are we talking about? Agnis has almost everything!

    Well, that¡¯s not true but I do have a large inventory and some connections that can get me things that aren¡¯t that easy to get.

    ¡°I also want you two to keep this to yourself. This knowledge on how to execute the Magnum Opus is quite dormant because any that know about it are aware that there are many difficulties and holes in the method. But I had the luck to find out the complete method. If this is known then I won¡¯t be safe and neither are you two.¡±

    Oh, I am aware of this.

    I connected to the air leyline currents and created a [Waterball] out of the leyline energy.

    It is the same reason why I don¡¯t use this in public as long as I¡¯m in the desert.

    ¡°That is fascinating! You made water out of nothing? This breaks so many laws!¡± Bomba got up and inspected the water I created. He caught some in a flask and started doing some tests.

    Not exactly nothing, there is an energy flow that nobody knows about, it allows me to turn energy into water in this case but isn¡¯t limited to just that.

    ¡°I see, it is more deeply rooted in understanding I assume, is this why you stated that you could beat me? I don¡¯t think my Dimsha works against this.¡± Bomba said while still performing tests. He seemed to be doing this absentmindedly¡­no¡­it¡¯s almost automatic.

    How often does this guy run these tests?

    I have reason to believe that both get their power from a similar source so there is a chance your Dimsha won¡¯t work on it correct.

    ¡°I would keep this a secret thank you for trusting me I guess we both hold secrets that can harm the other.¡±

    I extended my hand to Bomba. He put his equipment down and shook it.

    I can now accept the partnership because now it¡¯s a fair trade.

    Hey! What about me! And Greg and Elliana!?

    Ah right, we came here with 4 in total.

    ¡°I will trust them if you trust them.¡±

    That easy?

    I assume. So, what do you want to create?

    ¡°A device that doesn¡¯t need the electronium grid to produce energy. I don¡¯t believe that running our society on electronium is wise or sustainable.

    Oh, it might not seem like it but it seems our goals align. It just motivates me more to make this work.

    I had to keep this short because I could see that Raishin was losing focus and started to show interest in Bomba¡¯s equipment.  I

    would love to talk more but this guy breaks things when he¡¯s bored. I will return tomorrow with Greg, who is a bit into alchemy.

    ¡°That is fine! I can¡¯t wait! I can finally begin my project! Woohoo!¡±

    He seemed to be back to his carefree self. I made sure Raishin didn¡¯t touch anything and we left.

    Are you really sure we can trust him?

    Is your intuition telling you otherwise?

    No, it¡¯s just¡­ it went so easy¡­

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    Well, I can kind of understand him. Someone is showing interest in his craft. He seems passionate about it and now has found someone to tell about it and teach about it. If someone came to me and said that he wanted to create a magical weapon and had a good manual but not the skills to make it I would probably be happy and make it with him. It is a sort of feeling of accomplishment and pride in our work.

    Speaking of which didn¡¯t you say you had made 2 swords for yourself, what¡¯s up with the second one? I only see you using Nilah.

    I took my unnamed fire sword out of my dimensional pocket and unsheathed it.

    Huh, are you sure that¡¯s a sword? It looks more like a¡­ bat.

    Well, this is my answer to those annoying tough and power-based types. I can make it sharp with illusions but it¡¯s job is more to smash. It is quite simple, the more mana it gets fed the more its raw power and fire increases. It is special in that it makes me seem like I¡¯m extremely strong physically, that¡¯s all.

    Oh yeah! You suck against those types of opponents but hmmm a sword and a bat, you¡¯re like Cygnus now!

    Hmm, I guess, his fighting style was effective though, he had slashing attacks, blunt smashing attacks and frost magic for ranged. He could possibly exploit any weakness with that combo and I¡¯m especially weak to blunt and smashing attacks because I¡¯m so light they can send me flying and take advantage of that.

    You don¡¯t seem to get sent flying a lot though so I guess you have ways to counter that.

    Yeah, but smashing attacks or explosions, something this sword also can make can also be very helpful as a counter, I will be able to strength contest them with this. Maybe I should give it a spin some time. I guess it needs a name since my other sword means ¡®Blue¡¯ in primal language, I guess I will name this one Ruba, for ¡®Red¡¯.

    I stored Ruba in my dimensional pocket and we returned to the AA.

    <hr>

    I told Greg about our meeting with Bomba the next morning. Elliana would keep Raishin busy while Greg and I would visit Bomba in the afternoon. I had distributed Jarn clothing to keep my buddies comfy.

    Good afternoon, my name is Gregory Sheru, nice to make your acquaintance. I am here with my friend Agnis to deliberate the details and specifics concerning the Magnum Opus.

    ¡°Whoa! You talk strange but come in!¡±

    Greg looked at me.

    He is right you know¡­ Not because you meet a new person means that you can go back to your ¡®pain in the ass¡¯ talk you know.

    Greg sighed and we entered Bomba¡¯s house; it was tidy.

    How did this guy get everything this tidy in just one day?

    We started to talk a bit and decided that Greg would handle the technical stuff and I would be in charge of getting the materials. I had told him to make a list and categorize them by how common they are and difficulty to acquire them.

    He had given me 4 lists. They had common, uncommon, rare and scarce materials. The scarce list was the only one that would give me issues. I had the most of the materials on the other lists in my dimensional pocket and could get the rest from the Yttroz Industries.

    I was looking at the last list. Half of the ingredients were ones I didn¡¯t recognize, the other were a pain to get. Some near extinct plants or animals. Some parts of mythical or legendary beings, some types of rocks that haven¡¯t been seen in decades and so on. Yttroz industries might have some of these or know where some are but I would most likely have to find these myself.

    ¡°So, the process is split up in 4 parts. Nigredo, Albedo, Citrinitas and Rubedo. Rubedo is the hardest step and is the step that requires the most from the list of scarce materials. Nigredo and Citrinitas are relatively easy. Nigredo can be done by us when we have the ingredients but from Albedo onward, we need the person who knows the separate ingredients and the complete product inside out to do the other steps, so you will have to be involved Agnis. Citrinitas will confirm details that can¡¯t be well determined by the sum of the ingredients alone, the dimensions of the end product or appearance for example. I have all the equipment here.¡±

    I am impressed. There are many things I haven¡¯t seen before,

    ¡°I will need 3 days to complete the setup. We also have to set up a place outside.¡±

    Why is that?

    ¡°Well, even though these processes don¡¯t take long, they are time sensitive, Nigredo needs to be completed under the New moon. Albedo under the full moon, Citrinitas right before noon or after noon has started so between 11:00 and 13:00, it will be the most effective during a solar eclipse but noon also seems to work. Rubedo¡­ needs to be executed on a blood moon.¡±

    A blood moon? But those only appear once every 3 or 4 years.

    ¡°Correct. And the last one has appeared a half year ago so we have around 2.5 to 3.5 years to complete everything.¡±

    Ugh, nobody has time for that. Let¡¯s focus on finding the ingredients first before dealing with the moon stuff.

    It reminded me of that 9t state where time moves through day and night to get the moon in a specific phase. I wonder if I can use this to get the blood moon to appear.

    I have actually never experienced one. I would probably be either sleeping, inside or on the part of the continent where it can¡¯t be seen. If I get stronger during the full moon does this disappear under a blood moon or do I get even stronger?

    These are questions I can figure out later. I have to deal with this problematic list. I will have to ask Elliana about the plants, if she doesn¡¯t know I need to find Vinny. Yttroz industries for the rocks.

    Mythical and legendary creature parts¡­ I might have to ask Inyr if I can find him. Phoenix blood and phoenix fire are marked as the hardest but those are the easiest for me. No phoenix has been spotted on the Mainfloor since Hourai was created so it makes sense. I might have to add to this research that besides a 9t friend you also need a phoenix friend.

    This research is getting ridiculous. Phoenix fire does have an alternative according to this list but phoenix blood doesn¡¯t.

    I sat down and sighed.

    ¡°Is it the phoenix blood? There is a possibility to leave it out but the success rate of Rubedo will drop from 100% to under 10% without and Rubedo is a costly step, time and material-wise as the catalyst is gold. Having to wait another 3 or 4 years for another attempt isn¡¯t optimal.¡±

    Don¡¯t worry. I will get it.

    I need to come up with a convincing lie, not only will I have fought a phoenix but also get it¡¯s blood, which is nearly impossible, and on top of that I will be relatively unscathed. Who in their right mind is going to fall for that? Maybe I should disguise it, say I failed and sneak it in during the process, and then pretend we got extremely lucky.

    I don¡¯t know if that¡¯s going to work either. It might require pre-processing and, in that case, this idea would fail. But dragon spit, fairy dust, basilisk tears, spirit breath and a unicorn horn, eh? Dragon spit and spirit breath should be easy. The rest¡­ I have no clue where to find those creatures. Unicorns haven¡¯t been seen in ages either they might have gone extinct.

    Spirit Breath and Dragon Spit are convenient though. I was already planning on asking elves and Vinny about the plants. I can just ask Bywen instead of Elliana and get a Spirit Breath and then go to Vinny to get dragon spit. Efficiency at its max! But whoa does it suck to be a human, making spirit vessels will be stupidly hard, and then when you finally do succeed you have to do all this to bring them together with alchemy.

    It makes me wonder if alchemy was first created by a race that isn¡¯t human. An elf would have a relatively easy time doing this, a dragon a bit less but that¡¯s due to their overall personalities. Misha might be able to if they get lucky but humans stand out as a race that just gets fucked over at any step. Maybe these techniques aren¡¯t meant for humans. I never considered this.

    Is it a good idea to have Bomba complete his project? It doesn¡¯t sound like a problem but there must be a reason why this was designed this way. To combat greed? I don¡¯t know. I could get greedy and abuse this, it is not stopping me from acting on my greed. There seems more to it that I thought.

    Maybe it isn¡¯t to exclude humans but to protect them. Some of these ingredients are powerful. They could change a human. I am not familiar with human physiology or psychology. I have no idea what this would cause in them. I guess I will just have to pay extra attention.

    Greg and Bomba were talking about alchemy. It was quite funny. Bomba was being cheery and weird while Greg was being his boring serious self. I didn¡¯t feel like the conversation was moving forward a lot but it surely would progress when Bomba felt like it.

    ¡°Oh. There was something I didn¡¯t put on the list but I also need. I need catalytic glue.¡±

    Aha. No clue what that is.

    ¡°It is something the witches use to mend their catalysts. It isn¡¯t needed for our process but to mend some equipment."

    Sure, I can help out. I know a witch or 2.

    ¡°Can I come with you? There are over 40 kinds and I want to make sure I get the correct one!¡±

    You don¡¯t want to just meet one?

    Bomba shook his head.

    Remi would kill me if I hopped in with another man. Or maybe not. She will be ditching her role so maybe she doesn¡¯t care. Either way it¡¯s a good excuse to check up on her.

    I can bring you but you have to listen because as you know¡­ witches don¡¯t have a sense of humor¡­

    ¡°Yuss! I can get me some catalytic glue! Truly bombastic! So, when do we go?¡±

    Depends on how much Greg still wants to talk but tomorrow is fine by me.

    I still have matters to discuss but we should have discussed everything by tomorrow.

    Well, I will let you two nerd out I will try to see what my plan is going to be together all those materials.

    I left Bomba¡¯s house and walked through the city. It was just another desert city. It reminded me a bit of Saluk and Thalia. Did they ever find her or is she forever gone? I went back to the AA and found her image still in the ¡®Missing¡¯ section. I was glad to see that Io and Toxic Donkey weren¡¯t on this list.

    I wondered what Toxic Donkey was up to. I wanted to check out my private messages when I noticed something. It was in the section where the new adventurers gathered. I smiled after I saw that there was a role named ¡®Toxic Donkey.¡¯ It seems he is doing just fine.?

 Pneuma 32: Berfhais II

    Elliana and I were looking around in the city. It was a nice city. It was easier to enjoy it now that we weren''t suffering from the heat. I don¡¯t know where Agnis got these clothes from, but they are amazing!

    They were comfy, easy to move in and they protected us from the heat. There were people everywhere, and Elliana and I were checking everything out! I was also checking out some chicks. The women here look different than I¡¯m used to, and they showed off way more skin. Their darker skin was glistening in the sun and it had an exotic allure.

    Maybe I will find someone here.

    ¡°Hey Raishin lets go look over there!¡± Elliana pointed to some stalls which spread the smell of food.

    Ooh, I¡¯m getting hungry now let¡¯s go!

    We walked to a stall and I looked in my wallet. 17 bronze¡­

    Hey Elliana do you have money?

    Elliana took out a golden necklace and put it on a stall. ¡°How much can I get with this?¡±

    I didn¡¯t recognize that necklace, but it must be from the treasure Agnis had given her. Why didn¡¯t he tell her that this is not the form of gold we use to pay¡­

    Elliana drew a lot of attention. I grabbed the necklace and her hand.

    This doesn¡¯t look good! We need to run!

    We ran through the crowd and fled to the AA. the doors opened and the cool air met us.

    Ugh, stitches in my side!

    I wanted to explain to Elliana how we pay for things outside the village when my eyes fell on a group of beautiful ladies. They were having a great time. My body responded automatically and I got a bit closer. I was wrong, they seemed to be gossiping.

    ¡°We will finally be able to take over the Eternal Desertflower role!¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we might stand a chance now that Thalia is gone.¡±

    What are they talking about?

    I saw them holding a paper with a beautiful woman on it. Did she go missing? What a shame. I wanted to introduce myself to them when I remembered something. Wasn¡¯t Thalia the name of the chick Agnis was looking for?

    Give me a moment Elliana, this is important.

    I went to the wall where it had a list of missing adventurers. They had papers that contained details of every missing adventurer. I fished a paper of Thalia out.

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    Whoa, she is gorgeous, so this is Agnis¡¯ type. She had an exotic look and a pretty round face with almond shaped eyes. No wonder he doesn¡¯t look at other chicks. But maybe I can use this. I either help him find this chick or find someone that¡¯s similar. I did a quick scan, but nobody seemed to be similar or what I regarded as suitable.

    I folded the paper and put it in my pocket.

    Sorry about that, Elliana. Also, we use coins to pay for stuff. We don¡¯t use necklaces. I don¡¯t know how this works, but you have to sell that first. You will have to ask Greg, though. He probably knows where to sell it.

    ¡°You seemed to be interested in some paper, what was it about?¡± I showed her the paper.

    This is the chick Agnis is interested in! I finally know what his type is!

    ¡°Beautiful women?¡±

    Something that is a bit rarer. A woman that captivates your heart in one look! I should have known! He is so weak to charm magic for a reason, we need to find a chick with charm magic that¡¯s off the charts!

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that more of a forced attraction, then?¡±

    Nah, he seemed to do quite fine when we visited his cousins. He got assaulted by it all the time.

    ¡°And what about you?¡±

    Ehh I don¡¯t need charm I need a smart chick!

    ¡°And Greg?¡±

    He needs you of course! We might have to smack his head. Maybe something gets in if we bust his head open! How about we have a small adventure! Greg and Agnis will probably be busy for a while.

    ¡°Ok let¡¯s go!¡± Elliana was about to step out of the AA when I stopped her.

    Nono we will take something from here so we also get paid! We need to register you as an adventurer, though. Grab your ID!

    Elliana cocked her head and started going through her pockets. ¡°ID?¡±

    Something that tells you who you are!

    ¡°Can¡¯t I tell them myself?¡±

    Oh. You have no ID. Ehh. Let¡¯s ask Agnis and Greg to make one for you, and then we can adventure!

    ¡°Won¡¯t that inconvenience them?¡±

    Nahhh they do this all the time. Let¡¯s ask them when they come back!

    ¡°So, what do we do in the meantime?¡± Elliana asked as she handed me a leaf badge with a bow emblem on it.

    I shook my head as this elven badge would be useless as an ID.

    We can spar! They have places for that! Let¡¯s go! We can explore the other floors after that!

    we went to kill time by sparring and exploring the AA and also to find out if we could find sneaky secrets.

 Pneuma 33: Witchaven

    Raishin had asked me to make an ID for Elliana. That is a very good call. I also got scolded for not explaining how our money system works. I don¡¯t even know how it works myself how am I supposed to explain this? I just throw money at my problems until they go away. I am unqualified to explain this.

    Making this ¡®Noble ID¡¯ was easier than I remember. I could make one in 20 minutes and I had Greg draw Elliana¡¯s portrait.

    ¡°Wow, I didn¡¯t know that it was this easy to get an ID!¡±

    It isn¡¯t normally. We are¡­ special.

    Haha now we can go on adventures and be less broke!

    Make sure he doesn¡¯t get into trouble Elliana.

    Be careful, none of you are used to desert biomes. Make sure to read up on the local fauna, make adequate prep¡­

    Yeah, yeah! We got it, we will be fine go do your nerd stuff!

    Raishin pushed us to the door.  How long will you be gone by the way Agnis?

    Dunno. I do have to ask Bomba a question about why he wants to go to Witchaven so badly. I don¡¯t think he wants to go for the reason he told me. I might be gone for weeks depending on how we get there.

    I would like to tell you to stay out of trouble but that is unrealistic just make it back alive.

    Easy!

    I left the AA and headed over to Bomba¡¯s house.

    Something about his request seemed off. There was no need to visit witches to get it, I also don''t remember the Misha lectures or any of Azu''s literature mentioning it. I could do some more information theft in Witchaven so I don¡¯t mind going there but whatever he plans to do could get him killed.

    <hr>

    So, I have an important question Bomba. Your request isn¡¯t normal what are your ulterior motives.

    ¡°What do you mean!? Let¡¯s get that catalytic glue! Just pop in and out!¡±

    Well, we will be risking our life so I hope you are prepared to die if you don¡¯t tell me.

    Bomba sighed. ¡°I guess I couldn¡¯t hide this. You are correct. I¡­I met a woman last year; she was a witch. We had a great time but she had to return to Witchaven. I just want to see her again just for a bit.¡±

    Ahh love. But why ask a random dude to bring you to a place you might not return to?

    ¡°A random dude? I am not stupid nor do I live under a rock. You are the Silver Torrent. You have done 2 things that have been deemed impossible, showing that water magic is as strong if not stronger than other elements and demonstrate that crowd control is viable. You are still the only person to possess the Silver Torrent role. There are even rumors going around that you have studied under the Sword Saint. If I would place my bets on a person to achieve something impossible, it would be you.¡±

    Wait what? I¡¯m that famous? I didn¡¯t do anything¡­

    ¡°You created a new role¡­ what did you expect? And many have tried to get into a role but nobody has passed even the basic requirements for it yet even after several years. Some point at most people just not being good enough yet but others are pointing at that it¡¯s just that hard. You didn¡¯t need to do anything, the fact that nobody has been able to get in yet is increasing your fame.¡±

    Ugh, why can¡¯t I just have a quiet life. Is this why you trusted me?

    ¡°Oh no I weirdly enough didn¡¯t realize who you were when we met. I realized the day after.¡±

    So, it still works.

    ¡°What?¡±

    Nothing. But I see that makes a lot of sense. Just know I¡¯m just a dude. I will try my best but I can¡¯t do the impossible.

    ¡°We¡¯ll see about that. You agreed to going to Witchaven so that means you have a plan.¡± Bomba said as he had already packed his stuff.

    Ugh, fine. But there are rules. Firstly, there are some things about my identity that I want to keep secret. Secondly, we need to disguise as women else we will get fucked and not the good kind. Besides that, you need to stick close to me. I know a witch or 2 so I can bail you out when things go wrong.

    ¡°When things go wrong? Not ¡®if¡¯ things go wrong?¡±

    Rule number one if you travel with me. Things always go wrong. Now I have also something I want to do there so you will have to bear with it.

    ¡°I am asking for a lot so this is fine.¡±

    Right but the most important thing is to tell nobody about what we¡¯re about to do.

    ¡°Sure. My lips are sealed.¡±

    Good. Nilah we¡¯re going to try something new!

    Nilah turned into her fox form and I started to draw a transportation circle.

    This normally requires a transportation circle on the receiving end but I have tweaked it so that it is more accurate. Let¡¯s see set destination to behind Azu¡¯s house. Delay. Hmm how about 2 minutes. Ok done! Nilah hat!

    Nilah jumped on my head and transformed into a hat. I used [Transform] and turned into Agn¨¨s Oures.

    ¡°Whoa!¡±

    And I will put some illusions on you. Decide on a name.

    ¡°Bombina!¡±

    Uh¡­ sure why not.

    I made Bomba look like a red head Misha.

    Now try to stay as silent as possible, your speech patterns are¡­ not serious. It¡¯s how I got found out.

    ¡°Wait you have been there before!?¡±

    Get everything you need, no place for useless questions!

    The circle started to draw in ambient mana and started to activate. I hope It is accurate enough.

    It went off and a white flash appeared. We had arrived on Azu¡¯s roof. I was just a bit off. The problem was that we were quite visible so I covered us with illusions to hide ourselves.

    I do feel that there is a problem. Why didn¡¯t we get redirected to the entrance I had gotten sent to when I invaded Witchaven? I had us disguised as Misha because I didn''t expect it to succeed. I looked around and noticed that the barrier around the city was down. This can¡¯t be good.

    Bombina, I think the problems have already started. So much is off here.

    I unlocked Azu¡¯s backdoor with [Azure Spear] and we went inside.

    ¡°What is it? Ohh I like this voice!¡± Bombina looked around while making strange sounds so he could hear his owoman voice.

    Azu¡¯s house was as I had left it.

    The barrier protecting this city is down. Either something has successfully invaded or the academy in the center of the city is in trouble. Let¡¯s find your witch first. What is her name?

    ¡°Leanna Nightspear¡±

    I assume you have no idea where she lives so we need to go to the academy. There is a high chance someone knows who she is else I might know someone who might. And remember, don¡¯t talk and don¡¯t do funny stuff.

    ¡°Ok.¡±

    We walked over to the front door and went outside. I had to instantly dispel a [Flare].

    ¡°Who are you two and why did you come out of Ayaru¡¯s house?¡± A red-haired Misha was glaring at us and was readying another spell.

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    I am her mentee.

    ¡°Men tea? What is that?! Answer me!¡±

    Ayaru is my mentor!

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means! Who are you!¡±

    I dispelled a [Heatwave] before the magic circle completed.

    This Misha doesn¡¯t seem very bright, her power is real though. How do I get out of this?

    I am Agn¨¨s Oures and who might you be? Maybe we can talk this out.

    ¡°I am Beatrice Manarune, the strongest and most beautiful Misha alive!¡±

    I inspected her. I could guess why she could make that claim so boldly but I think Azu had her beat in both of that.

    I disagree! Azu¡­ Ayaru Mistflower kicks your ass any day of the week!

    ¡°Oh, that bitch is still alive! So, she decides to send her fan after she ghosted me! How about I beat you up and have you drag me to her!¡±

    You mean you kick my ass and I drag her to you?

    ¡°Agggh!¡±

    And what do you mean she ghosted you? She had been sealed away for over 2000 years and you guys did nothing for her!

    ¡°Ha! Make up more believable lies if you want to convince me! We all know that she is dead¡­¡±

    I sensed a trace of sadness. What did they tell this chick? Does she believe Azu is dead or ghosted her? She makes no sense.

    What would convince you that I know her?

    She pointed her catalyst at me.¡°Bring her here!¡±

    Besides that unreasonable request.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know! Use some of her skills or drop a [Meteor] on this stupid city!¡±

    I don¡¯t know how a [Meteor] is related to this but I did learn [Meteor] from Azu. I will just use [Azure Spear].

    I showed her [Azure Spear] and her hostility dropped.

    ¡°Aya! Is that you?!¡±

    No¡­ I told you that I am her mentee, kinda.

    ¡°You look so different! I didn¡¯t recognize you!¡±

    Hey listen! I¡¯m not her, I know her!

    ¡°Oh.¡± I saw disappointment but she recovered.

    Bomba pointed at the confused and stupid Misha. ¡°Hey¡­ Agnis¡­ Agn¨¨s, isn¡¯t that the Crimson Eagle?¡±

    Oh, you¡¯re right, she is the what¡¯s it called? Mage hero and the Crimson Eagle. You¡¯re correct.

    Bea looked toward the academy. ¡°I will believe you. For now. Now help me destroy this city!¡±

    Uhm, can I ask why?

    ¡°These jerks from the capital came here, messed with Remi and freed the stupid council members. I didn¡¯t know Remi had sealed them away but that serves them right! I¡¯ve had enough of having those dear to me get treated so poorly!¡±

    What? But she said she had a year¡­ ugh, so that¡¯s happening now¡­ Bombina. Go with my shadow clone. We have landed at the worst time possible. Bea, I will help out.

    ¡°Bea? You didn¡¯t lie, you do know Aya!¡±

    Huh? I guess it works out if that convinced you.

    I made a shadow clone and send it with Bombina. He looked unsure but still went with my clone.

    Hey Bea, a question. How strong are the Misha messing with Remi?

    ¡°I can only take them one at a time. They came with 5 and have released all the stupid council members. It would have been easy if Aya was here¡­¡±

    I am not Azu but I will pull my weight, let¡¯s go!

    Bea hopped on her catalyst and flew off to the academy. Meanwhile, I had to run... I forgot that I¡¯m quite slow in this form.

    ¡°What are you waiting for! Fly after me!¡±

    Note to self, I will have to figure out flight if I want to be more convincing as a Misha. I hated being slow so I decided to use short range teleports.

    I arrived at the gate of the academy, the same time as Bea arrived.

    ¡°Oh, you made it without flight!¡±

    We found several Misha in fancy robes on the campus. Remi was getting dragged around, beat up and bloodied. Her hat had gotten confiscated as did her catalyst. She had series of seals on her. Not only the council members but other Misha were verbally abusing her.

    Hey I also have something to say to her!

    I got in quite easily after saying that. Remi¡¯s eyes opened wide when she saw me.

    Remi, you are so reckless You knew this would happen and here you still are. Whatever happens next, you have brought upon yourself!

    I figured out how to hack into the hats of everyone here in this short moment and stole all of their hats. I walked over to Remi and used this confusion to break the seals on her. I handed her hat and catalyst.

    An idiot has asked me to help you.

    ¡°Who are you! Do you realize that all your accolades will be stripped and that you will be banned from Witchaven for defying the great council?!¡± A council member wanted to point her catalyst at me but she couldn¡¯t as I had stolen it.

    Well good thing that I¡¯m not a Misha.

    I canceled my transformation and I had all the hats stacked on each other on my tails. Each tail had a stack of hats.

    Bea pointed at me. ¡°Hey! You¡¯re not a Misha!¡±

    Nope, sorry Bea, I am Agnis Hourai, I¡¯m a nine tailed spirit fox.

    The council members attempted to cast magic but they either failed or the magic was weak.

    ¡°I thought that you had gone extinct!¡±

    Nope not yet.

    I managed to get Remi to our side when a council member used some sort of magic and got her hat back. The other council members did the same but not all succeeded.

    Interesting. Either way we need to get you out of here Remi.

    ¡°You do realize you just made an enemy out of the Great council? The capital will hear about this and they will hunt you down!¡± A council member yelled as if i should care.

    I smiled.  Don¡¯t I have a ¡®Flee on sight¡¯ order on me? Did you forget why you got this order on me? Nilah! Show them what you got!

    Nilah returned to her fox form and started stealing the mana from the attacks flying at us.

    Bea was just standing there and pointing at me. ¡°Hey, who are you!¡±

    Remi cast some weak healing spells on herself and turned toward the useless redhead. ¡°Bea, he¡¯s a friend of mine. He has revived Aya¡¯s research. He also¡­ seems to be our race¡¯s natural enemy.¡±

    ¡°So, he will help us destroy this city?¡±

    ¡°Huh? No!¡± Remi looked at me with a face pleading me to not destroy Witchaven.

    You want to destroy this city? Then I¡¯m your guy! You mentioned [Meteor] right? Azu thought me that! How about we both drop one. You¡¯re the Crimson Eagle, right? I¡¯m sure you can also use [Meteor].

    Bea¡¯s mana surged and she seemed to get serious. ¡°They will intercept us though.¡±

    Well, I can do something about that but first. Remi do you know a Leanne Nightspear?

    ¡°She moved to the village to the base of the pillar not too long ago. She had found a possible research partner and prepared by moving there.¡± Remi said with a weak voice.

    Oof. Ok thank you. In that case I will have my clone bring him there after some information theft.

    ¡°Are you still stealing information from us?!¡±

    Well, there is a chance this city is going to get destroyed so, yeah?

    I saw that the Misha in the city were either banding behind the council members or fleeing. I felt a manaburst next to me and Bea caught on fire, more importantly, it was as if her hair had turned into fire.

    ¡°So, you are serious about this eh Bea?¡±

    ¡°I can use [Meteor] can I!?¡± Bea asked but the magic circle of [Meteor] was already half completed.

    Go for it.

    I will have to give up on information theft because I am going to make sure that this [Meteor] hits. My shadow clone can solve the information theft part.

 Pneuma 34: Bombina

    I had devoured 32 books when I got a notification from the main body that we needed to get out of here and that Bombina¡¯s target was in the village at the base of the pillar Witchaven is built on.

    Change of plan, we¡¯re leaving.

    ¡°Huh? Ok did you get what you needed?¡±

    I just wanted information that might be important in the future but staying alive is more important.

    I had returned to my 9t self to go in ¡®Library mode¡¯ to steal information, so I picked Bombina up with my tail and escaped from the building. Not only that, but I got some surprised faces from some Misha.

    I would advise all of you to evacuate immediately if [Meteor] sounds familiar to you.

    The Misha turned pale and started to evacuate. They were quite orderly which surprised me. I guess they had been taught well.

    I left the academy and attacks were flying everywhere. Nilah was protecting my main body from attacks, while he was interrupting any attempt of the council to interrupt Bea¡¯s [Meteor]. The cast went off. It would take a while before it would appear, but it was coming.

    We¡¯re speeding up.

    I weaved between the buildings. Some Misha tried to attack me, but I stole their hats. Not every Misha had updated their hats to the latest paper I¡¯d released.

    The one you¡¯re looking for is at a village at the base of this pillar. I just want to warn you she had set up there to prepare for her research partner. They tend to be quite inseparable. Regardless of the gender of the research partner, she won¡¯t have much time for you, I¡¯m sorry.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine¡­ just knowing she is fine is enough¡­¡±

    I sensed deception. He was not fine. This might get awkward when we arrive. The edge of the city aproached and I jumped down the pillar.

    Bombina started to panic and thrash. ¡°Hey hey! What are you doing!¡±

    Jumping down?

    ¡°I can see that but why!?¡±

    We need to go down, right?

    ¡°But we will fall to our death! Wait, why are we falling so slowly?¡±

    Dunno, we¡¯re falling way faster than I¡¯m used to.

    ¡°Huh? Is this related to you being a strange race?¡±

    Yup.

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    I made a pile of snow and landed into it.  Right, short objective description, please.

    ¡°Short purple hair, dark green hat, long leg¡­¡±

    Found her!

    I undid the illusions on Bomba and knocked on the door of a house where Bomba¡¯s love interests lived.

    The door opened. ¡°Bomba! What are you doing here!?¡±

    ¡°I¡­I came to see you. Am I disturbing your research?¡±

    ¡°Oh no, come in! Who is your friend? Wait! Is that the Silver Menace!?¡±

    Sup! Silver Menace here.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware that you were acquainted with a celebrity!¡± She beckoned us to come in.

    ¡°A celebrity?¡± Bomba looked at me and this situation made me uncomfortable.

    ¡°He was quite a troublesome presence, but he has been a great help to Witchaven!¡±

    Well, that¡¯s not important now because Witchaven is about to get hit by a [Meteor]. I hope we aren¡¯t disturbing you and your research partner.

    ¡°Research partner? Oh, it¡¯s because I live here now. Well, I was planning to leave for Berfhais in 2 weeks and ask him if he wanted to become my research partner, but it seems he has found me.¡±

    I love how it doesn¡¯t bother her that Witchaven is about to get hit by a [Meteor] I assume she had lived through my half year of terror, so this might not be new for her.

    Oh, that is also an option.

    ¡°Berfhais? Dammit so Jimmy one upped me!¡±

    Noo doofus, she means you!

    ¡°So do you want to be my research partner, Bomba?¡±

    I took a step back and gave them some space.

    ¡°Oh¡­ I do! But¡­ I have something I need to do first.¡± He looked at me and back to Leanne. ¡°Do you mind waiting for a bit?¡±

    ¡°Oh, the Silver Menace is helping you with your dream!? That¡¯s wonderful! Sure, I can wait, just hop by if you ever need anything!¡±

    Well, this doofus needs catalytic glue, at least that was the excuse he used for me to drag him here.

    ¡°Silly man, didn¡¯t I teach you how to make it the last time we met?¡± She walked over to a shelf, picked up a jar and handed it over to Bomba.

    ¡°Thank you¡­ I just wanted to see you again. I have revived my motivation to continue on! Thank you Agnis.¡± Bomba nodded at me.

    ¡°Thank you for bringing Bomba here.¡±

    Hmm I wouldn¡¯t thank me just yet because I am in the process of wiping Witchaven off the map.

    I took a step backward to give them some privacy.

 Pneuma 35: Witchaven II

    I had confirmed with my clone that Bomba was safe, which is good because Bea had just casted her third [Meteor].

    [Meteor] is one of those skills you don¡¯t want someone to finish at all costs. Bea¡¯s [Meteor] had a 10-second cast time but mine has a 1-second cast time so I could easily pile on to this but I was making sure Bea could cast these [Meteors] without a problem. Half of the council had flown up and were attempting to stop them from destroying the city. A familiar sight.

    ¡°So, are we going to stay here until a [Meteor] crashes down?¡± Remi has a good point. We need to get out of here.

    Hey Bea we¡¯re getting out of here

    ¡°Not until I burn them to the ground!¡±

    She used a skill and created¡­ are those phoenixes? No, they¡¯re eagles. Oh, Crimson Eagle, duh! It seems that no more [Meteors] are coming. Nilah was having a great time absorbing attacks left and right and the remaining council members were complaining about her.

    ¡°It feels good to be on your side for once, I do however know how they feel¡­¡±

    Heh, this is nothing. I went easy on you most of the time.

    I stole some hats and shot some council members down with some [Frost Arrows].

    ¡°Does magic even work on you?¡± Remi had created some [Tornados] and they were also feeding the [Crimson Eagles].

    Of course, it does, it doesn¡¯t work on Nilah though.

    I sent all the mana I got to Nilah. Nilah caught attacks with her tails and hunted down 2 [Crimson Eagles]

    Bea''s flames flared and she glared at me. ¡°Hey! Your fox ate my [Crimson Eagles]!¡±

    Woops, sorry. Nilah don¡¯t eat the red chickens!

    ¡°They¡¯re eagles!¡±

    Nilah was hitting her limit on how much attacks she could protect us from in her large form.

    Hey Bea, how about you deal with those in the sky. I will take care of those on the ground.

    Remi had healed up enough and she seemed to be battle ready. ¡°Do you need any help?¡±

    I will be fine, go help Bea.

    I connected to the air leyline currents and started to use [Drowning Pulse].

    Nilah! Small form, stop eating the chickens!

    ¡°They¡¯re eagles!¡±

    Nilah became small, as in almost as big as me, and ran over to me as I was slowly flooding the area. It was quite difficult because the academy was built on a hill. I sent several [Flushes] at some council members that thought could fry me.

    So, I already knew this but leyline energy doesn¡¯t like to mix with most forms of magic. It ate through the magic defenses as if it was nothing. I was as surprised as my opponents. Is it possible that magic can¡¯t defend against this?

    The [Meteors] had been successfully stopped by the other council members so we were stuck in a 4v26 and bystanding Misha were either fleeing or helping the council out.

    ¡°Ugh, it¡¯s the conservative faction, we need to run!¡± Remi seemed to prepare to run but we were quite stuck.

    ¡°There is no running, you will die here. I see you have borrowed the help of a mythical race but that¡¯s not going to help you, we will show you the true power of the Council!¡± They all sent out mana bursts and their hair started to act like various elements. I saw thunder hair, fire hair, sand hair, ewww who wants sand hair? I suppose this happens when they get serious, similar to my tailed mode.

    Remi did the same, Remi had wind hair and Bea had already done her fire hair stunt. Do I need to get serious? I think not!

    I did see something that looked like collaboration magic. Something that 2 or more people use when they are in sync. It is difficult to execute and strong so I had no intention of letting it through. However¡­

    ¡°We will keep you busy!¡± A flame hair council member, a lightning hair council member and a wind hair council member flew at me, readying various types of magic. I guess I can ignore the flame and lightning hair. I used [7th Waterfall] and rushed at them while [Drowning Pulse] was still going. I knocked the wind Council member off her staff and juggled her with [Vanishing Ripple].

    I ignored the fire spells and I caught the lightning spells with water.

    ¡°What!? Water is supposed to be weak against lightning!¡±

    This shit again. I blasted the wind council into the air with [Flush] to deal with the lightning council member. A water veil protected me from the lighting spells and I followed up with [Churning Waves] and [Ocean¡¯s Wrath].

    All the magic attacks got caught in the currents swirling around me.

    Here have a taste!

    I sent an electrified current at the wind Council member and it went through her defensive magic and almost killed her.

    ¡°Be careful! It is impossible to guard against his attacks!¡±

    Took them a bit too long. I bet they also don¡¯t know what [Ocean¡¯s Wrath] does. I kept it up until it was fully charged. Each Council member had gotten hit by 1 current.

    They got fired at them since they were fully charged. I prepared a follow-up but it took them all out. I directed my attention to the council members that were casting the collaboration magic and I stole their hats which made them fail.

    The magic circles reappeared behid them as hey had recovered the interrupted collaboration magic. I didn¡¯t know this was possible. I guess I still have things to learn about magic.

    Nilah, it¡¯s time for [Eternal Winter], don¡¯t hit Remi or chicken lady.

    ¡°I heard that! They¡¯re eagles!¡±

    Nilah and I used [Eternal winter] and wiped-out mana in a 50 meter radius.

    ¡°I see! We have an anti-magic expert to deal with!¡±

    They brought out talismans. I suppose they are supposed to counter anti-magic fields. The problem is that this is the nature of frost magic.

    ¡°It isn¡¯t working!?¡±

    I was getting an insane amount of mana in and Nilah was almost saturated. I guess our frost shenanigans are over after this. The water I had created had frozen over and trapped several Misha.

    We used some [Frost Novas] on the Misha that were responsible for the collaboration magic before we dropped [Eternal Winter]. We could one shot most of them with [Kryokym] now but I want to save that for when a god decides to sneak in and sneak attack us.

    A barrier appeared around the city when [Eternal Winter] dropped.

    ¡°You are trapped now! You can¡¯t leave!¡±

    Remi and Bea started to panic when they found out. This barrier looked different and seemed complicated. The city was quite empty. Only a good 24000 Misha had stayed behind to fight us. I suppose it¡¯s the conservative faction. Quite small. The whole city housed about 300000 Misha the last time I was here. It is not a number one normally wants to fight though.

    ¡°It is over¡­ Bea can¡¯t even use [Meteor] as a threat anymore¡­¡± Remi seemed as if she wanted to give up. A 4v24000+ are terrible odds. Nilah is saturated with mana so abusing frost magic is quite rough. I will have to waste mana like when I block lasers.

    I created 3 triple clones after giving myself a [Frost Cloak]. I disconnected from the leyline air currents and used [Foxfire: Sapphire Ring]. All the mana that rushed in was feeding the sapphire ring behind me.

    I wonder how Nilah is doing. She can only use frost magic and foxfire as far as I know, she isn¡¯t great at using foxfires yet so she won¡¯t be able to get rid of the mana unless she uses [Kryokym]. She was trying to swat flying Misha down but wasn¡¯t very successful. I beckoned her over and had her return to her smaller size. I dove to the side to dodge an [ice spike].

    Are you ok Nilah? Do you have ways to use this mana?

    Nilah shot a pure mana blast and sniped a Misha out of the air. I guess that works. I decided to keep her as a sword for emergencies. If I was a god, I would wait till this was over and I was weakened to capture me.

    I created various [Frost Mirrors] to absorb and reflect attacks flying at me. The sapphire ring behind me burnt hotter and I had melted and evaporated all the water in the area. Bea seemed relatively fine but Remi was getting affected by the heat.

    Another ring appeared as I had to waste more mana.

    ¡°Hey Agnis, I don¡¯t want to complain but can you keep the temperature down?¡±

    I don¡¯t think Remi is complaining, the walls of the academy were slowly melting, indicating how hot it was. I tried to focus the sapphire ring in front of me and use it as an attack. It shot out a blue beam of foxfire and obliterated anything in its path. It wasn¡¯t as fast as a real laser but I don¡¯t care, this is a laser!

    I did it! I finally have a laser! A [Foxfire: Sapphire Laser]!

    Remi and Bea didn¡¯t understand why I was so excited but this is the best thing that happened to me in a long time! I started firing of my sapphire lasers but Misha are smart, unfortunately. They stopped feeding me mana by hitting into my frost skills.

    Ugh you guys suck, can¡¯t a 9t have any fun?

    My lasers got weaker and weaker and my [Foxfire: Sapphire Rings] disappeared as I had emptied my basic mana reserves.A flash suprised me and I got blasted away. It broke a layer of [Frozen Skin]. It had a lot of power behind it but there was a problem. The Misha that just hit me with a [Teranova Blast] had erupted in orange light.

    Uh oh I don¡¯t want to deal with a Misha in a Critical Rush!

    But instead of pressing her attack she flew up.

    ¡°Agnis! This isn¡¯t good! If you have something that can teleport us away and out of this barrier, do it now!¡± Remi and Bea said as they started panicking.

    Uhh, it will take a while to disable this barrier, why is this a problem?

    ¡°You see¡­ we Misha can share our critical rushes with others and every Misha that receives this will have the combined duration of the critical rush, it will also only end after the duration expires and not just after 3 critical hits¡­¡±

    Uhm 3 minutes times 24000+ isn¡¯t this cheating?

    All the opposing Misha burst in orange light and entered critical rush. My napkin math tells me that this is a critical rush with a duration of 50 days, we are quite dead if we don¡¯t get out of this.

    ¡°Feel the true potential of our race!¡± They targeted Bea and Remi first.

    I swapped them with some frost cubes to get them to safety. Normally I would play some [Bossmusic] but I don¡¯t think I can afford to in this situation. I grabbed them with my tails and weaved between the attacks raining down.

    ¡°It is over¡­ we can¡¯t win¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey this is our fight, I¡¯m sorry for getting you into this. Go back to being Aya¡¯s mean tea or something. This is our problem.¡±

    Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    A bit too late for that.

    I stole some hats but that didn''t stop them from being angry, overpowered and ready to kill us.

    Right. I guess it¡¯s time to show them what my race can do then if they want to play it like this. There is a reason a 9t is a mythical race. It¡¯s time to show them that if you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.

    A mana burst went out as I went 9t mode. Space started to distort and time started to glitch. I folded pockets of space to send their attacks back. Hacked some cast times so that some Misha were locked into casting something that had an infinite cast time and I put Bea and Remi down.

    We won¡¯t get out of this if we keep running. I need to beat them up.

    I warped to the group of flying Misha and reduced the space between them and the ground to 0 which made them all crash to the ground. Increased the time it took for them to get up and lopped off some heads with [Dimensional Sword].

    I think it¡¯s only fair that I also show you the capacity of my race.

    I caught some attacks in wormholes and sent them back at them. I snapped my fingers and created 15 illusion layers dropping the Misha in their worst nightmares.

    I used this time to knock out whoever seemed to be the biggest threat. The Misha that had started casting collaboration magic would never finish since I had increased their casting time to infinite. I could ignore those. I could now forcefully end their critical rush because it¡¯s time based but I would inflict maximum despair if I defeated them while they were still in this.

    The council members were the first ones to break out of the illusion. It was nothing impressive, I had created them so they were easy to break out. It did put them in mental distress. I shattered some more illusion layers and put [Confusion] on them.

    I got hit by a [Triple Flare], at least that¡¯s what it looked like, the council member had ignited her ally that looked like me because of illusions. She also landed a critical hit. I revealed the mistake she had made and it added to her mental distress.

    Space, time and illusions are mine to command. The nature of these 3 makes the power of my opponent quite irrelevant. They might be able to instant kill me in 1 attack, cool, they will have to land that hit first!

    I had some Misha turn into monsters with the aid of illusions, which caused them to attack each other. Those who wouldn¡¯t fall for this trick saw me going in for an attack.

    Witchaven was filled with uncertainty, what was an illusion or real was completely up to me. But I was unsatisfied. Defeating them like this will only cause them to avoid dealing with me. It won¡¯t have them stop messing with Remi or Bea, nor will it make them finally accept Azu.

    A decision was made. I will reduce their numbers and attempt to address this problem. It might be risky but most seem to have realized already that messing with me was a bad idea.

    I froze some Misha that were knocked out so that they wouldn¡¯t become a problem if they woke up. I will kill if necessary but there is no lesson to be learnt if they all die. Chaos continued until only 5491 Misha were left. Only several council members had perished, the rest were still active.

    I started [Elgard Overload] as there is something they neede to experience. I teleported Remi toward me as near infinite illusion layers formed.

    You knew Azu¡­ Ayaru well right? You have memories of her stored in your hat, right? Do you mind if I access them?

    ¡°That is possible? I see¡­ you truly have taken over her research. Go on.¡±

    I touched her hat and reduced the time needed to go through all the memories about Azu to 1 second.

    Thank you.

    I might be able to create Azu in the 2 windows where I am not limited to reality. I prepared for the first window. This would be Azu as Remi knows her, the second one will be the Azu I know. This might backfire on me even with [Elgards Overload] but I truly believe Azu could wipe the floor with any of them if she was here.

    The first window came up and I made Azu as she was known here in Witchaven, as Ayaru Mistflower. She looked quite different from as I knew her. I took a backseat and saw how she made countless [Ice Mirrors], similar to how I used [Frost Mirrors]. She also dropped a [Meteor] from inside the barrier. I¡¯ve learned another thing, apparently this is possible.

    She had used [Tsunami] and was probably going for the combo that made her known as the Azure mist, but my window expired. My eyes ached as Azu¡¯s strength was at the upper limit of what my eyes could handle. The second window is going to hurt.

    I kicked multiple impossibilities out of reality. The opposing Misha seemed in disarray. Remi was crying but I think it¡¯s the good kind and Bea was staring.

    ¡°This is impossible! There is no way Ayaru is this strong!¡± The council members seemed in denial. They are right, she is stronger now. The Misha kept landing critical hits on each other as they couldn¡¯t figure out where I was or what they were hitting.

    The second window came up and a bubblegum witch appeared. My sight got hazy as my eyes started to bleed. Another [Tsunami] and an [Azure Spear] the size of the academy went out. I wish this was a made-up illusion, but there is a 99% chance that the real Azu can do this.

    It instantly decimated the opposing Misha. Then came a skill I¡¯ve never personally seen. It was called [Mistflower Field]. Countless mistflowers made out of ice grew and violently exploded, scattering ice petals everywhere, which could cut nearly anything. The academy got ripped into shreds as did many Misha. The petals settled and grew into new mistflowers, continuing this process until there were none left.

    This skill is brutal¡­ Forget [Azure Mist] this skill took out most of the Misha.

    I had known about this from the memories Remi handed to me but seeing it is completely different. I tried to keep my eyes open and sent nature energy to them which helped a bit.

    The bubblegum witch wasn¡¯t done yet. [Azure Mist] got used and all the Misha fled. Some were too slow and screams could be heard from within the mist which slowly disappeared. I might have made them scared of Azu, not sure if they will accept her now¡­

    I had to end my [Elgard Overload] prematurely because I was afraid I would take lasting damage. The illusion layers folded into each other and disappeared. It also took away my 9t mode. My eyes healed a bit. They still hurt but they were useable.

    Ugh, I¡¯m sorry Remi, I think they are even more afraid of Azu now.

    ¡°That is fine¡­ at least they know the full potential of Aya. Thank you for letting me see her again.¡±

    I didn¡¯t do this for you but for Azu. I am not yet done with them though.

    I put [Frost Cloaks] on Remi and Bea, and walked over to the remaining Misha.

    Hey assholes! You might think Azu is a monster now, eh? Do you realize that any of you could have been that strong if you had listened to her? Halting progress is saying no to power like that. Had you listened and became as powerful as she is, this wouldn¡¯t have happened. I wouldn¡¯t been able to do this to all of you. But you might not believe me. So, I will present to you a simplified version of her work.

    I pulled mana that Nilah was holding on to into my body. This was the first time in almost forever that I have mana circulating through my system. The mana was pure so I should be fine. This was the default state of many living beings including 9t. It is very well possible that I am way stronger with mana running through my system, who knows. It¡¯s time to find out.

    When I studied here, when I studied Ayaru¡¯s research, I was disguised as one of you. They called me the ¡®Fireball Misha¡¯

    I made a normal [Fireball] and approached them.

    The reason being is because fire is my main affinity but also my most powerful affinity, so anything besides [Fireball] would turn the area and surroundings into ash. That was true but only true until I studied Ayaru¡¯s research. Now none of my fire abilities are safe for the environment. Let me show you Ayaru¡¯s version of ¡®Magic¡¯

    I dynamically changed the magic circle of the [Fireball]. And it became larger, hotter and more mana efficient.

    This is just a [Fireball] and I am only applying Ayaru¡¯s research to its magic circle.

    They soon had to put up multiple fire barriers because the heat was getting extreme and it was melting the whole area. I had to keep it above my head because it had reached a diameter of 3 meters. And it was still growing.

    Remi and Bea were safe because of my [Frost Cloak]. I just kept going and going. [Fireball] was quite an inefficient magic circle so there was a lot to fix about it.

    The academy burnt down and the area had turned into an inferno, just by a [Fireball] that hadn¡¯t been shot off yet. Many Misha had died. I could tell because of the familiar scent of burnt flesh.

    This power could have been yours, only if you had accepted her. And this is just a [Fireball], this can be applied to any skill.

    I improved the [Fireball] until the barriers of the council members were about to give out. I shot it to the sky and it destroyed the barrier covering the whole city.

    This was a simple demonstration on what Magic truly is. All credit goes to Azu. Don¡¯t be fools. Start accepting progress. It disgust me to see that you cast out members of your race because of a disagreement, truly the luxury of races that do well. They lose sense of solidarity and the mindset of protecting their own no matter the cost. I am done with you. If I ever find you harassing Remi, Azu or Bea, you know what¡¯s waiting for you.

    ¡°So, this is what happens when you challenge a mythical being. We concede¡­¡± The 4 remaining council members put their hats on the molten ground to demonstrate they conceded.

    One council member swiftly picked up her hat and used [Incinerate] on me. I responded by countering with an improved [Fireball] and incinerated her.

    It seems you have learnt nothing.

    I took 0 damage from the fire attack. It had some blunt force behind it but nothing to worry about because a [Frozen Skin] layer took care of that.

    Bea poked me. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re not our enemy, are you?¡±

    I can be if you want.

    We looked at the burnt and molten area filled with thousands of passed out and dead Misha. There was also a group of Misha stuck in frost cubes. I returned the mana in my system to Nilah. I didn¡¯t need much in the end.

    Remi also looked around. ¡°Truly a Silver Menace.¡±

    I hope that the remaining council members do something about this.

    ¡°Hey, that was some impressive magic! Can you teach me it¡¯s magic circle?¡±

    ¡°Bea you already know that spell, it¡¯s [Fireball]...¡±

    ¡°Huh? How?¡±

    You should ask your daughter Shelly; I had given her some tips on improving [Fireball]. Anyway, time to get out of here, I don¡¯t want to deal with this mess.

    ¡°This is the councils problem¡± Remi looked at the 3 remaining council members that had surrendered. ¡°I will get all my belongings and leave immediately for the elven village.¡±

    Oh, I won¡¯t be there for a while. I will eventually return so I will see you there.

    Remi left but she didn¡¯t go inside the academy.

    Bea was ranting at the council members. I used [Shadow Swap] with my shadow clone that was waiting outside the house of Bomba and Leanne.

    My clone had given them some privacy.

    I sat down and leaned my back against the wall and returned Nilah to her fox form and petted her. I got lucky this time but I don¡¯t counter magic that well once Nilah is saturated. I didn¡¯t think it was possible but I can somehow tell. She can take a bit more mana, using frost magic there would have cause me to freeze over quite swiftly.

    I was forced to find another way to deal with all that magic because I had no other way to shut down an army of magic using Misha, especially not if they¡¯re all in a critical rush. They forcefully ended it when they surrendered but it could have turned out quite bad if I didn¡¯t do what I did. The collaboration magic was also risky. It is a synergy not a sum so the resulting magic is many more times stronger than the sum of each Misha that cast it. I have multiple lives but Remi might have been killed. Bea is stronger than her so she might have survived.

    It was good that I seemed so oppressively overpowered there because it could have gone so wrong if I had made different decisions. They might not realize how close this was and that¡¯s a good thing. They now know that sending an army after me isn¡¯t going to work. Which is true, I could have used [Hsien] to stop the army but the first 2 minutes are crucial and they will have to somehow ignore me for 2 minutes so that I can get it off.

    I kept pondering and thinking of methods on how to make sure I don¡¯t get into a similar situation until nightfall as Bomba was in there for a long time. My shadow clone in Witchaven had confirmed that Remi had left for the elven village 2 hours after our battle.

    It didn¡¯t pay attention to what Bea went to do but she had left too. I decided to draw a transportation magic circle. There was still one in Bomba¡¯s house from our departure so this should have better accuracy. I was about to knock on the door when I felt a wave of nausea.

    I opened the correct filter and saw some dimensional tears. I fixed them and knocked on the door.

    Bomba! It¡¯s time to go back!

    It took a while but Bomba opened the door.

    ¡°Cya Lea! I¡¯ll be back soon!¡±

    Bye Leanne!

    ¡°Thank you for bringing him here and good bye!¡±

    Leanne waved at us as we stepped on the transportation circle which activated.

    A bright flash went off and we were back in Bomba¡¯s house.

    ¡°Whoa! What a day! Thanks a lot, bud!¡±

    Quite a long day yeah.

    ¡°So, what did you actually do up there?!¡±

    Well, you won¡¯t believe it!

    I told Bomba what happened and left after I had finished my story. I walked back to the AA on a cold desert night when I saw it again. The Blur. I went into stealth and covered myself in illusions. It didn¡¯t seem to have seen me and it just went into a random street.

    It didn¡¯t go where I needed to go nor where I came from. Maybe it isn¡¯t looking for me? Do I want to find out? I decided to just go back to the AA and sleep. Nilah had fallen asleep when I was talking to Bomba so I had turned her in her sword form so I could carry her. I hate to say this but I might have to find a minor god and fight it to get all the mana out of Nilah¡¯s system. I am toast if I encounter a threat that possesses a lot of mana, like an army.

    I got to my room and curled up in my tails. I will have to start looking for materials tomorrow. Fatigue washed over me and I fell asleep.

 Pneuma 36: Material Hunting II

    I dreamt about the battle at Witchaven. It wasn¡¯t a nightmare, just the events playing off. It woke me up at 6 in the morning. I kept thinking about it. The situation in which we found ourselves in was a very difficult one.

    I had identified 5 methods on dealing with that situation. I could have used [Silver Torrent] but that would have killed everyone. Frost magic would normally work but due to circumstances that one was out. I could have used [Hsien], but it suffers from a long startup, which they will exploit. I could have broken the barrier by hacking in to it but that would take at least 5 minutes, or brute force through it but both would get stopped.

    Going 9t mode was the best option in the end. I had noticed a problem with it though. I don¡¯t necessarily get stronger when I use it. It should multiply the mana in my system, but I don¡¯t have any in my system. It does make spatiotemporal magic way easier and that¡¯s what I¡¯ve been using it for but my raw power stays the same as multiplying ¡®0¡¯ is pointless.

    I will have to address this issue at some point but I have too many problems and I can¡¯t keep track of all of them. There are also so many things I should master. Many 9t die before they reach their full potential because of this. Neia is keeping her daughters safe because there are so many things, we need to be good at before we could slap some gods, fix the dimensional fabric and the like.

    That is ignoring the fact that most of us also have to figure ourselves out.

    Aylana is half 9t, half succubus, she has many problems and advantages unique to her. How many years will it take before she figures that out? Same for me. I haven¡¯t even touched my phoenix side. I am 21 years old and I have nothing on it. How many more years will it take before I figure this all out? 30? 50? 100? 200 years? Or will I die before I get the chance? The only one who has the same mix as I do is my mom but I have no idea where she is.

    Mortals wish they were immortal. They might not be aware of immortal problems by doing so. It reminds me of the meeting I had with Thalia. I hope she realizes this, if she is still alive. I had missed many full moons so I haven¡¯t been looking for her lately.

    Raishin had found out that she is still missing and presumed dead. I don¡¯t want to give up on her but I have so many problems that I can¡¯t afford to look for her.

    I looked out of the window. It looked over the lobby of the AA. The material hunting starts today. The last time I did this was when I needed materials for my katana. I will have to prepare for any situation because a simple fetch quest could end up in a fight with a god or I will end up solving a problem of another race. That¡¯s how things go for me so I should prepare accordingly.

    I stepped outside. It was still early. I had decided that I would go to the elven village first, check up on Remi, get some plants and acquire Spirit Breath. My efficiency is unreal. I tugged at the [Dimensional Anchor] and arrived home. I found 2 elders dining at my table. They packed their stuff and fled the moment they saw me. What¡¯s up with these guys¡­

    I checked my fridge and it was cleared out. These jerks¡­

    I asked around but Remi hadn¡¯t arrived yet. The battle happened yesterday and Witchaven is quite far from here, of course she hasn¡¯t arrived yet¡­ I went to visit Bywen.

    Hey! It¡¯s me again! I have a list here of stuff I need I wonder if I can have some. I also need Spirit Breath!

    ¡°Let me have a look at that list, and why do you need Spirit Breath? You don¡¯t need to ask me, you¡¯re a spirit too.¡±

    Oh right, but do I just breathe in a jar?

    ¡°I think it just means spirit energy but if you can fill your breath with spirit energy and trap it in a jar, that works.¡±

    I have no clue how to do that sorry.

    ¡°I will take care of it then.¡±

    Bywen grew some random plants and grouped them up.

    Uhhm what are you doing?

    ¡°Getting you the materials, you need.¡±

    You can just grow them?

    ¡°I¡¯m a life spirit. I can¡¯t do this in an unlimited capacity but I can do this much. As long as I¡¯m familiar with them I should be able to grow them. There is one you need to find, it shouldn¡¯t be hard to do so since it grows in this forest, can you bring it to me when you find it? I can familiarize myself with it and grow it for you the next time you need it.¡±

    I wish I knew this before¡­

    ¡°Just ask and I will see what I can do for you. Are there any other materials you need?¡±

    Uhh yeah but they are either rocks or things from rare, mythical or legendary creatures.

    I showed the rest to her. ¡°Hmm, we might have that rock since it is useful in keeping pests away, I can¡¯t help you with the others, sorry.¡±

    Don¡¯t worry I have most worked out, I think. I will get Dragon spit from a dragon friend, the rocks from Yttroz Industries, a place that is popular for handling rocks and the other creatures, uhm I will manage, somehow.

    I watched by as Bywen was making this material hunt quite easy. Maybe having connections is also an important and invisible power. Maybe messing around and getting to know all these people wasn¡¯t such a bad thing after all. I just have to harass Jerry and Vinny and most of the needed materials will be taken care of and anything I can¡¯t get with connections I might be able to buy. All I had to do to get to this point was to just sell some rubies!

    ¡°I am done, Slithervine shouldn¡¯t be located too far from the village, they should grow near the river to the south, if they are not there they should grow near the confluence of the river.¡±

    Gotcha! Get Slithervine and bring it to you. Thanks for the other stuff.

    I left the village thinking about the possibility that Slithervine might be related to that minor god Greg killed a year ago. It didn¡¯t take long for me to find a vine that was disguised as a snake. Normally its animals that disguise themselves as plants but this plant had different ideas.

    There weren¡¯t many so I took all of them. This place seemed to be popular with the frog species. It reminded me of the frog paradise I had found and the large snakes that were feasting on them. This might be the frog paradise for this forest. No snakes though. How strange. Maybe this was the place of that snake god but his death had returned this place to the frogs.

    I looked around and made sure I wasn¡¯t making an obvious mistake when I returned to the elven village. I decided to leave a shadow clone behind in the elven village for 2 reasons. He would guard my house against the food stealing elders and to write down the papers and books I had archived from Witchaven and give them to Remi. My only regret from burning Witchaven is the loss of their library.

    I have only read about 40% of the accessible section and half of its forbidden section. It is still a lot but a lot of information and hard work was lost. It doesn¡¯t matter if the whole race goes under because of the lack of progress though.

    So, my clone will rewrite them as a form of apology to Remi for burning the academy down. I put some illusions on my clone to make sure he doesn¡¯t pop out of existence when I forget about him or try to create the maximum amount of shadow clones, find out I already have one somewhere and try to dispel him.

    With that done I went back to Bywen and presented the Slithervine. We had a short chat and I left shortly after. Visiting Vinny was up next so I tugged on my [Dimensional Anchor] and returned to my old home in the jungle.

    I had to chase monkeys away and this place had seen better days. My first true home was a mess so Nilah and I spent the whole day fixing it. I also took a relaxing swim in the waterfall basin. I didn¡¯t realize how much I¡¯ve missed this place.

    Life seemed so much simpler when I arrived here first. I put some barriers on my renovated home which would specifically keep the monkeys out. There was so much monkey poop that had to be cleaned... I confiscated their food stash as rent. It is missing a fluffy couch so I placed Rignef¡¯s couch in it. I need to find someone that is familiar with textile so that I can do something with my fur. I might have to go to Jarn for this. Another problem.

    I had simple weaving skills but apparently making a couch out of fur was quite advanced. It only helped me in braiding for making ropes and wires. I could also patch up my own clothing but¡­ I inspected my outfit which was made in Jarn. I don¡¯t think I will need those skills anytime soon.

    I haven¡¯t been in touch with society lately so I don¡¯t know what the state of clothing prices are currently. They seemed to be insane when I was a teacher because Hayley and Crissy wouldn¡¯t shut up about it. I also don¡¯t know the state of the Hourai rubies. They probably sell for something stupid like 9999 gold or something. At least I know that the previously Silent Night, is now Toxic Donkey. I wonder what Kyle did to get this far.

    The hollow tree came in sight. There is a big chance Vinny wasn¡¯t here but I had no clues. Gittrian was my next destination but maybe his mother knows where he is.

    I walked into the nest of dragons and waved.

    Yoo anyone know where Vinny is?

    They got startled because they didn¡¯t notice me. I saw some aggression from hatchlings but the others seemed to recognize me and a dragon approached me.

    ¡°Ah Agnis, I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know where Vinyr is. He took all of his belongings and moved years ago.¡±

    I see, thank you. I have a strange request; can I have some spit?

    ¡°Why would you¡­¡±

    I presented some big tasty fruits and this dragon and others started to drool. I caught some and threw the fruits in the group.

    Thank you!

    This was too easy. Why is this a legendary material?

    I pulled on my [Dimensional Anchor] and returned to my house in Girai. Another place I haven¡¯t been to for a long time. I didn¡¯t need to renovate but I had to clean. Nilah and I wasted another day cleaning up.

    I made sure to leave the house during the night. The boat guy, Gregory, was taking care of tying the boats up.

    Hey, long time no see, can I bring some boats to the capital?

    ¡°Agnis? You have grown! When did you arrive?!¡±

    I just cleaned up my house a bit, I¡¯m leaving already.

    ¡°Oh, it is good to see that you are fine, so many strange things have been happening lately.¡±

    Uh I¡¯m out of the loop, what kind of strange things?

    ¡°Strange monsters popping up more frequently, [Meteors] falling out of the sky. Ancient buildings popping up, a wide spread disease that greatly accelerates mana generation causing victims to get mana corrupted, the war between the Igrini Kingdom and the Aquini kingdom, so many things.¡±

    Wait!? Aquini and Igrini still went to war?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know the specifics but It seems the queen of the Igrini Kingdom had been assassinated and some ministers took over. It seemed to have gone downhill from there.¡±

    Shania¡¯s mother got assassinated? She was such a kind person and a good queen¡­ I thought we wiped out every problematic person by nuking the capital¡­ it seems we were wrong.

    So, who is in power now then?

    ¡°It seems the late queen''s eldest son, Nesho is in power.¡±

    This is fishy, I don¡¯t like this at all. There are many more reasons now to stay away from Igrini Kingdom, it has become an even shittier place and these meteors are a problem¡­ Wait that was me, right? The [Meteors] over Witchaven were not my fault though.

    But strange monsters everywhere. I¡¯m not surprised.

    Thank you, Gregory, I will take 12 boats.

    ¡°Thank you, be careful on the way to Gittrian, beware of the strange monsters and for when you arrive, be careful of the Electronium disease.¡±

    So electronium finally bites back, eh?

    ¡°Oh no it can only be cured by a medicine made out of electronium. the Inquring Anaesthetist and his pupil had created and perfected the medicine. It is very expensive because more pressure had been put on Yzs to provide more electronium and they didn¡¯t like it and threatened to stop providing electronium to the rest of the continent if their conditions weren¡¯t met.¡±

    So, having 70% of the continent¡¯s electronium come from just 1 country is finally biting them back, eh? Not surprised either, how about Jarn kingdom?

    ¡°The new queen, Taylor, has finally managed to keep the country''s affairs under control and the prices of clothing are stabilizing. It¡¯s just¡­ their quality is normal, not what we are used to from Jarn. It¡¯s wealth is getting sapped due to this.¡±

    Huh, didn¡¯t Taylor die?

    ¡°The king, Taylor, died yes, they are still unsure how he died, his daughter, Taylor has taken over.¡±

    He named his daughter after himself¡­ It sounds like another country. Anyway thanks!

    I took the boats, connected to the air leyline currents. And used [Water Dragon dance] and went down the river.

    Hey Nilah, you¡¯re too big to move around like that!

    Nilah was running around as if she was excited. Did she notice something I didn¡¯t or is she just happy to do this again? I did notice some strange monsters in the river but they left me alone. As I got closer to the capital and I could already see that something was different in the city.

    The streets were emptier. People were still walking around but there were just way less. Nobody looked ill but maybe it was a fear for the disease itself or the cost of the cure. I wonder what would happen if I caught that disease, my body is devoid of mana. Am I immune or will I get screwed over and uncontrollably generate mana and die to nausea? I don¡¯t want to find out.

    I completed the procedures and went to the Yttroz Industries.

    ¡°Excuse me, pet¡¯s aren¡¯t allowed in here.¡±

    Oh, sorry, Nilah, Sword!

    Nilah turned into her sword form.

    ¡°Can I see your magic weapon license?¡±

    Uhh, I¡¯m a blacksmith.

    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    The clerk adjusted her glasses and looked at me skeptically.

    ¡°A man as young as you and a blacksmith that can create magic weapons? I need to see your ID.¡±

    I handed my adventurer¡¯s ID to her. She had a brief look at it before she dropped it.

    ¡°Oh! I¡¯m sorry! I¡­ I didn¡¯t realize! I am new here! Please don¡¯t get me into trouble!¡±

    Ah, a refreshing response, that¡¯s how it¡¯s supposed to be. Don¡¯t worry about it where can I find Jerry?

    ¡°Jerry?¡± She tapped on her tablet. ¡°Oh Jeremiah Odell¡­¡±

    Hey what is that? How did you suddenly know who I mean?

    She showed me a screen. There was a note which was some sort of list of translations in case individuals visited and were hard to understand.

    How rude.

    ¡°Well, you seem to have a track record of sneaking in and saying things others don¡¯t understand so every employee is trained to memorize this list and certain behavioral patterns. Anyone who doesn¡¯t fit these are individuals that need to be removed but if they do fit these it¡¯s probably you.¡±

    I wouldn¡¯t mind if they kicked me out though¡­

    The clerk typed for a bit and continued. ¡°They are aware of that. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t get Jeremiah, since he is Ill, I will bring you to his substitute, follow me please.¡±

    Oh, ok.

    I got led to an office on the 4th floor. ¡°We have a special guest.¡±

    I stepped inside and saw an aging man in his late 40¡¯s or begin 50¡¯s. He looked quite serious. His hair was turning gray but there was still enough black hair left.

    He got up and approached. This man was tall and broad. ¡°Is this the Silver Torrent? So, you¡¯ve caught a ghost?¡±

    A ghost? I¡¯m very much alive!

    ¡°It seems that it¡¯s near impossible to get a hold of you.¡± He extended his hand. ¡°The name is Damian Chosick, I am substituting for Jeremiah Odell in his absence.¡±

    I shook his hand.  Agnis Hourai.

    ¡°I know, please sit down, what can I do for you?¡±

    The clerk left and I was sitting face to face with this new face, this face off was uncomfortable and I had to make sure I wouldn¡¯t lose face.

    I have a list of materials that I need for a project, I was hoping that you could help me acquire them. Does Jerry have that disease that is going on lately?

    ¡°Yes, he has been out for almost 2 weeks but he is slowly recovering, he will be expected to return in a week. These materials are highly uncommon but we can get all of them for you. Do you mind if we subtract the costs from your personal funds?¡±

    Go for it, also subtract whatever you need to rebuild ehhh [Meteor] related constructions and repairs.

    ¡°That is oddly specific but there is no need for that, our pockets are deep enough to foot that bill. It will take us 2 weeks to get all these to you, dock 12, right?¡±

    That works fine yes, and I have a question to which I might be afraid to know the answer. How are the Hourai rubies doing?

    ¡°Well, they have become a symbol of wealth and status. We have ceased to use them as a currency because there were only 412 in circulation when we stopped this a year ago. It drove their worth up to a worth of 21369 gold. Their current worth is unmeasurable at the moment. We have also used the golden treasures that you have provided us to create more gold currency. We have distributed it successfully and nobody is aware that there has been an increase of currency on the continent.¡±

    Wow you guys could have so easily become the villains in this situation. Good job.

    ¡°We have gotten a lot of requests in, many want to commission weapons from you, one noteworthy name is Leefa Seorwynn.¡±

    Ugh, that chick again. I am quite busy; I will notify you guys when I get back to blacksmithing.

    ¡°I see, either way the amount of requests have gotten quite high so we have refused them and any future ones.¡±

    Thanks a lot. Is there anything I can do for you guys?

    ¡°You have done enough for us, don¡¯t worry about this. I would like to chat for longer but I¡¯m quite busy unfortunately. The CEO has disappeared again to one of his digging adventures so I have to fill in for him until they find him.¡± He gestured at an intimidating stack of paperwork.

    He did always complain about being stuck in his stuffy office.

    Damian got up and walked me to the door. ¡°Don¡¯t hesitate to pay a visit if there¡¯s anything you need.¡± I left the office.

    What a nice guy, substitute for only 2 weeks and already getting worked to the bone eh? Makes me realize that I actually don¡¯t know what Jerry normally does in this company.

    I tried to leave the building but it was a maze. I also had to evade overexcited employees so I decided to teleport outside. My teleport got redirected and I got sent to some place with a lot of guards.

    They have upped their security I see.

    ¡°Whoa! I didn¡¯t expect to catch you with this new system! It¡¯s me the guard from the last time!¡±

    I tried to remember but I couldn¡¯t remember who he was. I smiled and had to endure small talk. They even wanted me to sign their weapons. Most of the weapons they were wearing were low-quality swords I had made and sold to Yttroz Industries, so they already had the initials of Silver Torrent on them. But they wanted another one that looked a bit different.

    ¡°Hehe, thanks a lot! Patrick is going to regret asking me to take over his shift now haha!¡±

    Right, I will have to take my leave, I¡¯m quite busy.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t let us hold you up!¡±

    I got released and was back on the streets. I needed to wait 2 weeks. Do I stay here or find the other materials in the meantime? Those creatures I needed were quite rare so there was a 99% chance I won¡¯t be able to find them within 2 weeks. I will stay here for a bit.

    I headed over to the AA and relaxed in the lounge area. Music was playing. It was quite good. The singer of this song though, damn she can sing. The AA seemed to be playing multiple songs of this group. It was of one of the popular idol groups I have heard snippets about for the last few years. Not only did the music vary a lot between the songs, it seems that the lead singer could hit almost any note, but her voice also seemed to vary from time to time.

    Is this singer using [Transform] on her voice? That is actually quite genius. Or maybe she can imitate voices like I can. Maybe I should visit one of their concerts one day to get more ideas for [Boss music]. I haven¡¯t used [Boss music] since I put Inna to sleep and that was almost a year ago.

    I decided to hire a private duel room and practice the way of the sword and Dragonvein in there which I did till the end of the day and decided to sleep since there was nothing to do during the night.

    <hr>

    A great idea dawned on me the next morning. I could do some quests while waiting for 2 weeks to pass.

    I went through my inbox. So many requests that have expired.

    Oh, a message from Toxic Donkey. He seems to have finally killed Arby. Uhh that might indeed get people to change the role name. He was also getting serious with Io and he went to visit her family? Toxic Donkey, you idiot, they will either annoy you to death or kill you. Ugh. I will just have to believe in his stealth.

    More expired requests. A message from Vinny. He had broken into C rank and went with a party to investigate the newly formed jungle in Igrini Kingdom. It seems he knows that I was involved and was hoping I was doing well. This was from almost a year ago. There is another message from him enthusiastically talking about the unique flora and fauna he found there.

    I decided to write something back to Toxic Donkey and Vinny. I found more expired requests and requests to become my disciple? Totally not creepy. I started to get into fan messages. What is going on in this world¡­

    There was one message that terrified me. It said: ¡®I will come over and take care of you.¡¯ I recognized this line. I got cold sweat and looked around. I am happy to know she escaped from Hourai too but this is bad news for me. I checked the date. Summer was around the corner.

    I realized that the thought of Hisui being nearby terrified me more than a god trying to kill me. 2 shadow clones got sent out to erase any trace of my presence in the city. At least the messages can¡¯t get any worse.

    Another message challenged me to a sword fight. Nice try Leefa. Nothing interesting besides that so I went to look for a suitable quest.

    C-rank quest, investigate strange noises in a forest. I can do that. I will just ignore the party size recommendation of 3. I realized that this could be seen as reckless and I moved to the side and hid. I looked toward the elevator.

    A familiar face appeared 2 minutes later.

    How does this guy keep doing this? Is he stalking me? It didn¡¯t seem as if he knew I was here. Healerguy picked up some parcels from the desk and got back in the elevator. Healerguy pops up everywhere so I forgot that he was based in Gittrian.

    I left my hiding place and officially accepted the quest. The clerk had something to say though. ¡°I am aware that you can do this alone as a B-rank adventurer but do you mind bringing 2 D-rank adventurers with you? They could use a bit more experience.¡±

    Uh sure.

    I got introduced to an unusual duo, a horse beast kin and a dwarf giant. Both were quite tall. My neck hurt from trying to look at their faces.

    They seem strong enough to me.

    ¡°They are but it¡¯s hard for them to find a balanced party because both of them are Unstoppable Beasts.¡±

    Ah double stacking roles, that could be problematic yeah.

    ¡°Oh, wow the Silver Torrent!¡± The horse beast kin acted as he just met a celebrity. ¡°This is our lucky day!¡±

    Uhm, I¡¯m just a normal dude, I¡¯ve hardly done anything.

    ¡°That makes it even better! You appear, do something, disappear and nobody can copy or understand what you did!¡± The dwarf giant said. He was trying to keep his excitement under control. ¡°It has that mysterious vibe!¡±

    Aha, so maybe I am crazy for thinking this is weird since either the whole world is crazy or I am.

    ¡°I see that you are getting along with them, be careful out there!¡± The clerk left me alone with the 2 huge companions.

    Anyway, lets head over to the site first, we¡¯re attracting a lot of attention.

    We left the AA and headed toward the north east gate.

    ¡°So, what have you been doing since your disappearance?¡± I stopped bothering attempting to make eye contact when these guys were speaking but the horse beast kin was talking.

    It wouldn¡¯t be mysterious if I told you, would it?

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right!¡±

    So, I don¡¯t want to be an asshole but I have never seen the races of you two walk out such in the open. Gittrian is accepting but most still relied on cloaks and the like.

    The dwarf giant pointed at a big screen that had a headline stating that the idols were beast kin. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s because since the idols from Tails of Symphony had revealed their non-human identities, more and more non-humans got accepted and even looked at with interest and curiosity.¡±

    You mean that idol group that¡¯s crazy good? They¡¯re non-humans? Interesting. I guess there are positive events happening too.

    ¡°They did announce this here in Gittrian so this has been spreading with Gittrian as the epicenter, it is almost as safe here now as in Ardella.¡±

    Oh, that is amazing! I guess the Aquini Kingdom is in a rough position so this is very good for you guys!

    ¡°Yup! The north still has to get hit by this wave but it¡¯s looking good for us.¡± The horse beast kin said as he was checking out a passing catgirl. The world seems to be going to shit on one side and getting a better place on the other side.

    How long does it take to get to the forest?

    ¡°Oh, we can be there by tomorrow, I recently purchased a car!¡± The dwarf giant led us to an enormous vehicle.

    Whoa, that¡¯s a large coffin on wheels. How much did it cost?

    ¡°Too much¡­¡± His excitement turned into despair. How expensive are these things? I decided to not poke for details and got in.

    This is¡­ spacious.

    The seats were too big, everything was too big for me.

    ¡°Hey, Krau, how is he supposed to put on seatbelts?¡±

    ¡°I have no idea. Hey you might want to hold on for safety reasons.¡±

    Uhh sure.

    The dwarf giant, whose name seemed to be Krau got the coffin on wheels moving. It made a lot of noise. It was similar to that bus thing I drove with my students. It was fast but not as fast as I was.

    Krau backed up the car. ¡°So, is this your first time in a car? They are getting more and more popular as the Yttroz Industries is building more roads.¡±

    I have driven a bus before but I¡¯m not a big fan of them, I am more a fan of those that run on mana, they seem to be quieter.

    ¡°Yeah, but those are even more expensive also due to the rising prices of electronium so we have to rely on primitive ways to get these moving.¡±

    Electronium is tying a noose around everyone eh?

    The other large companion chimed in. ¡°Yeah, I do understand why it is so popular because it¡¯s convenient but I don¡¯t understand why humans hyper focus on it so much. It doesn¡¯t seem sustainable for a very long time.¡±

    ¡°Hey Sieg, be careful with your words! He¡¯s a human, you wouldn¡¯t like it if someone talked about your race like that!¡±

    ¡°Oh sorry.¡±

    Don¡¯t worry about it, I share that stance, it was apparent with the situation with Jarn and now with Yzs, I¡¯m sure they are over relying on another country for something else. The moment that country goes under, the whole continent is screwed.

    ¡°Most of the lumber comes from Aquini Kingdom or Lopahz¡­¡± Krau said as he drove through a strange road in an underground tunnel. Did Yttroz Industries build roads for these coffin on wheels underground? I am impressed. Nobody will get run over like this.

    Of course, it does¡­

    ¡°Igrini Kingdom is eager to use fire related warfare and burn the jungle and forests of Aquini Kingdom down but it doesn¡¯t seem that they realize that they will cripple the whole continent in doing so.¡±

    Yeah, humans are stupid.

    Sieg turned around and looked at me. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a human?¡±

    Doesn¡¯t change that they¡¯re stupid.

    We kept talking about the questionable choices the countries on this continent makes until we reached the forest at sunrise the next morning. The car used normal roads the moment it left Gittrian. It was a bumpy ride as these roads weren¡¯t optimized for coffins on wheels.

    ¡°That was a long drive, are you guys ready to go or do you want to rest?¡± Krau said as he got out and stretched.

    I¡¯m good to go.

    ¡°Me too.¡±

    We got out of the car and walked into the forest. The trees were quite tall and it became quite dark.

    ¡°So, there were strange noises, I don¡¯t hear anything, do you Sieg? You have better ears than I have.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t hear anything.¡±

    Why is it here¡­

    It seems that I was the only one hearing things. It was a mix of the ticking I heard in the underground library and the ringing of a church bell. What is going on? What is making these sounds?

    I made a flame to light up the area but the light didn¡¯t travel very far.

    Oh no¡­ this is bad¡­

 Pneuma 37: Secret Weapon #2

    Sieg was moving his ears around. ¡°What is bad?¡±

    Does nothing seem off? I have a bright flame here and yet the visibility is still poor.

    ¡°Wait! I hear something! What is that ticking sound?¡±

    I don¡¯t know but I¡¯ve heard it before and I don¡¯t have great memories of it.

    I connected to the underground leyline currents, used [Fire Dragon Dance], and turned up the brightness and had them illuminate the area.

    ¡°Whoa to think you could do this too!¡± Krau backed off by jumping to the side. He bumped into a tree and knocked it over¡­

    Unfortunately, I won¡¯t be able to do much if I¡¯m acting as a torch to illuminate the darkness. We have a shadow behemoth problem.

    ¡°Wait an ancient beast? Here? Our rank isn¡¯t high enough for this!¡±

    I know it¡¯s weakness but we have to get close to it, this sound is a problem though. Follow me!

    I spread out more fire dragons and went toward where it was the darkest.

    Krau started to violently tap on his tablet. ¡°I still think we should go back and report to the AA.¡±

    That is if it lets us leave. What is a shadow behemoth doing here though? Don¡¯t tell me it escaped from a dungeon or something.

    ¡°What?¡±

    I didn¡¯t expect Krau and Sieg to understand what I was talking about but this might be a case of strange monsters. A shadow behemoth isn¡¯t exactly strange it is just uncommon.

    The ground became darker and darker. I had a dragon fly close to the ground and it got swallowed.

    Right, this is where even walking becomes dangerous. None of you can fly by any chance?

    ¡°We can¡¯t sorry¡­¡±

    How about climbing trees and jumping from branch to branch?

    Sieg shook his head. ¡°We aren¡¯t that agile.¡±

    Figures, alright, let¡¯s see if I can do this.

    I tried to use [Ice Dragon Dance] simultaneously with the active [Fire Dragon Dance] but I failed. I should be able if I could use at least a tail to have it take over some movements. I looked at the 2 panicking non humans.

    Right, I guess this should be no problem.

    I popped out a tail and had it help me with [Ice Dragon Dance].

    ¡°Whoa look at that! Wait a fox beast kin? I¡¯m so sorry what happened to your race¡­¡±

    Uhh, not your fault, hop on the ice dragons, they are cold but this is the best I can do.

    ¡°Huh? What happened to them?¡±

    Sieg explained to Krau what happened to the fox beast kin and how they got wiped out due to humans hunting them down.

    I had the leyline currents guide the ice dragons while my tail kept them active. This was extremely rough because I was connected to the underground leyline currents. I should have gone for the air leyline currents if I knew that I would do this. The ice dragons flew high enough to not get swallowed by the darkness that was covering the ground.

    ¡°So, you¡¯ve been hiding being a beast kin all this time?¡±

    ¡°Well think about it Krau, they are thought to be extinct, even with us being more accepted now what would happen if extinct species start popping up?¡±

    Krau cocked his head. ¡°But isn¡¯t that what happened with Tails of Symphony?¡±

    ¡°They are famous that¡¯s different!¡±

    ¡°But he¡¯s famous too¡± Krau said as he pointed at me.

    ¡°Hmm you have a point.¡±

    Hey guys I know that this is exciting for you but we are in a life-or-death situation.

    It was hard to see where we were going. I wonder if we were already in the stomach of the shadow behemoth.

    I took 100 liters of my Secret Weapon #2 out of my pocket. They were stored in big jars of 5 liters each. My tail held them, boiled them, and emptied them into the abyss. I was prepared to repeat this process.

    ¡°Whoa! What was that?¡±

    One of my secret weapons.

    ¡°Was that milk?¡±

    That was poison yes.

    The darkness disappeared slowly to my relief.

    My secret weapons never fail me!

    Sieg¡¯s horse ears picked up a change. ¡°The ticking sound stopped!¡±

    Oh no, I don¡¯t like this at all.

    A bright flash tried to blind us and something I didn¡¯t hope to ever see again appeared.

    Great, a scythe dog. Guys these things like snacking on foxes, I will keep him busy.

    The strange cloud of buzzing and clicking noises roared and swung its scythe at me. I blocked it by sending an ice dragon at it.

    Do any of you know shadow magic by any chance?

    The two shook their heads.

    Right screw this then.

    I moved us outside the range of the light it emitted.

    ¡°It disappeared? What was that?¡±

    ¡°Can we go home?¡± Sieg said as he saw the shadows disappear from the ground.

    I have no idea what that was, I call it a scythe dog and if we don¡¯t at least deal with this shadow behemoth, someone else will get caught by it.

    The ground was safe and the light returned to the area. We could see a 5 meter tall dark shadow in the distance though.

    I guess that¡¯s phase 2. Can you guys pay attention to any scythe dogs nearby?

    We could see some light emitting clouds in the distance. They appeared to be only invisible in the dark, even though they gave off light. How strange.

    ¡°Watch out!¡± Sieg''s voice warned.

    I could move the two behind me on time before I got hit by a [Dark blast] and got sent flying. My [Frozen Skin] protected me but I had only 1 layer, which was now gone.

    I crashed in a tree and groaned.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡±

    Don¡¯t mind me, pay attention!

    The two big guys defended against another mass of dark energy rushing at them while I was keeping an eye out on those scythe dogs.

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Sieg wrestled agaisnt the tendrils of darkness without any succes. ¡°I can¡¯t move!¡±

    I took some Dawnlights out of my dimensional pocket and threw them at the shadow behemoth. They exploded and the light broke the 2 out of their [Shadow Bind]. I ran over to them and handed them a Dawnlight each.

    Keep this on you, throw them only when necessary.

    The ringing intensified.

    I don¡¯t need more bullshit! I put a [Frost Cloak] on everyone and scanned the area. The shadow behemoth and the scythe dogs were relatively invisible to my eyes.

    Great so whatever will ambush us next is probably also invisible...

    Guys, pay attention to those scythe dogs and whatever else is here, I am going to take care of that behemoth.

    ¡°But it¡¯s an ancient beast! We stand no chance!¡±

    I dashed toward the 5-meter-tall creature and used [Blindside]. I took out as much of spoilt Secret Weapon #2 as I could and I jumped at it as it was turning around to face me. I shoved my tail in its mouth and dumped all of my secret weapon inside its gullet. Its breath was so bad it almost made me pass out. This thing needs to brush its teeth!

    I pulled my tail out before it could chomp down on it. My tail was dirty with behemoth spit but at least I¡¯m alive.

    It started groaning and thrashing after consuming the spoilt poison. I froze its face because it attempted to throw up.

    Nono, you¡¯re keeping that inside!

    I took out wires, wrapped it around ithe shadow behemoth and used my tail to spin it around. It broke the ice on its face and I replaced it with frost.

    It crumpled to the ground trying to grab its face.

    ¡°Did¡­ did you beat it? How did you do that?¡±

    ¡°No time Sieg! Those scythe dog things are approaching!¡±

    The ticking sound had stopped again and 2 scythe dogs teleported over to us with a bright flash of light.

    Right, screw this!

    I used the technique I had learnt from Esher and sent shadows to assault the scythe dog. All my physical and magical attacks phased through it, as did the various earth and fire attacks Krau and Sieg used. My shadows however were beating this thing up.

    The buzzing and clicking sounds got louder but it also made whimpering dog sounds.

    This looked so unfair, the scythe dog could do nothing against this technique. I admit it¡¯s overpowered but I¡¯m not even that good at it. Toxic Donkey could wipe these things out in a heartbeat. Scythe dogs in the distance appeared to ignore us or hadn''t noticed us yet.

    The 2 scythe dogs exploded in bright light as they died and I sent my shadows after the other scythe dogs in the distance.

    I wish I could thank Esher for teaching me this¡­

    ¡°What¡­ what is going on?! And what is that ringing sound?¡± Sieg said as he was trying to keep his composure. This must all be too much for him. It¡¯s not every day one gets to fight an ancient best. I need him to keep calm though.

    Go kick the ass of that shadow behemoth, it should be incapacitated, you should be able to kill it. I will take care of these scythe dogs and whatever else is lurking here.

    The 2 big guys nodded and started to kill off the shadow behemoth.

    The ringing was deafening. Nothing had appeared yet. Was this an illusion? I didn''t sense any deception.

    Whatever you are, get your ass over here before I blast the whole area!

    No answer.

    Right, have it your way. Nilah come out, it¡¯s time for [Eternal Winter].

    Nilah came out and we used [Eternal Winter]. Even though I couldn¡¯t see anything our [Eternal Winters] were absorbing energy.

    Nilah, fire some mana blasts at that behemoth so you don¡¯t get over saturated.

    I deactivated my Elgards eyes because they don¡¯t work on frost magic. Something was here but it had no form to see, very interesting and very concerning. The only reason I knew it exists is because it was making noise and was getting its energy absorbed.

    I focused on where the energy got absorbed the most and used [Kryokym]. A loud shriek hurt my ears and caused me to get dizzy and I started to see double.

    Not now!

    Ichor Pneuma got used to restore the spirit tethers that had just snapped. Was it a coincidence or did that shriek cause this? Nilah and I dispelled our [Eternal Winter].

    I hit the same area with another [Kryokym].

    Another shriek went out but no dizziness. I couldn¡¯t pinpoint it but it could be damaged by frost magic.

    I disconnected from the leyline currents so the ice dragons disappeared and sent a [Water ball] into the sky.

    I kept an eye on the nearby scythe dogs. My shadows were still at it. It started to rain 10 minutes after and I then sent a [Frost Ball] into the clouds to make it snow. Not exactly snow but [Frost fall]. The snowflakes would create large frost crystals on anything it hit.

    Nilah, go protect the 2 big guys!

    Nilah turned big and covered the 2 D-rank adventurers with her tails. The snow fell and started freezing whatever it hit, including the creatures that were making the ringing sound. There seemed to be more than 1.

    I walked over to Nilah who was acting as an umbrella.

    Is it dead?

    I pointed at the shadow behemoth which had stopped moving, it was oozing black liquid out of what I assume are wounds.

    ¡°We think so. What is this snow?¡±

    I took a frog out of my dimensional pocket and threw it into the snow. A large frost crystal encased it the moment it got hit by a snowflake.

    That happens to anything that gets hit by the snow. That¡¯s why I have my pet fox shelter you.

    ¡°I have never seen a fox this enormous! Where did you get her?¡±

    She is a magic skill, also, she will steal your mana if you pet her.

    The usual astonishment. They couldn¡¯t believe that she was a magic skill.

    The shrieks and screeches had stopped a while ago. I stopped [Frost fall] and strolled through the forest which had turned into a winter wonderland in search of a bunch of frozen nothing. I found a large frost crystal which was the size of a house.

    I couldn¡¯t see what was inside because it looked empty but something must be inside, my [Frost fall] wouldn¡¯t have been able to hit anything otherwise. I had my tail analyze what type of energy they were absorbing but they came up with nothing.

    ¡°The sounds have stopped and this is the first time I see snow!¡± The 2 big guys started to play around in the snow while I still tried to find out what was stuck in the frost.

    Were these things trapped in the ancient buildings or was something else happening here? Shadow behemoths were known, but these other two things aren¡¯t, could I be lucky and could these things be fairies?

    I knew nothing about fairies. How am I supposed to gather fairy dust if I can¡¯t see them. They were ringing like bells. Do fairies ring? Are they also ancient creatures? I realized that I knew nothing about them. Hourai''s education didnt cover them. I knew a bit about basilisks but that might be inaccurate too. I would have to visit the library after this.

    I snapped my fingers and everything trapped in the frost crystals shattered and turned into dust. I collected some in the off chance this counts as fairy dust. All the scythe dogs were defeated. The only that remained from our battle was the corpse of the shadow behemoth.

    Oh, I have a good idea. How about you bring it to the AA. You guys have killed it so you get all the credit, might get you to C rank!

    ¡°But you incapacitated it!¡±

    So? That¡¯s the point of my whole role remember?

    ¡°But it feels cheap!¡± Krau said as Sieg was throwing snowballs at the corpse.

    My role is cheap¡­ it makes otherwise strong and pain in the ass opponents harmless. I¡¯m not sure what you were expecting.

    ¡°Hmm. That is true. We will make sure to tell them that you incapacitated it! We have to look out after our fellow non-humans! Come Sieg and stop throwing snowballs at it! It¡¯s already dead!¡±

    You do realize that I¡¯m doing quite fine already, right?

    Sieg stopped messing around and helped Krau prepare the corpse to carry it to the coffin on wheels. ¡°Can¡¯t you just let us be nice? We don¡¯t feel like we did much¡­¡±

    Killing a shadow behemoth is more than enough, now you two are strong so if you felt you didn¡¯t do enough, go carry that thing to your coffin on wheels, a very fitting name now.

    ¡°It¡¯s a car!¡±

    the walk wasn''t far and I sat down in the back of the car while they were trying to get the corpse in this coffin on wheels. I washed my tail because it still had behemoth spit on it and it smelled terrible.

    Ugh, why don¡¯t I have soap! I can¡¯t believe that I don¡¯t have soap stored!

    No matter what I did, water couldn¡¯t get the stink out of my tail. it wasn''t accurate that I didn''t have any soap. I had some but it was from Witchaven. it was the soap of that Misha that cut corners on making soap so it didn''t count as soap.

    This nonsense again. If I encounter that Misha again I will prank her! I was being kind when I used garlic oil!

    Nilah tried to help me but she gave up quite fast as she couldn¡¯t bear the smell and turned into a sword. I had to mask the scent with the smell of liquid shadow vodka. It was suboptimal but would work for now. I would have to take a long bath and steal soap afterward.

 Pneuma 38: Fairy Dust

    We returned to the AA and the first thing I did was to take a bath.

    The big guys wanted me to be there when they handed in the ¡®prize¡¯ but I don¡¯t need more fame. I wish they would leave my involvement out of this but that is probably not going to happen.

    I used some rose-scented shampoo to get the stink out of my tail but It wasn¡¯t easy. There was no other shampoo that could get the scent out. I got out of the bath a half hour later, exhausted. I collapsed on the bed in my room.

    This shit is so exhausting, is this why beast kin races are so careful with their tails?

    I never had to really clean my tail before. It just stayed clean by itself for some reason. The same went for Raishin and Greg. Unless they¡¯re scrubbing their tails doing baths and showers but I can¡¯t imagine Raishin doing that. If he weren¡¯t a 6t lightning tiger he¡¯d probably be a 6t dirt pig or something, I don¡¯t understand how someone can be so messy.

    The room smelled quite rosy and I decided that I smelled a bit too girly. I hid my tail and tried to find something to get this smell off me. I opened a vial and the scent of fresh rain wafted through the room.

    Do I do this? Most of the opponents I care to kill are unaffected by this. I wanted to save it for emergencies but¡­ This is an emergency, right? I rubbed my palms in it and covered myself.

    It eliminated the rose smell instantly and made place for a smell reminischent of an autumn shower.  Cologne by day, poison at night!

    I stepped outside and went to the lobby and was turning heads. Did I accidentally [Transform] into a chick? I inspected myself but nothing was different about me.

    ¡°Oh, there you are!¡± The big guys came at me. ¡°Whoa you smell very nice! Where did you get that cologne?¡±

    Ehh I forgot!

    ¡°Ah too bad, hey we are eligible for the C-rank assessment!¡±

    Oh, that is great news! Go show them you deserve it!

    ¡°Well, Krau and I are unsure if we deserve it but we will try, we also got an increased reward for bringing in a rare specimen. We wanted to give you your share.¡±

    Refusing this is going to bite me back later, isn¡¯t it?

    ¡°What?¡±

    Never mind, I¡¯ll take it.

    I accepted the 5 gold they offered me.

    I have learned by now that if I refuse, they will see me as nice and humble and this will spread and cause me problems. If I just take this it will be seen as normal and it won¡¯t cause me problems.

    ¡°Sieg we¡¯re rich! I never thought I would ever earn 5 gold!¡±

    Maybe I should¡¯ve acted more excited. 5 gold is a lot but money had lost its value to me. Why is acting normal so hard.

    ¡°Oh, someone wants to speak to you.¡± Siegs words awake my paranoia.

    Where is he? Tell him I¡¯m healthy!

    ¡°They said he had a high position in the AA.¡±

    Yes, I¡¯m sure Healerguy is high up the ladder, tell them ehh, that my goldfish caught on fire! Yes! I need to go!

    I turned around and bumped into an old man. ¡°Oh, it seems you¡¯re doing well.¡±

    Huh? Vice daddy? And ehh, your wife?

    ¡°It¡¯s me Tania!¡±

    Did I know your wife?

    Vice daddy facepalmed. ¡°This is my daughter¡­ Tania. You have met her several times before.¡±

    Huh? Didn¡¯t you have a son? Are you getting forgetful with old age?

    Vice Daddy''s wife... or not-wife put her hands in her hips and was visibly upset. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re doing this on purpose! How come you remember my father but not me!¡±

    Uhm, vice daddy, help?

    ¡°I¡¯m too old for this shit¡­ let¡¯s talk in an office where there are less people.¡±

    We got into a fancy office on the 5th floor and this Tania chick was glaring daggers at me.

    ¡°So, we just heard that you assisted, no were the key player in slaying an ancient creature, a shadow behemoth. On top of having encountered 2 types of unknown creatures. Now you don¡¯t have to file a report because your temporary teammates have done this on your behalf.¡± He paused to sip on some tea.

    I sipped some tea too. He looked at me and tried to recall if he offered me tea. He didn¡¯t as I had ¡®borrowed¡¯ it.

    Vice Daddy continued. ¡°You return after having disappeared and did something crazy again, anyway, I believe it¡¯s time to have you undergo an A-rank assessment to promote you to A-rank.¡±

    ¡°Yeah! I¡¯m already S-rank! I can''t have my rival lag behind!¡± Tania said while all acting smug.

    Ugh, another assessment, I¡¯m fine with staying B-rank.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you want to find out who of us is better!?¡±

    I concede, you win, I can¡¯t possibly win from an S-rank.

    ¡°Where Is your sense of competition! Daddy do something!¡±

    Is it me or does Tania sound like a spoilt kid?

    ¡°Ugh, it¡¯s as if I¡¯m dealing with troublesome siblings. Look Agnis, your achievements don¡¯t fit your rank. The quests available to you will also be¡­ below your skill level. Will you at least consider the assessment?¡±

    ¡°I think we should just sign him up and drag him in like we did with the C-rank assessment!¡±

    Oh, I remember now! You¡¯re Daddy¡¯s girl! How could I forget! You got owned hard at that assessment!

    ¡°Now you remember! Daddy lets kidnap him and drag him to the A-rank assessment!¡±

    ¡°Tania, please, we can¡¯t do that¡­¡±

    Tania pouted and she is supposed to be my rival? I feel more rivalry toward a random blacksmith or a seagull.

    Vice Daddy rubbed his temple. ¡°Anyway, A-rank assessments aren¡¯t very common so you can pick any day you want to have it on and we will arrange it for you.¡±

    Uhh thanks. I have a strange question. What do you know about fairies?

    ¡°Hmm, not much. There was an old tale about fairies but there is surprisingly little known about them. Are you trying to find fairies?"

    Yup. Does that tale state a location?

    ¡°The marshes of what¡¯s know now as the Aquini delta, that¡¯s all I know. There is a specific area where regardless of your race, elves and beast kin will stop you from going further."

    Hmm worth a shot thank you.

    I tried to leave but I got stopped by Tania.

    ¡°How about we chat for a bit!¡±

    Pass.

    Tania crossed her arms. ¡°Why not!¡±

    Because I¡¯m uncomfortable with strangers.

    ¡°I am not a stranger! We met years ago!¡±

    That long, eh? Shouldn¡¯t you be focusing on more important things than to chat with me?

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m trying to create a party but most adventurers of my age are eh¡­ not to my standards!¡±

    Then go find those that do?

    ¡°That¡¯s why I want to chat! I also want to know where you got that cologne, it smells nice.¡±

    Uhm, I forgot where I got this and I¡¯m only a B-rank and¡­ I¡¯m not your age, I¡¯m 21¡­

    ¡°So, you did remember that I was older than you!¡±

    I walked around her, toward the door.

    Anyway, I¡¯m busy so cya!

    She ran in front of me and blocked my path.

    ¡°How about I go with you!¡±

    I thought of my previous adventure where I had no choice in getting my tail out and how fairies are probably going to be a pain in the ass to deal with.

    How about another time?

    ¡°I¡¯ll take that! Don¡¯t forget!¡±

    I escaped from this situations confident that I will forget but that¡¯s a problem for the future me.

    <hr>

    I was still attracting a lot of attention is it my smell¡­ 2 random dudes walked up to me and asked me where I got it. It just smells like rain, what¡¯s so special about this? I used illusions to mask my smell which seemed to work.

    I went to the park and sat down. The city was still emptier than I¡¯m used to. I had to think of how to approach this. The Aquini Kingdom is currently at war with the Igrini kingdom. While I did have a [Dimensional Anchor] in Igrini, I didn¡¯t have one in Aquini, getting in the country would be either difficult or annoying.

    I could run around the Denga peninsula like I did last time to get to the Aquini delta.

    That might be the best idea. Aquini was probably already at war when I toasted those hippos but I didn¡¯t notice anything.

    So, the plan is to run¡­ or take a boat, get into the river, follow it to where it enters into the Gcehaio Ocean and go around the Denga peninsula. I will have to drop a [Dimensional Anchor] here in Gittrian though.

    I found a quiet spot in the park and dropped a [Dimensional Anchor]. Only 2 days had passed, 12 more days until Yttroz Industries has my stuff ready.

    I went to the docks and got an empty boat and freed Nilah. Nilah likes boats as she always gets hyperactive while on one. I wanted to relax and have the currents take me to the ocean but I had no idea how long that would take. I connected to the air leyline currents, used [Water Dragon Dance] and had the water dragons carry the boat. They rode on the leyline currents of the river and I relaxed. I should arrive at the ocean in no time.

    ¡®No time¡¯ was late in the evening. It was full moon but not a good moment to space out for the whole night. I had to cover Nilah up because she was glowing and also had to stop the urge to use [Moontalk]. I tried to figure out how to cover the sky with clouds. I had to disconnect from the leyline currents and create a skill, [Rainfall] which would summon rain clouds. It was a bit iineficient as it wasn''t a skill i would use often but since I could, I did. It was more effective than sending a [Water ball] into the sky and waiting for clouds to gather.

    We arrived early in the morning. The boat got stuck in the mud so I had to abandon it. I stepped out expecting to sink into the mud but I didn¡¯t.

    Right, I weigh next to nothing.

    I tried to do a last attempt to save the boat but I would probably need mud magic or mud Dragonvein to get it out. Why is earth so troublesome? There is sand and there is mud. If this mud wasn¡¯t so thick, so I could do something with it.

    I washed Nilah and myself because we were covered in mud. I didn¡¯t have to worry about the nice smell anymore, as I smelled like swamp mud. It didn¡¯t smell bad so it was fine. I walked inland and looked around with Elgards eyes. Skeletons were spotted deep in the mud. Anything with weight would get sucked in to never escape. Scary.

    Nilah was wary. I couldn¡¯t detect anything threatening close but I did get a strange feeling, there were a bit too many skeletons buried under the mud for my liking.

    This place could put a graveyard to shame. Is this why elves and beast kin warn wanderers to not get here? It is possible that people made up the story about fairies to explain the disappearance of so many people, which will lead to many curious humans and more people stuck in the mud. Things that are real however¡­

    I dodged a hand coming out of the mud trying to pull me under.

    Marsh sirens, great.

    Hey, I need fairies not sirens!

    I plugged my ears with snow and ignored their songs. They tried to show me illusions of people I care for, being stuck in the mud but this didn¡¯t work on me. The sight of Thalia stuck in the mud shook me but something this lame would never kill her. Trying to trick a 9t with illusions was a bad idea. I returned the favor to them and showed them some nasty illusions. I don¡¯t know what they saw but it must not have been pleasant.

    Now this was a better explanation why there were so many skeletons in the mud. I navigated over the mud and tree roots before I hopped on solid ground.

    Get lost!

    The sirens fled after making screeching wails. I had arrived, what now? Fairies aren¡¯t supposed to be easy to find.

    I started wandering around and collecting fruits and other useful looking plants.

    What I¡¯m looking for should appear about now!

    I turned around but nothing happened. I wandered around for 4 hours before I decided that this might be a waste of time. I was about to return to Gittrian when I saw something in my eye corner.

    Hey you! Don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t see you! You¡¯re a fairy, aren¡¯t you?!

    I was looking at a woman the size of my forearm flying with butterfly wings. I was actually surprised that she looked anything like the stories, it matched up a bit too perfect¡­

    ¡°Oh, gosh, you saw me, what do I do now?!¡±

    Yes, yes stop pretending to have been found out, you suck at hiding if that was your goal. Are you here to lure me into the mud?

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°Huh? What? Of course, not haha! Why would I do that? I would never!¡±

    This might be obvious but I detected deception. How do humans get fooled by this? Maybe because she looks pretty? So, all the skeletons in the mud are men? Ugh, idiots.

    ¡°So uhm you look lost! Shall I guide you?¡±

    Guide me where exactly?

    ¡°To the edge of the forest of course!¡±

    And what if that¡¯s not my destination?

    ¡°Oh uhhh, I can lead you deeper into the forest!¡±

    To do what exactly?

    ¡°Get lost so that I can guide you to the edge of the forest!¡±

    Are you an NPC or something? I just told you that I don¡¯t want to go to the edge of the forest¡­

    ¡°A what?¡±

    That¡¯s more like it! Now come here for a bit.

    The fairy flew over as I coated my hand in frost magic and grabbed her.  She was strangely heavy, heavier than Raishin and I almost dropped her.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    Just in case you wanted to escape, now I have a question. What is fairy dust and how do I get it?

    ¡°Fairy Dust? Wha¡­ I have no idea what that is haha!¡±

    This fairy was pissing me off. It didn¡¯t seem like she had been truthful a single time. Maybe I could use this, I will just assume everything she says is a lie.

    Do I get fairy dust if I shake you?

    I shook the fairy.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know! I¡¯m dizzy!¡±

    I guess that¡¯s a no. I started tickling her.

    ¡°Hahaha. Is it working? Not there hahahaha!¡±

    I guess this isn¡¯t it either.

    How about this? I would suggest talking if I were you.

    I started to heat up my hand.

    ¡°Owowow ok ok! Stop! I¡¯m sorry! I will tell you!¡±

    I increased the temperature because I still sensed deception.

    ¡°Ok ok! I will show you! How about that!?¡± Her clothes started to burn.

    ¡°It¡¯s in our village! Please stop!¡±

    There was still deception but there was less of it, there seemed to be some sort of truth to it. I went back to coating my hand with frost.

    ¡°You must be unpopular with the ladies!¡±

    I am very unpopular¡­ maybe not, that¡¯s not important bring me to your leader!

    ¡°Oh, you want to see our leader, eh? Very well.¡±

    Something about how she said this irked me. It was in a lower tone than her normally high-pitched voice.

    No tricks this time.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if it¡¯s our leader you want to see I will take this serious.¡±

    Again, in the lower tone. There was no deception but a different uneasy feeling. I released and followed the fairy. She did try to trick me several times but I made sure to show her that I wasn¡¯t messing around.

    It took a while but it looked as if we went into a grotto and underground. Okay this wasn¡¯t a grotto this was quite large. The uneasy feeling increased as I saw a lot of fairies flying around.

    ¡°Come come! We¡¯re almost there!¡±

    All the deception had dropped from this fairy and I stopped.

    Why does she want me to meet the leader? Maybe this is a bad idea.

    A bin full of powder was at the far end of the open space. Maybe that¡¯s the fairy dust.

    I decided to follow her. This place was filled with strange houses that seemed to be spirals made out of rock. One thing I noticed was that these were human sized while all these fairies were no bigger than my forearm.

    I got curious and wanted to investigate but I felt a wave of nausea after putting one step in this fairy village and obnoxious giggling started to fill the space.

    ¡°Come come! What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    ¡°Hey hey! Who¡¯s this?¡±

    ¡°Is he here to play?¡±

    The fairies kept flying around me and kept asking questions. This fairy was leading me to the biggest spiral house in the middle. The nausea was less but the discomfort grew the closer I got to the big house.

    What have I gotten myself into? I was about to activate my Elgards eyes when I heard something concerning.

    ¡°Ooh he smells like roses!¡±

    i stopped and faced toward the direction of the fairy that said that.

    Excuse me? What do you mean I smell like roses?

    The fairy that blurted that out covered her mouth. I smelled like mud. There was one part of me that did smell like roses but it was hidden. 9t hide their tails in a different plane of reality, sort of a pocket dimension. The fact that this fairy thinks I smell like roses means she can interact with that one.

    ¡°Dirt! I mean dirt!¡±

    What do I look like to you?

    ¡°A funny beast kin!¡±

    I activated my Elgards eyes and I collapsed to the floor due to nausea. A feeling was back that I didn¡¯t miss. The feeling as if bugs were crawling through my veins. I tried to keep everything in but I couldn¡¯t help but vomit uncontrollably.

    What¡­ what the fuck is this!?

    ¡°Aah, it seems he found out.¡±

    The reason my nausea incapacitated me was because the dimensional fabric around this village was completely torn open. This village was built on an island of dimensional fabric, everything around it was torn away. I also started to hear some buzzing sounds, similar to those that I heard in the dungeon near the elven village.

    Impossible¡­ I should have noticed¡­ and my [Dimensional Anchor]!

    ¡°Hmm well you willingly came here so that¡¯s why! Come! Our leader is waiting for you! She will be very happy to see you!¡±

    I circulated nature energy through my body to try and get the nausea under control. I didn¡¯t miss this feeling.

    I reluctantly followed while swatting other fairies away. I noticed that these were heavier than their frame suggested. The large spiral house drew closer and I entered.

    ¡°Dear queen we have a special visitor!¡±

    The realization that I might be screwed sank in as I saw a large fairy devouring several medium spirits.

    The enormous butterfly winged woman turned around and licked her lips after her eyes fell on me. ¡°Oh. this one looks tasty.¡±

    Fairies devouring spirits¡­ can¡¯t say I saw that coming¡­ any chance you can give me fairy dust and let me leave?

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry, I will turn you into the fairy dust you so desire!¡±

    I made a [Frost wall] but the fairy queen flew through it and shattered it like it was nothing and grabbed me. My only [Frozen Skin] stack broke and she squeezed me.

    ¡°How long has it been since I¡¯ve eaten one of you? I think it was during our invasion yes!¡±

    I tried to get out of this grip, neither short range nor [Dimensional Anchor] teleports worked.

    Invasion?

    I tried foxfire but it was hard to focus with this nausea.

    ¡°It is futile, we have invested a lot of time and energy to become resistant to your kind, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to invade otherwise.¡±

    I looked at the ripped open dimensional fabric around the village.

    Wait, you¡¯re not¡­ from this dimension?

    ¡°Correct. It wasn¡¯t easy to get here but all of a sudden, your kind stopped defending this place so here we are! Struggle all you want with your foxfires and Pagos, it will have no effect on us.¡± She squeezed harder and several of my spirit tethers snapped.

    Wait so you are responsible for the snapping of spirit tethers?!

    ¡°Spirit tethers? That sounds delicious! Tell me more.¡±

    Was I wrong? I sensed no deception. I covered myself in frost which was protecting me somewhat. I then realized something.

    Wait¡­ spirits had been disappearing from an underground library¡­ and there were a lot of scythe dogs that only focused on me, were those fairies too?

    ¡°Scythes? Dogs? Oh the Kalbusapu, I hate to think that we share the same origin but they are what you here consider as fairies.¡±

    So¡­ this is not your original form¡­you all seem to be heavier than you look.

    ¡°Oh, a smart spirit, I will savor you, thank you for delivering this wonderful meal to me Lugalira, you are allowed to return to your beautiful original form.¡±

    The fairy that had lead me here transformed, she got bigger, bigger and fatter. She turned into a wide and tall sandworm like creature with 2 worm heads and countless orange eyes in its mouths, filled with razor-sharp teeth. An obnoxious loud buzzing sound started to fill the area. The nausea intensified but I managed to keep everything inside this time.

    I see¡­ each of you make a strange sound¡­ so those invisible things that made a sound¡­ a sound like a bell were also fairies?

    ¡°The fairy queen seemed surprised. ¡°The Karum Kalbu are here!? Dasu! Sebu! Get on it!¡±

    Two fairies reacted and flew off.

    Maybe, just maybe those invisible things were a good sign. I wanted to chug anti-nausea potions but my hands were tied, literaly.

    ¡°Well, it is time to dig in.¡± The fairy queen transformed into a larger even more disgusting looking two headed worm and had a tentacle lift me above one of her mouths. It was terrifying knowing that I was about to get eaten but these eyes in its mouth were even worse.

    Wait wait! Do you want¡­ a one-time snack or¡­a whole supply?

    The fairy queen paused. ¡°You will not deceive me! But I will hear you out, speak spirit!¡±

    I was trying to wriggle and drop Nilah on the floor as she might be able to get me out of here. The problem was that this place was filled with fairies and I was unlikely to escape easily from here.

    So, I know this place where a lot of spirits gather.

    ¡°Continue.¡±

    I managed to drop Nilah in her sword form.  Oops, clumsy me¡­ can you give me back my sword I¡­ I would want to be eaten with it.

    I was trying to keep my composure but I was nauseous and terrified. I tried to fake confidence but it was impossible as every moment could be a moment where I would start throwing up.

    ¡°Very well.¡±

    A tentacle reached out toward Nilah, which turned into her giant fox form and hit the fairy queen with a full powered [Kryokym]. It didn¡¯t seem to do much but her grip on me loosened. I chugged anti-nausea potions, which didn¡¯t work as well as I hoped, andhen ran over to the crate of powder I¡¯ve spotted, chucked it in my dimensional pocket and put the now small and adorable Nilah on my head.

    We are getting out of here now!

    ¡°Not so fast tasty spirit!¡±

    A strange light hit me and made me unable to move. It also did enough damage to kill me once. Why are fairies this disgusting and overpowered? Couldn¡¯t they just be pretty ladies with butterfly wings?

    ¡°I should have known that this must be one of your tricks.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t move so I couldn¡¯t use Dragonvein. Foxfire and frost magic didn¡¯t seem to work. They are resistant to everything my race was good at. How am I supposed to beat this?

    Nilah jumped off my head. She was a big bigger now because she absorbed some energy from that attack. She tried to pull me along but it was as if I was one with the ground.

    ¡°There is no point, you can¡¯t escape our cradle anyway. It seems you have your fairy dust but you will give up your life for it." Tentacles shot at me.

    Nilah! Sword!

    I couldn¡¯t move but I could at least cut them down.

    ¡°Aaagh! What is this! They can use weapons too?!¡±

    Magic doesn¡¯t work but swords do? These monsters surely messed up in allocating their stat points. The other fairies started to turn in their disgusting forms. I was still unable to move and the nausea was returning again. Was there any way that I can turn this off? I was well aware that I¡¯m not supposed to be here and that the dimensional fabric was torn to shreds¡­

    I started to panic. What do I do? I always know what to do or things somehow work out. But I have nothing for this situation. Is this how I die? Alone and in a place where nobody can reach me? I had hoped to go out in at least a cool way¡­

    The fairies closed in and I fought them off for 2 hours. It was the first time ever that I got shut down. Nothing I did worked and it got worse when I ran out of anti-nausea potions.

    Panic, terror and nausea ate away at me, as did the fairies as they couldn¡¯t help but taking bites out of me. The place was too crowded to abuse my speed. They were spamming that strange light so I could hardly move and use Dragonvein. I was on an isolated dimensional patch so all teleports failed and it was exhausting.

    I gave up as I was tired. What is the point if I survive this? Continuing a life where I get chased down and have all the responsibility but no power to even prevent this world from going to shit. Even worse, there are already these creatures that have already successfully invaded this place.

    I can¡¯t do this alone¡­ I can¡¯t do this by myself. I should have stayed in the Floating Lotus. Stay with my race and led a happy life with beautiful vixens. I surely feel stupid now as nobody would pass on a life like that. Why did I pass on a life like that? Because I was too busy? Too busy rushing to my death.... I deserved this.

    The fairies started to bite into me and spirit tethers snapped. The pain of having chunks bitten out of me was unbearable. I wanted to protect myself out of reflex but there was no point as I got driven to exhaustion after another 2 hours. I lost life after life. Nilah was trying to bravely fight them off but there were too many.

    ¡°Ooh, he is very tasty!¡±

    They kept going and going for days.

    I was screaming at first but my throat ran dry. They had slowed down so that they could take more bites out of me without killing me. The fairy queen had eaten my legs and the smaller fairies would eat my fingers. Sometimes I would bleed out and lose a life, other times I would survive and had it repeat when my natural regeneration had regenerated them.

    Nilah was curling up on my chest. Whenever the fairies came to feed, she did her best to defend my head and my torso but that¡¯s all she could do.

    I had broken out of this bind several times but it took too long to figure out how to get out of this isolated patch of dimensional fabric so I kept getting caught.

    Illusions had a limited effectiveness against them. Everything that made me, me, was invalidated. Foxfire, illusions, frost magic, fire magic, all useless. I could never get enough time or space to use leyline energy but the leyline energy here was extremely thin because it was disconnected from the rest of the world. And on attempts that did seem to go well¡­ they failed as the nausea would eventually claim me and incapacitate me.

    To think that a fairy would be more of a threat than a goddess¡­

    I was physically and mentally fatigued. I wished that they would just completely eat me and kill me but apparently, I was ¡®too tasty¡¯. I didn¡¯t decide on being tasty, why couldn¡¯t I be disgusting?

    <hr>

    It was feeding time. The fairies had been able to keep me on 7 remaining lives for the past 2 weeks. I wonder if Yttroz Industries noticed that I disappeared. They probably did but think nothing of it because I always disappear. I can¡¯t help to think that nobody would notice and that this is my own undoing.

    Something pulled on my arm.

    I see, the queen decided to eat my arms today. It still hurt like hell and I did want to scream but what is the point? Who is going to save me? I did gather some useful information but I was unsure if there was anything it could be used for.

    There seem to be fairies in 5 different types, insect like, mammal like, birdlike, reptile like and fishlike. The scythe dogs seem to be of the mammal type. These two-headed worms are obviously the insect type. They all eat spirits and are trying to get more of their kind over here. they could eat other species in the absence of spirits. it was why they lured beastkin and humans astray and get them stuck in the mud. They would use a special ability to extract their ''spirit'' which was less tasty if I had to believe them but it beat starving.

    They also are trying to get the ¡®Ilu¡¯ over here but I have no idea what this means.

    Feeding time was over. I had succesfully distracted myself to not notice my limbs getting torn off and fairies biting at me. I had kept my tails hidden because they were the last bit of pride I had left. I won¡¯t let them touch my tails.

    I was experiencing a lot of blackouts because the proximity of these fairies was snapping my spirit tethers. Fixing these would delay my demise so I chose to not do so. I wanted to pet Nilah since she seemed sad or lonely but I had no arms. This might have been the worst part of all of this...

 Pneuma 39: Agnis Hourai

    A month had passed since I had been caught and I was getting tired of this torture. I got destructive thoughts just like normal but my memories brought me to Ted. How will I face Ted in the afterlife, if there is one?

    I went off by myself without even getting close to our goal. I didn¡¯t ask for help. Do I really have the right to give up and die while Ted did all he could to keep us alive? Did I do everything I could to stay alive? I looked at Nilah. The expression on her face almost broke my heart. It was as if she was crying.

    I had decided. I will make one last attempt to escape and I will tear down everything with me. If I have to die, I want it to be spectacular and bring everything down with me. I tried to speak but I hadn¡¯t said anything for almost a month and my mouth was dry.

    Nilah noticed and used some magic to put water in my mouth.

    I started to cough but got some good gulps down. I had gotten a special house where I laid on the floor. I was still bound but I know how to break out of it.

    Nilah, I¡¯m sorry it took so long. We will make one last attempt when my limbs grow back. Let¡¯s go out with a bang.

    Nilah didn¡¯t react much to it, she just kept giving me water. I broke out of the bind and rolled over to the food that the fairies had placed here and I had refused to eat. It was ungraceful but I had no hands. Nilah cleaned up my face after I was done.

    What a good fox. We had gone through much together.

    Dying here was also unfair to her, even though she is a magical skill. Will she persist after I pass away? Normally this wouldn¡¯t be the case but Nilah is anything but normal. Dying here would be even worse if Nilah gets left behind.

    I¡¯m sorry Nilah, I was selfish.

    I managed to lean up to the wall and waited until my arms regenerated. The first thing I did was pet Nilah. Her fur was so rough¡­ I took my brush out of my dimensional pocked and brushed her until her fur was as how it used to be.

    A plan was needed. I had more or less gotten used to the nausea by now. I¡¯m unsure if that¡¯s a good thing¡­

    [Elgard Overload] is a last resort. I didn¡¯t have the mental stamina to keep its full duration up. I could solve physical stamina with a phoenix flower howver. I slowly started to realize the flaw in how I normally fight. I never fought as if that could be my last fight. Always holding back or arrogant. Sometimes it was in self-preservation because I have a lot of skills that have side effects. But do they matter if I end up dying because I played it safe?

    It required near death to realize this. It might be useful if I end up escaping, or useless if I fail.

    No more playing games, Nilah lets go¡­

    A spirit tether broke and my spirit left my body. Nilah looked at me as if I¡¯m an idiot. There was no way I could foresee this. I wanted to wait until I got pulled back in my body when that lunar fox mode came to my mind.

    I possessed my body. It took a while but spirit energy burst out of me and all my tails got forced out including the strange moons. I got some Ichor Pneuma to mend my broken spirit tethers and the first thing I decided to do was create the biggest blast I could make.

    Nilah, lets fuck them up!

    I froze the whole cave and blew a hole in the ceiling of the cavern. The fairies started to panic and scream.

    The crescent moon was peeking in through the hole I had made. I wonder what would happen if I used this under the full moon.

    Suddenly the moon shifted away, it swiftly became day, then night again, the moon was a bit fuller and this kept going on until the full moon appeared. I recognized this! So, the day and night shifting in Boshi town was because I¡¯m a lunar fox?

    Nilah and I started to glow light blue and I threw frost around everywhere. The queen arrived and screamed.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you do this earlier? You look absolutely delicious!¡±

    I kept throwing frost attacks around but it seemed that even this didn¡¯t affect them too much. I rampaged for 3 minutes before the sky shifted through day and night again to return to its original state and my spirit got pulled into my body, ending the possession.

    ¡°It¡¯s not permanent? Too bad. Give up, you¡¯ve tried to escape many times, you know you can¡¯t win.¡±

    I know but I can always try.

    I wanted to go 9t mode but my 9th tail advised against it. Nothing a 9t can do will affect them.

    Nilah tackled a fairy and bit into it and bit off one of its head.

    Nilah, why am I so stupid? Sword form please!

    Nilah demonstrated that these things weren¡¯t invincible. Why didn¡¯t I notice this earlier. I cut every fairy down that approached me.

    I¡¯ve been fighting for so long with skillsets that were uncharacteristic for my race. They even told me nothing my race can do works on them. Why didn¡¯t I realize? I sheathed Nilah. My Iai, are normally vertical slices to limit the amount of damage they do, in cases like this however¡­

    I used [Iai: Eternal Winter]. An extremely fast horizontal slice obliterated almost any fairy in front of me.

    It seems I¡¯m back to using sword and assassin skills.

    Now I was acting cool and all but that ate all my mental focus and pushed me to a point where my nausea became a problem again. I can¡¯t do this again or any Iai. I will have to cut this queen down with normal slashes.

    ¡°What is this nonsense! Spirit foxes aren¡¯t known for their physical feats!¡±

    That is true¡­ and this is why I will escape from here.

    I requested mana from Nilah. I made 3 shadow clones and went into stealth. 1 would pretend to be the real me and the other 2 would set up magic circles and harass the remaining fairies. I would go to the edge and find out how to get out of here.

    A wave of strange semi-transparent hands rushed at a shadow clone and instantly killed it. I ignored it and started building a dimensional bridge. That was the only solution I could come up with. I made another shadow clone and had it work on the bridge because the queen was wiping out the other shadow clones.

    The fairies locked on to me after the last fighting shadow clone disappeared. My stealth also disnn¡¯t work well against them. More and more fairies poured in from the rips in the dimensional fabric, screaming and buzzing. The only options were escape or defeat. I would love to wipe them all out but that arrogance has brought me in this situation in the first place. Not all battles can be won.

    ¡°So what is the plan now spirit fox?¡± The fairy queen said. The words came from her but not her mouth. Mana waves acting as sound?

    I made 8 copies of Nilah and had my tails wield them.

    There is no plan, just to get out of here.

    My 2 free tails were working on a new form of stealth that works against these fairies. The shadow clone that was attempting to build the bridge got annihilated even though he was in stealth. Just hiding my presence wasn¡¯t enough. I needed to [Fade] out of existence. They can¡¯t perceive what doesn¡¯t exist. Until my tails have created that I will have to stay alive.

    I swung my katanas and easily cut the hordes of fairies down. My tails which were holding Nilah¡¯s copies also cut anything down that came near. They were clumsy but after 3 hours they became good enough to have everything fairy-free in a 10-meter radius from my body.

    I never used my tails like this but their full length is 9 meters. They take up a lot of space so I have them in a compact form.

    ¡°Ohh how imposing, this won¡¯t win you the fight though.¡±

    Winning is context related, escaping with my life is my current win condition.

    ¡°So, you still have a fight left in you. You fully realize that escape is impossible. Give up, I am hungry.¡±

    A fight left in me, eh? I guess I just can¡¯t bear the thought of Nilah being stuck here with your ugly abominations until this world collapses, she deserves better.

    My physical stamina was giving out. I had to continuously zap myself with lightning to keep myself energized. I would normally use Phoenix Flowers but this swarm didn¡¯t relent so it was hard to find an opening. Zapping myself with lightning was functional however. The painful experiences I had on mount Thunderpeak had revealed to me that continuously getting zapped will keep me energized and awake.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°Haha, attacking yourself now, eh? Just a warning. Don¡¯t you dare kill yourself!¡± Her tone went from high pitched in the first half to a bit lower indicating her seriousness.

    I finally created space to inhale the pollen of a phoenix flower.

    <hr>

    I had gotten sloppy. I had seen the sun rise at least twice since I started fighting like this and some fairies had gotten through and taken bites out of me. I haven¡¯t lost a life though but my regeneration was slowing down.

    2 skills finished. [Fade], and [Blood and Thunder] had been created. [Fade] was a superior version of stealth, [Blood and Thunder] was a more efficient way to zap myself and keep me going. It sent lightning magic through my blood. Not very safe but it was better than the alternative, being snacked on forever or dying.

    I made 2 shadow clones that [Faded] and went to make the bridge and then used [Blood and Thunder]. My body sped up and all my attacks became augmented with lightning magic.

    Various attacks flew at me and got cut down, feeding Nilah with mana. I had to exchange mana with her to make sure the mana in my system stayed pure. It would be game over if I got nauseous again as I was doing decent so far. I threw some swords and swapped myself with them, my tails cut down everything and cleared the area from fairies the moment I arrived at my destination.

    The mana in my system had made me sturdier so any fairies that I missed were unable to bite fully into me. I always knew that the lack of mana in my system made me squishier but not to this extent. I had to keep swinging my swords to absorb or swing away the ambient mana before I could use a swing to cut which made It look as if my tails were dancing around.

    My focus slipped and the attack with countless semi transparent hands slipped my notice. My tails wrapped around me in a ball and I got sent flying. I crashed into a horde of fairies that tried to gnaw on my tails.

    ¡°Yuck!¡±

    ¡°Eww!¡±

    I always wondered why they never attacked my tails. It seems they taste bad. My tails started to imbue themselves with red lightning and blasted the fairies off me. The fairy queen rushed at me, moved to the side and took wires out of my dimensional pocket. My 2 free tails grabbed them and controled them.

    ¡°This is ridiculous! Spirit foxes should not be allowed to have physical attacks like that!¡± The fairy queen spat out a noxious gas. I

    spun my tails and used them as a fan to blow it away. I then caught the fairy queen in a net of wires and tugged at them, with no avail.. How heavy is this thing? I couldn¡¯t lift her.

    It wasn¡¯t perfect but it slowed her down. I had to increase the intensity of [Blood and Thunder] because fatigue was catching up to me. I got more and more opportunities to use Phoenix flowers, the only thing that kept me going.

    It had been 2 hours since the shadow clones had used [Fade] and working on the bridge. They were halfway. Just 2 more hours¡­ I used [Fade] to buy time and went to hide.

    ¡°Impossible! He disappeared! Don¡¯t let him disappear!¡± The fairy queen ordered the other fairies but¡­

    ¡°Let who disappear?¡±

    ¡°What were we even doing?¡± The fairies seemed confused; the fairy queen seemed to get mad at them for forgetting what they were doing. I gathered as much fairy dust as I could.

    Apparently, this is the byproduct of fairies eating spirits. How many spirits had to die for this much dust to be created¡­ this dust was the energy they needed for their nefarious plans. I might not be able to kill them but I can set them back several centuries.

    I decided to rest. I didn¡¯t cancel [Blood and Thunder] because I would collapse the moment I drop it. It seems [Fade] caused me to truly remove myself from existence. While the fairy queen still seemed to remember me, the other fairies were acting as if I had never existed. Some started to doubt the competency of the fairy queen.

    This is a very useful skill. I had bite marks all over my body and I was a mess but I was alive. I returned the original sword back to Nilah and petted her. I would have to get back into the fight soon. I don¡¯t know if they will find a way to see through this but I can¡¯t risk it. As long as my shadow clones can finish the bridge and I don¡¯t get incapacitated I will be able to escape and win.

    I chucked some copies of Nilah at fairies and made them discharge red lightning. It was enjoyable because to them it seemed that swords appeared from nowhere, took out some of their kin, and then disappeared into nothingness. I had some fun like this for an hour.

    Hiding forever wouldn''t help me so I took another dose of phoenix flower pollen and went back in and I sneaked up on the fairy queen. The lightning coursing through my body had gone to black lightning and I would strike when it got to silver. My rest had put Nilah in a slight mana deficit so I had to keep fighting unless I wanted to collapse due to nausea.

    Nilah flashed silver and I drove her into one of the heads of the fairy queen, breaking out of [Fade].

    ¡°Aagh! I knew it! You were real! Fairies attack!¡±

    I kept chucking silver lightning swords around, having them explode in silver lightning and swap myself with them. I threw many swords straight into attacks so that Nilah could absorb the energy from them.

    Nilah¡¯s mana deficit had been solved. My tails caught a big group of fairies in a net of wires and zapped them with silver lightning. The wires were responsible for crowd control but could also slice the fairies in chunks if they were careless.

    It soon came to a point where none dared to get near me. The place was still filled with fairies but the only fairy-free place was around me. They were outside the range my tails could strike them.

    I was bleeding and my vision was blurry. This [Blood and Thunder] made me a ticking timebomb as it had done more damage to me in this past hour than the fairies had done. Just 10 more minutes¡­

    ¡°It seems that you won¡¯t be able to keep this up for longer. We will patiently wait until you self-destruct¡±

    I dropped to one knee and took out some more Ichor Pneuma because I was getting dizzy due to my spirit tethers snapping.

    ¡°What is that substance, it smells sweet and tasty.¡± It drew some fairies in that couldn¡¯t resist the smell of the Ichor Pneuma and instantly got cut down.

    It doesn¡¯t smell like anything to me but I am not a spirit eating maniac.

    I emptied a jar of Ichor Pneuma and drenched myself. This made the fairies go crazy and they rushed at me.

    ¡°No don¡¯t this is what he wants!¡± The fairy queen tried to stop her subjects but impatience and gluttony got the better of them as they rushed toward me to take a bite.

    I cut down anything in range, with swords or wires. Others got blasted by silver lightning. I got bitten countless times but I had my tails close so they always bit into a bit of my tails and screeched and backed off due to the taste.

    The bridge was complete. I dropped all 9 swords and made them explode in silver lightning simultaneously. This blasted a big hole in the swarm but also sent me flying toward the bridge. I created an ice cube and swapped it with Nilah. The copies disappeared and she turned into her fox form. I petted her while I flew through the bridge. I was circulating nature energy as that lightning blast had also done a lot of damage to me and I had to prevent losing consciousness.

    A wave of nausea confirmed that I was passing the border.

    Thank you, Nilah.

    I tugged on the [Dimensional Anchor] the moment the nausea disappeared and I appeared in my home in the jungle.

    I vomited and [Blood and Thunder] got dispelled. I tried to make a barrier around my home but I collapsed before I could get to it. I was completely immobilized and I tried o fight agains my body shuting down. Nilah was here. I should be safe. My consciousness faded as I slipped into a deep slumber.

    <hr>

    Something was shaking my body so I opened my eyes. It was blurry but I saw something blue. The blue thing reacted and started to jump on me. It didn¡¯t weigh much so this isn¡¯t an effective way to wake me up. I wanted to close my eyes but realized that I have things to do.

    Nilah? What time is it?

    My internal clock was still working. I had been sleeping for a month, which meant I had last been seen about 2 months ago. My head was still fuzzy and my body felt heavy. My body hadn¡¯t completely healed since I had bite mark scars everywhere.

    I can¡¯t go out like this. This might be the first time ever I need a healer.

    Healerguy is never going to shut up about this though. I tried to stand up but strength had to yet return to my legs. There are 2 options, continue covering this up with illusions or go to Healerguy. The memory of the healerjail after I got put in a wheelchair was still fresh in my mind. I can¡¯t imagine how bad this healerjail will be.

    I created an illusion that made me look like I used to look. I managed to get up and sat in a chair.

    An [Ice Mirror] revealed that I did a decent job, which wasn¡¯t good enough. I remade a new and better illusion and was satisfied. I moved my body and started moving my limbs to make sure everything still works.

    A silver lining to that horrific experience was that my limbs felt lighter and more efficient than my old limbs ever were. I hoped that I didn¡¯t get traumatized by this as I would probably have to fight these again.

    There was much I needed to do and I was behind on scedule but dealing with this was important. I beckoned Nilah and petted her while my tails simulated what I had been through, making me reliving the memories of being eaten alive for a month.

    Unsurprisingly, I was traumatized. It may have been determination to not die or adrenaline and [Blood and Thunder] but I wasn¡¯t affected by it when I was escaping. I had to resist attempting to shut down this experience. I had to overcome this else the next encounter with them will surely be the death of me.

    I mended my spirit tethers with Ichor Pneuma and created multiple simulations and tortured myself and get me over this experience, either due to getting insensitive to it or acceptance. In the end, it was my own fault that I got in that situation and my fault alone.

    Blame could be put on the fairies for tricking me, I could blame them for being spirit-eating maniacs, I could blame them for finding me delicious. But it won¡¯t prevent this from ever happening again. This was the easy part, something I could easily accept. Getting over the trauma, however, took quite a while.

    <hr>

    I have been missing for a bit over 3 months now. I was mostly over my trauma. I had accepted that my fuck up caused it and my continuous torture under my illusions had made me mostly insensitive to it.

    I was mentally exhausted, I wanted to sleep for another month but it was time I should get going. Self-pity won¡¯t solve my problems. I needed to keep moving. There were still 2 more ingredients that I needed to secure. No bullshit this time.

    I will be speed-running this and eliminate any problematic element with extreme prejudice.

    A clone would go to Gittrian and collect the materials. Another clone would bleed himself out for the phoenix blood while I would personally go and get basilisk tears and unicorn horn. I should be immune to basilisk gazes with my Elgards eyes as long as I push the gaze back. The unicorn is unlikely to relinquish its horn but it will grow back so I will just cut it off.

    Are you ready Nilah?

    Nilah showed some fighting spirit, she also had adopted a ¡®No bullshit¡¯ stance.

    ?

 Pneuma 40: Speed Running

    I was still relaxing in my home in the jungle. The clone that had picked up the supplies in Gittrian was currently going through the library to gather any traces about the location of basilisks. I had an idea where I could find unicorns so that didn''t require any research.

    There is a forest with a huge lake in the center of Hjuva. It is known for its clean air, clean water and frequent sights of rainbows. It also has large moving trees. I forgot what their race was called but the forest is quite dangerous because of those and that would be the perfect place for unicorns.

    My clone had found some actual reports of petrified statues in an underground cave near mount Thunderpeak.

    I quickly altered a batch of my Secret Weapon #3 to be in gas from which could come in handy in combatting basilisks.

    The cave was closer to where I was, currently. Nilah turned into her sword form and I headed toward the cave. It felt great to run again and only took 2 days to get to it.

    I put on my gas mask, went inside, connected to the underground leyline currents and used [Fire Dragon Dance].

    The petrified statues belonged to adventurers who had already passed away. Having their bodies here on display for eternity was bad taste. I knocked them over or incinerated them with the aim of luring out the basilisks. It didn¡¯t take long for 3 basilisks to appear. They didn''t appreciate the destruction of their collection. I confirmed that there weren¡¯t any more after putting my Elgards eyes to use and scanning the area when I got hit by a recoil.

    My Elgards eyes were pushing back on the petrifying gazes. Something similar to pushing back the Elgards eyes of the vixens in the Floating Lotus. I broke line of sight to get a break, to release the spicy gas.

    It was made from the spiciest Scoville Nightmare oil, so this would certainly fuck them up. I used [Fade] and approached the basilisks. Their eyes were tearing up like crazy and I caught 2 barrels worth of tears before I decided to finish them off.

    The fire dragons assaulted them until the basilisks turned into statues of charcoal. A bit brittle but good enough.

    This was karma. Their charred corpses will be on display until someone knocks them over.

    With that ingredient collected, it was time for the unicorn horns. I pulled on a [Dimensional Anchor] and returned to my house in Girai; It was still clean. It was a long run, but most of the terrain was a plain with not much in between, so I could run faster, which caused me to arrive after running for 2 hours.

    Time and distance are irrelevant to me.

    The forest was dense and quite dark. It reminded me of the forest where we encountered the shadow behemoth, but this forest wasn¡¯t that dark. The tree creatures got spotted but they didn¡¯t bother me, so I didn''t bother them.

    I had my tails out, though. It was a free pass in most situations, in others it would get me targeted.

    The lake was full of life. Some rare species were living their life here also a lot of normal species here but no unicorns. I did notice a strange rainbow in the distance, which was moving.

    Attack first, ask questions later. I got ready to cut horns off and teleported toward the moving rainbow. The first thing I saw were 2 unicorns were having a tea party.

    I have no time for this bullshit¡­

    I cut off both of their horns and chucked them into my dimensional pocket.

    ¡°Hey what gives man! Give us some alone time!¡±

    ¡°Not cool bro! you wanna fight?!¡±

    And I¡¯m off, thank you for your contribution. Enjoy being a glorified horse for several months.

    Unicorn A pointed at unicorn B. ¡°Whoa your horn is gone mate!¡±

    ¡°Dude so is yours! Hey give them back!¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    I tugged on a [Dimensional anchor] and returned to my home in the jungle. Next up; running through the sand to Berfhais.

    Unicorns were strange creatures, I was aware of that but holding a tea party with just the 2 of them¡­ I shook my head.

    That¡¯s not my business. Now for the biggest hurdle, come up with a passable excuse for why I had disappeared for 3 months.

    ¡®Lost track of time¡¯ won¡¯t work. ¡®I got locked in a life-threatening battle?¡¯ I won''t be lying if I said that. I will go with that and hope Greg doesn¡¯t ask too many questions.

    The run to Berfhais sucked, too much sand, and it slowed me down considerably.

    I stepped into the AA of Berfhais and everyone looked at me as if they saw a ghost. They looked at me and then at my portrait on the wall of missing adventurers.

    Uhh, guess who¡¯s back?

    So many questions. Raishin and Elliana came running at me. Greg seemed to had buried himself into work more and was at Bomba¡¯s place.

    Where were you!? You could at least have sent us a message or a clone telling you would be gone for so long! These assholes of the AA were convinced you might be dead!

    Yeah, sorry about that. I kind of got stuck in something that took longer than I hoped it would take. Is Greg at Bomba¡¯s place?

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you¡¯re safe, please try to at least notify us. And about Greg, he is, they have refined and perfected every alchemy step by now all they need are the ingredients.¡± Elliana was using elvish magic to check if I¡¯m fine. It¡¯s rude but I appreciate that she cares.

    I have all of them and it seems you have kept Raishin safe during the adventuring!

    Hehe Elliana is already D-rank!

    And you?

    C-rank! Raishin said as he proudly patted his chest.

    Wow they let you pass? Do you finally have an adventure name?

    Wow come on! I am super strong! And uh¡­ I got the name Crazy Firecracker¡­ I wanted Sexy lightning¡­

    Hahaha that name suits you! What did you do to deserve that name?

    ¡°He ended every battle in his assessment with a flashy explosion¡­¡±

    You brought this upon yourself¡­

    But it made the boring fights more interesting!

    Well then accept your adventurer name, Crazy Firecracker!

    Ugh, and I tried to change it to Sexy Lightning have been denied¡­ it¡¯s already taken¡­

    Well, nothing you can do about it. I will head over to Bomba and get subjected to Greg¡¯s unending questions.

    We will come with you!

    We went to Bomba¡¯s place and I indeed got a million questions, but I managed to convince Greg that I was just too absorbed in what I needed to do and had some risky encounters in the meantime. I also managed to successfully evade questions on how I got these materials in only 3 months.

    Everyone in this room could guess why besides Bomba, who kept asking about it. The funny part was that Bomba was the only one who wasn¡¯t worried when I was away for so long because he knew how unrealistic and hard the material list was. He did know that I was part of an unusual race, but he didn¡¯t know exactly how unusual it was.

    All in all, 3 months was a very short time to gather all these materials even though it felt like an eternity to me.

 Pneuma 41: Magnum Opus

    We could instantly begin with the process of Nigredo, except for that we needed to perform this under the new moon. I told Greg that I could probably do my moon thing and get the new moon to appear but he told me to save that for Rubedo, where we needed the blood moon. We would have a new moon in 3 days so waiting wasn¡¯t a big deal.

    The first step would turn all the ingredients to dust. I protested against this at first but Bomba assured me that every component will get reconstructed in Rubedo and that it would seem as if they had never been deconstructed. He was putting all his materials on the line so I decided to do the same.

    I did gather more materials than he would ever need so there was a possibility I could perform a Magnum Opus with the left overs at a later date. I apparently only needed to chip a unicorn horn so even a whole horn was more than enough.

    This was good news because I¡¯m never gathering these things again, especially fairy dust. Raishin kept asking me about the fairies, if they were beautiful maidens with butterfly wings. All I told them that they were disappointing.

    I had decided to have 2 batches undergo the process of the Magnum Opus. One batch to make the spirit vessel for Bywen and another to make spirit vessels that could house almost any spirit.

    The main catalyst for Nigredo was lead, the ingredients had to be put in a great flask and stirred with shadow magic under the new moon. They had to be stirred under great heat to the point that the bottom of the flask blackened.

    The mixture would turn into a pure black mass. Bomba estimated that the process would take about 3 hours. It so happened that Greg was skilled in shadow magic and I was skilled at heating things up.

    We created the setup for Nigredo far from Berfhais. The sand could get into the ingredients so we went to the river to the west where there was no desert.

    See! I told you guys! Sand is good for nothing!

    Yes yes, now come and help with this setup.

    The three of us had made a camp because we would spend our time here. This wasn¡¯t originally the plan but I could move Bomba¡¯s stuff all at once so transportation and logistics were a non-issue.

    ¡°So Nigredo is most likely going to succeed. For the next step, Albedo, I want you to go over everything you know about your target product. Try to summarize it and distill it to its shortest but most concise idea and image, this is what you will have to focus on when we will be going through the step of Albedo. It could be a single image or a sentence but it can¡¯t be more than one sentence.¡±

    So basically, describe the end product in a single sentence or image? Isn¡¯t that easy?

    ¡°Well, it is the knowledge that carries the idea. You could tell me what you came up with but that doesn¡¯t mean that this process would succeed if I tried to make your spirit vessel. Just make sure you have something that describes it well.¡±

    An image that carries the idea, eh? Everything I know about this vessel is to approximate the body of a humanoid. Its goal is to give a spirt a physical form; a spirits functioning physical body. That is probably what I will be going for.

    Can I improve on this? Something a spirit can possess or live in is technically correct but it doesn¡¯t grab its essence. An imitation of humans or 9t is also wrong because Bywen¡¯s vessel will have 4 arms, she will look like an elf besides that so it¡¯s not an imitation of anything. So ¡®A spirits functioning physical body.¡¯ Is still the best I could come up with. It is not something they possess or live in and leave when they can or want, it is not an imitation. They will be bound to it just like most other species are bound to their body.

    The days passed and it was the night of the new moon. 3 large flasks were readied; 1 for Bomba and 2 for me since I was creating 2 batches.

    ¡°I have said this before but thank you for making my dream come true.¡±

    Thank me after we¡¯ve succeeded.

    I am adding the ingredients.

    Greg used his [Shadow Tendrils] to place the ingredients in the flasks. My flasks had wide necks because I had some bulky ingredients. The spirit skin, the spirit muscle dough, the spirit fat, the spirit systems and finally the spirit bones and Ichor Pneuma got added.

    I just light a fire under the flasks, right?

    ¡°Yes, the lead will be added after an hour.¡± Greg added 3 solutions, besides our main ingredients, he and Bomba had made for the Nigredo process. He started stirring and added 3 cubes of lead into each flask after an hour.

    Now we just wait till everything blackens.

    So, when everything is burnt?

    ¡°Well one solution prevents our ingredients from turning into ash or charcoal so while that is a concern normally, in our case it¡¯s not.¡±

    So, you¡¯re going to Leanne after you finish all this? What are you going to research?

    ¡°A way to make something similar to the witch¡¯s hat for humans.¡±

    Is that a good idea?

    ¡°Well, both of us think it¡¯s not but that¡¯s what the research is for, to find out how much of a bad idea it is. Maybe humanity will be ready for it in the future.¡±

    Progressing your own race, eh?

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Well in that case I can recommend the research papers written by Ayaru Mistflower, and some follow up studies from me, Agnis Hourai. Oh¡­ I burnt down the library. I have a clone in the elven village that¡¯s rewriting whatever I archived from there he will put those on a hold and start rewriting Azu¡¯s study on Misha hats. I have mine somewhere¡­

    I rummaged through my dimensional pocket and took out a copy of my studies on Misha hats. I could say that I¡¯m an expert on them. I had to be, else I couldn¡¯t steal them or create [Hattrick].

    ¡°Oh, Lea did mention that you had done something like that thank you!¡±

    Just a warning, these hats are more complicated than most Misha are aware of.

    ¡°I will keep that in mind.¡±

    Greg got curious and I told him about some details of what I had researched in Witchaven

    The mixtures started to blacken at the 3 hour and 23-minute mark.

    Hey Greg, don¡¯t forget to hand me the protocol and part of your paper after we finish.

    I have everything noted down don¡¯t worry.

    Greg had been vigilant and had been taking notes of the process during our conversation.

    ¡°It seems to have been a success. Let¡¯s seal the flasks and wait till the full moon to start on Albedo.¡±

    And that is what we would do, we waited until the full moon would appear. Silver was the catalyst for Albedo and had to be executed under the full moon. The understanding of the ingredients and the end product were extremely important here. Water magic had to be used to rinse and mix and cleanse the ingredients. Bomba and Greg had 3 more solutions for this. The mixture had to be split in 2 after adding these so we set up 6 more flasks.

    ¡°Don¡¯t forget that the image and sentence is also an ingredient. Focus on that when stirring your ingredients.¡±

    I looked at Bomba¡¯s batch which drew my attention.

    What about your batch? Won''t my sentence interfere with your batch?

    I will stir his mixture with water magic. He will have his hands on the flasks to infuse his image into the mixtures.

    Oh ok.

    ¡°Try to keep them cool but don¡¯t let it freeze. One of the ingredients we will add has anti-freeze properties.¡± Bomba said and went to check the equipment and ingredients and wrote things down. He was also being vigilant in keeping record of whatever he was doing.

    Here we are 3 nerds waiting for the full moon. Does this make us lunatics?

    Night fell and the full moon appeared and I tried my best to not look at it. Greg added the ingredients for Albedo to the black mass. We then used water magic to add water to it and pull the mixtures out of the blackened ¡®Nigredo¡¯ flasks, split them and drop them into the ¡®Albedo¡¯ flasks.

    The mixtures became lighter as I stirred them. I infused the sentence into the 4 flasks while chilling them and stirring them with water magic. We were to keep this up until daybreak. I got lucky and clouds covered the moon for most of the night so I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about looking at the full moon and spacing out. This however didn¡¯t seem to hinder the ¡®Albedo¡¯ process, clouds or not it was still full moon.

    Greg tired but he held on till day break. I was used to unusual and long applications of magic or water magic in general so this wasn¡¯t a big deal to me.

    Good job Greg.

    He sat down and rested.

    ¡°My batches have succeeded, let me inspect yours. Hmm, looks good. Now we don¡¯t have to wait long to use Citrinitas. It just has to happen near noon, mercury is the catalyst. Now for me it doesn¡¯t matter when exactly I do this but for you it might. There was a strange line about gendered results, before noon will create the female, while after noon the male. This is probably why Albedo splits the ingredients in half.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    I see so I will do 2 flasks before noon and 2 after, does it take long?

    ¡°It will take 12 minutes at the longest, we just have to add 4 ingredients at ambient temperature, it¡¯s by far the easiest process. But this is a process where only the creator is allowed to add the ingredients, there are no special requirements, just that you add them.¡±

    Citrinitas could happen in the same flasks we had completed the Albedo process in so I started around 11:30. It was quite easy as Bomba said. The mixture turned bright yellow. No stirring needed just add the ingredients. I marked the flasks afterwasrds for clarity. The color stabilized after 10 minutes and Bomba confirmed that everything worked out.

    Is there any risk of failing actually?

    Yes, but that solely depends on the extra ingredients Bomba and I had made. We were diligent in ironing out any mistakes and inaccuracies. Everything should succeed.

    Bomba and I started at 12:04 and this also only took 10 minutes. We took out 5 big flasks out after completing Citrinitas. These would be the Rubedo flasks. The glass of these were slightly red tinted. We helped Bomba pool his solutions into one Rubedo flaks. Mine had to stay separated.

    We labeled everything and rested.

    ¡°Now for the blood moon. This is going to take the longest¡­¡±

    The next estimated blood moon will appear in a year and 2 months¡­

    Wow that sucks. I might be able to do something about that but let¡¯s have a change of pace!

    What do you want to do?

    Bomba has a Dimsha I want to see him fight you!

    ¡°Ooh that¡¯s a great idea! I can show off my alchemical prowess!¡± Bomba got excited and gathered his¡­explosive setup.

    Why don¡¯t you fight him?

    I¡¯ve had more than enough action the last months, you¡¯ve been inside all this time, gogo get your ass kicked by Bomba!

    Why do you assume I will lose?

    Then prove that you¡¯re gonna win!

    Bomba and Greg picked a spot very far from our setup. I stayed behind but I could still spectate with Elgards eyes. I had to make sure no wild animal would knock over our hard work.

    They started and Greg¡¯s mana plummeted to Bomba¡¯s level.

    Bomba chucked flasks at Greg which exploded. He also sent out some fireworks. Basically, he was fighting with bombs and explosions. He surely was fighting as his name suggests.

    Greg had a hard time defending against this because Bomba¡¯s magic was absolutely garbage so Greg¡¯s magic matched that because of Bomba¡¯s Dimsha. Greg¡¯s hammer was unaffected because it could change its weight so Greg could still launch himself although not as far as he normally would.

    Bomba had to watch out from the hammer slams because his Dimsha did nothing against heavy objects. It looked like the battle of the noobs but Greg won in the end. He did get quite beat up in the process though. Bomba had some bruises and Greg looked like a burnt cat.

    They returned 30 minutes later after they had concocted and ingested healing potions.

    ¡°Whew, Greg really is strong, my Dimsha does nothing against skilled fighters.¡±

    You were close to kicking my ass though.

    You both did well but it¡¯s good that you nerds could get some exercise in!

    You are as much a nerd as we are¡­ have you figured out how to solve our blood moon problem?

    Dunno. I think I should be able to do it. Do we need any preparations beforehand?

    ¡°Bring out the blood moon? Are you a moon god or something? And we have everything, the most important parts are the ingredients you have provided. We made 5 solutions that should work. I¡¯m a bit concerned about the phoenix blood because it¡¯s properties are a bit different from what they should be but it should work out fine.

    That made me relieved, I¡¯m not a pure phoenix so that was to be expected.

    Right, this might shock you but just keep your surprise to yourself. I have one question though. For how long do we need the blood moon? I might have difficulties keeping the blood moon up.

    ¡°We need to heat it up with fire magic, as much as possible. The duration depends on the heat, phoenix fire is very good in reaching extreme temperatures very fast but if we can do that without phoenix fire, it will be fine. We could need between 3 hours and 15 minutes depending on the temperature.¡±

    Bomba went to the hut with materials and came out dragging a large cart full of gold. Greg went to help him and pulled out 2 more carts.

    ¡°The catalyst is an extreme amount of gold, thanks for providing this.¡±

    I gave a thumbs up. These were just gold treasures I still had stored up. I had no issues parting with them.

    ¡°The gold and the Rubedo solutions go in first and after the gold has completely melted will the phoenix blood be added, this should turn everything from gold to red. It will solidify when it¡¯s complete.¡±

    Boil the fuck out of it till it becomes solid, ok!

    I found a good spot to where my tails wouldn¡¯t knock things over and went 9t mode. I limited the mana burst and focused on the sky. I was looking for a blood moon that would happen in about a year. The day shifted to night, and back to day again. I kept cycling day and night until a blood moon appeared and managed to keep it on the blood moon.

    Let¡¯s start! We don¡¯t know for how long he can keep this up!

    Greg and Bomba added all the ingredients and I walked over to the flasks, wrapped a tail around each of them and started heating them up as much as I could.

    The first 4 minutes went well but the sky wanted to turn back to its original state afterward so I experienced some resistance. Bomba was chucking his alchemical concoctions at the Rubedo flasks to help heating them up while Greg added the phoenix blood.

    It became uncomfortable keeping the blood moon up after 8 minutes and I began to struggle after 15.

    ¡°Just a bit more! It¡¯s almost done!¡±

    I started [Elgard Overload] which would add 8 more minutes. That should be enough.

    ¡°It¡¯s done! You can stop!¡±

    Rubedo had completed 18 minutes after I had started the blood moon. I canceled my [Elgard Overload] and got kicked out of my 9t mode.

    Wow that was rough. It was as if I was fighting against the rotation of the planet.

    I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s exactly what you just did¡­

    ¡°It¡¯s done! It¡¯s complete! Greg, can you smash the flasks?¡±

    I sat down as the day and night cycled back to its original point. Greg smashed the flasks and started to collect the results and note down any details.

    Is it supposed to be a red solid? Isn¡¯t what you wanted to create less red? And why has Agnis¡¯ batch turned into some sort of clay?

    ¡°Well, we just have to form it in the shape we want, this is why the Albedo process is so important. Let¡¯s take this back to Berfhais. It is relatively light like this but it will become heavy once I have given it form.¡±

    Right. Give me a minute.

    I rested for 10 minutes after which I got up and inspected the 4 batches of clay. I took note of which pile was what and sucked up everything in my dimensional pocket.

    The Agnis express will leave soon!

    Greg fixed some burnt patches of earth and we were ready to return. I grabbed both of them and I ran back to Berfhais. It took some time but we returned Bomba¡¯s equipment safely.

    <hr>

    ¡°Ok now completing Rubedo is extremely easy.¡± Bomba was standing next to the red solid which I had placed in his living room. ¡°All you need to do is infuse the image or sentence you used during Albedo to it and¡­¡± He touched the red solid, focused a bit and it turned into some large cube shaped wired machine. ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±.

    Greg and I clapped.

    So, this works the same for my clay?

    ¡°Well, you did say you wanted to make a vessel with 4 arms, maybe that¡¯s why it has turned into clay. You might try to shape it in a form where it looks humanoid and has 4 arms and then apply the Albedo image or sentence to it.¡±

    I see, I might want to do this next to Bywen then. Thank you very much Bomba!

    ¡°No, thank you! This would have been impossible without your help. If you ever need anything alchemy related, you know where to find me!¡± Bomba said as he wiped a single tear of his face.

    Next to a witch city, yeah we might have to be careful in visiting you.

    ¡°Hmm, maybe yeah. I will clean up the mess in my house, you have done more than I¡¯ve ever hoped, go finish your project!¡±

    Thank you Bomba, if you ever need help put in a request in at any AA, this guy might never read his messages but I do.

    We said goodbye to Bomba.

    I could see that he couldn¡¯t wait to test his machine out. It seemed complicated but it did look like the most important parts acted similar to my [Tail Dynamo] and generated lightning. It didn¡¯t seem to need a power source though which was probably the reason this thing was a big deal.

    We returned to the AA. Raishin and Elliana had just returned from an adventure and waved at us.

    ¡°Greg you¡¯re back!¡± Elianna ran at him and hugged him. ¡°And you too Agnis, how did it go? And did you guys also see the sky acting strange?¡±

    Uhh, we succeeded and that might have been me, we needed the blood moon so I forced it out.

    Haha, I knew it was you! It looked like what happened in Boshi town years ago! You had to see the faces of everyone around us! Everyone was freaking out!

    Wait, you saw that all the way over here? It was supposed to be a local effect.

    Maybe your area of influence has increased, you might not show it because you always hold back but it¡¯s clear you have become stronger.

    I don¡¯t feel like I¡¯ve become stronger at all¡­

    We caught up and went back to the elven village.

    How? I drew a teleportation circle while my clone back in the village drew a receiving magic circle. We stepped in and got safely teleported to Nuverna village.

 Pneuma 42: Spirit Vessel

    The first thing my clone did was give me all the volumes, books and papers it had rewritten, and I stored them in my dimensional pocket in a special spot, I then headed over to Bywen.

    Guess what! You might be able to walk around soon! I would say today but I don¡¯t know how long this sculpting will take.

    ¡°Oh it¡¯s great to see you are doing well! And that is great news!¡±

    I took out the red clay that was specific to Bywen and the female batch; it was a lot of clay.

    Uhh, this is a lot, do you mind if I also make a spare?

    ¡°I don¡¯t mind at all.¡±

    I broke off 2 pieces that I thought would be enough, and I started sculpting a basic humanoid figure with 4 arms.

    ¡°I want long legs.¡±

    I made the legs a bit longer. I kept following Bywen¡¯s instructions until she was satisfied.

    ¡°That looks good.¡±

    Quite tall though.

    ¡°It will come in useful if I ever have to physically defend my children.¡±

    I focused on the 2 clay figures and infused the Albedo sentence. Rignef had also instructed me to blast it with some foxfire to lock in the appearance, so that¡¯s what I did.

    I was unsure what to expect, but the look Greg had drawn for Bywen appeared, quite naked. They were identical to how Greg had drawn her.

    ¡°Oooh! She is beautiful! I am beautiful! Oh, I feel it pulling me in.¡±

    I put a simple seal on one of the vessels to make sure Bywen¡¯s spirit wouldn¡¯t get split up and enter both of them. I then placed the vessel against the tree trunk and poured Bywen¡¯s Ichor Pneuma over the vessel.

    The tree stopped glowing, all the spirit tethers snapped, but transferred to the vessel. I didn¡¯t see any spirit tether appearing around her vessels, but my Elgards eyes told me that the tethers ran through the Ichor Pneuma in her body. They might be harder to break if they are inside her vessel.

    The vessel twitched and there was movement. She opened her eyes, tried to move and fell over. I tried helping her up, but she clumsily fell over again.

    ¡°Wha¡­ dis ish herd.¡±

    Just take your time, you probably have never walked on 2 legs or spoken out of a real mouth. Just keep practicing.

    I spent 2 hours trying to teach Bywen how to walk. I had urged her to just keep talking and say anything that came to her mind so she could practice. Her speech got good enough after an hour, but she was still clumsily walking after 2 hours.

    ¡°How do you¡­ do this!¡±

    Well, you wanted long legs so your center of gravity is further from the ground, so it¡¯s going to be a bit harder.

    Bywen was almost 2 heads taller than me which greatly contributed to her instability.

    How about we walk to the outside?

    ¡°Like this? I can¡¯t have my children see me walk like this!¡±

    Oh wait. Right, they can¡¯t see you like this, but not because of how you walk.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    I took out some clothing from Jarn and decided what would be the best to put on her.

    Here try putting these on.

    ¡°But they¡¯re too small!¡±

    They will adjust, just try.

    Bywen put the clothes on with the coordination of a 2-year-old so I had to help her. The clothing adjusted to her figure after she got dressed. She admired the dark red blouse and blue jeans she was wearing.

    ¡°Not very elvish but this works thank you!¡±

    She came in to give me a hug but tripped and almost knocked me over.

    Whoa easy there, no advanced movements for you yet! You might not be heavy, but you can still do serious damage to the things you fall into. Your vessel, no your body, is extremely sturdy. You could crack open any skull you headbutt, quite easily, actually.

    ¡°I will pay attention to that. Can you come over so I can give you a hug to thank you? I¡¯ve always wanted arms to do this.¡±

    It was a bit of an uncomfortable request, but I went over to her. 4 arms closed in around me. It seems I did a great job, she just felt like an organic body.

    ¡°Thank you very much, you have no idea what this means to me. I can finally walk between those I love; I can finally hold them; I can finally laugh with them. Thank you for granting my wish.¡±

    I appear to be granting a lot of wishes lately.

    Thank you for your hospitality and being so helpful.

    I helped Bywen up and did my best to catch her when she almost fell over.

    ¡°You will leave, won¡¯t you? Just know that you are always welcome here.¡±

    Yeah, I know that you don¡¯t mind but we have stayed here for too long. The seal on your spare is just a simple containment spell. Anyone should be able to lift it. Only lift it when your current body is so damaged that it tries to kick your spirit out.

    I took out 2 barrels of liquid from the early Ichor Pneuma stages.

    I will call this spirit water. Infuse this with your spirit energy and cover yourself with it at least 3 times per human year. It will make sure you don¡¯t get kicked out randomly, and it will make sure that your spirit will get engraved in your vessel. You can stop doing this after 4 or 5 years.

    Bywen nodded and I led her outside. I had to made sure she wouldn¡¯t trip because there were many roots in the corridors.

    The elders were doing their elder stuff as usual, but they all stopped when I stepped inside the big hall of the big tree with Bywen holding my hand.

    Elves, Elders, and fruit stealers, I present to you, your spirit guardian, Bywen.

    Some elders cried and others rushed at Bywen. I stepped back and let them have their moment.

    Byron approached me almost instantly. ¡°Thank you for everything you¡¯ve done, we won¡¯t forget this debt.¡±

    Uh, it¡¯s not a debt, but if you see it as this, I won¡¯t stop you.

    I handed Byron a paper with some instructions on how to help Bywen maintain herself. Most of it were things I¡¯ve already told Bywen, but it was a good idea to also let the chief elder know.

    Now go have your moment.

    I gestured for Byron to talk to Bywen as I left. I went to visit Remi. The first thing I did when she let me in was dump the documents, I had rewritten, on her table.

    I came to say hello, to deliver these and to say goodbye.

    ¡°Are you leaving already?¡±

    Yes, sorry. These documents are rewritten from whatever I had archived from the Witchaven library. I will leave my clone behind. He will disappear once he had rewritten everything, which might take decades... Make sure to hop by my house here to pick them up.

    I chatted with Remi for an hour before I left. We didn¡¯t have plans to leave immediately, but it¡¯s best we did. There was one problem, though. What will Elliana choose to do?

 Pneuma 43: Elliana Seorwynn

    I wanted to talk to Elliana about this, but this was actually Greg¡¯s job, so I went to Greg.

    Greg, we need to talk.

    Greg opened the door and Elliana was with him as usual.

    I¡¯m sorry Elliana, I need to talk with Greg.

    It seemed she understood, nodded and left.

    What is it? Whatever you have to tell me, you can tell Elliana.

    I would agree normally but this is something you should tell her; she shouldn¡¯t hear this from me.

    I went inside and we sat down.

    Right, this isn¡¯t going to be a comfortable conversation and beating around the bush is also going to be inefficient. Greg I¡¯m serious.

    That is rare, I will listen to what you have to say.

    Elliana is romantically interested in you. I want you to decide now how you want to proceed with her. If you want her to travel with us. But if you are not interested in her romantically, I want you to tell her that and possibly tell her to not come with us. I like her as a person, so I don¡¯t want to see her hurt. I want you to look at yourself, find out how you truly feel about her, and tell her. I will repeat myself. She is romantically, possibly sexually attracted to you, Greg. Don¡¯t wriggle your way out of this. You need to decide before we leave.

    Are you sure?

    I facepalmed.  No, I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s why I am seriously talking to you¡­ Seriously Greg? Of course, I¡¯m sure! Everyone with eyes can see this! You¡¯re the only one in this village that¡¯s unaware! Even Bywen knows, and she didn¡¯t have eyes up until today!

    I see. Thank you for telling me. I just wish you would have told me before.

    I sighed.  I did¡­ Raishin did, even Elliana must have told you several times. Greg, please don¡¯t hurt her. Don¡¯t avoid this issue. You might need time to think that¡¯s fine, but be clear toward her.

    I... I was unaware. Thank you. I will give it a serious thought.

    I smiled and patted him on his back.  I know you were unaware, that¡¯s why I¡¯m making this painfully clear for you. Just know that if you somehow misunderstand this and are convinced, she isn¡¯t into you, I am seriously going to kick your tails, I will even go 9t mode on your ass.

    I got the message loud and clear.

    We got up and Greg showed me to the door.

    Right, too much responsibility for me in one day, you go tell Raishin to get ready to leave soon. I am going to sleep, maybe even for a week. Cya.

    I went over to my house and found Bywen and Byron in my living room.

    Don¡¯t tell me you 2 have also started eating my fruit?

    ¡°No, I wanted to thank you again.¡± Bywen was still moving around a bit clumsily and knocking things over.

    Oh no need you also did a lot for us, but if you truly tankful can you tell the fruit stealers to stay away from my fruit?

    ¡°I can punch them now if they don¡¯t!¡± Bywen flexed one of her right arms.

    Uhh just don¡¯t kill them. Byron you might want to have her go through some sessions to where she learns how to use her body, especially strength might be an issue. She should be freakishly strong. She might instantly kill the fruit stealers with one punch.

    ¡°We will get to it; we hope to have her in perfect working conditions the next time you return.¡±

    ¡°Hey Byron! Don¡¯t forget that you are all my children! You don¡¯t talk to me like that!¡±

    Hehe yes scold him! Now excuse me, I need sleep.

    ¡°Sweet dreams.¡± Bywen tried to make a complicated movement, but Byron had to act as her walking stick and make sure she didn¡¯t trip and take my house down in the process.

    ¡°Sleep well.¡±

    They left, and I went to my room, had Nilah turn into her fox form and put her in her basket. I then curled up in my tails and went to sleep.

    I had a nightmare about my experience in the fairy village. I did have multiple neutral or pleasant dreams.

    <hr>

    I had a good sleep, only had nightmares 4 times.

    It was mid-November. I slept longer than I intended. I stepped outside and looked around. Bywen was being quite competent on the forest floor. There was no trace of her clumsiness. It seemed as if she noticed that I was looking at her as she turned her head to me, smiled and waved. I smiled and waved back.

    I spotted Elliana a bit further up and decided to talk to her.

    Hey how is it going? It¡¯s unusual to see you walk alone.

    ¡°Oh¡­ well you see. Greg told me that he didn¡¯t feel the way for me as I feel for him. I had already guessed that but¡­ it hurts to hear it from him.¡± Tears fell from Elliana¡¯s eyes.

    Oh, I am so sorry¡­You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    She wiped her eyes and shook her head. ¡°Don¡¯t be, I¡¯m sure you did everything you could to make it work¡­ to make him realize¡­¡±

    Did he give a reason?

    ¡°He didn¡¯t know the reason, but he said he felt nothing.¡±

    This caused Elliana to cry even more. I covered us in illusions, wrapped her in my tails and let her cry.

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand, what else could I have done to grab his attention? Is it because I¡¯m an elf?¡± Elliana was shaking, and I had no clue what to do.

    None of that is a problem. I¡¯m convinced the problem isn¡¯t you. You did your best. I have the feeling he isn¡¯t interested in people romantically ever, so you haven''t done anything wrong.

    I had a complicated feeling. Greg was like my brother, but I¡¯ve also come to see Elliana as my sister over time. It is a difficult situation to be stuck in. It is also hard to take a side, but I¡¯m leaning toward Elliana¡¯s side.

    ¡°Thank you, I¡¯m fine now¡­ I need some time alone.¡±

    Ok, please don¡¯t beat yourself up on this¡­

    ¡°I will try my best. Did you cover us in an illusion? Thank you.¡±

    Elves were just walking past us and ignoring us. Elliana gestured that she was fine so I removed my tails and the illusion. She gave a short wave and went home.

    Ugh this sucks. I guess she isn¡¯t coming with us then¡­ maybe we should smack Greg¡¯s head a couple of times. A thought of having Greg and Elliana go through the Eslana experience came to my mind, but I dismissed the thought.

    Speaking of which, their project had been successful, and I saw some women walking around with newborn and bellies. It¡¯s not a lot, but it¡¯s something. They had figured out how to get the guys a bit more interested, so they didn¡¯t need my help anymore. Maybe Greg needs that too.

    I headed over to Raishin¡¯s house. It smelled as usual. Elliana wasn¡¯t in a great mood, and I was asleep, so nobody would clean his house.

    Why are my buddies such a pain in the ass? I put on my gas mask and stepped inside.

    It was a mess. I made shadow clones and abused their speed to clean up but it still took an hour. I had trapped Raishin in a frost cage, as him ¡®helping¡¯ will add hours to the cleaning process.

    Thanks again!

    Are you ready to leave?  I said as I freed Raishin from his cage.

    Yup! We are just waiting for you!

    You were ready to leave and leave that mess behind?

    Well, why clean if I¡¯m going to leave?

    Unbelievable¡­

    Let¡¯s get Greg. I don¡¯t think Elliana is coming¡­

    Yeah, I talked to her¡­ it¡¯s so sad.

    I was so mad at Greg. Elliana is so cool we had so many adventures together. But Greg said that he didn¡¯t know why he didn¡¯t feel anything for her. That¡¯s when I realized. Maybe Greg is more into objects than people.

    Hmm so if I make a sexy spirit vessel, he might fall for it?

    I don¡¯t know¡­ I really hope he finds someone to look after him in a way we can¡¯t¡­

    I hope so too.

    At least I know that you¡¯re interested in chicks. I will find one for you sooner or later!

    Uhh thanks.

    We went to Greg¡¯s house, ready to kick in his door and possibly smash his head.

    Spirit police! Open up!

    Raishin kicked in his door.

    I am ready, no need to make so much noise. And guys¡­ I¡¯m sorry.

    Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re not surprised.

    Just wish you¡¯d be interested in her.

    Greg let out a wry smile.  Come on let¡¯s go.

    We walked to the edge of the village, passed through the barrier and walked along the river.

    Where to now?

    No clue we have a lot to catch up to though. A lot seems to have happened in the world that we have been oblivious about, most noteworthy is the war between Aquini and Igrini.

    Wait what? How!?

    Something about Shania¡¯s brother taking over and instigating the war, I don¡¯t know the specifics, but I do know that the Igrini Kingdom sucks.

    For real! Let¡¯s get out of this stupid country!

    ¡°And you¡¯re going without me?¡± We turned around to look at a familiar face.

    Elliana!

    Oh nice so you¡¯re coming with us!?

    ¡­

    ¡°I have decided to not let my emotions get in the way of wanting to see the world. I¡¯m sorry Greg, but you will have to put up with me for a bit longer.¡± Elliana showed a subtle sad smile. I hope Greg gives her another chance.

    That is fine, I welcome you to team Hourai.

    Ahum, aren¡¯t you forgetting something, Greg? I am the leader!

    Uhh, I know.

    Then stop stealing my line! Welcome to team Hourai Elliana!

    Welcome! This will be so much fun!

    Well Elliana said that, but she forgot her stuff in her haste to catch up so we had to go back and get her stuff. Bywen and the elders took this opportunity to send us off. It was quite awkward but not unpleasant.

 Pneuma 44: The lost Country

    We headed west to Hjuva with our new team member. We had a lot of trouble at the border as we were still up north, so a lot of people wanted to kidnap Elliana and sell her as a slave. We decided to avoid any major cities but something had become apparent. Everything had become extremely expensive.

    The disease had dissipated, but there was a new problem. The cure needed a lot of electronium which put pressure on Yzs. Yzs had in response cranked up the prices of electronium which made the whole continent suffer. I am honestly unsurprised by this fact. I am surprised that it had taken this long for something like this to happen.

    And with the energy cost skyrocketing, everything skyrocketed in price also. Another problem was that some areas couldn¡¯t afford the exorbitant prices and had to go without energy or more primitive resources. This continent is so fucked if they keep this up.

    I¡¯m unsure on the details but the kings or whoever is in charge of the other countries refused to listen to Yzs¡¯ demands which caused them to keep the prices high.

    Lumber had also become expensive because the Aquini Kingdom was still at war.

    I am wondering if the humans have opted for self-destruction. They can¡¯t die from the world falling apart due to the immortal races dying out if they self-destruct first.

    We finally reached Hjuva at the end of December.

    Hey Elliana, you¡¯re the oldest right?

    Oh no, Raishin please shut up.

    So, you can act as our granny if we need to disguise ourselves!

    Nilah get him!

    ¡°Wow, then you can play the infant!¡±

    Nilah never mind, Elliana just roasted him.

    An infant, I think he would be a convincing infant.

    Hey!

    ¡°Well as you would say. I have been living under a rock, so I might not act as the oldest, and I¡¯m almost 1 year in elf years!¡±

    Right, 200 human years for every elf year, it seems you¡¯re the same age as us then. Older than us in Kaledonian, but the youngest if we go by race.

    Oh, is that so? Aren¡¯t you turning 2 in 5 more human years? Grandpa Greg!

    Oh yeah that¡¯s right!

    That is true, so listen to your elders and shut up!

    We got close to Jubra and wondered if we should go near it or not. That was the place where we had been sold off as slaves, so going there was a bad idea. We decided to avoid it in the end. Greg did want to see what happened to Boshi town. Elliana was also curious about the place we grew up. I reminded them that it¡¯s a big hole in the ground now, but they still wanted to go there, so that¡¯s where we would be going.

    We were nearing a familiar mountain range after traveling for 2 hours.

    I certainly haven¡¯t missed this place!

    Yeah, we have endured a lot of fuckery here.

    We climbed up to the Boshi plateau, specifically, Boshi hole, but Raishin and Greg were extremely slow.

    Ugh, I don¡¯t remember this place being so hard to get to.

    I know right?

    Elliana and I were leaving these 2 in the dust.

    Both of you need to work on your condition, it¡¯s absolutely garbage!

    Easy for you to say¡­ we don¡¯t run around at light speed all the time!

    I can¡¯t run at light speed, don¡¯t be ridiculous.

    Elliana looked at the plants nearby. Not quite light corrupted, but they looked ill. ¡°This place feels strange.¡±

    Yup, that would be the light corruption. Let¡¯s wait here, Greg needs to give us his [Shadow Cloak].

    We finally got to the Boshi plateau, and it was exactly as I remembered it. A large hole in the ground and light corruption everywhere.

    ¡°Wow, what could have done this?¡±

    The Sarian goddess Biian aka tomato goddess.

    This is her handiwork yeah.

    We walked around and looked around. There wasn¡¯t much we could feel nostalgia about because most of it was gone or corrupted. Greg tried to do something about it, but it was too much for him. Raishin was giving Elliana a ¡®tour¡¯. There was not much to show, though.

    And that is where Agnis blew a hole in the mountain and next to it is where he blew up potato village!

    He didn¡¯t blow up potato village in this timeline.

    I should have, though. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    I readied a [Foxfire: Winter¡¯s end] but Greg tackled me.

    Why are you like this?

    Sorry the urge just welled up.

    Uhh guys what is that?

    I got a wave of nausea at that same moment as the earth rumbled.

    Feels like trouble.

    A small hole opened up in the sky above where Yzs was located.

    Is Yzs experimenting with a new weapon?

    It was brief, but it seemed like the hole sucked up something and it disappeared.

    Hmm that¡¯s odd.

    The ground shook, and mountains collapsed in the distance. This rumble was different. It felt like a real rumble. Then what was that other one?

    Another volcano?

    I activated my Elgards eyes.

    Oh great. We have another problem¡­  I linked them up with my eyes.

    Yzs¡­ is gone?

    Whoa that is a big hole! Did you miss and nuke the whole country Agnis?

    Hey I didn¡¯t do anything! Look, it¡¯s as if the country had been ripped out of the fabric of space, I can¡¯t do that!

    Not yet!

    I smacked Raishin for that comment.

    ¡°Was it related to that strange hole in the sky?¡±

    I grabbed my buddies with my tails and chain teleported to a mountain that could look over the hole.

    I don¡¯t want to be that guy, but isn¡¯t this your race should solve Agnis?

    How am I supposed to solve a country disappearing? I can¡¯t even find Hourai.

    Do you think this happened to Hourai?

    Possibly.

    Ugh¡­ this continent is even more screwed now! It went from expensive electronium to no electronium!

    Maybe this could be a lesson for them, to not rely on one country.

    Maybe.

    ¡°So, what do we do?

    We ignore it till the problem goes away.

    I actually agree, ultimately this isn¡¯t our problem.

    So¡­ what do we do next?

    Uhh adventuring?

    Sounds good to me!

    Let¡¯s go!

    ¡°But what about the people of Yzs and the rest of the continent?¡±

    What about them? We can¡¯t do anything about this.

    ¡°You have a point¡­¡±

    Don¡¯t let it get to you. Bad things happen all the time, we can¡¯t help everyone.

    Greg wanted to return to Gittrian, but I vehemently opposed it as it¡¯s Healerguy¡¯s headquarters. Elliana wanted to see more desert, and Raishin and I opposed it. Any suggestion near rivers or the ocean got opposed by Greg.

    ¡°Then where will we go to then!?¡±

    How about the snowfields in north-west Zanyr?

    ¡°Uhh, that is close to the western elven forest, let¡¯s not go there.¡± Elliana was quite opposed to that idea. She acted similarly to when her sister was nearby.

    Why?

    I¡¯ve heard that they¡¯re insane.

    ¡°Yeah¡­¡±

    How about the grand library in Brilliance?

    What?

    Formerly known as Zanyr.

    Yes, but where is it in Zanyr?

    He means the capital of Zanyr which was formerly known as Zanyr, as it¡¯s emperor Zanyr Zanyr, the mountain Zanyr and the river Zanyr¡­

    Wow what a narcissist!

    Thank you! That¡¯s what I said but it got me caught and thrown in jail!

    ¡°You have been to jail?¡±

    Unfortunately, there are few places this guy hasn¡¯t been.

    Hey! We''ve all been to jail! And I¡¯m fine with Zanyr, I refuse to call that city Brilliance.

    I¡¯m fine as long as there are hot chicks there!

    We had decided to go to Zanyr. It was extremely far, but as long as I ran around the desert, I would be fine.

 Pneuma 45: Brilliance

    January, year 583 on the New Kaledonian calendar.

    ¡°Welcome to Zanyr!¡± is what the guards said when we arrived.

    I thought this place was called Brilliance.

    The guard shook his head. ¡°That¡¯s what the emperor decided, we think it¡¯s stupid so we still call our capital Zanyr, so welcome to Zanyr!¡±

    The emperor sounds like a weirdo.

    ¡°Oh, you have no idea! But it¡¯s better than when he was a dictator, I guess you win some, you lose some.¡±

    How odd.

    The guard was smiling at me and I tried my best to ignore all this. We walked into the city and it seemed way better than I remember. I could say what I want about that emperor but he¡¯s at least doing his best to make this a better place.

    Agnis, can you explain to me why there is a statue of you here?

    Whoa maybe he¡¯s a fan of you!

    My jaw dropped as I saw a large statue of the emperor and a smaller but still large statue of me; we were shaking hands.

    That idiot! Guys change of plan! We¡¯re going to the palace!

    People looked at me as I stormed to the palace.

    I approached the palace gate and the guards made way for me. ¡°Do you have an appointment?¡±

    Move!

    They didn¡¯t seem as they ever planned to stop me. I bet it¡¯s that emperors doing! I ignored the palace guards that tried to stop me as they didn¡¯t seem to be doing their best to stop me though.

    Agnis wait! You can¡¯t just storm into a palace!

    Oh yes, I can see me do it!

    I went to the throne room, augmented my leg and kicked in the heavy doors.

    Dimitri! You asshole why did you build a statue of me!

    ¡°Ohh, my handsome friend! You have finally decided to be my advisor!¡± Dimitri had scantily clad women comb his hair as he was admiring himself in a mirror.

    I have not! Take it down!

    ¡°But why? It signifies our friendship!¡± He spread his arms, making a welcoming gesture.

    You decided that by yourself! These here are my friends!

    I pointed at Greg, Raishin and Elliana. Dimitri made a pensive look.

    ¡°Oh I see!¡± He clapped and an attendant went to him. He whispered something in her ear, she nodded and ran off.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry your friends will also get their statues, now come let¡¯s have a feast! How have you been?¡±

    Wait! No that¡¯s not what I meant!

    Wow my first statue! Thanks!

    Raishin please shut up¡­

    No statues! No feast¡­ on second thought lets go for that feast!

    I thought you came here to solve a problem?

    Yes, I can solve the problem of an empty stomach and that statue in one go! Two harpies with one fireball!

    Greg facepalmed and we got led to a large dining hall.

    Ohh so exciting! This is my first¡­ second royal feast!

    This is my 7th.

    We looked at Greg.  What? Wait you got named the Obsidian Prince because one, right?

    That is correct.

    Raishin and I made fun of Greg while the food got placed in front of us.

    ¡°So, tell me my handsome friends how have you been!¡±

    Uhh, busy, you?

    I dug in and started eating some funny looking but delicious pasta. I secretly stashed some food in my dimensional pocket because there was no way we could eat all of this.

    ¡°I¡¯ve had some difficulties with some issues lately but nothing Dimitri Handsome can¡¯t fix!¡±

    Ah, cool story, so can you remove the statues?

    ¡°There is a concern about another war breaking out though¡­¡±

    Another war?

    ¡°Yes, Bizax is planning to wage war on Yzs, and the president of Yzs has asked me to back them up in exchange for drastically lowered electronium prices. My old self would have instantly agreed but I feel conflicted about profiting from a war.¡±

    Hoo boi, this is going to be messy. First thing, as your ehh handsome friend I advise you to do anything to turn Bizax into a burning pile of ash, secondly, Yzs, is kinda¡­ gone.

    Dimitri got up quite excited. ¡°Does this mean you will become my advisor?¡±

    Hell no!

    He sat back down disappointedly. ¡°And what do you mean with ¡®gone¡¯? I spoke to the president last month.¡±

    Greg explained what we had seen half a month prior.

    Dimitri beckoned another assistant. ¡°I believe my handsome friends but I still want you to send people over to investigate with the highest urgency.¡±

    ¡°Yes Handsome!¡± The assistant bowed and ran away.

    ¡°So, we have an enormous problem if Yzs is gone. Besides losing 85% of the continent¡¯s electronium, we don¡¯t know if this will happen to other countries. For example, Jarn kingdom.¡±

    Aren¡¯t you guys also getting screwed over because all the wood comes from Aquini?

    ¡°Zanyr doesn¡¯t have as big of a problem with that as Hjuva has but it is a problem yes.¡±

    Wait I thought Yzs was only responsible for 70% of the continents electronium.

    Dimitri closed his eyes trying to recall something and opened his eyes. ¡°Our biggest electronium mine dried up 2 years ago.¡±

    Wow this continent is doomed, what do you guys think how about we move to a different continent?

    Greg smacked me.  So, what are the alternatives?

    ¡°Well, we are still working on that. We have to resort more primitive methods but we can¡¯t use the method Itris used because of the state of the lightning spirits.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    What have they done to the spirits this time!

    Dimitri beckoned another assistant who gave him some documents. Dimitri read through some of them.

    ¡°Reports state that most of the spirits have just vanished without a trace.¡±

    Uh oh. I guess they got sucked up into the spirit world.

    ¡°Oh how knowledgeable! Our head spirit mage assumed something similar but no solution to it, so we are quite stuck. My ancestor had found an ancient structure 860 years ago which produced multiple colors of lightning but his greedy ministers had abused it, causing it to break. This caused it to stop producing lightning and nobody had been able to fix it ever since. Also, some strange events have been occurring there which made it even more dangerous. No investigation team has ever returned from there¡± Dimitri stopped talking but he continued reading and flipping through the documents.

    Do you mind if we take a look at it? I have experience in archeology and Agnis is familiar with ancient structures and language.

    And me? what about me!?  Raishin said as he pointed at himself.

    Raishin is our moral support, most of the time¡­

    ¡°Ohh I¡¯m glad to have handsome and capable friends! Very well. BERTOLLI GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!¡±

    A middle-aged man clad in fancy armor stormed into the dining hall.

    ¡°Yes, your Handsome?!¡±

    ¡°My handsome friends here are going to take a look at the Amber Spire and attempt to fix it. Make sure they will have no obstacles in doing so!¡±

    ¡°Yes Handsome!¡± The guy saluted and ran off.

    Can you tell us about its location?

    ¡°It is a bit north west from Sparkling mountain.¡±

    Don¡¯t tell me that¡¯s what you called Zanyr mountain¡­

    ¡°It won by popularity vote but nobody calls it like that, they still call it Zanyr mountain¡­¡±

    Was the vote open to suggestions or a vote between multiple choices?

    ¡°Multiple choices, why?¡±

    There is your problem¡­

    Elliana put up her hand. ¡°Uhm emperor sir, why did you tell your assistant to make sure we have no obstacles fixing the spire?¡±

    ¡°Oh you can call me Dimitri, beautiful, and people have tried to raid the spire so we had to heavily guard it, To protect the treasure but I guess it also protects them from going missing. Well excuse me, I will arrange suitable transportation for you!¡±

    Oh, there is no need.

    ¡°Nope! I won¡¯t accept my handsome friends traveling in an unsightly manner! You will go there handsomely!¡± Dimitri snapped his fingers and an army of attendants flooded the room and carried us to our vehicle.

    I should have kicked his ass when he deserved it¡­

    So, we ended up in an extremely gaudy carriage carried by horses in suits. The horses looked handsome in those suits but I suppose that was the point.

    This is so cool!

    This¡­ sucks.

    This is so slooow!

    ¡°I like it! I feel like a princess!¡± At least half of us seemed to enjoy this.

    Hey Greg, why did you suggest we fix this spire? If the guys from the Yttroz Industries couldn¡¯t fix it what makes you think we can fix it?

    We needed an excuse to take a look at it.

    You do know that that weirdo would have probably let us regardless of how we asked right?

    Hey Agnis how do you know the emperor?

    I don¡¯t! I just called him a lunatic in public and got thrown in jail, I met him several times and he got thinner and thinner. He was so fat in the beginning. He was bigger than this carriage! Anyway, he somehow credited losing weight to me and asked me to become his advisor, which I refused. I don¡¯t know anything besides that.

    You do seem to have a strange effect on most of the people you encounter.

    ¡°Is that a nine tailed spirit fox trait? I actually don¡¯t know much about the tailed beasts, only that there seem to be 9 of them. what are they?¡±

    Huh that is actually a good question, I have no clue on the single tails, I think the 2 tails were dogs? Not sure, and also not sure what they do, we have shadowcats as 3 tails, forest rabbits as 4 tails, no clue on 5 tails, lightning tigers as 6 tails, crystal wolves as 7 tails, monkeys as 8 tails and spirit foxes as 9 tails.

    The single tails are gemmed merfolk and the 5 tails are plumed hurricane falcons.

    Merfolk?

    Falcons with 5 tails? How does that work? And wait merfolk were tailed beasts?

    For the falcons, they have 5 tailfeathers, similar to the phoenix, they also rival a phoenix in flight, for the merfolk, no, only the gemmed merfolk are, just like not any fox is a tailed beast only the 9 tailed spirit foxes.

    Oh, so I guess they keep the water clean or something.

    I am not sure about their function only that there are at least 4 types. Ruby merfolk, Sapphire Merfolk, Emerald Merfolk and Topaz merfolk. The ruby and sapphire merfolk are the toughest, the ruby ones have high offensive capabilities, the sapphire ones are deemed to be quite invincible because they have defensive capabilities on top on their toughness, the emerald ones specialize in nature energy and love making jewelry and I don¡¯t know what the topaz merfolk do besides that they are proficient in lightning magic. There might be more types of gemmed merfolk but I am unaware of their existence.

    So, what do the falcons do?

    I don¡¯t know, sorry. Shouldn¡¯t you know of at least the forest rabbits, Elliana? They seem to be quite similar to elves.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ our village had been mainly focusing on spirits and on our spirit gua¡­ on Bywen. Elves like Sylvana had pointed out that we¡¯re focusing on the wrong thing but nothing really happened after that.¡±

    Racial responsibility, eh? When are you 2 going to do something about that?

    What?

    Hmm that is a good question. I can¡¯t say I am aware on how to do that.

    I have responsibilities?

    Hardly any, as its stuff you normally do, you just have to do it better, I assume and put it in the world system or something? How is that even supposed to work? But well, it¡¯s not my responsibility so its ok for me to not know, you two however need to know!

    Hmm yes, I guess Raishin and my role are similar so we should work together to find that out. Let¡¯s try and do that after we¡¯ve visited this fascinating spire.

    The spire could be seen at a distance but it would take days maybe even weeks to get there on this snail¡¯s pace.

    Oh, speaking of responsibility, some dimensional holes have opened. Time to fix them!

    I opened to correct filter and jumped out of the carriage. A big hole had opened, or well had been here for a while and 2 tears had recently opened, these tears are what alerted me. I made bridges over the tear and closed them quite efficiently.

    This was a bit difficult to do for the hole but I made a network of bridges that eventually closed it. This took the longest and most effort.

    It is quite bittersweet that my horrible experience had another silver lining that I can make bridges between the dimensional fabric now. There was no scarring with these bridges. The tears looked neat; the hole was a bit sloppy but I¡¯m just a brat in 9t years so I think I did a good job. I did spot a relatively large hole near the spire, however. It seemed to be festering and I could see maggots, centipedes and beetles around it.

    What I know from Neia is that this is the sight of something that has invaded our dimension. I¡¯m still wondering what might have invaded our dimension near Boshi town. I climbed back into the carriage when I remembered something.

    Guys. We should be careful when we arrive at that spire. Please don¡¯t ask any questions if I forcefully teleport us out.

    What did you see.

    I linked them up with my eyes and showed the festering dimensional fabric.

    ¡°Eww gross! What is that!¡±

    Ugh, kick me out of the link¡­

    Raishin emptied his stomach out of the window

    It¡¯s just like Boshi town, fine! I have no objections!

    Me neither, did you figure out what that means?

    They got kicked out of the shared vision.

    No but as we know it¡¯s bad news.

    I decided to lie because I wasn¡¯t completely sure but I had the feeling I wasn¡¯t wrong. Things are finally starting to connect. Greg and I encountered scythe dogs in the underground library, these apparently are fairies.

    The fairies that captured me said that they had successfully invaded our dimension. I didn¡¯t check the fabric of space around their domain but they might not have invaded where they eventually ended up settling.

    The festering of the dimensional fabric was probably a result of the successful invasion of the scythe dogs. Which means that there is a high chance that this one means the same. The spire might be infested with fairies¡­

    I am glad that I got rid of my trauma but I still am terrified. Dimitri did mention that nothing returned from there¡­ This is bad¡­

 Pneuma 46: Amber Spire

    I had made a shadow clone that hopped out of the carriage and used a [Dimensional Anchor] to return to my home in the jungle and would run back to Zanyr to draw a receiving end of a teleportation circle. I am not taking any risks here; we¡¯re teleporting back the moment I detect bullshit.

    I had my tails prepare several backup plans in case the teleport fails. I did noticed something strange though. Gregory¡¯s shadow was pointing east. It always used to point west. Maybe my suspicion was correct, it didn¡¯t always point west but it points to something. There was a lot of space between the elven village and here, afterall.

    Yoo Greg, what¡¯s the deal with your shadow, its pointing east this time.

    He looked at his second shadow and made it disappear.

    I have no idea; it appears from time to time.

    How about you stop ignoring the problem and do something with it? I think it¡¯s pointing at something, which means you should go check it out.

    You reckon?

    I facepalmed.

    Well after this go find out your race¡¯s responsibility and what the deal is with your shadow.

    I will, thank you for the reminder

    I swear this guy¡­ only remembers things when it suits him.

    Hey I heard that! You¡¯re not any different! How about that time in Boshi town when you forgot you had a dragon friend!

    What is he up to actually?

    No clue, I completely forgot about him. I¡¯ll try summoning him when we take another break! How long do these horses want to take to get us there!

    Elliana looked at the spire and then at the horses. ¡°I think we will arrive there in 4 more days.¡±

    Zzz nobody has time for that!

    Come on Agnis it¡¯s good to take things slow from time to time, especially since we tend to get into trouble, are you that eager to jump into trouble?

    In that case! How about we don¡¯t go there and you go find out your stuff right now!

    Unacceptable! We need to see that ancient wonder!

    Let¡¯s go on an adventure together!

    The horses took their 6th break since we had left yesterday, lazy animals. I stomped on the ground to summon Tero. We waited and waited and waited.

    He¡¯s not coming¡­

    I¡¯m not surprised, dragons aren¡¯t known for being particularly useful¡­

    ¡°What do you have against dragons?¡±

    They live in their own world and it doesn¡¯t work out well for anyone else near them.

    He was quite useless yes, he did have the intimidation factor though.

    He was quite funny; I do wonder why he had images of our mothers¡­

    They seemed to have been quite popular in their days.

    I was trying to find out what was going inside of the spire when Raishin started bothering me.

    What¡¯s in there?

    I can¡¯t tell its covered in ancient technology. There is a shattered glass dome around it though.

    How do you know it¡¯s a dome if its shattered?

    Glass shards are sticking out of the ground that suggest that whatever was around it was a dome. Maybe not as big as the one in Event Horizon but big nonetheless.

    So, we fix the dome and it¡¯s done?

    I don¡¯t think so it has to be anything the Yttroz Industries can¡¯t or didn¡¯t come up with.

    Can they even repair ancient technology?

    Probably not, which gives us a whopping 0% chance to fix this ourselves.

    ¡°So, what is the plan, Greg?¡±

    We looked at Greg.  Uhm, we might be able to find out why it stopped working.

    Just say that you just want to see it.

    I want to see it¡­

    See wasn¡¯t that hard!

    So easy.

    So uhh these horses go quite slow indeed, mind bringing us there Agnis?

    I thought you¡¯d never ask!

    I grabbed everyone with my tails.

    ¡°What about these horses?¡±

    Giddyup! Go back home!

    Raishin slapped the horses which turned around and ran toward Zanyr.

    There fixed!

    We reached the spire in no time thanks to the Agnis express.

    Whoa it looks way bigger up closely; this glass looks thick though.

    Enormous glass shards, as thick as we are wide were scattered around the spire.

    ¡°What could even shatter glass as thick as this?¡± Elliana said as she sent out a wave of nature energy to scout out the area.

    I don¡¯t know but I also don¡¯t want to find out.

    I made a shadow clone, which used [Fade].

    Greg was inspecting the shards and exclaiming ''fascinating''.

    This is not glass, it¡¯s many times stronger than normal glass.

    So, it¡¯s super glass? Still sounds like it¡¯s glass.

    Well yes but it¡¯s not the brittle substance that we¡¯re familiar with.

    So, the danger level just skyrocketed? Great, just what we needed.

    Watch out for the glass!

    If you are careless enough to walk into glass that¡¯s as thick as you are wide, you deserve to get cut¡­

    He has a point¡­

    Raishin walked backward, admiring the tower and walked into a shard and cut his arm.

    Ouch!

    Wow that¡¯s a new record.

    ¡°You must have done that on purpose right?¡±

    I am afraid that was purely on accident, let¡¯s get closer, where there is less glass.

    Super glass!

    Whatever¡­

    The spire seemed to be made completely out of amber and it had a strange ring tightly wrapped around it at the halfway point.

    Oh, I see! That ring must have moved up and down the spire, creating static electricity, the spire might have a mechanism to store and discharge it!

    Greg held up 2 fingers with his left hand and made a ring a ring with his right index finger and thumb and moved the ring up and down to demonstrate the mechanism.

    Looks lewd!

    I get the idea, Greg but Raishin is right, try to find a different way to demonstrate it next time.

    Greg looked at his hands, turned red and put his hands in his pockets.  Anyways, we¡¯ve seen this before Agnis.

    Oooh!

    You have no clue what I¡¯m talking about do you?

    I will after you tell me!

    This was also an image in that book we found I that underground library. It also had an image of Event Horizon remember?

    Ugh, that library, I think I remember. So, does that mean we will encounter them all at some point? I did find the floating fortress.

    Oh, I would love to visit that one! But it¡¯s possible, the image had the spire with a glass dome around it and the tip of the spire discharging lighting in every direction, which got blocked by the dome.

    ¡°So, is it possible that the spire still works but that it has been disabled because the dome is broken?¡±

    Oh, lightning flying off in every direction would quite suck, you might be on to something Elliana.

    Then this place being dangerous might be a good thing.

    But you still want to go inside to take a look?

    Correct!

    I guess, Greg is the reckless brother now who needs to be stopped.

    I am not reckless! And why do I need to be stopped.

    Well, you know how everything always goes wrong when we do things? We might find a baddie, nuke it, it goes boom and he goes ¡®Haha, great mistake adventurers! I was the only one keeping this spire inactivated!¡± he then goes boom! And the tower turns into a tower of death!

    We all fell silent.

    ¡°Maybe we should go back¡­¡±

    Yeah, I¡¯m with Elliana, this could totally happen to us.

    But! Fine¡­ but let¡¯s just look! If we encounter some monster or enemy we run!

    Let¡¯s go!

    Ugh, I¡¯m sure were going to regret this.

    ¡°I am a bit curious too,¡± The gate of the tower was busted open so we could enter easily. I got cold shivers the moment I stepped inside.

    Hmm? What¡¯s up Elliana?

    ¡°Huh? What? I didn¡¯t say anything.¡±

    Oh.

    We were in a large hall and the middle of the spire had an enormous revolving staircase going up to the next floor.

    How did they make all of this from amber! The ancients surely were masters in their craft!

    Greg walked around and took out a notepad and made notes and drawings

    Huh this place is quite boring, let¡¯s go to the next floor!

    Wait I¡¯m almost done!

    I heard something strange, as if someone was talking in the distance or a whisper.

    Did you say something Raishin?

    Nope! But I think I¡¯m finally going crazy! I¡¯m hearing voices!

    You were already crazy but I hear them too.

    Elliana perked her ears. ¡°Hear what? I don¡¯t hear anything.¡±

    What¡¯s the point of those ears if you don¡¯t use them¡­

    I smacked Raishin.  I agree but that¡¯s rude to say out loud!Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°Hey!¡±

    Hmm what did you say Agnis?

    Greg, you doofus, I¡¯m over here.

    Greg became pale.  Then who was talking to me just now?

    A ghoooost!

    But ghosts have been confirmed to be spirits, so Agnis should be able to see them. I also don¡¯t feel anything.

    Nope no spirits here. Oh¡­

    I looked at the leyline current under the tower, it was quite girthy and filled with lightning energy, this would create a great power spot for lightning spirits, yet there were none. My suspicion started to grow. It also reminded me of that Elliana didn¡¯t hear the buzzing sound in that dungeon.

    Elliana, I have a strange question, what is the relationship between elves and fairies?

    ¡°Uhh, they are obnoxious, our race had several fights with them I think 800 or 900 years ago. They were quite easy targets for us.¡±

    Hmm, so they might have adapted¡­

    ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡±

    No nothing, just thinking out loud.

    Wait you also know how fairies look like Elliana? Tell me!

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how they look like but from what I heard; they are disappointing.¡±

    Can confirm.

    Ugh! Why won¡¯t anyone tell me!

    Ok let¡¯s go to the next floor!  Greg said as he had finished drawing and nerding out.

    You still haven¡¯t had enough? What about 99% of the rest of this main floor?

    We can do that when we¡¯re about to leave! I¡¯m curious!

    I am convinced we won¡¯t be taking the way down out but the teleport out. We took the stairs up and the whispering became louder but it was still difficult to understand what it was about.

    The next floor was quite dark and Raishin tripped over something.

    Ow! What is this? Agnis link us up!

    I linked everyone up, revealing the floor to those who can¡¯t see in the dark.

    Rails? This place has a train! Let¡¯s find it!

    These ancients are insane, a train in a tower?

    Fascinating!

    Greg needs to find other words he can use instead of ¡®Fascinating¡¯ Oh it¡¯s not a train it¡¯s like a mining cart!

    Were they mining amber? What are these for?

    These voices are annoying.

    ¡°Why can¡¯t I hear them!?¡±

    You haven¡¯t gone crazy yet, give it some time.

    We inspected the cart when Elliana screamed. ¡°Oh, you scared me. who are you¡±

    ¡°I am an adventurer but I lost my team.¡± A short black-haired woman appeared out of nowhere. She looked like she was an Unstoppable Beast and was holding a mace.

    You didn¡¯t kill them yourself, did you?

    ¡°Of course not!¡± She said. She looked like a human but didn¡¯t have an issue seeing in the dark. Very suspicious.

    Ohh, let¡¯s find your party!

    Hold on! Don¡¯t you think this is suspicious? Didn¡¯t the emperor make sure that we could get in here? That leaves a short window for adventurers to enter here.

    Hmm you have a point; we want an explanation.

    ¡°Well, we saw the guards clear away and got curious.¡±

    Something about this woman irked me.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you wait on the main floor, you won¡¯t find anyone in this darkness. How can you even see in this darkness by the way?¡± Elliana said. I noticed that she slowly reached for her bow.

    ¡°[Night Vision].¡±

    Awfully convenient, do you know where you lost your team?

    ¡°I think so, I think it was this way.¡± She started to walk in the direction we were originally headed.

    Wait! Let¡¯s take the cart!

    Really?

    Trust me! there is a good reason for it!

    Yes yes! The cart! Come on Greg!

    Fine!

    The 4 of us climbed in the cart and Raishin extended his hand to the strange woman.

    ¡°I will walk, but thank you¡±

    Are you sure they didn¡¯t ditch you because you¡¯re boring?

    Greg smacked him.

    She started to walk and Raishin used wind magic to push the cart.

    So slooow!

    Walking would go faster.

    ¡°I am confident in my running speed.¡± The woman said pridefully.

    Go for it!

    The woman was indeed a fast runner and Raishin sped up the cart. The whispering seemed to get louder and the heavy footsteps of that woman seemed to confirm my suspicions.

    A sudden wave of nausea rolled over me and I got yanked out of the cart as if I was attached to a wire and it had been pulled tout. I dropped 4 ice cubes behind me and swapped my buddies with them and the woman. I drew Nilah and held the blade at her neck.

    Now tell me, who are you exactly?

    I saw her lick her lips. ¡°My name is Ralina.¡±

    You are deceiving us, aren¡¯t you?

    ¡°Of course not, I assure you.¡± The tone of her voice dropped at ¡®I assure you¡¯ and I cut her head off.

    Guys we¡¯re leaving!

    Huh what?

    Wait!

    I helped my shadow clone in [Fade] to complete the teleport circle and we teleported back to the plaza in Zanyr.

    What why!?

    ¡°Why did you kill her!?¡±

    I will explain later. Let¡¯s go to a place where we can talk.

    We went to the AA and got 3 rooms. We were gathered in Raishin¡¯s room. Nobody wanted to share a room with him because he was so messy so he had a room by himself.

    Did you guys see how I got yanked out of the cart?

    Yes, what was that about?

    That was my [Dimensional Anchor] kicking in. I can¡¯t be forcefully moved to another dimension or anything similar to a different dimension.

    ¡°Is that why you wanted to go with the cart?¡±

    Hmm, walking is quite voluntarily, did you know this would happen?

    I had a suspicion, that woman¡­is what you would call a fairy. She looks different from the ones I¡¯ve encountered and she sounds different but there is no mistake, she was a fairy.

    So that¡¯s what you meant with that they were disappointing¡­ I expected large beautiful wings, them being a bit prettier and stuff!

    I will let you keep that dream.

    You never told us what happened with your encounters with the fairies.

    Trust me, you don¡¯t want to know, but I will drop a hint for you Greg. Scythe dog.

    Huh what kind of hint is that?

    Greg turned pale.  I see, no Agnis is right. It¡¯s a good thing we got out of there.

    Huh what? Why? I don¡¯t get it.

    ¡°So, we were in danger?¡±

    Regardless of if fairies are dangerous or not, getting lured in another plane or dimension is an easy way to never return. It is possible that the rest of the towers interior had been moved to a different plane, if we wouldn¡¯t have Agnis then¡­

    ¡°Then what?¡±

    Boshi Town 2.0!

    Probably.

    ¡°I never heard the complete story about that.¡±

    Raishin and I looked at Greg.  What?

    Hey Agnis didn¡¯t say that you had a new game?

    I was just thinking about that! Don¡¯t forget to tell her the whole story Greg! Bye!

    Raishin and I left the room and went into my room.

    To think he never told her, what is he even doing?

    No clue. I hope he doesn¡¯t leave out anything.

    His memory isn¡¯t as shit as yours.

    Hey!

    So those voices, were they also fairies? My intuition told me that the voices were bad news.

    I don¡¯t want to destroy your fairy dream.

    So, it is¡­So no fairy for you as girlfriend¡­

    Certainly not, I would prefer them not fairy.

    Well, I will have to go for plan K!

    Wait plan K? wat happened with the others?

    They failed so I¡­

    The power went out.

    What?

    Let¡¯s lock Greg and Elliana in the room and check out what¡¯s going on.

    Good plan!

    Raishin locked the door to his room. Greg seemed to be banging on the door but we ignored it. I put some Dawnlights in front of the door so that he couldn¡¯t [Shadow Meld] out.

    Hehe you¡¯re evil.

    I know right!?

    We went to the lobby to find out what was going on. An important looking AA employee was calming the crowd. ¡°Guys I want you all to stop panicking! It is just a blackout. We will try to procure enough electronium to get the lights running. Don¡¯t worry, the vital functions of the AA are still operational, it¡¯s just the non-vitals that are having this problem.¡±

    Electronium problems already?

    Seems so, what¡¯s worse is that it doesn¡¯t seem to be known yet that Yzs has gone poof, we might want to avoid big cities when that knowledge goes public.

    Wait! That means that plan K till Z have failed!  Raishin collapsed to the ground dramatically.

    My life¡¯s work¡­

    Stop being so dramatic, I won¡¯t die without a girlfriend.

    He grabbed my collar.  You certainly will! My intuition tells me so!

    Your intuition is quite useless sometimes.

    It¡¯s always useful!

    Then how does it suggest to get this problem fixed?

    It tells me to ask again after 5 working days.

    So useless¡­

    We went outside and started to look around. The AA was still doing fine, most of the city was without power. This wasn¡¯t Itris so the population was relatively fine but I wonder for how long.

    Raishin do you think this is our problem?

    Why would it be our problem?

    Good question, do you think your infinite energy thing can help here?

    Powering the whole country? Are you trying to kill me?

    I guess that¡¯s a no.

    I can still get physically exhausted you know! I¡¯m not a monster!

    Hmm I will see if I can find out how to fish that country back, no promises.

    Are you going to visit your cousins?

    After ghosting them in the elven village? Hell no! but maybe I should¡­

    Hehe and get¡­

    I smacked Raishin.  I knew that¡¯s what you were going to say. I will just give up if I fail, the chicks in the Floating lotus have more experience than me, they will surely find something out.

    Do they even know what is going on?

    Good point. I will send a shadow clone.

    I made a shadow clone that tugged on a [Dimensional Anchor] and returned to the elven village. It kicked out fruit stealing elders and started to run south and dove into the Aurelia river. It might be able to sneak into Aquini Kingdom just like we did the last time, via the river.

    Right, I think I¡¯m going to improve my [Dimensional Anchor] and see what I can do about this lost country.

    Ohh I smell adventure!

    One thing though. We should go shopping.

    Why?

    I pointed at the stores nearby.  Panic hasn¡¯t set in yet so the supplies and stores are relatively safe, but when it gets known that this is going to be life for an unforeseen time, everything will get raided. Are you ready to go on a shopping spree with me?

    Will you also buy stuff for me?

    Of course!

    Raishin and I spent the next 2 days clearing out most stores in Zanyr, we also went to cities close by and bought up as much as we could. We don¡¯t know for how long the continent will be like this. It is always better to be safe rather than sorry.

 Pneuma 47: Dimensional Map

    We need to talk about how you two locked us up for a day.

    Well, it would have been 2 days if you didn¡¯t break out but what¡¯s the big deal, you¡¯re free now!

    That¡¯s not the point!

    Greg, can you keep it quiet? I¡¯m trying to focus.

    We were in Greg and my room and I was going through the filter Neia had given me which contained the map of our dimension.

    ¡°Did you find anything?¡± Elliana asked as she looked up from the paper she was reading. It was what I wrote about how to make spirit vessels. It was a bulky document so she would spend a lot time reading it.

    Well, there are millions of small sub dimensions like Hourai, so this is going to take a while. I have to find out where we currently are related to everything here. My tails are running simulations but as you can see¡­

    I pointed at Nilah who was preventing my tails from overheating.

    Do you have any leads?

    Well, the area we are on doesn¡¯t seem to be flat. We know where Hourai was, I would like to think that it should be close to where we got spat out in here but it doesn¡¯t seem that easy. It should be easy to find where Yzs was the moment I find out where we entered the Mainfloor.

    This dimensional map was mindboggling. I didn¡¯t understand 99% of it. I could only make wild guesses on where we currently were on the map. Maybe I should go visit my cousins.

    I wonder, would it be easy to see big rips in the fabric on this map?

    I cycled through some filters. And came to the realization that we are screwed.

    Whoa, our world is screwed, it has more holes and rips than it has fabric. How am I supposed to find the rip above the Amber Spire? Maybe rips that are festering?

    I got to another depressing filter. At least a third of the holes and tears were festering and about one fifth seemed to be red, something Neia warned me to not go near.

    Hoo boi, we are so doomed.

    Stop being such a doomer! We should have enough time.

    I linked up everyone to my vision.

    ¡°My head!¡± Everyone started rolling around because of the headache they got.

    Ok we get it we¡¯re screwed! Please don¡¯t make me even more stupid!

    Wait! Don¡¯t kick me out.

    Greg rummaged in his bag and drank a potion with an unfamiliar color.

    Need some?

    Anti headache potion?

    Greg nodded. I didn¡¯t have a headache but I still accepted it.

    This¡­ doesn¡¯t look good. It¡¯s worse than you made it sound out to me.

    What¡¯s worse than we¡¯re ¡®doomed¡¯ or ¡®screwed¡¯?

    Well, you always exaggerate how am I supposed to know you¡¯re serious!

    I will put on my serious voice then.

    I cleared my voice and imitated Greg¡¯s voice.  Guys, in my 22 years of being a 9t I have never seen a mess like this. It is messier than Raishin¡¯s room after he has inhabited a place for a week. I can assure you with utmost seriousness that we are 100% screwed if our race doesn¡¯t at least increase in numbers by a minimum of tenfold.

    Hahaha you sound like Greg but also you don¡¯t!

    Did you really need to use my voice?

    I have to keep up to date with my deception!

    Ok I get it you can stop using my voice now, it¡¯s weird to hear my voice like that!

    ¡°I loved it! Can you do my voice?¡±

    I cleared my throat and started imitating Elliana¡¯s voice

    Ooh, it has been a while since I did a woman¡¯s voice, how does this sound? Maybe a bit too high pitched. How about this?

    ¡°Woah!¡±

    Agnis always gets a bit scary when he does this.

    So, I will explain this in the voice of Elliana, take notes Elliana, this is how you sound like an expert in dimensional maps. So, this filter shows an orange border over there which means the fabric is festering, which means an invasion has succeeded, we have last seen this at the Amber Spire and more importantly in a shitty town named Boshi town.

    Raishin put up his hand.

    Yes, dumb student number 12!

    Hey! So, what has invaded then?

    Uhh to be determined, that¡¯s not important for now! So, these red ones are dangerous, my auntie told me to not go near them so I won¡¯t. I like being alive. Now we can ignore the red festering ones and the red ones. So, it will look like this!

    ¡°We can¡¯t see anything; we got kicked out of the link remember?¡±

    Gregory, sweetheart, can you give them the anti-headache potions?

    You creep me out¡­

    Do you want me to throw a seductive tone in it?

    ¡°Oh, I am actually curious now!¡±

    Elliana¡­ please¡­

    Greg handed Elliana and Raishin some of the potions, I linked them up after they downed them.

    ¡°It still hurts a bit, is this what you¡¯re dealing with constantly?¡±

    Oh, you have no idea sweetie, but one gets used to it, but thank you for being worried.

    Wow¡­ this is dangerous.

    ¡°Can you teach me how to talk like that? It sounded like me but¡­ also not like me.¡±

    Everything in due time, you might actually have more success if you use that aura shift you elves are good at, get a more seductive aura, anyway!

    I flipped through some filters and my buddies held their heads in pain.

    Woops, so here we have the map that has eliminated anything that can¡¯t be the hole we saw near the spire.

    My head, there are still too many possibilities left.

    Yup and my tails are crunching the numbers and trying to find Boshi Town.

    But why? Didn¡¯t you fix that hole?

    I did and that¡¯s exactly why I¡¯m looking for it. It should be recognizable that I did something there. I will be trying to locate my own handiwork and work from there.

    Didn¡¯t you fix many more holes?

    Oh, handsome and Intelligent!

    Agnis, please... you¡¯re making me uncomfortable.

    Oho? What is this? Getting riled up by this voice? Anyway, Elliana can pick up from here later on.  I cleared my throat and started to imitate Raishin¡¯s goofy voice with a serious tone.

    Right so the hole I fixed at Boshi Town was enormous. It will stick out as a sore thumb between those that I have fixed.

    Ooh you sound just like me!

    I think that was the point¡­

    So, I will track Boshi town down, then extrapolate from there where Yzs should be. It isn¡¯t far location wise here in the physical world but this dimensional map doesn¡¯t believe in being simple, but it did rip it out of the fabric, it should be relatively unique. I should recognize it when I see it.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Wow this is also uncomfortable, the world isn¡¯t ready for a smart sounding Raishin.

    Hey!

    Elliana seemed to be writing things down. ¡°But you¡¯re looking for Yzs, right and not the hole it left behind, right?¡±

    Right, after dimensional tracking comes temporal calibration. This map doesn¡¯t display a specific time. Which I don¡¯t understand that well, it should show Hourai if it doesn¡¯t show a specific time but I am confident that I can track parts temporally if it¡¯s quite recent. Just mess with the time coordinates from before it disappeared. We also know when it disappeared¡­ Uhh Greg at what date did it disappear?

    Sounding a bit more like yourself there, Yzs disappeared on December 34th at 14:51.

    So, I mess with the time and then I will have to track it, follow it, pinpoint it, lock on the dimensional coordinates and match the temporal rate to ours. We don¡¯t want to pop in there for 10 minutes and have 200 years pass over here. Drag the country back, and done!

    And how do we drag it back?

    With a [Dimensional Anchor] of course! It needs to be severely upgraded though¡­ I will just have to get in there, wipe out some spatial and temporal anomalies, grab on to the spatial patch that the country is on and pull really hard on the [Dimensional Anchor] to get back.

    And the rate of success of all these are?

    Well locating it once I find Boshi town is near 95%, being able to follow it in time, 87%, leveling the temporal flow 100%, wiping out anomalies over there depends on you guys, grabbing onto the fabric there and dragging it back¡­ 37% I¡¯m still working on it and again¡­

    I pointed at Nilah who was still cooling off my overheating tails.  My tails are still working on all that, including the improved [Dimensional Anchor].

    ¡°So how long do you need?¡±

    Between 10 minutes and 3 months give or take.

    ¡°How do you know how to do all this?¡± Elliana asked as she continued writing. Is she taking notes? Or is she writing a diary?

    Improvisation and I guess instinct.

    So, the continent could be without electronium until mid-April in the worst case? That¡¯s not good.

    I went back to my regular voice.  Well, I¡¯m doing my best.

    Well keep us up to date and tell us if you need anything.

    I will be fine, thank you.

    I kicked them out of my visual link and kept searching. I was hoping it would take 10 minutes to find Boshi Town but it wasn¡¯t that easy of course.

    <hr>

    It took a month before I managed to lock on to my energy. I thought it would be easy to find Boshi town from there but it still took me a week to find the biggest one.

    I did it! I found Boshi town! Which means!

    I found where Yzs was 10 minutes later.

    Bingo! We got a match! Phew this took long now¡­

    How about you sleep first?

    Ugh, fine, but only because you won¡¯t shut up about it!

    I will wake you up in a week, if you wake up before that I will put you to [Sleep].

    Fine!

    No nightmares this time, quite surprising. Something shook me awake.

    Ugh, 10 more minutes.

    You¡¯ve been saying that for the last 3 days.

    I got up.  And you let me sleep for 3 more days?!

    Well, you always overwork yourself so yes.

    What is the state of the continent?

    Not good. We tried to keep the information of the outside from you so you could focus but things aren¡¯t going well outside it seems the humans are regressing to a state of about 200 years ago and the slavery line is marching south.

    Ugh idiots, why don¡¯t they do things themselves just like most other races do¡­

    I don¡¯t know but I¡¯m sure that¡¯s just the tip of the iceberg.

    Hey Greg, I have a silly question. How are we going to do this and not be the heroes?

    Hmm that is a very good question. We will be saving the continent if we bring Yzs back. I don¡¯t know actually. I¡¯m sure you can hide it form the rest of the continent but you might not be able to hide it from the citizens of Yzs.

    Disguises or illusions it will be then. I am already popular for no reason; I don¡¯t need more of that.

    You know fully well that there is a good reason for that¡­

    Fair, they just can¡¯t resist my charisma!

    Whatever. what¡¯s the state on the success rate of those other factors you have mentioned?

    All are 100% besides being able to drag it back to here¡­ can¡¯t seem to get past 75% success rate¡­

    Any factors that can increase it?

    Me being older and less shit.

    Greg frowned.  Realistic factors?

    Uhh 2 or 3 more months.

    Ugh.

    I will get to it for 3 more days and I will just fire up some probability manipulation when we get to dragging it back.

    Isn¡¯t that going to completely drain you?

    It¡¯s that or [Elgard Overload] I don¡¯t have much choice here.

    So, if problems arrive during the dragging process¡­

    You guys have to deal with it!

    Seems fair, do you need anything? Else I will notify Raishin and Elliana.

    I¡¯m fine thank you.

    I could only get the success rate to 79% in 3 days. It was pretty good but a 21% chance to get stuck in the void are terrible odds.

    Greg was reading on his bed and looked up after i sighed.  Is it time?

    We have a 21% chance to get fucked over, let¡¯s go.

    Ok.

    We got our stuff and checked out. The AA was quiet. There were a lot of people but they weren¡¯t doing a lot. The city looked quite deserted and was in a mess. It seems riots and raids had done a number on the city. It reminded me of the state Fahjin was in.

    I covered us in illusions and started the trip to Boshi town which took 2 weeks. We decided to rest out in the rural areas because cities and villages were a bad idea now.

    <hr>

    It was mid-March and we had arrived on one of the mountain tops looking out over the empty space that used to be the country of Yzs. Some land from North Hjuva was also taken but not a lot. North Hjuva is a country by the way. I was quite surprised to know they named a country North Hjuva and not something else. I suppose the humans ran out of inspiration and apparently the Misha capital lies in North Hjuva. How the humans distinguish North Hjuva from the northern parts of Hjuva is a mystery to me. But that¡¯s not my problem.

    ¡°It¡¯s still a strange sight¡­¡±

    Looking at this hole feels like looking at Abyss magic.

    It does indeed, what happens if one were to fall into this Agnis?

    I inspected the hole with my eyes.  Hmm, actually, Greg you might want to try to attune to this hole if possible, falling in this hole will turn you into energy which will get fed to the planet, similar to abyss magic.

    Wait so if we throw a god into this, we can kill it?  Raishin asked as he pointed at the abyss.

    Seems so.

    So, does this hole really need to be covered up? We can use this!

    Of course! The continent is completely crippled at the moment!

    Just try to see what you can find out; I will be making the connection to Yzs in 10 minutes. From what the dimensional map told me, I can conclude that it is stuck in another dimension bubble, quite like Hourai but way smaller. We might have to deal with whatever lives there.

    ¡°Is that good or bad news?¡±

    Probably bad news¡­ my intuition tells this is a bad idea.

    Hmm, I don¡¯t quite understand this hole but I got the gist of it. I will have to investigate more after we return.

    So confident, we have a 21% to not make it back you know. You guys can stay here, I could do this alone.

    Absolutely not! We ride or die!

    Yeah! Nobody gets left behind!

    Well then hope you guys are ready.

    I created the area in illusions and went 9t mode. Time started to glitch and space started to fold. I ironed out the space between Yzs and us. I fixed the flow of time and waited till it turned into a constant. I grabbed them with my tails.

    Last chance to chicken out.

    Let¡¯s get them back and become the heroes!

    ¡°I am ready!¡±

    I will take care of any energy anomalies.

    I dashed over the road of spatial fabric I had made, into a dark purple portal. It would bring us to our destination with unknown challenges.

 Pneuma 48: Dravoâ€™s Dimension

    DIt was a smooth trip. We arrived in a relatively dark space.

    Hmm, we¡¯ve arrived. Everything seems fine, I could get us back whenever with my improved [Dimensional Anchor]. It¡¯s just¡­ why is it so dark here?

    I think it has to do something with that black sun.

    So edgy. Oh look! Isn¡¯t that Yzs

    It was an enormous chunk of earth that was floating above the rest of the dimension, which looked like the Mainfloor besides being quite¡­ edgy. I kept folding space until we got to the top of a mountain and I dropped my 9t form.

    ¡°Wow so this is the power of a mythical beast.¡±

    Heh, you should see him when he blows up mountains!

    Hmm something seems off. Hoo boi.

    What do you see?

    So, this place is inhabited by some sort of demi humans I think they¡¯re half dragon or lizard or something, but they have enslaved everyone living in Yzs. Some of the population seems to have moved down below, mostly the women¡­

    The half-dragons were performing some heinous acts on the main part of their dimension, while those that were still on Yzs were getting worked to death.

    It never was going to be easy, wasn¡¯t it?

    Well, there seems to be a leader so we just beat everyone up, kidnap everyone on Yzs, kick anyone off that doesn¡¯t belong there and get it back. But that¡¯s what you guys are going to do. I need to get everything ready to pull this country back.

    Wait we have to do this without you?

    If you want to get back safely, I¡¯m afraid so. I can send some frost arrows down from here and some triple clones, but I will be staying hare to make sure we don¡¯t get lost in the void or forcefully ejected from this sub dimension.

    Can you at least send a shadow clone with me? I will attempt to talk to the leader and try diplomacy. And! Don¡¯t worry! I expect it to fail, and I will act accordingly, but asking will never hurt. I need your shadow clone to detect deception.

    You and your diplomacy, fine. Make it quick I need to focus. This space already tried to kick us out twice.

    I made a shadow clone and made more illusions to trick this space that we had successfully been kicked out. I might have to go 9t mode again.

    Guys. I don¡¯t want to put pressure on you but can you please do all this in under 6 hours? It is going to be quite rough if I have to use [Elgard Overload] to keep us here.

    But we need a plan!

    ¡°Let¡¯s go Raishin! We can make a plan on the way down; we also have his shadow clone!¡±

    My shadow clone and my buddies went down the mountain. The capital, Gir, was nearby, well nearby for my standards, and that was the first place my clone would bring them. Whoever is the leader had built an enormous black castle in the middle of the capital. What an edgelord.

    I shifted my focus to my shadow clone.

    <hr>

    My main body started to prepare for our departure as I grabbed everyone with my tails and dashed over to the large castle.

    How long will you be able to be with us as a clone?

    We should arrive in 12 minutes; I will be able to stay for 18 more. We might have to fight our way to the boss and then try diplomacy. I don¡¯t know how things work here, but diplomacy always takes forever.

    It is quite dark here; doesn¡¯t that mean Greg is super overpowered here?Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    Oh, I actually feel quite energetic, I might be able to be extremely effective here, yeah.

    ¡°Ooh, I can¡¯t wait to see you in action!¡±

    We reached the city, which looked quite somber. Having this whole dimension locked in perpetua darkness didn¡¯t help either.

    ¡°So, what is the plan?¡±

    Hmm well this is your first big adventure with us so it is time for you to step up Elliana! Come up with a plan!

    ¡°Hmm, you and Greg are trying diplomacy, right? But that is probably going to fail, Greg is empowered in this space, so how about having him be the main fighting force. He will keep the leader and their strongest fighters busy; you can do that right, Greg?¡±

    I will not fail!

    ¡°I can¡¯t teleport, Raishin, is it possible for you to teleport down and get all the humans back up here? I will fight off the rest up here and try to convince the humans we¡¯re here to help them, we might get some assistance from them.¡±

    I think that¡¯s a brilliant plan.

    Can I beat up anyone who stands in my way?

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    As long as you don¡¯t destroy anything on Yzs, I¡¯d say go loose.

    Well, we¡¯re lucky that Yzs geography is quite retarded, who creates a country that¡¯s split in 3 by mountains, human stupidity always amazes me. But most of the inhabitants live in the capital, so capture the capital and we win. Anyway we¡¯re on a clock. Greg let¡¯s go!

    We split up. Raishin chain teleported to the edge of the country and jumped down below, Elliana moved around stealthily to try and win over some humans first before starting an attack, and I carried Greg to the castle in stealth. I didn¡¯t feel like using the front door, so I teleported to a balcony on the 4th floor.

    I put him down and kicked in a window. We found ourselves in a dark corridor that had black and dark red everywhere. There were spikes and skulls everywhere, and empty armor pieces were lined up next to the wall.

    This guy watches too much tv, the stage is yours.

    Greg put his hand on me and [Shadow Melded] us. We appeared in front of a large door after I directed him where to go. It reminded me of one that leads to a throne room. It was all black and covered in spikes and black skulls. I augmented my leg and kicked in the door.

    Knock Knock! Hourai Police! We want our humans back!

    Agnis, really?

    I shrugged and we walked in.

    ¡°Who the fuck are you two?¡± A black dragon half-blood was sitting on a throne, quite arrogantly.

    I just told you we¡¯re the Hourai poli¡­

    I am Gregory Sheru, and this is Agnis Hourai, we come to request that you return the country of Yzs, which we currently are standing on, back to where it belongs.

    The guy smiled. ¡±Jesters! we finally have jesters!¡± I looked around.

    What is he talking about, Raishin isn¡¯t here.

    ¡°Oh, you are serious, very well! You can have it back! If you defeat me, Dravo the great black dragon!¡±

    But you¡¯re only a half-blood.

    This guy thinks he¡¯s hot stuff. He is not even a full dragon and he seems quite young. I think even Elliana will kick his ass. But this fight is for Greg, he can finally release his inner edge and discover how dragons behave.

    ¡°Silence! Not a word! I make the rules here!¡±

    Who died and made you king?

    ¡°Nobody!¡±

    So, you¡¯re not the king then, so you don¡¯t make the rules.

    Agnis¡­

    ¡°How about I beat you two to a pulp eh?¡± Edgelord was getting worked up. Just a bit more.

    Oh, and by the way this guy here goes by the name Obsidian Prince. Edgelord vs edgelord fight, hehe. And with that my time is up, I riled him up for you Greg! Good luck!

    Who needs enemies with friends like you¡­

    Edgelord seemed pissed off and ready for battle now, but my mana ran out, and I dispelled myself before that happened.

 Pneuma 49: Gregory Sheru

    I facepalmed as Agnis¡¯ shadow clone disappeared.

    ¡°You are like me.¡± Dravo said as he arose from his tasteless throne.

    I am nothing like you!

    ¡°I like your fashion, how about we share a meal and talk about the darkness?¡± I looked at my attire and noticed that mine wasn¡¯t that dissimilar to his. I cringed at his words. Is this how Raishin and Agnis see me? I need to work on my image.

    We shall do no such thing! Release the humans or fall to my shadows!

    ¡°Yes! Very good! I like that line! I think we will get along very well!¡±

    It is as if I¡¯m talking to Raishin or Agnis, why won¡¯t he listen?

    ¡°How about finding what is stronger? My darkness or your shadows?¡±

    His mana surged and I reacted by retrieving mana from my shadow.

    My shadows will wring out your darkness and I will put you to justice.

    ¡°Very well! Come, Obsidian Prince, let¡¯s find out whose darkness is stronger!¡±

    Dravo flew up and I pulled my hammer out of my shadow. I was in my element here. This dark dimension gave me better control and range over my shadow magic.

    I paused and put my hand over my mouth. This is what they mean with an ¡®edgelord¡¯ don¡¯t they?

    The fight hadn¡¯t started yet, but I already felt defeated. How can I escape my fate as an edgelord? I started to get embarrassed. The words I had spoken made me cringe after recalling them. Why did I say that?

    I blocked a strike with my hammer.

    My focus was waning... I need to focus on the fight.

    Dravo got pushed back, and I got a chill through my spine. I could sense Agnis¡¯ energy¡­ he was watching me.

    I will never hear the end of this, will I? Nothing here seemed more intimidating. Having to put up with Agnis and Raishin making fun of me about this for an undetermined amount of time is many times more terrifying.

    I can¡¯t afford to have this fight take too long!

    I hurled Umbra Noctis¡­ even the name that Agnis gave to my hammer is edgy! He did this on purpose! Why didn¡¯t I realize this sooner¡­

    ¡°Ha! you missed!¡± Dravo had successfully evaded Umbra Noctis, but this was of no importance. The shadow attached to my hammer reeled me in, and it slammed into Dravo.

    ¡°What!?¡±

    My shadows quivered and spread out as I released my three-tailed shadow cat state. I swiped my arm, drenched in shadows, and tore into him with a large [Shadow Claw]. The room was filled with dancing shadows, which created waves of shadows.

    Why did I never realize how edgy this is¡­ I formed the shadows into a large [Shadowcat]. It started to purr, and the sound inflicted various curses on Dravo.

    ¡°Agh! What the fuck are you!¡±

    I wondered if half-dragons have night vision, as I used [Blackout].

    ¡°Ha! Nice try! I am the darkness! This doesn¡¯t affect me!¡±

    Dravo got smacked into the wall by my [Shadowcat¡¯s] paw.

    It seems he¡¯s all talk. The [Shadowcat] pounced on Dravo and kept clawing at him. I approached my hammer and pulled it out of the wall.

    Dragons have high vitality; this shouldn¡¯t be enough to defeat him. He does seem like a pushover, though.

    ¡°Enough! How about you stop cheating and fight me fair and square!¡±

    What are you on about? I am in your territory and vastly outnumbered, there is no way this fight could ever be fair.

    The half-blood dragons that had attempted to sneak in the room could be clearly observed by me. No attempts at using stealth or anything stealthy. Some had knocked over the sets of armor near the walls of this room. The longer this battle goes on the more I begin to understand what Agnis meant by ¡®Dragons live in their own world¡¯ this is a quite literal situation though.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    I [Shadow bound] every dragon in this room. To think that they could ambush me like this is ludicrous.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how, but he found out Dravo! We¡¯re sorry!¡±

    ¡°Idiots! You had one job!¡±

    I erected a [Shadow Wall] to absorb a [Dark Dragonbreath]. ¡°Haha what about this!? What do you think of my Breath of Darkness?¡± The cringe almost made me drop my [Shadow Wall].

    Why do I always get the weirdos¡­

    My [Shadowcat] used [Purring Curses] and hit everyone in the room.

    Playtime is over.

    Anyone in range got hit by a multitude of curses, and most of the small fry instantly died.

    The [Shadowcat] meowed and cast [Sleep] on the survivors. I pulled everyone to me with [Shadow Tendrils] and used the dark elemental skill [Nightmare].

    This is one of the highest damaging magic I can use without using energy stored in my shadows. Its weakness is that my target has to be asleep. [Nightmare] eliminated half blood after half blood until only Dravo remained. He managed to break out of [Sleep].. He might be a simpleton, but his resilience is the real deal.

    ¡°You will pay for this!¡± His body expanded and forcefully broke out of the [Shadow Tendrils].

    ¡°You killed them all! Who is going to do my errands now and call me ¡®King of Darkness¡¯?¡±

    That¡¯s what you¡¯re worried about?

    Dravo transformed into his dragon from. I used [Shadow cloak] as I anticipated a [Dragon Roar].

    I was correct and it blew the top off the castle.

    You surely aren¡¯t going to blame me for the destruction of your residence, right?

    Dravo looked around. ¡°You bastard! I extended my invitation to you! We could have dined in the shadows together but you refused! You killed my fans and destroyed my home. You are not an ally! You are an enemy!¡±

    I thought it was very clear that I am your enemy¡­ I am convinced an edgelord dragon is the most annoying combo possible¡­

    My [Shadowcat] picked me up with one of its 3 tails and put me on its back.

    ¡°Perish by the hands of my [Flood of Darkness]!¡± A flood of darkness rushed at the [Shadowcat] but it did nothing.

    ¡°Huh, that¡¯s strange, why are you still alive?¡± This dragon''s ignorance baffled me. I am struggling to take this guy serious. I am aware that Raishin, Agnis and Elliana would have a harder time dealing with this guy, but to me, it just seems he is messing around. Has he ever considered that shadow or dark magic is ineffective against a shadowcat? Is he aware that using any other element might be more effective?

    ¡°Very well, you give me no choice, I will unleash my ultimate skill! [Darkness Dragon]!¡±

    I am tired of these games.

    The [Shadowcat] took Umbra Noctis from me with its tail. The hammer enlarged, and it kept growing until it matched the size of the destroyed castle. I imbued it with shadows, and it would release a variation of [Liberation] on impact.

    ¡°Uh how about I hit you first, and then you use that?¡±

    Unbelievable¡­

    The [Shadowcat] brought down the hammer on Dravo and delivered [Umbral Liberation]. A shockwave traveled through the whole city as the hammer slammed him into the ground.

    I might have overdone it. Maybe holding back isn¡¯t as easy as I make it out to be. I will have to apologize to Agnis and Raishin.

    Large cracks had formed in the ground which extended throughout the whole city.

    I still sensed Dravo¡¯s energy. The [Shadowcat] returned Umbra Noctis to me and I jumped off. I landed next to him as he was attempting to unearth himself since his lower body was stuck in the ground. He had reverted to his human form. He looked worse for wear.

    ¡°How about you become my second in command?

    ¡± I swung my hammer and launched him southward. The [Shadowcat] picked me up and threw me after him. I created a resilient [Earth Pillar] to catch him and slammed my hammer into him the moment I caught up.

    My fighting style is loosely inspired by ppinball, so I kept launching him around between [Crystal Pillars] and [Earth Pillars]. I propelled myself by launching myself with those same pillars, application of [Gravity] or I had my [Shadowcat] throw me.

    My shadowcat state got cancelled as using it on Dravo would be superfluous. We were located far outside the capital and in a mountainous area. Dravo had been lodged into a rock wall. This mountain was at the edge of the floating Yzs.

    Any last words before I send you down?

    It seems he had already lost consciousness. I backed off and raised my hammer, it enlarged and would increase in weight as the hammer would slam down.

    [Tectonic Shift] separated this mountain from the rest of the floating country and sent it down below.

    My work is done, time to help Elliana.

    I continued to launch myself until I reached the capital.

 Pneuma 50: Raishin Express

    I arrived on the world below and looked up. I was lucky that this world below was smaller than the big piece of floating rock above me. Everything looked so edgy and dark here. Greg would love this place.

    A lot of people here were having sexy time, but I don¡¯t think the human women are doing this by choice. A woman should be cherished, not abused! I kicked in every door and blasted any half-dragon? Were they half-dragon? They seemed more half than dragon. They had some dragon scales. Were they dragon quarts? Dragon uhh half quarts? Or dragon quart quarts? What is the correct name for this?

    Either way, they were weak! They were stronger than humans, though.

    ¡°Hey don¡¯t disturb my fun time else¡­¡±

    I punched random dragon number 5124 in his face and sent him flying.

    I am Raishin the savior! I am your hero and I¡¯m here to bring you to the promised land!

    I pointed at the big floating sky rock.

    ¡°Do you mean you will bring us back to Yzs? What about Dravo?¡± a hot brunette said. She was skinny and slender but still hot.

    Who? Oh, an Agnis impression.

    ¡°The leader of this place, a real dragon¡­ there is nothing we can do against him!¡±

    Don¡¯t cry because I am here! But I¡¯m not alone! I¡¯m with my 3 friends! One of them will take care of him. I am here to teleport you up to the promised land!

    ¡°But that¡¯s our home, it¡¯s not much of a promised land¡­ but thank you for saving us¡­¡± I gathered sheets to cover the women in because it seems these dragon don¡¯t believe in clothing. All the women here were naked or wearing clothes that might as well have them walking around naked.

    Despicable fiends!

    I gathered a group on a plaza. I first enjoyed playing the hero but that disappeared quite slowly. I was getting icky feelings about this situation. There are so many hot chicks here but for some reason I don¡¯t really care, I just want to get them up. Have I truly awakened as a hero? Or is it because I¡¯m more interested in the chick of my dreams? I don¡¯t know.

    ¡°So how are you going to get us up there?¡±

    Ha with teleports of course!  I said as I pointed at the floating Yzs.

    ¡°All of us?¡± The slender chick said as she looked at the crowd gathered on the plaza.

    Hmm, now that you say so, how am I going to do that.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°You came here without a plan?¡±

    Hey shouldn¡¯t you be all shy like ''ooh my savio''r or something?

    ¡°I¡¯m a realist, I accepted my circumstances when they happened and I still accept them now¡±

    Aha, I¡¯m not the plan guy though, you have to go to Agnis or Greg for that.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re going to teleport us one by one?¡±

    Uhhhm ok wait give me a moment!

    How am I going to do this? I should have asked Agnis how that teleport circle of him works. How about I just launch them up there? I looked at the squishy humans.

    No, they will die. I guess I will just have them cling to me and teleport them up, and repeat that.

    Ok, so I know this sounds bad, but I want as many of you to grab on to me so I can teleport you up!

    They started to talk under each other and seemed like they were unsure.

    ¡°I will do it.¡± The smartass chick came over and held my arm, ¡°Like this?¡±

    This must be the best day of my life! I mean yes, if you make contact then you will get teleported with me.

    It took a while, but they gathered. I started up my teleport and chain teleported up. I was in time to see an enormous hammer drop down on the city.

    Hmm, maybe I should drop you off a bit outside of the city.

    I teleported to the outside of the city wall, far from where Greg dropped his hammer.

    There should be an elf lady somewhere in this city that¡¯s helping the other humans. I will go back and save the rest.

    I teleported back down and gave a thumbs up to the remaining women. Not only that, but I then got a brilliant idea! If I make a lightning clone, I can teleport more humans! I made a lightning clone. It was small and had a strange shape. It startled the women. What did Greg use to say? Mana control was needed to create clones?

    My clone looked¡­ special.

    Hmm why does it look so strange? Ah well it should still work, grab on ladies!

    They didn¡¯t seem to like my wording, but they took my chances. My clone teleported off, and my intuition told me that this would work out.

    Now I will have to free more of you, my clone will be the Raishin express. If you can, try to help and free as many as you can and send them to this plaza!

    I didn¡¯t know what the population of Yzs is, but it seems they have a lot of people. Agnis gave us 6 hours, but I was still saving people after 3 hours. I hope I will make it on time.

 Pneuma 51: Spring Breeze

    Elliana was a bit confused at the start, but she caught her bearings quite fast. She ran into the first house.

    Nothing happened for a while, but a [Wind blast] burst down all the windows and a dragon half-blood got launched out of the house.

    She repeated this until she had a group of able-bodied humans helping her out. They were no match for the half-blood dragons, but Elliana¡¯s arrows and wind magic kept them at bay long enough so that the humans could also attack them with magic.

    It was winter on the Green Floor, but it seems to be spring in this dimension. A gentle spring breeze was blowing to the west. Elliana nocked an arrow. It made a strange curve and hit a half dragon in his eye.

    The dragon fell to the floor with a scream.

    No magic was used, just pure skill and reading the wind. She would target the eyes of the opponents so that the humans stood a chance.

    She was wondering why the season was different here. Agnis said that he evened the time flow. Does that mean that time used to flow differently here?

    Elliana jumped to the side to dodge a [Dark Dragonbreath] and dragged a human with her as he couldn¡¯t react in time. ¡°Excuse me, can you tell me how long you have been in this situation?¡±

    ¡°Whoa, thanks! And almost a year, missy, we¡¯re glad that we can finally be free!¡±

    ¡°A year¡­¡± Elliana wondered if she should tell the humans that they had only been gone for 3 months on the Green Floor. The air was clean here. All processes that humans normally keep going, which pollute the air, had been stopped for about a year.

    Elliana was unsure of how to feel about this situation. She used [Spring Breeze] to encourage the wind and purify the air even more. She let her arrows dance on the wind, and she used elven magic to bind the more skilled half-blood dragons with vines and roots.

    ¡°What is an elf doing here, by the way?¡±

    ¡°I came here with 3 friends of mine who are helping out too.¡± Elliana said as she shot some [Lightning bolts] and more arrows.

    ¡°Help? How are they supposed to help us? We¡¯re stuck in a different dimension!¡±

    ¡°Well, we got here, so we should also be able to go back.¡± Elliana smiled and created a [Tornado]. She had delegated saving others to the able-bodied humans. They were to lure out the half-blood dragons so that Elliana could take care of them.

    Her group grew from 12 to 34 to 150. It didn¡¯t take long for a large group of humans to be gathered around her, helping her, but also protecting her.

    The half-blood dragons had realized that if they take her out, they would win. They marched up with a group of 300 strong fighters. Some started up their [Dragonbreath].Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    Ice arrows rained down and froze them solid. Elliana looked up. She wondered if she could teach Agnis the way of archery. He had the accuracy, but that was it, he could do so much more. Thankful for the assistance, she started to send arrow after arrow. All carried by the spring breeze. A large hammer appeared in the distance.

    ¡°Everyone retreat!¡± Elliana gathered mana and used [Wind Walk] on as many humans as she could. She threw a leaf kite in the air and hung from it upside down while continuing to target the eyes of the half dragons.

    The massive shadow clad hammer slammed down and created a large shockwave. Elliana was unaffected, hanging from her kite. She used elven magic to create vines to stabilize the humans on the ground. Some humans knew wind magic and tried to get as many of them from the ground as possible.

    Everyone was working together to regain freedom. Elliana saw 2 dark figures fly away into the distance and the half dragons started to panic. ¡°What was that?¡±

    ¡°Is our leader, ok?¡± Most half dragons were hesitant, and a large group went back to check out what was happening at the castle.

    ¡°They are distracted! Now is the time to regain your freedom!¡±

    The humans instantly reacted to Elliana¡¯s voice and advanced toward the destroyed castle. Elliana continued to shoot down half-blood dragons, now assisted with wind and water magic.

    Elliana started shooting her special Windbark arrows, which made impossible trajectories and targeted every dragon eye in her range. ¡°We can do this! They are blinded! Let¡¯s push the attack!¡±

    The humans roared and rushed at the blinded half-dragons.

    The morale of the humans increased even more as a large group of women entered the city.

    The men reunited with their mothers, wives or daughters and started to rush to the palace with renewed vigor. Elliana was wondering if they still needed her at this point. The half-blood dragons had no morale and were vastly outnumbered by the humans.

    The humans had learned to go for the eyes, and that was exactly what they did. Even the stronger half-blood dragons were getting easily overwhelmed. Elliana landed on a tower and looked over the city of Gir.

    She saw large groups of women appear at the east side of the city in periodic intervals.

    ¡°That must be Raishin.¡±

    The humans had completely retaken their city after 2 hours. Some large groups were made to head out for the villages in the surroundings.

    Elliana was unsure what would happen if the 6 hours were up. Was it possible to defeat every half-blood dragon in this country?

    The leader was defeated, the humans were freed. What to do now? Elliana had an idea.

    She ran south. Toward the southern border and toward a small forest.

    She ran on the wind and as fast as she could, took a deep breath and made as many large leaf kites and gliders as she could with the help of the forest. She rested for 20 minutes and used wind magic to bring the fleet of leaf gliders and kites down to help Raishin move the humans back to their country.

    Elliana saw something that irritated her an hour later.

    ¡°Oh no! they are not going to mess with Greg!¡± She continued doing her task, but that didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t attack. She readied her Windbark arrows and targeted 2 individuals who were about to attack Gregory.

 Pneuma 52: [Shadow Meld]

    I had gotten a concerning Teleroad message from Raishin. He was unsure if he could get all the humans back up to Yzs in time so I was looking over the edge. I had noticed that Raishin¡¯s clone was chain teleporting the woman back up but this method was relatively slow.

    A swarm of leaves was going up and down. This must be Elliana¡¯s work. What can I do? I can¡¯t move between places that aren¡¯t connected. Can I make a [Shadow Tendril] that extends this far? Agnis will move the country back in about 2 hours. I can¡¯t afford to dawdle.

    I went in my three-tailed shadow cat state again and let the shadows pour off the floating country. It seemed to work. The shadows reached the ground below after 43 seconds, and I stabilized them. I [Shadowmelded] down through the [Shadow Fall]. I sighed when I arrived at the bottom. I did it again. Is there another name I can give this?

    Oh, Greg great! Can you [Shadow meld] them all up?

    Raishin was carrying 4 women who seemed to be injured. He seemed physically tired. His energy might be limitless, but that¡¯s only magical energy, he can still get physically tired.

    I can do more than just 4.

    Can you also help save them? Elliana is busy flying them up and down, I need a break

    I think you did enough. Take a rest for the next 2 hours. I will handle this.

    I created 22 shadow clones and also spread my shadows over a large area.

    The inhabitants of this dimension were¡­ weak. They were stronger than humans and were living their lives, but they made the mistake to opt for slavery. Confrontation would just take too long. The shadows connected to the shadows of the women and forcefully [Shadow melded] them toward Yzs.

    A lot of progress was made, but 2 half-blood dragons seemed to target me. I was quite busy sending all the humans up, so I didn¡¯t have much time or energy to spare for them.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°Hey, you can¡¯t just come here and destroy our lives, you will pay for thi¡­¡±

    2 arrows sprouted from his eye sockets. The other dragon covered his face with his arms and 4 arrows dug into his arm.

    I attempted to locate Elliana, but I couldn¡¯t find her. Where did she shoot them from?

    ¡°How did you do that! You¡¯re not even holding a bow!¡±

    He seems to be of the impression that I did that. I wanted to clarify the situation when a shower of arrows rained down on him.

    ¡°Owowowo! I¡¯ve never seen magic like this!¡±

    He fled and hid under a statue of a dragon that had extended wings.

    ¡°Ha! You can¡¯t hit me here!¡±

    I am not respon¡­

    ¡°Aaaah! My back! How did you hit my back!¡±

    The half dragon attempted and failed to pull 2 arrows out of his back as he couldn¡¯t reach them.

    ¡°Enough games! You¡¯re going down!¡±

    He transformed and¡­ didn¡¯t look much different, he just had more scales. ¡°Ha! Let¡¯s see how you get through this armor!¡±

    2 arrows sprouted from his eye sockets and he died.

    I will have to remind myself to never anger Elliana¡­ I was still unable to locate her. I did notice a swarm of leaves that had almost arrived at Yzs. Did she shoot from all the way over there?

    It seems that worrying about opponents is useless. I am not sure if I can get the chance in to attack, but that¡¯s fine. I will focus on getting all the humans up before the deadline.

    ?

 Pneuma 53: Timeâ€™s up! Time to go home!

    So, I thought that this would be extremely hard to keep up. And it was hard in the first 2 hours, but it became quite easy after that. I could just snipe down some problematic figures that were causing trouble. I was however trying to still fix this shitty 21% chance on certain doom. It had turned into 20% chance of certain doom, not much of an improvement.

    I don¡¯t know what the implications are of staying too long here would be, so I would abide by the 6-hour deadline. Just 30 minutes left.

    Greg and Elliana will get all the humans safe in about 5 minutes, quite impressive. Raishin had fallen asleep. He might not have been the best choice for the evacuation, but he did his best.

    Everyone had played their part, and it¡¯s soon time for me to do mine. Everything was set, so all I had to do was pull on the [Dimensional Anchor]. A tug would normally work, but I am moving a whole country this time not just myself.

    Greg was performing monstrous feats in this dark dimension. I have never seen his shadows like this.

    It was the correct choice to bring them, this would have sucked if I went alone or even if I went with my cousins. I was also surprised by Elliana¡¯s performance. She seemed like a general for a bit there. She is the daughter of Byron, the village chief, after all.

    Not only that, but she might have a high affinity for leading, her talents might be wasted on us if that¡¯s the case. She could lead the elves to a better era where they don¡¯t sit on their asses and start tending to the forests.

    I guess she could gain some experience with us. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want her in our team, it¡¯s just that it¡¯s better for this planet if she one day becomes a village leader. Why is life so complicated?

    Her archery though, oof that¡¯s overpowered, I feel embarrassed to say that I know how to use a bow now. I might have to ask her for some tips.

    I sniped a half dragon that tried to ambush a mother and her child and instantly got embarrassed, yup I¡¯m gonna ask Elliana for some tips.

    Maybe it¡¯s better to go back now. The last human had been put on Yzs soil. All the half dragons will kicked out the moment we will go through the dimensional fabric. Elliana, Greg, Raishin and I aren¡¯t getting kicked out of this dimension because I am overpowered! Well it took a bit but I managed to trick this sub dimension and we¡¯re now temporary residents.

    I had to also use some illusions so that it would hold on to its real citizens so the moment I move Yzs back, the half blood dragons get kicked off the country.

    -Attention shadowcats, Lightning tigers and elves, I am going to return us all home in a bit since you seem to have saved every human. The half dragons will get kicked off Yzs when we return so they won¡¯t be an issue. I want to do this as soon as possible so that they can¡¯t cause more harm. Either get to a safe spot or come visit me on my mountain.-  - And why is it suddenly your mountain? But understood, I will [Shadow meld] everyone over.-

    A huge mass of shadow moved and made a tether that connected to my shadow. It seemed as if my shadow absorbed all of it and Greg, Raishin and Elliana got [Shadow melded] to me. Greg canceled his 3t mode.

    So, did you enjoy your edgy fight?

    I did not, I have a lot of self-reflection to do. So, the dragons will get kicked out when you move us back?

    Yup! Also, Elliana¡­ can you teach me some archery tricks when we return?

    ¡°Of course!¡±

    Right! 20% to get fucked over!

    I went 9t mode and used my tails to pull on the [Dimensional Anchor].

    Nothing is happening.

    That is correct because the portal needs to open first.

    A light green portal appeared and a blue purple chain became visible. It was the chain of my [Dimensional Anchor].

    Is the portal supposed to be that color?

    Dunno. Do I look like I know what I¡¯m doing?

    ¡°It¡¯s the Green Floor! That must be it!¡±

    Well only one way to find out.

    2 tails dug into the dimensional fabric of Yzs and the rest of my tails pulled and the country moved toward the portal. It wasn¡¯t laborious but it took a while as I was dragging a whole country. My tails optimized the process and it went from pull, stop, pull, into a fluid motion as each of my tails alternated in pulling. I love being a 9t!

    A light green flash temporarily blinded everyone as we got sucked up by the portal. My eyes prevent me from being blinded so I could instantly see that I might have forgotten something.

    Ugh, what the? Agnis did you turn the light on again while I was sleeping? I can¡¯t see a thing!

    Good morning sleepyhead! Or well it seems to be night. So, we got good news and bad news.

    Good news first please.

    I froze my feet to the ground.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    We¡¯ve made it safely to the Mainfloor.

    A familiar sensation gripped everyone and it was the reason I froze my feet to the ground as I didn''t fall at the same rate as anyone else.

    And the bad news is that you screwed up the height coordinate?

    Bingo! But hey! This isn¡¯t my fault! Normally when you note down a location, you only use the longitude and latitude coordinates!

    ¡°So how far off are your height coordinates?¡±

    10

    Ohh, look we¡¯re above the clouds!

    10 what? We certainly have fallen much more than 10 meters¡­ Agnis¡­

    Yup! Multiply that by 1000!

    So, we go splat?

    We go splat!

    Why¡­Why can¡¯t you do anything normal¡­

    Can¡¯t you do something with your earth magic or gravity stuff?

    To a whole country?

    Hmm fair point.

    How about we blast the country? We can¡¯t go splat if there¡¯s nothing to go splat on!

    ¡°Raishin, that¡¯s a terrible idea! I will see if I can slow the fall!¡± Elliana used wind magic, but it didn¡¯t seem to work. ¡°it¡¯s not working¡­¡±

    You¡¯re trying to lift a country, after all¡­ can¡¯t you reduce the distance between us and the ground to 0 or something?

    Oh, I can do that!

    I dodged Greg who was trying to kick my ass.

    Hey ok! I¡¯m sorry!

    I went 9t mode, started [Elgard Overload] and set the distance between the ground on the Mainfloor, and the bottom of this floating country to 0. I messed up a bit, and we kept our inertia which caused massive earthquakes as the country slammed down in its rightful place, slightly disoriented but hey! I¡¯m just a dude, I¡¯m not a god.

    Greg shot me an angry look.

    Oh, come on I did my best!

    I¡¯m slowly starting to think that you will destroy the world before anything else can.

    Hehe the world can¡¯t be destroyed if there is nothing to be destroyed!

    Greg tried to smack Raishin but he evaded.

    Ha too slow!

    Ugh! You guys are so annoying! But alive! Now excuse me I¡¯m going to deal with these earthquakes because a certain fox messed up!

    Hey not sure why you are angry! It¡¯s my nature!

    I know and that makes it worse because there is nothing you can do about it!

    Greg stormed off and tried to calm the rumbling earth. I did spot some volcanic activity. I guess this continent went from almost no volcanoes to a lot of volcanoes. Terraforming is supposed to be a 7t thing.

    We all sat down.

    ¡°Wow we made it! Do these things always happen to you guys?¡±

    Yup, this one was a bit crazy though.

    Oof I¡¯m pooped but I¡¯m not done yet.

    ¡°What do you still need to do?¡± Elliana asked while getting out a notepad.

    I need to stitch this country back to the Mainfloor, what a pain in the ass.

    She scribbled something down. ¡°Is It hard?¡±

    Uhh, not really just a lot of work and exhausting, but it has to be done. Raishin, can you teleport her to a normal place, I¡¯m not sure if going to the capital is a good idea unless you want to be worshipped as gods.

    Ooh yes! Let¡¯s go!

    ¡°Uhh, I prefer not to, Raishin can you teleport us to where Boshi Town was?¡±

    Eh? That hole? Fine! I will send a message to Greg that he can find us there.

    Raishin grabbed Elliana and teleported away. I started the long and exhausting process of stitching Yzs back to the Mainfloor with countless bridges. It took me 12 days to complete.

    ?

 Pneuma 54: Rest?

    So, I didn¡¯t only mess up in the height coordinates, I also didn¡¯t iron out the timeline. But this worked out in our favor. We left to retrieve Yzs in late March but we returned begin February that same year. A bit of time travel there.

    The Mainfloor was still in a mess. I also had to address the fact that there currently was a paradox as the country was both gone and present in February. I had to go through 5 rounds of [Elgards Overload] to fix this. It was currently late March again. It did remind me of my overpowered teleport which I named [Paradox Teleport].

    I¡¯m soo exhausted!

    Then go to sleep!

    But I want to go with you guys!

    You will just be bored and Raishin seems to have arranged something for you. Did you leave a small spot unstitched around Yzs?

    Yes, near my mountain, just like you asked.

    Stop calling it your mountain, it¡¯s nobody¡¯s mountain!

    I ignored Greg as I had claimed that mountain.

    Do you really think that patch of ¡®nothing¡¯ is the key to finding out how to do your role?

    I think so. Raishin and I could learn something from it. The thing Raishin had arranged for you sounds quite interesting hehe, it starts in 2 weeks! We want to do some training together before we leave the day after tomorrow though. I will wake you up, now go sleep.

    Meh fine! You better come back from that trip knowing what the fuck your race is supposed to do!

    We will!

    Oh, and don¡¯t forget to check out what your shadow is pointing at!

    Will do now go sleep!

    Greg left and I looked at Nilah who was curled up next to me.  Just us two now. Hey did you fall asleep without me!?

    Nilah had betrayed me and already fallen asleep. I decided to do the same.

    More nightmares, the fairy nightmare and someone dying right before my eyes. Those two dreams played off the most but the one with Hablena in it seemed the most vivid and real. Is this event nearing or does this mean something else?

    <hr>

    Greg woke me up and we went to the AA to practice.

    It was busy as always. Greg had rented a private duel space. The Obsidian Prince was very popular under the women so he had to. Raishin and I grinned.

    What are you idiots grinning at?

    Oh nothing!

    It¡¯s your imagination!

    ¡°It has been a while since I¡¯ve been in one of these simulation rooms!¡± Elliana spun around and let greenery grow.

    So uhh what is the plan? Do we just beat eachother up? I don¡¯t want to fight any of you, fighting you is unfair. I can however beat up Elliana!  Raishin pointed at Elliana.

    ¡°I actually wanted to teach Agnis how to use a bow ore more accurately¡­ how to shoot arrows.¡±

    You want him to increase the amount of pain in the ass skills he has? I¡¯d say go for it. We will benefit from it somehow.

    Hey it¡¯s not a useless skill! I get embarrassed shooting arrows with an elf nearby! I can¡¯t keep it like this!

    You and your strange motivations. I guess I will beat up Raishin. Let¡¯s go!

    Eh? But I¡¯ll lose!

    Yes, and this exercise is important so that you don¡¯t lose as fast!  Greg and Raishin took some distance and started to duel.

    ¡°You still have my items and belongings stored right? Can you take out my archery supplies?¡±

    Sure.

    I looked through the items that I had stored for Elliana and took out various bows, arrows, bowstrings and other items I don¡¯t recognize.

    ¡°All we need is this for now.¡± Elliana handed me a jar of a green viscous liquid.

    Secret weapon #4?

    Elliana shook her head. ¡°No silly, this is Woodbark Amber. You¡¯ve noticed how some of my arrows have strange trajectories right?¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Arrows that use this as a tip will show that behavior. It solidifies if a short burst of nature energy runs through it and gains similar properties as glass or obsidian.¡± She revealed that the 2 stones were molds. She placed a headless arrow between 2 stones.

    ¡°This is how we make them. We pour the amber in the mold, we stick in the headless arrow, make sure nothing sticks out and then gently apply some nature energy.¡±

    She poured the green viscous liquid in the mold, stuck the headless arrow in, applied nature energy and revealed the arrow. The arrowhead looked dull. She tapped it with 2 fingers, applying some more nature energy and the dull parts shattered off, revealing a dangerous looking sharp arrowhead.

    Whoa.

    Elliana messed with the system of the training room and had the simulation create a simple monster. She nocked the arrow and aimed.

    ¡°Arrows with Windbark Amber heads fly perpendicular to the wind direction. They don¡¯t react instantly to natural wind but they do to wind magic.¡± The monster was roaming around and it didn¡¯t seem as if Elliana could hit it at where she was aiming currently.

    There was no wind in this simulation room. Elliana released the bowstring. She made small simple gusts, nearly imperceptible on the arrow which made it zigzag, curve, make a small arc around the monster and hit it from behind.

    ¡°It will be a bit trickier with natural wind but that¡¯s the gist of it. Anyone can learn this technically as you don¡¯t need a wind magic affinity to do this, just produce small gusts. The ability to read the wind and precision are needed however, but that should be no problem for you.¡±

    Whoa, that¡¯s so overpowered! But I assume this would indeed be tough without Elgards Eyes.

    ¡°For arrows without Windbark Amber, it¡¯s just reading the wind. It was brief but you seem to shoot arrows through layers of air and wind that are similar, try to take a bit more advantage of changing winds and areas with different air pressure, I¡¯m sure you can figure it out. Now for the last skill.

    She flung some nature energy on the monster that had the arrow on his back. And showed me a magic circle.

    ¡°It¡¯s a simple elven magic spell. It causes nature energy attacks to follow the target.¡±

    She nocked a normal arrow and imbued it with nature energy. She didn¡¯t bother aiming and shot. The arrow made a natural curve toward the monster. It did miss but it was clear that the arrow was attracted to the monster.

    ¡°That¡¯s it.¡±

    Ohh I see. Interesting. Cn I see the magic circle again? Can I also see the magic circle of your [Wind Arrow]? I might have something for you. Well I don¡¯t have it yet but I can make it.

    Elliana showed me the magic circles. I didn¡¯t want to mess with elvish magic so I just learnt it as Elliana showed me. [Wind Arrow], however isn¡¯t elvish magic so I improved that for her and made a [Lightning Arrow] skill for her. She also showed me a heavy hitter called [Wind Ballista] and I made a lightning equivalent for her. I needed specific runes to make a better [Lightning Ballista] but this was sufficient for now.

    I messed with the wind and lightning versions. I gave them some interesting properties but it will be boring if I tell you, it¡¯s better if you find out yourself hehe.

    ¡°Thank you! I was starting to feel that the lightning skills I knew were¡­ out of place for my style. And now we both have something to practice!¡±

    Elliana made the space spawn more monsters and she started to practice with her new and improved skills.

    I started to make arrows with Windbark Amber. The arrows were made out of ice and the tips will be frozen in its shape and then hit with nature energy.

    My application was a bit rough but after 6 failed arrowheads I got something that looked deadly enough. I felt like a toddler as I had made a mess and there were green shards and green liquid everywhere.

    The training began after I had cleaned up my mess. A weak monster appeared and I shot the arrow. The arrow snapped midair as I had applied too much wind mana to it. My magic control is top tier but that doesn¡¯t matter for an element I hardly use. I can only make neat [Airballs].

    It took 17 snapped arrows before I got the hang of it. It wasn¡¯t hard. That was ignoring that I have overpowered eyes of course. While not as graceful or accurate as Elliana, the arrows did find their target. As long as I hit the target, I feel that I¡¯m accurate enough. Aiming for specific parts will take more training but I will rely on Elliana if we need to go for the eyes or a small specific part.

    At least I shouldn¡¯t be embarrassed to shoot off arrows in front of an elf now! I practiced the other skills Elliana had thought me and I saw that Elliana had figured out how to use the new and improved skills I gave her. She was alternating [Wind Arrow] and [Lightning Arrow] which matched the intent I had put in them.

    I looked over to the fight between Greg and Raishin. Raishin was laying the hurt on Greg but we all know that if Greg gets a good hit in that the situation could reverse. That¡¯s why Raishin was keeping up the pressure.

    Aand he got bound by vines. I forgot that Greg also knows some nature energy and elven magic. I¡¯m sure Raishin had forgotten too as he seemed surprised and was complaining.

    Aand he stopped complaining as Greg knocked him out with his hammer.

    I connected to the leyline currents and used [Counterspin] it was time to practice under situations that are a bit more¡­ extreme.

    I returned to my room exhausted. We had practiced almost the whole day. I had said goodbye to Raishin, Greg and Elliana as they will be going out and find out what their race is supposed to do tomorrow. This means I can have a nice sleep!

    <hr>

    I heard knocking.

    ¡°Mr. Silver Torrent! Your appointment!¡± I got up. I freshened myself up swiftly and changed. Nilah was looking out of the window and studying the humans in the lobby of the AA. I wonder what Raishin had planned for me. I opened the door and a short man in the AA uniform was in front of the door.

    Bring me to your leader!

    ¡°That was the plan, follow me.¡± Oh, I didn¡¯t expect this to happen. I got brought to the 5th floor and into an office. I saw many familiar faces.

    Uhh Vice Daddy, what is going on?

    ¡°I see, Raishin, hasn¡¯t told you anything, good. We all had a rough few months but most of the AA are fully operational now. I have to say, you do move around a lot. Anyway, it was a challenge to get everyone to Brilliance, but here they are, the first 3 adventurers to succeed in getting into the Silver Torrent role.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    I looked at Mo, Crissy and Hayley.

    Ah that explains a lot.

    ¡°It is good to see that you are well.¡± Crissy had a strange smile on her face.

    ¡°Too bad Raishin isn¡¯t here but we haven¡¯t seen you for even longer!¡± I had no idea Hayley was still in contact with Raishin.

    ¡°But man, that exam was rough whew!¡±

    Even for you Mo? What kind of sadistic exam did you cook up for them Vice Daddy? And uhh? New secretary?

    ¡°Really Agnis? Would it hurt you to remember me?¡±

    ¡°Leave it be Tania, I¡¯m not sure what you were expecting¡­ Anyways while the continent is still recovering, they could use some excitement. They are already excited that there is not just a new member but a whole team that has joined the Silver Torrent role. But what if we add on to that if you were to fight them1¡±  Eh? You want me to embarrass myself?

    ¡°And why do you think you would embarrass yourself!?¡± Crissy put her hands on her hips.

    It¡¯s 3v1 I will lose!

    Nobody in this room seemed to believe that.

    ¡°You do know that we do this knowing we will lose right? Raishin told me this would happen.¡± Hayley snapped her finger and an AA worker appeared and opened a suitcase with a pristine salmon in it. My mouth started to water.

    What do you want me to do!

    ¡°So easy¡­ just show us what you¡¯ve taught us 2 years ago!¡±  2 years ago? Has it already been that long?

    The 3 nodded.

    Hmm, ok, just make sure you are serious you might get seriously hurt otherwise.

    Vice Daddy got up. He seemed satisfied that the bribery was successful. Crafty old man. ¡°Well glad that is fixed, we have prepared an arena and we will be recording it. Maybe you can show why you¡¯re called the Silver Torrent, I¡¯m sure everyone is curious.¡±

    The three took a step back.

    ¡°Uhh, Vice president, we¡¯re fine, he doesn¡¯t have to do that!¡± I agreed with Crissy, that is overkill.

    ¡°Hmm, really? I¡¯m quite curious.¡±

    Maybe another time. So, when is it?

    ¡°Get ready, it¡¯s in an hour! Yessir! This is going to be fun!¡± Mo started to dance. He seemed excited.

    Uhm, I guess I will have Nilah sit out this one.

    ¡°Nilah? You¡­ have a girlfriend?¡±

    Uh, no Crissy, she¡¯s, my pet.  I turned Nilah from sword form to fox form.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve seen her before so her name was Nilah!¡± Hayley crouched down and started to pet her.

    Warning, she will steal your mana.

    Nobody cared as usual.

    Crissy cocked her head. ¡°Why won¡¯t you let her join?¡±

    She will seriously fuck you up but I can have her participate if you want.

    ¡°She took all of my mana¡­ maybe we should listen to him Crissy¡­¡±

    Ok I won¡¯t use her. Well get ready you three, I bet you haven¡¯t have gotten your asses kicked since 2 years ago.

    We all left the room and got lead to the battle arena. Did Raishin set this up for this fight or was he trying to get me with Crissy? He can be quite cunning sometimes; he was probably aiming for both.

    I wondered how to kick their asses. I could out speed Mo, or outdo Crissy with ice. Or¡­ I could go full physical with dagger and wires. I haven¡¯t done that in a while. I will do that.

    We walked in the arena. They were so kind to have covered the floor in water. The only audience were some AA workers, Vice Daddy, his secretary and is that the president? And he also had some people with him.

    The first thing they seemed to notice was that I was walking on the water that was shin height. Sadly, this isn¡¯t due to my water mastery anymore. It is quite hard for me to sink nowadays.

    The bell rang to start. Crissy instantly froze all the water and Mo started to skate. I threw a dozen of daggers at him. This surprised the three of them. Mo evaded them but the daggers flew in strange patterns because they were attached to wires. I started to use [Accel Step] over the ice and electrified the wires. I had caught Mo in a net and zapped him.

    I [Blindsided] Crissy and landed an electrified palm thrust to her back, briefly paralyzing her. I tied her up in wires.

    ¡°Hey! You didn¡¯t teach us this!¡± Hayley tried to help Crissy, but I turned the ice under her, causing her to turn around. Mo tried to break out of the wires but they were made out of dragon beard.

    He did send magic at me but I threw lightning infused daggers at them, canceling them out.

    ¡°Ooh shucks, what are these wires made off?!¡± Mo couldn¡¯t get out of them. I pulled him in and made him crash into Hayley. I jumped up to evade an [Ice Spike] Crissy shot at me. Her intention was for me to move to the side so she could box me in but I know these tactics.

    There was nothing for them to interrupt because I was using physical combat and magic infusions. A [Ice Pillar] launched me but that just put me in a more advantageous position. I pulled on the wires and pulled the three together and bunched them up together.

    I landed on Mo¡¯s head and my hand holding wires crackled with red lightning.

    Want to go on?

    ¡°No sir! We surrender! That was amazing though!¡±

    ¡°Wow, I feel quite embarrassed, we lost faster than I expected¡­¡± Hayley said as she tried to get out of the bind.

    ¡°You eliminated any chance for us to act, just as you have taught us¡­¡± I freed them and consoled them.

    Don¡¯t worry, this means you still have lot¡¯s to learn. Knowing this is one of your weaknesses only makes you stronger.

    ¡°JEFF DO YOUR FUCKING JOB AND ANNOUNCE THE WINNER!¡± Something familiar happened and the president was yelling at the announcement guy.

    Sorry for ending it so quick, longer fights do favor our style but it will also keep us under pressure to keep the control up.

    ¡°Wires, eh?¡± Crissy went nerd mode and was writing down notes.

    Vice Daddy¡¯s secretary seemed to be his daughter in the end. I finally remembered her; she wanted something stupid as me joining her party. I refused her again. Vice daddy seemed lost in thought, he seemed to have been taken aback by my use of daggers and wires.

    ¡°Jerome, we need to have a meeting!¡±

    ¡°I agree, Terrence, will you be taking your daughter to the meeting?¡±

    ¡°Not this time, Tania, the President and I have important matters to discuss, please¡­ don¡¯t embarrass yourself.¡± Vice Daddy and the president walked off. I was wondering if I was in trouble.

    A small party was organized to celebrate the creation of Team Moch. I bet Hayley came up with this name it used the first letters of every team member but since ¡®Mo¡¯ only has 2 letters it ended up as Moch. Mo was the leader so she only found that fair, it also made for a better name.

    We were at some place. I didn¡¯t catch the name but we could lounge but it was also a place where one could hold these infamous ¡®Parties¡¯. They were also distributing alcoholic beverages. I don¡¯t like where this is going.

    ¡°So, what are you up to these days?¡±

    Not much, some snackin¡¯, slackin¡¯

    ¡°Hey! He is my rival! He will join my party!¡± Tania butted in.

    Didn¡¯t your daddy say to not embarrass yourself? Shouldn¡¯t you be the example here as our elder?

    Hayley inspected Tania. ¡°She is older than us? How do you know the daughter of the vice president?¡±

    Dunno, I discovered today that he has a daughter, I always thought he had a son.

    ¡°That¡¯s not true! Hehe! We know each other for about 10 years now! I remember still when he was a 12-year-old brat!¡±

    Huh? That happened?

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t seem to remember you though¡­¡± Crissy tilted her head.

    ¡°That¡¯s because his memory is terrible!¡± She said as she pointed at me. It seems as if she was getting close to having one drink too many as she is successfully embarrassing herself.

    Hayley grinned. ¡°He remembers us though.¡± This seemed to do critical damage to Tania.

    Mo stopped dancing. ¡°Well, it is known that the Silver Torrent tends to disappear and has a bad memory, there are rumors that he is an alien.¡±

    What? Why!? Not again! I can¡¯t stand this accusation! You! Daddy¡¯s girl! Do something!

    ¡°Hmpf, remember my name first!¡±

    Will you help me, Tania?

    ¡°Oh, eh, sure.¡±

    Heh, easy, such a Daddy¡¯s girl!

    ¡°Hey are you sure you don¡¯t remember me?!¡±

    Who knows¡­

    The rest of the day was quite lively, a bit too lively. I left a clone behind and walked through Zanyr. The emperor is fast as always. It looks way better than when we returned Yzs. It seems they have started to treat Elliana and Raishin as heroes over there. Greg and I were seen as also contributors

    This had made the country extremely friendly to Zanyr because¡­. I looked at the statues of Dimitri, Greg, Raishin, Elliana, and me on the big city square. I sighed. Complaining to Dimitri is just going to make things worse for us. I want to bust down these statues but it¡¯s just going to give him an excuse to build better ones. This is so embarrassing¡­ I decided to ignore it.

    The three stayed in Zanyr for another week. Our fight had blown up. Everyone seemed to be aware of how strong team Moch was because they had fought other 3-man teams before to show their dominance but this fight showed how far they still had to go. This in turn¡­ made me more popular.

    ¡°Come on Agnis, what did you expect? You defeated us under 2 minutes, that is certainly going to count for something!

    But they¡¯re making it out to be a big deal!

    ¡°Well, we have been challenged 43 times since we passed our test a month ago and we had beaten all of them relatively easy. Some of them were very strong teams.¡± Mo had put on glasses and was reading from their track record off a tablet.

    So, it¡¯s your fault that this is happening!

    ¡°So unreasonable!¡± I had walked them to the teleport gates. These 3 had become filthy rich in a short time so they could afford these stupidly expensive gates now.

    ¡°We will make you proud don¡¯t worry!¡± Hayley sounded like a daughter setting out to make her parents proud. I hate this¡­

    Hey stop with that sappy stuff, I¡¯m not your teacher anymore nor am I your parent. You owe me nothing, do what you want and enjoy.

    ¡°We will put up a better fight next time! And say hi to Raishin for me!¡± Hayley stepped into the gate.

    ¡°Until we meet again! I will find a way to deal with physical crowd control!¡± Mo shook my hand and stepped through the gate.

    ¡°Raishin had set this up hoping something would happen¡­ I am moving on, thank you for teaching us in the university. The world seems to hold way more possibilities and opportunities now. We won¡¯t forget your teachings.¡±

    Such a teacher¡¯s pet, now go join your friends and become even richer!

    Crissy smiled, waved and went through the portal. Raishin is going to nag me when he learns nothing happened. At least I got more famous by beating up my ex-students. He can¡¯t nag about that right?

    I decided to rest. I need to find a way to get rid of this fame. How does one fall out of fame? Doing something bad won''t work it will just turn into infamy. Maybe if I do nothing? I tried that before but that didn¡¯t work. Nuking the continent? I can¡¯t be famous if there¡¯s nobody left! I decided to use that as a last resort.

    It wasn¡¯t a long way between the teleport gate terminal and the elevator to go to my room but it took forever because adventurers had come here to meet me. This sucks!

    ?

 Pneuma 55: Ellianaâ€™s role

    Stare long enough into the abyss and it will stare back.

    Hahaha he is doing it again!

    Greg and Raishin were staring into the dark patch Agnis had left for them. Elliana was looking at them, unsure what to do.

    ¡°Is there anything I can help with?¡±

    Ehh I have no idea what to do so not sure if you can help.

    I¡¯m sorry Elliana, I don¡¯t think you can help. I think we need to figure this out by ourselves.

    Elliana had used some elven magic and made the relatively barren mountain side quite vibrant in her boredom. Greg was just staring into the abyss and Raishin was throwing attacks at it. They have been going at this for weeks, but nothing had worked out for them yet. It made Elliana think of what her role was supposed to be and how the elves aren¡¯t doing any of that.

    She flipped through the notes that she had been making since she joined team Hourai. They were details about the team members and their role. Agnis¡¯ role seemed the most complete, while those of Greg and Raishin were relatively blank.

    It gave her a bad taste in her mouth that her 3 friends were putting their lives on the line in doing their roles while the elves were just relaxing in their villages. The adventure in that dark dimension had made her realize how otherworldly Agnis¡¯ role is. Greg and Raishin¡¯s role seems simpler but¡­

    Elliana sighed and looked at the back of the 2 mythical beasts. Nobody would be able to guess that these men are mythical beasts.

    I got it!

    Raishin had tiger striped clouds floating around him. They normally had an orange hue and black stripes, but they were yellow with dark blue stripes.

    Huh? How did you do that?!

    Dunno just instinct! It just clicked! Now let¡¯s see how much energy I can dump in the system! Gogo¡­

    Rashin exploded in orange light and started to look as if he was made out of lightning.

    Oh haha! I have no idea what this is but it feels good! Here take this system! Get better!

    An enormous mass of lightning and energy got created, turned yellow with black stripes and disappeared. A strange orange explosion followed.

    Ooh haha I crit! More energy for the system!

    This is ridiculous¡­ you just found out on a whim and it somehow puts you in Raijin mode?

    Hmm? Raishin Mode? I like that!

    No, it seems to be your race¡¯s specialty. I think it puts you in something similar to a critical rush. It¡¯s stupidly strong¡­ Your mother could use it too.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    Elliana didn¡¯t understand anything that was going on. Is a role supposed to be this simple? She looked at Greg, who still was struggling in trying to figure out how to do his role. She made a sapling grow out of her hand. Does she know how to perform her role? What does ¡®tend to the forests¡¯ even mean? She would have to ask Bywen. She had no confidence in any of the elves she knows. Bywen was probably the only one who might know.

    She noted down any of Raishin¡¯s new findings, no matter how nonsensical they might sound. Only his race is supposed to understand it. It shouldn¡¯t be strange that their roles don¡¯t make any sense for other races.

    I just can¡¯t get it. Does your stupid intuition have a tip for me?

    Uhh so you have your abyss thingy, right? Why don¡¯t you use that!

    It needs a lot of energy to use¡­

    Raishin pointed at the black patch.

    Why don¡¯t you do your edgy stuff and ¡®feed¡¯ off that darkness or something?

    That¡¯s not funny! But I suppose I could try.

    Greg went to ¡®Feed¡¯ off the darkness while Elliana walked over to Raishin.

    ¡°Hey Raishin, do you have something for me? I just realized that I have no idea on how to tend to the forests.¡±

    Uhh weren¡¯t you guys like tree doctors or something?

    ¡°Tree doctors. hmm. Not exactly, but that might be it! Thank you!¡±

    Wait his random ramblings helped out? Oh¡­ I think I got it¡­ thanks Raishin. I still can¡¯t believe how this intuition of yours works¡­

    Hahaha! I¡¯m the new overpowered guy on the block! Here system take some more energy!

    Raishin made more masses of energy which turned yellow and dark blue and disappeared. Greg covered his hand in pitch black energy.

    It is as if it¡¯s alive.

    Hahaha so edgy!

    Raishin made a strange pose and imitated Greg.

    My hand! It itches. It¡­ it¡¯s coming alive! Aaagh! It¡¯s taking over! It¡­ it¡¯s turning me into the Prince of Darkness!

    Raishin you asshole! That¡¯s not what I did!

    Elliana looked at how Greg was chasing Raishin and played with some vines and continued taking notes.

    ¡°Tree doctor, eh? Agnis pointed me toward a possible deeper connection to spirits, Raishin is pointing me to high elven magic. Both which have been forgotten or abandoned by the elves. Greg pointed me toward the four-tailed forest rabbits. Is this what we¡¯re supposed to do? Why have the elves forgotten about this?¡±

    Elliana had never known what her role was supposed to be exactly. She had heard it so many times, but what did it exactly mean. She now had a good idea. It involved everything the elves have forgotten about or abandoned. Why didn¡¯t she realize this earlier? It is so simple now she thought about it.

    ¡°I won¡¯t be left behind. I will also fulfill my race¡¯s role.¡± She started a new part in her notes. ¡®The role of the elves¡¯ and wrote down what she believed to be included within that role.

 Pneuma 56: Special Request

    So, a week had passed and I hadn¡¯t stepped a foot outside my room. I looked out of the window into the AA lobby, and it was filled with adventurers. I had mistakenly thought they were just chilling, but they were here to see me.

    Nilah, what should I do?

    Nilah didn''t respond as she was too busy ripping a pillow apart.

    Nilah! No! But I guess you¡¯re bored.

    Illusions fixed the pillow. Well, they didn¡¯t, the AA workers will be in for a surprise if this suddenly turns into a destroyed pillow but we can¡¯t stay here.

    Nilah, we¡¯re leaving!

    I got my stuff, grabbed Nilah and pulled on the [Dimensional Anchor]. We appeared in the park in Gittrian with no complications. Giving humans the slip is so easy. I wonder how long I can hide my identity now that my popularity is spiraling out of control. The AA was full of life as usual, so I put a mild illusion on myself, walked in, and decided to check my messages.

    Junk, junk, expired requests, fan mail, wow a lot of fan mail, don¡¯t these people have anything else to do? Oh, a Special Request. Whoa this is fancy, whoever made this request must be rich. It had also been sent yesterday. Do I accept? It¡¯s the only one that isn¡¯t expired. What could go wrong?

    It was an escort request from Tails of Symphony. They were currently in Nelfim and needed to go to Gittrian; at least two of the three idols did. I guess a lot of circumstances made it difficult for them to leave. I could complete the request and get ideas for [Boss Music].

    I wondered why they didn¡¯t take teleport gates when I remembered that only few AA have them operational. The one here in Gittrian was still under maintenance.

    Expected hazards: bandits, monsters, crazy fans. All made sense. Reward: whatever you wish.

    That is a strange reward¡­ Will they give me a year¡¯s worth of salmon? It¡¯s worth a try.

    And thus, I accepted my first-ever direct request. It did alert the AA that I was here, though. These teleport gates don¡¯t work, so rumors might spread that I¡¯m either superfast or can teleport, both are true, but people don¡¯t need to know that. Will I embarrass myself with my [Boss music] as I did with my archery? These are professionals and their music is insanely good.

    I absentmindedly walked to the register to officially accept the request. ¡°What is your party size for this special request?¡±

    Just me.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen the Silver Torrent demonstration! I¡¯m a fan!¡± the clerk said excitedly.

    Uhh, thank you, just remember that I¡¯m just a normal dude. Do you by any chance know how I can get rid of this fame?

    ¡°Why would you want to get rid of it!?¡± The clerk typed for 5 minutes before she looked back up from her screen. ¡°It has been processed; the clients have been made aware that you have accepted the request. Do you want us to arrange transportation? It will be difficult to get into the Aquini Kingdom, though.¡±

    I got this, don¡¯t worry.

    ¡°Be careful!¡±

    I¡¯ll do my best.

    So, here¡¯s the problem, I can¡¯t get there too fast because that won¡¯t make any sense. But they needed to be in Gittrian by the end of next month, which gave me¡­ 13 days. I understand they are on a tight schedule, but this takes the cake.

    I should have asked what a realistic time fame was for arrival. I assume 6 days to and 6 back with 1 day to spare, judging from the time left. Nelfim was far though¡­ Maybe it¡¯s already known that I¡¯m fast and that¡¯s why.

    Why don¡¯t I know what the public thinks of me? It¡¯s time to question strangers!

    I disguised myself and stopped a random passerby.

    Excuse me, a strange question, what do you think of the Silver Torrent as an adventurer?

    ¡°Oh, the Silver Torrent. He doesn¡¯t seem to take many requests but whenever he does, he seems to do something crazy, there is a rumor going around that there is more than 1, like a triplet or a quadruplet that¡¯s spread over the continent! Others say that he can fly at the speed of sound! Fans have a hard time tracking him down!¡±

    I see, thank you.

    I interrogated 4 more random strangers, and taking impossible quests or being everywhere and nowhere seemed to be a recurring theme. So, they do think I can teleport or there are more than 1 of me.

    I facepalmed. What have I done? No use in stalling for time, then. I should reach the border in a day or 2, crossing the border was a different story, though.

    Hiena, the border city, was my destination. It was heavily guarded and looked like a military city. This was still Hjuva, but the Aquini Kingdom had a decent relationship with Hjuva, so I assumed Hjuva was doing this to prevent Igrini spies from entering from this side.

    Crossing the border with the idols is going to be such a pain in the ass¡­

    I headed toward the mountain pass I had gotten the students through 2 years ago. Still as poorly guarded as ever. It would most likely become our route to come back.

    Getting through was easy. The security was quite embarrassing, but that worked for me. I successfully infiltrated the Aquini Kingdom and headed over to Nelfim.

    It was spring, but it seemed summer in Nelfim. I couldn''t remember if this place always appeared to be so tropical. The city seemed well off and much had changed since the last time I was here.

    I was supposed to meet them at a lake. Something about a photoshoot. I wandered around and got stopped by 2 men who looked like they were on a beach holiday. ¡°Hold up there! Beyond here is a reserved area, what is your business!¡±

    I showed my adventurer ID card.

    ¡°Whoa!! You¡¯re already here? That was fast! Come on in!¡±

    I looked at their attire and mine. Maybe I should also go for the holiday vibe.  Ok give me a second.

    I went out of sight and changed into a colorful shirt with palm trees, shorts and slippers. I had to hide Nilah because a sword doesn¡¯t fit this attire. The sun shades went on a tropical drink got pulled out of my dimensional pocket and my summer look was complete. Perfect!

    A gentle breeze tickled my nose and I walked over to the two men but got sand in my slippers.

    So, you have returned my arch nemesis. Take me to your leader!

    ¡°Uhh, sure.¡±

    A part of the beach, I mean lake, had been walled off by opaque crystal walls. I got led inside and saw a lot of people that I recognized as paparazzi taking a lot of pictures.

    ¡°Oh, he has arrived.¡± A blonde woman with a pleasant voice put her hand up and I instantly noticed something. She had blue fox ears and a figure like any other vixen I had met before. Hourglass shape, big bust, and wide hips. A body made for seduction. She had toned light caramel-colored skin and blonde hair with some blue highlights, most of which suggested that she wasn¡¯t from Kaledon.

    I will get successfully seduced if I¡¯m not wary, as charm mana was leaking out of her. I normally didn¡¯t pay this much attention to the details of other people.

    Not only that, but I might be already [Charmed] for all I know. It also didn¡¯t help that vixens instinctively know what version of themselves they need to [Transform] to be extra appealing.

    I¡¯m a man, so my [Transform] is garbage tier if the target has a humanoid appearance. I can only [Transform] into Agnis Oures, which is only a gender swap, so that¡¯s simple. Anything more and¡­ it won¡¯t work well. Vixens however are masters in [Transform]. They have multiple versions of themselves, and that¡¯s ignoring any other transforms.

    In short, a vixen gets who she wants, and that¡¯s why I do my best to run away from Hisui. I might have to add someone else to this list if she discovers that I¡¯m also a 9t. As there is a possibility, she has a version of herself that one-shots me if she [Transforms] into it.

    She walked over to me and her hips swayed hypnotically. Shit! She was totally my type.

    I need to act professionally.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you, Silver Torrent. I¡¯m glad that you accepted our unreasonable request. But let¡¯s talk with a little less, eyes watching.¡± Her voice wasn¡¯t laced with charm, but I still felt a pull.

    Don¡¯t tell me I did something stupid and fell in love at first sight.

    Ehh, ok.

    My ¡®professionalism¡¯ needed work¡­ It was hard to concentrate. This chick had my full attention, and it was good that Raishin wasn¡¯t here. I also noticed that she smelled like rain with a tinge of the ocean. Is this how I smell?

    ¡°I¡¯m going to talk to the Silver Torrent. Take a break!¡± The vixen said as I got led to a house made out of crystal.

    Distract yourself Agnis! I took a deep breath and exhaled. It¡¯s time for Zen Agnis.

    This house¡­ It was a bit strange to make one on the beach, ehh lake. This lake is so deceptive, it has no business looking like a beach!

    I stepped inside and encountered another beautiful woman. She had a pleasant earthy smell, long brown hair and a strange dress, she looked like the sand people from Saluk, not too dissimilar from Thalia. Are those crystals? Something seemed off. A goddess? No, a wolf?

    Huh, a crystal tail?

    ¡°Oh, so you finally remember us?¡± The chick with a crystal tail walked over to me.

    Uhm, this is the first time I meet celebrities.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he remembers Noelle; he never did¡­¡±

    The chick named Noelle flicked her finger which shut the door and pinned me to the wall. ¡°So, can you finally explain to us why you locked us here in the ¡®Human World¡¯?

    Uhm, more context please?

    Noelle stomped and the whole house shook.

    ¡°15 years ago, you locked us in a cave, forcing us to endure the ¡®Human World¡¯!¡±

    15 years? What are you talking about? I was in Hourai 15 years ago, wait you guys probably don¡¯t know what Hourai is¡­

    Noelle stomped again. ¡°We do! We grew up there!¡± 6 more crystal tails appeared.

    Ohhh.

    ¡°Ahh so you do remember?¡±

    I¡¯m sorry, uhm can you tell me what your friend is talking about miss eh,,.

    ¡°Giana Kahlua. Turn him around, Noelle, he truly doesn¡¯t remember. He needs a reminder.¡± Noelle turned me around easily. Such brute strength¡­

    Hey! I thought you needed an escort!

    I tried to break free when I felt Elgards eyes on me. It didn¡¯t seem to do anything to me, but I did start to remember something. Something about 3 annoying chicks back in Hourai who pretended to be allies but were probably spies.

    Wait? Pinda?

    ¡°It¡¯s Giana!¡±

    ¡°Oh, good job he remembered! Now tell us why did you kick us out of Hourai!?¡± Noelle started shaking me.

    Hey easy there, I¡¯m fragile!

    ¡°Can you please tell us? Noelle is convinced that it was out of malice, Yv¡­ Yvonne and I thought so too, but I started to get doubts over the years.¡±

    Uhh, you were suspicious, so I had to remove you!

    ¡°I knew it!¡± Another stomp.

    ¡°Noelle, calm down, I sense deception.¡± Giana closed in and her gaze intensified. ¡°Can you please tell us?¡± She was very close and forced me to I look away. Zen Agnis is in trouble.

    Uhh, I forgot.

    ¡°Noelle, I¡¯m going to use [Empathic Bond].¡±

    Huh? What is that?

    I tried to break free but Noelle seemed to have blocked my teleports. Right, crystal wolves are good at stabilizing things, I can¡¯t teleport as long as she doesn¡¯t allow it, this sucks. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Giana put her hand on my chest and I felt a strange sensation as if she was going through my body.

    Oh no, this is a bad idea.

    The memory played off of when Hourai got attacked. I gave a map of the cave to Pinda who seemed to be Giana all along. Our fight against the slave traders played off and how I noticed we couldn¡¯t win. How I made sure they couldn¡¯t catch the chicks, and how I exploded in blood. Giana recoiled the moment that event played off.

    ¡°This¡­ Noelle, let him go¡­ we were wrong¡­¡±

    ¡°What happened? What did you see?¡± Noelle freed me and stepped back.

    I fixed my tropical shirt. It wasn¡¯t made in Jarn, so rough treatment will rip it.

    Giana put her hand on Noelle¡¯s chest, and Noelle recoiled moments later.

    She stormed at me, lifted me with one hand and pinned me against the wall, again. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just say so!¡±

    I forgot! I told you!

    Giana¡¯s gaze intensified. ¡°More deception!¡±

    Stop being such a 9t!

    ¡°Well¡­ thank you for doing that. We are aware of what happens to female slaves in the north¡­ thank you.¡± Noelle let me down and hugged me.

    Oh, this is awkward. So, am I safe now?

    Giana shook her head. ¡°No. I am aware that our race is reckless, I am a healer, so I will give you a checkup.¡±

    Uhm, that¡¯s also a bad idea. Why are you two so intimidating?

    ¡°Noelle!¡±

    Hey this is assault! A crime!

    Noelle had grabbed me again, quite gentle this time and Giana placed her hand on my chest again.

    So ehh this [Empathic Bond] thing, what is it exactly?

    ¡°It makes me experience the things you have experienced and connect to you on a more emotional level.¡±

    Uhm, have I told you that that¡¯s a bad idea?

    ¡°And why is that exactly?¡± her eyes glowed pink purple as she used [Empathic bond] again. So it¡¯s charm magic¡­ why am I not surprised?

    She recoiled and went again; she kept going after recoil and started crying after the 3rd recoil.

    ¡°Giana, are you ok? Agnis¡­ what in Hourai have you been through¡­¡±

    Please stop her, this is a very bad idea!

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Giana is determined to see this through.¡±

    But why¡­

    ¡°Something you have forgotten a long time ago.¡±

    Giana kept going and I begged her to stop.

    One recoil was different. She screamed and collapsed to the ground. She couldn¡¯t stop crying. I suppose that¡¯s the first time I took an insane amount of damage. Probably near my birthday with that demon.

    She got up and continued. For some reason, it seems like she was more in pain than I was when it happened. She continued until a very big recoil. She couldn¡¯t get herself to stand up the tears wouldn¡¯t stop flowing from her eyes.

    Please go help her.

    ¡°Giana!¡± Noelle ran over and I left the crystal house to lean against a palm tree.

    So, these three chicks have survived and became idols, eh? I had completely forgotten about them. I hope they had a better experience down here than we had. Giana had her ears and tail out in the open. It is the Aquini kingdom after all, but still bold, especially since fox ears and especially blue fox ears are extremely rare.

    Noelle ¡®ran¡¯ out of the house, as she wasn¡¯t particularly fast, and looked around. ¡°Oh, you haven¡¯t escaped, Giana told me to not let you leave.¡± Noelle grabbed me and dragged me back inside.

    Giana was still crying on the floor. ¡°Agnis why?¡±

    Why what?

    ¡°Why do you do this to yourself? Do you hate yourself?¡±

    I don¡¯t, I¡¯m just unlucky, that¡¯s all¡­

    I was still a bit confused about this all. It could be my terrible memory, but I didn¡¯t remember being close to these women back in Hourai.

    Giana pounced on me. ¡°Remove those illusions! Show Noelle!¡±

    Wait, what? Why?

    ¡°I will remove them if you don¡¯t and my illusions will be stronger with Noelle helping me!¡±

    7t and 9t are an insanely powerful combo. Any illusion can be reinforced by the 7t, meaning; she isn¡¯t bluffing.

    But why do you care so much.

    ¡°Do I need to punch you? Listen to Giana!¡±

    So aggressive¡­

    I reluctantly removed the illusions. Noelle gasped and stepped back. ¡°What¡­¡±

    Giana sobbed and started to heal the bite mark scars.

    ¡°Is this what you saw, Giana? What could even¡­¡±

    I decided to stop resisting and let Giana heal me. A 9t that can heal, how strange. She is also stupidly good at it.

    I was scar free after 10 minutes but Giana didn¡¯t get off me. She used her [Empathic Bond] on me again. There was nothing that bad after that event, so there was nothing to stop her for. It didn¡¯t seem to affect her negatively besides crying, that much trauma in a short term is probably deadly. This chick is strong.

    She stopped and hugged me causing Zen Agnis to go on a holiday, this was too much for me, how am I supposed to win against a vixen?

    ¡°We need to look out for each other.¡±

    I glanced at Noelle, who shrugged.

    Giana wiped her tears and got off me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for that. But I made up my mind. Noelle, we¡¯re going for the best-case scenario!¡±

    ¡°I honestly didn¡¯t believe you, but I¡¯m still glad it turned out this way.¡±

    Giana smiled as she noticed that I was staring. ¡°Can you excuse us for a bit? I need to get ready for the escort.¡±

    Uh, sure.

    I left the crystal house and tried to process what just had happened. Did this chick just go through my last 15 years in 2 hours? How am I supposed to feel about that? All I know is that [Empathic Bond] is one of the most overpowered skills I¡¯ve ever encountered so far. But¡­ she is a 9t, it would be strange if she didn¡¯t have overpowered skills.

    I got a refreshing drink and I watched over the lake that looked like a beach. Was this an illusion? It¡¯s hard to tell, but if Noelle stabilized it, it might as well be reality.

    I managed to get Zen Agnis back and almost fell asleep since it took so long.

    ¡°Giana is almost done, and I¡¯m sorry for being so aggressive.¡±

    Don¡¯t worry about it, happens all the time.

    ¡°Well, it''s bothering Giana a lot because she also thought the same, it didn¡¯t help that some of our concerts had to be moved, and the reason could be traced back to you. It was you who fired off those ¡®Judgement Bolts¡¯ at Itris didn¡¯t you?¡±

    Oops, sorry about that.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, you didn¡¯t do that to annoy us. Giana¡­ she told me about what she experienced with [Empathic Bond]. The memory of what happened will leave her soon, but she will never forget the feelings¡­I always thought that she needed you, but I think you need her too. That¡¯s why you should marry her!¡±

    Uhh what? Aren¡¯t you supposed to make sure no random guy comes near her?

    Noelle wagged her finger ¡°Tss, I know how you foxes behave, this is no problem. Moreover, you¡¯re from Hourai, people from Hourai always stick together! You¡¯re not some random guy¡±

    You do know that childhood friends never win in series, right?

    ¡°Well, we weren¡¯t really friends, so that isn¡¯t a problem!¡± Noelle said with a smile and patted my back in an overly friendly manner.

    That¡­ hmm you have a point. Either way you¡¯re celebrities, celebrities and a nobody don¡¯t go together¡­ wait I¡¯m not a nobody¡­

    I put my head in my hands.

    Noelle slapped my back. ¡°Hahaha! Welcome aboard! I¡¯m glad to finally have a younger brother!¡±

    Huh younger brother?

    ¡°Well, you¡¯re 22, right? Giana and Yvonne are 24, and I am 26.¡±

    Why is everyone older¡­.

    Noelle gave me a thumbs up and nodded approvingly. ¡°Just give up and get together with her.¡±

    You might want to tell her to be more careful. She just pounced on me like it was nothing, in a bathing suit. She is quite¡­ big and soft...

    ¡°The seeds of seduction have sown! Good job Giana!¡±

    What a weirdo. Wait didn¡¯t you have the hots for Raishin? Let¡¯s talk about that!

    ¡°Yup! At least I don¡¯t lie to myself! It seems he goes by the Crazy Firecracker now, still as handsome as ever!¡±

    What is that supposed to mean¡­

    ¡°Sorry that it took so long.¡± Giana came out of the crystal house. She was wearing black leggings and an interesting cardigan; she was exposing her belly and her cleavage. Zen Agnis wanted to take a hike, but I still need him, else I will fail this escort.

    Noelle poked me with her elbow. ¡°She¡¯s pretty, eh?¡±

    Let¡¯s just get this escort thing going, why do you guys even need it? Shouldn¡¯t you be strong enough to not need one?

    ¡°Well firstly, Noelle wanted to punch you because it didn¡¯t sit her well that everyone was praising you after that latest video that was released.¡±

    Oof.

    Giana pulled a letter out of a strange place and handed it to me. ¡°Also, we had gotten a lot of strange fan mail that concerned us so we could use some more help. They were especially targeted to me¡±

    They must be really in to you.

    I said after reading through some highly disturbing fan mail.

    Noelle frowned. ¡°Well, we had some aggressive ones they started after we revealed our tailed identity, they were saying that they liked Giana¡¯s spirit. They kept using those words. At least they¡¯re consistent.¡±

    I got a bad feeling about this. At least staying serious will be quite easy now.

    Can I have more details about that? And why would you reveal that¡­

    ¡°Huh? I¡¯m sure it¡¯s nothing. And we stopped physically aging a while ago, it will come out sooner or later Also! It seemed to improve the public¡¯s view on beast kin!¡± Noelle said with a melodic tone. I have to keep reminding myself that Noelle is an idol too. She might not be the lead singer, but she can still sing phenomenally.

    Wait, that was your doing?! Whoa that¡¯s wonderful! But I am convinced now. I will get you to Gittrian safely.

    Noelle poked me with her elbow. ¡°Hehe, taking things seriously now, eh? Want to do your best for Giana eh?¡±

    Hmm, sure, let¡¯s go with that!

    I got up.  Well then let¡¯s go!

    ¡°Is there something you should tell us Agnis?¡±   I couldn''t place the look Giana was giving me but it was uncomfortable, so I looked away.

    I might be overthinking, don¡¯t worry Giana.

    Noelle grinned. ¡°Hehe, should I make a room for you two?¡±

    Oh, but can you catch me!?

    ¡°I can¡¯t but Giana can!¡±  Oh?

    ¡°Give it a rest Noelle! Let¡¯s get ready.¡±

    The paparazzi had already cleaned up and it was just us. How odd, were paparazzi always this well-behaved?

    We returned to the AA of Nelfim and it became apparent that various other adventurers had volunteered for the escort and would go with a caravan. Quite outdated but the continent was still in a mess more or less as the Aquini kingdom is still at war.

    Hey, how are we going to pass the border?

    ¡°With our charm!¡± Giana and Noelle made idol poses.

    Normally I would say that that¡¯s silly, but that might actually work. You can find me on the roof of one of these wagons.

    The caravan got readied, and the adventurers were chatting. The idols drew a lot of attention, and I tried to stay at a distance to not get caught in random bullshit.

    ¡°Won¡¯t you share a wagon with us?¡± Giana asked as she gestured to a peculiar wagon.

    I pointed at some adventurers, who seemed envious that I was getting familiar with the idols.

    Would be inconsiderate to those guys.

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Giana, you will have more than enough time to seduce him.¡±

    You know what? I think you will be a good match for Raishin, Noelle, you got my approval!

    I gave her a thumbs up after climbing on the roof of a wagon to rest. Someone complained to me to get off because I might rip through it, but I ignored him. If my weight destroyed the roof, they have different problems.

    ¡°Let¡¯s make a plan!¡± Noelle and Giana entered the idol wagon.

    It was fancy, and I wondered what these managers were thinking. Isn¡¯t it obvious in which cart the idols were? I also forgot to ask where their third friend was.

 Pneuma 57: Spirit Stalkers

    We left at night fall. Prime time for bandits. But their schedule was quite important, apparently. I had my peace and quiet, but that didn''t last for long. The first bandit scout appeared 3 hours after we left, and I sniped him down with my new and improved archery skills. Another appeared 20 minutes later, and I sniped him down too.

    We had a full on attack a half hour later. All the adventurers came out to fight them off. Magic was flying everywhere, but I stayed on the roof and observed and had to dispel an attack that was heading toward the idol wagon.

    Giana was trying to stop Noelle, who also wanted to fight the bandits.

    The fight was extremely sloppy, but the adventurers won in the end. The caravan commenced and complaints rolled in about me not helping.

    They got ignored as I didn¡¯t care.

    A gaze fell on me, making me uncomfortable. I¡¯m not doing anything, why is she looking at me? I suddenly found myself inside their wagon before I managed to break away from the gaze.

    ¡°Succes!¡±

    I should have seen this coming, so what are you going to do when those adventurers turn green with envy?

    Giana giggled, leaned in to whisper something in Noelle¡¯s ear and then leaned forward, making eye contact. ¡°I don¡¯t care! So why are you called Silver Torrent? They don¡¯t know about your hair, do they?¡±

    It¡¯s my ultimate technique.

    ¡°Hmm, what does it look like?¡±

    Like¡­ a silver torrent. Let¡¯s hope you never get to see it.

    Something to the west drew my attention, and Giana followed my gaze. ¡°Did you see something?¡±

    Hmm, yeah, I just hope it¡¯s just more bandits. And what¡¯s with Noelle? She is quiet all of a sudden, what is she plotting?

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about her, so ehhm, have you heard any of our songs?¡±

    Oh, I did, quite recently actually, you¡¯re the lead singer right, man you can sing! I don¡¯t think anyone can compete with that; the musician is also excellent.

    ¡°Aww, thanks! I¡¯m the songwriter and singer, Noelle is the composer and musician.¡±

    Oh right, I have something called [Boss music] and¡­

    I noticed something to the west again.

    We were following the west Aquini mountain range south to get to the opening where we could enter Hjuva. But there was a lot of strange activity in that mountain range.

    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±

    Hmm, hard to explain, oh do you know what Ourasyn is?

    ¡°Ourasyn?¡± Giana said as she cocked her head. Damn, she¡¯s hot.

    I shook my head and tried to drive ¡®Raishin thoughts¡¯ away.

    Ignore my strange behavior. Copy my movement, you need 2 tails.

    We took the pose and I pushed my palms and tails into hers. Noelle had an annoying smile on her face making me regret this instantly.

    ¡°Oh, that is strange, where have you learned this technique?¡±

    We did another Ourasyn, so I could answer her question and convey where I picked this up.

    ¡°I see, it seems I need to step up my game.¡±

    Not sure what that¡¯s supposed to mean, anyway we might have to send the adventurers home. I will tell them.

    Giana stopped me as I was about to get up. ¡°No wait, I will tell them later.¡±

    Uhh ok.

    Another bandit attack. They were quite active, or rather, someone was sending them at us. I just sat in the wagon with the idols and observed.

    ¡°So, what did you want to say before you interrupted yourself?¡±

    Well, I have something called [Boss music] and¡­ for fuck''s sake what are those guys doing!

    I climbed out of the wagon to the roof and shot a [Fireball] down with my own. The [Fireball] was coming from the mountains and not the bandits. Nobody had noticed for some reason.

    An adventurer pointed at me. ¡°Hey what are you doing in the wagon of the idols and not helping us!?¡±

    Making sure to stop these big attacks that you guys missed!

    ¡°What are you talking about? Which attacks?¡± I pointed at the volley pf [Fireballs] flying at us.

    ¡°And what are you pointing at?¡±

    You can¡¯t see those?

    I deactivated my Elgards eyes, but I could still see the [Fireballs], something was off with them though.

    Spirit magic? But humans are supposed to see it¡­ change of plans! Everyone go home!

    ¡°Absolutely not! We won¡¯t let you spend all the time alone with the idols¡± The adventurers started to become annoying and complaining, they were even booing me.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? Oh!¡± Giana blocked some [Fireballs] with a [Water Wall].

    Hey, Noelle, can you see those!?

    Noelle squinted her eyes. ¡°Those what? What are you pointing at?¡±

    ¡°Let me link you up, Noelle.¡±

    I assume Giana linked Noelle to her Elgards eyes. I¡¯m glad that I¡¯m not the only one who does this.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s strange, where are those [Fireballs] coming from?¡±

    A pain in the ass. It¡¯s spirit magic. At least that eliminates one of my concerns and shifts it to another. Either way these adventurers are under equipped and screwed if they stay here.

    I jumped back on the roof of a wagon, took out Windamber¡­ Windbark¡­ what were these things called again? Windglass! I bet it was that! I created a frost bow and shot [Frost Arrows] with Windglass tips at the origin of the attacks. It froze some ice patches on the mountain, which absorbed the energy of whatever was shooting these. These aren¡¯t some regular bandits if they can use spirit magic.

    Noelle tried to convince the adventurers, but they wouldn¡¯t listen. The bandits got defeated, and we were back on the move. The adventurers had kidnapped me, and I was in their wagon. It was crowded and they smelled funny.

    ¡°What is your relationship with those Idols!¡±

    They¡¯re my clients.

    ¡°Lies! You get along too friendly with them!¡±

    They¡¯re friendly clients!

    ¡°Spit it out! The idols belong to everyone!¡±

    Have you tried telling them that?

    ¡°Don¡¯t think you can do whatever you want because you¡¯re famous!¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    Don¡¯t worry I did that before I was famous so that¡¯s not a concern.

    ¡°Can we beat him up now?¡±

    Sure, go for it, I won¡¯t resist, but what would the idols think of that?

    ¡°We can just tell them you got hurt in that last attack!¡±

    I knew that wasn¡¯t going to work because I felt Giana¡¯s gaze on me. They are so screwed if they beat me up now.

    I flashed a malicious smile.  Well then get to it, then I won¡¯t resist.

    ¡°Hehe it¡¯s because you asked for it.¡± A fire infused fist flew at me, and I was suddenly in the idol wagon again.

    ¡°Haha nice one! I can see how half of the adventurers are pissed off by you!¡± It seems Noelle was watching too through Giana.

    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s quite concerning that they think that.¡± Giana said, but I detected deception. It¡¯s clear that she doesn''t care what they think.

    Well as I said, it won¡¯t end well for either of us if you, a celebrity, hook up with me, so I¡¯d recommend to give up.

    Giana got closer, too close. ¡°Is that so, so you¡¯re not against it?¡±

    Is this chick deaf? Did she just hear what she wanted to hear? At least I appreciate that she isn¡¯t overly aggressive, maybe in a different world I would accept. I¡¯m too busy, and she is too, probably.

    A day went by with nothing happening, except the adventurers got more and more annoyed with me. It reached its peak on day 3. ¡°Hey, can you stop hanging out with them so much?¡±

    Trust me, I¡¯m trying, but they won¡¯t let me.

    Someone towered over us as we were sitting on the ground. ¡°Hey, are you bullying my little brother again!¡±

    Noelle, I¡¯m not your little brother¡­

    ¡°Wait the Silver Torrent is your little brother?¡± The adventurers looked at me and compared me to Noelle.

    ¡°We grew up in the same hometown, so he might as well be!¡±

    The adventurers stared at me. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so? You do give off little brother energy.¡±

    Hey, what the fuck is that supposed to mean?! Do you want me to kick your ass?! And don¡¯t you guys have eyes? We look nothing alike!

    I pointed at Noelle who had way darker skin than me and had golden brown hair while I had black hair.

    ¡°So, a family with an idol and a strong fighter, eh?¡±

    Guys, she is not my big sister¡­

    Giana sat down next to me. ¡°They will continue harassing you if you deny it.¡±

    Somehow this feels like a 9t trap.

    ¡°Maybe it is.¡± I felt like I got struck by lightning when she smiled. This chick is dangerous. She is just a client, just a client.

    So now that you guys don¡¯t hate me, will you listen?

    ¡°The idol¡¯s little brother is our little brother!¡± The adventurers thought they were funny and started chanting that.

    Hourai have mercy on my soul¡­ So, we are kinda surrounded and this is going to be quite hard, maybe even impossible for you guys to handle so I would kindly ask you to flee because you will probably end up dead in a day or so.

    Noelle shook her head. ¡°That¡¯s a strange little brother joke.¡±

    I¡¯m not your little brother¡­ I only have 2 older sisters¡­

    The adventurers flocked around Noelle in curiosity. ¡°Oh, Noelle you have a sister?¡±

    I facepalmed and wanted to go home.

    ¡°Wait, if he¡¯s Noelle''s younger brother then he must also be a crystal wolf!¡± They tried to look for my ears and tails, but I was still disguised as a human.

    Look what you¡¯ve done Noelle...

    ¡°I don¡¯t care!¡±

    ¡°Hey Agnis, what do you mean we¡¯re surrounded?¡±

    Thank you, Giana! Finally, someone who asks the important question. Well, we are close to where we can cross the border, but there seems to be a barrier there, we can only continue going south to Denga. The mountains are full of strange bandits, and the east has them too.

    A burly man stood up and pointed his mace at the sky. ¡°Don¡¯t worry! We will protect the idols and their little brother, right guys?¡±

    ¡°Yeah!¡± The adventurers cheered and I facepalmed again.

    ¡°So even the Silver Torrent has someone he looks up to, eh?¡± These adventurers just won¡¯t shut up¡­

    Guys¡­ do you want me to kick your ass?

    ¡°Now now, let¡¯s keep a nice ambience, how about I sing and dance?¡± Giana got up and the adventurers cheered.

    She made graceful movements and her voice was crystal clear yet powerful.

    Noelle sat down next to me. ¡°She is pretty, eh?¡±

    Yeah, wait Noelle! Stop ambushing me with those questions!

    ¡°So, what is the reason you¡¯re not giving it a shot?¡±

    I¡¯m busy, there are probably better candidates and I¡¯m likely to kick the bucket between now and several years. Not worth it for her.

    ¡°And what do you think she wants?¡±

    How am I supposed to know that?

    ¡°Well, you don¡¯t! That¡¯s why I¡¯m telling you! She has had a crush on you since Hourai you know?¡± She pushed her finger into my chest.

    Huh? So long? How is her memory that good?

    ¡®Well, you don¡¯t remember this but we got in trouble by getting into a swamp, we got stuck because we didn¡¯t listen, but you got yourself into trouble by saying you pushed us in putting us in the clear. And well, that vixen there gets attracted to toxic traits like deception and the kind so that¡¯s the origin. It seems you¡¯ve kept what she was attracted to, and here we are.¡±

    Right¡­ I heard about that, quite troublesome because getting her to not like me is probably going to make this worse¡­

    ¡°Yup so just give up!¡±

    Maybe another time. I¡¯m here to get you guys to safety first.

    ¡°I see, how is Raishin doing?¡±

    He is figuring out the role of a 6t with Greg, they¡¯re off looking around the border of Yzs.

    Noelle crossed her arms and exuded elder sister energy. ¡°Wait, don¡¯t tell me its disappearance was your doing!¡±

    No! We brought it back!

    Noelle relaxed and grinned. ¡°Ooh a hero, eh? Giana is going to like that!¡±

    Give me a break¡­ but I guess I could use some help in 9t issues¡­

    ¡°Oh, you say 9t, that¡¯s indeed easier and shorter! I¡¯m going to use that too!¡±

    I see another great mind!

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for not taking you serious earlier, so we are surrounded, right? How bad is it?¡±

    Well, nothing a [Meteor] or 2 can¡¯t fix but humans are¡­ squishy.

    ¡°[Meteors] eh, I guess you weren¡¯t responsible for that meteor shower 2 years ago.¡±

    Uhh, that was me yeah¡­

    ¡°Troublesome little brother, even more troublesome than Giana.¡±

    Racial trait, can¡¯t do anything about it. So can you tell her to stop throwing charm magic around like that?

    ¡°Nope, just fall for her.¡±

    Not very helpful for someone claiming to be a big sister!

    ¡°So, you have accepted the role! That¡¯s a good step!¡±

    You are impossible.

    It was strange but talking to people from Hourai just feels different. More friendly, calm and relaxing. Too bad that some assholes in the distance were planning to ruin the mood.

 Pneuma 58: Surrounded

    Hehe, suffer!

    ¡°Agnis? What are you doing?¡±

    It was early in the morning and Giana approached me. I was currently layering illusions on the adventurers to give them nightmares.

    Uh, nothing.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go overboard, ok?¡± She said as she gave me a bewitching smile.

    Uh right¡­

    Jokes aside, these adventurers need to go, not only will they die if this goes on, they will also be a huge pain in the ass while doing so. So, I hope giving them nightmares about dying horribly will scare them off, also it¡¯s payback for their bullshit.

    I got a better look at our problem a bit later. It was a triple encirclement. They weren''t messing around. Judging by the shape of it, they wanted us to go toward Denga to the south.

    Right, so you¡¯re all wondering why I¡¯ve gathe¡­

    A random adventurer interrupted me. ¡°Get to the point!¡±

    Wow ok asshole! Probably jelly that you couldn¡¯t talk to Noelle last night!

    ¡°Wha¡­ how did you know!¡±

    I know everything!

    ¡°Tss, troublesome little brother.¡±

    Oh, so you want to get your ass kicked!

    I readied a [Fireball] and targeted the adventurer for some ass kicking.

    ¡°Agnis, calm down, what did you want to say?¡± Giana said, calming me down.

    Right, since you guys are so stubborn and don¡¯t want to leave, we will go with Plan B! You guys will go bring the idols to safety and I will use trickery to fool the encirclement and lure them away! Any questions? Yes, no? Ok let¡¯s go with that plan!

    ¡°Wait! You can¡¯t go alone! We will go with you!¡±

    Giana¡­ this doesn¡¯t work if the ones they¡¯re after are coming with me.

    ¡°But don¡¯t you need a healer for when things go wrong?¡±

    Ok you have a fair point but things are certainly going wrong if I bring their target with me¡­

    ¡°Noelle will be there too.¡±

    Noelle, please help me convince Giana.

    ¡°I agree with her! We can¡¯t let you go alone.¡± Noelle said, although it didn¡¯t seem as she had been fully following this verbal exchange.

    Why!?

    Noelle closed in. ¡°Did you forget what made Giana cry 4 days ago?¡±

    Yes.

    Noelle gave me a tired stare.

    But that¡¯s not going to happen again!

    ¡°How are you so sure? You aren¡¯t, right? That¡¯s why you¡¯re sending us off to safety.¡±

    It would¡¯ve been better in this case if you were stupid¡­ but this is counterproductive!

    ¡°Guys, Noelle¡¯s little brother wants to sacrifice himself for us while we run away in safety! What do you think?¡±

    Giana?

    The adventurers raised their weapons to the sky. ¡°Absolutely not!¡±

    ¡°Protect the little brother!¡±

    You guys are insane¡­

    ¡°There you have it, bring us with you or nothing happens!¡± Giana stuck out her tongue.

    Fine let¡¯s all get killed then!

    The adventurers all cheered.

    Don¡¯t cheer for that! Ugh my old friend is back.

    ¡°Who?¡±

    Headache.

    We kept going and the encirclement tightened. Giana kept an eye on me, so I couldn¡¯t sneak off or create illusions.

    This is such a pain. It¡¯s worse because I don¡¯t know how good her Elgards eyes are, she might be bluffing by just keeping a watch on me.

    Enemies broke out of the encirclement from the north, they must want to drive us south. I got up and started shooting [Frost Arrows] with Windglass tips. I got some satisfying kills, but they weren¡¯t enough. It slowed them down, but not by much. I knew they weren''t bandits, so why were they disguised as them?

    ¡°We¡¯re under attack¡± The adventurers reacted but ran into the magic attacks they couldn¡¯t see.

    Ugh, idiots.

    I jumped on the ground and calibrated myself with the leyline energy. 11.2% affinity, 7.6% authority. Not bad. I used [Water Dragon Dance] to abduct the adventurers and move them away from the onslaught of magic attacks that were flying at us. I could see how skilled our attackers were. None of these attacks would hit a wagon. They were intentionally missing to drive us south.

    Giana was tending to wounded adventurers. Healers are the heart of the group; we are screwed if Giana falls.

    I guess we¡¯re back to ¡®Protect the president¡¯ but since we have a healer means I can be as reckless as possible! I grinned and rubbed my hands when I got pulled in by a tail.

    ¡°Absolutely not! I know what you¡¯re thinking!¡± Giana said after pulling me in.

    About salmon?

    ¡°About doing something reckless!¡±

    A mind reader?

    I thought about Giana¡¯s figure.

    ¡°Aww, so you like my figure!¡±

    I was taken aback.  Wait you really are reading my mind?

    ¡°Oh, not exactly, after effects of [Empathic bond], it¡¯s not mind reading, but it comes close.¡±

    That is so overpowered¡­ wait that means¡­

    ¡°Yup! Not gonna happen!¡±

    Ugh, my race is so overpowered¡­

    ¡°But you¡¯re right, the humans can¡¯t see these attacks; we have to split up from them and have them flee. And no, it¡¯s not better if you go alone!¡±

    Fine! You win! Noelle stop grinning, we¡¯re going to lure these stalkers away from the humans!

    ¡°Finally, some action!¡± Noelle cracked her knuckles and her mana started to surge.

    I placed the humans under the illusion that we fought off the bandits and continued our trip. I wanted to put our stalkers under illusions, but if they know Giana is a 9t, they should have measures against illusions. The question is, what do they want from her.

    Right, this might be a bad idea, but we''re going south.

    The chicks got picked up with water dragons and I used [Waterfall].

    The chicks smelled nice, sounded nice and Giana, who was pressing herself into me, felt nice. Zen Agnis requested another holiday, which got declined as I needed to stay focused.

    Giana was staring. ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t know you could dance too.¡±

    I can¡¯t, I need these movements to keep this going.

    ¡°Hmm, so this is quite different from Giana, you¡¯re fast, and she is slow.¡±

    ¡°Noelle! You¡¯re not particularly fast either!¡±

    So, 2 slow chicks want to lure stalkers away from humans, what could go possibly wrong?

    ¡°Nothing! We have you to protect us!¡±

    ¡°You mean he will protect you! I will protect my little brother!¡±

    I am already tired¡­  I said as I rolled my eyes.

    These chicks talked a lot. I tried to tune out, but Giana noticed when I did. So i got forced to contribute and steer the conversation in a direction that¡¯s interesting.

    So, Noelle, can you stop blocking my teleports? I¡¯ve tried to teleport out multiple times.

    ¡°Huh, I¡¯m not blocking your teleports, why would I?¡±

    Uh oh.

    I looked around, whatever is doing this has an enormous range. Is it a Dimsha? This whole idea became worse by the second.

    So 7t are good in defense, right?

    ¡°Yup! I¡¯m not joking when I say I¡¯m going to protect you for Giana¡¯s sake!¡±

    Aha. In that case!

    I disconnected from the leyline currents and caught Giana, since she was light. Noelle landed successfully with a loud stomp, I located my targets and flashed 3 magic circles.

    ¡°What was that magic, those magic circles were crazy fast!¡± Noelle said, as she was creating a road on this rocky terrain.

    ¡°Agnis what did you do?¡±

    Not much just a small present for our stalkers.

    The sky started to brighten and one of my favorite fire magic skills parted the clouds.

    ¡°[Meteor]?!¡± Giana said as she tied her hair in a ponytail.

    Not one but 3!

    Noelle stomped. ¡°Hey! Isn¡¯t this overkill? Protecting you from 3 [Meteors] is a bit much to ask!¡±

    Oh, you don¡¯t need to protect me, you need to protect Giana.

    ¡°Ooh I wonder how they will get out of this!¡± Giana said.

    I assume she was also observing how the stalkers were dealing with this.

    ¡°Ugh, you 9t are all the same!¡±

    A [Meteor] was getting dissolved. Another one got pushed back, and the last one dropped and the impact could be felt from here.

    Ah the fresh smell of [Meteor] in the morning!

    ¡°It feels a bit therapeutic, yeah.¡±

    Noelle emerged from some cool crystal armor. ¡°You two are perfect for each other¡­ I feel like a fool for worrying, don¡¯t you 2 have stupid high fire resistances?¡±

    ¡°Ah, yeah.¡±

    Hmm, that didn¡¯t seem to do much, what are these guys. Then again, they are trying to catch a 9t. They should expect a [Meteor] or two.

    ¡°Really? I never saw Giana use [Meteor].¡±

    Wasn¡¯t her attack power like 0?

    ¡°Hey! I can do damage!¡± She shot an [Ice spike] at me, but I detected that it had 0 firepower. It hit me and did no damage. ¡°Wha?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Giana, if you can¡¯t even damage your race, which is known for being squishy, then you¡¯re not doing damage at all. Agnis want to find out if my punch hurts?¡±

    No thanks, I¡¯m sure it hurts like hell.

    I tried to figure out what they were planning with this formation. When something popped up.

    Say, what did your management think of the fan mail that admired your spirit?

    ¡°That it happens all the time and that we should ignore it.¡±

    I had to walk slowly as these chicks were extremely slow. Are they cursed?

    What do you know about spirits?

    Giana shook her head and her ponytail danced. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve never met one.¡±

    Do you know that our race falls under ¡®Spirit¡¯?

    She stopped and I put my hand on her back to ensure she kept walking. ¡°Huh really?¡±

    Yes, I know right! I had the same reaction!

    ¡°But, it¡¯s right there, nine tailed  spirit  fox¡­¡±

    Giana and I looked at Noelle as if she was crazy. ¡°You know what never mind go bond more over your race.¡±

    So how I see this, they are quite literal in admiring your spirit, I first thought that these stalkers were something else but now I think they are spirit mages.

    ¡°What did you think they were then?¡±

    Uhh, doesn¡¯t matter¡­ but all is good they¡¯re just spirit mages that want to force you into a spirit contract or something!

    ¡°But is that even possible? I¡¯m a vixen.¡±

    Yes, and a spirit, I don¡¯t blame you, it also took me a while to accept that I¡¯m a spirit.

    ¡°This is ridiculous¡­ it¡¯s like not knowing I can use crystals¡­¡± Noelle sighed and tried to speed up.

    ¡°But won¡¯t they come after you too then?¡±

    They don¡¯t know I¡¯m a 9t. That¡¯s why I wanted to lure them away because I will be fine.

    ¡°I can¡¯t risk it!¡± She said as she ran at me and locked arms with me.

    Ugh, stop being so sweet, I need to ditch you 2 so you can make it back safely.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Zen Agnis applied for a paid leave. It would be nice if Zen Agnis could stay here until I get these idols to safety. This is the first time I¡¯ve had this much trouble dealing with women. Is it because my racial traits have locked in? I looked at Giana, who seemed quite happy and tried to keep ¡®Raishin Thoughts¡¯ out.

    ¡°Do I need to make a room for you two?¡± Noelle asked with an annoying grin on her face.

    Luckily for me, something required me to focus.

    Oh, something is coming.

    A crystal wall blocked the strange [Lightning Bolts].

    Nice! You guys go that way! I will go this way!

    Giana pounced on me. ¡°Stop trying to ditch us!¡± Giana caught me in a headlock.

    Owowow that hurts! Wait it doesn¡¯t? How low is your attack power? I will just lure them away!

    ¡°No! you¡¯re not luring them away from us! We are safer together!¡±

    Stop being so selfless and protecting me! you have a concert in several days I assume, shouldn¡¯t you focus on your career and get that done?

    ¡°Hmm, she¡¯s actually quite selfish, and it¡¯s a good thing she found something she values more than her career.¡± Noelle stomped and made a strange crystal pyramid.

    Noelle pointed. ¡°So, these are the things she finds important, this here is sleep, this here is clothes and food, this up here is us and her career on the top. But now!¡± She dropped a rock on the top of the pyramid.

    Noelle pointed at the rock. ¡°This is you!¡±

    I¡¯m a rock?

    ¡°You are a rock for not understanding the analogy yes!¡±

    Well, I get it, thank you but this rock wants you to ehh continue being able to have ¡®the rock¡¯ on top and for that you need to stay alive, so shoo let ¡®the rock¡¯ solve this.

    Giana kept up her headlock. ¡°No! I¡¯m staying with you!¡±

    My race is such a pain in the ass¡­

    ¡°I agree!¡±

    I focused, and we ran to a cave I spotted in a mountain. And when I say we ran, I mean I ran, I had to use [Water Dragon Dance] to carry them inside because both of them were very slow. It was as if they were running in slow motion. I tried to check if they had the [Slow] debuff on them but Giana caught me, and they found it rude that I thought they had the [Slow] debuff.

    ¡°Why did we run into a cave if we¡¯re surrounded?¡±

    We will give them the slip here. This is a cave complex. Can you dig silently? They will think we¡¯re in the cave complex but in reality, we will dig to the magma chamber below us and escape from there.

    Noelle narrowed her eyes. ¡°And why would this idea come up? Have you used this idea before?¡±

    Nope!

    ¡°So why a magma chamber?¡±

    Because they will have difficulties following us there if they find us?

    ¡°Ok let¡¯s go!¡± Giana started a short dance that boosted earth magic.

    ¡°Hey wait a second there Giana¡­ magma chambers are hot and hostile¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, I know.¡±

    See! Giana understands! Start digging!

    ¡°I really need to keep an eye on you two¡­¡± Noelle started digging and I was impressed.

    She made sturdy pillars and arches at intervals in the tunnel she was digging. She will probably give Yttroz a run for their money, it didn¡¯t look like a tunnel at all but a fancy corridor, there was one problem though¡­

    I know that stability and order is your thing, but the point of this is to fill the hole up behind us and to make sure they don¡¯t find out we went down here, this is basically pointing them directly at us.

    ¡°But! You¡¯re right¡­¡±

    It¡¯s your nature, I know¡­

    Noelle stomped and the tunnel collapsed behind us, it somehow still collapsed in a quite orderly fashion. I am not sure if an orderly collapsed tunnel is going to fool them¡­ This might be the reason why 7t and 9t are a strong combo, the 7t are the order to the 9t¡¯s chaos and vice versa. Blowing up this tunnel might have been a bit more convincing.

    ¡°It is starting to get hot in here¡­¡± Noelle fanned herself while digging orderly so I made a [Frost cloak] around her. ¡°Thanks!¡±

    We made it to the magma chamber. Noelle made a rocky foothold to which she and Giana landed on, but I landed on the magma.

    ¡°Agnis!¡±

    What? I¡¯m immune to magma!

    ¡°Oh, he¡¯s right, this isn¡¯t so bad.¡± Giana said, as she had also jumped on the magma.

    ¡°You foxes and your stupidly high fire resistances¡­¡±

    Heh, jealous?

    ¡°My overall resistances are way higher than you!¡±

    Not my fault we¡¯re squishy!

    Noelle pointed at me and then at Giana. ¡°You mean you¡¯re squishy! Giana is not!¡±

    Huh how does that work?

    ¡°She is sturdier than I am!¡± Noelle said proudly.

    Hmm interesting another anomaly I see.

    ¡°Well, I am not a pure spirit fox, but that isn¡¯t important, what are we going to do now?¡±

    We run!

    Giana cocked her head. ¡°Run? How?¡±

    Right, I mean I will run, Giana can you hold my waist with one of your tail and grab Noelle with another, try to always keep yourselves facing forward with your heads pointing up.

    ¡°That is awfully specific, you haven¡¯t done this before did you?¡± Giana asked as I felt her Elgards eyes on me.

    Uhh, perhaps, we are light so we don¡¯t have to necessarily obey to gravity, but turning you two into milkshakes is also a bad idea.

    ¡°So, this is going to happen? Lil bro is going to run over lava?¡±

    Unless you want to tunnel us through the magma

    Noelle stomped, moved some magma to the side and observed how it flowed back to its original position. ¡°So, let¡¯s get going then!¡±

    Giana grabbed me and Noelle.

    Oh, these could use a brush.

    The Elgards eyes gaze on me increased. ¡°You brush your tails?¡±

    Uhh yeah? You don¡¯t?

    ¡°I do, but I can¡¯t get it to how I want.¡±

    Uhh, probably not your fault. Let¡¯s go!

    I started to run over the magma with a bias toward the south.

    ¡°So how many times have you ran over magma before?¡± Noelle asked after scooping up some magma and confirming its temperature.

    Uhm, there was Boshi town, multiple times in Fernys, was there anything after that? I don¡¯t think so. Fernys was every day for a month or something. So, enough times, I guess?

    ¡°And are we going toward Gittrian?¡±

    Uhm, not really, there is a large cave that may or may not have collapsed between Gittrian and the Aurelia river. I don¡¯t know how large that one is, but I want to avoid it, so my plan is to go south, pop out from under the ocean and bring you back to Gittrian from there.

    ¡°So, another time you ran over magma then!¡±

    Well, that was different!

    I kept being interrogated about strange activities I may or may not have done.

    Hmm chatting time is over, so there is good news and bad news.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t everything always bad news with you? It seems that way to me.¡± Noelle said as she started flinging magma.

    Ok that is a fair point Giana, how about this there is bad news and worse news!

    ¡°That¡¯s the bad news over there!¡± Noelle pointed at some figures that were following us, they looked quite strange, like half human half monster.

    Oh yes, that¡¯s the bad news, the worse news is that they have adjusted their encirclement and it now also spans underground and in the air. If you two have a secret escape plan, now is the time!

    Noelle cracked her knuckles. ¡°How about we beat them up!?¡± I¡¯m starting to wonder if Noelle is a muscle head.

    ¡°How about diving in the magma?¡±

    Beating them up is rejected, it will take forever, and the objective is to keep you two safe, diving in the magma¡­ not a bad plan but our mobility¡­ my mobility will drop considerably and that would most certainly get us caught. The best idea is for me to lu...

    I got hit by another headlock. ¡°Give up on that idea! I won¡¯t let go until you do!¡± I tried to focus on escaping, Giana¡¯s headlocks were quite¡­ soft. Is this a 9t seduction technique I don¡¯t know about?

    ¡°Giana, you do know you¡¯re rubbing your chest in his face when you do that, right?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care!¡±

    I was right, it probably is some strange technique I don¡¯t know about. Charm users are so dangerous.

    I guess beating them up it is, then, what are your specialties?

    ¡°Earth magic, crystals and punching! But in adventurers'' terms, I¡¯m probably an Iron Wall!¡±

    ¡°Water magic, support singing and dancing, I would be a Golden Angel I think.¡±

    So, both are super tanky, slow and do no damage, great. So why did you want to fight again?

    I hopped over some rocks and took a sharp turn. I messed up and Noelle crashed into the rocky corner, but it seemed as if she hardly noticed. ¡°I can do damage if you hit me with your foxfire or something!¡±

    Uhh burning my allies isn¡¯t my hobby.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry! Have a skill that makes me use attacks of my allies as my own! Works especially good if I fight with 9t!¡± Noelle told me about her race¡¯s specialty [Polygonic Armament].

    Ah right you guys get stupidly OP when fighting with us, I guess this might work. You can let go of me now, Giana.

    ¡°No!¡± The headlock intensified.

    Ugh, fine, don¡¯t blame me if I make silly mistakes then.

    Noelle handled defense and Giana was uhm¡­ singing? Never mind her songs seemed to provide buffs and I knew she was an idol, but holy shit this chick can sing.

    ¡°I can¡¯t really use water magic here, but I can assist with my voice. What buffs do you need besides speed?¡± She said while continuing to sing.

    It appears that she doesn''t have just one voice but multiple. Singing and talking at the same time can be considered a cheat skill, right?

    A very beautiful voice indeed, don¡¯t mind me, just keep assisting Noelle, I will be picking up speed in a bit.

    ¡°Wait, you can go faster than this?¡±

    Let me demonstrate.

    My shoes were toast anyway since I was walking on lava, so [Accel Step] wouldn¡¯t be an issue, and I started to accelerate and summoned [Ignis].

    Go get them buddy!

    Ignis, the magma snake, tried to attack and instantly got blasted to pieces. Ignis had a terrible win rate. I had actually forgotten about him and hadn¡¯t improved him.

    Well, that was awkward¡­

    ¡°Leave them to me!¡± Noelle created various [Magma Waves], earth and crystal pillars, or just made parts of the chamber collapse to hinder and block the path of our pursuers.

    I left a [Flame wave] behind, and this one seemed to severely burn those that got hit.

    ¡°That fire magic was extremely potent, you melted that jerk''s face off!¡± Noelle seemed oddly excited by the power of a regular fire spell.

    That''s what [Flame Waves] tend to do¡­

    Giana sent a [Flame wave] and it only singed some eyebrows.

    Well, you guys have 0 firepower, so that was a poor example!

    Noelle face tanked a [Flame wave] an enemy sent at her and pointed at herself, showing she was unscathed.

    Yes, and you are tanky as fuck so that doesn''t count either! You know what? I should have expected this! Ok this is the plan, we go back up, we reduce their numbers, and then go to Gittrian. I will have my clone lure them away, I stress and repeat, my clone will lure them away. Is that, ok?

    ¡°That is fine.¡± Noelle said as she sent out [Magma Punches] at the stalkers.

    ¡°As long as we stick together.¡±

    Selfish chicks¡­ either way, I understand why they do this. I think. There isn¡¯t much left from Hourai and people from Hourai do tend to stick together. It is just not always efficient. I tried to use [Ignis] again. He survived for a bit longer and got blasted to pieces. It¡¯s mean toward [Ignis] but he¡¯s quite useless¡­

    32 individuals were following us at the moment. All using some form of spirit magic. I didn¡¯t know much about spirit magic, even though I should, but I was sure that spirit mages fight differently. They have spirit tethers wrapped around them, but they turn red right before they enter their bodies. There is so much wrong with this

    My hypothesis is that they do some form of reverse possession, judging by the spirit tethers, this isn¡¯t good for the spirit. Some sort of parasitic symbiosis.

    I got shivers through my spine.

    I have changed my mind a bit. Giana, if push comes to shove, I will ditch you guys and lure them away, something possibly worse than death will wait you if they catch you.

    ¡°What? Why? What is worse than dea¡­¡±

    I swerved because some stalkers appeared in front of us. I should have moved more carefully as my head was almost completely buried in Giana¡¯s chest due to this. If I didn¡¯t know better, I would think she is doing this on purpose and sabotaging me. How am I supposed to focus like this?

    More stalkers appeared and another swerve. Giana didn¡¯t keep herself and Noelle stable, so they got flung around. Giana was still holding on to Noelle and me with her tails.

    Sorry about that, Noelle can you bust a hole through the ceiling in a bit. I¡¯m going to drown these stalkers. And Giana¡­ please, I can¡¯t focus like this.

    ¡°Drown them in a magma chamber? I want to see that!¡± Giana said, completely ignoring my request and leaking dangerous pink energy. 9t are such a pain in the ass.

    I had to connect to the underground leyline current and used a weak [Drowning Pulse]. The water evaporated instantly and slowly drove up the humidity.

    ¡°Are going to drown them with steam?¡±

    Nope they would wish that was my plan.

    I had to stay in the same area to make this effective. These stalkers might have heat resistance, but it doesn¡¯t protect them from secondary effects created by the heat. I created veils around Noelle and Giana and tried to get out of this headlock.

    I drove the humidity up and up. The stalkers started to cough and choke. The insides of their lungs were one of the coolest place on their bodies, and that¡¯s where all the water would condense, filling up their lungs with fluid. Some stalkers seemed to have a high body temperature so they were immune to this effect, but I still took out 28 stalkers like this.

    Science rocks! So, can you let go n¡­

    ¡°They really did drown¡­ not like how I expected, though.¡± Giana said and buffed my speed.

    Not many people protect their insides from outside factors.

    I made peace with the fact that she wasn¡¯t going to let go. I don¡¯t think that the ¡®I can¡¯t see¡¯ excuse would work¡­

    ¡°Well, because doing that doesn¡¯t make any sense, normally¡­ So, it is possible to still deal damage with water without attacking¡­ Do you mind if I copy some of your water techniques and ideas?¡±

    I don¡¯t mind, go ahead, feel free to copy and steal anything if it can keep you alive.

    ¡°Oho, so she is allowed to steal you to stay alive?¡±

    Noelle, please¡­ can you get us to the surface?

    ¡°I need to stomp on something.¡± I made a frost cube and swapped it with a stalker.

    Stomp on him.

    ¡°Eww no! I¡¯m not in those kinds of things! I need to stomp on some rocks or earth, even magma would work!¡±

    Ah.

    I used [Kryokym] on the stalker and tossed him at another stalker.

    Well get to it Giana, you¡¯re holding her.

    A patch of rocks could be seen in the distance and I headed over to them.

    So about this headlock, is it really necessary?

    "I don''t want you to do weird stuff and leave us behind." I sighed.

    "She means risky stuff you nine-tailed foxes like to do, and she has all reason to after seeing how you lived your life up until now."

    "Yeah¡­ I''m surprised that you are still alive¡­" somehow the headlock turned into a hug. "Can you promise to be careful?"

    I didn''t know what to do in this situation. Being careful sounds good on paper, but that generally doesn''t work for me, especially not now that I need to "Protect the President", a team dynamic greatly changes when a healer is around. As long as you don''t get one shot and instantly die, you can be as reckless as you can get away with, which would be perfect in this situation. As long as I keep Giana safe, I can do whatever is needed to get the job done, however I don''t know if I should say this to her. Giana tightened her hug in response to my silence.

    We need to keep going, I will do my best.

    This   answer seemed to satisfy her enough, and she let go.

    "So, when is the wedding?" Noelle asked while looking at us with a smirk.

    Less talking, more digging! Get us up to the surface!

    Giana flung Noelle at a protruding rock, who stomped after she landed. It created a platform, and the shockwave made the ceiling above her crumble. The rock cleared away and created a tunnel lined with light purple crystals.

    One [Waterspout] coming up! Keep your head, limbs and tails inside because we¡¯re going fast!

    I jumped next to Noelle on the platform. Giana grabbed her and I made the movements for [Waterspout] and we went up.

 Pneuma 59: Spirit Stalkers II

    I tried teleporting after we got to the surface, but it got blocked. [Shadow Melding] worked, but it ate a lot of mana, other shadow skills still worked. I still couldn¡¯t take others with my [Dimensional Anchor] unless I wanted to bring them to a different dimension.

    I looked at the hole we just came out of. It was uselessly good. It even has beams for support even though I don''t think this all is needed, but it gave a feeling of safety and security. But I guess this is what the 7t are all about, stability, order and safety.

    Their damage might be a bit low but defeating or killing one is almost impossible. She might also be the reason why these stalkers came with this many people. It might take long but if she was experienced and mastered everything her race could do, she could fight an army and come out relatively unscathed, of course, this comes with the caveat that that army has no healers.

    Noelle had told me about [Polygonic armament]. It was one of their trademark skills and makes fighting them quite unfair. It makes them super tough, boosts their defense and magic defense, and makes all their skills scale either defense or magical defense. This doesn''t make them hit as hard as most other-tailed beasts, but they become relatively unstoppable. They will out-damage a 3t though.

    You could run away from them, but they can stabilize your body, which means only spatial teleports work. Maybe some witches and certain individuals from other races could pull it off, but they will have to fight to make a rip into space while the 7t are keeping it in its current state, only 9t can consistently win this, but 7t and 9t are on very good terms, so this scenario only happens in spars.

    Some tailed beasts have great synergy with each other. Like 3t and 6t have a very good synergy. My synergy is quite low with 3t and 6t. 7t and 9t synergies, however. It''s almost as combining an unstoppable spear and an invincible shield. Also, they can stabilize illusions so that they become reality. 9t could also hit them with foxfire when they''re using [Polygonic Armament] which makes their physical hits as hard as 9t magic attacks. I considered asking them to join our group, but I decided against it.

    I''m sure they wouldn''t refuse, but they would have to stop being idols. They are having a good effect on the world by making humans more accepting of us, which is good. Maybe a few more years and she can do the same for spirits.

    They''re doing something I never could. I would probably make it worse because even though I know it''s important I don''t care enough about humans to get it done, I''d more likely resort to manipulation or vaporizing a city and potentially making it worse. Also, the lives of me and my friends are a mess and dangerous.

    We have lived completely different lives than these idols, and I don''t wish for them to experience what we did.

    I started to put a simulation to work. Some gods have put a target on our backs and especially a certain bitch goddess would be very interested in Giana. I''m trying to recreate a simpler version of the illusion I made after we escaped Boshi town. But it would make Giana impossible to find only for gods specifically.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, what is Raishin up to?¡±

    Dunno, probably causing problems and blowing stuff up, are you interested? I can hook you up with him, although technically he has a girlfriend.

    ¡°Ugh, really?¡±

    Well, they never broke up, he just went to prison¡­

    ¡°Wait what?¡±

    Ehh maybe another time, either way, that¡¯s not important now! They never broke up, but it¡¯s safe to say that their relationship is over.

    ¡°And that''s why you keep getting into trouble like that! But I guess they never broke up eh¡­ do you think he still likes her?¡±

    Dunno, I have no clue what goes on in his mind but I''m fairly certain he sees the relationship is over since he¡¯s chasing skirts again, might want to go for it before some random chick says yes. Although he does seem to be looking for someone specific now.

    ¡°Ugh, why did I have to get a crush on a six-tailed lightning tiger¡­¡±

    ¡°How about you, Agnis, is there someone in your heart?¡±

    Of course!

    I might have been mistaken, but it seemed like Giana flinched.

    ¡°Oh, ehh who is it?¡±

    Light golden flame baked spirit salmon.

    The chicks facepalmed and shook me, seemingly annoyed.

    ¡°I mean a person, not food¡­¡±

    Hmm, not really, people suck .

    I got annoyed frowns.

    Ehh, you guys are alright.

    ¡°Never mind¡­ what was I thinking, I¡¯m a bit relieved though¡­¡± Giana put her hand on her chest as a sign of relief.

    ¡°Yes, Giana, he¡¯s never going to get it if you go about, it like that, Agnis, Giana is in love with you in the romantic sense, that you haven''t caught on to this is baffling.¡±

    Giana turned red and covered her face.

    I noticed¡­unfortunately, I do not know how to respond to this nor do I have the time to figure this out.

    I created a [Frostwall] and blocked a huge, strange-looking [Lightning Claw] coming at us. It put some cracks in it, suggesting that this was probably spirit magic.

    We have company.

    Noelle stomped. ¡°Why did they have to attack at such an important moment!¡± This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    I don¡¯t know, it¡¯s quite convenient for me.

    I felt 18 people lock onto us. We had been surrounded the moment we landed on the surface but they were slow enough to give the chicks time to start their love nonsense. They had the configurations of how adventurers would make teams, as there were 3 teams of 6.

    ¡°Ahh, I finally get to meet you in the flesh! Giana, I¡¯m your biggest fan! I am in love with your spirit!¡± a slender woman with long red hair stepped forward and started talking. She was wearing something similar to Giana, but there was a big difference. She didn''t fill the outfit as Giana did.

    ¡°We know what you¡¯re up to, stalking washing board! Leave us alone!¡± Noelle stomped and the ground trembled.

    Noelle had no chill, it might not look like it, but it seemed that Noelle had already started attacking, verbally.

    ¡°It is you who is stalking Giana! Always being around her! So, vexing! It should be me!¡±

    While they were battling with words, I made some clones and made them set up traps and magic circles in stealth. I also subtly put down an 8-layered illusion. I was expecting there to be an expert in illusions since they¡¯re trying to capture Giana, but they didn''t appear to have one. Cocky or confident?

    I leaned over to Giana.  Hey, how skilled are you in forming and maintaining illusions?

    ¡°I¡¯m not skilled in those, I can do a double-layered illusion at best with some effort. I¡¯m very good at transforming, though!¡±

    Leaning heavily in gender difference in our race I see.

    ¡°Wait what?¡±

    Uh, vixens are skilled in transforming and not so great at using illusions, while the men are skilled with illusions and garbage at transforming. Our tails also seem to be different between genders.

    I said as I looked at Giana¡¯s tails. My tails were 20 times fluffier than hers. I wondered if vixens get attracted to fluffy tails, if that¡¯s the case I¡¯m screwed.

    ¡°Oh, I didn''t know that... It''s not like male 9t are common¡­¡± Giana gave me a complicated look.

    ¡°Hey who is that and why is he flirting with MY Giana?!¡± Redhead said as she pointed at me.

    ¡°Oh, didn''t you know, Giana has a boyfriend now, so scram, there¡¯s no place for you.¡± Noelle pointed at me.

    ¡°WHAT?! You deserve death!¡± I don¡¯t know what I did to deserve this, but it¡¯s beneficial if they focus on me instead of Giana, which makes ¡°Protecting the President¡± easier .

    I would appreciate it if you guys could kindly fuck off, I have no energy for this bullshit.

    Bingo, this seemed to piss her off even more.

    ¡°Giana is MINE! I love her so much that I want to become her! I want to become one with her!¡±

    Even though this chick is creepy, she didn''t seem to be lying and this confirmed my theory. She probably will kill Giana and take Giana¡¯s spirit inside her. Those pursuers were like a mix between human and spirit, as they could probably switch between different ones. It was a unique type of possession. Now there was one thing I was unsure of, but I had the feeling I was correct in this.

    This chick was wearing clothes in Giana¡¯s size. She might take on some of Giana¡¯s properties after she steals her spirit. All these people here looked quite strange, recognizable as humans but the longer you looked at them the less human, they appeared, probably the result of assimilating multiple types of spirits. This is taking spirit slavery multiple steps too far¡­

    I relayed this hypothesis to the chicks.

    ¡°He might be insufferable, but he seems to have a good head on his shoulders! That¡¯s correct, I¡¯m here to take you in me and become the new Giana!¡±

    ¡°Uhm, Jenna, I thought it was because we badly need a good healer¡­¡± A random stalker said.

    ¡°Shut up Jamie! Becoming a healer is secondary! I want to become Giana!¡±

    ¡°You are too ugly and flat to become Giana!¡±

    I didn¡¯t know if Noelle can use poison, but she had quite the venomous tongue and was throwing toxic remarks around while I sized this group up.

    A leader of another 6-man group chimed in with the insults and toxic remarks. It seemed she was the sister of the washboard chick, uhh I mean red hair chick. Apparently, they would go to another spot because she was also looking for a spirit to absorb and they found a strong offensive spirit. I appreciated that they engaged in verbal warfare so that I could set things up. But Noelle was holding her own against these 2.

    I changed my stance and put my hands together and slowly pulled them apart, creating purple lightning sparks in between them. I had a lot of ideas for new Dragonvein and magic skills and these guys would be my test subjects.

    ¡°Shit, it''s a skilled lightning user!¡±

    ¡°Uhm that¡¯s not an augmentation, is it? Why didn''t I see a magic circle? Does anyone have information on this guy?¡± the enemies were confused, rightfully so.

    I gathered lightning in my index and middle finger and start zapping people. Giana tried copying my movements as a dance, it looked cute, but it wasn¡¯t very helpful. After a minute of zapping, they collected themselves and my zapping became quite ineffective, but that¡¯s fine, they are focused on me now. As long as everyone got hit by my lightning.

    They started to go on the offensive, but the lightning DoT I put on them started ticking and landing stuns. It was the Dragonvein version of [Spirit Spark: Electrocute], the skill I learned from Starbolt in Event Horizon. The first stun was my cue to start moving.

    The execution was rough, so it was unlikely that I would use this often.

    I shifted my stance and started throwing fire around and used the technique [Phoenix Dance]. I instantly killed 2 people because of my passive skill that increases damage on CCed targets. It was a skill i hardly ever used as its power was¡­.obscene. It was also quite ally unfriendly.

    Some of these stalkers noticed that my attacks were tied to my movements and tried to hinder these between their stuns, but unfortunately for them controlling leylines was quite flexible, so I could get away with less movement and still have a similar effect.

    I evaded, sending out [Flame Blades] every time I evaded. And shifted to [Fire Dragon Dance], a blue fire dragon and a red fire dragon followed the movements of my palms as I guided them through the battlefield. I let more leyline energy flow through me and doubled the number of dragons. These copies had a delayed reaction to my movements to allow for more complexity.

    ¡°So pretty¡­¡± Giana continued copying my movements and started singing. Noelle had a 1v1 against the red hair chick, which didn''t seem to be going anywhere.

    We were still surrounded. I needed to make sure to not forget that.

    Countless people going after 2 women is bad taste, I will send them packing. Not because I want too, but because these idols didn''t want me to be a diversion.

    Ugh what a pain in the ass, well here goes nothing.

 Pneuma 60: [Drowning Pulse]

    Hey, Noelle, you can use [Polygoonic Armament] right?

    ¡°Yeah, but not for long.¡±

    I made a very intense blue dragon and shot it toward her.

    Catch!

    Noelle expected this, took the hit with [Polygoonic armament] and got imbued with the flames.

    ¡°Hehe time to turn this bitch into ash!¡±

    I looked by as the fight quickly became extremely unfair. Noelle was unstoppable, and more of my opponents went to try and save Red hair. Giana was also layering buffs onto Noelle by dancing and singing.

    A guy got turned into charcoal who thought he could sneak up on Giana.

    ¡°Focus on that guy! This bitch can''t keep up this fire god mode indefinitely! We don¡¯t know what that guy can do! He¡¯s not using magic, but still interacting with our spirit magic!¡± Red hair chick was ordering everyone around, but not being much of a help herself.

    ¡°How come Noelle can hit us in our spirit mantle?¡± The stalkers started throwing theories around.

    I¡¯m assuming that she found a way to match spirits with normal physical objects at the moment of impact. There were times when her attacks didn''t do anything and it was quite inconsistent, which makes me think she is trying to get the timing right.

    I thought that only spirits could deal with spirits, but maybe that was wrong, 7t are quite overpowered though.

    I slipped Noelle¡¯s target, which made it easier for her to land her timing. And small explosions blew opponents away, which would hinder her. At the same time, I made the fire dragons keep Red hair''s sister busy.

    They got some reinforcements because they already had 5 dead, oh 6, Noelle just blew a guy¡¯s head off. She seemed to be getting close to dropping her [Polygoonic armament] so I removed the flames off her.

    ¡°This is our chance! Kill that bitch! And don''t forget that asshole!¡±

    Giana started singing another song. I noticed something interesting, the skills that should have been unavailable or didn¡¯t have any of their conditions met, were available. I let my clones double up on the stuff they prepared, but this also meant that Noelle could use [Polygoonic armament] again.

    Catch!

    Some idiot tried to block it, but he just got fried. Noelle got a slightly weaker attack, but I don¡¯t think that mattered.

    ¡°Haha! Who is dying now, bitch! Take a seven-tailed crystal wolf''s specialty with some added flair! [Volcano stomp]¡±

    Hey, hey Noelle, are you trying to kill us all?!

    Noelle stomped, and the whole area got wide cracks, and the blue fire she was imbued with burst out from the cracks. It was basically an [Earthquake] with more oomph and releasing whatever she was imbued with. The fire then crystallized. Anything that got hit by the fire was stuck in my crystallized flames. I have no clue what the properties of these are.

    What¡¯s this?   I knocked on a crystal.

    ¡°Don¡¯t touch that! Oh right, stupid high fire resistance, it¡¯s just your fire but crystallized, anyone stuck in it keeps burning inside it.¡± The captives were in agonizing pain, couldn''t move and were getting consumed by heat.

    Sounds like something you don¡¯t want to get hit by.

    ¡°Jenna! This is bad, we found the identity of that guy! He is a B-rank adventurer that goes by ¡®Silver Torrent¡¯, he is very skilled but¡­ the information here seems off, it says he¡¯s a water user¡­¡± A random guy said who was holding a piece of paper.

    Red head scoffed. ¡°So what? He is a B-rank adventurer, we have A-rank and S-rank equivalents in our extraction team. The 5 elders that joined us are SS-rank.¡±

    ¡°Well, the thing is he got that name without participating in the grand tournament, also nobody has ever seen his skill ¡®Silver Torrent¡¯ which is odd. Also, another source suggests that he has a similar skill with the sword as Leefa.¡±

    ¡°That is absurd, if that was the case he would use the sword, but this all doesn''t matter because he can¡¯t win.¡±

    Ooh very interesting, you guys aren''t completely unprepared. Let me match your information, then.

    My stance shifted and shifted to [Water dragon dance] causing all the fire brought forth by Dragonvein to turn into water. I also got Nilah out in sword form. The water dragons danced on the ambient leyline flow, and I took a stance to use a [Wintersbite] quickdraw. My blade sang, a cold flash went out, and half the reinforcements got cut vertically with deadly precision. The cut froze their bodies solid.

    How about this?

    Noelle¡¯s [Polygoonic armament] fell off and I doused her with water, causing a steam explosion which sent those around her flying.

    ¡°Hey, Agnis, that was a cool combo!¡± Noelle created earth pillars for those that got blown away, to crash into, and locked them into that pillar.

    She walked toward red hair chick and started to punch her with her bare fists. Noelle is brutal but it seems she wanted to get the most out of beating that red hair chick up.

    One guy sent a flare up into the sky to indicate an emergency.

    I swapped Giana, who was still dancing and singing, toward me to make her avoid a nasty looking lightning crow. I wasn¡¯t sure about what type of bird this is. Not only that, but I couldn¡¯t remember if crows having 3 legs, was a thing.

    Giana started throwing attacks around but they seemed to almost do negative damage.

    You are not healing them with those attacks, are you? They look like they do negative damage.

    ¡°How rude! I might not do much damage but I¡¯m certainly not healing them!¡±

    Good we don¡¯t want you healing enemies.

    ¡°I¡¯m not healing them!¡± Giana used [Frozen ground] and made some opponents slip.

    That''s more like it!

    I froze their pants to the floor, and they couldn''t move. The crow kept harassing me, but I kept him at bay by swirling the water dragons around me. At this point, Giana mastered copying my movements and giving them a spin, which would probably work great with leyline energy.she might be compatible with Dragonvein as she¡¯s a dancer but teaching her will be troublesome and take way too long.

    The crow discharged a wave of red lightning without any warning. Giana and Noelle were fine because they are tanky. I got hit, and it took a layer off my [Frozen skin], the assessment of my Elgards eyes told me that I would''ve been in trouble if I got hit by that.

    ¡°Agnis, are you ok?¡±

    Yeah, don¡¯t worry, I don''t need healing.

    Gianna still put a [Regenerate] on me.

    The strange crow slanted on a thin [Lightning Pillar] it had made and started to talk in a high-pitched voice. ¡°I see that you are struggling to secure the healer spirit fox, Caw! We will be joining you soon, we will get rid of this shadow clone first. Caw!¡±

    One of my shadow clones had stepped in during its reconnaissance because these assholes tried to enslave an earth spirit.

    ¡°Shadow clones? But who¡­¡± This stalker couldn¡¯t finish his sentence as Noelle punched him.

    Right, I guess the fox is out of the bag.

    I went into stealth and tried to assassinate redhead chick¡¯s sister, but some guy next to her appeared to be having a spirit that could vaguely detect me in stealth. So, I ended up assassinating him instead, but this put everyone on alert.

    It would be nice if I could stop encountering opponents that could see through stealth. First the fairies and now these assholes¡­

    ¡°Who are you?¡± red hair sister asked.

    Me? Just a random guy named Agnis.

    ¡°Doesn''t ring a bell.¡±

    Good.

    I smirked and impaled her with an [Ice spike]. I shifted my stance and started [Drowning pulse].

    Giana really put her voice in the next song and all my water moves got a boost. It wasn''t leyline energy, but her dancing created some sort of water barrier around her and some bulky guy, which reminds me of Boulder, was going at the barrier, but it didn''t seem like he would ever break it. He wasn¡¯t a pushover, either, the barrier was just extremely sturdy. I slowly started to flood the area, which fed Giana¡¯s barrier.

    Noelle didn¡¯t seem too keen on this, so she raised the surrounding area to stay dry and keep punching red-haired chick. Red hair chick''s face was even uglier than before the punches, although¡­ I¡¯m not sure, maybe this was an improvement.

    Things went well so far, but then ¡®they¡¯ appeared. The rest of the people that were in the group trying to kill Giana. We had been trapped in a triple encirclement and the members of the innermost circle joined the fight.

    This was obviously bad news as even if we somehow escaped or defeated this group, there were still 2 encirclements left.

    A guy blocked Noelle¡¯s punch and sent her flying while breaking red hair chick out of the pillar.

    The people that arrived could be categorized in 3 groups; the trash, the ones that could put up a fight and some seriously strong members. Those were probably the elders they were talking about.

    An elder with a tattoo on his face looked around. ¡°We need to have a serious evaluation about our exams, 2 idols and a B- rank adventurer shouldn''t be able to deal this much damage to our best fighters.¡±

    If these are your best fighters you guys have a serious problem yeah.

    I used a [Nine sided Snowflake] quick draw and one shot some of the weak reinforcements surrounding the guy that tried to catch Noelle off guard.

    ¡°Impressive, Ricardo, are you sure this guy is a B-rank?¡± Tattoo elder asked.

    ¡°Well, the information on this guy seems incomplete, it said that he is a water user, but I''ve seen him use lightning, shadow and fire and well they weren¡¯t all magic.¡± I sent a slash at these elders to gauge how strong they were. 3 evaded and 2 got hit but blocked it.

    So, 3 have the speed to evade this. Those that blocked the slash, started to freeze over.

    ¡°Very troublesome.¡± I snapped my finger and Nilah turned it into [Frostbite].

    I¡¯ll be taking those arms.

    Nilah in sword form can do more than just cut and make copies, it¡¯s just that few opponents are tanky enough to live beyond my cutting attacks. It¡¯s time to capitalize on her frost nature.

    I threw 12 frost daggers at the 2 elders that got hit, used [Blindside] and used a slow slash. This attack doesn''t deal much damage, but the shockwave would cause the [Frostbite] to react and start freezing the arms of these elders.

    The lightning crow flew at me which swiftly got cut in 2 with my sword imbued in frost magic, completely absorbing it and redirecting the energy to the [Frostbite].

    ¡°Shit if this goes on, we will lose our arms!¡± One elder counteracted the spreading [Frostbite] but the other elder failed to do so, which became my primary target.

    Nilah drained mana out of this elder using the [Frostbite] causing the [Frostbite] to spread. He tried to defend, but this sapped the magic and spirit energy from all the defensive skills he had up. I snapped my fingers and used [Coldsnap] and his now fully frozen arm shattered.

    ¡°Aaagh!¡±

    I suppose that puts a dent in your offensive capabilities, now Nilah has way more abilities that I never get to try out, who¡¯s next?

    I evaded various attacks and send [Water Blades] out every time I evaded. The One-armed elder was infuriated and queued up a skill that seemed to be an ultimate skill. It wasn¡¯t easy to figure out based on the magic circle that appeared behind him, but some rune clusters suggested something big.

    The other elders were backing off, reinforcing my suspicion. He grew twice his size and became relatively transparent. The wind picked up and I had to ensure I wouldn''t get blown away by creating ankle weights out of water. I was still upholding [Drowning Pulse] so everything was happening on the surface of water.

    Some of the stalkers were fighting Noelle on the dry patch she had made. Everyone else was standing on water; they could use basic water magic or by other means.

    One-armed elder dashed at me imbued with wind. He was fast but not fast enough. I evaded and countered, trying to take his other arm, which was covered by a layer of whirling wind. The other elders prepared something. I had no clue what, but I wouldn''t let them, so I used [Surface flip].

    Because this elder was covered in wind, which is lighter than water, he got ejected out of the water and while he was still confused, I hit him with a [Winter Solstice] cut, and cut him into narrow frozen ribbons which caused frost projectiles to burst out of him, flying off and hopefully hitting any bystanders. It hit nothing as I flipped everyone within range below the water¡¯s surface.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    Hmm that was a silly blunder.

    That was an easy kill because I caught him off guard, dealing with the other 4 will be way harder. But everyone was quite wet now because they got submerged.

    Lightning crow guy couldn''t exert his full power, but I could. I used [Accel Step] and shifted my stance to [Lightning Dragon Dance] and started throwing blue, purple, and red colored dragons around.

    Giana added insult to injury by causing everyone that was wet to get a [Slow] status. This means they were cc¡¯ed, which means that my lightning dragons would do even more damage.

    The whole area became an electrified death zone where nothing could freely move. I activated the magic circle my clones set up first, which amplified lightning-based attacks, and the lightning attacks were cooking the whole area. Giana started a dance that boosted my lightning damage to add insult into injury.

    During all this, I took some hits because the elders marked me as a serious threat. I was down to 1 [Frozen skin] layer. One of the elders seemed to have an answer against continuous cc spam, but he could only share it with 2 others so one of the elders would be stuck in the cc chain while the other 3 could move freely.

    I wondered if any of these people bothered with support spirits, if so, I would be seriously screwed, but so far there were only offensive and defensive spirits.

    And then I saw something that made me very mad. Some guy that was fighting Noelle made objects act like water and after blowing bubbles at it, they would turn into water and memories of Cee Horze flashed by.

    This guy is toast.

    I gripped Nilah, which was in my sheathe, and readied for a slash. A lot of focus went into it as It was important that I didn''t hit Noelle with this.

    ¡°Watch out! He¡¯s going for a big skill!¡± The elders picked up on this, but there¡¯s nothing they can do about it.

    I concentrated, figured out how to slash and went for it. It took away my last [Frozen skin] stack, but sacrifices had to be made.

    I drew my sword and used the [Eternal Winter] version of my quirck draw. Everything in front of me that was at chest height, besides Noelle, got cleanly cut in 2. The whole area in front of me froze over and most of the weaker guys froze solid if they were in contact with water.

    The captured spirits get released when these guys die. A bit of spirit trauma, but nothing charging at a power spot or rest couldn''t fix. I couldn''t be sure but the spirit that got released looked like Cee Horze but a slightly different, did he get stronger or is it his cousin?

    I wanted to confirm, but these elders and their lackeys were very annoying. They focused on keeping me busy instead of defeating me. I agreed with their assessment, but it was annoying nonetheless. I used another [Surface flip] to get them off me and started another form of [Drowning Pulse].

    [Drowning Pule], normally forms a large body of water. I hardly used it for what it was meant for; drowning opponents. So I started to actively drown opponents by keeping them below the surface. I was multitasking because I was still sneaking movements in to keep up [Lightning dragon dance] but I would have to drop this soon.

    Giana made some weird homing ice torpedoes that would freeze on a hit. 0 damage but it was of a great help.

    I shifted to a more potent version of [Drowning Pulse], by adding something special. The water became more turbulent and slowly but surely a whirlpool formed. I attached some hollow frost balls with cold, dense water to them to make them sink better. None of these elders were used to fighting underwater, and I would abuse that fact.

    One could use water skills but fighting underwater is a different beast. Everything was way slower underwater.

    Lightning crow guy stopped caring and started throwing attacks at me. They stung, but I kept enough distance to limit the damage. I could completely prevent this, as this needed to come as a surprise. I needed to get rid of this guy that could negate cc and this would go easier if they felt like they had the upper hand.

    The magic runes of the skill he continued using suggested that he could negate effects directly brought forth by magic and leyline energy, but not those caused by physics.

    Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t use my tails for more speed and maneuverability, but this was good enough. I had taken quite some damage from the lightning attacks, but so did they and their demeanor suggested that they thought they had the situation under control, perfect.

    I got behind my target and hit him with [Vacuum Punch].

    Although not as powerful as I hoped, this guy got temporarily knocked out. My fingers and hands were starting to become a bit numb from all the lightning attacks I took, and would have to make a decisive blow before I lost my ability to control the leylines.

    My focus slipped, I took a punch to the gut and got sent flying upwards out of the water.

    Giana fixed me up, but it had something to say about it. I paid no heed and dealt with the attacks flying at me.

    I could freeze this water and the elders would be the only ones to survive or I could continue attempting to drown them and zap them and potentially take out an elder. My mana and stamina were fine, but I had the feeling that I had already hit a wall.

    A huge hand made out of lightning appeared out of the water and tried to grab me. I was about to get hit when some odd crystalline armor appeared around me. Noelle winked at me and made an odd gesture.

    I shifted my focus toward Giana for a translation. ¡°What she means is that she can use her [Polygoonic Armament] again!¡±

    Oh, Catch!

    I shifted to [Lightning Dragon Dance] and sent a huge red lightning dragon at Noelle. She was a bit beat up, which meant these guys were quite strong.

    Giana was trying to keep the creeps off her and her barrier had minor cracks in them.

    Suddenly, the water started to boil and Giana and I backed off.

    I wondered that, if I left them alone, would they kill themselves and self-destruct? One guy electrocuted everyone, and another one was boiling the water and turning everything into a soup.

    A large figure burst out of the water, ejecting steam everywhere. It looked like an enormous fire golem.

    ¡°Call for more reinforcements, this guy isn''t necessarily strong, but he does know how to manage crowds and annoy us!¡± Tattoo Elder said, who appeared to be the leader of this group.

    Some random guy used some funny magic that pulled me toward him, and it broke my movements. He grabbed me and attempted to throw me at the fire golem, but my weight threw him off so he fell over trying to balance against my weight and threw me down into the water. ¡°Kshiv, something is off with this guy, he hardly has any weight!¡±

    The lightning elder responded. ¡°So that¡¯s how he moves so fast! Some form of gravity magic! Where is Huffard?¡±

    Some guy pointed at another guy that was getting his ass kicked by Noelle. She was in a way better shape than she was the last time I saw her.

    Giana, our healer, was on top of this and it was unlikely these stalkers would get anywhere if they didn¡¯t do anything about her. A strange water veil appeared around me as I stared for a bit longer than I should have.

    ¡°This will heal you for slightly more damage than you get hit for, it only works 3 times and doesn''t protect you from getting killed in one shot, please be careful¡­¡± Giana turned around and started singing louder. Water vapor condensed and started to bombard the fire golem.

    Again, 0 damage, but the golem was cooling off.

    I¡¯m impressed, Giana had nailed down being useful while doing 0 damage. Even if she couldn''t heal, she would be very useful with her limited move set.

    She made a huge [Waterball] that rolled over the surface and just ran over opponents. Not a lot of damage, but it created chaos. Some people that got hit got pushed down into the boiling and electrified water.

    The golem was throwing fire at Noelle and me for a while now. I ignored the fire flying at me and neutralized those flying at Noelle. She noticed, stomped and put this cool crystalline armor on me even though she knows I won''t take much damage from it.

    Ooh how cool! I don¡¯t need it though.

    She frowned at me and gestured to Giana. ¡°I¡¯m not doing it for you, I''m doing it for her.¡±

    I looked at Giana, who didn''t seem to like that I let myself get hit even though I know it won¡¯t hurt me.

    Right, I guess I have to take that into account.

    The lightning elder started to attack Giana and cracked her shield. She endured a [Thunder Charge], [Lightning Beam] and a [Teranova Blast] before I could get to her and get her out of that situation.

    Those attacks seemed like they would do a lot of damage, are you ok?

    ¡°It¡¯s not that bad, but I feel better now.¡±

    She genuinely seemed fine, that attack would have sent me packing and deplete my lives by 1 or 2. How tanky is this chick? We are the same race, why is there so much difference? It¡¯s as if she put all her skill points into defense and hit points on character creation.

    I noticed reinforcements coming from far, those must be from the second encirclement ring. The longer this battle went on, the more I understood why they put so much importance on catching Giana.

    Say, why don''t you go tailed mode on them, they already know you¡¯re one might as well go ham.

    ¡°I have all my tails as you can see on my ears, but I don¡¯t know how to do that, I also need to gain full control over my last 2 tails.¡±

    Oof, I guess then that wouldn''t be smart yeah, and I guess without someone to teach you or the environment forcing you to it¡¯s hard to get that all done.

    ¡°Can you? Can you show me one day?¡± She said while coming closer.

    If we survive this, then I will. One day¡­

    I tried to keep a healthy distance, which failed spectacularly as some assholes were bombarding us, forcing me to hide behind her barriers.

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that! We will get out of this, somehow¡­¡±

    Bad news, they have more people coming, I think I made a mistake and should have stuck to the escape plan.

    I dove underwater and pulled Giana with me to dodge fire golem shenanigans. Giana formed a bubble and used 3 of her tails to move in the water.

    Your tails, look a bit odd actually, what type are you?

    ¡°Well, my mother is a golden nine-tailed spirit fox, so I assume I¡¯m one too but my fur has been getting lighter lately. I inspected her tails, and it seemed like it was getting gray, wait not gray it was turning silver.

    Right, Giana, we have an even larger problem. You might be a silver fox like me. You¡¯re either a good mix between gold and silver, or what sometimes happens is your tail was just your hair color but is now turning into its real color. My mother said I was born with black hair and my tail was black too, but it turned silver after a year.

    ¡°I¡¯m like you?¡± She said happily.

    That¡¯s the part you decided to listen to?

    I decided that this boiling water served its purpose, turned it into steam and blasted it at the golem. I activated another magic circle my clones set up, and it returned the last lightning attack it got hit with.

    Giana clung on to me and Zen Agnis tried to leave again. ¡°So, what is bad about being a silver fox?¡±

    Ugh, this is difficult. Nothing inherently bad, but this means your fur is in high demand and that you have an affinity for frost magic, which you don¡¯t seem to have discovered yet. Especially, frost magic rubs gods the wrong way.

    ¡°So that¡¯s why the gods kept harassing you guys¡­¡±

    Yeah, abyss magic falls also under the magic that rubs them the wrong way so Greg also has crosshairs on him.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I didn''t know...¡±

    That¡¯s fine, it''s good that you know it now rather than when it¡¯s too late. Now as you know frost magic is a pain in the ass to deal with.

    I froze the fire golem with frost magic and disconnected from the leyline currents after putting all my active skills to dance on the ambient leyline currents.

    I used the energy I got from it to drop a boosted [Flare] on the opposing team andI felt a sharp pain in my shoulder shortly after.

    ¡°Agnis!¡±

    An elder got a laser off and pierced my shoulder. Giana started healing me, but the follow-up attack came at us.

    Ugh, I hate lasers.

    I blocked the laser with a [Frost wall]. I wanted to use foxfire to get rid of the energy I had absorbed, but this might be a bad idea, so I sent the energy to Nilah. Giana noticed that my body temperature had dropped, put her hands on my back and gave me a buff that invigorated me and raised my temperature.

    ¡°Just focus on blocking that attack, I will make sure you don¡¯t turn into a popsicle.¡±

    I didn¡¯t expect her to react this way, she must have switched into serious mode. I guess I should go into serious mode too.

    Wait I can¡¯t go 9t mode. I can¡¯t go into serious mode¡­ pseudo serious it is, then.

    I used [Lightning Umbrella] and hung upside down from it. It sent out lightning attacks in all direction while spinning and slowly ascending. I hung upside down from it and shot [Frost Arrows] with Windglass tips at my targets. All went well until more reinforcements arrived and the situation changed. I swapped Noelle with a water droplet, grabbed Giana with wires, and ran away.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let him get away!¡± Tattoo elder shouted.

    I activated the last 2 magic circles, which were 2 huge lightning cages.

    ¡°Still can¡¯t teleport?¡±

    Nope, We have to find out which person is responsible for this.

    We got some distance in and it was time to send these idols to safety.

    Ok, I¡¯ll cover you 2 in illusions, you keep running while I find out who is responsible for the teleport block, then I¡¯ll come back and teleport us away.

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡±

    Ugh, why?

    Giana made a pained face. ¡°Because this sounds like a situation where you would die!¡±

    Do you have any better suggestions?

    ¡°We go with you!¡±

    So, the same thing we did just now, which didn''t work¡­

    ¡°Hmm, Giana he has a point, if you say it like that it doesn''t sound like a good idea¡­¡±

    ¡°I''m not letting him go to die!¡±

    Hey! Who says I will die!

    Giana pointed at the stalkers. ¡°Those strong-looking reinforcements!¡±

    I disagree!

    ¡°I¡¯d rather us die together than you going out there and dying alone!¡±

    I expected this, so I had already made an illusion prior, and they were talking to my illusion while I went back. I took extra precautions with these 2 and put down a very strong 7-layered illusion.

    Both of them have great intuition. If I mess up against these stalkers I just die, if I mess up with them, I¡¯ll never hear the end of it, it¡¯s instantly clear what''s preferable.

    Zen Agnis can finally take a break and I can get a bit more serious in addressing these stalkers.

 Pneuma 61: [Triple-Point Clones]

    I looked at the opposition. One group broke out of their [Lightning cage] and tried to break out the other. The reinforcements had 5 more elder like individuals, 3 that could be a threat while the rest was cannon fodder.

    I identified 1 elder, 1 potential threat, and 3 cannon fodder that could interfere with teleports and took note of them. I could easily assassinate the cannon fodder, but not sure about the others. I could kill them simultaneously and attempt to do as much damage as possible in the confusion to the potential threat individual.

    Hmm, this sucks. What would Greg do in this situation? Probably not attempt it.

    I¡¯m not getting anywhere with that¡­. Maybe I need to think outside the box. How do I do that? It''s easier said than done.

    Mana levels decent, stamina decent, physical health, perfect. Giana is overpowered. Since physical health has the highest value, I should try something that pulls the most out of this. How about some sort of counter that deals damage based on how much damage I''ve taken this battle? Let''s see, what magic have I stolen that I could use here?

    Access to my archive was limited while I had no tails out, but it came up with [Blood counter], I found the magic circle of it, but I wasn''t sure if I could cast this, so I would have to draw the circle.

    Let¡¯s think, did I take that much damage? It wasn¡¯t a lot, but at least it will hurt. I could mess with some runes to amplify the percentage it throws back. 100% is a bit lame. I''ll try for 250%!

    The more I thought about this idea, the more I thought that it''s better if the idols don¡¯t join our group, they would rip me apart for attempting something like this.

    Enough time had passed, so I could receive [Frozen skin] stacks. I first made 3 shadow clones that would draw this magic circle in stealth. I would have to let them draw it on a different spot and lure that group over there.

    Furthermore, I would have one shot with that [Blood Counter] though. If I mess up, I might actually die. I still had 3 layers of illusion on myself, so I could take 5 hits from [Frozen skin] then 3 deaths from the illusion layers and then 7 more actual lives. I needed to cast 5 water skills to gain the [Frozen Skin] stacks, though.

    It was time for triple clones. Their debuts had been quite disappointing because there was a lot of other stuff going on, but they would be able to shine now! I gave myself a [frost Cloak] and laid some [Frost Traps] and voil¨¤! I had 5 layers of [Frozen Skin].

    The stalkers finally broke out of the lightning cage.

    I snuck up to one of the 3 cannon fodder that was jamming the teleports, 2 of my shadow clones snuck up to the other 2, and we assassinated them simultaneously with a dagger to the heart. They would normally get sucked up in my dimensional pocket for incineration but I had to avoid anything that could give away that I was a 9t.

    It was a painful reminder that I didn¡¯t fight like a 9t at all, as they would have otherwise found out instantly. It was a bit of a disgrace. I would be similar to a dog that can¡¯t dog, a cat that can¡¯t cat or a duck that can¡¯t duck; a failure.

    Confusion set in and I set one triple-clone to explode in the middle of their group from stealth to make this worse. I set the other 2 free while the shadow clones worked together to form another triple clone.

    I moved through the steam and turned it into an acid mist. An icicle on my palm and delivered a palm strike on my target''s chest. The icicle shattered, and he reacted by trying to punch me, but I evaded.

    I should''ve used frost magic for that¡­

    The acid mist cleared, and it did a number on the cannon fodder. Red hair chick looked more messed up than ever and seemed super pissed, so I pretended to run away from her, to frustrate her more.

    ¡°Yeah! You run! We will hunt you down to the ends of the earth and hang your head up as a trophy! Guys let''s get him!¡±

    Thank you, Red hair chick, for making this easy for me. But the steam explosion took out half of the cannon fodder, not bad.

    The lightning elder seemed to have developed quite a grudge against me. He sent a lightning crow at me and I swapped myself with a triple clone that got hit and bloated. It sped up and started to harass lightning elder. The triple clone was getting pelted by attacks and was already close to exploding. My shadow clones finished a triple clone and went to make another one.

    The triple clone got a very powerful ice [Dragon] technique off at the lightning elder before it violently exploded.

    The explosion was loud and violent and sent everyone nearby flying. The new triple-point clone took up the place of the previous one and everyone was cautious. The explosion just now fucked up the lightning elder. He had burns all over his body and missed an arm.

    I rubbed my hands as I identified a weak link, and it was time to whale on this elder. I was close to the magic circle, so I could try and push back to make sure it didn''t look like I was trying to lure them.

    Nilah got drawn and a [Winter bite] quick draw got sent at the lightning elder. A sword elder tried to block me, but he was not as fast as me.

    Too bad! You can play with the new triple clone.

    The lightning elder got pressured while my shadow clones were going for triple clone mass production.

    One triple clone that was part of the original 3 got completely ignored and froze over, turning it almost immobile.

    A big attack came at me which gave me a chance to demonstrate the true strength of my [Triple-Point Clones].

    I threw an ice cube at it and swapped the immobile triple clone with it. It absorbed the attack and started to move and harass the elders. Any time they ignored a triple clone, I used it to body-block attacks from them, and they were getting tired of it.

    They put the cannon fodder on duty to find out where the triple clones were coming from because I wasn¡¯t actively making them. There were 5 on the field at the moment, and the 6th was being made.

    I pulled energy out of the clones that got close to exploding and used these to throw attacks around. Nilah got released in fox form, and she started to terrorize the cannon fodder.

    It was a good 20 minutes where I was dominating the scene when this started to slowly shift. I had completely forgotten this, but spirit magic can overpower frost magic as both are ¡®lost magic¡¯ causing Nilah to take a lot of damage for the first time ever.

    I beckoned her, petted her, and urged her to turn back into a sword.

    I¡¯m sorry Nilah, I¡¯m a terrible pet owner. I won¡¯t do this again.

    Nilah made a fog before she turned back into my sword, and I used this chance to run away to where the magic circle was waiting. It seemed like I was trapped, but I could probably leave whenever I wanted.

    ¡°Hah! Huff, puff, we finally got you! You have nowhere to run!¡± Red hair chick said, exhausted. The morale of this group wasn''t as high as I had hoped.

    The Tattoo elder rallied the stalkers and transformed. Not the skill, but he was probably switching his spirit. ¡°This youngster is very skilled at stalling and running away, it would be a shame to kill him, let''s make sure he joins our clan later on!¡±

    ¡°Are you mad? He killed Urbo, Jsef, and Diddely¡± Another elder said.

    Now, now, gentlemen, don¡¯t be so hasty, you''ll each get a chance to meet them!

    ¡°Cocky and a good trash talker, I kind of like him, he certainly has skill, I agree we should try to recruit him.¡± Tattoo Elder said who seemed to have taken a liking to me.

    Do I get unlimited salmon if I join you guys?

    Tattoo elder frowned. ¡°Of course not! Don¡¯t be ridiculous!¡±

    Then suck it!

    I connected to the air leyline currents and started [Drowning Pulse].

    ¡°Not this again! Gramps! We need to stop this! This guy is a skilled water user!¡±

    Wait Tattoo guy is red head¡¯s grandpa?

    My target punched the ground and made huge holes in the ground, draining the water. I upped the tempo, attempting to flood those holes. He was busy keeping it up. Unfortunately for him, I wasn¡¯t alone. A triple clone used [Blindside] and [Vanishing ripple]. While he was being kept airborne, the water level started to rise.

    Another fire golem appeared.

    I disconnected from the leyline currents to switch back to magic. I have to find a way to effectively mix the use of magic and Dragonvein, because disconnecting and reconnecting is annoying.

    [Tsunami] rolled out, creating more chaos on the battlefield.

    ¡°Oh shit!¡±

    The fire golem was no more. I used, [Azure shark] and [Azure spear], the spear hit my target and severely damaged him. I used another [Azure Spear], wielded it and put pressure on my target.

    I swapped myself with a triple clone that got relatively ignored. 2 triple clones went at the lightning elder who was one foot in the grave when something invisible grabbed me and attempted to crush me. It broke through 3 layers of [frozen skin] before I could get out. I had no idea what that was, but I¡¯m toast if I get hit by that grab again. I slipped away and dropped into stealth.

    My target, someone responsible for blocking teleports, was engaged with a triple clone while 2 other triple clones tried to finish off the lightning elder.

    Something behind me glowed red, and a red light flew out and hit all my enemies. It forced them to go into [Berserk Mode]. Even though I normally wouldn''t mind because they won''t be able to defeat me even in berserk mode, but they will become way sturdier in this, and I needed to just kill 2 more. Getting a boost in raw power, magical power and sturdiness in exchange for their rational decision-making skills was questionable, however, as they still couldn¡¯t hit me.

    I snuck up behind my target.

    The triple clone charged at him and I fired off a [Flame Nova] at his back, blasting him into my triple clone and forcing the clone to explode. This explosion was way stronger than the others and blew the guy into pieces.

    I lost all my [Frozen skin] stacks on that, though. The crater was frozen over and some stalkers in berserk slipped into the crater and couldn¡¯t get out as they kept slipping back into the crater.

    Ugh, there is goer everywhere.

    My [Frost Cloak] had been a great call as it protected me from blood splatters and meat chunks.

    Mana was still decent, stamina getting low, and physical health was still perfect. My plan wasn''t going well so far, but at least I wasn''t getting close to dying.

    I narrowly avoided a laser.  Oh, hell no! Not another laser.

    A triple clone absorbed the next laser and exploded. I instantly turned around, used an [Eternal winter] quick draw and finally finished off the lightning elder.

    One target left. He wasn''t doing much to help his allies. Another triple clone exploded, but there were no casualties this time.

    My triple clones were thinning out. I got hit by that invisible grab again, but now I knew where it was coming from. My last target was responsible for it. Unfortunately, I took a lot of damage in that grab. My last triple clone could deal some damage to him because his power probably prevents him from moving.

    My last triple clone exploded and only took 2 cannon fodder with him. But he reformed! 10% chance to reform coming in clutch! This startled my enemies, and I used this moment to go into stealth while wondering if this was enough damage.

    I had gone from perfect health to I-wish-I-dodged-that. I activated the magic circle of [Blood Counter] and started to feel dizzy. It took a lot of mana from me and I started to feel nauseous. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Did I mess up in its runic structure? The circle glowed in red and black ominous light and blasted the area. Everyone in the circle including me took a massive amount of damage. I dropped to the floor all bloodied. I should have been immune to its effect, but I must have made a mistake somewhere.

    I shattered an illusion to fix my body, but for some reason, this set off the magic circle again.

    Ugh, don''t tell me this is a causality-type magic circle.

    Note to self: don''t mess with any skills that have ¡®blood¡¯ in their name. I was wondering if shattering my last 2 layers would have any point if whatever I do, I take this damage. Would ¡®dying¡¯ and breaking this illusion layer remove this?

    I took a large axe to the chest. An illusion layer shattered, and I was back to my bloodied self.

    Ok, this sucks. Fortunately, everyone was in a similar condition. I created a blood clone and it finished off Axeguy

    I guess this is the reason the chicks didn¡¯t want me to go alone. All cannon fodder was dead now, only elders and several capable fighters were left. Somehow red hair and her sister were still alive. Are they cockroaches?

    My blood clone was dealing with those that could still put up a fight, but it was still outnumbered. I tried to get up but was struggling. If I could just kill the guy that blocks teleports, the girls can get away.

    I was circulating nature energy like crazy, and greenery started to grow around me. My injuries didn''t seem to heal that well. Some mana of that blood magic circle was still in my wounds and interfering with it.

    For some reason, it pulled out almost all my mana. I looked through my archive to check where I picked it up.

    Oh, from the taboo section in the library of Witchaven. I should''ve known. I should create a category for taboo magic or ¡®use it at my own risk category¡¯. I swapped myself with a corpse to evade incoming attacks and I got gripped again.

    I guess this is where I will lose my last illusion layer. I covered myself in frost to make sure I could last long enough to break free, but my mana was almost spent, as was my stamina. I managed to escape before they could kill me, but I almost fainted from blood loss and the last illusion layer broke. I took some quail from my dimensional pocket and started eating it while I swapped myself away from danger.

    The usefulness was debatable as I vomited everything because of the lingering nausea. I started making small flames to attempt to trigger my passive, which I had gotten from Azu in Boshi Town, to remove the nausea.

    I got it after the 5th try and started eating some more quail.

    ¡°He is weak! Kill him!¡± Red head said, while wheezing heavily.

    I used [Frozen ground] and froze their pants to the floor. All my shadow clones got obliterated with that [Blood counter] and my blood clone wasn¡¯t doing so well. I coughed out blood and felt weakness spread through my body. A feeling of regret washed over me.

    I regret going easy on these assholes, now they''re getting away with it. I was supposed to take things seriously, and I still messed around. Am I fighting against my nature by being trying to be serious?

    I can''t count on the help of the spirits, these stalkers made sure to scare them away. I will never know if that Cee Horze spirit, I freed, was the real Cee Horze. The spirits that just got released tried to help me, but they were weakened. One spirit suggested calling Giana but I don''t know how I feel about that idea. I told the spirits to try and keep the idols safe. Some of these stalkers might decide that I''m already dead and go look for them.

    I told the spirits to try and be discreet about helping the idols. Most spirits went to help those 2, but a minor wind spirit tried to heal me but exhausted its spirit energy and returned to the spirit world. A sad sight, but I finally had the strength to stand up.

    "You are quite stubborn you know¡­ just surrender! I will even make you my man after I become Giana! You can still be together!" Red head said, who was missing some teeth.

    What makes you think that I want to be near any disgusting spirit hunters?

    "Then die!" A rainbow of attacks fired off, and I swapped myself with my last target. He took most of those attacks for me. My body was in a bad shape, so I could only rely on racial skills and magic. Nilah gave me the mana that she had stored up which confused the redhead.

    ¡°Huh? How? Where did you get that mana from!?¡±

    My pet.

    ¡°We killed your pet!¡±

    Incorrec!

    I could easily turn this around if I get my tails out, but I will have a target on my back for the rest of my life from another group that I don''t want to deal with. I decided to tough it out and focus on killing the elder who was jamming teleports.

    They started to ignore my blood clone and go after me.

    Some of them split off and I used this chance to let my blood clone make 3 triple clones. Because he''s not a shadow clone he has an easier time making these. He made 3 more for 6 total before he got killed.

    A triple clone got caught in the crossfire and exploded.

    "Shit! It''s these clones again!" The Tattoo elder said, but something felt off. I sensed deception, but I couldn''t exactly tell what was going on, as I had a million things to keep track of.

    A triple clone took out 2 strong guys and dealt a lot of damage. It had to stick close to me because the stalkers got cautious with these around. A triple clone created a sword out of frost, and that put them on alert.However, the clone couldn''t do much because it was made for 90% frost and thus super slow and it was showing.

    They got lulled in a false sense of security, and I pulled energy out of other triple clones and put it in this one. At 30% filled steam, it was as fast as a leopard beast kin.

    "How do we deal with these clones without them exploding?" Redhead¡¯s sister asked as these triple clones were chasing her.

    "Just ignore them!" Redhead responded while she was hiding behind a barrier.

    "But he can move energy between them, and they become indestructible when you ignore them!" Redhead¡¯s sister said as she pointed at some triple clones that had frozen over.

    ¡°Hit them enough so that they don''t become a threat and don''t become indestructible, then!¡± Redhead said. I noticed that Redhead has good advice, but is quite useless herself and doesn¡¯t necessarily heed her own advice. Strange people come in all shapes and sizes, I suppose.

    I kept moving energy around between the triple clones and pouring mana in those that were a bit too slow while the enemies were bickering.

    Support skills started to go out between the stalkers, and I concluded that this is the reason I''m starting to lose. They tried to cc my clones, but that didn''t work. I''m a master in cc, those petty tricks don''t work on me except for that invisible grip. My clone reacted to something, and I swapped myself with my clone. It got hit with the grip, and it started to gain more steam.

    "Shit you grabbed the clone!"

    I covered myself in frost and started to chant magic because I had difficulties activating magic circles in succession. I had made sure that this magic wasn¡¯t stolen from the taboo section.

    Force of nature, power of the sky hide the face of the sun and show your frown, show thee ire and strike those opposing me and deliver thee crimson judgment! [Fulminate!]

    "Why did nobody interrupt his cast?!" The redhead said while throwing a tantrum. She posed a good question, though; everyone was busy, so why didn¡¯t she interrupt my cast? Anyway, not my problem.

    The skies got cloudy and a wicked red thunderbolt struck the area. Its main target was me, but everyone in the direct surroundings got blasted. I got the [Fulmination] status. It was a fancy way to imbue yourself with lightning, but I didn¡¯t have the mental focus to imbue myself as I normally did, and [Blood and Thunder] would be a last resort.

    [Fulminate] allows me to easily imbue my attacks with 2 elements. My triple clones also got [Fulmination], which was the whole point of this. They didn''t need to get hit now to gain steam now.

    "Don''t relent, these are his death throes!" Target Gripguy shouted. It would be nice if he keeled over so that I can teleport away.

    I sent 2 triple clones after Target Gripguy but some guy started throwing white beads at me.

    They exploded and caused a bright flash, unfortunately for him, I don''t care about this as I¡¯m immune to almost anything that causes vision impairment, besides hypersensitivity, but they don¡¯t know that.

    A triple clone blasted an area with electrified water. I deflected a fire augmented punch from Redhead and fell on my butt. The weight difference was too big, and I was in terrible condition.

    I got up and took out a Phoenix Flower but it got sniped by a laser.

    Lasers suck¡­

    I used [frozen ground] and skated around my foes and stuck close to a triple clone. I was a bit worried because 2 bloodied elders and Tattoo Elder had not moved in a while, they weren''t dead, so they must be planning something.

    A punch got blocked, and I got sent flying into a sturdy tree. It made me pass out for a couple seconds, and 2 triple clones stopped what they were doing and protected me. This proved that I was starting to lose control over them.

    I needed them to keep up the pressure, so I could get the kill on Target Gripguy. The clones were starting to react to my innate survival instinct, which wouldn''t benefit me in the long run. [Fulmination] had dropped since I passed out and Nilah tried to return to her fox form, but I stashed her in my dimensional pocket as I can¡¯t have her get injured too.

    I tried to get up, but I didn''t have the strength. I circulated nature energy, but it was inadequate.

    This was a problem. I do have 7 lives yes, but dying and losing 1 life will just put me in the same state as before I died, so getting one shot is preferable to my current state.

    My triple clones were putting up a good defense. These stalkers were still afraid of the explosions because none of them were healthy. An explosion at the wrong time might mess them up.

    The 3 triple clones in the distance started heading over here, and my enemies reacted appropriately. "The other clones are approaching!"

    Energy got sent to the approaching triple clones, which forced them to explode. The explosion caused chaos, and I abused the chaos to attempt to kill Target Gripguy by sending another triple clone after him.

    Unfortunately, nobody died in that explosion.

    I took a fire attack, luckily it was a fire attack. The next one resembled a laser. I hate lasers. I braced myself when a lot of spirits appearing and a crystal wall spawned in front of me. I got healed, punched and slapped. For unexplainable reasons, that punch and slap hurt more than any damage I took today, even though 1 of those had 0 firepower.

    "Please don''t ever do that again!"

    "I''m glad you''re still alive!" Followed by a hug. I looked at the spirits that just appeared, and they feigned ignorance. They stepped out of line, but I''m thankful nonetheless.

    "So, what did you do to get yourself killed?" Noelle put an unnecessary amount of crystal armor on me.

    Hey! I didn''t die! Yet¡­

    "Agnis¡­ I just checked your status, what are all these curses on you! Who did this to you!" Giana looked at the stalkers and started to look feisty, as if she was ready to take on all these stalkers at once.

    Uhh, oh that, don''t mind those, that''s normal, I had those before.

    An emergency call went out to get Zen Agnis back as Giana was starting to leak charm magic. I¡¯m glad that they¡¯re here, but it seems I still can¡¯t catch a break. "... Noelle"

    "Go for it, I¡¯ll keep these guys busy while you cure this idiot, try to cure the ''idiot'' status too if you can"

    How rude!

    Giana dragged me to the side because I was still exhausted.

    "Hey Agnis, what''s the deal with these clones? They don¡¯t look like you, did you get a head injury too?" Noelle poked a triple clone.

    They explode.

    Noelle slowly backed off. "So, these were causing those explosions¡­"

    How did you guys get here so fast?

    Giana twirled her finger and a refreshing veil fell on me. "The spirits boosted our speed, now stop being difficult, let me dispel those curses on you!"

    I''m fine! I just need stamina to get back in the fight!

    "Absolutely not! You are going to do reckless things if I restore your stamina! I will deal with these curses first. How are you even alive with all these? Aren''t you in constant pain?" Something tells me that saying ¡®You get used to it¡¯ is the wrong answer.

    "And if you say ''I''m used to it'' you will get another slap!"

    Uhm pass!

    I got headlocked again.

    Trying to finish me off, eh?

    "I''m glad that you can joke around, but the situation is serious. Can you imagine how we felt when your illusion suddenly dropped? I know you mean well, but please¡­ don''t ever do that again." I guess my illusions dropped when I briefly passed out.

    I''m sorry¡­

    I got released from the headlock.

    "I know you''re not sorry, you''re just sorry that you got caught, but that''s fine, I got to do better too." Giana got up and gave Noelle some support.

    It seems that 4 triple clones and Noelle made an excellent stall team.