《Lost souls, will be rewritten soon. (Old version)》


 1. Teleportation (new)

    The roar came in waves, tearing leaves from their branches and shaking the ground beneath as all creatures fled from their homes in the forest. The dragon''s cry pierced through the mountains, trampling its way down towards the nearby villages that were situated far away from the scene.


    A group of five boys simultaneously flinched in fright after being struck by the sound of ear-splitting waves; they were utterly shocked by what they just heard, to the point where they did not even dare to look at the source of the echoing sound.


    The bone-chilling screams of innocent villagers filled the air¡ª their despairing wails were reminiscent of what they imagined souls sounded like in the depths of hell. In addition to the chilling sounds of ear-piercing screams, there were also burning hot airwaves that hit the siblings; the heat of the airwaves was so hot that it forced the helpless boys to fall to the ground.


    The younger siblings tightly hugged their older brothers in fright. In a fit of desperation, the youngsters were even clawing into their older counterparts arms as deep as possible, as though getting closer to their older brothers would offer them safety


    It took a few moments for the oldest brother of the whole group, called Luz, to shakily stand up. It was a courageous move on his part, as expected of the oldest child, but it was also something he regretted doing because a brief peek of his surroundings was more than enough for him to lose any hopes he had of living through this hellish moment, as he saw the horrors of what awaited their family members.


    Far away, one could see a fierce, gigantic black dragon standing tall in front of the village, setting everything ablaze before roaring again. Its soul-curdling bellows were, without fail, always followed by the mournful cries of the tormented villagers.


    One villager after another was set alight like a row of candle-dominos as they tried to flee from the inevitable horrific end that awaited them all. Unfortunately, their struggles were futile as black smoke rose over the village in a suffocating chokehold that made breathing through their tears and ashy soot all the more harder.


    On that fateful day, a band of mercenaries planned to lay siege to the dragon, who had denned near the woods. The mercenaries planned to take down the dragon since any large creature near any human civilization posed a security risk to the empire. However, instead of moving the people out, as per procedure to ensure the overall safety of the people, the overconfident local official rushed over recklessly with his own band of mercenaries there to slay the dragon before others for something as fickle as fame and materialistic wealth.


    As Luz saw what happened to everyone, he fell to his knees in a shaking, trembling mess,   like someone who¡¯d long lost faith and hope in this desolate world. The nightmarish scenery shocked him so much that he couldn''t utter any sound; it felt like his throat had a knot inside, tying his vocals in a mess. Tears streamed down his fearful face like a pair of never-ending rivers. He was so afraid that he couldn¡¯t control the twitchy movements on his face.


    "That¡­That cannot be," Luz stuttered when the knot in his throat finally unraveled. He wasn''t willing to accept the reality of their situation before moving shakingly to the village like a puppet.


    "No!" Gab, one of his brothers, yelled loudly in desperation before he and Raph grabbed Luz''s arms to stop his march towards the village. Luz struggled, as he wanted to continue his dead-man walk to the burning village.


    As the two tried stopping their older brother from committing suicide, the sky grew darker, like an ominous warning. In a trance, the brothers watched as ash fell from the heavens like thick rain:  accompanying the ashy rain was a thick carbon fog that had dyed the clouds black. The sight compelled the group of boys to look up in unison. But that wasn''t all, since every creature was frightened by what was happening and tried to flee. Thus the gates of hell had opened. The ground tremored, laying down foundations of death and suffering as even the purest of souls were forbidden from fleeing.


    What the boys had seen, stunned them speechlessly. In summary, it was like the scene they were witnessing, was hell on earth. This is because all the creatures were frightened by what was happening and so, they tried to flee the scene, though that resulted in failure. Fires caught onto tall trees, ash fell like a gray snowstorm and blood filled the air. With every corpse, creature, or human that fell, the smell of blood grew thicker and thicker.


    Under the brothers¡¯ feet, they felt the ground tremble. It was like the world understood the agony its habitants were in, though it was helpless to do anything. This all lay down the foundation of death and suffering¡ª even the purest of souls were forbidden from fleeing. By now, destruction and chaos were everywhere. Anywhere you looked, if you did not see something burning, then you would see something dying.


    As the agonizing screams of the villagers slowly grew quieter, the cries of monsters grew louder by the second. Herds of animals formed, and any animal slower than the rest got stumped to death. It did not take long to realize that the herded animals were running in Luz''s direction.


    But none of the siblings moved as they still couldn''t accept their new reality.


    Raph looked toward his older brother Luz in hopes of finding a light in the darkness.  Unfortunately, the only thing he saw was a broken man who lost all hopes. His own face was stained black with sooty ash and wet tear tracks, there was only a hint of his skin peeking through the gushing rivers streaming down his cheeks. He remained still, not daring to say another word as his eyes were glued to the horrors around them.


    Raph choked and it took him quite a bit of strength to whisper in a hoarse voice: "It''s already too late, brother. We need to leave now. Lead us¡­please," as he grabbed Luz''s arm.


    But the latter remained silent, for his weeping eyes were still fixed on what had been their thriving home a few minutes ago. Anger and hatred filled his heart as he shifted his eyes from the burning houses to the dragon.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Gritting his teeth, he rasped in a rough voice, not minding the tears that silently slid down his ashy cheeks: "You better wait. You took everything from me today¡­ One day¡­ One day¡­ I''ll come back and take my revenge for all the misery you caused today."


    His breath grew more sporadic with each word he uttered, while his hatred and rage grew more and more. His simmering rage gradually grew to the size of a mountain. His crying visage turned even more ugly as he continued furiously: "Not only will I kill you, but I''ll also be killing anyone dear to you, so¡­ just wait and see."


    Gab, the second oldest of all the siblings, grabbed his ax before patting the shoulder of the oldest one. Unlike Luz, he was the black sheep of the group who wasn''t on the best terms with the other villagers. But thinking about his parents, his heart began to ache, and even he cried a second sea into existence when he thought of them.


    "We¡­We''ll be leaving now," Luz uttered as he grabbed the hand of one of his siblings called Michael, squeezing it tightly.


    His younger twins Az and Michael, who looked as if they were 12 years old, stood up in worry.


    Seeing his second oldest brother cry, the young Az slowly hugged Gab before asking curiously and worried: "Why are you crying? And what happened to mum and dad?


    "I''m fine," he replied as he wiped his tears away before continuing with steely determination: "First, we gotta get to a safe place before worrying about their situation. As for our parents,¡­ they''re probably going to be alright."


    It took him a lot of effort saying the last part and as he lied to his younger brother, Gab gently grabbed Az''s hand with a bitter smile. A desolate feeling settled in Gab¡¯s heart when Az gently squeezed the other¡¯s hand for reassurance and safety.


    The group ran deeper into the woods, hoping the foliage of the trees would provide them cover from the dragon''s sight. As the group made their way deeper into the forest, herds of animals overtook them. They regularly had to change their paths to avoid getting trampled to death by the rampant animals.


    On their way deeper into the forest, their path grew steeper, and Az took a slight peak at the village from afar. Seeing how everything had burned to the ground, with only the ashes on the ground and burned carcasses as evidence of there ever being a village in the first place, Az could feel another round of tears come to the surface and, true to his feelings, his vision gradually blurred from the water drops that fell down his cheeks. When he whipped his head around to look away from his burnt home, he pointed at Luz and shouted angrily: "You¡­ You lied to me."


    Filled with the feeling of betrayal, he raised his voice. He ignored the way his voice wobbled and hitched with every word he spat out with venom, and the way his throat tightened and his nose tingled: "They...They aren''t safe. They...They are all dead!"


    "Yeah, they are all dead. The last thing our parents would want is us also being dead, right? So shut the f*ck up and follow us," Luz replied coldly, even when his heart stung at Az¡¯s ruthless words. In an effort to look strong, Luz quickly wiped away his own freshly-fallen tears before continuing to lead the path.


    Seeing how Az''s words affected Michael, Luz clutched his hand tightly before dragging him alongside him. The latter also began to cry as he was harshly tugged by Luz. At this point, the youngest one had lost all his will to live, and Luz had to coax the little one by whispering some sweet words: "we all are going to make it, and I''ll do anything to protect you guys." But even these words weren''t really helpful or reassuring to Michael, who expected the worst.


    As they ran deeper into the forest, the ground began to tremble less and less, and Luz''s hopes of surviving with his siblings grew. By now, his mind was filled with one question. ''Where should we go? There is no city or any other village anywhere near us.''


    To their misfortune, the dragon''s sense of smell was pretty good. From its rage, it wanted nothing more than to kill every villager: even the innocent people who didn''t participate in the hunt. And so, it didn''t take long for the siblings to end up under the shadow of its majestic wings.


    "Shit, shit, shit," muttered Luz with a frightened face as he saw the fear-inducing dragon descending down onto the group.


    Once its massive figure had landed on the ground, the ground shook upon his descent and the siblings fell to their knees from only a singular flap of the dragon¡¯s wings.


    The dragon roared so loud that the five brothers scrambled to hold their ears in an attempt to block out the sound, though that did nothing as blood began dripping out of their ears. Even after the dragon had snapped its jaws shut, smoke drifting out of its nostrils as a signal of its angry roar, a loud ringing was still echoing in their sensitive ears.


    A mighty black dragon with a body about hundred meters high and a wingspan just as large stood before them. Each one of its scales was the size of an adult man¡¯s skull, and they rattled with every movement the dragon made. His eyes were crimson red, much like the blood that simmered under the boys shivering skin, and the breath leaving the dragon''s snout was hot enough to leave some burn marks on Luz.


    Gritting his teeth, Luz mumbled silently. ''Sorry, village elder, but I have to use this spell¡­ I know I promised not to but¡­''


    Luz stared fearlessly into the dragon''s eyes. He didn¡¯t know where his sudden courage came from (perhaps it was because all of his younger brothers -who he swore in his heart he¡¯d protect with his life- were staring at him as a collective group or because he was so close to death that he had nothing left to do). Luz continued to think as he began to move: ¡®The situation right now¡­ It¡¯s way dangerous¡­¡¯


    Seeing Luz''s movements, Gab asked in shock: "Luz, are you really planning on using that spell?"


    But Luz ignored his words and bit his finger, trying to get himself under control to cast a spell that was well beyond his league. With the blood dripping from his fingertip, he began to hastily draw some mysterious runes onto his palm while the dragon stared at Luz¡¯s actions with amusement. It was like the dragon was staring down at him with condescension, though the dragon made no move to stop the human boy. It was like the dragon was toying with Luz before it would inevitably kill the boy and his brothers.


    When Luz deemed the runes complete, he pressed his bleeding thumb against his palm, uttering the spell. The dragon''s red slitted orbs narrowed and its amusement abruptly vanished after it realized what was happening. Quickly, the dragon ran out of patience and prepared his volley: the same attack that had resulted in the complete eradication of most, if not all the villagers.


    Thus, the dragon opened its gigantic maw that was adorned with jagged teeth that stunk something disgusting -the size of its teeth, when measured, were each as large as Luz''s forearm- and began the process of gathering black flames in the form of a ball that gradually grew bigger and bigger.


    "Gab, what is Luz trying to do?" asked Raph, who at this point gave up on entertaining the idea of running away. Young as Raph was, he was very realistic, and he knew that no matter what he¡¯d do, he would die anyway.


    Gritting his teeth, Gab replied: "He''s trying to teleport us but he¡¯s using his life as fuel for that spell."


    Hearing Gab''s word, Az involuntarily shouted in shock: "Luz, no, don''t do it! Brother, I¡­ I¡®d rather die with you than live without you!"


    Tears streamed down everyone''s faces as the dragon shot a volley of black flames that slowly flew in the direction of the siblings. Everyone closed their eyes as the volley was shot at them, and the only thing Luz heard was a loud crack as his mana core cracked.


    The pain was so unbearable that Luz opened his eyes in hopes of getting burned to ashes by the dragon just so he didn''t have to bear the abrupt pain anymore. Unfortunately for him, he ended up falling from the sky, screaming for his dear life, with the pain still running rampant in his body and his veins filled with adrenaline.

 1.5 new place…

    ''Promise me that you won''t use this spell until you are a master magician,'' went through Luz''s head as he fell from a height of 50m from the sky.


    His body was full of pain before he crashed down on a treetop, breaking his fall. "Arg, that hurt." cried Luz in pain as he fell from one treetop to the next branch, till his fall came to a stop.


    Lying there as his body arched with pain Luz looked up. He wasn''t alone on this three. But to his fortune, his neighbors sitting on a different branch were smaller animals.


    Seeing them, Luz sighed: "At least we survived it. Didn''t we, Gab?" as he positioned his injured body in a more comfortable position.


    But no one answered his question.


    "No, don''t tell me¡­ That cannot be," Luz stammered in shock as he looked at the other treetops in hopes of seeing his siblings there.


    With a trembling voice, Luz shouted: "Gab? Raph? Michael? Az? Are any of you here?"


    But the only response he got were echoes from the animals living inside the forest.


    "Shit, Shit, Shit!" Luz muttered to himself before pleading: "Why¡­ Why aren''t they here with me???"


    He cried out loud in rage before hitting the three trunks of his branch a few times. As the pain from hitting such a big trunk calmed his enraged mind, he realized how stupid his actions were.


    Not only has he just alerted every animal living in the forest about his coordinates, but he also fucked up his own hand in the process. He neither knew where he ended up nor did he know how dangerous this area was.


    Seeing his bloody hand filled with splinters, Luz felt angry at himself for his stupidity and sighed: "Yeah, that was a dumb idea. I better rest before taking any action."


    And so Luz laid against the tree trunk, which he hit bloody, trying to recuperate as much mana and stamina he could. But something felt off. Whenever he stopped focussing on capturing mana from the environment, it seemed to slowly leave his body. The fact that he still felt a stinging pain in his chest, where his mana core was located, didn''t reassure him either.


    ''I can probably forget of ever becoming a mage. Not only have I lost my village today, but I also lost my sibling and probably am now a cripple. Yeah. I might as well die here in this godforsaken place.''


    Even after a few hours and recapturing fully, his mood was still in the gutter. By now, he had no desire to leave the three until he remembered something he overlooked at.


    "The spell I''ve used is an area spell, teleporting everything in its range away. Since I''ve survived the spell and ended up in god knows where doesn''t it mean the spell was successful and my siblings also ended up in a similar situation as I?" he questioned himself.


    With laughter, he muttered: "As the oldest one, I shouldn''t lose hope in my siblings. These four are probably expecting me to save them, so let''s better go to work."


    ''Time to climb down the three and continue our journey.''


    Filled with new motivation and pain, of course, Luz didn''t notice how many cracks his mana core truly got from using such a straining spell.


    Gritting his teeth, Luz whispered to himself as he clambered down the tree with upper body pain, "I need food, something to drink, and a place where I won''t freeze to death at night." Reaching the bottom, he heard only the screeching of animals in the forest.


    Luz made his way, with a simple big stick in one hand and an empty bottle in the other. Around him were tall trees that barely provided cover from the sun, and around the trees grew bushes so dense that they could hide a corpse. And then he heard a rustling from them. Soon the rustling was coming from all directions. Unsure what was happening, Luz threw the bottle aside to hold the stick with both hands.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The next moment he heard a roar, and before he knew it, a cheetah-like monster jumped on him and pinned him to the ground. Fighting for his life on the ground, Luz pressed the stick with both hands against the cheetah''s throat area. The beast roared and tried to maul Luz with its huge jaws, as his claws buried into the leather armor Luz was wearing for his planned hunting trip. He said, gnashing his teeth, pressing his right hand against the jaw of the cheetah-like monster, the spell [spatial disorder].


    Although Luz couldn''t maintain the spell for even a second, the time was enough to shatter the whole jaw due to the creation of spatial disorder. Blood and pieces of flesh fell on Luz while the jaguar cried out loudly.


    As he used the spell, Luz felt unbearable pain in his mana core, thinking that it would break at any given second.


    With bloody red eyes from an almost broken mana core, Luz grabbed his knife attached to his leg before stabbing multiple times into the opening of the missing lower jaw.


    Its howls and struggle against Luz grew weaker and weaker until it toppled lifelessly on top of Luz.


    "I don''t even have time to think here," Luz sighed, tossing the animal corpse aside before cleaning his face from all the pieces of flesh and blood that fell on it.


    Seeing his body having run out of mana, Luz decided to climb up three to recuperate his stamina and mana. And so, he carried a corpse that was in his weight class up the tree while breathing erratic.


    Not 30 minutes later, Luz could be seen in front of a fire trying to cut the jaguar corpse into pieces with his dagger.


    ''Thinking about it, it would have been better if I had taken spices with me. Well, learning how to cut meat properly would have been a wiser decision. Hopefully, the meat will still taste good.''


    After eating, Luz wandered aimlessly to the north, hoping to reach any signs of civilization. But less than an hour later, he was running through the forest with a bunch of dog-like monsters that had a gemstone between their eyes chasing after him.


    He tried taking sudden turns and switching the direction he was headed in, but it was of no use, as the trees were spaced very apart from each other in this part of the forest, and he was always within their line of sight.


    His breath started coming in shorter gasps, and his back was drenched with sweat, yet Luz forced his aching legs to keep running.


    ''Why am I so unlucky?'' went through Luz''s head before a large river came to his eyes.


    Luz was losing more and more stamina, and he didn''t even dare to look behind. The screams and gasps of the dogs alone were enough to keep him from glancing behind.


    ''Either I jump in there and try to get to the other side of the river, or I''m going to get mauled by those creatures.''


    He threw himself into the river. Most of the dogs refused to throw themselves into the stream, but two dogs of the pack refused to give up and jumped after him. Unfortunately for Luz, the current was far too strong for him to make it to the other end of the bank. Instead, he got pulled along.


    ''Human civilizations are usually located near large rivers to exploit them for shipping. Hopefully, I''ll get lucky, and the river will lead me to one.''


    But before he could continue to remain engrossed in his thoughts, he was jolted out of his thoughts by a bite on his calf. A sharp pain shot through his body.


    ''I swear, I will exterminate every animal of your race yet! Every female and every newborn...,'' Luz cursed as he placed his hand firmly against the dog''s skull and muttered the same spell he had used earlier.


    The animal''s skull shattered, but the animal did not let go of his calf, even though it was dead. "Why do I have so much bad luck?" Luz questioned himself as he grew slightly tired.


    With great difficulty, Luz was able to move to the other end of the stream.


    ''Hopefully, soon, there will be a branch I can hold on to.''


    God seemed to hear his prayer, and 10 minutes later, he crashed into a rock in the stream. With all his strength Luz held onto it and climbed on while smiling and waving to the dog, who continued to follow the stream.


    Only on the rock could Luz take care of the corpse, which did not want to let go of his leg.


    "You, my dear, will be my dinner tonight. I hope you''re edible. Otherwise, I have another problem besides my damn injury on my calf," Luz muttered as he followed the stream.


    Blood began to flow from the bite site, and his clothes were soaked with water.


    By now, the evening sun was shining, and Luz was seen naked by a campfire, hoping his clothes would dry quickly. The fire may have kept him warm, but without clothes, one would still feel vulnerable. Hoping the wound on his calf wouldn''t get infected, he briefly pressed fire against it.


    "I hope this is enough before I get among humans," Luz sighed.


    However, he ignored one problem because a campfire is metaphorical, like a lighthouse that reveals its location to everyone nearby. Perhaps he was aware of this, or perhaps Luz hoped that others would find him.


    The sun was slowly setting, and Luz was sitting by the campfire with his clothes on, which were only slightly wet, and he heard another rustling from the bushes.


    Alerted, Luz pulled out his knife, preparing for an attack. A stranger answered out of the bushes in a foreign language, "I come in peace."


    "Speak Raneian, you weirdo," Luz replied while shifting himself into a position where he could escape at any time.


    "I come in peace," repeated the person in a language Luz understood.


    "That''s better," Luz answered with a smile, hoping to have found light in this dangerous forest.


    But he did not foresee how much he was wrong about his assumption.

 2. The escape

    "Who are you calling a weirdo!?" Retorted a woman in her 20s dawning leather armor, parting the bushes as she makes herself known


    "That''s how you greet a woman?" she stated with a look of disapproval and a raised eyebrow.


    "Sorry, but my mother always told me not to talk to strangers," Luz replied as he continued to hold his knife.


    "Understandable. But you are aware that you are on a private hunting ground of a noble family," the woman said sighing.


    "I''m sorry but do you happen to have a map and could you please tell me where I am?" Luz said with a smile.


    "I''d be happy to. We are in the west, a day''s walk from Bridgescar. If you need a map, follow me. I left it at my camp," the woman said before turning her back on Luz. Luz complied and followed her.


    On the way back, he heard an occasional rustling sound that did not come from animals, and at the same time, he felt as if he was being watched. The situation became no better with the regular stopping of the lady, as well as shorthand movements in some directions.  But only when he saw a person on a branch 5m above him did he realize that something was wrong with the situation.


    He grabbed the wrist of the woman, who cried out, and pressed his knife against her throat.


    "What are you doing?" the woman asked in panic.


    "Shut up. I know for a fact that something is wrong here. Just for your information I am a mage and if you don''t come out I will kill your companion," Luz threatened, while sweat was running down his back.


    "Alright," he heard a voice and the person jumped down from the branch before slowly moving in his direction.


    The woman wasn''t too pleased with her situation and struggled slightly. Luz''s knife cut into her skin slightly as she did so.


    "If you don''t stop now, you''re going to get yourself killed," Luz cursed before saying "and you there stay right where you are."


    Luz realized far too late that his hostage and the person from the tree were mainly trying to distract him from the person behind him. Suddenly a giant emerged from the bushes behind Luz and swung a huge bat at Luz. He felt a large club smashing against his skull before toppling over.


    "That almost went wrong," the woman cursed.


    "It didn''t. Instead, we even caught another mage. Hehehe." replied a broadly built man carrying a wooden club.


    "But Elon, if that''s a real mage, then we have a damn problem," answered the slender man who jumped down from the tree earlier.


    "Oh, Dylan. I know someone who likes to buy people like that. But it will be better if we tie his eyes, his mouth, and his hands before we depart," Elon returned.


    "Yes, that would be the wisest decision;" replied Dylan who was already getting to it and bound his hand.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


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    Luz was a mage apprentice in the mid-18 from a village deep in the coniferous forest and far from any civilization. The village was On the border of the kingdom of Raneian, to which they regularly pay taxes once a year.


    The world is big but not well connected. People who live in settlements far away from cities sometimes have a hard time. Tron, a small settlement deep in the coniferous forest is one of them. The ancestors of this 200-man settlement were family members of followers of a prince who ended up on the losing side in the struggle for the throne.


    Now more than 500 years have passed. The inhabitants of these villages do not know the name of the prince for whom they once were, nor exactly in which district their village belongs. They barely know that the settlement is on the border of the kingdom of Raneian, to which they regularly pay taxes once a year.


    Likewise, they consider the existence of cities a myth. Their vocabulary has degenerated due to isolation. The alphabet they still learn is also degraded. A large number of letters have disappeared, making the ancient books of their ancestors difficult to understand. At least they still learn to read.  Members of such settlements see mages as children of God or as God''s blessed ones.


    What these settlers do not know, however, is that every human possesses at least one unawakened magic talent, some even several. But in order to awaken one''s magic talent, one should know the concepts of the respective magic branches, for example, the creation of fire due to heat and the oxidation of wood, for example, are important to awaken the talent of fire if one possesses a fire talent. Most people possess one to even all four elements to some degree.


    More complex talents such as Space Control or Swarm Control are more difficult to awaken on your own, as the concepts are harder to understand. Now, it can also happen that someone''s understanding is similar to reality, which allows them to awaken their talent by chance.


    The four elements are easier to detect by any master mage, but a more complex talent can only be detected by a master mage who has the same talent or by a grandmaster mage. However, machines that recognize magic talents, as well as medicines that allow one to better understand the concepts, exist only in cities.


    A few days ago was the day when he and his siblings should have been transported by a mage to one of the cities. Due to his old age, Luz was not the cream of the crop and would probably have ended up in the army.


    Unfortunately, the village discovered a dragon and while trying to chase it away with the help of mercenaries, the whole village was reduced to rubble.  Luz, who with his siblings ran deep into the forest hunted by a dragon, was forced to use a spell so that Luz and his siblings could survive.


    Luz is now forced to reunite his siblings somehow. Whether he will be able to do it at all, let alone if they are still alive is unbeknownst to us. But enough background information it''s time to continue with the story.


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    Luz awoke in a horse-drawn cart. His head was still aching and throbbing, but Luz could neither see nor speak because of his blindfolded eyes and tied mouth. The fact that his hands were behind his back and that his legs were also chained together did not make the situation any better.


    At least he could hear what was going on and it seemed that the cart was being driven by two men who were talking loudly. Luz decided to rub his head slowly against the floor of the cart hoping to see something.


    The floor was dirty, but that didn''t stop him in such a situation and with great effort, he was able to slightly move the ribbon from his mouth and his eyes, so that he could say and see something.


    ''Wait and see. I''m going to kill all of you! Ok, how am I going to escape from them?''


    Luz was lying on the ground and his bulging veins could be seen as he gripped the chains on his hands. The cart was stopped and Luz heard one of the two men get out.


    "Ey Elon I''ll bring the merchant here. You keep an eye on him until then," Dylan said.


    "Will do," Luz heard, as he paid attention and after 2 minutes he grabbed the opportunity.

 3. a new beginning

    Dylan was resting on the cart with a hat over his face. He seemed to be unaware that Luz was already awake. Luz slowly stood up and before pressing his hands against Dylan''s face he whispered the spell [spatial disorder].


    Dylan reached out for Luz''s arms as he did so, but after a dull sound and the splattering of flesh, he let go of Luz.  Dylan''s face got destroyed and you couldn''t tell whom the face belonged to by just looking at it. Blood dripped from Luz''s hands and clothes, but Luz just smiled and licked some of the blood off.


    "One dead, only one more to go," Luz muttered before spitting in the dead man''s face.


    ''Time to get out of here.''


    Luz threw himself off the cart and he landed with a thud against the ground. One could see Luz moving like a caterpillar since all of his limbs were connected with iron chains, which could not be easily broken.


    "Shit. I can''t use my hands or my legs. As I am right now I am at the mercy of the monsters in the forest," Luz muttered to himself.


    The fact that he was leaving a trail of blood didn''t make his escape any better, because now any animal with an excellent nose as well as anyone who could see would know where he was.


    ''My only hope is a stream or a river. If I can get to one, then my escape should be easy.''


    Unfortunately for him, he was found after 30 minutes.


    "There''s our victim, trying to escape like a snail," Luz heard as two men walked towards him. Elon kicked Luz''s stomach several times hard to relieve his frustration.


    Luz replied, "You''re the next one I''m going to kill."


    "You better make sure you survive with your new master," Elon replied as he placed his shoe on Luz''s face and pressed down.


    "That''s enough," Luz heard the person next to Elon say dryly, who had been silent until just now. "He doesn''t seem bad considering he was able to kill your comrade like that. I''ll definitely buy him."


    "I have to thank you, though. Without you, I''d have to split the money," Elon sneered. Luz was grabbed by the collar and pulled up. The man freed his feet and said coldly: "follow me".


    The man looked at Elon with a smile and the next moment Luz saw Elon''s head fly off his body. Blood splattered onto Luz''s face as he looked in horror at the man in front of him.


    "That'' s what you get for trying to sell a future mage," he commented coldly before turning towards Luz.


    Through Luz''s head went several things but the aura the man gave off, was enough to keep Luz from any attempts of escaping.


    "You can go ahead and try to use your simple Beginner magic spells against me, but neither you nor your body will survive those consequences," the man commented while shaking his head as if he knew of Luz''s thoughts.


    ''This is not how I envisioned my adventures. Instead of searching for my siblings, I ended up as a damn slave. How am I supposed to find them like this?''


    He trotted dejectedly behind the man who was in his mid-30s. Silence reigned between the two and Luz could occasionally see the man using magic to scare away any animals that came near to the two.


    At night, the two sat in silence around the campfire. "What''s your name, anyway?" the man asked.


    "Luz is my name and what is your name?" Luz replied.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Brian. So, Luz normally I would be allowed to beat you up for your lack of respect but let''s put that aside. Where are you from anyway?" asked Brian.


    "I''m sorry. I''m from the Camter Coniferous Forest, which is in the Northern part of the kingdom."


    "I see. May I have a quick look at your mana core? I need to see how much you have strained it," asked Brian.


    Luz did as he was told and took off his shirt. Brian then briefly touched his chest with one hand before taking it back. The next moment he slapped Luz so hard that he fell over.


    Before Luz could object to anything, he heard Brian say in a loud voice, "These youth are getting impatient. I''ve never seen such an idiot straining his mana core so much."


    "I''m sorry," Luz muttered.


    "The hell you''re sorry. But you better tell me about your talent and how you managed such an injury to your mana core before I slap you again."


    "My talent is in space magic and I used the teleportation spell to escape with my siblings," Luz replied.


    "Let me guess the spell failed," Brian remarked, shaking his head. "How did you realize that," Luz asked.


    "BECAUSE YOU WOULD OTHERWISE BE DEAD you damned idiot. Be glad that you only have a few small cracks and no big cracks on the mana core due to that spell. I wish I had a receipt. I just want to give you back to the bandits," Brian sighed. "


    Can''t you just let me go or something," Luz sighed?


    "No, I already paid. You better work hard and buy your freedom," Brian commented.


    "Anyway, time to move on. We still have a full day''s march ahead of us. Oh yeah, before I forget. Starting from today, you''re not allowed to use any magic until we fix your mana core," Brian stated.


    "Boss, why can I actually buy my freedom? I always thought that slaves can''t escape their fate?" Luz asked as he followed Brian.


    "I''m not looking for slaves either, I''m looking for workers whom I can pay less than minimum wage," Brian replied with a laugh.


    "I don''t see any difference in that boss," Luz sighed. With a laugh, Brian patted Luz''s back, who almost toppled over.


    The two continued walking and soon reached a town. Luz had never encountered so many people. Silently, the two walked through a shantytown and arrived in an area where only suffering and misery could be seen. Luz actively looked away as he trotted behind Brian.


    "I have something to show you, Luz," Brian replied as they walked into a bar.


    Luz was confused by the place and what the two were going to do there. But it wasn''t until the two went into the basement there that Luz saw a man his age tied to a chair.


    The room was covered with candlelight and the man in the center of the room looked scared. All of his limbs were tied to the chair and the chair shook slightly from the movements he made. Fear could be seen in his eyes as he bit hard against the fabric in his mouth.


    "Normally I wouldn''t let anyone see something like that. But I think it''s better if you see what I''m capable of doing so that you don''t get any stupid ideas," said Brian who took an ax from the wall.


    The chair creaked more and one could hear muffled noises from him.


    "This man assaulted one of the workers and raped her. Watch," Brian said and without a second of hesitation he chopped off a hand and a leg of the bound man.


    Blood splattered everywhere from the wounds and the muffling got louder. The man had a pained expression with closed eyes. He tried to lift his arms in vain and even though he knew that there would be no escape from judgment today he still tried to resist. Brian slowly pointed his fingers at the man''s bleeding limbs and a blue fire shot out of Brian''s fingers. The man''s suppressed screaming could be heard while his freshly amputated limbs were scorched.


    Brian looked unfazed at the suffering of the man in front of him before turning to Luz. "I hope you don''t want to gain your freedom in such a way," Brian stated.


    Luz only gulped before replying as respectfully as he could: "Of course not Master Brian."


    By now Luz was as afraid of Brian as the man tied to the chair.


    "Then we''ve got that settled, too. Time to leave this slum," Brian said.


    As the two turned their backs on the man at the chair, the chair rattled louder. The man would rather die now than continue being confined in the dark dungeon, where he could only hear the loud dripping water and the squeezing of rats.


    Luz only nodded in agreement before replying with: "Yes Boss."


    "Do you think I should have fed him to the pigs," Brian asked?


    "No, perhaps people like him should suffer more. But boss what do I have to do from now on and what is my hourly wage," Luz asked?


    "You are arrogant to ask for your hourly wage already. Well, it''s a few pennies," Brian answered with a smile.


    "And how much is my debt that I have to pay?" Luz sighed.


    "Ten gold coins," replied his boss.


    The average citizen earns between 5 to 25 bronze coins a day. (This is an annual salary ranging from 1825 to 9125 bronze coins (=1,825 to 9,125 silver coins). One gold coin equals one thousand silver coins and one silver coin is equal to one thousand gold bronze.


    1 gold coin=10^3 silver coins=10^6 bronze coins


    "If I have to work until I die, then I''m still a slave, boss," Luz sighed.


    "Well, let''s see. If I''m ever in a good mood about your work, I''ll let you leave sooner," Brian stated.


    "I hope so," Luz responded.

 4. a new home ?

    Luz followed Brian, and it was not until deep in the night that the two reached their destination. It was a huge mansion that could be roughly seen in the moonlight. The sight only confused the tired Luz, having never seen such a huge building before. Brian just waved and a butler opened the gate for them.


    As the two entered Brian told his butler: "Alfred, take Luz to the other children please."


    "By your command," Alfred replied as he bowed to Brian.


    He then turned his attention to Luz and briefly looked at Luz from his head to his toes. "Follow me, young man," were the only words that left his mouth.


    Luz followed Alfred who led him down some hallways to the basement. Each of their footsteps echoed loudly through the hallways and Luz almost felt uncomfortable.


    ''Such a large building belongs to Master Brian, but I don''t see a single human soul around.''


    "You should be grateful that Brian bought you instead of someone else," Alfred sighed as he opened a squeaking door.


    The door was made of white wood and had a golden handle. Luz gazed into the room and he saw a few bunk beds with people sleeping on them.


    "Why is that?" Luz asked, stopping at the door.


    "Because Brian has a good heart. He''s trying to buy as many young mages as possible who would be unjustly enslaved to give them a chance at a life worth living," Alfred stated with a sigh before continuing with, "but enough talk. Time for you to enter. You''ll have to work hard starting from tomorrow. So you better sleep early."


    "Will do Alfred," Luz replied before entering.


    After the door closed behind Luz, suddenly there was a boy sitting in each of the beds except for one. 10 boys of different ages sat on their beds and stared holes at Luz. The atmosphere remained tense for a few seconds before a boy around Luz''s age interrupted the building atmosphere with, "This is our newcomer. Please introduce yourself."


    "My name is Luz and I am 18 years old. I''m from the Northern part of the kingdom," Luz stated as he moved his gaze from child to child looking each of them into their eyes.


    Some of them had green eyes, some brown and there were even a few who had golden eyes.


    ''In this room alone are enough eye colors to fill a color palette.''


    "Wow, if it continues like this, Master Brian will have saved at least one child from each province of the kingdom," a boy commented.


    Another child whispered loudly: "Gotta catch them all," and a few children giggled at his comment.


    "Welcome to the team and the bed up there is yours. I think getting to know each other better tomorrow would be the wisest decision," commented a boy around his age before continuing with, "Please don''t be surprised if some here are very shy. Some of us have experienced hell before being discovered by our master."


    Luz nodded and climbed into his bed. By now he had been awake for two days and he just didn''t care about the stiffness of the bed.


    ''Gab, Raph, Az, and Michael, I hope you are all well. Hopefully, you are all in a better situation compared to me, even though my situation is not too bad,'' went through Luz''s head as he threw the blanket over his body.


    ''I hope to see you guys sometime soon. Mother and father are both dead anyway and you are the last thing I have left. I can''t lose you and I will kill anyone who does anything bad to you.'' Luz slowly moved his body into a fetal position out of the sheer cold he felt.


    ''Why am I so weak? Maybe if I had trained back then or if I had just cast the spell correctly, we wouldn''t be in this situation. Sure, I would have died, but all of you wouldn''t be scattered around the world.''If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Luz clenched his hand into a fist and the vein on his hand almost popped because of the rage Luz was harboring in his body.


    ''If only I was stronger, I could have prevented all this chaos. I am sorry for my incompetence and that it will take some time before I will find all of you. But I will find each of you I promise,'' sobbed Luz as his anger slowly transformed to sadness.


    During his quiet sobs, one of the boys climbed into his bed and just whispered, "If you need someone to hug, I''m here, even if you don''t know me yet."


    Luz just sobbed quietly, "I''m just an incompetent idiot who''s too weak for anything and is now crying on the shoulder of someone younger than himself."


    "It''s normal. Every one of us cried on the first day. The most important thing is what you do after you cry. You worry about your siblings, right?" the boy asked him.


    "Yes. I''m worried about what will happen to them since I can''t take care of them," Luz sighed and hugged him.


    "That''s understandable. If you want, I''ll help you look for them when we have time off and don''t worry, none of the rest will know that you''ve shown any signs of weakness," the younger one replied while hugging Luz.


    The next day the boys were woken up by Alfred. Luz''s body ached from his adventure yesterday. Alfred took him with him in order to look for a suitable uniform size for Luz. The uniform was mainly black and white with a white shirt and a jacket.


    On the chest was a small insignia of a two-headed eagle, with one head looking to the left and the other to the right. Only after Luz tried on several uniforms did Alfred and him find the uniform that fit him.


    "Normally you would be working today, but Master Brian thinks we should take care of your injured mana core before you start working," Alfred told Luz as they walked through the halls. "So we''re here," Alfred announced after they left the mansion and arrived at a large mage tower that was 500 meters away from the mansion.


    "Enter," said a young man with disheveled hair and a strange thing attached to his left eye.


    "Master Simon sorry to disturb you but, Master Brian is sending the newcomer to you. He hopes you could help him out with his mana core," Alfred told him before bowing.


    "All right, so come in dear, I won''t bite," Simon said, waving at Luz to come in.


    Luz followed and he saw several complex machines and a tank full of small fishes. Luz could see other occult objects on the walls, as well as birds flying freely."


    Undress," Simon instructed, as a bird landed on his shoulder.  Luz did as he was commanded.


    Simon placed his hand on Luz''s mana core and just shook his head.


    "Looks like someone used a magic spell that wasn''t in his class, hmm?" screeched the parrot, and Master Simon nodded.


    Luz, on the other hand, looked to the side due to embarrassment.


    "More testing is needed or do you disagree Jodoc," the mage muttered to himself.


    The parrot screeched only in agreement.


    Luz was slightly taken aback by the conversation between the mage and the parrot and watched them both with fascination.


    "Sit on the chair please," Simon told him as he went through a pile of notes.


    The chair looked like a torture chair and there were several devices attached behind it.


    Luz did as he was told and Simon tightened the straps.


    "This may be a bit painful, but I''m just going to shoot mana through your body for a moment in order to create a detailed picture of how much your mana core has been strained," Simon said as he was ramming several thin measuring sticks into his back.


    Luz was about to get up but the straps that were fastened prevented any attempt to fight back. After Simon pulled down one of the switches, Luz felt a strong mana current shoot through his body, forcing his mana veins to almost burst.


    This blow didn''t even last a second, but Luz could be seen motionless on the chair with his head slumped over. Blood began to slowly drip out of his eyes and the veins on his head were bulging because of the mana current.


    "I think that was too much mana at once," Simon commented before pausing at the sight of Luz.


    ''The chart still shows a regular heartbeat,'' went through Simon''s head before he shouted at Jodoc: "Please note that the mana volume rate for mage apprentices should at least be reduced by a factor of three."


    The monitors above Luz already depicted a few scans of Luz''s mana core as well as a few charts.


    Jodoc began to screech, "Too many cracks, rehabilitation by normal measures will be difficult. Research experiment trial 232 could be used on him," while glancing at the charts.


    "No, no, no, Jodoc we can''t try that experiment! We don''t have long-term studies on the experiment or anything else, and besides, it''s not even certain whether this experiment can really be a solution to his problems," Simon disputed while zooming in on a 3D model of Luz mana core.


    "But only this method can ensure that Luz Mana''s output to the environment is not too high. Remember, we can use him as an experiment, and besides, the Royal guard uses a similar method," Jodoc shouted back at Simon.


    "Yes but the Royale guard probably uses a different organism. In any other magic monster we''ve tried it on, it''s seized control," Simon replied, shaking his head.


    "Then let''s ask him if he''s ready for it. He''s young and naive. I''m sure he''d rather die than never be allowed to use mana again. If you want to convince him, just add that you''ll pay off his debt to Brian," the parrot said with a laugh as he flapped his wings.


    "You have no scruples either," the mage sighed before he continued with, "well, time to wait for him to regain consciousness."

 5. Theory and Symbiosis

    Luz''s head was pounding and his vision was blurry after gradually regaining consciousness. A parrot seemed to be sitting on Luz''s chest and his screeching of Luz being awake echoed through his head.


    ''Why can''t I have a moment of peace?'' were the only thoughts that ran through his mind before uttering: "Could you please be quiet for a moment?"


    But the parrot ignored him, and it didn''t take long for someone to approach him.  Simon sat down across from Luz and opened a few graphs.


    "What do the images represent? I don''t understand them," Luz asked.


    "That there is your mana core. A full recovery of your mana core is highly unlikely, however, we may have a plan on how to help you," Simon told Luz while pointing to several graphs.


    "In summary, the problem with a broken mana core is that first, the mana absorption rate decreases over time, and second, your body has a difficult time retaining absorbed mana. If you are unlucky, it comes to the point where your mana desorption rate becomes greater than your mana absorption rate. At that point, there is no difference between you and a normal person," Simon explained while pointing at the zoomed-in cracks on his mana core.


    The desperate expression Luz had on his face was reason enough to give him a moment to internalize what awaits him. Simon sighed before continuing with: "But it could end up much worse. If you continue to use mana, it could cause you to overexert your mana core and cause it to break. If it comes to that, your death is guaranteed."


    "Could you please tell me about your plan?" Luz asked dejectedly as he gripped his armrest tightly.


    ''I have lost almost everything I had except magic. That''s the only thing that sets me apart from the rest... and if... and if I lose that one as well, I''ll never be able to find my siblings. It would even be hard to move out of this place. Without magic, I am nothing more than a talentless man...''


    Luz''s expression worsened and Jodoc smiled at the sight of it.


    Telepathically, Jodoc told Simon, "You see. His look reveals everything. He''s willing to sacrifice everything he has just to save his talent."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Simon sighed out of pity before presenting the two possible options that were available.


    "Option 1 you won''t use any mana from today and we will try to rehab your mana core slowly. This is the safest method, but your mage career would be as good as over," Simon explained before adding "But, your life would be guaranteed."


    Luz only shook his head before asking: "What would be the other option?"


    Simon smiled before continuing with: "Option 2 would be to force a symbiosis with another parasite-like organism, which has high regeneration abilities. Your body will regularly fight with it for control of your body, but this organism would also be forced to heal you, otherwise, it would die with you."


    "If it gains control of my body then what is the difference with dying?" Luz asked.


    Simon shook his head before stating: "You aren''t the first one. Several mages use this type of cooperation with a symbiote, but I have never been able to reproduce this result, let alone force a symbiosis. The secrets behind how they managed it, as well as long-term studies and drawbacks, are kept top secret."


    Simon paused for a second and flipped to a different page on his notes before continuing with: "The risk of failure is high, and even if a symbiosis works, I''m not sure if it''s the ideal parasite, let alone how such a symbiosis will affect the advancement to a higher mage rank."


    Luz was lost in his thoughts.


    ''To be honest, I don''t want to take the risk. If I die, I will never find my siblings. But on the other hand, if I can''t be a mage, then traveling around the world to find my siblings will be relatively difficult.'' Luz sighed before replying with "I wish I had more choices but I would be willing to take that risk".


    "Are you sure?" asked Jodoc the parrot, climbing up on Luz''s shoulder.


    "Yes, I am," Luz gave in with a sight.


    "The young always tend to take risks," murmured Simon who led Luz up a few floors to where a large water tank was located.


    The tank was slightly murky and it looked as if it were filled with just dirty water. Simon made Luz faint by hitting him on the neck with his hand.


    "Let''s pray that we''ll succeed with him," Simon sighed while slowly attaching several tubes onto Luz. These tubs would regularly pump nutrients into his body, as well as mana, anesthetics, and even oxygen into his body.


    Several measuring devices that record the values of pulse, blood sugar, mana, and nutrient levels every second were also attached to Luz''s body. After everything was linked, Luz''s lifeless body was dropped into the tank and one could see how the tank became clearer and clearer with time.


    The graphs, which Simon the Mage as well as Jodoc the Parrot saw after a few minutes, looked grim.


    The longer it lasted the more and more all of the measurements, which were recorded, were plummeting. It would not take much longer before critical levels would be reached.


    "Maybe it wasn''t such a good idea after all," whispered Jodoc the Parrot.


    "Let''s pray that it was a good idea," Simon whispered back.

 6. Parasite and symbiosis

    Let''s briefly talk about the parasite. Each of these parasites has a mana core and these parasites communicate with each other via signals in the form of impulses and hormones.


    Their mana core is too weak to absorb mana from the air, which is why they depend on a host. In their mana core, mana gets purified. You can think of it this way. Mana from the environment contains many elemental impurities. It is like crude oil that needs to be refined into its component.


    Each mana core is also responsible for this purification process and with a higher mage rank, the purification ability increases as well.


    This parasite is known for its high reproduction rate, adaptability to changes in the environment and the host, as well as intercommunication among its kind.


    Intercommunication is mainly used to communicate information concerning changes in the host.


    Such changes can be in the area of nutrient, energy, or mana intake in the body, the discovery of a new host in range, stimulation and inhibition of the reproduction rate, and so on.


    In Luz''s body, however, the parasites drilled in and multiplied rapidly via asexual reproduction until there was at least one parasite in almost every cell of Luz.


    Simon, on the other hand, reduced the addition of all nutrients as well as mana to Luz''s body at regular intervals, forcing the parasite collective to change their tactics as there was no next host to take over.


    For the well-being of the parasite collective, the host Luz had to survive, because otherwise the collective would perish with him, which is why the collective was also forced to reduce their mana consumption.


    The hivemind also concluded to stop the invasion of the brain prematurely, because the takeover of these cells could lead to premature brain death due to the bursting of his synapses.


    The mana core of Luz was the place where the mana concentration was the highest, which is why 5 parasites decided to settle in the mana core through its cracks, although there was no nutrient flow to it.


    In the evening of the same day, Brian stormed into the Magic Tower and asked, "Where is Luz, my employee?"


    After Simon showed him the Luz inside a tank, Brian grabbed Simon by the collar and said coldly, "I never gave you permission to do experiments on my employees, of which we don''t even have known success rates. You''ll pay a hundredfold if Luz wakes up with mental injuries and ten thousand times the price if Luz dies in the process."


    "Isn''t the price too high for a simple employee?" Simon stammered.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "You''re not paying the value of the employee. You''re paying the price for not asking my permission about what you''re going to do with my employees. Oh, by the way, you''re paying a hundred times Luz''s daily salary until Luz wakes up. I hope the price was worth it to you, Simon," said Brian, holding Simon by the collar.


    "I understand," Simon stammered.


    Only after Brian left the tower did Simon begin to curse loudly, "Jodoc why do you always convince me of stupid ideas? I should have never listened to you. I have to give Brian almost 5 years of my hard-earned money. As punishment, we both will stay awake until Luz wakes up."


    Jodoc shrieked loudly to make his outrage known before getting comfortable on Simon''s shoulder.


    Luz was lying in the tank for several days while several changes took place in his body. On the one hand, organ failure nearly occurred regularly due to the initially inhibited nutrient transport between the cells because of the parasites. On the other hand, the parasites, which had drilled themselves into Luz''s Mana core, developed differently.


    Due to the high amount of mana they came in contact with, their development was accelerated and these five parasites gained rudimentary consciousness. These five communicated with each other about how to proceed.


    They also gained the ability to channel stronger impulses as well as more potent hormones through Luz''s body, which allowed them to inhibit communications in the collective as well as prioritize their commands. One of their first orders was to increase the mana consumption as well as to give a 50% share of the refined mana to the host.


    Luz benefited from the flow of mana with a higher degree of purity through his body. However, the command was released from the parasites in his Mana Core for selfish reasons, as they wanted to care less about refining Mana and more about controlling the collective.


    What the parasites ignored was that this mana was also slowly healing Luz''s mana core. The cracks of the mana core became thin enough that these parasites were trapped inside of Luz''s mana core.


    Panicking, they realized that if a new host was to be found, they would die with Luz. Communication with their host is a top priority in order to make future plans.


    By now Luz was only physically paralyzed from the anesthetics, however, he was slowly able to think clearly again.


    ''Shit my whole body itches and hurts like hell. I feel strong impulses coursing through my body. The question is: when can I move my body again?'' went through Luz''s head.


    ''Eat!'' Luz heard in the form of impulses and he only got more confused. Luz heard several voices telling him telepathically.


    ''Give food for high-quality mana.''


    Heard Luz, while wondering about the identities of the voices in his head.


    ''So how can I help you guys? Or rather, how do you plan to pay your rent starting from today?'' Luz thought.


    ''Biological matter,'' Was the answer to Luz''s question, which made him sigh in helplessness.


    Meanwhile, Luz was able to move slowly and after lifting his head out of the water, he saw Simon staring at him with rings around his eyes. It took a moment for the latter to react and jump up.


    "You''re still alive. Well, well, well," the latter said excitedly.


    "Food," Luz croaked.


    "Okey," Simon said and increased the nutrient intake tremendously.


    Luz now fell back into the pool due to fatigue and went back to sleep.


    "Brian. Luz woke up for a short while before falling asleep again. Take a look at his measurements," Simon said as he showed Brian the measurement graphs.


    "The cracks in his mana core became smaller. Well, a small step towards full rehabilitation, but wait... How does that explain the mana quality and the decrease in mana volume pumping through his body?" Brian muttered to himself while Simon just nodded for coherence.

 7. waking up

    After a few hours, Luz woke up. It took time for him to realize that his body was connected with some instruments and tubes, and he immediately pulled on them.


    Jodoc, seeing that Luz was awake, immediately screeched: "Hey, you better let me pull them out. You certainly will destroy some of them. They cost a lot."


    "Alright then, you do it," sighed Luz, who didn''t care at all since all he wanted to do was leave the water tank.


    Jodoc immediately closed the machines with his beak before pulling the rods and tubes out of his back. Blood oozed out of the puncture sites.


    The parrot told Luz not to worry about the puncture sites before hurriedly saying, "Give me a minute. I''ll call Simon."


    "That guy has been sleeping enough. He better take care of you now," Jodoc commented before flying onto Luz''s shoulder.


    There he began screeching Simon''s name loudly across the room.


    Surprisingly Simon reacted to Jodoc screeches, even if it was only by throwing a shoe at Jodoc.


    "Good morning, and let me continue sleeping. I''m so tired," the two heard Simon say with a yawn.


    "If you keep this up, Luz will head to Master Brian. Let''s see how much you have to pay to see Luz again," screeched the parrot out of anger before flying towards Simon.


    "Damn, you''re right," Simon muttered to himself as he jumped out of bed immediately.


    "Luz, I''ll reward you if you stay here for another hour. Please," begged an alerted Simon walking to them.


    He still was in his pajamas, and the bags under his eyes were definitely showing how little sleep he had.


    ''Not very professional'' was the only thought that went through Luz''s head as he looked at Master Simon before sighing: "Fine by me."


    He slowly stretched his body despite the sharp pain he felt all over it.


    "Follow me, please. Time to take another look at your mana core," Simon said excitedly.


    ''Nah, hell no. I''m not going to sit on that execution chair again.''


    "I''d rather die before giving you another chance to fry my brain again," Luz stated as he shook his head.


    "Oh, come on. I even reduced the energy output. You''ll now be getting only a third of the initial mana output," Simon assured Luz.


    Sighing, Luz gave in as he sat down on the chair. The straps were tightened again, and a couple of thin measuring rods went a centimeter into his back.


    ''If that continues, my back will soon become swiss cheese.''


    "One, two, three and go," Simon counted down as he pulled down a lever sending external mana through Luz''s body.


    Meanwhile, the five parasites in Luz''s mana core sensed the mana current coming at them.  They released a pulse permitting the remaining parasites to use their maximum mana absorption rate.


    A mana current shot through Luz''s body, but only slightly straining his mana capillaries. This time, Luz didn''t faint during the process and just gritted his teeth.


    "Strange. How did we lose 20% of the mana? Jodoc, we have to call the crappy company later. They gave us faulty equipment," Simon cursed as he undid all of the straps that were still holding Luz back.


    Blood oozed slightly through Luz''s back at the exit points of the dipsticks.


    "Interesting," Simon muttered to himself as he presented two pictures of Luz''s mana core to him.


    "The left one was your mana core four days ago, and the right picture is your current mana core," Simon stated.


    "Hmm, I can merely see fewer cracks on the right picture, and why are there some small black dots in my mana core? Strange," Luz pointed out.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    "Well, the cracks haven''t disappeared completely yet. They just got narrower, which is a good sign," Simon told him before continuing with, "the rehabilitation of your mana core should take a few weeks. The influence of mana should be minimized, but nevertheless, the usage of mana should not have a negative influence on your mana core."


    Luz only sighed out of relief.


    ''At least there is some positive news.''


    "As for the black dots, it looks like some organisms have taken up residency in your mana core. Interesting..." Simon told Luz as he pointed at the black dots before assuring the boy, "These organisms are still small, so don''t worry about them doing anything."


    ''HOW DID THEY GET IN HIS MANA CORE?? But they''ll probably die soon since biological matter can''t be transported into his mana core,'' Simon thought. ''Shit, if Brian finds out about this, he''s going to kill me.'' went through Simon''s head.


    "Luz, how have you been feeling since you woke up? Any problems whatsoever," Simon asked.


    "Hmm, I''m just hungrier. My whole body hurts. Sometimes I feel strong impulses shooting through my body, and I feel as if the parasites are telling me they are hungry," Luz told the two.


    "Oh, that''s perfectly normal. Your body probably hurts because mana with a higher grade of purity flows through your body for some unknown reason, which probably restructured your muscles." Simon stated with a smile before continuing with, "By the way, the hunger is completely normal, so don''t worry about it."


    Even the parrot looked puzzled at Simon''s statement.


    Telepathically, Jodoc told him: ''We are dead, and definitely so. If Brian finds out that we gave Luz a mutated parasite, you and I''ll face something worse than death. Hopefully, this mutant parasite collective is of a low intelligence level. Did you find any parasites in Luz''s synapses during the examination?''


    ''No, I haven''t found any there yet.'' Master Simon replied to him.


    ''Thank goodness. Let''s offer some magic lessons and materials to Luz and tell Master Brian that we found talent in Luz, which is why we want to give him private lessons,'' Jodoc advised Master Simon.


    Master Simon only nodded before stating telepathically: ''We need to minimize the contact between Luz and Brian as much as possible. Only with that is the chance of Master Brian finding out about the funny stuff going on in Luz''s body as low as possible.''


    They both came to a silent agreement.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    In another place deep in a dark forest, a starving boy with black hair and deep circles under his eyes wandered to a grave while two skeletons followed him at his side. The loud screams of monsters echoed through the forest.


    ''Shit, I hope this is a grave of a former strong warrior. I need a strong minion. Otherwise, I''ll be eaten sooner or later,'' Az thought as he ran desperately to an old tomb.


    He took deep breaths before muttering: "[Awake]," and not even a few seconds later, the ground shook slightly, and a deep voice resounded, echoing through the forest.


    "Which ignorant fool dares to wake me up?!" the unknown entity stated from the grave as a hand out of bones emerged from the ground.


    The sheer pressure released from the grave forced Az onto his knees, and out of desperation, Az ordered his two skeletons to position themselves in front of him. But unfortunately, even they were forced onto the ground.


    A figure slowly emerged from the old tomb, and the only thing Az could see in the fog were two red eyes and the sound of skulls getting crushed.


    His two minions were already dead, and Az shrieked out of desperation as he tried to get as far as possible away from the grave.


    However, a hand grabbed Az''s leg and raised him. "Arrgh¡­Please, I beg you¡­" whimpered the terrified child.


    A pale skeleton whose body was covered with cracks and dirt examined with his glowing red eyes the child he held with one of his hands.


    The entity sighed and probably thought: ''Did someone really wake me up just so I could babysit him?''


    "So you are the person who summoned me from the grave. Wait a minute¡­ How come a young kid ended up deep in the woods?" he muttered as he gently placed the child onto the ground.


    "How can you talk?" Az stuttered in horror as he tried to escape.


    The skeleton, on the other hand, merely pressed his leg on Az''s clothes to hinder his escape.


    "Child, you''ve disturbed the resting place of the wrong person. If you were an adult, I would have made you a head shorter for such an action. Unfortunately, I have a heart for children," the skeleton sighed before sitting down.


    Az, still being scared, whispered silently: "I''m sorry" before continuing pleading, "I need all the help I can possibly get to survive here."


    "I''ll help you survive in this forest, but only if you follow my words. By the way, call me Ogron," heaved the skeleton.


    "My name is Az, and I will gladly follow every word of you, Master Ogron," nodded Az.


    "Don''t call me Master. I don''t want to be called like such by a child who dares to disturb the peace of someone resting," Ogron told Az while shaking his head.


    "Ok, master Ogron," Az replied with a smile.


    "Be careful, child. Didn''t your parents teach you to respect elders?" Ogron grumbled.


    "Ogron, do you actually know where we can find the northern conifer forest?" Az asked as they walked through the dark forest.


    "No. I don''t remember any coniferous forest, and which year is it actually?" asked Ogron.


    "It''s the year 23,505," replied Az.


    "I must have been asleep for a thousand years. Let''s see what has become of my descendants and of the different kingdoms. I am curious if they still exist," mumbled Ogron.


    "Ogron, what rank were you before you died?" Az asked, looking up at the two-meter giant skeleton.


    "Talking to you about mage levels which you don''t know is pointless. Just remember I used to be a strong and feared man," he stated with a puffed chest.


    "When I was young, every girl wished to become my husband but now¡­I''m just an old skeleton who is a mere skeleton.¡­," Ogron answered with a sight.


    Thus Az and Ogron walked through the forest in search of food.

 8. Eating and working

    "Luz, I''d like to lend you some books as a reward for participating in one of my experiments," Simon commented while he took out a bunch of books from one of his bookshelves.


    The books were all dusty. But that was mainly because of Master Simon not touching his old beginner books for ages.


    "Taking out these old books awakens some old memories," sighed Master Simon.


    "Thanks, but I think this may be a bit too much," Luz replied as he looked at the stack of books.


    "Nah, Nah, Nah. These books contain all the basics for your level as well as most of the elements," Simon replied.


    "I have no interest in most of the magic directions," Luz sighed.


    "Still, you should give them all a read. You might like one of the books," Simon replied.


    Before the two knew it, there was a knock at the door.


    "Alfred, come in," Simon called as he opened the door for Alfred.


    "I see you are well, Luz," Alfred remarked with a smile before stating: "Please follow me, Luz."


    Luz nodded before following him, leaving Master Simon''s mage tower.


    "The children, as well as I, have been worried about you," Alfred told them.


    "But why? You don''t even know me," Luz asked, confused.


    "The children may not know you well, but many of us would be worried about a new member being involved in a magic experiment after his first day. What I want to tell you is not to repeat such stupidity. So much could have gone wrong," Alfred sighed before glancing at Luz.


    "Are you even aware that Master Simon couldn''t even try this experiment successfully on an animal, let alone a human being? Do you even realize that neither Master Simon nor Master Brian knows what the long-term consequences of this might be?" Alfred remarked, shaking his head.


    "I am aware of my stupidity," Luz admitted.


    "Enough talk. Time for you to eat your lunch," Alfred replied as he led Luz into a small canteen.


    Luz didn''t expect that so many people were working under Master Brian.


    "Grab a plate and get what you want to eat. It won''t cost you anything," Alfred said before moving on with the pile of books.


    Luz strolled through the cafeteria and was amazed at the amount of food it offered. The variety was great, around ten different types of dishes or so. He failed to recognize any of the served meat and vegetables. Did they import it from a foreign country, perhaps? As he walked through the cafeteria, he felt impulses shooting through his body upon standing in front of some of the dishes.


    A strange voice in his head told him, ''this one!''


    Astonished, Luz took a small portion of the dishes.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ''If my stomach wants it, then it must be something good.''


    He ended up sitting next to the boys with whom he shared a room. The kids chatted and occasionally asked how he was doing, to which he replied as usual. Luz''s body seemed unsatisfied with three servings and asked for more.


    "Well, I haven''t eaten for several days, and that''s why I''m probably so hungry," Luz muttered to himself as he went for his fourth portion.


    On the way back, three people joined him, two of them being girls and one of them being a boy.


    "You''re already overdoing it with the food," replied the boy with a smile, trying to start a conversation with Luz.


    Luz replied with a chuckle, "I''m just catching up on what I''ve missed in meals."


    "That''s right. You were the one who was used as a guinea pig for several days," said one of the girls, a black-haired girl.


    "Yes, and it was horrible," Luz responded.


    "Tell me more about this experiment and what happened there," asked the boy excitedly.


    "Sorry, but I don''t think I can tell you the exact information. However, I spent several days lying in a water tank with several cables connecting me to all kinds of machines," Luz answered as he continued to eat.


    "Spoilsport," uttered the girl, who had been silent until just now.


    "Anyway. By the way, my name is Francis, the one with black hair is called Alice, and the one with brown hair is called Anne," Francis said.


    "My name is Luz," Luz answered.


    "Well, let us know when you become a beginner mage. We could maybe hunt together than in the forest," Anna suggested.


    "I would love to do that with you guys," Luz replied.


    The parasites in Luz''s body, on the other hand, used their time to deprive him of a large number of nutrients to promote their own growth. Most of the nutrients ingested were merely absorbed, converted into energy, and stored in the parasites for future use.


    After the meal, Luz was called by Francis, who was supposed to explain his task to him.


    "Sorry, I''m not the best at remembering names, but you were Luz, right?" asked Francis.


    "Yes, I''m Luz," Luz sighed in response.


    "Good, follow me. I''ll take you to the place where you''ll be working for the next couple of weeks," Francis announced. Luz followed him, and after 10 minutes, they arrived at a field near the edge of the forest.


    "In summary, you''re supposed to work in the fields and protect the workers. The things that we harvest here attract a lot of monsters, so you must make sure that they don''t attack the crops. Don''t worry, they''re mostly small creatures like rabbits. If we''re unlucky, we''ll also have to deal with a pack of wolves," Francis told him.


    "Sure, but to be honest, I have little experience with hunting, and the only weapon I have is a blunt dagger," Luz replied, embarrassed.


    "We didn''t expect you to have a weapon either. Well, it''s time you start learning how to use a crossbow," Francis replied with a smile as he opened a box and took out a crossbow with some arrows.


    "Fortunately for you, you and I are on the same shifts for this week. Starting with next week, you''ll be solely responsible for the field for a couple of weeks. If you do this job well, there''s a chance you''ll be assigned somewhere else," Francis told him.


    After about 10 minutes of explaining, Luz had the hang of roughly how to use the crossbow, even if his aim was not the best, he was shooting arrows regularly under Francis''s care.


    "Make your crossbow master Francis proud and hunt a rabbit for him when we spot one running across the field," Francis ordered him, nearly chuckling.


    "The most I can manage is to chase away all the women," Luz replied with a smile.


    Francis and Luz saw a couple of adults, as well as their children, that were younger than Luz''s youngest brother, working in the field. He, himself, was walking along the edge of the forest with a crossbow leaning on his shoulder, and less than 30 minutes later, he saw the first hare, which had white fur and red eyes.


    This one was within 20 meters away from him, and Luz slowly aimed at it with his loaded crossbow and fired. Only a rustling sound was heard before the arrow pierced the rabbit''s back, causing it to shriek but unable to run away as it was pinned to the ground. He slowly walked towards it while his body was telling him to devour it.


    "Congratulations on your first trophy. You''d better take it to the canteen later and let the cooks prepare it. They''ll do it for free as long as they get to keep the fur," Francis told him as he gazed at the rabbit, which was the size of an adult skull.


    "Bites and scratches from this rabbit can cause wounds to fester due to the germs it carries. Don''t be fooled by its innocent cute appearance," Francis told him.


    A shiver ran down Luz''s spine before replying: "Thanks, Francis. I won''t be fooled by its appearance."

 9. Conversations

    Only towards late evening were Francis and Luz replaced by two fellow workers. Luz had hunted three hares today and gave one of them to Francis. The two-headed to the canteen and the cooks prepared it for them. Since nothing happened during work, the two talked with each other the whole day. Francis was a magician with a talent in fire magic, which is also neat.


    "Francis, if you''re not a slave anymore, why are you still here?" Luz questioned.


    "Brian is my patron, and to be honest, I have no one left but my friends here," Francis replied with a tinge of embarrassment.


    He took a sip of his glass before continuing with: "Currently, I am apprenticing under one of the master mages here instead of attending a magic school. However, I enjoy networking and mentoring the younglings, which is why I regularly help."


    "How long did it take for you to actually buy your freedom?" Luz asked.


    "Not even three months, however, I chose the hard way. You can think of it this way, the first few jobs are just so you newbies can get used to the place here. Brian gives every newcomer the task to play the shepherd, and only later will you be allowed to go your own way," Francis told Luz before the two sit down on a bench.


    "I see," commented Luz as he took the glass from Francis to also take a sip.


    Francis, on the other hand, just continued with his narration.


    "Some of the mages focus on a warrior career because they believe that only through conflicts, where they find themselves between life and death, can they reach new levels of evolution."


    "I''ve never heard anything about such paths. What are the other paths that one could choose from?" Luz asked.


    "That''s quite normal. There is also another path one could take. Some of us believe that only through research can we reach the pinnacle of the world, which is why they opt-out for the scientific path," continued Francis before chuckling.


    "What''s so funny about that path? I mean, it sounds kind of boring?" asked Luz while taking another sip.


    "The funny thing is that even amongst those scientists, most of them disagree with each other. Some of them believe that the human body is weak, so they focus on the field of transhumanism. One by one, they replace parts of their bodies with new genetic material or machines until they are no longer human," Francis spoke.


    "Ok, that sounds creepy. So for which path have you chosen?" asked Luz as he analyzed Francis''s body for any potential parts.


    "I haven''t chosen yet. Since it''s still too early for me. There will be no going back after choosing any of the paths," Francis stated with a serious expression.


    "I see. Sorry that I''m just asking questions without contributing anything int our conversation," commented Luz.


    "Nah, that''s fine. I also was once like you when I first came here," replied Francis while laughing heartily.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Francis asked: "You''re actually looking for your siblings, aren''t you?"


    "Yes, I do. I''m planning to remain here until I get my freedom back and till I''ve collected enough funds for the journey," sighed Luz.


    "My tip is to take Brian as your patron after you get your freedom back.


    That way, you should have the highest chance of finding them. Brian possesses the capital you need, and he''s willing to spend it on his loyal subjects. I also want to tell you that he got a great network, and no one can escape his eyes," Francis told him with a wink.


    "But why is Brian doing all of this for us?" Luz asked.


    "Loyalty is hard to buy, but the easiest way to get it is by saving someone," Francis answered.


    Luz and Francis talked late into the night about all sorts of topics, and in the end, Francis even offered Luz to give him tips in mage training.


    In Luz''s body, the parasites in his mana core continued to evolve.


    They gained more and more individuality, and it didn''t take long till they expressed weak urges among themselves in the mana core outside of food and hunger.


    Over time these 5 princes became aware that they were in a host, and contact should be made with him after reaching the mental capacity.


    Their initial goal is to enter into a contract with the Host for a symbiotic relationship until they achieve the mental capacities to completely take over Luz.


    When it comes to the question: how long this may take, however, the narrator has no answer to it, yet. After Luz entered his room, he saw the children there, reading his books.


    They immediately put his books all back after realizing that he was back.


    "You guys can continue reading. I generally can only concentrate on one book at a time anyway," Luz said with a smile as he picked up one of the books himself, which was about space magic.


    Under candlelight, Luz read the book. He already knew most of the stuff, but rereading the same theories from other authors may be useful in improving his understanding of the matter.


    "Interesting. Supposedly you can think of space as a three-dimensional coordinate system. Other stuff like the gravitational constant was also mentioned. Apparently, the world is huge and has gravitational forces acting on everyone. Strange, but what the heck are all these formulas and connections? They are way too complicated for me. I''ll continue reading it tomorrow."


    If one defines the world in a coordinate system to which one is oriented, choosing a zero point is important. There is a problem with a Cartesian coordinate system. Working with curved surfaces can be quite a challenge. One of the reasons for that is, you''re not working on a 2d ground anymore.


    If one were to teleport themselves 5 km forward while being with the feet on the ground, one''s feet wouldn''t be on the earth. Depending on the curvature, one maybe even up by 5 meters and more.


    But it gets worse. We now assume that the earth rotates around the sun and around itself.


    We now want to teleport five kilometers forward and assume a timing of three seconds.I can''t answer the question: "whether one will be on earth after this experiment."


    But because of the rotation of the world around its own axis and the rotation around the sun, you will land anywhere but on your planned position.


    But enough mental gymnastics for the brain, dear narrator. It is a fantasy book and not higher mathematics or physics lecture.


    Luz finally understood why the teleportation spell he tried failed so dramatically. He neither had any real wish where they should land. At the moment of the happening, he and his brother only wanted to get as far as possible from the dragon, who only wanted to devour the last human villager.


    Unfortunately for Luz, there were no other mage spells for his talent at the low levels. Forcing him to focus on other magic categories to increase his spell arsenal.


    The difference between talent and no talent in a discipline is mainly in the speed of understanding spells of that category and the strength of the output and mana consumption for spells of those magic categories. However, the differences do not exceed 20%.


    "Oh, you know what. I''m going to sleep and focus on another magic category for the next few days," Luz said before falling asleep.

 10. Second day of working

    The next morning Luz got up early to continue reading another book. This time he reached for a different book. "Introduction to Fire Magic for Beginners." ''Well, fire magic can always be useful,'' went through Luz''s head as he opened the book.


    The book contained only two magic spells intended for mage apprentices. [Ignite] only makes something ignite. The other more complicated fire spell was [burn]. This is one of the most popular and most substantial spells among fire mages since it is the basis for many higher-ranked fire spells.


    The reason for its popularity is that you can influence it at will.


    One of the factors is the intensity of the flames or the size of it, or the type and shape of the flames make it very popular.


    After reading it for a short while, he put it aside to take a different book called "the introduction to water magic."


    That book also merely contained two water spells.


    The water variant of [Ignite] would be [get wet] useful but nothing spectacular. There was still the spell called [water]. One could manipulate its shape with the least effort under any mage discipline. On the other hand, changing the intensity wasn''t possible for mage apprentices.


    Killing someone with a water spell can still be done without much effort since one could manifest a water bubble on someone''s head. Such a spell does wonders in the early mage apprentice levels since all mage apprentices rely on reciting spells. Stopping one from reciting spells is the fastest way of winning against a mage.


    The two books'' focussed on manipulating their respective elements and how to fine-tune them into your needs. A higher-ranking magician can do that by only thinking about the spell they want to cast. But knowing how to fine-tune spells isn''t worth knowing if you are still in the phase of learning spells.


    Luz practiced in his room the two spells: [Ignite] and [Burn].


    One of the most essential things a mage must do before casting a spell is to embrace the part on the body with a mana shell.


    The reason for that is simple, spells won''t differentiate between the caster and the enemy. It will hurt everyone.


    With a spell such as [Ignite], one wouldn''t get any big burn marks even if one forgets to wrap the body part with a mana membrane. On the other hand, however, if you were to cast the spell [spatial distortion], you''re going to hurt yourself pretty badly.


    After half an hour of failing in casting the spells, Luz finally got the hang of both of them. Unfortunately, doing all that build-up drained him of any mana he had, which is why he decided to continue with physical training.


    His workout consisted mainly of squats, pushups, situps, and last but not least, 30 minutes of jogging. His endurance and physique still left a lot to be desired, but Luz would take care of that in the future.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ''That should be enough,'' went thought Luz head while changing his clothing.


    After doing that, he left for the canteen to continue his needs. The parasites, as always, told him what he should eat, and as always, it seemed to be the snacks with the most calories and vitamins.


    ''I have never seen such dishes,'' Luzu thought on his way back, looking for people he may know.


    The only person he saw was Francis. He was winking from his place.


    "Are you ready for today''s work," Francis asked him eagerly.


    "Not really, but it should help me with killing time," Luz replied with a smile.


    Both of them talked about interesting topics, and before Luz knew, he agreed to go shopping with Francis on the weekend.


    "By the way, you still haven''t received any salary if I remember correctly. But be patient. It will be paid on the last day of the month, so don''t worry."


    After finishing their meal, the two of them walked to the fields, where it was so quiet that even Luz helped the workers out because there was nothing much to do.


    "Isn''t it unusually silent?" asked Luz Francis while harvesting the crop.


    Francis nodded slowly and whispered, "Better take your crossbow out. I''m afraid something big might happen."


    Luz nodded. It took less than 10 minutes before Francis was proven right. The ground began to tremble, and even though it wasn''t particularly noticeable, it was enough for Francis to send all the workers away from the field. Francis also retrieved a device from his pocket to request reinforcements.


    "What''s going on?" asked Luz while loading his crossbow.


    "It''s probably a beast wave. But something like that shouldn''t happen in this place," Francis stated with a serious face.


    "Anyway, put the crossbow away. We will use a different one," Francis told Luz as he opened the box to take out a different one.


    "What''s the difference? They look identical," Luz wondered as he held the crossbow in his hand.


    "See that crystal down there?" asked Francis.


    "Yes, and what''s the deal with it?" asked Luz.


    "Focus your mana on it, and you can summon mana arrows. The more mana you fill into your crossbow, the mightier the arrow will become," Francis explained to him as he aimed his crossbow at the forest.


    Luz followed his action and whispered something to Francis, "How long until the reinforcements will be here?"


    "Probably five minutes since they have to pack their things. The city guard should be coming too," Francis replied.


    Luz nodded, and the vibration of the ground grew stronger.


    Before even the first animals could be seen, a roar echoed. Francis, however, was slowly putting his crossbow to the side and decided to cast a spell that was unknown to Luz. [Fire wave] could be heard while a slow but steady wave out of fire appeared in front of the place where the woods end.


    One could hear the painful shrieks of animals and Luz''s hands trembled out of nervosity as he aimed with his crossbow.


    Francis, on the other hand, cast calmly [Tornado]. Sweat started to run down on his head.


    "This probably should buy as some time," Francis told Luz while a blazing tornado appeared after the tornado got in contact with the wave of fire.


    To their misfortune, the fire tornado wasn''t strong enough, and many animals escaped. But at least it dealt some good fire damage to them before they were able to leave it.


    The smell of burnt flesh also filled the air as enraged animals began running enraged and disoriented at them.


    Luz and Francis started shooting at the animals that were unlucky to leave the blazing tornado first.


    "Why the hell do herd animals emerge from the tornado," Francis screamed while shooting at the cow-like creature.


    These creatures were more aggressive and had some crystals embedded into their chest and forehead. Francis''s shots killed every animal leaving the tornado. Luz, however, was still an untrained crossbow user whose aim wasn''t good.  Aiming at the foreheads of such creatures was, therefore, pointless. He rather shot at their chest.


    ''Why are we so unlucky,'' Luz sighed while continuing shooting animals.


    Reloading their crossbow after every shot didn''t make their task any easier.

 11 The herd

    Over time the tornado grew weaker while the animals were slowly overwhelming the two young mages, who tried to protect the place from being overrun. The ground continued to tremble more and more. The pile of dead animals getting thrown out by the tornado slowed the other herd animals down.


    Luz and Francis slowly backed down while continuing to shoot them. With every shot, an animal fell, and their agonizing screams haunted the two.


    ''If only I weren''t a mage apprentice, I could have been useful,'' were the regrets that went through Luz''s head while he started to back down.


    "Francis, where should we escape," Luz stammered as he continued shooting.


    Slowly he felt the cold sweat rolling down his back. To him and Francis, it was pretty evident that sooner or later, the two would be overrun.


    "Fuck it. We only had one goal, and that was to buy as much time as possible for the workers," told Luz before resuming with: "Now we''re trying to stall the animals as long as we can before reinforcement arrives. But you know what? Fuck it, we''re leaving now. I''ve got no desire to put my life at risk."


    While telling Luz the change of their plan, he grabbed him from the back.


    "Hey, what are you doing," Luz replied as he continued firing mana arrows.


    "Stay still," Francis commanded him before casting a spell [rise].


    Francis gradually ascended from the ground while holding Luz.


    30 seconds later, the two were around 10 meters above the ground navigating back to the housing complex.


    "Only a few kilometers till we are in safety," muttered Luz as he continued shooting down.


    Unfortunately, hitting a running animal can be pretty hard, especially if one isn''t on steady ground.


    "Luz, my mana reserves will soon be emptied. Be prepared to carry me on ur back," Francis told the disappointing news to Luz.


    "Better than nothing, I guess," Luz replied grimly, preparing himself for the task and putting away his crossbow.


    After flying like 2 Minutes, Francis slowly descended. Even though both of them were fleeing via flying, the distance between them and the animals continued to decrease.


    "Why are we so unlucky?" cursed Luiz while carrying Francis via piggyback.


    Luz ran for his dear life, and he didn''t even dare to look back out of fear.


    ''I can''t die yet. I can''t die yet,'' were the only thoughts that shot through his head while running. The ground, on the other hand, continued to tremble more and more.


    "You better start running faster, or else I''m going to beat ur ass if you continue walking," Francis screamed while hugging Luz for his dear life.


    "Be quiet before I''m gonna throw you down ¡­" cursed Luz as he ignored the ground on which he was running.


    As one might expect, he fell to the ground out of misfortune.


    Francis crawled above Luz and remarked: "I wish we started our escape earlier."


    Both of them gave up on their hope of escaping from the herd.


    "Me too. My friend me too," replied Luz while slowly continuing to shoot as he expected his death by getting trampled.


    On the other hand, Francis has already given up and slowly counted the distance between them and the animal horde down: "twenty¡­fifteen¡­ten¡­five."If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ''I''m sorry, my dear brothers¡­ I still hope all of you can still meet each other even without me.''


    Luz closed his eyes, but the pain of getting trampled never came. However, a loud spell could be heard ushered.


    A barrier appeared in front of the two. The animals running against it were crushed by their counterparts from behind. But that wasn''t the only thing that got summoned. Unlike Francis''s tornado spell, the tornado appearing in front of the two was about 3 times the size while having a ten times stronger suction force.


    Naturally, all animals were diverting from their previous path into it.


    After Luz opened his eyes, he saw a man standing in the air who wore a white lab coat. On his shoulder sat a beautiful parrot chanting fire spells into the tornado.


    The fire tornado was unlike Francis one, the real deal. It glowed crimson red, and the agonizing cries of animals were something else.


    "Thank god, you came, Master Simon," shouted Francis in tears.


    The man high up in the sky slowly but steadily descended with an open book in his hand while pushing his glasses up on his nose.


    "After realizing that my research could be interrupted by the death of my guinea pig, I felt the urge to stop the experiment I was doing to save the two padawans. I just can''t let my research subject die, without getting any note-worthy research data from him," Simon stated bluntly.


    ''Damn you. You could have interrupted your research much earlier instead of forcing us into a fight for survival.'' Luz cursed in his head while grabbing his crossbow as hard as possible.


    Francis nodded as he laid his back on the ground breathing in relief. Luz followed Francis and Master Simon left the two boys in order to take care of the rest of the herd.


    It didn''t take long before one could see three tornados bringing carnage to the animals. Also, other mages arrived as reinforcement.


    Most of them, unlike Master Simon, wore uniforms with one to three emblems on their chest. They looked a lot more professional and suited the image of an army or a combat mage. Most of the animals got captured and stored alive by some of these magicians.


    The rest of the mages were busy looking at the root cause of this issue since such herds of low-ranking magic herd animals shouldn''t be expected in such a place. Either they were fleeing out of fear because a new magic monster began hunting them, or something must have attracted them here.


    All of them hoped the latter was the case. The fields were scanned, and some of the mages unleashed their canine-like magic animals to help them with finding the cause.


    "Are both of you ok," a female mage the same age as the two asked them.


    "We should be ok. But my comrade already depleted all his mana reserves," Luz told her with a tired voice.


    "Let me fill your mana reserves," she replied with a nod as she transferred some of her mana into Francis, whose body accepted it.


    Through Luz''s body went a strong impulse and his body told him greedily that it also desires a piece of the cake.


    "My mana reserves also should be almost nearly depleted," Luz stated with a sigh.


    "You don''t look like that, but ok," she replied before some of the mana got transferred to him.


    His body greedily accepted it. Instead of her mana flowing through his mana circulation system and getting diluted with his own mana, it got however devoured by the parasites in his mana core.


    "I must thank you two for having sent the civilian away. You two will be compensated for your hard work," she told them before leaving the two.


    After catching enough breath, the two got up from the ground to leave into their dorm. All the adrenalin and running made the two tired.


    Alfred, who visited the two by now, said: "Thank god nothing has happened to the two of you. It would have been a shame."


    The two nodded before departing. Luz slept peacefully for a few hours before he was woken up by one of his roommates.


    "What''s going on," Luz replied with a yawn.


    "Brian is expecting you," one of them replied.


    "Shit, I better hurry up," Luz replied, fully awake.


    Five Minutes later, Alfred escorted Luz to Brian''s office, where Francis was already sitting. Brian looked at him with a serious expression and folded hands.


    ''I''m fucked,'' went through his head as he took the seat next to Francis.


    "So explain the situation, Francis," Brian told them.


    Francis told the story of the events, and their master only nodded and sipped on his tea.


    "So you two morons thought it was a good idea to defend the position? Just to buy time for the lazy guards, who would have jumped anyway in the situation to help you if things had gone south," Brian sighed.


    With a short "yes," Francis responded.


    Brian remained silent while the atmosphere in the room got more and more intense.


    "You did some stupid things, but at least you two got the civilian to leave the field before they reached the place. Even if your actions were moronic, the reason for it was still noble. I''m not really disappointed in your actions and proud for trying to buy time," he commented before sighing.


    Luz and Francis glanced at each other for a brief moment before Brian continued with: "But please, both of you should stop doing such stupid things. You shouldn''t risk your life, and you two better thank Simon for saving you two."


    The two nodded in approval, and it didn''t take much longer for Brian to send them out.

 12. Two brothers.

    In some other place, a group of slaves dressed in tattered clothes with shackles on their hands and feet were walking. The iron chains were connected to the respective other slaves so that no one could escape on their own.


    One could see that all of them starved to their bones. If Luz were here, he would have immediately recognized his two siblings. You could see their burning hatred in their eyes as they continued to march the path while dragging rotting slaves with them.


    The slavers didn''t care that some of them died and weren''t so keen on taking unnecessary breaks to remove the dead from them. Some of them saw it more as an amusement to see how the group struggled in their pace.


    It''s kind of ironic since we all would think that they want to sell as many people as they can. But unfortunately, for the slaves, some enjoy seeing how desperate some drag their dead comrades while walking to their sealed destiny.


    "One day, I''m going to hunt them all down¡­ Gab, we aren''t allowed to lose any hope till we reunite with our brothers," Raph whispered to him.


    Gab nodded. His eyes were red in madness. Every cell of his body was filled with hatred. His only reason to continue moving on except for his brothers was hatred towards his enslavers. Every day he was busy daydreaming on their march how he would strangle the slave traders to death.


    ''My biggest regret is not being a mage yet. Luz used a spell above his weight class to give us a chance to live another day. It''s kind of pathetic that we ended up as slaves. I''m not even sure if he would die because of the injuries of using such a spell¡­ It only makes our current state more pathetic¡­'' went through Gab''s head as he continued marching onwards on the hot sand.


    His throat was burning, and everything hurt, but he continued moving on.


    His anger slowly turned to sadness and despair.


    "Dying with all the other villagers, fighting desperately against a dragon, would have been a more honorable death than my current situation," muttered Gab.


    "Don''t say that, brother. We''ll escape this hell one day. I only got you¡­ please don''t lose any hope yet.¡­ I can''t lose another brother," Raph pleaded as he slowly held Gab''s hand.


    "What the hell are you two morons doing?" shouted a voice as the sound of the thunderous whip plash could be heard.


    "Brother¡­" muttered Raph as he watched how his older brother Gab took the blow head-on to protect his younger brother.


    Blood dripped down Gab''s back as he continued striding forward, gritting his teeth not to let his pain heard.


    "It''s ok, Raph," he replied before the two silently marched on.


    While marching, the number of dead corpses they had to drag because of the chains that bound them together increased.


    If they were lucky, some of the slaves just collapsed out of tiredness and would carry the burden with them later on.


    The slave traders ordered a stop after the sun went down. Their horses needed a break so that they could recuperate. Some unfortunate slaves got grabbed by one of the slave traders to relieve their stress.


    It was a grotesque sight to see what was happening, and the two brothers wanted nothing more than to continue their walk.


    Raph was afraid of ending up as the next victim. The ration, which they got was a loaf of bread. The piece of bread looked as if it wasn''t even edible and had no taste.


    Both of them continued resting till one of the slave traders approached them. As grab pretended to sleep, he planned on how he could protect his brother from such a sicko.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "A young and tender male whose afraid is the kind of people with whom I enjoy it the most," the man whispered to himself as he grabbed Raph''s arm.


    Raph screamed, but the man slapped him before falling over him and trying to tear his tettered clothes apart.


    He even succeeded to a certain degree.


    "You sick psycho," went through Gab''s head as he stood up.


    He used the moment of surprise to wrap the chains around the throat.


    Throwing himself to the ground with the man while tightening the chains around his throat.


    The slave trader felt for the first time in his life fear from his own subjects.


    He wanted nothing more than to scream for help, but the chains were so tightened around his neck that he had problems with breathing.


    Desperately he grabbed the chain while gasping for air, straining at the chains, but it did not change his situation. The other slave drivers were not there and did not notice what was happening.


    Slowly a boy stood up with eyes filled with hatred as he slowly chanted a fire spell enveloping his hand with a flickering fire.


    The slave traders realized by then what was happening there. But they chose to watch the theater with amusement.


    "Show it to him," cheered one of them as they watched with laughter on what was happening.


    The fear in the man''s eye became visible as his breath grew more ratted. He tried to get away while Raph slowly moved to him. Unfortunately for him, Gab made sure that he couldn''t even move an inch.


    Smilingly, Raph pressed his burning fingers against the eyes of the fat merchant, whose bone thrilling scream echoed through the camp.


    The finger of Raph slowly buried deeper and deeper into his eyes before he took his hand out. His screams continued as the burned smell of flesh filled the air. The stomach of the siblings growled at the smell of grilled meat, but they suppressed their cravings for it.


    After that, Raph began punching the fat merchant, as his laughs of madness and glee echoed a few minutes till the man slowly died of strangulation.


    Even after the merchant''s death, Raph continued punching him, and a small crowd surrounded them slowly.


    "He''s already dead," one of them said before kicking Raph away.


    The two brothers got beaten, but it didn''t take long till they focussed only on Gab. Raph tried to protect Gabs head by laying with his stomach on him.


    "Enough," said an old slave trader before sending them all away.


    The two brothers lay on the ground, beaten up while bleeding from their noses.


    A smile appeared on Raph''s face while he stuttered: "Thank you."


    Gab smiled painfully back before whispering: "We''re going to make it, and soon we will be reunited with our siblings."


    "Hopefully. I hope all of our beloved siblings are in a better situation than us," replied Raph before falling asleep.


    Gab slowly moved his almost broken body next to Raph to hug his brother while falling asleep, protecting him even in his sleep.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    Luz was reading a book as always while being bored. This time it was called "Introduction to wind magic for mage apprentice." It didn''t take long for Luz''s brain to ache. Wind magic seemed to share a lot of similarities with water magic for whatever reason.


    The way to control air or gases sounded quite similar to the way one might manipulate water.


    ''I think they called this discipline "Fluid mechanics," or so. If you ask me, that subject sounds and is horrible. It relies too much upon physic, which I don''t yet fully understand. I should have studied something more occult-like that would probably be easier,'' thought Luz before putting away his book.


    "Anyway, I should meet with that guy with whom I worked last time. Hmm, what was his name again?" questioned Luz himself.


    [Author also seems to have forgotten his name. Going to look it up later]


    ***********************************************************************************************


    On the next day, Gab woke up with an aching body. It didn''t take long till he realized that Raph, his younger brother, was no longer next to him.


    "Where is he," asked Raph while fearing for the worst.


    "Normally, I wouldn''t reply, but he''s with the chief and will be carried on a horse. He''s too valuable to leave any chance of him dying because of exhaustion," replied the standing slave trader as he watched his animal drinking water.


    Gab only nodded and prayed for the best. The pile of dead slaves got removed, making it easier for him.


    Soon they carried on their journey, and it didn''t take long till another slave collapsed, dying of exhaustion and malnutrition. Their march continued for days, and in the end, Gab was the only survivor of his little small slave group, which consisted of 50 slaves before the beginning of the march.


    The slaves got grouped into groups of 50 people before getting bound to each other via chains. On the last day, Gab was walking exhausted, carrying five dead slaves with him, with every step he took. The only thing that kept him alive was the desire to reconnect to his brothers one day. Seeing Raph being quiet well compared to him bought a smile on his face, even though it was only a matter of time till he collapsed.


    Gab got regularly whipped while marching because he''s too slow. His back was bleeding almost daily, and his clothes got too torn up, revealing his scarred back from all the whipping he received.


    "One day, I''ll hunt you all down. I''m going to rip all of you into pieces. I''ll let you suffer the same way I suffered," shouted Gab back while someone was whipping him.

 13. Az and his group

    In some other parts of the kingdom, one could see a group of skeletons walking in armor.


    "We''re there, my child," replied one of them, wearing armor decorated with colorful mana stones while also carrying a shield and a black spear.


    A small boy called Az nodded at his remark while his face was veiled under a coat.


    "Milord, what are our plans now," questioned another skeleton after bowing.


    During his adventure in the forest, Az awoke a few skeletons, but only three of them regained their consciousness.


    The strongest of his summons was called Ogron. He wasn''t loyal to Az and felt only pity for a young child wandering around the forest. That''s why Ogron promised Az: "I''ll protect you till your reunification with your siblings."


    One of the two other skeletons was a female one, called Simaev, which only submitted to Az after Ogron beat her. She never felt any desire to babysit a young child with an old monster.


    On the other hand, Otaz was the last one of the three that got awakened.


    But unlike the rest, he immediately swore his loyalty to Az after his rest was disturbed.


    Even though Otaz wasn''t the oldest agewise, he was still the one coming from the most ancient times of the group. In his former life, magic only consisted of occult magic and runes.


    For whatever reason, the awakening of the dead was seen with great importance, which is why Otaz accepted the young child as his master without any hesitation.


    "All of your should hide your appearance. We don''t want any citizen to find out that a group of sentient skeletons is visiting a small insignificant border town with me," replied Az.


    Ogron nodded in approval. Thus they entered the border town with the sole goal of stocking up supplies, changing equipment, and selling hides and other valuable materials which they found.


    It was quite a dead town. There was nothing much to see, except for a few people walking in ragged and dirty clothes through the street. The group consisting of four walked to the next best shop that bought hides from adventurers.


    Walking inside the shop, one could see a bored shopkeeper that ignored the group. The store was dusty, and rats were seen from time to time. Only after placing a few hides onto the counter did the shopkeeper bat an eye.


    The old merchant merely glazed at the four before putting on his glasses to inspect the hides. Nodding, he showed them his interest in buying these beast hides.


    After a few minutes, he looked up before asking with a smile: "How much do you want for it?"


    "500 silver coins and no negotiations," Az stated, but the merchant shook his head before replying: "300."


    Az shook his head before stating: "The farthest I will go is 400," and the merchant sighed before giving Az a pouch of coins.


    But instead of Az, Simaev took the pouch. Slowly, she began counting the coins in the sack as sweat trickled down the merchants'' forehead.


    "That aren''t 400 coins," were the only words she coldly uttered while slowly taking out her weapon.


    All of the other skeletons followed suit. Ogron''s spear pressed slowly against his throat, and he pleaded: "Please spare me. I will give you double of the promised money."This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Nodding, Az held out his hand, and the merchant gave him three pouches.


    Only after making sure he hadn''t been scammed again did the group decide to head out in search of the other items they needed.


    Sighing, Az muttered: "Everyone treats me like a child."


    "But you are a child. A sweat one indeed," replied Simaev while grabbing his hand with her gauntlet.


    "Show some manner and call him Lord," retorted Otaz.


    But before the two could argue about how they should treat their master, Ogron ended their argument with a sigh.


    He stated: "Both of you died as brave adults only to act like children after being awoken from your endless sleep."


    Ashamed, the two nodded in agreement.


    After finishing their little shopping trip, the group headed to the guild''s tavern.


    Upon entry to the guild tavern, vulgar comments were heard from the benches as waiters or waitresses regularly supplied them with alcoholic beverages.


    "Lord, this doesn''t seem to be a place where we should stay more than a few minutes," Otaz commented.


    Ogron nodded in agreement to his comment before walking with Az towards the counter.


    "Guys, I''m going to show the newcomer that only adults are tolerated here," a drunken adult said with a laugh as a group of men cheered him on.


    Az just shook his head, knowing what was heading towards them. But before the drunk man could touch Az, Ogron''s fist punched against his face, and he toppled over.


    All of Az''s followers pointed their weapons at the man lying on the ground, who only whimpered.


    Slowly, Az knelt and picked a pouch attached to his waist. With a smile, he looked at the silver coins into the pocket as the man pleaded: "Please, I still have to feed my children," as he grabbed Az''s leg.


    Feeling disgusted, Az replied coldly: "Then you shouldn''t have tried to do something stupid. Be grateful that I''m letting you live."


    Ogron, on the other hand, only stated: "If you continue holding his leg, you''ll lose that hand."


    Fearfully, he let Az''s leg go, and the group walked toward the counter, where Az stated coldly: "I would like to apply for a hunting license."


    The girl on the counter nodded, fearing to face the wrath of the two. She asked Az basic stuff while Ogron and Az elaborated, and after like 10 minutes, the necessary paperwork was filled.


    With a forced smile, she stated: "It''ll still take a day, but the fees for the membership can be paid immediately."


    Nodding, Az paid the fees before walking to the pin wall, where all the missions were listed.


    Ogron picked a few easy hunting missions for Az up, who only twitched at the sight of them before complaining: "the rewards for these missions are low. Shouldn''t we be doing missions with better rewards?"


    "Az, the missions I''ve chosen for you are for your further development and not to make money. You are aware that you are inexperienced in most areas. Till now, your henchmen were doing all the dirty work for you." Ogron answered with a smile while patting Az on the head.


    Az looked away out of embarrassment before registering the missions at the counter.


    On the way to the exit, two men in shining armor blocked their way.


    Az only raised his eyebrow at the sight of the two, and one of them stated: "How about you join us. Such strong warriors should not be wasted on a child. Our boss pays well."


    Ogron shook his head in amusement before stating: "We have no interest in joining anyone. We can''t be bought, and anyone who wants to harm the young one will lose his head."


    The two men swallowed and stepped aside, and one of them uttered: "I hope you''ll reconsider."


    "You know my answer, so step aside," Ogron told them impatiently.


    Thus the group left, and it didn''t take long till a new debate started. This time it''s about which weapon the young master should learn.


    "Master should learn how to use a scythe. In my culture, the whisperers of the dead have always used scythes," Otaz told Az.


    "A scythe is a stupid and impractical weapon. Az is better of using a bow. Just look at how young our Lord is. Az should not focus on close combat," Simaev retorted.


    "He should use a spear because it is the best melee weapon," Ogron replied proudly, swinging his spear.


    "How about I decide it," sighed Az.


    "No," replied the rest of the group in unison.


    In the end, all three weapons were purchased since no agreement was made.


    "I am a mage. Shouldn''t I focus on using a mage staff or so?" asked Az.


    "These are weak mages. Of all mages, they are the first to be killed because they''re lacking in self-defense," stated Otaz.


    "Someone who doesn''t even have any combat nor weapon experience shouldn''t use magic. Using magic spells makes it too easy. One shouldn''t become over-reliant on magic," lectured the group.


    "Fine by me. But I wanted to become a magician and not some crude hunter," told Az as he tried to convince them with an innocent look.


    "Such spells don''t work on me." Ogron stated while slapping Az''s head gently before continuing: "Becoming a hunter is much nobler compared to becoming a stupid magician who hides before any close combat."

 14. Getting sold

    In another place in the kingdom, slaves were publicly sold. The joyful mood of the place concealed the misery the slaves were subjected to. Everything seemed clean while one would puke, seeing what was happening behind the scenes.


    One could hear the laughter of people among the rows, and mainly members of different social ranks were here.


    The slave market was not merely a place to buy slaves but also to socialize with people from different social classes. Before the auction even began, people could take a closer look at the slaves.


    Gab stood there in a white linen shirt and short pants while his hands were chained behind his back. His face was filled with wrath as he got regularly touched by merchants.


    He bit the gag tightly and tried to threaten: "Stop touching me."


    But unfortunately, no word left his mouth.


    One of them even went so far as to grab him between the legs. Filled with rage, he tried to give that bastard a head butt but was immediately hindered by the slave traders from doing that.


    As he was filled with shame and rage, the rest laughed at his actions, and some found it kind of cute.


    "He seems to be still full of life," someone shouted with a laugh.


    Gab only rattled the chains binding him as his response.


    ''I wish I could fight back somehow,'' ran through Gab''s mind.''I hope Raph doesn''t get sexually harassed as I get.''


    Before the auction began, he was linked to a machine, measuring the magic talent one has. But it seems likely that it was not worth talking about since the two people did not comment regarding his talent.


    The slaves slowly got taken to the auction stage while different individuals or institutions talked about the slaves.


    On the stage was a moderator who tried to keep people in the mood. But most slaves seemed to be of low quality, which is why the first batch of slaves was sold in groups to the magical medicine institute.


    Generally, it''s said that one should rather die from their experiments than survive them. Those who survive will be dependent on certain drugs for the rest of their lives, and their lives will be filled with all sorts of problems.


    Don''t even get me started on the other consequences of their experiments, such as rejecting foreign material implants or being used as guinea pigs for magicians.


    The magical medicine institute usually bet against the biotechnology institute for the slaves. The Biotechnology Institute had an even worse reputation than the first one because they focus on foreign implants and the like.


    In the end, one would end up as a being whose majority of his organs were replaced while only being kept alive in a tank under hard drugs.


    Also, they are known for the creations of transhumanist beings, whose brains degenerated to a point where they can only respond to a few signals if they are lucky.


    Slowly Gab was dragged to the tribune, and the moderator told the crowd how Gab had strangled a slave driver with his chains. Filled with disgust and hatred, he looked down on everyone.


    "This slave was the only one of his group who survived. He crossed the steppe alone while dragging corpses with him. That alone should tell you that he''s probably the best choice if you need someone who can weather the worst of the odds," the presented told them before continuing to exaggerate:This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "Just look at him. He still has the strength to show his disgust and disrespect to all of you."


    People scurried among themselves whether such a thing was worth buying.


    "I feel sorry for him. Maybe we should buy him," a teenage girl told her butler as she felt sorry for the slave on the stage.


    "But lady, we didn''t come here to look for such a slave," the butler whispered in her ear before bending down.


    "But I want him," the girl complained,  folding her arms.


    "If your father finds out, he will scold you," whispered the butler, hoping of a change in mind.


    "Please, we can hire him as a gardener or something," the girl begged.


    Sighing, the butler relented, "Well, your budget is a gold coin. I am not willing to pay more."


    "Thank you," the girl said with a smile.


    The price around Gab went up quickly. By now, it was at 200 silver coins before the masses of people heard "one gold coin," which was shouted in by a girl.


    The crowd went silent, and even Gab was surprised and glared at the girl, who flinched at his stare. But it didn''t take 10 seconds for it to continue. To Gab''s misfortune, he was bought by a man wrapped in a cloak for ten gold coins.


    "Don''t be sad. Someone who pays that much will surely treat slaves well, so don''t worry. We''ll buy something else with the money," the butler assured the girl, that wasn''t in a great mood.


    It didn''t take long for the man to disappear behind the stand with Gab. Before Gab could utter any comment, he was slapped into unconsciousness, and after that, the two disappeared into the night.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    During the night, Raph was sold in an underground place. A young self-awakened mage can always be sold for quite a lot of money.


    His price skyrocketed, and it didn''t take long for his price tag to shoot to 500 gold coins.


    His buyers were a group in cloaks, with golden runes drawn on their backs. The price could have gone even higher, but no one dared to raise the price.


    *****************************************************************************************


    Somewhere else, Luz was lying on the ground covered in sweat, breathing heavily in and out.


    "Get up," said a voice pressing a sword against Luz''s battered body.


    "Just give me one moment," Luz moaned while grasping the hand that Francis extended to him.


    The two of them trained together daily for a few hours. The reason for this was their narrow survival against a beast tide, which is why they used their reward of two weeks of paid vacation for focussing on training.


    Investigation under Brian revealed that the beast tide was caused by someone. Someone breaking into the tower of one of the master mages working under Brian only reassured him that the herd had been lured in to wreak havoc.


    Realizing their shortcomings, the two boys, Francis and Luz, tried to make up for that by focusing on the usage of melee weapons. The two seemed to be too dependent on magic, and their spells also wasted too much mana at once.


    Over the past few days, they regularly fought each other with wooden swords and shields. Luz, who had no prior experience, was now slowly getting the hang of using them. Their fights were just for practice.


    But after a short break, they wanted to try another kind of fighting style for which they had been preparing themselves for the last few days.


    This time, they wanted to practice fighting on the physical and magical planes simultaneously.


    The only condition was that no magic spells may be used directly upon the opponent and was only allowed to confuse their partner.


    The element best suited for this is fire. After changing the wood swords to iron swords, they set them ablaze with the spell [Burn].


    Of course, Franchi''s magic control was a hundred times better than Luz''s, whose sword looked more like a stick set on fire while swinging. Putting himself and his opponent in danger.


    "In the area of magic control, you still have a lot to learn," Francis remarked with a laugh.


    The fire looked like a burning second layer on his sword, whose flames remained unchanged when he wielded it.


    "The fight is unfair," Luz muttered as he sprinted at Francis, slashing down from above with his burning sword.


    "Life is simply unfair," Francis retorted as he blocked the blow with his shield.


    A loud clang resounded before Francis gave the next blow, which this time came from below. Luz jumped to the side as he muttered [get wet] and summoned a small amount of water from under his hand that held his shield.


    Luz swung the hand with dirty water at Franchis''s face as he jumped in his direction, and Luz rushed against Francis with the only goal of knocking Francis down with his shield. But before the fight could somehow end, the two heard a voice that made the ground shake.


    "Who allowed you guys to set this place ablaze," the two heard as they fell to their knees.

 15. Tower of misery and the Forgotten ones

    "Francis, it seems like Luz is influencing you with his stupid ideas," Brian sighed.


    "Master Brian. It was his idea to fight with magic here," Luz interjected.


    "Who says that? It was definitely your idea," Francis replied, but before the two could argue any further.


    Brian just said: "I gave both of you two weeks of paid vacation, and instead of enjoying the time you spend it with burning down someone''s yard. Look at the ground. All the grass is torched because of you two."


    After pausing for a second, he continued with: "Guys, I sympathize with you two. You are young mages who want action, but please go to the forest or somewhere else and burn it down there and not my yard."


    "Master Brian, why aren''t we being trained here?" asked Luz.


    "Because this place is not a mage academy. The purpose of this place is to give mages forced into slavery a chance at life. Unlike the two of you, most of them are children having a hard time.


    As you can imagine, they aren''t mentally ready. Rather than magic lessons, they need simple jobs that focus on getting used to the world. Only after maturing to a certain degree should they focus on magic," explained Master Brian while standing in the air.


    After casting a healing spell on the scorched earth, he continued, " Once they reach this point, they can either choose a master and apprentice with him. Or be sent to a mage academy. Some of these have their adventures and return at a later time," Brian told Luz with a smile.


    Nodding, in agreement to Master Brian''s ideas, Luz asked: "But my situation is quite different. I had a normal life until recently. Neither had I any traumas since I never really ended up under slavery. What do we do with me now?"


    "Good question. I''m still thinking about sending you to a mage academy since you lack fundamentals. But it would have been better if you get accustomed to the city life before I let you do anything stupid," stated Master Brian.


    After falling deep into thoughts for half a minute, he continued: "Hmmm, I think Simon has too much free time. Tell him to take care of your situation."


    "Can''t you become my master?" Luz sighed.


    "No, never. I''m not playing babysitter to apprentice mages. I might think twice about it with intermediate mages, and besides, you''re just causing chaos. Seeing you every few days takes enough out of me," Brian replied without hesitation.


    Before the two knew it, Brian disappeared.


    "Well, I''m going to visit Master Simon," Luz said before saying goodbye to Francis.


    "Make sure he doesn''t get you involved in any more experiments," Francis said anxiously.


    "I will," Luz said as he went on his way.


    After a short time, Luz knocked on Simon''s door of his mage tower.


    "Come in," cawed a parrot that had neon green feathers and immediately landed on Luz''s shoulder.


    "Simon can''t wait to take more data from your mana core," Jodoc told him.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Well, Brian sent me here with the comment that Simon should take care of me," Luz said as he walked up the stairs.


    "No. Please no¡­ Brian didn''t mean that serious, right¡­right? As if the old man doesn''t know that I''m way too busy with my research to take care of any greenhorns," Luz heard Simon cursing loudly from his laboratory.


    "Master Simon, don''t you miss me," Luz called out with a sigh.


    "No¡­ Your existence reminds me of all the fees I had to pay. I should have bought some clean slaves for experimentations from some other institute. But I do miss studying your mana core, to be honest. Young man, come here right now. We need to do another routine check," Simon called out to him from the fifth floor.


    Luz took the stairs. It didn''t take long before Luz was pinned to a chair and had mana currents rushing through his body. This time the mana current was pleasant. Whether it was due to the symbiosis or due to a reduction of the mana current was a question Luz couldn''t answer.


    "Jodoc, we had changed the device, didn''t we? Why the hell do we have a mana loss of around 10% when we use the machine," Simon cursed while looking more closely at the readings with glasses.


    After starring at the reading data, he muttered to himself: "Luz, that thing in your mana core seems to have gotten bigger."


    Slowly he moved closer to him to show him two pictures of Luz''s mana core.


    "The change in size seems to be of a minor extent, but the future influence of those parasites in your mana core could be troublesome.


    Anyway, your mana core almost looks as if it completely healed," Simon stated, and Luz smiled at his words.


    "Furthermore, the mana in your chest area seems to be of a higher quality compared to the rest of your body," Simon continued to mutter to himself.


    On the other hand, Jodoc noted each of his words on paper.


    It took a few minutes for Master Simon to get himself together and turn his attention back to Luz.


    "Luz, do you have any symptoms that you have noticed lately," Simon asked with a serious face?


    "No, the only thing that has changed is my hunger. I seem to be hungrier than before, and my body subconsciously tells me what it wants to eat," Luz told him.


    "Interesting. Jodoc, please note on the paper: ''Communication between host and symbiont has taken place. Further investigation is urgently needed.''"


    ***********************************************************************************************


    In another place, a boy woke up in a dungeon. Gab''s head was aching, and he could only see his surroundings blurred. As he lied on the cold stone floor, the echo of water dripping down from stalactites was heard.


    It took Gab a few minutes to regain his senses. The place where he was resembled an underground tower, and from above, a dim light was shining down to him.


    The moonlight shone on him as he slowly stretched his hand towards the light, muttering: "Soon, I''ll get out of here."


    Less than 10 minutes later, Gab was standing in front of an old stone tablet that read "Tower of misery and the Forgotten ones."


    "Only people who were not mages upon entering have permission to climb the tower from this level. Only the one who climbs the tower has the right to my knowledge. So climb my dear ones."


    After reading the words, Gab could only shake his head.


    "Nah, that''s not for me. I prefer something where I won''t die so easy," Gab commented while searching for a potential exit that unfortunately didn''t exist.


    "Curse you all and curse you, Luz, for making me have nothing but misfortune because of you," was heard echoing through the underground cave.


    Depressed and filled with rage, Gab walked towards the entrance. The entrance to the tower was a stone door with a handprint on it. Blood flowed along the frame, and wailing screams were heard.


    "Curse you all who forced me to enter," Gab murmured to himself as he pressed his palm against the imprint.


    Instead of the door opening, the floor below him opened up, and a screaming Gab fell for 10 seconds before crashing into a pile of living and dead matter.


    "Urgh," Gab groaned as he tried to make his way up.


    It was a strange mixture of biological living matter and bones. Smelling so bad that Gab had no choice but to throw up. After doing that, he grabbed a pale bone as large as his lower arm but twice as thick before climbing down the pile till something grabbed his foot.


    Screeching, he hit it with the bone for several minutes, and only after he calmed down from his adrenaline kick did he realize what he had just killed.


    It was a child of young age, and his expression was one of fear.


    "No, No¡­ that can''t be," echoed through the floor, followed by Gab''s loud shrieks and wails.


    A small tear ran down his face as he noticed that his landing ground was a small hill made entirely out of dead creatures and dying people.


    By now, one thing was clear.


    ''I need to get out of here as fast as possible.''

 16. I just wanna leave this god-forgotten place

    Let''s take a closer look at Luz''s body for a moment. The decentralized swarm consciousness is slowly being invaded more and more by a group of parasites fighting for control of the hive.


    As mentioned in one of the previous chapters, the parasites in Luz''s mana core had developed far more because of the mana in which they lived. Living in mana stimulated their mental development to a far greater extent compared to their brethren outside the mana core.


    Previously, the five parasites could send strong signals that interfered with the communication of the decentralized hive or pushed their desires to the forefront, but now it has changed further.


    [From now on, the parasites in the core are called the kings.]


    By now, they could command in which direction the parasites should evolve.


    The following dilemma existed in every parasite hive. A parasite could focus on individualism, the magical plane, or the material plane.


    The Individual level is the level of intelligence. With intelligence comes power over the decentralized network. Only an individual can demand more resources than he needs to survive from his brethren. Those following such a path have more evolutionary options and evolved the fastest. Intelligence is also the area that influences magical and biological evolution.


    Those focussing on the magical plane usually increase their mana capacity. Other abilities that get boosted are mana purification and mana regeneration.


    Generally, focusing on this level would also lead to mental and physical advancement due to mana. But kings take their toll, which is why this point is obstructed in the hive.


    The few following the biological evolutionary aspects had the highest resistance to environmental changes. Also, hives focussing on these evolutions could survive for a certain amount of time outside the host, allowing them to find a new host after the death of their former host.


    The regeneration of the host, as well as their reproduction speed, are boosted.


    A decentralized hive focuses on all aspects, resulting in an even evolution. Specialization generally does not take place.


    However, in Luz mana core, the kings chose the evolution path of the other cells. As expected, they were ordered to focus on either a more biological or a magical evolution.


    In the end, Luz is the one who benefits the most from such an evolution. His body will be nourished. But the question remains when the conflicts between our host Luz and the parasites will arise.


    **********************************************************************


    In a distant place, deep inside a dungeon, a young boy was running through a dark tunnel as the sound of water droplets echoed through the tunnel. He just shuddered at what he had done earlier.


    Sure, he had killed someone before, but it''s easier to convince yourself that a rapist deserves to be killed. Killing a child who grabbed your leg is another matter.


    Slowly Gab walked through the tunnels while his left hand remained against the wall. His other hand tightly clutched a large bone, ready to strike at anything moving.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Rotting corpses and skeletons were seen left and right on the floor from time to time. In hopes of finding anything useful to loot, Gab forced himself to examine each of them. Except for a dagger and some tattered clothes, he did not find anything on them.


    "Other people have already looted the dead here," Gab sighed before moving on, cleaning his dirty hand on the clothes of one of the dead.


    ''''To be honest, I''m unsure if I want to find a group of people. On the one hand, it would be nice to have allies in a place like this, but on the other hand, I''m not sure if I can trust anyone here," Gab muttered to himself,


    while kicking a stone in boredom.


    The more bodies he saw, the more confused Gab was. On the one hand, it looked like some bodies had been murdered by other people, and sometimes they had injuries that could only have been caused by animals. The strangest was the bodies that had no injuries but were still dead.


    "I wish I ended up somewhere else," Gab muttered to himself as he continued to wander.


    Suddenly he heard footsteps, and Gab decided to hide behind one of the entrances. Two girls were running through the corridor while screeching for help.


    His first instinct was to join the duo, but after thinking for a second, followed by the thought: ''Why? From what are they running from?''


    A group consisting of 10 humanoid creatures ran after them and slowly jumped on them.


    Their screams were haunting Gab, and as he watched their limbs getting torn from their bodies piece by piece.


    ''Another sign that I am weak. I should have starved to death in front of the dungeon rather than given myself such horrors. Thank god that I didn''t try to play the white knight,'' went through Gab''s head as he sighed.


    Watching these former people behave like animals, he noticed that they all had red eyes. Some of them had gems sticking out of their bodies. Others were deformed and had like three arms or a third eye.


    "Strange. At first glance, these creatures look like humans. But somehow, they are anything except humans. They don''t even communicate with each other in any kind of language." Gab muttered quietly to himself as he watched the human-like creatures tearing off the women''s shrieking heads and drinking their blood.


    One of these monsters walked in Gab''s direction, getting closer and closer.


    Gab held his breath as he heard the loud and deep inhales and exhales within a meter distance. It didn''t take long for it to disappear, and Gab could breathe a sigh of relief.


    "What kind of goddamn place did I end up in," Gab muttered to himself as he watched the group of monsters slowly dragging these corpses towards the entrance of the tower.


    ''I see. I see that''s why I fell on so many corpses. It also explains why the child was hiding there in all places.''


    Their screams made sure that everyone knew where they were.


    ''You know what. I better fuck off somewhere else before these creatures find me,'' were the last words that went through Gab''s head before he continued running.


    It didn''t take long till he found a group of people around his age that was made up of four members. Gab decided to follow them in the dark and listen to them to see if he should approach such people.


    The group cursed quietly, and one could hear names sobbing at regular intervals. They consisted of two guys and two girls, and all of them were better equipped and armed than himself. Each of them carried crossbows and was also equipped with melee weapons.


    As he continued spying on the group, he suddenly felt a knife pressing against his throat as a hand covered his mouth.


    ''Shit, I''m screwed,'' he thought to himself, as he felt scared.


    "Yo, I found a little spy," he heard a female voice calling out to the group.


    "Who the hell sent another one. I''m sick of spies," an angry voice shouted back.


    Before Gab knew it, he was grabbed by the collar by someone a head taller before getting punched in the face.


    Gab yelped as his opponent dragged his sword along the ground as he approached him. He closed himself to stand up while holding the big bone with both hands.


    "I''ve never seen such a badly equipped spy. They really must be desperate," one commented.


    "I''m not a spy," Gab stuttered as he decided to lunge at the guy with his bone.


    The latter shattered his bone with a simple sword strike before kicking him in the stomach. Gab fell to the ground and gasped.


    "A bad spy who has no idea how to even fight properly. I''m beginning to doubt if he''s a spy," the man laughed as he slowly pressed his sword against Gab''s throat.


    "So, are you a spy?" he asked Gab coldly.


    "Of course not. I don''t even know where I am. I only want to leave this god-forgotten place," Gab quickly replied as tears formed on his face.


    ''I hope I''m not pissing my pants right now.''


    With a sigh, the guy replied: "Me too, man, Me too."

 17. Whats happening in the tower?

    "So, how did you end up here," Gab asked, sitting on a rock with a bleeding nose.


    "We two were slaves, who escaped with a group of other slaves from our owner. Unfortunally we ended up getting caught by her," sighed Alex before continuing his narration.


    "We had dreams and hopes of getting our freedom back. But after getting caught, we were tortured and used for their sadistic pleasures since they didn''t plan on keeping us any longer. Us slaves were starved to our bones, and in the end, we ended up getting thrown into a well. The people getting thrown first ended up dying from internal bleedings, but I and a few others survived since their dead bodies broke the fall for us two."


    Gab gulped as he heard Alex''s story. ''At least I gotta suffer alone through this hell without my brother. But if the stories about sadistic masters are to be believed, then I gotta hurry up to save Raph.''


    "That sounds dark," admitted Gab. Shudders were running down his spine as he imagined the scene that must have happened.


    ¡¸A scene from Alex''s live¡¹


    People bound by shackles and whose eyes were blindfolded were slowly led to a well far outside any human civilization. The slaves bound by rustling chains looked more dead than alive, as only saggy skin covered their bones, where one almost couldn''t see any muscles. Even though all of them knew that their end was nigh, none of them could even utter a comment nor cry as a piece of cloth filled their mouth.


    The only sense on which the slaves could rely were their ears. Unfortunally, one can''t orient themselves if one only hears the cracking sound of whiplashes and the muffled cries of people getting whipped.


    But their waiting soon had an ending as a woman sitting on a horse stated with pleasure: "We are here. Thoughts and prayers to you all."


    After her comment, the first man got thrown into the well. His shrill weeping could be heard as he tried to defend himself in vain before getting thrown into the well.


    One guard responsible for throwing him down merely counted down: "One¡­Two¡­Three¡­ four," before his count got interrupted by the loud sound of someone crashing against the hard ground of the well.


    "Well, you all really need thoughts and prayers to have any chance of surviving it," commented a different guard before they grabbed the next person. The slave only gave muffled sounds from himself, and it didn''t take long for the guard to get annoyed.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The guard merely took his blindfolds away before letting him glance at what kind of fate awaited him. His pupils shrank, and one could clearly see the slave''s fear as the latter lifted his gaze towards the guardian, who merely laughed loudly before throwing him down with pleasure. And so one after another got thrown to the depths of hell.


    Alex was one of the lucky few at the end of the line and survived. There were still a few others who survived. But since they were broke a few limbs, Alex and a few others had to leave them behind as they moved down the hill leading to an underground tunnel.


    "We¡­ we will come back after finding something¡­ something to eat¡­ and to drink for all of you," muttered Alex. His heart ached, seeing the ones with whom he shared a miserable live die in front of him and leave the rest who were dying back.


    The underground tunnel lead them eventually to the door of a dungeon. But instead of salvation, only death and misery awaited the ones who entered it.


    ¡¸¡­¡¹


    Gab nodded, feeling a bit of pity for the fate Alex and the others had to endure. Silence ensued shortly after, and only the sounds of the crackling flames filled the air.


    In order to break the awkward silence, which ensured after Alex told him the story, the former gave Gab a piece of ration which the latter gladly took. By now, his hunger was almost devouring him from the inside. As Gab accepted the food, he asked Alex, the group leader, another question but to a different subject.


    "Could you please tell me what is going on here? What are those creatures, and why do these creatures resemble humans? I''ve never seen such a monster in my entire life."


    Alex merely chuckled at his question, which he already expected: "You and I will also end up like this if we are unlucky and end up getting caught. As you''ve probably noticed, this tower is filled with all sorts of monsters. These creatures might as well have originated from your worst nightmares. Usually, these creatures can not leave their floor, and even then, they can only climb dungeon floors. Or at least that''s what we thought."


    The narrator took a deep breath before continuing with his story: "But later on, people who have been here for longer told us the truth or rather the truth in which they believed. Legend says one of the monsters from the upper floors managed to leave its hallway. Such a situation shouldn''t be a big problem. But unfortunally, the creature is a hive monster known as ''parasite queen.'' It found a fatal flaw in the system of the tower and was, therefore, able to increase her influence to the outside of her own floor, the 5th one.


    Even though she couldn''t leave her floor, it didn''t mean that infected humans that were on the brink of death couldn''t do it. These infected beings could only leave their respective floor if they were about to die.


    If others can leave the dungeon shortly, why not simply infect them with parasites and give birth to a queen on each floor. Of course, these queens are subsequently weaker, but their sheer number makes them dangerous. The lower floors were quickly conquered by her underlings. On the other hand, the queen left by now her dungeon floor to occupy a higher one. But the monsters and humans there are strong enough to clean these mutants regularly."

 17.2 Whats happening in the tower? part 2

    "Our biggest problem right now is that newcomers, who replenish our ranks most of the time, don''t carry any weapons with them. What makes the situation worse is that most of them don''t have any experience when it comes to fighting such creatures. I admit, sometimes people join the dungeon with experience, but these are rare, and to be honest, most of them die because they end up overestimating themselves. As for now, we have to fight against these low intelligent mutant creatures since they''ve overrun the first floor," admitted Alex.


    ''Why do I have to cross the tower at the wrong time!?'' went through Gab''s head.


    Seeing how depressed the young boy was, Alex merely chuckled.


    "I would recommend that you join us temporarily. Sure, other groups may have more to offer. But I see it as my duty as an experienced veteran to temporarily help the inexperienced newcomer," Alex told him while offering his hand to Gab.


    A smile formed on the latter''s face as he took the hand and replied, "I''ll gladly join you."


    "We humans are divided into several groups, which regularly clean the beasts in the lower levels. But whenever we meet each other, it can also quickly end up tragic here. Basic goods such as clean water and alcohol to disinfect your wounds are rare commodities here in the dungeon.


    Our goal is to find the next entrance as fast as possible and find our way to the fifth dungeon floor," Alex told Gab as the latter devoured his ratio.


    But before he could continue with his narration, Gab interjected him: "But why the 5th dungeon floor? Didn''t you state earlier that it was the former home of the parasite queen?"


    "Well, that''s true, but on the 5th floor, there is also the first safe resting place. There you will also see the other groups that have formed," Alex explained it to Gab, who was eagerly listening. The rest of the group members were silent the whole time.


    And with that, Alex ended his narration, and the group grew more lively. Gab still felt like an outsider since he didn''t know anyone outside of Alex. It took a short while before one of them approached him. To his surprise, it was one of the girls. She had a concerned look on her face and asked him quietly: "Did you see two young women?"


    "Yes, I think I saw two young women getting overrun by a horde of monsters right in front of my eyes and..."


    The woman immediately cut him short, asking him with a shaky voice: "Why didn''t you save them?"


    Alex who had been listening to their conversation sighed before interrupting the girl''s tantrum.


    "Jessica¡­ Your sister is dead. Nothing can be done about it."


    The girl still trembled, and her anger towards Gab, who didn''t do anything to save her sister, was clearly visible.


    ''WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS GIRL EXPECT FROM ME??? I DON''T EVEN HAVE A FUCKING WEAPON. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO EVEN SAVE TWO GIRLS, ESPECIALLY TWO WHO I DON''T EVEN KNOW OF!?'' cursed Alex loudly in his mind.


    Tears began streaming down her face. One could hear her sentence deranging into gibberish with every passing second, as her mumbling grew from: " She was so young. It should have been me¡­" to "Wh-why?"


    Alex, who felt pity for Jessica, hugged her tightly. On the other hand, Jessica pounded weakly against his chest as she continued her weeping for her sister''s death.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Gab felt pity for her. The scene which unfolded in front of him made him pray. ''Hopefully, my brothers won''t die so fast. May our dear writer and narrator give all my siblings plot armor to survive this madness of a world.''


    ¡¸Unfortunally, the narrator isn''t allowed to comment on the matter if his siblings have the privilege of getting a plot armors at all. Live doesn''t seem to be fair.¡¹


    Alex hugged her and whispered, "Please don''t give up and let your younger sister''s death be in vain. We will avenge your sister. ¡­ We will kill the parasite on the upper floors. Each of its descendants will be trampled under our feet and wiped out. I promise you," Alex whispered into her ear while trying to comfort a crying girl.


    ''Am I in a teenage romance novella now, or why is the cliched comforting scenario happening. We''re on a freaking floor with monsters, and the only thing we''re doing is chilling. We''re all so going to die,'' were the thoughts running through Gab''s head as he looked at the two with a forced smile.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    Somewhere else, a young boy armed with a spear ran through the forest while a group of hogs ran behind him.


    "Young master. Show these guys. I believe in you," Otaz shouted to Az while jogging next to him with a smile.


    ''Why can''t you just help me, instead of annoying me like that,'' went through Az''s head before he cursed loudly: "If I hesitate for even a moment, I will die."


    Az was aware that his endurance would not last much longer, so he decided to climb up the tree.


    "Otaz, pass me the bow, please," Az said as he continued to climb onto a tree branch.


    By now, he was around 2 meters above the ground while a bunch of wild boars gathered below him.


    "Are you sure that you want the bow and not the scythe," Otaz asked, who was standing on a different branch, handing him the bow.


    "Yes, how am I supposed to use a scythe in this scenario," cursed Az while aiming at the pigs.


    To Az''s favor, hitting them from two meters away wasn''t that hard. The pigs squealed as they periodically ran into the tree. A couple of them jumped up frequently, which Az took advantage of to stab them with his iron spear, wounding one after another, till they retreated. Of the 20 pigs, 8 died in total.


    "Not bad young man," Ogron applauded before collecting the dead animals.


    "Only 100 more to go."


    "Excuse me? The mission only wanted to kill 15 of these pigs, not 100." Az replied.


    "I don''t care. I expect it. Put effort into it," Ogron told him with a wry smile.


    ''Ogron, I should have never disturbed your endless sleep!!!'' went through Az''s head.


    "Keep listening to mommy. The bow fits you best," said Simaev, who suddenly stood on the tree and pinched Az''s cheek.


    "Please leave my cheeks alone," Az sighed, but the latter merely responded with: "never."


    For the rest of the day, Az continued to hunt wild boars, but in the end, he got close to 30. Despite this exhausting hunt, Az gained some experience when it came to fighting against pigs and other animals in that weight range.


    Around evening, the hunting stopped and got replaced with weapon training. This time it was the scythe and the spear. In any case, a spear was easier to handle for Az than a scythe.


    The spear training mainly consisted of how to handle a spear and the steps. Ogron seemed to find that more important than teaching Az any fancy move. Whenever he made an incorrect move, Ogron hit him with the shaft of his own bone spear against the back of his head, which didn''t make his training that pleasant.


    "Master Ogron, sometimes I wish I had the chance to live a normal child''s life, where I would have time to relax," Az sighed while doing the footsteps.


    "Sucks, doesn''t it? If only YOU DIDN''T DISTURB MY RESTING PEACE. Then you wouldn''t be forced to train like a maniac," Ogron remarked as he hit Az again on the back of the head.


    "My head," Az grumbled.


    After seeing how Az slowly lost any will to continue his training, Ogron changed his mind.


    "Well, that''s enough for today. Your body will be screwed tomorrow. We will then move on to the basics of magic," Ogron mentioned while reading a book on magic for beginners.


    "Master, why are you even reading such a book. You''re not even a beginner anymore," Az asked, confused.


    "I''m not. But you know things change over time, and theories get replaced. I''m curious about how much the fundamentals of magic have changed so far. Also, I''m so old that my knowledge of magic is rusty on the basics. I mean, I don''t know how far behind you lag from your fellow mages, who are also at your age range. Furthermore, I''m not aware of what exactly they expect from you," Ogron stated.

 18. Magic theory

    "Jodoc, I have got better things to do than babysitting a greenhorn beginner magician, which is why I''m giving you the responsibility," commented Simon loudly.


    By now, Master Simon was getting fed up with filling the holes in Luz''s brain, which was clearly lacking in theoretical knowledge. Instead of teaching useful tricks, such as: "how to quickly chant a spell," for example, it ended up with the most mundane things.The two were scratching the basics of magic, which one could easily read from a book, such as from where does magic originates, what kind of disciplines exists, and so forth. Over the last few days, Simon was busy helping Luz, the apprentice mage who lacked knowledge in many areas.


    You can imagine Luz''s situation like this. Luz may be a seedling worth taking care of. But do you want to teach him the basics? Why not give this job to someone else and only later help the child, after he has reached the desired level.


    "No. No. No. I have better things to do than helping a child," Modoc cursed.


    "I''m not a child," Luz interjected. "Be quiet, child!" both shouted in unison. "You take over babysitting duties five days a week, and I''ll take the weekend," Simon sighed as he tried to make a compromise with his pet.


    "No. I  will take care of Luz four days a week while you''ll look after him the rest of the week," shouted Jodoc back, who wasn''t looking forward to his new job.


    "Nah, I don''t think so. You clearly seem to have forgotten who the Master Magician is and who his pet is!" Simon objected, and before Jodoc could reply, Simon teleported them both down a floor.


    "Curse you, Simon! May all your experiments fail," screeched Jodoc, the parrot, as he stared at the ceiling.


    Luz, however, chose to remain silent since he didn''t want to attract the latter''s frustration and anger onto him.


    After the parrot calmed down from his resentment, he chose to land on Luz''s shoulder with the plan of convincing him of his grandiose plans.


    "I''ve got a plan. I''ll be dedicating more time than necessary to your magic education. But you''ll be beating that bastard''s ass and set me free after you overtake Master Simon. You will train every day until you pass out," laughed the parrot loudly.


    "That doesn''t sound like the future I imagined back then," Luz sighed."Well, I don''t care," squawked the parrot as he immediately began teaching him how to handle mana.


    "There are mana spells, and there are magic spells," Jodoc told him.


    Luz interrupted with the question, "What''s the difference between these two? Aren''t they the same thing anyway?"


    "Let me finish my fucking sentence, instead of interrupting me, you stupid shit. Anyway, as you know, your body absorbs mana from the environment. Explaining mana is complicated. On the one hand, it is the pure natural element of the environment. On the other hand, it''s something that you won''t find in its pure form in nature since it''s contaminated with all sorts of local elements. These residues may vary since mana near volcanoes tends to have a higher fire particle concentration than, then, for example, water concentration."


    "So, mana isn''t the same everywhere, and mana isn''t mana since mana refers to the pure element that is contaminated by other elements. Did I get it right?" asked Luz.


    Jodoc nodded. "Well¡­ that''s one way to put it. As magicians, we look at the contamination gradient of the mana. But we shouldn''t continue dappling into that situation. Since that''s the concern for higher ranking magicians and not for beginner mages such as yourself.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    As you know, your body takes mana from the air and purifies it to a certain degree. Whenever you use your own mana for an elemental spell, you will waste a certain amount of your mana to convert it into the respective element.


    There are two methods with which mages try to limit these conversion losses. They either attempt to build their body from an element, which has its own consequences since elements can''t be converted to other elements, resulting in a limitation of spells.


    As one progresses towards becoming an elemental mage, with every success they make, their conversion costs will keep increasing. In the end, one would use the hundred times more mana than required to cast a simple spell from a different element."


    "To be honest, these benefits don''t seem to be worth the effort, becoming an elemental mage," admitted Luz.


    "Well, you''re right to a certain degree. Your spells of one element will be a hundred times more potent. That alone is worth for some magicians," commented Jodoc before continuing his narration.


    "Option two is to use mana spells. These consume much less since there is no conversion to an element. These spells, however, take way longer to learn since one doesn''t have a talent for that element," Jodoc told Luz, who listened silently.


    Even though Jodoc''s stories were interesting, he seemed to have lost track of time because he talked for hours without pausing. It didn''t take long for Luz to get a headache from all the new knowledge.


    Jodoc realized at some point that Luz had had enough and announced a one-hour break.


    The latter thanked Jodoc before making his way towards the canteen as the word: ''Hunger,'' echoed in his head.


    ''Yeah, something tries to communicate with me, and I''m not sure if I should look forward to it. If that thing evolves further, I''ll never find peace,'' Luz cursed as he made his way to the canteen. After reaching the canteen, he met the two girls and Francis from his first meeting there.***********************************************************************************************Somewhere else, deep inside a dungeon, Gab was seen walking with a group through the corridors while being equipped with an ax. The group was silent, and beyond their silent footsteps, one only could hear the loud dripping of water combined with the echoes of mutants every once in a while.This time the group was willingly approaching a group of mutants everyone except for Gab had some experience when it came to hunting and killing these mutants. The latter merely had some experience when it came to hunting wild animals with an ax or a bow.


    Gab was the youngest hunter in his village, and he joined their ranks a few months before its destruction. Nevertheless, Gab had already joined several hunts.


    After a few observations, the group in front of them was a 15 man strong group of mutants. These creatures seemed to have lost the trail to the parasite queen while hunting for humans.


    Alex gave a signal, and the arrows were shot. The mutants began to shriek, and Gab watched as four of his five-party members shot either with bows or crossbows.


    ''Charging at these creatures would be a stupid idea. Let''s wait for them to run towards us.''His previous weapon, which could probably be used as a club, was by now cut into two pieces and attached to his legs.


    Of the 15 monsters, only 5 of them reached the group. Immediately, Gab swung his ax at the neck of one mutant, but to his misfortune, it got stuck. Its blood splattered onto Gab''s face. ''Shit,'' Gab thought to himself, kicking the screeching monster in the stomach while holding the ax handle.


    By now, the rest had switched from bows to swords and shields. ''Why the hell didn''t I ask for a shield too?'' Gab cursed in his head as he threw his ax at the monster. Even though the ax stuck to its chest, the creature didn''t seem to halter and continued running while screeching loudly towards Gab.


    "Why won''t it die," Gab screamed back in desperation as he grabbed his bone club in panic. But before he could do anything, Alex cut off the mutant''s head.


    "Why the hell did you throw your fucking weapon at him, you goddamn idiot," Alex cursed at him before hitting Gab in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword.


    "You better get yourself under control. We''re here to survive and not to babysit hormone-driven teenagers who want to practice their freestyle."


    But before Alex could continue to lecture Gab, the echoes of screams in the tunnels grew louder, and the ground slowly began to shake.


    "Shit. We have to go," Alex shouted, and the group started to run.

 19. the escape

    The ground shook, and the screeching of mutants could be heard echoing through the rumblings as splinters began falling down from the ceiling.


    "Shit. Run! If these creatures catch up with us, we''re dead," Alex shouted in fright, who was already running.


    No one objected, and the rest of the group immediately started running behind their group leader. But the loud screams followed them even after twenty minutes of running.


    "Why are they still chasing us, and how do we get rid of them?" asked one of the group members with a frightened voice, who was slowly running out of breath.


    "Normally, we should have escaped them by now," Alex replied in a calm voice, although his face showed anything but calm.


    Since their life was filled with misfortune, they soon encountered a dead end. In front of them was a black river around 10 meters wide. Crossing the black river was impossible because the current was quite strong, which is why the group stopped immediately in front of them. But unlike them, the monster never stopped running towards them, and their screechings grew louder as the group remained unsure how to proceed.By now, the first mutants slowly appeared at the edges of one''s view, and their number grew bigger by the second.


    Alex merely gritted his teeth since he had to choose how to proceed. Some of these creatures could jump way higher than oneself.  "You know what. We''re going to try to escape across the Underidian River," Alex said. But as he was about to take his first step into the river, someone objected. "No¡­. We don''t even know where the river goes. No one who jumped into the river has returned yet," Jessica replied in a panic.


    By now, Alex grew annoyed. "Do we have any fucking choice? Either we jump, or we will die fighting," shouted he angrily back before jumping into the river.


    The rest followed him except Jessica, who refused. By now, the mutants reached them and the group was forced to shift their focus towards the river since they were at the mercy of it.


    Because of her hesitation, Jessica was jumped on by mutants and thus fell into the river. Her loud screeching was bone-chilling, and one could hear her pleas for mercy even under the loud screams of the mutants who were hesitating to jump into the current.


    The water tasted metallic, and Gab yelled out loudly, "When are we planning to...[ughh]...leave the river," as he tried to remain afloat.


    "Hasn''t been decided yet," Alex gasped as the group was dragged on by the river.


    It wasn''t long before Gab felt someone clawing his leg, and in trying to scream out, Gab only swallowed more water.


    ''Shit, I''m going to kill you,'' went through Gab''s head as he reached for his ax on his leg. The mutant bit him and Gab, full of adrenaline, started hammering with the handle of his ax and the blade onto the creature.


    The screaming of Gab and the mutant could be heard echoing through the underground river on the walls as Gab struck the skull and the mutant''s neck and back area several times with the ax.


    Yet, the mutant didn''t seem to be hindered by being hurt.Even though Gab pierced his eyes with the sharp end of his ax handle a couple of times, leaving a bleeding creature behind that tried to continue eating his leg. It kept biting as well as clawing Gab''s torso. Till now, Gab couldn''t take a proper look at the mutant, but the latter''s skull was already cracked, and a liquified brain was leaving its head, which was already mostly separated from the rest of its body. But that still didn''t stop the creature from uncontrollably trying to continue to bite his leg with even more vigor.


    "WHY WON''T YOU JUST DIEE!?" Gab screeched out loud, severing the mutant''s head from the rest of its body with a swing that tired him. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ''Finally¡­'' were the last thoughts he heard as all the strength was slowly leaving his body while his surroundings turned black. In the end, he failed against his fatigue and wouldn''t know if he even will survive.***********************************************************************************************


    The group was continuously dragged on by the current until they fell down a waterfall. Fortunately, they only ended up falling 10 meters deep, which the group easily survived. A small lake awaited them at the foot of the waterfall, and rivers led away from the lake. Alex and two others were the only ones who still had strength at that point. The three pulled Gab and Jessica out of the lake before even the over two collapsed down as well.


    By now, everyone was tired, except Alex. He stood silently in front of Jessica, his former partner.A cold body with more wounds than one could count. Jessica''s face got mutilated to a point beyond recognition, and even her eyes were missing. The rest of her body was covered with bites, as well as small pieces of flesh that were missing from Jessica''s missing body.


    Upon seeing the body of his beloved Jessica, Alex cried out loudly while pulling out the dismembered mutant that Gab had killed earlier.


    Howling, he punched it in frustration and just sobbed, "Why, Jessica. Why? You promised me that we would survive this hellhole together. Why were you so hesitant, you idiot. Why did you leave me alone in such a goddamn place?"


    Alex''s sobbing was interrupted by a loud screech, and a mutant emerging from the water could be seen.Instead of showing any sort of fear, the latter turned his gaze towards the mutant, and a ghastly smile could be seen on his face full of tears.


    "Even if God is not on my side, he seems to give me a chance to release my frustration properly," Alex muttered to himself.After these words left his lip, he began moving towards the waterfall in a provocative matter. Alex went so far that he even kept his sword proudly attached to his hip.


    "Come here," Alex roared as he lunged at the mutant running in his direction.


    The veins on his head nearly burst as he grabs the mutant by the arm and throws him to the ground. The latter merely shrieked as Alex delivered a stomp to his face, denting his visage that had lost all semblance to a human face. The mutant screamed and clawed the former''s leg in vain as Alex continued to curb stomp the motherfucker till his grips weakened. But that wasn''t enough for Alex because his mood changed by now again. Instead of stomping him to death, he merely pulled him up by its neck with his grip before hitting the mutant''s head against the wall while the latter slowly howled in pain. He used its head like a hammer, banging it against the wall until it caved in. But even after that, it took an hour for the group leader to come to his senses. "It never hurt getting rid of one''s frustration," Alex muttered to himself.His gaze moved slowly to the decimated mutant head, whose neck he was still grabbing tightly. Pieces of its skull were stuck all over the wall. One could see how each of his limbs were by now, all broken and strangely bent.


    By now, Gab was woken up by all the noises and the pain he felt. His left leg was full of scratches and bite marks.


    "Don''t move," Alex shouted while rubbing alcohol against the wounds on his leg. Gab yelped and clutched his ax in pain. "I hope your leg doesn''t get infected, or we might have to amputate it," Alex told him bluntly while wrapping a wet bandage around it.


    "Thank you," Gab groaned.


    After Alex finished wrapping it, he stated hesitantly, as tears began streaming down his cheeks: "These weapons and pieces of armor are yours now. Please handle them carefully."


    Gab immediately realized who they belonged to and frantically replied: "Chief, I can manage it without these weapons. You should use them since they mean a lot to you."


    The latter immediately cut him short. "The last thing Jessica would have wanted is to carry her weapons to the grave. It would have made her happy if her equipment were to be used by a fellow comrade to ensure his survival," Alex replied with a shaky voice.


    "Thanks, Jessica," Gab mumbled and slowly reached for her equipment.


    Gab''s clothes were torn, which is why her equipment was in his favor.


    After equipping them, Alex just nodded and said with a tense smile: "Time for us to find a resting place for her. My baby deserves the most beautiful resting place."


    Gab nodded, and the two checked the whole place. The rest of the members were still sleeping. In the end, they found a nice place, behind the waterfall. The ground was soft, and the two used their shields to dig a deep grave around one meter deep before placing Jessica''s body in it.


    Alex just sobbed while he bent down to kiss her hand. Actually, he wanted to kiss her forehead even better her lips, but her mangled face did not allow it.


    Inside the cave behind the waterfall were glowing crystals in many colors. Alex just mumbled: "I wish I could show her those crystals."


    The two broke off some crystals and decorated Jessica''s grave with them. A few of these crystals were even taken with them. Maybe they could use them.

 20. a stupid fight for survival

    As every day Luz trained with Jodoc the parrot. As of now, his control over the elements such as fire and water was acceptable for a mage apprentice.


    "Jodoc, I don''t want to play gardener simulator 2021," Luz complained to himself as he strolled through Master Simon''s garden.


    The parrot had the glorious idea of giving Luz his job of watering the plants in Master Simon''s garden. His justification for that was: "we can increase your fine-tuning over the water element since each plant needs a limited amount of water."


    And that''s how Luz ended up doing nothing more than watering the plants using water summoning spells, while Jodoc added some other things to the pure water Luz summoned.


    "No, no, no. If I''m going to be your babysitter, then you''re going to do the chores that I have to do tonight," the parrot screeched while lightly biting Luz''s ear.


    ''I''d better not provoke him further. Otherwise, he''ll force me to do more chores, like cleaning the whole damn magic tower. Who knows what lurks there in the dark,'' went through Luz''s head, and he shuddered.


    Luz muttered [water] and summoned a mass of water that floated above his left palm. After concentrating enough, he was able to break the water mass above his hand onto two unequal pieces before sending the shorter one floating towards one of the plants.


    However, Jodoc merely gave him a side-eye, as he snickered: "That''s not 25ml. That''s 23ml."


    Unfortunally, the parrot forgot that controlling two different bodies of water was quite a burden for a mage apprentice. His remarks could easily distract one further, which is why the latter lost control.


    Seeing how the two masses collapsed, the parrot shrieked loudly and seized the control of the two water masses.After getting the mess under control, Jodoc sighed loudly in relief before commenting: "You''re good for nothing and almost got us two killed. Do you know how expensive and how much care these plants need??"


    "You mean he would kill you for letting me, a mage apprentice, do your job," Luz retorted back.


    "I don''t care. You''re doing this job just to gain greater control over water. Trust me, if you can master the watering here, Master Simon will be amazed," the parrot replied with a laugh.


    "I doubt it. You probably are trying to shift the responsibility of taking care of these plants onto me. But alright," Luz sighed and continued, watering the plants.


    For the job that Jodoc could do in ten seconds, Luz took several hours with breaks for mana recovery factored in. In the end, he was nothing more but a sweating mess who was lying on the ground as his gaze shifted from one plant to another. They looked beautiful, and the colors he saw today were far more than he saw in the first half of his life.


    "You did a great job with that one. If you keep doing this, your mana control should get above average compared to other mage apprentices. But for now, get some rest. Tomorrow we''ll continue," Jodoc told him before leaving the tired Luz alone on the ground.


    Luz remained lying there for an hour until hunger forced him to leave.


    "I''d better get something to eat, or I''ll starve," Luz thought as he walked to the canteen. There, he ate ten plates, which was an astonishing amount even for Luz.


    "Hmm. It must be because of those pesky parasites. Simon said that they were in symbiosis with me. But bullshit. they are parasites that only take nutrients from me without giving anything in return," Luz grumbled to himself as he ate his food. Even after his tenth plate, Luz heard in his body the phrase: "More." "No. You''ve had enough," Luz cursed back and left the canteen.


    ''If I continued eating like that, the canteen might go bankrupt because of me.''This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Unfortunally, Luz didn''t know how good his metabolism was. It didn''t take Luz an hour before he ran back into the canteen. But this time, Luz looked way thinner, having lost a few kilos.


    From that moment on, it was clear that something was wrong with Luz. Even though he continued to eat calmly, the cook called some magicians to inform them regarding Luz''s current behavior.


    High energy consumption is not uncommon among higher mages when they use certain spells. But it is unheard of for apprentice mages to have such high energy consumption. A high mana consumption could be explained. But there are no apprentice spells that require anywhere near that much energy. In Luz''s body, an evolutionary cascade got triggered as all the parasites began their evolutions at the same moment. Since any evolution takes quite a lot of energy, it was no wonder why Luz was losing bodyweight so fast. If one knew what was truly happening in Luz''s body, one would scream which idiot came up with such a stupid idea since it was one of the stupidest life and death fight.


    His energy consumption per second was way higher than the energy absorption, which Luz took with eating.


    "Shit. If it continues like that, I''m going to die," Luz''s thoughts screamed as he stopped even chewing his meal properly and swallowed them directly.


    Seeing what was happening, it is no wonder that a silent crowd was slowly gathering around Luz to watch this maniac trying to survive. Most of them thought he was putting on a show since he was only known for eating much. But a few of them realized how serious the situation was. Those ones immediately bought more plates to Luz''s place while others began carrying the tally of plates away that was slowly building up.


    The number of empty plates grew to twenty-three till Master Simon could be seen teleporting into the room with a group of three other mages, who wore white clothes. One of them immediately sent the crowd to the exit. Simon was cursing loudly since it merely took him a glance to realize what was happening. He immediately inserted several tubes into Luz''s body. The latter continued eating with teary eyes as he thought about how he will die because he couldn''t eat fast enough.  By now, he had lost another 6 kilograms, and loose skin hung from his body. Luz''s eyes were red with anger while he couldn''t stop eating out of fear even though nutrient solutions were now flowing into his body.


    Unfortunately for them, the parasites saw the nutrient solution only as a reason to increase their energy intake, which made Master Simon even more furious. He immediately shouted: "Shit, what the hell is going on? Such a high energy consumption shouldn''t even be possible for me."


    The other mages connected without commenting another nutrient-dense container to Luz, just out of precaution.


    "I will keep you alive, Luz. I cannot let such a parasite like you go to waste. You have already cost me so many resources. I will milk your body like a cow for every penny and research data I can get out of you," Master Simon laughed painfully.


    "I think he''s going mad," whispered one of the mages in white to their partner. The latter merely commented: "Well, you know these nutritions are expensive. We would all go mad if we wasted so many containers on a stupid mage apprentice."


    The former nodded before responding: "Well, that must be one of the stranger mage apprentices. I want some data on him. Just to know what the hell is going on.""Forget it. Such pieces of information won''t do you any good. It''s already a miracle how they let such a creature run freely."


    "Master Brian, why must you bring me my misfortune. I have always been a good subject," muttered Simon, whose heart ached.


    ''At least Luz seems to be getting better. Remember Simon, only with a living Luz can you take good data. We will take a closer look at some of his cells later. I need to see how the parasites have developed in Luz''s body," Simon began muttering to himself to calm his nerves.


    "Simon, just shut the fuck up for a minute," Jodoc, the parrot screeched, who was sitting on his shoulder, before bitting his ear.


    Meanwhile, Master Brian strolled into the cafeteria to see what was causing the commotion over there. When he saw Luz with a pile of expensive nutrient containers, his gaze turned gloomy.


    ''It''s always the same person who creates unrest here. I only bought a simple slave to give him a chance to live. Why do the gods have to curse me,'' Brian thought before shouting with a laugh, "Simon, you deserve this for your stupid experiments."


    "You, wait and see. This boy will surpass you one day," Simon cursed back. "Yes, but you will be poorer than any citizen of this city before it happens," Brian shouted back in laughter.


    Luz''s energy consumption slowly began declining. The parasites finished their evolution and were saturated with nutrients. The mages said goodbye to Simon, who merely sighed as he removed all the tubes of the latter''s body. Unfortunally, Simon couldn''t rest yet, since immediately after that, Luz''s body began twitching uncontrollably.


    This shocked Simon to the core, who thought that his discipline was overdosing on nutrients. He immediately ripped Luz''s shirt. But there, he saw merely how Luz''s mana core was hot.


    "Wow, and now he turned into a beginner mage," the parrot screeched loudly. "I wish that we could be happy about that, but that bastard shocks me one moment after the next one," Simon sighed before teleporting the three back to his tower.

 21. Call me mommy

    "Alex, I think we should continue now," Gab commented as he filled up his water bottle. ''I just hope this water is drinkable,'' went through Gab''s head as he did so. ''Yeah, you''re right,'' Alex softly replied, standing up slowly from the grave. "Comrades, get ready to move on," he called loudly, and the group left the lake.


    They followed along with one of the rivers that exited the lake. Loud dripping of water, as well as the screeching of animals, could be heard from afar.


    "Get ready," Alex whispered as he raised his hand. The group slowly crept on, and the screaming grew louder and louder. In the distance, the group could see a fight between two jaguars, both of which were injured. " They are probably fighting over mating rights. Reload your crossbows," Alex whispered as the group slowly crept closer. They reached a distance of about 25m to the fighting Jaguarn before the firing order was issued.


    Two arrows hit the face of the black jaguar, one hitting his eye. The other two were fired at the brightly spotted jaguar, with Luz''s arrow piercing its ribcage.


    "Not bad," commented one of the other two people Gab had yet to meet. Gab just nodded with a smile. The cheetahs'' cries grew louder, and their pain could be heard by the group. Two of the group reloaded their crossbows while Alex and Gab had their swords and shields ready. The jaguars ran furiously towards the group while arrows hailed at them. The black one toppled over, while the light-spotted one lunged at Alex. Gab took advantage of the moment and slammed his ax against the neck of the jaguar. Gab''s ax anchored deep into the jaguar''s neck. "Shit, I can''t pull my ax out," Gab shouted. Alex fended off the jaguar and threw it aside with his shield before severing its head from its body with a clean blow.


    "Good shot," commented Gab. The group quickly reloaded their crossbows before entering the cave armed. Once inside the cave, they saw a jaguar nursing her younglings. "Shoot," Alex shouted, and the group started shooting without hesitation. The mother who saw this roared up and stood in front of her babies. Arrows pierced her chest, and she toppled over.


    The jaguar died before she could fight back. Gab slowly moved towards her and saw her gasping for breath. He smiled before delivering a deadly blow that killed her. The babies screamed for their mother.


    "What should we do with them," Gab asked as he pointed his ax at the babies. "They are still young and at the physical level where they can''t see yet. They can just be bonded. But the question is, do you want to play mother right now in such a place where you can die anytime," Alex commented as he pulled his arrows out of the cheetah mother.


    "I''d like to test it," Gab said. "Well, pick two. Do either of you want a jaguar," Alex asked. Both nodded. "The ritual works as follows," Alex stated as he picked up a striped baby from the ground and lifted it up. The baby howled slightly. "The first thing you do is make the animal drink your blood," he said while briefly cutting his finger lightly with a dagger. He then slipped the finger into the baby''s mouth, which sucked greedily for it."Next, you must hold your skull against its and murmur the following phrase [Become mine]," Alex showed the group, which only nodded.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    "and voila, it''s yours. Don''t worry about breast milk or anything. As long as it''s attached to you, you can feed it pre-chewed food," Alex told us. Gab gave the others in the group a head start, and they automatically chose the healthier babies. When it was his turn, he chose a white and a black Jaguar baby. "Why did you choose the white one? He doesn''t seem to be healthy," a voice asked him. "To be honest, just because of its color. White is a beautiful color, hehe. What''s your name anyway," Gab asked while sighing.


    "Oh, we haven''t introduced ourselves yet," he said with a smile while glancing at the other group member. "Ok, this is awkward. My name is Evie, and that one''s name is Luke," Evie replied with a smile.


    Gab smiled back and introduced himself again. The rest of the babies were given a quick death by Evie. "Time we set up the camp here for tonight," Alex suggested while looking at the glowing crystals of the walls. "Gab do you want to help me with preparing the food," Evie asked. Gab quickly hurried to join her. The two cut open the bodies of the two jaguars, and Evie admonished Gab on each of his mistakes. "But Evie, we''ll never be able to finish eating the bodies anyway," Gab sighed. "I don''t care," she threw back, and Gab continued to cut the meat as best he could.


    Luke prepared a fire with some broken arrows as well as the wood he found in the area. "We should be near the surface if there''s wood here," Alex muttered while playing with the babies.


    After a few hours of preparation, meat was smoked on one fire, and jaguar meat was grilled on the other. "And Evie, how did the new one do," Alex asked with a smile. He had been napping the whole time until just now.


    "Well, he still has a lot to learn, but compared to you, he did more today," she tossed back at him mockingly.


    "Oh, I''ll be the first to keep vigil, of course," Alex assured her.


    "Do that, or my arrows will literally pierce your heart next time," she said with a smile. "Gab, you better watch how you handle Evie. She''s a monster," Alex whispered in Gab''s ear. Gab just petted his cats and chewed the meat for them.


    Luk just commented, "You''re really going to raise them both as cannibals?" "Of course," Gab replied while nuzzling the kittens against his cheek.


    "These two are cute," Gab murmured with a smile as he handed them the pre-chewed meat that they greedily devoured. "That''s the first time you''ve ever been happy," Evie commented, and Gab nodded. "Evie, why are you here anyway," Gab asked.


    "I used to be a noblewoman. I didn''t want to end up as a political tool for my parents, which is why I escaped here one day with difficulty," Evie replied with a smile. "But when I think about it, it was a mistake," she continued, trembling. "My servants were probably all executed as punishment for my selfish actions. To be honest, I would rather have been married to a stranger instead of fighting for my life here every day. The only thing you see in this place is how all your new comrades die before your eyes, and you make no progress. I imagined freedom and adventure very differently," she continued while hugging her kitten tightly. Evie slowly burst into tears. "I''m sorry, Evie," Gab murmured back.


    "It''s ok. Everyone makes mistakes," Evie sobbed. "I''ve only come here because I don''t have a future," Luke smiled. "What do you mean," Gab asked.


    "Like Evie, I am a lower aristocrat. However, the number of my siblings is large, and the old man in the house is getting old. The fratricides have started, and my only chance of escaping was to flee into the tower with my younger siblings. They wouldn''t have a chance either," Luke told us while a forced smile could be seen on his face.


    After that, it was Gab''s turn to tell his situation, how he went from being a simple older brother to ending up as a slave in the tower within a short time.


    "Comrades. Let''s leave our past, at least for now, in the past. You are welcome to deal with it when we get to a safe place," Alex interjected, and the group nodded in agreement.

 22. My subjects

    The night passed relatively quickly. Gab was woken up the next day by the bites of kittens as big as his hands. "Yes, yes. I''ll feed you in a minute," Gab yawned as he got up and held the kittens in his arms. "Somebody forgot he was supposed to be on night watch, too," replied Luke, who was sitting on a rock with a loaded crossbow and a kitten on his shoulder. "I''m sorry," Gab replied, smiling with an innocent look. "I''m immune to such tactics and especially when they come from teenage boys," Luke replied with a laugh.


    "Oh yeah, Gab, we have a problem," Alex replied, who was also awake. " That would be," Gab asked. "We are slowly running out of arrows. If we don''t come across a group of humanoid races soon that are willing to trade, we''re screwed," Alex told him with a stern expression.  Gab gulped after hearing this.


    Never mind. Time for breakfast," went through Gab''s head as he chewed yesterday''s meat for the babies. Less than an hour later, the four-man group was back on their feet and walking through the tunnels.


    The tunnels were large enough so that the group could walk side by side.  Each of them held a loaded crossbow as they walked through the tunnel system. Water dripped loudly from the walls as always. But this time, it was different because dried blood was sticking everywhere on the walls of the tunnels. "I expect the utmost attention," whispered Alex, who crept ahead. The kittens slept comfortably in the jacket pockets of the group members.


    It was not long before they could read on a wall "Helps us," written in blood. Alex shook his head with a sympathetic look at the sight. The group walked on, except for Gab, who stood in front of it for a moment. "Gab. We keep moving," Evie whispered. "Sorry," Gab replied and followed them.


    The group wandered for hours, but the tunnel seemed never-ending, and the sentences written in blood became more and more frequent. Sentences like "I''m sorry mum, I should never have come here" or "I''m sorry sister" were encountered by the group. Evie noticed how these sentences struck Gab. "Gab, if you''re scared, you can hold my hand," she whispered in his ear.


    "Someone like me is never afraid," Gab replied with a smile, as his face reddened slightly. "Surely. Now give me your hand before we leave you behind," Evie giggled and reached for his hand.


    Gab squeezed her hand tightly while the two ran. Alex and Luke gave the two a confused look before continuing to focus on the tunnel. '' I didn''t imagine my first time holding hands that way'' went through Gab''s head as he followed with a smile. After a few hours of walking, the tunnel ended in a larger cave. Excited and with raised crossbows they slowly walked into the tunnel. "I didn''t expect that," Alex commented as he made his way through the cave.


    In front of them, they saw countless amounts of skeletons lying all over the place. Some were adorned with gems and valuables. Others were adorned with weapons. But if you looked closer, you could see that the skeletons were from several humanoid races. "What races are these skeletons from," Gab murmured as he slowly let go of Evie''s hand and walked closer to the skeletons.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "The skeletons seem to be several hundred years old because they look really fragile," Luke commented while briefly touching one with his spearhead. "I wouldn''t do it if I were you," Alex commented while walking to a stone tablet. "To our descendants, we hope you have better luck than us and hope you respect the dead. May you find your freedom or your peace," Alex read from the dusty inscription.


    Alex resumed walking through the skeletal rubble and approached a skeleton sitting on a throne made of others of his kind. "Okay, that''s weird," Luke commented. Hanging from his throne was a giant sword while he held a golden scepter with his hand. His skeleton was silver this time and in his eye sockets were a blue and a red gem.


    Alex, who was approaching the skeleton, suddenly read aloud: "Kneel before me and pray for forgiveness, for...," before Alex could continue reading, his loud painful groaning could be heard echoing through the cave. The group all aimed at the skeleton, while Alex twitched ceaselessly on the ground.


    A slight tremor could be felt and the rest of the group members began to shake. The breaking of Alex''s bones and a deep, piercing laugh echoed throughout the room.


    With each passing second, the remaining group members found it more and more difficult to breathe. After a few seconds, they collapsed down on their knees. Their kittens, however, seemed unaffected by the pressure. After thirty seconds, the group heard a foreign voice from Alex say, " This body is not bad. I''ve seen a thousand better bodies, but I can live with this one temporarily." Alex stood in front of them and stretched as more breaking of bones was heard. "So much better said," he while reaching for Alex''s kitten. "Shit," whispered Gab who was lying on the ground and slowly felt Evie''s handgrip. At the same time, you could see the skeleton from the throne slowly being sucked into Alex''s body. As the group watched the action with dismay, Alex slowly sat down on the throne.


    "Hand me my scepter," Alex said in a calm voice while petting his kitten, which seemed to be terrified. As if ordered, one of the skeletons started moving and handed him his scepter. "Good, Good, Good," he laughed loudly and said softly, "Who is my good kitty," while tickling it with his fingers.


    "What did you do to Alex," Luke asked as he raised his crossbow slowly with great effort.


    "So that was the owner''s name. A fitting name for such a noble character. My condolences to him that he of all people must end up as my vassal. But rest assured, noble soul. I will fulfill your wishes so that you will accept my power over you without remorse," the voice replied.


    "Give us Alex back," Luke stammered and pulled the trigger. The arrow shot at Alex before it was stopped by Alex''s finger.


    "Luke, please stop," a familiar voice was heard from Alex''s body.


    "As you can see, Alex''s soul is still alive. My subject better follows his word before you end up as my example," said the deep voice. "My lord, what shall we call you," Evie asked tremblingly while squeezing Gab''s hand tightly.


    " I have not uttered my name for centuries. But your new lord''s name is Odebus," Odebus said as he continued to play with his kitten. "Time for me to pay you for your tributes: Alex, my physical vassals and the "innocent kitten" reward you," shouted

 23. Strength does not come for free

    "My name is Odebus, and I''m the guardian of the lower levels. It''s been a few centuries since the last time I''ve woken up. Only when a suitable vessel appears in front of my place can I be awoken. My task is to intervene when the despair in the lower corridors rises to excessive levels. Before we take care of the problem, I will reward you for awakening me," Odebus announced while scratching his head with his scepter.


    Evie whispered to Gab, "Well, I''ve imagined our new lord to be a lot more refined and elegant." " As long as he helps us fight the plague, I''m fine with him," Gab replied with a smile.


    "After his help with cleaning the lower levels, we will worry about how to get Alex back," Evie whispered. "I can hear all of you," the cold voice on the throne replied. "So each of you has a wish I''m going to grant. The only wish I''m unable to grant you is the wish for freedom. For that, you must come to the tenth level," Odebus announced.


    Luke was the first to answer, "I want Alex back." "That''s a wish I can''t grant you, unfortunately. He will, of course, get more control over his body after we fix the problem. What''s your next wish," Odebus sighed.


    "Well, tell me if my siblings are still alive," Luke asked. "A few of them are alive. Take this. You should be able to find them with it," Odebus replied as he threw a bone compass at him. "Thank you," Luke replied excitedly.


    "What is your wish," asked the protector while turning to Evie. "Give us the power that is equal to mages," Evie replied with a smile.  "You are also a smart one. I will grant you the wish only under one condition. As long as Gab renounces his wish, I will fulfill yours," Odebus answered with a grin as he pointed his staff at Gab.


    "Gab, this wish should help us the most in surviving. I hope you agree with it," Evie asked him with a smile. "I accept your condition," Gab answered back.


    "Great. I hope this is satisfying enough," Odebus remarked, and his staff began to glow.


    Suddenly the ground began to shake. Furthermore, all the skeletons rose to their feet and started walking towards the group. "Odebus, this was not part of our wish," Luke yelled in distress. "Are you sure? You wanted strength, and you are getting it," Odebus stated with a smile.


    "I''ve always wondered which road is the stronger one. Luke, I''m giving you the power of the bones. May you absorb them and obtain the most sturdy skeleton. Evie, I shall give you the power of the flesh. Consume meat to receive the strength of it. And you Gab will receive two ways since you have renounced your desire. Consume blood to become stronger and consume the despair in the air to withstand it," Odebus announced.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    The skeletons reached for Luke, who was still struggling. In the end, Luke lost, and the skeletons forced their bones down his throat and forced them to break.


    Luke''s eyes were full of tears as his jaws were opened and closed against his will. It didn''t take long for him to lose some of his teeth. "Help, it hurts so much," Luke whispered seconds before the next bone was shoved down his throat.


    "A painful view but only through suffering will you become stronger," Odebus stated with a smile as he stabbed his scepter into Luke''s right rib cage. Instead of blood coming out, the skulls of skeletons were sucked in there, and bone splinters stuck out of Luke''s chest. After a short time, these were slowly smoothed out and formed a seal.


    "Now to you," Odebus turned and pointed his staff at Gab. "No, please don''t," Gab whispered back, and all the despair from the air flew in his direction. It started to bore into his body. "Only by fighting it will you become stronger," Odebus whispered to him. Gab, meanwhile, was lying on the ground with his eyes and mouth wide open as if he were still silently screaming.


    "What did you do to him," Evie screeched, aiming his crossbow at Odebius. "I just wanted us to become stronger. I never wanted them to suffer so much because of me," she tearfully uttered as she pulled the trigger.


    Odebus ignored Evie and stabbed Gab''s chest with his staff, and despair began to settle in Gab''s heart. After a few seconds, the wound closed there as well. On Gab''s chest, a black seal formed.


    Evie''s arrow stopped a few inches from Odebus. "Now for you," he replied, and her arrow fired back at Evie, piercing her chest."


    "Oh, those kids had it coming to them. They wished for strength but weren''t willing to pay for it," muttered Odebus and also poked in her chest his staff. "Skeletons. carries my subjects," he shouted, and skeletons climbed out of the ground. "It''s time we started taking care of the problem. Which of the monsters is building trouble this time," he muttered to himself, taking all the kittens from the party members. The kittens were not too pleased to be touched by a stranger and hissed. "Who''s my sweet little kitten? It''s you," could be heard echoing through the corridors as a group of skeletons made their way up.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    On Az''s body, on the other hand, blood was everywhere. Meanwhile, he could fight well with a spear and used it against several smaller monster species such as wild cats and wild boars. In front of Az laid a pile of bones from different animals he hunted earlier the past days. After muttering the spell [Bone Armor], it took a few moments for Az to be completely encased in bones. Sure, fighting with armor is awkward and hinders your mobility, but in the end, if you''re planning to fight something outside of your weight class, it''s probably a wiser choice to wear one.

 24. You damn idiot

    At the edge of the forest, which bordered a forest meadow, Az stood in the armor of bones. He held his bow with his left hand while slowly pulling an arrow out of his quiver with his right hand. A group of cattle was grazing at a distance of fewer than 50 meters from him, and Az target was one of them. He pulled the string of his bow slowly to the end while taking a deep breath of fresh air.  His heart was beating in his throat from the excitement he was about to experience. Not even a moment later, the arrow shot from his bow and hit one of the muscular bovines grazing in peace on the chest. He mooed loudly and slowly ran in Az''s direction, who calmly drew the next arrow from the quiver and fired it. Az was aiming for the head, but this time he hit one of the thighs.


    "Well, it looks like I have to practice aiming," Az commented and shot a third arrow, but it missed the bull. The bull was now less than 20 meters away, and Az put his bow quickly away and reached for his spear. "Shit, I better not get hit. He''s quite fast," went through Az''s head before he decided to run.


    Az could be seen running through the forest while being followed by a bull running after him.


    Three skeletons watched the action amused on the trees. Each of them held a weapon in their hands, ready to jump in if Az ended up in mortal danger.


    "I hope our young lord realizes he can''t outrun a bull," Otaz commented while a scythe leaned against his shoulder. Simaev, holding a tense bow and aiming at the bull, only replied, "I bet you 100 gold coins we have to jump in." "Well then, I''ll bet you 100 gold coins that we don''t have to," Otaz replied. "You both know we don''t have 100 gold coins," the two heard Ogron reply.


    "Didn''t we forbid him to use magic spells of any kind," Ogron commented? "If I remember correctly, yes. Well, it''s only a defensive spell anyway. Maybe he wanted to get closer to us with such a funny outfit," Simaev replied. "Now that I think about it, the armor only hinders his running," Otaz interjected.


    "Shit, shit," screeched Az, who could almost feel the breath of the angry bull on his neck. Unfortunately for him, he was hit by the bull and thrown into the air. In mid-air, he landed crashing on a tree two meters above the ground. "Urgh, that hurts. I certainly broke a few bones with it," Az muttered as he laid on a branch.  The bull ran into the tree and the tree shook at regular intervals.


    Az positioned himself and just whispered the spell [rot] {verrote} and the tip of his spear lit up black.


    After casting the spell, Az jumped down and stabbed the bull''s back with his spear. The bull cried out in pain and threw him off his back.  Az, holding on to the spear, heard the breaking of the spear before the bull''s horns bore against his chest. His armor absorbed the blow, but you could see how his armor was breaking more and more. Az was thrown into the air by the bull one more time.  But this time Az heard a shot whistle that pierced the bull''s skull.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Eyy I almost killed him," he cursed loudly in the direction. "The only thing you almost killed was yourself," Az heard Ogron comment behind him. "Az, my lord next time you will surely defeat it. For now, we should take care of your injuries," Otaz said to comfort him.


    "I''m fine," Az interjected. "I''m sure you are," Otaz replied, poking Az, who immediately cried out in pain. "See? And now take off your fancy armor," Otaz commented, already holding a first aid kit in his hand.


    From a distance, three men could be heard talking to each other. "Is a damn skeleton just using a first aid kit on a simple mage apprentice? How the hell did a mage''s apprentice get such a high-ranking skeleton," commented one of the men whom we will call number 1.


    "Maybe he''s the son of a noble household that specialized in necromancer magic for generations," number 2 interjected.


    "Guys, I think we can sell such information for a great price to a mage who focuses in the field of necromancer magic," replied number 3 excitedly.  "Yeah, you''re right. You better go ahead and notify our employer, who is also a mage or something. Me and number 2 will keep watching the group," replied man number 1.


    The two continued to watch the group of skeletons. "Let''s kidnap their master. Then maybe they''ll listen to us," whispered number 2. Number 1 nodded, and the two crept closer to the group.


    The two continued to watch the group of skeletons. "Let''s kidnap their master. Maybe then they will listen to us," whispered number 2. Man number 1 nodded and the two crept closer to the group.


    Not ten meters from the group, the two heard arrows flying at them, which nailed them to trees. The two cried out in pain. "Well, well, well who do we have here," Ogron commented as he pressed his spear against the neck of one of the men. "Please don''t do this to us," number 1 replied, weeping as blood gushed from the wound in his shoulder. "We are innocent," Number 2 interjected. "I will decide your innocence, not you," Ogron commented, stabbing Number 1 in the upper arm.


    "Why did you approach us secretly," interjected Simaev who was ready to fire another arrow at any time.


    "Out of fear," replied number 1. Ogron, who was getting impatient, stated: "last chance, or you die."


    "What''s happening," asked Az, who was lying on the ground. "Nothing, nothing," replied Otaz in a hurry.


    Number 1 didn''t seem to answer, and Ogron said: "If that''s the way you want it, I''ll do it." Within a second, Ogron''s spear could be seen piercing Number 1''s upper body several times. Number 1 couldn''t even cry out in pain before he died. The only thing you saw was a man with more holes than a Swiss cheese and blood slowly pouring out of his holes.


    "Let''s move on to you," Ogron replied with a grin as he turned to number 2, who was so scared that he peed his pants. "God please protect me," number 2 stuttered.


    "God will definitely not be on your side. Talk or you''ll end up like your dead comrade," Ogron interjected. "All right. We wanted to kidnap the boy so we could control you," Number 2 replied. "So that''s how it is. Any last words?" commented Ogron while resting his spear against his shoulder. "Can you let me live?" asked number 2. "No," replied Ogron coldly while piercing his heart. Number 2 spat out blood and reached for the spear. "I can''t die, I have children," he whispered softly as the power left his body. "And I must protect my master," Ogron commented before pulling out his spear.


    "We''re leaving right now. We can''t stay here anymore. Pack up the meat," shouted Ogron to Az. "Ehm, as for the meat," muttered Az pointing at the rotting bull. "I''m sorry. I think the spell was the wrong decision," said Az, who was getting quieter and quieter as he spoke.


    "You damned idiot. Well, no meat for you," commented Ogron. "Use its bones for your armor if you want," Ogron added quickly.

 25. Look at me, I got obese within a day

    A group of skeletons followed Odebus through the deep cavernous passages of the tower. Gab, Luke, and Evie were carried by a group of skeletons.


    "As long as the group remains asleep, I will take care of the First Floor," Odebus muttered as he swung his staff.


    The dead, buried for several centuries, rose from the ground and followed Odebus'' command. The group moved closer and closer to the first corridor, and it didn''t take long for them to encounter the pile of rotting human flesh and conches.


    "I didn''t imagine the entrance to be so desperate. Well, it''s about time we took care of that problem," Odebus muttered.


    "Wait, let their flesh and blood be used for the other two," he said with a wry grin.


    Not a moment later, the flesh separated from the bones of the skeletons, and the blood separated from the rest. Odebus pointed his staff only at the three fainting ones, and to Gab flew the blood of countless innocent dead. This bored into Gab''s body, and Gab swelled more and more. Flesh flew to Evie and drilled into her body through her throat.


    If you saw the three children at the moment, you would think they were monsters instead of people. "What the children don''t know is that if they can''t withstand the emotions and suffering of the dead, they end up as their victims," Odebus murmured with a smile. It wasn''t long before the pile of flesh and bones was emptied to its last crumbs, and only three very overweight monsters were left on the ground. A black oily mass flowed out of each of the three victims'' orifices.


    It was not long before the first screams of mutants could be heard.


    For a brief moment, a familiar voice was heard sobbing, "I''m sorry. I should never have signed a contract with the guardian of the tower. I thought I could outsmart him, but in the end, I probably got outsmarted."


    Alex never informed the rest of the group that he signed a mental contract with Odebus. After he approached the sleeping guardian.


    The contract consisted of a couple of things. Alex will hand his right to physical self-determination to Odebus as long as he remained in the tower. As a reward, Alex will get the chance to leave the tower alive with new strength.


    "Oh, I see. It seems like you noticed that the rest of your group will end up as your sacrifices for your strength. You, my dear, will get the right to see them grow stronger. I, or rather you, will execute them one day. You should have formulated a better contract. After all, I''m one of the guardians of the tower," Odebus chuckled.


    "You miserable monster," Alex screeched, but none of his words left Odebu''s body.


    "You seem to have forgotten that you no longer have bodily self-determination," Odebus commented.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Well, it''s time we took care of the wretched creatures that plague this tum," Odebus commented before sending his skeleton forward to fight the group of mutants.


    "Fight my subject and bring me victory. We want to give your kind the right to keep their freedom," Odebus shouted loudly to wake up and motivate the sleeping souls of the skeletons.


    The group of unarmed skeletons ran against the group of ten mutants. The mutants destroyed them with a few blows. Since neither Odebus subjects nor the mutants were smart enough to use any battle tactics, it didn''t take long for the skeletons to overwhelm the group of mutants. The mutants were surrounded by the Odebus subjects, and it didn''t take before they were killed slowly. The skeletons slowly stripped the mutants from their flesh.


    The caves were filled with the agonizing screams of the mutants, who long may have stopped being human but never lost the ability to feel pain.


    Odebus watched the fight with amusement. The blood that got spilled slowly flowed in his direction before dripping into the goblet he held with his right hand.


    Only after the goblet was filled did he sip it. After taking his first sip he muttered: "May the rest of the spilled blood be yours, Gab," while pointing his Goblet and the sleeping Gab.


    A few hours later, the rest of the group woke up. Gab groaned loudly in pain: "Why did I get so fat, and why did I wet my pants?"


    Gab''s body seethed from all the blood that was pumped into him. More blood was pumped into him than he could handle, which is why he was still fat at the moment.


    "Funny. I''ve gotten fatter but faster at the same time," Gab muttered as he moved. The only thing you could see was a ball running.


    "Luke looked like a ball with spikes sticking out of it. I''d rather not touch him. Evie, on the other hand, unfortunately, also got fat. She''s certainly fatter than I am," went through Gab''s head.


    He heard Odebus, who was again sitting on a throne and drinking from a goblet, say, "Another one woke up.


    "Of course, my lord," Gab replied while kneeling on one leg. Odebus nodded before saying, "I expect you to clean the entire first floor. I''ll give you three a day. I hope you don''t disappoint me."


    The other two fatties also immediately knelt down on one leg and agreed. "Time to go, Alex, ehm, I meant Odebus, of course," Luke replied with a smile. The group slowly walked into the cave while Alex continued to sip from his goblet.


    "How does it feel to watch your motivated friends leaving for a fight while being the only one to know the fate that awaits them," Odebus murmured with a smile.


    "Shut the fuck up," Alex tried to say, but no words came out of his mouth. The only thing you could see was a tear rolling down Alex''s face.


    "I could have sworn that I didn''t give your body the permission to cry," Odebus muttered.


    The three fat ones no longer fit side by side in one tunnel. "Luke, you go first," Gab cursed. "Why me? You go first," Luke threw back.


    "Because you''re a fat bowling ball with spikes," Gab retorted as he crouched against one of the bones protruding from Luke''s body. "Alright," Luke conceded and began marching forward.


    "I hope we''ll end up skinny again soon. I''ll never be able to marry anyone if I continue to look like this in the future," Evie commented, and the rest laughed.


    "To be honest, I stopped caring about such silly things. I just hope we survive and manage to get Alex back in control of his body," Gab commented. "Me too man, me too man," commented Luke.


    Evie slowly reached for Gab''s hand and lightly pressed her body against his.


    "Evie, stop that. You are way too heavy," Gab uttered in exasperation.


    "Then get stronger so you can carry this noblewoman the way Luke gets carried by skeletons," Evie commented.


    "You do realize I would die if I tried that," Gab chuckled before whispering to her, "thanks for cheering me up."


    "Always, my dear," she replied back.

 26. From fat to thin to fat again

    It took them three hours for the group made of three overweight teenagers to find their first mutant victims.


    Within the three hours, the group of three lost weight and now looked like three ordinary overweight teenagers. At the same time, you could see the first changes.


    Luke was now able to control the bones he had absorbed earlier. Even though his control was primitive, he was still capable of growing a pointed stable bone through his hand. At the same time, he was able to encase his body in bones. Evie, on the other hand, was only getting physically stronger. Gab, on the other hand, only became a bit more agile.


    The mutants no longer looked like humans. Their former white skin was now slightly yellow, with several blue and red swellings all over the body.


    They seemed to have a small amount of fat on their bodies because their muscles and pulsating veins could be seen very clearly from a distance.


    Most of them possessed a third eye on their forehead, which was closed.


    On some of them, you could see mutations, like the development of another arm or two, which were still in primitive stages. Others had a strange tail that dragged on the ground while they ran. Others of them had large pieces of skin hanging off their arms.


    In any case, it was not a pretty sight.


    "How should we continue," whispered Gab to the rest as he looked at the group of twenty mutants. "Maybe we should attack them immediately," replied Luke. "No, we don''t even know how much our strength has grown," replied Gab, before stating: "Let''s use the same tactics Alex would have used in such a situation." "And they are," asked Luke, annoyed. "First, we will attack with our crossbows. After they start to run at us, we will disperse. After that, you can try to fight them directly. But remember, they aren''t the brightest. If we don''t allow them to overrun any of us, we should be able to beat them." Evie nodded, and all of them reloaded their crossbows.


    All of them aimed at the mutants who were minding their own business, and only after Gab whispered: "Fire," did the group shot. Two of the mutants fell down after the arrows bored through their heads.


    The mutants started screaming out loud before immediately looking at the group. "Reload," commanded Gab before shouting fire again.


    The mutants started running, and Gab just shouted, "Disperse." Everyone listened to his command. Gab, himself ran to the right side and continued to load his crossbow. "I should be able to shoot another time till they reach me," went through Gab''s head. A group of four mutants was already running with loud screeches after Gab. He fired and hit one of them in the chest. Unfortunately, it didn''t seem to stop the mutant from running. " Screw it. My ax should be enough," Gab thought and packed it up in a hurry while running.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Luke, on the other hand, ran directly at the group of skeletons. He stabbed a bone through the neck of one of the mutants. His bone armor protected him from these filthy animals, who couldn''t even touch him.


    He simply ignored the mutants while slowly reaching out for one mutant at the time before stabbing them with his bones. Sure, the mutants tore off a few bones of his armor, but Luke cut off their head one at a time since he was only fighting a lot of mutants at once.


    Evie, on the other hand, killed two more mutants while running with her crossbow. When only three more mutants remained at the end, she switched to her sword and shield. The first thing she did was throw one of the mutants away after blocking his attempt while at the same time swinging her sword. Each of her strokes was strong enough to chop a limb at a time. While fighting, she slowly grew fond of her new powers and enjoyed slowly torturing the mutants, cutting all of their limbs before ending their misery.


    Only Gab seemed to struggle a bit since he was the one whose buff was negligible at worst. Of course, he became faster, but he has now reached the level where he can keep up with the mutants who appear to be inexhaustible.


    After pulling out his ax and shield, Gab swung the ax backward, regularly hitting some mutants. Luke, sitting on a pile of dead mutants, aimed at one of the mutants running behind Gab. "Gab, hurry up," Luke shouted, yawning, as he hit one in the neck, which toppled over even though he, unfortunately, didn''t stab it. "I''ll do my best, and thanks, Luke," Gab called back, swinging his ax full force at one of the mutants. His blow was strong enough to separate his skull from his torso.


    "Finally. Only three left," Gab muttered as he blocked the next mutant''s attack with his shield. After blocking, he struck again, but his blow only drilled deep into his shoulder. Gab forgot that he was up against three and not in a one versus one fight. "Shit," went through Gab''s head as he felt hands grabbing his body. The nails of these monsters were digging into Gab''s flesh, and he began to desperately strike with his ax to no avail. He managed to kill another one. Unfortunately, he fell to the ground as he tried to run away. Evie and Luke, fortunately, shot down the two other mutants that pounced on him.


    "Thank you," Gab breathed out loud while his body was covered in scratches. Evie ran up to Gab to check on him immediately. "I thought for a moment we were going to lose you," Evie muttered. "I''m not going to die that quickly," Gab replied with a smile. "Boy, you almost died right in front of us," Luke interjected aloud. "Whatever. Let''s take care of the dead mutants," Evie interjected and the two just nodded. It only took a little while for the three to absorb either blood, bones, or their flesh. After doing that, three fat people could be seen.


    "This is so gross," Evie cursed before interjecting: "It just tastes like rotten meat." Gab just nodded in response. "Well, it doesn''t taste like anything to me," Luke replied while scratching his skull with one of the bones. "That''s because you only ingest bones," Gab and Evie interjected in chorus.


    "Yes, you''re right. By the way, Gab, I hope you''re on our level soon. It won''t be possible for us to look after you the whole time. You''re not only putting yourself at risk but also us," Luke commented coldly.


    Gab just looked to the side out of shame before muttering, "Don''t worry. I don''t plan on staying weak for long." Evie, on the other hand, gently grabbed Gab''s hand while whispering in his ear, "I''ll gladly protect you." "Thank you. I appreciate it a lot that you are willing to go so far," Gab replied softly, as he smiled at her.


    Evie just giggled before saying, "We should take care of your wounds for a minute so they don''t get infected." In the end, all you could hear was Gab''s loud shrieking and the giggles of the others as they rubbed alcohol on his wounds.

 27. Consuming Mutants till were full

    "Time to move on," Luke commented, and the group followed. "Do you think we''ll even be able to clean the first hallway in time?" asked Gab. "I doubt it. But we can still try our best," Evie replied, and Luke nodded in agreement.


    "Let''s take a little break our bodies need to digest after all," Luke muttered.


    Thirty minutes later, the group resumed. Meanwhile, the group of three looked like regular people again, if you ignore that one of them was wearing an armor made of bones. "This constant gaining weight and losing it won''t do our bodies and skin any good in the long run," Gab commented while pointing to stretch marks on his body. "Yeah, you''re right. I think it''s going to get a lot worse, with flaps of skin hanging off our bodies," Luke replied.


    "Well, never mind now. We can talk about beauty some other time," Evie interjected with a smile while squeezing Gab''s hand lightly. Gab began to notice how his reaction speed had improved quite a bit and that he was also about another 10% faster than he was this morning.


    With crossbows loaded, they now moved on. It continued to drip from the cave ceilings, but the group only followed the screams of the mutants. Once there, they saw a group of 10 humans against 40 mutants slowly being overwhelmed. Gab and Evie fired while Luke ran in with his bone armor like a rugby player in hopes of stopping the mutants'' momentum.


    It seemed to work since it did not take long for half of the mutants to run behind him at once. But instead of Luke moving further away from the group, he ran towards the rest of his group members.


    "Luke no," Gab cursed loudly while he and Evie fired their third rounds. Meanwhile, Gab was also hitting the heads of mutants, at least when they were standing still.


    Evie just smiled after seeing Gab''s reaction and grabbed her sword and shield. Gab followed her and ran towards the hatch.


    The goal was to separate the mutants'' attention from Luke. They wanted to achieve this by running to the left and right sides of Luke to force the mutants to split further. Of course, it''s a stupid idea at least for Gab, the weakest member of the group. But this is the only way to give Luke and the remaining survivors of the human group the chance to survive.


    In the meantime, the group members had decorated the edges of their signs with blades during their breaks. Useful if one had to hit something with a shield.


    Gab, who ran from the right side, swung his shield regularly against the head of some mutants. This only caused more chaos as the mutants simply overran the falling ones and had to dodge to the right or left. Evie, on the other hand, took a more aggressive approach. She swung her sword by 180 degrees regularly, severing the heads of several mutants, with each swung she took.


    Luke, on the other hand, stopped abruptly. This action resulted in him getting surrounded by the mutants, who only reached for him. Evie screamed: all of a sudden, "Luke, what are you doing," while getting more and more aggressive with her slashes in hopes of getting Luke out of there.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    Gab helped Evie and struck more aggressively with his ax at the mutants while at the same time dodging them when they reached for him.


    However, less than a moment later, sharp bones were seen shooting out of Luke''s body, piercing all the mutants in his vicinity. Gab and Evie, on the other hand, only saw a white three with dead mutants hanging from their branches.


    "He''s fine, thank goodness," Gab muttered before he resumed striking at the mutants. Due to the actions of the group member, there were only eight mutants left harassing them.


    Evie was like a Valkyrie on the battlefield, slashing her sword in a literal 360-degree turn. Gab, who was distracted by this for a moment, could only say, "She''s a dangerous girl," before turning his attention to the rest of the mutants.


    After the group was done with their mutants, they laid down to absorb them. "I''m almost jealous of your abilities. You''re so strong while I don''t even really notice my abilities," Gab commented dejectedly as the blood from all the dead flowed in his direction.


    "Well, even if you didn''t notice, you''ve definitely gotten faster. Of course, you see that we are so strong, but you forget that Evie and I have months of experience here compared to you. Remember you are quite good for a newbie with only a few days of experience. If you get to our levels you will be also better at using your improved agility by a lot," Luke commented.


    The rest of the humans were able to deal with the mutants on their side. They fought in a much more disciplined manner and in groups of three. Gab, who was only watching these groups of humans from afar, thought that as long as the humans were using such tactics, it was only a matter of time before they took over the first floor.


    Less than ten minutes later, the other group of people had finished with their mutants, and two child soldiers ran in their direction dressed in armor to inquire about the group of three.


    "Thank you for coming to our aid. Without you, we would have suffered great losses today. If you need anything, please let us know," one of them said.


    Gab looked tiredly at the group and asked, "Do you need the dead mutants? If no, we would like to claim them for ourselves." The two soldiers looked at each other briefly before the other replied, "Of course you can claim them. We prefer it if guys can get rid of them since then the rest of the mutants will have trouble finding us." "Good, that pleases us," Luke replied, and the group stood up.


    The group of three slowly moved to the rest of the people, and it looked like there used to be 20 of them.


    Most of the survivors had only minor wounds if any. One saw how each of them wore good armor with the same crest on the right chest. Furthermore, a banner hung on a pole next to a big tent. Gab noticed how the behavior of Evie and Luke suddenly changed, and they knelt down to a young girl of their age who was cleaning her sword on a chair.


    "Why are you kneeling? You are not one of my men," the woman''s voice answered coldly. "We belong to the same kingdom, so it is our duty to pay our respects to the ruling family," Luke replied.


    "I am pleased that you have not forgotten your roots even in such a place. But I am not the person you think I am, but I should still thank you for your help. I remain in your debt even if you only want the dead mutants," the girl stated as she stared at each of the three for a moment. Gab felt a cold shiver down his spine as he stared briefly at her golden eyes. "You''ve got balls to look someone from the royal family directly in the eyes," she commented coldly. Evie immediately pulled Gab''s head down, and Gab''s head hit the ground. "He''s sorry," Luke answered sternly. "I forgive such actions. I am not a princess of this tower," she remarked dryly.

 28. The mistress

    It took a few minutes later for the group of three to sit outside the others. The remaining soldiers were kind enough to carry all the dead mutants to them.


    After the group sat silently on the ground to begin absorbing, Luke whispered: "Gab, are you retarded? Haven''t you noticed that she is a member of the royal family? Haven''t you been told how dangerous they can be?"


    Gab flinched at his questions. In the end, he dared to ask: "We have a royal family in this country?" Evie and Luke just looked at each other speechless for a brief moment before they both sighed. It took a few moments for Evie to just ask: "Were you serious about that just now?"


    Gab replied quietly: "Yes. I just knew we were paying taxes to the country. But I thought we were paying it to the mages."


    "Well, that explains a lot. Well, remember. Whenever you see this emblem, you have to pay respect to the person. Actually, you don''t have to, but it''s always better if you do it. We never know how moody such a person can be," Luke stated and Gab swallowed. "Never look such a person directly in the eye. Stronger as well as more influential people can see it as: ["We are on equal footing."]," Evie interjected while making gestures.


    "I''m sorry. I didn''t know it and thank you for stepping in," were the only words that left Gab''s mouth. "It''s okay. I was just afraid for a moment that she was going to execute you for saying that," Evie whispered to Gab while briefly squeezing his hand. "Don''t worry, I''ll survive," Gab responded with a smile.


    Luke, who was watching the two, said, "Well, bon app¨¦tit." The two returned and began absorbing.


    From a distance, a girl sitting on a raised chair was watching the group of three teenagers.


    One of the soldiers at her side, wearing blue armor, remarked: "Such barbarians," while aiming with his loaded bow at Gab. "Mistress should I fire at him for disrespecting you," the soldier asked. "No. It looks like he has no idea who I am," she replied, shaking her head. "Okay, that''s funny," he replied with a chuckle.


    "Never mind. We should keep an eye on the three of them. Their actions scream that we should kill them, but they could be useful. We should wait before killing them," the girl commented, and the man pulled down his bow.


    "As my mistress wishes," he replied and bowed.


    All the blood flowed in Gab''s direction and got absorbed by the tattoo on his chest. Meanwhile, Gab noticed how the rune tattoo was changing more and more. "I don''t know if this is supposed to be a good sign or a bad sign," went through his mind. "Anyway, I should focus on absorbing. Let''s see how much stronger it makes me this time," Gab muttered to himself. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    It took Gab a few hours to finish absorbing everything. By now, he had absorbed the blood of about fifty mutants. "I definitely got faster, but I would estimate that I''m around 30% faster compared to before absorbing them," Gab told the others. Luke, who eagerly listened to Gab, was flexing his armor again.


    Gab noticed that as the number of absorbed mutants increased, so did the complexity of his armor. The bones of the armor seemed to be more robust, not only in the way they encased his body but also in the bones themselves. It also seemed as if the gaps in Luke''s armor also became smaller to nonexistent.


    The color of the bones only became paler. Luke literally glowed slightly in the dark. Furthermore, Luke also created a bone lance with sharp hooks so that no one could escape from him.


    "Luke, you are the last person I wish to fight," Gab commented, and Luke just laughed. "What good is my armor if I can''t even touch our lightning boy anytime soon," he remarked back.  Gab and Evie had to chuckle at his answer.


    Evie, on the other hand, became more muscular, while also becoming more beautiful. But one thing is for sure. In arm wrestling, only Evie can win.


    "It looks as if our bodies got better with absorbing biological masses," Evie said. "You''re right. Compared to the last two times, we''ve gained less weight," Luke agreed.


    From a distance, the girl only commented, " They really absorbed all the mutants. What do you think they are?" The soldier in blue armor only replied, "I only know that their characteristic makes them less human. I think the tower took pity on them and gave them this ability. Oh look they are coming towards us."


    20 seconds later, the group of three came back and bowed slightly. The girl nodded only to show them to stand up. "What is your plan," she asked while sipping water from a goblet. "Mistress our plan is to clean the first floor of mutant scum. We also want to unite the remaining human groups under our lord," Luke said as nicely as possible. "A noble goal indeed. I admire your selflessness," she commented. "Thank you," the three replied in unison. "Who is this lord you just spoke of," she asked out of curiosity. "It is Odebus. The guardian of the lower floors," Luke told them without hiding anything.


    "Well, well, well, the Guardians seem to be starting to take care of this huge problem.  Well, I wish you good luck. My troops and I are also planning to clean the first floor. I wish you good luck and accept this emblem as my thanks. I doubt how many people in the tunnel will respect this emblem, but maybe it will help you later," she said. The soldier in blue armor handed each of the three an emblem with the sign of the royal family. "Do you actually need anything else," he asked before the group could say goodbye. "No thanks we don''t..." Before Evie could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by Gab. "Your Majesty, I''m sorry, but could you donate us some quivers of arrows if it is possible," Gab asked. Luke looked at Gab in horror for a moment.


    "All right, then. Consider it a small investment," the girl stated with a sigh. "Thanks, you mistress," Gab said before dropping to his knees in gratitude.

 29. only vacation? I want more than that

    Luz, on the other hand, woke up later in a hospital bed. The first thing Luz saw was him being connected to several machines. These hummed and beamed all the time. Luz tried to come to himself. After remaining silent for a few minutes, he stretched out his arm. This action hurt him. "Time to pull these plugs out," Luz muttered as he reached for the tubes on his arm.


    "No, no, no. Stay still, Luz," called Master Simon, who immediately rushed to Luz. "My body hurts," Luz groaned loudly."Understandable because your body, as well as your parasites, have both risen a rank," commented Jodoc, who flew from Master Simon''s shoulder to Luz''s.


    Master Simon, on the other hand, tore open the curtains, which had mage diagrams on them as patterns.


    "My eyes. How long have I been asleep?" asked Luz, covering his eyes as the sunlight blinded him too much. "Does my beauty blind you," Simon asked back with a smile? "No, but it rather convinces me that I am heterosexual," Luz answered with a chuckle. "You despicable one," Master Simon replied, reaching for Luz''s cheeks. "Help me, Master Brian. Master Simon wants to use me as a guinea pig again," Luz cried while laughing.


    "I''m totally going to use you as a guinea pig again. Regarding your previous question, you were unconscious for two days," Master Simon replied as he continued to stare at the measurement data.


    "Luz, your body is just weird. For whatever reason, the mana pumping through your body seems far too pure compared to others at your level. At the same time, our readings have shown that strong impulses are shooting through your mana core to other parts of your body. The communications between your parasites seem to be getting stronger. Furthermore, we have taken samples from some of your cells, and the parasites do not resemble others of their kind," Master Simon told.


    "What do you mean by that last sentence," Luz asked, puzzled."We gave you decentralized parasites, but the parasites in your body seem to be centralized, with different characteristics depending on the place of the taken cells," Master Simon explained to him with excitement.


    "Please stop taking my body under the magnifying glass. I am not your guinea pig," Luz sighed. Master Simon only replied, "Oh yes, you are, little one. You are my guinea pig. Be glad that I found you and not some medical institute. They would give me enough resources to reach the next mage rank if I sold you."


    "Thank you. Okay, but what rank am I now?" asked Luz. "Now, you are a beginner mage. So rank 0," Master Simon replied. "Huh, what was I before that," Luz asked with a confused look. "Not a recognized mage, my dear. Anyway, the books I gave you should be enough for the beginner level. The important thing is that you continue to improve your control of mana because that will be very useful," Simon told him.


    "I''ll get to it tonight," Luz said excitedly.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "No. You''re supposed to rest today. Master Brian thinks I should reward you for being a mage now. Well, your reward shall be a week''s vacation," Simon said while taking notes. "That''s it," Luz asked. "Yes. Well, I might give you some spare money after you continued working under me," Master Simon answered with an awkward smile.


    "Meh, you are as stingy as ever," stated Luz. "Listen here, you little shit. Saving your life already cost me a fortune. Let''s say that it was your reward," remarked Master Simon while looking for the receipt.


    "Thank you for saving me a few days ago," Luz replied, embarrassed. "I would gladly do it again since you are my most valuable research subject," Simon replied. "It seems like we are still a long distance away from a Master and apprentice bond," Luz remarked with a sight. "Well, a master guinea pig binding is not so bad either," commented Master Simon.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    Az troop of three skeletons ran through the small town. Meanwhile, people kept their distance from them out of fear. Instead, some watch the four from afar. Az, as well as his followers, were not dressed on the level of the nobility. But compared to the everyday citizen, they were dressed above average.


    "Ogron, where are we going?" asked Az, hiding his face under a hood. "We wanted to take you to one of the doctors in the village," Ogron whispered in Az''s ear. Az nodded, and it wasn''t long before the three of them entered a hut on the outskirts of the town.


    "Why are you here," called an old voice. "Ehm, is there a doctor here? Am I in the right place," Az stuttered at the sight of all the animal heads decorating the wall? "Of course, you''re in the right place if you''re looking for a doctor. But my services are not cheap little man," the voice called, and a figure smaller than Az opened a curtain. "A monster," Az shouted at the sight of the person as he jumped into Simaev''s arms. The person standing in front of them looked very old, with scars all over his face. Her face was not symmetrical, and it looked as if her right face was a few inches above her left. Her skin seemed all dried out, and flaps of skin hung from her bony arms. In summary, not a pretty view.


    "Well, well, well. Monster, you say," the old one said while reaching out for a cane. "I''LL SHOW YOU WHAT A MONSTER YOU ARE, RESPECTLESS CHILD," she shouted while going after Az. "Ogron, should we jump in," Otaz asked quietly. "No. Let him deal with the situation himself," Ogron replied.


    The old lady hit Az a few times on the head, and it didn''t take long before Az summoned a bone helmet to protect his head. "Well, well, well. If you want a mage fight, you will get one," she shouted, and suddenly plants grew from the ground and attached themselves to Gab''s legs.


    "Ahhh, I''m sorry," Az replied. "You should be. What patient is so disrespectful to a doctor," the old lady muttered.


    "So follow me," she replied, and the four followed them. Gab was still wearing his helmet. "Take off your helmet too, please," she sighed while Az was allowed to sit down on a bed. "Okay, I will," Az replied half aloud.


    "You three can go ahead and take off your helmets. I know that the three of you are skeletons," she commented. "Are you sure about that? We''ll kill anyone who sees us," Ogron replied coldly while slowly gripping after his spear. "A skeleton that can talk. The boy must be talented. Wait, he''s way too young to control something of that caliber. Ah, I see, I see," she muttered to herself.


    "I promise you that no one will see us here. I swear on my life that I will not reveal this secret." She replied. Ogron slowly put his spear away, and the three took off their helmets. "Much better," Simaev replied in her feminine voice.

 30. Apes together strong.

    Gab''s group walked through the dark cave passages. It didn''t take long before they encountered a group of people in a narrow tunnel who also wanted to cross it. As the two groups faced each other, everyone pulled out their weapons, prepared for a conflict.


    Sweat ran down the backs of everyone''s necks. The tunnel was only wide enough for two people side by side. If a fight were to ensue here, then everyone would end up as victims since there was little room to dodge.


    With weapons out, the two groups watched each other in silence. The opposing group seemed to consist of 20 men. The opposing group seemed to consist of 20 men. Gab''s group consisted of only three, but one forgets how sinister the three looked.  Luke was a warrior wrapped in bones. Evie was a girl whose body looked like it was made almost entirely of muscle in times of excitement. Gab, on the other hand, was just a pale boy, not too thin, with glowing red eyes that could see even in the dark.


    At the same time, the group of three held weapons made of bone. Their weapons were still good, but they were losing their sharpness. Evie now held a large shield and a broadsword that would have been meant for two hands. Attached to Gab''s hip were two normal axes, while in his current hand he held a bone shield with razor-sharp bone points sticking out from the edge. The bones were in a spiral order while also being intertwined with each other. In his free hand, he held another bone ax.


    "We come in peace," replied a deep voice behind the group. "Gab nodded and replied, "So do we. I hope cooperation is possible." "We would like to cooperate but prefer to be on the other side of the cave," the voice called back. "Gladly on your side," Gab called back. It took less than thirty minutes for Gab''s group of three to sit around a campfire with three of the other group.


    The three who were waiting for them looked to be around 20 years old. The leader of them had a few scars on his face and seemed to be blind in one eye. Interestingly, he carried a staff and a dagger in his pants. "Seems like a mage," Gab whispered to Evie, who nodded in agreement.


    Behind him stood silently a woman who also held a staff adorned with crystals. She, on the other hand, looked much younger with blonde hair and blue eyes. She also seemed to hide most of her face under a hood. The man, who was also standing behind the leader, seemed to be as musculus as a minotaur. He, on the other hand, just stood silent. His eyes were most of the time closed as if he was concentrating on something. Sometimes, however, he glanced at Evie, which seemed to distract Gab too much.


    "If I may ask, how well are you armed, and what is your plan," Gab asked the leader. "Well, we''re just trying to survive and get out as quickly as possible," he replied.


    "An understandable goal," Luke commented with a raised thumb.


    "Each of us has at least one weapon. Ten of us possess a sword and shield. Another five possess a crossbow, and furthermore, we have another five archers. But we also have two mages," the chief continued.


    "Better than nothing. We''re actually trying to clear the whole hallway of mutants and cooperate with other human groups whenever possible," Gab replied.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "We''d love to help you guys with that. I think together we should be stronger," the girl behind her boss interjected.


    The group talked among themselves and told a bit in which areas they specialized to win the trust of the others. Of course, mistrust among each other was rampant in places like this. But sometimes, you have to put your distrust aside to have a chance to survive. Sure, the two groups can manage on their own, but only because they haven''t encountered mutant groups the size of, say, 200. The other three leaders acquired their skills within the dungeon, just like Gab''s group. In their case, their mana core was awakened as a reward for clearing a place that had a high death toll.


    After talking together for a few hours, they came to the question of which group should lead. In Gab''s favor, the other three respected the emblem of the Royal, and Gab was given the task of leading the group.


    Of course, Evie and Luke would have gotten this position much easier than Gab, but they had no interest in leading.


    Gab planned the following strategy. The archers were to be at the rear. In front of them should be those with crossbows. In front of them should be those with crossbows. In front of them should be those with crossbows.  In front of them should be the close combat soldiers. With this strategy, they should kill at least 40 mutants before they even come into contact with them.  After that, the group should split into smaller groups of five and fight in teams. For this, everyone needed a sword and shield, but Gab would take care of that.


    Furthermore, Gab asked Luke to make weapons for the remaining troop members with the next bone portions so that the group is better equipped.


    Luke sighed at Gab''s request but agreed that using the bones in such a way would yield better results compared to the minimal gains if he used it on himself.


    "Well, let''s get going," Gab called, and the troops followed him. "I can''t estimate the damage output of the three mages yet, but I hope it''s on Luke''s level," Gab thought.


    The group walked silently with loaded crossbows or swords and shields in their hands. Meanwhile, the loud dripping of water, as well as the marching of the group, resounded loudly. Only after reaching the entrance of a new cave, they saw a group of 50 mutants feeding on some corpses.


    Gab raised his hand, and the men got into position and took aim. By now, the group of 26 men was standing about 100 meters away from the action. Only after Gab swung his hand down did the group shoot their arrows, and one could see the toppling of 15 mutants. Gab raised his hand, and the group automatically reloaded and fired their next batch of arrows. Another 12 mutants toppled over. In the meantime, the mutants were running towards the group, and another load of shots was fired. Only then did Gab give the order to the fastest melee fighters to divide the mutant group, which still consisted of about 25 mutants, into smaller groups.


    Evie and Luke ran ahead, and you could see Luke jumping into the mutant crowd. While those from the other group looked with horror at Luke, Gab ignored it and ran after the two with the remaining 10 melee fighters. As expected, Luke pierced all the mutants with his bones, and it took less than 5 minutes for all the mutants to die.


    While Gab and Evie ended up absorbing the blood as well as the flesh of the mutants, Luke took care of absorbing the bones and manipulating them into useful shapes. This alone cost him a lot of energy, but in the end, he managed to do 15 sets of shields and swords/axes. Enough for the time being.


    Before the group could rest, however, a loud crash resounded through the cave and the dull sound of something falling from the ceiling was heard. Dust and sand were thrown into the air, and no one could guess what was in front of them.


    Suddenly this monster screeched loudly, and the ground slowly began to shake. At the same time, the distant screeching of mutants was heard from all the corridors leading into the cave.


    4 entrances were leading into the cave.


    "Shit, reload right now. The three of us will take care of the monster. You guys take care of shooting as many mutants as you can," Luke shouted.

 31. What in gods name is this

    Dust in the air obscured the view of everyone. The loud breathing of the monster could be heard. The group only saw the glowing red eyes of a monster. It ignored them and roared out loud. The roar was so strong that all the dust, as well as sand, was thrown away. The ears of all present began to bleed, and a few weak ones were flung away.


    What stood before them was a monster that had a size of about 10 meters. It resembled a dragon, although it looked like it was made of several mutants combined. At the same time, it had different heads. There were three long necks with dragon heads. Human heads, on the other hand, seemed to grow out all over its body. The arms and legs of humans also seemed to grow from the body.


    One of the soldiers fell hopelessly to the ground and muttered with tears in his eyes, "What in God''s name is such a monster. God, if you exist, please protect us from such a thing..."


    "I don''t know if we will survive this battle. But I do know one thing, and that is, such a monster should not only enrage the gods but all of us. It is the duty of every man to kill such a monster because of its disrespect to man," Gab shouted to convince the rest of the soldiers to fight.


    His words seemed to affect only a few, and the trio as well as the muscular one from the other group could be seen running towards the monster. At the same time, the archers let it rain arrows onto the monster. The one-eyed and the female magician began to cast spells from a distance. You could see lightning and a blinding light being conjured from afar. The muscular one jumped on the monster and swung his giant ax with two hands. He cut the dragon''s tail from its body with only one swing.


    The dragon only roared loudly, as he swung his arms around.  The blonde girl seemed to have blinded the dragon for a few seconds. It started spitting acid frantically, hoping to hit something. Luke, on the other hand, ran in front of the dragon. The dragon noticed Luke''s existence and tried to bite him with its head. Two of the dragon''s heads grabbed Luke''s armor and tried to tear him to pieces. However, Luke shot sharp bones out of his body that pierced through two of the dragon''s heads.


    "Two heads down," Luke shouted. Evie, on the other hand, ran to Luke and swung her greatsword at the two dragon necks, severing them in one blow.  Blood spurted out from the necks, and the remaining dragon head roared loudly. Gab, the actual main character, on the other hand, cut human heads off the sides of the dragon. He also tried to draw the dragon''s attention to himself.


    All of a sudden, a sphere of green acid formed in the open mouth that grew and grew. Gab, who immediately realized the seriousness of the situation, jumped on the dragon''s back. There he swung his two axes at the lower end of its neck.  Although Gab did not have the strength of Evie, he was fast. "If one blow isn''t enough, then I will hit him three or four or five times," went through Gab''s head as he swung two axes quickly at the neck until the last head fell off.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "The dragon is dead," Gab shouted loudly, and the cheers were there for a moment. But only temporarily, as human-sized mutants began running in through the other openings. Their screeching and stomping reminded the group that the dragon was only the appetizer and not the dessert.


    "Shit, shit, shit," Gab was heard roaring as he signaled for arrows to rain down. "If this continues, we''re all going to die," Gab cursed. Luke, Evie, and the muscular one each ran to an entrance. They all tried to stop the onslaught of the coming mutants. Luke definitely had it the easiest, because he just stood in front of the entrance, stabbing with his spear. When too many mutants came at once, he shot sharp bones from his body and pierced them like paper. Gab, on the other hand, took advantage of his speed and dodged the mutants. He also severed limbs or heads with each swing he took. The free melee fighters helped while a few of them protected the archers. The blonde girl stood in the middle of the field, with her eyes closed, and just muttered a spell to herself. The one-eyed man was dropping lightning bolts on mutants. The party members were forced further and further into the cave by the mutants running in. "We''re all going to die," Gab cursed as he did his best to make sure no mutant left the tunnel alive.


    The fight went on like this. But after half an hour, most of them got tired. Fortunately for everyone involved, the blonde''s spells helped against the fatigue and eased the pain of all involved. Luke, on the other hand, merged with the entrance of the tunnel to form a bone wall with spikes, which prevented the mutants from entering the tunnel. Gab, on the other hand, was the only one who didn''t get tired, because the floor was soaked with blood, which poured into him every second.


    His eyes became redder, but the longer this fight lasted, the faster Gab became. By now, he was already twice as fast as Evie, and the longer this fight dragged on, the faster Gab became. In the beginning, he still had problems and was grabbed by the hand of mutants from time to time. But by now, he dodged every hand without having to put any effort.


    By now, even the archers had run out of arrows and switched to their melee weapons. But fortunately, fewer and fewer mutants came through the corridors.


    "Time to see how Evie is doing," Gab muttered and ran to her. Evie was no longer acting like a human and more like a possessed monster in human form.


    She swung her greatsword as if it were a dagger and at the same time punched mutants who came too close. Her fists were strong enough to make the mutants'' heads burst.


    "The more I watch her, the more scared I am of her," Gab whispered, slowly running towards her. Evie swung her giant greatsword at Gab herself, but he jumped over it.


    "Evie get control of yourself," he shouted, but Evie just grabbed him and threw him against the ground.


    "Ugggh," Gab groaned and immediately rolled to the side to avoid Evie''s kick.


    "You know what, I''ll leave you alone," commented Gab, who suddenly ran away. "I''d rather take care of the mutants than Evie," went through his head.

 32. Loosing control

    After the last mutants were killed, Gab suddenly noticed that his comrades were starting to act strangely. "Shit, it''s not just Evie who lost control of herself," Gab cursed as he watched Luke occasionally throw spears at people who got too close to him.


    Evie, on the other hand, seemed to be getting more aggressive by the second, and it didn''t take long for her to attack even innocent group members who got near her. Gab, who made it his mission to protect as many people as possible, ran towards Evie and threw his shield at her to get her attention.


    The shield drilled into her shoulder, and Evie roared out loudly. She suddenly started growing taller and even more muscular. "Run," shouted Gab to the other group members who were resting in the cave.


    The blonde-haired girl, who was tiredly clinging to her staff, just clenched her teeth and watched from a distance, getting ready to jump in. "He''s such a foolish idiot," she muttered to the other mage who silently nodded. "At least he gives his best to protect our group members like a real leader," remarked the muscular dude. "Yeah, you''re right on that," the girl responded. By now all of the group members left the cave.


    Evie, on the other hand, jumped at Gab. However, he dodged each of her blows with ease since he was faster than her by a big margin. "Evie, please come to yourself," Gab pleaded as he watched Evie stuff a mutant down her throat while continuing to attack him.


    He didn''t dare to attack Evie with the blade of his weapons because of their friendship. Instead, he used the bone handle of his weapon to strike at Evie''s limbs.  The blonde-haired woman regularly used light spells to blind Evie for brief moments. Gab''s tactics seemed to be successful since Evie kept toppling over, but unfortunately a sharp thin bone shoot through Gab''s lower body.


    The shot was strong enough to interrupt Gab and allowed Evie to grab him one more time. Evie threw him against the wall with all her might, and Gab only felt his bones break. The broken bones seemed to puncture his organs. "I can''t die yet," Gab muttered desperately with crimson eyes.  But before he could do anything else, bone spears continued to bore into his body, nailing him to the ground.


    "Why Luke," Gab whispered desperately and stretched out his arm. Luke on the other hand just screeched out loudly and charged at Evie. As the two fought each other, Gab''s fainted.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    Somewhere deep in a dungeon, the moon was reflected on the surface of the flowing blood. The blood flowed out of the cave into several cave passages.


    If someone were to enter, they would see a gigantic pile of stacked dead mutants. The pile reached a height of around 20 meters with a diameter of 40 meters. The body pieces of dead mutants were scattered throughout the cave.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    At the top of the pile were two monsters. One of the monsters resembled a tree as each bone of the dead slowly moved in its direction and accumulated on it. The other monster resembled a minotaur in size and sound. It stuffed the meat of the dead monsters as well as the dead comrades into its mouth and chewed loudly as half of it fell from its mouth.


    On the ground, however, laid something that used to be Gab. Several bone spikes were deeply embedded in Gab''s body. His body also was strangely bent and trampled. Gab layed there with his eyes closed. People could even consider him dead if it weren''t for all the blood that kept flowing in his direction. With every minute, his wounds healed more and more. Only after several hours, his body was almost healed completely.


    At the same time, it took even longer for the other two monsters to regain consciousness and resemble humans again.


    By now, Luke was climbing down to Gab in  a dark bone armor and a dark spear. His new armor was built out of the bones of a mutant dragon. These were far sturdier compared to the bones of humans and mutants. "I''m sorry, Gab," he whispered as he pulled out the bone spikes that were still embedded in Gab''s body one by one.


    "I lost control over myself under all the bones that were present. I became a monster that attacked everything in its path. A monster that only wanted to consume. Thank you for standing in the way of Evie and me to give the rest of the humans a chance to escape," Luke muttered as he stuck his fingers into Gab''s wounds. "I would never do such a thing but consider it as a gift. I''ll use some of the mutant dragon''s bones to encase your fragile skeleton."


    After Luke took care of that, he set to work with the remaining bones to create weapons or arrows from the remaining bones.  A few hours later, Evie came back to herself.  Tears immediately rolled down her face.  She rushed to Gab''s side and knelt beside the sleeping Gab.


    All she could do was mutter, "how am I supposed to face someone when I tried to kill him after losing control over myself."


    Luke, who was creating weapons with a guilty conscience, looked at her.


    "We shouldn''t feel too guilty. We were naive and thought that we could become stronger without consequences.  We thought we were still masters of ourselves. We thought that our desires were still caged.  We forgot that we can lose control over ourselves if we get too Strong too fast and absorb in excess," Luke commented. Evie nodded with tears in her eyes. "Thank you, Gab, for protecting the rest from us," Evie whispered while placing her hand on Gab''s forehead.


    Slowly, the sound of footsteps from the other group members echoed through the cave. The one eyed man sat down on a stone and just sighed loudly. "I would rather fight a thousand mutants than you two. Thank God you got yourselves under control," the one eyed man remarked coldly. The blonde girl walked towards Gab and just looked at Evie coldly. Evie immediately felt a shiver going down her spine. "I''m sorry," she whispered. "Tell that to our dead group members whom you ate," the other girl remarked. "It seemed like you really enjoyed eating them, you disgusting monster," she added.


    Half an hour later, Gab woke up and moaned loudly in pain. "My whole body hurts," he cursed. By now, the whole place had been drained of every last drop of blood.


    Inside the cave, on the ceiling, was a large opening from where the sky was visible.


    "The stars shine so beautifully," Gab commented after he came to himself. He slowly stretched his arm toward the sky.


    "Someday, I''ll grab a star and pull it down to me. My hand may burn, but I won''t give in," Gab muttered to himself.

 33. Gab, you changed.

    The first thing Gab did was ignore Evie and turn his attention to the blonde.


    "Thank you for helping me. Without you, I probably would have died," Gab said with a smile.


    "Don''t mention it, boss," she replied.


    "How many people did we lose in that attack," Gab asked while switching his gaze from the blonde to the one-eyed one.


    "We lost about six men. Every dead one hurts, but we can be thankful that it was only six, and not more," the man answered while looking angrily at Evie.


    Gab just nodded and then asked coldly, "Evie do you have something to say."


    "yes-yes. Four of them died because of me since I couldn''t control myself," she stammered and looked to the side.


    Gab just swung his hand and slapped Evie hard.


    "Why," Evie only whispered.


    "You put not only me but the whole team in danger just because you couldn''t control yourself. Six people are dead, and you ate every one of them. Instead of trying to apologize to anyone. You just remained silent. Normally you should be executed for such stupid behavior," Gab replied coldly.


    "You''re no better, Luke. I don''t want to see such actions again," Gab commented with fury.


    "And what if it does happen again," Luke mockingly responded.


    "Then I''ll kill you myself," Gab returned, pulling out his ax.


    "I doubt it, and besides, you''re not the one to decide that," Luke replied as he pulled out his spear.


    The current situation angered Gab, and he was seen leaping towards Luke with both his axes, who calmly threw several bone spears. Gab automatically dodged them.  When Gab got close to Luke, he swung his ax against Luke''s skull.


    Bone spikes shot out of Luke''s body and pierced Gab''s lower body in midair. "Give up, Luke. I won," were the words everyone in the cave could hear.


    In front of everyone, they saw Luke standing still with Gab''s ax pressed against his neck.


    "What is the price for disobeying your words," Luke sighed.


    "Your hand is the price for ignoring the leader''s words," Gab replied coldly.


    "Alright," Luke answered, slowly taking one of Gab''s axes. Without blinking, he chopped off his left hand.


    One could see him gritting his teeth, trying to suppress the pain.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    "Well then, we''ve settled that too," Gab spoke as he began to limp towards a rock.


    Only after he sat down did he call each member of the group over.


    "From now on, I expect each of you to be loyal to our group.  Anyone who ignores my words and puts the group at risk by their actions will lose a limb. Anyone who cannot keep up with us will be abandoned, from now on," Gab shouted as he stared coldly at each of the group members.


    Evie just swallowed. She never expected Gab to be so cold, let alone give Luke the order to chop off his hand.


    "Is that the Gab I knew? I always imagined him to be naive, wanting to play as group leader. Actually, I should be the one to lose my head," went through Evie''s head.


    Luke''s hand stopped bleeding after a short while and a hand grew out. It was made of bones. At the same time, Luke''s head was throbbing with veins.


    The other three squad leaders under Gab just nodded.


    All Gab had done was to remind everyone that his words were law and that anyone who put the team in danger or ignored his words would receive their rightful punishment.


    "That should be enough to put the other three squad leaders at ease," Gab whispered to himself.


    Luke handed out bone arrows to each archer.  After he was done distributing arrows, Gab just called out, "We''re moving on now," and everyone followed him silently.


    Luckily for them, they only encountered 30 mutants on their journey, which they killed without breaking a sweat. At the same time, they united another group, which consisted of about 11 people to their group.


    Unfortunately, the former leader of the group tried to take advantage of Gab''s blonde subordinate.


    "So, so, someone really has the nerve to give in to his urges in front of his leader in a dungeon where everyone is fighting for life and death," Gab exclaimed while cleaning his fingernails with a small knife made of bone.


    Several men dragged a tightly bound man toward Gab.


    "Please forgive me, oh great lord. It was never my intention...," pleaded the man who was about six feet tall.


    "You will be the exemplar today for your former group members. Express your gratitude to your former leader. He has agreed to sacrifice himself for you because, without him, you wouldn''t know what happens when you ignore the words of your new leader," Gab shouted with laughter at a campfire while all the group members gathered around him.


    Luke silently handed Gab a bone spear, and Gab embedded each of the spikes into one of his limbs, and the man just cried out.


    "Shut up," Gab uttered, and spat at him. He then had each of his limbs chopped off piece by piece. In the end, Gab gave the order to move on while leaving a bleeding man behind.


    Gab''s group encountered other smaller groups of people on their way. Although they still encountered mutants from time to time, they killed them all with a few shots from their bows.


    In the end, Gab''s new small army consisted of about 80 people. 30 archers, 20 crossbow users, and interestingly, he now had 10 mages who obeyed him. Unfortunately, there would have been 11 mages if one of them had not challenged his position as the new leader.


    "I may not be a mage, but I''ll chop your heads off faster than you can cast your spells," were the words that ran chills down each mage''s spine.


    In the end, the group reached the end of the first floor. There, two familiar people were waiting for Gab.


    Odebus and the princess.


    "A difficult decision, but Odebus has precedence," Gab muttered, kneeling before him with all his men.


    Odebus nodded and continued to drink from his goblet, bored.


    "You''ll get twice as much time for the next corridor. I hope you won''t disappoint me," were the only words that left Odebus'' mouth.


    Gab just nodded, and the cats jumped to them. Gab pressed his two cats against him. By now, they had reached a length of 30 centimeters.


    A short time later, Gab knelt down to the princess, who only replied: "Here in the dungeon, we are at eye level. Sit down with me, honored leader. We should talk about our future cooperation."


    The princess''s army was now twice as large as Gab''s small army.


    It was only now that Gab realized that the princess''s army had never needed the help of the three at the time, and had allowed themselves to be helped to see their hidden cards of the former trio.

 34. End of the 1st floor

    But before we continue with the discussion between the leaders, here are some general pieces of information about the tower. The tower rewards everyone who crosses over certain floors. The first reward is given after successfully crossing the 1st floor.


    At the same time, the tower pays attention to the following aspects. For how long no one has crossed the floor and how many monsters the person on that floor has killed.  Rewards are adjusted to this.


    The rewards can be anything from weapons and armor to books, bloodlines, mana core awakening. Everything, your heart desires. At the same time, after crossing some floors, the tower offers a chance to leave it. Everyone who leaves the dungeon can also join in later again. There are many long-term as well as short-term reasons for leaving the dungeon. Some people exit it to gather some funds, weapons forever, or even temporarily to upgrade equipment.


    If you only leave the tower temporarily, you will end up in the same hallway again. But if you exit it for a long time, joining and surviving in the dungeon again will be more difficult. You''ll end up in a different hallway where you are below average compared to the monsters. Furthermore, as a punishment, the rewards will be significantly lowered.


    Most people who leave the dungeon in the long run never plan to enter it again anyway.


    "Sit down," said the princess, and Gab did as he was told. At the table, two other men and women were seated. "Everyone at the table has at least 50 subordinates," the princess commented. "I have invited all of you to the table to discuss our future cooperation. You will all be under me and serve me. Does anyone have any objections to this," the princess told the rest of the leaders at the table.


    Gab was silent. But one young lady stood up and simply replied, "I didn''t join the Dungeon to serve a princess." The boy with a light stubbly beard only asked, "Your Highness. I respect your noble goal of climbing the tower, but I hope to leave the pact. I would even give you my army except for 10 soldiers."


    "The princess slowly looked coldly into everyone''s eyes. Gab felt a shiver running down his spine as she stared at him with her golden eyes. "Does anyone else object to my leadership or want to leave?" she questioned with a slight sigh. The other two leaders stared at each other briefly as well and raised their hands.


    "Well, so be it," she murmured, and suddenly the hiss of arrows being fired was heard. Anyone who had anything to say against the princess was shot down.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Gab laughed at the sight of the dead leaders that died without being able to say anything.


    At the table, one saw how the remaining four leaders were nailed against the table. About 20 shots pierced each of them. Distributed in the skull, shoulder, and chest area.


    The arrows were dipped in liquid because yellow stuff was visible on the arrowheads.


    Slowly Gab pressed his fingers into the wounds of the dead leaders and sucked their blood without blinking. "At least their blood is a lot better compared to the mutants," Gab muttered to himself.


    Everyone present had to swallow at the sight of the blood being sucked from the dead. In the end, only shriveled dead remained.


    "Then it''s just you and me," the princess replied with a smile and had some guards clear the dead leaders from the table. Gab just swallowed. "To be honest, I would have least expected you to submit, because after all, you didn''t even know who I was at the last meeting," she commented.


    "I may be naive, your highness. But I have seen every one of your archers since I entered here. If you''re in the lions'' den, you have to dance to their tune," Gab responded, shaking his head. "So that''s how it is. You may call me by my name. My name is Enota," she replied with sparkling eyes. "Your Highness, my name is Gab, and I look forward to our future cooperation," Gab replied.


    Enota, the princess, just nodded and extended her hand to Gab. Gab took her small and soft hand. But only after grasping it, a current shot through his body. Although she did not even squeeze his hand, Gab''s palm hurt a lot.  "Your Highness," whispered Gab lightly while gritting his teeth. "It''s all right," she replied, gently slapping his right shoulder several times. Only after she let go of his hand and kept walking did Gab gasp. "Compared to her, I''m nothing. She could clean the dungeon by herself, but she refused. She''s the real monster I have to be afraid of," Gab thought.


    Enota just waved to Gab and gave him a sign to follow her. Puzzled, Gab followed her to a podium.


    "So my subjects! From now on, you will either be under me personally or under your new leader Gab," the princess called out. After her words, she just looked at Gab.


    Gab immediately guessed that she wanted him to deliver a speech.


    "My dear ones, we have all suffered together in this tower.  Together we shed blood and sweat trying to kill mutants. Now is not the time for us to fight each other as we do outside. We must be united to kill the mutants to be able to climb the tower. Some of you were slaves, and some of you were nobles. But look at yourselves. What are you in this tower," Gab shouted to the silent crowd.


    "The only thing I see are heroes. You have all made sure that the next generation of courageous ones will have a better chance to cross the tower.  I am proud of each of you, and believe me. My heart aches for every single person I could not save. But I hope that you will be as brave in the future floors as you are today. I hope that your souls will never rest. That you will never tire as long as even a single mutant survives," Gab spoke to the silent human troop.


    After his speech, the group applauded, and Gab asked the princess if she could pass them some leftover bones. Fortunately for him, the other groups had finished off three large mutant beasts. The black bones were used to create more, and better armor for everyone.


    Time to conquer the other floors.

 35. army leader Gab

    Luke stood in the crowd looking at his compass. It was the compass Odebus gave him. In case a reader has forgotten, Luke desired to find his siblings, and Odebus handed him a compass that would show him the way.


    "They must be close by," he muttered as he walked beside Evie, behind Gab.  The needle of the compass began to wobble constantly. Gab, noticing Luke''s actions, only asked in wonder, "Are your siblings nearby?" Luke, who didn''t want to reveal this information, only sighed and replied, "Yes, according to the compass."


    "That pleases me for you. Well then, I guess I''ll give you the order to find your siblings. Until then, I don''t want to see you in front of my eyes. Oh yes, after you find them, I have got a request for you," Gab remarked. "What do you wish for, my lord," Luke asked while looking Gab in the eye."We need bone armor for another 150 fighters."We need bone armor for another 150 fighters.  I don''t want to see any of my soldiers with faulty equipment.  Furthermore, I want to lose as few people as possible in the next few corridors," Gab continued. "Understood," Luke replied, and Gab continued walking.


    "Thank God I survived that discussion with the princess.  Thank goodness I listened to my instincts and didn''t give her my honest opinion. At the same time, she also fell for my lie, since I never saw the archers until after they shot them down," went through Gab''s head as he walked through celebrating people.  His two cats, each sleeping on one of his shoulders, nestled against his neck.


    "These two are cute. Anyway, Gab, you shouldn''t forget you''re working under the princess, herself now. Don''t forget that she should have the biggest network of all in the kingdom. Don''t forget that from now on you have to give 200% so that she is satisfied with your work.  You have to make sure that you become one of her henchmen. Sure, you want nothing more than to be free, but you need to find your other siblings. Especially Raph, since he also got sold into slavery with me. The sooner I gain their trust, and the sooner we leave the tower, the sooner you can ask them to help you in finding your siblings.


    Oh yes, don''t forget, seeing Luz''s face when he finds out that you''ve accomplished more than him since the time we siblings got separated. That face will be rewarding enough to work for a princess," Gab thought.


    "Lord, why are you smiling," asked Evie, who was walking behind him silently. "Evie, you can call me by my name," Gab sighed, "I''m sorry, but unfortunately, you happen to be the superior of all of us here. Calling you by name would show the others that I have no respect for you. We both don''t want more people questioning your leadership," Evie replied emotionlessly. "Maybe I was too hard on both of you," Gab muttered, shaking his head.


    The rest of the day was mainly spent dividing all the soldiers into smaller subgroups and the like. Gab''s army became a three hundred strong army with the addition of the soldiers whose leaders died. This was far too big for Gab''s caliber, but the princess seemed to want it.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    "Never mind. Evie, your job is to find the strongest mages and the strongest warriors from the remaining battalions. We will discuss tonight how to integrate the groups," Gab ordered her.


    "Time for me to rest," Gab mumbled after the order and made himself comfortable on an uncomfortable stone while one of the female mages massaged his back.


    In front of Gab now stood 20 overdressed mages as well as soldiers. Gab took a look at each of them and tried to analyze them. "You all know why I called you, don''t you?" he asked. The crowd nodded. "Very well, please gather in smaller groups with whom you will get along better. "But why are we doing such childish nonsense," muttered one of the youths. "It''s simple. I will divide you into subgroups," Gab interjected. He planned to reduce his 300-man army to several battalions each. The strongest battalion will be commanded by Gab himself, but for the remaining battalions, Gab will need soldiers strong and wise enough for such an activity. Furthermore, the 50-man battalions will be reduced to 10-man squads.


    The idea is that if a battalion is overrun from all sides, it will have to split into small groups that can act independently. Maybe there are better ways to restructure the soldiers, but in any case, it is easier for Gab if he only has to give his orders to the battalion commanders, who then communicate it to the individual squad leaders.


    Everyone agreed with Gab''s plan and helped with squad design and the like. At the same time, Gab allowed each of the battalion leaders to pick two of their five squads themselves.


    But unfortunately for them, Gab ordered them to decide among themselves who should be the battalion commander and who should be his right-hand man.


    It was not enough for one female mage with a silver staff and a snake wrapped around her staff. "I challenge your leadership position," she shouted. "Not again," Gab muttered before interjecting, "I''ll give you the chance to fight one of my warriors. But if you lose to them, you''ll have to sacrifice something to keep your head. But if you really want to fight me, then it will cost you your head if you lose."


    She just gulped before saying, "I''d rather fight one of your warriors." "So which one of you wants to teach her a lesson? The one who wins against her has a guaranteed position as battalion commander," Gab replied with a big grin.


    Only now did she realize that she had fallen into a trap because some of the people here had seen her fighting and knew her weaknesses. It wasn''t long before people were arguing amongst themselves about who would be allowed to fight her. In the end, a man with a short sword and a shield, was chosen.


    "then may you two fight," Gab replied without specifying whether or not they would be allowed to kill each other.


    The girl immediately started muttering a spell, but the boy calmly grabbed a stone and threw it at her face with a quick blow. She toppled over, and the fight ended faster than expected. "That was faster than expected. Well, your snake will be your sacrifice.  Chop off its head and chop off one of your fingers," Gab commented while being bored.


    "Please, not my snake," she begged. "Then chop off your left hand," Gab replied, shaking his head."If you don''t decide on one of the two victims soon, I''ll chop off your head," he said coldly.


    The girl did as she was ordered.  The shrill scream of her was heard as she chopped off her finger and handed it to Gab while kneeling. "This is just a warning to all of you. The one who challenges my position will end up worse than her," he told those present while taking the finger and sucking the blood from it.


    "I want to see fully formed battalions in two hours," Gab shouted and left the group.

 36. the second floor of the dungeon.

    It didn''t take long for Luke to meet two people who looked very familiar to him. Slowly he walked towards the two, who were laughing in a small group of people. After he was sure that they were his two younger siblings, he jumped towards them and hugged them.


    The two youngsters were too stunned to avoid him and were about to push him away. Only when they heard the words: "my siblings," sobbed by Luke, did they give in and also hugged him with tears in their eyes. "I''m sorry brother. We should have come here with you and not without you," whispered Luke''s younger sister. "L-let''s talk somewhere else where we can be alone," Luke''s younger brother mumbled. "Yeah, you''re right," Luke replied, sniffling as he continued to press his two siblings against his cheeks.


    After the three of them separated from the crowd, Luke''s two younger siblings jumped on him and started crying. "We were so scared. We should have never come here without you," the two siblings both burst into tears. "But why did you never let me know where you were going? Why did you abandon me? Why did you force your older brother to look for you, and where is our sister Livitha who escaped with you into the dungeon?" asked Luke.


    "S-she died u- to protect both of us. When a group of mutants ran after us, she decided to slow down. Only after she was far behind us did she choose to run into a different passage," Luke''s younger brother answered. He clawed at Luke''s body with the one hand he still had.


    "I see," Luke muttered, forcing a smile. "After all, she died nobly to protect her siblings. Why did you run into the tower," were the words Luke whispered while kissing his siblings full of tears.


    "We would never have run here if we hadn''t been hunted. One of our older siblings sent assassins after us, and we paid a mage to drop us in the tower," the sister sobbed. "I promise you I will kill each of them for putting us through hell. We will be the ones who hunt them and we will be the ones who will avenge our dead siblings. They think we are ants on whom they can tramble on," Luke whispered, hugging them both. "Our older traitorous siblings will pay for giving us a chance to survive," he continued to sob as his eyes swelled red and his veins popped.


    Only now did Luke notice that his younger brother was missing his left hand. "I''ll give you a replacement," Luke muttered while holding the burned stump in his hand. "Thank you," whispered the sister.


    "You two better come with me. You will work under my care so I can protect you in the future," Luke whispered before heading off with them.


    Luke walked towards Odebus, who was still sitting bored on his throne, and went down on his knees while his two siblings imitated him. "Why do you come to me," Odebus asked, bored. "I have found my siblings. I don''t need the compass anymore," Luke replied coldly. "Then pass it on to someone else who could use it. A protector of the tower, like me, won''t accept used things. After someone else drops their blood on the compass, it will tell them in which direction their blood relatives are," Odebus replied. "Then I guess I''ll be on my way," Luke replied. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    But before he could go, a kitten jumped from Odebus'' lap. "Noooo, not my kitten," cried Odebus holding out both his hands. The cat just looked at Odebus for a moment and decided to sprint towards Luke. "Can I take her," asked Lucy, Luke''s younger sister."If she doesn''t mind, sure always," Luke replied.


    "Time for me to take care of Gab''s request. I might be able to sneak my siblings into his battalion so they can get some of the best armor," Luke thought.


    While Luke was making the weapons, you could see a fire igniting inside him. The weapons and armor he created from the absorbed bones were much better than the other pieces, even though they were made from the same material. At the same time, he created black light bone armor for the respective battalion leaders and his two younger siblings that did not hinder them. In the end, Luke was emaciated, but everyone was fully equipped. He was aware that he himself was Gab''s most important asset, in order for him and Gab to conquer the dungeon.


    "I shouldn''t have challenged Gab''s authority back then when he was trying to unite the first groups of people. I should have known that it was the wrong time to pick a fight. My idiotic actions almost ruined all of our goals to unite the people," Luke sighed, looking down at his bone hand.


    Only after the last of the men had a set of armor and a sword did Gab''s new army ascend to the second corridor. Once there, everyone received a reward. The majority received small rewards, as they generally contributed little. But others, such as Princess Enota, or the leader Gab, or Luke the provisional bone smith, received large rewards, since they contributed the most to the conquest of the first corridor, directly as well as indirectly.


    "Hmm, what should I pick," Gab muttered when he saw his choices. Awakening his own mana core was at his disposal with a talent book for the first few levels or an improved integration of the external mana core (talent of blood) or leaving the tower right now were his choices.


    "I would prefer to leave the tower because I have already received the compass from Luke. The problem is that such action is without dignity. It would be disrespectful to all those who fought with me for survival.  I''m sorry, my siblings, you''ll have to wait," Gab muttered, squeezing the compass tightly.


    "Becoming a mage or enhancing my external talent. I would like to be a mage.  But there is a big problem. What good is potential strength to me if I have to train it? Do I even have the chance to train? I don''t know if I''ll survive on the next floor now," Gab muttered, selecting the external mana core''s enhancement.


    To Gab''s credit, Luke shared the same view and decided to improve his talent. Only Evie thought differently and decided to awaken her mana core.


    Once in the second hallway, there was no time to recover, because the first thing Gab and his army heard was the loud roars of the Monsters. Gab, who was staring at one of the mutants, saw a swarm flying in their direction in the distance. With a loud command that tore every soldier from their despair, he ordered all sharpshooters and mages to get ready to fire.

 37. Do you three want to serve me?

    After the group left the old lady''s house with Az, whose broken bones had healed, they went back into the forest. Meanwhile, Az could not wait to win against a bull. "But why do you want to fight a bull so badly," sighed Ogron, the strongest of Az''s skeletons. "It''s a matter of pride," Az replied with a bright smile. "But shouldn''t you recover first? I mean that way, you would be more likely to win against such a beast," Otaz asked Az.


    "You''re right, but I want to fight it now," Az replied firmly. "Alright. But if you lose, you will train until I am satisfied with you," Ogron replied coldly while his glowing eyes shone under the helmet.


    "I agree with that. But if I win, then I want to. Hmm, then I want... well, I''ll think about that later," Az commented, and it didn''t take long for him to arrive back at the pasture.


    But this time, Az didn''t choose to play fair because he smeared paralyzing agents on his arrows right from the start.  Sure, it will take a while for them to be effective on a bull, but it''s better than nothing.


    His target was a black bull with horns bigger than Az''s head.


    From a distance, he pulled the string of his bow as far as it would go, just like last time, and fired several arrows at rapid speed.  Before the bull could cry out in pain, several arrows pierced his body. Az shot another 10 arrows before the bull came near him. One of his arrows penetrated the bull''s eye, which partially obstructed his vision. The bull, however, did not let any pain affect him and continued to run toward Az.


    Compared to last time, Az did not run away from the bull. He rather decided to stand still.


    "What the hell is he doing. If he gets hit by such an animal once, he will die," muttered a mage standing on a branch and Az. "Well, hopefully, he dies. If he gets hit by such an animal once, he will die," muttered a mage standing on a branch and Az. "Then it should be easier to get control over his three loyal warriors," he muttered with a smile.


    Az, who clutched his spear tightly in his hand, only dodged at the last moment when the bull ran at him. At the same time, he pressed the tip of the spear against the bull''s body. This action resulted in a gash due to the bull running past Az. Blood splattered on Az, and he just smiled.


    "If I had used my spell from last time, this beast would have died long ago," Az muttered and prepared for the next attack. The bull roared again and ran towards Az again. However, the latter only repeated his action. It didn''t take long for the bull to attack slower and slower due to bleeding and the effect of the paralyzing substance.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "Heheheh, what do you say now, Ogron," Az replied while standing with his foot on the bull''s skull. "Not bad, but you forgot something," Ogron just sighed. "And that would be," Az asked. "The guild mission was a dead bull with little to no body injuries. The one who requested that mission wanted to use their hide for suede. Yours is littered with injuries. They won''t take yours.," Ogron questioned with a sigh.


    "But, But I''ve put a lot of effort into slaying such a beast," Az sighed. "Yes, but putting effort into something is only half the battle. Sometimes you need some luck to succeed," Ogron replied, stroking Az''s hair. "You still did well. We were afraid we''d have to jump in to help you," Otaz whispered in Az''s ear. "Hehehe, I can handle everything by myself," Az replied and made himself comfortable.


    The mage who watched the group of three from a tree trunk crept closer and closer to the group.


    "If I understood it correctly, then these skeletons possess a certain degree of intelligence. They are the rarest type of skeletons. Every necromancer can awaken a dead person as a skeleton. But there is one problem. Does the soul want to serve the necromancer? If you are strong enough, you can force them to obey you. But such skeletons usually do not serve weaker ones. They do their own thing. But why do the three of them act like this boy is their master? Is he perhaps a noble? Anyway, don''t let that distract you. Moreover, they are masters in some fields. The thought of how I make them mine and how they serve me until the end of my life excites me," the mage murmured and stroked his beard with a wide smile.


    Sadly, his daydreams were interrupted with several arrows bouncing off his mana shell. "Such simple spells won''t work on me," he replied with a smile and summoned a bone amour.


    "I, Satoshi, offer you three the chance to serve a much better lord. I hope you take the chance," Satoshi replied with a smile. "Not interested," the three replied in chorus, and Ogron ran towards him with his spear in hand. "Well, I''ll just kill the young one and be done with it," he muttered, summoning water around Az''s head. Before Az could call for help, his head was underwater.


    Ogron, noticing what just happened, just gritted his teeth and threw his spear in Satoshis direction.


    You could hear how his throw broke the sound barrier, and although Satoshi was wearing bone armor, he still got nailed to the ground by the spear.


    Furious, he created several spears out of water and fired them towards Az. Unfortunately, Simaev shot the spears down with her arrows and made sure they didn''t fly towards Az.


    "Well, well, well, what have we here?" asked Ogron, who saw a bleeding mage lying on the ground.


    "A simple, intermediate mage dares to attack our master," Otaz commented with a sneer, brandishing his scythe. In the end, you could only hear the cawing of the birds and saw from afar a flock of birds leaving the trees.

 38. you should not have messed with us

    Meanwhile, Az fell to the ground and breathed loudly. The water bubble that was around his head disappeared.


    "Please don''t kill me," Satoshi cried in desperation as Otaz swung his scythe. Ogron raised his hand only slightly, and Otaz abruptly stopped his scythe. Still, the blade of his scythe leaned against the mage''s throat.


    "Tell us how you found out about us. A mage like you has no business in such a forest where there are no real monsters with a mana core," Ogron asked coldly.


    "A man told me information of a boy who had three above-average skeletons at his side. These skeletons were said to wield weapons better than normal mortals," Satoshi stuttered.


    "So one of the rats escaped. Too bad I thought we killed all the rats that stalked us on that day," Otaz sighed. "Well, what areas did you specialize in," Ogron asked coldly. "I''m proficient in all elements of Beginner Magic, but when it comes to Intermediate Mage rank, I''m only proficient in necromancer and water magic," he explained.


    "Then you should know what we are about to do to you," Ogron replied before calling Az over. Ogron ordered, "Please use your spell [rot] on this mage." Satoshi looked up, startled, and conjured a mana membrane around his entire body.


    Az just placed his hand on Satoshi''s head and conjured a light mana membrane around his hand. He whispered,"[rot]," and a black mass began to form around his hand. This mass slowly left his hand and tried to bore into Satoshi''s body. With each passing second, Satoshi''s mana membrane became thinner and thinner.


    He just looked desperately at Az, who just smiled. "Please be forgiven," Satoshi whispered. "Give up. We will be summoned you again after your death," Ogron replied coldly. "No, no, no, I don''t want to die. I don''t want to¡­," he began to scream, and Ogron gave him a strong blow against his skull with the handle of his spear. The hit caused Satoshi to faint and his mana membrane to dissipate. Az''s spell ate through Satoshi''s biological matter like fire burns paper. In the end, only the clean bones and a mana core remained.


    "That smelled disgusting," Az whispered and threw up. Simaev couldn''t help but smile at Az''s action. "He''s still a cute little boy," she muttered.


    Az bit his thumb in an attempt to regain his senses and afterward placed his hand on Satoshi''s skull. "[Awaken my warrior]," Az only whispered, and Satoshi''s bones began to rattle. With each passing second, the bones moved more and more into position until suddenly a skeleton stood up.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    But instead of challenging Az, the skeleton only roared out loud. Despite the lack of vocal cords, its roar was strong enough to sweep Az off his feet. Otaz had to grab Az and put him behind him. Leaves were torn from the trees, and Ogron watched the whole spectacle with a smile.


    "That''s a wonderful warrior. They say the more a soul regrets being revived, the more it retains its powers," Ogron murmured, stroking his chin as he muttered. "I think Az has managed to summon a cursed skeleton mage. I can only hope because then we would have someone to help Az with his magic training," Ogron continued muttering to himself and stood up.


    "I''ll kill you all," Satoshi roared, summoning black spears and skeletons from the ground. Ogron just smiled and sprinted towards Satoshi. "No, you won''t. You will serve your new master for all eternity. This is your punishment for your action. May your poor soul never be allowed to rest again until your master permits you," Ogron replied coldly, destroying all the skeletons with one swing of his spear.


    Satoshi, enraged, threw all the black spears at Ogron, who only dodged them. Shortly after, Ogron stood in front of Satoshi and shattered Satoshi''s chest into a thousand pieces with one blow. Satoshi''s skull fell to the ground, and before he could cast another spell, Ogron just planted his foot on top of his skull.


    "If you don''t swear loyalty right now, I will shatter your soul. That way you''ll never find peace again," Ogron whispered while increasing the pressure he exerted with his foot with each word.


    "I, I swear my loyalty to my new master Az," Satoshi stuttered.


    At that moment, a light blue mana bond was seen manifesting between Satoshi and Az. Az just nodded with a smile.


    "Now recover your upper body and find us after that," Ogron replied, and the four continued on their way. Unfortunately, Az still had to kill a bull with as few injuries as possible. "Perhaps the scythe is better for such actions," Az sighed, continuing to wield his spear. "Yes, maybe, but if I''m honest, two weapons are enough for you. You better concentrate on the bow and the spear before you try to learn a third weapon," Otaz replied, running his bone hand through Az''s hair.


    "Yeah, you''re right," Az sighed, reaching out and holding Otaz''s bone hand. The group moved on, and Az hunted a few more bulls.


    He decided to summon two of the dead bulls as skeletons while he was at it. These two should carry the dead bulls. The two resisted, but only after the promise of the redemption of their souls the next day did they agree.


    It took him several times before he managed to kill one of them with as few blows as possible. Az focused only on the skull and neck area of the bull.


    By now, Az thought he was good at hunting such animals, which is unusual for kids his age. But compared to him, most children who have awakened their talent have mastered more elements.


    Az now stood panting before a bull that was missing its head. He clung tightly to his spear that was embedded in the ground, and he gasped loudly. His body was soaked from head to toe with either dried or fresh bull blood.  In front of him lay the skull of a bull that had been stabbed and beaten all over.


    "Finally, we are done here," Ogron sighed and ordered the two skeleton bulls to drag the dead bulls along.


    "Time for Az to sell his loot and finally get some rest," Otaz remarked as he watched Az fall over. He hurriedly picked him up and carried him piggyback as the sunset.

 39. Az goes to the guild

    After the group was about a hundred meters away from the small town near the forest, Az put his two bony beasts out of their misery. A few seconds later, they fell to a pile of bones, and Az used a spell to incorporate them into his skeletal armor. "Time to get our stuff done here and wait for Satoshi after that," muttered Az, who by now was wearing a medallion made of bones. The rest of his three subjects, who all wore armor, only nodded in agreement.


    The three wore black armor, each with an emblem on the right side of the chest. The emblem depicted only a bone hand holding a bitten blood-red apple. Unfortunately, Ogron didn''t understand why such an emblem was chosen, but Az chose such an emblem, and it didn''t look too bad. But it should have some mythological reasons, according to Az.


    They were covered from their head to their toes in the armor so that no part of their body could be seen except their glowing eyes. Ogron had red burning flames, Otaz had green flames, and Simaev had blue flames instead of eyes.


    Each of Az''s subjects carried a bull on their shoulder, and the group walked along a small pebble path into the city. The view was funny as a small child, not even 160cm tall, was being followed by three soldiers, each of them carrying something on their shoulder that weighed at least three times as much as they did. One of the spectators had the stupid idea of touching one of Az''s guards, and Az just swung his spear for a moment. The man cried out as Az delivered a blow to his hand with the blunt end of his spear.


    "Hands off," a young voice was heard saying, and Az group headed for the guild house. Those working there immediately cleared space for Az''s group to enter.


    Within the guild, Az was known as "the cloaked prince." This is an exaggeration on purpose, but according to the guild members, Az had his own mercenaries who did everything for him. At the same time, he was called that because everyone believed that he let his three soldiers do all the missions, and he only took credit for the rewards.


    The celebratory mood immediately died down in the hall, and only whispers and quiet drinking could be heard.


    '' It seems that guild members do have manners when they fear you. They seem to have memorized my face.''


    Az strolled with Ogron to the counter and handed her body parts from the respective animals he had hunted to receive the rewards of the missions.


    The guild employee just smiled and looked at the body parts briefly under the magnifying glass and nodded. Az subjects placed his hunted bulls on the ground next, and three guild members came to look at them briefly.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Unfortunately for Az, only one of his bulls was deemed acceptable for leatherworking.


    "We would like to ask you anyway if you would be interested in selling the meat of these bulls to us. We would pay you in either guild credit points or coins, whichever you prefer. But we should do a test first to briefly check how strong you actually are, young master," the young guild employee stated to Az.


    "I would like to know what the guild credits would be useful for, however, first, I would like to prove my strength so that even the last one here understands that I have not been fed with a golden spoon," Az replied.


    "Please follow me then," replied the guild employee.  But when Ogron tried to follow the two, the guild official just looked at him. "Please wait here," he said meekly as Organ''s aura struck fear into him.


    "I am his legal guardian," Ogron replied coldly with a hand on the handle of his spear. "Then, then... please follow us too," he stuttered, leading the way for the two.


    "We will first have you fight someone who has the strength of a normal untrained mortal. This is roughly equivalent to Hunter Rank H. I hope you don''t mind," the guild employee introduced, and Az just nodded.


    Az reached for his bow, and in the small arena stood a muscular man waving nicely. The man stood calmly in the arena and glanced at Ogron. A shiver immediately ran down his spine. At first sight, he instantly realized that a skeleton soldier was standing on the sidelines who was far stronger than himself.


    "Why the hell is such a monster here," he muttered and automatically bowed to Az, who took off his hood.


    Under the hood, a child aged about 12 with black hair and eyes and pale skin could be seen.


    "You are as young as my grandchild, and I have heard that you have hunted three bulls. If that''s true, then you have my respect, young master," the man commented calmly. "But well then, let''s begin. I will use as much strength as an untrained man. If you can force me to use more power than I am allowed, you will pass. I hope you won''t disappoint me," he said with a smile.


    Az just nodded and pulled out his bow. The man ran towards Az from the other side of the arena, and Az fired only three arrows. He dodged the first one. But for the other two, the man had to use more force than he was allowed to.


    "You''ve passed, my dear. Do you also want to test if you are stronger than hunter rank G? That corresponds to a trained human," the man asked with a smile, and Az nodded. This time Az reached for his spear, and the man pulled out his sword and shield.


    The dust under their feet was thrown into the air with each step they took. Az ran towards him, but before he could attack with his spear, he was thrown into the air by the warrior''s shield.


    ''That bastard is definitely using more power compared to a regular trained warrior, or am I that light???''


    Az flew two meters into the air and landed with his shoulder on the ground, but the warrior didn''t seem to give in and leaped at him with a swung blade at Az. Not even a second later, Az rolled to the side and swung his spear on the ground.


    The man just jumped up with a laugh and said, "Not bad for a kid." Az just smiled and muttered the spell, "[rot]."


    But before the warrior could realize that Az was a mage''s apprentice, Az swung his spear, which had a puff of black smoke on the blade, against the warrior''s leg.

 40. Time to leave the guild

    The man''s facial expression changed abruptly after he saw Az using a mage spell, and he conjured a mana shell around his entire body. Az''s blow evaporated on the man''s mana membrane, and the man just laughed. "Young man, I must tell you that you really scared me for a moment there," he answered loudly while ruffling through Az''s hair.


    Az just looked up and asked, "And did I pass?"


    "Of course, you passed. Well, actually, you are now hunter rank F since you made me use my mana membrane. Hunter rank F corresponds to trained apprentice mages. Of course, you can become hunter rank F without being a mage apprentice. Unfortunately, I can''t tell you how trained you really are," the man told him, and Az smiled at Ogron. Ogron just gave a thumbs-up as a sign of approval.


    "So, Az, you or rather your troop has accepted guild missions as unofficial members until now. Would you be interested in becoming an official guild member? It would only cost a small joining fee. But it has more advantages than disadvantages," the muscular man stated. He still hadn''t introduced himself.


    "I''m interested, but I''d like to know more about it," Az replied while scratching his head. By now, Ogron was standing behind Az again, and he put his hand, which was in an armored glove, on Az''s shoulder.


    "So the difference between an official guild member is the following. An official guild member gets 20% in rewards for missions as well as guild credits.


    At the same time, official guild members get a larger number of missions, as well as extra services.


    However, due to our many locations, the guild functions not only for missions. The right arm of the guild is the mail and transport carrier.  We also forward a large number of messages, as well as equipment. Of course, the stuff costs a lot more than if you send it from somewhere else...," before the man could continue, Az interrupted him.


    "What about missing person posters, by the way??? Do you have such a service," Az asked with sparkling in his eyes.


    "Someone is looking for their relatives," the man replied with a smile before continuing, "Well, we have several ways to find missing persons.  You can release a missing person mission if you want. But you also have to tell us in which radius to search. But that would be very expensive in the long run.


    It is also possible that you give us posters that we could hang up in guilds. Doing that would also be expensive in the long term and depends on the number of guilds in which you want to hang the posters.


    But the cheapest method is usually the most efficient. You could tell us your full name and the names of your siblings, and their ages. We would store the data on our databases. If they are guild members or join a new guild then they would be asked if they know you or not. If they know you, we will inform you immediately, as well as the location of the guild," the man said with a smile.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "I-I want the last option. Could we hurry up with the registration, because I want to release an order right now," Az answered excitedly?


    The man smiled and said: "Of course, of course. All you have to do is fill out this document here and let your blood drip on it."


    Az looked at the sheet, and it mainly asked for simple information like Name, birthplace, pseudonym or guild affiliation, talent, specialization, and much more.


    Primarily, it was required that you either give your name or a pseudonym. The rest was actually voluntary. Az filled out the form completely and handed it to the man.


    The man looked perplexed at the document.  He shifted his gaze from the document to Az and back several times.


    "You''re really from there?" He asked.


    "Yes, that was my home," Az sobbed, clinging to Ogron.  Ogron just smiled and stroked his hair. "Stay strong, my young master. We will find your siblings soon. I promise," Ogron whispered while wiping Az''s tears with his glove.


    "My condolences. A few days ago, I read a report that stated that an entire village was wiped out in the middle of nowhere. The information on why it happened was classified," the man sighed before continuing, "According to the report, there would have been no survivors. I''ll have to report that soon."


    After Az filled out the documents, he received an emblem and a guild card. "Oh yes, before you go. Guild credits can be used to obtain certain equipment as well as certain information," the man told him while attaching an emblem to Az''s chest. It was made of bronze, and the letter F was engraved in red runes. After Az stroked the emblem with his finger, the letter began to glow.


    ''This thing looks cool. I wonder what kind of emblem Ogron and the other two could get. That should be proof enough that I''m strong.''


    Az''s party left the guild, and some guild members looked at Az in confusion because he forgot to put on his hood. At first, they mistook Az for a short teenager and not a child.


    Ogron bent down while walking and whispered, " They can see your face." He quickly pulled his hood over his head. But by then it was already too late.


    "Whatever. Let them know what I look like then," Az muttered before walking to the mission board.


    Az had now completed all of his previous missions and wanted to participate in more of them. Ogron, who was standing next to him,  mumbled and chose a few missions, from picking plants to fighting a monster with a magic talent.


    "Are you sure I''m strong enough to take down a magical monster?" asked Az, confused.


    "Well, if you keep training certainly," Ogron replied.


    The group then left the guildhall and went shopping inside the small town for needed utensils. Az needed several things, such as clean water, a first aid kit, alcohol (not for drinking, of course), and arrows. But that should be easily bought. Furthermore, they went to the blacksmith to sharpen the Az iron spear.


    It was not until the troop had almost left the small town that the group noticed something. "Wait! We have to buy Satoshi or whatever his name is an armor," Az called to the group, and they headed back. "Otaz should we get him the same armor as well, or should he wear a cloak?" asked Az.


    "Well, let''s get him a cloak. He certainly has his own cloaks, but I think he''d be happy to have one anyway," replied Otaz, while a yellow glint was seen under the helmet.

 41. Satoshiiiiiiiiii

    Outside the city, there stood a man behind a tree in a dark torn coat. The wind was blowing, and from time to time one could see the body under the cloak for a short time. It seemed to be a skeleton, which of course, turned out to be Satoshi. By now, his ribcage had regenerated, and interestingly, a mana core could be seen floating under the ribcage that had lost its color and was blood red. Satoshi was aware of his new problem. His previous way of using mana will be difficult to replicate from now on. He no longer had mana channels in his body to store mana more easily.


    His mana absorption is now only a tenth of what it was before he became a skeleton. But he is lucky to still have his mana core prior to his death. Compared to him, the rest of Az''s subjects, like Otaz, for example, or Ogron, who were also mages in their human days, were robbed of their mana core after their death.


    "Well, at least my talent in Necromancer has been improved," Satoshi muttered while playing with some spells in his hand. "Oh look, they''re coming," Satoshi spoke to himself while waving his bone hand in the air.


    "Hey Satoshi, we got you a coat to welcome you," said Az, who ran up to Satoshi with a black coat in his hand.


    "That''s sweet, but I won''t forget how you, little one killed me today," Satoshi replied while putting on the new black coat. "It even suits me. Now all I need is a mage''s staff and I''ll look like the stereotypical skeleton mage," Satoshi replied laughing while watching himself in a water mirror he created for himself.


    In front of Az stood a pale skeleton that had no flaws and was encased in a matte black cloak. The cloak also had the same emblem on its chest that Ogron, Otaz, and Simaev wore.


    "Welcome, Brother," Otaz said with a smile. "I guess I''m under your care now, my dear seniors," Satoshi sighed while running his bone hand through Az''s hair.


    "Well, you are the only one of us who is still a mage, which is why you get to play the role of Az Magic Teacher. At the same time, the four of us need to come up with a plan on how your three seniors can also get a mana core," Ogron whispered to Satoshi.


    "I miss my damn mana talent. I was such a talented mage, but some bastard had to steal my mana core after I died," Otaz cursed.


    "Just seeing you, using magic, makes me envious," Simaev added.


    "My dears, my dears. I promise you that we will still take care of your mana core situation. But I think it''s better if we go to my mage tower first," said Satoshi, who continued to run his hand through Az''s hair.


    "Satoshi, could you please leave my hair alone?" asked Az, who grabbed Satoshi''s hand with both of his hands.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "It''s Master Satoshi to you," Satoshi replied back to him before lightly flicking his finger against Az''s forehead.


    "Argh, that hurt," Az was heard whimpering, and the group just laughed.


    The group marched for two days to reach Satoshi''s mage tower.


    "You seriously went this far only to be defeated by a mage apprentice just to end up as one of his skeleton minions?" asked Ogron. Ogron could no longer contain it and started to laugh loudly. His laugh could be heard echoing throughout the entire mage tower.


    "Shhh, we aren''t the only ones here. Stop yelling here," Satoshi cursed, immediately pressing his hand against Ogron''s mouth. Az just had to chuckle when he saw what was going on in front of him. "You wait and see, kid. When I get over my logistical and existential problems, I''ll come to you. You will suffer from my magic training." Satoshi cursed.


    "I wish I could get rid of these plagues," Satoshi continued to curse.  Suddenly, "Daddy do you have a minute," could be heard echoing through the tower. Az and the rest of the three skeletons started to feel bad. After all, it looks like they killed a family man and summoned him as their Minion.


    Satoshi looked up in despair, which was actually understandable. After all, he is no longer a human but a skeleton. How is he supposed to tell his children that?


    Az saw only the despair written on Satoshi''s face and decided to run upstairs to prevent the child from seeing her father.  The stairs were cold and made of marble.


    As he ran upstairs, he saw a little girl around his age stopping abruptly in front of him. "Well, that''s definitely not my father, and what are you doing here?" she asked while trying to squeeze past Az. "Um, what am I doing here? Good question. Oh yes, your father sent me up to play with you. Some important people are here, and he doesn''t want to be disturbed," Az stammered.


    "I was actually looking forward to seeing my father again," she sighed." "Alright. Then follow me. I haven''t had contact with kids my age in a long time," the girl mumbled, feeling offended. Az followed her.


    Down on the first floor, the veins of Satoshi''s face were seen almost bursting, and his face was bright red. Simaev gently placed her cold bone hand on Satoshi''s shoulder and whispered, "Don''t worry about your daughter. Az is actually quite a good boy. If we had never met him, he still wouldn''t even hurt a fly."


    "I hope so," Satoshi sighed, and the group of four went inside his lab. It looked like what one would imagine a mage''s lab to look like. Full of jars everywhere, there were scattered notes, and at the same time, it was also dusty everywhere.


    "Well, in my day, mages were tidier. This youth is getting messier and messier," Ogron muttered, grabbing a few glasses off the shelf. "What kind of machine is this anyway," asked Simaev, pointing at some buttons.


    "Eyy, don''t touch my stuff," commented Satoshi grabbing Ogron''s arm. "Oh, Satoshi, my dear. We are trying our best to buy some time for you in your situation. Remember, you''re the only one to blame for ending up in such a stupid situation. Even a stupid 12-year-old kid feels sorry for you and tries to buy you time," Otaz cursed.


    Satoshi sat down dejectedly on the chair and looked at the three of them from a distance. Ogron seemed to be using his equipment, and even though he couldn''t use mana anymore, he could still brew better than Satoshi. "Ok, this is really embarrassing," muttered Satoshi, who was just watching. "Satoshi, stop sitting there like a child and come here. We need you," Ogron interjected. "I''m coming," Satoshi answered as he got up from his chair.

 42. magic potion

    By now, Ogron had mixed several things and still needed a mana source, for the finishing touches.


    "So Satoshi. I hope you know how to purify materials. We need to remove some impurities from the dried plant mix," Ogron said while taking a beaker from a burner flame.


    "Of course I know that. But we''ll let the machines do it," Satoshi replied.


    "No. We do it by hand. I don''t trust your machines. They''re probably just as unreliable as the owner of the machines," Ogron commented, handing him the beaker.


    "So purify it yourself," Otaz added. "Alright, alright, alright," replied Satoshi, and it didn''t take a minute for Satoshi to fail at it.


    In the end, only a lumpy black liquid in the beaker remained. The skeletons Ogron and Otaz were utterly disappointed by Satoshi''s failed purification. "Yo, I tried my best," Satoshi stated with a forced smile.


    "I''ll take it back. I''ll pay some other mage to teach Az magic. I don''t want to see a mage like you, who is too incompetent to purify materials. In my damn 500 years of living, I have never seen such a bad mage with such bad mana control.


    The youth is truly tainted," Ogron commented coldly. "Except Az, of course," Simaev added. "Exactly, except Az, he still has a pure soul," Ogron muttered while taking a second beaker.


    "I''ll give you three chances, and if you fail at that. Then you hand me your mana core or destroy it in front of me since someone like you is not worthy of having the talent of a mage," warned Ogron while mixing plants and extracting some certain substances. Satoshi couldn''t help but gulp at his words.


    The only thought Satoshi had was: ''This must be one of the old monsters before the age of machines. It was said that the old monsters were waging an ideological war against the new generation on how to deal with the machines. But unfortunately, I was never told how the war ended. This information was only a footnote in my book. My professor at the time dismissed it as nonsense, but when I look at Ogron, I could believe that this footnote was stating the truth.


    The more interesting question is actually, who Otaz is. Compared to Ogron, he gives even fewer details about his era. But if I understood the interactions correctly, even Ogron seems to respect him, although he is weaker than Ogron. I''ve heard that he lived in a much earlier era than Ogron. Legend has it that the mages'' ancestors, were humans who hunted mage monsters by the hundred, half of whom usually died. Then the few with the best potential were bathed in their blood. Thereupon they would be tied to a stone where one carved them than with sharp stones, runes on his body. In the end, liquid mana blood would be poured into the carved runes...'' however, before Satoshi could continue fantasizing, he was jolted into reality by Ogron.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    His next attempt also failed, and on his third attempt, Satoshi put into the machine. Ogron was just disappointed by this and muttered, "At least this thing works." He took the beaker from Satoshi and inside was a slightly blackish-green liquid. Otaz handed him several beakers with liquid in them, to combine and in the end, a blue potion was created.


    "I don''t know what kind of occult mumbo jumbo you''ve been up to, but I can tell you one thing. I don''t drink that. It''s very likely to kill me," Satoshi remarked as he pushed the beaker away from him.


    "Drink it," Ogron commanded. "No, never," replied Satoshi, who slowly took a few steps back and ended up with his back to the counter. Otaz suddenly grabbed Satoshi''s skull from the side and opened his lower jaw. Ogron smiled and poured the liquid into his mouth, only for it to land on the floor. Simaev laughed in the background. "You idiots actually thought you were human, haha haha. How the hell are you supposed to drink something like that? Hahahhaha" was heard from the background. Ogron just looked at the beaker and took a deep breath in and out. "We''ll rub your bones in it," he said afterward. "Leave my bones alone. Only my wife can touch them," Satoshi cursed.


    A few minutes later, the group of four made the same magic potion again, but this time Satoshi used his magic to attach the liquid to his bones. "Ok, what now?" asked Satoshi while all his bones were encased in floating liquid. "Um yeah. Usually, you imagine how you want to look and create an illusion. From a distance, you will look like the old you, however, upon physical contact, you would realize that you are not the real thing. At the same time, mages from intermediate level and above will be able to see through it. So don''t get your hopes up to high," Otaz told him while scratching his chin. "Wait, Ogron. Why didn''t we use it on us???" continued Otaz. "Because we lacked the materials.


    Because we couldn''t attach the liquid to our bones due to the lack of mana core and because I completely forgot it," Ogron replied.


    "Nevertheless, thank you, my dear comrades. This should make my life temporarily simpler even if I can''t touch my daughter that way," Satoshi sighed as he looked at his body in the mirror. If he put no effort into looking at his reflection, he looked like a human being. With a smile, he touched his cheek, only to see the liquid dropping down and destroying the illusion.


    "Never mind, you can''t have everything," Satoshi muttered before removing the liquid from his bones with a spell and pouring it into a container. "I should try to freeze it to my bones by some methods afterward. That way, the illusion would be preserved in the long run," muttered Satoshi, who used an ice spell on his bones. A short time later, cold air blew against his bones, and Satoshi slowly dripped the liquid onto them. It didn''t take long until he looked like a weird skeleton covered in ice blocks. "Ok, that looks really weird," commented Ogron, who could still see the illusion. But with a single move from Satoshi, the ice, as well as the illusion, was destroyed. "I guess that''s the wrong approach, after all, unfortunately," Satoshi muttered. Ogron just sighed after watching Satoshi, "Why do I have to make another portion for you now."

 43. a promise between children

    Az was pulled by the girl into her room. Once there, he saw several mana crystals in different colors decorating the room. The girl had a bookshelf that went from the ceiling to the floor that was packed with books. Those books on the top of the shelf were full of dust. On the floor was a drawing board with pencils. The walls were simultaneously covered with several posters ranging from magic circles to the biological structure of the human body.


    Az looked around the room. Such a well-decorated room was strange to him. As someone who had only lived in the village until the age of 12, sharing a room with his four other siblings, he was just confused. Each of his siblings owned only one book, lent to them for a short time by the village elder.


    "Why do you look so puzzled? Doesn''t my room look nice?" asked the girl watching Az from the side, tapping her finger against her forearm.


    "Ehm, how should I say it. It''s just unusual. You have more books in your room than my whole village had. Your room alone is more expensively decorated than my village ever was, and the crystals on the walls glitter so beautifully," Az said while feeling ashamed.


    "So you are from a village?" she asked, dumbfounded with a smile.


    "Yes, I am from a village.  But now I''m wandering around the forest without a home," Az said with a pained laugh.


    "I think maybe we should change the subject. By the way, what''s your name?" she asked.


    "My name is Az and yours?" said Az.


    "My name is Hideka," the girl replied. Hideka was a girl with light red hair and red glowing irises. Her smile radiated with innocence and was infectious at the same time since Az couldn''t stop smiling because of her. She was a thin child who wore a simple robe.


    "Hey, Az, you''re a mage, aren''t you?" she asked him."Yes, and you certainly are one too, right?" he replied.  "Of course. I challenge you, Az. The one who can cast the most spells wins," she stated while pointing a finger at him.


    "Ok, this is embarrassing, but I only know three spells," Az said with a slightly reddened face while not daring to look her in the eye.


    "Only three?" asked Hideka, dumbfounded. "Yes, only three," Az whispered back quietly while trying to disappear out of shame.


    "Anyway, show them to me. I''m curious," Hideka said with a smile as she sat cross-legged on her bed with a twinkle in her eye. Az felt pressured and whispered, "[rot]" and in his hand which was wrapped around a mana membrane, a black malignant mass emerged.


    "Omg, I don''t know that spell," Hideka remarked as she tried to touch Az''s spell.  Az hastily stuck her mana weapon with the staff of his spear and extinguished his spell.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "You idiot. Don''t you know how dangerous that stuff is you tried to touch?" Az scolded Hideka while putting his spear away. Hideka just looked offended at the reddened skin area before asking, " From which, mage discipline is that spell actually from?"


    "That was a necromancer spell," Az replied before invoking the next spell."


    "[Bone armor]," Az muttered, and bones emerged from his amulet, clinging to his body. In front of Hideka now stood a 12-year-old Az in white bone armor.


    "But, But who taught you spells from the dark disciplines?  Any mage with common sense would not teach a child spells from the dark disciplines," she stated to Az while she ran her hand through Az''s bone armor.


    "I taught it to myself from a book," Az replied while making movements in his armor.


    Hideka had to laugh at the sight before asking, "Care to test how strong your armor is against mana spells?" "I''d love to," Az replied.


    Hideka only muttered a few words Az didn''t understand, and a transparent staff of pure mana manifested in her hand. She took a big swing, and Az swung his spear to block the blow.


    "Hoho. Why don''t you let me hit you?" she asked with a mischievous smile. "Girl, I''m scared of that strike," Az replied with sweat beading on his forehead.


    He used all his strength at the moment just to keep her weapon away from his body.  Az lost the fight in strength. Eventually, Az fell with his back to the ground. Hideka immediately sat down on his chest with pride before taking Az''s helmet of bones.


    Az had to smile when he saw Hideka force her head into Az''s bone helmet. The helmet seemed to fit her and the red eyes shining out from under the helmet made the view even more beautiful. The rest of the time was spent with Hideka showing Az a large number of spells for beginner mages. For Az, it was just a nice magic show and he promised her that at the next meeting he would master at least as many spells as she did. Hideka just laughed and then explained to Az how to play chess.


    On a lower floor, Satoshi was busy writing a long letter to two different people. One letter was addressed to Satoshi''s wife, and the other letter was addressed to his beloved daughter Hideka.


    To his wife, who is also a mage, he was honest and told her the situation and what he ended up with. In the end, he asked her to take care of his daughter. Her letter was stained by a few tears. Next to him stood three skeletons who also advised him on how to continue writing.


    To his daughter, it was more difficult. He had to explain to her that he was going to disappear for a long time, and how could he tell her that he was a skeleton? That he can no longer give her fatherly affection and that he can no longer give her warmth? The only thing he could bring over his heart was a few words of encouragement, that he believed in her and that they would meet again in the future.


    In the end, he decided to keep quiet about his fate. She should rather live in ignorance with the thought that her father was sent on an important mission rather than learn that her father died in a battle and was now a servant of someone her own age. Before closing the letter, he put a magic earring inside it.


    Satoshi had two magic earrings that were linked together and could both find each other again.


    Hideka, realizing that Az lacked general knowledge about magic, handed him a book to read. By now, she was so tired that she fell asleep leaning on his shoulder.


    When Az wanted to sneak out, she grabbed him by the sleeve, and he heard her whisper: "It was fun with you, but could you please stay with me? It always feels lonely to be here alone, especially when your parents are never home and pursuing their careers." "I''d love to, but only until I''m called," Az whispered to her and continued reading.


    An hour later, it was time, and Az had to leave her side. "Please promise me that you will come back to visit me," she told him with a smile while giving him a hug.  "I promise that we will see each other again," Az replied and left her room.

 44. Family drama

    Hideka hugged Az from behind before he could go down the stairs. "Hideka, as I promised, I will visit you one day again," Az whispered to her before she released him.


    Az slowly walked down the cold marble steps, which had small cracks. ''The tower is much more of a cage for her. I hope she won''t be angry with me when she finds out the truth about me. But anyway, by the time she finds out, I''ll be long gone.''


    Someone, with whom Hideka was very familiar, was waiting downstairs. His new appearance shocked Az. In front of him stood the real Satoshi instead of just a pile of bones.


    "Dad, why do you look so serious? Did I do something wrong?" Hideka asked, standing at the top of the stairs.


    Satoshi just shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. He had pitch-black hair but the same eyes as his daughter. His skin was pale white, and he was formally dressed.


    "No, my sweet daughter. Please stay upstairs. I''ll come up to you since I just want to talk with you?," Satoshi replied as the sound of his individual footsteps could be heard echoing softly off the walls.


    Before reaching the top, Satoshi whispered, "Please put on the blindfold for a moment."


    Hideka just looked at her father in confusion before whispering, "Why? I want to keep looking at my father."


    "Sit on the step and do it for your father, please," Satoshi whispered, and she did as instructed with a sigh.


    Satoshi knelt one step below her and lightly stroked his cold fingers out of bone across her cheek.


    "Papa? Why is your hand so cold and why does it feel as if it''s out of bones?" asked Hideka as she grabbed her blindfold.


    "Please don''t remove the blindfold, or our conversation will end here," Satoshi told her with a stern tone. Hideka did as she was ordered.


    Satoshi lightly pressed his cold forehead against his daughter''s.


    "So, my daughter, please listen carefully. Your father will be leaving for a long time, and your mother will be taking care of you soon. I will gift you something with which you can find me when you are strong and mature enough," Satoshi whispered.


    Hideka began to sob under her blindfold.


    "Why, father? Why¡­?" she whispered as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Silence befell on the Marmor Stairs, Hideka wiped the salty drop and spoke again.


    "Why are you leaving me again? You never once tried to act like a father. I only get to see you once in several months and now... you are abandoning me again? What am I to you?" The young mage asked, her voice cracking in disappointment.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Hideka once again turned silent, she took deep breaths. Big enough to be heard by others, she raised her head to look at her father, who seemed to be unflinching and untouched.


    "You gave me everything that is needed to survive, everything except warmth, everything but affection."


    At this point, Hideka''s tone changed. Her voice was not soft and breaking but loud and thundering, aiming to tear the skies apart.


    "I did my best to get your attention. I did my best to hear at least once in my life, the words, "[I''m proud of you, I love you]. I''ve even become one of the best students in my class. But you never even attended one of the child-parent activities. You don''t even realize how much it hurt me, seeing how you chose your stupid experiments over me." Hideka sobbed, with each word, her suppressed anger and rage became more noticeable.


    "I''m sorry I could never be a real father in your life. I tried to give you everything I could never get. From food to a roof under your head so you never have to live in misery as I did, all the way to a chance at a career without too many problems. It''s hard for me to give you things I never knew myself. I can hardly give you love and attention because I never received it either," Satoshi whispered softly while wiping away her tears.


    Hideka slapped his hands away.


    "Your shitty past is no excuse. You could have at least tried to spend time with me, read me stories, or taught me some magic lessons. But instead of that, you locked yourself in the basement and neglected me," Hideka finished and her eyes slowly turned blood red.


    "You want to know what should be embarrassing to you? That a damn kid around my age has given me more affection in one day than you''ve shown me in my entire life. Instead of you, I''d rather find him for comfort," she cursed, ripping off her blindfold.


    Satoshi couldn''t stop her from ripping it off, and Hideka started to scream, seeing what was truly in front of her.


    "My daughter no...," before Satoshi could say any more Hideka, completely horrified kicked him down the stairs.


    The sound of Satoshi''s bones falling down the staircase could be heard. At the bottom, Az grabbed Satoshi''s skull with a sigh and muttered,"[Awaken my skeleton warrior]."


    Hideka on the other hand, ran down whispering: "I''m sorry."


    Slowly, the bones settled into their original form, and Satoshi stood up silently.


    "Az, what''s happening, and what are you doing?" asked Hideka, sobbing with fear.


    "Something that should never have happened," Az sighed before continuing with, "Your mother should come soon. Don''t worry, it won''t be the last time we''ll see each other."


    "I''m sorry that I forced you to wear a blindfold. I just didn''t want you to see your father becoming an undead minion," Satoshi whispered as tears began to start rolling his face.


    At that moment, Satoshi realized that there was no need to keep up the illusion of him still being a human.


    Hideka felt bad at the sight of her dad crying and gave him a hug.


    "I''m sorry dad. I didn''t know that you ended up like that," she whispered while pressing his cold bones against her warm body.


    Tears continued to roll down her face, but this time not out of anger but out of shame.


    "I made many grave mistakes my dear daughter. I''m sorry for neglecting you, and I''m sorry for trying to trick you into believing that I still was a human. I feared that my own daughter would no longer accept me as her father after seeing what I''ve become," Satoshi sobbed while pressing her tightly.


    "It''s ok dad. I''m sorry for being so selfish and only thinking of myself," she sobbed. "No that''s ok. It''s my fault for neglecting you," Satoshi continued to sob.

 45. I want to make my own decision.

    Az on the other hand stood there in silence.


    ''I should have never made him my minion. My minion only should be out of people willing to serve me. In the end, I''m responsible for destroying a family,'' went through Az''s head as his mood worsened.


    Simaev standing behind Az, whispered to him: "Why are you in a bad mood?"


    Az paused for a brief moment before starting to whisper: "Because I''m responsible for destroying a family I never knew of. I destroyed a child''s family around my age without even batting an eye."


    While Az was talking, he paused several times to rethink his mistake.


    Slowly he clenched his fist and resumed talking: "I''m not better than the people I despise. I don''t even know if I can ever make up for such a thing."


    Simaev had a more difficult time showing emotions as a skeleton, which is why she only stroked through Az with her cold bones.


    "The situation is not as black and white as you think. Remember that you only acted according to Ogron''s order. You''re also still a child. But even then, you still harbor responsibility for your action," she whispered to Az.


    Az just nodded, and a single tear rolled down his face.


    ''If only I had dared to say no to Ogron. If I had only made my own decisions instead of following the decisions of others. It might have ended differently," whispered Az as he hugged Simeav. He hid his ugly crying from the others.


    Simaev only continued with: "It is always better if you make the decisions yourself. But making decisions is a two-edged sword because the one who makes the decision always bears the full responsibility. Half-hearted responsibility can be borne only when you did not make the decision."


    Az nodded at her words and slowly stopped with the crying before stating: "I understand. I should also perhaps listen to Hideka. There''s a reason why kids my age aren''t taught necromancer magic."


    Az interrupted his speech only briefly to dry his wet eyes. Snot ran out of him which he wiped on his clothes. Not very hygienic, but what can you do. Not everyone seems to have a handkerchief.


    "Each magic element has its own problems. But the responsibility that a magician carries is different, for example, a fire mage has the responsibility not to burn down the whole forest. But what is your responsibility as a necromancer?" Simaev asked Az before stopping her words.


    "I don''t know. I''ve been a mage for a month, and I never once asked myself such questions. I never put much thought into the consequences of my magic focus. My focus was only on how can I increase my spell arsenal," Az responded with a sense of shame.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Simaev only shook her head before resuming with: "That explains a lot. I''m really sorry that you had to fight for your life from the beginning without ever having any proper magic classes. The first thing they teach aspiring mages is a lesson on the responsibilities of a mage."


    She stopped with her talk and gave Ogron a stern look, who only shook his head.


    "Necromancer magic does not really have positive elements. With fire you can burn, with water you can water plants, but with necromancer magic, you can only kill.


    It is even worse. Not only is Necromancer magic the magic you use to exterminate, but it is also the magic you use to give the dead a second chance. Those dead, that were never meant to walk the earth again. The dead whose stories should have already ended. You raise the dead to do your bidding for you. As a necromancer, you are responsible for disturbing the rest of the dead and for their actions."


    Az only sighed: "You''re right again. It''s time for me to focus on more than just necromancer magic. I should aspire to be like Hideka. Being able to use spells from a different range of elements/disciplines. Instead of only focussing on one element."


    After getting lectured by Simaev, Az felt a bit refreshed.


    ''I finally got an idea how to continue moving forward from now. Until now, I was moving aimlessly in the forest, but hopefully, that will change from now.''


    Ogron, on the other hand, could only sigh at such a scene.


    ''I may be cold, but I forgot that Az is still an emotional child. Out of kindness, I thought it would be acceptable if we granted him the right to say goodbye. I should never have let this situation happen in front of Az,'' Ogron thought as he carefully leaned towards the young Az.


    "Well, Az. Thoughts such as [what if], won''t help you in solving such a situation," he told Az.


    "I know, but in the face of such a situation, I just can''t help myself. If only you... If only you didn''t push me with making him, my minion. We would never have ended up in such a situation," Az responded harshly.


    "That may be true, but you still need a mage teacher, and you seem to forget the situation you''re in," Ogron commented coldly back.


    "You are a nobody who would be killed sooner or later because of your three Minions. How are you going to protect yourself? You know very well that you are a golden goose. Every other mage would kill you just to get your Minions, which is why you need a loyal mage teacher. Az, please tell me who is more loyal than your own minion?" Ogron questioned Az.


    But before Az could even answer back, Ogron resumed lecturing the young child: "You forget that he is the only one to blame. Whoever attacks a child deserves nothing better."


    At that moment, Az realized that he had no arguments against his Master.


    "Yes, you''re right, but still. I want to make my own decisions rather than following yours."


    Ogron only laughed at his words. He rested his skeleton arm on the white marble wall before asking Az the following question.


    "You only want to be the decisionmaker because you feel a sense of shame about the clusterfuck that happened here, right?"


    "Yes. I hope that I can prevent such a situation from happening again. I''ll also put my focus on other elements from now on since Necromancer magic carries its own share of bad qualities," Az stated.


    Ogron''s smile only grew larger after hearing Az''s words.


    "I understand your desire. But you shouldn''t forget that you are a young and weak mage. Sometimes you have to put your morals aside if you want to survive. I don''t want you to have no morals, but rather that you sometimes turn a blind eye," Ogron stated while slowly grabbing Az''s hand.

 46. A farewell gift

    The father-daughter duo had calmed down in the meantime.


    Satoshi still hugged his daughter tightly even though his bones were already wet because of her tears.


    "So, father, could you please explain to me why you''re leaving?" Hideka asked while looking at the red burning eye sockets of her father.


    Satoshi continued to caress his daughter''s hair while whispering: "Oh Hideka, my sweet daughter. Your father has sinned, and now he is trying to redeem himself. That is the reason why he will be leaving with them.


    One day, Az will explain to you why but that day is not today."


    "I don''t know what you did, but I hope you''ll visit me soon again," Hideka responded to him.


    "Hideka, before you go, I want to tell you two things. I, as your father, always loved you, and I was always proud of you. Just go to my laboratory later with your mom if you like to see the proof. In the letter you opened earlier is a ring with which you will be able to find Az later."


    A few tears rolled down her face, and she whispered with a smile, "Thank you."


    She slowly turned towards a child her age, watching the duo silently. Az could still see her reddened eyes.


    "I''m sorry you had to watch the quarrel between me and my father, Az," Hideka muttered with a bright smile.


    "It''s okay, and I''m sorry for being responsible for such a mess," Az replied while not daring to look into her eyes out of shame.


    Hideka, on the other hand, just shook her head and stepped closer to Az. "Az, please look me in the eye when we talk," she remarked while slowly caressing Az''s cheeks with one of her fingers.


    At that moment, Az had to smile. It had been weeks since the last time he had experienced genuine physical contact with a human being. For Az, these few weeks felt like an eternity by now.


    "Secondly, thank you for bringing my father home, even if it is only for a short time. I expect an explanation of what is going on here at our next encounter," Hideka stated.


    Az just nodded, and not even a moment later, he felt Hideka''s warm breath against his neck. He winced and blushed slightly from the sensation of her breath.


    The young female mage, on the other hand, whispered into his ear: "You better visit me again soon, or I''ll be looking for you. Don''t forget that I now have a ring with whom I can easily find you."


    At her words, Az felt a cold shiver down his spine and replied with a smile, "At our next encounter, I will be superior to you when it comes to magic. Trust me."


    "I''m not so sure about that, but hopefully, since otherwise, you''ll end up under me again," she commented with a chuckle.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Hideka leaned back before showing her silver-green ring to Az. The magic ring was crafted from silver with countless magical diagrams carved into it. These magical runes were interconnected, and if one were to look at them, one would neither find the beginning nor the end of the runes. There was also a sapphire green mana crystal at the top.


    ''In any case, it suits her,'' Az thought.


    "Hideka, I want to give you something too," Az told her while slowly taking out his medallion.


    The medallion consisted of a green mana crystal encased in bone. If one were to look closer at it, one would see that the bones that encased the green mana crystal seemed to be living. They moved all the time and changed the placements of the bones regularly. But one thing never changed, even though the bones regularly changed their configuration, they continued to form runes.


    Every time Az shot a little mana through the medallion, the runes lit up and Az could either summon stored bones out of the medallion or store them.


    Another advantage was that Az always helped when using necromancer spells. For example, Az Bone Armor spells could be easily conjured, since the amulet automatically placed each bone used in the spell in the most efficient structure.


    Whenever Az used the spell, he only had to provide the mana needed to attach the bones into an armor. The used mana also provided another layer of protection to the user.


    Bones are known for shattering into many small sharp pieces that could injure someone. The used mana provides a layer of protection to the person under the armor since it forces the bones to shatter outwards rather than inwards.


    Az stepped closer and handed her his medallion while stating: "This may mean little to you, but it is something my ancestors gave me."


    "I''m not taking such a precious present like that from you," Hideka replied while shaking her head.


    "I''m not gifting it to you. I''m just lending it to you until our next encounter. I will retrieve it than you. But until then, you shall wear it," Az stated while still holding his medallion.


    Hideka, however, still did not accept it, and as Az turned around, she stammered: "At least put it on me."


    "Gladly," Az said as he hung it around her neck. "It suits you. I hope you learn necromancer magic so it can be useful to you," Az whispered to her ear.


    "I will learn it, and I will be superior to you even in it," Hideka sobbed softly.


    Az slowly wiped away her tears with his thumb and whispered back to her, "I hope so because otherwise, I''m going to bully you."


    "That will never happen, and besides, I don''t care. I just want to see you again," she whispered to Az.


    "Oh, Satoshi, why are you dragging me and the Author into your family drama," Az muttered before bidding farewell.


    "Az, why the hell did you give her your medallion," Ogron whispered in his ear.


    "I thought I was relying too much on the amulet''s power. This is why I thought it was time to say goodbye to it for a while so I could focus on other magic disciplines," Az replied with a smile.


    "You know it was a priceless medallion. You could have given it to me to keep it from you till you''re strong enough," Ogron cursed.


    "I know, but that''s my decision," Az replied while shaking his head.


    Ogron only stared holes into Az before stating with a sigh: "That was a pretty unwise choice. But that''s fine since the only thing you''ll be losing is the small advantage you would have had against other mages that are around your age. You are such a young, naive child."


    Az ignored his words and turned his attention to Satoshi. "Satoshi are you sure you still want to come with me, or do you want me to free your soul or leave you here?"


    Satoshi, on the other hand, shook his head before kneeling in front of Az. "Yes. I''ve resolved the situation with my daughter and am now ready to leave with you. I only hope that someday you''ll grant me the chance to see her again," Satoshi stated.


    "I will fulfill your wish one day. But we should slowly leave this place now," Az stated as he slowly made his way out the door.


    However, the next problem awaited Az outside the marble tower. A red-haired woman stood in the air while sitting on a broom. She only looked down on Az, and before Az knew it, Satoshi jumped in front of Az.

 47. Talking

    Satoshi''s wife stood casually in the air.


    She also sat on a broom that whipped from time to time in the air. Her hair, as well as her eyes, were both blood red. Her skin was pretty pale white, and only enhanced the contrast between her hair and her eyes. Her face looked almost perfect if it weren''t for a horizontal scar on her cheek.


    She wore a tight black uniform and a black robe over it. She also wore a black cap tilted to the right on her head. If one were to look closer at her, one could see several emblems on her right chest. Every emblem except for one had mage runes depicted on them. The exception depicted a white eagle.


    In any case, neither Az nor his minion except for Satoshi knew about the rank she held.


    "So this is the boy who brought my husband to his knees? You called me here from the Eastern Front just because of a child!?" the woman asked indignantly, looking disappointedly at Satoshi.


    She immediately jumped down, not even half a meter away from Az. The woman held her broom with one hand and lightly touched Az''s chin with the other. Her face was only a few centimeters away from Az.


    Az had to look up at her, and a shiver ran down his spine as he looked into her eyes.


    ''Why can''t I move??? It feels as if the woman sees every individual cell of my body. Help me, Ogron, please.''


    "''Oh Satoshi, how can you lose to a Beginner Necromancer mage? If only you had trained with me in the army instead of spending all your time doing useless research," sighed Fuyuko, who was Satoshi''s wife, while analyzing Az from head to toe.


    Before Fuyuko could analyze any further, she noticed the existence of the three skeletons around her. Otaz stood behind her with his scythe blade pressed against her throat.


    Ogron, on the other hand, stood to the right of Az while the tip of his spear pressed lightly against her ribcage.


    Simaev quietly aimed with her bow at Fuyuko''s heart while standing left to Az.


    "One wrong move, and you''ll die. You will now move five meters away from us slowly. Understood?" a calm Ogron ordered in a cold voice.


    She just gulped in fear and nodded. Slowly she walked backward a few steps. Ogron glanced at Satoshi before instructing him to "...summon a barrier around Az. His survival must be guaranteed, at all costs."


    "By your command chief," Satoshi replied while giving his wife an apologetic look.


    She, on the other hand, just shrugged her shoulder and smiled.


    "Now I understand why you lost. But well, against such elite warriors, even I would have lost," she replied with a laugh before her expression turned serious.


    Fuyuko shifted her gaze from Satoshi to the tower, and a little girl immediately bent down under the window. "Mother is creepy. She sees everything," Hideka whispered, trembling.


    Fuyuko began to smile and turned further to Az, "So young man. I have two questions for you, and if you can answer both of them, I will leave you alone."


    Az had to swallow this time and replied with a smile, "I will try my best at answering your questions."If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "So, young man. Why can I smell my daughter''s scent on you?" she asked loud enough for even Hideka to hear. One could see how her veins were throbbing on her face and how she wanted to grab the young man by the collar.


    Hideka just whispered, "Mama can not only see everything, but she can also smell everything."


    "Ehm. Yeah, well, how should I put it? She hugged me, so maybe that''s why you can smell her scent on me," Az stuttered ashamedly while not even daring to look into her condemning eyes.


    "Hidekaaaaaa, is that true?" she asked loudly, and Hideka answered just as loudly, "YES!"


    Fuyuko just nodded, and her expression slowly relaxed.


    "Second question. Why did you turn my husband into one of your Minions, and how long will it be before I can see him again?" She asked while sitting relaxed on her broom again, swayed from time to time back and forth.


    "That''s two questions disguised as one, but alright," Az sighed before continuing. "I made him my Minion, so I could use him as my magic teacher, and that''s it."


    " Only as a magic teacher?" asked Fuyuko, with a puzzled look


    .


    "Yes, only as a magic teacher and maybe as my magic barrier summoner. He isn''t really useful for anything else. I have three Minions who are superior to Satoshi in every area," Az replied, shaking his head before continuing:


    "Only after he can''t teach me anything else will I give him the right to decide for himself what he wants to do with the rest of his life."


    She just nodded, sighing in relief, "Thank you for offering him a chance of redemption," while bowing to Az in gratitude.


    "No, no, no, you don''t have to bow to me," Az stuttered.


    "Could I talk to my husband for a moment?" Fuyuko asked as she rose again.


    "Of course, of course," Az replied calmly.


    "Thank you," she replied and turned her attention to her husband Satoshi. Silently she walked towards him, and Satoshi sensed emotions, such as sadness and anger.


    "Honey, I''m sorry..." but before Satoshi could finish his sentence, Fuyuko grabbed him by the collar of his coat and lifted him to eye level.


    "Your words mean nothing..." the woman sternly replied while staring into his eye sockets where red flames glowed.


    "Why did you act so stupidly? Why?" she asked angrily.


    Her anger turned to sorrow within a few seconds.


    "What am I supposed to do without you now," she whispered while dropping him to the ground.


    "I can only be glad that you survived, despite your stupid action," she sighed while a single tear rolled down her face.


    "Unfortunately, I am unable to express in words how much I regret my action," Satoshi whispered back as he slowly opened his arms.


    "What am I going to do with Hideka now?" whispered Fuyuko as she slowly hugged her husband''s cold body.


    "I don''t know. But hopefully, you won''t fail as I did as a father," Satoshi sighed as he hugged his wife''s warm body to him.


    "I think I''ve been the worse parent between the two of us. You worked near your daughter instead of several hundred miles away. Our daughter could see your shadow from time to time, while she could only see me on holidays," Fuyuko whispered as more tears rolled down her face.


    Satoshi merely smiled at the sight of his wife and wiped away her tears with his cold, bone fingers.


    "We both failed as parents. But I hope you will at least take this chance and try to be a good parent," Satoshi whispered to her.


    Fuyuko had to smile at his action before she whispered, "But how? You know very well that neither of us knows how to play a real parent."


    She stopped for a moment to breathe before whispering further, "You know very well that I can''t even have a short conversation with my daughter before getting stuck. Neither I nor you know her hobbies or anything else she does. I can only ask her how school is going for her before I get to a point where I don''t even know what I could ask her."


    Every single word Fuyuko uttered hit Satoshi hard.


    "I don''t know how we can fix it, but spending time with our daughter, is probably the first step in the right direction," Satoshi whispered while lightly pressing his forehead against hers.


    He inhaled and exhaled deeply before continuing with, "You''ve seen how fragile life is and how fragile we can be. We both focused on our careers. We both used to whisper to ourselves: [I''ll spend time with my daughter tomorrow but not today since I''ve got work to do]."


    Slowly, even Satoshi had to cry, and he could see how ashamed his wife was. Her shame came from the truth he told her.


    He paused for a moment, trying to get himself together, but instead of that, the crying between the parents just turned uglier.


    "We''ve always¡­ We''ve always postponed when we''ll spend some time with our daughter. But how did it end?" he asked her and himself.


    Satoshi felt only a wave of anger that he had suppressed till now.


    "It ended mainly with me not being human anymore and having to leave," he told her with a painful chuckle.

 48. The farewell

    Sobbing, Fuyuko murmured, "I wish I could feel your touch one more time and see your emotions one more time."


    She stopped briefly and stroked Satoshi''s chin before continuing with, "I wish I could have burned all your emotions into my brain. I will try to be for Hideka what we both failed to be," she quietly sobbed.


    "I will try to be a real mother. I will do my best, but I hope you will do your job as fast as possible and return," she whispered before kissing Satoshi''s forehead. A kiss on the lips is quite difficult if you don''t even have lips.


    "Thank you, and don''t worry. I will do my best and hurry back," Satoshi whispered to her.


    The two stood silent, and Az just scratched his head as he watched the two. The rest of Az''s Minions just watched in silence.  It didn''t take long for the couple to say their goodbyes.


    Meanwhile, the blood-red sun seemed to be setting on the horizon.


    "And are you ready now?" asked Az, who felt a stone fall from his heart.


    ''Yes, I am,'' replied Satoshi, with a nod.


    ''Finally, one problem less. I was worried that we might have to kill his wife. Fortunately, she acted wiser than Satoshi. Well, now I finally have a potential magic teacher. Finally, I can plan to diversify my magic disciplines."


    "Why are you smiling," Simaev asked as the group followed the sunset.


    "I''m smiling because I have one less problem on my mind now," Az replied.


    Simaev just nodded at his answer. Az looked at Satoshi and saw him talking to Ogron and Otaz about certain things. After a few minutes of listening, Az''s head hurt. ''They''re talking about some history stuff. But I didn''t expect Ogron to be so talkative, let alone Satoshi not being depressed for the first few days.''


    After several hours of walking in the forest, the group stopped to set up camp here. Only a small tent was set up for Az. The remaining four didn''t require sleep or a tent. They planned to stay awake most of the time anyway.


    Simaev gathered wood, and Satoshi used magic to light a campfire with a quick flick.


    "Satoshi, why don''t you have to utter the spells to summon a spell?" asked Az.


    "Oh, that''s something only mages of intermediate level and higher can do. Don''t worry, when you reach that level I will teach you the methods," Satoshi told him before continuing with, "But I think it''s time I give you something to read."


    He handed Az a book on the water element.


    "This should be the easiest element for you to start. I''ll help you with your practice tomorrow. But for today, you should at least read through a few chapters," Satoshi replied before standing up.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Az began reading the book by the campfire while holding a lamp in front of him. But it didn''t take long for him to fall asleep.


    "psst Az, wake up," whispered Otaz, who slowly nudged Az with the handle of his scythe.


    "Give me a moment. I want to keep sleeping," Az mumbled as he turned.


    "No. Get up, young man," Otaz whispered as he continued to poke Az''s belly with it.


    "Alright, alright," Az replied and climbed out of the tent.


    But what awaited him shocked him. In front of him lay a pile of dead animals. It looks like Ogron and the rest killed a pack of wolves and some deer, which came too close to the tent at night.


    "Looks like you''ll be wearing wolf pelts soon," laughed Ogron as he let a light gray coat dry in the morning sun. Simaev and Satoshi, on the other hand, were standing in front of a campfire grilling wolf and deer meat. Most of it was smoked to be used as later rations.


    Az''s stomach growled at the smell of grilled meat. Only now did he realize that he was starving like an animal.


    Simaev just smiled at Az and handed him a skewer of meat. "Here, take it," she told him.


    Az took it with a nod and ate it quietly. Unfortunately, the meat was not seasoned, but what can you do. You can''t have everything in life. The main thing is to have something edible. That''s the only thing that counts. Only a satisfied person can worry about the taste of their food.


    It did not take long until he finished and reached for the other skewer. ''Deer meat tastes better than wolf meat when you eat it unseasoned.''


    After Az had eaten, Satoshi called after him. "It''s time to start your first magic lesson," he announced with a smile as he stood in front of him in a cloak, exposing his skull. "If you''ve read through it, then you should understand the simplest water spell. But I will show you the basics again," Satoshi told him with a smile.


    Satoshi just mumbled:"[Water]" and a mass of water accumulated in front of him. He forced the mass of water into several shapes and commented regularly on his actions.


    "There are two ways mages use spells," Satoshi mentioned, turning the mass of water into a spear and throwing it against the ground. After that, he muttered, "[Water Spear]," and a spear made of water materialized in his hand, which he threw to the same place.


    "As you have just seen, I have conjured the same thing in two different ways. The first way is to transform a mass of water in your head the way you want it and then throw it. This method has the advantage that you can use it without knowing the spell. At the same time, you can change what you want to summon," Satoshi explained while a water spear was formed in his hand, which then transformed into a water hammer.


    Az tried to imitate him, but in his case, the summoned water mass did not stay in the air for long before falling to the ground.


    "With a little practice, you''ll get it," commented Satoshi, who continued to play with his water mass. The mass of water turned into a ball that flew at a rapid speed towards Az only to stop a few centimeters in front of him. The water that formed the ball moved rapidly before slowing down and losing the shape of a ball in the end.


    "Before you try to transform the mass of water into other shapes, you better try to keep the mass in the air. The most important thing for you right now is control. The rest comes after," Satoshi told Az who just nodded.


    Az summoned a mass of water again and held it upright in the air while trying to listen to Satoshi.


    "Now, where was I? Ah yes. The first method is more versatile but has a big problem for young and inexperienced mages. In battle, you have to use a spell quickly and don''t have time to form the spell properly first. At the same time, the first method consumes more mana," Satoshi explained, pausing for a moment.


    Az water mass remained in the air during his speech.


    Satoshi continued, "The second method is to use a mage spell that summons the element in the form. [Fire Lance], [Water Lance], [Lightning Lance], [Rotting Lance] are well-known examples here."


    Several lances of different elements appeared above Satoshi, and he shot them into the air.


    "However, with this method, you need to memorize and master more spells," Satoshi told Az before stating: "That''s enough information you should know. Please continue with manipulating the shapes of your water spell."

 49. Be patient, my child.

    After a while, Az got bored because he slowly lost his patience holding water in the air. He, therefore, decided to move the mass with his thoughts and experiment around.


    "Honestly. I wish I had listened to Luz, my older brother, and trained mana control with him. But instead of that, I tried learning as many beginner magic spells of my element as possible," Az muttered to himself while trying to reshape the mass of water in the air.


    It didn''t work perfectly, but he managed to keep some of the shapes up from time to time. But in the end, the mass of water fell to the ground causing Az to get wet and further demotivating him. In the end, he let himself fall against a tree trunk to think about the element.


    ''Ok, where is the fault with the way I use the spell?'' were the only thoughts that went through Az''s head while he closed his eyes.


    '' I can only keep my spell in the air for a short time because I am overwhelmed to maintain my spells. But Satoshi''s water balls were different from mine. The water used by him was constantly in motion. Maybe...'' but before Az could finish his thoughts, he was woken up by a mass of water flying against his face.


    "Eyy, little one. I barely leave you alone for a moment, and you''re already napping. Tell me, what makes you depressed? Isn''t it enough for you to know one more element?" asked Satoshi while spinning a small ball of water on his index finger.


    "I just have too many expectations, and I''m already failing at forming things with water," Az told him dejectedly.


    "I think it''s more because you don''t know much about magic. You just saw how an intermediate mage controls water and immediately compared yourself. You probably need people around your age to realize that beginner mages all have problems with magic control," Satoshi explained while shaking his head before continuing,


    "Mana/magic control is the most important thing for a mage.  Most at your age are too impatient and give up quickly on magic control and tend to focus more on learning the spell for whichever form."


    By now, Az was a little less bummed compared to a few minutes ago and asked Satoshi the following question: "Could you please at least tell me how you manage to control your Mana, Element?"


    "Sure, always, but I''d rather suggest you experiment on your own because the proof of the pudding is in the eating," replied Satoshi, who directed Az to read the next few chapters.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    "After reading it, I''ll be happy with helping you out," he commented with yawning before moving on to his stuff.


    "Hmm, I''m going to focus on Necromancer magic for the time being," Satoshi mumbled while turning the dead wolves all into his undead minions.


    Well, I think it''s about time I talk more about necromancer magic. How long one''s soul remains in the body after their death depends on a few things.


    First, how strong was the person/animal, and second, how big was the person''s desire to continue living while dying.


    The fact that almost anything can be reawakened into a skeleton or revived is the reason why assassins always destroy the souls of their victims in order to prevent such a thing from happening.


    There are two ways to summon an Undead Minion. The first option is with a soul, while the second option would be without a soul.


    If one uses the first option, one question remains.  How much control does the caster have over the soul of his minion?


    With the latter, you raise a puppet, which only acts when you control its body. Mages rarely, if ever, use such minions, as they are just a puppet. Some of these minions are controlled with machines to create self-sustaining beings. But that''s a story for another time.


    However, when it comes to Minions that still have a soul, there are only three possibilities:


    If the summoner is weak and has no control over the minion''s soul, then the minion will gain complete control over itself. This method uses the least amount of mana, however, such a minion has free will and can decide what he wants to do and whether he wants to live.


    If the summoner is marginally stronger or weaker than the summoned minion, he can make a soul contract that both parties must abide by.


    Most soul contract only has a few clauses, such as how long the minion will serve and how far it''s willing to go. For example, I''ll serve under you for one year, but I won''t kill innocent civilians.


    If the summoner is much stronger than his minion, then it can force the minion to a soul contract which is similar to slavery. Such minions are the most mana intensive, as mana must be used regularly to prevent them from destroying their souls.


    The wolves that Satoshi awoke as undead Minions were not the brightest and only understood through telepathy what they were supposed to do. He entered into a short contract with them that read as follows: "You serve me for a month as sniffer and watchdogs. I''ll bury all of you after that."


    Satoshi noticed one thing in the process. Necromancer magic seemed to use much less mana than before. "Ok, that''s weird," he muttered while testing more spells. After a few minutes of testing, he was about one thing certain. He got a second talent, the Necromancer talent.


    "Another talent is quite a nice thing. Now I have both the Water and Necromancer talents," Satoshi muttered while creating an armor out of bones around his bones.


    Once the armor completely encased his body, he continued, "Anyway, I noticed two problems. My mana regeneration is lower compared to before and mana will no longer contribute positively to the further development of my body. Well, I''ll probably be more sensitive to the light and life element too, but we''ll see about that."

 50. The tragedy of Raph part I

    Some people seem to be marked by misfortune. First, they meet a dragon that wipes out their whole village, and then the eldest brother uses a faulty spell, which saves the lives of each sibling but separates them.


    My name is Raph, and I got pretty lucky. Since my brother, Gab, and I were both transported to the same place.


    The reason for this was due to the fact that I clung to him during the teleportation. Once there, our luck sadly expired. Both of us got caught by slave drivers. We were forced to walk through the steppe for weeks on low rations, only to be sold, separately.


    Deep in the forest away from any civilization seemed to live a religious community. The followers of the community are feared and liked at the same time.


    Some people fear them, because they acquire a large number of children legally, as well as, illegally. Other people loved them since they regularly save towns and villages from their demise.


    But few know the name of their followers. They are known as the followers of "the dead gods." Unfortunately, the narrator won''t tell you what gods are, as he himself is still unsure, but never mind, let''s continue.


    Even gods have souls, and anyone who has a soul can be brought back to life if one finds the correct vessel.


    Deep in the heart of the forest stood a cathedral, or at least, what was left of it.


    The cathedral was built in Gothic style and marble. Sadly the marble used in the construction turned black. The reason for that is the dirt that accumulated over the years on it. One could claim that the cathedral''s best days are long behind it. The runes that were once carved into the marble, faded away with time.


    The two towers that adorned the great arch of the cathedral were by now in ruins. The rubble of the building was never cleaned up because the broken marble could still be found on the ground around the cathedral.


    Entering inside, one could see a hall that was decorated with broken marble columns and statues. Several benches could still be seen in the hall, or at least what remained of them. The windows were decorated with colorful pieces of mosaic glass, and one could see interesting scenes depicted on the mosaic glass.


    From scenes of a man beheading a dragon to scenes of a boy standing tied to the ground, everything could be seen. The fact that the depicted person resembled Raph darkened the mood. Above the chained Raph gods were depicted fighting against each other.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    A dim light fell into the cathedral, and the dirty marble floor was littered with cracks.


    On the altar, however, was a boy. A boy at the age of 14 stood chained on his knees. His arms, on the other hand, were both chained to the floor with rusted silver chains.


    A very strange view, because after all, a boy has no business in such a place.


    Inside stood several people dressed in black or white full-body cloaks. Only their glowing eyes could be seen under their coverings.


    The people were humming softly in a foreign language, and Raph slowly woke up. He wanted nothing more than to cry out, but the band around his lips prevented it. Trying to free his arms, he shook the chains. But in vain, because apart from attracting the attention of everyone present, Raph achieved nothing with his action.


    '' ''Where am I, and what are they going to do with me?'' Raph asked himself as he looked in vain for Gab, who did not seem to be present.


    A man standing behind Raph slashed several cuts into Raph''s body with a small ceremonial dagger. Raph wanted nothing more than to scream out in pain, but in the end, he just bit the cloth tightly while his veins throbbed with rage in his face.


    All the blood that left Raph''s body was collected in a silver decorated chalice until it was filled to the brim. Only then did he remove his chalice, and Raph''s blood dripped onto the dirty altar floor. The man behind him gently touched Raph''s wounds, which seemed to heal immediately.


    Raph merely looked grimly at him, but a moment of eye contact was enough to trigger a headache in our protagonist.


    The man, dressed in religiously white clothing, had runes carved into his skin which became smaller and smaller on his face. But his eyes were only white, and even in them were runes engraved.


    With a smile, he sipped at the chalice. His hand was pale, and you could see the blood pumping through his skin. A very peculiar view.  The several rings that adorned his hand reflected the incoming light on Raph.


    Everyone in the room seemed silent while the priest, or whatever he was, stood with his eyes closed. "You have truly caught a potential vessel," he murmured with a smile, as he removed Raph''s mouth bandage.


    To his amazement, Raph was silent for a minute before he spoke.


    "Where am I, and what are you going to do with me," Raph asked calmly.


    Everyone, even Raph himself, knew at that moment that he was anything but calm.


    "You are in our cathedral, my future leader. Feel honored to be a Vessel of a higher being," the priest stated as he extended his arms to welcome Raph.


    "No, I don''t want to be a vessel," Raph replied with a horrified look.


    "I''m sorry, but you have no choice," he replied with a smile as more cloaked people stepped forward. One person grabbed Raph''s chin with her gentle fingers and gently kissed his forehead. "Rest assured, my child. In the kingdom of the gods, angels will welcome you," she whispered while another person opened up the chains that bound Raph.


    Unfortunately, Raph had no chance to escape. Several people grabbed both his arms.


    "No, no, please don''t," Raph pleaded while they dragged him onto a table.


    "Be quiet," the priest replied while Raph got thrown onto the table. "No, I don''t want to end up like this... my brothers are waiting for me...," Raph pleaded while his arms were tied tightly.

 51. The Tragendy of Raph part II

    Raph, meanwhile, was lying with his back on the table. Each of his limbs were stretched out and attached to the table.


    "Resisting is futile, my lord," commented the priest, who was amused by Raph''s sight.


    Raph tried to move his limbs, but it was in vain. The handcuffs used on him this time were cutting into his skin as he tried to wriggle his limbs. After several attempts, Raph started to lose hope while blood dripped from his limbs onto the floor.


    The trickling of his blood resounded throughout the hall.


    Raph glanced at the priest with a panicked look as someone handed a thin golden ceremonial pen. The latter accepted it with a smile and wrapped his mana around the thin feather tip.


    "Before we can put our lord''s soul inside you, we must make sure your body is strong enough to contain it. You don''t want to burst, right," the priest whispered as he dipped his feather, which was coated by his mana, into a fluorescent blue liquid.


    After dipping, he dripped the feather into the small jug. He periodically took a sip with his free hand from his goblet, which was filled with Raph''s blood. Slowly the tip of the feather approached Raph''s chest. One could see the movement of Raph''s chest with each breath he took and how he was covered in goosebumps.


    He smiled as he slowly pressed the feather tip against Raph''s skin, and it sank a few millimeters in with no resistance.


    Raph''s eyes were glowing red at the moment, and his veins were almost popping. He wanted nothing more but to scream and to curse each of them, but no word seemed to leave his mouth. Only the tears began to flow slowly. These came from sadness as well as anger.


    ''I can''t die yet. I want to see each of you again... I have to see each of you again... I must meet each of you again,'' were regrets running through Raph''s mind at that moment.


    With a renewed will, he tugged at the shackles, but they still didn''t budge.


    "Give up, my lord," commented the priest who wore a magnifying glass on one eye to better carve the runes.


    He started with Raph''s chest and finished drawing the first rune within seconds. It was half a centimeter in size, and the carved area glowed blue. Raph felt a sharp pain while the priest ignored his existence and continued to dip his pen into the light blue liquid before continuing to carve.


    Several hours later, Raph''s chest area was covered with runes. His chest ached with sharp pain, and he felt weak. The individually carved runes had little to no effect on Raph. But only after they were interwoven together did they seem to show their strength.


    By now, even the priest was sweating, and beads of sweat regularly fell on Raph''s cold chest. The fact that the priest regularly stroked Raph''s chest with his ice-cold hand didn''t make the situation any better. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    "You can join me now," the priest commented, and four people stepped forward. All of them were wrapped in black cloaks, and in comparison to the priest, they carried a silver ceremonial pin. Each of them went to one of Raph''s limbs, and Raph could only look in horror at them.


    They started with Raph''s soles and palm. It tickled, Raph but the priest stabbed Raph''s neck area with his pen while muttering, "I''m sorry, my future lord, but we''ll need you quiet if we''re going to pull this off successfully."


    Obviously, the priest and his subjects regularly made small to large mistakes. These areas would then be healed by the priest before another attempt was made. In any case, one would not like to lie in Raph''s place and get a full-body rune tattoo.


    Raph now was lying there paralyzed while his whole front body was tattooed with runes. He no longer felt any physical pain, but with each new rune center established on Raph''s body, he lost more and more control over his own body.


    By now, it became difficult for him to move his fingers as they continued to carve, so he had no choice but to stare at the ceiling fresco.


    It was said that the ceiling fresco was mysterious because it showed something different to everyone.


    If one glanced only briefly at it, one would see angels serving the gods. But with every minute that one stared at it longer, the image changed more and more.


    The smiles the angels once had, slowly disappeared and the cheerful mood of the ceiling fresco also faded. The mood turned gloomy while the angels lost their wings and became more and more human. These people also changed


    Over time they resembled people from the viewer''s circle of friends and family.


    Legends say that if you look long enough at the fresco, you could see one of the possible futures that await you.


    Raph saw his siblings struggling against several monsters and how he slaughtered monsters and dragons, how he rained sulfur on cities, and how he ended up fighting his siblings.


    But one of the scenes frightened Raph. In the scene, he saw Luz on his knees. Raph, who stood behind Luz, pulled a burning sword out of his back while not showing any emotions.


    ''''Why would I do such a thing,'''' Raph whispered as another tear rolled down his face.


    The image that came next was more confusing. Luz was bleeding to death on the ground while a humanoid monster tore Raph to pieces and ate the two siblings. The monster seemed to have lost control over itself and howled loudly as a horde of skeletons surrounded it.


    Raph understood nothing, but before he could brand the scenes depicted on the frescos into his memory, the monster turned to the lying Raph and roared loudly.


    At that moment, Raph was seen twitching continuously and some of his bones broke due to being cuffed as he suffered a seizure.


    "What''s happening here," muttered the priest, who only glanced at the fresco. Some small crumbs fell from the ceiling, and the group watched Raph silently twitching in front of them for a few minutes.  After Raphs seizure stopped, one could see foam leaving his mouth.


    The priest was speechless and placed his hand on Raph''s chest.


    "He''s still alive and his heart still beats regularly again," the priest told the rest while having a short moment of eye contact with them.


    "We are done with the front. Now only the back is left to be done," the priest stated as he opened the handcuffs that bound Raph to the table.


    The rest of the operation continued smoothly. In the end, a boy was lying there, with a full-body rune tattoo from the throat down. The runes on his body glowed lightly, and only the priest knew what their effects were, but one thing for sure, Raph will never be the same after he leaves the room.


    A large amount of mana began flowing in Raph''s direction and accumulating in his body. The priest watched with pride as Raph greedily absorbed mana like a hurricane as he uttered: "We''ll take a break before inserting the soul of our lord."

 52. The Tragendy of Raph part III

    It took several hours for Raph to wake up. His body ached, and it felt as if every bone in his body was broken. At the same time, his mana channels hurt excessively, and it felt as though his mana channels were leaky.


    ''My head hurts...,'' was the only thought that flashed through Raph''s head.


    He tried to move his arm, but he only heard the rustling of silver chains that forced him to his knees. His arms were chained to the walls as they had been when he first woke up, and his runes glowed beautifully in the faint rays of sunlight streaming through the cathedral glass.


    Slowly Raph opened his eyes to gaze at the hall, which was still as dusty and dirty as before. The priest knelt still before him.


    ''Strange. I thought I would lose complete control of my body because of the runes. Why haven''t I yet...'' but before Raph could finish his train of thought, he was interrupted by a voice.


    "We are ready to move on to the second phase with the experiment," said the priest in a white robe as he pulled out a small bottle.


    "You may be ready, but I am not," Raph replied coldly.


    "I''m sorry, but your readiness is of little interest to us," the priest replied as he stood up and continued talking. "I only pay respect to the body of my future lord and not its mortal soul that still houses the body."


    Raph just sighed, and the priest controlled the liquid in the container with magic. Raph felt too weak to use any spells and was forced to witness the controlled liquid flowing through all the runes carved into his body, making their glow more vivid.


    The priest placed several dusty closed containers decorated with runic symbols similar to those, on Raph''s body. These runes seemed to have faded, however, and Raph could roughly read the words: "Blood," "Heart," and "Soul" on the three containers.


    "Now we can proceed with the next step," the priest hummed as he placed the container titled "Blood" in front of him.


    He slowly began to sing in a foreign language, and every few seconds, another person present joined in. However, everyone was singing something different, and the voices were getting louder and louder, echoing back from the cathedral.


    During their chanting, a few runes on Raph''s body and the container titled "Blood" began to light up. With each passing second, more and more runes came to life, and in the end, the container was heard to pop open with a great noise.


    The priest just smiled and did not stop his chanting. Instead, he moved his arms and hands in rhythm, and the blood slowly left the container.


    A black tentacle arm slowly flew towards Raph and slowly caressed his forehead, as well as his shoulder. "What in God''s name is happening here," Raph stammered as blood slowly dripped down from his forehead.


    "Luz, Gab... please save me," Raph pleaded as his fear was written all over his face.


    The black tentacle arm of blood slowly drilled into his shoulder, and the alien blood merged with his.


    Raph began to gasp. He would have liked to scream, but no sound came out of his mouth. Instead, beads of sweat dripped down his forehead as he gasped. His iris slowly changed to a neon yellow color while the white in his eyes turned black.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    His vision slowly faded, and his head only ached. It felt like it was about to burst. "Luz, Gab, please help me..." he pleaded while blood instead of tears poured from his eyes.


    Those present, however, ignored his pleas, and it wasn''t long before the runes on Raph''s chest lit up and the container titled "Heart," opened.


    This time the priest slowly took out the heart and just kept smiling. In his hand was a black heart that was still throbbing. The priest walked closer to Raph and gently moved his index and middle finger vertically across Raph''s chess. A second later, Raph''s chest opened slit-like. From the wound, blood began to drip down.


    "It hurts... It hurts... It hurts..." Raph began to screech as he tugged on the silver chains.


    While the rustling of the silver chains resounded, the priest forced his two hands with the heart, into Raph''s chest.


    He had only one goal and that was to connect the new heart to Raph''s mana and blood circulation system. Raph''s body should have a double heart. The heart of a mortal and of a non-mortal. In Raph''s body already flowed the blood of a non-mortal.


    Raph''s screaming only got louder, and slowly, the cathedral itself began to shake, but no one stopped singing. On the contrary, after a short time, their singing exceeded Raph''s screeching.


    Raph''s veins were throbbing, but one could see black blood pumping through his body. In the meantime, Raph had completely lost his mind and resembled a monster who only wanted to be released from his shackles.


    The cathedral continued to shake, and crumbs began to fall from the ceiling, but slowly the runes of the third container began to glow.


    The priest trembled with excitement and reached for the third container. After most runes on the container glowing, he slowly pressed it against Raph''s head.


    Cracks began to form all over the cathedral floor and ceiling, but everyone ignored them. The container opened, and something transparent shot into Raph''s head in a flash.


    The chanting slowly became quieter and quieter, but Raph was seen falling unconscious to his knees. Blood began to flow through all his orifices as the chanting continued. A puddle of blood was already forming underneath him, and only after a few seconds did he open his eyes and roar.


    His roar was so loud that all the glasses shattered, and the cathedral collapsed completely, but that didn''t stop him. He pulled more and more on his chains, and you could hear the loud noise of breaking chains.


    "So beautiful, so beautiful. He has awoken... our Lord will redeem us all," the priest uttered on his knees, weeping tears of joy. Others present shrieked instead as they were slowly buried under debris, but not the priest. He continued to kneel before his highness, who slowly stood up.


    Raph was buried under rubble, but he slowly stood up and breathed deeply. An ancient deep voice laughed before one could hear him saying, "It''s been a thousand years since I last walked on this world..." as he slowly approached the priest. Each of his steps made the ground tremble, and the priest only whispered: "My Lord...".


    But the monster in Raph only snapped, and the heads of all the living ones burst like melons.


    "Strange... His soul has not yet shattered into a thousand pieces. Regardless I may not have fully recovered yet, however, he is too weak to gain control of his body.


    "I could have sworn that this place used to be the capital. Why is there only forest here?" he muttered while walking through the forest.


    Not even a few minutes later, a troop of mages stood in the air above him. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" asked a booming voice.


    Raph, on the other hand, merely glared at the troupe with his neon yellow eyes for a moment and smiled.


    "Me, I''m a nobody. But shouldn''t the younger generation introduce themselves? Or have you lost all respect for your ancestors?" asked Raph back while raising his hand and slowly pulling his hand down.


    Gravity changed, and the mages in the air crashed to the ground. They all looked with horror at the 14-year-old Raph. The latter just smiled and slowly increased the pressure more and more.


    "Who are you..." stuttered the leader of the troupe fearfully.


    "One of your ancestors," Raph only replied, and you could only hear the bones of them slowly breaking as their shrill screeches echoed through the forest.


    "Now only his siblings are missing. I want to make sure no one finds out about my resurrection," Raph muttered as he took some of their equipment with him before leaving.


    Behind him, a group of ravens landed and began to poke at the dead with their sharp beaks.

 53. forcing a soul contract part I

    In a mage tower somewhere in a city, a man sat silently on a bed. He was a servant, but his real working hours would begin only after fully recovering.


    His life was already turned upside down after someone bought him as a slave, and it only got more complicated.


    Now he has to deal with a parasite that tries to fight him to gain control over his body.


    The development of his parasites was a curse and a blessing at the same time. The five parasites in his mana core were trying to communicate with him around the clock. Luz was constantly being told via telepathy that he should eat more or increase his mana absorption.


    Imagine trying to cast a spell while five children in your head complain that they are hungry. That would drive everyone crazy sooner or later.


    '' I had a discussion with Simon and Jodoc yesterday about how I should proceed. The two of them recommended that I impose a soul contract on the five parasites,'' Luz thought as he picked up a pen.


    '' The five have only a certain degree of intelligence, but their intelligence is only equal to that of a four-year-old...heh heh went through Luz''s head while he wrote some notes.


    On the paper were a few clauses for a soul contract:


    {The host must do his best to ensure the survival of the five parasites.}


    {Either party to the contract can demand peace from the other}.


    {The parasite has no right to enter the host''s brain without the host''s permission}.


    {The host must do its best to provide its symbiote with biological matter and mana}.


    {The parasite must donate a portion of its purified mana to the host}.


    {The parasite would only be allowed to take control of the host in an emergency to ensure their survival}.


    "Jodoooc, come here. I need your help," Luz called loudly, and a parrot landed on his shoulder.


    "Yes, what is it?" asked the parrot that glanced at the contract.


    "Looks pretty good actually but wait...," squawked the bird while going through its feathers with its beak.


    "Add something like you get to decide how it should develop," Jodoc remarked while nipping Luz''s ear.


    "Thank you, Jodoc," Luz replied before adding the clause:


    {The host has a right to decide on the future development of the parasites}.


    ''Ok, time to go to Simon and finally get it done.''The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    Luz stood up with Jodoc on his shoulder and left the guest room of the magic tower. The tower had a radius of 15 meters and had several floors for different matters.


    According to Jodoc, most of the master mages are around a hundred years old and specialize in several sciences as well as magic disciplines.


    After the two arrived at the fourth floor, they silently watched Simon continue to analyze the graphs of Luz and take readings from Luz''s blood and cell samples.


    Jodoc, noticing that Luz did not dare to disturb his current master, cleared his throat loudly. Simon put his monocular magnifier aside as he smiled at the two of them.


    "Have you finished formulating your clauses for the soul contract?" asked Simon as he cleared space on his table.


    "Yes, I did, but I''d like to ask you again what I have to worry about," Luz replied as he slowly strolled into the room.


    "You''re welcome. The biggest problem is that the parasite will never allow you to stop it from evolving, but you can try to delay it as much as possible," Simon replied as he paused for a moment to put his thoughts into words.


    "You two are fighting for control of your body, and there can only be one winner. Your goal is to transform it from hot war to a cold war or," asked Simon.


    "What do you mean by cold war?" asked Luz.


    "In a cold war, there is no active battle over your body. Both of you will continue to sharpen your weapons, but it will be a race this time as to who can evolve or advance faster...." Simon explained to Luz while using magic to visualize Luz''s situation.


    In front of Luz, a picture emerged that symbolized a tug-of-war between Luz and a parasite pile with five kings at the top.


    "I see..." replied Luz while lightly stroking his chin.


    Simon just nodded as he continued his narration, "The one who advances first will tear up the soul contract and fight for control, and if the difference between the two is severe, then that individual will impose a new soul contract with new conditions..." Simon narrated as the image changed.


    The visualization changed, and one could see the miniature Luz, being devoured by parasites and ending up like a marionette.


    "If you manage to dominate the parasite, you will achieve powers like no other before," Simon commented, to motivate Luz a bit.


    "I will support you completely because after all, you are my guinea pig ehm I mean, after all, I have to take care of you," Simon told Luz.


    The visualization ended abruptly, and his master took out a white paper and a pen.


    "I''m going to show you how to write a soul contract before you have to write your own," Simon told Luz while handing him a feather.


    "I hope your mana control is good because without a delicate control you won''t be able to focus your mana gently on the tip of the quill. Only after that, you can start writing the contract with mana," Simon commented while a feather floated in the air and wrote a contract.


    The paper seemed to change color whenever mana touched it.


    "But I thought Mana wouldn''t leave any marks?" questioned Luz, puzzled.


    Simon just shook his head before sighing, "You lack a lot of general knowledge. But mana leaves traces everywhere. It''s just not visible to low-level mages. Some material absorbs mana, and the traces of it stick."


    Luz just nodded and tried to direct his mana onto the tip of the feather with fine control. He slowly placed his hand on the sheet and lightly pressed the quill onto the paper.


    What he didn''t realize was that his whole hand was also wrapped in mana and there was a handprint on the paper.


    Jodoc only bit Luz''s ear in response. "Argh, why," Luz cursed, raising his hand to scare Jodoc away.


    But when he tried to focus on his paper again, he saw the problem. "Sorry," Luz gave meekly before continuing to write on the sheet.


    It didn''t take him two minutes to fill the sheet.


    "Ok, what now?" asked Luz while holding the contract in his hand.


    "Place your hand on it and accept it. That way, you can mentally secure the contract and force it on the parasites," Simon muttered as he poured a cup of tea for himself and Luz.


    Luz followed Simon''s words, and he managed to see the contract with his eyes closed.


    ''Hey, you five, I got something for you,'' and immediately, Luz heard the five parasites talking in confusion.


    ''STOOOP, IT OR THERE WILL BE NO FOOD,'' Luz voiced his thoughts loudly to the five parasites who turned quiet.

 54. forcing a soul contract part II

    In Luz''s head, you could visually see the 5 princes facing Luz.  They seemed to be arguing with one another more than caring for Luz at the time. Luz stood there silently and cleared his throat telepathically to attract their attention.


    The five princes slowly calmed down, and one asked, "Where and when will we eat?"


    Luz telepathically told them the contract and added that there would be plenty of food after they signed the contract.


    Two of them accepted the soul contract immediately without even bothering to read it. Two others read only the first clause and were satisfied since Luz guaranteed their lives.


    Only one of them commented: "What do you mean with paragraph 5? I''m not signing that."


    Luz shared with a mischievous grin, "As long as he doesn''t sign, there will be no food."


    The other four princes released loud impulses and moved toward the outsider.


    "Accept it. I want to eat. Otherwise, no mana for you," threatened the other four shouting around.


    The outsider tried to make his "siblings" understand his worries. "This is a trap. We don''t get food."


    "Contract says: he protects us." replied another, and the other princes grabbed his body.


    ''If he doesn''t sign, then we kill him,'' thought the remaining four and forced him to sign the contract.


    "Well then, we''ve settled it," Luz replied with a huge grin.


    ''Luckily, I forced the contract on the five parasites while they are still on the mental level of a hungry 4-year-old,'' went through Luz''s head after he was back in reality.


    "And how did it go, Luz?" asked Simon, who was sipping from his teacup.


    ''The five of them didn''t even read through the contract... hahaha... they just ignored the last clause. {The host may modify the terms of the contract whenever he wants}.''


    Chuckling, Luz sat down opposite him and picked up his teacup.


    "They signed the soul contract without reading it," Luz replied, laughing before sipping his tea.


    The tea was served in porcelain rune cups and was a black tea blend, using mana plants for this purpose.


    Simon just nodded with a smile while rubbing his hands together. Meanwhile, Simon''s porcelain cup continued to remain in the air.


    "Then it''s time to accelerate your progress as fast as possible," Simon commented while a paper flew in front of Luz.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Luz raised his eyebrow as he read it through. There were two sheets in front of him. One sheet detailed how Luz''s training would look from now on, and the other one was a contract.


    Chuckling, Luz placed the contract on the table and said, "I think it would be better if we call Master Brian. I''m still an employee under him, after all."


    Master Simon almost had to spit out the tea at his words.


    "You are a clever fellow. You realized right away that a contract with a stronger party could be problematic," he commented, and suddenly several clauses appeared in the contract.


    One of the clauses resembled the last clause of his own soul contract. A cold shiver went down Luz''s spine, and he continued to drink his tea, which left only a bitter aftertaste.


    "Well, at least the kid I''m taking care of isn''t completely retarded," sighed Master Simon while tossing Jodoc a bag.


    "What''s going on?" asked Luz, confused.


    Jodoc moved his wings before nipping at Luz''s ear. "Simon and I had a bet on whether you would fall for the same deal as well," Jodoc commented while pulling out two mana crystals with his claws.


    One of them was green while the other was yellow. Jodoc threw the yellow crystal to Luz, who immediately grabbed it.


    "You''re not aware of the mana crystal colors, are you?" asked Simon.


    Luz just shook his head.


    Author''s Note:


    Please don''t wonder why the mana crystal color variant I use is identical to Supreme magus.


    Just for your information, I am not copying anyone here and am using a Ph meter from acidic to basic.


    But a Ph meter starts with red before moving to orange, to yellow, to green, to blue, and to purple¡­


    "So mana crystals have a different color and intensity depending on the quality," Simon told him while continuing to drink his tea and visualizing an image in the air.


    In front of Luz, a chart appeared in the air with several colors and a few comments about each color.


    ''How many liters of tea does his cup actually contain,'' Luz wondered while holding an empty cup in his hand.


    "As you can see, mana crystals of the color red correspond to the lowest quality. But such mana crystals are enough to fill up a mage apprentice mana completely," Simon informed him while dropping sugar cubes into his tea.


    A spoon and teapot appeared in the air and poured tea into Luz''s cup. Steam rose from his cup, and Luz continued to sip on it.


    Simon, on the other hand, continued his narrative, "But red mana crystals are generally enough to replenish around 10% of a beginner mage''s mana. Orange mana crystals are enough to completely fill the mana of a normal beginner mage."


    "So how about in my case, and what are the potential consequences?" asked Luz intently.


    "Pssht, let me finish," Simon replied, shaking his head as he continued to narrate, "After red comes orange, and after that comes yellow. The colors which come after that are green, blue, and purple."


    Simon stopped briefly, and his expression became more serious. The atmosphere darkened for a moment, and Luz thought to himself: ''Did I not pay enough attention???'' while a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.


    "It is highly unlikely that you will ever come across a purple mana crystal, let alone green or a blue one. But if you do, don''t take them. Any mage would know that you are carrying a treasure since you can''t suppress its frequency," Simon stated in a serious voice before the atmosphere quieted down again.


    "I can answer the latter, but we need to do some experiments to verify the former," Simon said as the visualization changed, and he continued with his narration: "You can think of it like this. Your own mana has about the same purity level as an orange mana core. Nothing would happen if you used one or maybe 10 red mana cores a month to restore your mana. But if you use too many, you will accumulate impurities in your body."


    "What kind of impact does this impurity have?" asked Luz intently.


    Jodoc answered this time instead of Simon. "The consequences are that it will be more difficult for you to ascend as long as these impurities remain in your body. It''ll take longer to remove such impurities instead of never relying on low-quality mana cores."

 55. eating (boring filler chapter)

    The conversation went on for another half hour. In the end, Luz slowly put his cup aside before leaving the room with Jodoc on his shoulder. By now, Luz understood the dynamic between Jodoc and Master Simon.


    ''Jodoc is an Intermediate mage and Master Simon''s soul-bound beast. Currently, his job is to watch over me until Master Simon also feels like teaching me.''


    Luz just sighed and asked Jodoc, "What should we do," after arriving at the stairs.


    Slowly he walked down the squeaky stairs, and Jodoc said, "Your talent was space magic, wasn''t it?"


    "Yes, that''s my talent," Luz replied while running his fingers along the handrail of the stairs.


    The staircase, as well as the handrail, were both made of dark ebony that had a cold matte feel to it.


    Jodoc, on the other hand, just stretched out his two wings and cawed, "Perfect then, we''ll focus on that today, and I''ll tell you a bit about the problems with it."


    Luz stopped in the middle of the stairs. The parasites in his body seemed to get too loud to keep ignoring them.


    ''Meh. I''ll give you guys what you want to eat in a minute. Just give me a moment.''


    Smiling, Luz turned to Jodoc, who immediately replied: "No."


    "But I haven''t even asked anything yet," Luz replied with a smile.


    "Yes. But I know that your request will not be good, and please put away your grin."


    Luz''s smile only grew, and he whispered with wide eyes, "Jodoc, this is your chance to help me surpass Master Simon. We''ll never get it done if you''re always in my way."


    "Luz, that won''t work, but well, let me hear your request," sighed Jodoc.


    "So I need some high-quality meat, and surely you know where Master Simon''s fridge or freezer is," Luz asked while rubbing his hands together.


    "Alright. I''ll just give you a small portion. That should be enough for you. You''ll just eat in the cafeteria later," replied Jodoc, who flew in front of Luz and pointed him in the right direction.


    Luz hurried the bird down the stairs, and it wasn''t long before they landed in the basement. In front of them was a metal door covered with runes that shimmered slightly in the darkness.


    "We''re here," screeched Jodoc while filling in a password with his beak.


    The door opened squeakily, and a cold but strong breeze blew towards the two.


    "It''s cold," Luz whispered through chattering teeth while shivering slightly.


    "YES, that''s why I never want to go here," screeched the parrot as it nestled into Luz''s work clothes.


    ''Ok, this feels slightly uncomfortable.''


    After the door opened, there was a freezer room with several ice statues of monsters and most parts of monsters that Luz hadn''t seen yet.


    "Are you sure we can go in here?" Luz asked worriedly.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "Not really, but Master Simon certainly wouldn''t notice if 200 grams of flesh were missing from one of the animals," Jodoc replied calmly, and both of them entered.


    From monsters that had a fish-like appearance to tentacled land creatures, there was everything. But the two slowly walked to a magical mammal that resembled a bull.


    This bull was chopped up in pieces and frozen. Its legs alone were as big as Luz, and its pointed horns were half his size. If you looked closer at the bull, you could see how it was missing some spots of flesh.


    "It looks like this thing has been fed nothing but growth hormones since birth," Luz muttered as he slowly moved his hands toward the horns.


    "You better keep your hand off of that. That animal alone cost Master Simon thousands in mana crystals," screeched Jodoc poking Luz in the head.


    "Ok, ok, ok," Luz sighed as he massaged the spot.


    Jodoc cut a piece of the meat with his beak as if it were butter.


    ''Shit like he''s capable of something like that with his beak. Ok, that''s creepy...''


    "Your beak is so pointy, and yet you still hit me with it," Luz replied while a shiver went down his spine.


    Jodoc just laughed with his chest hunched and rubbed his beak against Luz''s ear.


    "But why does he spend so much on food anyway?" asked Luz while lightly stroking Jodoc''s feather with his hand.


    "Wel,l eating high-quality meat can help strengthen your body. You buy such an animal only once, and it will last you at least ten years if you have a human appetite," Jodoc told him while holding 500 grams of meat on his beak.


    They both left the freezer, and the door closed behind them with a loud thud.


    "Man, that was cold," muttered Luz having icicles in his hair.


    The bird, on the other hand, nodded, before using a magic spell to unfreeze the frozen meat.


    "And how do you want to eat it?" asked Jodoc carrying more meat on his beak than he weighed.


    ''Grilled would be best, I think,'' but his thoughts were disrupted by the loud princes within him.


    ''We want to eat it raw,'' they replied telepathically.


    "Alright..." sighed Luz before continuing with, "Just raw... I''ll swallow it raw, and that''s it."


    Jodoc almost dropped the meat out of shock and had to laugh, "You''re much more of an animal than I am, hahaha."


    They both left the tower with two plates and sat down in Master Simon''s herb garden since they would be in the shade there. Jodoc cut the meat into small pieces for Luz.


    Luz''s plate ended up with 400 grams of bloody red meat.


    ''Damn you parasites forcing me to eat this'' Luz mentally cursed at the princes while slowly putting a piece of the meat in his mouth.


    Jodoc, on the other hand, didn''t even eat the meat on his plate and watched Luz anxiously. What Luz didn''t know was that Jodoc was mentally ready to call Simon at any time if it was too energy-intensive for Luz.


    After Luz took the meat in his mouth, he noticed that he was too weak to even chew it.


    ''What the hell is this...? It''s just meat. Why is it as hard as stone?'' Luz thought while swallowing it.


    The parasites living in the cells of his digestive system have evolved in the direction of energy production of biological matter compared to their equal.


    It didn''t take long for the parasites in his digestive system to be overwhelmed by the meat. Luz sat at the table, and his stomach ached like anything else. The veins in his hand and face could be clearly seen as well as his almost blood-red eyes.


    Panting, Luz muttered, "This is very energy-intensive... They love it...," before resting his head on the table and taking a deep breath in and out.


    A notepad and pen appeared in the air, in front of Jodoc, writing down Jodoc''s thoughts on paper. He analyzed Luz as he did so, jotting down data such as body temperature.


    "Sorry, Luz, but you''re my own little guinea pig," he said while forcing water down Luz''s throat with a spell.


    "If Simon finds out you''re more than dead," Luz gasped as beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, and he took the next portion.


    "Did you seriously just take another serving?...spit it out, now!!!" cursed Jodoc, who was shocked by the situation.


    "No," replied Luz panting like a dog. Jodoc poked Luz in the skull, and he just whimpered.


    The second portion also caused a burning sensation inside him, but compared to the first bite it was nothing.  Jodoc merely watched everything in silence and raised his wing.


    After Luz showed no reaction, he muttered with a sigh, "Guinea pig seems to tolerate high-energy meat from Master level organisms well. More trials are needed to make a final decision."


    The meat in front of Luz froze suddenly, and Jodoc teleported it into his inventory.


    "But... But my food," muttered Luz, who just stared at Jodoc and reached his hand for the plate.


    By now, Luz''s body had calmed down a bit. His body was still hot because of all the released energy, but the chance of potential organ failure was now as low as it could be.


    "No," Jodoc cursed, ready to bite Luz''s hand bloody.

 56. space theory lesson part 1

    "Why did you even let me eat something like that? You definitely knew what could have happened. I could have died," Luz cursed after his temperature returned to that of an average person.


    "Yes, but in that case, a strong kick to the stomach would have been enough to save you. If the potent meat is no longer in your body, then it can''t hurt you badly," Jodoc replied calmly, as he pulled out pieces of meat from his inventory and ate them with relish.


    "I am intrigued to see how much such a meal will affect your body," Jodoc


    casually replied while rubbing his head against Luz for no reason.


    "Why are you rubbing your head against me? And I think it''s time you tell me more about space magic," sighed Luz, who was still leaning his head on the table.


    "Well, your hair is spiky and well suited for scratching," Jodoc commented calmly, before continuing with, "Space magic is one of the strongest and weakest magic disciplines of all. If you were to choose between a space spell and a fire spell in a battle, which one would you choose?"


    "To be honest, I would rather choose a fire spell," Luz answered, sighing while staring into the parrot''s eyes.


    "And why is that? You have a spatial talent, after all," Jodoc asked with a nod as he stopped rubbing his head against Luz.


    "Because space spells are too mana intensive, and it''s an all or nothing with spells like that," Luz replied as he slowly lifted his head from the table.


    "Right. Even with a space talent, spatial spells are far too risky for lowly mages. Space magic, in general, is a magic discipline that very few mages can wield, let alone master." Jodoc told Luz as he paused for a moment to collect his thoughts.


    "Sure, Master Simon can perform space magic, but his level is at the intermediate level at best. Master Brian, on the other hand, probably scratches the surface in space magic when it comes to the master level. And then, there''s you...," Jodoc told, taking a deep breath for a moment.


    "What''s about me?" asked Luz like a young child.


    Jodoc laughed lightly before continuing with, "Well, you''re the only exception to the rule of whom I know of. You''ve mastered space magic as much as you could have before advancing. You even tried to use a space magic spell well above your league. That''s also why Master Simon and Master Brian wanted to heal your Mana core so badly."


    "Why do you even know space magic? It''s one of the hardest disciplines to learn. You never had a teacher who taught you space magic. Wait, how did you even get, awakened in the first place? People with a space magic talent actually awaken quite rarely natural, as the theories are way too complicated behind it," Jodoc asked.


    "You''re asking too many questions at once." Luz sighed before starting his narration: "Everything happened around a month before the destruction of my village. The tax collector was the only one from the outside world that visited my quiet village once a year. He was a magician, and after we showed him footprints belonging to a dragon, he rewarded the village elder. Every child under the age of 20 got an awakening pearl."


    (Author comment: An awakening pearl helps you with awakening. It does that by identifying which elements you should research upon.)


    After stating that, Luz closed his eyes briefly.


    ''Come to think of it, I was way too busy learning magic back then... Maybe I should have spent more time with my parents.''


    A single tear rolled down his cheek before he continued his narration:Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "My village elder gave me a book about space magic after I talked with him about my potential talent. Unlike my siblings, I never got a book for mage apprentices. I got a book which one of my former ancestors owned. It was called Space Magic for advanced (Master Mage)."


    After stating it, Luz laughed while looking at Jodoc''s horrified expression.


    "Did you really teach yourself magic from a book for master mages?" Jodoc asked calmly.


    "Yes, even though I only understood the introduction halfway. But I never had a choice out of pride. I had to prove myself. The tax collector would have never taken me if I told him something like, [Yeah, I think my talent lies in space magic]," Luz sighed and became quiet for a few seconds.


    "But even after awakening, a prideful older brother such as I had no other choice than continuing to study that element. Which older brother would like to be left in the dust by his siblings? That''s certainly, one of the fears no older brother wants to face, which is why I forced myself to continue that route instead of focussing on an easier element such as fire." Luz told  Jodoc as he laughed.


    "I can understand you. Incredibly, you were even able to reach such levels while only being left to yourself. You can be proud of yourself," Jodoc commented as he cracked a nut with his beak.


    After eating it, he continued with: "I finally understand your situation. Well, you were definitely lucky to still have all your limbs. Most apprentice mages with a spatial talent and without a mage teacher tend to lose their limbs while experimenting with spatial magic," told Jodoc, who visualized the scenario in the air.


    Compared to Master Simon, his visualizations were of stick figure quality. But it was enough to show how someone wrapped a mana membrane around their body incorrectly and how the spell tore the respective limb into pieces.


    A shiver ran down Luz''s spine. ''Thank God I didn''t touch magic until I fully mastered the mana membrane.''


    Jodoc just laughed when he saw Luz''s horrified expression and continued his narration, "Before I tell you how space magic spells work, I want to test how big your mana reserves are. Please use the spell [Spatial Disorder as many times as you can]."


    Luz nodded before creating a mana membrane around his body.


    In amazement, he looked at his mana membrane. It seemed easier to conjure if you were to compare it to when he was an apprentice mage, and it had a light blue color resembling a dense gas.


    Luz was excited about his mana membrane and muttered the spell [spatial disorder], which surprisingly lasted for even half a second.


    ''The mana consumption was less than before, and the spell is also much easier to use'' went through Luz''s head before he tried the spell several times, even on both hands at the same time.


    One could hear the words "[spatial disorder]" being shouted several times. Jodoc only commented, "I see you found a new toy," while looking at Luz''s spell.


    After the tenth time, Luz began to sweat, and after the 13th time, he could not summon a complete mana membrane.


    "Thirteen times is way above average. Normally, a beginner mage such as you should be able to use it anywhere between 10 to 12 times at most. Alright, time to start with our theory lesson," the parrot stated with a yawn.


    "Let''s briefly address your current level in space magic. What can you do by now?" asked Jodoc while running his claws over his beak.


    "I can make ehm destabilize space around my hand," Luz answered with a bit of uncertainty.


    Jodoc nodded with satisfaction and added: "Exactly. The only thing you know is how to destabilize space in a primitive way. Spatial stabilization and destabilization are the cornerstones of spatial magic."


    Luz noted Jodoc''s words. The parrot, on the other hand, continued with: "Teleportation magic, for example, is destabilizing two separate spaces and linking them together before you stabilize them again."


    *******************************************************************************************************************************************


    (Author note: I haven''t put much effort into thinking it through, but my idea was the following. The space around you is connected with the environment. By destabilizing the space volume around you, one automatically weakens the links between the environment and the space volume around you. If you now were to destabilize two different spaces of the same volume, one could interlink them or swap the spaces.


    If you were to teleport yourself, you would connect the space around you with a different place before you either swap them or insert your space volume into it.


    *******************************************************************************************************************************************


    "But do you want to know what one of the most feared existences are? Mages who became one with space. These are monsters who cannot be killed unless your understanding of space is better than theirs. But to be honest, I can''t even explain what becoming one with space means," sighed Jodoc.


    Luz, on the other hand, stood there silently while eating popcorn. "Interesting¡­ continue," he commented with big pupils.


    "I''ll continue in the next chapter," Jodoc replied.

 57. space theory lesson part 2

    Jodoc started the theory lesson with the following sentence: "There are two methods of getting better with space magic. The first method is by specializing in new areas of sub-disciplines. The latter method, on the other hand, is upgrading your old spells to your new magic level."


    "If you want to improve your spells, there are three ways. With the first method, you simply use the spell more often," Jodoc told Luz while rapidly casting the spell [Spatial Disorder] ten times in a row within two seconds without blinking.


    Luz was amazed at his speed, and Jodoc continued with, " In the second method, you control the mana input into the spell. Most of the time, factors such as the size, duration, shape, and the like are also changed. With this method, you can increase the intensity of your spell."


    Jodoc used the spell again, but this time it lasted ten seconds.


    It was ten times the size of the previous one, and Luz was thrilled by it.


    ''To be honest, I might have a slight chance at contact with the first spell, but with the second spell, I definitely have no chance of surviving.''


    The spell was quite transparent, but it was a lot more blurry than the previous spell. The blurriness you saw when looking at it was enough to give the spell away.


    "In the third method, you combine sub-disciplines of space control into your spell. Space magic is hard to master, but being well versed in at least one sub-discipline in space control will make you feared," Jodoc mentioned while handing Luz a nut, which he accepted with a nod.


    ''Why did he give me a nut???''


    While Luz was trying to break it open, he interrupted Jodoc with the question: "What do you mean by sub-disciplines?


    "Ice and water vapor, for example, are sub-disciplines of water.


    When it comes to spatial control, spatial disorder and spatial order both belong to the sub-discipline of spatial manipulation. Other sub-disciplines are gravitational magic or spatial teleportation." Jodoc continued while watching Luz with amusement, trying to open the nut he gave him.


    "But I thought space teleportation was part of space manipulation?" asked Luz, confused.


    "Yes, you''re right. But by space manipulation, I was referring to the manipulation within a certain space volume itself. You can stretch and shrink space. But with space teleportation, you are manipulating two different spaces," Jodoc replied calmly.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Jodoc used the same spell again, but this time it was different. Instead of a spatial disorder, there was complete chaos. Parts of the environment were sucked into the destabilized place, and Luz was already afraid of it.


    "This is one way you can change the spell," Jodoc replied with a smile.


    ''I can''t wait to see what I''ll be able to do later,'' went through Luz''s head as he rubbed his hands together.


    Next, Jodoc visualized the other sub-disciplines. Though his visualizations were junk compared to Master Simon, they were sufficient, nonetheless.


    One could see a group of a hundred stick figures appear.


    The first spell caused each of them to be crushed due to the gravitational force at work.


    The second spell decreased the space in which they were till all of the stick figures were crushed.


    For the third spell, two scenes were shown. In the first scene, the heads of all the stick figures were teleported away, and in the second scene, the stick figures were teleported into lava.


    "I would love to help you decide how best to proceed, but that decision is up to you. However, I have something for you that can be of assistance," Jodoc remarked with a smile as he pulled out three books from his inventory.


    He handed them to Luz and said only: "I think it would be better if you focus on the sub-discipline of gravity control. Sure it''s not as strong at your level as compared to Space Manipulation but it''s easier to learn."


    Luz accepted the three books with a grin that went from ear to ear and replied with a bow, "Thank you."


    The three books were quite old and not in the best condition. Even their covers were covered with notes. Smiling, Luz read one of the notes aloud, "Get your hands off it if you want to remain happy."


    The three books had the following titles: "Introduction to Space Control for Beginner Mages," "Introduction to Space Control for Apprentice Mages," and the last one was called "Introduction to Gravity Magic."


    The first book was three times as thick as the second one. But neither of them could hold a candle to the latter book, which was about five times as thick as the first one.


    ''By the time I read through the third book, I''ll be an adult... hahaha.''


    Jodoc went with his claws around his beak before saying, " I think the first two books are the most important. I know that most of the book is just some boring theory stuff. However, it would still be of great help to you if you read the book called [Introduction to Space Magic for Apprentice Mages]. Sure, you kind of taught yourself space magic with a book for master mages, but it''s better if you try to fill in all the gaps.


    Oh, by the way, you don''t need to read the whole book when it comes to the latter one. The book was meant for master mages because no one really tries to understand the discipline as a beginner."


    Jodoc flew off after telling Luz that. Slowly Luz opened the second book out of curiosity.


    The book was bound in leather, and the pages already had a soft yellow color.


    "Interesting... All the books I have received from Master Simon so far were mass printed. This is the first book that someone has written by hand," Luz murmured, looking at the notes in the margins of the book.


    After thirty minutes of reading under a tree, Luz closed the book and his eyes.


    Most of the things align with my understanding. But the notes in the page margins are more useful than the texts itself.''


    All at once, the beating of wings was heard, and Jodoc landed on a branch above Luz.


    "Hmm?" emitted Luz.


    "I forgot to tell you something. Master Simon and I are away for the next few weeks. It would be nice if you read the first two books by then," Jodoc stated before flying off.

 58. an interesting surprise

    "Hehehe. I''ll definitely enjoy the time," Luz muttered, putting his book aside.


    ''I''ll continue reading tonight before I go to bed.''


    ''Let''s take care of the soul contract first. I signed it but haven''t enforced my rights yet.''


    He visualized the contract in his head and ordered the five princes to be silent for the next ten hours.


    Luz entered Master Simon''s tower and went to the second floor, where his guest room was. Luz was supposed to sleep in the room with the rest of his roommates every day, but Master Simon''s guest room was like a dream.


    There are two reasons why it is tolerated. First Luz was still on vacation and secondly, Master Simon wanted Luz to be close to him so he could intervene in case of an emergency.


    His new room was as big as the old room he shared with his four siblings in the village. The walls were white, and his room had only a closet, a bookcase, and a bed.


    Master Simon had thought of everything, and in the closet, there were three pairs of work uniforms and simple leather armor with a crossbow and a sword with a shield.


    "Thank you, Master Simon, for your generosity," Luz replied with a grin. As he took out his work uniform, he saw something strange from the corner of his eye.


    It looked like a mini freezer, and on it was a small letter. Curious, Luz opened the letter sealed by a wax stamp with a bird on it.


    "That looks like Jodoc, hmm," Luz commented while looking at the stamp.


    Luz was holding an A4 sheet that Jodoc himself had written.


    ''How did he even write it? Anyway, time to read the letter.''


    "Dear Luz...


    here''s a fridge with 480 grams of meat. I haven''t forgotten about it don''t worry. You can eat chunks of it anytime. Oh, and I''ve set it so that you cannot take more than 20 grams at a time within 5 hours. Enjoy your meal.


    Before I forget, you can put your stuff into the freezer as well,"


    Luz readout and opened the freezer.


    The meat was frozen, but he still threw a piece in his mouth and swallowed it.


    "Urgh. Anyway, that should satisfy the five princes for the time being," Luz muttered while he coughed at irregular intervals.


    Wait, didn''t a certain person want to go hunting with me? What was his name again? Oh yes, it was Francis. He wanted to go hunting with me after I''m a beginner mage, right''?


    From that moment, it was clear to Luz what his goal was for today, and he hurried in uniform to the canteen, hoping to meet Francis there.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Francis was sitting there with his two cronies. He couldn''t help but gasp at the sight of Luz with his tray, which was just loaded with exotic dishes and meat.


    "Long time no see," Francis said with a smile as he stood up. Nodding, Luz just put down his tray and hugged him.


    "Wait a minute, our Luz is a beginner mage now." Francis remarked with a laugh, patting Luz on the shoulder with a smile before mentioning, "I have heard you are going hunting with us soon."


    "Of course, my brother, but before that, I want to register with the guild," Luz replied, also patting Francis on the shoulder.


    "You don''t know the city anyway. Let me be your city guide. That way, we can stop on the way and buy something to eat," Francis commented with a smile.


    "You''re the best, but I think we should eat first. Otherwise, our meals will get cold," Luz replied, and the two sat down.


    After Luz finished his plate, one of the two girls asked in surprise, "Are you sure one plate is enough? You''re known to eat five plates at least here."


    The other people at the table, as well as, Luz just had to laugh heartily. After Luz had cleaned his lips with a napkin, he replied with a smile, "Not today, because I''ve already had breakfast."


    Francis and Luz got up, deciding to leave Master Brian''s estate in their working clothes.


    On the way, they said goodbye to the butler, and Luz saw the city for the first time how it looked in the afternoon.


    The streets were big, and people in various outfits walked everywhere on the streets. Every now and then, a coachman appeared whose cart was pulled either by horses or other monsters. Along the sides were the stores, which had store windows. The atmosphere was noisy, and it was not long before someone bumped into Luz, who was standing still.


    "Move over," cursed a voice.


    Francis, seeing Luz overwhelmed with the situation, grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him to the side of the road.


    ''What''s wrong with the boy?'' Francis wondered before asking with a smile, "You seem overwhelmed. Could it be that this is your first time in a city?"


    "Sort of, yes, Master Brian did show me around the city at night, but there weren''t such large crowds outside at the time. There are truly a lot of people here," Luz replied, pressing his hands against a shop window.


    "I feel like a mother instead of someone offering a city tour," sighed Francis pulling Luz from the shop window. "That''s rude, my dear," said Jodoc only before continuing with, " You''d better hold my hand on a no homo base, so I don''t lose you here yet."


    "I think we''d better skip the city tour and go straight to the guild to complete your registration," said Francis, who held Luz by the hand and dragged him along with him like a child.


    The two hurried and even walked through a city market where the number of people was much greater than before, it was also much louder, and one could hear the loud shouting of people.


    "We can visit the market next week," Francis added.


    I have to tell Master Brian about this. He should send Luz from now on to the city preferably with an escort so that he learns the urban life,'' went through Francis''s head while the two arrived at the guild building only after 10 minutes through the city center.


    The building was three stories high and much larger than the rest of the buildings in the city.


    Smiling, Francis announced, "We''re here," and they both entered. Inside, the atmosphere was lively. People were sitting on benches all over the guild to eat and drink. The walls were made of dark oak and were decorated with the heads of different monsters.


    Uncertainly Luz entered, and the waving of the guild receptionist from the other side gave him a sign where to go.


    Hastily he hurried there to her as Francis slowly strolled after him.


    "This is your first time here, isn''t it?" the receptionist asked with a warm smile that would melt anyone''s frozen heart. Her hair was a beautiful brunette, and she was around the same age as Luz.


    "Yes, it is, and I wanted to register. I heard that you can make some money through guild missions," Luz replied.


    "You can make good money here, but let''s get to the sign-up. What is your name, young man?" asked the receptionist.


    Luz gave her all the necessary information, but the last question she asked shocked him.


    "Do you happen to know a person whose first name is Az?" the receptionist asked while wearing her reading glasses.


    Hearing the name, a tear ran down Luz''s cheek.

 59. writing a letter

    Luz stood shocked, and the receptionist asked him several times, "Do you know him?! Do you know him?!"


    The first tears began rolling down his cheeks, and with difficulty, he managed to say, "Yes... he''s my brother. Do you happen to know him?"


    Luz stepped closer, and the receptionist recoiled. "No, no, of course not. But he asked the guild network to send a message to anyone with the same last name and the first name: "Luz," "Ralph," "Gab," or "Michael."


    Luz''s heart went to his throat, and trembling, he tensely asked if he could read the message.


    "Of course, you may, but it will cost you something for the printout," said the receptionist smiling again.


    "The guy next to me will cover the cost," Luz replied without batting an eye and reached for the letter. Francis was taken aback and wanted to say something, but he kept silent reading the text on the paper with Luz.


    Unfortunately, it was not a handwritten letter, but only a piece of paper with text in block letters.


    While Luz was holding the letter, a tear fell on it, and he began to read it aloud, trembling.


    "Dear siblings,


    I miss you all. I pray that you are well and safe. I also wish that we can all see each other again soon.


    I am fine, but I''m feeling lonely since we parted ways. I have three followers who protect me from all dangers, so don''t worry.


    I know that I am a child and that I should consider myself lucky to have survived. But I want to see you all again soon. Please write me back after receiving this message, because I''m still anxious to find out if my brothers are still alive...


    By the way, I expect gifts or souvenirs from all of you from the places where you are. Please let me know where you all are. I want to reunite with you all as fast as possible.


    Sincerely, your little brother Az."


    Luz sobbed softly with a smile and murmured: "At least I know now that one of my siblings is still alive".


    Out of joy, he hugged Francis who was trying to push him away.


    "I''m glad that one of your siblings is okay. But please don''t hug me when your face is covered in tears. My uniform is getting dirty because of you," Francis cursed with a laugh.


    The receptionist who heard everything asked with a smile, "I understand that you are happy, but maybe you should write him back because your brother is probably waiting anxiously for a response."Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    "I would like to send him a letter and not a simple text message," Luz answered with a smile while wiping away his tears.


    The receptionist was shocked and bent over the counter to tell him, "It''ll cost just to let you know."


    Luz didn''t even blink an eye, and Francis whispered in his ear, "You know it can get expensive. I can''t pay for something like that."


    Luz nodded quietly and took the yellow mana crystal out of his pants before calmly placing it on the counter. Francis and the receptionist were both shocked. The only thought they shared was, ''How the hell did you get your hands on something like that? A simple servant shouldn''t be able to afford something like that.''


    "Luz, you didn''t steal that from Master Brian, right?" asked Francis quietly, and Luz shook his head.


    "No, Master Simon gave it to me," Luz said before continuing, "That should be enough, shouldn''t it?"


    The receptionist just gulped and replied, "That''s more than enough for several letters."


    "Well then, please change the mana crystal into several small ones," Luz said patiently.


    She handed Luz nine bright orange mana crystals, which Luz gratefully accepted.


    " The two of you follow me. I think it would be better if you finish your letter in a quiet side room," said the receptionist with a wink before leading them both behind the counter.


    The corridors through which they passed were much cleaner and quieter. Sometimes they encountered the occasionally confused guild employee who was puzzled by the view of two workers.


    "They must be thinking what two simple workers like us are doing here," Francis commented, and Luz had to chuckle slightly.


    "We''re here," the receptionist announced as she opened the door.


    The walls of the room were made of black oak and a sofa, as well as a wooden table, was in front of them. Symbols and beautiful runic patterns were carved into the wooden table, and the two sat down.


    "I will come back in half an hour. I hope that will be enough for you to finish writing your letter," the receptionist announced before leaving the room.


    Luz dropped down on the soft sofa and stroked his hand over it as well as over the carved pattern of the wooden table. The sun shone from a window onto the table. A pile of blank pages as well as several quills and a small inkwell were lying in front of him.


    Slowly he took a sheet and dipped the tip of the nib into the ink. Luz wasn''t well versed when it came to writing with a feather. That''s why he covered the tip of his feather with mana to increase his fine-tune.


    Trembling, he began to write:


    "Dear Az,


    Your eldest brother is doing well. He is in the care of a master mage and now has a job. Meanwhile, I have caught up with you and am now a beginner mage like you. You don''t have to worry about me.


    I just want to tell you that I am proud of you. You survived until now and came up with the idea of using the guild network to contact all of us.


    I am looking forward to our future reunion, and your mail calms my heart since now I know that at least one of us is doing well.


    I would love to pack all my things and leave to find you, but I don''t have enough money for the trip yet. I am here in the city [which I have not yet chosen] on Master Brian''s estate.


    Visit me there. Tell the butlers that you are the younger brother of Luz, and they will welcome you.


    I look forward to your response, and hopefully, you can read your older brother''s writing. ;)


    By any chance, have our remaining siblings responded to you?


    I''m still worried about them.


    Sincerely, your eldest brother Luz."


    After Luz finished the letter, he had to sigh loudly. "Sorry Francis, that it took me so long."


    "Oh, that''s okay. Now that we know you are lacking money, you will have to go hunting with us regularly," Francis replied, rubbing his hands together.


    "Yes, I will be your fourth group member," Luz sighed before adding, "Just until I find one of my siblings again. Then I''ll have other things to do."


    "No, my dear friend, he will join us then," Francis replied with a laugh.

 60. leaving the guild.

    The receptionist came back in after a short while and took the letter. "The letter will find its way into Az''s hands in a few days. Be prepared to receive Az''s reply within a week," she said, and Luz nodded.


    The three left the room, and on the way, Francis asked, "Is it enough if Luz shows he can use spells to get his rank?"


    "Yes, of course, if he only wants to have a temporary rank that expires within 2 months, it will be enough," the receptionist answered. Luz used the spell [Spatial Disorder] without blinking.


    "Is that enough?" Luz asked while holding his hand in front of his mouth and yawning.


    "Yes, that should do it," she replied in shock, adding, "You are now Adventure rank E, which is the equivalent of a new beginner mage. For a higher mage rank, you would have to complete missions and a test battle."


    The receptionist accompanied the two to the counter before disappearing briefly. It wasn''t long before she reappeared with a guild card and a bronze rune emblem. On the emblem, the letter E appeared in red when stroked with a finger.


    Francis paid the fees for Luz, and they both left the guild. But on the way out, someone tripped Luz, and he toppled to the ground.


    "Eyy, what the hell are you doing," Francis cried out angrily, already holding his knife.


    Two men stood in front of him who also both had knives.


    Another man pressed his foot against Luz''s head.


    "Because I don''t want to see people like you two here. Simple servants who are most likely slaves have no business here," replied the voice whose foot pressed against Luz''s head.


    The dirt of his soles fell on Luz''s hair, and you could see how Luz''s mood was already in the toilet. He was slowly running out of patience.


    "Give me the mana crystals. I saw that you have 9 orange ones. If you don''t give them to me right now, I''ll tell the authorities that you stole them from me," the person threatened mockingly.


    Two people, however, held Francis back. A loud voice shouted, "Get the hell away from the entrance. I don''t want to see any ruckus in front of the guild."


    "We''ll be gone in a minute," the person replied.


    Luz, on the other hand, replied coldly with his eyes closed:


    "If you don''t hand me 10 gold coins right now as compensation, it will cost you your foot."


    The person just laughed out loud, and Luz muttered the spell [spatial disorder] while grabbing the ankle of the person that was pressing against his head.


    A loud cracking of bones resounded through the room before it was surpassed by the ugly screech of a person falling over.


    The person shrieked loudly. People from the guild looked in horror at the prone person. Blood and flesh dripped onto Luz''s head, and a severed leg from the ankle fell off Luz''s head.


    Luz, on the other hand, slowly stood up and his throbbing veins, which were almost bursting from anger, were clearly visible on his face.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    In front of him laid a boy who was about 3 years younger than him in clean clothes.


    In front of him laid a boy who was around 3 years younger than him and wore expensive clothes. His clothes were torn on one leg and smeared with blood and dirt.


    The boy howled for a minute while using fire magic to scar the wound. He stared at Luz with bloodshot eyes. Several emotions could be seen on him ranging from anger to horror.


    His inferiority as a fire mage to the space magicians was obvious.


    "What have you done, you idiot," he stuttered fearfully, holding his wound.


    You could see a splintered bone with pieces of flesh missing and a large blood pool forming under him that mixed with the dirt.


    Luz, however, ignored his question and announced with an outstretched hand, "That''ll be 30 gold coins."


    "But that was 10 gold coins just now," stammered the boy who had clean brown hair and a slender body.


    "That was 10 gold coins before I used the spell," Luz replied coldly with an outstretched hand.


    The other two men looked fearfully at Luz before deciding to run toward him.


    Luz only muttered "[Water]." and created two water bubbles around the heads of his two followers.


    ''I should learn space magic too. That shit seems OP. Since when has Luz''s mana control gotten so good???'' wondered Francis, who just had to gulp at the view.


    '' Eat them...'' Luz heard the parasites whispering in his mana core and just shook his head.


    In front of Luz in the air were two men whose heads were in a ball of water, desperately trying to remove it. None of the two could perform a spell in such a situation, leaving them to Luz''s mercy.


    "Thirty gold coins?" Commented Luz coldly while poking holes in the young nobleman with his stares.


    "Here...," he said, tossing a bag. When Luz saw that it contained more than just 30 gold coins, he commented, "That''s enough to save the lives of your two comrades."


    The two men fell to the ground, soaking wet and gasping for air.


    "I will have my revenge," the boy shouted, but Luz only replied with a smile, "By limping after a servant like a cripple for the rest of your life?"


    Before Francis followed Luz, he coldly stated, "If your family wants to resolve the situation, then they can arrange an appointment with Master Brian."


    The young one''s look was only more filled with horror, considering that Master Brian was known in this city. The degree of power he truly held was unknown to most. But no one wanted to become the victim for the answer to that.


    As Luz continued to walk with Francis, more pieces of flesh fell from his head, and blood dripped down.


    People looked at Luz in disgust, and Francis summoned water to clean Luz''s head.


    "Thank you," Luz said, and the two walked home in silence.


    "There will very definitely be trouble," Francis sighed as the two were immediately taken to Master Brian.


    While standing at the door to Master Brian''s office, the two felt the tension in the air.


    Slowly they entered, and the two fell to their knees. The pressure that acted on the two was too strong to resist.


    "Tell me, what happened this time," a cold voice commanded, and the pressure on the two only increased.


    "Luz has become...," but before Francis could continue, he was interrupted by Luz. "Let me tell it. Master Simon gave me a yellow mana crystal, which I used at the guild to send a letter to one of my siblings. Outside the guild, someone tried to rob me, and I fought back after a warning."


    "Francis is what Luz just told me true," Master Brian''s voice boomed.


    Master Brian knew from the beginning if Luz was telling the truth or not. However, he wanted to hear Francis answer to that.


    "Yes... They were going to attack us with knives, and Luz saved my life and his own... I, myself, told him that his family should find you...," Francis gasped.


    "At least that," sighed Master Brian and dropped down on the couch. " Nothing but chaos is brought to me by you two. Why can''t you bring me any luck," Master Brian cursed before continuing with, "Luz, go take a shower. I''ll talk to Francis. Don''t worry about what happened today."


    "Master Luz...," Francis started before getting interrupted by Brian''s laughter.


    "I''m not called by that name, and I think it''s a little too early to call him that," Master Brian replied, amused.


    "True. I just wanted to say that it would be better if Luz had to work in the city. He seems to have little to no experience there," Francis shared, and Master Brian just stroked his chin.


    "I understand. Thank you for passing it on to me. Oh, and also, thank you for doing anything at all with Luz," Master Brian commented.


    "Even without your request, I would have done things with him," Francis admitted before leaving the room.

 61. Your Location and How to Change It

    "While I''m here, I might as well visit the boys. My books are still there," Luz muttered to himself as he walked through the corridors.


    The corridors were three times as high as Luz and had a dome, while the ceilings had beautiful frescoes.


    "I wonder how much this building cost?" Luz wondered while gazing at the frescos on the ceiling as he walked.


    Angels, demons, monsters, and humans were fighting each other there. The world seemed to be ablaze, and over the horizons, one could see gigantic monsters fighting each other.


    "Whoever painted this must have seen a lot. Why not just draw something beautiful on the ceiling instead of such horror scenes?" Luz wondered.


    The walls and floor, on the other hand, were both made of a combination of black and white marble.


    At the same time, the walls were decorated with portraits and works of art. The windows, on the other hand, were huge and had golden frames.


    When Luz arrived at the stairs, he was greeted by a marble statue. Slowly Luz stroked the statue as he walked past it.


    There was one main thought going through his mind. '' Who is Master Brian that he can afford such a mansion?''


    While he was lost in thought, he bumped into a maid.


    "Sorry," Luz replied hastily, the lady cursing under her breath before turning to him and saying, "Please be careful next time. Those things cost more than 100 years of our monthly wages."


    Luz just gulped before replying, "I''ll pay more attention from now on."


    With a nod, the maid walked on, and Luz just looked after her.


    "One thing is certain. Master Brian has good taste in clothes," Luz muttered to himself before descending a white marble staircase. His footsteps echoed slightly, and it didn''t take long for him to get lost.


    To his rescue, Alfred found him and whispered to him, "You have no business being here, dear, especially when you''re so unclean."


    "I''m sorry, but I got lost, Alfred," Luz admitted with a sideways glance.


    "I already thought of that. Well, follow me. You probably want to go to your room before taking a shower, right?" asked Alfred walking ahead.


    Luz answered with just a, "Yes."


    With Alfred''s help, it took Luz less than 5 minutes to reach the door of his room.


    "Thanks, Alfred, and sorry again for depending on your help," Luz said while slowly putting his hand on the door handle.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Oh, don''t mention it. It''s quite normal that it will take time before you develop a sense of direction around here." Alfred replied with a laugh before adding, "The kids have been busy reading ever since you left the books in your room."


    To such a comment Luz could only smile as he opened the door. ''Alfred seems to be right, hmm.''


    On each bed, a boy was holding one of Luz''s books occupied with reading.


    "Oh, there''s our boy again," one commented at the sight of Luz.


    To his answer, Luz had to scratch his head before he said: "Sorry, I''ve been living with Master Simon lately. "


    "That''s ok. We''ve just been wondering. But you''d better take a bath. You stink," he replied back while waving his hand in front of his nose.


    Luz just nodded and went to the shower. It was a simple shower stall with two wheels to turn. One wheel was used to control the heat level of the water, while the other one controlled the flow rate. The floor and the wall were made of stone.


    For Luz, it was the first time using such a shower, and it didn''t take long before Luz''s loud yelps were heard.


    Luz turned both wheels to the maximum, thinking that only then the water would come out. After about 5 minutes in the shower, it became clear that one of the wheels was intended to control the heat of the running water.


    After showering, he approached the children asking about their progress.


    "And are you making any progress with the books? Hopefully, you haven''t burned anything yet," Luz inquired with a laugh.


    "Ehm, I''m making progress," a boy about Az''s age answered in a stutter while covering a spot on the bed.


    The spot was pitch black. Luz just sighed, and a shiver went down his back.


    ''I hope I''m not blamed for this.''


    " Anyway. You can keep using the books. I don''t need them at the moment," Luz assured the children before leaving to head to his guest room.


    ''Even though I would love to spend time with them, I really enjoy my quiet time alone, and I left my books there.''


    Once in his room, Luz flopped down on his bed and reached for his book called: "Space Magic for Beginners."


    The chapters Luz read were about the concept of short-range teleportation in a close circle. This is supposed to be much easier for beginning mages compared to long-distance teleportation.


    The book also mentioned that different mage ranks understand different things by short and long-range teleportation. While a beginner mage might consider any distance longer than 25 meters to be long-distance teleportation. A master mage might consider anything within a kilometer as a short-range teleportation.


    The reason short-range teleportation is supposed to be easier is:


    The closer you are to the two Voluminas you want to destabilize and connect, the easier and less mana you need.


    Another reason is:


    In a small area, you are more likely to get away with the assumption of teleporting on a 2d plane instead of a 3d curved plane.


    Author comment:


    We''ll assume that beginner magicians only need to worry about teleporting on a sphere. We will ignore the Earth''s rotation and orbit + movement in the universe for beginner mages. Otherwise, master mages could not even teleport. Instead, we will assume that it gets more complicated with each ascending mage rank.


    An intermediate mage has to factor in the Earth''s rotation, while a master mage also has to factor in orbital trajectory, as well.


    The idea: teleport me to the point (3/5) (3 meters to the right and 5 meters up) can be accepted because of the low angle of curvature.


    "The book recommended that I begin experimenting on short-range teleportation with objects before moving on to living animals, and in the end try it out on myself." Luz rambled to himself as he put his book aside.


    ''Interesting. Now I understand why my siblings and I were randomly teleported everywhere.''


    ''Instead of me deciding which spaces to link together, it happened randomly. The distorted places were chosen where the linking and stabilization could be completed with the least amount of energy. ''


    ''Interesting.''

 62. just a normal hunting trip part 1

    Luz gulped down a few pieces of meat before going out to try short-range teleportation. Outside, the afternoon sun was shining, and it was pleasantly warm with a cool wind blowing every now and then.


    Less than 15 meters away from Master Simon''s tower was an apple tree, and Luz snapped off pieces of its twigs. With a pile of twigs, he now stood in the shade of the apple tree, attempting to teleport them 3 meters away from him.


    One could merely hear the words,"[Teleport 3:0:0]." and instead of a twig, a pile of splinters came out.


    "Ok, I''m not going to try that spell on myself," Luz commented before continuing to experiment.


    ''A teleportation spell of 3m consumes around 6% in mana. That''s quite a bit. But I think the mana consumption depends on the weight of what is teleported and the distance to where it gets teleported.''


    Luz tried the spell 12 times, testing his different hypotheses, but his experiments were in vain since the twigs mostly came out as sawdust.


    It ended with Luz taking a break on the ground after his mana level dropped to 27% in an attempt to replenish his mana reserves by meditating.


    Slowly Luz sat down in front of the apple tree and closed his eyes to focus on mana absorption. Mana can also be absorbed passively, but it is quicker to absorb it actively.


    What he noticed was that he refilled his reserves much faster than expected.


    "It''s probably because of those parasites. I think their mana cores seem to be getting useful now," Luz muttered with his eyes closed.


    Just as his mana reserves approached 85%, a familiar voice woke him up.


    Slowly blinking at the blinding rays of the sun, he saw three people talking in confusion in front of him. The following sentences were uttered:


    "Eyyy."


    "Can you hear me?"


    "Are you asleep?"


    "Yes, I''m awake," Luz replied while grasping Francis'' extended hand.


    "Thanks for that," Luz stated as he noticed the other two familiar people.


    "Don''t mention it," Francis gave, and Luz asked one of the two girls who had brown hair, "and you''re... ehm Alice, right?"


    The two girls giggled at Luz''s question. The girl pointed her finger at the black-haired girl before saying, "She''s Alice. My name, on the other hand, is Anne."


    "Oh, I''m sorry, our contact was minimal," Luz admitted as he scratched the back of his head.


    "Yo, as soon as I bring girls, you forget the existence of your best buddy," Francis remarked as he squeezed Luz''s shoulder tightly.


    "Arg, I''m sorry. I''m sorry," Luz gave out before asking, "And what are we going to do today?"Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Everyone except Luz was inside in leather armor and looked puzzled at Luz.


    "We planned on going hunting, or did you forget it already? Get changed as soon as possible because we won''t wait long for you." Francis said, and Luz just nodded before running into the tower to change his uniform.


    Upon reaching his room upstairs, he changed his clothes and wore thin linen clothing underneath the leather armor. He tightened the straps and popped another small piece of meat into his mouth.


    ''''Let''s see how long this meat will last me,'''' Luz said as he reached for his weapons which were an iron shortsword and a shield.


    ''Why did Simon give me such equipment anyway?'' I''m not a gladiator, am I?" Luz mused before sighing as he took them downstairs.


    "My experience with such weapons is somewhat limited. I may have trained with Francis a few times but have yet to be in a serious situation with such weapons," Luz muttered as he arrived downstairs.


    Downstairs the three were waiting for him, and Francis stood there smiling with his arms crossed. All of them wore a mix of leather armor and steel helmets. But their weapons and armor seemed to be of a higher quality. What Luz immediately noticed was that each of them carried melee weapons, but also a quiver of arrows and crossbows.


    "Don''t worry. We brought a quiver of arrows, as well as a crossbow for you too. Oh yeah, take this too," Francis said while handing him a small dagger in a scabbard.


    "Thank you," Luz replied as he puzzledly searched for a place to stow it.


    Anna leaned over to him to whisper, "You''re supposed to attach this to your belt, not stow it away."


    "Thank you," Luz whispered, attaching it to his belt.


    The group then began to march into the forest, following a dirt path. Around the trail, however, were tall trees, and the deeper they went, the denser the trees became. As time passed, the sunlight that landed on the group of youths also diminished. Although they could still see in the gloom, their sight was limited to 100 Meters. The chirping of insects and occasional loud animal noises could be heard throughout the forest.


    The youths chatted with each other while carrying loaded crossbows. Naturally, one wants to be ready for anything.


    "Where are we going, and what are we going to hunt?" asked Luz curiously, who was still not briefed.


    "Well, I heard that you need a lot of money, which is why we chose a mission that should be easy for us and bring us a lot of money," Francis said, and Anna added: "We are planning on hunting some magical deer. Rumor has it that a parasite has infected some specimens, and we are looking for sick ones. The medical institute pays well for such specimens."


    "I see, and how do they differ from healthy ones? "Luz asked curiously.


    "You will definitely recognize them by their appearance," Anne said with a smile.


    "All well and good, but give me some useful information? Do we have to watch out for certain things? Can they transmit their disease to us and such?" interjected Luz, annoyed.


    "Anne, let me take care of it." said Alice, pushing Anne aside before stating: "These deer have mutations all over their bodies, and they are very aggressive. Some of them resemble zombies, but these are examples of the advanced stages. The newly infected ones are characterized by being very aggressive and having no control over their saliva."


    A shiver went down Luz''s spine, and this time he asked Alice about the chance that these diseases could also be transmitted to them.


    "I can''t answer that," Alice said, before quickly adding, "But surely the local medical institute will have a solution soon. Trust me."


    Luz had a queasy feeling from that moment on, and it was clear to him why the mission paid well.


    A mission where you have to deal with infected beings while not knowing if and how the parasite can be transmitted carries a high risk. It''s best to always wear a light mana membrane when you encounter them. I don''t even know how dangerous and aggressive they are,'' went through Luz''s head.


    Before he could ponder further, he walked into Francis, who suddenly stood still with one hand raised lightly.


    Francis just nodded, and about 100 meters away, one could see a deer standing in the falling sunlight.


    It was the size of an average deer but emaciated with large wounds. Its body was covered with big flesh wounds from which no blood dripped, and some of its bones were visible. It was plodding along, and its once magnificent antlers were covered with mutations. Its antlers were broken off on some sides and had no symmetry. Its eyes glowed slightly yellow, and its pawing was heard loudly.

 63. just a normal hunting trip part 2

    They all aimed their crossbows at the deer as they slowly walked back because the group didn''t want to meet such a deer so quickly. They planned to observe a mutant from a distance before even attempting to interact with it.


    As the group walked back, the deer plodded along the path, making strange loud noises.


    "Change of plans. Before it spots us, we''ll take advantage of the fact that it hasn''t seen us yet," Francis commented with a serious expression while turning to Luz and handing him something.


    "Here, Luz, take that compass. If you ever get separated from us while escaping, run south," Francis explained, and Luz quickly pocketed it with a nod.


    "On my command, we shoot," Francis whispered as he positioned himself on the ground and slowly counted down, "3...2...1." and the group fired their arrows.


    A slight hiss echoed through the forest, followed by an agonized scream of a deer. Three arrows bore into the deer''s body. Anne missed her shoot because she got too nervous. All except Luz aimed at the head while the former aimed at the chest area.


    ''I''m not aiming at something I won''t hit with a high probability,'' went through his head before firing.


    After crying out loud, the deer ran towards the group.


    The deer didn''t even slow down in the slightest, even though two arrows stuck in its head.


    Luz reloaded immediately, while Francis put his crossbow aside and used a magic spell.


    "[Wind Blades]," Francis gave out, and air gathered in front of his hand.


    In contrast, the deer ran toward the group, and it took around two seconds before a giant 2d Wind Blade shot straight out, severing the deer''s body from the neck area horizontally in 2 pieces.


    "That was close," Francis whispered before adding, "From now on, we''ll only use mana arrows and magic. Physical arrows may only be used with a combination of magic."


    The rest just gulped before nodding. After the group calmed down, they decided to walk to the corpse in order to inspect it.


    "Each of you better summon your mana membrane here already. That''s the least protection we should have. But you''d better put on your mask and gloves," Anne commented as she handed each of them a mask.


    Everyone put on the mask, which went around the whole face.


    Francis began to tell them: "The magic medicine institute believes that the infection would be passed on through fluid exchange and bites. We will still wear masks with breathing filters for safety reasons."


    He was the only one to put on gloves, and it wasn''t long before the group was standing in front of the carcass. The deer''s head and eyelids twitched from time to time. Furthermore, a black consistent liquid ran from the severed neck.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Francis knelt and used a spell to fill the black liquid into the container before closing it with magic.


    Anne conjured a sphere of water to confine the container while Alice cast the spell [freeze], and it took only half a minute for the container to turn into a block of ice.


    Francis only nodded before his consumed voice was heard saying, "This is for safety in case the container does leak."


    The container was slowly placed in his space storage ring.


    "What kind of magic is this," Luz asked, fascinated as well as confused.


    "It''s just an item I got from the institute, and one can store stuff in it.  It''s called a space storage ring, but this particular one has a tracker in it," Francis replied while showing it to Luz.


    ''I want one of those too someday.''


    "So time to burn the body," Francis said, and the group used all their fire spells on the cadaver until only ashes remained.


    "Only five more samples. I heard that they would give us more than 1000 gold coins if we catch a living specimen for them. We can also get around  50 gold coins if we could bring them a dead specimen with as few wounds as possible," Alice told them while the greed in her eyes was visible.


    "I think we should abandon trying to get a living specimen. The risk is way too high," Luz interjected, and the rest just nodded in agreement.


    Anne, on the other hand, added: "It''s also enough if we can mark and enumerate mutant deer. We''d even get silver for that."


    Before the group decided to move on, they all charged their crossbows with as much mana as possible.


    ''That was now 10% of my mana just to create the strongest possible mana arrow.''


    "One arrow from these should be enough to kill a deer," Francis gave out. A blue arrow materialized on the crossbows of the group.


    The group went deeper into the forest, and the sounds became even more intense. At the same time, the blood-red evening sun hung on the horizon. Every now and then, they encountered a zombie deer. But unfortunately, all of them were too far away or were walking in groups. Therefore, the group decided to return home.


    "Let''s rather go home and go hunting tomorrow at 10 o''clock. Then we can go even deeper into the forest. The chance of hunting these creatures should be much higher there," the group leader said, and no one objected.


    But on the way home, they heard footsteps and voices on the trail. Each of them immediately raised their respective crossbows before following the trail. It took less than a minute before they saw a hunting party of around 10 people.


    Their equipment seemed to be on par with their own. At the sight of the four, the other group members immediately fell silent and settled into position.


    "We have no interest in a conflict," a girl in iron armor announced coldly.


    "Neither are we. But as you know, it''s better to be safe than sorry," Francis replied as he continued aiming his crossbow at them.


    "Understandable," she said to Francis before turning to the rest of her party and telling them, "My fellow party members, please make way for them. We don''t want to lose a few men for cheap equipment."


    She smiled after informing them, and Anne nearly wanted to respond to her provocation. Her group members just nodded and made room.


    Francis only replied with, "Thank you," and lowered his crossbow. The four of them continued walking down the path, and Anne only asked, "You''re also here because of the magical medicine institute, right?".


    "Yes, we are all here for that. What''s the situation?" the leader of the other group admitted.


    "We were only able to hunt one infected deer. We saw a few more infected deer, but they were in groups of ten," Anne told them out of kindness.


    "Thank you. Would it be okay if we left the forest with you?" She asked before quickly adding, "If you didn''t find anything, I don''t think it''s worth it for us."


    "Tough question. Are you ready for a soul contract that only lasts until we leave the forest?" Francis asked coldly.


    Her eyes narrowed to slits before she commented, "Hoho, another mage, and yes, I''m willing."


    The two group leaders made a non-aggression pact before walking the same trail in silence.


    But their way back won''t be as peaceful as they expected.

 64 just a normal hunting trip part 3

    The sun was already down, and the group members silently carried torches as well as lanterns. They talked among themselves and shared their experiences with each other. Some of them saw other animals in the forest with similar characteristics. One of them said that he had seen an elk that behaved like a mutant deer. The other said that he had seen a wolf with such characteristics.


    "The situation is stranger than we thought. If they''re telling the truth, then this is a mission not meant for us beginners," Luz muttered to himself.


    But even though they were on their way back, the echoes of animals were becoming louder. Instead of normal animal sounds, agonized cries of animals echoed through the forest.


    The previous chatty atmosphere died away. Instead, the only sound the group members made was their footsteps.


    "You three better put your crossbows away, too. We can''t see 30 meters in the dark. We''d rather use melee weapons and magic," Francis stated.


    The other two girls and Luz just nodded in agreement before quietly changing their equipment.


    "Luz, you don''t happen to know any beginner spells do you?" Francis asked quietly.


    Luz just shook his head.


    To be honest, he only knew the magic disciplines of space, fire, and water. He had also studied a bit of Necromancer magic, but only to help his little brother Az. Furthermore, his understanding of them was at the beginner level.


    Looking at the other members of the group, Luz saw how their weapons differed mainly between sword and shield and between spears. In contrast, their group leader pulled out a thin sword with a handguard out of its sheath. The thin blade was covered with lightly glowing runes.


    sheath


    ''Interesting. and why the hell are runes all over it? Why hasn''t Master Simon or anyone else taught me this yet,'' Luz cursed in his head until he remembered that Master Simon had given him a book on the subject.


    ''Come to think of it, didn''t Master Simon give me books on magic disciplines outside of magic? I''ll definitely have to look into that after returning home.''


    The group kept walking, and suddenly a rustling sound came from the bushes accompanied by the sight of a mutant fox jumping out and staring at the group while hissing and drooling.


    Some group members jumped to the side, and it became loud. It seems that no one with melee weapons wanted to take the risk. The fox continued to hiss and slowly walked towards the group in attack position.


    Francis, on the other hand, took out his crossbow.  With a sigh, he shot the fox''s head with a mana arrow without even blinking. The head splintered, and the group became even louder, trying to wipe away the blood from their bodies as well as clothes.


    "Anne. We will continue walking with only our masks on," Francis ordered with a serious tone as he extended his hand to her. Anne handed each of the three a mask.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    "Are we going to use crossbows or melee weapons now?" asked Luz, and Francis suddenly stopped for a moment and sighed.


    "I was wrong. I think it would be better if we continue using crossbows. The other ten already use melee weapons," Francis admitted, and Luz just nodded.


    A black liquid ran out of the animal. While everyone stood as far away from it as possible, Francis stepped closer and used magic to trap the mass into a container.


    After the group walked about 20 meters, they saw several mutant deer screeching and running toward them from afar.


    The group members panicked, and some of them leaped off the path, hoping to have a better chance of surviving in the dark forest under the moonlight.


    Luz, as well as the remaining three, shot at the deer silently. More than 5 of them were hit as mana arrows shot through the deer. The remaining deer stumbled, trying to run over their fallen kin and fell over.


    ''Only 5 deer left. If the others can buy us a moment, then it would be great...'' but before Luz could think further, Francis interrupted him by muttering a spell.


    "[Fire Wave]," Luz heard, and a wave of 5 meters width spread on the path in front of the deer.


    All of them were happy that these deers were dead. But unfortunately, their happiness didn''t last long because it was only the beginning of the end.


    The next moment screams asking for mercy and help echoed through the forest.


    "What the hell is going on? Why are so many mutants hunting us now?" cursed Luz as he turned to the place from where he heard the screams coming.


    From the bushes, a man fell in whom Luz recognized.


    ''''Wait, isn''t it a group member from the other group?'''' Luz wondered as people called out his name.


    But as people rushed towards him, rodents were seen jumping from the bushes. They bit his face, and his screams became louder.


    Luz had to look away from the sight and would have preferred not to hear his screams.


    ''These screams will definitely haunt me to sleep if I survive at all.''


    "This is definitely not normal," Francis commented.


    "No shit, you fucking smartass," Alice told him.


    The man tried to get back on the path, screeching but was pulled into the bushes by a creature whose yellow eyes were visible in the darkness.


    "What the hell is going on here, and why isn''t it attacking us?" asked the female group leader as she fell to her knees in despair.


    Slowly more and more yellow eyes appeared. All of the eyes stared at the group through the darkness.


    "I don''t have a plan, but you better get up," Luz cursed out loud as he desperately tried to decide where to aim his crossbow.


    In contrast, Francis shook his head as he walked towards the female group leader. Arriving in front of her, he took a deep breath in and out before coldly stating to her, "If you are too incompetent to lead your group, then I will take command from here."


    "If you think you can lead us to safety, I''d be happy to," she replied while trying to control her fear.


    "I don''t know if I can do it yet, but one thing is for sure, I''ll be able to do it sooner than someone who can''t control himself on the ground," Francis replied coldly.


    And so Francis became the leader of the group of 13 members.


    "We will continue to walk the path. The monsters on the side are just staring at us and won''t attack us until we leave the path," Francis announced while reaching out his hand to the former leader.


    She grabbed his hand, and the group continued moving. It didn''t take long till a shrill female voice shouted: "Brother?"


    ''That''s definitely not one of my siblings since none of them had such a voice,'' went through Luz''s head.


    He aimed at the bipedal creature standing silently 100 meters away from the group on the path.


    "What the hell is going on, Luz? What does she mean with Brother? Is she your brother?" asked Francis to him in confusion.


    But Luz only shook his head, and all 4 of them aimed at the standing creature that looked more and more like a human the closer they got to it.


    "I only want my brother. If you can give him to me, I''ll let you all leave," the female voice called.


    "Are you the one controlling all these beasts?" stammered Luz.

 65. maybe, it never was a normal hunt

    The human being walked towards the group while asking in amazement, "Brother? Brother, why don''t you answer me? You know very well that you can''t hide from them forever?"


    She periodically began to giggle slightly.


    "What the hell is going on here?" cursed Francis, and Luz shouted, "I don''t know who you are but don''t come any closer, or we''ll shoot."


    "So this is how you treat your older sister?" the creature gave out with a laugh.


    "Luz, who the hell is that?" asked Anne, pointing her crossbow slowly at Luz.


    A shiver went down Luz''s spine, and he muttered, "I don''t have a sister, I never had a sister," while slightly grabbing his hair out of nervousness.


    Francis, on the other hand, reached out to grasp Anne''s crossbow while swearing loudly, "Are you retarded, or do I still have to teach you how to treat comrades?"


    On the other hand, Alice and the former group leader were on Anne''s side.


    The group fell into chaos. Was Luz a spy who belonged to these monsters? Is the woman simply trying to stir up trouble? Is this even a human being, or is it a monster that only had the shape and voice of a woman?


    Luz threatened: "If one of you makes a stupid move, I will kill the person. While he threatened, he let mana whirl through his hands at regular intervals.


    "Hey, calm down and leave Luz alone. He''s innocent," Francis shouted to calm the situation.


    Even though he failed at it.


    While the group was in chaos, the female-only continued to walk towards them, giggling regularly, "Brother, don''t you see how they treat you? Wouldn''t it be better to return to people who value your existence, brother?"


    On the other hand, Alice aimed at Francis, whispering coldly, " He and innocent? Don''t you see that his sister is responsible for all the chaos here?"


    "I never had a sister," Luz cursed bitterly.


    ''Why? Why me, of all people? Why are they willing to sacrifice me so fast? I mean, I get it. We only went out hunting. But damn, you all will regret that choice.''


    Rage and hatred slowly filled his head as his veins were almost popping out. His heart also started beating faster and faster since it was only a matter of time before he faced the girl or the wrath of his former comrades.


    ''At least Francis isn''t willing to sacrifice me. You''ll be the only one whom  I''ll try to save no matter what,'' were thoughts that went through his head as he and Francis were broth gradually forced out of the group.


    "What are we going to do, Luz?" cursed Francis.


    "I think if I kill them, they will believe me," Luz whispered and shot an arrow at the woman standing about 20 meters away from him.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    A blue mana arrow shot at her, and she caught it with her hand, giggling.


    "Why are you giggling anyway? I didn''t even say anything funny!" cursed Luz with horror while looking towards her.


    ''I definitely need to get out of here. I can''t fight something like this,'' Luz thought.


    "Because I''m full of curiosity to meet my brother. Do your sister has to teach you some manners for trying to attack his sister?" she replied with a smile.


    "You only want the boy, don''t you? If we give him to you, will you leave us alone?" Alice asked with a trembling voice while aiming her crossbow at the back of Luz''s head.


    "If you touch even one of his hair of his head, all of you will end up being eaten by mutants. Don''t forget who should be begging for his life here," she suddenly replied, and her giggling died away.


    In the torchlight, the group members could only see her red eyes and her sharp teeth. Her left hand was bleeding slightly because of catching a mana arrow.


    "Brother... Come to me. I will help you. I know exactly in what kind of situation you are, and you can''t hide among people forever...," she spoke in the dark and stretched her white and pale hand towards Luz.


    "Can you help me with my problems?" Luz asked shakily before taking a step closer while holding Francis'' hand.


    "Why are you dragging me with you to an early grave?" the latter cursed.


    "Trust me. We don''t stand a chance of staying there. We have to rely on their mercy..." Luz whispered with a forced smile as he closed his eyes for a moment.


    He inhaled and exhaled deeply before walking towards her in slow steps.


    "Come to your sister and look, you brought a toy for us," she whispered with a smile on her face.


    In front of him stood a girl who was a head shorter than Luz. She had black hair and scarless skin while wearing a torn white coat. Francis''s facial expression changed immediately at the sight of it.


    Luz played along, forcing a smile on his face. "Sister... Before we go home, could you please kill the rest for me? They were bad to your older brother," Luz asked with a smile while his heart was pounding at his throat.


    He felt nothing more than fear at that moment. ''Who is that girl, and will I even be able to survive here? Will she fall for it?'' were all the thoughts that shot through Luz''s head.


    "For my little brother, I''m happy to do it after all," said herself, smiling.


    "Luz, no," Francis exclaimed in shock. The people began to scream, and one could hear their pleas for mercy.


    Francis looked in shock at what was happening while Luz was smiling.


    "Luz, I beg you," he heard Alice say in tears while a fox jumped on her face with rodents pouncing on her.


    On the other hand, Luz shook his head before coldly answering: "That''s what you deserve for trying to kill a team member."


    The rodents and the other mutated monsters tore pieces of flesh from her face and body as their pleas filled the forest. A pool of blood was forming below Alice as her resistance against the monster grew weaker with each second passing.


    But she wasn''t the only one that got taken down. Slowly one person after another was knocked down by the storm of monsters.


    Their screams grew weaker with each passing minute, and in the end, even Anne died while begging for mercy.


    ''Magic seems to be useless if you can''t even utter a spell.''


    Luz was satisfied after seeing them dead, but unfortunately, Francis wasn''t happy with Luz''s decision.


    A single tear ran down Francis''s face as he stuttered: "Luz... I understand your hatred for these two¡­, but how could you kill our two comrades?"


    On the other hand, Luz just laughed at his answer before coldly replying, "You call them comrades? Comrades who were willing to sacrifice one at a moment''s notice without batting an eye? I''m sorry, Francis, but from the moment they wanted to sacrifice me, they stopped being my comrades."


    "Francis, remember that I wasn''t the one who killed them all if you''re going to report to Master Brian. If you can promise me that, I''ll ask my dear sister if she can let you go," Luz told Francis with a stoic face.


    "I''ll accept a soul contract," answered Francis coldly.


    "Hihihi, he even recognizes me as his sister," giggled the girl while she slowly hugged Luz from behind, sending shivers down his body.

 66. getting kidnapped by a creepy girl part 1

    A shiver ran down Luz''s spine as she hugged him from behind.


    "Share with Master Brian what happened here. They only want me, and you''d be just a block on their leg," Luz told Francis after the latter signed a soul contract.


    The soul contract actually had only the following conditions: Francis will remain silent that Luz ordered it, and in return, Luz will do his best to guarantee his life.


    Of course, Francis was angry with Luz. But at the end of the day, he was a realist who wanted to live.


    "Sister...could we let my friend go home? He has been trying to protect me, your younger brother, since we met you," Luz asked with forced politeness while the girl breathed lightly against his neck.


    Her breath sent a shiver down Luz''s spine.


    ''I certainly would have enjoyed her action at any other time but this one. What does she want now anyway? Does she have schizophrenia?? Regardless, I can only hope that she wants to protect me,'' went through Luz''s head while sweat rolled down his forehead.


    "Hmmm... Yes, he can leave. I also want to spend some time alone with my brother," she said, giggling like a little girl.


    "Thank you...," Francis replied, exhaling with a sigh.


    But before he turned to follow the path further, he glanced at Luz. His expression revealed that he was going to call Master Brian for help. It''s only a matter of time before they find Luz.


    After Francis was out of sight, the girl became serious and merely muttered, "Follow me. I''ll take you to a safe place."


    The two ran for the next 30 minutes until Luz ran out of stamina. Sweating, he stood panting while leaning on his knees.


    "Come on, we have to keep going," she answered before hesitating.


    "I can''t...run...anymore," Luz gasped.


    "I''ll just carry you piggyback then," she stated while Luz tried to stop her.


    "No, no, no. Give me a minute to catch my breath, and we can keep running," Luz gasped.


    "No way," she replied, and with a groan, Luz got carried by her in a piggyback.


    As she continued running in silence, Luz asked, "Why do you actually call me brother even though we are not related?"


    "You are like the rest of my siblings and me," she replied, laughing while continuing to run.


    Luz was just confused. Her back was warm, and he felt her heartbeat even though he laid his head against her back. But his parasites were in a state of paranoia in front of her, bombardings Luz''s head with impulses.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ''What the hell do you want?'' Luz cursed telepathically at the princes.


    The princes in his mana core seemed afraid of her, and they told Luz while trembling, ''Danger. She is very dangerous and strong.''


    ''Of course, I know she is dangerous and strong,'' Luz cursed at the princes. He, himself, had no tomatoes in his eyes.


    ''No, her parasites are stronger than us,'' one of the princes said, and Luz was shocked.


    Shocked, he turned his attention back to reality and asked quietly in a shaky voice, "Sister, can you tell me how I am like your siblings? I don''t even know who your siblings are."


    Luz''s heart was beating very fast, and he was starting to worry that it might burst.


    "Hihihihi, my little brother is so excited to meet his other siblings. Well, you carry parasites in your body, and that makes you one of us," she said smiling.


    Luz was shocked by her news.


    ''''How the hell does she know that I carry parasites in my body? I''ve never shown them to anyone. Does she work with Master Simon ?''


    "How did you realize I was the host for a bunch of parasites?" asked Luz fearfully with a forced smile.


    "You don''t need to hide your fear from me. I know that you are afraid of me but don''t worry, nothing will happen to you. Instead, your new older sister will protect you from all the bad people out there." she said to reassure him.


    "I don''t know what people you are talking about, but could you please answer my first question...sister?" asked Luz, who could do little with the information.


    "Brother, we will be there in 10 minutes. I''ll explain it all to you in peace," she replied calmly before adding, "please hold on to me until then."


    Sighing, Luz obeyed and hugged her warm body as she suddenly accelerated her speed drastically. More than 4 Gs acted on Luz as she ran.


    The surroundings were getting more and more blurry, and all he had was the urge to vomit.


    ''I hope we get there soon. I don''t know where the hell I''m going to end up, but maybe it can be useful...'' went through Luz''s head as he fainted.


    In the end, he was carried, unconscious, by the girl into the lion''s den.


    Two children immediately moved to her, and a little boy with blond hair asked: "Sister, who is this?"


    "You wanted a sibling, which is why I bought you a new brother," she answered with a smile.


    "But I wanted a younger sister," he commented, annoyed.


    "Better a brother than no new sibling," she replied as he petted the head of both of them.


    "But sister, why is he so weak? Why doesn''t he have any control over his body? I can hear his annoying parasite from here," asked the other child that was a girl with brown hair.


    "It''s because he was probably kept somewhere elsewhere and only escaped later on. We will find out why he has the least control of his parasites," the older sister assured the girl before kissing the two on each of their cheeks.


    An hour later, Luz woke up in a separate room.


    The room was small and only had a couch and a chair. Apart from that, there was no decoration there. Slowly Luz came back to himself, and he mumbled aloud: "I seriously thought that I got kidnapped by a girl who has a brother fetish. But I don''t see her. Luckily, because otherwise, I would be worried."


    He passed both hands over his eyes, and a familiar voice replied, "So that''s how you talk behind your older sister''s back," as she slowly slid her arm around his neck.


    "Ehm, I love you very much, sister," Luz replied with a forced smile.


    ''Shit, it wasn''t a dream after all.''


    "You''re from the Medical Institute too, aren''t you?" the girl asked while raising an eyebrow.


    "I''m afraid that doesn''t tell me anything. I was only hunting deer because they were paying well for it," Luz answered with a puzzled look.


    She was also confused by now and repeated her question again, "So you''re not someone who escaped from the medical institute?"


    Both stared at each other in silence before Luz slowly dared to respond, "I think there is a misunderstanding between us. I''ve never been to the medical institute, and why do you keep asking about it?"


    The girl pulled out a knife, and in the next moment, the point of the blade was 2 millimeters away from Luz''s left eye. His heart was beating in his throat, and he heard the girl ask after taking a big breath, "Did you escape from the medical institute, and if you are not from there, why do you have unconventional parasites inside you?"

 67. getting kidnapped by a creepy girl part 2

    Luz gulped as he watched the tip of the knife hover over his dark pupil. Sighing, the girl withdrew the knife before demanding Luz to answer the following question: "Tell me how you got the parasite."


    ''Why the hell is she staring holes in me? Is it so weird that I have parasites?''


    "I... I was willing to participate in a magic experiment if it would allow me to keep my magic talent," Luz answered with a gulp and an anxious look.


    ''Hopefully, that will be enough for her to satisfy her curiosity.''


    "Let me tell you one thing. I''m considering everyone who ended up in similar circumstances as me as my brothers and sisters, so please tell me the whole story," she told Luz, moving closer to him.


    Luz felt her breath against his ear as she whispered: "Tell me so I can judge you accordingly. If you don''t tell me your story, I will assume that you aren''t one of my potential siblings."


    She paused for a second as her warm breath sent shivers running down Luz''s back before continuing with: "and everyone who isn''t of my siblings tends to end up a head shorter."


    After saying it, she started giggling while holding her hand in front of her mouth. Her expression would have melted the hearts of many males seeing her face if it weren''t for the not-so-sweet pair of blades floated behind her.


    ''Shit.''


    Luz told her his whole story.


    He began with how the siblings escaped a dragon after Luz used a teleportation spell, sacrificing his magic talent and future in the process. His mana core ended up being full of cracks, and if left untreated, he would have died sooner or later.


    The girl listened carefully with her eyes closed and the daggers lying on the ground, being vulnerable for any kind of attack coming at her.


    Luz seeing her showing him vulnerability, grinned.


    ''Nice try, weirdo, but I''m not attacking you. I know damn well you only feing vulnerability, and you''re merely testing me. I won''t fall down for that.''


    Luz continued his story where he was caught and sold to a master. Upon ending as a servant, he had to make a choice.


    Do you want to live as a crippled mage, a mere mortal, and never be able to find your siblings since you''re a talentless villager who never studied any profession, except for maybe hunting?


    Or do you risk it all in a magic experiment just to be able to retain that thing you almost lost? What is the difference between the first option and the second option? The second option has a path for salvation if you are maybe lucky.


    In the end, he became something flawed, fighting for his sanity daily against the parasites'' unending chattery. With his soul contract that bound both parties, he tried to suppress them, but that wasn''t enough.


    But hey, at least he still has a chance of finding his siblings, even if he hasn''t had the time of journeying the country in search of them.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    She only smiled and felt his problems.


    "I feel you, brother. Our circumstances may be completely different, but you would still fit in with us," she answered with a genuine smile that almost made his heart melt.


    Luz merely shook his head, reminding himself of his own situation.


    "Sister¡­ I neither know about your circumstances nor your goals, but please, I can''t die yet. I abandoned 4 siblings, and I don''t know where they are... My soul cannot rest until I know what happened to them¡­until I know they are safe now¡­ and until I reunited with them," Luz pleaded with big dilated pupils to get his pity.


    ''Hopefully, that''s enough to get her pity.''


    "I know that you''re trying to tell your own story as tragic as possible, but I still pity your siblings, my dear brother. I now also get why you neither have control of your parasites nor can use their potential to the fullest," she remarked with a smile.


    "How can I gain any control over them, and how can I use their abilities the same way as you?" Luz asked curiously.


    "I or rather everyone here can help you with it, but it will take some time, and I think it would be better to tell you our stories, so you can get an image of what you should look out for," she stated.


    ''I''ve come to a point where I''m unsure what to think about my situation. Do I want to escape my situation? Do I want to stay here for the time being¡­ in hopes of finding a way to control my own parasites?


    I don''t know. I can only hope that the story about her life makes me confident in siding with any of the two options instead of remaining uncertain.''


    "Are you actually listening to me?" she asked while snapping her fingers in front of his nose.


    Luz got thrown out of his thoughts and answered with a smile: "Sure, I''m curious about your story."


    "Good, every one of the kids here has ended up as a guinea pig in the Magic Institute for Research through one way or another. For them, we were just guineapigs and no actual human beings deserving of any kind of respect. All of us here were in the research for future symbiote parasites.


    They wanted to find the best parasite for every category compatible with humans. The best mana parasite, the best physical parasite, the best occult parasite, name it all. They wanted to catch them all¡­" she narrated while closing her eyes, trying to recall these fond memories.


    But before she could continue, she was interrupted by a knock on the door.


    The two in the room turned their heads to the door, and she said kindly, "Enter."


    A 13-year-old girl entered, who had iris heterochromia. In other words, she possessed two different eye colors. Her right eye was brown, but her left eye was weird. It consisted of two halves. One of the halves was blue like the ocean, while the other half was red like fire. Interestingly these halves moved every second slowly. A strange but also a beautiful sight, to be honest.


    "Am I disturbing you two?" the little girl asked while looking at Luz in wonder.


    "No, not really. You can join us if you have nothing to do," the older girl replied.


    "I''d love to, Sister Liv," the girl replied, jumping between the two of them on the couch before snuggling up to her older sister.


    "Why did you end up at the Magic Research Institute of Biology, anyway?" asked Luz starting to feel sympathy for Liv and curiosity.


    ''Do I have Stockholm syndrome? No, not at all. I still just want to get out of here.''


    "Well, everyone ended up there differently. For example, Sarah was sold by her father to the institute. They couldn''t feed her or her siblings and therefore sold her. Hoping that the money would be enough to feed the rest of the siblings. A tragic choice, I wouldn''t want to be in his shoes, to be honest," she stopped her narration for a second to take a deep breath.


    She continued with: "I fled the village of my abusive parents after I couldn''t take it anymore. But unfortunately, I ended up getting captured in the depths of the forest, wandering in an emaciated state around by slave drivers. Since I hadn''t lost my will to survive, at the time of getting sold, someone from the institute bought me."


    Sarah just played with Liv''s hair as she stared at Luz.


    ''Is there something wrong with me, or why is that child staring at me all the time?''


    "Sister, why doesn''t he have full control of his parasites yet?"


    ''STOP ASKING THE SAME QUESTION. I''M JUST LACKING BEHIND OK..."

 68. Run boy, Run.

    It was pitch dark at night, and someone was running in bloody clothes down a dirt road that led out of the forest.


    His panting, as well as his breathing, were heard in the deaf forest. Every now and then, he stopped to catch his breath.


    "I can''t...stop now...without reporting...to Master Simon..." gasped Francis as he leaned against a tree, falling to the ground.


    Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply in and out for several minutes as he gazed at the beautiful moon.


    After recovering some of his stamina, he stood up with a sigh. The hooting of an owl resounded through the dead forest, sending chills down his spine.


    "I only have to jog for another 15 minutes before I will be out of this godless," Francis muttered as he wiped the cold sweat from his brow before continuing to run.


    It wasn''t long until two bored guards at a mansion were awakened from their half-sleep by the words, "Out of my way, I must see Master Brian.


    A boy was running towards them in the moonlight. These guards were standing in front of the gate of Master Brian''s mansion. Realizing it was Francis, they chose to let him pass, and he continued to make his way to the villa, bathed in moonlight.


    It glowed ominously in the moonlight, and light seemed to be coming from only one window, belonging to Master Brian.


    "Get out of the way, Alfred," gasped Francis, from whose body the blood of his dead comrades continued to drip.


    By now, the blood had mixed with his sweat, turning into something that smelled disgusting from meters away.


    "This will be the last time I will allow you to run to Master Brian in such a state. Where is Luz anyway? Has he gone to his room yet?" Alfred asked while one could see him reading a newspaper on a chair in front of the mansion''s entrance in the moonlight.


    "Let me through," Francis gasped loudly while taking a deep breath.


    "Take it easy," sighed Alfred as he rested his hand on Francis'' back.


    ''That should be enough to give him enough strength to tell Master Brian the whole story,'' Alfred sighed.


    Alfred revitalized Francis and removed the stench of blood and sweat.


    "Thanks¡­" muttered Francis as he entered the mansion, whose corridors decorated with marble and other beauties of architecture looked terrifying.


    Every step and his continuous loud panting echoed through the hallway as he made his way to Master Simon''s room. Arriving in front of it, he knocked in hopes of his Master granting him entry.


    The door slowly opened itself, and a slight creak was heard. Nobody asked him to enter.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Gulping, he entered the dimly lit room, where a man sat there on his chair reading his book.


    Even after Francis took a seat, his Master Brian ignored his existence before slowly putting his book aside and slowly folding his arms.


    His eyes stared holes in Francis, which caused Francis''s heart to beat in his throat as he became more and more uncomfortable.


    After having eye contact with Master Brian for 30 seconds, the latter began speaking.


    Slowly he asked Francis, "Why is the blood of Alice and Anne, as well as other people, on your body? ... And where is Luz?"


    The pressure which acted on Francis grew with each word. The latter continued to stare into Master Brian''s eyes, growing more frantic.


    Sweat was running down his forehead, and he could hardly say the words, "Anne and Alice are both dead... Luz, on the other hand, got himself taken so that I could report the situation to you."


    Master Brian just sighed, "Tell me the whole story."


    The pressure increased a hundredfold, and the air began trembling in the room. Breathing became more difficult for Francis as he began recounting the horrors of what happened on this fateful day.


    Master Brian listened carefully with his arms still folded.


    "It''s a shame¡­ Alice and Anne were two lovely girls that grew up here. I knew they could be suspicious, but I never thought they would be willing to betray you two for their own survival," Master Brian sighed as the air kept trembling in the room.


    Slowly he pulled out a cigarette from the drawer that had a few runes depicted on it. Sighing, he lit it up, and with each puff he took, smoke clouds rose in which runes were to be seen.


    "That calms me down a bit," Master Brian commented before continuing, "So. It''s time we start looking for Luz. As I understand it, these people have something in common with Luz. Maybe they carry parasites from abnormal strains, or maybe not. Who knows?"


    "I thought of that, too," Francis said.


    "Well, anyway. Please don''t take what happened today too much to heart. People often betray you at the last second for anything. People ready to sacrifice you to guarantee their own survival aren''t the kind you want in your life." Master Brian told while slowly standing up and finishing his cigarette with one puff.


    By now, the pressure in the room subsided, and Francis nodded in agreement before asking in confusion: "But, Master Brian, since when do you smoke?"


    "Me and smoke? Remember we never talked with each other today," Master Simon commented with a chuckle before leaving the room, and Francis followed him.


    "Time to find him," muttered Master Brian as he opened a portal that had a diameter of around 3 meters, and the two stepped in.


    The opened portal led them into the middle of the forest. But by now, Master Brian and Francis weren''t alone there. Members from the magical institute were also searching the whole forest for the perpetrators.


    Grinning, Master Brian muttered: "The situation is more complicated than we thought."


    "Why do you think so?" wondered Francis, and it didn''t take long before they got a visit from someone.


    An old man in a white mage''s cloak with a sigil on his chest flew toward them. The sigil depicted a short staff entwined by two serpents surmounted by wings.


    "The caduceus, hmm?" muttered Master Brian with a raised eyebrow.


    "It''s nice to see you again, Brian. Out of curiosity, why are you and one of your pupils here?" the old man asked as he held out his hand to him.


    Brian accepted his hands, and both let their auras free while excluding Francis from it.


    "I''m looking for one of my other pupils, my dear friend Andrew, head researcher from the magical biological research institute of my city," replied Brian.


    The space trembled and screeched as their auras confronted each other. It almost got to the point where the space volume around them almost broke down.


    Sweat began rolling down Francis''s brow, knowing damn well that he would turn into mush if the auras got to him even for a slight second.


    "Hopefully, it''s only a coincidence that we met. The bloodbath that would follow if our goals were even slightly crossed would put the perpetrators to shame," commented Master Brian with a slight laugh.

 69. showing off.

    Somewhere else, three teenagers were sitting in a bunker room. They were having a good time talking and eating. One of them still had mixed feeling about his situation.


    Liv played with the hair of her younger sister while explaining Luz''s situation to her: "Sarah, Luz is a bit different from us and ended up differently compared to the rest of us. But he''ll hopefully fully gain control of his parasites."


    "I get it," Sarah replies with the back of her head against Liv''s shoulder.


    Sighing, Luz asked: "Could you please tell me what you all mean with [Why doesn''t he have full control over his parasites?]? I still don''t get it even though it''s been two weeks since the symbiosis."


    Playing with her younger sister''s hair, Liv explained Luz: "You can think of it the following way. The parasites in Sarah and me are part of us and our consciousness. They stopped having free will compared to your kind."


    His heart began beating faster out of excitement, and he asked after taking a deep breath: "How did you achieve such a state, and what are the benefits of it?"


    Grinning, Liv said: "Sarah, it''s time to impress your older brother with your abilities."


    The 13-year-old girl, on the other hand, slowly stood up and yawned.


    Filled with curiosity, Luz stared at her, and in the next moment, two snakes formed out of Sarah''s left eye before wrapping around her arms. After that, she regained the brown eye color on her left eye.


    "Now my eyes look like regular ones," she sighed as the two snakes nested against her shoulder while hissing in regular intervals.


    These two behaved and looked like real ones.


    Around Sarah''s left arm was wrapped by a 1-meter long blue snake, while on the other arm, another snake wrapped around her arm, which was red. Both of them glowed slightly, and interestingly these two snakes were out of mana, combined with the water and fire element.


    But their behavior showed that unlike something out of pure element, they seemed to act as living beings that retained some intelligence.


    "Amazing," muttered Luz while the latter stood there with her chest puffed, flexing her biceps like a bodybuilder.


    A lovely sight to behold.


    Liz continued with: "Sarah got a mana parasite that focuses on water and fire. She can use these reserves and her parasite to create living creatures that act as if she commanded them."Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Next, Sarah used two different elements at the same time. Unheard for a beginner mage, and it got more interesting. She didn''t even have to use a spell or anything.


    A fire and a water ball appeared on each hand, whose shape she controlled with ease.


    ''Are you kidding me? She doesn''t even use mana on her hand. HOW DOES HER HAND NOT BURN??? Also, she plays with them as if they were out of mud. I''m getting envious of that,'' went through Luz''s mind.


    "That''s an amazing ability," he commented.


    Sarah stopped showing off, and the two snakes went back into her eyes.


    Grinning, she exclaimed: "Compared to my siblings, I''m merely average. But it will take time before you gain any abilities."


    Liv nodded before commenting: "You''re probably asking yourself how to regain such an ability and the theory behind it is easy. Consume and enslave all the minds of parasites."


    "But I''ve done that. I mean, we signed a soul contract, bounding each member onto it, and with that, I''m enslaving them," told Luz as he scratched the back of his head.


    "Luz," sighed Liv before she continued with: "that is not enslaving your parasites. They still have a will. They still communicate with each other. They still live and aren''t part of you. But in the case of Sarah and me, these parasites are part of us."


    "I see¡­" uttered Luz as he realized why the plan of his Master and him was wrong.


    ''But how can I even make the decentralized hive a part of me?''


    "Did you ever hear of the Mitochondria?" asked Liv after sending Liv off to bring something to drink.


    Luz shook his head after her words, and she just sighed: "I thought so," before continuing to explain to him what a Mitochondria is and the theory on how it got to us.


    "So, if I got it correctly, it was an independent thing before getting consumed and becoming part of us, right?" asked Luz.


    "Yes, and if it can happen millions of years ago in one of the smallest building blocks of your own body, why can''t it happen again?" commented Liv with a smile.


    "The only thing you have to do is to consume all minds of the parasites. If you achieve that feat, something interesting will happen. All these unclean souls still got a flicker of their egos and wills in them, resulting in a rejection from your souls. Out of this rejection, a new soul will be born. This soul will be the manifestation of all the wills and desires of the parasite," explained Liv as she enjoyed seeing Luz thirst for knowledge.


    "So if I get it correctly, I''ll have to fight the parasites twice. The first time I''ll fight against a decentralized being before consuming it. The second time I''ll fight against the centralized will of the hivemind that tries to survive." summarized Luz and Liv just nodded.


    At that moment, Sarah walked in with a tablet, carrying three prepared tea glasses, before placing them onto the table.


    "Thank you, Sarah," Liv said before reaching for the bronze tea glass. The scent of the tea filled the room.


    Luz was confused. He had never smelled a tea like this before.


    A small bag with tea leaves was in the bronze cup while a mint leaf floated in the water. Looking at the slight red-orange color, Luz decided to take a sip.


    ''It tastes like¡­like¡­ I don''t know, like an average tea, I guess. I had more expectations, but yeah, I shouldn''t be expecting too much from a child,'' thought Luz as he took a few more sips of the tea.


    Sarah merely stared at Luz as he drank before asking with curiosity: "and do you like my tea?"


    Luz pondered for a second, thinking about what to say, not to disappoint a child.


    With a smile, he stated: "It''s tastes better than the tea I make."


    "I knew that you would like it," she replied.

 70. Your soul contract is worthless

    After finishing the cup, the conversation continued. By now, Luz felt a lot more comfortable around the two compared to before.


    "Sis, I''ve got a question. What will happen after fighting with the parasite''s soul twice, and what can go wrong during all the steps?" asked Luz as he placed his teacup down.


    Sarah slowly fell asleep since the conversation between the two was just some boring stuff explained to her years ago.


    "Concerning your questions, let me answer them as much as possible to my knowledge," replied Liv, hugging Sarah that tried to sleep on her.


    Moving her hair aside, she explained:


    "After fighting the centralized will, it''ll shatter into million pieces and won''t be able to regenerate or put any resistance against you, devouring it. Therefore it''ll become one of you, and after the consumption, controlling these parasites will feel just as easy as breathing."


    Playing with his beard stubble, Luz asked: "I get that part, but you still haven''t explained to me what can all go wrong."


    "Yeah, anyway. The more souls you consume, the stronger the hivemind will be in the end. You can also imagine what will happen if you fail against the manifested will, so there is no need to explain that part. Your case is especially troublesome," sighed Liv.


    "How is my case troublesome?" Luz asked, puzzled.


    "Your parasites aren''t all the same and are in a weird and more developed state. In short, their wills are stronger compared to my case when my parasites had their own will, and it gets even worse," Liv said slightly.


    "And what''s the problem with that?" asked Luz as he laid against the couch.


    "Even if you were to succeed and consume them all, if their collective memories far exceed yours, then their influence will still be strong on you. Their memories that contain their desires and behaviors will be a part of your memories," spoke Liv.


    "But let''s visualize your situation for a moment. The human body has around 37,2 trillion cells," Liv explained with a yawn.


    "In what kind of number range are we talking about?" asked Luz, who didn''t get the numbers.


    Liv seeing his confused state, only sighed before explaining the number to him.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "We are talking in the range of 10^13. That''s a number with 14 digits. If we assume each parasite has a memory capacity of one Bit, the number would still make a big dent," Liv explained.


    "Now I''m curious how big the dent would be," commented Luz, as he continued to listen.


    "To give you the order of magnitude of what kind of dimensions we are talking about, your brain can hold up to 2,5 petabites (merely a google search). On the other hand, the souls were to take up 0,1 Petabites," Liv continued with her explanation.


    "But that doesn''t sound much. I mean, I would still have 2.4 Petabites on my own memory, right?" asked Luz.


    "No. As you just said, it doesn''t sound quite much till you realize that we are talking about the amount your brain can hold and not the data your brain actually holds. It''ll probably be around 30% of your total memories," sighed Liv as she slapped her forehead.


    "I see¡­ Now I''m truly unsure how I want to move forward, to be honest," Luz commented.


    Shaking her head, Liv stated: "You don''t have any other choice. The memories each parasite contains will grow bigger with each passing day."


    "Can we not like seal away these memories?" asked Luz.


    "That should be possible, but unfortunately, none of us here has such an ability. You need a well-versed master mage that focuses on souls for that," explained Liv.


    Sighing, Luz agreed to still take the risk.


    ''I don''t want to even do it, but what else can I do? Remaining in a state of cold warfare will only make it harder for me in the long term. If I let them develop more, they''ll soon¡­ surpass me.''


    Gritting his teeth out of frustration, he asked Liv to teach him the technique to him. She agreed and bought him into a different room, looking more like a prison cell.


    The room was three quadrat meters, and inside was nothing, except dirt and some chains. The place next to the chains was covered in straw. The door to the room was out of metal and had a small window, letting light into the room from the outside.


    Looking at the room, Luz began to hesitate, thinking, ''HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LIVE IN SUCH A ROOM FOR IDK HOW LONG? THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO THERE.''


    "The room is designed like that, so you have nothing else to do except to finish your task. Only after reaching your goal will you be released. We will still bring you something to eat and drink," stated Liv with a smile to the hesitant Luz, before moving closer to him and whispering:


    "Or do you want to enjoy the rest of your time till the parasite slowly overtakes you, ending up as a mind slave to it~?"


    A chill ran down Luz''s spine, and he gulped.


    "I''ll enter," he uttered before asking about the chains.


    "It would probably be wiser that you use them for your sake. If you ever lose your mind these, chains will hold you in place," commented Liv. Luz nodded in agreement, and the squeaky door was closed behind him.


    Sighing, he sat down on the dirty and cold ground before binding himself with the chains.


    The chains were cold and heavy. Also, with each movement, their sounds resounded through the room.


    He adjusted himself on the ground to a cross-legged position before closing his eyes.


    "Time to devour," he muttered to himself before editing the contract. The clause about protecting the parasites was switched to only include the 5 princesses.


    ''Hehehhehe¡­ they shouldn''t even realize that,'' he thought with a grin before beginning to devour their souls.

 71. Devouring trillions of souls part 1

    Lying on the ground, Luz began using the method Liv taught him. It was quite an easy method, as long as one didn''t use it on more developed souls.


    With closed eyes, he fell deep into his mental plane, finding himself as a whisp, in nothingness. His white soul illuminated in the dark, and Luz tried to move that mass while having slight problems since he was moving a body with no limbs or legs.


    After getting the hangout, how to move, his soul slowly left its place to move in a random direction. During his movement, it felt like eons till he reached the end.


    ''Shit, I moved in the wrong direction and reached the back of my brain. I should have moved down, instead of up,'' were the only thoughts that went through the white soul before moving back.


    And so, it took a few eons for Luz to reach his original place and take another direction. But after going down, he soon was blinded by a colorful light that was everywhere.


    ''Argh. That must be the souls of my different cells. Ok, how do I eat them now?'' went through Luz''s head as he continued to move into the directions of the light.


    Luz grew slowly frustrated after trying like an hour to open the mouth of his soul. But it didn''t seem to be possible, which is why he decided to continue moving to the glowing stars ahead of him.


    As he went through the rainbow Milkyway, made out of trillions of souls, he realized that he was leaving a pure white star trail behind him. As for him, some insignificant colorful impurities seemed to appear on his soul body.


    ''I see. that must be the souls and their wills of these parasites. But weird, I seem to be unable to see any glimpses of their memories. Anyway, let''s continue my life as the ultimate devourer, hehe¡­'' and so Luz continued moving through the starry Milkyway.


    It didn''t take long before big colorful spots appeared on his former pure white bodies. But unlike before, he now saw some glimpses of the thoughts that went through the minds of the parasite.


    As one might expect, these thoughts were pretty primitive.


    "Hunger¡­ devour¡­ conquer¡­procreate¡­ give food¡­ take food," were the only memories that coursed through him as he tried to see what these creatures inside him thought.


    But what he didn''t realize was that the desire for consumption and unending hunger slowly overtook him, and so he continued to move on, devouring everything inside his way.


    That went so far, till his soul felt hurt, by all the souls he devoured, as their combined will began to fight him.


    ''weird¡­ I haven''t yet devoured all of the parasites. Why are they already resisting?''Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    His body was by now colorful.


    On the material plane, however, Luz began to cry and howl. Liv glancing through the small window was shooked.


    "Wait¡­ that shouldn''t be happening yet," she muttered with fright, being ready to halter Luz''s advancement if he were to leave the cell.


    Through the floor, Luz''s body twitched, resulting in echoes of chains rattling.


    Let''s go back to the mental plane. Luz''s soul body was in the process of halving into two, and it felt unbearable.


    ''It shouldn''t be happening that early??? Why is it happening yet?? Could it be that they contain more memories or have stronger wills, making it, therefore, easier to form a crystallized soul??''


    Slowly, the colorful souls accumulated on the right side of his soul body, which slowly tried to separate from his body.


    ''It hurts. It hurts. It hurts,'' Luz screeched as his soul got split into two via cell division.


    ''Arrghh¡­'' were the words echoing through the room before Luz stopped twitching.


    In front of Luz''s soul was a small colorful ball, moving toward him, as the thoughts: ''devour, devour, devour,'' were heard.


    His body was now pure white again, and the only thought going through his head was: ''Wait, what the hell should I do?''


    The ball rushed toward Luz and hit his body before wrapping his body slowly around one of Luz''s ends. Luz allowed it to happen since he was busy finding out which method he should use against it.


    The ball slowly moved away with the wrapped peace and, Luz began to scream loudly since a piece of his soul was taken.


    Realizing that some of his memorize were gone, Luz decided to attack it the same way, out of revenge.


    ''YOU THINK YOU CAN DEVOUR ME? DON''T FORGET THAT I''M THE HOST, AND YOU''RE ONLY A MERE INSIGNIFICANT PARASITE WHOSE EXISTENCE I''VE TOLERATED TILL NOW. I''LL SHOW YOU WHAT IT MEANS TO DEVOUR''  roared Luz out of anger before moving towards the ball.


    For the first time, the colorful soul orb felt fear. It feared for his life as the booming thoughts echoed through the room.


    It began running for survival, as a gigantic white orb was flowing in his direction, with speed unfathomable for it. Instead of using the same gimmick like wrapping around the little soul orb, Luz decided to use a completely different method.


    He flew at such a speed at him that it ended up inside his soul body.


    Grinning, he applied pressure on the soul orb as it began pleading for mercy.


    ''No,'' uttered Luz as cracks were slowly forming on the orb as it screamed: ''Arghhh, no...no...no.''


    The pressure grew with every passing second, and in the end, the former soul orb broke into thousand pieces as Luz devoured it.


    After devouring all of the shattered soul pieces inside him, he just muttered, "Such a fight should be easier than if I fight all the souls combined.''''


    By now, his body grew larger while remaining pure white. But suddenly, memories not belonging to him began to influence him.


    ''Shit, that shouldn''t be good,'' cursed Luz before waking up.


    He began panting loud and clearly as he saw everything blurred out.


    "Thank god, that you still seem to be fine. Tell me immediately what happened to you?" demanded Liv as she opened the door.


    With eyes closed, Luz replied: "Nothing¡­ I just had my first fight against souls. It seems like that I''ll be fighting many times against crystalized wills. I''m hungry¡­ Could you maybe bring me something to eat?"


    Nodding, Liv left for a moment while Sarah walked past the door. At the sight of the panting Luz, she commented: "Weird. I don''t know what the hell is going on, but you look like a weird chimera since only the parasites on your chest area seem to be part of your body."


    "Just wait and see. Soon I''ll be just like your," Luz sighed as sweats dropped down his brow.


    Meanwhile, the five princes were in chaos. Any communication between them and the parasites in the upper body stopped.

 72. Searching for Luz part 1

    ''What the hell is this? The contract stated that you had to protect us?'' echoed loudly through Luz''s head while the latter only smiled slightly. As the loud chatter between the princes continued on, Luz decided to interfere and asked with a grin the question: "Did it say that?"


    The five parasites grew silent as they read through the soul contract, realizing which grave mistake they did, as one of them read aloud:


    ''The host has the right to change the terms of the contract whenever he desires.''


    Another short of silence grew before one of the princes stated: "I told you so. But you didn''t want to listen to me. The only thing that we can do is, retaliate and grow stronger."


    The princess grew in furry as they decided how to retaliate. Fortunately for Gab, they didn''t have a real plan at the moment.


    It didn''t take long before Liv came while carrying a plate filled with food. Slowly she sat down cross-legged while letting the food fly lightly in Luz''s direction.


    ''I need to learn the method on how to control stuff in the air,'' Luz thought while staring at his plate, which was filled mainly with venison and potatoes. As he looked closely, the meat and the potatoes were slightly burnt on some sides.


    "Thank you," Luz mumbled as he looked for any cutlery.


    The smell, as well as the rising steam, triggered his desire to consume food. But Luz tried to restrain himself and instead asked the question, "Don''t I get like a fork or any other cutlery? and did you make it yourself?"


    The steam from the freshly roasted food slowly rose into the air as his eyes turned slowly red. His breath grew unsteady as he looked at it.


    For Luz, it felt like the parasites were trying to convince him to consume. The only problem was that the five princes were busy with something else. Neither were they even communicating with him. Instead, it was he, himself, who bore the desire.


    "Yes, I cooked it for you. It''s quite easy with magic," she told him with a twinkle and a smile before continuing with: "Give me a moment, let me call Sarah."


    Liv shouted Sarah''s name down the hall, asking her to bring cutlery for Luz''s behalf.


    "Why aren''t you bringing him culinary?" Sarah cursed loudly with a groan, and Luz had to smile since the interaction between the two awoke old memories of interactions he had with his siblings.


    Thinking about these memories of which he grew fond of made him sigh.


    ''I hope that one day I''ll be able to experience such interactions with my siblings again.''The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Seeing him sighing, Liv commented amusedly: "On the one hand, the memories of your parasites seem to be potent. They seem to easily influence you, even though you''ve only consumed like 15% of all parasites."


    Luz whipped away the drool that formed earlier on the edge of his mouth before asking with a sigh:


    "How do I fight against the influence of such memories? I mean, it''ll only grow stronger if I consume more of them."


    "You''ll get used to it and with a lot of discipline. Once you fasted for like a month while only eating vegetables while having the choice for a steak, you''ll have the discipline for withstanding your desires," Liv explained to him.


    "But wouldn''t it be better if I were too fast now, while I the influence is still weak? Wouldn''t I get accustomed to such a desire while also slowly devouring more and more parasites?" Luz curiously asked as he played with his beard stopples.


    "Yeah, that also should be possible¡­ I mean, its lethality rate should be lower compared to our way if it doesn''t have any complications," Liv commented in agreement.


    Luz began to drool again as the food influenced him, and thankfully it didn''t take long for Sarah to arrive, bringing a fork for him.


    "Thanks," he muttered before savoring the food.


    ''It''s slightly dry, but to be honest, that''s enough for me.''


    In the end, Luz summoned water with the spell [water], drinking from it gently.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    Somewhere else, two people were seen teleporting in irregular intervals, appearing in different locations each time, before quickly vanishing.


    "The situation is strange and more complex than we thought," Master Brian muttered before continuing with:


    "The fact that the magical medicine institute is looking for transhumans who are in symbiosis with parasites makes the situation so much worse than we thought. Hopefully, Luz continues to wear the emblem since they wouldn''t touch him then."


    Francis nodded in agreement before puking. The constant teleporting seems to have taken a toll on him.


    Sighing, Master Brian reassured Francis that their constant teleporting will stop soon.


    "Anyway, let''s find Simon and tell him what happened. He''s a cunning fox that probably implanted something like a tracker into Luz. I know that he won''t give Luz up so easily," muttered Brian.


    "Wait, give me a moment to get accustomed to my surrounding," pleaded Francis.


    But Master Brian merely shook his head before stating with a smile: "No."


    ***********************************************************************************************


    Somewhere else, a man with a parrot on his shoulder were arguing with each other as they looked at a small display. The two were sitting in a Roman bath, enjoying their free time from Luz.


    As they enjoyed the sight of the beautiful marvel of architecture, one of them felt unease, even after being surrounded by other mages and humans alike, enjoying the place.


    There were hours and times for only mages, but the two were cheapskates who weren''t willing to pay the extra money for enjoying a bath.


    Sighing, Jodoc commented: "Should we visit him? I mean, why the hell is he in the middle of the woods, deep inside the forest for like two days? There literally is nothing to do."


    "Yeah, you are right, but he seems to be alive, so should we check up on him or not?" asked Master Simon before taking a sip of a neon blue fluid.


    "I don''t know, man. Maybe we should enjoy our time here more," Jodoc commented as he cracked a nut with his sharp beak.


    "Yeah¡­ I agree with you," commented Simon before he continued to relax in hot water.


    Suddenly a portal appeared in front of the two, and Simon merely cursed at the sight of it.


    "Shit, please let it be some official from the kingdom and not Brian. Like please, let me enjoy my free time," sighed Simon before using a spell to hide his presence.

 73. Searching for Luz part 2

    "Simon, the spell is useless against me,"  a familiar voice stated from the opened portal before a hand from the portal grabbed him by the collar.


    "No...no...let me enjoy my time here," Simon cursed as he was pulled into the forest with Jodoc on his shoulder.


    Simon ended up standing half-naked in the air over a forest while sighing, "Why did you call me?"


    "It''s about Luz''s situation, of course," Brian replied, laughing before telling him the situation.


    Simon merely nodded before saying, "Brian, Jodoc, and I need a moment of privacy to decide how to proceed. I hope you''ll forgive us for that."


    Before Brian could say anything, the human parrot duo disappeared before reappearing over the bathhouse.


    "So, what''s your plan? Should we help Brian find Luz? Should we look for him alone, or should we leave him to the Magic Medicine Institute and continue our vacation here?" asked Simon as he slowly put on his clothes.


    "Let''s look for Luz alone," replied the parrot laughing.


    "I agree with you, but why are you laughing?" asked Simon in surprise.


    "You''re serious? I should be the master magician, and you should be my pet," Jodoc cursed before continuing with, "Never mind, let''s pay Luz a visit, then maybe you''ll figure it out."


    And so, the two teleported to Luz instead of telling Brian about their decision. While the two made their way to Luz''s position, Master Simon made sure he stopped sharing his location with Brian.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    Brian waiting in the air with Francis for 10 minutes, grew impatient and began to curse: "If he doesn''t return after 15 minutes, then we''ll visit him."


    But as another 15 minutes passed, Master Brian realized that Simon had stopped sharing his location with him.


    As he gritted his teeth out of frustration, Francis felt the air around him trembling as he prayed that it wouldn''t end too badly for him.


    "Simon, why didn''t you just tell me that you''re going to him alone?" stated an annoyed Brian before teleporting Francis and himself back to his mansion.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    "It''s here, right?" asked Simon as the two appeared near a mountain 300 km away from their city. The place was beautiful but abnormally quiet.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    "Strange," muttered Simon after being unable to sense any animal in the range of 500 Meters.


    Jodoc nodded before stating: "Better make your presence known, and they will come out of their nests like rats."


    As Master Simon spread his aura, the whole underground structure began to tremble, helping the two find the entrance.


    As they walked towards the entrance, a woman appeared in front of them, with glowing purple eyes.


    "Why are you here?" the girl asked with a trembling voice as a black mass began to shroud her body.


    "Interesting, I never knew that some parasites were able to do that?" muttered Jodoc to Simon as the two continued to analyze Liv.


    "So these are the people whom the magical medicine institute is searching after, hmm. Maybe we should take some of them as test subjects," muttered Simon as he continued analyzing the girl.


    Hearing the discussion between the duo, the girl grew enranged before shouting furiously: "Answer me,"  before shooting a black spear made out of decay at the two.


    However, the spear seemed to hit an invisible wall in front of Simon as he stated while shaking his head: "such petty magic tricks don''t work against me," as clouds began appearing in the sky.


    A few seconds ago, the sun was shining brightly. But now, the clouds shielded any sunshine from passing through. As she stared at the sky, the thunders roared. Simon''s stated: "Bring us to Luz. This is not a request but rather an order," as the ground began to tremble.


    While Simon stated his order, The wind got stronger and stronger, forming the tornado eye around the duo and the purple-haired girl.


    Gulping, Liv realized that the duo was in a different league compared to her and that two could kill her without even batting an eye.


    Seeing the despair in her eyes, Simon grinned from ear to ear, knowing that Liv, will lead the way to Luz.


    To Simon''s surprise, Liv asked a question instead of giving in.


    "What do you want from him?" she asked as she gritted her teeth, trying to suppress the fear she felt from the Man in the sky.


    "Me? I want my student back. I''m his Master, and if you don''t let me see him peacefully, I''ll destroy everything as I make my way toward him," Simon calmly replied as Jodoc set the tornado ablaze.


    "That should be enough scaring her," he stated to Jodoc telepathically while the parrot laughed loudly.


    Liv, being scared shitless in fear of all her siblings, began to kneel as she pleaded: "Can you promise me not to hurt anyone under there? If you can promise me that, I will gladly lead the way. Otherwise, I''ll be fighting to the bitter end."


    Jodoc replied: "We will promise you that. However, you''ll cooperate with us even after we''re finished."


    Liv let the two in, and the two stopped in front of each person they saw and analyzed them.


    A shiver ran down her spine, as she thought about the consequences this may have on their survival.


    But one thing was clear to Liv. There was still the chance of maybe making that powerful entity their patron.


    It didn''t take long for the three to visit Luz. The latter was sitting on the ground, staring at a plate filled with food.


    Before Liv could say anything, Simon summoned a barrier between the duo and Luz, who hadn''t realized their arrival.


    Simon snapped his fingers, resulting in Luz landing back in reality. As Luz whipped his drool away in embarrassment Simon, sat across him.


    "It''s been a long time since we saw each other," Luz whispered with a smile.


    Instead of replying, Master Simon hit him with a stick appearing out of nowhere above Luz.


    "Argh," yelped Luz as he held the place where he got hit.


    "I just wanted one week of vacation, but you even have to go so far and end it prematurely," Simon sighed before complaining: "God, what have I done to deserve such a fate."

 74. Are you really trying to negotiate with me?

    Sighing, Master Simon stated, " Well, I expect a detailed explanation of what happened here and why the hell you''re in chains."


    Nodding, Luz began his narrative, starting from where he and Francis were hunting and ending the narration with him getting kidnapped.


    What happened in between, like the duo getting betrayed by their comrades, before that dying tragically, was also stated.


    Jodoc and Master Simon listened in silence, and the latter merely sighed, "It seems like I cannot simply take them back to the tower without any commotion."


    "But we could confine them in cells in your Magic tower. That way, Master Brian would never notice that these people are living with us unless he explored your tower," Jodoc commented while cleaning his feathers.


    "Yeah, you''re right. That would be a wise decision. There we could analyze and take samples from them, while we''re also not forced to treat them like human beings," Simon admitted.


    Listening to the two talking about how they should use them as guinea pigs send shivers down his spine.


    Normally he would do his best not to oppose his Master. But that''s not the way how one should treat another human being.


    Forcing himself, Luz bluntly stated: "No. If you do that¡­ I''ll make sure Master Brian or the Institute finds out about that. Good luck continuing your experiments then."


    Hearing his threat, Simon merely laughed loudly for a moment before stopping to ask Luz, "Are you serious?"


    Luz simply nodded before continuing with, "I''ve only known them for a short time, and I admit that some of them are not the best human beings."


    He stopped for a moment. By now, he was angry about the thoughts of the two people whom he trusted had. His voice grew louder and louder as he told them: "I won''t let you treat everyone here as a guinea pig with no respect and dignity."


    Simon''s carefree attitude changed. "Luz¡­ Hasn''t anyone ever taught you how to treat a higher-ranking magician?"


    The ground of the cell began trembling as an angry Man stood up, and Luz felt a pressure that forced him to lie on the dirty floor of the cell as Simon questioned his stupidity.


    With a booming voice, Luz was asked the following questions: "Tell me, student, what are you going to do about it? You''re merely a beginner magician. I could easily kill you here and go home with all these new ones. The people here are far more useful than you, whom I have to treat with care. So explain to me why should I listen to you?"Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Luz merely smiled, having expected that.


    Simon only grew angrier and slowly stated: "Tell me, Why should I listen to you? If you can''t provide me with a satisfying answer, I''ll continue with my plan."


    Luz''s heart was beating to his throat as he was filled with despair. ''The future of everyone around here now lies on my shoulder.''


    Thinking for a second, Luz answered: "My parasites are different compared to those. Every one of them has survived and finished their transformation. I, on the other hand, am still transforming my parasites. My data is ten times more valuable than the data you can take from them combined, or am I wrong, hehehe?"


    Simon, who was listening to Luz, merely chuckled: "You are right. But I already have you, and I could easily buy slaves."


    "You don''t seem to get it?" answered Luz shaking his head, before continuing with: "If I want, I can remain in this state till the parasite takes over my body. Try getting any new useful pieces of information as I slowly get eaten from the inside."


    The pressure increased, and by now, Luz had problems speaking.


    ''If the pressure increases¡­I''ll die out of suffocation.''


    By now, Luz found it hard to speak, and wearily he finished his sentence. "As I stated earlier, I can offer you the chance to observe and analyze me as I become one with my parasites. That... should be far more useful than analyzing successful products... hehehe."


    "You''re only repeating yourself at that point," Simon commented before looking at Jodoc for a moment.


    One moment was more than enough to answer the question "how to proceed" via thoughts.


    Behind the door, a certain girl listened as she prepared to blow herself up if anything went wrong.


    Simon, who suspected her plan, ignored her since he already knew that such a method wouldn''t do any significant damage to him.


    Seeing that Luz didn''t budge on his statements, he admitted grudgingly, "Luz, you''re right. I will temporarily return to Master Brian''s and will return tonight. That should be more than enough time for you to formulate a soul contract between us two."


    Luz was amazed that his threat worked. But, before Luz could ask any further questions, Master Simon disappeared with Jodoc on his shoulder, and Liv silently entered.


    Silence reigned in the room until Luz could bear it no longer.


    "I''m sorry. I didn''t know I was being tracked..." before Luz could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Liv.


    "It''s okay. It was my mistake not to look for any tracker...Sooner or later, we would have been found here anyway," Liv stated before stopping for a moment.


    Silence formed again but was soon interrupted by a sob.


    "Why are you sobbing?" asked Luz while Liv wiped away her tears.


    "Thank you...thank you for sticking up for me and the rest," she stated before asking the question: "But why did you stand up for us?"


    With a sigh, Luz explained his reasoning: "Out of pity. I still hate you to a degree for putting me through such a horror trip and killing everyone around me. But I can''t bring myself to let the rest like Sarah, for example, be used as a guinea pig against her will."


    After answering her question, an awkward silence came back, and Luz asked: "Do you regret bringing me here, trying to help me?"


    "No, not at all. You have a good heart, and I don''t regret bringing you here. I still have hopes that¡­. maybe you could help us. To be honest, I don''t want us forced to stay hidden here till they catch us," Liv answered with a chuckle.

 75. Where is he?

    After their conversation, Liv left Luz alone.


    To help Luz fight against the urges of his new memories, Liv left a plate filled with food on the ground that awoke Luz''s suppressed hunger.


    "It''s funny how I can have the appetite for food, even though I almost died like 10 minutes ago after opposing Simon." Luz sighed before sitting cross-legged on the ground.


    The smell distracted him and made it hard for Luz to focus on what he should put on the contract. In annoyance, Luz bit his thumb in hopes of it distracting him from his hunger for a time.


    ''Time to think about the clauses for the contract. Hmm¡­


    Let''s say:


    1. Master Simon can collect test data from everyone regularly, as long as he doesn''t harm anyone that can''t be cured within a few days.


    2. Master Simon must give everyone a chance at a meaningful life and protect us as best he can.


    3. What else could I add? Oh yes, I shall get pocket money, hehehe.


    4. The cooperation between the two goes until Master Simon has enough data and finishes his research.


    5. Changes to the contract can be made if both parties are in agreement.


    Yeah, that should be enough. ¡­''


    ***********************************************************************************************


    Somewhere else, Simon landed alone in Brian''s office, who was awaiting him angrily. Seeing the atmosphere in the room, Simon hastily stated: "Luz seems to be fine, and anyway, I''m leaving¡­-" as he tried to use the teleportation spell, it unfortunately failed.


    ''Why did it fail? Wait, don''t tell me he blocked the space around the room!?''


    After failing a few times, Simon gave up and took the seat in front of him.


    "You met with Luz, right?" asked Master Brian with a stern expression as he folded his arms, and Simon merely nodded.


    A smile began to form on Master Brian''s face before asking what happened to Luz.


    Gulping, Simon felt anxiety from the person in front of him, even though the two of them were on the same level.


    As sweats rolled down his brow, Simon forced himself to say: "Luz seems to be doing well. Unfortunately, his situation is quite tricky, and it may take a few weeks before he''ll be back."Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Master Brian wasn''t amused with Simon''s answer, and the latter statted stuttering: "I can promise you that I''ll be bringing him back in one piece."


    Coldly, Brian Simon asked the question, "Do you think I''m retarded? You seem to avoid my question."


    After the words left his mouth, the room darkened as silence fell. With each passing second, the room grew darker and quieter. In the end, Simon couldn''t see anything resulting in him panicking. Dreadful, he looked around in the darkness without seeing anything. It seemed like all of his senses were cut off. He even lost his sense of time and his whereabouts.


    ''Shit, Shit, Shit,'' shot through Simon''s head as he looked scared around. ''How? Brian and I are on the same level. How the hell did he do something like that?''''


    The silence lasted for eternity, and the worst thing for Master Simon was that he couldn''t do anything about it...


    The fact that he couldn''t use a spell frightened him the most since, without magic, there was no possible escape from it.


    "So. Tell me. I''m not letting you leave till either Luz comes back or you tell me the whole story," echoed through all directions while Simon tried to find the place of the voice.


    The silence continued to reign, and as for Simon, it felt as if eones had passed before he gave up in the end.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    Somewhere else, a parrot was cursing in the mage tower. "Shit, where is Simon? He should already be back, or did he maybe forget about me and went back to Luz without me?"


    And so, Jodoc made his way towards Luz''s direction as he continued to curse for not knowing the teleportation spell. Time passed, and the night came. A certain boy was sitting in a cell waiting in silence for his master to come.


    ''Didn''t he promise me to come back at night?'' went through his head, as his stomach ached from seeing the food that laid on the other side of his cell.


    "I can''t eat again until tomorrow," Luz muttered while he wiped his salvia away.


    ''These parasites should better stop complaining about me not eating anything,'' thought Luz while hearing his stomach grumble.


    ''Shit. The impact of these thoughts is greater than expected,'' went through Luz''s head.


    After a few hours, Luz couldn''t take it anymore and gave up as he jumped towards the plate with the cold food. However, the chains were far too short and prevented him from reaching the plate. And so, a depressed boy laid on the ground while laughing at his own misery.


    ''It''s ridiculous... I almost resemble a dog. Anyway, Simon should come soon, then the waiting should be over.''


    But to his misfortune, Simon never came, and so Luz ended up falling asleep after waiting for a few hours. Instead, however, a bird finally reached the place and was greeted by Liv, who coldly asked where the master was.


    "Simon will come in a few minutes," Jodoc lied before flying with full speed towards Luz''s cell.


    Arriving in front of Luz, he whispered: "wake up, wake up." But seeing no reactions from him. Jodoc decided to hit Luz with his legs while repeating the sentence louder. Luz, however, didn''t react to it and even changed his sleeping positing.


    "Fine. You don''t leave me any choice, Luz," Jodoc muttered as he summoned water, which he shot through Luz''s nostrils.


    With a loud sneeze, Luz woke up. His eyes were red since he was sleep-deprived. "Who was that," he muttered as he searched for the one responsible for waking him up in the darkness.


    "Me," a familiar voice uttered.


    Luz merely commented: "I see¡­" before immediately asking: "Have you seen Master Simon? I''ve been waiting for that bastard for a few hours."


    "Ehm, as for Master Simon¡­ I haven''t seen him yet after he left the mage tower to visit Master Brian," Jodoc admitted.


    Hearing such a statement, he began to smile before stating: "that''s great, heh hehe. So what''s your plan? You can forget on using anyone here as a guinea pig since Liv is also another intermediate mage."

 76. putting a master mage under house arrest.

    Jodoc merely stared at Luz before laughing at the threat.


    "Fine, fine, fine. I''ll play by your rules, and I won''t touch anyone, as long as Simon is not here," Jodoc stated as he jumped on Luz''s shoulder.


    "Since we are alone, could you at least tell me how you and Master Simon ended up as partners and why exactly you are researching in that direction?" Luz asked curiously.


    "Why are you interested in that, child? You just want a strong animal companion, whom you can order around, right?" Jodoc questioned him back as he rubbed his beak against his feathers.


    "Ehm, sort of hehe," Luz answered back, not daring to look into Jodoc''s starring eyes.


    ''Why does he never blink when talking with me???''


    "Fine. Simon stole in his youth an egg during one of his guild missions. His original plan was to sell that egg since it belonged to species that easily reached intermediate mage rank after stepping into adulthood. But unfortunately for him, I cracked the egg and accepted him as my mum before he could sell me. Since then, I was always by his side," laughed Jodoc before it grew silent again.


    Luz only uttered: "I see," before the silence continued for the night.


    Interestingly, Simon didn''t appear on the next day, and neither did he appear at the end of the week.


    "So, do you really think that Simon was attained by Master Brian?" asked Luz as he ignored the food in the room with ease.


    By now, Luz hadn''t eaten for 3 days in a row, nor did he feel any hunger or desire. For sure, his parasites protested the first two days, but in the end, they were forced to lower their metabolism if they didn''t want to die with their host.


    "Yes, he definitely did it. I lost Master Simon''s coordinates after their planned meeting. I still haven''t recovered his signals," replied Jodoc as a child''s hand petted him gently.


    "I see," replied Luz with a nod before continuing with: "After I finish making all these parasites mine, we''ll move back."


    ***********************************************************************************************


    Somewhere else, a man muttered: "I see," after Simon gave up and told him the story, happening to Luz and the people around him.


    "I hate to be in such a situation, where I have to decide the fate of a lot of people," sighed Brian before parts of his office were summoned in the dark void.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    The two sat, and Siman felt chair and grew happy that some of his senses returned.


    "I always knew that it would be a hard decision for you. Letting me free will result in them getting used as a guinea pig. However, taking the matter to your own hand will result in some innocent casualties, and not doing anything will result in them getting captured, so what will you do now, Master Brian?" Simon asked with a grin going ear to ear.


    "I''m thinking what I should do," admitted Brian with a sigh before continuing with: "I hate to say it, but none of the options I have, nor their consequences are great. Even if I kill her without hurting anyone else, who will be taking care of the rest? In the end, I''ll be the one who has to take them under my wing, resulting in potential clashes with the institute if they ever find it out."


    Seeing Brian''s state of inaction, Simon merely smiled in satisfaction before stating: "Your weakness was always your desire to protect the innocent, trying to give people with robbed chances, an opportunity for life. The fact that Alice and Anne turned their back to their fellow comrades only confuses you more. Is it worth to avenge the death of someone willing to sell their comrades in a moment''s notice?"


    "I don''t know the answer to that question," sighed Brian as two cups appeared on the table and a bottle began floating in the air, pouring into the cup.


    A strong aroma filled the air, and the two each took one of the cups.


    "It''s been a long time since we''ve drunk it," sighed Brian, and Simon nodded in agreement.


    "Yeah. I''m still of the opinion that whenever you summon that drink, you will make some choices which I won''t like," commented Simon and the downed it.


    It tasted awful. But at least it helped to dampen the serious mood, both thought.


    "You still haven''t told me what you will do now," asked Simon with a smile.


    "I''ll soon leave to find the killer, just to mark here. If she ever comes to my city or anywhere near a 50-kilometer radius of it, I''ll slaughter her," replied Master Brian.


    "In other words, you''ll forgive her because you don''t want to take the responsibilities of raising the kids she has been protecting till now. But you must be a moron if you forget the quote: [Even not taking any action is still an action]," stated Simon before laughing.


    "At least I''m morally superior to you, who wanted to use these kids as his own guinea pigs for his mage experiment," responded Brian, while Simon''s laughter grew louder.


    "That''s nothing to be proud of," stated Simon before continuing with: "only some of the bigger institutes are worse than me."


    "You aren''t even that morally bad. It''s just¡­ It''s just you''re often possessed by your desires," sighed Brina before stating: "anyway, I''ve made up my mind. You won''t be leaving this darkness till Luz return''s by himself."


    Shocked, Simon tried standing up, but he failed. It felt as if his legs stuck roots.


    "No, you can''t do that to me. ¡­ No, no, NOOOO," shouted Simon getting more desperate with each passing second, while the room slowly faded out of his vision and became one with the void.


    "That''s probably the wisest decision. Hopefully, it helps Simon. After he leaves the void, he''ll definitely crave some basic human interactions instead of trying to achieve his goals no matter what," muttered Brian as he left his office.


    Even though he never marked Luz, he still knew the coordinates of Jodoc. Seeing Jodoc''s coordinates, Brian raised his eyebrows, muttering to himself: "interesting. I never expected them to be there."


    "If only they knew what had taken place there years ago," sighed Brian before teleporting away.

 77. Placing a curse onto someone

    A man stood high in the air of an outdated and crumbling building built into a mountain. None of the people inside noticed he was there, and with a smile, he teleported in before landing right in front of Luz.


    Luz got lectured by Jodoc on some magic-related issue which is why he didn''t notice Brina''s existence in the room, and neither did the latter since the two were too focused on magic. The latter who hid his presence just grinned as he listened to Jodoc''s explanation, holding himself back as much as possible not to comment on the issue.


    After listening silently for a minute, he cleared his throat to make his presence known. Next to the door stood a man with his arms crossed, listening with his eyes closed.


    "Master Brian!" Luz called out loudly, and the parrot jumped in fright from Sarah''s shoulder, which rested against the metal door.


    "Pssht," Brian whispered with a finger in front of his lips, not wanting to wake the little girl.


    Nodding, Luz fell silent, and Brian telepathically commented to him with an amused tone, "I''m glad you''re okay. So what''s your plan, my dear kidnapped prince? We''ve been looking everywhere for you, but we wouldn''t think that you would be enjoying your time with an underaged girl that is still a minor instead of fighting for your life."


    Luz immediately threw back to him: "I haven''t been enjoying my time rather. On the contrary, I''ve been wasting my time, trying to restrain myself from all the memories I''ve got."


    "I''m just joking with you, and Simon already told me what was happening here," revealed Brian nonchalantly.


    Luz, hearing his words, immediately moved in front of Sarah, not wanting to risk her life for the action Brian may take.


    Seeing the sight of a boy in chains moving in front of a sleeping child, two-thirds of the age of the former one made Brian''s headshake. He stated proudly: "I''m kind of proud of you, of your stupidity to fight for some people who barely know, just to prevent Simon from taking them away as guineapigs immediately."


    Brian patted Luz''s shoulder before continuing with: "But it still a gamble you took, and we both damn well know that any other mage in his shoes would have ended your life without even batting an eye, so how do you think I should act?"


    ''I''m unsure if he expects me to represent my own opinion or the opinion Francis or Brian would have in my shoes?'' asked Luz himself since he was unsure what kind of answer he expected from him.


    Sighing, Luz shared his position even though it was troubling him.


    "I... I want to deliver them neither to you nor to the local magical institute of medicine. Right now, I may only know two of them since the rest wasn''t so keen on meeting me for the time being. But most of them deserve a chance at a normal life, just like me," Luz told me as he slowly stood in front of Sarah.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "I see," muttered Brian, stroking his beard before continuing with: "Don''t worry, I won''t kill them, but actions will have consequences."


    And so Brian disappeared before reappearing near a girl that stood guard.


    "So, you are the one who was responsible for killing two of my former servants," commented Brian, standing behind her as he inspected Liv.


    Shrieking, Liv jumped away before she tried to attack Brian while a black shroud was wrapping around her body. But unfortunally, Brian was a monster on a different level which is why her attack stopped midway through.


    Seeing how she couldn''t even move an inch, fear began growing on her face as she watched him standing calmly in front of her.


    "You won''t be dying, but you will pay a huge sum for killing two of my servants," muttered Brian to himself as he ripped down her clothes from behind.


    At this point, Liv expected the worst, thinking Brian would rape her or something the equivalent. However, Brian merely cut his index finger with only a stare before slowly pressing the finger against her shoulder blade.


    His corrosive blood filled with energy bored immediately into her skin with a hissing sound.


    Liv''s eyes were wide open, and her face was filled with pain as she tried to scream. But no sound left her mouth as her face turned ugly out of pain.


    Brian ignored her silent screams as he slowly drew some runes into her skin while ensuring that she didn''t fall unconscious of all the pain.


    "You killed two people that were once dear to me, for that I''ll mark you so, I always know where you are. As for your sins, you''ll follow these commands from now on:


    1. Your group will move to the east after Luz finishes his initial mission.


    2. For the next five years, you are forbidden from entering any village or city with a population higher than 100 people.


    3. Also, killing any innocent or not giving your best to save them will result in your immediate death.


    4. Last, if you ever come anywhere near me within a radius of 50 kilometers again, I''ll be judging you, and if it isn''t to my satisfaction, you''ll be losing your head."


    As he finished his talk, he removed his fingers from her skin. One could see blood-red runes glowing from her left shoulder blade. But if one were to touch it, one would feel that the skin under the runes was scarred, and a mixture of Brian''s and Liv''s blood was flowing through the scar.


    "Remember, you can''t remove this scar since it will regrow somewhere else," muttered Brian, and Liv was finally allowed to move, resulting in her collapse.


    "Yeah, that''s the least I can do. If Liv, or whatever her name is, follows the first two commands, it''ll be unlikely that she''ll ever get caught," muttered Brian before reappearing back at Luz.


    "Jodoc, continue teaching Luz. I''m expecting from you and Master Simon that he''ll be at the levels of his peer in a year. Remember Luz will still be working under me after you two come back home. If he reaches the level earlier, I''ll gift you something, so give your best," stated Brian as he threw a compass to Luz.


    "Thanks," muttered Luz looking at it, not knowing what to do with it. It''s been a while since he saw one of these. The village elder and some of the hunters owned such a thing. But they never told any of the younger generations what they used them.


    Seein Luz puzzled look, he stated with a sigh: "Jodoc will explain it to you. By the way, the guard collapsed earlier. Maybe you should take her back in."


    After telling them that, he disappeared from their vision before reappearing in his office, humming a melody.


    "The world needs high-ranking mages, who still have their humanity and the goal of helping as many people as possible," muttered Brian to himself.

 78. A man in his primes argues with a child.

    "Shit," cursed Luz, and unlocked the chains with a key before running out with Jodoc on his shoulder to get Liv inside.


    "Why are you running?" asked a 14-year-old boy who suspiciously followed Luz outside.


    On the floor, Liv was lying with a contorted face covered in sweat. Her breathing was erratic while her skin, on the other hand, was hot.


    "Shit," whispered Luz, who knelt down and gently pressed his fingers against her sweaty throat.


    "She still seems to have a pulse," Luz murmured while Jodoc merely commented, "Of course, she has one. Can''t you see how she''s breathing erratically?"


    When the boy chasing the duo also arrived outside, he immediately exclaimed in shock, "What happened here? Why is my older sister lying on the floor?"


    "We don''t know what happened here," Luz heaved a sigh, and the boy slowly became furious.


    Luz chose to disregard him and continued talking to Jodoc. "What do you think should we be doing now? Do you have any expertise when it comes to such stuff at all?"


    "No. I''m just a simple parrot. But I think it would be better to take Liv inside instead of leaving her outside. Who knows what else might be lurking around here," Jodoc commented.


    Nodding, Luz picked Liv up from the floor and replied, "Yeah, you''re right, and damn she''s heavier than I expected."


    The kid, left out of their conversation, felt embarrassed being ignored and cursed: "You two are a curse that only brings misfortune. Since you''ve been here, one mage after another has come and wreaked havoc here because of you."


    Luz glanced at Liv''s purple hair before turning his attention to the little boy. "I openly admit that I am a curse. But don''t forget who brought the curse upon you guys in the first place," Luz replied while shaking his head.


    Hearing his words, the kid balled his hand into a fist as his eyes slowly turned a slight red tone. His veins were seen clearly under his skin.


    Seeing the kid''s reaction, Luz sighed: "Kid, I don''t want to fight you since I would probably beat you, so let''s just carry her inside and worry about the other stuff later on."


    ''Yeah, that kid seemed to be easily influenced by the old memories of his parasites, resulting in him easily getting enraged by the slightest comment. I should be careful about him. Jodoc, you better use some barrier spell or something the like around me,'' went through Luz''s head as he glanced at Jodoc for a second, who understood his intention.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    An invisible mantle wrapped slowly around Luz. The latter only realized it, being a barrier because it felt a bit warm.


    ''Yeah, that''s enough preparation if anything were to go wrong.''


    With a grin, Luz slowly knelt down to take the unconscious Liz from the ground before carrying her via a princess hug.


    The kid realized that he got distracted by his anger went forward to open the door for Luz. With a sigh, he stated: "I would probably beat you since you don''t even have your parasites under your control yet."


    Hearing his words, Luz stopped before replying: "Listen, you little shit, I admit that it would be hard to pull it off, but I could probably hurt you pretty badly, resulting in some permanent injury, young man."


    "Are you sure old man, who could be my grandpa?" threw the younger one back.


    The older one immediately began shouting: "WHO ARE YOU CALLING OLD MAN? I''M A MAN IN HIS PRIME!"


    "YEAH, A MAN IN HIS PRIME THAT ARGUES WITH A YOUNG CHILD. THAT''S NOT WHAT I WOULD EXPECT FROM A MAN IN HIS PRIME," reminded the kid Luz.


    Jodoc, hearing their petty argument, merely laughed loudly: "How will you recover from such a burn?"


    Getting reminded of how he was using the time in his prime, Luz felt a tingle of shame and embarrassment since the words uttered by the kid were kind of true.


    Shaking his head, Luz replied: "Yeah, no way can I recover from such a burn. Anyway, let''s bring Liv back before continuing our discussion."


    And so, the two continued moving in silence through the tunnels before reaching Liv''s door. Her room was comparable to Luz''s room at Master Simon''s mage tower.


    It wasn''t that big and had all the necessities such as a bed, a closet was inside it. But it looked a bit old and ran down.


    As the kid saw Luz''s reaction, he immediately commented:  "We''ll probably soon move from here. It''s just our destination for the time being till we are ready to move further into the north.


    "I see, by the way, what is your name?" responded Luz as he turned his back to move out of the room.


    "Well, I''m Jasper. What about you? And wait, could I at least hang out with you for a bit? The other five with whom I was hanging out till yet are kind of boring?" asked the kid.


    "Wait, there six other brats whom I haven''t seen yet??" asked Luz shocked before stating his name.


    "Let''s say we don''t want anyone to meet them till they get themselves under control. It could end up pretty nasty," answered Jasper, and the two left to the living room.


    As the two walked, Jasper showed Luz and Jodoc what he was capable of. With the help of his parasite, he could form out of biological matter stuff such as a spear, for example.


    To showcase his ability to the curious duo, Jasper summoned a black matter that began leaving his pores, forming into a shield and a short sword. After creating his weapons, the rest of the black stuff wrapped around his body like armor.


    ''Interesting. I don''t know what kind of material it is and how it can seamlessly form into shapes around Jasper''s body without costing a lot of energy or concentration. ¡­ Very interesting, indeed,'' went through Jodoc''s head as he pecked Jaspers black suit.


    Seeing how it could withstand the physical force of an intermediate mage, Jodoc was astonished by it.


    Unlike the two, most of them here only knew how to use their parasites, which was kind of weird since all of them were also awakened.


    But if one thinks it through, one understands it. The last thing one would do after escaping is to approach human settlements. The security there is tighter there, and the chance of getting caught/overwhelmed is also higher in a city. And even if one were to visit a city, one would stock up on necessities, especially if they are short on money.


    Buying magic books is, in that case, a pretty unwise choice and is therefore of lower priority.

 79. an old diary

    In the end, Luz was led back into Liv''s room.


    "I wish I could stay with you there, but it would probably be better for me to visit my other siblings and pay attention to them. We don''t want them to leave their cages so easily, right? Hahaha," Jasper told Luz with laughter.


    The atmosphere turned awkward, and Jasper immediately left. Now Luz was alone in the room with the purple-haired sleeping beauty.


    One perverted reader may use that opportunity, but Luz was way too worried to have any such thoughts, and his eyes were too fixed on Liv.


    Meanwhile, her facial expression had relaxed, and her breathing became regular.


    Luz slowly reached his trembling hands toward her cheek, but before his fingers touched her pale skin, Jodoc yawned loudly.


    He took his hand immediately back as the parrot asked him: "What were you trying to do, and what are your plans now?"


    Sighing, Luz replied: "Well, I was merely trying to measure her temperature. I''ll try finishing the soul-consuming part as fast as possible after she awakes."


    The parrot nodded in agreement before stating: "Better so. I don''t want to remain here any longer. Anyway, if we are here already, we might as well search it through."


    Before Luz could tell Jodoc that one shouldn''t search through the private stuff from someone, the latter immediately landed on the nightstand where a small but dirty old book was.


    It had the size of a Din A6 page. The perfect size to carry such a book with one, wherever one goes. But the weirdest thing was that the title: "diary," was written in a brown color.


    "Jodoc, come back here, immediately," whispered Luz walking towards the latter, who merely commented: "Luz, I found a diary," as he opened the cover.


    When Luz reached Jodoc, he saw an entry from a few months ago.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    "Magical research Institute for medicine.


    Regarding the following issue:


    ¡¸Clinical trials of various parasite species to identify better-suited species for symbiosis with humans with negligible adverse effects.¡¹


    date: censored


    ¡¸The situation grows more complex by the day. Everyone working here is in disagreement at every step of the experiment making it more frustrating. As long as we are in such a state, progress is impossible.¡¹The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    date:  censored


    ¡¸Group number 5.12.2 is of the opinion that the host must consume the soul of the parasite and make it part of himself. Group number 5.12.1, however, thinks that one should strive for a true symbiosis instead of becoming one with the parasites.


    Although both research groups seem to have their own merits as the research director of this project, I cannot agree with either party.¡¹


    date:  censored


    ¡¸Group 5.12.1 Xenohuman''s seem to have fewer adverse reactions than the latter group and is probably the right approach to create resource-friendly armies.


    But unfortunally, their way seems to be flawed in a different unique way. These people have synchronization issues with their parasites. The higher the synchronization between the host and its parasite is, the higher the potential of the host is. Unfortunally most people have pretty low synchronization rates, and it gets even worse.


    The host''s synchronization rate can also depend on which specific parasite species he gets, making any kind of research harder. Also, the synchronization seems to decrease with each passing day, resulting in negligible power boosts as they also get overtaken by their parasites.¡¹


    date: censored


    ¡¸Group 5.12.2 way of thought creates individual monsters who can use their parasites to the fullest potential. Unfortunally, these patients lose their sanities quickly since two minds get fused. Also, the chances of failure are around 85%. This number excludes the ones who got insane. However, the number of subjects, estimated to be sane, is 2%.


    Even then, the adverse reaction these members carry isn''t worth the cost and effort in creating them. Unfortunally we don''t know how these parasites evolve with their host.¡¹


    date: censored


    ¡¸As of now, it seems like the older the patient is, and the earlier it begins consuming the souls of the parasites, the higher the chances of creating beings that resemble sane monsters.


    However, their parasites don''t evolve as fast as the parasites from younger patients. Also, even if two patients carry the same parasite, their abilities will be expressed slightly differently.


    Potential solutions for the problem:


    Fill the brains of young ones with memory bloats to reduce the influence of the memories from the parasite. The only problem is: specialists who focus on memories are too expensive and not included in our budget.¡¹


    date: censored


    ¡¸So far, we''ve identified a few parasites that have negligible adverse effects. Most patients seem to lose a lot of youth/life energy after a parasite gets forced into symbiosis with them.


    The adverse effects range from mild unending hunger to losing one''s mind. In the worst-case scenario, one might end up as a parasite slave.¡¹


    date: censored


    ¡¸Currently, only the parasites from test subject: 5.12.1.54, 5.12.1.233, 5.12.2.101, 5.12.2.124, 5.12.2.204" seem to be promising.


    Parasite from test subject 5.12.1.154 seems to have an acceptable synchronization rate with most subjects tested. On the contrary patient, 5.12.1.233 achieved a synchronization rate of around 100%, making it just as strong as the other subjects from group two.


    Interestingly, we found a few sane subjects from group 2, making the experiments more promising than we thought. We didn''t really put any thought into awakening our test subjects before starting our experiments on them. But they awoke their mage talents through symbiosis.


    This point alone could be of interest in researching further.¡¹


    date: censored


    ¡¸Patient 5.12.1.154 was found brain dead. The morning before his death, he muttered: "I can hear voices inside my head," like a broken record. His death is quite a shame, but maybe he had some mental illness.¡¹


    date: censored


    ¡¸More patients from group one killed themselves even when we were next to them. Patient 5.12.1.233, however, still seems to do fine. From now on, we''ll be focussing more on group two. Concerning test subject 5.12.2.204, we should¡­"¡¹


    ***********************************************************************************************


    But before the duo could read any further, a sharp voice stated: "I never remember allowing you two to read that journal," bringing Luz back to reality.

 80. Gimme my book back

    Luz jolted and closed the diary loudly in shock as he heard Liv''s words. By now, sweat formed on his brow while Liv repeated her question again.


    Slowly, very slowly, Luz turned towards the bed, stammering: "I¨CI grew so nervous waiting for you to wake up. So I just grabbed the next best thing to read to ease my tension."


    In front of Luz, Liv sat upright on her bed while reaching her hand out towards him, with an expression on her face that clearly said, give me that goddamn book back.


    Seeing her serious expression, Luz reached the diary to her, which the latter immediately grabbed. But Luz didn''t let go of it.


    "Why aren''t you giving it to me? I don''t remember allowing you to touch my stuff," stated Liv while still staring into Luz''s eyes.


    Shivering, Luz replied: "I-I want to know more of what happened to you and the details of their experiments."


    With a sigh, Liv answered: "Luz, I planned on giving it to you as a gift before we move on from here. So could you please let go of it?"


    In the end, Luz gave in, and an awkward silence filled the room for a few minutes, till Luz broke the silence by asking the following question: "Liv, could you please tell me what happened to you? Why did you fall unconscious?"


    Hearing his words, Liv responded: "I think I owe you an answer. But in short, one of your masters came and marked me. Wait, it''s better if I were to show you the mark," before taking down her dirty blouse.


    "Wait, wait?" Luz commented in a panic, who wasn''t really mentally prepared to see her body.


    But unfortunally for him, Liv merely showed her back to him, which shocked him a bit because faded scars were everywhere on her back. But that wasn''t the only thing on it.


    The scariest thing was the glowing rune on her left shoulder blade that was etched into her skin with a corrosive substant. In the etchings, a crimson liquid moved like a stream.


    "Yeah, you got unlucky and lucky at the same time," sighed Jodoc, who immediately recognized by whom the mark was, before jumping from Luz''s shoulder to his hands.


    "I''m surprised that Master Brian let you off so easy, instead of outright killing you in anger or forcing you into a slavery contract," commented Jodoc.


    "Nah, master Brian would never do that," Luz retorted back.


    The parrot, however, ignored his words. He was busy focussing on the mark, which he had been staring at for a few minutes. The complexity making up the mark, especially since it was etched by hand, amazed Jodoc and Luz alike, even if Luz didn''t even understand what the runes meant.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    On the other hand, Liv felt uneasy since two boys had been staring at her back for a few minutes without even uttering a word.


    ''Yeah, Simon could only dream of doing such a thing. No wonder that we haven''t seen him since his last meeting with Master Brian'' thought Jodoc.


    Breaking the silence, she asked: "How long do you guys plan on starring it?"


    "Not so long. I''ve been trying to analyze by which rules the runes are governed. But to be honest, the runes are way above my league," Jodoc admitted before giving up and jumping back on Luz''s shoulder.


    "I thought so," sighed Liv, as her hopes of maybe the parrot helping her got crushed, before asking the question: "What do you think should I be doing from now on?"


    "Well, the answer is quite easy. You merely have to follow the demands of the mark for the demanded time span, and you''ll be fine. There are two ways one could get around the marking. But both scenarios are pretty unlikely," stated Jodoc.


    "Tell me, I want to know the answers because the demands aren''t so easy to be met," pleaded Liv to the two, giving Luz the urge to ask if Jodoc could maybe change his mind.


    But seeing Luz gaze, Jodoc shook his head with a laugh before stating bluntly: "Sorry, but I can''t really help you with it. Only the owner or someone who has a better grasp on runes than the creator can remove them. Master Brian will probably not remove it. Also, finding someone better than him will be quite expensive. Yeah, good luck paying that amount of money."


    "I see¡­" answered Liv in disappointment before telling the two the demands the contract had.


    ''Yeah, I totally expected a demand such as: helping the innocent. But the demand of not stepping into any city or bigger settlement is quite a challenge. But the most likely reason for that is probably to protect them.''


    Before the parrot student duo left Liv alone, Luz stated his opinion regarding the demands and that the harsh demands are there to protect her from getting caught rather than from punishing her.


    After leaving the room, he played with Sarah, questioning her about basic stuff regarding her abilities. That''s how he found out that Sarah got a parasite that focussed on Mana. On the other hand, Jasper had a parasite that focused on the physical plane, pushing his physical abilities to the limit.


    But what shocked him was when Sarah told him what Liv''s abilities were.


    "I''m not sure if I''m even allowed to say it, but Liv is someone special since her parasites are focussing all on the mind path. She has the ability to infect others with her parasites, making them her slaves, whom she can control. Also, these infected beings can infect others," Sarah told him while leaning against his shoulder.


    Seeing how fearful Luz got, she laughed before assuring Luz:


    "Don''t worry, even if Sarah wanted to infect you, she couldn''t do it since your parasites would eradicate her. Also, the stronger someone''s immune system is, the longer it will take to infest someone. If it''s even possible at all. So don''t worry, brother."


    Luz thanked Sarah before leaving back to his cell.


    "Yeah, no wonder why the whole mage institute is looking for her everywhere. Someone such as her can easily be a nightmare," whispered Jodoc to him. Luz replied with a smile: "Thank god she doesn''t see us as her enemy, or else we would probably be infected."


    Sitting there for a few minutes, Luz jolted before hastily telling Jodoc:


    "Shit. We gotta warn Master Brian and master Simon. They could be infected by her," but the parrot merely laughed.


    After finishing laughing, Jodoc told the latter: "It''s a bit sweet that you worry about these two bigshots but don''t worry. These two always have a mana membrane-active around them, making it impossible for anything such as a parasite from an intermediate mage to penetrate, so don''t worry. And even if a parasite were to get into their bodies, they would die."

 81. Devouring trillions of souls part 2

    "Jodoc, I''ll be focussing on consuming the rest of the souls inhabiting my body. Please intervene if something happens during my absence," Luz told Jodoc out of the blue before closing his eyes.


    "I''ll isolate you from the rest if you go completely crazy," Jodoc assured him before leaving Luz''s shoulder.


    The latter nodded before locking all his chains together and making sure they restricted his movements, just in case it went south.


    And so Luz''s journey in his mental plane continued.


    But to his surprise, he saw a few giants glowing in the darkness of the space.


    "Wait, what the hell is going on??" cursed Luz.


    ''Stars/Souls with such intensity shouldn''t exist here since the souls of the parasite are rather weak. Let''s visit one of the stars and find what is going on.''


    Luz made his way towards the nearest star to him, and it felt like eones before he reached it.


    ''Why can''t I find any other soul? It feels as if I''m in a no man''s land. Shouldn''t this place be filled with souls?'' Luz wondered as he got closer to the star.


    But upon getting to it, everything became clear to him about what had happened. The princes somehow found out what Luz was doing and used the same method to gather power in his absence.


    The strange thing, however, was: "Why are there only four giants in the distance, and why is one of them glowing stronger than the rest?"


    While Luz was deep in his thoughts, the silent giant soul around one-fourth of Luz''s size made his way towards him as fast as possible.


    ''Shit. Nonetheless, these five princes made it easier for me since they did most of the dirty work already, hehe.''


    Luz, however, didn''t anticipate that the parasite attacked him from strange angles, making it hard for him to attack or defend against it.


    Annoyed, the former thought to himself: "Yeah, I got a bit rusty," as he tried to hit the prince with his attacks, but unfortunally he couldn''t even land a single hit against it since the latter was too fast.


    As more and more attacks came at him, Luz''s mind was filled with seething pain. Each of the hits felt as if someone was hammering needles inside his brain as they chipped his soul piece by piece apart, driving him to the brink of madness.


    At that point, it took him all the effort not to turn into an enraged being and to think clearly.


    In the physical plane/reality, a bored parrot got jolted out of his thoughts by the sudden noises created by Luz''s body trembling as someone under shook.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Fuck, What the hell am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to intervene, but I''m not even a doctor, nor have I any experience in that area??" wondered the parrot as it starred at Luz for a few minutes.


    The chains clanked uncontrollably, and Luz''s teeth rattled before the latter released a bone-chilling scream. At that point, Jodoc was willing to use a variety of spells to stop Luz, but to his surprise, Luz''s body immediately slumped down, and the latter stopped all his movements.


    "Yeah¡­ I''m going to take some medic classes after leaving this god forbidden place. I''m not sure if I want to experience that too," muttered Jodoc to himself. He immediately summoned a paper and noted what was happening for Simon.


    Back to the soul plane:


    An enraged soul thought to himself: "Yeah, time to end it. I don''t want to bear the pain any longer," as he planned his next attack.


    The attacking parasite arrogance grew with each passing second as it saw how Luz had problems, even hitting him once. But what it didn''t expect was that his 42nd attack would be its last attack. As it attacked Luz again, the former formed his body into a ball with a captivity.


    The latter tried to swerve his direction in the last second, but unfortunally the prince was way too fast to stop and therefore crashed right into the cavity.


    "Finally," Luz thought to himself, closing the captivity while shrinking his body more and more.


    To his surprise, Luz got a transmission from the parasite telling him that he was willing to share information with him if he were to spare his life.


    Luz stopped shrinking his body and asked the prince: "Tell me everything. If your answers satisfy me, I might reconsider killing you."


    And so the latter told him everything that happened during his absence.


    The paranoid prince, forced to the soul contract by group pressure, ordered some parasites to enter the cells, which stopped all communication with the hive. To the prince''s surprise, it found out that these cells, or rather parasites inhabiting these cells, communicate only with each other while ignoring all signals from the rest.


    With a stroke of luck and plot armor, the prince also found out how to end up in the soul plane. There he saw a massive giant soul, radiating energy from it as if it was a lighthouse while not even moving an inch. Knowing that this soul could only belong to the host, the prince felt fear for the first time in his life. Out of fear, he concluded that consuming the souls of his siblings that made up the hive was essential in surviving against the host. That''s how the prince ended up fighting other souls with his life on the line before consuming them.


    Unfortunally for him, it didn''t take long before the rest of the princes with whom he was sharing a mana core found out that something was wrong. Not only have they lost control over more parasites, but one of them, in particular, grew a bit too strong compared to the rest. Therefore they grouped to force the latter to tell the truth, or the prince would die facing the wrath of four princes at once.


    But the prince, forced into showing his cards, had a plan. Why not tell them that you will await them near the host''s soul, and as they move in the direction, he could easily take one or two of them out.


    Filled with greed, the rest of the princes moved towards the host''s soul, only to see one of their former princes consumed by a different prince. In shock, they all fled in different directions, carving their territory, consuming as many souls as possible. That''s how they ended up in a stalemate between each other, even though they were supposed to fight as a group against the host.


    But strange things always happen. Who knew that even parasites belonging to the same hive could be more traitorous than humans.


    Listening to the story, Luz felt happiness, knowing that the princes, stopped acting as a group.


    "Interesting. I must thank you all for fighting against each other, but unfortunally you aren''t of use to me anymore, hehehehe," Luz told the prince before squeezing its soul.


    "Wait, wait, wait¡­" were the last words from the prince as its soul got consumed by Luz.


    After consuming the prince''s soul, Luz felt an unbearable pain from the memory overload since that one soul contained the memory of at least trillions of souls.

 82. Devouring trillions of souls part 3

    Thousands, millions, billions of thoughts shot through Luz''s head at that moment. He, himself, felt nothing except a stabbing pain that washed over him as he slowly lost control of his desires and goal.


    Deep inside Luz''s memories, where his innermost desires were stored, several mountains could be seen that depicted his desires. The height of the mountains portrayed how much he desired them.


    As many of you would expect, the generic desires of every man were there. Wealth, power, might, a sexy woman, and a family occupied different mountain tops. But one peak was different. Compared to the rest, it was nearly impossible to see because it was in a different league than his other desires.


    This mountain had three peaks and was still stemming from the time when Luz got separated from his siblings. On the lowest peak, one saw a village, where adults were doing their daily activities such as talking, trading, and working, while the young ones were playing. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed their time as if they didn''t die all tragically.


    The other two peaks were almost equally high. On the second mountain top, there was a slain dragon with its head falling. In front of the dying dragon stood a man bathed in blood and other fleshly remains as he laughed. As everyone may have expected, four siblings stood trembling on the tallest mountain peak, reaching their hand out for Luz. One of them whispered: "We are waiting for you."


    But these representations were almost obliterated, when a gigantic tsunami out of the desires of trillions of souls swept over the mountains, blurring all his previous desires.


    As of now, it got harder for Luz as his former desires got blurred, filled with short-term desires such as consumption.


    On the plane of reality:


    Jodoc saw Luz drooling as if his mental faculties got reduced to those of a plant.


    "Fuck that shit. I''m slowly getting worried. I''ve got no idea what is going on, but that''s definitely not the way it was supposed to go," muttered Jodoc as he noted Luz''s behavior changes down.


    But Luz''s drooling face swiftly changed. In a matter of seconds, his face tensed up as his breath grew shorter and irregular with each passing second.


    "Yeah. I better call that girl. That moron will probably sooner or later die," muttered Jodoc before immediately leaving the cell.


    Back to the mental plane:


    ''Luz, you can''t lose control yet, you can''t lose¡­ control¡­ yet. At least not yet,'' a soul tried to calm itself down.


    Somewhere else in the mental plane:


    "What the hell did you do? Why did you kill another one of us??" shouted the soul of one prince to the traitor.


    Two souls circulated the latter as they prepared to attack.


    "I''ve told you two that I didn''t do anything. I didn''t kill another prince. As I stated earlier, now it''s not the time for fighting. We should rather unite to fight against the host¡­" but before the traitor could finish his sentence, one of the two cut him short.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    "Host these, Host that. You''re only trying to save your soul at that point. If you were so concerned about fighting in a group, you wouldn''t have killed one of our own, you fucking traitor."


    The two immediately attacked the traitor''s soul, and it came to a bloody fight as they tore each other to shreds. Screams and pleas echoed through the realm of Luz''s soul plane as the three fought each other. But in the end, only two remained. By now, the traitor''s soul got torn into hundreds of pieces.


    However, the other two didn''t get uninjured either. Each of the two lost at least half of their soul size.


    "Finally¡­ we did it," told the smaller one to the bigger as it tried to recapture as much as possible.


    To the former''s misfortune, the latter asked only the question: "We?" before jumping on the prince to consume him.


    "Wait¡­ no¡­" were the last words the smaller one could scream before getting obliterated by the bigger one.


    "HAHAHHAHAHAHAH¡­ Finally. Now I only need to consume the souls of the rest before fighting the host, and I''ll win this fight, heheheh."


    Back to Luz.


    The screams he heard from the distance woke him up from the mental battle he had been struggling with.


    "They seem to be fighting. I need to move," Luz thought to himself before deciding to move further, even though he still didn''t consolidate the trillions of souls.


    As he moved, the cries grew louder, and Luz''s happiness reached different levels, calming his mad mind a bit.


    "Two are down. If my predictions are right the latter will be too injured and slowly recouping from its mental wounds. That''s the phase in which one is the weakest. I''ll never get another perfect attack window such as that."


    "Shit, consuming all souls at once may break me, but fighting the latter in his peak strength will probably also break me, so better now than later," thought Luz as he saw a slow glowing star.


    "Perfect," he laughed as Luz shot like a net against the latter before wrapping around the prince and the other soul pieces that were floating in the air.


    The prince was too focused on recouping from his injuries to react to Luz and died without resisting.


    It took a while before Luz consumed even the last soul. Thus marked the end of the long, never-ending struggle for the autonomy of his body. Luz may have won the battle, but the war wasn''t over since those who fight with monsters should always be careful not to become one of them.


    By now, Luz got mentally fried because of the memory overload he experienced. The memories that filled his puny brain at that moment were around 70% of all the parasite memories he ever got.


    All those bloat memories from the parasites merely blurred his desires. The blurriness reached such a degree that they became the dominant ones and one last scream echoed through the mental and physical ream as Luz became a monster, losing any sense of humanity in that moment.


    That scream was so piercing that Jodoc got forced to employ sound barriers in front of him to protect everyone around here.


    "What the hell is happening?" screamed Liv running into the cell where a man was bound to chains. These chains were of pure iron that also got imprinted with magic runes.


    Luz''s eyes were pure red, and he broke those chains with only his physical strength, making Liv shudder.


    These two intermediate masters could easily do that, but seeing Luz''s strength boost shooked them still.


    Jodoc summoned a barrier in front of the roaring Luz that unfortunally got obliterated by merely a fist.


    "Fuck, why must he lose his mind," cursed the parrot as he summoned a few barriers around Luz, who jumped towards him.


    Out of the barriers, chains shot out, binding Luz''s limbs. But what shooked those two was Luz''s action, who bit these chains, breaking them.


    "Shit¡­ Shit¡­ Shit! It''s better if your group leaves immediately. I''ll be calling Master Brian," stated Jodoc as he summoned more chains made of mana.


    A ring around his left foot began glowing, notifying Simon, who immediately shouted for Master Brian in the emptiness of the dark space,


    that something went wrong.


    Seeing Luz state, Liv stated as she gritted her teeth: "I will be leaving then. You can find the book on the nightstand."


    The group couldn''t even pack their things, nor could Jasper and Sophie say goodbye to Luz before they were forced to take their other siblings, who were still chained out.


    Thus the adventure of the parasite group began, as Jodoc fought a war of attribution with Luz, who showed no sign of weakness.

 83. an enraged beast gets loose.

    An enraged monster in a human body roared at Jodoc as the former broke more and more chains binding him into the cell. By now, Luz''s cell walls were full of cracks that only grew bigger and more the longer the fight took.


    His gestures were powerful enough to snap the chains made of mana that chained him. But unfortunately for him,  the number of chains binding him made any escape or any attack hard to almost impossible, as Luz slowly got overwhelmed.


    "Luz, get yourself under control," shouted the parrot flying, using any spell in his arsenal against the feral man in front of him, whom he considered by now as his annoying baby whom he regularly has to babysit.


    But Luz didn''t react to his pleas and merely roared as drool dripped around his mouth. His body was glowing red, and the veins all around his body were visible and thick that one might think they would soon burst.


    ''Shit, I''m slowly running out of mana. I can''t take care of Luz that much longer. Hopefully, Master Brian comes, so I don''t get forced to use any spell that might injure Luz to ensure my survival,'' went through Jodoc''s head as sweat almost dripped down from his feathers.


    Fortunately, it didn''t take long for a portal to appear behind Jodoc, making him immediately happy, since his mana reserves were by now at around 20%.


    "Thank god, you came," shouted Jodoc, summoning more chains in the process.


    A man with a serious expression left the portal and saw a parrot flying in midair while a human bounded by hundreds of chains, whose body was bent in unnatural ways, stood in front of them in midair.


    The latter still roared, not showing any signs of control.


    "Yeah, I can see why you were calling for my help," muttered Brian as he shook his head. He slowly pointed a finger gun at Luz before continuing with: "but don''t worry. I''ll be ending this theatre now."


    A black-light shot out of his pointing finger towards Luz,  going straight through him.


    Jodoc was so shocked that he stopped all his spells, and the chains made out of mana slowly faded away, but Luz stood in midair with a hole in his chest. His body immediately slumped as if a man who had fallen asleep or died hung before them. Another interesting thing was that no blood drop left the hole in his body. Instead, a thick black fluid crawled out of his wound before enveloping his body.


    Seeing Jodoc''s shocked expression, Master Brian laughed. "Don''t worry, Jodoc. I didn''t kill him. I''ve just neutralized him, cutting off the control his overwhelmed spirit had over his body. You know, the longer Luz remained in such a state, the worse his injuries will be," explained Master Brian with ease.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Jodoc sighed loudly out in peace before jumping at Master Brian''s shoulder.


    Knowing that Luz couldn''t even attack in the state he was, Master Brian closed his eyes for a short moment before asking: "Did she leave such a book for you?"


    While asking the question, a small portal appeared above his hands before a small dirty journal fell from it down to his right hand.


    "Yeah. Liv left it as a present for Luz, but the stuff written in it is of utmost importance," stated Jodoc, as his gaze was still at Luv''s slumped body floating infant of them.


    "Hmm, if you mean so. Let me take a look," muttered Brian with a yawn, before opening the journal to skim over the details.


    But after skimming through a few chapters, Brian closed the journal immediately before packing it into his inventory.


    "Wait, what are you doing?" asked Jodoc surprised, seeing how the latter took it.


    "Well, the situation is more complicated than you can imagine. Do you have any idea what you two have been reading or what even these numbers mean?" asked Master Bian, who sighed loudly.


    "I mean, it''s from the magical institute for medicine that probably got sponsored by other private firms," commented Jodoc.


    Hearing it, Brian laughed loudly before the mood turned solemn.


    "I wish. But these numbers stand for local research facilities that cooperate with the royal guard. The royal guard personally entrusted such research to these institutions," Master Brian told Jodoc before stopping for a moment.


    "Let me tell you one thing, knowing even the subject of the research is more than enough reasons for the royal guard to pay you two a visit. If you are lucky, both of you will be assassinated without even knowing why. However, if you are unlucky, expect a few days of torture before getting executed," Brian continued, and Jodoc slowly grew fearful.


    "So are you still interested in reading this journal?" asked Brian with a grin while taking the book out of his inventory.


    "Well, no. I don''t even know which book you were talking about," answered Jodoc, also with a grin.


    "Perfect. That''s exactly the answer I wanted to hear from you," replied Brian nodding before continuing: "I''ll be reading this book with Simon before you two can throw another glimpse at it if you want, of course."


    By now, Luz''s body was completely enveloped by the black mass, and after Brian touched Luz''s shoulder, he merely disappeared before reappearing next to Simon in the darkness.


    "Time to leave this place. We will be taking care of Luz later," stated Brian as he summoned another portal through which the two stepped.


    ***********************************************************************************************


    Somewhere else:


    "Luz, are you that?" asked Simon in excitement, who was genuinely excited not being alone in this void.


    But to his surprise, Luz merely roared out loudly. The echoes from his roars came from all sides before Luz began sprinting in Simon''s direction.


    "Yeah¡­ Fuck you, Brian, for putting an enraged kid with me in this stupid cage," cursed Simon out loudly before trying to use a spell.


    Seeing how he couldn''t even use magic, Simon realized that he was way too dependant on magic.


    "Fuck, Fuck, Fuck," cursed the latter before sprinting in a different direction.


    And so the cat and mouse game between a master and a discipline began, as his master cursed Master Brian for the entire day.


    "When that kid gets himself under control, I''ll be milking out any research data I can get," cursed Simon as a humanoid drooling monster jumped at him, whom he immediately punched back into the deep distance of the void.

 84. Visiting the village again.

    Somewhere else, a mage around the age of 13 trained with one of his servants in the woods, only using water spells.


    The child wore brown leather armor and a helmet made of bones and leather. His loud gasps were heard as three other servants watched with amusement the fight between the child and his servant, who acted as his mage teacher.


    The latter used two whips made of water and fire, forcing the kid to dodge the whole time whenever he couldn''t block an attack.


    "How long do you plan on dodging? You know that I''ve got no stamina, to begin with, which is why you won''t win any fight of attrition with me," commented the teacher with a yawn before whipping so hard that a loud bam echoed from his whip.


    Seeing that he couldn''t escape from it, the child summoned a barrier made of water.


    But in the end, his barrier made of water was barely able to block the fire whip.


    Gritting his teeth, the latter muttered: "[water spear]," which he hid with him, behind the wall.


    Az gasped for air while planning his next attack.


    ''My mana reserves are almost completed. I''ve got to force my way to him instead of continuing with moving backward.''


    After blocking another attack from his master Satoshi, Az jumped behind his barrier, throwing his spear immediately at his master.


    But the latter smiled without even moving an inch as the spear shot past him.


    Before Satoshi could even utter any remark about Az''s missed shot, his student cut him short, stating out of embarrassment: "Yeah, I know that I still got a lot to learn when it comes to aiming."


    Nodding in agreement, he stated to motivate his embarrassed student: "That''s enough for today. Even if your aim isn''t that great, I can guarantee that you aren''t lacking far behind by your peers, so continue with your daily training."


    Hearing his words, Az grinned before leaning against the next best three he could find. There he immediately fell down out of exhaustion.


    As he took a deep breath, he thought of all the things he did after leaving with his four servants, Satoshi''s mage tower.


    Three weeks have passed since then, and his life consisted only of doing missions, hunting, physical and magical training. There wasn''t anything such as playing games or socializing with his peers. Today he finished all of his planned mission except one, which was the fight with a magical creature. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    It wasn''t that he didn''t want to fight it. Even if the odds of winning were in Az''s favor, there was still a problem. The likelihood of getting an injury that could be lethal was still too high unless his servants were to step in. But Az didn''t want such a thing. His plan was on fighting and finishing all his missions alone, without the help of outside forces.


    "Anyway, I think we should go to the village again. As you''ve told us earlier, it would be nice to take a few more missions before trying the one where you have to fight a magic monster," stated Ogron, and Az nodded in agreement.


    "But I need a break," commented Az, who was tired.


    "I''ll carry you. Take your time," commented Otaz, who carried the protesting boy via piggyback.


    As they moved on, Otaz told Az stories about what he experienced at his age and how happy he was, seeing the new wonders that came over a few thousands of years.


    "You know, during my time, only ten percent survived above the age of 15. The reason for that is, that magic as you know, didn''t exist. They tattooed runes on our bodies and bones. But half of my age group in the village didn''t survive this ritual. Another twenty percent ended up as cripples with faulty tattoos because someone made a mistake during the procedure," explained Otaz.


    "He''s asleep now. You can stop," commented Simaev, with a chuckle. By now, the skeleton got to know each other. There were still some disagreements in the group. They still haven''t figured out how to treat Az? Like should they try offering him more comfort, or should they rather be strict, or how much free time should he get and so forth?


    By now, the moon shone brightly, and the group walked under the moonlight through the village.


    "We''ve finally arrived," commented Otaz as the group stood in front of the guildhall, where the lights still shone.


    Nodding, the group members in armor and masks went inside. Most of the guild staff were familiar by now when it came to the mysterious servants.


    The higher-ups of the local guildhall even stated: "Under any circumstances, except under the command of local authorities or other higher-ups, should any guild member dig any pieces of information pertaining the background of the young master, nor that of his servants."


    Seeing the five, the local guild staff gulped before waving to them. Without uttering any words, Ogron placed a few animal noses and others on the table as proofs of finishing the extermination.


    The guild staff smiled and gave the group their respective coins. But as the girl wanted to credit Az a few guild credit points, one thing caught her eye Az got a letter.


    "Could you five wait for a minute, please? The young master got a letter from a different province. Let me find that letter in our inventory," told the girl hastily.


    Hearing that, Satoshi grinned, whispering: "So at least one of his siblings seem to be kind of alive."


    The rest of the group nodded in agreement. As they waited, Simaev commented: "I''m already excited how Az will react after finding out that his brother mailed a letter for him."


    A few minutes later, the girl rushed back, holding a letter with a delicate stamp on her hand. Behind her, one of the guilds higher-ups stood, greeting the five before asking if he could offer them a room for the night, which the group didn''t refuse.


    The man silently led the group to one of the rooms and gave them the key before saying goodbye with a smile. The room was big with five beds for each of them.


    There was also a big table and a shelf filled with books. All of the servants took a seat except Otaz, who placed the sleeping beauty called Az on a bed before putting a thin blanket over him.


    It''s been a long time since Az slept on a bed.

 85. writing back

    Az was woken up early by the rising sunshine blinding him. Yawning, he stood up, mumbling: "next time, someone should better close these damn curtains," before continuing lying.


    There he realized something. It felt as if a flash just hit him, waking Az immediately up, who was still half asleep.


    "Wait, a second. Curtains? Wait, how did I even end up here?" Az shouted as he jolted out of his lying position, glancing in all directions of his room.


    But seeing his servants with him in the room relieved the young boy, who immediately fell back on his bed.


    ''As long as they are here with me, I''ll probably be in a safe place.''


    "Oh, our young master is also finally awake," Simaev commented with a smile as her gaze moved from the book in her hands to Az and back.


    His other three servants were also busy reading. Ogron regularly commented to himself at least twice a minute: "The quality of the language really degraded over time," whenever he found a sentence that sounded odd.


    "At least you can read that stuff. These bastards changed the whole damn alphabet. I can''t even read these books," sighed Otaz, whose head was resting on the table, showing an expression of defeat.


    Hearing their conversation, Az chuckled.


    Even if his minions couldn''t give him any warmth, seeing them interact with each other just as humans made him smile.


    ''They may not be able to replace the family I once had. But they protect me, and as long as they are around me, I don''t feel alone.''


    But before Az could say anything, Satoshi threw a letter to him, which the former caught.


    Confused, he looked at the envelope. He neither knew the province nor the city from where the letter was mailed, but as his gaze hit the name of the one sending the letter, he got excited.


    The one from whom the letter was, was none else than his oldest brother.


    Filled with happiness, excitement, and also with curiosity, Az ripped the envelope open before taking out the letter addressed to him with shaky hands.


    As he saw the familiar handwriting of his oldest brother, his breath grew rapid, and some tears fell down out of happiness.


    The group immediately grew quiet, and Ogron commented: "You''re already crying without even reading the letter?"


    "Pssht!" replied Simaev to his dumb remark, hitting the former''s head with her hand before slowly standing up.


    Till now, Az didn''t even dare to think of what happened to his siblings. Az just couldn''t accept that they may have even died during the spell.


    Satoshi once bluntly told Az after hearing his story: "The likelihood of any of your siblings having survived is pretty slim. If I''m being honest, especially for Luz, your oldest brother. Even if that guy somehow survived, he will at least be crippled. If he is lucky, of course."Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    This honest statement always haunted the young kid. He always denied it in hopes that his siblings were all well.


    "It''s ok. But please calm down before you read the letter. We don''t want to make the letter dirty, right?" whispered Simaev into Az''s ear.


    Az nodded as tears streamed down his cheeks like waterfalls. "I-I-I''m just happy," muttered Az while cleaning his eyes.


    With a trembling voice, Az began to read the letter aloud so that all of his servants could hear it.


    "Dear Az,


    Your eldest brother is doing well. He is in the care of a master mage and now has a job. Meanwhile, I have caught up with you and am now a beginner mage like you. You don''t have to worry about me.


    I just want to tell you that I am proud of you. You survived until now and came up with the idea of using the guild network to contact all of us."


    Reaching that point, Az couldn''t continue because of all the tears he was shedding. He was just happy. In the room, a crying boy was seen, holding tightly a letter with both hands. His smile was so genuine that it could melt even the hearts of the coldest warriors.


    After calming himself down, he continued reading:


    "I am looking forward to our future reunion, and your mail calms my heart since now I know that at least one of us is doing well.


    I would love to pack all my things and leave to find you, but I don''t have enough money for the trip yet. I am here in the city called Albian on Master Brian''s estate.


    Visit me there. Tell the butlers that you are the younger brother of Luz, and they will welcome you.


    I look forward to your response, and hopefully, you can read your older brother''s writing. ;)


    By any chance, have our remaining siblings responded to you?


    I''m still worried about them.


    Sincerely, your eldest brother Luz."


    After finishing the letter, his tears still streamed down, and he muttered as quietly as possible: "Brother. I wish to hug you one more time. I also want you to give me some brotherly warmth I''m craving."


    There he sat silently on his bed, hugging the letter as tight as possible.


    Nobody dared to utter a comment, but Az''s sobbing stopped completely after like 15 minutes.


    "I''ve decided that we''ll be moving to my brother as fast as possible," he stated bluntly.


    To his surprise, none of his servants objected to his words. They smiled and were happy for you.


    "Well, we''ve already expected that. But we need one day''s worth of time before we move," admitted Satoshi.


    "Why?" asked Az immediately.


    Satoshi slowly stood up and made his to Az while answering his question with another question. "Well, do you expect us to know the way?"


    Now, Az got the problem, and he felt a bit embarrassed by his stupidity. His teacher merely smiled as he patted Az with his bone fingers.


    "It''s ok not to realize everything at a moment''s notice. We''ll be asking the guild staff if the higher-ups here could help us out with some maps and so forth," Satoshi commented.


    Ogron added: "We''ll also have to do some research on the place. You know, we four are skeletons. Therefore it''s important for us to know through which kind of security we have to go through, without grabbing anyone''s attention there."


    The message Az sent back to Luz was quite a short one.


    "Dear brother,


    it warms my heart hearing that you''re well off. I''ve been worried about all my brothers, especially about you, since you had the highest risk of dying. You probably were also worried about me. But worry not, I''m probably better off than you since I''ve got my own servants who were taking care of everything I can''t take care of.


    Unfortunally, I haven''t yet received any message from any of our other siblings. But if you can survive, they''ll probably also survive till now. It''s merely a matter of time before they send us a message.


    As for your magic talent, I''ll be testing it after our reunion, heheheh.


    I''ve also got some great news for you. You''re most beloved brother will be visiting you soon, rather you gotta take care of him soon, hehehe.


    Sincerely Az."


    ***********************************************************************************************


    A few days later, a group made of five left the guild.


    "Luz, I''m coming," muttered Az, starring towards the shining red morning sun. And so their journey towards Luz''s place began.

 86. A pile of corpses

    Somewhere else, deep inside a dungeon, one could see the light shining on someone sitting on a mountain of corpses. Beneath, the man laid corpses of hundreds of mutants and monsters alike.


    It was a bloody scene, and body parts were lying everywhere as the blood slowly flowed up to the person at the top of the mountain full of corpses. Some of these monsters seemed to still be alive and were struggling slightly. But with each passing minute, their struggles seemed to diminish until even they ceased all their movements.


    A big pool of blood filled the cold floor of the dungeon, and in its reflection, one saw the man up there twitching while the beautiful moonlight shimmered in the pool of blood.


    His armor made of bone was broken in many places, and his body was filled with holes. An ax was still clutched by the left hand, which was bent at an unnatural angle. His left joint was broken, and one could see his splintered bones healing rapidly.


    Beneath the mountain of corpses, a soldier kneeled before asking quietly: "How long before we can move on?"


    But the only answer he got was silence. After the pool of blood on the floor dried, Gab replied, "Soon," as he slowly rose.


    Two jaguars that were either white or black were busy eating some corpse flesh next to him. By now, these two grew as big as house cats, even if they were at most as strong as one of the weakest members of the members that followed Gab. Their master Gab spoiled these two a lot and fed them any mana crystal that wasn''t of use for the mages here.


    Slowly Gab walked down the mountain in tattered clothes, as his bone armor slowly fell down with each step he took. His body was covered with scars and decorated with blood-red runes glowing whenever he absorbed blood.


    The thin young, and naive men from before entering the dungeon were nowhere to be seen. However, he was replaced by a more mature and well-defined man.


    At the bottom, a soldier handed him a messy coat.


    ''Better than nothing, I guess.''


    After leaving, two wounded warriors got their chance to devour the rest of the mountain. But unlike Gab, their wounds were milder by a lot. Luke''s armor was almost completely broken, and the rest of his remaining armor was filled with cracks. Bone shards fell from him with every step he took.


    Evie, on the other hand, had bloody flesh wounds everywhere. One of them was a big bloody hole in her abdomen, and one saw her intestines there. Fortunately, she didn''t seem to bleed from any of her flesh wounds.


    "How many died?" asked Gab as he watched many of his soldiers getting treatments for their wounds.


    "Around twenty people. But the number of people carrying serious injuries is a lot higher. Also, we are running short on stuff such as alcohol. From now on, we must be more careful since we can''t apply alcohol to every minor wound. This situation only gets worse since these mutants harbor aggressive bacteria on their claws and teeth," the soldier muttered to him.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Seeing how Gab silently walked next to him without even uttering any word, the latter quietly admitted: "It is quite unlikely that we will ever conquer the dungeon."


    Gab nodded in agreement.


    After fighting the horrors that awaited them on the second floor, even the most naive soldier knew that they were unlikely to conquer the dungeon and that this was just wishful thinking. But most of them continued anyway because of the promise of a better future. Everyone knew by now that they were above average.


    If they were to enter the military, they would be accepted without having to do any physical tests. But most of them still choose to remain, and the reason is quite simple. Anyone who will leave the dungeon with the princess will even have a better future. They may even get a chance to join the royal army or, if they are lucky, become one of her retainers.


    As the two continued, they moved past a few wounded soldiers.


    Seeing the festering wounds of his comrades caused by the bites of mutants, Gab''s heart ached. Some lost their arms, others their legs, just because they were running out of alcohol. But not everyone ended badly.


    Most of them came out stronger than they were before entering the dungeon. Everyone still alive was an experienced soldier at this point.


    The dungeon offered them opportunities they could only dream of. Who didn''t dream of becoming a mage or healing a chronic illness they once had?


    But one must be worthy of such a gift, which motivated most people here. Everyone knew that their worth stopped relying on bronze coins and was now measured in gold and mana stones.


    Slowly Gab closed his eyes, recalling the fights on the second dungeon.


    The mutants they killed ranged in the tens of hundreds. Instead of these mutants being bipedal human creatures, they now resembled animals, such as tigers and other creatures that were unfamiliar to them.


    But one thing was clear, such creatures were harder to subdue and kill compared to bipedal mutants. Their crossbows became worthless since they didn''t do any damage unless one hit the eyes of such creatures.


    Most crossbow users were forced to switch to other weapons. Resulting in them having the highest mortality rate of all group members on the second floor.


    Also, the influx of inexperienced mages didn''t make it easier for the group as a whole and forced them to fight harder. By now, most mages had the hang of their abilities. But one shouldn''t expect anything more than them throwing a few fireballs occasionally.


    The number of humans on the second floor they met was scarce. Most of them left the tower or climbed to the third floor with killing as few monsters as possible. The rest of the people they met on the second floor decided to join them since it was now a fight of attrition against the mutants.


    Thankfully there were no end bosses like on the first floor. But unfortunately, they ran into far stronger monsters than the end boss from the first floor regularly, causing many causalities.


    By now, Gab had developed an understanding on how to use his new ability, which got an upgrade. Unlike before, he was now able to manipulate the shape and the physical state of the blood, creating big spikes and poles that could be easily thrown at the enemy while fighting.


    Meanwhile, his specialty was throwing blood spears equipped with hooks and detonating them inside the opponent''s body. If the monster was very tanky, he let the spear get absorbed fully before detonating the blood after getting pumped through the circulatory system near the heart.


    Through this method, the damage inflicted to the monster grew up to ten fonds.


    But that attack had its own drawbacks. It costs a lot of energy and blood to create a single blood spear, and one should use the blood on the floor for such a thing instead of one''s own.

 87. Conversation with a princess part 1

    "Sir? Sir?!" shouted the soldier next to Gab, who stood silently there and was deeply engrossed in his thoughts.


    "Oh, sorry," Gab said with a smile before telling him: "Everyone that wants and can leave the tower is allowed to do it. I won''t judge them. Let''s try to compensate as many people as we can."


    "Are you sure? The princess will probably be angry with you since she didn''t give you the right to dismiss soldiers, right?" asked the soldier as he gulped.


    Gab nodded his head, and the soldier whispered silently: "You know, that could cost our head, right?"


    "Yes, and if I''m being honest, I stopped carrying about that. We both know that the princess needs my men and me. Making me a head shorter will result in many more casualties. We all know that she will have an even harder time climbing the tower without us," commented Gab coldly, not caring about the consequences.


    After telling him his orders, he slowly made his war towards the camp of the princess. The grin he had while walking towards her went from ear to ear since he knew that he now had leverage in their discussion with each other.


    Her camp suffered way more casualties. Almost half of her soldiers were missing even though they had better equipment.


    Soon two soldiers of her camp walked towards him to lead him to her.


    Enota, the princess, sat silently with closed eyes on a chair as her whole body was wrapped in bandages. Around her stood five mages casting spells without stopping.


    "Interesting, there were you two. I thought you guys died somewhere in the dungeon," commented Gab with a raised eyebrow as he saw two former mages of him.


    The latter two ignored his words since their focus was on the princess, who smiled innocently at him.


    Gab merely smiled back before moving his gaze from her beautiful face to her body. And no, Gab didn''t have any perverted thoughts or lust towards her at the moment. He was merely inspecting her bandages, which were soaked with blood, trying to estimate how dependent Enota will be on him from now on.


    ''If I''m being honest at her actual state, she won''t be of any use to me or to anyone here. The only value she carries is her rank outside of the dungeon and that she already has a small army that is loyal to only her. Most of my men despise her and only see her as a means to an end.


    I''m still unsure if my goal should be to leave this dungeon as fast as possible or to stay with her as long as possible. The longer we stay here, the more she will value me even outside the dungeon. But the earlier we leave, the sooner I can begin searching for my brothers,'' thought Gab.


    A spear made of thunder leaned against Enota''s shoulder. To Gab''s surprise, her royal attire remained clean with no holes whatsoever. Behind her stood a soldier with a bow strapped around his back. His armor, however, was broken.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Without even uttering a word Gab took the free seat on the table.


    "How dare¡­" before the man could finish his sentences, the princess cut him off: "It''s all right. His manners can be ignored for the time being. Don''t forget that we have bigger problems to deal with."


    The princess glanced coldly at the soldier, who immediately apologized.


    Nodding, the princes continued with: "Please summon a soundproof barrier between him and me."


    The latter was shocked. Till now, he was always on Enota''s side during every important discussion she had, acting as a middle man. The fact that Enota doesn''t want him on her side can only mean one thing. She didn''t trust him.


    He forced a smile before summoning a barrier around the two.


    Inside, the two merely stared at each other for a minute before Enota broke the silence.


    "I''ve expected you already, but till now, I dreaded meeting you," she honestly stated as her gaze was still fixed at his eyes.


    Gab nodded before nonchalantly replying: "Then it should be easier to move forward and finish the discussion as fast as possible."


    "Not so fast, my dear general~. Let''s have some chitchat before moving towards the important stuff," Enota told him as her bandaged finger moved through her hair.


    "Fine by me," sighed Gab.


    "To be honest, I''m amazed by what you''ve achieved, especially for someone who was probably a slave from the countryside that got caught somewhere.~"


    A shiver ran down his spine, and he immediately cut her short: "How did you realize that?"


    "Interrupting someone is rude. Especially a princess, but I''ll let it slide~


    Well, I''ve seen you fight. If I''m being honest, you were below average when it comes to your fighting techniques. The only thing that makes you stand out is the absorption ability you''ve got. Also, my men eavesdropped from the people advising you that you are lacking some common sense," Enota commented.


    Gab admitted that he was indeed a villager that got sold into slavery. But to his surprise, the latter didn''t judge him for that.


    On the contrary, her eyes sparkled after hearing his words. She immediately told him: "That only raises your worth since you are a rough diamond that still has a lot of room for improvement."


    The greed Gab saw from her eyes sent shivers down his back, while the latter merely laughed at the sight of it. By now, she lost any manners one would expect from a princess.


    "Princess, I''m unsure how I should talk with you since I don''t want to offend you, so please forgive me for my silence," Gab admitted with a sigh.


    "Since nobody hears us, you might as well talk to me with ease," she replied with a smile before asking him the following question:


    "What do I have to do to gain your loyalty outside of the dungeon?"


    "Well, it''s quite easy. I''ve got a few demands, but the one that could give you the biggest headache concerns four people. If you can help me with finding these four, I''ll be willing to swear loyalty towards you," Gab admitted.


    "Who are these four people? I want to hear more so I can evaluate how easy it will be to find all of them," Enota asked Gab with curiosity.


    "Well, these four are my siblings, and I might as well tell you the whole story about what happened," Gab sighed before telling her the whole story that happened. on the day.


    "Interesting. If I''m being honest, I''m now more interested in getting your older brother," she admitted.


    "Don''t you dare touch anyone of my brothers!" Gab commented jokingly.


    "Don''t worry, don''t worry, I''m not touching anyone, hehehe," she replied before telling Gab: "By the way, you better awaken her."


    "Why should I? It''ll take ages till I can control it reasonable enough for it to be of any use for me." asked the latter confused.


    "Just do it, and you won''t regret it. Everyone who awakened here has an easier time using spells and learning them. They also could even choose their respective talents. I, for one, have chosen thunder as my talent."


    Sighing, Gab gave in: "Fine, I''ll be awakening by the next chance I have."

 88. Conversation with a princess part 2

    The two continued to talk nonchalantly for like 5 minutes before Gab decided to address some of the issues why he even came here.


    "Enota," sighed Gab as he folded his arms.


    "Yeah, what is?" asked the lady sitting on the table with a smile.


    "I admit, I enjoy some basic chitchat, especially with a beauty like you. But that isn''t really the reason why I came here.


    I merely came here to inform you that my side is running short on some goods such as cleaning alcohol. And let me tell you one thing, if we can''t get them, I''ll be leaving the dungeon with all of them. I can''t let them die just because of some infected wounds."


    With each word he uttered, his voice grew a bit louder, and the latter felt the rage from Gab.


    But the princess wasn''t even fazed at his words. On the other hand, she merely smiled before stating: "I''m happy that you care so much about your soldiers. That assures me of having chosen the right person for that job. As for your request, you''ll get them later from my team before we enter the third floor."


    A smile grew on Gab''s face, and he stated: "Then we settled the issue, great."


    After that, Gab said goodbye to her. It didn''t take long for him to come back with a few of his men to get some alcohol since disinfection should happen as quickly as possible.


    As expected, a commotion happened within minutes of them reaching the camp.


    "Princess!! Are you sure that we can give them more alcohol? Shouldn''t we prioritize us over them?" asked a loud soldier, and a commotion happened in their camp.


    Seeing what was happening, Gab merely shook his head before telling the few mages following him to prepare an attack just in case the situation went south.


    All of them nodded, and none of them issued any comment on it.


    ''I don''t know how many of my men are willing to sell me to the princess. But choosing people who hate the nobility is probably my safest bet since those are even less likely to betray me, hehehe.''


    The commotion grew a bit since the soldier convinced others.


    "The resources here aren''t enough for everyone here. Sooner or later, even we will run out of resources, so why should we share what we have with them??" one soldier shouted.


    Gab listened with folded arms before commenting with a grin: "It seems like we gotta step in."Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    But before he could do that, a head flew from the man''s shoulder who uttered those words. Blood splattered everywhere, and a loud, cold voice stated: "I''m not satisfied with any one of you. It seems like I''ve grown too soft on my own subjects since they even begin to question me."


    The princess stood there surrounded by all her subjects while holding a sword made of thunder. She moved her cold and arrogant gaze slowly to each of those soldiers, sending shivers down their spine. But soon, her gaze remained on one person for longer than a second.


    A creepy smile grew on her face, and she muttered: "I see¡­ I see¡­" and she swiped her sword. The soldier tried to block her attack, but the thunder that made out her sword immediately got conducted by the latter one''s sword.


    A loud and shrill scream filled the air, and it didn''t take long before the smell of cooked flesh filled the air.


    Gab didn''t even bat an eye on what just had happened and rather thought: ''Yeah, I was lucky earlier for not getting incinerated at the spot. She is still stronger than me, even if the gap isn''t as large as before.''


    Everyone was silent and stared at the burnt man on the ground.


    "We had a spy under us that escaped my eyes earlier," she commented nonchalantly, before continuing with: "This is a reminder to all of of you who doesn''t respect my verdicts."


    Slowly her gaze moved towards a man who watched the spectacle from 15 meters away. Gab felt a tinge of fear for a moment.


    "Gab, come here and pick all the things you need," she told him, and the latter gulped before making his way towards her with his men.


    She continued her speech.


    "Since none of you can enjoy a week of peace here, I''ve decided that we will be moving in two days, so rest till then since it might be your last. Also, I originally planned on being lenient towards all my subjects, but I''ve changed my mind. Everyone who lost a limb and isn''t a mage can leave this dungeon. Everyone else that leaves the dungeon prematurely will be hunted."


    Gab could only grit his teeth at those words.


    ''Just because your men couldn''t act doesn''t give you the right to punish even my men.''


    Unfortunally his former braveness or stupidity, depending on the reader, was already miles away from Gab, who didn''t dare to voice out his opinion.


    The princess merely smiled at Gab as she handed him the goods he wanted.


    "Is that enough?" she asked, and stuttering Gab, replied: "Ye-Yes, it''s more than enough," before bowing quickly.


    The princess merely chuckled at the scared Gab and bent to him before silently whispering: "Someone seems to be scared by me. Where is the strong general with his demand? Anyway, don''t disappoint me, my dear general.~"


    Gab felt her warm breath against his ear and replied with a forced smile: "I won''t disappoint you, princess."


    She merely chuckled again before sending the group away with the promised goods.


    They moved as fast as they could back to their own camp, where Gab had to break down the new changes to the plan. Most of them didn''t really like the changes to their initial plan and voiced their thoughts loudly.


    Seeing how the resentment was building against the princess, Gab stated loudly: "I''m not the one who decided upon these changes. But if the other group suffers heavier losses than us on the next floor, then we can tip the scale of balance. If that happens, we will have a voice in the matter concerning our future, so please continue to support me."


    Gab stopped talking for a moment and glanced at the wounded before continuing his speech.


    "Anyway, time for some good news. I''ve negotiated with the princess, and now we got some more goods for cleaning your wounds. I promise you, we will take care of all your wounds before we enter the next dungeon."

 89. discussion at the fire pit

    The following night, a group of the strongest people under Gab gathered around a burning fire pit.


    There, the atmosphere was pleasant, and people chatted loudly amongst themselves as they enjoyed their time. A man sat there silently as he listened to the various topics the group talked about, cherishing the peaceful moments he had.


    As one might expect, some chatted about degenerate stuff such as whom they banged last night. On the other hand, some preferred to talk about what they planned on doing after leaving the dungeon. Some of them planned on joining their families because they missed them more than they thought they would. Others intended to start a new life somewhere else in the kingdom or even leave it altogether. But some people had no idea what they should do after leaving this dungeon, and Rados was one of them.


    "So, what do you plan on doing after leaving this hell hole for good?" Gab asked a silent man called Rados, who had no one to talk to at the fireplace.


    His hair was white with black ends. The rumor was that these changes were the consequences of his light mage talent, which he gained inside the dungeon.


    Unfortunally, as of the time speaking, Rados only knew how to illuminate spaces, which earned him the nickname "lamp" from the other group members.


    But even if his magic talent he got here was kind of worthless/useless for the time being, he wasn''t that dependent on magic, to begin with. Rados was even as a fighter well above average compared to his peers. Most people feared the two short swords he carried with him all the time.


    There was also a rumor that Rados was a gladiator before escaping here. Surprisingly, Rados wandered alone in the second dungeon before getting found and immediately taken by Gab.


    "I''m not sure what I should do. I''ve lost my friends long ago and neither have I any friends. I hope it''s ok if I join you till I find my path." Rados chuckled before continuing with: "If I''m being honest, I''ve enjoyed accompanying you till now, Boss. I don''t know how long I''ve been wandering alone here with no one to talk to."


    The latter merely patted Rados''s back out of pity. Gab smiled at his words before telling him: "I''ll always welcome you with open arms if you want to journey with me through the kingdom. But unfortunally, I don''t have any grand plans."


    Rados was surprised by the latter, who sighed after telling him that.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "Wait, really? Most of us would bet on you if they ever were asked who will accomplish the most after leaving the dungeon." Rados admitted with a laugh before immediately asking out of curiosity: "What even is your goal? Finding a wife? Making a lot of money? Becoming a mage?"


    Hearing that, Gab laughed loudly before admitting: " Well, none of them if I''m being honest."


    "Wait, really?" commented someone else who was listening too.


    "Yes, of course. My only goal is to reunite with my brothers. Hehe. I''ve missed them since our ways parted, and till now, I''ve been anxious to find out what happened to them. For me, it feels as if their screams were haunting me to this day, asking me why I couldn''t protect my younger brother from getting caught and sold by slave traders."


    A painful chuckle could be heard before Gab continued talking: "I need to find them. Only after seeing them alive and well with my own eyes can my soul rest."


    "I''m sorry. I shouldn''t have asked that. But I never thought that you were caring that much about your siblings," commented Rados, who picked a grilled meat stick from the fire.


    Not all the monsters they''ve killed were mutants. Some of them were normal monsters whose flesh could be eaten.


    Gab laughed before asking him: "Did you think I was just a cold man? I''ve done so much for all of you, my stupid comrade."


    "Well, yeah, but I''ve always thought you ran from home and ended up getting sold by slave traders later on. Why else should one get caught by these bastards?" admitted Rados.


    Seeing how the discussion turned awkward, Rados changed the subject immediately by saying: "I envy your new armor. My armor is still broken and won''t be useful for much longer."


    Gab laughed before telling him: "Well, I''ve good news for you. You all will get the same armor later."


    "Wait, really?" commented a different person, who was listening to the two.


    "Of course!" stated Gab proudly before calling Luke, who gained the nickname "bone smith."


    If there were any person on whose bad side you never wanted to end up after Gab, then it was Luke.


    Out of all the people here, Luke was the busiest one. Even after the floor gained some piece, he still chose to work. It wasn''t like he was forced to do it. But as the only person capable of crafting anything that can give the rest of your teammates some kind of protection, laid heavy on his mind.


    Luke ended up creating hundreds of new armor pieces with the bones that made up the small hill of corpses. By now, nothing remained of the small hill.


    As of now, Luke''s understanding of bones increased, and also the raw materials he used were far better than the ones before. The new armor was made up of a combination of black and pale white bones that were combined and intertwined. These combinations resulted in a more flexible and durable armor compared to before. But the armor wasn''t tailormade for each member, resulting in not fitting everyone perfectly. But even then,  it was better than nothing.


    Hearing his words, Luke came with his fellow siblings, carrying a few sets of armor pieces. The small group grew noisy and happy in a matter of seconds as Luke distributed new armors to each of them, which they gratefully accepted. Who would say no to a gift of armor? No one.


    But the mood didn''t remain cheerful for long after.

 90. choosing a mage talent.

    "So, if I got the rumor correctly, the next floor is supposed to be a more open area, right?" asked Gab as his eyes wandered from everyone sitting there.


    Some of them nodded, and one commented he heard a rumor of it being an area filled with lots of green trees.


    "Let''s just hope for the best," muttered Gab before sending them all off.


    On the next day, everyone wore their equipment and waited for Gabs comment to move into the next floor.


    Hundreds of soldiers stood there quietly while everyone wore bone armors made out of white bones. Even then, their uniformity of everyone wearing almost the same armor send shivers down the enemies back. Also, some of their armors were a bit different. Every mage or bow/crossbow user wore armors that focussed more on flexibility at the cost of higher impact damage. On the other hand, physical fighters got armors that could absorb impact damage to a higher degree. But all these armors were trash compared to the ones the squad leaders wore. Their armors were a combination of both styles. Unfortunally, at the time of crafting these armors, Luke was running low on materials. That''s also why these armors were only made for the squad leaders and others, who were worthy of wearing them.


    By now, silence reigned, and only the silent breaths, as well as the wind, were heard.


    Gab cleared his throat loudly before telling them their plan for the time.


    "As I''ve stated earlier, everyone who lost a limb or either carries other serious injuries is allowed to leave. Everyone else will have to stay with us. They could also leave in theory. But if you aren''t planning on moving to a different country, please don''t do that, since the princess will later send people hunting you down.


    As always, I''m proud of everyone who continues their journey with us. The next dungeon should be a jungle scenario if the rumors are to be believed, which is why we''ll act in squads. And yeah, that''s it."


    After telling that the over a few hundred people army created their squads in which they acted in the second dungeon. After that, they followed Gab, who marched towards the princess camp.


    By now, the princess has recovered from any injuries she carried, which caught Gab by surprise. But what caught Gab more in surprise was the faint smell of blood and seeing how her army grew smaller again.


    She wore white leather armor, where not even a stain of blood or dirt could be seen. Also, the armor hid most of her body and was decorated by a few mana gems. But that wasn''t all. Golden runic patterns could be seen every once in a while on the surface of her armor. There were also two weapons she carried. One of them was a thunder spear behind her back, while the other one was a short golden dagger, which she held at her hand at the moment.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    His expression immediately grew serious as he narrowed his eyes. The princess immediately called Gab over after spotting him.


    With a sigh, Gab walked towards the queen, waving at him.


    After reaching her, Gab kneeled with one leg while the latter merely chuckled before telling him: "Relax, Gab. I only called you because I found the idea great of the two leaders entering the next floor first together. I mean, we are equal in status.~"


    Gab only wanted to laugh loudly. This crazy girl was definitely playing with him. She tried to portray herself as a benevolent leader in front of his men. But Gab couldn''t voice out his opinion loudly without becoming a head shorter, which is why he commented with his head down: "I''d love to, my princess."


    Enota merely nodded before whispering: "then stand up. We''ve got a lot to do."


    And so Gab stood up, walking with her as "equal" to the portal leading to the next floor. The portal was actually just a huge entrance through which you could only see through blurry.


    "Are you frightened?" muttered Enota to him as she held her dagger tightly.


    Gab merely shook his head before commenting: "No, not at all. I''m curious where Odebus, the lord who uses Alex''s body as a vessel, is."


    "By the way, I don''t trust that guy. We should take some precautions when it comes to him," the princess told him bluntly, while Gab nodded before commenting: "Yeah, me neither. I just want to get the soul using Alex''s body out of him."


    "Understandable, but we should walk through it, now," the princess told him in a hurry before the two moved through the entrance.


    But before they left the entrance, each of them appeared in a dark void where a few things could be seen of which one had to choose from.


    The following choices were there for Gab:


    ¡¸Leave the dungeon.¡¹


    ¡¸Heal your wounds. ¡¹


    ¡¸Awaken and choose a magic talent. ¡¹


    ¡¸Further integration of your blood core.¡¹


    ¡¸Choose a bloodline¡¹


    ¡¸Gain an armor/weapon piece¡¹


    ¡¸Gain knowledge to either one of the elements or to some specific magic discipline of your choice¡¹


    Gab found a few of them interesting, but he chose the third option. ''It almost feels as if centuries moved since the day I''ve been envious of my siblings'' magic talent. Well, that will change from now.'' After choosing the third option, a few other options got displayed.


    ¡¸Fire¡¹


    ¡¸Water¡¹


    ¡¸Earth¡¹


    ¡¸Wind¡¹


    ¡¸Thunder¡¹


    ¡¸darkness¡¹


    ¡¸light¡¹


    ¡¸space¡¹


    ''Argh, I want every one of them, but well, my siblings got already darkness, space, fire, and water talents. We don''t need two of the same mage talents. Rados has light as his magic talent, and it''s kind of useless.''


    ¡¸Author note: these are the talents of the other two brothers: Michael and Raph. Pray for me that I won''t forget them. And yeah, Michael hasn''t appeared in the story after chapter one, and I''ll leave it at that for the time being.¡¹


    After a few minutes passed, he made up his choice. ''Hmm. Well, let''s just choose thunder. If the princess chose it, then it must be a strong talent.'' ''I''m such a genius, hehehe,'' went through Gab''s head as he chose his talent. But in the next moment, a sharp pain shot through his body.

 91. Only we two.

    A sharp pain shot through his body and his mana channels, which cleared all the residue that accumulated inside them over time. After that, a thick stream of mana passed through these channels at regular intervals. These intervals grew shorter by the second while the pain increased with the seconds.


    By now, Gab was breathing irregularly. A sharp pain was coming from his mana core that slowly moved over to his heart. There, the pain remained for a long time, which felt like eons for Gab, who was trying to suppress the pain he felt.


    Only after the pain subsided did the latter open his blood-red eyes, which glared into the void, where the choices from earlier were still floating in the air, even if they were blurry.


    Sighing, Gab took a deep breath while a few sparks were leaving his body every once in a while. As of now, he looked like something that got loaded up with electricity. All his body hair was standing up while the electricity only wanted to escape his body.


    Gab, who felt a current shooting through his body, had only one thought.


    ''Heh. How do I use that now?''


    But unfortunally, he had no control over the current that was shooting through his body. But he also felt something else moving inside his body that wasn''t the current.


    ''That gaseous thing shooting through my body must be mana. Well. how do I even use that?''


    It felt as if the Creator of the dungeon had heard his thoughts and sent him answers to his questions because, in the next moment, he felt a sharp pain shot through his head. His head was almost bursting as he gained many new memories, which he would need some time to analyze.


    These memories merely contained the basics of magic while mostly focussing on weaker thunder spells up to the beginner level. Spells from other categories weren''t included, which is bullocks if you were to ask the author.


    Gab fell through his knees as he was overwhelmed by these memories.


    After gaining back his eyesight, Gab noticed a red note floating over these choices, from which he could have chosen earlier.


    Curios, the latter stood up to read it.


    It merely stated: "Unfortunally, your credit points aren''t enough to buy anything else.."The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "Well, hopefully, these credit points or whatever the thing called it, are saved and won''t get lost after leaving this goddamn space," muttered Gab to himself as he tapped at the message.


    In the next moment, that message got replaced by another one, stating: "You''ll be leaving this place now."


    "Wait, let me adjust before I get thrown out of this place," shouted Gab as the darkness around him slowly faded away.


    It took a few seconds for Gab to return back into reality. But there, the light blinded him immediately, and Gab immediately closed his eyes as a young lady chuckled in the background while his two cats meowed loudly.


    "It''s ok," muttered Gaba as he patted his two cats, that were snuggling onto him. By now, these two grew bigger again, while their fur grew even more beautiful.


    As Gab snuggled onto the two cats, another person was watching him silently.


    "Long time no see?" she commented, while Gab asked immediately: "For how long was I away?"


    "For maybe like five minutes," Enota commented with a yawn before noticing the sparks leaving his body.


    "Wait! Why did you choose thunder? I''ve already gotten that. Why do you have to ruin the situation? Till now, I''ve felt like the main character of the dungeon here since I was the only one who got that talent. But now, you''ve ruined it," she commented with a chuckle.


    "Well, I thought whatever the princess chooses for herself can''t be that bad, so I went along with it, hehe," returned Gab with a chuckle, before adding: "I''ve also wanted to remind you that you aren''t the main character within that dungeon, even though you are a princess. I''m the protagonist."


    Hearing his word, Enota laughed before asking: "Haven''t you told everyone that we would end up in a more open place, like a forest? I can''t see even a single tree."


    Gab nodded his head before replying to Enotas''s question with: "Well, that was the rumor I''ve heard, but it seems like the rumor was false."


    Looking around himself, Gab realized that the two were alone in a small cave filled with stalactites.


    "Thought so, since that definitely doesn''t look like a forest, heh heh. But let''s wait for the rest to join us here, even if I doubt that all of us will fit in here," commented Enota, who made herself comfortable on a stone.


    But their comrades never arrived, and after waiting for like thirty minutes, Gab slowly grew impatient, asking the latter: "Have you given them any order fo destroying each other???"


    "No, of course not," Enota replied back while shaking her head before commenting: "Maybe, everyone got teleported randomly somewhere in this dungeon."


    "Probably, but then we are fucked and can only hope that we will be able to reunite later on before leaving this shitty dungeon. I''ll be expecting a lot of casualties if I''m being honest," sighed Gab, as he slowly sat down on the cold floor, as the echoes of water falling from the stalactites were head loudly.


    "Anyway, we can''t change what happened, but we can make the best out of our situation, so stand up Gab. It''s probably an acceptable outcome for us to be alone together here because now you can''t avoid me, hehehe," Enota commented as she stood up.


    A shiver ran down Gab''s spine after hearing those words. But he played it off cool and returned: "Perfect. Then you can act as my private magic teacher."


    "Well, that''s not what a princess would do, but fine by me. I''ve got to nurture my own generals and so forth," she stated, and the four moved into the darkness.

 92. Where are the others?

    Silence reigned as Enota, who carried a dim lamp, wandered aimlessly with Gab for hours through the narrow cave passages. The only sound they''ve heard were the echoes of their steps and the water droplets dripping down from the stalactites. In the beginning, the two had a lot of hopes when it came to finding fellow group members. But as time moved on, even the two slowly grew tired and were on the verge of giving up, searching for the rest.


    "Maybe we should stop looking for the rest. It''s probably wiser to finish this floor and await the rest on the end of the third floor," sighed Enota loudly. On the other hand, Gab was unsure whether he shared the same opinion or not.


    As the two continued small talks, they soon reached a new cave larger than the previous one. But to Gab''s surprise, Enota stopped abruptly, which caused him to bump into her because he was lost in thought.


    "Sorry," whispered Gab, but Enota, merely raised her hand while giving glaring at him for a second, telling him to be quiet.


    It took a mere second for Gab to realize that something seemed to be off from this cave.


    ''The smell¡­ It is strong¡­ smells way too familiar to me¡­ It must be blood.''


    The scent was even so strong that it nearly excited him.


    ''I must not let it go over my head.'' The latter''s eyes immediately narrowed before cutting his palm with his armor shoulder piece. ''That should help me with calming my mind. I can also now use my own blood as a last resort attack.''


    Gab slowly closed his eyes as he tried to calm himself down. His two cats who followed behind him realized how Gab was feeling and were quiet as they snuggled against his leg. He wanted to pet them, but his palms were bleeding, so he merely smiled at his big-eyed cats.


    Slowly Enota took out her thunder speer from her sheet, and the two silently moved into the cave as quietly as possible.


    There they saw something that they expected and didn''t expect at the same time. A small puddle of blood formed on the floor, while traces of conflict were visible in the cave since the walls were painted in blood-red blood.


    But there was something strange. Apart from the red blood, one could also see remnants of blue fluids on the wall.


    ''Strange.''


    As they slowly moved into the cave, Enot muttered to herself: "Who the hell was fighting here, and what is this blue fluid that''s smeared on the walls?"


    Realizing that his body wanted to consume the blue liquid, Gab decided to comment: "It must be blood."


    His comment didn''t really surprise the latter, who merely nodded before finding a familiar sign on the ground.


    Enota slowly knelt down and picked up the fallen and broken piece of armor, staring at the emblem. It was a piece of armor that her men wore.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "I see¡­ I see¡­ My men must have fought something unknown here," she revealed.


    Gab nodded to her statement before telling her: "I hope you don''t mind me for what I''ll be doing now."


    Enota shrugged, telling him to do whatever you want.


    Before even a second could pass, all the blood from the walls and the ground rushed towards his body. His eyes were closed as he consumed the spilled blood from everyone in the place.


    ''Thrilling¡­ But the blue blood tastes like shit.''


    "I didn''t know you were such a person who would even consume the blood from your fellow humans," the princess commented in amusement. Seeing how she didn''t judge him for doing that nor showed any disgust made him smile.


    "I need blood to attack, and since I''ve been running low on blood and don''t want to gamble too much on my own blood, I''ll take whatever is available. I never drink the blood of fellow human beings whenever I''m surrounded by them. After all, I''ve got an image to keep," admitted Gab while winking with his left eyes.


    Enota merely chuckled at his word before also admitting: "You seem to resemble a vampire. A group that once dwelled in various places in the kingdom. I neither care how you became one nor even if you are one as long as you are useful, my dear.~"


    ''I expected that.''


    "Anyway, can you detect blood? It would be great if you could detect the blue blood," Enota continued as she stared at the ground where one saw a blood trail leaving the cave.


    Gab nodded to her question before leading the two away, following the blood trail on the floor.


    ''Strange. I''m not sure if it was a group of monsters or not. But why did they carry these soldiers with them?''


    As they followed deeper, into the narrow passages, they soon saw the first living creature. It looked strange for a bipedal creature, and it was also the first time for Gab to see such a small creature.


    The creature was around half their size and had ugly scarred green skin, while its crooked teeth were clearly visible. It walked aimlessly through the passage as it drooled uncontrollably while also making weird noises from time to time.


    If a modern-day person saw its behavior, they would think that it''s a mentally retarded creature with rabies. The creature was no other than a goblin.


    A small creature with a pretty low IQ whose behavior was that of a caveman. These things lived in groups ranging from small bands up to cities.


    It was also one of the favorite monsters for mages who were researching topics such as genetic determinism, social behavior.


    Some mages let them grow on islands to watch and analyze their social behavior in hopes of finding clues leading to how humans developed.


    For whatever reason, these creatures immediately know how to form bigger groups and what to do. Even though they can teach others how to do something such as make weapons and so forth, they rarely taught each other such skills. On the other hand, it seemed as if it was ingrained in their DNA. From the moment they were born, they know how to interact with each other, what they can eat, and so forth.


    This only fueled the interest of fellow mages, who were using these creatures as guinea pigs, in hopes of finding the answers plaguing the magic society.


    How can we mages replicate such genetical behavior ingrained deep into the DNA of goblins on humans? We could ingrain memories such as magical knowledge onto the human DNA, resulting in every Newborn being automatically a mage.


    But that wasn''t the only thing in which mages were interested in such a species. There was still another reason. The bigger the groups grew, the higher the chance became for these unintelligent creatures to birth goblins superior to them. It seemed like a natural thing to them. These goblins of higher intelligence also seemed to know how to use their abilities.


    If mages were to even replicate one of the abilities of goblins on humans, the strength of the human community as a whole would increase drastically in such a short time. The mages who replicate such a thing on humans will live forever in the textbook.


    In the end, there were a lot of marvels to unravel for the unending desire for knowledge of human mages.

 93. Unlucky ones.

    Seeing the creature, Enota wasn''t really surprised. She kind of expected to sooner or later encounter Goblins. Unfortunally for them, the two seemed to be filled with misfortune. Imagine getting split apart from your army while entering another floor where your enemy is a social monster group that relies on numbers.


    Good luck fighting a war of attrition against large groups while only being a group of two. It will definitely be fun.


    Seeing how Gab was prepared to strike it down, she whispered to him as quietly as possible: "Wait! We should slowly move away from here."


    Gab nodded after hearing her words, and the two slowly turned their back on such a creature. But unfortunally for them, one of two stepped on a hollow bone, which cracked loudly, revealing to these creatures that something or rather someone was in the passage with them.


    ''We fucked up,'' went through Gab''s head as the sound that just came from his place got the attention of the goblin that walked tens of meters in front of them aimlessly.


    By now, the growls of goblins were coming from both sides of the passages the two were using. These sounds grew louder with each passing second as these creatures moved further towards the direction from where the noise came.


    "Which direction will we use?" asked Gab as silent as possible to Enota as his eyes narrowed while planning for an exit strategy.


    "We will move back," whispered Enota, back and Gab nodded.


    Since luck wasn''t on their side, it didn''t take long for them to hear the echoes of screeches coming from behind them through the narrow passage. It seems like another group that followed the same path reached the group made of four.


    Seeing them running towards them, Gab sighed.


    "You know what, fuck it. Time to kill these pesky creatures," commented Gab, before immediately brandishing his bone ax, hitting the running small goblin creature with his ax at the neck.


    The next moment a head flew from its shoulders, and blue blood splashed on the cave walls and on his armor before getting absorbed by him in mere seconds. Enota and his cats decided to jump at the group of five goblins in front of them, which they killed with ease.


    ''Their blood doesn''t even taste as awful as mutant blood. But still worse than human blood. But I still prefer monster blood.''


    He was kind of surprised by how weak these creatures were, and his arrogance got the better out of him.


    "Why did you tell us to move back?" asked Gab, wondering why they should take precautions against such weak creatures.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "Gab, we really have to run. Trust me," she told him before deciding to run in one direction.


    ''Well, a princess must be right sometimes, so let''s just trust her. Nothing can go wrong with escaping, I guess,'' thought Gab, as he followed her without questioning her decision further.


    It didn''t take long for Gab to realize how right Enota was and where the strength of these pesky creatures was, which he saw for the first time today.


    Even though they killed the small group without putting any effort, it didn''t take long for them to hear screams further down the passage through which they were running as fast as possible.


    These screams grew louder and louder as they echoed through the narrow cave passages the two were using.


    "Fuck, I get it now," laughed Gab, realizing that the small group was a mere appetizer and that a horde of these weird small creatures were running towards them.


    The passages the two were using split and combined every once in a while to a few more. It didn''t take long for the two to encounter the next patch of goblins, which wore to their surprise armor pieces belonging to either Gab''s or Enota''s camp.


    Seeing the armor of his former soldiers, Gab sighed as he was slowly filled with anger. If anything went according to plan, they could have decimated these green skins without even having to put any effort into it. But of course, nothing has to go according to plan. The armor these pesky creatures wore, belonging to their former comrades, didn''t even fit them. These armor pieces were more of a hindrance than of any use because the helms were way too big, blocking their eyesight or even their movements.


    Gab merely created a whip made of the blue blood absorbed earlier by these goblins to make room for them. With one loud whip crack, the heads of around twenty goblins were seen flying from their shoulders. In a mere moment, he sucked these creatures dry as the two continued to run further into the passages.


    ''That should fulfill the usage of such whip attacks for a few times.''


    But it wasn''t the end.


    "Fuck. How many of our soldiers will be overwhelmed and lose against these nasty little creatures?" cursed Gab, as he was running a meter behind Enota, who was surprisingly fast.


    The numbers of goblins running towards them increased with every second. But thankfully, the passages grew wider, allowing the four to jump over and avoid them with ease with their superior agility.


    "I don''t know," gasped Enota desperately, as she saw how tens of goblins moved into the passage with every second.


    The cries and shrills grew only larger.


    "Could it be that we are running in the wrong direction?" Gab screamed loudly as he brandished another whip attack, pushing the horde running toward them further into the entrance.


    By now, even Gab grew anxious because they were about to get overrun by a pesky green skin creature that could result in their death by a thousand cuts.


    Their only way of survival was to find a cave where their movement mobility wasn''t as hindered as in a tunnel. Their small group escaped from one tunnel to another as they saw no goblins coming out from it.


    "This one could be the one," muttered Enota as the cries of goblins only came from behind them instead from further into the tunnel.


    ''Isn''t it way too quiet?'' though Gab to himself as he finally saw a light coming from the end of the dark tunnel. It was almost so bright that it blinded him for a second, and so they increased their movement speed with hopes of ending up in a better place.


    But their hopes were soon crushed as soon even more pesky green skins ran towards them through the entrance.


    Seeing them, Gab merely gritted his teeth before overtaking Enota to open the passage. In desperation, Gab used two blood whips at once, cutting the pesky green skins into pieces as he ran further down while absorbing at the same time. His attack opened an entry into the ending of the passage, leading into a cave.


    ''Finally,'' was the only thought Gab had as he almost reached the light.

 94. Green skins.

    Slowly the light of the entrance faded away, showing them what truly awaited them inside and it wasn''t reassuring. Rather it was more intimidating since the small group wasn''t alone there.


    The cave that they ran into was around 200 square meters was filled with a couple of hundreds of goblins who awaited them. Each green skin was equipped with either clubs or weapons, which they looted from humans. But it got even worse. Goblins kept rushing in from the various cave entrances with every passing second.


    ''Yeah¡­ I''m not looking forward to what awaits us in a few seconds.''


    Hundreds of red eyes stared at them, and it slowly grew chaotic as these creatures all tried to run towards the group, trampling over their peers. Seeing what awaited them, Gab laughed out loudly, knowing that a fight of attrition awaited the two.


    Loudly he exclaimed while cleanly cutting off the head of the nearest goblin he saw: "Just make sure enough blood flows. so I can use my blood abilities without any pause."


    The blood that splashed from the goblin flew towards Gab, who used it to manifest a big blood whip, with spikes, ready to whip at any given moment.


    Roars filled the whole cave as the ground trembled. Enota, however, merely chuckled at his statement before commenting: "Let me show you the power of thunder," as she brandished her naginata. A naginata resembled a European glaive. Both were pole weapons with a curved, single-edged blade at the end of the shaft.


    By now, the Goblins surrounded the group of four as they attacked the four from every angle possible.


    Enota, on the other hand, was calm. The armor she wore was strong enough to absorb most of the blunt damages, and her weapon was special. Each swing she took resulted in heads and upper bodies getting cut cleanly into halves while at the same time shocking the Goblin bystanders.


    Gab''s cats, on the other hand, had it difficult. Even though they were around half a meter tall when they stood on their feet while also being 1 meter long. Even though they were fast, their endurance wasn''t great. The only thing the two bored cats had was flawless teamwork.


    These two cats were always near Gab and attacked the pesky green skins with their sharp paws. The only problem was that their way of fighting was pretty slow, and they got overwhelmingly hit by the brute weapons of the Goblins, which made them angry.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    On the other hand, Gab slowly got overwhelmed as tens of arms began hitting on him while some even grabbed his arms and legs, making it harder for him to swing. But that merely annoyed the latter, who had to put effort into not falling over. If that were to happen, then it would be over for him, which is why he swung his blue whip again as fast as possible.


    He hit these pesky creatures surrounding him perfectly in the neck area. But it didn''t stop at one whip. No. That was merely the beginning of the fate that awaited them. Soon the cracking sounds coming from Gab''s whip overshadowed the former roars of excitement from these creatures. These roars turned into screams of pain and mercy, as each of his blood whips, left either deep gashes on their bodies or cut off their heads and upper bodies into halves.


    But the goblins behind the ones in front of Gab ignored their cries. They pushed them either forward or even overrun them.


    Unfortunally it got even more annoying for Gab because one of the Goblins got thrown onto his helm, onto which he clung. That completely disabled his view, slowing his whip attack so that he could focus on the creature right on his head. But that moment of slowing down was enough for the masses to overwhelm him, resulting in him falling into the pool of blood that grew bigger with every second.


    There, he felt hundreds of hits from every angle while some smart ones even tried to take down his armor pieces from him. Even though his armor absorbed most of the blunt damages, the sheer number of hits he felt at the ground still hurt him.


    But the goblins ignored one thing, Gab could use and control the blood, which is why spikes of blood began shooting out of the pool of blue blood in which Gab was involuntarily bathing. These spikes impaled green-skins left and right, standing in the blood pool.


    But none of the spikes existed for more than a second, resulting in barbs shooting like crazy out of the blood, impaling Goblins before collapsing again. The ever more increasing volume of spilled blood resulted in the pool growing larger, which resulted in a bigger surface area through which spikes shot out from the ground.


    Gab laughed like a crazy maniac as he bathed and absorbed the blood that slowly made him almost go crazy. It didn''t take long for Gab before he could stand up again.


    "I almost thought you died," shouted the princess that was in a bubble, which hindered Goblins from crossing while each of her swings left the protective bubble.


    Gab''s cat seemed to have it worse since they got almost the same blunt damage as Gab, and unlike him, they didn''t wear any protective gear.


    Back on his legs, Gab immediately created another blood whip from the blue blood flowing towards him before whipping the rest of the green skins. The number of goblins was reduced to half of what it was before entering the cave, and it got even more interesting. Their fear was visible, but that didn''t seem to stop them from continuing to attack the group.


    The corpses of dead green skins were seen everywhere, and most of them either didn''t have a head or even were cut into pieces while their organs were clearly visible.


    But unfortunally for the goblins, it only got worse for them as the princess-general duo used the forming blood pool to their advantage.


    "Let me give you some help," shouted the princess with a smirk that almost went to both her ears. At that moment, Gab knew that nothing good will come out of it.

 95. stop drinking!

    "Let me give you some help," shouted the princess with a smirk that almost went to both her ears. At that moment, Gab knew that nothing good will come out of it.


    But he continued with the rampage of shooting spikes of various sizes everywhere out of the blood pool that continued to impale the dead and the living alike. He also whipped the rest of the living green skins with joy for throwing him to the ground.


    On the other hand, Enota merely placed the blade of her naginata into the blood pool before shooting as much thunder/electricity through it. That alone shocked everyone standing in the blood pool while not even differentiating between foe and her allies.


    Gab gritted his teeth as he got zapped by her like crazy. His hair stood up like crazy, while all of his body hair was raised under his armor bc of the electricity shooting through him. His limbs felt numb before a sharp pain shot through his body, almost bringing him down to his knees.


    ''The power of thunder¡­ is strong.'' shot through his head as he slowly gave the girl responsible for that mess a side glare.


    The latter merely smiled as innocent as possible at him before saying with a cute voice: "Sorry, my dear general, but I know that you are strong enough to withstand the current, heheheh."


    "I''m strong enough, but probably not my two pets," sighed Gab loudly as he shifted his focus to the blood pool.


    Sparks were seen shooting over the pool in regular intervals as most of the green skins standing in there twitched incessantly. The lethality of her attack couldn''t be put into words, but it sure was overkill.


    ''Her attack killed around 80 goblins at once while badly injuring the rest of the green-skins.'' estimated Gab, before moving his glance to the lucky ones who survived her attack.


    These Goblins survived because they stood far away from the blood pools as the current was shot. By now, the rest of the green skins shivered in fear at the sight of what happened moments ago.


    On the other hand, Gab''s two cats vailed in pain, and he felt a tinge of anger towards the princess for not warning anyone of her move that hurt his two cats.


    "At least I can take a short break now after all the hard work," muttered Gab before making himself comfortable in the blood pool.


    By now, the tides have turned. The goblins who were eagerly running towards them were now doing a 180 and tried to escape. They began running away as they got hunted by the rest. Gab''s cat jumped angrily on the Goblins, ripping their heads from their bodies. In the worst cases, their spines got even ripped out through that process.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Don''t you want to help us kill the rest of the Goblins?" asked Enota as she threw a throwing knife at a running goblin, hitting it right between its brows.


    "No, not really. My princess is strong and independant~," commented Gab before giving her a thumbs up.


    Hearing his words, Enota merely chuckled before telling him: "Fine. I''ll be taking care of the rest, so rest for now."


    Gab nodded before closing his eyes and absorbing the blood around him. But after absorbing like one-third of the blood pool, he soon reached a barrier.


    ''This is definitely not the end,'' thought Gab as he forced his body to fill with even more of the liquid while his body slowly ached by it. His breath grew rapid, and sweats began to form.


    Enota, who by now killed or shooed away the rest of the goblins, walked towards Gab while commenting in amusement: "Gab¡­Maybe you shouldn''t force yourself to absorb everything here, greedy one."


    But Gab didn''t answer her as he continued absorbing, and it didn''t take long till he absorbed so much that blue blood began flowing out of his orifices.


    By now, everything was hurting, but Gab knew that wasn''t the end. It would be stupid if the Blood core could only absorb that much. There must be something after breaking one''s limit, which is why continued. His breathing became more and more irregular, and he slowly reached the point where he found it difficult to breathe, but that didn''t stop him.


    Seeing in what kind of state Gab ended Enota, slowly placed her palm onto Gab''s shoulder before stating: "Gab, it would be better if you were to stop."


    In front of her sat a man who was bleeding and absorbing blood like a fountain.


    Gab widened his eyes, which were blood red, and replied only, "One moment...please."


    Inside his body, the blood slowly reached his blood core which was working overtime, compressing and filtering by the second. By now, the consumed blood in his body well exceeded the threshold for what it could hold. That forced his body to use all of his orifices so that the blood inside his body could leave.


    Unfortunally for his body, Gab ignored it. Moreover, he made it worse by ignoring it and actively continued his absorption as he cried and puked blood. This action forced his blood core into an emergency situation. For its host not to burst like an overfilled water balloon, it had to continue with compressing the bloody foreign liquid.


    This it did, till it reached a semi-solid state before forcing the viscous fluid with a lot of solid stuff to move through Gab''s mana veins. The pain was unimaginable for Gab, who by now was trembling. The solid material scrapped the inside of his mana veins till it reached his chest area. Unfortunally for him, the pain didn''t stop there. It merely got worse as the almost solid liquid bored through his flesh, putting him through even more pain as slowly a blue crystal emerged out of his body.


    Meanwhile, Gab was sweating buckets as he muttered with great difficulty: "finally," before falling down out of tiredness.


    Enota immediately placed her fingers on his throat, where she felt his pulse. Relieved, she commented: "what the hell was he trying to do?" as he slowly placed him back into the liquid. His two cats were devouring the dead goblins. Enota felt envy as she watched them with hungry eyes, devouring the flesh of these creatures without feeling any kind of disgust.

 96. My body… It hurts

    "My body¡­ It hurts," groaned Gab loud before standing up. By now, the blood pool dried up, and no drop of blood remained in there.


    "So, tell me what you tried to accomplish," commented a cold voice standing in front of him.


    Her gaze felt as if daggers pierced slowly into him and her voice sent shivers down his spine.


    "Well, I''ve consumed everything, hehehe," he replied with a wry grin as he scratched the back of his head.


    Enota sighed loudly, showing him how tired she was by now. The fight and the marching without any stops took a toll on her.


    "Gab¡­ I know that you clearly tried to absorb more than your body could handle, so tell me how you achieved that," Enota demanded while shaking her head.


    Seeing how the latter demanded an answer and didn''t let him change the subject, Gab gave in and told her his method.


    "Well, you know I didn''t think that the blood cores ability would end at that point. If I reached the limit by now, then that blood core is worthless. That''s why I thought there must be a way for it to process that amount of blood," admitted Gab with a grin.


    Enota couldn''t believe him. On the one hand, it made kind of sense. There is no way that treasures gained in the tower would be forced so quickly to its limit. But nobody who was in the right state of mind would try something so stupid.


    "So you just absorbed more blood¡­ right?" asked Enota, who was still unsure.


    Gab nodded with a bright smile before he began cursing how his body was hurting him.


    "So you just were reckless and got lucky," commented Enota before taking a yawn, which she couldn''t hold back.


    ''Cute,'' thought Gab at the sight of it, but mere seconds later, he also had to yawn.


    "Well, it seems like someone is tired. But unfortunally for you, it''s now my time to take a nap while you guard a princess. So give your best, since we don''t want that something happens to the princess.~"


    "Fine, by me," yawned Gab loudly as he slowly stood up.


    Enota merely nodded before taking out a bed from her backpack.


    ''How much can she carry inside that backpack???!'' wondered Gab as he stared at the bed in amazement.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    ''That''s definitely the biggest bed I''ve ever seen.''


    The latter felt his stare and shuddered before telling him: "stop starring at it."


    Enota immediately jumped on the bed with her dirty clothes, and a bubble formed around the bed that immediately got invisible after a second.


    "That''s awesome," commented Gab, who stared at the marvel of the bed, before sighing: "I shouldn''t try to understand the mechanics behind it. I''m too stupid for it."


    But to his surprise, Gab heard Enota''s voice the last time before she fell asleep.


    "Gab, don''t do such stupid things again. You could have popped like a balloon," yawned Enota, and her voice grew quieter with each word.


    "Cute," commented Gab to himself before narrowing his eyes and taking down his chest plate. He wanted to let the chest piece fall down to the ground but decided against it since he didn''t know if the princess could hear it.


    Fresh air blew against Gab before he slowly took off his dirty linen shirt.


    ''That feels refreshing, but from where comes the air? Maybe that could lead us to the exit. Anyway, there must be something on my chest or so because it itches.''


    After taking off his shirt, he saw a small light blue crystal peeking slightly out of his chest. It was the same color as the goblins'' blood. The crystal was around the size of one''s fingernail and glowed slightly in the dark.


    "Well¡­ It looks funny, I guess," muttered Gab as he pressed his finger against the small crystal from where all the itching came. At that moment, he wanted to do nothing more than to rip it out so that the itchiness would stop.


    "No¡­ You can''t do that," muttered Gab to himself to remind himself that it definitely would be the wrong idea.


    ¡¸"Fun fact:


    Horseshoe crabs use hemocyanin to carry oxygen through their blood. Hemocyanin is a fancy way to call blood cells that have copper ions on which oxygen gets bound. We, humans, use hemoglobin. That''s just a protein inside our red blood cells and is responsible for the transportation of oxygen. But, instead of copper, hemoglobin uses iron to bind oxygen.


    Many horseshoe crabs get harvested every year because of their blue blood. It''s pretty valuable and often get''s used as¡­"


    "Narrator... "


    "Yeah?"


    "Did the author give you the right to tell such boring stuff? If the reader wants to know, that they might as well look it up for themselves!"


    "But¡­"


    "No buts. Do your job, or you''ll be replaced by someone else who is a more competent narrator."


    "Anyway, blue blood is used to detect remnants of toxins secreted by bacterias that can be fatal to humans."


    "Stop!"


    "¡­"


    "With that, We''ll be moving on. Sorry for that, but the author somehow has to fill the chapter and had a stupid idea. I promise that something like that won''t happen again."¡¹


    ***********************************************************************************************


    ¡¸Back to reality¡¹


    "I don''t even know if it even is useful," sighed Gab as he rubbed the crystal.


    But after touching it for a few minutes, Gab lost interest in it and decided to focus on magic.


    "Time to find out how this magic bullshit works. I always wanted to be a mage commanding magic at my will while people tremble in fear in front of me. It seems kinda strong," muttered Gab as he closed his eyes for a moment, and some memories containing the information he desired came up.


    ¡¸Magic is a power struggle between yourself and nature. The stronger the mage, the weaker nature''s hold on your mana.¡¹


    ¡¸Before one can or even should practice spells or elements, one must first get some basic control of their mana. The reason for that is quite simple. Magic used by beginners doesn''t differentiate between foe and allies.¡¹


    ¡¸In order to get familiar with mana, do these exercises¡¹


    ¡¸¡­¡¹

 97. becoming a mage apprentice

    ¡¸A mortal has to go through three stages before one can even become a mage.¡¹


    ¡¸The beginner mage apprentice.


    One has to be able to perceive his own mana, as well as the mana of the environment before one can become anything.¡¹


    ¡¸The intermediate mage apprentice.


    This is the phase where one begins focussing on basic mana controll¡¹


    ¡¸The master mage apprentice.


    A master mage apprentice has completed the basic mana control training and can now summon a mana membrane everywhere on his body without any difficulty. ¡¹


    ¡¸Spells can only be learned after becoming a master mage apprentice. Also, after reaching that state, it''s only a matter of time or rather mana purification before one becomes a beginner mage.¡¹


    ¡¸Mages are people who awoke their mana core and reached a certain level of mana control and mana purification.


    This distinction was made in the early days of the military to sort people out who could be used at least as the lowest mage foot soldier possible. For example, someone who couldn''t even cast like three fire spells can''t be used as a mage.


    By now, these "beginner mages wouldn''t even be allowed as a mage foot soldier. Therefore it can nowadays be considered a relict of the past that still holds power.¡¹


    "Interesting," muttered Gab as he went through the memories he gained after choosing the awakening option of the dungeon.


    "That sounds arduous, but that won''t stop me from trying to reach a beginner mage as fast as possible, hehehe," he commented with a sigh.


    ''Anyway, let''s continue going through these undiscovered memories. I still have to find the memories regarding methods to increase one''s mage rank.


    ¡¸Before one can even become a mage, one must be able to perceive and control mana to a certain degree. There are two methods to achieve mana perception and control.¡¹


    ¡¸The passive method is way easier than the second one since one doesn''t have to do anything. Since your body circles mana through your body, it will only be a matter of time till you get familiar with it and till it feels like a part of you. The only drawback is that it takes way longer.¡¹The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡¸The second method is a more active approach and has more advantages than the first one. The benefits to that method are that one can become way faster familiar with mana.¡¹


    ''Yeah, time is the last thing that is on my side here in the dungeon. Time to choose the second option since time isn''t on my side.''


    ¡¸The body of the mage can passively absorb mana without the knowledge of the host. The fastest way to sense mana from the environment would be to actively consume mana while passively absorbing it after that.¡¹


    ''Yeah, but I don''t know anything when it comes to absorbing mana. ¡­''


    ¡¸The best way to consume mana is to lead the mana inside you to the surface of one''s skin and let it dissipate. You can combine this method with trying different parts of the body. That way, one can also increase their mana at the same time.¡¹


    "That should be all the information I need," muttered Gab to himself before trying the method.


    After sitting there silently for half an hour, Gab still couldn''t figure out how to guide his mana to the surface and opted out for a different method.


    ''Why won''t that method work????!!'' cursed Gab in his mind as he continued trying.


    Fortunately for him, after experimenting for another hour, he finally dissipated his mana. It was such a small amount that Gab almost didn''t notice it if it weren''t for the weak breeze he felt on his palm.


    ''Omg. FINALLY. I''m a genius, hehehehe. Time to replicate it again.''


    What Gab didn''t know was that he lagged far behind his peers. An awakened human needs, on average, half an hour to dissipate his mana. But we don''t want to discourage him from continuing, which is why we''ll be keeping it a secret from him.


    It took another twenty minutes for Gab to successfully dissipate mana again. With each successful dissipation, the time it took him to replicate that also got shorter, till it got to the point where he got the hang out of it. At that point, it felt almost natural to dissipate mana from his hand. But by now, another hour passed, and he used up all the mana his body held at that time.


    Realizing that, Gab merely sighed: "Well, there is nothing I can do about it anyway. Time to watch over that damn sleeping girl."


    After that sentence left his mouth, he only got even more tired and yawned as he wondered how soft the bed on which she''s been sleeping must be. As he was entrenched in his thoughts, he didn''t realize that his cat was standing like ten centimeters apart from him, and after hearing her loud meowing, he jumped up in fright. Realizing that it was his white cat that stared at him with her big dilated pupils while holding a bleeding goblin arm in her mouth that was still twitching from time to time.


    "No, thank you," whispered Gab to her as he pressed his forehead against it.


    "I''m not that hungry," he muttered with a chuckle as he slowly petted the backhead of his white cat, who seemed to enjoy it.


    His black cat, who saw how he was treating his sister, immediately purred loudly before, rubbing its warm and soft fur against Gab''s other arm.


    "So cute!" he muttered before also giving his black cat some scratchings on his backhead.


    "I always wanted a pet, but my parents never wanted one. But now I have not only one but two, hehehehe," he muttered to himself as he enjoyed the company of his two big cat''s.


    Unfortunally it didn''t take much to ruin the happy mood he had seconds earlier since he realized one thing.


    "Well, the pay for two cats was the death of my village and the ones of my siblings that may or may not have survived at all," laughed Gab as his pain could be clearly be heard.

 98. You cant ignore problems forever, I guess

    "Well, the pay for two cats was the death of my village and the ones of my siblings that may or may not have survived at all," laughed Gab. His bone-chilling laugh could clearly be heard, echoing from the walls, sending even chills running down the spines of his cats. These two immediately moved closer to him.


    Gab immediately hugged these two as tears immediately began streaming down his cheeks like waterfalls. Till now, he had suppressed the thoughts relating to that event happening before his adventures into the unknown world. Gab was good at distracting himself with cursing the hardships of his present, which always helped him when it came to the big questions regarding his family.


    Did his siblings even survive? If they did, how the hell is he going to find them. He neither knew where they were nor if they even were alive. The world has more people than he could count. Where does someone start searching if they can''t even answer the most basic questions? Such as: "are they even alive, and if yes, where should we search for such a person?"


    Maybe one should put naive thoughts such as reuniting with one''s sibling aside. After all, isn''t just mere wishful thinking?


    Such a thing would never happen if it wasn''t for the plot armor provided by the author.


    But Gab didn''t dare ask himself these questions, and his current predicament helped him avoid these questions till now.


    After all, one can''t ask these questions themselves if one fights daily without any long breaks for survival. This situation made it perfect to instinctively put aside these matters.


    His position also didn''t make things easier and put further pressure on him. Gab regularly feared that if he were to show an ounce of weakness, some of his fellow comrades might use it to challenge his position. Pressure was a double-edged sword for him since it also forced Gab to put his siblings aside, for the time being, to focus on the present.


    After all, it''s easy to ignore the voices in your head if the noises in the environment drown them. That''s why he surrounded himself with people so that he was never alone for a damn hour.


    By now, he lost any semblance of time. If one were to ask him: "How long has it been since you all got separated?"If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    He couldn''t give any proper answers to it. It could be days or weeks or months. The time in the dungeon distorted his sense of time. After a short while, he stopped thinking about it.


    And whenever thoughts about his siblings still came up, he always brushed them aside while reassuring himself that they were fine.


    He didn''t know that one of his siblings ended up as a guinea pig, losing his mind as it got filled by the thoughts of hunger and devouring and assimilation. Neither did he know that his other brother Raph.


    The latter ended up as a vessel for an old god that hadn''t touched the surface of the world in thousands of years. The fate of his other sibling called Michael was comparable to the ones of Raph and Luz.


    ¡¸Unfortunally, I, the narrator, am not allowed to tell you, my dear readers, more about his fate since the author forbids it. But I can tell you that the author plans to write about his fate in a separate book. This will be his first try at splitting his original book into five different ones, focussing on one sibling at a time. If the first one doesn''t get well-received, he''ll be absorbing it into his main book. ¡¹


    "Gab¡­ You will find them¡­ You will definitely find them¡­No matter what everyone else says, they are definitely alive. I mean, they are your siblings¡­They were probably enjoying their time, so don''t worry. I mean, Raph got sold to other mages. They wouldn''t treat a fellow mage that badly, right?" muttered Gab to himself, but it took him more than an hour before he could reassure himself completely.


    "I never knew that my dear general had such a side," muttered a girl watching him with curious eyes from like two meters away.


    Her comment startled the young Gab, who didn''t realize that she was observing him the whole time.


    "Hehe. I''m sorry that you have to see me in such a pitiful state. But unfortunally, even I, the great, also sometimes cries like a child," Gab answered with a chuckle while wiping away his tears.


    Enota chuckled at his words before throwing something fancy towards him.


    Gab grabbed it and realized that Enota threw a handkerchief at him. But before Gab could say thanks to it, Enota sighed loudly: "Normally, I wouldn''t care about why you are crying. But since we are in the dungeon, your story will probably be more interesting than listening to the echoes of water droplets falling down from stalactites."


    With a chuckle and an ugly smiling face with tear stains on his cheeks, Gab replied: "Thank you for the handkerchief."


    After he wiped away his tear stains, Enota immediately stated: "I''m waiting, my dear general.~"


    "Fine, I''ve planned you on telling either way on how my siblings and I got separated from each other. It''s quite a tragic one," sighed Gab as he changed his positions. The heads of his two cats were resting at that moment against his leg while purring loudly.


    "Tell me. I like tragedies since the lives of most people are in reality tragic, unlike the idyllic the old fairy tales one''s parents would read them," commented Enota.


    She sat there quietly with sparkling eyes and a hunger for an entertaining, emotional story.


    And so Gab began with his story.

 99. story time

    Before beginning with the narration, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as old memories of that fateful day shot through his head, reminding him of what happened on that fateful day.


    "My siblings and I grew up in a village deep inside the forest. It was so secluded that the only outsider visiting us was no one but the tax collector who came once a year.


    That fellow also sold us a few goods such as low-quality magic weapons for a few hides and so forth." After saying that, Gab took another deep breath before continuing with his narration.


    "But our villagers found some remnants of a dragon newly inhabiting the place, and we sold that information to the tax collector who rewarded anyone younger than twenty with an awakening pearl."


    Before Gab could continue on, Enota chimed in.


    "That was probably the worst deal of the century. That information is way more valuable than what your village got for it. For such information, one could awaken the whole townlet and even send everyone to a good magic institute for some training. You all probably could also get a tax exemption for the next 100 years. But I''ve got a question for you. Why were you all so isolated from the rest of the villages?"


    Gab sighed: "Well, how do you expect us, people living in the middle of nowhere, to bargain with pieces of information whose true value we don''t really know? We never had a deal like that in the history of our village that we could have used for cross-referencing."


    A painful chuckle left Gab''s mouth before he continued. "My siblings were lucky to awaken from the pearls, but I¡­ I was the only one who couldn''t awaken from it¡­ But let me answer your question."


    "There is a legend why we were living where we are. Our ancestors were the followers of a prince who ended up losing the fight for the throne, and our ancestors had to pay the price.


    In the end, the losing faction made a deal with the winning prince. As long as he guaranteed that their family members wouldn''t get executed, they would accept their punishment. Unfortunally, I don''t know what their penalty is nor if the legend is even real. But I''m sure of one thing. They are definitely dead.


    Everyone above the intermediate level got sent to the most gruesome fronts or outright executed. The family members below that threshold got banished to the middle of nowhere. They were intelligent enough to take mage books with them for future generations, but some got lost, some got damaged, and so forth."


    Gab sighed loudly, stopping for a moment as images of his mother teaching him the alphabet to the best of her abilities.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    ¡¸A scene in his memories¡¹


    "Moooooom, why do you teach us the alphabet? We never write here in the village!!" shouted Gab as he stared at a few letters drawn with chalk on a rough stone surface.


    "Gab! How many times do I have to explain it to you," sighed his mother before grabbing the cheeks of the young Gab, who didn''t want to focus on the alphabet.


    "Remember Gab, It would be a shame towards our ancestors if we devolved further. Your oldest brother learned everything without even complaining. You don''t want to lag behind, right.~" commented his mother with a chuckle before giving the young Gab, who was complaining about learning, a kiss on the forehead.


    "I¡­ I''ll be giving my best, but for what do these letters stand?" asked Gab immediately after, pointing to a few of them.


    His mother painfully chuckled before telling him: "Unfortunally, we don''t know. These letters got lost via times. That is also the reason why I''m so keen on you learning the alphabet since I don''t want us to devolve further.~"


    After explaining it to him, she continued teaching Gab the basics of writing and so forth.


    Later that night, Gab asked his mum, who was enjoying the quiet atmosphere, about magic. "Mum, what is magic? Could you explain it to me? I also want to summon fire like the village eldest," asked Gab, excited.


    "Well, mages are Gods'' chosen ones. They are blessed by God. Some of our villagers consider them as the children of Gods," explained his mother to Gab while hugging him tightly.


    ¡¸Author note: Take that explanation with a grain of salt, since it''s a theory that got created out of a misconception of living in isolation from the other parts of the village. It''s wrong.^^¡¹


    The young Gab always enjoyed listening to her stories about their ancestors and fantasized how one day, he''ll also be a mage like from the legends his mother stated.


    ''Well, hopefully, my siblings will also become mages, or else it will be a boring time, journeying through this world.'' thought Gab as he stared at the night sky filled with stars. Slowly he stretched out his hand towards the sky, trying to grab the stars on the night sky.


    As he made this movement, he saw a shooting star.


    ''I¡­ I¡­ wish for my siblings to become mages one day!'' wished the young Gab immediately.


    ¡¸Back to reality.¡¹


    "That sounds quite interesting. Continue!" commented the princess, who seem to enjoy hearing his story.


    "Where did I stop?" muttered Gab before continuing with, "right. We sold the information to a tax collector called Ivan. That bastard promised us a few more things, such as we would get a part of the share, before leaving for a few weeks. If I''m being honest, I wish he never came back," narrated Gab as he became furious, thinking about the consequence of the event.


    "Why?" asked Enota as she stared at Gab, feeling his rage, which he tried to suppress to the best of his abilities.


    "Give me a moment to take a few breaths," stated Gab, as his anger slowly grew into sadness.


    "Just take your time," Enota told him, and Gab took a deep breath before continuing.


    "He¡­ He is the reason for the destruction my village faced," stated Gab as old memories came up.


    On the day of reckoning, a band of mercenaries came to the village with the tax collector Ivan. The latter was also an intermediate magician.


    The village celebrated their arrival and thought that their fate would change. Their destiny did change. Just not the way they wished it.

 100. story time part 2

    "Gab?" asked Enota as she saw tears rolling down Gab''s cheeks. "You don''t have to continue with your explanation," she told him, but the latter merely used the handkerchief he got earlier from Enota.


    "It''s ok. These memories make me tired. But I think I''ve got the strength to continue with my storytelling, hehehe," Gab assured her before continuing.


    "On that fateful day, some of the hunters joined the mercenaries and were preparing for the upcoming fight. My oldest brother and I wanted to join the fight¡­" before Gab could continue, he got cut off by Enota, who immediately asked: "Wait, did you really think you guys could be anywhere useful in such a fight against a dragon?!"


    Gab chuckled painfully before admitting: "I admit we were naive, thinking that we could be useful. But let''s be honest. Who doesn''t want to join such a fight? How often can one participate in killing a dragon?"


    "Nobody with a sane mind would agree on joining such a fight. Dragons get hunted by the greatest and strongest of mage squads or armies filled to the brink with intermediate mages. Well, if it were a Wyvern, it would make sense to use a group of mercenaries. But still, kids such as you two wouldn''t have a place there. Anyway, continue with your narration, my dear narrator.~" commented the princess before becoming silent again.


    Gab nodded before continuing: "Well, you are right. But at the time, we thought that they were making fun of our ages since we got rejected. Luz, my oldest brother, hated being turned down and took all of us siblings on a hunting trip. It was the first time that we hunted together, but unfortunally it was also our last one as of now."


    "Well, hopefully, it wasn''t your last hunting trip with your siblings. And did my favorite general catch something, and if yes, what?"


    Gab chuckled as he watched Enota play with her shoulder-length hair.


    "Well, we, or rather Luz, caught a rabbit. It''s kind of ironic that his stubbornness saved our lives indirectly. I remember it clear as day. Sitting there and grilling a rabbit, a giant dragon roared loudly, burning all the mercenaries to ash before destroying the village. I remember the smell¡­ the smell of burned flesh¡­ as¡­ as the agonizing screams¡­ filled the air¡­"


    With each sentence, it felt increasingly difficult for him to continue.


    The bone-chilling screams of the villagers as the black dragon sat his village in flames echoed through his head.


    Enota, who saw how Gab''s breathing became more and more sporadic, whispered to him: "Gab, let''s end it for today. You can tell me the story at a later time. Right now¡­ you''ll sooner or later break down from it."


    Gab, who cried waterfalls by now, merely clutched his hand as tight as possible. The words, "It''s so ... so embarrassing," left his lips as he wiped away his tears.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Enota chuckled at his words, trying to remain serious. "Gab¡­ Trust me, it isn''t embarrassing to cry. Some people may find it emasculating, but I''m not one of them. Well, if you cried frequently, I might think the same thing. But crying once in a while is ok. You''re just being true to yourself," reassured Enota Gab, who was still wiping away his tears.


    But now, an ugly smile filled his face. Gab felt a sense of shame for crying more than once on a single day. Especially in front of others.


    "Let''s¡­Let''s move on," muttered Gab after his crying stopped. His eyes were still red, and it felt for him as if a bolder was partially lifted from his chest, even though he only told Enota half of the story.


    ''That guy literally left me hanging at the middle of the story. Normally I would strangle such a person, but well, he would sooner or later break completely down before finishing his story,'' though Enota as she packed her stuff.


    Gab, on the other hand, reached for his backpack, which fell into the blood pool during the fight.


    "Well, there goes my ration," sighed Gab, as he saw his food drenched in the blue blood of goblins.


    Hearing his words, the princess commented: "Well, it seems like I have to share some of my high-quality rations with you. I''ll milk you for all the pennies you''re worth outside of the dungeon."


    Gab gulped at his words before saying: "Well, I''ll definitely pay back my debts to you before we leave this godforsaken world."


    But as he threw his rations towards his cats, something else fell out of his backpack before bouncing a few times on the ground.


    "Well, what do we have here?" muttered Gab as he picked it up.


    What he saw brought a smile to his face because it was something he had completely forgotten over the weeks that passed since he got it. It was a compass. More specifically, it was the compass he got from Luke. On the day Odebus took over Alex''s body (the former group leader), he promised to fulfill the wishes of everyone.


    Luke wished for a compass that would lead him towards his siblings. Odebus granted his wish and gave Luke a compass, enshrined in bones with a thin bone needle. Even though it looked very fragile, it was pretty durable and still had no scratch on it. The only thing one had to do was drop a droplet of blood onto the needle. After that, the bone needle on the compass would show the direction of where the nearest person related to the droplet of blood was.


    Luke originally planned on giving it back to Odebus. But the latter rejected it and told him: "I the great Odebust don''t need it and I won''t take gifts back. You might as well give it to someone to whom it could be useful or throw it into one of the rivers if you don''t want it anymore."


    That''s how it ended up in Gab''s hands.


    "I almost forgot about its existence, hehehehe," muttered Gab to himself, and a chuckle left his mouth.


    "Is anything funny at your side?" asked Enota, looking over his shoulder.


    "No, not really," answered Gab hastily, but Enota immediately snatched something from his backpack while commenting: "What do we have here?"


    She held a mana crystall in her hands as she stared at it. It shone in the light of the moon slightly yellow-whitish.


    "You can have that one. I''ve got a lot of them," sighed Gab.


    But Enota didn''t take her eyes off it and merely commented: "Sweet, but I don''t need it. If you ever plan on selling it, take me with you since you would probably get swindled to selling it for a tenth of the price."


    "Well, I think I''ll rather sell it to you later on after leaving the dungeon for some favors," replied Gab, amused.


    "Well, you should know that these mana crystals mean nothing for me since I can get a lot of them easily as long as I show my emblem. Also, a favor from me can be pretty pricy. Are you sure you can afford it, my dear general?~"

 101. Golden Cage

    After chitchatting for another hour, the two decided to move on. Gab carried a torch made out of some fabric that got soaked in a bit of alcohol before getting wrapped around a rod, which a goblin used as his weapon.


    The dungeon floor was weird. Some cave passages had a natural illumination or even got illuminated from moonshine falling into the depth where they are. There were also other passages like the one which they planned on crossing that had no illumination, forcing them to improvise with self-made torches.


    The small cave in which they had been resting for a few hours had a few entrances. But in the end, they opted out for the one from which they felt a breeze of wind coming.


    "If there is an end to the dungeon floor or cave system, our ?afest bet is to follow the wind," commented Enota reaching her hand towards Gab''s torch.


    By now, her face had a calm expression and acted as if she had already forgotten the scene that happened a few hours ago, reassuring Gab.


    "Well, could I maybe lead the way?" asked Gab, who was hesitating with giving up the torch since he has been enjoying the heat coming from it.


    But as expected, the latter merely shook her head while still holding her hand, and Gab gave in with a sigh.


    "Well, are you interested in hearing my story as we continue to move through these endless cave passages till we find another human soul?" asked Enota as the two began leaving the big cave.


    "Of course. I''m especially interested in how you ended up here since this isn''t really the place where I would expect the children of wealthy people to end up," admitted Gab.


    "Well, the reasons for it are quite simple. I''m just the child of many I have many siblings.-" But before Enota continued, Gab interjected by asking: "how many do you have? I mean, I''ve got like four siblings, but our parents never treated any of us siblings unjust."


    "Well, could you please let me finish my sentence before interjecting," cursed Enota with a sigh before continuing with her narration: "I think it may be too complicated to explain you the political system, especially since you are probably ignorant to the matters, but we aren''t an absolute monarch. But to keep it short, after a few civil wars and reforms, we ended up with a system with three governing bodies representing everyone.


    As you may already know, I belong to the royal family, and the next family head doesn''t get picked by the former one. Although he still has an influence in the matter. But we princes gotta appeal to the three camps who will be the one deciding the next head."Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Gab nodded as he continued throttling around through the dungeon floors while enjoying the stories he heard from her. At least it didn''t feel that lonesome.


    "Well, that may sound stupid, but the three camps were aristocrats, peasants, and magicians, right?" asked Gab while scratching his head, and Enota replied with: "Well, at least they thought you that. Anyway, let''s continue.


    I have at least 19 siblings. If I''m being honest, the number of people eligible to become the family head is probably higher. Most of them have no interest in the throne and want to stay out of the conflicts. But if they have any interest in the throne, they opted out to keep a low profile while making their moves in the shadow."


    "Interesting. But why did these siblings of you opt to remain low-profile when they could enjoy their lives with the things that come with their status as nobles?" asked Gab curiously.


    Enota chuckled at his naivety. "Well, I wish I could enjoy a leisurely life of gluttony and excess, but unfortunally almost all of us get forced into doing the devil''s bidding. There are a few ways to escape the rat race. Or maybe there isn''t even an escape. I don''t know, and I haven''t yet found any way to escape it."


    There was a brief moment of silence as the princess took a deep breath while closing her eyes, as she relived the moments of the naive choice she made before entering the dungeon. By now, one could only hear the echoes coming from the monotone splashing of water every second. But that was probably better than being left alone with complete silence.


    After Enota got her thoughts together, she continued with her narration.


    "I''m not sure if there is an escape from the rat race, where one can still have their freedom without ending up living in a golden cage. It took me way too long to find out the truth. Only one of us can become the master. The rest only has the choice of choosing our masters, and if they fail, then we don''t even have that choice," Enota chuckled painfully, and Gab felt pity for the girl.


    "One can either become a political tool for the courts and the king, resulting in getting married to someone to make political alliances. Or one can also promise every prince that one has no interest in joining. But that''s just delaying the inevitable. Since one will end up as the political tool for the next ruler or as the tool of everyone.


    Some opt-out to flee the country. But that choice rarely ends up going well since if the authorities find out about your identity, you will be locked in a different cage. If you are lucky, you will be groomed by the other country to become their tool. However, if you are unlucky, they''ll be sending your home to either become a tool again or end up getting executed for treason.


    Some of my siblings were wiser than me and immediately realized their predicament. These guys either chose a faction or joined other siblings after swearing loyalty to them. These ones will have more freedom than the siblings who promised not to participate in the first place. But they will either help others gain the throne or die trying.


    For people who want nothing more than freedom, there is no escape from the rat race. Either one fights for glory and for one''s freedom, or one dies trying. We don''t have any other choice."

 102. Some people make deals with the devil. I offer devils deals they cant refuse.

    "So, you plan on joining the fray while also taking everyone here down with you," sighed Gab, who got a headache by now.


    ''This arc is getting annoying. Maybe I should opt out and live a quiet life, far away from all the bullshit that''s been happening here. Let''s decide after the dungeon if it''s worth helping her further than the bare minimum.''


    Seeing his annoyed face, Enota nodded with a grin: "Well, I will make sure that all of you want to join me. I only need to make you all an offer which you can''t refuse, hehehehe."


    "I''m not gonna comment on your last sentence, but how the hell did you end up with such an army?"


    "I made a deal with the devil."


    ¡¸Somewhere in the past¡¹


    Somewhere, in a palace, a man sat there with closed eyes while wearing plain clothes. If one were to see a picture of him, one would have guessed that he was an old man who lived a healthy life. The average citizen would not believe that he was a fairly respected magician who was also the reigning king of a country.


    The current king had an image to keep. But since he wasn''t expecting anyone important, he opted out for comfortable clothes.


    The hall in which his throne stood was big enough to house a ball party, and the walls were littered with paintings of former family heads.


    "What a lovely sight," the man thought to himself loudly as his gaze wandered through his forefathers. One of them was his former uncle, who was the previous head of the state. That man gave the throne up to him to dedicate his life towards his own pet project.


    ''Soon, I will be able to do that too, heheheh.'' went through his head as he heard someone opening the door and entering hastily.


    And there she was, his daughter in all her glory, running towards him.


    ''I thought, I thaught her manners, but well, it seems like the maid failed when it came to her education.'' sighed the king who was watching her run towards him.


    The girl immediately stopped ten meters away from the throne before kneeling and pressing her head against the blood-red carpet.


    "What led you here, my daughter? There shouldn''t be any reason for you to visit me. Or have you perhaps taken the initiative and abandoned your naive ideas?" asked the king while starring down at her with a raised eyebrow.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    His golden eyes were enveloped in a hue, and one glance from him was enough to pressure anyone under his power. Enota felt like an insignificant being whenever her father glanced at her. But right now, she was experiencing hell since her father continued starring at her. She was sweating and shaking uncontrollably, while at the same time, she didn''t even dare to look up.


    To her fortune, it didn''t take long for her father to ease the pressure on her while commenting: "I''m surprised that you haven''t yet fallen unconscious. So tell me the reason for your coming, daughter."


    "Fa-Father, No, I mean my dear Lord. This insignificant being has chosen to join the fight and wants to ask for your guidance and for some help," stuttered Enota, while her head was still remaining on the ground.


    "Guidance?" commented the man before laughing loudly. "My dear daughter, calling me father should be fine. But as a King, I''m not allowed to give any candidate fighting for the throne an edge over the other. Tell me what lead you to abandon not to join the fight for the throne."


    "No matter what I do, there will be no escape from the king. Either I will end up as your puppets or as theirs, even if I promise not to participate, which is why I decided to participate. But I''m way too late to the game. I haven''t made any connections, nor have I gained my own followers, and neither am I skilled enough to stand out, which is why I want to make you an offer that you can''t refuse."


    " An offer which I can''t refuse?" The king laughed loudly before calming himself down. "Interesting. Interesting. I want to hear the offer, and if it isn''t even to my liking, you''ll be ending up like that without my help. So tell me, daughter, what offer can a king like me not refuse? I''ve got money, wisdom, and manpower. What can you possibly offer to me?" commented the king in amusement while tapping on the armrest of his throne that was made of some silver metal.


    "I want 200 men below the intermediate level who will be serving me. For that, I''m willing to end up as your puppet if I''m unable to become a promising candidate. ¡­ no, I mean to win over the throne after 7 years," stated the princess with a trembling voice as she was at the brink of crying.


    The eyes of the king immediately narrowed, and his gaze immediately searched if someone else was listening to them. After making sure that the two were alone, a big smile formed around his face before he commented: "I don''t care about having you as my puppet. But your willingness is more than enough for me to break my promise of impartial since I want to see how you envision winning the throne in such a short time frame. Daughter, I agree with your offer, and you shall get your 200 men army and a free teleportation spell for your offer since I''m in a good mood."


    Enota took a deep breath of relief since her gamble paid off, but in the next moment, a thunder shot through her body, and runes began to form over her body slowly. The pain she felt was so unbearable, and it took all her strength for her to gaze at her father, who only stated: "seven years. If you can''t deliver on your promises of becoming a throne candidate with a high chance of winning over the throne, you shall become my puppet."


    With that, the deal with the devil was sealed.

 103. Someone else also had a deal with the devil, which they definitely wont regret.

    Author note: Alex was Gab''s former group leader before they found the tomb of Odebus.


    ¡¸Shortly after the group touched upon the tomb of Odebus¡¹


    "I''m Odebus, manager of the lower dungeon floors. Do you want to become my vessel?" echoed through Alex''s, the group leader''s head. He felt an unbearable pain stinging through his head that was slowly driving him insane.


    "N-n-no¡­ Wh-why me? Wh-why c-can''t I b-be lucky at least once in my life," whispered the young man as he was trembling uncontrollably.


    "Alex! Are you ok?!" shouted his team members, Evie, Gab, and Luke, running towards the man that by now stood on his knees, grabbing his hair. The voices got drowned more and more till he heard nothing but a sinister laugh. But that wasn''t the only sense that faded away since his sense of smell and sight were also getting drowned away. By now, Alex couldn''t even move an inch as he stared angrily at the thing in front of him. A skeleton slowly and gently touched his chin with his cold fingers before pressing his bony forehead against Alex''s one.


    All his memories immediately shot through the head of the skeleton, who was also known as Odebus.


    Odebus saw every memory of his life since the day of his birth. The memories of him getting separated from his family. The memories of him getting sold to a noble. The memories of him getting beaten daily and even sexually assaulted by one of the guards from the family. Even the thoughts of how he tried to escape with his comrades from their master flashed through his mind. He saw everything clearly, how they got caught and what happened after that.


    The punishment for such an action was a few slashes and no food for a week. But this time, the female lord opted out for a different method. Instead, she would make an example out of them. Everyone shall know what awaits them if they think one could escape her place.


    ¡¸A core memory¡¹


    All of the slaves got bound to shackles and wore blindfolds except the one leading them. He, however, only had one eye and had to lead the march through the scorching sun for hours as they were led far away outside of any human civilization.


    The rustling sounds of chains were heard with every step these slaves took, and all of them looked more dead than alive. Their skin was hanging saggy from their bodies, as one saw their bones bony figures in tattered clothes moving tremblingly forward. But their eyes clearly showed that they had lost their courage to live and even the desire for freedom.


    By now, all of them were aware that they would die sooner or later. They were looking forward to the day, praying that their suffering would end as fast as possible since nobody wanted to continue living like that.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    But their waiting soon had an ending as a woman sitting on a horse stated with pleasure: "We are here. Thoughts and prayers to you all."


    They''ve reached a dried-up well far away from any human civilization.


    After her comment, the first man got taken away by two guards. His shrill weeping could be heard as he tried to defend himself in vain before getting thrown into the well.


    The guard responsible for throwing him down merely counted down: "One¡­Two¡­Three¡­ four," before his count got interrupted by the loud sound of someone crashing against the hard ground of the well.


    "Well, you all really need thoughts and prayers to have any chance of surviving it," commented a different guard before they grabbed the next person whose blindfolds they immediately took down.


    The slave''s pupils immediately shrank. One could clearly see his fear as the latter lifted his gaze towards the guardian, who merely laughed loudly before throwing him down with pleasure. And so one after another got thrown to the depths of hell.


    Alex, who expected his death by impact, however, survived. The dead bodies of the ones before him broke his fall. Alex only looked up as a fire of hatred was lit in him. He had to survive and take revenge. Revenge for all the misery that happened to his mates today. There were still a few others who survived. But since they broke a few limbs, most of them had to be left behind as Alex and a few others moved down the hill of human bodies. There, an underground tunnel lead them to the door for the dungeon.


    ¡¸The end of the core memory¡¹


    None of his memories were safe from Odebus. But the worst thing was that Alex relived these memories. All his suppressed emotions such as hatred, shame, anger began filling every nerve in his head. The flame of hatred burning deep inside him that got damped by his daily fights of survival in the dungeon was set ablaze as he remembered his primary objective.


    And with that, Odebus slowly moved his forehead away.


    "Welcome, I''m Odebus, and I''ve chosen you as my vessel. If you are willing to render me your body, for the time being, I''ll be helping you fulfill two of your wishes," offered Odebus as he stared at the man in front of him with amusement.


    The rational man, known as Alex, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a monster stood in his place, as his eyes were glowing red. His face turned into an ugly grimace as his hatred was seen running rampant. It took Alex a while to calm himself and reply to the offer of Odebus.


    "I want revenge¡­ No! That''s not something I should wish for since there is no fun in wishing it. I should take the matter into my own hands," laughed Alex uncontrollably as tears began streaming down his cheeks.


    "As expected," nodded Odebus as a grin was forming on his face.


    "I need strength. The strength to survive this shithole and the strength to kill these bastards. My second wish is to leave this dungeon after acquiring the strength to kill these bastards. If you can fulfill these wishes, I am ready to give you everything," shouted Alex enraged.


    Unfortunally for him, he didn''t realize how much he would regret the last sentence since Odebus was manipulating him. Odebus only showed him some of his memories and excluded a few important ones, such as how he found new comrades who were willing to fight with him to death.


    "Splendid, splendid. I''ll be fulfilling two of your wishes, as for the price of using your body. May my soul be destroyed If I''m unwilling to fulfill your wishes," Alex heard Odebus''s voice laughing sinisterly.

 104. Maybe there are no monsters on this dungeon floor

    ¡¸Somewhere else¡¹


    Somewhere else, in the deep cave system, a group of four aimlessly walked through some narrow passages as the sound of water dripping down echoed.


    A man who wore bone armor and carried a poorly shaped spear made of the bones of the mutants he slew was leading the group.


    It was almost comical watching the tensed-up man poking almost everything he saw with his spear, as if he was expecting an enemy to come out of it at the moment he let his guard even slightly down.


    The rest of the group watched it with amusement, thinking it was just a matter of time till he acknowledged that they were alone here.


    But seeing how his older brother still was as paranoid since they spawned onto the third floor, his younger brother grabbed Luke''s arm, commenting, "it''s so boring."


    However, the latter didn''t budge and merely glanced at his brother. Luke''s face clearly showed that this wasn''t the right time for gimmicks. Unfortunally for the older brother, even his younger sister had enough of his paranoia. She grabbed Luke''s right hand to mess with him.


    ''How am I supposed to lead or protect you two?'' thought Luke, who was slowly giving in.


    Since the three siblings reunited at the end of the first floor, they seemed to be inseparable. The younger two took it even a step further since they were sticking onto the latter as if they were magnets.


    "Please¡­ stop pulling my arms," sighed Luke helplessly, who was growing annoyed by the gimmicks.


    ''These two brats are taking the situation far too easy. Have they already forgotten that death could be lurking at the next corner?''


    But the two didn''t budge either. Seeing how Luke, their older brother, was way too paranoid and not fond of their gimmicks, his younger sister commented: "stop being such a killjoy. What should even happen here? We have been wandering aimlessly for like six fucking hours straight and haven''t seen anything. If there were even creatures down here, it would have visited us."


    Luke wanted to dispute her claims, but Evie gently put her hand on his shoulder.


    With a sigh, he turned his gaze towards her, who was smiling.


    "Luke¡­I think the two are right. Don''t you find it strange how we ended up here and haven''t yet seen any remains of other living creatures here?" asked Evie, with a smile.


    "Well, you are right, but doesn''t it make the situation more tricky? Don''t you think the dungeon would grant us an easy floor? Where are the mutants from the first floor? Haven''t they conquered everything below the fifth floor?" asked Luke, who was shaking his head.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    "I agree with you. But maybe the dungeon doesn''t have to make even sense or so? I don''t know how I should say it. But maybe it''s toying with us by giving us a floor devoid of creatures, hoping to drive morons like you insane, who are looking for enemies everywhere? Anyway¡­ I still hope that we find some of our other group members soon." sighed Evie with a smile before quickly adding: "You should enjoy these peaceful moments with your siblings. Who knows when we will have such a silent floor again."


    ''Maybe Evie is right. Maybe the dungeon is toying with me. But it''s been a long time since I was wrong about my senses. I can''t¡­ it feels as if something tragic will happen soon. Maybe something horrible is already happening to our other group members? Maybe they are fighting to the death against a creature, which is why we haven''t found any signs of their existence here," thought Luke.


    The more he thought about it, the more it was driving him to insanity. In the end, he couldn''t even hold his spear without uncontrollably shaking.


    ''I''m definitely looking like a joke.''


    "Brother, why are you shaking?" asked Anne, who was gently hugging the arm of her older brother.


    Luke didn''t reply to her and was still deeply entrenched in his thoughts, questioning himself.


    ''The chance for that should be pretty low. Evie probably is right, with me being just too paranoid. We will find out the truth soon anyway, which is why I should probably enjoy the leisure time with my siblings. Who knows when we will have such peaceful moments again?''


    But before he could continue being lost in his thoughts, Anne took his bone helmet angrily off, demanding his attention. Luke found it kind of cute, and it even made him smile.


    "Well, it''s nothing, sis. Your older brother is just worried about you two since he doesn''t want to lose you again. My worries somehow keep me paranoid. Anyway, sorry for being a stiff older brother who doesn''t use the situation to his advantage," chuckled Luke, whose white face slowly reddened with embarrassment.


    "That''s fine. Brother¡­ I think staying here won''t do you any good in the long term. Maybe we should leave the dungeon after finishing this floor," admitted Anna, and Luke forced a smile upon his face before confessing to Anne:


    "Anne¡­ I would do nothing more than to leave this mess behind. But there is a small problem. I can''t leave the rest behind¡­ not yet. They are too dependent on me, you know. The moment I leave will be the day when the casualties will increase tenfolds. Tell me, Anne, how can I leave with so many people depending on me?"


    "Well, force them to leave with you the dungeon. Brother¡­ there will come a day when you have to choose between leaving this godforsaken place with your siblings or dying here. The longer we stay here, the more likely we will end up dying here. Please¡­ at least promise me that you will be leaving the dungeon with us as fast as possible," pleaded his sister, who already had teary eyes.


    Seeing the eyes of his younger sister Luke''s heart immediately melted.


    ''How foolish I am. The two were the only reason why I even came here. Why should the rest even matter to me? They are important to me, but my siblings still hold priority. Gab, who also has siblings, will understand and probably, even support my decision. There is no reason to die here. I''ve got two talents, and my future should be bright as long as I survive.''


    In the end, Luke gave his sister a kiss on her forehead before promising her: "We will be leaving the dungeon at the next floor. I promise."


    "Thanks¡­ brother."


    Luke gave his two siblings each a kiss on their forehead before shifting his attention to his brother, who was quietly listening.


    "Do you also want a kiss on your forehead Maurice?" Luke asked, unsure with a chuckle.


    "Well, I may be 14, but only this time," the latter replied.


    "Sure, sure. I won''t bother you again," laughed Luke before giving the latter also a kiss.


    ''I''m envious of the three. I wish my siblings weren''t busy killing each other and me," thought Evie, who was watching the spectacle.

 105. Can’t we edit the deal or so, pleaseeeee

    ¡¸Somewhere else¡¹


    A young man entrenched in blood leaned against the cold, rough stone walls with trembling feet. He was breathing loudly for air while dropping to his knees since even standing took too much energy.


    In front of him laid a bunch of corpses, of humans and monsters alike. If Gab or Enota were here, they would be surprised why these Goblins looked quite different compared to the ones against whom they were fighting.


    These goblins had slightly reddish skin with multiple visible mutations. These mutations ranged from having acne to having a third eye or even an extra limp. Most of the modifications were useless and hindered their hosts/victims since an underdeveloped arm is useless for anything.


    But a third eye that can do funny things or a skin mutation that gives you better blunt or stab damage absorption is much more intimidating.


    All in all, these goblin mutants were on a different level than the human mutants they had fought on the first and second floors. Killing them was way tougher since they walked in bigger groups. The fact that their mutations made them slightly different from each other turned the matter even more annoying, but at least the man killed most of them.


    As for the dead humans, they were¡­ let''s put it simply, unlucky since they crossed paths with him.


    After whipping tiredly, some of the purple blood from his face, one could see a tear rolling down the man''s fiery cheeks. The tears he wasted were neither out of joy nor out of sorrow for those he had killed earlier. They were out of regret for his impulsive choices, which led him to a path of no redemption since he still hasn''t found a way to nullify the pact, which he regretted making. Till then, the man will be at the mercy of someone else, who could choose or change his destiny at the whim.


    After calming himself down, the man closed his eyes, thinking that he could get a piece of mind, but as one might have expected, the author isn''t so keen when it comes to escapism, which is why old memories began surfacing.


    The memories of him accepting the deal with the devil were clearly flashing through his head again. There he saw it, the devil, and how it manipulated his memories before taking advantage of his anger with poisonous promises of fulfilling his desires of revenge and survival. Unfortunally he took the deal that got offered to him while ignoring the small price that came with it, without thinking it through.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    How far would you go to see your wishes fulfilled? Which demands are too much? Which price is too high? Would you be willing to lose your bodily autonomy/freedom for a certain amount if it meant that your destiny will be set in stone?


    Don''t get the man wrong he''s still happy to see the other party of the deal keeping their promises, but the problem is the journey to that goal, and that''s beyond disgusting.


    Is it worth killing so many innocent people who are just trying to survive in this hellhole just so that your wishes will be fulfilled? It''s not like you are killing them. Whenever a group of humans finds you in the wild alone, Odebus takes over your body and kills them all before turning them in the end to his minions.


    But unfortunally, they still weighed on his mind, and Alex couldn''t take it anymore. By now, his anger reached a boiling point. How long would one plan to ignore such injustices before one voices out their annoyment? After five, ten, twenty, or after killing fifty of them? It just can''t continue like that in the long term.


    "Odebus¡­could we please change the terms of the contract. I''m fine destroying the pact as long I ¡­ you¡­ no, I mean us can we spare them all? They don''t even have anything to do with my plan, so why are we killing everyone? And why¡­ why are we also planning on killing people dear to me?" pleaded Alex on his knees, hoping to swerve Odebus opinion.


    Unfortunally, the latter replied to his questions with silence, which merely put fire onto the fuel, making the latter even angrier since pleading didn''t seem to work. Through gritted teeth, he began asking Odebus once again.


    "Just ¡­ tell me¡­ What is the price for your mercy? Is it my soul? Is it my dignity as a human being? Is it my future? Just name a price."


    But once again, silence was the answer Alex got, which is why he screamed in frustration: "TELL ME THE FUCKING PRICE!"


    Laughter. A loud burst of laughter was the answer he got from the other party, who seemed to be amused by the matter.


    "Well, that was lovely, Alex. But how many times do I have to answer that question of yours, Alex? I can change the terms of the contracts with your consent. The small problem is that I just don''t want to do that," Osebus replied to him after stopping with his laughter.


    Hearing that the latter could change his destiny but just doesn''t want to for whatever reason made Alex angry as he balled his hand into a fist. But before he could even ask him why the other party continued.


    "The reason for that is quite simple. I feast on despair and hatred of others. What do I have to gain from it if I help you achieve a happy end? Nothing. But seeing how you all fight and kill each other in confusion, hatred, and despair as you slowly massacre them all one by one is more entertaining. Don''t you think, Alex?


    In the end, you will be leaving this goddamn place in confusion to take your revenge. But there you will realize that even after achieving it you won''t find any peace of mind or happiness. You will just feel empty¡­ I''m already curious what you will be doing after fulfilling your desires, heheheh," chuckled Odebus as he watched Alex in amusement.

 106. a benevolent lord.

    The two argued further, and hours passed before Alex continued marching onwards to kill as many creatures as possible to vent his anger.


    It didn''t take long for him to find the next nest of mutant animals, which he slaughtered mercilessly with his sword. Each of his swings cleaved one mutant goblin in two after the other, but the group didn''t seem to have an end since a living one got replaced before its body could hit the ground.


    Unfortunally for them, strength by numbers meant nothing to Alex, who had a fire talent. Whenever he wasn''t fighting against dungeon creatures, Odebus taught him how to use his fire talent. Since his training began on the second floor, his fire mage talent was probably the greatest on the entire floor, even though nobody knew of it.


    Alex didn''t even bat an eye as he immediately set the goblins running towards him ablaze, whose bone-chilling painful screams filled the air. Since these creatures were close together, his flames were especially effective. But Alex ignored one crucial thing, and that was flames consume oxygen. That fact immediately turned into a double-edged sword since he had to leave as fast as possible as even he faced struggles with breathing oxygen.


    One could hear his coughs as he jumped out from the black smoke that filled the cave.


    "The smoke will probably kill them all," coughed Alex as black smoke left his mouth.


    But he was wrong since one goblin followed him and survived it. His anger was clearly visible on his face, and compared to the rest, he seemed to be way smarter since he immediately attacked him with his club without even shouting.


    ''We''ve got a smart fella here.'' Alex thought as he immediately dodged the attack with ease, laughed loudly before sending the goblin flying against the wall with a kick against his chin.


    After the hit, he immediately swung his sword and cut off the hand holding the club. The goblin fell to its knees and screamed loudly in pain as it held its bleeding arm with its remaining hand.


    "You are a brave one¡­," Alex commented in amusement as the sharp end of his swords pointed against the chin of the goblin, who was groaning loudly in pain.


    "¡­and for that, I''ll kill you with one clear swing," he stated, and the goblin felt a chill running down his spine. The fear on his face was clearly visible as he stared onto Alex''s face, which resembled the one of a grinning devil.


    As Alex raised his sword, the goblin shrieked loudly in despair as he watched the former''s blade getting swung towards his neck. It was a clean-cut, and the goblin got decapitated a single swing.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    The head flew a few meters before hitting the ground a couple of times. Emotions of fear were still visible on the decapitated head, and one heard the sounds of bones breaking as Alex pressed his shoe against it.


    "Why are you even killing that many goblins? Isn''t it boring? You have nothing to gain from it. Why won''t you just sit back and enjoy the show?" echoed Odebus scornful voice through his head.


    Alex merely chuckled at the latter''s words before giving him an answer.


    "I know that you will kill any human who crosses our view, which is why I try to make up for it to the best of my abilities. The more creatures I kill, the more people I save since they will never face the horde. I know it''s just wishful thinking that I can make up for the killings. But, but that''s the least I can do."


    But as Alex intended to continue moving, the two heard voices from afar.


    "Shit. Here we go again," stated Alex as he gritted his teeth while he heard Odebus giggle in joy.


    The group seemed to be walking towards him, and one could hear their conversation clearly, which was regularly followed by laughter echoing through the walls.


    "Strange¡­ wich moron would be enjoying their time so loudly. They seem to enjoy their stay here a bit too much. Well, at least we will end it soon," commented Odebus before immediately taking control of Alex''s body.


    ''These voices¡­ some of them are quite familiar,'' thought Alex, deeply entrenched in his thoughts.


    Odebus merely shrugged Alex''s shoulder while remarking: "Well, I don''t care. They''ll still be dying," which made Alex angry.


    Slowly Odebus began approaching the group, quietly step by step, with his sword outside its sheet to attack immediately if necessary.


    Alex, who sat quietly in the back of his mind watched the scene in melancholy since he knew he couldn''t save anyone.


    But the closer they got to them, the bigger in anxiety grew since he realized to whom these familiar voices belonged.


    ''Please don''t let it be them. Please don''t it be them,'' Alex prayed, but when he saw their faces, his heart fell into the depths of Tartarus.


    Two familiar people were standing like twenty meters away from him. These two were former comrades of him.


    ''No¡­ that cannot be¡­ please¡­ run¡­ run as fast as possible,'' he prayed as tears slowly came up as he didn''t dare think what will happen soon.


    Odebus merely listened to his prayers in amusement and stated: "Well, your power-ups are visiting you. One should be looking forward to it rather than falling into madness, Alex."


    These words merely fueled Alex''s anger, and it took him a lot of strength to answer Odebus''s provocations.


    "Could I¡­ could I say a few last words before you kill them," shouted Alex back at Odebus before immediately adding, "think of it how more emotional that scene would be. A former friend, giving his last warning before they get slaughtered."


    His words astonished Odebus, and the latter immediately stopped in his steps to think about the latter''s brilliant idea since Odebus seemed to love seeing such heartbreaking moments.


    Merely killing people where there aren''t that many emotions in the play was boring. But if one could craft a tragedy out of it, then it would be something worth watching.


    A creepy smile formed on Alex''s face, and Odebus answered his pleas.


    "Be grateful that I''m a benevolent lord since I will give you the right to say three words."


    Odebust immediately added: "Wait¡­ we can make this scene even better, heheheh. You will be the one walking towards them, and you will also be the one warning them."